*Spoilers if you want to watch the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary*
(From the left: Jenna Coleman, Matt Smith, David Tennant, and Billie Piper)
This past weekend was the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary. For those of you who have never heard of it, Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show about a time traveler from space. Yeah, it can't really be described without making me sound completely mental. The Doctor can travel anywhere through space and time in his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space). It looks like a 1960s police box, and is bigger on the inside:
He is over 1,000 years old, due to regeneration- he changes bodies when he is about to die, as a way of saving himself. Because of this, the Doctor has been played by 11 different actors since it began in 1963. This is also the reason the show has been able to continue for so long; it is the longest running sci-fi show ever!
The Doctor generally travels with a companion, who is more often than not a young British girl, but he has had companions that are males, aliens, or both. The Day of the Doctor brought back former actors David Tennant and Billie Piper, alongside current actors Matt Smith and Jenna Louise Coleman, and featuring cameos from other Doctors, both past and future. (Fourth Doctor Tom Baker made a surprise appearance, as well as Peter Capaldi, who is set to become the Twelfth Doctor when Matt Smith regenerates next month. More on Smith's regeneration to come.) David Tennant was my personal favorite incarnation of the Doctor, and Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper) was my favorite companion, so I was very excited that they were coming back for the special. Although I was somewhat disappointed at the way Piper came back to the show, (she was not exactly playing Rose Tyler, but rather an interface of the TARDIS) I liked the way she was tied into the story. It made sense with everything that has happened with her character. The Tenth Doctor was a huge treat, especially when placed next to the Eleventh. Together they made the 50th Anniversary amazing.
The plot of the special was great; it was funny, serious, and totally changed the course of the show- past, present, and future. The Doctor managed to get married to Queen Elizabeth the First, defeat the aliens trying to take over the Earth, and save his home planet of Gallifrey, all in 76 minutes. Plus, there were lots of Easter eggs hinting at the show's 50 year history. The episode also won a Guinness World Record for the world's longest simulcast of a tv show!
Doctor Who is a wonderful show, if you like British people, time/space travel, and or aliens. I know people who hate it and people who adore it. I guess it's a matter of opinion. I like this show because it's interesting; it really makes you think. Every episode is something different. One day the Doctor could be on the distant planet of Raxacoricofallapatorious, and the next day the Titanic could crash into the TARDIS. There are silly episodes, scary episodes, and serious episodes. Sometimes it makes you question past events, and other times you'll be scratching your head, wondering about quantum physics. But it's always a great adventure, and The Day of the Doctor was no exception. It was, in the words of the Ninth Doctor, fantastic!
You can find Doctor Who on Netflix and on BBC America (although it's currently on hiatus.)
