The Name of the Doctor: Difference between revisions

"The Name of the Doctor" ^[2] is the thirteenth and final episode of the seventh series of the British science-fiction drama Doctor Who and was broadcast on 18 May 2013 (2013-05-18). It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein.

The episode stars Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara Oswald. It also features the return of Alex Kingston as River Song, Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Dan Starkey as Commander Strax, Catrin Stewart as Jenny and Richard E. Grant as Dr Simeon.^[3] River Song's preceding appearance in Doctor Who was in "The Angels Take Manhattan", and Madame Vastra, Strax and Jenny previously appear in "The Crimson Horror". The episode also features new aliens called the Whisper Men.^[4]

"She Said, He Said" is a prequel to the episode, in which the Doctor and Clara each have a monologue about how little they know about each other and that they discovered each other's secret at Trenzalore. It was released on 11 May 2013 (2013-05-11) on BBC Red Button and on-line. Viewers using Red Button will be able to access the prequel between 7:40 until midnight every evening, until the final episode of the series airs on 18 May 2013 (2013-05-18).^[5]

In the beginning of the episode, Clara is seen falling through time and space, and appearing near several of the past doctors. She claims that she has been running throughout history in order to save him, and that he rarely hears her.

Madame Vastra and Jenny learn of a prophecy told by an insane man regarding the Doctor; in particular, he claims to have a "secret" about the Doctor. They hold a "conference call" to bring themselves, Strax, River Song, and Clara Oswald across time and space into a dream realm, using soporific drugs, where they explain the prophecy relating to the planet Trenzalore ("The Wedding of River Song"). While in the call, Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are attacked by Whisper Men, strange faceless creatures. Thinking quickly, River forces Strax, Vastra and Clara to wake up. She wakes up back in contemporary London to find the Doctor looking for her.

Clara quickly explains what she remembered to the Doctor, including the apparent deaths of his friends. The Doctor decides that they must go to Trenzalore to save them. As he fires up the TARDIS, the Doctor explains that the prophecy relates to his death, and Trenzalore will be the place that he dies, and is the one place he should not go. The Doctor plugs Clara into the TARDIS' port, allowing it to access her memory of the coordinates. The TARDIS resists, unwilling to cross the Doctor's timeline, but he manages to crash the ship onto the planet, ravaged by a giant war in the past and covered in gravestones. One of the stones looks like a massive effigy of the TARDIS, but the Doctor reveals that it actually is the future TARDIS, dying and thus unable to control its transdimensional functions.

The Whisper Men appear to attack the duo. Clara notices the gravestone of River Song, something the Doctor calls "impossible." River appears to Clara, and tells her that although she can see her due to the conference link, the Doctor cannot. With River's help, Clara suggests that the gravestone is actually a secret entrance. The Doctor accidentally reveals River to be his wife, and he and Clara crash through the stone. Elsewhere, Strax manages to revive Jenny. The Whisper Men appear to be part of the Great Intelligence and lead by Dr. Simeon ("The Snowmen"); although he has died, he remains as a conduit for the Whisper Men, who can shift their appearance to look like him. While Clara and the Doctor are running through the telepathic fields of the dying TARDIS, Clara begins to remember the events of Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. Although the events never happened and, thus, her memories were lost, she recalls that the Doctor has told her of all her past lives, in which she died. Under attack from the Whisper Men yet again, the two must keep running, until they reach the outside and the rest of the Doctor's friends.

Simeon demands that the Doctor give his name in order to open the dying TARDIS; if he does not, the Whisper Men will rip out the hearts of Jenny, Strax, Madame Vastra and Clara. Simeon demands, "Doctor Who?" River, however, appears to open the TARDIS, so that Simeon still does not learn the Doctor's real name. Even so, they are lead inside, where the control panel has been replaced by a twirling mass of ropes of light, similar to veins or lightning. The Doctor tells them that it is the scars of time travel that he has left on the universe. Simeon declares his intention to climb inside, thus scattering himself throughout the Doctor's timeline and turning every victory into a loss. The Doctor begs him not to proceed; but Simeon claims that even though it will kill him, it will destroy the Doctor. His entrance into the column sends the Doctor to collapse on the floor, as he is "dying all at once." As the Great Intelligence disappears, Vastra, Jenny and Strax find that stars outside are going out, erased from existence by the new timeline. Jenny also disappears, and Strax denounces Vastra as "reptile scum," forgetting that they are friends. Vastra is forced to kill him to save herself, and she runs back inside.

Clara's knowledge about her existence deepens, and she realizes that if she also enters the timeline, she will be able to save the Doctor from Simeon's meddling. River appears and tells her that she will not be able to come back, and the Doctor tells her not to go, but she decides to enter the timeline anyway. If it works, she tells the Doctor to "Run, you clever boy. And remember me." As she enters, she finds herself witnessing events from all of the previous incarnations of the Doctor and helping him along (including from "Asylum of the Daleks" and "The Snowmen"), as well as appearing to the First Doctor and suggesting he take the Type 40 TARDIS to leave Gallifrey. Having saved the Doctor's timeline (subsequently restoring Jenny and Strax along with the rest of the universe), she finds herself falling indefinitely and considers her role as the "impossible girl" done.

The Doctor is able to wake up, and he decides to rescue Clara. River, who believes he cannot hear her, yells at him to not be so stupid and tries to slap him; however, he is able to catch her wrist. She sadly asks why he has been ignoring her, and he tells her that goodbyes are too painful, so she must exist as an echo. So she asks him to say goodbye as though they will see each other again, and he tells her, "See you around, Doctor Song." She says, "Goodbye, sweetie," and fades away. The Doctor jumps into the timeline in an attempt to save Clara.

Clara falls into a cavernous place, and sees ghosts of the past Doctors race past her. The Doctor's voice guides her to catch the leaf that was responsible for her life ("The Rings of Akhaten") and helps her to find him as the space around them collapses. As they are about to leave, they spot one more figure nearby, whom Clara has never seen before. The Doctor reveals this is an incarnation that didn't even hold the moniker of "the Doctor" due to his actions in life. He explains to Clara that his real name is not the point; he chose the name 'the Doctor' and the name a person chooses is like a promise, and this unknown incarnation is "the one who broke the promise. He is my secret." This unknown incarnation responds by defending his actions, stating he had "no choice" and that he did what he did "in the name of peace and sanity," which the Eleventh acknowledges to be true but not "in the name of the Doctor." The figure (John Hurt) turns to look at them, as the screen credits identify him as "The Doctor."

Imagery of all the Doctor's prior incarnations (including colourised versions for the first two) are used during scenes in which Clara and the Great Intelligence interact with the Doctor.

Events from River Song's death during "Silence in the Library" are recounted to explain her presence in this episode.

The Great Intelligence states that the Doctor will be known as the Valeyard before the end of his life; the Valeyard appears in the 1986 serial The Trial of a Time Lord, where he is described as an amalgamation of the darker sides of the Doctor's nature, somewhere between his twelfth and final incarnation.^[6]

Lead writer Steven Moffat stated that he wanted to have a new monster in the finale after the series had seen the reappearance of old monsters the Ice Warriors and the Cybermen. The idea of the Whisper Men came from "the thought of stylish whispering almost faceless creatures" which seemed frightening and appropriate for "an episode that looks forward and back".^[4]

On 12 May 2013, a week before the official premiere of "The Name of The Doctor", it was announced that a small number of Doctor Who fans in the USA had received their Blu-ray box set of the second half of the seventh series early due to a production error, and asked for those who had received the final episode early not to spoil it for other fans.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]} As a sign of gratitude towards those who kept the episode's spoilers secret, a sneak peek of the upcoming 50th anniversary special episode will be aired after "The Name of the Doctor".

Wikiquote has quotations related to Eleventh Doctor.

• "The Name of the Doctor" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
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