A delight for all Whovian fans. Celebrating the five decade spans. Time Lord with a blue box. Running rings around clocks. Resolutely proud Gallifreyan.

There are Zygons who mimic ID. Liz the 1st who can be quite stroppy. While the moment grasps Rose. Clara strikes a great pose. Kate and Osgood make perfect copy.

This is The Day of Doctor. Universal hero and wise protector. Filled with great dialogue. The ending leaves us agog. Here's to fifty more years to our saviour.

I have to say after watching The Day of the Doctor, that I consider myself quite a rich fan of the long-time show. To have Steven Moffat as show runner and his magnificently brilliant staff putting together these complex, intricately plotted episodes, it is a delight to be alive to see it. I just wish my Uncle Bonnie would have persevered cancer to see where Doctor Who was going. The respect and admiration for the characters (actors who portrayed the Doctor and his adversaries) is presented in such an appreciative fashion, and to know this makes me proud of those carrying on the legacy first introduced in the 60s. For a little while the show was gone but never forgotten (the 90s is the dark decade for Who fans and I feel deep regret my uncle had to go so long without the show to enjoy) and now we, as Who fans, benefit and reap the rewards as viewers during this era.

I guess the best way to describe The Day of the Doctor is precious. It brings two beloved actors portraying the Doctor in during one of its greatest eras on television—Matt Smith and David Tennant—and a screen legend, John Hurt, as "the doctor who made a devastating decision that destroyed his own people and their fierce rivals, the Daleks". Hurt's "War Doctor" has been "buried away" as the shameful time lord future Doctors wish they could completely forget. This episode shows Hurt dealing with the option to destroy Gallifrey with a doomsday device, but it has a "conscience" and appears in the lovely form of Billie Piper (she remains a personal fave of mine from her days with Eccleston in the early 2000s). Piper's Rose is actually "Big Bad Wolf", and she attempts throughout the episode to talk Hurt's Doctor out of using it to wipe out Gallifrey.

In a top secret location in the heart of London known as the Undergallery, a specific painting shows the supposed fall of Gallifrey during the Time War. Zygons, ugly slug like creatures with suctions that shapeshift into human form through the use of the hosts they imitate, existed back at the time of Elizabeth I, and her association with Tennant's Doctor (they marry!) allows us to see how the creatures plan to use paintings as a method of travel, awaiting a significant change in the world from the primitive time they were currently existing. So they were to "invade the future from the past", waiting for the world's advancement before conquering it! Prior to the decision on whether or not to condemn the innocent aliens on Gallifrey, the three Doctors have a chance to rescue modern day London, circa 2013, from annihilation. To halt the plans of the Zygons to conquer London, members of an elite alien task force led by the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart will perhaps allow the city to be detonated by a nuclear weapon. So the Doctors will need to talk her out of something truly terrible that would be a mistake. This intentionally parallels the ongoing struggle within Hurt's War Doctor.

This episode neatly gives us Who fans an opportunity to see the Time War, two awesome Doctor Who actors (and a third to be added to the acting cannon to attain Hurt further recognition in his career) together to share some truly marvelous screen time (their banter is lively, clever, witty, and quite funny),and a delightful cameo by Tom Baker—a Who fan favorite from the 70s—as a museum curator. Baker and Smith together is certain to be a lasting moment in Who lore forever. Tennant just slides the Doctor Who role back like comfortable loafers, and his return is a welcome one. Hurt's old timer constantly bewildered at his future selves is a treat, particularly his remarks about the sonic screwdriver, kissing, and Smith's use of his hands when talking. Oh, and the Fez is always a fun sight gag for Smith's particular Doctor. How it is used for the "time fissure (a tear in the fabric of time),which is able to open a gateway that brings three Doctors (Time Lords) together" is ingenious. The Day of the Doctor is a necessity, in my opinion, if you are a Doctor Who nut like many of us sci-fi fans, both young and old. It is a treasure. I'm tickled it was so successful and so universally seen across the world. The series' value brings a warm feeling to my heart. The nice mention of the "round things, always loved the round things" in regards to the design of the older inside of the decor of the Tardis was awesome. The final scene with all the Doctors is wonderful, an awe-inspiring, loving homage to the series.

In my reviews of various episodes of Doctor Who I try to take a balanced view, to place each particular episode in the context of the series and to highlight some particular aspect of the production. So, when I first thought about this review, I thought that it would include references to other anniversary shows, the Anniversary Season, the one-shot DIMENSIONS IN TIME, which was so something-for-everyone that it wound up having to be written out of continuity.

Then I saw this episode and the constant assault of jokes and catchphrases, of old, ridiculous scarves and space-time telegraphs, of cameo appearances by Significant Players, of Daleks and Zygons and members of the Lethbridge-Stewart family, as well as the pleasure of watching Matt Smith and David Tennant wrangle under the grumpy eye of John Hurt -- which recalls William Hartnell grumbling at successors Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee for a clown and a fop -- well, my critical faculties just went into overload and broke down. I was just another geeky fanboy having a great time and I don't care who knows it.

And now that I think about it: what's wrong with that assessment? The answer is: nothing. This is what escapist fantasy like Doctor Who is supposed to do: lift us out of ourselves, give us and hour or so free from the weight of the world. That is what this episode does and does brilliantly. If there is a serious message hidden in there -- and I believe there is -- then that is well and good. As W.S. Gilbert had one of the characters in his comic operettas with Arthur Sullivan say, "He who'd make his fellow creature wise must always gild the philosophic pill." But even if you don't see it, the Fiftieth Anniversary Special is great escapist fun.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to watch it again.