The Name of the Doctor (TV story): Difference between revisions

== Plot ==

In a workshop, two engineers hear an alarm. One reports that it is from the repair shop.  He wonders what kind of idiot would try and steal a faulty [[TARDIS]].  The workshop is at the base of the [[Capitol]] on [[Gallifrey]]. When the technicians look on their monitors, they see the [[First Doctor]] and [[Susan Foreman|his granddaughter]] entering a capsule. Someone calls to the Doctor, stopping him. He turns to greet [[Clara Oswald]], who tells him he is about to make a very big mistake.

Strax is in the middle of a brawl with a large [[Scottish]] man. Both toss insults; each holds a blunt weapon. However, a [[messenger boy (The Name of the Doctor)|messenger boy]] arrives, informing Strax that he has an urgent telegram. Upon finding out that it's another "conference call", Strax apologises to [[Archie (The Name of the Doctor)|Archie]], his opponent, 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. Vastra is pleased to notice that their surroundings have changed from the last "conference call", as she was getting a bit tired of the [[Taj Mahal]] "desktop theme". The pair begin to pour tea. Strax soon appears, anxious to return to his fight with "very pleasant primitives". Vastra apologises, but tells him there's an important matter concerning the Doctor that they need to discuss. When Strax asks who else is coming, Vastra says simply, "The women."

As the Doctor sets course for Trenzalore, the TARDIS realises what he is about to do and protests by fighting the coordinates while the Doctor forces her onwards. Explosions shake the [[console room]], and the TARDIS powers down to stop him. Coming to a stop in Trenzalore's orbit, they open the door to look at the planet below. Clara asks him if they are going to jump, which he dismisses as silly. He proclaims that they're going to fall. The TARDIS has powered down everything, aside from the [[anti-gravity|anti-gravs]]. 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 hastily assembled during battle. The rough landing cracks one of the windows in the TARDIS exterior, which upsets the Doctor. Clara asks why the graves have headstones of unequal size. The Doctor explains that the more important the warrior, the bigger the tombstone. A giant TARDIS shell looms on the horizon — but it's ''his'' [[police box]] TARDIS. The Doctor confirms what can be seen with one's eyes: it's the real deal. He explains that sometimes when a TARDIS is dying, its "bigger on the inside" qualities begin to leak out. 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". Realising that his wife's grave would only be there to cover up something like a secret entrance to the tomb, they enter, just as the Whisper Men are closing in on them.

During their climb up through the catacombs, Clara suddenly starts to remember [[Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (TV story)|wandering through a broken down 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. The [[Great Intelligence]] (using the appearance of [[Walter Simeon]]) and his Whisper Men arrive and surround them, telling them that were taken to this place to lure the Doctor there. Shortly, the Doctor, Clara and the River echo also arrive. The Great Intelligence stands at the door to the Doctor's tomb, hissing that only [[the Doctor's real name]] will open it. Repeatedly asking the question [[The Question|"Doctor ''who''?"]], he tells the Whisper Men to stop the hearts of the Doctor's friends if he does not answer. As they comply and the Doctor pleads with them to stop, the door suddenly opens. The Whisper Men release their victims, while the Doctor seems confused. He did not speak his name. River Song's apparition comments that the TARDIS is fortunately still able to hear her; she is the one who opened the doors by communicating the Doctor's name to the TARDIS, unheard by anyone else.

Inside is an overgrown TARDIS control room, with a glowing, writhing beam of blue-white light where the main console would usually be. The Doctor explains that this is his "mark" on the universe. He has travelled in time more than anyone else, and this is the "scar tissue" left from it. It is his own personal timeline, past and future, and everything that resulted from it. The Doctor collapses from the influence of being so close to his past and future in this way. The Great Intelligence reveals his plan to re-write the Doctor's entire history, turning all his victories into failures. He knows that he will be killed, but the Doctor will surely be destroyed. The Great Intelligence steps into the light and is destroyed; the light turns red, and the Doctor falls to the floor, visibly in pain as he is being destroyed all at once. Horrified, Vastra declares that a universe without the Doctor will have consequences. She flees outside and sees the stars go dark as entire star systems are erased from history. Jenny, having been saved by the Doctor previously, is also erased, while Strax turns hostile. Grief-stricken, Vastra is forced to vaporise him.

Against both the Doctor's and River's protests, Clara decides to act. With the words, "Run, you clever boy, and remember me," she follows the Great Intelligence into the Doctor's timeline to save him. A million copies of Clara appear throughout history, each one correcting the Doctor's timeline in her own way. On [[Gallifrey]], one of the Clara echoes tells the First Doctor he's about to make a very big mistake – by stealing the wrong TARDIS. She then directs him to the "proper" TARDIS, saying that even though the navigation system is broken, "it'll be loads more fun..."