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Doctor Who

Doctor Who: 5 Best "Day of the Doctor" Re-Edits

I don't know if I will ever watch something as personally exciting as the 50th Anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor". On one hand the Zygons were kind of a bust, Eccleston refused to take part, and I still say Tennant phoned his performance in.

But on the other hand every time I hear John Guilor as the First Doctor say, "Calling the War Council of Gallifrey, this is The Doctor" and see William Hartnell lead the Tardises of the known ten incarnations into the battle with the Daleks I honestly get goose bumps. It's not a perfect scene by any means, but it is an unforgettable one. It was magic.

Over half a year later many super fans have taken to their computers to try and tweak the special to be even more magical. Today we salute them.

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This is more of a trailer for an alternative universe version of the special than a re-edit, but it's a damned great one. Takeabow2 pulls some really clever cuts, such as using Ten's "reverse the polarity" dialogue with Eleven over shots of him and Five in "Time Crash". Footage from "The Five-ish Doctors" and even Tom Baker's Australian phone commercials work the classic Doctors in their current aged form into the story, and we get Captain Jack, Rose, and Sarah Jane involved to boot.

More than that, I really feel that the show missed a trick not having David Bradley make a full appearance as the First Doctor after his remarkable performance in An Adventure in Space and Time. This trailer rectifies that in the best way possible.

There's probably no bigger bone of contention about "Day of the Doctor" than over the absence of the Ninth Doctor in the story. Ultimately the War Doctor was probably a better choice, but there's still this huge Eccleston-shaped hole in the narrative that can't be filled.

Takeabow2 tackled this as well. Using footage of Eccleston reciting the poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, we see John Hurt edited out of the Tower of London scene and Ten and Eleven listen to Nine relive the last days of the Time War. It works really, really well, too.

One of the best surprises of "Day of the Doctor" was a glimpse of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth and newest incarnation of the Time Lord. Want to be in a good mood for the rest of the day? Watch about twenty people all scream like Beatlemaniacs over the one second he's on screen in this video. It's just so damned joyous and childlike.

Later on, when he got his first lines in "Time of the Doctor", a YouTube user named Cam H put together a great mash-up where the ending of "Time" was edited seamlessly into the "Day" scene. I'm sure that we'll see the true result of Twelve crashing the Tardis in a couple of weeks when the new season starts, but until then I like to pretend this was all wrapped up in nicely in Cam H's vision.

This story continues on the next page.I don't really wish that the scene where all the Doctors save Gallifrey was longer. The pacing of it is already marvelous and heart-pounding. That said, there's not a Whovian out there that doesn't wish his or her personal favorite Doctor hadn't gotten a little more screen time.

Ronan Garner (Who works under the alias John Smith), put together probably the best of the Save Scene re-edits. In particular, there are some wonderful shots of One and Eight at the controls that would definitely have fit perfectly in with the scene on television, and Garner also managed to get some dialogue clips that represent the antagonistic nature the incarnations always display when they get together.

Unfortunately, the whole thing is done through that annoying blue light the BBC uses instead of getting Stuart Humphryes to colorize and clean up their footage, but that's hardly Garner's fault. If the show is going to do it we can't really expect the fan films not to.

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This last one is just in image form, I'm afraid, but in some respects I think they're actually the best. Full disclosure, they come from a fellow admin over at my High Council of Timelords page, Daniel Skorka, but that doesn't make them any more awesome in the possibilities they present.

This first one incorporates alternative universe Doctors into the Save Scene. Included are Christopher Barry ("Brain of Morbius"), Mark Gatiss ("Web of Caves"), Trevor Martin ("Seven Keys to Doomsday"), Richard E Grant ("Scream of the Shalka"), David Warner ("Sympathy for the Devil"), Peter Cushing ("Dr. Who and the Daleks"), and Rowan Atkinson ("The Curse of Fatal Death").

And if you liked that, he also did one for companions below! Charley Pollard for the win!

Jef has a new story, a tale of headless strippers and The Rolling Stones, available now in Broken Mirrors, Fractured Minds. You can also connect with him on Facebook.

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Jef Rouner (not cis, he/him) is a contributing writer who covers politics, pop culture, social justice, video games, and online behavior. He is often a professional annoyance to the ignorant and hurtful.
Contact: Jef Rouner