MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.
Yesterday was a very big day for Doctor Who fans - the 50th anniversary film special, The Day of the Doctor, aired across 94 countries and was shown in over 1500 cinemas across the globe, selling over a million tickets and attracting around 10 million viewers in the UK alone. The special was met with hugely positive reactions from Doctor Who fans and critics, but was it really that good?
No, is my answer. I enjoyed it and I liked what it was trying to do, but it simply didn't work perfectly. The pacing, narrative and overall polish was very iffy and an opportunity at making a very complex story has failed miserably. Moffat has a good idea, but it isn't executed in the best way it can. My disappointment has to be vented somehow: so here are five main reasons why I think it was a letdown.
The Zygons were stupid
I'm still a bit unsure if Steven Moffat came to a final decision as to whether or not the Zygons were to be the villains of the film, as they sort of have fluctuating importance depending on what the script needs. They show up for a few moments, mimicking characters to just create awkward comedy and some tension, and then it seems as if they have a really sinister goal which drives the plot. But when the climax arrives, the script just forgets about them and their role within the story is left without a solid conclusion. If the Zygons were removed, the film would be no different - in fact it'd probably be a lot better in terms of pacing.
The War Doctor was totally misused
The War Doctor sounded like one of the best characters to ever come out of the new series of Doctor Who. A mysterious, dark and possibly violent incarnation who committed a controversial act to end the Time War and save his species? Great! Sadly, when he shows up and begins to interact with the other incarnations, he's just like a father keeping his two childish sons in order. They point their screwdrivers and he tells them to stop. They blabber and he comments jokingly on their mannerisms. It seems whenever they were interacting, all possibility of tension was thrown out the window in favour of awkward comedy and irritating banter. The character was left as a very boring and uninteresting one, even with a great performance from John Hurt.
More generic time stuff
The film prides itself on more generic time logic and confusing twists to make it sound clever, but these only serve as minor wow factors when we see how Moffat has linked each event and made the Doctors meet in a certain point in history. This aside, the whole crack in time and timeline synchronisation is complete nonsense, conveniently causing the other Doctors to forget about saving Gallifrey in order to try and avoid plot holes. Moffat seldom explores his time logic either - it's as if he just pulled the crack in time stuff out of the crack in his ass to make nerds orgasm over David Tennant and Matt Smith sharing scenes together. In the end, it just screws with its own logic to the point of endless whatthefuckery.
Companion is a moralfag
Remember that ridiculous moment in The Fires of Pompeii when Donna, a whiny cow, begged the Doctor to save a family from the eruption of Vesuvius? The Doctor had to leave them as this was a fixed event in time and he simply could not change it, but his whiny fuck of a companion decides to impose her moral nonsense on him to at least try and force a happy ending. Same thing happens here - Clara cries over the Doctor preparing to detonate the device which will kill all the Daleks and Time Lords to finally end the Time War and all its bloodshed. Rather than ignore her and create a complex moment where the Doctors unite to make a difficult but necessary decision, her sad outlook on the situation makes them conjure a deus ex machina where they all go 'Yes! Brilliant!' and think of a way to avoid killing, completely destroying the complex history of the Doctor from the Time War and reducing him to a moralfag because of his stupid companion. Stupid.
England 1562 graphic
Seriously BBC, what the hell is this?
So yeah, I wasn't very fond of it. Again, I liked the idea, but the execution left a lot to be desired. Before you Doctor Who fans kill me, look over there! *runs away*
Thanks for reading!
