Review: The Day of the Doctor a.k.a. Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, or Three Steven Moffat Stunts That Disappointed Some Fans

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A nod to the classics.

MOVE ALONG IF YOU HATE SPOILERS

After a long hiatus, the Doctor is back. This time, it's not just Matt Smith's Eleven. He'll be joined by David Tennant's Ten and John Hurt's… uh, Eight-point-five? Because it's Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, that's why.

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John Hurt wouldn't even be here if Christopher Eccleston said yes.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 12: "The Name of the Doctor"

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And in this series* finale, Steven Moffat finally resolves the mystery of the Impossible Girl, a.k.a. Clara Oswald.

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Clara Oswald and the First Doctor showing us what a proper TARDIS looks like.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 12: "Nightmare in Silver"

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This episode has three selling points.

1. NEIL GAIMAN
This episode is the second one penned by the famous writer. I think he set the precedent for high-brow authors writing for low-brow television.

Litstack

"I'm simply following in Neil's footsteps."

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 11: "The Crimson Horror"

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This episode can actually be summed up in just four words:

Awesome writing. Awesome directing.

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And great acting.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 10: "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"

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Although the Doctor and his trusty TARDIS can move through both space and time, I personally prefer the Doctor Who stories which take place in space rather than time. Which means I'd prefer spacemen over Roman centurions any day.

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Even three black spacemen. Because I'm not racist.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 9: "Hide"

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This is the second Doctor Who episode in a row where the story is grounded in the real world. In the previous episode, it was a Cold War submarine. In this episode, it's a decade earlier in 1974, in some haunted house.

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Yup, looks like a ghost to me.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 8: "Cold War"

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Liam Cunningham, who plays Davos Seaworth in Game of Thrones, shows us his sea worth (See what I did there?) once more – in a submarine not unlike K-19. Tobias Menzies (Brutus from Rome) and David Warner (Lovejoy from Titanic) are here as well.

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JENNA: It'd be cool to be on Game of Thrones, wouldn't it, Matt?
MATT: You'd have to strip naked and kiss Peter Dinklage, Jenna.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 7: "The Rings of Akhaten"

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Maybe it’s just me, but I get the feeling that the villains of Doctor Who are starting to feel the same. In this Neil Cross episode, it’s a god-slash-monster, a giant, alien fireball (okay, “star”) where the rings of Akhaten orbit. This alien-slash-parasite feeds on – drumroll – memories. Or stories. Or souls. They’re basically one and the same thing, says the Doctor.

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Those scars and Wolverine's claw marks are one and the same thing.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 6: "The Bells of Saint John"

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In the last episode of Doctor Who, we saw the debut of the new opening credits, new TARDIS interior, and new companion.

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"Doctor who?"

Doctor Who. Series 7 Christmas Special: "The Snowmen"

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If you haven't watched a single episode of Doctor Who yet, or if you already consider yourself a Whovian and would like to turn on your friends to the show, then this episode is for you. This episode is Steven Moffat's Christmas gift to the human race, both Whovians and non-Whovians alike. That's because this episode has a lot of new stuff.

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Such as same-sex-inter-species marriage.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 5: "The Angels Take Manhattan"

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This episode's title skin: Lady Liberty's crown (partial).

And finally... a Steven Moffat episode. Thank God. Not that the other writers were bad, mind you. It's just that Steven Moffat is so brilliant.

And this episode showcases Steven Moffat' s most popular and most terrifying monsters─the Weeping Angels. And there's more of them this time. There's cute little baby cherubs.

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These cherubs are technically genderless.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 4: "The Power of Three"

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This episode's title skin: cubes.

This episode shows what it's like to really love a show.

You know when you love someone, and that someone has some small habits that you just totally hate, like how they fart all the time, or how they make really loud slurping sounds when they eat? And yet you love that person, despite the flaws.

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Would you love her, even if she always forgets your birthday, snores
when she sleeps, and doesn't flush the toilet?

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 3: "A Town Called Mercy"

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See, I was right about the title skins. This one has a desert theme─layered rock sediments, not unlike the cross-section of the Grand Canyon.

The reason for the desert theme is because the TARDIS and its inhabitants have landed smack right in the middle of the Wild West. No, scratch that. It's not as "wild" as we are used to. Yes, there are duels, high noon showdowns, and galloping on horseback. But it's quite tame; not wild at all.

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If you look closely, the Doctor is actually smiling.

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 2: "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"

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Actually, the title says it all. "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship".

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Geronimo?

Doctor Who. Series 7, Episode 1: "Asylum of the Daleks"

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*PISS OFF IF YOU HATE SPOILERS*

And finally, the long wait is over. Doctor Who is back on the air, bitches.

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"About time, too."

Doctor Who. Series 2

After Christopher Eccleston, we now move on to the new Doctor, the Tenth. And his name is David Tennant.

The Doctor may have changed, but the companions remain the same. Same old Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Same old Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke). Same old TARDIS.

Let's talk about this regeneration thing. If this were another fictional universe, I would definitely complain about changing actors within the same franchise. I complained when Marvel changed War Machine from Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle in Iron Man. I cringed a bit when DC replaced Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal for the role of Rachel Dawes in the Christopher Nolan Batman franchise. But the creators of Doctor Who had that ironed out decades ago by creating the whole regeneration thing. One of the good things about being a Time Lord is that when you die, you can regenerate with a whole new body, a whole new personality, but the same memories. So when you get problems with an actor, whether it be on- or off-camera, you can just kill him off and replace him with another. Then the series can live on forever! Brilliant!


"Children in Need Special"

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That's a real working number on the screen.
International rates apply.

This is David Tennant's first adventure as the Doctor. He's so fresh he even has Christopher Eccleston's wardrobe on him. Seeing as this is just an approximately 6-minute long video, this short serves no purpose whatsoever but to provide a smooth transition for viewers. Remember, Series 1 is the Doctor's first television appearance in years, and new viewers might find the regeneration thing a bit jarring. So they had to dedicate this short just to make sure the viewers didn't lose their bearings.

Doctor Who. Series 1

I'm a person who started with the Eleventh Doctor. Yes, I may be a late bloomer. Yes, having Matt Smith as the first Doctor I've ever met makes me a clear noob. But I loved the show so much that I decided to travel back in time myself─that is, travel back to 2005, when this show came back on the air after a very long absence.

So I went back two Doctors, to the Ninth, played by Christopher Eccleston. And of course, being human, I couldn't help but compare Eccleston to Matt Smith, who was the only other Doctor I knew. Here's some of the things I've noticed:

• Matt Smith speaks way faster than Christopher Eccleston.
• Matt Smith is goofier than Christopher Eccleston.
• Matt Smith has a hotter companion than Christopher Eccleston.

But let's not compare, shall we? They're the same Doctor, the same Time Lord from Gallifrey, with the same two hearts beating in his chest cavity. And since we're not comparing Doctors, let's not compare head writers as well. Russell T. Davies is not Steven Moffat. Christopher Eccleston is not Matt Smith. And Karen Gillan is not Billie Piper.

1. "Rose"

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Mickey (Noel Clarke) is my favorite character, hands down.
And not just because he has an original Bumblebee.

What a way to start off the reincarnated series─by featuring creepy mannequins. As a kid, I was damn terrified of mannequins. My uncle would try and get me close to a mannequin, and I would bawl my eyes out crying. I always thought they would come alive. And I guess I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Moffat's Variations on a Theme

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. Read Only If You Had Seen the Season/Series Finales of Both Doctor Who and Sherlock. You have been warned.

Doctor Who. "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe"

Best. Tree. Ever.

From the title alone, you already know that this is an allusion to C.S. Lewis. But I really don't know why they chose The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to represent Christmas. It's got to be more than just the snow.

That little kid has pretty poor eyesight, with lenses like that. And the little sister, played by Holly Earl, is kind of pretty. Even her name is Christmas-y. ♪ Deck the halls with boughs of holly ♫

Like a younger and prettier Helena Bonham Carter.

Now you might have noticed that everytime I review a work penned by Steven Moffat, I kind of always gush like a fanboy. That's because Moffat's stories are always brilliant. This is the second Doctor Who Christmas special that I've seen, and this is also the second one that made me cry. So that's two for two. Brilliant.

I was a bit disheartened when the opening credits flashed and I didn't see the names of Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. But it's Christmas, and Steven Moffat knows this. And here is his gift to me:

"It's Christmas, you moron."

*some info from Wikipedia



You also might want to check out the reviews for Doctor Who Series 1, Series 2, Series 4, Series 5, and Series 6.

Doctor Who. Series 6

I admit I am not a proper Whovian. That's what they call Doctor Who fans. The only reason I watched this show was because I have this big crush on Karen Gillan. Like by watching it, she'd somehow step out of the telly (see, I call it the telly now) and flash her gorgeous legs right in my face. Okay, wait. Enough daydreaming.

"Dream on."

Anyway, my first Doctor was Matt Smith. I have never seen David Tennant's Doctor, nor Christopher Eccleston's. Though I have heard some great reviews about Tom Baker's Doctor. But I do not regret starting with the Eleventh Doctor. Matt Smith is great. A straight-up weirdo.

The first series with Matt Smith (by the way, in America they call it a "season"; in England they call it a "series"), which is Series 5, was already reviewed by Claire. One noticeable thing with that series is that the opening credits show only two names, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. This series now has three names in the opening credits, the new name being Arthur Darvill (who plays Rory "the Roman"). So now the Doctor has two companions. Instead of one really hot one.