One curious discontinuity between ‘classic’ Doctor Who and what we at the Tour lovingly call ‘nu-Who’ is the respect the respective shows have for Anniversaries. When was the last time ‘we’ noted, let alone celebrated the 5th, 10th or even 15th Anniversary of Rose in or around March 26 of (insert year here). It’s a silly argument anyway as ‘nu-Who’ is a fully-owned derivative/extension of the original, where such temporal demarcations have always seemed to matter more.
The Three Doctors, despite our own pedantry to the contrary, was the first sign that Doctor Who had a history that mattered. This was of course reinforced 10 years later for The Five Doctors (and didn’t The Power of the Doctor positively echo with Five Doctors feels). Even Silver Nemesis, as confused a mess as it was, nodded at being an 25th Anniversary story in 1988.
The numbers are therefore important, and never more so than for The Day of the Doctor in 2013. It was certainly a bloody busy time for the Tour, and it’s almost a certainty that the hype machine will be full-on for the 60th next year. That’s a hope that every fan should be holding onto. It means that Doctor Who still has a relevancy in the larger culture, even as spotty as the output has been the last few years.
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The Tour turns 25 today. Like Doctor Who of late there have been a bunch of starts and stops, lots of cul-de-sacs, and a ton of sweat equity. Let’s keep it going awhile longer. What do you say?