Dr Who 50th Anniversary Google Spectacular
November 21, 2013 2:48 PM   Subscribe

If you're a fan of the good Doctor, you'll probably want to use the Googles today.

Then you can see which episodes are best since forever.

Finally, you can read up on the new, extra-sweary (we wish) Doctor Who, who, amusingly, has already played a WHO Doctor, and is thus eminently qualified.
posted by turbid dahlia (90 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
(I acknowledge in advance that a superfan is likely going to create a far superior post to this one, and am happy for this to be deleted in that event, but on the slim chance nothing materialises, here it is.)
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:49 PM on November 21, 2013


By 'today' do you mean Friday? Just looks like regular ol' Google for me... but you're in Australia right?
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:51 PM on November 21, 2013


That's correct showbiz_liz...perhaps you could trick the internet by going to www.google.com.au.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:53 PM on November 21, 2013 [7 favorites]


Oh good, I'm glad someone showed me the timey wimey trick to find the thing because it was just normal Google for my sorry American self.
posted by immlass at 3:03 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is preposterous, Daleks never had any sort of shrinking ray. Death ray. Toilet plunger. That's it.
posted by mediocre at 3:20 PM on November 21, 2013


I cannot tell you how absolutely delighted I was to see that I have to go to google.com.au because this IS TAKING PLACE IN THE FUTURE!! Because time travel!
posted by Ruki at 3:26 PM on November 21, 2013 [21 favorites]


This is preposterous, Daleks never had any sort of shrinking ray. Death ray. Toilet plunger. That's it.

In the Time War, the Master was a double agent and to prove his loyalty to the Dalek cause, provided them with his Tissue Compression Eliminator research.

(The best thing about 50 years of canon is that you can explain anything "preposterous" in one sentence of fanwank.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:27 PM on November 21, 2013 [11 favorites]


Ooohhh, I can't wait for the outrage in this thread!

Here's mine:

The Runaway Bride at 94!? WHAT? This is crazy! Donna Noble's introduction deserves a much higher ranking! I'm outraged!

(I've watched most of Doctors 1-3, and all of Doctors 8-11, but this list will help me catch up with 4-7 in a way that's more fun than "chronological.")
posted by MoxieProxy at 3:28 PM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


I don't like to say this very often about other people's opinions.

But that list is dead-fucking wrong.

I mean, if it gets you to watch more classic Doctor Who, go for it.

But one of the side effects will probably be you agreeing with me.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:32 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Someone needs to photoshop a blue telephone box into the Zapruder film. Pretty please?
posted by Renoroc at 3:37 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'm in Hawaii. Today here is yesterday in Australia, so they have this Google doodle before I do. In order to look at it, I have to use Australia's Google. Which means I am currently living in today playing a game that only exists tomorrow.

I am a fucking Time Lord.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:49 PM on November 21, 2013 [10 favorites]


Doctor Who premiered on Nov. 23rd, not 22nd. What's the big idea here?! (I also enjoyed the game and have tix for the theatrical showing of Day of the DOctor on Monday!)
posted by Navelgazer at 3:53 PM on November 21, 2013


I laughed out loud when the weeping angel killed my Tom Baker and he respawned as Peter Davison.
posted by joshjs at 3:55 PM on November 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


The game has SO MUCH RUNNING. I had to play as the Fourth Doctor, because of course.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:01 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Tissue Compression Eliminator

The Celestial Intervention Agencies archives have unredacted documents that would indicate that the development of a tissue compression eliminator was in fact a covert anti-Dalek operation that began some 700 years into The Last Great Time War. When the Time Lord known as The Master presented his tissue compression research to the Daleks, it was supposed to create a logic paradox feedback loop that with any luck would have taken out the entire fleet of invading Daleks. The idea being that the Dalek operating system syntax parameters wouldn't abide by a device called a "tissue compression eliminator" that shrunk things since that makes no linguistic sense. But the plan backfired when the paradox entered the Gallifreyan Matrix after a rogue Dalek went in looking for naked pics of Romanadvoratrelundars first known body and expanded Akira-style into the Event Infinite that The (War) Doctor has since claimed responsibility for that Time Locked the whole damn thing while simultaneously firing The Master out like a human canonball on a collision trajectory with Sol-3 Earth. Of course this was a trip of millions of light years, which is why when he landed he had gone blonde and all humaneaty.

True story.
posted by mediocre at 4:03 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


I saw that I09 all time best-of list yesterday, and I scoffed at Caves Of Androzani being number one. I didn't have good memories of many Peter Davidson episodes. So then last night I was flipping through Netflix and saw that they had that episode in their Classic Doctor Who section, so I said, what the hell, I'll give it a whirl. I hadn't seen it since it ran on PBS back in the 80s. And you know what? It's really, really good! I still think The Pyramids Of Mars, Blink, and The Ark In Space are better, but I was surprised at how good it was. That, and I thought it was awesome that from the 1984-vintage computer graphics onscreen and the way the costumes of the miners, it looked like the entire story took place inside a Dig Dug game.

(Also, Logopolis should have placed much higher in that list. But whatever.)
posted by vibrotronica at 4:05 PM on November 21, 2013


Tom Baker is the best Doctor, because scarves and jelly beans.
posted by arcticseal at 4:22 PM on November 21, 2013 [8 favorites]


I played as the 4th Doctor as well. I died a few times and came back as the 6th Doctor. That's when I stopped playing.
posted by cazoo at 4:29 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


I accidentally killed all the Doctors from William Hartnell through Sylvester McCoy playing this thing.

I am a terrible Doctor.
posted by kyrademon at 4:30 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


kyrademon: "I accidentally killed all the Doctors from William Hartnell through Sylvester McCoy playing this thing.

I am a terrible Doctor.
"

Still better than me -- I'm proof that the Doctor does, in fact, have more than 13 regenerations.

More like 30.
posted by bettafish at 4:33 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


I am a terrible Doctor.

Matt?
posted by MoxieProxy at 4:33 PM on November 21, 2013 [9 favorites]


Tom Baker is the best Doctor, because scarves and jelly beans.

Well, the Doctor Who Appreciation Society overwhelmingly agrees with you in their poll (and Sarah Jane Smith is the best companion), but the Radio Times's audience thinks it's David Tennant (and Billie Piper). Kids today, no respect for the classics, tsk, tsk.

As for Google, my favourite bit is its auto-fill suggestions to the partial question "Is Inspector Spacetime"...
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:40 PM on November 21, 2013


As for Google, my favourite bit is its auto-fill suggestions to the partial question "Is Inspector Spacetime"...

I'll just leave this here.
posted by The Legit Republic of Blanketsburg at 4:45 PM on November 21, 2013


Okay, that was interesting. I followed the link and saw a birthday cake and various sweets. I hovered over the link and saw a tooltip that read "Happy Birthday Jim!" Then I wondered what the heck that had to do with Dr. Who.

Then I realized I was logged into my Google account and they were talking about me. Today's my birthday.
posted by grimjeer at 4:55 PM on November 21, 2013 [11 favorites]


Tom Baker is the best Doctor, because scarves and jelly beans.

Jelly babies.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:55 PM on November 21, 2013 [6 favorites]


Then I realized I was logged into my Google account and they were talking about me. Today's my birthday.

Happy birthday!
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:57 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Jelly babies.

You're right, I have lived in North America too long, time to hand in my UK passport.
posted by arcticseal at 5:09 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Permanent link to the doodle.
posted by markr at 5:15 PM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


That list seems way too weighted in favor of the new stuff, and some real fantastic stories get handwaved aside with a pithy one liner.

The Sea Devils - The Master teams up with the string vest-wearing aquatic cousins of the Silurians, in a mostly forgettable naval adventure.

I was a kid when I saw this for the first time, much later than it aired, yet I still remember the ecological overtones. Don't screw with the ocean.

The Master was a tough cookie (And this was Roger Delgado Master, the best Master of all time.) and he gets the whole planet into trouble, and Jon Pertwee in his absolute prime has to save the day. Forgettable naval adventure, indeed.

Now get off my lawn.
posted by Sphinx at 5:24 PM on November 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


Why today/Friday, Google? I thought today would be all about the JFK sad-iversary (and it may yet be for USofA users)... of course, I dread what kind of 'game' they would do for THAT 50th... (grassy knoll shooter?)
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:26 PM on November 21, 2013


In no way, shape, or form is the Satan Pit a classic.
posted by rikschell at 5:54 PM on November 21, 2013 [6 favorites]


Somebody doesn't like BBC/Diablo II crossovers.
posted by lkc at 6:03 PM on November 21, 2013


Okay, this time I am playing this bloody thing to WIN
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:10 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


How do you not let the weeping angels kill you? I don't think I've watched that episode so maybe there's some behavior that I'm missing...
posted by andrewesque at 6:11 PM on November 21, 2013


How do you not let the weeping angels kill you? I don't think I've watched that episode so maybe there's some behavior that I'm missing...

I managed by just running away really fast and changing direction when they popped up in front of me. Not very true to "Blink," but the Angel mythology has been screwed with to death since then.
posted by Navelgazer at 6:48 PM on November 21, 2013


How do you not let the weeping angels kill you?

Don't. Blink.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Weeping angels kill you if you stop looking at them, so...

Also, Ye Gods, if you haven't seen "Blink" you absolutely must.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:49 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Blink has the best ratio of awesome to actual Doctor/Companion screen time.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:50 PM on November 21, 2013


andrewesque, seriously, check the io9 list and notice that while "Blink" comes in at #2, they admit that it could easily be #1. It is the episode to show to newcomers to make them fall in love with this show, and a brilliant, terrifying, mind-twisting hour starring a pre-fame Carey Mulligan.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:10 PM on November 21, 2013


ricochet biscuit: The game has SO MUCH RUNNING.

Running Doctors, you say? Relevant image and related GIF; a different GIF.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:19 PM on November 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


For those who want to play but for some inexplicable reason aren't already fully-qualified Whovians, here's a handy-dandy guide to bluffing your way through any conversation with your nerdier, more Doctor-positive fans.
posted by Devonian at 8:39 PM on November 21, 2013


Doctor Who premiered on Nov. 23rd, not 22nd. What's the big idea here?!

Yes, the game for the 22nd should have been a commemorative JFK assassination first person shooter.
posted by crossoverman at 8:43 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Oh yeah, and that i09 list is awful.
posted by crossoverman at 8:48 PM on November 21, 2013


From the handy-dandy guide that Devonian linked to:

Then you should know that the Doctor is getting on for a thousand years old now and for all but about two months of that, he’s had a companion in the Tardis.


Wrong.
posted by crossoverman at 8:55 PM on November 21, 2013


Yes, the game for the 22nd should have been a commemorative JFK assassination first person shooter.

It's been done.
posted by sandswipe at 9:13 PM on November 21, 2013




In the spirit of celebration: "I can't possibly be a pony." Doctor Whooves and Assistant.
posted by SPrintF at 10:28 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Why today/Friday, Google? I thought today would be all about the JFK sad-iversary (and it may yet be for USofA users)... of course, I dread what kind of 'game' they would do for THAT 50th... (grassy knoll shooter?)

I was hoping a little for a Benjamin Britten doodle :( (Not that I don't love this! )
posted by kalimac at 11:32 PM on November 21, 2013


For a best episode candidate, try "Midnight." It shouldn't be anyone's first episode because it assumes you already know how the Doctor operates and tells a story about what happens when those usual methods fail.

It's the cheapest episode ever filmed. No props, no costumes, no effects. It's just half a dozen characters stuck in an unremarkable small room. People who are feeling claustrophobic and afraid are not the best audience for the Doctor's clever banter, and for once running away is not an option.

I'm proof that the Doctor does, in fact, have more than 13 regenerations.

The regeneration limit that came in under the 4th Doctor isn't canon (official BBC policy is that there is no canon) but it's an interesting constraint on the writers. Weaseling out of it would be boring. "Let's see how they get out of this one" should be a great inspiration for any writer.

My solution: spend a whole season solving the problem.

- Capaldi dies and degenerates into...Matt Smith. We get a couple of Matt Smith episodes, at the end of which he degenerates into...
- Tennant for an episode or two, then Eccleston
- Next let's have a half-season of McGann. He never really had a fair shot and it turns out he's pretty great (here's a new McGann mini-episode released last week)
- McCoy will attempt to convince us that he began planning for this centuries ago. His plan is disturbing.
- Colin Baker doesn't get an episode since he will be strangled by his companions five seconds after regenerating
- Davison will no doubt have something calmly philosophical to say about his impending annihilation
- It falls to Tom Baker (#4) to solve the problem. He's still alive, still acting as of 2013, and presumably still crazy. He got us into this mess, he can get us out.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:57 PM on November 21, 2013 [13 favorites]


The Waters of Mars at number 17! It was terrible, the entire thing was an idiot plot. The ending was especially dire. It was a waste of a perfectly good title.

Now I've got over my rage at random list on a website I don't normally follow I shall go back to work.
posted by antiwiggle at 1:43 AM on November 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


You can say what you like about that IO9 list, but they got the worst episode ever right.
posted by davros42 at 9:30 AM on November 22, 2013


All the Doctors' Travels in One Infographic


I don't even want to look at this to check their work because that is so beautiful I could die. The thing we used to try to jand draw on long strips of perforated blank paper for our dot matric printer is now being done for us. Not the future I imagined, but joyous all the same.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:34 AM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


That google doodle has every doctor with a sonic screwdriver.

But there are two doctors who have never touched a sonic screwdriver.
Sloppy work Google.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 10:12 AM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Artist Chang Dai put together this gorgeous animation of Doctors 1-11 (plus 8.5).
posted by bettafish at 11:55 AM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Serious Question: I thought Amazon would have Day of the Doctor available on Sunday, but I'm not seeing a place to preorder.

Anyone know where I can watch this online? I'm getting panicky.
posted by MoxieProxy at 1:31 PM on November 22, 2013


Speaking of gorgeous animations.
posted by plastic_animals at 1:35 PM on November 22, 2013


MoxieProxy, this site lists what channel will carry it in your area. Chances are, you'll be able to stream it free from their site.
posted by peppermind at 2:44 PM on November 22, 2013


From t'other thread, what ArtW just posted:
Every Single Doctor Who Story (Correctly) Ranked From Best to Worst

It's less wrong.

Also, the Second Doctor originally had the jelly babies, sonic screwdriver and the bow-tie.
Poor old Pat's place in history keeps getting wiped.
posted by Mezentian at 11:26 PM on November 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


I want to believe the Marco Polo rumour, but I don't.
Finding lost episodes episodes in Nigeria is one thing, but a full telecine? After all this time?
Still, we live in hope.

The BBC has released bonus clips from An Adventure in Space and Time that painstakingly reconstruct several iconic moments from the Hartnell era with David Bradley.

The Three Doctors in An Adventure in Space and Time.
posted by Mezentian at 12:45 AM on November 23, 2013


Duck Duck Go has a TARDIS in its logo.

And, in what be the most unusual "find the relevant angle" story, Dance Today looks at Dance on Doctor Who.
posted by Mezentian at 1:06 AM on November 23, 2013


Every Single Doctor Who Story (Correctly) Ranked From Best to Worst

I'm fascinated that list is so heavily weighted toward Classic Who stories... and that all the New Who stories near the top of the list are Moffat written, until you get to RTD's first season finale - ranked in the 40s.
posted by crossoverman at 1:47 AM on November 23, 2013


Doctor Who: 50 great scary moments Apologies if this has been posted, but I wanted to share.
posted by Mezentian at 7:54 AM on November 23, 2013


Well..... at least we had An Adventure in Space And Time. And Night Of The Doctor.
posted by Mezentian at 1:09 PM on November 23, 2013


Mez, the special will be on iplayer by midnight tonight.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:01 PM on November 23, 2013


Moffat is really good at emotional manipulation. And that thing where it's great and awesome and woo at the time, and then when you go back and think about it for five minutes, it becomes total bullshit.
posted by dogheart at 3:11 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Mez, the special will be on iplayer by midnight tonight.

Thanks.
I watched it live. I just didn't like it at all.

Anyone know who the young black Time Lord was? He looked familiar. (And a bit like a young Don Warringtion Rassilon, but I'd be doubting that). I'm wondering if he was from Press Gang.
posted by Mezentian at 3:34 PM on November 23, 2013


No proper place for live discussion of Day Of The Doctor on MetaFilter, then?

Was I the only one who for a fraction of a second thought of a crossover between Doctor Who and Thor: The Dark World when some.. thing was mentioned as being under London.

The Doctor does exist within Marvel continuity.
posted by mediocre at 3:45 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I liked it.
posted by kyrademon at 3:48 PM on November 23, 2013


No proper place for live discussion of Day Of The Doctor on MetaFilter, then?

Here or the other open thread have a bit of a discussion, but people are being a bit cautious.
posted by Mezentian at 3:49 PM on November 23, 2013


I loved it :)
posted by freya_lamb at 4:15 PM on November 23, 2013


SPOILERS

1. So, who is 0 (8?) regenerating into? Is he going back to 8 or is he regenerating into 12?
2. I wasn't the only one to burst into tears upon seeing the museum curator, right? Because seven year old me seriously lost. My. Shit.
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:34 PM on November 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


Oh, about the museum curator, by the way ... something that struck me an hour later ...

In the scene by the elevator, when the person is being attacked by the thing, and she is repeating to herself that someone will come and save her? She is not referring to the obvious person. She is referring to the museum curator ... which we know because he's the one who gave her that scarf.

(Maybe this was like, totally obvious to everyone else at the time, but it only hit me afterwards.)
posted by kyrademon at 4:41 PM on November 23, 2013 [5 favorites]


The scarf bothered me because that scarf was in stockinette, so it couldn't have been the real scarf. Maybe that's a bit too knitnerdy, but I'd like to think that was not an oversight.
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:45 PM on November 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


In other words, I don't think she knew about the curator.
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:46 PM on November 23, 2013


Well, I like that idea, and it hadn't struck me.
posted by Grangousier at 4:49 PM on November 23, 2013


She is referring to the museum curator ... which we know because he's the one who gave her that scarf.

Woah. That makes sense. She's a companion, of sorts.

1. So, who is 0 (8?) regenerating into? Is he going back to 8 or is he regenerating into 12?

Mr Eccleston.
posted by Mezentian at 4:49 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


You saw a bit of Christopher Eccleston in the SFX frenzy, probably 'shopped in from The Parting of the Ways.
posted by Grangousier at 4:51 PM on November 23, 2013


Mezentian: "Mr Eccleston."

Yes! I'd forgotten 9 started without a regeneration! It's perfect.
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:53 PM on November 23, 2013


[Husband and I are having a rather contentious argument about this because he thinks Hurt and McGann aren't both 8 because he thinks the McGann-Hurt regeneration counts as a separate regeneration which can't be 8 to 8.]
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:58 PM on November 23, 2013


I guess we could go back and count TARDISes since we know from seeing Capaldi's eyebrows that 12 is one of them.
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:59 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I said. I said when we were watching it: " The Doctor Numbering Issue is NuWho's UNIT Dating Question. Moffat's just trolling us. He wants to see us argue about it. The Time War will be nothing compared to this."
posted by Grangousier at 5:03 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Charlie Jane Anders (Spoilers): The great hero of the Doctor Who anniversary special is... John Rawls?
posted by homunculus at 5:05 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


Moffat is totally trying to exterminate my marriage right now.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:06 PM on November 23, 2013


I think the answer is: so far eleven regenerations, twelve embodiments, but only eleven Doctors, because the War Doctor has forsworn the name. And sort of had it for about thirty seconds before regenerating.

I think we can assume that he's spent many centuries between the young John Hurt we saw in the reflection and the old, grizzled John Hurt we saw tonight doing extraordinarily un-Doctorish things.
posted by Grangousier at 5:08 PM on November 23, 2013


HUGE SPOILER!

There were 13 Tardises moving Gallifrey into the pocket universe and therefore 13 doctors. That was a great episode. The Tom Baker appearance made it worth it too. I like how they linked the continuity from McGrann (#8) to Eccleston (#10!) through Hurt (#9)

HUGE SPOILER END!
posted by Renoroc at 5:20 PM on November 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


I personally handwave the numbering situation away by thinking that John Hurt isn't an actual regeneration, but rather a 1-Up given by the Sisterhood of Karn.

I think that may have been the geekiest sentence I've ever put on the Interwebs.
posted by Ruki at 5:23 PM on November 23, 2013 [2 favorites]


It's odd to think that people were watching this all over the world at the same time. When I was a kid, it was only a select number of my class at school, and that was when it was supposed to be really popular.
posted by Grangousier at 5:25 PM on November 23, 2013


Renoroc: "I like how they linked the continuity from McGrann (#8) to Eccleston (#10!) through Hurt (#9)"

Moffatt has said the numbering hasn't changed so maybe the War Doctor doesn't get a number? Or he is 0?
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:37 PM on November 23, 2013


That was shockingly enjoyable. More of this quality please.
posted by juiceCake at 6:04 PM on November 23, 2013


New thread.
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:21 PM on November 23, 2013


Moffatt has said the numbering hasn't changed

That's because John Hurt is the Once and Future Doctor.
posted by arcticseal at 7:12 PM on November 23, 2013


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