In ‘The Day of the Doctor,’ written by Steven Moffat, the fan-favorite storyteller masterfully weaves a complicated – and likely controversial – adventure through the heart of the Time Lord’s darkest moment, bringing together all of the forms of television’s iconic time traveler to provide an unnecessary update to what was thought to be the demise of Gallifrey, and the Doctor’s most defining decision. Unnecessary, yes – but worth it? Absolutely. A story centuries in the making, combining the powers of the Hero, the Warrior and the Doctor to tell the greatest story never known, providing a superb conclusion to a Doctor Who milestone that couldn’t have been more perfect.
And how does a man who can traverse all of time and space even celebrate an anniversary anyway? Intergalactic party poppers? Well, just as it should be for any landmark birthday, he does it by spending a lot of time remembering the past and just enough time looking ahead at the future too.
At the heart(s) of the episode, we have a simple tale of Doctor Who baddies The Zygons – shapeshifting monsters that can mimic people (and animals) around them but otherwise look like big, ugly suckers – breaking free from oil paintings in London’s National Gallery to take over the world. Meanwhile, Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor jumps through a time fissure to team up with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and save the day. With help from a feisty Queen Elizabeth I too, because what’s Doctor Who without an important historical figure getting stuck into the action?
It’s not all fun and action though. Delivering on the epic saga side of the Time Lord’s story was the mysterious ‘War doctor’ (John Hurt) who was on the brink of carrying out the mass genocide that has dogged the Doctor ever since Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor (Now the Tenth Doctor) walked out of the TARDIS in the regenerated show in 2005. In a clever narrative twist – with more than a hint of A Christmas Tale about it – this more serious, ruthless Doctor is given a chance to meet his future incarnations to see first-hand the consequences of his actions and how he will feel about them with the benefit of hindsight.
It’s a great plot device because Steven Moffat has the benefit of pleasing old and new fans at the same time: telling a typical Who story while using Hurt’s War Doctor as a spectator, letting the outcome of this adventure affect his lives-altering decision. And as he wrestles with the dilemma of pushing a big red button that will destroy his home planet Gallifrey – including billions of little Time Children – in order to end the Time War, we finally address a plot that has taken eight years to finally tell. This includes lots of regretful Matt Smith continuing to carry every world on his shoulders and lots of wrathful David Tennant, angry at both other Doctors for seemingly taking the decision too lightly.
With Moffat’s carefully crafted words at disposal, Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt each shine as their own, defined versions of the Doctor, while also tagging enough of the others’ sentences with quirky remarks to remind those watching that, although different, these men are one and the same – different versions with different experiences to add, or forget, as with the case of Matt Smith’s Doctor.
An explanation for the personality of Tennant’s Doctor, too, was surprisingly included, and is a perfect example of how the immense attention to details justifies everything needed to tell this impossible tale. Tennant’s Doctor – the man who regrets – and Smith’s Doctor – the man who forgets – help provide a wonderful bookend to the evolution of a character so defined by a single decision from his past. This allows audiences to believe, albeit momentarily, that the two actors’ unique cadence wasn’t simply birthed in an audition room, but that it was a calculated move to convey the stages of the Doctor as he attempts to cope with the self-inflicted genocide of his entire race.
Of course, along the way, there are still plenty of shout-outs for Whovians young and old Surprises in the the 50th Anniversary also includes more than enough onscreen surprises which raise the same goose bumps, including, but not limited to: a reprised Billie Piper’s role as an omniscient Rose/Bad Wolf, the prominence of old Who comrades U.N.I.T throughout the episode and Tom Baker’s magical appearance as the Curator - who also happened to leave Smith’s Doctor with some curious clues about possible returning faces.
Thankfully Moffat knows how to provide a finale fitting for such an occasion and all was quickly forgiven. With a climactic resolution that not only provided a TARDIS-wetting sequence that made room for every Doctor incarnation to date – not to mention the fist-pumping appearance of one yet to come – but also changed the overall narrative of the revived show, there can’t be a single fan that wasn’t completely satisfied and fulfilled as the credits rolled. And that’s without mentioning a gratuitous, but utterly delightful final cameo that pays tribute to arguably the greatest Time Lord of them all.
“The Day of the Doctor” adds a surprisingly happy twist to the Doctor’s darkest moment, and Moffat’s use of a clever time travel twist, to keep the integrity of the former Doctors intact, does little to change the fact that Smith’s Doctor now knows the truth – and for what purpose?
Overall, the episode faltered somewhere in the middle, It took a while to start delivering on every Whovian’s wishlist for the episode, but with plenty of entertaining back-and-forth between our most recent two Doctors (the ones with the sand shoes and the bow-ties), plenty of fan-pleasing homages, hilarious plot turns and a story that paid tribute to every element that makes Doctor Who such a brilliant show. Ending with a fantastic finale meant that, fittingly for the 50th anniversary, it was all gold.
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