"You've redecorated. I don't like it."

[locker_monster]

 So yeah. I flew all the way to London to watch "The Day of the Doctor" in the theatre.

All right I didn't but it was still great to see it on the big screen with a room full of fans. Everyone reacted the same. It was great. And cheering! I never would have cheered at home.

Now, it'd be easy to rip the plot to shreds, but I won't. Let's focus on the good stuff.

Multi-Doctor stories are always good fun. It's always amusing to see the Doctor interacting with himself. He always starts out annoyed with himself but they always end up working together. I love that Ten and Eleven had some sonic screwdriver envy going on. And the Hurt!Doctor was so impatient with them, like he was dealing with children. I didn't know what to make of John Hurt's Doctor when he showed up at the end of "The Name of the Doctor", but he turned out pretty well. He's so tired and weary from the war, but he still has a spark, especially when he meets up with himself. Too bad we'll never see more of him. Well, maybe he'll pop up again in another anniversary. :-) But he's redeemed in the end. Too bad only Eleven remembers.

So he's actually Nine? And Nine is Ten, and so on? How do we number him now?!?

I never thought we would get to see Gallifrey during the Time War. Not that we see a lot. Just the last day. But we do get to see the Moment, mentioned back in "The End of Time". It was kind of neat that it took on Rose's form, but I would have preferred that Billie Piper had returned as Rose to David Tennant's Doctor. Oh well, you can't have everything. Maybe people will write fics now where the Moment takes on the form of other Companions. I kind of knew the Zygons were coming back, but I was sort of in denial about any information I heard. I never would have considered them as big enough villains to be the enemy in a big anniversary special, but hey, it's still great to see them. Hey, maybe this means they'll come back in future seasons. But it was kind of weird that the main plot was just the Zygons trying to invade. The Time War and the Moment was kind of secondary.

Things I did not see coming: Capaldi! They snuck him in. I can't believe they did that. The crowd lost their mind. They probably did inserts of Peter Capaldi after he was cast. Unless they had already hired him when they filmed this... But anyway. The crowd equally lost its mind when Tom Baker showed up. There wasn't cheering. Just stunned disbelief. I saw the man today at the 50th anniversary con and he was so casual. Poor guy had to keep a lid on this for ages. McGann, Capaldi, Baker. Holy crap, Moffat! He's a fan so he gets stuff like this. He knows what fans want to see.

Like, all of the Doctors together at the end helping to phase Gallifrey out of time or whatever happened. Is it right to say that they got the past Doctors to voice new lines? I couldn't tell. I know it was all archive footage, but with all of the cheering it was hard to hear what was being said. Nine got a cheer, too, even though it was old footage.

And Gallifrey is coming back now? Will we see Twelve (Thirteen?) searching for Gallifrey with Clara? Ooh, the Master could come back now. He was on Gallifrey when the War ended. Hmm... Lots of possibilities now...

Random: So, what happened to the end of "The Name of the Doctor"? Clara and the Doctor were stuck in limbo land, no? And then suddenly Clara is a teacher at Coal Hill? I mean, it was great to see a reference to the first episode and Ian is the head of the school's committee or something and the time is the time the first episode aired, but huh? The 3D had its great moment. The Doctor hanging off of the TARDIS over London was nice, and the 3D paintings obviously took advantage of the 3D, but I'm sure the episode was fine without it. The Black Archive had some nice kisses to the past, too. A lot of old props and stuff. Not sure why River's shoes are in there. ;-) So is it implied that all of the Doctors have visited the Archive with other Companions? And who is Tom Baker supposed to be? A later Doctor? I need to watch everything again. And did David Tennant film on the TARDIS set at the Doctor Who Experience? And Ten in a fez! I'm surprised they didn't work in the replica set from An Adventure in Time and Space.

Too many thoughts. I'm sure I'm missing stuff. Now we wait until Christmas...

ETA: I deleted the other post (sorry who_daily) as I posted my reaction faster than anticipated.

Comments

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Oooh, interesting to read about the reactions in the London theater! I was watching it at home by myself, but I'll get to see it in 3D on a movie screen on Monday. (Most of the audience will probably have seen it already like me, but it should still be fun!)

I don't think the past Doctors voiced new lines for the "save Gallifrey" scene; it looked to me like they had just done a good job of choosing clips that went with the scene.

I did not know about the Zygons, or Capaldi, and I definitely didn't know about Tom Baker! You should've seen me when he showed up. I think I leaped off the couch. ; )

Holy crap, Moffat! He's a fan so he gets stuff like this. He knows what fans want to see.

Yes!

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

The theatre experience was definitely worth it. It's a once in a lifetime kind of deal. I don't see it happening any time soon, at least in North America.

After watching the episode again, yeah, they were old audio clips, too, but I think One's line was new. I could have sworn he was the one who called the War Council. Maybe they got a sound alike to do the line?

I did so well avoiding spoilers. I didn't even watch any of the trailers. And then at the 50th con they showed one of the trailers during a panel. D'oh! At least I wasn't the only one who hadn't seen it yet. There was a girl next to me who hadn't watched anything either.

[mornea.livejournal.com]

The first doctor had a new line- they had an actor who can do his voice perfectly to read it. The first doctor never said "Gallifrey" as the planet wasn't in the story at that point. His origins until the end of Twos run were a mystery. Brand new line! The rest, I think, were from old clips.

[joking.livejournal.com]

The plot made no goddamn sense, and I'm kind of ticked off about what they've done with the Time War, but I'm trying to focus on the positive, because it was such a romp and TOM BAKER. I screamed fit to shatter the windows!

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled with the Gallifrey retcon either and the plot didn't make sense in so many places, but what are you going to do? Moffat had some other nice things, so I can throw him a bone.

You could hear the audience losing its mind after Tom Baker's first line, but no one screamed or anything. I swear we were all holding our breaths.

[mornea.livejournal.com]

Don't think it was a retcon at all. I really thought the plot was very carefully crafted so all the bits fit. This is what always happened, the thing Bad Wolf did to end the war (and she was always the one who ended the war). The doctor didn't KNOW that's what happened.
It's like the Impossible Astronaut- 11 was always the teselecta, but the others didn't know it. That fixed point was the teselecta being shot, not the doctor.
And the time war was ended by the Moment, encouraging the doctor, to do what he did. It's just HE didn't know it as his memory was not retained.
To me it all works. What would NOT work is if he found Gallifrey and nothing about the Ascending was in there. Right now Rasillon and his nasty minions are locked away- and I don't want them forgotten. But I don't think this episode undid anything from earlier Who.

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Re: Tom Baker, I think it's implied that somewhere far down the line, the Doctor retired to become the curator, and, many regenerations hence, he'd decided to re-use some of his old favorite faces. Which I assume means he gets lots of regenerations again, and, given this episode, I think it's probably going to be Capaldi's exit: He finds Gallifrey, and they reward him with more regenerations. Obvious, but so're are a lot of things, the fun is watching how it happens.

I think they made a references to the 3rd Doctor's dating controversy, too, they said to grab a file that was dated "in the 70s, or maybe the 80s, depending on the format." Though I'll have to watch again to be sure.

Mostly I liked it, although there were a few stupid bits, I'm glad they managed an "every Doctor" moment (just wish they had a bit more Eccleston in the regeneration).

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

That makes sense, Capaldi's Doctor getting more regenerations after finding Gallifrey. The Council did offer the Master more regenerations so they must have a process to grant more lives. Maybe Moffat wrote it in so he could have other Doctors come back in the future. Then he won't have to explain away why everyone looks older.

Yup, there was a reference to the dating controversy. It was a passing line, but the quick references to the past were nice. It was like an easter egg hunt.

At least we've seen all of the Doctors regenerate now. Thank you, CGI.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Ahh that must've been so awesome, seeing it with everyone in the theater!

I was so surprised to see Tom Baker, too, I can't believe I didn't get spoiled for that since I was like a day late seeing the episode.

So, what happened to the end of "The Name of the Doctor"? Clara and the Doctor were stuck in limbo land, no? And then suddenly Clara is a teacher at Coal Hill?
I was confused by that too!

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you weren't so spoiled. That's so nice to hear.

I'm wondering if we've jumped ahead in time since "The Name of the Doctor". Clara can't just become a teacher. She would have needed to take courses and stuff. And Eleven didn't meet Kate until at least 2015 (going off dates mentioned before "The Power of Three"). She didn't recognize him when they first met at the Ponds' house, so "The Day of the Doctor" must be set after their first meeting. It still doesn't explain a lot of things, but there's a gap there to fill in with fics or whatnot.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Ahh, that's a good point! Maybe it is in the future a bit and that explains some of the loose ends.

[mornea.livejournal.com]

I thought the Moment WAS Bad Wolf- that is, Rose, the TARDIS, the Moment, all one entity working together as Bad Wolf, to end the Time War. The doctor didn't change history- this is how it always happened, since Rose looked in the heart of the TARDIS, but the doctor didn't know it.

I really loved the episode. I never liked the idea of the off his hinges post WoM Ten marrying Liz, but the way it unfolded here was funny, in keeping with his character (no, he didn't really), and it sure explains why she was so mad in the Shakespeare Code. lol.

I saw it in the theatre too, and it was well worth it. I kept myself unspoiled, so I didn't know about Capaldi OR Tom Baker. That last one... Oh my. He was MY doctor, when I was young. All in all this was a wonderful anniversary- I'd say the best of the lot.

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's a neat idea, that the Moment and the TARDIS came together to help the Doctor.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it in the theatre. It's rare to see something with a room full of fans. Everyone gets the jokes and the references. We were all so stunned when Tom Baker showed up. I'm surprised no one shouted with glee. I guess no one wanted to miss any of his dialogue. :-)