A Fan Wishlist for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary

Posted on the 13 May 2013 by House Of Geekery @houseofgeekery

This year it finally happens, the show of British origin that has been embraced by audiences all over the globe hits it’s 50th anniversary. Of course I am talking about, Doctor Who. Who would have thought that a poorly funded science fiction show for all ages would not only last as long as it has but continue to be going strong. From William Hartnell to Matt Smith and everyone in between, different actors have taken on the role and not only left their imprint on the character but ingrained themselves into the respective generation of fans to whom they were the Doctor. Now with Stephen Moffat getting ready to undertake the special a  half century in the making, he must pull out all of the stops.  While the idea of him making every fan happy is laughable (I was also shocked to find out fanboys were opinionated and hard to please) their are things that would make fans ecstatic should they appear in the upcoming fiftieth anniversary special.

All Eleven Doctors: On the tenth anniversary of Doctor Who the three actors who had played the role up to that point joined together to battle Omega. On the twentieth anniversary they went even better and found a way against all odds to stage and adventure featuring all five Doctors. With the fiftieth anniversary at hand, it would get the TARDIS engines of any fan worth his weight in salt going if all eleven actors could return for an epic trip through space and time. Since that is largely impossible since; the first three Doctors are no longer with us, Christopher Eccelston turned down the chance to reprise the role of the Ninth Doctor, and for many of the other actors to pilot the TARDIS time has not been very kind ironically enough. But with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor teaming with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor there is hope that small cameos or reverential nods to the previous actors could be in order. Perhaps bringing in Paul McGann to get the proper chance to play the Doctor after all of these years is in order.

An apocalyptic threat: In The Key of Time the Fourth Doctor had to restore balance to the universe by finding artifacts across space and time. In the Doctor Who television movie, the Eighth Doctor in his only televised outing had to stop the Master from destroying the world on the eve of the new millennium. And in the final adventure of the Tenth Doctor The End of Time the Doctor had to stop his own people from destroying reality. But for the fiftieth anniversary of the franchise the threat needs to be amped up to unimaginable levels. Throughout the history of the show all of creation has been threatened on some level or another which will make coming up with this challenge difficult for Moffat, but for a man who has made ordinary things like statues and shadows terrifying this should be a bit easier than it would be for the rest of us.

The return of the Master: The rogue Time Lord has always been a fan favorite villain, but the gleefully deranged portrayal of the Doctor’s foe by John Simm cemented the character as one of television’s most memorable villains. Missing from action since The End of Time it is due time for the Master to return. Given that he could survive the destruction of a planet in the final saga of the original series, Survival then breaking his way out of being locked in the Time War should be simple. Speaking of the Time War…

More answers about the Time War: One of the most interesting elements of Doctor Who since the series returned was the idea that the Time War left the Doctor as the last remaining Time Lord. Whereas Tennant and Eccelston dwelled on this fact a bit more than Smith, this event demands to be explored a bit further.

Humor: I have always held that the key element to Doctor Who’s popularity is the fact that it is not afraid to bust out the humor. No matter how dark and dangerous things may appear the eccentric Time Lord realizes that his sense of humor is just as much a weapon as his Sonic Screwdriver. Many fans have cited the more tongue-in-cheek elements of the show as one of the most appealing things about the franchise, and something that sets Doctor Who apart from other genre shows. With the massive scale that this special will play out on it is important for Moffat not to forget one of the elements that has made this show great.

I know fanboys and fangirls are vastly different in their tastes and want different things from their Doctor Who so feel free to tell us what you want to see in the fiftieth anniversary special of Doctor Who.