I’m [del]reviving[/del] regenerating this thread because–well, partly because I just finished watching this season–but mostly because I wanted to let people know that An Adventure in Space and Time is available on Amazon Video and is included in Amazon Prime, but it’s well hidden and you have to look for it. It’s hidden among the bonus material for The Day of the Doctor, the 50th Aniversary Special, which is listed under Doctor Who: The 50th Aniversary Collection, but has a display card with the title The Day of the Doctor.
It’s a nice docudrama about the early days of Doctor Who, and it will be interesting to compare David Bradley’s performance as William Hartnell with his performance as the First Doctor in the next Christmas special. He really does channel Hartnell in the scenes he recreates in the movie from Hartnell’s Doctor Who, but he’s a little too recognizable as Filch and Walder Fray for me to ever completely see him as Hartnell. I can’t wait to see what they do with him in the Christmas special, though.
FTR, I thought World Enough and Time was one of the best episodes ever, and I loved the way they gave a tweak of the nose to all the fake mystery stuff about the Doctor’s real name (not to mention fans who insist you can’t refer to the character as “Doctor Who” even though credits and titles have done so throughout both runs of the show. I didn’t like Missy before, but I’ve loved her this season, and I really hope they bring her back. I wanted to see more of the Master as a companion.
BTW, my favorite bit was when he told Bill that she’s the only person he’s ever known who’s even a tiny bit like him, and she asks, “So more than anything, you want her to be good?” The Doctor doesn’t answer, but you can see in his face that what he means is that he doesn’t care if she’s good. It makes sense, too. The Doctor is like an animal rights activist trying to stop the wild animals from eating each other. He know it’s silly and pointless and that most Time Lords wouldn’t understand or care. He can be friends with Missy because she almost does get it. She’s a hunter and a trapper and she doesn’t give two figs about people’s suffering, but she does care about them, in her own way. She’s also the only one (of the Time Lords) who really sees that the universe doesn’t have to be a certain way, that actions and decisions can really change things and that there is no excuse not to try to remake the world as you like, because not to do so is just to choose the status quo.