Obviously the biggest draw of the events was "Day of the Doctor", which did a great job of celebrating the past of the series while setting the show up for more. It was a lot of fun and did a fine job, in my opinion, of giving closure to the Time War arc, putting a new spin on how things turned out, without disrupting the continuity of the show. Some have argued that finding a way to save Gallifrey discounts the angst and pain of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors during their tenures, but I disagree...they have no memory of the event, and even before they leave they cannot be sure their plan worked...but they for a moment feel as if they tried. The angst is still legitimate, for they truly thought that they had committed total genocide, and had to try and come to terms with that and become the Doctor they felt they had once been before.
Surrounding the main special and the little event prequels, we also got a lot of things I didn't bother reviewing like "Doctor Who Revisited", an episodic documentary series that explored each Doctor and their respective eras, before showing one of their classic stories. I found the style of these shows to be weak, not terribly informative for the uninitiated, and just a bit repetitive in style. There were plenty of things like this show to go around.
More interesting and informative was the TV movie, "An Adventure in Space and Time", which explored the genesis of the series in a dramatic recreation. It was well produced, and fairly faithful to reality, but I felt it was lacking as a movie script wise. Still it had a good cast and plenty to offer, it just had script issues.
One of the most fun shorts produced for this momentous occasion in Who history was the classic Doctors reunion in "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot" conceived by Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, who is joined by Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, and Paul McGann...as well as a host of other special guests, in lampooning the fact that they were not asked to be in the special (and seeing them now it is hard to argue why). Sure Tom Baker made a mysterious cameo in the main Special, but only Tom Baker could've pulled off something that felt so Doctor-ish, yet confusing enough to make you wonder what it really means. It was fun to see everyone not take Who so seriously, have a laugh at the desperation of show business and slap in as many Who-lore references and gags as possible, making fun of both the original show and the rebooted version with tongue firmly in cheek.
All of this lead up to Matt Smith's farewell episode at Christmas, in which he finally made it to Trenzalore, took off his bow tie, and handed that TARDIS keys over to Peter Capaldi...with Moffatt finally getting rid of the regeneration limit for good. Some may think that this just means we have a new limit by doubling the old number, but I say screw it...the Time Lords could've easily given him infinite lives...why hold back at this point?
While Tennant went out in specials in 2009, Smith's specials were much more geared towards celebrating the show in general during it's 50th Year, than gearing up for Smith's exit the Way RTD worked towards Tennant's exit. But Moffat had been teasing Smith's exit for a little while, practically since he took on the role, and he decided to use Smith's exit to tie up as many loose ends as the Eleventh's tenure left dangling. Some that begin back from his opening story. I think Smith got a decent exit, but I don't feel it was as much fun t watch as some of the specials that preceded it had been.
2013 was a big year, it saw the second half of the Seventh Series, and then brought forth a torrent of Who Anniversary extras and goodies, which helped celebrate the show's long history on television, before finally shifting gears to say a final goodbye to Matt Smith.
NEXT TIME: Lines on His Face
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