Doctor Who 7x14: The Name of the Doctor
May. 19th, 2013 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenOh my.
I think Moffat delivered, there. After leaving clues like breadcrumbs through past episodes, he actually managed to pull them together into something coherent. And in character. And at the same time, full of the unexpected.
Here follows thoughts that leap from one spot to another, in no particular order.
"There is one secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered."
I'm not surprised we never actually heard the Doctor's name, that would have been a let-down, whatever his name turned out to be.
I do like the resolution of the whole "who is Clara?" question. She is the anti-enemy, the guardian angel, the one who sets things right. (Oh dear, I'm now having flashbacks to Quantum Leap. Go away, thought, go away!) She is the antidote to what the Great Intelligence did. After all, if one person could go in and alter the Doctor's life, another person could go in and alter it back again... if they acted soon enough.
Though it does seem rather similar to what happened to Scaroth in "City of Death"... I mean, you'd have to get into Time Lord technicalese to explain the difference between them. I think?
"Run you clever boy, and remember... me."
It's funny... I wasn't really expecting Clara to be saved, because I didn't think such a thing was something that one could be rescued from. But I didn't mind, either. It was a pretty good fate, as fates go.
I liked how Clara remembered what had happened during "Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS" - that made the forgotten events not-pointless, and it also was very important in a character-is-plot way, since it led to her making the decision that she needed to make.
Yes, of course the Doctor's hands are bloody, we know that. He's a hero, heroes do that sort of thing, if their enemies are the killing sort. I remember a saying: you can judge the worth of a man by the calibre of his enemies. There are no purely white hats, not really. He has saved more than he's killed, as evidenced by the stars going out, so many things lost if he had not saved them.
How many times has the universe been destroyed in Doctor Who, hmmm?
It is paradoxical... that the universe has been saved so many times by one man means that the weakest point in the universe is the life of that one man, and if that man's life unravels, so does the universe. On the other hand, if he had not been there to save the universe... then the universe would have been lost that much sooner. As I said, paradoxical.
I'm a bit confused about River here... is this the River in the Library? She'd have to be wouldn't she, or she wouldn't know about being saved in the Library. Okay. But she's enough of herself to participate in "conference calls". Interesting.
(grins at the thought of what the others might have seen when the Doctor was kissing her)
Then again, River's whole timeline is confusing. I mean, they mostly see each other in reverse order, but not completely. We know that there's a period of time when River was in the Storm Cage for killing the Doctor, in which the Doctor would visit her as her husband. We also know that there was a period after "The Angels Take Manhattan" when River travelled with the Doctor for a while, before he decided to go to the Victorian era and sulk. But it appears that, at this point, River is dead to him and he can't see her anymore (except as a ghost). What happened to River between "The Angels Take Manhattan" and now? Guess we'll never know.
When I saw the trailer last week, I thought that the Gentlemen (they did look like the Gentlemen in Buffy, too) were a Victorian version of The Silence, but apparently not; they were just manifestations of the Great Intelligence.
I liked the rhymes and the whispers, so creepy.
Oh, and that moment when Jenny said "I think I've been murdered." (shiver)
Okay, there are things I'm confused about, if I try to tie all the stuff together that's been leading up to this moment. Partly because I can't remember the exact words which were said in the past about the Silence, about what they feared would happen if the Doctor wasn't killed, about what Dorium said was forseen... I can't remember! So I can't remember if this fulfilled it or not.
(goes off and looks for transcripts)
So, yes, the prediction did come true... just not in the way they expected. It wasn't the Doctor's name that mattered, apart from the fact that it was the password to his tomb. And entering his tomb mattered because that was the easiest way to make the Doctor's life unravel, and if the Doctor's life unravelled, silence would indeed fall on the universe.
Just think, all that effort the Silence spent in trying to kill the Doctor, and the Silence would have had it much easier if they'd just destroyed the Great Intelligence instead. Not to mention that all their efforts to kill the Doctor almost brought about the very thing they were trying to prevent.
"Oh yeah, I destroyed the universe. But it got better!"
"Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor"
WHUT?
So... I presume that this will be followed up with the Anniversary Special on November 23rd.
Is this a future Doctor, or a past Doctor? Is it the Valeyard? The Great Intelligence mentioned the Valeyard, if I recall correctly. Actually, it makes more sense if this is his past, because Eleven talks as if he knows what it is that John-Hurt!Doctor did.
To call himself "the Doctor" is a promise, interesting. I mean, yes, it makes sense, because it's a title, it's a promise of what he wants to be, a scholar, a healer. And it would make sense from a character point of view if the John-Hurt!Doctor was something he'd already done, something that he regretted so deeply that (a) he ran away from Gallifrey and (b) he changed his nom-de-guerre.
(goes back and looks at that bit again)
"He's the one who broke the promise.... He is my secret."
"What I did, I did without choice."
"I know."
"In the name of peace and sanity."
"But not in the name of the Doctor."
Yes, the Doctor knows exactly what it was that JHD did.
Theories:
1) This is a pre-One Doctor who did something dreadful.
2) This is the Valeyard. Possible. Except that people know that the Valeyard was sort-of the Doctor, and nothing we know about the Valeyard indicates that he did something without choice in the name of peace and sanity.
3) This is a Time-War Doctor. Except that I thought we already knew the Doctor's big secret in regard to the Time War and the destruction of Gallifrey, so how could it be the secret that the Doctor would take to his grave?
4) This is a future Doctor. This doesn't make sense, because Eleven already knows what it was he did, therefore he must be a past-Doctor.
I'm leaning towards theory #1, for the reasons I've already mentioned.
In addition, to have an Anniversary Special which focuses on the Doctor's past before he called himself "The Doctor", something which focuses on the history of Doctor Who... well, that's a very Anniversary thing to do, isn't it?
On the other hand, theory #3 makes sense too, because terrible things were done in the Time War, in the name of peace and sanity.
Fridge logic: how did the Great Intelligence transport Vastra, Jenny and Strax from Earth to Trenzalore?
I'm not actually impatient for November, because I think this episode wrapped up a lot of questions, so it gives me a feeling of closure.
I think Moffat delivered, there. After leaving clues like breadcrumbs through past episodes, he actually managed to pull them together into something coherent. And in character. And at the same time, full of the unexpected.
Here follows thoughts that leap from one spot to another, in no particular order.
"There is one secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered."
I'm not surprised we never actually heard the Doctor's name, that would have been a let-down, whatever his name turned out to be.
I do like the resolution of the whole "who is Clara?" question. She is the anti-enemy, the guardian angel, the one who sets things right. (Oh dear, I'm now having flashbacks to Quantum Leap. Go away, thought, go away!) She is the antidote to what the Great Intelligence did. After all, if one person could go in and alter the Doctor's life, another person could go in and alter it back again... if they acted soon enough.
Though it does seem rather similar to what happened to Scaroth in "City of Death"... I mean, you'd have to get into Time Lord technicalese to explain the difference between them. I think?
"Run you clever boy, and remember... me."
It's funny... I wasn't really expecting Clara to be saved, because I didn't think such a thing was something that one could be rescued from. But I didn't mind, either. It was a pretty good fate, as fates go.
I liked how Clara remembered what had happened during "Journey To The Centre of the TARDIS" - that made the forgotten events not-pointless, and it also was very important in a character-is-plot way, since it led to her making the decision that she needed to make.
Yes, of course the Doctor's hands are bloody, we know that. He's a hero, heroes do that sort of thing, if their enemies are the killing sort. I remember a saying: you can judge the worth of a man by the calibre of his enemies. There are no purely white hats, not really. He has saved more than he's killed, as evidenced by the stars going out, so many things lost if he had not saved them.
How many times has the universe been destroyed in Doctor Who, hmmm?
It is paradoxical... that the universe has been saved so many times by one man means that the weakest point in the universe is the life of that one man, and if that man's life unravels, so does the universe. On the other hand, if he had not been there to save the universe... then the universe would have been lost that much sooner. As I said, paradoxical.
I'm a bit confused about River here... is this the River in the Library? She'd have to be wouldn't she, or she wouldn't know about being saved in the Library. Okay. But she's enough of herself to participate in "conference calls". Interesting.
(grins at the thought of what the others might have seen when the Doctor was kissing her)
Then again, River's whole timeline is confusing. I mean, they mostly see each other in reverse order, but not completely. We know that there's a period of time when River was in the Storm Cage for killing the Doctor, in which the Doctor would visit her as her husband. We also know that there was a period after "The Angels Take Manhattan" when River travelled with the Doctor for a while, before he decided to go to the Victorian era and sulk. But it appears that, at this point, River is dead to him and he can't see her anymore (except as a ghost). What happened to River between "The Angels Take Manhattan" and now? Guess we'll never know.
When I saw the trailer last week, I thought that the Gentlemen (they did look like the Gentlemen in Buffy, too) were a Victorian version of The Silence, but apparently not; they were just manifestations of the Great Intelligence.
I liked the rhymes and the whispers, so creepy.
Oh, and that moment when Jenny said "I think I've been murdered." (shiver)
Okay, there are things I'm confused about, if I try to tie all the stuff together that's been leading up to this moment. Partly because I can't remember the exact words which were said in the past about the Silence, about what they feared would happen if the Doctor wasn't killed, about what Dorium said was forseen... I can't remember! So I can't remember if this fulfilled it or not.
(goes off and looks for transcripts)
DOCTOR: I need to know about the Silence.
DORIUM: Oh. A religious order of great power and discretion. The sentinels of history, as they like to call themselves.
DOCTOR: And they want me dead.
DORIUM: No, not really. They just don't want you to remain alive.
DOCTOR: That's OK. I was worried for a minute there.
DORIUM: You're a man with a long and dangerous past. But your future is infinitely more terrifying. The Silence believe it must be averted.
DOCTOR: You know you could've told me all this, the last time we met.
DORIUM: It was a busy day and I got beheaded.
DOCTOR: What's so dangerous about my future?
DORIUM: On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature could speak falsely, or fail to answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered.
The DOCTOR pulls out a small notebook and reads it.
DOCTOR: Silence will fall when the question is asked...
DORIUM: Silence MUST fall would be a better translation. The Silence are determined the question will never be answered. That the Doctor will NEVER reach Trenzalore.
So, yes, the prediction did come true... just not in the way they expected. It wasn't the Doctor's name that mattered, apart from the fact that it was the password to his tomb. And entering his tomb mattered because that was the easiest way to make the Doctor's life unravel, and if the Doctor's life unravelled, silence would indeed fall on the universe.
Just think, all that effort the Silence spent in trying to kill the Doctor, and the Silence would have had it much easier if they'd just destroyed the Great Intelligence instead. Not to mention that all their efforts to kill the Doctor almost brought about the very thing they were trying to prevent.
"Oh yeah, I destroyed the universe. But it got better!"
"Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor"
WHUT?
So... I presume that this will be followed up with the Anniversary Special on November 23rd.
Is this a future Doctor, or a past Doctor? Is it the Valeyard? The Great Intelligence mentioned the Valeyard, if I recall correctly. Actually, it makes more sense if this is his past, because Eleven talks as if he knows what it is that John-Hurt!Doctor did.
To call himself "the Doctor" is a promise, interesting. I mean, yes, it makes sense, because it's a title, it's a promise of what he wants to be, a scholar, a healer. And it would make sense from a character point of view if the John-Hurt!Doctor was something he'd already done, something that he regretted so deeply that (a) he ran away from Gallifrey and (b) he changed his nom-de-guerre.
(goes back and looks at that bit again)
"He's the one who broke the promise.... He is my secret."
"What I did, I did without choice."
"I know."
"In the name of peace and sanity."
"But not in the name of the Doctor."
Yes, the Doctor knows exactly what it was that JHD did.
Theories:
1) This is a pre-One Doctor who did something dreadful.
2) This is the Valeyard. Possible. Except that people know that the Valeyard was sort-of the Doctor, and nothing we know about the Valeyard indicates that he did something without choice in the name of peace and sanity.
3) This is a Time-War Doctor. Except that I thought we already knew the Doctor's big secret in regard to the Time War and the destruction of Gallifrey, so how could it be the secret that the Doctor would take to his grave?
4) This is a future Doctor. This doesn't make sense, because Eleven already knows what it was he did, therefore he must be a past-Doctor.
I'm leaning towards theory #1, for the reasons I've already mentioned.
In addition, to have an Anniversary Special which focuses on the Doctor's past before he called himself "The Doctor", something which focuses on the history of Doctor Who... well, that's a very Anniversary thing to do, isn't it?
On the other hand, theory #3 makes sense too, because terrible things were done in the Time War, in the name of peace and sanity.
Fridge logic: how did the Great Intelligence transport Vastra, Jenny and Strax from Earth to Trenzalore?
I'm not actually impatient for November, because I think this episode wrapped up a lot of questions, so it gives me a feeling of closure.
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no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:07 pm (UTC)how did the Great Intelligence transport Vastra, Jenny and Strax from Earth to Trenzalore?
It is very intelligent. I was more bothered by the fact that Vastra appeared to retain her post-Doctor memories when she should have lost them in the same way as Strax did. (My assumption is that in the Doctorless timeline she killed Jenny during her rampage of revenge against the humans she blamed for the deaths of her kind.)
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:38 pm (UTC)I wasn't bothered by that because we don't know enough of Vastra's history to be able to tell whether she ought to have been affected at the same time as Strax or not. Thing is, since the unravelling was happening "all at once", and yet the effects were not happening instantly, I'm inclined to handwave the whole thing.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 02:00 pm (UTC)And I don't think this is what the silence were worried about with regard to Trenzalore: remember, thy showed up AFTER the giant battle. Long enough that the bodies were buried.
Do you want the casting info I have with regard to the introducing John Hurt as the Doctor thing? I didn't, but Facebook gave it to me a anyway from a page I don't even like. But it is an official BBC announcement.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 10:30 pm (UTC)No, I think it is. The battle is irrelevant, apart from the fact that it is the battle where the Doctor died, and thus the location of his tomb.
Let me reconstruct my reasoning...
The Silence want to kill the Doctor.
Why?
To prevent him from going to Trenzalore.
Why?
To prevent him from answering the question.
What is the question?
The question is "Doctor who?"
In other words, the question is "What is your name?" The very question which was asked in this episode.
Here's the relevant quotes from "The Wedding of River Song":
AND
These things did come to pass, but they came to pass in a way which the Silence did not (apparently) predict. The question was answered, but not by the Doctor; it was answered by River Song. And the answer to the question was the password to enable access to his tomb. And the reason why access to his tomb was so dangerous was that access to his tomb meant access to his entire timeline. And access to his timeline meant that someone could unravel his life. And unravelling the Doctor's life meant that things and people and places which the Doctor had saved were no longer saved. People vanished. Stars went out. Silence will fall.
Q.E.D.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 10:34 pm (UTC)No thanks.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:19 pm (UTC)Remember how upset he was in "The Beast Below" when he thinks he's going to have to kill the star whale? He says he'll have to find a new name, because he won't be "The Doctor" anymore.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:39 pm (UTC)(icon love)
(I assume the icon is that you want Cummerbatch to play the Doctor?)
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:55 pm (UTC)I actually really want Cumberbatch to play the Master to Matt Smith's Doctor. Just as David Tennant and John Simm were so well matched and mirrored each other, I think BC and Matt would make an excellent anti-team.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 04:25 pm (UTC)I don't think the problem the Silence have with Trenzalore has been solved. The battle still happens, and I think that's what they want to avert. The question now is, can it still be averted, or did the Doctor going there in this episode make that a fixed point? (Of course, the Doctor's death might be a fixed point anyway.)
I'm pretty sure John Hurt!Doctor is the Time War Doctor. I don't see what this has to do with the secret, which I thought we established in this episode had to do with the Doctor's name, not with something he did. I'm almost certain that this is the version of the Doctor who pulled the trigger on Gallifrey.
ETA: I see now what it has to do with the secret, I forgot that the Doctor called John Hurt!Doctor "his secret." But I still think it's to do with the Time War.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 10:33 pm (UTC)I do. See my reasoning above.
I'm pretty sure John Hurt!Doctor is the Time War Doctor.
Yeah, that theory is looking more plausible all the time.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:46 pm (UTC)It would probably be more fun if you were doing it with someone else, rather than by yourself, too.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 02:26 pm (UTC)Yes, it will. I think that's the only thing we know for sure. :)
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 11:38 pm (UTC)I had to read up on the Valeyard because, although I could remember what he looked like and the insults Colin Baker's Doctor threw at him, I'd forgotten he was also an incarnation of the Doctor himself (His evil twin Skippy/ dark side.)
Now I could see how River got there as she is sort of dead/ not dead having been "Saved" in the library. But how did Strax, Jenny and Vastra get there? The only answer I can think of is that, somehow the GI can transport them through time and space.
Interesting graveyard, though without a Weeping Angel in sight :¬D
The TARDIS as mausoleum was a nice touch.
Is it just me or is the TARDIS being referred to more as a sentient entity rather than just the perambulating plot device of a vehicle.
Oh poor Jenny! I was glad Strax revived her, things would not have been the same without her. Though why did the GI transport her if she was dead?
I loved all the bits of the prior Doctors - doing a lot of running - though some worked rather better than others.
Is it just me or does the original Type 40 TARDIS look like the silver pillar thing they had in Blake's 7, on the beach that led to Ensor's base.
PS
Date: 2013-05-20 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-20 02:34 am (UTC)No, it isn't just you. I mean, it's explicit canon now, ever since "The Doctor's Wife", that the TARDIS is a sentient entity.
Oh poor Jenny! I was glad Strax revived her, things would not have been the same without her. Though why did the GI transport her if she was dead?
To demonstrate that he was serious about killing them, I think.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-20 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-08 05:39 am (UTC)I was also a little confused about River... but pleased to see a sort of wrap-up to that romance, in a way that made me tear up and then giggle.
And I've been puzzled and annoyed with Clara since she appeared--I liked her, but couldn't figure out what to do with her. This made so much sense that I now just like her, full stop. :) The Impossible Girl... yes.