"The Night of the Doctor" Review

The Fiftieth Anniversary of Doctor Who officially started today with the release of the new Mini Episode, The Night of the Doctor. And what a way to start with the return of The Eighth Doctor who was last seen on screen in 1996 in his only television story. I love that little nod of a line to us of "I'm a Doctor, but probably not the one that you are expecting." While there had been rumours floating about for months about this episode, it was still a fantastic surprise to see Paul back.
The first part of the episode was focussed around the Doctor trying to save Cass off the crashing spaceship though she refused to be helped after learning that he was a Time Lord. This just shows how much the Time Lords had become hated during the Time War. This is keeping in line with the End of Time and I presume it will be referenced again during the Day of the Doctor. Another great thing is that we finally get the chance to see the Eighth Doctor regenerate in this episode. A mystery which has been kept secret since 2005. I read a comment online which said they were disappointed in the fact they didn't like the Doctor died in a spaceship crash. I think this was still a fitting way to die. He could have just gone and left Cass but instead he stayed on board incase she changed her mind, sacrificing himself once again for one person.

In the second part of the episode we see another return. The sisterhood of Khan, last seen in the Brain of Morbius with Tom Baker. This was a fantastic surprise and made sense really with there history with the Time Lords. While The Doctor did switch rather quickly from staying one of the good guys to the warrior, this was needed since the episode only had a short amount of time to tell this story. He realised that if he didn't change and go on, countless more lives would be lost so he needed to turn into the War Doctor.
We also see the Big Finish Companions mentioned here, officially making the audio adventures canon to those who doubted it. This is one of the things that made my day. These stories are fantastic and deserve to be recognised. If you haven't heard them go buy one now in the Big Finish sale. You won't regret it!
"Physician Heal Thyself" I think this was a perfect last line for Eight. Following on from him saluting his companions. It felt really true to what his Doctor would say. I loved that when we finally saw Hurt, they had used a younger version of him showing how long he ended up fighting this war.
This episode really was a fan letter to the fans. So many things to make us happy. From the return of Eight, to the audio companions reference, to 8's regeneration and the Sisterhood of Khan. What a fantastic 7 minutes. It still feels like a dream... 10/10 I am now looking forward to what the rest of the anniversary has in store!