Geronimo!.. Allons-y!.. Oh, For God's sake!..

So, I don't suppose there's much else that I could really blog about today is there?

On the 23rd of November 1963, at a little after a quarter past five. A television program started that was to very slightly change the way a lot of people saw the world.

Exactly fifty years, two hours and thirty-four minutes later, a special one-off, feature length episode of the same series was aired.

I'm talking of course about Countryfile, John Craven's weekly vehicle where he would wander around the English countryside trying not to accidentally kick a sheep in its smug, bleating, cud-chewing face.

LOL! - Had you there for a second didn't I? - Of course I'm not talking about Countryfile, I'm talking about Doctor Who... But you knew that, right?

I'm going to assume that you saw it, and if you didn't... Well, you're going to upset with me because this page is going to contain one or two spoilers and a couple of things that you might not know.  Talking of things that you might not know, the 50th Anniversary episode was preceded by a Webisode (is that a real word even?) Starring Who no.8 - Paul McGann, star of the 1996 TV Movie that was supposed to 'break' Doctor Who in America and it confirmed that John Hurt followed him into the role as many had speculated. But, not as The Doctor.  Instead, his character has been dubbed 'The War Doctor' and does not figure in the number system of incarnations, so Mr McGann is no.8 and Mr Eccleston is still no.9 - According to my close, personal friend, Steven Moffat at least.

So as well as the great story, there are a pan-load of links to previous episodes, I'll try to list a few of them below.

The planet where the spaceship carrying the Doctor crashes in the Webisode is called  Karn, it's a planet that Doctor no.4 Tom Baker visited before in the episode 'The Brain of Morbius' - He tangled with the witch-like Sisterhood of Karn then too and nearly ended up losing his head.  Oh, and the names that the Doctor recites before he drinks the regeneration potion are the names of the Doctor's companions that appeared in the audio-plays.

But to the anniversary episode itself.  First of all, I think that choosing to open with the original Ron Grainer / Delia Derbyshire version of the theme tune was a nice touch - Although I would have been equally happy if they'd used the remix by Orbital - Significantly trippier.

The episode opens with a huge nod to the first episode, The camera pans past the gate of the Foreman Junkyard at 76 Totters lane (where the Tardis was originally hidden) to Coal Hill School (Where the Doctor's Grandaughter went) and you can see from the sign that the Chaiman of Governors is Mr I Chesterton (or Ian Chesterton, one of Doctor no.1's original companions)

In fact, Coal Hill school is a semi-regular location in the series, as it appeared in the 1988 episode 'Remembrance of the Daleks' with Doctor no.7, Sylvester McCoy - Although in fairness, that particular episode was set just after the events of the first ever episode, so you'd expect there to be some correlation I guess.

So Clara gets a call from the Doctor and takes off to meet him on the Anti-Gravity capable motorcycle that we last saw in 'The Bells of Saint John'.

Osgood, Kate (Lethbridge) Stewart's female assistant, not only wears Doctor no.4's scarf (Now, where could she have gotten that from?) but is assumed to be UNIT Sgt. Osgood from the Doctor no.3, Jon Pertwee episode 'The Daemons' Daughter.

And her other assistant, who she talks about, but we never see, is called Malcolm - Could this be Lee Evans' character from the Easter Special 'Planet of the Dead'?

Did everyone get the 'access code' for Captain Jack's gifted Vortex Manipulator that Clara uses to break the Doctors out of the Tower of London? - 1716231163... or 17:16 on 23rd 11th '63 - The time and date of the first airing of the first episode.

There are a couple of things that tie in with Doctor No. 11, David Tennant's final episode, 'The End of Time' - His marriage to 'Good Queen Bess' as mentioned to Ood Sigma, and the fact that Gallifrey was 'taken out of time' rather than burned, so we knew what was going to happen all along, even if the Doctor didn't.

The method The Doctors used to destroy the Dalek attack force was exactly the same thing he did to trap the weeping angels in 'Blink' i.e. get them all pointed at something then move it out of the way so as they destroy each other

If you look into Doctor Who just a little bit more closely than an 'average viewer' you'll see that a lot of the episodes are choc-full of series or even world continuity, tying things together between series and Doctors.

You do have-ta kinda want to find them them though.  I'm sure there are a load more that you guys think are cool that I've completely missed.  Let me know in the comments if you've got any.