Doctor Who - 50th Anniversary Special - Recap: Just This Once, Everybody Lives

Credit: BBC

Credit: BBC

Of course, for the three doctors in this episode to get together, there are some necessary contrivances. A time vortex across dimensions essentially pulls the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) into the late 1500s, where the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) is courting Queen Elizabeth I under the pretense of exposing her true identity as a shapeshifting Zygon. In executing this charade, Ten proposes to Elizabeth, and when she accepts, he feels he's caught her in her life, since the real Elizabeth would never accept his marriage proposal. But, of course, Ten is wrong -- the Zygon was his horse, so not only does he have an alien invasion to contend with, he's now stuck with a pissed-off fiance. Right off the bat, it's a great bit of Doctor Who fanservice, as we finally get the explanation behind The Doctor's supposed marriage to Queen Elizabeth I, which has only ever been hinted at in the past. And it's hardly the only reveal fans get in the first, breakneck 15 minutes of the episode, as we finally see THE TIME WAR!

Credit: BBC

Eleven is pulled into the story when a letter from Queen Elizabeth I begs his help at U.N.I.T. Headquarters in the Tower of London, where Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), daughter of the Brigadier General, is still in command. It's here that we see the painting of the Fall of Arcadia on the last day of the Time War, and it's a completely living, 3D painting ("Time Lord art," Eleven explains. "Bigger on the inside. A slice of real time"), and it's from this painting that we get the first few inklings of just the level of cataclysm the Time War was. The Daleks invade Gallifrey, reducing entire cities to fiery ashes, and even The Doctor -- officially named The War Doctor (John Hurt) -- has proven incapable of stemming the tide of insuperable violence. And so, in desperation, The War Doctor feels he has no other option. He seeks a legendary weapon from the ancients of Gallifrey -- a sentient technology capable of wiping out all civilization on the planet. The War Doctor assembles the device on the remote outreaches of Arcadia, and once the weapon comes to life, he interacts with its sentient form -- Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) or, rather, "Bad Wolf".

Credit: BBC

Credit: BBC

The weapon had apparently pulled an image from The Doctor's past ("or future -- I always get the two mixed up") to make interaction easier, and it's Rose who serves as the conscience of The Doctor, the persistent voice explaining that perhaps burning Gallifrey isn't the best idea in the world. However, The War Doctor feels he has no other choice, as this is the only way to kill all the Daleks. Rose asks him to think of all the children he will also condemn to death, and insists, "One day, you will count them." One of the great uses of casting an older actor like Hurt in the role is that The War Doctor looks weathered by the business of war, so that one could see how he would come to this last-ditch, desperate decision. Sure, OUR Doctors have seen some realness in their day, but this is a Doctor aged to august by war, a man who, from the time he regenerated in "The Night of the Doctor," has done nothing else but fight with tireless abandon. By now, he's sick of it all, wearied and weathered by the interminable cycle, and the realization that no matter how hard he fights, the Daleks will never go away. Not without a sacrifice. And so, from this perspective, The War Doctor's choice makes sense, even if it condemns Ten and Eleven to live with the consequences.

Credit: BBC

Of course, it's right at this moment that The War Doctor gets sucked into the same time vortex that reunites Ten and Eleven, and there's a strangely exhilarating component to placing these three Doctors in the same space. Granted, it's not nearly as jarring as I thought it'd be, given the vastly contrasting personalities between all three. In fact, it might go overlooked by the time the credits start rolling, but "The Day of the Doctor" is an immensely funny episode. Tennant and Smith play well off of each other, finding annoyance in one another's quirks, such as Ten jokingly musing that he has no idea where Eleven got the "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey" catchphrase, and Eleven realizing just how skinny Ten's body is to an outside observer, and how questionably he dresses (calling him "Sand Shoes"). And Hurt is surprisingly funny too, as he assumes Ten and Eleven are companions, and not the real Doctor(s). He then expresses amazement at his youthful form, and annoyance at how they talk like children. It's great stuff, and I actually think the episode could have used more of it, but this special had a refreshing lack of self-seriousness for the majority of its runtime, taking the show back to its more organic, adventurous roots -- it's kind of amazing that it worked, in that regard, since so much of it relies on remaining engaged with the overarching story and its deeply-involved serialization.

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It certainly helps that, for all the complexity of the plot, the goal inevitably boils down to saving the world: in particular, Gallifrey. Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) is stuck at U.N.I.T. headquarters for a brief time, fending off invasion from the Zygons, who have infiltrated the compound by taking over the body of Kate Stewart. Their mission is to take over Earth, since they need a new world following the burning of their home world in the Time War. However, Clara acts quickly and steals the Time Vortex Manipulator from the shapeshifting aliens, and uses it to transport back in time to unite with the three Doctors. Surprisingly, it's her presence that proves key in preventing the fall of Gallifrey...

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Ten and Eleven return with The War Doctor back to the point in time where he activated the device and destroyed Gallifrey, the point of no return that haunts The Doctor for the hundreds of years that follow. Eleven explains that they were wrong to try so hard to forget about The War Doctor and to put his existence behind them, since "You were The Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right." In essence, The War Doctor was in a completely untenable situation, as he would essentially be condemning the Time Lords to death no matter what choice he made -- whether choosing inaction or opting to activate the weapon. So they're here for The War Doctor now, so that he won't have to do it alone. Ten explains, "What we do today, we do not do out of fear or cowardice, but because it is the only way." Yet Clara isn't entirely convinced, as her tears indicate. She states that while she could imagine Ten or The War Doctor going through with the genocide, she could never have imagined her Doctor going through with it. She believes there has to be some other way, and it's the momentary distraction she provides that allows the Doctors to come up with a risky solution that could end up saving Gallifrey: if they could just store the entire planet inside a painting, the planet would disappear and the Daleks would destroy one another in the crossfire. And this is where the glorious, emotionally-satisfying fanservice kicks into overdrive, as we get clips of all twelve Doctors (and Peter Capaldi as "THIRTEEN!") operating their TARDISes to put the plan into action. It's one of the most gloriously fist-pump-worthy moments in the history of the series, as The Doctors unite on a hare-brained scheme and end up rewriting their own timelines despite all logic to the contrary. It really is something to behold, and well worth the price of admission in itself.

Credit: BBC

Credit: BBC

Ultimately, The Doctors save the day, and they all come to understand one another a bit better. Of course, the paradox will prevent any of them from remembering what happened, as The War Doctor will only recall that he considered destroying Gallifrey, not that he tried to save it. Eleven then reveals to Ten the "spoilers" of what's to come, since he isn't going to remember anyway. He reveals that he ends up buried in Trenzalore upon his death, and that there's no way to avoid it, and this is a storyline carried over from last season, as we continue the slow, grim march towards Matt Smith's regeneration in the Christmas special. It should be outstanding. Speaking of regenerations, we see The War Doctor's change begin as he departs in his TARDIS, his old body having reached its limit. And then, perhaps the best moment of the episode, as Eleven muses that he'd like to retire someday and serve as curator of the undergallery -- at which point, an old man reveals he already has. And who else could the old man be but Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. Or, rather, a future version of The Doctor "revisiting old faces."

Credit: BBC

It's a spectacular moment, and kind of surreal, as Smith and Baker share only a brief scene together, yet seem remarkably similar. It's the recursive nature of The Doctor as a character, such that when you get a really good actor like Smith, who already imbues his Doctor with elements of past incarnations, you can see just how much he's like Baker's Fourth, and vice-versa. It's just a splendid piece that pays beautiful homage to the last fifty years of Doctor Who. As the episode comes to a close, Eleven reflects on his past, and focuses on his future, recognizing the immensity of his role in the universe, and the peril of the tasks that lie ahead. "The Day of the Doctor" is as close to a perfect episode of television as I've ever seen, and a worthy embodiment of the sheer scope and grandeur of Doctor Who, as well as its bold, adventurous spirit.

Credit: BBC

Credit: BBC

Credit: BBC