[salem]

For those fans of Doctor Who, who may not be aware of quite how much rich heritage the show has, here is a rundown of all the references to previous stories I could find in the 50th anniversary special.

1. The original titles used instead of the modern titles.
2. A policeman as the first shot, echoing the first shot of the very first episode in 1963.
3. Sign for 76 Totters Lane, the junkyard where the TARDIS was stored in the first episode.
4. Coal Hill School - the school Doctor Who's granddaughter Susan attends in then first episode.
5. Chairman of Governors at Coal Hill School - I. Chesterton. The original Doctor's first male travelling companion.
6. Headmaster W. Coburn, Anthony Coburn wrote the first Doctor Who serial.
7. Clara is a teacher at Coal Hill school, same as Ian and Barbara in the first episode (Ian and Barbara being two of the three travelling companions of the first Doctor)
8. Clara leaves the school grounds at 5.16pm, the time of the first epiosde's transmission.
9. The UNIT callsign of Greyhound is used again by the helicopter picking up the TARDIS.
10. Osgood is wearing the Fourth Doctor's scarf.
11. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart appeared in the episode 'The Power of Three' and is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
12. Kate mentions Malcolm, the UNIT scientist played by Lee Evans in 'Planet of the Dead'
13. The Doctor mentions the Brigadier, but not by name.
14. Queen Elizabeth the 1st is mentioned, she met the 10th Doctor in 'The Shakespeare Code' and he was mentioned to have married her previosl to arriving on the Ood planet in 'The End of Time - Part 1'
15. Fall of Arcadia is mentioned and then shown.
16. We see the last day of the Time War which is mentioned throughout the return of Doctor Who from 2005.
17. The Time-Lord uniforms once again bear the seal of Rassilon.
18. According to members of Gallifrey's War Room, the High Council's plans when in emergency session failed. We saw these plans in 'The End of Time -  Part 2'. Hopefully Rassilon was deposed after the unsuccessful attempt to pull Gallifrey from the Time-Locked Time War!
19. The Omega arsenal is mentioned, perhaps a reference to Omega, the stellar engineer who gave Gallifrey the power source necessary for Time Travel.
20. The 'moment' is mentioned, it was previously mentioned by the High Council of Time-Lords in 'The End of Time - Part 2'
21. The conscience of 'The Moment' resembles Rose Tyler, companion of the 9th and 10th Doctors.
22. The conscience of 'The Moment' mentions Bad Wolf, the running theme of the first season of the 2005 continuation.
23. The 10th Doctor played by David Tennant appears in a painting in the gallery.
24. The Doctor rides a white horse, similar  to  the one seen in 'The Girl in the Fireplace'
25. We see a Zygon for the first time since 'Terror of the Zygons' in 1975.
26. The 10th Doctor partially recreates the speech from 'Voyage of the Damned'
27. The Fez once more makes a reappearance!
28. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart mentions the 'Cromer' incident file. Of course referring to the television story 'The Three Doctors'
29. The Doctors attempt to 'reverse the polarity' something the third Doctor often did.
30. The phrase 'Timey-Wimey' is used again, a common 'Moffatism'
31. The Tower of London is first used as UNIT's headquartes in the 2005 Christmas special.
32. The Black Archive has countless pictures of previous companions.
33. The Vortex manipulator of Captain Jack Harkness is shown.
34. The 11th Doctor mentions that Clara has 'met' the 10th Doctor and the War Doctor before. This was at Trenzalore in the Doctor's tomb.
35. The roundels make an appearance in the TARDIS
36. The Doctor's comment about 'You've redecorated, I don't like it' echoes the comment make by the second Doctor in 'The Three Doctors' and 'The Five Doctors'
37. The  Doctor uses the Space/Time telegraph, used by the Brigadier to bring the Doctor back to Earth in, suitably enough 'The Terror of the Zygons'.
38. We see a cyberman head (Cybus industries version)
39. The moment mention the TARDIS's 'wheezing groaning' sound. Terrance Dicks, former script editor and writer of several Doctor Who stories, was the most prolific writer of Doctor Who novels, and he always described the TARDIS noise in that exact way in his books.
40. We see all the Doctors including the 13th Doctor, Peter Capaldi. Footage is taken from old stories for Doctors 1-9.
41. Geronimo!
42. Allon-sy!
43. In John Hurt's regeneration he says 'wearing a bit thin' echoing what Hatnell says before regeneratin in the 1966 story 'The Tenth Planet'
44. He also says 'I hope the ears are a little less conspicuous this time' a reference to Ecclestone's prominent ears.
45. The 10th Doctor says that it is reasurring thatn his future is in safe hands, this is what the 1st Doctor says to the 5th at the end of 'the Five Doctors'.
46. The 10th Doctor saying 'I don't want to go'
47. In the dream sequence we see the 12 Doctors.
48. Tom Baker makes an appearance as 'The Curator' a possible future incarnation of the Doctor? It is implied that one day the Doctor will retire after regenerating into an older version of one of his old bodies.
49. The credits feature images of all 12 Doctors.

Think that's them all. If I missed any, please let me know.

[rtpoe]

In the "mini-episode" "The Night of the Doctor", as Paul McGann regenerates into John Hurt, he mentions Charley Pollard, C'rizz, Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew, and Molly O'Sullivan. These were/are some of his Companions from the Big Finish series of audio adventures - making this the first time those stories have been referenced in the "main" series.

[salem]

In the "mini-episode" "The Night of the Doctor", as Paul McGann regenerates into John Hurt, he mentions Charley Pollard, C'rizz, Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew, and Molly O'Sullivan. These were/are some of his Companions from the Big Finish series of audio adventures - making this the first time those stories have been referenced in the "main" series.

And we saw the return of the Sisterhood of Karn...

[rtpoe]

Salem, to make your list an even 50, there was a reference to the UNIT dating controversy when (I forget the characters) one UNIT person was told to go back and check the files from "either the 70s or 80s". It seems that the writers of the Classic Series messed up the show's internal continuity by giving incompatible dates for some of the stories featuring UNIT and the Brigadier.

Though you could call that a nod to the fans instead of a real reference, since it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things exactly when those stories took place....

[Nimrod]

There is a fan based symbol generator that converts text into the Dr Who "script".
It is not officially sanctioned in any way, however it is well reasoned out and actually makes symbols that match up well to the totally random set dressing graphics that had no thought beyond looking neat.

I find it really cool that someone would figure out a system that actually works and can be translated both directions.

The implication is that this system could be used to approximate the Doctor's actual name as it has been shown in the show in the Time Lord script. Of course it would not be the actual name as it is unlikely they will ever provide a sanctioned acknowledgement.
(His name has been translated by some using parallel systems and as you would expect it yields meaningless text)

The script below says "Boobs" by the way

[salem]

Salem, to make your list an even 50, there was a reference to the UNIT dating controversy when (I forget the characters) one UNIT person was told to go back and check the files from "either the 70s or 80s". It seems that the writers of the Classic Series messed up the show's internal continuity by giving incompatible dates for some of the stories featuring UNIT and the Brigadier.

Though you could call that a nod to the fans instead of a real reference, since it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things exactly when those stories took place....

That was also done in the Tennant episode The Sonataran Stratagem. The 10th Doctor mentions that he 'worked for UNIT in the 80's, or was it the 70's?'

Of course the dating system which led into UNIT began in the 2nd Doctor story The Abominable Snowmen which was set in 1935, the formation of UNIT story 'The Web of Fear' was set 40 years later, which makes it 1975. The first proper UNIT story 'The Invasion' was set a while after that, late 70's. Then when the Third Doctor was exiled to Earth and worked for UNIT, the stories were supposed to be set in the 80's (Sarah Jane Smith mentions in 'The Pyramids of Mars' that she was from 1980). The problem began in the fifth Doctor story 'Mawdryn Undead' which features the Brigadier in two time streams 1977 and 1983, he is retired in both, hence putting the original UNIT timeline up in the air. The Brigadier also mentions that Sergeant Benton retired in 1979, which also does not fit in with established continuity.

The reason it all came about...? The original script was written with William Russell in mind (Ian Chesterton from the first Doctor Who stories) which is why he was a teacher at a school in it. He was unavailable so they changed it to the Brigadier and ignored previous continuity, causing uproar in the fan community!

[number3fac]

One minor note (no pun intended): I *really* missed the Dalek orchestral piece, whatever it's called.  That music as they're swooping down on Gallifrey and blasting stuff, which has accompanied them in the new series since (I believe) the big season 1 finale.  Haven't heard it since Moffat took over...to be fair, I'm not complaining since I think his scaling back on the Daleks for most of his run so far is actually a pretty good decision.  But it's just so epic-sounding that I love it every time it plays, and I was thrilled to hear it again.

[salem]

I would actually like your opinion on this, what do you think of the music for Doctor Who? Do you think the balance is right or do you think there is too much? Personally I feel that there is sometimes a little too much music in the episodes, but some of the pieces since the series returned in 2005 have been nothing short of superb.

[number3fac]

Well I very much enjoy the thematic tunes that've been introduced in the new series.  The Daleks and Cybermen both got music for when they get featured, and the Master had his own theme as well (not counting the musical score he assembled for his grand victory...that took style!).  I'll admit that they did get overpowering from time to time, but it was intended to enhance the epic-ness of the big scenes that were supposed to be all epic in the first place.  So ultimately I don't have a problem overall; there are probably only a few moments where the incidental music could stand to be turned down.

The Moffat era only seems to have one piece of theme music, the 11th Doctor's--or at least, that's the only one I've noticed.  It's a nice upbeat here's-the-hero theme, but it gets busted out for virtually every bit of action, so it gets overused and in some cases I don't think it's a good fit for what's happening onscreen.  It hasn't been overwhelming loud that I've noticed, but I kinda wish there was a little more variety because that particular theme has gotten a bit tiresome, which is too bad because it's otherwise fine.

[Breasts]

And so it begins
http://youtu.be/TWwYLlcPekA

[TheZookie007]

My pre-order special edition of The Day of the Doctor should be arriving shortly. Yay!

Meanwhile:

BBC America: The Graham Norton Show: "Matt Smith & David Tennant Answer Whovian Fans' Questions"

[salem]

Publicity still from the Christmas Special

[number3fac]

Heh, did the Cybermen watch that episode of Futurama where Bender downgrades and somehow decide that transitioning to wood was a good idea?

[rtpoe]

So, can you KILL IT WITH FIRE!?

[number3fac]

It's a trick; get an axe!