Monday, November 25, 2013

When the BBC decides to play Bill & Ted with three Doctors you're in for some campy fun

The 3-D oil painting of Gallifrey was really cool. Steven Moffatt has to be
insane to come up with this stuff.
I've decided that when the BBC decides to play Bill & Ted with three Doctors from different timelines, you're in for some campy fun. As a reminder, for those who have not seen Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure in some time (pun intended), you may recall that they used time travel by leaving things that they needed (and telling themselves that) so that they could find it. Example: "In the future, I'll go back in the past and leave the keys over here behind this bush so I can find them right now. And look! Here they are!"

Well in the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, we got some of that and I liked it. The first happened when they were breaking out of the prison in the Tower of London, and the second occasion happened near the end, when they used time to start a calculation that would take centuries in order to remove Gallifrey from space so that the Daleks would annihilate each other. Clever and very cool.
I guess the huge "chip" on the Doctor's shoulders is now gone, because
he never started a holocaust. All's well that ends well, I suppose. Next
season has got to be all about finding Gallifrey though: an entire lost planet
of Time Lords just sounds really cool. Maybe that's how they intend to address
The Doctor's regeneration issue.
So the Day of the Doctor by all accounts was a resounding worldwide success. Simultaneously broadcast in 94 countries and screened by millions of Whovians, it was a pretty epic event that lived up to all of its hype. I'm glad I participated, even if the pre-show was kind of lame.

It does leave me with some questions though. You Whovians out there know that "The Day of the Doctor" addressed the decision made by the Doctor to destroy the planet Gallifrey (wiping out his own people in the process) because the Daleks had to be stopped. Now that this episode is over, and those events are changed, is the Doctor different now? I mean he'd have to be, right? For example, being responsible for a holocaust gave The Doctor an added depth that should be missing now that the holocaust didn't technically happen.

The painting of Gallifrey though was really cool, and I wish I had that to hang in my house.

So, did any of you watch "The Day of the Doctor?" And if so, what did you think of it?

16 comments:

  1. I hardly understand a thing I just read. But I had fun reading it. You are a very good blogger Mike.

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  2. Dude,

    I lost touch with the Doctor after the curly haired Tom actor guy left the show, but growing up in Ireland and only having *four* channels, (three in English!!!) the latest episode of Dr. Who was always real medicine for this writer's mind :)

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  3. No I didn't. David had a good rundown of it as well. Sounds like some great fun. And with John Hurt!

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  4. I still need to watch season 7, so I didn't watch it.

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  5. Haven't seen DR WHO, but BBC disappointed me terribly with ATLANTIS. Such a deadly boring show it is. Hope their MUSKETEERS this January will be better.

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  6. Ha, year right. I always wondered if Bill and Ted really remembered to do all that stuff they said they'd do. They weren't exactly the brightest bulbs in the box after all. Or maybe Rufus did it for them.

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  7. I skipped past this post since we haven't watched the episode yet, but man, i love Bill & Ted's excellent adventure

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  8. I think the show will go in another direction. Maybe that's why they chose a much older actor to play the Doctor.

    Hopefully it'll go back to its roots of just plain fun exploring the universe, looking for Galifrey.

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  9. The thing about time travel shows is that they can always go back and change it again.

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  10. I did notice an increase in Dr. Who mentions on Twitter over the weekend. Afraid I never did warm up to the Tardis, even though time travel is a favorite genre of mine. Yes, I know, there's something wrong with me. :]

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  11. We don't get that channel, so I'll have to wait for it to air elsewhere. Sounds fun.

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  12. I didn't get a chance to see it, so I skipped the post. I may be a tad behind in watching the Doctor. I'm trying to catch up. There's just too much TV out there.

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  13. I can understand how 3D images are created but I don't understand how an oil painting can be 3D.

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  14. I watched it twice and then my daughter called from Boston and we talked about it for another half hour. I really, really enjoyed it and found it so very clever.

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  15. Sigh. Of course I haven't seen Bills and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Maybe I can at least catch the repeat of Doctor Who's 50th.

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  16. Hi Michael .. I did watch it - but can't say I was scintillated .. but then I was never a true Dr Who fan - I guess I'll catch up along the way ..

    Glad you enjoyed it though .. and many did here in the UK .. hope you had a happy Thanksgiving in between! Cheers Hilary

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