For years after the original, Gary Oldman was slated to star in the remake. Not only does the tagline write itself but it would have been a fantastic choice.

True, the Lake Silencio scenario doesn't fit in with the whole of rewriting time, it's more an example of tricking the universe into the same consequences as would have happened if what 'should' have happened had of done so. The Waters of Mars example is a stronger example of time being rewritten in a way that shows…

I agree with this. It's the Skyfall ending of Doctor Who - reboot, make it contemporary, relevant and popular, then slowly bring it back to the classic status quo and it be a celebratory good thing rather than seen as a step back.

I think it's the latter as the prequel was filmed on the final two days of the Day of the Doctor shoot so he was around and available at that time. I also guess they didn't realise how well the prequel would do so sticking with the classic look was a safe bet.

I'm not sure that the War Doctor is merely a script substitute for Nine. But even if he was then I like how it turned out - the idea of a living personification of The Doctor's guilt and sadness is a wonderful and was used brilliantly, and it's a testament to the sort of show this is that you could do that and it feel…

Did he ever stop to count how many Dalek children were in that fleet?

But then the classic series had running jokes like that - Baker's Jelly babies for example. It's just that fandom uses them in different ways now and, in this huge ol' internety world, everyone's more self-aware of the assimilation of such things and how it feeds back into the show.

I liked the finger-snapping but hadn't put it into that context so thank you for that.

You and SaoMagnifico are absolutely right and I feel stupid for not remembering that his murder was the whole reason the character was created/brought into that episode.

Well clarified. I certainly wasn't demeaning the role, just that it's something he found enjoyable and relaxing in his twilight years.

The War Doctor, according to the Night of the Doctor credits. Seems as good a canon title as any.

There were thirteen incarnations of The Doctor there so they were right. It's just that one of them doesn't count himself as The Doctor.

One of the smartest things Moffat did was introduce the Cracks in Time in series 5 to allow a logical way for people and history to have forgotten a lot of these events. It didn't piss on RTD's choices and say they never happened, it was a way of simply contextualising them into a more realistic world that fits with…

It wasn't just a future Doctor though - it was a far future Doctor, when he's retired from it all and is living a whimsical and relaxed life dipping into nostalgia by revisiting some of his favourite old appearances (I guess he can really control his regenerations by then) and curating an art museum. Having Capaldi…

I don't think that's true - he had destroyed them but the events of the Time War had been time-locked to prevent anyone from being able to go into the past and mucking about with it. It's not a way of taking something out of existence, just making those events inaccessible. So when we see the High Council in End of…

They even referenced it in this episode - "The High Council have their own plans". Their plans just turned out to be a bit shit - mostly spitting, listening to yet another RTD mad soothsayer and making the Master into a chavvy Palpatine.

Just a thought but isn't it possible that it *was* destroyed originally? And that, on a linear character level (and viewing level) everything still stands as it was - War Doctor destroyed it, Nine and Ten dealt with that guilt and Eleven, in DotD, found a way to change it? After all, Nine says that he saw the planet…

I thought is was a fantastic compromise. I loved the idea of all three pressing the button together, giving a redemption to the War Doctor and allowing Ten and Eleven to find a measure of acceptance with what happened. But, coming just after the speech Eleven gave to UNIT, it would have been a tad hypocritical. Having…

Did they not die in the now-averted destruction of Gallifrey? If so (s)he is presumably still kicking around after this episode.

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