Doctor Who review: The Day of the Doctor (novelization)

Along with a few other major Doctor Who stories, The Day of the Doctor has recently been novelized by Steven Moffat. How does it compare to the original episode?

A couple of weeks ago, we reviewed Russell T Davies’s novelization for his own Doctor Who story, Rose. In many ways, it was a very straightforward and easy read. In others, however, it also added a lot more to the episode. It also included a few references to the rest of the New Series, without overdoing it.

Steven Moffat’s novelization of The Day of the Doctor, however, is very different. Instead of telling the story in a straightforward manner, each chapter is told from a different perspective. And the reader usually has to guess exactly who’s telling the story, before Moffat eventually reveals it.

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As you can imagine, this simply becomes far too distracting very quickly. Instead of aiming for a nice, easy read, Moffat’s greatest fault reveals itself. Specifically, he can’t help showing off just how clever he thinks he is. Even the chapters are numbered out of order! (Although, one of the numbers does get skipped. Guess which one.)

It’s a real shame too, as The Day of the Doctor is a really solid story. Its main plot doesn’t overtly stretch across the fifty years that the original episode celebrated. But it more than makes up for it by its focus on the Doctor.

Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC/Target

Image obtained from: doctorwho.tv

Great individual moments

A key example of this is the dungeon scene with the three Doctors of the story talking to each other. It’s a great moment that examines the exact same character at three distinct points of his life.

The novelization actually does a great job with this scene, too. It explores how such a moment could have an impact on the Doctor’s life. The perspective first examines War’s perspective of it and how he faces his future. It then focuses on both Ten’s and Eleven’s fear of returning to that moment. They may not remember why or what happened exactly, but they’re afraid of confronting their past and future.

It’s a strong moment that highlights what’s really interesting about multi-Doctor stories, and it’s handled by Moffat really well. In fact, there are many such moments across the novelization. Moments that are seen in a whole new light and work really well.

So it’s a shame that he constantly feels the need to distract us from the story by trying to tell it in as clever a way as possible. As previously mentioned, The Day of the Doctor is a very good story. If Moffat had done what Davies did with his novelization, and aimed to tell a straightforward story, while expanding on characters and plotlines just that little bit more, it could have been a very good novelization, too. As it is, it feels like the worst example of Moffat wanting to show off to his audience.

Next: Review: Situation Vacant (Eighth Doctor audio)

Have you read The Day of the Doctor? What are your own thoughts on it, and how does it compare to the original episode for you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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