Wow. I don't think any of us were expecting that. Well, maybe just a little bit but it was still a massive surprise. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, watch the new prequel for The Day Of The Doctor now or stop reading at the end of this sentence because I'm about to start chucking spoilers around like covering fire in a beachhead assault. Steven Moffat, you've done it again. And he's not just pulled the rug out from under us with a clever plot twist or ball of timey-wimey stuff, he's managed to do it with an entire seven minute minisode. Because not only did The Night Of The Doctor see the first TV appearance of the Eighth Doctor for seventeen years, it also resolved that forever dangling plot point of his Regeneration. All with absolutely no fanfare, significant teasers, or leaks before it was finished. So, because The Night Of The Doctor was just that amazing, I'm now going to turn this area of the internet into a huge love-in for it...
6. How Much Effort Was Put Into It
Whether you love or hate this episode, you can't help but respect the sheer amount of effort that must have gone into producing it. Because this is so much more than any other Doctor Who prequel we've seen. Yes the CGI was a bit crap but everything other than that is so wonderfully put together. It's just an online and Red Button prequel but it's much longer than the usual prequels, includes three specially built sets, two new characters, and the first appearance of the Eighth Doctor in seventeen years. All for something that was never going to get a proper TV broadcast. And the biggest thing is: it was all kept entirely under wraps. This was a momentous development in Doctor Who history and everyone involved managed to keep everything about it a complete secret. Again: all for a seven minute Red Button prequel. That, ladies, gentlemen, multisex, undecided, and robots, is a huge amount of effort and dedication. Bravo.