The Day of the Doctor

Steven Moffat has been a mixed bag at times. His scripts for "A Christmas Carol" and "The Girl In The Fireplace" are two of the better episodes in recent years. Sentimentality suits him. But when he goes to great lengths to explain the mythology of Doctor Who and begins creating new connections to the past, he can also be quite wordy. The entire last season has been victimized by this and most of the episodes were less than satisfying. We just want an adventure, not a treatise on Who history or an impossibly tangled web of River Song and a dozen other characters.

But this time, he pulled it off. While this past season, topped by "The Name of the Doctor," seemed to be painting him into a plot heavy corner, "The Day of the Doctor" unwinds the whole mess nicely and adds just the right amount of clever twists and, most importantly, delights us with its sense of humor. Suddenly, it all makes sense.

To add to the fun, this is one of those times when more doctors actually ratchets up the good time. Plus there's at least one wonderful surprise cameo to top it all off. A good time for all. Highly recommended and makes watching the previous season well worth it. This may be Moffat's best script yet.

There are shows that are able to transform themselves and become anew every time you rewatch them. This is one of those shows. One random day, 7 years after I started watching Doctor Who, I decided to give it another run, just out of boredom. I was shocked and amazed at the fact that not only my love for it has not changed one bit, but was also enhanced a hundred times. I picked up things that I missed, depth and meanings and I was not able to grasp when I was a kid. I rewatched my childhood show and discovered new things. My childhood show, teaching me new lessons, at 20 years old. How is that even possible?

This episode has more memorable lines than most of the new movies and tv shows that I've watched in the past 5 years combined.

"Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame." "What we do today is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way. And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save."

"Clara sometimes asks me if I dream. 'Of course I dream', I tell her. 'Everybody dreams'. 'But what do you dream about?' she'll ask. 'The same thing everybody dreams about,' I tell her. 'I dream about where I'm going.' She always laughs at that. 'But you're not going anywhere, you're just wandering about.' That's not true. Not anymore. I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone's. It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going. Where I've always been going. Home. The long way around."

Doctor Who is, in my experience, the only show so far that has absolutely everything that you could ask for: lots of humour, adventures, histories, futures, love, friendships, families, kindness, hope, but also a tremendous amount of depth, meanings, great philosophies, tragedies, sacrifice, loss, grief, pain and of course, tears (so much tears). From this show, the greatest, most well-crafted character in history was created: The Doctor. There are two quotes that can pretty much summarise The Doctor:

"This man bore burdens, Archie realised, that he had seldom seen on mortal shoulders. But above all there was guilt. A guilt that had been fought off, bargained with, overcome, perhaps, but a guilt that sprung eternal." (Paul Cornell's Twice Upon a Time novelisation) "It's hard to talk about the importance of an imaginary hero. But heroes ARE important: Heroes tell us something about ourselves. History tells us who we used to be, documentaries tell us who we are now; but heroes tell us who we WANT to be. And a lot of our heroes depress me. But when they made this particular hero, they didn't give him a gun--they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn't give him a tank or a warship or an x-wing fighter--they gave him a box from which you can call for help. And they didn't give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat-ray--they gave him an extra heart. They gave him two hearts! And that's an extraordinary thing. There will never come a time when we don't need a hero like the Doctor." (Steven Moffat)

Anyway, after a long paragraph about the whole show, my point is, this anniversary episode, in my opinion, was able to truly capture its essence, everything that I've just mentioned above, and that, to me, is incredible for a 77-minute episode. This is why Doctor Who's still going strong today. And to steal a bit from Steven Moffat himself, I think there will never come a time when we don't need a show like Doctor Who. Its ability to stretch to the edge of creativity, of time and space, and still be able to touch most likely every human being who has ever watched it is truly magical. To its core, it remains a story about humanity, exploring love and loss and hope and kindness like never before. A story told by a strange old alien who comes from a world far far away.

This television masterpiece will stand the testament of time, and I'm the proof. Seven years later, I'm still here, and my love has only increased. Doctor Who might just be a story, and The Doctor might just be imaginary, but has anyone told you that "every stories ever told really happened"?

Just finished watching the day of the doctor, and my God!!! I've waited a LONG time to feel what I am felling right now. By far, this episode was the best one yet in the Doctor Who series.

Before I saw the episode, I was both excited and worried at the same time because I did not want to be disappointed after waiting for so long to see it after watching the teaser trailer. But Setven Moffat pulled it off, and in a way you can never imagine. He takes us for a ride into the realms of Gallifrey with such detail and yet with the hint of humor.

I can swear that there were more than one instance where I had tears of joy in my eyes. This is by far the only episode/show/movie where I have given a solid 10 on 10 on IMDb till date.

If you haven't seen it yet, mark my words, "you are in for a treat".

Right off the top, I'm no great-shakes Whovian, so let's get that out of the way right now. Cut my teeth on Tom Baker back in the 70s and thought he was great fun. More recently, I came to know the Doctor when he met Amy Pond ... who had this rather ominous crack in the wall of her bedroom. It was in large portion her character and energy that moved me to revisit this old friend and at least duck in now and again to see where things were going.

And then I heard that the Doctor was celebrating 50 years and noting that everyone from James T. Kirk to Malcolm Reynolds was offering their best wishes, and I figured, "Gad, I can't miss this." And I didn't.

I just finished watching ... and about all I can say is wow. Mr. Moffat, you've written some corkers in your day, but this one ... this one is something very special. Yeah, it was neat to see Tennant and Smith together, and Mr. Hurt brought his own palate to the show. But it was the twists of the plot, the thoughtfulness and inventiveness which is Steven's hallmark which carried the day here. There is also the matter of a ... curator ... who showed up toward the end. Yeah, that did put a smile on my face, a big one.

To Matt, David, Steven, Billie, John ... all of you ... many, many thanks.

I have just finished watching the doctor's fiftieth anniversary celebration 'The Day of the Doctor' and it is a wonderful tribute to the longest running sci-fi series in history.

The fiftieth anniversary is full of 'spoilers', see what I did there. So on the off chance you haven't see it yet, it is the team-up of the two most famous doctors since the reboot in 2005 and has them revisiting the 'moment that defined him' .

The TV show lasts one hour and fifteen minutes, a perfect length and is full of twists and turns and brilliant fan service and dialogue. It is a tribute to all the doctors from past, present and future and combines humour, emotion and brilliance in a fabulous concoction.

'The day of the doctor' is a television event that won't easily be forgotten and is the ultimate way to celebrate 50 years.