Things that I love about "Day of the Doctor"

[dbskyler]

I love "Day of the Doctor"! I just saw it again Monday night in a movie theater, in 3D, with an audience, and if anything, I now love it even more. Although I'm really glad I saw it first at home on my TV, because people applauded in spots and it made me miss dialogue! (Especially when I applauded too. *g*) But it was fun to be part of the movie experience, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. We also got special bonus material, including 1) Strax warning us against using our cell phones during the movie, and bidding us to enjoy the exploded corpses of popcorn kernels; and 2) the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors giving us instructions on our 3D glasses, and trading barbs about each other's appearance in 3D ("watch out for the chin!"). Also, there was a special "making of" documentary at the end that included things like David chatting to Billie about the look of her new costume. Plus, the theater was full of Doctor Who fans, some of them in costume! It was a great atmosphere and a giant party.

I'm still feeling celebratory, so I'm not going to do a full-on review, but instead I will just list some of my favorite things about this episode. So here we go, roughly in order:

-- Opening credits straight from 1963! That got an "ooh" sound at the theater.
-- Opening shot of a black-and-white shadow on a wall, that could have easily been straight out of 1963.
-- Clara is at Coal Hill school! Totter's Lane sign! And I didn't notice this myself, but others with sharper eyes than myself have pointed out the name of "I. Chesterton" on the school's sign.
-- The War Doctor's journey with The Moment. "If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds... and watch them wheel in another sky . . ." (Anyone else catch that visual reference?)
-- The War Doctor. Going into this, I fully expected the episode to be about Ten and Eleven ganging up to fight evil War!Doctor, who would surely be on a par with the Valeyard. I first got this impression from the end of "Name of the Doctor," and then in "Night of the Doctor," we got all that bit about how the new regeneration would be a specially-created warrior. And in his first scene, he asks for a gun! Yes, Moffat set me up, and I fell for it. But how wonderful that War!Doctor turned out to be the Doctor! And John Hurt was amazing.
-- The fez! We got a fez! Go fez!
-- The Tenth Doctor being utterly useless at detecting Zygons. And making grandiose speeches at a rabbit.
-- The whole scene where Ten and Eleven meet. "One of them's a Zygon." "Ewwww . . . I'm not judging you."
-- Reversing the polarity! No, make that confusing the polarity. *g*
-- War!Doctor's reactions to Ten and Eleven. "What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?" "We can pass the timey-wimey." Oh, and Ten's "I've no idea where he picks this stuff up." And who could forget "Geronimo!" "Allons-y!" "Oh, for God's sake!"
-- The whole scene in the Tower of London. Great stuff about the Time War, and great stuff about the sonic screwdriver . . . and then it turns out that the door wasn't locked! "It should have been locked."
-- The wall of companion photos in the Black Archive. What a great way to get everyone in!
-- The whole scene in the shack with The Moment towards the end. I was sure all three of them were going to blow everyone up again, but then they found another way! Thanks to Clara inspiring them! I especially loved the joy on Ten's face.
-- All the Doctors teaming up to save Gallifrey! What another great way to get everyone in. And I mean everyone -- go Capaldi!
-- TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER TOM BAKER
-- Can I just say that I totally thought that was going to be Capaldi showing up there at the end? I figured there was a surprise coming, but I thought the surprise would be our first real scene with Twelve. Instead I had a wish granted that I'd been harboring for over 30 years -- Tom Baker as the Doctor in an anniversary episode!
-- The Doctor is going home! The long way 'round! I love the hope and optimism of that. Yes, when he finds it, it's probably going to be full of Time Lords in funny hats, and corridors with strange furniture, and a guard carrying around a hat with a big feather on it. Also, evil!Rasillon, possibly. And almost definitely the Master. But also good Time Lords! Who knows, maybe we'll even get Susan, or Romana! Anyway, I'm looking forward to finding out. :D

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yup, Ian's listed as the Governor of Coal Hill School. (Also, Clara sped past the playground clock at 5.16 - the exact time the first episode aired!)

"And basically, you're just a rabbit." I actually saw that line coming and got it out before Ten did - but it still made me giggle.

I loved 8.5 thinking that 10 and 11 were the Doctor's companions, instead of the Doctor himself. That cracked me up so much - but yes, his snark towards them was just utterly fabulous (very Three Doctors/Five Doctors there)

And John Hurt was just wonderful - I want to give him a big squishy Who hug. He actually Tweeted on Sunday to thank everyone for the warmth of their welcome to him to the fandom. He seemed genuinely touched.

I need some icons!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Also, Clara sped past the playground clock at 5.16 - the exact time the first episode aired!

I figured there was some significance to the time on that clock, but I had no idea what it was! That's awesome!

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Clever, eh?!

[eve11]

I agree with everything in this post, especially all the joy :)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Hooray!!!!!! :D

[lolmac]

Ooo, I had seen and squeed at Coal Hill School and Totter's Lane, but I missed Ian's name and the time on the clock!

I nearly started sniffling at the black-and-white lead-in.

I found the special a wonderful salute to both Old and New Who. It just plain worked for me: everything you've said and more and more. I tend to balk at buying DW on DVD (I think they're egregiously ovepriced), but I am getting this one!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I taped it, and I've already re-watched it a ridiculous number of times. I am SO buying it when it comes out!

I'm really happy to hear that it worked for you as an anniversary celebration. I think that's what amazes me the most about it -- there was so much pressure to get it right, and we've seen "Five Doctors" where they really tried, but didn't quite succeed. Moffat deserves a ton of credit for doing such a great job with it. Plus, I'm sure the whole production team worked hard. It was a labor of love, and you can see that, and feel it, and I think that's why it works.

[thisbluespirit]

♥

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 <3

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Ha, we DO have completely different tastes ;) But hurrah! \0/ you enjoyed it.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Do you know how wonderful it is to have you completely disagree with me, and the main consequence is that you congratulate me on liking the thing you disliked? I'm very proud to have you on my flist. :D

[pitry.livejournal.com]

♥ ♥ ♥

(Or: OMG! We can be adults, even on the internet! :D)