by Steven Moffat
Originally Broadcasted: May 18th, 2013
The Doctor's friends are being taken out of time by the Great Intelligence, and they've been taken to the one place in time and space the Doctor should never go, his grave on Trenzalore. The Great Intelligence's scheme involves going back in time to wreak havoc on all of the Doctor's incarnations. And Clara is the only one who can save the Doctor...
I don't think I have ever been as excited for an episode of Doctor Who as I was for The Name of the Doctor. The anticipation leading up to this episode was through the roof, with copies of the story accidentally being sent out on DVD early to some fans. So with all this hype, did the episode live up to expectations? For the most part, yes! It certainly started out on the right note, with perhaps the single most exciting pre-title scene ever. The very first thing we see is the First Doctor stealing the TARDIS all those years ago on Gallifrey! And then Clara is falling through time, and we see her running after many past Doctors, through clips from classic episodes. We see the Sixth Doctor walk past Clara in the current TARDIS, the Fourth Doctor on Gallifrey from The Invasion of Time, the Seventh Doctor hanging on for doom in Dragonfire (I find it funny how they used one of the most ridiculous clips from the McCoy era), the Third Doctor driving Bessie in The Five Doctors, the Second Doctor running outside what appears to be the San Diego Comic Con, and the Fifth Doctor trapped in the Matrix in Arc of Infinity. And then the episode kicks off, in routine Doctor Who fashion. Clara, River Song, Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax come together to discuss the Trenzalore issue. Clara is the one who tells the Doctor whats happening, and it actually brings him to tears. The idea of visiting his grave was a clever one, and I hadn't expected it up to that point. Yet, it immediately made sense while watching the episode. The Great Intelligence, in the form of Doctor Simeon from The Snowmen (played by the great Richard E. Grant) enters the Doctor's time-stream to destroy his life from within. The only way to save the Doctor from this eternal pain, is for someone to replace Simeon, and that someone is Clara. This finally explains why the Doctor saw Oswin Oswald on the Dalek Asylum, and why Clara was also living in Victorian England. She splintered herself throughout time, all to save the Doctor. But then the Doctor does something even crazier, and enters his own time-stream to save the original, real Clara. He manages to save her, but then we get the second big shock of the episode. A Doctor that Clara hasn't seen before. A Doctor that gave up that title. A Doctor played by John Hurt. Fan communities are running rampant with ideas of just who this could be. My bets is that it's the Valeyard from The Trial of the Time Lord season, but then again, that might be too obvious. Whoever it may be, we'll have to wait until the 50th anniversary special to find out. Boy am I excited for that! It feels like we already got a sort of 50th special with The Name of the Doctor, so imagine how great that is going to be! This episode also pretty much brought an end to the saga of River Song, although I'd say her appearance in this story wasn't entirely necessary. And once again, we had some lovely stuff with Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. The Name of the Doctor fully lived up to my expectations, and created one of the most fan-oriented, and truly great stories of Doctor Who ever!
Luke's Rating: 10/10
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