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The Name of the Doctor reaction post
So, how about that episode, huh?
I'll be honest -- I haven't been a huge fan of series 7b to this point. None of the episodes have been bad per se, and a few have been very good ("Bells of St. John" and "Nightmare in Silver" in particular), but others have been pretty forgettable -- and I mean that literally; during the flashback sequence where the Doctor tells Clara about her death at the Dalek Asylum, I couldn't actually remember which episode that conversation happened in. I had to go look it up, and also remind myself why she shouldn't have been able to recall the conversation.
But then came "The Name of the Doctor" -- and holy freaking hell, that was good! From the very first moment I was making noises at the television screen -- Doctors, look at all the Doctors! -- and I thoroughly enjoyed every madcap minute of it. Here, in no particular order, is what stood out:
-- The beginning. Dear god, that beginning. Gallifrey! But then not just Gallifrey -- IT'S WILLIAM HARTNELL! I seriously sat up and screamed at the TV (I was glad I was alone!) YAY FOR CGI! And what a way to go all in right from the top. We are heading for the 50th anniversary special, guys! WE REALLY ARE!!!
-- Okay, and I hope it wasn't just me, but I found myself trying to identify which episodes those clips of the various Doctors were taken from. "Look, it's a scene from The Five Doctors! Oh, and that one's from Five Doctors too, isn't it? And ha, it's that weird effect from Arc of Infinity that Peter Davison totally made fun of in his commentary!"
-- River Song! I did not know she was going to be back for this episode, and it was such a delight to see her again!
-- Vastra, Strax and Jenny were their usual great selves. They work well as a default "friends of the Doctor" team, with as much knowledge or ignorance as is required by the plot, plus they're inherently interesting; as far as I'm concerned, they're welcome any time.
-- Trenzalore! What a brilliant, brilliant idea to have it be the location of the Doctor's grave. And all of that stuff about how your grave is the one place a time traveler can never, ever go makes so much sense! I mean, it made sense right off the bat, but then doubly so once we found out that it's not the Doctor's body that's entombed there so much as his timeline.
-- "It is discovered." Ha, great slow reveal on the true meaning of that!
-- The Doctor's original name isn't actually important; what matters is that he took on the name of the Doctor. I love this!
-- The Doctor and River. Awwww. And okay, I know I have a problem, but I couldn't help but think of Hand of Fear and the Doctor's "Until we meet again."
-- Clara was rescued! Hooray! (I really wondered for awhile there if this was her last episode.)
And now, some questions:
-- Does Clara know the Doctor's name? By my count, she's had 3 opportunities to learn it: 1) That one episode (the TARDIS one, I think?) where she apparently read it in a book about the Time War; 2) River said the Doctor's name to get the TARDIS tomb to open its doors, and we know that Clara could hear River (but it was unclear whether River said it out loud or not, or whether that even matters for Clara hearing her); and 3) jumping into someone's timestream probably includes learning that person's name. I mean, it had to be in there somewhere, right?
So I guess logically I assume she must know his name by now, but then we don't KNOW that she knows his name, so . . . what does everyone think?
-- Who is John Hurt!Doctor? Okay, not an original question, as this was the big cliffhanger leading into the anniversary. But it's interesting to think about, isn't it? I love the idea that he could be an incarnation between the 8th and 9th Doctor, but then he could also have come before the First Doctor. In fact, there could have been a whole slew of regenerations before the First Doctor (Morbius Doctors, anyone?) If Matt Smith is "the Eleventh Doctor," but there have been more than 11 incarnations of that Time Lord -- which seems to be canon now, unless Moffat has faked us all out (again) -- then who knows where John Hurt fits in? In fact, he could even be a future incarnation; it's unlikely I think, but possible, as they were inside the Doctor's entire timeline. Although I have to say, I am kind of looking forward to an origin story for the 50th -- something that at least hints at why the Doctor stole a TARDIS and started running, and started calling himself the Doctor. But if we don't get it, I feel confident we'll get something else interesting.
Is it November 23rd yet? How about now?
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I'm not convinced he's going to turn out to be the Valeyard, though. My money's on a different answer . . . although I wouldn't be shocked to discover I'm wrong.
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