Fan service plus she helped relaunch Doctor Who. I think that was the point. If we forget all our differences and focus on our similarities we can achieve peace. A little naive but a good message for kids. I loved his bad-ass thousand yard stare. As for why they all appeared. The moment had the power to break pretty much all the rules of time (it is the ultimate weapon). Perhaps it planned the original timeline so the Doctor could learn from his mistake.
Uhh, no, Hurt regenerated into Eccleston. He's a past incarnation of the Doctor, not a future one -- that's the whole point of the story. That's also the point of Hurt's line about hoping his ears would be less prominent -- Eccleston had very prominent ears, and this line ties in with Eccleston's reaction to seeing his ears in the mirror in "Rose." It ends with the Daleks and Gallifrey both being removed from the universe -- it's just that Gallifrey went somewhere else and only appeared to be blown up. Hmm, maybe. But if he was crossing his timestream there, who knows if he'll remember it? That's not what his later selves said. They said he was more the Doctor than any of them. There were none. The Time Lord generals said that the Daleks were throwing everything they had at Gallifrey. See, this doesn't change anything. This is the way things always happened -- it's just that what looked like Gallifrey's destruction was actually its removal to a pocket universe. That wasn't really a cliffhanger. We know the Doctor had arrived to bring Clara home, and we saw them turn and start to walk away. So that problem was essentially solved, even if we weren't shown the payoff. I don't see that. It felt like it was written for this Doctor, an older man who was nonetheless not yet haunted by the guilt of a choice he hadn't made yet. This Doctor was scornful of the others' quirky mannerisms and speech, but Eccleston's Doctor had a similar fast-talking, pop-culture-referencing style. This Doctor was distinctly his own man. Not necessarily. I don't think it's sappy to want to avoid punishing children for the sins of their leaders. I think that now that Gallifrey is frozen in time in a pocket universe, the Doctor has an opportunity -- and plenty of time --to think of a better way to deal with Rassilon and the corruption of the Council, a way that won't sacrifice the innocent. Old age, same as his first regeneration. Hence the reuse of the line "wearing a bit thin." Well, we only saw its final battle. This wasn't a story about the Time War, it was a story about the ending of the war. I'd assume that the Doctors, with the help of the Moment/Bad Wolf, contacted their past selves and recruited them to participate in running the computation. Capaldi probably showed up because he remembered these events from his previous life, although the first eleven, Hurt included, no doubt forgot about the event afterward. If you avoided thinking about something for 400 years, you'd probably be foggy on its details too. It was never said that he'd literally forgotten the whole thing, just that he'd avoided facing the memory for a very long time. He did[]/i] have a redemptive ending. He participated in saving billions of lives. This isn't Battlestar Galactica or Game of Thrones or one of those fashionably dark and dismal franchises. Davies let the show become a little too dark, and I'm glad to see Moffat taking a more optimistic approach, where a hero can redeem his past mistakes without having to die in the process. I think it works fine. People close to death often cling to life until some final goal is reached and then seem to let go and die soon thereafter. The War Doctor probably willed himself to keep going until he ended the war, and once that was resolved, he stopped fighting and let himself go. It's not offscreen. The Doctors deal with the threat by forcing the Zygons to conduct peace talks with UNIT. Everything after that is just long, dry negotiations which we wouldn't want to have onscreen. I hope so.
Hang on, the story ends with the Doctor radically changing his past. What we see near the end isn't what originally happened; the War Doctor originally used the Moment by himself, and burned Gallifrey. But earlier on, we see that Eleven remembers some of what's going to happen, so it must always have happened....YE GODS, I'M SO F***ING CONFUSED, SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!! And what's the deal with the Curator looking like an older Fourth Doctor? Is that supposed to mean something?
Absolutely loved it! I think the only thing I was disappointed with was 'Rose' not really appearing, but whatever. I need to watch it again. John Hurt was a real pleasure to watch, as was the Tennant/Smith double act. I was laughing at them one minute, and then transfixed at the more dramatic moments. Elizabeth I was very funny, and I liked that they picked up the thread that was dangled back during Tennant's reign. I was a bit concerned at first when the Doctors decided to change the past. Sure it was a terrible event that finally ended the Time War, but it shaped the present day Doctor into the man he became. It was a very important early series arc. I'm just glad that it was played out so well with all the incarnations of the Doctor, and that it means the groundwork is laid for Capaldi to have a Find Gallifrey storyline. The trailer for the Christmas special tickled me in the right way too.
Never let continuity get in the way of telling a fun story. Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, much like Abra Cadabra. He's a later Doctor who happens to look like the 4th seemingly.
After this I REALLY want to see more of the Hurt and McGann Doctors once the new Doctor is bedded in. And Donna wasn't in it ! Truly thankful...
Only the 11th/12th Doctor remembers what happened. I think part of the explanation is in the end when he has the dream about Gallifrey. Maybe he's always had that dream and only now knows the significance.
You have a greater concern to nail down these things than I do. Earlier, Lonemagpie quoted dialogue from the scene which supports Baker being a later regeneration. It works for me, regardless. My bad, it was JoeZhang who quoted the dialogue. http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=8929804&postcount=105
Things have come full circle. 1st Doctor wanted adventures and was eager to leave Gallifrey. the 12th and 13th Doctors want to come back home.
Forgot to mention how awesome it was to see the original opening titles on the bug screen! I just wish they played the whole thing instead of cutting it short. Also, I have to rewatch the scene again, but it seemed to me we got a glimpse of Eccleston's face during the regeneration, akin to young Hurt in "The Night if the Doctor." But maybe it's just me.
I absolutely loved it. I am so glad that I went to see the special in a cinema, even though the entrance fee was too high. But this was totally worth it. I even enjoyed the 3D, which was much better IMHO than the 3D version of the first Hobbit movie. I would really like to watch it again on a big screen (Doctor Who, not The Hobbit).
First, Doctor Hurt regenerated because he was no longer needed (the warrior that 8 requested to be). That's why he said something like "it figures". Second, Baker was a future regen and this also ties into face picking abilities that may be used explaining Capaldi. Third, and slightly off topic, watching EOT and I am pissed they cut the book signing and Sigma's sing you to sleep speech
Same here on all counts. The intro with Smith was equally great. For me, this was hands down the greatest multi-Doctor episode and one of Moffat's very best. The interaction between Smith, Tennant and Hurt, or any combination thereof, was priceless. Aside from that, there were so many wonderful moments (Roundels. Baker. "It wasn't locked.") that it's hard to choose a favourite, but if I had to I'd probably go for the Capaldi moment ("No, sir. All thirteen"). There are some niggles, though. The Elizabeth I scenes appear to happen a couple of years too early in the Doctor's timeline (unless the wedding scene happens two years after the rest of the episode for him). The age of Hurt's Doctor (both actual and biological) is equally problematic. If the regeneration into Eccleston is when he's 800ish, then it looks like we can chop a few centuries from every mention of the Doctor's age in the original run. I kind of wish the Moff had used the opportunity to clear up the apparent discrepancy between the Doctor's ages as stated in OldWho and NuWho. It wouldn't have been too difficult, either. But those are minor issues and observations. I think this episode is one for the ages, not to mention being one for all ages.
The curator makes more sense on a 2nd viewing. Another version of this Doctor or the next it seems. Great to see Tom Baker he had said that he'd regretted not appearing in the 25th anniversary. But he got the chance here and what an impact it had.