And Now for Half an Hour of Pure, Uncut Awesome...

You thought I was done for the night, didn’t you?  But no, there’s one final offering on this the day of Who.  Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor himself, has written, directed, and starred in this absolutely wonderful half-hour comedy known as The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.  Any Who fan must see it immediately.  And I mean immediately – I’d recommend following the link right now, watching it, and then coming back to finish reading this post.

 

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot is the heartbreaking tale of our beloved past Doctors valiantly struggling to forge a place for themselves in the 50^th anniversary special.  It opens on Christmas 2012 and follows Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy (with Paul McGann in a supporting role) through 11 months of phone tag, outside-the-BBC picketing, and top-secret studio infiltration.

 

First off, apart from the aforementioned past Doctors, this film is jam-packed with cameos.  New Who stars, classic Who stars, showrunners, Oscar-winning directors, Dalek operators, and the progeny of a dear departed Doctor all make appearances.  A number of them are blink-and-you’ll-miss-them Easter eggs, but others are used to fantastic effect; Steven Moffat is great as ungrateful recipient of all this past-Doctor attention, and wait till you find out about John Barrowman’s best kept secret.

 

Second, this little gem is tremendously funny.  Peter Davison’s daydream of being invited to join the 50^th is a scream, and I love Sylvester McCoy’s nonstop references to being in The Hobbit.  Self-deprecating humor abounds, and there are more classic-series jokes than you can shake a sonic screwdriver at.  Truly laugh-out-loud funny from start to finish.

 

I’ve come to realize that, of the five – count ‘em, five – Who-related projects I’ve reviewed today, “The Day of the Doctor” comes in fourth.  To be fair, that speaks a lot to the quality of An Adventure in Space and Time, “The Night of the Doctor”, and The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, but that’s still a little sad.  Better step up your game, Moffat; PC is going to deserve the best.