[Locke]

Finally got around to watching The Day of the Doctor:

Perhaps the strangest - but most enjoyable aspect - is this was downright hilarious, quite easily the funniest thing I've seen all year. Hurt, Smith and Tennant have incredible chemistry.

Sadly, I have less good to say about anyone who wasn't The Doctor in this. I love Eleven's (is that Twelve now?) chemistry with Clara, but Clara was largely benched due to the sheer volume of stuff more important than her going on. Much the same can be said for Rose's basically non existent return that was probably the only time the special was gratuitous in its fanbating (well that and a certain surprise I wont spoil). And Joanna Page? Why is she even here?

Luckily then, it isn't just the Doctors to keep us satisfied. The Day of the Doctor showcases a bumped up special effects budgets which grants us all kinds of treats, from an incredible battle sequence in Arcadia to the Zygon's looking the best they've ever looked. Doctor Who may have never been about the action, but man is that some damn fine action.

If I was to have any other criticisms of the special, other than the use of the companions, it'd probably be that Moffat's name is attached to it. Moffat turned Doctor Who into Doctor What, replacing what was once a highly entertaining children's (I went there) TV show, into a convoluted tangle (see: mess) of vague plot ideas that would alienate pretty much the majority of every single audience. And those not already turned off by the sheer convolutedness of it all will probably be put off by the way Moffat talks about audience members who don't understand his stories.

And sadly...The Day of the Doctor is no different, I can pretty much guarantee that every audience member probably responded with something along the lines of, "Wow that was brilliant...but what the fuck just happened?". And I don't mean in the good sense, in the sense that...wow, that actually made no sense whatsoever.

One positive I do have for Moffat though, is he ruined Doctor Who so much for me, I had pretty much no expectations for this special at all. I watched Night of the Doctor as I am another Big Finnish convert, but that was about the only thing I had to shape my expectations going in. What this means is Moffat had no specific itch to scratch for me, but he also had no specific things he could absolutely fuck up for me at the same time, so in a sense, I probably enjoyed this a lot more than a lot of people.

Plus, I can't help but feel somewhat critical of the tone. As much as I enjoyed just how downright hilarious this was, with all the brooding build up and ramifications of genocide and all the rest, the episode was ultimately so lighthearted the majority of the time, it just sorta fell flat.

When it all leads to the three versions of the same man, a creaky barn and a red button, it's trying to play it up to its most melodramatic proportions, but I was checking whether I had any tea left in my mug. I understand part of this is probably deliberate, it's a kids show after all, but for a 'conclusion' for something so crucial to everything that has shaped New Who basically, it all felt rather small and swept under the rug and that is disappointing.

Overall? Entertaining? Definitely. A satisfying celebration of fifty years of the best piece of TV Britain has ever made? Eh...not really