The Day of the Doctor

Gallifrey falls no more!

It probably would have been more monumental to have this be the 100th story that I've reviewed, but since I screwed up my order by putting two new series stories back to back a few weeks ago, The Day of the Doctor got pushed into slot 101. But, it's still good no matter when you watch it.

Plot Summary

The Eleventh Doctor is called in by Kate Stewart to investigate a problem with a series of paintings hidden away in a deep archive. The Doctor was specifically called in per the instructions of Queen Elizabeth I, left in the form of a letter set aside during her reign.

The story then flashes back to the War Doctor, having stolen the Moment, a weapon so powerful it will destroy Gallifrey and the Dalek fleet but also has a conscious. The conscious manifests itself as Bad Wolf, Rose's identity upon absorbing the time vortex in Parting of the Ways. The Moment opens a time vortex to show the War Doctor the men he will become if he uses the Moment.

At this moment, the Tenth Doctor is wooing Queen Elizabeth and proposes to her thinking that she is a Zygon. She accepts and the Zygon reveals itself to be the horse instead. It chases them into the woods where it assumes the form of the Queen. A time vortex opens and the Eleventh Doctor arrives, having jumped in while investigating the paintings. The Tenth Doctor orders the two Queens to run opposite each other. The War Doctor arrives afterwards, initially mistaking the Tenth and Eleventh versions as companions. The trio are set upon by the Queens guard and then arrested by the Queen who confines them into the tower. Her actions suggest that she is the Zygon impersonating the Queen.

Overhearing the conversation, Clara is taken to the Black Archive by Kate Stewart to retrieve Captain Jack's vortex manipulator. Stewart has been replaced by a Zygon though. The Eleventh Doctor etches the coordinates into the tower where they are found four hundred years later. In the Black Archive, Clara is set upon by the Zygons but manages to use the vortex manipulator before they can reach her.

The three Doctors, having come up with a plan to escape the tower, are freed when Clara opens the door. They are grabbed by the Queen immediately and escorted down to the Zygon ship. The Zygons imbed themselves in paintings that are actually slices of time-space, using them as suspended animation to invade in the future. After the Zygons are imbedded, the Queen reveals herself to be the real Queen, having killed the Zygon commander in the woods with her dagger. Knowing the Zygon plan, the Doctor stores the paintings in the gallery and the Queen leaves instructions to the Doctor in a letter. The Queen and the Tenth Doctor wed and the three Doctors and Clara leave in the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS, promising the Queen to be right back.

Knowing the Zygons are in the Black Archive, the Eleventh Doctor calls one of the assistants before the Zygons move to the Black Archive, requesting the painting of the Fall of Arcadia be moved to the Black Archive. They then embed themselves in that painting and emerge into the Black Archive just as the real Kate Stewart and UNIT break in. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors activate the memory wipe system causing the whole party to forget who is human and who is Zygon. On equal terms, the two sides sit down to negotiate a peace deal.

Having seen the effects, the War Doctor returns to his own time, prepared to use the Moment. Realizing what he is going to do, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors follow with Clara to be with him. However, before they activate the Moment, they come with an idea to embed Gallifrey within a pocket universe much like the paintings. Gallifrey would be removed from time and space and the Daleks would destroy each other in the cross-fire. The calculations are so complex that they enlist all thirteen iterations of the Doctor to assist them. Gallifrey disappears and the Daleks are destroyed.

Afterwards, the three Doctors meet in the gallery to say goodbye. Because of the interruption to the time-stream, neither the War Doctor nor the Tenth Doctor will remember the change and will go on thinking that they destroyed Gallifrey. The War Doctor leaves and begins his regeneration into the Ninth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor also leaves with the Eleventh Doctor having just told him that they will die on the planet of Trenzalore.

Preparing to leave, Clara goes back into the TARDIS while the Eleventh Doctor waits for the curator, whom he was told was looking for him. The curator comes in and the Eleventh Doctor recognizes him as looking like the Fourth Doctor. The curator toys with him, suggesting that he might be a future version of the Doctor, but importantly tells him that their plan worked and that Gallifrey is out there. The Eleventh Doctor resolves to find it as he takes off in his TARDIS.

Plot Summary

There is very little more you could ask for in an anniversary story than what this delivers. It dips into the Time War, is filled with fun references for fans, is funny, sad, and epic all at the same time and tells a pretty good story while it's at it. One review I remember hearing remarked that the War Doctor is a perfect encapsulation of classic fan reaction to the new Doctors (or at least the more curmudgeonly ones).

I would agree that I think the War Doctor does a very good bridging between the slightly more serious tone of the classic Doctors and the slightly goofy tone of the new series Doctors. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors play themselves to a tee and the ego comparison between the two is quite amusing. At the same time, there is a nice balance as each Doctor plays the grown up at various times. The Tenth Doctor is clearly the one still the most haunted by the Time War and does not tolerate any flippancy towards it. Likewise the Eleventh Doctor rallies them for the way out and to prevent the disaster from happening.

Now, it is very easy to lose oneself in the moment (no pun intended) and give the story flying colors due to it's pull from the series as a whole and the emotional rollercoaster it takes you on. However, like The Five Doctors, if you look at the story as a whole, there are flaws that drag it down a bit.

Because of the complexities of the story, some of the fleshing out of other characters and things that might have otherwise been explained are not done. Queen Elizabeth is not given much and it is never explained how she can know all the particulars of the Zygon plan if it is the real Queen. In fact, the entire Zygon subplot has a tendency to drag a bit. Aside from storing themselves in the paintings, it's a near direct rip of Terror of the Zygons. That was a good story, but the second time around it gets a bit predictable.

I would also have to ding some of the Gallifrey scenes as well. They were going for emotional drama and it works fairly well, but some of it feels a bit over the top and some of the acting also suffers a bit. The whole opening scenes of the war seem very odd with Daleks preparing to slaughter a group of civilians and the Doctor is just taking his time blowing the words "No More" into a wall before he blast in and kills all the Daleks. If they hadn't sensed his presence, the Daleks might have killed all of people while he was tooling around. Dramatic yes, but also silly and over the top.

I think that because of the fan service that any producer feels he must include, it is probably impossible to get a perfect anniversary story. Little bits are going to suffer here and there due to the need and desire to include other things that will offer titillation to the fans. But this is by far the best of all the anniversary stories and easily enjoyable on repeat watchings.

Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5