If we're being totally honest, liking The Day of the Doctor is a matter well out of our hands. You can hardly hate such a good-natured, lovingly made celebration of the show's fiftieth anniversary, after all. We're pretty sure they'd take away your fandom membership if you weren't at least a little bit charmed by the episode, even taking into account the impressive capacity of Doctor Who fans to complain. The simple fact of the matter is that the anniversary special was made first and foremost to reward Whovians, and that alone makes it worthy of appreciation, because it can get away with a level of fanwankery that would be unseemly in an ordinary episode. Where else are you going to see the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors working together and interacting with a mysterious earlier incarnation, played by the incomparable John Hurt? Or a cameo from Tom Baker? Or the return of Billie Piper (although not as Rose Tyler)? The fact that all these little goodies are strung together into a mostly coherent plot that actually adds positively to the show's canon is nothing short of miraculous.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
