The Day of the Doctor

[vilakins]

I tried to post from work on Friday about the Doctor Google game, but I couldn't remember my Dreamwidth password, and by the time I got home I figured it had popped up in your timezones anyway.

Prime are showing The Day of the Doctor at 8:30 tonight, but at the BBQ I sweltered at yesterday (it's meant to be spring but it's already getting up to 26C) someone said they were doing it this morning in simulcast! So we got up and watched it.

And it was WONDERFUL! I'm a nitpicker about internal logic but everything fitted together beautifully. It was amazing, funny, moving, and SO MUCH FUN!

I am very happy. Even though my icon's slightly wrong. (Very minor spoiler.)

Comments

[corvuscornix]

Yes, it really was all of those things - even though I totally hadn't expected it to be! I've been mourning the loss of my Doctor Who feelings recently, but right now they're BACK! \o/

[vilakins]

Awww, why was that? I did dislike Ten for his self-pitying emo (there was a nod to that with "I don't want to go"), but Eleven made it right again for me.

[corvuscornix]

You know, I haven't really been able to figure it out myself. I liked Ten and I seem to be generally more forgiving of him than the rest of the fandom (it's the atrociously written episodes he got at the end that bother me, not his depression as such), but I did fall in love with Eleven too, right from the start. So it's not about the Doctor himself. But somehow I've just found it harder to get emotionally involved with the stories since then.

But considering how happy this ep made me, perhaps it's just been about the feeling that the show has been stuck in a rut, always somehow returning to the Doctor's angst about the Time War. I don't think it's reasonable to demand that he shouldn't have been angsting about it - it doesn't seem like a thing anyone could ever really get over, Time Lord or not - but it does get kind of repetitive for the viewers...

But now here he is, redeemed, and anything is possible again!

[vilakins]

Yes! Excellent point! It did lift a weight from the Doctor and the viewers both! I wouldn't be surprised if the Christmas special is about finding Gallifrey.

That's what I don't like about the Star Trek reboot - they destroy Vulcan and everything that happened in TOS--and the villain could have tried to save his planet when he cam back in time, but no, he just wants revenge - but at least I can ignore it as an AU; they're ST canon.

[pebblerocker]

I enjoyed it very much too! Very satisfied with the resolution: it doesn't wipe out the 9, 10 and 11 timeline completely, it doesn't rob them of their angst/character development, and it undoes a great wrong without making a mess of everything that went before. Also it opens up a great many new possibilities for new storylines that were closed off before.

I still have never managed to get right into Eleven - he had everything that irritated me about Ten but wasn't able to overcome the annoying bits with charm as Ten did. But now I'm thinking maybe I should give him another try.

Have you seen An Adventure in Space and Time? We watched it straight afterwards, on (Aus) ABC, and I don't mind telling you I bawled at the end. Very impressed with the effort that went into it. It really amplified the... mythicality of the whole phenomenon for me.

[vilakins]

Yes! I was worried that they'd negate a lot of 9, 10, and 11 history but it worked out so well!

Sorry, but I love Eleven! He doesn't have the self-pitying emo of Ten (though Ten was lovely in this), he's strange and slightly alien, and he's funny. Anyway you only have to get through the Christmas special and it's a whole new Doctor!

I haven't! I'll have to get hold of it (and the parody with Five, Six, and Seven "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot"). You aren't the only one who cried; a friend did too.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed it too, just so many nice touches. The three doctors together were the best team ever :) Great gif on the dr who tumblr:

http://doctorwho.tumblr.com/post/67880376303

[lolmac]

He's still the Eleventh Doctor!

We just now added Doctor 8-3/4.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed it too and Clara and the doctors made a brilliant team. It was well worth the hype, which was an improvement of the last one they hyped - that turned out to be a bit flat after so much anticipation. This one was great!

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

Saw it this morning, loved it. :D

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They were! I watched that bit several times. :-D

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I was considering him the First Warrior after the webisode of his regeneration (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U3jrS-uhuo), but he was the Doctor by the end. I'm not going to change my numbering though.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I was looking forward to it, but it was so much better than I hoped!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to watch it again!

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

There were lots of great scenes. :D Loved the one with the rabbit.

[nautile26.livejournal.com]

I loved it too. Got up this morning to watch and was not disappointed. They all bounced off each other so well. So many nice little touches and not a dud character in it.
And how good it is to see it at the same time as the UK broadcast and not to have have to avoid any spoilery comments for days or weeks or months. (Hello Downtown Abbey broadcasters - take a lesson!)

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

John Hurt was a fantastic Doctor, it was great

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

We just watched it again - just as good!

We watch DA as it comes out.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

He was excellent!

I hope the Christmas special is as good, though it'll be sad to see Matt Smith's Doctor go.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

It was enormous fun. I had the impression that everyone making it had really enjoyed the experience, and that enjoyment was communicated to the viewer.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It was on again tonight so I watched it again and it was just as good and just as much fun - and I finally saw the opening scene: Clara teaches at the school Susan and Barbara and Ian were at! This morning we came in where Clara got the message from the Doctor. That little missed bit was icing!

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

This must sound silly to all "old" whovians but hey! there is Doctor on our TV - the worst time because I return home after a half of it, only Mondays and Fridays are whole - it is with Tennant...and I LOVE it!!! Funny, clever, original!!!
Of course the episodes will end soon and there is no signal of new ones...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You mean in the Czech Republic? Perhaps they take a while to dub or subtitle.

I have to say I got sick of Tennant's Doctor with his self-pity, but I adore the 11th, Matt Smith.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Yes, CR:-). Mind you, there never were the first series, they just skipped it and jumped in these. On top of everything they named the series "The Time Lord", no Doctor Who. Of course 90% of people ignored it!
They always broadcast part of some series, stop it and start another one...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That happened here. Just after the B7 reruns that seduced me into the fandom, they started the classic DW. They never even got to the end of the First Doctor. It would have been a good way to watch such a huge series, too.