Saturday, June 22, 2013

Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor

 
The mystery is solved. Now we know the answer.

This was a great episode. I'm so glad that this season ended with such a strong episode. The second half of this season has been a bit iffy for me. On the whole I've liked it, but there have been things that I haven't been that happy with in most of the episodes. But "The Name of the Doctor" was very satisfying. And thank you, Stephen Moffat, for answering a question we've had ever since we met Clara (or Oswin, to be exact). And I'm glad the answer wasn't obvious. I read many theories about Clara, and no one guessed the truth.

Observations:

**Spoilers**

The beginning of this episode was so cool. I haven't seen many classic Doctor Who episodes, but even I was excited to see the first Doctor (William Hartnell) on Gallifrey stealing (or as subsequent Doctors said) "borrowing" the TARDIS with his granddaughter. And to see Clara there was even more cool.

I wonder why Clara knows each Doctor is the "Doctor" prior to the 11th Doctor, but when she meets the 11th Doctor for the first time (in "The Snowmen"), she doesn't know he's the Doctor.

It was interesting that The Impossible Girl is explained at the beginning of the episode instead of waiting until the end. Well, she's not really completely explained, because we don't know how she ended up searching for the Doctor time and space like that. Maybe Moffat just wanted to give us a teaser so that we'd go through the episode wondering how it all happened.

I loved hearing the little Scottish boy's accent. There's only one thing I like better than to hear a child with a Scottish accent, and that's a grown man with a Scottish accent. Scottish accents are cool. *wink*

The conference call with Vastra, Jenny, Strax, Clara, and River Song is pretty interesting. I wonder how that was supposed to be possible. That seems a bit "magical" to me, and Doctor Who isn't about magic. Vastra explains it by saying that time travel is possible in dreams. One sentence to explain it all. However, it met its purpose - the get everyone together to try to figure out what was going on with the Doctor.

I wonder how Vastra got a letter to Clara in the 21st century when she lives in the 19th century. Did she mail the letter in the 19th century with instructions that it not be posted until April 10, 2013? Is that possible to do? So many things unexplained.

It's very funny that Vastra puts the candle in the letter, and then also makes the letter release a "soporific" also just in case Clara doesn't trust lighting the candle. And it's funny how Clara passes out at exactly the right time when reading the letter. I loved how that scene was timed. However, if Vastra already had the soporific agent in the letter, why did she need the candle?

The big question is - how did they get word to River Song that she was needed there? I'm assuming that this is the River Song who is in the database at the Library. How could Vastra contact her there?

The Whispermen are one more of Stephen Moffat's really creepy monsters.

The Doctor can never go to Trenzalore. The only way anyone can get him there is to threaten harm to his friends. And that's what the Whispermen have done.

So, did the Doctor actually see Clara lying on the floor and think she was simply asleep, or did Angie and Artie just tell the Doctor she was asleep? Either way, why would anyone think that she would fall asleep on the floor in her bedroom? Wouldn't someone (even two kids) think that was mighty strange?

I love that the Doctor calls Angie and Artie "the little Daleks."

Aside: As I rewatch this episode, I realize how much I'm going to miss Matt Smith as the Doctor. This is the first time I've watched an episode with Matt Smith since he announced that he's leaving after this year's Christmas special. I like his Doctor so much. He is such a great actor. End of aside.

Watching the Doctor break up when he hears what Clarence said about Trenzalore was so moving. It's not often that you see the Doctor cry.

When the Doctor tells Clara that she "didn't listen... You lot never do," I think that line is also directed to us, as the audience. I think Stephen Moffat is saying that if we really listened to what has been said, we would have discovered the secret of Trenzalore.

I love that the TARDIS doesn't want to take the Doctor and Clara to Trenzalore.

It's so sad to see a crack in one of the windows on the TARDIS. The TARDIS has been damaged before - almost destroyed when the tenth Doctor regenerates into the eleventh Doctor, but this little crack made me sad.

I love that the "bigger on the inside" element of the TARDIS is reserved when the TARDIS becomes the Doctor's gravesite.

Vastra and Strax are inside the TARDIS (the Doctor's tomb). However, if it's "smaller on the inside," why is the TARDIS so large? Wouldn't it one little tiny itty-bitty room?

So, the Great Intelligence can not only travel through time and space, he can take Vastra, Jenny, and Strax with him?

It's interesting when River tells Clara that the Doctor left her "like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye." He didn't leave her like a book on a shelf. He saved her the only way he could. And he didn't even know her at that point. She was from his future, and he'd never met her before then. (I know, time travel, it's a tricky and confusing thing). He didn't "say goodbye" because he was too shocked and angry that she was dying to save him. 

The effect when the Whispermen come through River Song's image is one of the creepiest and coolest effects in all of Doctor Whodom.

River opened the tomb by saying the Doctor's name, but of course we didn't hear it. I'm so glad that we still don't know his name.

When the Doctor acknowledges River is such a great moment. We know that this is probably the last conversation that the Doctor and River will ever have. Loved it. And hated it at the same time.

I don't quite understand it when Clara says, "I blew into this world on a leaf." Does she mean that's how her parents met and eventually she was born, or was she really in the leaf? Because 21st century Clara is the original Clara - the one who is broken into a million pieces to save the Doctor. At the end, is the Doctor sending her back to her life on the leaf? In that case, is it just a circle that never ends? She's on the leaf the Doctor gives her, and then she grows up and meets the Doctor, then she sacrifices herself to save him, then he saves her and sends her back to life on the leaf?

I don't like the fact that Clara says she was born to save the Doctor. She was born to do a lot of things. Being with the Doctor is one thing she does in her life. That's not her only task. The Doctor doesn't define who she is. She's an important person on her own. Yes, I'm getting a bit existential here. No one's purpose is defined by just one person.

Quotes:

Fabian: What kind of idiot would try to steal a faulty TARDIS?

Clara: Doctor. Doctor.
First Doctor: Yes, what is it? What do you want?
Clara: Sorry, but you're about to make a very big mistake.

Clara: I don't know where I am. It's like I'm breaking into a million pieces and there's only one thing I remember - I have to save the Doctor. He always looks different. I always know it's him.

Clara: I'm Clara Oswald. I'm the impossible girl. I was born to save the Doctor.

Vastra: You have the blood of 14 women on your hands. There are no words that can save your neck.
Clarence: The Doctor.

Clarence: The Doctor has a secret, you know.
Vastra: He has many.
Clarence: There is one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered.

Scot: I'll kill ya, ya filthy wee midget.
Strax: Prepare to die in agony for the glory of the Sontaran Empire.

Strax: What is it, girl? Can't you see I'm trying to crush the brains of this stinking primitive? (to the Scot) Sorry about this.
Scot: Ach. No problem.

Jenny: Oh, I like the new desktop.
Vastra: Mm. I was getting a bit bored of the Taj Mahal.

Vastra: Strax. It's good of you to join us.
Strax: It better be important. I was in the middle of destroying some very pleasant primitives. Who else is coming?
Vastra: The women.

Clara: The souffle isn't the souffle. The souffle is the recipe.

Vastra: We are awaiting only one more participant.
Strax: Oh no. Not the one with the gigantic head.
Jenny: It's hair, Strax.
Strax: Hair.

River: The Doctor might have mentioned me.
Clara: Oh yea. Oh yea, of course he has. Professor Song. Sorry, I just never realized you were a woman.
Strax: Well, neither did I.

Clara: You know his name? He told you?
River: I made him.
Clara: How?
River: It took a while.

Clara: So, who was she? The lady with the funny name and the space hair?
Doctor: An old friend of mine.
Clara: What? Like an ex?
Doctor: Yes, an ex.

Doctor: Give me your hand. Now, the coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit. Won't hurt a bit.
Clara: Ow!
Doctor: I lied.

Doctor: When you are a time traveler, there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself.
Clara: Where?
Doctor: You didn't listen, did you? You lot never do, that's the problem. "The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered." He wasn't talking about my secret. No, no, no. That's not what's been found. He was talking about my grave. Trenzelore is where I'm buried.

Clara: How can you have a grave?
Doctor: 'Cause we all do, somewhere out there in the future, waiting for us. The trouble with time travel is you can actually end up visiting.

Doctor (re: Vastra, Jenny, and Strax): They cared for me, during the dark times. Never questioned me, never judged me. They were just... kind.

Doctor: No point telling me this is too dangerous?
Clara: Not at all. How can we save them.
Doctor: Apparently, by breaking into my own tomb.

Doctor: Okay, so that's where I end up. Always thought maybe I'd retire. Take up watercolors or beekeeping or something. Apparently not.

Clara: So, how do we get down there? Jump?
Doctor: Don't be silly. We fall. She's turned off practically everything except the anti-gravs. Guess what I'm turning off.

Doctor: When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger on the inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows. When I say that's the TARDIS, I don't mean it looks like the TARDIS. I mean it actually is the TARDIS. My TARDIS from the future. What else would they bury me in?

River: If it isn't my gravestone, when what is it?
Clara: What do you think that gravestone really is?
Doctor: The gravestone?
River: Maybe it's a false grave.
Clara: Maybe it's a false grave.
Doctor: Yep, maybe.
River: Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb.
Clara: Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb.
Doctor: Yes, of course! Makes sense. They's never bury my wife out here.
Clara: Your what?

Vastra: Dr. Simeon. This is not possible.
Simeon: Yet here we are, meeting again. So very far from home.

Simeon: Welcome to the final resting place of the cruel tyrant. Of the slaughterer of the ten billion. And the vessel of the final darkness. Welcome to the tomb of the Doctor!

Clara: Where are we?
Doctor: Catacombs.
Clara: I hate catacombs.

Clara: So, how come I met your dead wife?
Doctor: Oh, well, you know how it is when you lose someone close to you? I sort of made a backup.
River: I died saving him. In return he saved me to a databse in the largest library in the universe. Left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye. He doesn't like endings.

Vastra: The Doctor has been many things, but never blood-soaked.
Simeon: Tell that to the leader of the Sycorax. Or Solomon the Trader. Or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The Doctor lives his life in darker hues, day upon day. And he will have other names before the end. Storm. The Beast. The Valeyard.

Doctor: Yowza!

Clara: Have we... have we done this before? We have done this before - climbing through the wreaked TARDIS. You said things. Things I'm not supposed to remember.

Simeon: The doors require a key. The key is a word. Word is the Doctor's. 
Doctor: Here I am, late to my own funeral. Glad you could make it. Jenny.

Simeon: Doctor, what is your name?

Simeon: Doctor who?

Doctor: Do you know what's in there?
Simeon: For me, peace at last. For you, pain everlasting.

Vastra: What is the light?
Jenny: It's beautiful.
Strax: Shall I destroy it?

Clara: I'm the impossible girl. And this is why.

Clara: Well, how about that. I'm souffle girl after all.

Clara: Run. Run, you clever boy. And remember me.

Clara: Doctor. Doctor.
First Doctor: Yes, what is it? What do you want?
Clara: Sorry, but you're about to make a very big mistake. Don't steal that one. Steal this one. The navigation system's knackered, but you'll have lots more fun.

Doctor: Clara's got one advantage over the Great Intelligence.
Vastra: Which is?
Doctor: Me.

River: How are you even doing that? I'm not really here.
Doctor: You're always here to me. And I always listen. And I can always see you.
River: Then why didn't you speak to me?
Doctor: Because I thought it would hurt too much.
River: I believe I could have coped.
Doctor: No. I thought it would hurt me. And I was right. (he kisses her) Since nobody else in this room can see you, God knows how that looked. There is a time to live and a time to sleep. You are a echo, River. Like Clara, like all of this. In the end, my fault, I know. But you should have faded by now.
River: It's hard to leave when you haven't said goodbye.
Doctor: Then tell me, because I don't know. How do I say it?
River: There's only one way I would accept. If you ever loved me, say it like you're going to come back.
Doctor: Well then, see you around, Professor River Song.
River: 'Til the next time, Doctor.
Doctor: Don't wait up.

River: Spoilers. Goodbye, Sweetie.

Doctor: He is my secret.
Old Man: What I did. I did without choice.
Doctor: I know.
Old Man: In the name of peace and sanity.
Doctor: But not in the name of the Doctor.

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