The Name Of The Doctor was the first time Series Seven of Doctor Who has really
worked for me, and got me as excited and involved as I was for Series Six (and
all the proceeding runs of New Who).
I loved Series Six. The
Impossible Astronaut / The
Day Of The Moon double bill that opened it was surely one of
the maddest, most unlikely infiltrations of Saturday night lite-entertainment
by hardcore Sci-fi ever. The scope and ambition of the ideas was off the
scale, and the rest of the series shared similar complex riddling with
impressive standalone episodes.
This seemed to be the
kind of series Moffat excelled at creating. In the RTD era, his contributions
rightly stood out, largely because they were built around simple but
mind-bending ideas. His core belief was that one episode of Doctor Who
should have a concept others would stretch out into a film, or even a franchise
- and on this he delivered, though we must now bare in mind that his most
beloved creations; The Weeping Angels and River Song have now had more screen
time than they would have had in a feature film.
So the idea for Series
Seven, that each episode is presented as its own genre piece, a blockbuster
film every weekend, always seemed odd to me. It's of massive credit to the BBC
that each episode has appeared to have the budget, direction and production of
a professionally created feature film. But has the writing matched it? And were
the smart but simple ideas that defined Moffat's first two series noticeable by
their absence?
Series 6 ended on an
interesting note; The Doctor, faced with the realisation that he is feared
across the universe concludes it's perhaps time to take more of a backseat. His
apparent death at Lake
Silencio is the perfect
opportunity to step into the shadows. This was followed up by the pleasingly
low key The Doctor, The Widow and The
Wardrobe Christmas episode, where he off-handedly referred to
himself as The Caretaker.
This has now been
largely forgotten, and as a concept does not fit well with a desire for weekly
blockbusters. Some settings have suited this idea; nuclear submarines, American
ghost towns, haunted houses, whilst other acts, such as teaming up with UNIT or
riding up the side of the London Shard on a anti gravity motorbike are less conspicuous.
Living in the shadows
didn't initially compute in his first adventure of the series, when he met his
oldest enemies, the Daleks. But this episode did introduce Clara, and saw The Doctor's
existence wiped from their memory banks. But this wasn't mentioned again until Nightmare
in Silver (over 12
months later) when the Cybermen claimed they could reconstruct his life through
the gaps he had left behind. Otherwise, instead of leading to more personal
episodes, like The Lodger, it has been of little note.
Series Seven
So what was series
seven about? Well, the first half was pre-occupied with the departure of Amy
& Rory and for this reason alone fells like its own mini-series. The
Doctor's sadness (which he referred to as The Dark Times in the last episode)
does lead us into the second half of the series and towards that
astounding conclusion, but does leave us with an inconsistent set of episodes.
Clara's appearance, or
The Doctor’s interest in her never quite worked. Isn't it a bit of a stretch
that The Doctor keeps chancing upon these companions who are 'impossible', and
are also young, beautiful women? The doctor's connection between Clara in
Victorian London and The Asylum Of The Daleks is based purely on a coincidental
mention of the word Souffle. I think some tighter writing could have explained
the doctors interest in her (the opening to The Name Of The Doctor doing this well, but a
little too late) as more of a replacement for what he'd lost; something
achieved with slow burning but devastating effect with Martha, when she
realised he was taking her to the same places he'd travelled with Rose.
The 'Who Is Clara?'
mystery simply hasn't been engaging. I've not had reason to care. It's just a
mild curiosity. It is too similar a premise to our previous ponderings about
who Amy was - why she had no parents, why she had a crack in her wall, and
later why she had visions of Madame Kovarian wherever she went. Even The
Doctor's less than random visits (for example to the psychic Emma Grayling) to
people who might offer insight into Clara's really identity echo the doctor's
nonchalance in visiting the beginnings of The Flesh to find out why he had a
fake version of Amy travelling with him.
As well as supposedly
dealing with that question, the series has also been preoccupied with rebooting
older characters. The supposedly lightweight RTD dedicated a series to giving
this treatment to The Daleks, Cybermen, The Master and Davros (albeit largely
focussing on a series finale). Series Seven had a quick work through The Great
Intelligence, The Ice Warriors and The Cybermen (again) and although the first
of these was built around a larger idea, the others were based on gimmicks,
however enjoyable they were.
Interestingly, the
latter two could indeed be seen as metaphors, or signifiers of what is to come,
in the wake of the final episode. The Ice Warrior split in two; the hulking
armour shell opening to reveal another character inside, one just as deadly.
The Doctor's battle with the Cyber Controller was presented in interesting
style, with the doctor facing off against himself inside his own head.
In Journey
To The Centre Of the TARDIS Clara
and the rest of the crew face dark future versions of themselves. And on the
rooftop towards the end of The Bells Of St John a fake, evil version of The Doctor
appears, under the control of The Great Intelligence.
The Doctor having a
'dark side' is of course nothing new. It is generally laid on by referencing The
Time War and him committing genocide upon his own people, as well as the
Daleks. A different spin on this was seen through Tennant's Time Lord
Victorious in The Waters Of Mars which I was always
disappointed was not developed further. Perhaps now it is?
The first suggestion of
this dark side having a physical presence was perhaps courtesy of The Dream
Lord. That telling glance at his own reflection in the TARDIS console seemed to
suggest it all meant more to the doctor than a trip induced by psychic pollen.
And do you remember The God Complex, when The Doctor entered
his room containing his greatest fear? We, at that time, were led to presume it
was likely himself. But can we now assume it was John Hurt sat in there?
One of the pleasures of
Moffat as lead writer is that he is quite the prankster, and loves toying with
the fans. The appearance of all the previous doctors in The
Name Of The Doctor is
an amusing response to presumptions of what (and who) will feature in the 50th
anniversary episode. His early introduction to Clara was another. You always
get the feeling he is having fun; detractors would say he is often having more
fun than the audience.
The audacious
captioning on that final shot was another example of this. Build to a climax
over a series (or three series?) then stick a fourth wall breaking title on the
screen: "Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor" indeed!
50th Anniversary
So what does this tell
us about the 50th anniversary show? It's possible that John Hurt is a version
of The Doctor before he named himself as such, a pre Hartnell version, possibly
'The Other' referred to in the EU? This seems unlikely, purely because the
captioning referred to him as The Doctor.
He could also be The
Valeyard (namechecked by The Great Intelligence in that very episode) but it
doesn't feel right that Moffat would build his tenure towards a reappearance
from a character from an interesting but poorly realised serial from the '80s,
no matter how conceptually interesting it may be.
Hurt’s line, that he
“acted in the name of peace and sanity" suggests this is a Time War
Doctor, and the constant references to dark-sides and split personalities
(literally for impossible girl Clara) sets up the basis for an ultimate
confrontation worthy of a 50th special - the doctor against himself.
The Time War is also a
convenient setting, as it includes the crowd pleasing Daleks. But I don't think
that'll be where the 50th special is set. At least, I hope not. They've done a
great job of creating a vivid picture through the slightest of references -
great conversations between with The Master and Davros. Again, I don't think
Moffat will want to tell that story. But I am sure it will appear in flashback,
or perhaps with some unlikely crossing of the time lines.
And the constant
references to The Doctor's name. In short we will never know his 'name'. But
what if the name in question is not his, but John Hurt's version? All we know
of the purpose of the name is that it is the doctor's greatest secret, and that
it appears in the history of The Time War book, so it does make sense. Also, if
River returns for the 50th anniversary and witnesses the fall out from all
this, it would explain how she would know that name, and was able to shock
Tennant with it way back in Series 4.
My final ponderance is
how The Doctor managed to escape The Time War, whilst simultaneously ending it,
and trapping it in a time lock. I think the split personality made real is the
potential solution here. We know from his story of the Temporal Schism that
when faced with something huge he will always run (reiterated in Clara's
semi-catchphrase). I sense that the John Hurt doctor was somehow the one who
took the bullet, whilst our doctor ran away. Our doctor managed to keep his
sanity, and sense of right and wrong, but has been racked with guilt ever since,
where John Hurt, if he somehow survived, has done so either with a massive chip
on his shoulder, or a twisted, dangerously pragmatic version of
morality.
I expect the best way
to explain how this is possible would be somehow connected to the regeneration
of Doctor 8 into Doctor 9. Although we don't need a precedent for it,
Tennant’s shuffle of his regeneration in The Stolen Earth into his previously severed hand is an
example of a regeneration creating two Doctors. From behind, the John Hurt
doctor certainly resembled Christopher Eccleston. It would also account why
Hurt's face hasn't appeared the few times the Doctor in all his version have
been shown - the pre Time War doctor's life split two ways and our doctor is a
different person, albeit with a shared history before that point. Or maybe it
was a Time Lord scheme to create an army, creating multiple versions of
themselves in some bonkers response to the Dalek threat. We know they will go
to any possible lengths, including resurrecting The Master and destroying all
existence in order to evolve into a higher state on consciousness.
Of course, The Doctor
and Clara's encounter with John Hurt didn't happen in their 'current' time, it
was within the 'scar tissue' of the Doctors entire existence, i.e. they were
re-living a past event / timestream, though that doesn't explain why all the
other versions just ran past, whilst he addressed Hurt directly. But I
don't think John Hurt isn't suddenly walking around the Doctor's universe,
causing bother. It'll be something else that will bring them together.
But suddenly The Doctor
is back at the centre of everything. In series seven, especially the second
half, he has almost felt like a supporting character in his own show,
surrounded by under written secondary characters, flash bang effects and sets
and overbearing orchestral music. Matt Smith has held it together though, and
has been a rock, dragging the series through some middling moments. It says a
lot when the most moving moment is simply him sat on a sofa, naturally lit,
trying to hold back the tears. Moments like that strip away all the madness,
the frustration and tedium, and make you realise you love the doctor, and do
still care.
The multitude of ideas
that characterised Series 5 and 6 have been absent, replaced by big set pieces
and playful call backs to the original run. That ending has somehow rescued it
from the brink of being a piece of reliable and predictable television, and
back towards essential viewing.
Dean Freeman
