Who Review: The Name of the Doctor
London, 1893, and a serial killer buys his life by giving Madame Vastra critical news about the Doctor: his secret has been discovered! She summons Jenny, Strax, Clara, and River Song to a “conference call” by means of a sleep-induced state. But during the call, the creepy “Whisper Men” come for the Detective trio. When Clara revives, she informs the Doctor what happened. He becomes extremely upset when she tells him what has been discovered: Trenzalore. In a bid to save his friends, the Doctor must go to a place no Time Lord should ever go, and risk his life–past, present, and future–in the process.
SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen the episode. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!
If you’re a Doctor Who fan, especially a life-long fan like me, I expect you were delighted by the first few minutes of this episode. What a way to begin–the very beginning (before the beginning, really)! The story itself both ties together some loose ends, and sets the scene for November’s 50th Anniversary Special. In particular, we learn the truth about Clara, and how it is she has died twice in very different times and yet she travels with the Doctor. We also learn the meaning of the prophecy given by Dorium in “The Wedding of River Song” regarding “the fall of the Eleventh” on the fields of Trenzalore.
The story title is a bit deceptive because we don’t actually learn the Doctor’s name (for which I was thankful–some things we don’t need to know), but his name is critical to the plot.
I can’t say I’ve enjoyed River Song’s character since “Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead,” but in this episode, I think she hit the right note. Perhaps my memory plays tricks, but in “Silence in the Library” she wasn’t quite as flirty/feisty/take-control as she has been with the Eleventh Doctor. This may be due to the fact that the Tenth Doctor met her after they were already married (maybe for a long time), and she had, perhaps, matured somewhat. It’s this River we meet in this story–the River from the computer in that library, uploaded by the Doctor at the point of death.
(By the way, some fans may object to the kiss. I personally thought this was the most appropriate Doctor Who kiss in the history of the show (okay, maybe not counting the Ninth Doctor kissing Rose to absorb the TARDIS energy). For crying out loud people, this is his wife! The person he loves more than any other. Possibly the mother of his children. Where do you think Susan, his granddaughter, came from–a Gallifreyan stork?!)
One might wonder why the Great Intelligence was the first one to ever hit upon this idea for taking revenge on the Doctor. You’d think maybe the Master, with his knowledge of Time Lord lore and tradition, would have considered this. But maybe the Great Intelligence was the only thing capable of gathering and processing the information necessary to locate the Doctor’s tomb. And yet he doesn’t know the Doctor’s name..?
I liked the resolution to the Clara mystery. In the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey world of Doctor Who, it makes perfect sense. Ever since Steven Moffat announced that the 50th Anniversary Special would be “a love-letter to the fans,” I’ve wondered exactly what he meant. Certainly, he would have to include as many past Doctors as possible, and make the show as chock-full of Who references as possible. But how to do this with a credible storyline and with minimal cheesiness (*cough* “Dimensions in Time” *cough*)? How about, the Doctor rescuing Clara from his own time lines? And the promise of the Tenth Doctor and Rose coming along to help! The insertion of past Doctors from old episodes we saw in this story maybe foreshadows what they plan to do for the special–and that would be awesome if they can make it work. Filming on the special finished a week or so ago, so they have all summer to work on post-production!
And who is this mysterious Doctor at the end, the one who “broke the promise”? Will he be the Doctor’s (or Doctors’) antagonist as he and Clara try to escape? Another version of the Valeyard?
What are your thoughts? Please use the comments to share about this episode, this season, your hopes and fears for the special, and anything else about Doctor Who! Feel free to be as spoilery as you want.
I’m wracking my brain to try and figure out who ‘The Doctor’ is — I’m leaning towards the Valyard because of the namedrop earlier in the episode, and the mention of this new Doctor having given up the name of the Doctor. Nobody seems to know for sure, though… it’s a very nicely done twist!
My suspicion is, whoever he is (and I, too, lean toward a Valeyard-type incarnation, if not the Valeyard himself), he will be the antagonist in the story. After all, in the Doctor’s time-line, it would have to be another version of the Doctor. It was a nice twist–certainly unexpected. If the Doctor isn’t going to have enough fun–I mean trouble–wandering through his time-line, he’s going to have someone stirring up trouble for him… perhaps. 🙂
I absolutely enjoyed the finale. The mystery revolving Clara answered everything which I was quite satisfied with. Moffat can be a great one-off writer but I haven’t been a fan of his arcs so far. This arc was definitely his better work. I wonder if we’ll come across any more Claras in future seasons?
I don’t really mind River Song. I’ve been a fan of hers from the beginning, apart from the whole storyline involving Amy Pond (too soap opera for me). I definitely see little alterations in her personality at different stages of her life. I think the one time she was really OTT, loud, and fiesty was when she first regenerated from Mel into River. She was probably still quite young as well as being a psychotic trained assassin. Then you have older versions of her where she still is flirty but a bit more mature and calmed down, especially when she’s trying to repent for what she did. And again, a few younger versions where she still is a bit on the cheeky side. So I can see what you mean about difference in character. I don’t know if the writers purposely did that but still, I quite like seeing River at different stages of her life. You can definitely see her maturing and calming down. Also, look at who her mum is. I’m not surprised she’s a bit full on at times. Definitely her mother’s daughter. 😉
At first I thought this new Doctor may be the last incarnation, a very older version who has, for some reason, given up his name and what he stands for. It wouldn’t be the first time the Doctor has given up hope, even though it’s been temporary. There seemed to be some sadness in that new Doctor. But then again, the Doctor knew who he was. Maybe he caught a glimpse of his future by going through his own time line? Still, he seemed to REALLY know him. More so than he would just by getting a sneak peek into his own future. I’ll have to wait to find out. Can I just say, I LOVE this casting! I always thought he would fit well into Doctor Who. ^^ Him and Robert Carlyle.
Yes–probably the best Moffat arc so far. I’m not sure he’ll want to play the multiple Claras thing beyond this year. After all, it’s really a plot device for the 50th Anniversary (i.e., an excuse to have the Doctor wander his time-lines), so it loses its purpose after the Christmas special. At least, that’s what I think.
The Doctor’s final incarnation? I suppose it’s possible. Now they’ve ditched the old 12-regeneration limit (at least it seems they have), they could do that without stating whether he’s the 15th Doctor, the 100th Doctor, or the 9,920th Doctor! That would also explain his “breaking the promise”–that might have been what killed him. The only wrinkle would be, as you say, how the Doctor would know him–and more significantly, know what he did in the future–without crossing his own time-line (which he’s not supposed to do). Another possibility is that this is an incarnation of the Doctor prior to the First Doctor–as hinted at in “The Brain of Morbius.” That would be an interesting twist for the geeks. 🙂 Maybe the “breaking the promise” is what really caused him to run away (after regenerating into the “First” Doctor, of course)… and maybe his saving the universe is how he salves his conscience over what he did. And maybe this thing was something that wouldn’t have necessarily got him in trouble with the Time Lords (otherwise it would have come up at both his trials), but something that’s seared his conscience. Perhaps it was something the Time Lords made him do (hence his comments about having “no choice” and doing it for “peace”)… Mmm… there’s a story there. If that’s not the answer, it might make for interesting fan fiction. 😀
And John Hurt was an excellent choice. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been on lists for potential Doctors in the past.
I think this finale was as good as any finale can get. I’m glad that we didn’t find out the Doctor’s name. And I don’t think I ever want to know his true name, because the name the Doctor has given himself is obviously more important. I can’t wait for the special. I want to know if Clara and the Doctor are going to make it out, if this other version of the Doctor will be a villain and try to ruin everything. Also, the fact that the Doctor refers to John Hurt’s Doctor as his secret is really intriguing.
I loved this season and how it tied in things from past episodes. And I’m happy that we don’t have to say goodbye to Matt Smith as the Doctor just yet. I like the 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctors equally, but Smith really transformed the Doctor in the best way. It’s great watching how his Doctor developed as a character from his first episode to now.
The 50th Anniversary Special is going to be something special, that’s for sure. I expect sales of the Classic Series DVDs to jump afterwards. 🙂
I think the John-Hurt-Doctor will be the antagonist in this story. And it’s going to be a lot of fun seeing the 10th and 11th Doctors, as well as Rose and Clara, working together.
I agree, Raven, this has been a great season, topped off with a great finale, and a really great special to look forward to in November. 🙂
After this episode, I’m excited for the 50th anniversary special. I want to know if anything more is going to happen with the Cyberman storyline though, especially as it appeared the the Cyberman version of the Doctor still exists.
My first point is, the Whisper Men, according to Wikipedia, are new characters. Yet, to me, they look exactly the same as The Trickster in the Sarah Jane Adventures (don’t know if you’ve seen any of those). I didn’t like the Trickster, and I don’t like the Whisper Men. Faceless characters freak me out!
I thought the explanation for Clara’s appearances throughout the past series was excellent, as soon as I saw the Great Intelligence going inside the time line, I knew that is how Clara managed her past lives. I don’t understand how the Doctor managed to get inside without dying, though. After all the warnings about crossing your own time line, he broke that rule in a major way.
As I now know that Matt Smith is leaving, I’m wondering who the next Doctor will be. I did suspect he would be leaving after the end of this episode, where they announced ‘John Hurt as The Doctor’. I didn’t think they’d do that if he wasn’t going. Can the John Hurt character still be the next Doctor if this current one knew who he was? I’m going to be waiting impatiently for the reveal on Christmas Day!
Yes! I *knew* I’d seen a monster like the Whisper Men before–you’re absolutely right… the Trickster from SJA! I don’t know if they are supposed to be the same, or related, but they’re both pretty nasty. 🙂
The 50th Anniversary Special is going to be a real treat, I think. The fact that the Doctor knew who the John Hurt Doctor is, and what he had done, also makes me doubt that it’s a future incarnation. Is it a pre-First Doctor incarnation? Maybe a “forgotten” incarnation from the Time War, between the 8th and 9th? I guess we’ll find out… 🙂