"And now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now. The clock is striking twelves's.."
I had arranged a small party for the final episode where some friends could join me in watching the final episode. I was really pleased that people turned up to do this with me. I know that sounds lame but I imagine watching an episode of Doctor Who isn't everyone's idea of a good time. Although there was food and an awesome cake so hopefully that helped. More on this later. I need to try to discuss the day in some kind of order.
Unfortunately the one friend who would have loved to have watched the final episode with me (Matt) couldn't actually make it as it was his Dad's birthday so he had to be elsewhere. I enjoy winding him up about such things as it's a running joke that nearly everytime I plan something (mainly for my birthday) he is busy elsewhere with either a holiday or a wedding (and I think one time it was a holiday AND a wedding!). Anyway it wasn't all bad as Matt joined me on Day 899 for the 50th anniversary special and also joined me during the day on Day 900 to finish off watching The Savages. Now there were many stories I thought about revisiting on the final day but The Savages was not one of them! Still, it was fun to watch a story from the very early days of the show that I could now hardly remember.
As well as joining me during the day, Matt was also kind enough to bring me round a bottle of champagne (or it may have been sparkling wine, I don't really know the difference) to be opened as the final credits rolled on the final episode. I thought that was an awesome idea and I was very grateful to him.
Around 6 o'clock I went to pick up my friend Molly who needed assistance getting to the house due to the ginormous chocolate cake she had made for the occasion! My eyes were particulary drawn to the chocolate fingers around the edge as I wondered how many I could peel off without anyone noticing. Due to the sheer height of the cake it was necessary to slice it as thin as possible as even then it proved nearly impossible to consume a full slice. Except for Andy who managed it no problem. I was quite impressed with his cake eating ability I must admit. I've never been able to eat to much sweet stuff. Give me a bowl of crisps and I can eat the lot!
The cake was awesome and the fingers around the edge helped for two reasons, 1) as a way of measuring the size of the slice you were cutting and 2) as a source of hilarity when I got to ask everyone how many fingers they could fit inside them. I should really grow up one day!
Sally and Andy also brought round a giant bag of sweets which I'm still munching through a week later so thanks very much to them! I haven't had flying saucers for ages so I was excited to see some of them buried in there! Thinking about it now I really should have offered them round during the party..oops! Sorry about that! I feel a bit guilty about that but it's not going to stop me eating them!
As if all that wasn't enough, Leanne brought me a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of Gallifrey University. Very cool indeed, and it even fits me which is a miracle in itself! My Keele University hoodie has long faded into obscurity so this will take its place nicely!
The table was set with the cake and various snacks etc. There was of course jelly babies! You can't have a Doctor Who party without jelly babies! I said to Matt earlier in the day that I just hoped that I didn't think of something at the last minute and be upset with myself for not thinking of it sooner, and unfortunately one of those moments did occur. Leanne mentioned that she was surprised I hadn't prepared fish fingers and custard! God damn it! That would have been a brilliant idea! This was Matt Smith's final episode and he eats them in both this episode and in his first one so it would have been the perfect food item for the table. I tried to comfort myself with the fact that few people would have actually eaten them.
So with everyone arrived we settled down to watch An Unearthly Child, the very first episode of Doctor Who, to revisit Day 1 of the mad challenge. As I placed the DVD into the player I couldn't help but smile that I had a room full of people watching this with me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm aware that that statement makes me sound like a right sad case which is not correct at all. Well maybe a little. Obviously I have friends, and go out to meet them etc and do a lot of normal things. That being said, it's obvious by now that Doctor Who does (especially for these last 900 days) play a big part in my life and for most of the last two and a half years that has been somewhat of a solitary affair. So to suddenly have a group of friends around, who were willing to watch this old black and white episode from 1963, I found quite touching.
The first episode is one I have seen many times and I think it still stands up well as a great piece of television. It's amazing to see just how many things introduced in that first episode are things which are still integral to the show today.
Of course each time an episode is watched then some of the magic is unfortunately lost. You can never recreate that moment of seeing it for the first time again. However watching the first episode again with friends, who I believe I'm right in saying had never seen it before, then it at least gave me back some of that thrill of experiencing the story for the first time. It makes me think of a Matt Smith episode of the show where the Doctor is explaining one of the reasons why he needs a companion. Having been travelling for so long he has become too accustomed to the wonders of the universe and can now only experience that thrill by seeing it through the eyes of his companion. "When you see it then I see it". For the most part I think my friends enjoyed the episode, or if they didn't, then they at least kept a polite silence over the limitations of 60s television.
With the first episode watched and a mountain of cake eaten, it was time for the episode I had been both looking forward to and dreading. The Time Of The Doctor had arrived.
First of all I have to mention the awesome coincidence that has allowed me to end this quest on such a story. This is the final adventure for the eleventh Doctor and so, even though the series will go on, this really felt like a definitive end for my challenge.
The only drawback to this episode is that it does require some knowledge of the episodes leading up to it to fully understand it. Now I expected to feel a little anxious during the evening as to whether everyone was enjoying themselves or just indulging me and my mad ways but it's a testimont to my friends that I didn't feel anxious at all as they were all awesome and I loved every minute of sharing this last episode with them. It's true though that I had to bite my tongue so that I didn't get annoying by pointing out all the little nods to the past that appear in the episode. A glove puppet of a Monoid! Brilliant! The seal of Rassilon stolen from the Master in the Death zone (the Doctor is referencing the events of The Five Doctors!). Things like that make my heart sing!
So to pick up on a few highlights of the episode:
Well first of all I was thrilled but a little surprised that the Doctor's twelve regeneration limit was included as a key plot point. This was something that was first brought up in the fourth Doctor story, The Deadly Assassin, and I imagine at the time they never really expected to get up to thirteen Doctors so it wasn't really worth worrying about. With the inclusion of John Hurt as the actual ninth Doctor then this made Matt Smith the twelfth. Steven Moffat then pulls a genius stroke by including the tenth Doctor's regeneration back into himself in Journey's End as an official regeneration. I've always hated the way the cliffhanger cheated us in that story so to now know that the Doctor is officially using up a regeneration there then it actually helps to improve the drama of that pretty lack lustre episode.
So Matt Smith is the final incarnation of the Doctor. And he is trapped on Trenzalore in a stalemate. He can speak his name through the crack in the skin of the universe and release the Time Lords back into our universe but in so doing he will trigger the time war all over again. And if he leaves, then the planet will be destroyed.
He tricks Clara into returning to the TARDIS which attempts to take her home, and the Doctor remains behind on Trenzalore for hundreds of years as he guards it from the invaders who want to destroy it.
Clara briefly returns to Trenzalore but is once again tricked into leaving and by the time she gets back the Doctor is now a very old man and is at the end of his life. The Daleks have finally broken through the barriers to the planet and they are damanding to see him die. The scenes of him at the top of a bell tower whilst the Daleks berate him about being on his final incarnation are fantastic and for me it was actually pretty emotional thinking back to how I had seen him through all of his regenerations. It really felt like the end. There was a moment slightly before this, when Clara walks in to find the Doctor is now a very old man, that I actually thought I might cry. Ridiculous!
Of course it's not the end as the Time Lords grant him a complete new regeneration cycle after an emotional plea from Clara. This was something that was speculated may happen as it is already written into the rules of the show that this could happen after a line in The Five Doctors where the president of Gallifrey tries to get the Master to help them by promising him a brand new regeneration cycle. Just pointing that out for anyone who thinks it's some kind of cop out! It's not! It's awesome!
The final words of any Doctor are important. Just as important as their first words. This is the moment where they can sum up their time and bid their last farewell. David Tennant's departure had really felt like a death. The Doctor himself claimed that he would die and the next person would not be him but a completely new Doctor, and indeed Tennant's Doctor died whilst begging for more life which was fairly traumatic to watch! Matt Smith's regeneration is far more optimistic. In his final speech he goes on to explain how change is just a part of life and when you think about it we all change through our lives and can be considered to be different people at different times. What really gets the tears going is when he slowly removes his bow tie and lets it drop to the floor. The bow tie had been just as important aspect to the eleventh Doctor as the ridiculously long scarf was to the fourth.
And with that I'm suddenly faced with a brand new Doctor, who has some very scary eyes and only speaks a few lines of dialogue before the episode ends. Of course, this scene will be watched over and over again in attempt to gain any kind of insight into what Capaldi's Doctor will be like. The wait till Autumn is going to be a long one.
And then it was over. Champagne was drunk and then it was time for a couple of drinks in the pub.
If you are wondering why there is a spoon in the bottle, I was told it would stop it going flat. It didn't.
Overall I could not have asked for a better final day. I was so pleased to share this final episode with my closest mates. As the Doctor himself says :
"if it's time to go, remember what you're leaving. Remember the best. My friends have always been the best of me."
The quest was over.
But the story goes on...as the clock strikes twelve.
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