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divdiv class=story-body readability=94 span class=story-date#13; span class=date23 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time18:09 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; !-- Embedding the video player --#13;!-- This is the embedded player component --#13;#13;#13; #13; #13;#13;#13;#13;!-- wwrights check --#13;!-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13;#13;#13;#13;div class=videoInStoryB readability=1#13; div id=emp-24983820-49275 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71298000/jpg/_71298765_71298764.jpg alt=The three Doctors: Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt in the 50th anniversary episode/pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; !-- companion banner -- #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- END - companion banner --!-- caption --p class=captionWatch clips from the show and interviews with the cast during its making/p#13; !-- END - caption --#13; #13; #13;#13;/div#13;!-- end of the embedded player component --#13;#13;!-- Player embedded -- #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1Doctor Who fans have praised the show's 50th anniversary episode as epic and phenomenal./p#13; pThe Day of the Doctor was broadcast in 94 countries at the same time as it aired on BBC One on Saturday night./p#13; pFeaturing three Doctors - Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt - it delved deep into the character's psyche over 75 minutes./p#13; pThere were also cameos from former star Tom Baker, and Peter Capaldi, who replaces Smith later this year./p#13; pIt's the most ambitious episode we've ever done, said the show's boss, Steven Moffat, ahead of the premiere./p#13; pOpening with the show's original credit sequence from 1963, the special featured the Daleks and the return of shape-shifting aliens the Zygons, who first appeared in 1975./p#13; p id=story_continues_2But the principal villain was potentially the Doctor himself. /p#13; pMoffat's story played with the idea, introduced when the science-fiction show re-launched in 2005, that the Doctor was the last of the Time Lords./p#13; pIt transpired that Hurt's version of the Doctor had taken the decision to commit mass genocide in order to halt a Great Time War - and the 75-minute episode saw him fighting to come to terms with that decision, aided by two future versions of himself./p#13; pThe last few minutes affected me quite deeply, wrote Neil Perryman on the Guardian's website./p#13; pHe conceded that some of the details didn't make a lot of sense on first viewing but added: I don't care - I'll be watching it again this evening./p#13; pSpeaking immediately after the show ended, star Matt Smith said: I think what's really clever about it is that what he [Moffat] has managed to do is change the mythology of the character - which, after 50 years, is an achievement./p#13; pAside from the emotional drama, the episode was filled with comedic moments - including a proposal, a marriage and a machine that goes ding./p#13; #13; pWhen Hurt's Doctor met his frenetic, childlike future selves, he asked: Am I having a mid-life crisis?/p#13; pThe show was also crammed with special effects, leaping from modern London to the planet of Gallifrey and Elizabethan England. /p#13; pI don't think it bears any resemblance to what we were doing, said Carole Ann Ford, who starred in the very first episode 50 years ago./p#13; span class=cross-head'Conned'/span#13; !-- Embedding the video player --#13;!-- This is the embedded player component --#13;#13;#13; #13; #13;#13;#13;#13;!-- wwrights check --#13;!-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13;#13;#13;#13;div class=videoInStoryC readability=1#13; div id=emp-25073894-49276 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71307000/jpg/_71307016_71307015.jpg alt=Doctor Who fan/pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; !-- companion banner -- #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- END - companion banner --!-- caption --p class=captionDoctor Who fans give their reactions to the anniversary show/p#13; !-- END - caption --#13; #13; #13;#13;/div#13;!-- end of the embedded player component --#13;#13;!-- Player embedded -- pScreened in 3D in more than 1,500 cinemas in 94 countries - from Russia to Ecuador - the episode attracted hundreds of fans in fancy dress, from bow ties to Dalek outfits./p#13; pA gala screening at the BFI in London was attended by Smith, Hurt, Moffat and their co-star Jenna Coleman. /p#13; pA huge cheer echoed around the cinema as the end credits rolled, while Tom Baker's surprise cameo also received a large round of applause./p#13; pThe reaction on Twitter was similarly ecstatic./p#13; pKarl Purdon wrote: That was simply phenomenal, while Freema Agyeman, who once played Martha Jones in the series, called it both epic and compelling./p#13; #13; pMoffat said the special episode had been partly conceived as a way to explain the gap in the series' history - from its cancellation in 1989, until the re-launch, under Russell T Davies, in 2005./p#13; pI knew I wanted to make it about the Time War, and I wanted that 16-year gap to mean something, he said./p#13; pThere was a whole other Doctor we got conned out of./p#13; span class=cross-head'Emotional wallop'/span#13; pSpeaking before the broadcast, Moffat - the show's lead writer and executive producer - admitted he was nervous about the scale of the special./p#13; pI'm glad we don't do it every time, but it's very exciting to do it once, he told the BBC News website./p#13; pHe said he hoped fans would be very happy, adding: It's got a big emotional wallop at the end./p#13; pMoffat described the first ever Doctor Who episode, An Unearthly Child, broadcast on 23 November 1963, as one of the very best episodes of Doctor Who ever made./p#13; pAll the ideas come from there, he said./p#13; #13; pThe music, the name, the Tardis, the police box bigger on the inside... in terms of brand new ideas that's a rollercoaster of 25 minutes./p#13; pMoffat, along with Matt Smith and Jenna Colman, attended the official Doctor Who anniversary celebration at London's ExCel on Friday./p#13; pThe three-day event, which is being attended by 8,000 fans a day, features appearances from Doctor Who stars from all eras of the series./p#13; pAmerican Richard LeCour said he made a special trip from his home in California because Doctor Who had been part of my life for 40 years./p#13; pAdam Highway, from Brighton, predicted that Doctor Who still had a long future ahead of it./p#13; pIt'll go on as long as it keeps that balance of appealing to people who don't know the history, but respects the history for those who give a damn about it, he said./p#13; pI think Steven Moffat's got it spot on./p#13; pThe anniversary story was Matt Smith's penultimate outing, before he regenerates at Christmas into a new Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center