The Last Day.

TV This was the other prequel released just before The Day of the Doctor and bit of a cock up as releases go, originally put up on iTunes accidentally with a charge in the UK which didn’t exist in the US, then without a charge leading to refunds and then ultimately put up on YouTube, it was an example of the BBC experimenting with distribution streams before ultimately ending up with the one which has otherwise worked up until now. Now a few people will no doubt view this as that thing they nearly paid £2.50 for.

Which is a shame because it’s rather fun. Doctor Who dabbling with the found footage genre, The Last Day offers a glimpse into what it’s like amongst the Gallifreyan guard for the first time since the classic series. The influence seems to be Starship Troopers, especially the underrated straight to shiny-disc sequels with single cast members from the original film that aren't Denise Richards.  This is Doctor Who's Clone Wars.  Perhaps "our" own equivalent of the 501st Legion will be turning up at conventions soon.

It’ll no doubt be considered the poor cousin to The Night of the Doctor, but whereas that was stroking the gene of older fans, The Last Day is aimed squarely at kids and especially young gamers, utilising the grammar of a first person shooter, especially in training mode when a virtual colleague has been pressed into action to offer a tutorial. There’ll be a fair few kids who see this and wish they could be off shooting Daleks not that the BBC would be brave enough to ever license something like that.

The reveal that we’re watching the fall of Arcadia, a piece of nuWho, Time War lore first mentioned in Doomsday is chilling, especially if you’re the kind of fan who's been holding onto such scraps of information across the years. In no way what we might have had in our heads, it probably couldn’t be anything else, which is also fittingly exactly what it was like watching The Day of the Doctor itself. But I’m still not reviewing that so I won’t.