Who Review: The Night of the Doctor
It came as a surprise to everyone. And I mean everyone. This past Thursday, the BBC released a brand new mini episode of Doctor Who, called “The Night of the Doctor.” It’s a prequel to this Saturday’s 50th Anniversary episode, “The Day of the Doctor.” Barely an hour after the announcement, the episode went live on the BBC website, YouTube, and elsewhere. In case you missed it, here it is.
SPOILER WARNING: If you have not seen the series 7 finale, “The Name of the Doctor,” you might want to leave now, and come back when you have.
SPOILER WARNING: If you have not yet watched the above mini episode, the following comments (and any comments in the comments section) may spoil it for you.
My reaction. Jaw drop. Big stupid grin. Yes yes yes yes!!! How long have I (and countless other Who fans) waited for this moment? Steven Moffat, all is forgiven! Okay, maybe not quite all… MOST is forgiven!!
Seriously, though, one lesson to learn from this is to CHILL! Who fans are very proprietorial over their favorite Time Lord, and tend to have specific ideas of how things should be done. We can forget that the people who are currently running the show are some of the biggest Who fans on the planet. A lot of the things we want to see are things they would like to see. However, their responsibility is not fan wish-fulfillment, but creating top-notch television drama. They have to think of the story, and the show as a whole, above all the things they would love to do. This is why a moment like this has been a long time in the making. Will there be a repeat performance? I have no doubt that Moff would want that as much as any fan, but he has to consider the bigger picture: how would that affect the show as a whole? That’s not saying “never,” but saying to us fans, “if it’s right, we’ll do it.” And that’s the motive I believe is at work here.
To the mini episode itself, this is a return visit to Karn for the Doctor. He first went there in 1976’s “The Brain of Morbius,” where The Fourth Doctor helped the Sisterhood and defeated a renegade Time Lord. Also, the Doctor rattled off a list of companions that, if you’ve only watched the TV series, will be unfamiliar to you. Fans of the Big Finish audio range will recognize the names immediately. As far as I’m concerned (and I know other Who fans feel the same way), this not only validates this particular Doctor’s audio stories, but it canonizes them. That is, these stories are now part of the official Doctor Who timeline. I expect Big Finish will be inundated with orders; thankfully, most (if not all) of these stories are available as digital downloads (see HERE).
Since it’s only seven minutes long, it’s not really fair to critique this mini episode like a full story, but it is excellent. The dialog is spot-on for this Doctor, the continuity with what we know from previous Who stories, and what we understand to be coming on Saturday, works. All actors put in great performances; the Doctor particularly lives up to, and exceeds, all expectations.
In short, this is possibly the best thing to have happened in the 50th Anniversary year. If Saturday’s episode can top this, I’ll be very impressed. For now, I’m an extremely happy Who fan.
What did you think? I’ve given plenty of spoiler alerts, so while I’ve been cagey in my comments here, you may speak freely in the comments below…
I grinned and punched the air! Some of the best Doctor Who in years and words fail to express the joy at seeing THAT Doctor once more 😀
I’m sure the air is feeling much abused by many Who fans! 😉 As I said, if the 50th Special can top that, I’ll be mightily impressed.
Even though I was very young at the time Paul McGann was the first ever Doctor I saw so he holds a special place. I couldn’t believe it when Pete woke me up that morning and said Paul McGann is the Doctor again. Even though it was only seven minutes I feel like we get more of an insight into the eighth Doctor. To be honest it made me wish we could see even more of McGann’s incarnation. I thought he was brilliant in those little minutes and seemed like he got back into the role with such ease. The part suits him well.
I’ve had my issues with Moffat in the past but I also feel he’s been brilliant when it comes to honouring Doctor Who’s legacy. He understands how important it is and I have every confidence in him to give us the perfect celebration.
Can I encourage you to give the Big Finish audios a try, assuming you haven’t already? BF have put the first 50 on sale right now–I think the downloads are only a couple of pounds. The first Eighth Doctor story is number 16 in the series. It’s not quite the same as seeing them, but these are now canon! 🙂 And they are better than nothing.
I loved it! We get to see how the warrior is born. I did feel like, that in order to truly understand what was going on, you’d have to be more familiar with the Eighth Doctor and the Time War, which I am not. I’m a new Who fan, so I started with Nine. I can say that watching this made me want to go back and get to know the Eighth Doctor better, though!