Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special Discussion Thread

This totally snuck by me but I can't believe 6 months have past since the season finale of series 7. Because of the timing of this I'm coming in completely cold turkey and only remember the John Hurt reveal at the end of the episode. Well the episode airs in a few minutes so I'm holding my breath and expectation for what comes next. Here's hoping for an eventually great pay off.

For those who want to watch a live pre-show / post-show hosted by Veronica Belmont for BBC America link can be found here

Looking for a theater in the SF area playing it if anybody knows.

I have a "friendsgiving" thing I need to go to tonight, but I'll definitely DVR it for later. I'm completely stoked for it.

For those that don't know, there is a prologue to the special called "Day of the Doctor," featuring the most prolific doctor in the series:

@andorski: Whoa, whoa, whoa, so the 11th doctor is actually the 12th doctor? Motherfucker. I need to catch up ASAP.

@ryanwhom said:

Show is actually telecast simultaneously on BBC America and other BBC networks across the globe right now. I've been reading around a few places that are doing some group gatherings screenings but not sure about SF. Good luck though.

@andorski: Great Moffat acknowledged Paul McGann as one of the Doctors and did this by showing his death. Was that female he was traveling with his companion from the film?

Watched it, finished it and I am now both blown away and a little confused...

I'll probably rewatch it again to try and make sense of what happened but Moffat was right in saying the series won't be the same. With that comes the Christmas Doctor Who Special which should be Matt Smith's last as the Doctor and the intro to Peter Capaldi. See you then folks.

Wow that was pretty awesome. It was really fun and had some badass moments 'Sorry about the dalek'. The future looks super interesting for the series (the new doctor searching for gallifrey) and I'm still trying to wrap my head around some stuff. I cannot wait for the Christmas special and the next season.

That was excellent! Definitely gives the series a good jumping off point. But who knows, Gallifrey could be a long time off still. But having access to Gallifrey again in some way could mean more regenerations easy. I can't wait to see what comes next.

In essence, yes. It is brought up at the finale of series 7. The latter half of series 7 was pretty lackluster, but what the 50th anniversary episode seems to be about looks epic.

Spoilers I guess?

It reminded me a bit of that episode of the Simpsons where they reveal that Principal Skinner is a fake. Messing about so drastically with a mythology that has been built up over 50 years seems dangerous but I guess people that still like Doctor Who liked it?

Bloody loved it.

@pie: The time war was only built up after the 1996 film, so it isn't so bad.

The only thing I didn't like was Elizabeth I. She was lame. She did slightly redeem herself near the end though.

@falx: well that shows how much I know about Doctor who then

@i_stay_puft: Here is my interpretations of your queries.

1)They were a result of the time war, and they stopped their evil ways because....they forgot what the were. With everyone's mind in that room wiped, they were forced to come to a permanent cease-fire because they weren't sure if they were the invaders or the humans XD

2)Rose was still Rose at the time she is the Bad Wolf before 9th saves her, thus forcing his regen into 10th. As Bad Wolf, this is another place she stopped to mess with, so that time could happen like it did for the Doctor. She show's herself to The Warrior as the UI for the weapon, as to not spoil his future as 9/10.

3)I wanna guess after Rose but before Martha. Nothing to base that off though, other then he seems to be playing a bit happier 10th, versus his more darker side post all his companions, which I feel starts during his period of time with Martha.

4)I don't know about this one, but it was amazing none the less.

I also agree with the Capaldi nod, that was really neat. I'm gonna watch the rebroadcast later and see if there are any notable things in the background of that scene. Would be neat to see a sneak preview of the 12th's Tardis.

All and all I thought the 50th was awesome. I liked what the did with opening up Galifrey as a story point, and I feel like they did it well. It was kinda a retcon...but in the Doctor Who world, retcons can easily explained as.....timey wimey stuff.

Can't wait for Christmas and the next full season.

No, it was just another random person the doctor was trying to save and contemplating to take in as a companion.

I liked it.

It was uh, "big" in a way that the show hasn't really been a lot of during the Smith era.

Of course that 3 second cameo has its own tumblr now.

http://petercapaldieyeshotfanclub.tumblr.com/

I actually really liked the War Doctor/John Hurt's Doctor. Especially the way he reacts to his future selves and calls them childish. Pretty amusing. I also just like his clothing and the design of it.

They did some pretty good stuff with the 3 doctors, both really awesome badass type and really hilarious comedic moments, and it all worked out quite well.

The only problem i really had was that the shapeshifter thing in the present day didn't feel like it was fully resolved, but then that wasn't really the focus of the episode so it's fine with the resolution it got.

I liked it but did not love it. Much of the special felt very...expected? My problem with Moffat is he kind of treats viewers as though they have short term memory and they don't really think about things, such as "hey...what about those shape changing aliens who are really evil buttholes"? I compare this much to how wrestling bookers understand that the fans have short term memories. There were cool moments but Tennant's last words felt...incredibly forced. Either way, I liked it.

I have a feeling it was right before this:

just a hunch though.

3) When Tennant is talking to the rabbit, he says that he's 904 years old. So that probably means that it's Tennant between the end of season 4 and "The End of Time", where he was traveling on his own.

4) I think the idea is, that this is suppose to be a retired doctor from the far future, where he's revisting old favorite faces. But I think they left it vague, so people could make their own interpertation.

@Gnubberen: That's what I assumed but why would a peace treaty needed to be written between earth and the Zygons? Weren't the Zygons in the wrong here cause they were trying to take over earth? Also where did the Doctor pull the powers of amnesia everybody? Wouldn't that also effect like Claire and all the Doctors as well? Did he have those powers cause there were 3 Doctors and with their combined powers they were able to pull it off? I was super super psyched for the Zygons and they were teasing those monsters since first news broke out about the special, kinda felt they weren't utilized.

Yeah its hard even for Dr. Who to explain why an older version of the 4th shows up. He showed up because he's the oldest living doctor, they'll figure out the mechanics behind it in 10 years or something. Nice little nod but I had to wiki it up. Tennant as expected kind of dominated most of his scenes and Matt become a backround comedic prop. In a way the catharthis here I guess goes to a explain a bit why the next doctor will be a bit older. He's not hiding from himself anymore. Good stuff. Ecclesion I was hoping could make a cameo outside of stock footage but my understanding is he chose to play an iconic character then decided he didnt want to be known as an iconic character. Bit silly but like cmon put your ego shit aside and show up you know. Hell, 8 showed up.

Smith: Timey-wimey things.
Hurt: "Timey" what!? Timey-wimey?
Tennant: I have no idea where he picks that stuff up.

I fucking lost it at that dialogue exchange.

To be fair, that was arguably the most badass moment in the entire episode.

I have been saying for years that they needed to undo The Time War lock thing because that would bring back other Time Lords. Sure Daleks and Cybermen and whatever are fun to fight monsters of the episode but having other Time Lords either actively interfering or in conflict or even helping The Doctor would be a conflict that you often don't see in the show.

@extomar: I think the Doctor finding the other Time Lords again will be fantastic, but not a good thing by any means! Since they are still locked in the last day of the Time Warm, most the Time Lords should still be jaded and evil, like described in The End of Time. They weren't the most benevolent force in the classic series either.

I feel it's gonna be a hell of a heart string pulling episode/season, building up to finding his home, just to find they are still crazy and trying to either end time, or conquer the universe.

What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?

I wonder how much the episode benefited from the extended running time. Series 7B felt chopped to hell. Most likely cuts were made for time constraints. No such issues this go around, though. The only problem I had with the episode was Matt Smith and David Tennant trying to out-squee each other. I appreciated Hurt calling them foolish.

I'm not sure how I feel about the time war getting retconned. That was such a big part of the early foundation in the "new who" that without it, I'm not sure who the Doctor is supposed to be now. I always took his incredible resolve in the face of impossible odds to be directly informed by the time war. It also went a way toward humanizing the character. He wasn't infallible and there was, at least once, a time where there really was no other option than to throw down. I understand the target demographic is ten year olds, but come on. At least let him have something that resembles a difficult dilemma. Morally grey Doctor Who is where I feel the show excels.

Meh. Considering the general Doctor Who fanbase and I rarely agree on anything, I imagine I'm probably wrong about that as well.

@oldirtybearon: I think this new wrinkle actually allows the doctor to go even darker. Now he'll be fronted the opportunity to bring his race back, the thing he claimed he wanted, the reason he was able to overlook some of the awful things the master did over and over. Or leave them in a prison. He blocked the war doctor from his mind because he wanted to divorce himself from the crime of genocide well imagine him having the means to bring them back and choosing not to day after day. If anything he might be more embracing of the war doctor part of himself.