The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special: The Day of the Doctor just aired! Gather together with your fellow Whovians to discuss!

Our episode kicks off with Clara having a new job as a teacher, ironically in Susan’s former school. When she arrives at the Tardis to talk travel plans with the Doctor a helicopter airlifts them to the National Gallery where they meet up with Kate Stewart of U.N.I.T. In the gallery they find a 3-D painting of the Time War and the fall of the City of Arcadia that is there out of place and time, and a message from Elizabeth I.

In a flashback, we see the destruction of Gallifrey and the brutality of the Time War Doctor and Daleks alike. The Time War Doctor’s mantra for his retribution is “no more.” The Time Lords of Gallifrey reveal that a weapon of mass destruction with a conscience has been stolen. Its power is unfathomable, and the Doctor has it. As he puzzles out how to use this weapon he has stolen, he is visited by an image of Rose Tyler who baits and goads him. In short order, he realizes that although he doesn’t fully know who she is, having not met her yet, the Rose Tyler/Bad Wolf image is the conscience of the weapon. She lets him know the consequences of his actions: living with the death of millions of innocents.

When they return to the present, they read Elizabeth I’s letter. She needs the current Doctor’s help and refers to him as her husband. The group sees a painting of the 10th Doctor with Elizabeth I, alluding to an episode in the 10th Doctor’s timeline where he casts doubt on her not being “the Virgin Queen” and him being the cause. We learn that the 10th Doctor did have an adventure with Elizabeth I involving the Zygons. They continue searching the gallery and end up in a secret vault that Elizabeth I established to hold very dangerous art. They see another painting from Gallifrey. A porthole is created via fez and the 10th and 11th Doctors meet up in Elizabeth I’s time.

They attempt to get Clara to join them using the fez, which has transportation qualities. Instead, they end up with the Time War Doctor, and Clara and Kate are left back at the museum. After the three Doctors are thrown into the Tower of London by the Queen’s guards, Kate and Clara proceed to that location in the present since it’s now the headquarters of U.N.I.T. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that the Zygons have been unleashed back at the museum, and in fact at U.N.I.T. headquarters as well. Fortunately, “Kate” had revealed to Clara that she has a vortex manipulator left to U.N.I.T by Jack Harkness, which Clara makes handy use of.

Back at the Elizabethan era dungeon, the Doctors discuss their choices made in the Time War and what those choices have meant to their lives. Each one gets on each other’s nerves. The Rose Tyler conscience (unseen by 10 and 11) tells the Time War Doctor the emotional damage that these Doctors have due to his pending actions. She gets him to help his later selves to unlock the door and in short order Clara appears.

It’s discovered in the past that the Zygons want Earth because their homeland was destroyed in the Time War. They invade the future from the past. In the present, a half transformed Kate Stewart is discovered by her asthmatic assistant, Osgood, and is rescued. Together, they will battle the Zygons. They threaten the Zygons with blowing up the Tower of London, and shortly a communication from the Doctor begs them not to do it. As the Kates face off, the Doctors arrive via painting.

While the 10th and 11th Doctors and Kate work with the Zygons, Clara reveals to the Time War Doctor that his future self is a very dark and tormented person due to his future actions. The question is does he want to let history take its course, or will he change his future actions? The Time Lord Doctor slips back to his time and discusses his options with Rose. To complicate matters further, the 10th and 11th Doctor arrive with Clara. His future selves, knowing the cost, decide to take the same actions, only they won’t let him do it alone. They decide they won’t rewrite history until Clara reminds them of how it has marked each of them.

The 11th Doctor changes his mind and comes up with a plan that they all shortly recognize. They can make Gallifrey disappear, frozen in an instant of time, safe like a painting. The Daleks will then fire on each other, not unlike how the Weeping Angels zapped each other in “Blink,” thus destroying themselves. The Time Lords will be left with nothing but hope, and that, the Doctors realize, is something very valuable. All 13 Doctors join forces to save Gallifrey.

Back at the National Gallery, the three Doctors now realize they’ll never know if they were successful or not, but in the unknown, they no longer have to live with the stigma of having committed genocide.

Each one returns to his own timeline, and when the Time War Doctor leaves he presumably regenerates into the 9th Doctor. The 11th tells the 10th that Trenzalore is in his future. Lastly, Clara mentions the curator was looking for the Doctor. The curator is the actor Tom Baker, who was the 4th Doctor. They speak of retiring to look for Galifrey and unknown futures. Maybe there is a happy ending for the Doctors after all!