The 50th Anniversary Year: Looking Back, Did It Deliver?
Right back in my retrospective part 1 I mused that fans were never going to be totally satisfied. Expectations were impossibly high; maybe if there had been a new episode on EVERY SINGLE day in 2013, EVERY CLASSIC DOCTOR had returned (including those beyond the grave!!!), and ALL the lost black and white episodes were found, then perhaps we might have been happy! In truth, it wasn't the year-long celebration we were promised. So much of 2013 was a waiting game. Series 7b seemed to be done before it had even started and left us with a cliffhanger (introducing John Hurt as The Doctor) that was agonising. There was so much speculation and rumour. The biggest of course, was the tantilising tid bits of news that was the discovery of missing episodes. Over a hundred we were promised. We didn't really believe that. But almost two complete Patrick Troughton serials That was something I think no one quite believed would ever happen. The cynic in me might ask - isn't it a massive coincidence that they returned in the anniversary year? Still, fan manipulation or not, it was an awfully good 50th birthday present! And then in November, we finally got to see some of that magic we were promised. Classic Doctors in the hilarious 5ish Doctors and of course Big Finish's wonderful The Light At The End. The magical An Adventure In Space And Time, exploring the show's origins and the explosive special The Day Of The Doctor, which was a great cinema experience. Though for me, possibly the biggest surprise was the return of Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor in The Night Of The Doctor. It might have only been seven minutes long, but it was glorious. And like any good Doctor Who article writer as Whatculture, I was immediately on hand to speculate
5 Ways To Bring Back Paul McGann For More On Screen Adventures. And then we had a glorious end to Matt Smith's tenure at Christmas, just to round everything off nicely. Did the 50th anniversary year deliver? The epic-ness of the 'Name / Day / Time Of the Doctor' trilogy, An Adventure In Space And Time, Paul McGann, new Patrick Troughton stories and the global cinema experience that was Day Of The Doctor. All worthy of the 50th celebrations...but in truth it was less a year and more a few weeks. I find myself reaching the end of 2013 satisfied that Doctor Who has delivered. Would I have preferred more episodes? Certainly. I think there were too many gaps in 2013 where nothing was happening. Still, where was the budget ever going to come for a year's worth of celebration? At the end of the day I am going to remember watching Day Of The Doctor in 3D at the cinema, with my son wielding his sonic screwdriver and fans dressed up in costume, for a long time. And if nothing else, that was worth celebrating alone!