It’s here. Finally. After all this time. The first trailer for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special. I tried to avoid it, because I wanted to go into the episode without knowing anything, but it’s impossible to avoid.
Here is what we know from the last episode of Doctor Who “The Name of the Doctor” Clara has been spread across the Doctor’s Timeline and John Hurt appears to be a version of the Doctor. Basically.
The 50th Anniversary special will be picking up where “The Name of the Doctor” left off. We’ll find out which version of the Doctor John Hurt is (though it is pretty clear he is the “time war” Doctor, between The 8th and the 9th Doctors) and probably some stuff about the Time War.
There are actually two versions of the trailer, which is interesting. Each has a few different things.
Watch the two versions below:
“Official” Version
BBC America “exclusive”
Okay did you watch them? Good. Now let’s go through and ANALYZE.
First lets start with the “official trailer”
Opening we see a beat up Tardis in the desert with boot prints coming out of it. They are no the prints left by David Tennant’s Chuck Taylors or Matt Smith’s pointy boots. Maybe these are John Hurt’s Doctor’s prints.
Then there are a shit load of space ships. 99% sure these are Dalek ships.
Then we get a ton of shots of explosions, a city, and some Daleks exterminating things with the lines “I’ve had many faces, many lives. There is one life I’ve tried very hard to forget.” Which then flashes from Matt Smith to John Hurt. Pretty sure we’re talking about the Time War here and John Hurt is the “Time War Doctor.” Ever since Eccleston we know that the Doctor hates himself for what happened during the Time War.
We see some more of John Hurt and then some Matt Smith and David Tennant. Smith and Tennants Doctors seem to be teaming up with each other. Then come the quick paced flashes with dramatic music.
We’ve got 11 and Clara hi-tenning, some girl running from SOMETHING, a giant scary face (which I originally thought was the Face of boe but then I realized I was stupid and it’s a Zygon) explosions, 10 and 11 being adorable with their glasses, BAD WOLF ROSE, a Horse coming out of the Tardis (the Horse from Girl in the fireplace? I’d like to dream), More scary face monster, and Clara using what appears to be a Vortex Manipulator.
And then the dramatic shot with John Hurt and a giant red crystal. Where Bad Wolf Rose says “the moment is coming” and John Hurt is “ready.”
The trailer ends with some more Dalek ships, explosions and a Geronimo!
The BBC America Exclusive trailer is a bit different. Some different shots, but a few more scene. Including 10 in HIS Tardis, more of the three Doctors together, and some humous moments in regards to how the Doctor changes.
What can we conclude from these two trailers? The 50th Anniversary special is about the Time War.
There is ample evidence from the doctor talking about the time in his life that he wishes he didn’t remember to all those Dalek’s destroying everything (on which appears to be Gallifray).
The biggest give away is Rose mentioning “The moment,” which if you are caught up on your Doctor Who trivia, you’ll know that “the moment” is the device that the Doctor used to end the time war.
Now that we’ve got the obvious part out of the way lets look at some smaller details.
Which version of the 10th Doctor is this? Could it actually be the 10th Doctor? Or is it TenToo, the human copy (if you will) of 10 that stays with Rose in the alternate universe. This blogger believes that it is the actual 10th Doctor for a trivial reason. When TenToo is created he’s wearing the less common Blue suit and the actual 10 is wearing the brown suit. While this seems like an irrelevant thing, it might have some weight because of use of the colors and styles of clothes the Doctor wears to signify time changes. Plus he’s got the sonic screwdriver, so I think that is pretty much solved.
Then we’ve got Rose. Rose is seen as Bad Wolf Rose (aka Rose when she observes the core of the Tardis). How did Rose (and the 10th Doctor) get out of the Alternate universe? Is this a past version of Rose? A Current? A Future? Also, Rose is seen mostly with John Hurt’s Doctor. Is this just good editing or does Rose not “arrive” with 10?
It seems like the three Doctors will be teaming up to defeat some evil monster (possibly the scary face thing), with Smith and Tennant meeting first and then teaming up with Hurt.
Many people are upset that there are no older Doctors in the special. Honestly it would have been fantastic to see the pervious Doctors team up, but we know that will not be the case. I’m assuming because this situation deals with the Time War, so it will involve the Doctors during and after the war (with Eccleston’s being explained away).
But for any confirmation about anything, we’ll just have to wait until the 23rd. 13 more days! The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special will air simultaneously around the world. It begins at 7:50pm UK time on BBC One (that’s 2:50pm Eastern Time on BBC America). The special will also be running in movie theaters on the 23rd and again on the 25th.
Let us know what you thought of the trailers! Are you as excited for the 50th special as we are?