Day of the Doctor - A review

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Day of the Doctor - A review

On November 23rd 1963 a television program began. 50 years later that same programme celebrated its anniversary. Doctor Who a British institution that started with an old man in a police box. Running away from authority, looking for peace and quiet when he is discovered and adventures begin.

The episode on November 23rd 2013, The Day of the Doctor, brought together a number of threads of past story lines. As with other anniversary shows, other incarnations of the Doctor appeared. The story itself was very cleverly woven with another. The Earth is in trouble, again, aliens are threatening and the Doctor gets called in by UNIT. It is baffling at first and very straight forward. The story moves from one incarnation of the Doctor to another through a painting, introducing us to a lot more of his hidden past. Moving back and forth in time and places creating its own paradox and presenting the Doctor with a chance to change his own time.

The aliens are just right, not under played and not over the top. The focus is on the Doctor and his actions. There is so much here that gives more than a nod to the past 50 years. Rumours went slightly wild around the various Whovian sites, groups, clubs you name it they wanted it.  It was mentioned that this person was back and this person wasn’t and so on. As the story opened, it was clear who was back. Surprises were in store but you had to wait.

The actors clearly worked well together here, you can tell as they interact. There are some delightful moments both comic and dramatic as the story progresses. The three main actors Matt Smith, David Tenant and John Hurt clearly enjoyed their roles. It has to be a difficult role to undertake, becoming a British icon keeping a little of the actor before and then creating the role as your own.

Along the way, there were good supporting roles ensuring the episode had a very good cast. They did not take anything away from the main four characters, you have to include Billie Piper as well as the Doctors in the four, the story just flowed timelessly around everyone. There is no point explaining the story here as I don’t wish to give spoilers. Enough trailers and of course the episode has been shown a few times. There will be many fans who will argue various points about Doctor Who but in truth there are only two points to consider. So here is my taken on how to settle all arguments.

In my view, to deal with many important points and arguments raised by this show, you have to realise two important things. Firstly, the person who created the whole show made the ground rules, Sydney Newman. He said who the Doctor was, a man travelling in time and space in an old box. Secondly a word that takes care of it all the rest. That word is, fiction. Fiction makes Doctor Who travel in time and space. Fiction makes the Tardis. Fiction will allow the BBC to have as many incarnations of the Doctor as it wishes. Fiction. That word cuts across all, since Doctor Who is science fiction. Each further producer, writer, director and actor takes their steer from what Newman started and the word fiction. So, for me, no matter what anyone else says there are answers and solutions.  If in doubt refer to rule one.

As for the Curator? Again simple. My view here is that each incarnation of the Doctor has a timeline, when they regenerate they start another incarnation and another timeline. The old incarnation continues in a sense, allowed to grow old properly and age maybe pass away, unlike the ‘living’ incarnation until they regenerate. Hence a well-known incarnation becoming a Curator. There were even a few roundels in the background. Was that the Tardis living out its life? Who knows.That in itself gives nothing much away of the story.

So, what did the Day of the Doctor mean to me. A brilliant story, a link to all I enjoyed. To see it with friends was very good it made it more of an experience. It was a 5 out of 5 or 10 out of 10 or whatever. Was there the possibility of adding more? Maybe they could have but would that have worked? Maybe not. I am sure some will not like it because of X. As it was the episode beat everything else except one other BBC show. 10 million viewers in the UK alone watched it. Over 70 countries showed it at the same time. According to figures, over 100 million world wide. Not many television shows can warrant that audience, not many need to reach some many in one go. That is the appeal of a 50 year old show. One Saturday, November 23rd 2013 at 7.50pm the world watched.

Tagline; ‘Doctor Who?’