Emotional Ramblings of a Celebrating Whovian

There's never been a better time to be a Whovian than November 2013.

!!! Warning: if you  a) are not familiar with the Doctor Who tv series

                           b) are familiar with Doctor Who and you don't like it

                           c) are familiar with Doctor Who, you like it, but you haven't seen the Special yet,

I suggest you turn around and run away from this article as fast as you can.

I'm not gonna hold back, I need to talk, so there will be spoilers and everything. And if you don't know anything about Doctor Who, chances are this will look like an absolutely crazy babbling that doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

If you're still here with me, I'm sure it is unnecessary to tell you why this particular month is so important ;) But in case there is a random reader only just discovering, I'll spell it out for you: last Saturday, 23rd November, it was exactly 50 years since the first episode of Doctor Who saw the light of day. 50 incredible years since the Doctor first appeared on our tv screens. Not really on ours, you know what I mean: on the British ones. He made it to the Czech Republic only recently.

Anyway, this is not meant to be an introduction into Doctor Who or an explanation what it is about. This is going to be a very emotional flock of words about how super cool the Anniversary Special was and what were my favourite bits. (All the images in this post are screencaps found here.)

The main and overwhelming favourite bit  was that this was the first episode I ever watched live as it was being broadcast for the very first time. I only discovered DW a couple of months ago and had just about plenty of time to catch up on all the 7 series of the modern run of the show. Some of it twice.

There is no need to explain why any of the bits with the 3 doctors together are amazing. The light hearted banter and sarcastic remarks of any of them towards his other selves were so heartwarming and... generally smile provoking :) Plus... I mean, Ten and Eleven together, that's every fangirl's dream come true. Christmas come early. Although it may be a bit too silly for some people. Not for me! Nevertheless, I have to say that I equally enjoyed the really serious moments between the 3 of them. Like when they are imprisoned in the dungeons of Tower of London. The time they actually talk about the big and heavy topic that two of them never want to talk or think about again. I loved that moment. As painful as it was.

Because Chinny was right, when he said "This is what I'm like when I'm alone." It felt as if there was just one person there, having an internal dialogue. We all have things in our past, things we regret and we wish we hadn't done (although probably, hopefully! not quite to the scale of wiping out 2 entire species)... We all have that part of ourselves that we really don't like, that we hate because of the mistakes it has made... And that's what we saw. Personified. The doctor being repulsed, disgusted with a part of himself. The poor War Doctor hasn't even done it yet and already he was hated for it. By himself...

Anyway, the three Doctors were just simply amazing. they played off each other well and as I already said, they felt like one person, which after all is the point, innit?

You wouldn't want to mess with these boys, right?

If ever I am in big trouble, I want these three to be on my side. Or at least one of them would do.

Putting aside the central trio of the Special episode,... Clara! I like Clara. and once again she proved to be the special girl who hops along and notices a lot of things in that perfectly human way. It was her, who, looking into the War Doctor's eyes, saw that they were unspoilt yet. They didn't reflect the billions of lives lost in the time war by the hand of one man. Not yet. While Ten and Eleven failed to see this at first, they didn't even bother looking, because all they saw was the one we don't talk about, the one we pretend never existed, the one who did a terrible thing that we have to live with now. Until...

They went to help him. I was already sad and welling up coz they were going to blow up Gallifrey, and then I was equally emotional because it was the Doctor forgiving himself and coming to help himself and share the burden, so that the War Doctor wouldn't be alone doing that terrible, inevitable thing. So there they are, focusing on the many many lives and worlds that they, I mean he will be able to save in the future... We're all sad, because Gallifrey is about to be destroyed. When...

The good old Clara expresses her disagreement. I love her for this. and I love that Eleven thought it important enough to listen to her... So all the stuff that happened next... Basically, where would Gallifrey be if it wasn't for Clara Oswald?

And then there was the nice relaxing bit after all the tension and action, the lovely aftermath, which as many people have already remarked, couldn't possibly be more British. It's the section called

"Three Tardises and Tea".

And then we said goodbye to the War Doctor, got very excited when he started regenerating and just for a second we hoped that we might catch a tiny glimpse of Christopher Eccleston,... Then our hearts sank a little when that didn't happen. But never mind, there was still one more biiiiig treat left for us. The Curator, of course.

Now the funny thing is, that... Even though I haven't seen any of the classics yet (Don't kill me! I really want to watch them, I do! I just haven't figured out a reasonable way how to get hold of them yet.)... I have never watched anything with the fourth Doctor. I've seen pictures, of course, I know there's a scarf, but that's not quite the same thing. And yet, AND YET, I felt it. One of the multiple reviews and comments I read online, can't remember which one, described it with words like "a warm fuzzy hug from a giant teddy bear, wrapping the knitted scarf of nostalgia around you" and that is exactly what I felt. I don't know how. It must have been some wibbly wobbly magic... as if I was connected to the millions of people watching, who recognized Tom Baker the second they heard his voice. I just had a very strong inclination that I know him, that he was/is/will be the Doctor... I hope this is not too confusing to read. I just... I can't explain it. I felt all the emotion and nostalgia, even though I didn't technically know or recognize him... *emotional whovian sniffs* Magic!

From there it was only just a couple of steps to all the hope and the new mission...

I am so immensely grateful that I was lucky enough to watch the Special live, to be a part of this global celebration. It was the perfect ending to an already pretty awesome day I had.

Even the the day after, I was still on such a high from all the doctory timey wimey stuff, I was so inexplicably happy that I felt like running. Which I normally never do. I don't run. If there is a tram that I'm missing, I just let it go. There will be another one. But on Sunday I was like: "Look: a tram! It's the one I need. Oh, sod it, let's run!!!" and there I was, sprinting towards the tram stop as if I had a deadly alien army behind my heels and the doctor beside me. And on my way back that night, I was walking home enjoying the fresh and windy weather... and I was sooo happy that I felt like running. So I did. ... I, who have loathed running ever since I was 12. Seriously, what has the Doctor done to me?

I shall leave you with a very touching quote by the show's very own biggest fanboy-turned writer Steven Moffat. He said this during the official celebrations, at a panel discussion... and all the whovians collectively welled up :) 

“It’s hard to talk about the importance of an imaginary hero. But heroes ARE important. Heroes tell us something about ourselves. History books tell us who we used to be, documentaries tell us who we are now but heroes tell us who we WANT to be. And a lot of our heroes depress me. But when they made this particular hero, they didn’t give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn’t give him a tank or a warship or an X-Wing fighter, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help. And they didn’t give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray. They gave him an extra heart. They gave him two hearts. And that’s an extraordinary thing. There will never come a time when we don’t need a hero like the Doctor.”

Tell me in the comments how you celebrated the Anniversary and what was your favourite part of the Special :)