The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

[David Jimerson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01m3kfy

Made in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary special. Helps if you've seen it. Moments of delight for long-time fans. Lots of in-jokes. Direct dig at the original "Five Doctors" which brings the "ish" full circle. Totally lost on anyone who just got aboard for the 10th or 11th Doctors. (As was, by the way, a great deal of the 50th special.)

 

[David Jimerson]

I've been binging on season (series) 7 of Doctor Who and finally saw the anniversary special, all in prep for the Christmas special, which has been sitting on my DVR until tonight.

I haven't geeked out over anything for a long time as much as I have for that. I generally liked the Matt Smith Doctor, and Amy Pond, and so forth, but when the Ponds left the show, the TARDIS interior was reconfigured, and Clara came along, the whole thing suddenly became Doctor Who to me in ways the entire revival up until then just hadn't. Prior to that, it had been more like "enjoyable show, but really a totally separate thing," kind of unconnected from the original series. But after that, it clicked, and it became "real" Doctor Who to me, entirely cohesive with the original, as though production had never stopped. I tend to judge those kinds of things by what my 14 year-old self would have thought of it, and he would approve. Even the revamped title sequence feels much more like an organic updating of what came before than it ever had until now.

"The Name of the Doctor," "The Day of the Doctor," and "The Time of the Doctor" were all phenomenal, especially when viewed back-to-back-to-back. I feel like I just watched an epic movie trilogy fully rewarding more than 30 years of being a fan.