The day of the doctor

I loved this episode even though there were a few things I couldn’t stand. I just want to get out of the way the thing I hated the most so I don’t have to talk about it again. And it’s such a small moment.

It’s Clara clicking her fingers to open the Tardis door’s. I have no words for how much this makes me dislike Steven Moffat (this is worse than River flying the Tardis and the noise it makes being because he leaves the breaks on). I might actually devote an entire post to why I hate this.

That aside this didn’t really celebrate all of doctor who only the new series. Although there was a cameo in there I loved and I haven’t even got to that part of classic doctor who yet.

David Tenant was brilliant. The jokes about him always kissing women were funny and him delivering a warning speech to a bunny he thought was a Zygon. His doctor’s my favourite but I loved them making fun of him.

The little double act Matt Smith and David tenant had going was great. They are very similar doctors. Probably because of all the energy they put into it.

We got some more insight into both versions of the doctor. The man who regrets and the man who forgets. Steven Moffat does summarise quite well (Amy Pond was the girl who waited).

And John Hurt’s doctor being confused by them and critiquing aspects of the new series. I imagine it’s what some of the older fans think. I know my friend’s dad has some issues with where the series is going.

So the parts I was looking forward to was seeing David Tenant again, Ten and Eleven interacting, John Hurt as the doctor and seeing Billie Piper again. What I was not looking forward to was the time war.

I like the idea of the time war being bigger than anything else and maybe being a bit incomprehensible to those who don’t understand time like the Time Lords do. So really I liked the time war existing in my imagination. Sparked by descriptions we hear from the doctor but never actually seeing it.

Another reason I was not looking forward to it was I’d lost all faith in Steven Moffat’s ability to tell stories in Doctor who. This was because of Season 7 mostly.

I hadn’t loved the series the same way since he took over. I think it was mostly to do with the fairy tale aspect and I just didn’t connect with it. But then Season 7 happened and he had to write introducing John Hurt as the doctor on the screen because he wasn’t able to be clear enough in the story about what was happening. Not a good sign.

He seems to take on these really big ideas and then it all goes wonky somewhere.
So I didn’t have faith that he could pull off the time war.

He solved the problem of showing this epic battle on screen by having it be no different from any other battle.

It doesn’t look unique. It could be any battle anywhere. The entire thing boiled down to Daleks firing on Gallifrey.

I won’t spoil what happens but the solution, while it is an awesome moment, takes away all sense of grand scale from the time war. What happened to all the Time Lord weapons?

The rest of it is quite clever though. I liked the time lord art that was a moment of time.
It looked beautiful at the cinema and was actually worth seeing in 3D. I don’t say that very often.

The plot with the Zygons didn’t really get a proper ending and getting Clara into the past was a bit forced. I saw what was coming a mile away. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is always good and I liked her assistant.

Both plots reflected each other well if a bit obviously but I can’t complain seeing as how I’ve criticised Steven Moffat for writing incomprehensibly complicated plots.

I’ve got to buy it on Dvd now so I can watch all the special features. I hope there are lots because lately Dvds have been lacking in that department.

If you like the new series of doctor who then you’re going to like this but if you don’t like the new series then you’ll probably hate it.

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