#38: The Day of the Doctor.

The War Doctor (John Hurt) makes a choice
that will shape his future lives.

1 episode. Approx. 79 minutes. Written by: Steven Moffat. Directed by: Nick Hurran. Produced by: Marcus Wilson. 


THE PLOT

The Doctor finds himself working with UNIT once again, called in by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave). Housed in the National Gallery is a vault of forbidden alien art, inlcuding 3-D Time Lord art - not so much paintings as moments of frozen time. Something has broken out of several of these artworks, with figures missing from the paintings and broken glass showing that something escaped from inside the art.

As the Doctor investigates, he encounters a fissure in time, one that connects him to his Tenth incarnation (David Tennant). The Tenth Doctor is romancing Queen Elizabeth I (Joanna Page), but his overtures are a ruse to expose a Zygon infiltration. He is only just starting to deal with the Zygons when he encounters his future self, much to his irritation. Almost immediately thereafter, they are joined by a third self: The incarnation they never acknowledge, the War Doctor (John Hurt).

From the War Doctor's perspective, he has just stolen the Time Lord weapon known as "The Moment" from Gallifrey. He knows that using it will destroy his own people as well as the Daleks, but he is ready to do so to end a war that threatens all creation. But The Moment has a conscience, and will not allow him to make this choice without seeing what he will become. Their time together will lead to a choice - and a change that may not affect the Doctor's past, but will certainly alter his future!


CHARACTERS

The Eleventh Doctor: Gets noticeably less focus than his predecessors. That's not to say he gets sidelined. He gets plenty of screen-time, the scenes with him looking at Gallifreyan art in the National Gallery used to seamlessly work in exposition involving both the War Doctor's decision and the Tenth Doctor's zany Zygon adventure. But the Time War story is primarily the War Doctor's, while the Zygon story is primarily the Tenth's. Eleven is largely left to react and comment on the other two. Within this framework, he's extremely entertaining; his wry asides about the Tenth Doctor kissing Queen Elizabeth's Zygon doppelganger are particularly funny. But it's only in the last 10 - 15 minutes that Smith's Doctor truly claims the spotlight.

The Tenth Doctor: David Tennant recaptures his Doctor effortlessly and instantly. His Doctor comes so effortlessly and completely to life that when we first cut to him it feels like we've switched over to a Series Four episode. The Tenth Doctor comes across as much slicker than the Eleventh, particularly with women. He charms both Queen Elizabeth and Clara with full self-confidence; indeed, his initial plan to expose the Zygons rests on his confidence in being a suitor for Elizabeth. The Time War is still vivid in his mind, with even a full incarnation's separation insufficient to dull the pain. He is appalled when he sees that his own successor has "moved on," and demands to know if a few hundred years is really all it takes to get over something so unspeakable. Tennant and Smith make a terrific double-act: Their Doctors are similar enough to be believable as the same man, and different enough for both comic and dramatic contrast between them.

The War Doctor: Was teased as an ominous figure in The Name of the Doctor and The Night of the Doctor, but is revealed here as... Well, really as just a different incarnation of The Doctor. John Hurt is fantastic, and I think the piece is strengthened by having an actor so much older than Smith and Tennant. It heightens the War Doctor's weariness as he makes his desperate decision to use The Moment, and it lends an extra dimension to his interactions with his successors. I enjoyed his disgust at the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor's more juvenile tendencies. "Do you have to talk like children?" he demands of them. "What makes you so ashamed of being grown up?" The way they both look back at him gives all the answer needed: The intense guilt over the "grown up" decision to wipe out two entire civilizations for the greater good has led them to reject everything they see his incarnation as having stood for. 

Clara: Jenna Coleman apparently ditched the "Louise" between Series Seven and this special. Aside from that, nothing has changed: She's still a winning screen presence, but still struggling against a character who feels less than fully-formed. At least she gets some good moments. Clara is able to move quickly to avoid a Zygon trap and to rescue the Doctors, and her bemusement that none of them even thought to try to the (unlocked) door to their cell at any point is quite funny. Unlike the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, she recognizes that the War Doctor has yet to use The Moment, observing that his eyes are "so much younger" than her otherwise youthful Doctor's eyes are; the War Doctor may be haunted by many things he has seen and done, but he is not yet haunted bythat. Her key moment comes at the end, when she appeals to the Eleventh Doctor - her Doctor - to find another way. "We've got enough warriors, and any old idiot can be a hero... Be a Doctor."

Rose Tyler:I groaned when I heard that Billie Piper would return (yet again) for The Day of the Doctor. It seemed like too many returns from a character who had already returned at least one time more than was welcome. Steven Moffat is nothing if not clever, though. By using Rose Tyler's image as the face and voice of "The Moment," he nods to the significance of the New Series' first companion and her place in the Doctor's life, and does so without undermining her exit (as I felt happened in her Series Four return). She works also to give voice to the War Doctor's subconscious, giving us a look at this more taciturn Doctor's viewpoint without having to resort to labored monologues.

Zygons: I suspect all viewers have a few "fan favorites" that leave them a bit cold, and Terror of the Zygons is one of mine. The design was terrific, though, and has been wisely left intact. Their shapeshifting is heavily drawn on, used for both humor and suspense. Their plot is largely a "B" story, but the script makes sure to tie it into the Time War story. In plot terms, the Zygons are invading Earth because their own planet was destroyed by the Time War; in thematic terms, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart prepares to make the same decision for Earth (sacrifice many to save more) that the War Doctor made for the universe. As a piece of a larger whole it works - and the Zygons work well enough that I wouldn't mind seeing them again in a story properly their own.


THOUGHTS

So much has been written about The Day of the Doctor that I won't even try to add anything new. Instead, I'm simply going to review it as what it is, first and foremost: a Doctor Who story. A big one: Feature-length running time, a much bigger budget than the average episode, and a full 3-D presentation (a rather good one). But for all of that, it's a story first. I wouldn't hesitate to call it a good one.

All the strengths of the Moffat era are here in force. The script is clever, spending its first portion establishing three different time zones with three different problems and then weaving those together into one big plot. We even get a signature Moffat flourish, as a minor aside early in the episode pays off late in the episode thanks to the magic of time travel. Moffat likes things to be large-scale, and we certainly get that here: A glimpse at a key battle in the Time War features exterminations, big guns, the War Doctor using said big gun to write a big message, and a Dalek killed by a charging TARDIS. There is an abundant amount of humor, with gags and one-liners dominating the Elizabethan portion and making the interactions of the three Doctors a joy to witness.

Some of the weaknesses are here, as well. The dialogue is fast and funny, but occasionally too self-aware for its own good. The climax is big and bold... maybe a bit too much so to feel as dramatically earned as it would have dialed back just a bit. It doesn't quite spin out of control, but there's a minute or so where it feels ready to. 

But if there are a few blemishes, what of it? The Day of the Doctor is a tremendous amount of fun. Smith and Tennant are terrific together, and John Hurt is so utterly perfect that I can't find it in myself to regret Christopher Eccleston's absence - I actually think the story works much better with the War Doctor than it would have with the Ninth! There's more separation, both in years and in acting style, between John Hurt's melancholy incarnation and the extroverted Tennant and Smith, and Hurt's gravelly voice is a perfect match with his character's weariness. Plus, I always viewed the Ninth Doctor as a reaction to the Time War, having regenerated right after pushing the button, and this maintains that characterization.

As much as I liked this story, I can't give it full marks. It's fun, but I find it far more successful in its lighthearted moments than in its more dramatic passages. Still, as a celebration of 50 Years of Doctor Who, and of the past eight years of New Who in particular, I found it delightful viewing. 

Finally, since some comment on the ending is required, I'll give a very brief one: I don't have an opinion yet.  What's done here could turn out to be a good thing, opening up new dramatic avenues for the series; it could turn out to be a bad thing. It all depends on what happens next.

Overall Rating: 9/10.

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