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7X13 The Name Of The Doctor(Grading/Discussion)(SPOILERS!)

Grade "The Name Of The Doctor"

  • Merlin

    Votes: 111 72.1%
  • Radagast the brown

    Votes: 30 19.5%
  • Barty crouch jr

    Votes: 5 3.2%
  • Destro

    Votes: 5 3.2%
  • Malekith

    Votes: 3 1.9%

  • Total voters
    154
  • Poll closed .
BBC owned by the Government, that's a new one on me.

The BBC is funded by the public via the license fee, it has a charter to cater for all tastes (and that includes Sci-Fi fans).

Actually, from a technical POV, the license fee is considered a tax. It is paid into the Government's Consolidated Fund, before a convention has the Department for Culture, Media and Sport voting to hand it to the BBC for their own use. This is why the BBC have to negotiate with the Government of the day in regard to license fee increases.

That may be, but the BBC is not owned by the Government. In theory the Government can't tell the BBC what to do. Though the BBC does have to play nice when it comes up to renewing the charter time.
 
Seen it twice now. That was utterly, utterly wonderful, just amazing. Damn when Moffat's good Moffat's amazing!

It might have worked better at the end of the full series rather than half a series, certainly Clara would have come across better that way, and her potential sacrifice would have had more meaning. JLC was great in this though, hell everyone was. Matt Smith was stupendous, and his goodbye to River sent chills down my spine.

Might well be the best season finale since the show came back...

Oh and thank god the Paternoster gang all survived!
 
OK, I misunderstood (or at least oversimplified) the relationship between the BBC and the British government. Thanks for clearing it up.
 
- I know it shouldn't bother me after the cell phones and other things we've been introduced to but the time traveling trance was rather ridiculous. This bothered me less on second viewing but really irritated me initially.
That's funny because I actually much prefer the trance over the cell phones (although they've grown on me a little).

Here's one weird observation: when the Tardis crash-landed on Trenzalore, one of the window panes cracked, as the Doctor duly noted upon exiting. This exact same window pane crack appears on the large future dead Tardis when Vastra looks up after first waking up on Trenzalore. Kind of strange; wouldn't that get repaired somehow between now and the Tardis' future (which I assume would be hundreds or thousands of years long)? Was this just artistic license by the FX folks? Or was this a subtle yet intentional hint of some sort?

Hey, I said it was a weird observation....
I noticed that right away, too. Maybe The Doctor decides to keep the cracked pane in place as a reminder.
 
The Other is a legendary figure in Time Lord History. During era of the 7th Doctor, the script editor Andrew Cartmel felt that all the mystery of the character had gone and sought to reintroduce some mystery. The Cartmel Masterplan, it was dubbed later on by fanon.

There were several hints to to the fact that there was more to the Doctor then just another Time Lord, including a wonderful line "Remembrance of the Daleks" where the 7th Doctor is talking about the Hand of Omega, and mentions "And didn't we have problems with the prototype."

Basically the Other was part of a Triumvirate consisting of him, Rassilon & Omega.



Thanks!


:techman:

For what it's worth, The Name of the Doctor pretty much rules out anything involving The Other - though not, I suppose, a similar idea - as it shows the Doctor and Susan stealing the TARDIS together, whereas Lungbarrow shows the Doctor stealing the TARDIS, travelling back into Gallifrey's past, and then rescuing the Other's granddaughter Susan, who then recognises the Doctor as being a new form of her grandfather.
 
- I know it shouldn't bother me after the cell phones and other things we've been introduced to but the time traveling trance was rather ridiculous. This bothered me less on second viewing but really irritated me initially.
That's funny because I actually much prefer the trance over the cell phones (although they've grown on me a little).

Here's one weird observation: when the Tardis crash-landed on Trenzalore, one of the window panes cracked, as the Doctor duly noted upon exiting. This exact same window pane crack appears on the large future dead Tardis when Vastra looks up after first waking up on Trenzalore. Kind of strange; wouldn't that get repaired somehow between now and the Tardis' future (which I assume would be hundreds or thousands of years long)? Was this just artistic license by the FX folks? Or was this a subtle yet intentional hint of some sort?

Hey, I said it was a weird observation....
I noticed that right away, too. Maybe The Doctor decides to keep the cracked pane in place as a reminder.
Perhaps the tardis wont let him forget...
 
I wish they'd made it permanent. Not because I don't like Jenny, but because they really need to kill someone in this show, and have them stay dead! Create some actual threat! Nothing shows how badass a villain is, better than killing off a fan favourite character
 
Since the Master was used as a weapon in the time war odd are The Doctor was too.

The timelords probably forced 8 to regenerate into something that could end the war(Hurt)

Hurt does the job and uses "The moment"

Using one of Moffat's favorite story trick "It happened but didn't happen also"

Hurt is erased and McGann returns but can still remember it happening(Moffat story trick #3453)

McGann runs away but is injured and regenerates into Eccelston
 
I also like that they used that damned umbrella cliffhanger. "Doctor!! Why are you doing that, it makes no sense!!"

But what happens? The suspense is killing me! :eek:

It's hard to rate this episode. As it stands, I'm not sure I would even call it a finale. The 50th Anniversary almost certainly should fill that role. Just judging it by itself, good start, loved the trance scene, loved the ending. Bit of a dip in the middle. I'll pick the second highest rating once I figure out the poll.

BTW, if the theory is correct that he's an older incarnation, we won't have to renumber. After all, the name is a key. The Eleventh Doctor is the Eleventh "Doctor" even if he isn't the last incarnation. Arguably, the Valeyard falls under the same category (provided they are different). Interesting namedrop, btw. It would have been easy to retcon that out by saying the Time War changed things.
 
Why can't he be a doctor between eight and nine who did something horrible *after* the time war?

Or even during? Sure we know already that the Doctor ended the war by wiping out the Time Lords and the Daleks, and I guess that despite his guilt over it, he recognizes it as a necessary evil given the Daleks that if the Time Lords fall there is no stopping the Daleks and the Time Lords were planning on destroying the entire universe anyway. Therefore he's not opposed to doing that in the name of the Doctor. However whatever went on in the Time War itself might be considered so evil and shameful that those actions are considered breaking the promise. Hurt does feel that what he did was for peace and sanity after all.
 
Since the Master was used as a weapon in the time war odd are The Doctor was too.

The timelords probably forced 8 to regenerate into something that could end the war(Hurt)

Hurt does the job and uses "The moment"

Using one of Moffat's favorite story trick "It happened but didn't happen also"

Hurt is erased and McGann returns but can still remember it happening(Moffat story trick #3453)

McGann runs away but is injured and regenerates into Eccelston

You know, I bet that's what will happen. McGain regens into Hurt, does the horrible, runs away, returns to London faces off against Ten and Eleven, regens into Nine (everybody seems to be saying that Nine isn't in the 50th too many times, it's starting to feel like a cover up) and it leads into "Rose". Credits.
 
To change the topic slightly, any idea what the Great Intelligence wants to die? Do we think the version of him that faced the Second Doctor is the real version or an echo?
 
I got to be honest, I am confused about the Great Intelligence. Just going by material from this season it would seem the Great Intelligence is still alive in 2013, even though here he and his Whisper Men seem to be from 1893. Does the Great Intelligence have time travel capability? I guess he must in order to get to Trenzalore, and all he'd need is to steal a vortex manipulator from a Time Agent who shows up any time between the ninteenth century and today.
 
Since the Master was used as a weapon in the time war odd are The Doctor was too.

The timelords probably forced 8 to regenerate into something that could end the war(Hurt)

Hurt does the job and uses "The moment"

Using one of Moffat's favorite story trick "It happened but didn't happen also"

Hurt is erased and McGann returns but can still remember it happening(Moffat story trick #3453)

McGann runs away but is injured and regenerates into Eccelston

You know, I bet that's what will happen. McGain regens into Hurt, does the horrible, runs away, returns to London faces off against Ten and Eleven, regens into Nine (everybody seems to be saying that Nine isn't in the 50th too many times, it's starting to feel like a cover up) and it leads into "Rose". Credits.
Given the way Ten talks about regeneration in "End Of Time", the Doctor might have viewed regenerating out of his Time War body into a new as a form of suicide--punishment for what he did.
 
I like to connection made to "Hide" in this episode. In "Hide" we see the life cycle of Earth from birth to death and how the Doctor just shrugs that off. And in "The Name of the Doctor" we see the Doctor's own life cycle from the beginning when he steals the Tardis up to his death, and just how much that irks him.

It's an interesting comparison and contradiction between the two. The Doctor has a God-complex but fears his own (eventual) mortality. There also seems to be a bit of narcissism in him, fearing the end of his own life cycle yet showing Clara hers and her planet's without a second hesitation.
 
Finally got a chance to see this episode and I thought it was fantastic, definitely the only "WOW!!!" episode in 7b. Loved the appearances by past Doctors, the explanation of the impossible girl, River's appearance and I was floored by John Hurt's appearance at the end -- did not expect that! Can't wait for Nov. 23 (6 months! Why couldn't DW have premiered during the summer back in '63?) :D
 
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