I think 4 Doctors would have been cool. Having the 3 modern Doctors with the War Doctor would have been cool.
I would have rather just seen him during Hurt's regeneration scene.
As great as I thought Hurt was, I think I would have loved it if it had been Eccelston instead, no War Doctor at all. Right before he pushed the big red button because we've seen how deeply it affected him. Seeing an innocent but deeply torn version of hi would have been interesting. Plus seeing the three nu-who's on an adventure would have been a fitting tribute to the new series. But yeah, Eccelston has not been know for being cooperative. I read a few articles saying he was close to signing on for the special, had taken a couple of meetings, but in the end they couldn't work it out.
Last year I'd read that there were two versions of the script floating around - one with lots of Eccleston, and one with very little. As it turns out, we got one with none at all. I could see him filling in for the War Doctor, but I think the general consensus has always been that he came after that moment, since in "Rose" he appears to have only recently regenerated.
I would have been fine with McGann replacing Hurt, encountering Tennant, Smith (and maybe Eccleston if they'd ever been able to get him on board). It might have made more sense, and would have given McGann even more of a chance to play the role onscreen.
It sounds like Moffat was interested in getting a big name actor to play The Doctor though, even if for just one episode. And in bumping up the regeneration count for his own story needs. So this is probably close to what we were always going to get.
Yeah. Whatever happened in the Time War, I had always thought that the Eccelston Doctor was a result of what he did. There is a scene in "Rose" where he's looking in the mirror and checking himself out. Especially his ears. You do get the impression that he was newly regenerated.
On a side note, what's wrong with the UK... Strictly Come Dancing beats the special in the ratings?
Shi.....ows like that have usually a high viewership. It's brainnumbing and thus for many relaxing stuff. And this time add all the thousands of Whovians being on the channel, ready for the following splendid Doctor spectacle. Nothing wrong with the UK.
Yeah. Whatever happened in the Time War, I had always thought that the Eccelston Doctor was a result of what he did. There is a scene in "Rose" where he's looking in the mirror and checking himself out. Especially his ears. You do get the impression that he was newly regenerated.
Except that there's that guy in "Rose" who has documentation of the 9th doctor throughout history. So he'd been around. (Unless the 2 seconds he disappears at the end of the episode before he reappears and Rose accepts his invitation he goes on a seasons worth of adventures. Which is timey-wimey possible.)
The beauty with time travel, multiverse and black holes is that with these ingredients one can stuff any past, current and future plot hole. How can one not love it. :D
Yeah. Whatever happened in the Time War, I had always thought that the Eccelston Doctor was a result of what he did. There is a scene in "Rose" where he's looking in the mirror and checking himself out. Especially his ears. You do get the impression that he was newly regenerated.
Except that there's that guy in "Rose" who has documentation of the 9th doctor throughout history. So he'd been around. (Unless the 2 seconds he disappears at the end of the episode before he reappears and Rose accepts his invitation he goes on a seasons worth of adventures. Which is timey-wimey possible.)
Those two seconds have been used before to provide an Eccleston solo story. I wonder if that that's why it was put there in the first place. The likelilhood of Eccleston ever agreeing to do anything for Big Finish is probably non-existent, but you never know when a novel or comic might require an unencumbered Ninth Doctor.
Maybe not the big, old school, proper multi-Doctor story I kinda wanted (though there is Big Finish's fun "The Light at the End" to scratch that itch), but I thought it was fun, and though I was very, very skeptical about John Hurt's Doctor/Not Doctor/War Doctor/Whatever, I ended up coming out of this thinking he was pretty awesome.
Lots of unanswered questions, though, some of which I wish the show had explored a little deeper - mostly concerning the Zygons... so they had already infiltrated UNIT by the beginning, I'm assuming, so was it they who were keeping tabs on the Doctor's companions or had UNIT always done that, and if it was just the Zygons, is that how "Kate" recognized Clara, since they had never met onscreen but would've met her when the Zygon plan was put into action in the Elizabethan era>
Lots more questions, though, will fuel speculation and hopefully stories in years to come. Was the destruction of Gallifrey always averted like this, or is this a change to history? If so, does this change the Doctor's outcome at Trenzalore since he can now forgive himself? Or maybe that's a ruse, too... is Trenzalore the death of the Doctor, but the birth of the Caretaker (who seems pretty obviously a post-Capaldi "revisit", so is that an official sayonara to the 13 life limit)?
Anyway, lots to love here. Great to see Tennant again (and get the Queen Elizabeth I running gag finally sewn up), Billie Piper's involvement was fun (though they could've easily worked in a few other former companions to serve as temporary forms for the Moment), nice to see so many Easter eggs and shout outs in the UNIT sequences (and I always love a good "UNIT dating controversy" gag ("Check my father's files... either the 70s or the 80s"), as I said earlier I enjoyed Hurt a lot more than I thought I would especially since he was much warmer and funnier than I was expecting, the way they tied in all of the Doctors was great and the Capaldi cameo was just the icing on the cake for that, and the Tom Baker part was especially welcome... might've been nice to see the other surviving Doctors in similar roles (or, if The Five(ish) Doctors is to be believed, as more than just shrouded Zygon stand-ins!), but at least the now-elder statesman of the Doctors was there to represent them.
Looking forward to watching it again soon so I can see what I missed and enjoy it without the weight of expectations!
Lots of unanswered questions, though, some of which I wish the show had explored a little deeper - mostly concerning the Zygons... so they had already infiltrated UNIT by the beginning, I'm assuming, so was it they who were keeping tabs on the Doctor's companions or had UNIT always done that, and if it was just the Zygons, is that how "Kate" recognized Clara, since they had never met onscreen but would've met her when the Zygon plan was put into action in the Elizabethan era>
Lots more questions, though, will fuel speculation and hopefully stories in years to come. Was the destruction of Gallifrey always averted like this, or is this a change to history? If so, does this change the Doctor's outcome at Trenzalore since he can now forgive himself? Or maybe that's a ruse, too... is Trenzalore the death of the Doctor, but the birth of the Caretaker (who seems pretty obviously a post-Capaldi "revisit", so is that an official sayonara to the 13 life limit)?
I think we saw the moments when the Zygons replaced the members of UNIT - that shadow lurking in the background as Kate exited, for example - so it had only just happened. And Kate claimed that Clara had visited the Black Archive before, but her memory had been wiped, so they've met at some time - we just didn't see it. So, I assume that UNIT has always been tracking the Doctor and his companions.
As for Gallifrey - I think either explanation can work. Either history was changed, or that's how it always happened, except the Doctor doesn't remember it correctly. I tend to think that maybe this is how it always happened, because that way Moffat removes the stigma of The Doctor committing genocide (something that's never suited the character, in my opinion).
I really enjoyed the special, but have one question, the answer to which i may have missed. If the War Doctor used the "Moment" weapon and ended the Time War, why did the sentient part of the weapon cause him to think twice about it in this episode? We know that he already destroyed Gaillifrey, during one time line.
Now - I concluded that the answer is, "he never actually destroyed Gallifrey. He only thought he did. When he leaves the 10th and 11th doctors, he forgets that he/they changed his/their mind, ends up believing that he destroyed Gallifrey, and wracks guilt on the 9th-11th doctors, until the point when the 11th realizes what happened and it becomes his mission to save Gallifrey." Am I right?
Spoilers....in the form of continuity questions. I enjoyed the special these are just nit-picks
So did Gallifrey appear over the earth in The End of Time? Or is it Stasis Locked in a painting somewhere? Moffatt went out of his way to leave the inner council out of this episode. They were otherwise occupied, I assume And it's hard to believe that all the Daleks are so incompetent that when Gallifrey disappeared they shot each other to extinction. Also why are there 12.4 billion Gallifreyan kids? That's twice the population of earth, and for a race that can regenerate and live millennia, that'd represent a population of trillions. That's not how Gallifrey ever came across.
Spoilers....in the form of continuity questions. I enjoyed the special these are just nit-picks
So did Gallifrey appear over the earth in The End of Time? Or is it Stasis Locked in a painting somewhere? Moffatt went out of his way to leave the inner council out of this episode. They were otherwise occupied, I assume And it's hard to believe that all the Daleks are so incompetent that when Gallifrey disappeared they shot each other to extinction. Also why are there 12.4 billion Gallifreyan kids? That's twice the population of earth, and for a race that can regenerate and live millennia, that'd represent a population of trillions. That's not how Gallifrey ever came across.
Gallifrey appeared over Earth a little earlier in the day. Everyone was shocked and confused, but simply went about their business once they were returned. War is very distracting, so who has time to worry about planets in the sky.
The council was busy pointing fingers at one another for the rest of the afternoon, and when that became tiresome settled into an evening of quiet reading and cold shoulders.
Daleks are supremely dangerous in small numbers.
First of all, Gallifrey is huge. Like 3 Earths big. Secondly, many Gallifreyans thought they were very clever when they traded places with their younger selves to avoid the draft. That's why you never see Time Lord children outside of the time war.
OK. I *could* say the highlight of seeing Day of the Doctor at the theater was seeing Jenna Coleman's eyes on the big screen. Man, I do love brown eyes.
But.
The REAL highlight was being in a sold-out theater (one of four showings) in Greenville, SC full of dedicated enthusiastic nerds.
BTW: As beloved as Matt Smith may be, the fans seem to be quite excited about the upcoming change. The crowd exploded with cheers at Capaldi's cameo. Ex. Ploded.
like many, I saw this in a sold-out showing. My local theater added two additional showings, so (to the best of my knowledge) they didn't have to turn anyone away. Many of the attendees were in costume, which I assume was likely the norm. I enjoyed the extra intro we got at the beginning with Smith and Tennant demonstrating 3D technology. The added documentary at the end (narrated by Colin Baker) was another unexpected treat. I'm sure I missed a ton of Easter eggs, so I definitely plan on watching this one again. I did notice River Song's red shoes in Unit's Black Archive, I have no idea what the significance of that is - if any.
Jenna proved she has screen presence. I'm not sure she needed to prove it - nevertheless, her charisma shined. If there was one plot point that kind of bugged, me (but not to the point that I fixated on it), it was the inclusion of Peter Capaldi's character. Why include him? I gave up trying to answer this. The best answer I could come up with is that it was to appease fans. Moffat has gone on record as saying Peter's earlier appearance in the The Fires of Pompeii episode will somehow be retroactively brought into continuity. I guess if that's possible, then retconning his involvement here is just as feasible.
With just under a month to go, the BBC have revealed the title of this year's Christmas Day adventure to be The Time of the Doctor, accompanied by two versions of their festive image representing the Doctor's final outing in the guise of Matt Smith!
Also why are there 12.4 billion Gallifreyan kids? That's twice the population of earth, and for a race that can regenerate and live millennia, that'd represent a population of trillions. That's not how Gallifrey ever came across.
My theater was sold out last night as well, and that almost never happens in the middle of the week.
I actually enjoyed it more third time viewing, and even the Zygon plot didn't seem as superfluous as I'd thought.
And the Peter Capaldi cameo got the biggest applause of the evening.
The only bad thing about seeing it on a big screen in 3D - that final shot of all twelve Doctors didn't look so great. Maybe it simply can't hold up to scrutiny, but when I saw from the making of documentary that in fact it was actual actors with cgi dots on their face, and not cut-outs or wax figures like I'd assumed, it made me wonder why they didn't spend just a little more money and add some movement to them.
Did everyone's showing start about a half hour later than advertised? Or was that always the intention? They began recycling trivia questions and my audience began to get a little restless around 7:50.
Finally saw it On Demand last night. Generally, I liked it. Thought the main story was strong. The "B" story with the dopplegangers was very typical Moffat. He seems to love stories that feature dopplegangers.
Didn't really like the sorta retroactively renumbering the last few doctors, especially right after last years whole big "Fall of the 11th" story. Also, and if I missed something in between let me know, but I was VERY thrown by thinking about the end of last season, where Clara threw herself threw time... seemingly killing herself. Then her and Matt are in some kind of never never land where we see John Hurt. And then it just ended. Where does this story pick up? Months later? When everything is fine?
Also, I know it happened a while ago, but I never liked the whole thing where Matt basically aged 400 years off screen.
Spoilers....in the form of continuity questions. I enjoyed the special these are just nit-picks
So did Gallifrey appear over the earth in The End of Time? Or is it Stasis Locked in a painting somewhere? Moffatt went out of his way to leave the inner council out of this episode. They were otherwise occupied, I assume
Last night, I caught a line during the War Council's first appearance in which someone said the High Council was working on a plan of their own. I like to think that while Day of the Doctor is going on, all that stuff from End of Time is going on at the same time.
Last night, I caught a line during the War Council's first appearance in which someone said the High Council was working on a plan of their own. I like to think that while Day of the Doctor is going on, all that stuff from End of Time is going on at the same time.
As much as I loved watching it without commercials , I'm looking forward to rewatching it with commercials so I can digest the different parts during the commercials.
BBC America adds commercials to their On Demand shows where I am... and let me tell you. They were HIGHLY annoying. I would have paid money to skip them.
Spoilers....in the form of continuity questions. I enjoyed the special these are just nit-picks
So did Gallifrey appear over the earth in The End of Time? Or is it Stasis Locked in a painting somewhere? Moffatt went out of his way to leave the inner council out of this episode. They were otherwise occupied, I assume And it's hard to believe that all the Daleks are so incompetent that when Gallifrey disappeared they shot each other to extinction. Also why are there 12.4 billion Gallifreyan kids? That's twice the population of earth, and for a race that can regenerate and live millennia, that'd represent a population of trillions. That's not how Gallifrey ever came across.
I agree, as usual with Moffat, lots of continuity insanity because he doesn't care about continuity. What happened at the End of Time? Why would the Daleks be so incompetant, especially since we know they survived no matter what anyway? Why is Gallifrey suddenly soooo heavily populated? It always seemed like one city and thats it.
Looking ahead to the christmas special, it's going to be 99% Matt Smith with about 30 seconds of Peter Capaldi right? That's how they've been doing the regenerations isn't it? So we'll actually have to wait till the middle of next year to properly get to the next doctor.
Comments
I would have been fine with McGann replacing Hurt, encountering Tennant, Smith (and maybe Eccleston if they'd ever been able to get him on board). It might have made more sense, and would have given McGann even more of a chance to play the role onscreen.
It sounds like Moffat was interested in getting a big name actor to play The Doctor though, even if for just one episode. And in bumping up the regeneration count for his own story needs. So this is probably close to what we were always going to get.
Except that there's that guy in "Rose" who has documentation of the 9th doctor throughout history. So he'd been around. (Unless the 2 seconds he disappears at the end of the episode before he reappears and Rose accepts his invitation he goes on a seasons worth of adventures. Which is timey-wimey possible.)
Maybe not the big, old school, proper multi-Doctor story I kinda wanted (though there is Big Finish's fun "The Light at the End" to scratch that itch), but I thought it was fun, and though I was very, very skeptical about John Hurt's Doctor/Not Doctor/War Doctor/Whatever, I ended up coming out of this thinking he was pretty awesome.
Lots of unanswered questions, though, some of which I wish the show had explored a little deeper - mostly concerning the Zygons... so they had already infiltrated UNIT by the beginning, I'm assuming, so was it they who were keeping tabs on the Doctor's companions or had UNIT always done that, and if it was just the Zygons, is that how "Kate" recognized Clara, since they had never met onscreen but would've met her when the Zygon plan was put into action in the Elizabethan era>
Lots more questions, though, will fuel speculation and hopefully stories in years to come. Was the destruction of Gallifrey always averted like this, or is this a change to history? If so, does this change the Doctor's outcome at Trenzalore since he can now forgive himself? Or maybe that's a ruse, too... is Trenzalore the death of the Doctor, but the birth of the Caretaker (who seems pretty obviously a post-Capaldi "revisit", so is that an official sayonara to the 13 life limit)?
Anyway, lots to love here. Great to see Tennant again (and get the Queen Elizabeth I running gag finally sewn up), Billie Piper's involvement was fun (though they could've easily worked in a few other former companions to serve as temporary forms for the Moment), nice to see so many Easter eggs and shout outs in the UNIT sequences (and I always love a good "UNIT dating controversy" gag ("Check my father's files... either the 70s or the 80s"), as I said earlier I enjoyed Hurt a lot more than I thought I would especially since he was much warmer and funnier than I was expecting, the way they tied in all of the Doctors was great and the Capaldi cameo was just the icing on the cake for that, and the Tom Baker part was especially welcome... might've been nice to see the other surviving Doctors in similar roles (or, if The Five(ish) Doctors is to be believed, as more than just shrouded Zygon stand-ins!), but at least the now-elder statesman of the Doctors was there to represent them.
Looking forward to watching it again soon so I can see what I missed and enjoy it without the weight of expectations!
As for Gallifrey - I think either explanation can work. Either history was changed, or that's how it always happened, except the Doctor doesn't remember it correctly. I tend to think that maybe this is how it always happened, because that way Moffat removes the stigma of The Doctor committing genocide (something that's never suited the character, in my opinion).
Now - I concluded that the answer is, "he never actually destroyed Gallifrey. He only thought he did. When he leaves the 10th and 11th doctors, he forgets that he/they changed his/their mind, ends up believing that he destroyed Gallifrey, and wracks guilt on the 9th-11th doctors, until the point when the 11th realizes what happened and it becomes his mission to save Gallifrey." Am I right?
So did Gallifrey appear over the earth in The End of Time?
Or is it Stasis Locked in a painting somewhere?
Moffatt went out of his way to leave the inner council out of this episode. They were otherwise occupied, I assume
And it's hard to believe that all the Daleks are so incompetent that when Gallifrey disappeared they shot each other to extinction.
Also why are there 12.4 billion Gallifreyan kids? That's twice the population of earth, and for a race that can regenerate and live millennia, that'd represent a population of trillions. That's not how Gallifrey ever came across.
The council was busy pointing fingers at one another for the rest of the afternoon, and when that became tiresome settled into an evening of quiet reading and cold shoulders.
Daleks are supremely dangerous in small numbers.
First of all, Gallifrey is huge. Like 3 Earths big. Secondly, many Gallifreyans thought they were very clever when they traded places with their younger selves to avoid the draft. That's why you never see Time Lord children outside of the time war.
But.
The REAL highlight was being in a sold-out theater (one of four showings) in Greenville, SC full of dedicated enthusiastic nerds.
BTW: As beloved as Matt Smith may be, the fans seem to be quite excited about the upcoming change. The crowd exploded with cheers at Capaldi's cameo. Ex. Ploded.
I finally saw it.
I REALLY LIKED IT!
like many, I saw this in a sold-out showing. My local theater added two additional showings, so (to the best of my knowledge) they didn't have to turn anyone away.
Many of the attendees were in costume, which I assume was likely the norm. I enjoyed the extra intro we got at the beginning with Smith and Tennant demonstrating 3D technology. The added documentary at the end (narrated by Colin Baker) was another unexpected treat. I'm sure I missed a ton of Easter eggs, so I definitely plan on watching this one again. I did notice River Song's red shoes in Unit's Black Archive, I have no idea what the significance of that is - if any.
Jenna proved she has screen presence. I'm not sure she needed to prove it - nevertheless, her charisma shined. If there was one plot point that kind of bugged, me (but not to the point that I fixated on it), it was the inclusion of Peter Capaldi's character. Why include him? I gave up trying to answer this. The best answer I could come up with is that it was to appease fans. Moffat has gone on record as saying Peter's earlier appearance in the The Fires of Pompeii episode will somehow be retroactively brought into continuity. I guess if that's possible, then retconning his involvement here is just as feasible.
I actually enjoyed it more third time viewing, and even the Zygon plot didn't seem as superfluous as I'd thought.
And the Peter Capaldi cameo got the biggest applause of the evening.
The only bad thing about seeing it on a big screen in 3D - that final shot of all twelve Doctors didn't look so great. Maybe it simply can't hold up to scrutiny, but when I saw from the making of documentary that in fact it was actual actors with cgi dots on their face, and not cut-outs or wax figures like I'd assumed, it made me wonder why they didn't spend just a little more money and add some movement to them.
Did everyone's showing start about a half hour later than advertised? Or was that always the intention? They began recycling trivia questions and my audience began to get a little restless around 7:50.
examiner.com/article/steven-moffat-matt-smith-is-the-13th-doctor :-??
Didn't really like the sorta retroactively renumbering the last few doctors, especially right after last years whole big "Fall of the 11th" story. Also, and if I missed something in between let me know, but I was VERY thrown by thinking about the end of last season, where Clara threw herself threw time... seemingly killing herself. Then her and Matt are in some kind of never never land where we see John Hurt. And then it just ended. Where does this story pick up? Months later? When everything is fine?
Also, I know it happened a while ago, but I never liked the whole thing where Matt basically aged 400 years off screen.
Apparently, Tennant's Doctor used a regeneration, but kept his form, so he's 11 and 12.
Hand/One-Hearted Doctor/Doctor-Donna.
That used a regeneration.