As has been the case with many Moffat –led pivotal Doctor Who finales, ‘The Name of the Doctor’ promised not so much a titbit of information as a huge chunk of home-made baguette, complete with a side order of cheese board and assorted meats. Naturally, as has also frequently been the case, we received nothing of the sort, at least not in terms of the informational morsel we were anticipating. Happily, however, the televisual feast that we did receive, tasted much, much better.
Having received an ill-tasting piece of information herself, the episode opens on Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) returning from visiting a convict, urgently needing to psychic link with Jenny (Catrin Stewart), Strax (Dan Starkey) and Clara (Jenna Louise Coleman). The informant told of ‘the Doctor’s biggest secret’, which transpires to be the co-ordinates of his final resting place- his grave at Trenzalore. Naturally, then, given the magnitude of this information, it isn’t long before- after three everyone, SPOLIERS!- Professor River Song (Alex Kingston) is called upon, to join the psychic- link-anxious-worry-party. It seems the prophecy, "On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a Question will be asked, a question that must never, ever be answered” is to come back to haunt The Doctor. Unfortunately for him, as a time traveller, is grave is somewhere he must never, ever go. Even more unfortunately, after his friends are attacked by the Great Intelligence’s whisper men (Richard E Grant), and with visiting said grave presented as the only way to buy their freedom, he has little choice.
Uncharacteristically, disarmingly frightened of the consequences of his actions, The Doctor must prepare to cross his own timeline, risking his own life, not to mention the majority of time and space, in order to save his friends. Not a bad little premise for a series finale. Add to that the revelation about what made Clara, ‘The Impossible Girl’, quite so impossible, a discovery revealed through a winning combination of poignant scenes and actual real-life, totally not usually how Doctor Who normally operates sense, and you’ve got the makings of a brilliant episode. A memorable performances from Jenna Louise Coleman as the self-sacrificing girl who discovers she was born to save The Doctor, as well as the palpable chemistry between Matt Smith and Alex Kingston in their characters’ final moments together really cemented it as one of the all-time, as it were, greats. They were simply two people saying goodbye, the fact that they are both time travellers on a bizarre unpredictable backwards trajectory didn’t matter a jot.
The whole episode was a welcome departure from the atmosphere of total bafflement usually created by a Doctor Who series finale, with the exception of course of the superb ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’, as everything slotted cosily into place. That said, however, none of this was a patch on the show’s last 30 seconds, a clip allegedly removed from all press copies of the episode. In an introduction to November’s 50th Anniversary special, we were treated to a sort of icing on the caked dessert, as we caught glimpses of various previous Doctor’s jogging around on their own timelines, going about their business being saved by Clara-Impossible. Not only that, but a cherry on the top too, as we meet the one version of our beloved hero who broke the rules, the one who doesn’t go by the name of The Doctor, a version to be played by none other than John Hurt. John Hurt!
It seems the 50th special will feature three versions of The Doctor, Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt, as we traverse The Doctor’s timeline back to pre-Eccleston times. I haven’t the foggiest what this will be like, but I think my excitement is best demonstrated by the fact that I know it was exactly 6 months on Thursday, to the date, that we will be finding out.
For what we are about to receive, may we be truly thankful.
I have an inkling we will be.
Jen
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