I was terribly excited that I was going to watch the special episode of Doctor Who at Dendy cinemas. 3D and all. This was an episode to mark the 50th anniversary of the BBC show that I have grown to love in the last couple of years (I came to the party late). I consider myself a Whovian and though that gets a snicker from some people (I am looking at you J), I am not ashamed of it.
Dendys was packed in a way that I didn't think possible. I didn't have any idea that the good Doctor had such a following in sleepy Canberra. I kind of guessed it when the tickets were soldout within hours of being released (I got the last 5 tickets available) but still it was so amazing to see Whovians young and old, dress up in Fezzes and bowties, TARDIS dresses and even an Amy Pond kiss-o-gram to watch the special screening on a Sunday morning.
Sunday morning with friends and fellow Whovians to watch Dr. Who on the big screen. The day couldn't get any better. I mean it could have... if the episode was any good. Sadly it wasn't.
*Spoiler Alert*
Firstly, the alien antagonists of the episode were something called the Zygon. I had never heard of them before. They didn't have any historical significance (they weren't the first alien species from the first episode or any such thing). An epic show requires epic villains. What happened to the Daleks? To the Cybermen? To the Weeping Angels? To VashtaNerada? To Great Intelligence? Zygons that could take the shape of any human???? Darnit! You are only as good as your enemy and an enemy who is easily fooled by a cloyingly naive and big breasted Queen Elizabeth is far from the enemy that only 3 Doctors can defeat.
And if that sounds like a quibble, the other problems with the episode sure aren't.
The Doctor had killed off his own people (and the Daleks) to end the Timewar. Everything that comes after, the entire series, is because of that. The last of the timelords; a God with immense power to destroy everything but still cares deeply and protects the universe. The episode takes this pivotal moment in the personal history of the Doctor, and makes a cheap play to say... oh! he didn't really kill those people. He saved them. But he won't remember. So his personal history is still intact.
How can one go back and watch the episodes with Christopher Eccleston and care about the deeply haunted Doctor? How many times in the show have we heard, 'Last of his kind' to explain some crucial aspect of the Doctor? It is very hard to accept that Rose, the companion that changes the ruthless warrior to the sensitive Tenth doctor, was a lie.
Nah! I am not buying it. No amount of 3d boob/chin is good enough to buy this load of horsepoo.
Typically, the different versions of the Doctor in the same room will blow up the universe. But once you reverse the polarity of the thingamacallit, oh! now it is alright. But not always. Just this one instance. The next time the Doctor is facing an impossible foe, he can't get the 13 other versions of him.
Still, seeing Tennant's Doctor was wonderful. I really don't know why they had to get John Hurt to play the Doctor. He added nothing to the show. Now are we supposed to call Matt the Twelfth Doctor. Since Paul McGann does play the Doctor in the web-only minisode ahead of this episode, they could have just used him and not created an anomalous Doctor (who doesn't fit in with the rest of the show). Ok you have the Doctor who is not the Doctor in John Hurt and they are about to use the Moment to blow up Gallifrey and end the Timewar because there really really isn't any other choice. The hand is on the big red button. They are about to press it. Here we go. Almost pressed. Oh! what is that. Clara doesn't like it. OK then. We won't blow it up. Fuck that!
Saving Gallifrey is a total cop-out. One doesn't go... the Doctor's deepest darkest secret is... that he is a saintly amnesiac. The whole episode lacked gravitas. It was a farcical take on Doctor. Almost a parody. It would have been nice for a Children in Need special. Like that one time when Peter Davison meets David Tennant's Doctor. Something gimmicky that is not part of the overall storyline.
It may sound harsh but I have been spoilt to demand big things of the Doctor Who writers. I have sat through the heart-wrenching moment of Rose's departure in Doomsday. I was made to chew through my nails for the Stolen Earth. I have wept and laughed at The Wedding of River Song. In the pantheon of epic Doctor Who episodes, there is absolutely no room for The day of the Doctor. And that is just sad.
