Happy 50th Anniversary Folks!

So this is it! The Day of the Doctor! Celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who! Just look at this poster! Oozing with nostalgia from the last 50 years! There's Tennant and a reference to Bad Wolf, a bit of Gallifrey, a couple of Daleks... um, err, the date... the title of the programme...

Yeah, so it's looking like a celebration of the last 8 years. Great. Now I know I'm jumping the gun a bit. After all this only gives us a few indications of what the special contains, but to be honest it doesn't fill me with a great deal of hope. Is there anything here to suggest it has anything to do with the 50th Anniversary? No. It just looks like an episode that has Tennant and Mr Hurt in it. Oh and the less said about Bad Wolf, the better. It seems An Adventure in Space and Time will be more of a celebration of Doctor Who than this could be.

Obviously I'm still excited to see how the John Hurt/Time War story pans out. After all if you could have someone play the Doctor, you couldn't possibly say no to John Hurt! Despite the continuity bending issues, I'm intrigued to see if all of this will work and if it will pay off. Time will tell. I'm interested to see how Matt Smith and David Tennant interact with Hurt and each other, and how all of that will work within the story. Of course with the addition of Daleks, Cybermen and the long awaited return of the Zygons in the episode, there are still a few things to get excited about. How does Coal Hill School and 76 Totters Yard play into the story? What's with the UNIT scientist wearing the 4th Doctor's scarf? Will the original Doctors make some sort of appearance either as stock footage, as per The Name of the Doctor, or with the original actors coming back for a brief cameo? I'm hoping for the latter, especially in McGann's case, who, let's face it, has no excuse not to pop up! Perhaps there is some credence in the rumour of a McGann to Hurt regeneration after all. 

So it's not to say that there won't be anything to do with the past 50 years in this episode. I'm sure it'll be teeming with little nods and references to old Doctor Who. My real complaint is that this poster doesn't seem to suggest that. Perhaps auntie Beeb are scared that if they advertise it as a fanfest, anyone who isn't a sad loonie won't watch it. I guess we'll see on the day, or nearer the time. We'll just have to see...