The following contains spoilers for Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor.

This special anniversary episode celebrates Doctor Who’s running time of 50 years, a Guinness World Record for mere mortals, but a tiny space of time for a Time Lord. In this episode, the Doctors unite together to rewrite the universe’s timeline and save everyone as usual.

At the heart(s) of the episode, the 10th Doctor, the 11th Doctor, and Clara the companion face the Zygons, shapeshifting aliens that can become carbon copies of anything. As they battle, the War Doctor decides whether to use the Moment, an ancient Time Lord device that can destroy the entire planet of Gallifrey, to stop the Time War between the Time Lords and the daleks.

Eventually, the Doctors and Clara defeat the Zygons and the Doctors team together to freeze Gallifrey in a single moment of time in order to save it from the Time War. This solves the mystery that has been hanging on the Doctor’s shoulders ever since the Ninth Doctor.

Many of the millions of viewers across 90 countries were hoping to see a poignant reunion between Rose Tyler and the 10th Doctor, but the return of the Bad Wolf as the conscience of the Moment was a brilliant part of the story. Steven Moffat, the writer and executive producer, managed to simultaneously please old and new fans by adding interesting plot twists, references to past Doctors, and entertaining repartee between the Doctors.

Overall, ‘Day of the Doctor’ encapsulated the adventurous style of  the classic Doctor Who that made generations of fans fall in love with it in the first place. The fan-pleasing adventure, homages, and story made for a fittingly fantastic 50th anniversary special. It was the culmination of 50 years of mischief, science, adventure, and timey-wimey stuff with a promising future with the Twelfth Doctor.

Doctor Who will return for the Christmas special with Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor.