"The Day of the Doctor" is the ideal 50th anniversary special: it simultaneously celebrates the past of the series, while opening new roads for the future. Writer Steven Moffat and director Nick Hurran cover all the bases: this episode is funny ("We're confusing the polarity!"), dark, brain-twisting, and epic. The concept of the "paintings" which are really three-dimensional snapshots of reality frozen in time in which it possible to enter (and exit) is brilliant. The team of the three Doctors is extremely entertaining, while Billie Piper, returning as The Moment (a weapon so powerful it has a conscience of its own), gives what is probably her finest performance since the season 2 finale, "Doomsday". Although the episode is fairly accessible to casual fans, series devotees will undeniably get more out of it - call it a reward for their devotion. ***1/2 out of 4.
Review of The Day of the Doctor
