Doctor Who

[WibbleWorldGiddy]

Why did River open the tomb for the bad guys? And look smug about it, like it was a good idea.

She said it in order to save Strax and his other companions. The Doctor seemed incapable of saying it (maybe it's a shibboleth).

[SqueakyG]

Matt Smith: "I said he was me. I never said he was The Doctor... My name, my real name, that is not the point. The name I chose is The Doctor. The name you choose, it's like a promise you make. He's the one who broke the promise. He is my secret."

John Hurt: "What I did I did without choice."

Matt Smith: "I know."

John Hurt: "In the name of peace and sanity."

Matt Smith: "But not in the name of The Doctor."

I'm still calling it as the regeneration between McGann and Eccleston, responsible for beginning/ending the time war

[davidcotton]

Well the popular (note not necessarily correct!) theory right now is that it's 8.5 right at the end of his life.

Cheers

[sweetdaddyg]

I reckon he is a potential regeneration...the devil on his shoulder if you will

[HarMGM]

@NEG:

The Tombstone was nothing more than a fake to provide a passageway. River confirmed this herself when she was talking to Clara and giving her suggestions. Seems to imply a much younger River travelled to the same planet and the Tombstone there to help the Doctor in the case his prophecy should ever come true.

Speaking of which, this reveal does shed some new light on 'the question'. Whereas first we thought it would be about his name, the question now seems to be about the fact that nobody in the universe seems aware of what ended the last Time War and everybody wants to know what the Doctor did. "Doctor Who?" in this case is about which Doctor did that. Rather than ask what his name is.

[Alex W.]

I thought they were pretty explicit that she was the Library backup.

I wonder if they intend for him to literally be the McGann version, or rather their replacement. How does Moffatt feel about the movie?

[Mogster]

He's definitely not the McGann version. For a start Clara says she saw all eleven known Doctors and didn't know who Hurt's Doctor was, and McGann's face showed up just one episode prior to this in the Doctor's mind as well as in the Eleventh Hour.

[cassidy]

And walked past Clara in the precredits. Could be the Dr Mcgann regenerated into though. Who became Eccleston.

[Mogster]

And walked past Clara in the precredits. Could be the Dr Mcgann regenerated into though. Who became Eccleston.

That makes the most sense. Ecclestone's Doctor was newly regenerated when the series started, and from some of his dialogue it seemed like he was very recently responsible for killing off both the Time Lords and the Daleks, which was a pretty un-Doctorlike thing to do. That would make Hurt the actual ninth "Doctor", although Smith's Doctor still considers himself the eleventh as Hurt broke the promise.

EDIT: And with spectacular timing this just popped up on Twitter explaining just that in rather more detail.

[davidcotton]

My head hurts (no pun intended).

[Harsin]

I'm not sure how what he did during the Time War is his biggest secret, Tennant wouldn't shut up about his actions during it.

[Harsin]

This is why we can't have nice things.

[Mr Cochese]

Where is the logic??

[NEG]

While seeing the Time War will be possibly nice, it's still been referenced and used in so many ways in good stories already that any remaining secrets it could pull off at this point is...well, I can't think of much.

That and it can't possibly live up to imaginations of what possible evil deeds that Doctor could have pulled off.

Edit: And wasn't his actions justified, Gallifrey going insane and all? Stil somewhat counts as a The Doctor deed due to 'saving all life' and all. Though I suppose they could play up the 'what right do you have in killing your own race, who do you think you are' aspect, eh.

[Davros sock drawer]

I know I sound like a stuck record, but I hate all this Time War bollocks. I liked it when The Doctor was a wayward dropout who just wanted to go off and explore the universe.

[Harsin]

Seems 8 did make a very brief appearance.

[Pekoe]

One thing I found particularly irritating was when they were all standing around at the end (or lying on the floor in the Doctor's case) telling Clara not to enter the spinny-light thingy, whilst hundreds of billions of people across time and space were dying and it was obvious to everyone that the only way to stop them all from dying was for Clara to jump into the spinny-light thingy and save the Doctors from Withnail. Why weren't they all bellowing at her to stop wasting time with crappy one-liners and just get the fuck in there?

Is there a tally of how many times the universe/doctor/earth is saved by someone effectively committing suicide. The order of solutions to any problem seems to be:

1. wave sonic screw driver

2. big red reset button

3. someone heroically kills themselves.

[Harsin]

4. The power of love (a force from above)

[c-cat114]

5. Everyone holds their mobile phone up in the air and says 'I believe in Who...'

[NEG]

6. A childrens card game.

Wait, wrong show.

[Fader209]

So after next week, we've got the special in the Autumn and then the Christmas special and that's it for 2013? Bit sparse for the 50th Anniversary.

By the way, if anyone fancies watching some old Doctor Who.

http://www.combom.co.uk/

Thanks for the link, was about to make a post asking for some older Who!

[HarMGM]

I know I sound like a stuck record, but I hate all this Time War bollocks. I liked it when The Doctor was a wayward dropout who just wanted to go off and explore the universe.

Considering the amount of gubbins that was introduced into the lore of the show post-Baker 1 & Davison, I'd say blowing the entire thing up was the next best thing they could have ever done with it. Plus it restored a sense of mystery to the character as well. Last nights reveal confirmed that once more with us finding out about a part of the Doctor that he's so ashamed of he doesn't even mention it in his own mind anymore.

I'm not sure how what he did during the Time War is his biggest secret, Tennant wouldn't shut up about his actions during it.

I can't really remember Tennant ever speaking directly about it. Perhaps at the end of season 2 and 4 with him recollecting being in some important place. In any case, he never talked about what he actually had to do in order to end the entire war.

[Bacon Horsemeat]

I didn't get it. But that's ok, good Sunday morning tv.

[El Pibe]

Quite enjoyed that but the screen text was naff!

[Made of Ghosts]

Not sure what to make of the last bit but it was certainly a "moment".

I hope he actually does get to play the Doctor properly rather than just being a David Morrissey style cop out.

[Red Alignment]

Matt Smith's performance was by a good margin the best thing about the episode. The plot was a confused mess of a cop out.

[joeplus]

The text on screen was bizarre, surely there must have been a better way to do that. Still, it was quite a moment, and I really liked the twist they put on the title in that scene. Overall rather an enjoyable second half to this season.

[Mogster]

Yeah they really didn't need to throw the screen text at you. They'd already explained who he was, and what's more they explained why he was not in fact "The Doctor" before the text contradicted things.

[Harsin]

Introducing

John Hurt

As

The same person as The Doctor, but not called The Doctor because he did some shady stuff

[SeanR]

watching it now.