Hogan Reviews

Reviewing “The Name of the Doctor” feels like it’s overdue as during my “Doctor Debut Marathon” several years back I said this story should’ve been the story covered for John Hurt’s War Doctor but as he only appeared in the very end I went with his first audio story instead. Now all these years later and I realise that under my rules for this Multi-Doctor Marathon the couple of sentences The Eleventh Doctor and the War Doctor share actually make it count! So here we finally are. Honestly this story also has lots of the other Doctors appearing either via archive footage or people walking past the camera in-costume, so it fits the anniversary-feel of multi-Doctor stories if nothing else. Let’s take a look!

The story actually opens up with a pre-credit sequence where we see seemingly Clara (Jenna Coleman) on Gallifrey talking to the First Doctor as he’s about to steal the TARDIS and head off on his adventures, following by seeing her falling through a vortex intercut with her being digitally edited into classic era Doctor Who episodes or with actors quickly walking past in classic era Doctor costumes with their faces obscured. It’s good fun though I remember getting a bit annoyed that they used unrestored footage for the classic era shots rather than the restored DVD footage, but ah well. Also interested in seeing what adventure the Eighth Doctor and the Second Doctor (in his massive fur coat) got up to in a sunny beachside, but there you go. Anyway, the actual episode starts with Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) meeting an insane inmate who knows about The Doctor and speaks a rhyme that implies his death so she uses a type of candle that when burned somehow not only connects her with Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and Strax (Dan Starkey) but also River Song (Alex Kingston) and Clara, despite there being many, many years between them all. It’s one of those things I think Steven Moffatt just wrote so they can all talk and doesn’t want us to actually stop and think about it…

River Song looks at a space-time map within the … candle-assisted timeless mental realm…?

As they start to discuss things Jenny complains a bit and then claims she’s just been murdered in the real world and we see the creepy “Whisper Men” are responsible, and they’re under the control of the Great Intelligence (still using Dr. Simeon’s body, so once again played by Richard E. Grant) Clara wakes to find The Doctor (Matt Smith) in her house and explains to him what happened and that he needs to go to a planet called Trenzalore. The name makes The Doctor shed a tear as he reveals Trenzalore is where his story ends, where his body is buried. Still, with no choice he heads there and he and Clara encounter Whispermen and go on the run, during which Clara talks to River Song, who claims The Doctor can’t see her and reveals she’s the data ghost that The Doctor saved after her death (in her first televised episode!). After much running about The Doctor and Clara meet with Vastra, Jenny (who has been revived) and Strax, along with the Intelligence, who wants The Doctor to open his grave, which is the TARDIS but left to get so old its inside dimensions have “leaked” out causing it to grow to the size of a skyscraper, it’s a very fun visual. The Doctor refuses as the way to open it is to say his real name, but as Clara and the Panternoster Gang are being killed by the Whispermen the door opens, River revealing it was her who opened it (but of course nobody, including us the viewers, heard it!)

They all pour in and see an open vortex of energy and The Doctor reveals it to be his literal timeline, so The Great Intelligence steps into it, knowing it will tear him to pieces across time but also knowing he can undo all of The Doctor’s victories and finally defeat him. As the Doctor convulses on the floor Clara jumps in after him, despite River warning her it will similarly destroy her…

It’s a good hour-ish story, actually. I hadn’t watch it since it aired (like a lot of Eleventh Doctor stuff) so a lot of it was still quite fresh. It was a stark reminder of Steven Moffatt’s love of nursery rhymes and riddles, plus the overblown nature of everything, but it was actually quite fun seeing it as almost a nostalgic thing. Plus all the classic Who stuff is still good, even if its not as novel as it was back then!

The Continuity:

The Whispermen are apparently spare bodies for the Intelligence… Didn’t mention that one, not that it really matters!

Quite a lot, obviously! It starts a series of connected stories, namely “The Night of the Doctor”, “The Day of the Doctor” and “The Time of the Doctor”. The Great Intelligence first appeared in two Second Doctor stories in “The Abominable Snowmen” and “The Web of Fear”, then reappeared in the Eleventh Doctor Christmas Special “The Snowmen” (which means I’ve now reviewed all the Great Intelligence stories!). There is also a direct reference of Clara having her memories erased in “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS”, which is a twist I’d forgotten about.

As mentioned this River Song is the Data Ghost that was saved during her first appearance “Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead”, where she was killed saving The Doctor’s life. That makes this her final chronological appearance and a significant episode for that alone, despite all the other stuff that happens! Apparently in the Eighth Doctor book “Unnatural History” a Victorian undertaker tried to rewrite The Doctor’s past by jumping into his timeline, appearing as a scar in space, and The Doctor’s then-companion Sam jumped in to save him, so… yeah, that makes this not so original! (I haven’t read it myself…)

Frankly there are quite a few more via old footage, lines, references and more but I haven’t got all day, so those are the main ones!

Overall Thoughts:

Matt Smith was always good with facials, he doesn’t need your help Mr. Grant!

“The Name of the Doctor” is a really fun hour, full of fun nods to the past and the usual Moffatt mix of grandiose plot and silly moments with Doctor Eleven. The “Clara is the ultimate companion” problem that always annoyed me is in full force though, but I’ll get into that in the Spoilers. Either way, it’s fun, and that big reveal at the end is always a good memory.

The Doctor wakes and claims to be going into his own timeline to retrieve Clara, and then to her shock reveals he knows River is there because he can “always sense her”. The two share a final goodbye kiss (much to the confusion of Vastra and co as they couldn’t see River at all) and then he jumps in. We see Clara saving The Doctor from the Intelligence in countless bodies (explaining the “Impossible Girl” stuff and how The Doctor met two other Claras before this one) and that her splinter on Gallifrey was the one who guided the Doctor to his TARDIS (This is one of the many, many bits where I roll my eyes at how much Steven Moffatt gave to Clara as a character…. Talk about playing favourites!) and then she gets stuck in his timeline surrounded by other incarnations wandering about.

The Doctor picks his iconic Type-40 TARDIS thanks to Clara. Of course he did!

The Doctor arrives and pulls her out but not before she sees an incarnation she doesn’t recognise, then passes out. The War Doctor, as he’s later known as, claims that what he did was for “peace and sanity” but the Doctor responds that it wasn’t done in the Name of the Doctor (episode title drop!) as he runs. The War Doctor turns around and we get the “Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor” tag line to lead us into the Day of the Doctor special. Great stuff, I remember that in particular sending shivers down my spine!

The best retcon in the business!