7X13 The Name Of The Doctor(Grading/Discussion)(SPOILERS!)
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Great, great episode. My jaw dropped to the ground when we actually saw The First Doctor (colorized!) and Susan run off with the TARDIS at the beginning of the episode. While I found the splicing of Clara into old footage jarring the first time around, I quite liked the sequence when we saw it again at the end because it depicts her in the footage quality of that time period (although colorized for The First Doctor).
Richard E. Grant was great in his reprisal of the Great Intelligence, and while it's a shame we didn't get the Yeti, I thought the Whisper Men were effectively creepy and I liked the explanation of why they were dressed up as Victorian gentlemen in wintertime (as oppose to just "because it looks cool").
I also loved the clever workaround on hearing The Doctor's name (really, anyone who actually thought we would learn his name were fooling themselves) and it's interesting to note that Clara now knows his name (even if hear memory of reading it in The History of the Time War didn't return).
Lastly, I loved the closure we got to River Song's character. While I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Alex Kingston, this provided some wonderful book ending to "Forest of the Dead" and further development of The Doctor/River Song relationship.
Even though I guessed it was coming, I grinned like a bloody fool at the sight of John Hurt as The Doctor. Of course, everyone is going to argue for the next six months which Doctor John Hurt is. Is he a pre-Hartnell a la The Brain of Morbius Doctor? Is he The Ninth Doctor that ended the Time War and regenerated into Christopher Eccleston? Is he The Valeyard? Is he someone other past/future/amalgamation incarnation? It's going to be a long six months.
I'm looking forward to the 50th anniversary more than I was before but I'm still looking forward to Big Finish's The Light at the End more.
Richard E. Grant was great in his reprisal of the Great Intelligence, and while it's a shame we didn't get the Yeti, I thought the Whisper Men were effectively creepy and I liked the explanation of why they were dressed up as Victorian gentlemen in wintertime (as oppose to just "because it looks cool").
I also loved the clever workaround on hearing The Doctor's name (really, anyone who actually thought we would learn his name were fooling themselves) and it's interesting to note that Clara now knows his name (even if hear memory of reading it in The History of the Time War didn't return).
Lastly, I loved the closure we got to River Song's character. While I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Alex Kingston, this provided some wonderful book ending to "Forest of the Dead" and further development of The Doctor/River Song relationship.
Even though I guessed it was coming, I grinned like a bloody fool at the sight of John Hurt as The Doctor. Of course, everyone is going to argue for the next six months which Doctor John Hurt is. Is he a pre-Hartnell a la The Brain of Morbius Doctor? Is he The Ninth Doctor that ended the Time War and regenerated into Christopher Eccleston? Is he The Valeyard? Is he someone other past/future/amalgamation incarnation? It's going to be a long six months.
I'm looking forward to the 50th anniversary more than I was before but I'm still looking forward to Big Finish's The Light at the End more.
First Doctor: Not sure.
Second Doctor: The Five Doctors.
Fourth Doctor: The Invasion of Time.
Fifth Doctor: I'm not sure but I want to say either Four to Doomsday or Resurrection of the Daleks.
Seventh Doctor: Dragonfire.
"Brave Heart, Clara" was a throw back to "Brave Heart, Tegan" also from the 5th Dcotor.
First- The Aztecs, though his line is from The Web Planet
Second- The Five Doctors
Third- The Five Doctors
Fourth- Invasion Of Time
Fifth- Arc Of Infinity
Sixth- none, it was an extra wearing the costume
Seventh- Dragonfire
Eightth- None, it was an extra wearing the costume
Ninth- None, it was an extra wearing the costume
Tenth- Silence In The Library
So, at this point, five of Merlin's seven main cast members have appeared in Doctor Who...
Richard Wilson (Gaius) was Dr. Constantine in "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances."
Angel Coulby (Gwen) was Katherine, Reinette's handmaiden, in "The Girl in the Fireplace."
Anthony Head (Uther) was Mr. Finch in "School Reunion."
Colin Morgan (Merlin) was Jethro in "Midnight."
Finally, John Hurt (the Great Dragon) was the Doctor in "The Name of the Doctor."
Unless I've overlooked them, we only need Bradley James and Katie McGrath to appear to complete the set.
Richard Wilson (Gaius) was Dr. Constantine in "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances."
Angel Coulby (Gwen) was Katherine, Reinette's handmaiden, in "The Girl in the Fireplace."
Anthony Head (Uther) was Mr. Finch in "School Reunion."
Colin Morgan (Merlin) was Jethro in "Midnight."
Finally, John Hurt (the Great Dragon) was the Doctor in "The Name of the Doctor."
Unless I've overlooked them, we only need Bradley James and Katie McGrath to appear to complete the set.
Been up all night with insanely bad asthma so I've had a New Who finale marathon. I'd grade them as such:
The Parting of the Ways - 8/10
Doomsday - 2/10
Last of the Time Lords - 5/10
Journey's End - 2/10
The Big Bang - 9/10
The Wedding of River Song - 5/10
The Name of The Doctor - 9/10
Most of 'em are pretty shit sadly. Hell, POTW, Doomsday and Journey's End are pretty much the same damn episode each time.
The Parting of the Ways - 8/10
Doomsday - 2/10
Last of the Time Lords - 5/10
Journey's End - 2/10
The Big Bang - 9/10
The Wedding of River Song - 5/10
The Name of The Doctor - 9/10
Most of 'em are pretty shit sadly. Hell, POTW, Doomsday and Journey's End are pretty much the same damn episode each time.
1. Journey's End: I know a lot of people hate this but seeing all the characters from all three shows cross over and the return of Davros was just too cool for words
2. Last of the Time Lords: aside from Doctor-Gollum-Jesus I loved this story
3. Doomsday: Daleks vs. Cybermen!
4. Parting of the Ways
5. Name of Doctor
6. Wedding River Song
7. Big Bang
8. The End of Time: I really, really did not care for this story, it's half assed return of the Time Lords, its treatment of the Master, or the long drawn out maudlin Doctor Death.
2. Last of the Time Lords: aside from Doctor-Gollum-Jesus I loved this story
3. Doomsday: Daleks vs. Cybermen!
4. Parting of the Ways
5. Name of Doctor
6. Wedding River Song
7. Big Bang
8. The End of Time: I really, really did not care for this story, it's half assed return of the Time Lords, its treatment of the Master, or the long drawn out maudlin Doctor Death.
Well, not everything, although I do prefer that variant over John Hurt being the Time War Doctor - I'll get back to that in a minute. If the Doctor started out as someone who did something incredibly horrible it throws quite a shadow over the more light-hearted 2nd, 3rd and 4th Doctors. Three had his darker sides - his bitterness about his exile on Earth and the will to leave everyone behind at a whim if he could have regained his ability to time travel - but all things considered, he was an eccentric traveller with little regard for personal property. His dialogue with the Master about how all he wants is to see the universe would ring rather hollow. Even worse for all the joking lines about his days at the academy in the old show. Instead of making fun of him for his low grade in the exam wouldn't Romana be more inclined to say, "well, you know, at least I'm not a murdering maniac"?
John Hurt being the Time War Doctor doesn't make much sense to me because for all their emotional trauma neither Nine nor Ten had trouble acknowledging what they did during the War. Nine tells Rose about it soon after they meet, and Ten even admits in "The End of Time" that locking away the Timelords was a deliberate choice for what they had done and then he does the exact same thing again, despite Susan (or whoever she was supposed to be) looking him right in the face. I don't see how a disowned, forgotten incarnation fits into the picture here. Which is probably why they'd go for that route.
Good point. The promise had been made when Hurt's Doctor "broke the promise." A pre-Hartnell Doctor wouldn't have made the promise that the name indicates since Hartnell was the first Doctor to take that name as his promise.
Well, it could have been John Hurt who chose the name but didn't live up to it - the line from the episode doesn't rule that out at all in my opinion. Since the other incarnations disowned him Hartnell is the first Doctor.
It would explain why he was ready to kill that man in the first serial, he wasn't quite over his homicidal tendencies.
We'll find out in November.
It would explain why he was ready to kill that man in the first serial, he wasn't quite over his homicidal tendencies.
We'll find out in November.
Watched it again and did like it better on second viewing.
+ Seeing the other Doctors, this might be "cheap heat" as they say in wrestling circles but effective nonetheless. I think everyone's jaws must have opened during that opening scene.
+ Some find him annoying but I loved Strax and all his funniness
+ Like why the Doctor chose his name
+ The Tarantino introducing credit worked for me
- 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.
+ Liked Clara tossing the trance candle
- Given the risk, I didn't really buy the Doctor going to Trenzalore. Is he really going to sacrifice billions for those three people, however beloved?
- Going with that, it seems he was ready to sacrifice them and then River intervened. As I mentioned upthread I still don't get that, she determined it would be better to sacrifice everything?
- Again, not as bad on second viewing, but at this rate the next companion is going to *be* the Doctor. Just how important do we need to make these characters? I thought for sure people were going to gag at Clara saving the Doctor throughout time but I haven't heard much there. Had it been Rose I think the internet would've exploded.
- Like the trance, you can just jump into the timeline? OK, I'm watching Doctor Who I just need to go with these things... I think the moment was undercut a little because what else could she do at that point? The decision was rather moot at that point.
+ The story was quite watchable despite my misgivings.
+ Seeing the other Doctors, this might be "cheap heat" as they say in wrestling circles but effective nonetheless. I think everyone's jaws must have opened during that opening scene.
+ Some find him annoying but I loved Strax and all his funniness
+ Like why the Doctor chose his name
+ The Tarantino introducing credit worked for me
- 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.
+ Liked Clara tossing the trance candle
- Given the risk, I didn't really buy the Doctor going to Trenzalore. Is he really going to sacrifice billions for those three people, however beloved?
- Going with that, it seems he was ready to sacrifice them and then River intervened. As I mentioned upthread I still don't get that, she determined it would be better to sacrifice everything?
- Again, not as bad on second viewing, but at this rate the next companion is going to *be* the Doctor. Just how important do we need to make these characters? I thought for sure people were going to gag at Clara saving the Doctor throughout time but I haven't heard much there. Had it been Rose I think the internet would've exploded.
- Like the trance, you can just jump into the timeline? OK, I'm watching Doctor Who I just need to go with these things... I think the moment was undercut a little because what else could she do at that point? The decision was rather moot at that point.
+ The story was quite watchable despite my misgivings.
1) I thought the line at the start was actually from the first episode (when he finds Ian and Barbara hiding in the junkyard), though the visuals may be from somewhere else, and isn't the surveillance cam shot of the Doctor and Susan entering the TARDIS from The Daleks (with a lot of CGI repainting of the actual set around them), when they're infiltrating the Dalek city? Haven't double checked though... Then there's that shot The Aztecs in the 'Dying a thousand times montage.
2) Similarly, there's a 1960s shot of Troughton in that montage, along with a Yeti from Web of Fear 1. Very familiar, he's working on an oscilloscope that's just offscreen, I think, so it might be Wheel in Space or Ice Warriors.
It's Hartnell entering Yetaxa's tomb from the last episode of The Aztecs
Did anyone else expect to see the cubicle SIDRAT with the protruding slot type door as depicted in "The War Games" for the "default" TARDIS? Mind you, I'm not complaining over what we got, just that I was confused for a second or two.
Related to that, does anyone have screen captures of the unadorned Type 40 they'd be willing to post?
Sincerely,
Bill
Related to that, does anyone have screen captures of the unadorned Type 40 they'd be willing to post?
Sincerely,
Bill
But the River that went along to Trenzalore should know what will happen because she's the dead River in the Library. So this happened (to her) already.