It was just a guess based on the different trailers that were released online. They did not really leave much to the imagination.
The Doctor Falls.... (Spoilers)
- Thread starter Timofnine
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It was just a guess based on the different trailers that were released online. They did not really leave much to the imagination.
Well, this will go down in history as my all-time favorite Doctor quote. Not only does it beautifully and succinctly sum up the Doctor's character, but it is poignantly relevant to the times we live in. Can we get it posted on billboards all over the world, please? And at the top of every Facebook discussion?Doctor Capaldi said:
Well, this will go down in history as my all-time favorite Doctor quote. Not only does it beautifully and succinctly sum up the Doctor's character, but it is poignantly relevant to the times we live in. Can we get it posted on billboards all over the world, please? And at the top of every Facebook discussion?
Absolutely. It is one of the best quotes in all of Who. Not just it sums up the Doctor's character, but it is a perfect rebuttal to the Master who is always trying to win or beat the Doctor or acting out of hate. Interestingly, the Master who is always trying to win, always ends up losing in the end. On the other hand, the Doctor who does not try to win but simply to do the right thing, actually ends up winning.
It also occurred to me that this quote is the Doctor's answer to the question he asked Clara when he first regenerated. He asked Clara, "Am I a good man?" This quote is the answer to his own question. He basically answers "yes, I am a good man and here are the reasons why"
The second greatest quote in the episode that goes along with your quote above is probably when the Doctor says "without hope, without witness, without reward" as he readies himself to take on all the cybermen by himself.
And Bill has a great little monologue at the end where she is saying goodbye to the Doctor in the Tardis: "you know what old man? I'm never going to believe that you are really dead, cause one day, everyone is just gonna need you too much. Until then. It's a big universe. I hope I see you again. Where there's tears, there is hope." The scene is especially powerful since as far as we know, Bill never learned about the doctor's ability to regenerate so she is just stepping out by faith that somehow she will see him again.
Honestly, what makes this finale so good is not the action or the plot, but the character moments and the quotes. So many fantastic moments that range from funny to heart breaking.
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He explained to her that Time Lords change their appearance in World Enough and Time. This combined with a vague reference to regeneration dropped earlier in the season and the whole fake-out regeneration during the Monk arc, and I think she'd be able to work something out.
I must have missed or forgotten the reference in World Enough and Time. However, her farewell to the Doctor would seem to imply that she does not really know about regeneration, at least not in the context of a time lord dying. She does not say "I know I will see you again" or "You will change and I will see you again", but rather "I hope I see you again" which denotes uncertainty. So, she may know that time lords can change but I don't think she has really put everything together, to know the how and when it happens. If she knew all about it, then surely she would have been more confident about the Doctor not really being dead.
I'm also seeing the Doctor's refusal to change as less of a "I like being me" and more "I can't carry on becoming someone else and doing this over and over, I'm tired" moment. He doesn't want to change because changing means going on, and he's had enough. So may as well die with a face that fits the feeling of age (sorry, Peter).
Xmas should counterpoint this against the First Doctor - MUCH younger but acts older - worrying about regeneration because he's concerned he might "lose" who he is. We know - and it took series 8 for the Doctor to remember - that his irreducable core of "an idiot in a box, passing through, helping out, learning" will ALWAYS stay. Twelve should teach One that lesson, and in doing so realise why going on - even in the face of so much loss - is not a bad thing.
If they throw in the pair of them meeting Susan again, I will bear Moffatt's children.
Xmas should counterpoint this against the First Doctor - MUCH younger but acts older - worrying about regeneration because he's concerned he might "lose" who he is. We know - and it took series 8 for the Doctor to remember - that his irreducable core of "an idiot in a box, passing through, helping out, learning" will ALWAYS stay. Twelve should teach One that lesson, and in doing so realise why going on - even in the face of so much loss - is not a bad thing.
If they throw in the pair of them meeting Susan again, I will bear Moffatt's children.
He explains that Missy used to be a man, but he's hazy enough on the explanation that Bill might assume Time Lords have very convenient sex change technology. The whole "actually, our bodies literally rip themselves apart and put the pieces back together in a completely new order" thing is probably not top of her list of guesses as to what he means.
Of course, whatever species created the nanogloop she and Heather are now made of might have that info, and she might be able to access it - Heather seems very quick on the uptake.
That supports my point. All Bill knew was that Time Lords can change their physical appearance. She never knew the specifics of how regeneration works or that it takes place right before death. In fact, in the scene when Bill and the Doctor are walking through the woods and the Doctor's hand starts oozing regeneration energy, the Doctor deliberately hides what is happening to Bill and tells her it is nothing. So, Bill did not know that the Doctor was going to cheat death by regenerating which makes the final moments of the episode even more poignant. The way she mourns over the Doctor's body before Heather shows up, is definitely of someone who thinks they have lost a loved one forever and her farewell words indicate that she believes he is gone but maintains faith that somehow she might see him again.
The second quote is actually a repeat of part of the quote from Extremis (episode 5 of the current series), in which Nardole (in disguise) reads to the doctor the words of River Song from her diary, "Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the final hour, in the deepest pit without hope, without witness, without reward." (emphasis mine)
Nonetheless, I agree that it is a powerful quote, regardless. Also, it's impressive that you guessed Moffatt's "Heather ex machina" solution to Bill's predicament.
I like this quote too. He was will to die by being shot in the back multiple times and dying in a muddy field so some people he just met could live just a bit more. Allow them to get 4 floors away from the Cybermen, and maybe that's it.Well, this will go down in history as my all-time favorite Doctor quote. Not only does it beautifully and succinctly sum up the Doctor's character, but it is poignantly relevant to the times we live in. Can we get it posted on billboards all over the world, please? And at the top of every Facebook discussion?
As I wrote elsewhere, this is the Doctor's Kobayashi Maru test, and he has a great solution.
Go back to the discussion thread for The Pilot. A lot of people guessed back then that the season would end with Bill and Heather reunited. Some Moffat tropes are just too obvious.