Episode #247 : The Name of the Doctor

"You didn't listen, did you? You lot never do. That's the problem. The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered. He wasn't talking about my secret. No, no, no, that's not what's been found. He was talking about my grave. Trenzalore is where I'm buried."

Episode #247:      The Name of the Doctor.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:              18th May 2013.

A prophecy is coming true. The Eleventh Doctor is summoned to Trenzalore where it was said he would fall. But what does the alleged site of his final battle have to do with the mystery of Clara — or is it Oswin — Oswald? Can the Paternoster Gang help him avoid his apparent destiny? And most of all...Doctor who?

What a fantastic ending to this season of the show. We get a host of the Doctor's friends together, the return of the Great Intelligence, the final revelation of what and were Trenzalore is and at last the resolution to the impossible girl story line.

It is difficult to explain how good this story is because it isn't any one thing. It's the emotion, the perfectly written scenes and dialogue and the awe moments when everything starts to come together. I have said it before and I'm repeating it now, when Stephen Moffat really puts his mind to it we get some phenomenal episodes. The Name of the Doctor has it all whether you are a modern fan or a classic one. The brief flashes of the old incarnations really gives me the giddy feelings watching this one.

But who is the mysterious Doctor not spoken about? And what a coup getting esteemed (now late) actor John Hurt in for that role is just a masterstroke. That all gets explained soon enough as well. You have to remember that this was leading up to the 50th anniversary episode and we're in for a wild ride.

Anyway, getting away from the excitement, the final set up for the overarching plot this season brings us finally to Trenzalore. This planet was mentioned by the headless Dorium during his "doctor who?" prophecy at the end of A Good Man Goes to War. The Great Intelligence has planned all this to get his revenge on the Doctor for thwarting his schemes. His plan being to enter the Doctor's time stream and cause his adventures to fail although this will destroy him. Clara realizes that the "impossible girl" is her existing in all the Doctor's time lines helping him out and stopping the Great Intelligence. Quite clever really although it does in my mind cause a few little paradoxes not to mention that this future for the Doctor and Trenzalore will never come about.

The Name of the Doctor is a great ending to the story arc and is a nice stepping stone to what comes next.

Episode #240 : The Bells of Saint John

"I'm the Doctor. I'm an alien from outer space. I'm a thousand years old, I've got two hearts, and I can’t fly a plane! Can you?"

Episode #240:      The Bells of Saint John.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor and Clara Oswald.
Air Date:               30th March 2013.

London, 2013. "Danger. This is a warning. A warning to the whole world. You're looking for Wi-Fi. Sometimes you see something, a bit like this. Don't click it. Do not click it. Once you've clicked it, they're in your computer. They can see you. If they can see you, they might choose you. And if they do... you die."
When Clara Oswald has problems with her Internet, she's given a telephone number: the number of the "best help line in the universe". When the Eleventh Doctor answers at the other end, Clara is pulled into a life of adventure and mystery. But danger is lurking in the signals, picking off minds and imprisoning them. "It's like immortality, only fatal." But can the Doctor save Clara before... "I don't know where I am!"

This story is the first proper introduction for Clara Oswald as a companion. She's immediately likeable which is always good, but then we have seen two other incarnations of her at this point so it's already been set up that we'll like her. She's certainly a strong character and that fits with the companions of modern Who very well. I don't think that the classic screamers would work in this day and age.

The puzzle of Clara Oswald has certainly peaked the Doctor. The funk that he was under during The Snowmen has gone and he's back to being his usable excitable self again. I much prefer this personality over the that one.

As it's basis the episode uses the idea that the internet and wi-fi is all around us, and the dangers that it could present if something alien dwelt within. That something is the villain of the current series and it's a much better presentation than it's previous appearance. Though The Great Intelligence is only briefly seen it's appearance once again is a nice incitement for the arching plot of the season. What is this old adversary up to?

Although the story is a good one is again another set up to introduce a new companion and provide hints at the upcoming story arc but little else. Although there is something that I think many people missed at the time which pops up again much later... Who was the woman in the shop who gave Clara the phone number for the TARDIS?

Episode #239 : The Snowmen

"I said I'd feed you. I didn't say who to."

Episode #239:      The Angels Snowmen.
Companions:        The 11th Doctor.
Air Date:               25th December 2012.

After losing Amy Pond and Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor has retired to Victorian England, where Strax, Jenny Flint, and Vastra assist him. The Doctor eventually meets Clara Oswald, and takes a liking to the young barmaid who leads a double life as a governess. At the same time, a sinister plot is unfolding; snowmen are randomly appearing around London, growing in size and power. All they need to take over the world is some human DNA in ice crystal form, and the frozen body of a drowned governess can give them just that.

The 2012 Christmas special and while set at Christmas it isn't written around the holiday period specifically which for me is very nice. Using Victorian Christmas is a bit cliché but it works well for this story. Probably wouldn't work as well without it.

Once again we see a Clara look-a-like. How is this connected to Oswin from Asylum of the Daleks? Well, that is for the future and we'll get there soon enough. It was a very clever introduction and sets up our next companion and her story arc nicely.

As for the Doctor he has had time away following the loss of the Ponds. We have a change of outfit to something more Victorian/Edwardian and he's a bit depressive until a new adventure takes a hold of him. I rather like the new outfit style over the more modern one that he has had during his time with the Ponds.

Our villain is an old classic, The Great Intelligence, last seen during the days of the 2nd Doctor in 1968. It wasn't a great villain back then and it isn't very good now but as a classic era fan it is great to see another connection to the halcyon days of the show. It is rather different to that original form but the end of the episode gives us another connection and explains why the original Great Intelligence uses the London underground for it's schemes in those original stories.

The adventure itself isn't all that unfortunately. It is another very typical modern story that might have worked better had it been a multi-part adventure akin to the good old days. As it is, it feels to me as though too much is pushed together, it is rushed, and it doesn't have enough time in an hour to do it all justice. But it is an entertaining story and one which in hindsight sets up a lot of what is to come for the 11th Doctor.

Episode #41 : The Web of Fear

Episode 41:   The Web of Fear.
Companions: The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 3rd February to 9th March 1968.

The TARDIS narrowly avoids becoming engulfed in a cobwebby substance in space. It arrives in the London Underground railway system, the tunnels of which are being overrun by the web and by the Great Intelligence's robot Yeti.

At the close of The Enemy of the World, a special trailer was played to prepare viewers for the terrors that were to come with The Web of Fear. The audio remains and has been turned into an animated feature here:

 

 

The Web of Fear is a sequel of sorts to The Abominable Snowmen and continues the machinations of the Great Intelligence as it seeks physical form or whatever it's ultimate goal is at this time. This story also introduces one of the most loved characters in the show, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (though he is Colonel at the time of this story). It can well be argued that the events of this story would perhaps be the reason for the founding of U.N.I.T. later on.

 

The sets were so well done that during the showing of this story the BBC received complaints from the London Underground claiming that they had filmed down there without permission.

 

This would be the last time that we see the Great Intelligence in the classic run of the show. It does return much later on for the eleventh Doctor where we also learn how it knew to use the London Underground for its invasion.

 

Episode #38 : The Abominable Snowmen

Jamie: Have you thought up some clever plan, Doctor?

The Doctor: Yes, Jamie, I believe I have.

Jamie: What are you going to do?

The Doctor: Bung a rock at it.

Episode 38:    The Abominable Snowmen.
Companions:  The 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
Air Date:        Six episodes. 30th September to 4th November 1967.

Mysterious forces are at work in 1930s Tibet. The once gentle Yeti have turned savage and besieged a Buddhist monastery. The Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive expecting a friendly welcome from the abbot, but soon become ensnared in the plans of the extradimensional being known as the Great Intelligence.

This story sets up another sort-of long running villain in The Great Intelligence, an entity also retconned into being another of HP Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. In this case, it is supposed to be the god-like entity called Yog Sothoth even though it bears little in relation to that being. There is a gap of 44 years between appearances, giving The Great Intelligence the biggest gap between appearances on screen of any villain so far.

Only the second episode of this story survives so again I am basing this review on episode synopses. With that in mind it is difficult to actually tell what the plot of the villainous Intelligence involves. It hints that it is seeking a physical form but I don't think it is implicit that that is the case. The story also sets up the appearance of the robot Yeti, who only make a couple further appearances at this point. Whether these are meant to be the new physical form for the Intelligence is unclear.

As episodes go it seems ok, but lacking in motivations for the villain, but again that could just be the result of reading the synopses.