“Am I having a midlife crisis?”
Happy 50th Doctor Who. The Day of the Doctor is
the perfect way to celebrate.
I know The Day of the Doctor is good when Billie Piper shows
up and she’s not playing Rose. This deserves three well earned rounds of
applause. The first round is for the show runners who brought Billie Piper back
for this fiftieth anniversary gala. Regardless of how I feel about Rose, Billie
Piper played a major part in the early success of the new series and she
deserves to be represented in this milestone episode. The second round is for
Steven Moffat for opting to cast Billie not as Rose but as the Bad Wolf persona
of the Moment’s sentient interface. My final and biggest round is reserved for
the actress herself who does a marvelous job. She easily could have reverted to
the comfortable façade of Rose but instead she carves out a compelling new character
who works remarkably well with the veteran John Hurt.
John Hurt, David Tennant, and Matt Smith—three more
deserving rounds of applause. These three are reminiscent of that first
anniversary pairing of a Doctor threesome, the venerable William Hartnell as the
First Doctor and his two successors, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee as
Doctors Two and Three in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors. The
advantage of The Day of the Doctor is that John Hurt, the “granddad” and
youngest of our trio, is not confined as the ailing William Hartnell had been.
Our present three Doctors get to fully interact throughout and the results are
amazing.
Before getting together, however, each Doctor has his solo
screen time; and again I have a loud round of applause for Steven Moffat for
developing interesting narratives for each Doctor that come together seamlessly
into a single entertaining plotline while sprinkling in liberal doses of
nostalgia.
Oh, there are a few bumps along the way and a couple nagging
questions that any Doctor Who inevitably has, but so what? The sign of a good
Doctor Who is that you can overlook any and all such warts.
The good will starts with the original title sequence and
opening theme segueing from the monochrome past into the living color present
Coal Hill School at which Clara teaches and for which Ian Chesterton serves as
Chairman of the Governors, and just around the corner from the I.M. Foreman
Totter’s Lane scrap yard. A brilliant mix of old and new in such a few seconds;
and this amalgamation continues expertly throughout. It is not merely the
Classic and New Who; add in past New Who and present New Who; it all gets
thrown into the blender and comes out a winner.
UNIT, Zygons, and the Time War drive our three strands of story,
and it is all kicked off with the bang
of a high flying TARDIS. Time Lord art, Queen Elizabeth I and a fez (“Someday,
you could just walk past a fez.”) further entwine the threads, and they all
lead to our three Doctors meeting in the middle.
“Well, who are you boys? Oh, of course. Are you his
companions?” John Hurt as the Warrior
Doctor is spectacular as he confronts the older yet younger versions of
himself. Equal to the task are David
Tennant and Matt Smith as Doctors Ten and Eleven. I’ll probably run out of
superlatives before I’m through.
My biggest praise, though, I’ll reserve for Steven Moffat
for a script that gets it right. Any good Doctor Who demands that the actors
treat the material seriously, but the material itself—the script, the effects,
the production—should not overwhelm the narrative. So often New Who weighs
itself down by taking itself too seriously; it becomes heavy with self reverence;
it’s a ‘look at me’ mentality that turns the show into spectacle. The Day of
the Doctor, however, reverses this trend by poking holes in the bloated
self-image of the series.
The character of the Warrior Doctor is great at calling
Doctor Who out. One of my favorites is the jab at the magic sonic: “Why are you
pointing your screwdrivers like that? They’re scientific instruments, not water
pistols.” Doctor Ten gets in the act as
well with the following exchange.
Eleven: “It’s a timey-wimey thing.”
Warrior: “Timey what? Timey-wimey?”
Ten: “I’ve no idea where he picks that stuff up.”
A brilliant send-up, but it is given greater meaning when
the Warrior Doctor delivers this line later in the episode: “Do you have to
talk like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being grown up?”
It takes me back, Gary, to a point I made recently about New
Who trying to appeal to the kids in adults rather than to the grown-up
intelligence of children. And it ties in with the blessing and curse of a Time
War with which New Who saddled itself. Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth
Doctor is closer to the Warrior Doctor in both timeline and mentality, and I
can almost imagine him delivering those same lines. But he was transitional and
he had Rose to indulge his immaturity as a means to obliterate his dark past.
Ten and Eleven have had plenty of opportunity to further distance themselves
from depressing reality; to become “the man who regrets and the man who
forgets.”
The Time War has shaped the show and the Doctor from the
first airing of Rose. The Day of the Doctor finally confronts the Doctor and
the show with that truth. Rather than turning it into a black hole of angst it uses
this moment to reflect and grow. Along the way it delivers an entertaining
story and exciting adventure. This is the heights to which New Who could and
should strive but so often doesn’t.
The Zygons, displaced by the Time War, end up in 1562 where
they encounter Doctor Ten and Queen Elizabeth I. Utilizing Time Lord art
technology they invade present day London where Doctor Eleven is consulting
with Kate Stewart of UNIT. Meanwhile, the Warrior Doctor, in his darkest hour,
is contemplating the destruction of not only the Dalek fleet but his own planet
and race in order to bring about universal peace. The Bad Wolf Rose interface
persona of The Moment (the ultimate weapon the Warrior Doctor is considering
using) opens a window into his future in order for the Warrior Doctor to make a
better informed decision. Doctor Eleven joins Doctor Ten in 1562, as does the
Warrior Doctor. Together they bring about a peaceable solution to the Zygon
invasion as well as brainstorming an alternative to the
non-fixed-point-apparently ending to the Time War. All of this fleshed out with
not only the three Doctors, but by Clara, Kate Stewart, Queen Elizabeth I, Bad
Wolf, and Osgood; embellished with humor; adorned with self-parody; and accented
with nostalgia.
There are too many highlights to single out: “We’re
confusing the polarity.” “Nice scarf.” “Fez incoming!” The photo board of companions.
“I’m the Doctor. I’m 904 years old. I’m
from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I am the
Oncoming Storm, the Bringer of Darkness . . . and you are basically just a
rabbit, aren’t you?” Malcolm—Malcolm! Sandshoes. “This is what I’m like when I’m
alone.” “It wasn’t locked.” “I love the round things.” “Oh, you’ve redecorated;
I don’t like it.” " I don't want to go." Too, too many.
The Zygon resolution is a little rushed but ultimately
unimportant. It is the impact this scenario has on the Doctor in his Moment
that matters.
“All things considered , it’s time I grew up,” Warrior
Doctor says as he makes up his mind. John Hurt, the Warrior Doctor. “You were
the Doctor on the day it wasn’t possible to get it right.” But he does get it
right. John Hurt, the Warrior Doctor. This is the Doctor I can picture turning
into the Ninth, Christopher Eccleston. This is the Doctor I can sense haunting
the Ninth throughout his tenure. This is the Doctor I can see lurking behind the
stories as the Tenth sits down to tell them to Martha in the undercity of New
Earth. This is the Doctor I imagine the Eleventh denies.
But he has had four hundred years to think and to grow, and
Warrior Doctor is no longer alone. Ten and Eleven, at the prodding of Clara,
arrive to stand by Warrior Doctor’s side. The story very well could have ended
with the three pushing the “big red button” together (reminiscent of Donna and
Doctor Ten in The Fires of Pompeii). That would have been a satisfying conclusion.
However the show opts for a more optimistic ending, and I can’t fault it
for that. On this grand and glorious 50th Anniversary it is fitting
that Doctor Eleven, again at the prompting of Clara, decides that there is
another way. And how grand and glorious and fitting that “all twelve of them!”—“no
sir, all thirteen!”—combine in the effort.
“And for my next trick . . .” Gallifrey is gone; preserved;
frozen in a moment of time. The technology of Time Lord “cup-of-soup” art once
again coming into play. “Gallifrey Falls No More.”
This timey-wimey historical re-write gets it right. It
preserves the integrity of all the episodes that have come before with a
simple, “I won’t remember this, will I?” and a typical Doctor Who explanation
of, “the time streams are out of sync.” Only Eleven and his successors will
know the truth; leaving open possibilities for the future.
To top everything off, though, is a surprise that propels
The Day of the Doctor easily into contention for best episode honors. Tom Baker—I
don’t even have to say anything more.
And so on a joyous note I send this out, Gary; hoping it
finds you where you’ve always been going, on your way . . .
“home . . . the long way round.”
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