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The Name of the Doctor (TV story)

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The Name of the Doctor was the finalé of the seventh series of Doctor Who produced by BBC Wales. It revealed the mystery of Clara Oswin Oswald and introduced an unknown incarnation of The Doctor.

Synopsis

Vastra is gathering Jenny, Strax, Clara and River, but everything goes wrong when the deadly Whisper Men take over the gathering. Clara wakes up in the Maitland family house, and finds the Doctor. When she tells him about the Whisper Men, the Doctor understands that this is the time to go to the place he must never be in. A place where, at the fall of the Eleventh, no creature can speak false. A place where a question that must never be answered will be asked - Trenzalore.

Plot

In a workshop at the base of the Capitol on Gallifrey, two engineers notice a security breach in the repair shop. One notes how foolish it is to steal a malfunctioning TARDIS. The First Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman begin entering a capsule, but suddenly the Doctor is stopped by Clara, who tells him he is about to make a big mistake.

Clara is seen falling through a golden vortex. She remarks that she does not know where she is, but remembers one thing: She is the Impossible Girl, and she was born to save the Doctor. She is shown meeting him in several of his incarnations, though as she states he barely ever noticed her.

In Victorian London, a man locked in a jail cell rants in rhythmic fashion about 'the Whisper Men'. Suddenly he is disturbed by a veiled figure, Madame Vastra, standing by the bars of his prison. The man, Clarence DeMarco, says that she could save him from being hanged, but Vastra promises him only silence. She states that due to his murder of 14 women he is doomed to be executed, but then the convict mentions the Doctor, saying he knows all about him, claiming 'The Doctor's greatest secret, which he will take to the grave. It is discovered'.

File:Whisp.jpg
The Whisper Men, the Great Intelligence's sinister allies.

Later Vastra is with Jenny, who protests that they must not let the man live. Vastra states that he will live until she understands what he said, and that they will need a "conference call". Jenny leaves the room to deliver invitations, and hears a mystifying whisper coming from outside.

Strax receives their urgent telegram during his time away, brawling with a large Scottish man in Glasgow. Strax apologises to the man he was fighting for not being able to finish, and asks the man to render him unconscious.

Vastra and Jenny are seen sitting at a table, lighting a candle to enter a trance state. The pair begin to pour tea. Strax soon appears, stating agitatedly that he would like to return to his fight with 'very pleasant primitives'. He then asks who else is coming, and Vastra says 'the women'.

In the Maitlands' kitchen Clara prepares to make a soufflé. She tells the children what her mother had once told her: "The soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe". Clara then picks up a letter, which the children say was left for her that day. Opening it when alone, the message, addressed from Madame Vastra, states that she must light the enclosed candle to enter a trance state, in order to speak with the rest of the Paternoster Gang across time. Clara expresses some skepticism about this, but the letter goes on to say that Madame Vastra anticipated this, so infused the substance of the candle into the letter paper. Clara promptly passes out and awakens in the same 'room' as Vastra, Strax, and Jenny.

Vastra tells Clara time travel has always been possible in dreams, and that she is exactly where she was, albeit sleeping. She then says that they are still waiting on one more person. At this point River Song appears, and is greeted by Vastra. Changing her teacup into a glass of champagne, River is then introduced to Clara, who was unaware Professor Song was female, while River expresses some mild jealousy when Clara is referred to as the Doctor's "assistant."

Vastra displays and recounts the information given to her by the prisoner using some floating dust, which as River points out, shift into Gallifreyan symbols for space-time coordinates. Vastra tells the group that the coordinates lead to the location of the Doctor's greatest secret. Jenny experiences some discomfort as a figure walks past her in their house, outside their dream. River says that the Doctor had told her his name, and that she was 'a little more than a friend' of his. She also said that he hasn't contacted her, as he doesn't like endings.

Vastra says to River that Clarence told her one word that connected to the Doctor: Trenzalore. River asks her to describe what the old man told her, and Vastra plays back Clarence's prophesy in the floating dust. Jenny suddenly says she forgot to lock the door in their house, a factor Vastra dismisses, until Jenny tells them that someone has broken in. She discovers, to her own dismay, that she has in fact already been killed. Her form flickers and fades away. River informs Vastra that she is under attack and must wake up, and then slaps her. Vastra awakens surrounded by the Whisper Men and demands they tell her who they are. River wakes up Strax by throwing her champagne in his face, and he finds himself also surrounded by the Whisper Men upon waking. The Whisper Men then enter the trance with River and Clara, and order Clara to tell the Doctor something: The face of Walter Simeon appears in the dust, to say 'His friends are lost forever more, unless he goes to Trenzalore'. River protests against this, and Clara wakes up.

Clara goes downstairs, finding the Doctor walking around the Maitland house blindfolded and calling for the children. It transpires they tricked him into playing 'Blind man's buff' so that they could sneak out to the cinema. Clara asks the Doctor about River: He calls her his ex before changing the subject to Vastra's message. As Clara repeats it a visibly distraught Doctor asks her if it really was Trenzalore. Brought close to tears, he abruptly snaps out of it and runs off to the TARDIS.

Clara finds him below the console. The Doctor mentions he heard the name Trenzalore before, from Dorium Maldovar and a few others, and that River surely knew as she always did. He links Clara to the TARDIS' Telepathic circuits, then states that Trenzalore is the one place you don't want to go as a time traveller, and that Clara misunderstood the message. It didn't speak of the secret the Doctor will take to his grave, but the grave itself: The final resting place of the Doctor has been found. He has to save Vastra, Strax and Jenny - if the latter is still alive - by "breaking into my own tomb", as they were there for him during his dark times, never questioning, never judging.

As the Doctor sets course for Trenzalore the TARDIS realises what he is about to do and protests hard, fighting the coordinates while the Doctor forces her onwards. Explosions shake the console room as the TARDIS powers down to stop him. Coming to a stop in Trenzalore's orbit, Clara asks him if they are going to jump, which he dismisses as silly. The TARDIS has powered down everything aside from the antigravs - declaring "guess what I'm turning off", he sends the TARDIS plunging down through Trenzalore's atmosphere to the surface.

They land in a graveyard, one hastily assembled during a battle. A giant TARDIS shell looms on the horizon - The Doctor explains that its "bigger on the inside" qualities would have begun to leak out when it was dying. A psychic echo of River Song appears to Clara, saying that only she can see or hear her and to not mention her presence to the Doctor. On River's words, Clara directs the Doctor's attention to a grave that shouldn't be there, marked "River Song". Deducing this to be a secret entrance to the tomb, they enter.

During their climb up through the catacombs Clara suddenly starts remembering the events of TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS and the Doctor telling her about her lives and deaths. He cuts her short as she tries to ask him about it.

Inside the TARDIS 'monument', Strax and Madame Vastra awake, and Strax is able to revive the nearby Jenny who was thought dead. Once the Doctor, Clara and the River echo arrive, all are surrounded by the Great Intelligence (using the appearance of Walter Simeon) and his Whisper Men. The Great Intelligence stands at the door to the Doctor's tomb, stating that only the Doctor's name will open it, demanding they gain access. Before everyone can be killed, River Song's apparition (unheard by the audience) calls out his name to open the crypt.

Inside is an overgrown TARDIS control room, with a glowing, writhing beam of blue light where the main console would usually be. The Doctor explains that this is his "mark" on the universe - his own personal timeline, past and future, and everything that resulted from it. The Great Intelligence reveals his plan to re-write the Doctor's entire history, turning all his victories into failures. The Great Intelligence steps into the light and is killed; the light turns red, and The Doctor falls to the floor, visibly in pain as all his incarnations die at once. Vastra notices galaxies being erased from history: Jenny is also erased, while Strax turns hostile towards her before vanishing. Consulting with River and against the Doctor's protests, Clara decides to act - with the words "run you clever boy, and remember me" she steps into his timeline, split into a million personalities, each one correcting his history as they go (one of these shows her talking to the first Doctor, correcting his "big mistake" of which TARDIS to steal).

With everyone restored except the villains and Clara, the Doctor says he will enter his own timeline, risking its collapse to get Clara back: As River moves to slap him, the Doctor catches her hand. The Doctor reveals that he could see her all along, he was just too afraid to talk to her as he was scared it would hurt - which it does. They share a kiss. River tells the Doctor that he never said goodbye to her and he admits he didn't know how. So she explains the only goodbye she would accept is one which promises their paths will cross again. Right after he grants her request, she reveals that she was telepathically linked to Clara, and would not still exist if Clara had died. As he asks what happened to her then she smiles and simply states: "Spoilers." Her last words to him as she dissipates are "Goodbye Sweetie."

The Doctor then steps into his own time stream.

 
"The one who broke the promise."

Clara lands in a dark, misty and cavernous place. As she stands up, various incarnations of the Doctor run past her on all sides. Her leaf appears, which she grabs, as the voice of the Doctor instructs her. The Doctor then arrives, promising to save her and take her home. As they embrace, they both notice a shadowy figure standing nearby, with his back to them. The Doctor, showing great apprehension, explains that his real name was not the point; he chose the name "the Doctor" himself like a promise, and this mysterious man was "the one who broke the promise. He is my secret." As Clara collapses from exhaustion, the figure defends himself, saying that he had no choice and that his actions were "in the name of peace and sanity". The Doctor acknowledges this to be true, but that it had not been "in the name of the Doctor." As the Doctor carries Clara away, the man turns around, showing his elderly face as an on-screen caption reveals his identity to be "the Doctor".

Cast

References

  • After the Doctor realises he's been tricked by Angie and Artie Maitland, he refers to them as "little Daleks!".

Story notes

  • In this episode, it is revealed that Clara has lived thousands of lives throughout the Doctor's history, saving him from the Great Intelligence's sabotage in each life, finally revealing why the Doctor met two versions of her at the Dalek Asylum and in Victorian London, respectively. However, according to her, he almost never notices her, with the exception of the First Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor
  • This episode shows clips of different versions of Clara scattered throughout the Doctor's timeline: advising the First Doctor to steal his Type 40 TARDIS on Gallifrey, calling out for the Third Doctor as he's driving away in Bessie (from TV: The Five Doctors), chasing after the Fourth Doctor on Gallifrey (from TV: The Invasion of Time), finding the Fifth Doctor trapped (from TV: Arc of Infinity), trying to find the Sixth Doctor on his TARDIS, attempting to rescue the Seventh Doctor from falling off of a cliff (from TV: Dragonfire), running after the Second Doctor (with footage taken from TV: The Five Doctors) and the Eighth Doctor, watching the Tenth Doctor in CAL's Library, (TV: Silence in the Library) and seeing the Ninth Doctor run past her while she was inside the Doctor's time stream. (The scene with the Tenth Doctor is missing from the BBC America and iTunes versions of the episode)
  • This story features for the first time on television, the Doctor prior to stealing the TARDIS. The event had previously been seen in the comic strip adventure: Time & Time Again. His granddaughter Susan Foreman appears briefly when the First Doctor helps her into a TARDIS before the Gallifreyan Clara suggests he take the older model.
  • While trapped in the Doctor's time stream, the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Doctors move past, behind, and in front of Clara. Unknown actors portrayed them without their faces being shown, altough the actor portraying the first Doctor resembles the appearance of Richard Hurndall, who replaced William Hartnell in The Five Doctors.
  • This story contains the greatest number of Doctors in any medium, with 12 Doctors.
  • In the final scene, Clara refers to having seen 11 Doctors meaning she has not interacted with any future incarnations of the Doctor, or any previous to the first one seen in the Doctor Who continuity, if there are any.
  • This is the first televised story in which we see the Doctor's TARDIS in what appears to be its "default" form, in the scenes set on Gallifrey. We also see it flying through the vortex soon after the First Doctor steals it.
  • This is the second series finale of the revived series not to feature a Dalek (TV: Last of the Time Lords), but because of the Dalek Asylum flashback (TV: Asylum of the Daleks), it still did in a way, making Last of the Time Lords, the only series finale episode in the revived series not to feature a Dalek. This still is the second not to feature a Dalek as the main enemy, or an encountered enemy by The Doctor.

Ratings

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Filming locations

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Production errors

Continuity

Home video releases

DVD releases

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Blu-ray releases

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External links

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