Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special won the Gunnies World Record Award for the largest simulcast of a TV drama ever. Here is a look at the things that made the show shine across universes.
Its almost been a week since the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, and the Whoniverse is still glowing in the aftermath; at lease I know that I am. I have been oblivious to other shows and the world in general since I watched the Special episode. There have been some vague registrations on my sub-conscious mind related to Carrie from Homeland apparently relapsing into her neurotic Brody-crazed self, and also there seems to be a new teaser trailer out for Sherlock. But as I said, I am oblivious.
The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special was unlike any wonder I have ever witnessed, and to think that it has been a creation of a human being is a little surprising. Steven Moffat must by all means donate his brain to science and I am dead beat sure that NASA’s search for extra-terrestrial life will end right there, as nothing that displays this magnitude of brilliance could come from a human brain (sorry Dr. Sheldon Cooper, but Moffat steals your ‘alien’ thunder). Minute after minute the episode makes you gasp, laugh, cry (a little bit, not too much, and I am grateful for that), and squeak, yes, squeak with excitement as Matt Smith, David Tennant, and John Hurt bring to you nothing but sheer magnificence.
I can go on gushing and puffing, but where’s the fun in that? So I am just gonna break it down in terms of what I loved and where I found the episode a little lacking. Worry not, there is nothing very much ‘lacking’ per say, you will get what I mean when I get there.
The Bad Wolf Girl: Yes, we were literally dying in our pants to figure out what or who Billie Piper plays in the Special episode, and I would be speaking for most Whovians across the globe (read galaxies) that we were not disappointed. To bring back Rose Tyler would have been a stretch since she is safely locked away in the parallel universe with her metamorphosis Doctor, and to take their story further would have seemed like a stretch. Billie shined as the Moment, and fit in perfectly in the episode.
John Hurt: It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to admit that everyone was a little bit scared of what damage John Hurt would inflict on the show with his tremendously shocking appearance in The Name of the Doctor. It was a touching experience watching him play the Doctor on the day it was impossible to get it right. He doesn’t miss a beat, and not even for a fraction of a second does one doubt him being the Doctor.
Tom Baker: The curator of the national museum, or the retired Doctor? Tom Baker was a marvelous and simply unforgettable addition to the episode; it was one of the most magnificent moments, almost like a full circle. His exchange with Matt Smith was so touchy-feely that I am sure there were gigantic grins on Whovians’ faces everywhere.
David Tennant and Matt Smith: Watching either of them play the Doctor singularly is in itself an overwhelming experience, imagine the crackers that burst and the sparks that flew when they were on screen together! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it is one that the Whoniverse will not forget for years and may I say centuries to come. They are both sizzling and hilarious in their own right, but David steals the show with his classic gut-wrenching ‘I don’t wanna go’, only this time it is with a lot less despair and a lot more hope.
Blink and you may have missed it: Yes, of course, I am, referring to the intense and glorious stare that Peter Capaldi left us with to prepare us for the oncoming storm that he is going to be. Obviously it was yet another stunt by Moffat to make the audience scream and maybe even wonder if it was a hallucination. It worked, sweetie.
The absence of the 9th Doctor: Christopher Eccleston’s absence is not something that I could get over. It was like the omnipresent Black Hole that created a bit of a dissatisfaction that is hard to ignore. This is the ‘lacking’ that I had mentioned earlier, and I it would have been an early Christmas if he has been there. Oops! Christmas is not to be mentioned, not with The Time of the Doctor arriving so soon, taking away… I cannot bring myself to say it.
All in all, the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special was fantastic, brilliant, cool, and then some. It was just the right mix of all the Doctors put together, and for all those people who said that nothing this hyped can ever turn out to live upto the expectations of the audience, its time to go home and eat a humble pie.
There is a slight infraction where people were hoping that the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special would answer some of the loose ends of the previous season related to Trenzalore, but I think those questions are being held off for the Christmas Special. However, a lot of people are unhappy with the lack of explanations, but don’t you think that too many explanations and full circles would spoil the charm of the show?
Doctor Who is about a ‘mad man in a blue box’, and mad men do not go about explaining every move of theirs. Also, if everything was so clear-cut and spoon-fed, where would there be room for wonderment and amazement? We wouldn’t gather around with a hot cuppa soup (wink) and discuss in wonder as to what may or may not have happened. To all those people who snort and have this holier-than-thou attitude I say- use your imaginations, and trust the Doctor.
Are You Geeking Me 