Steven Moffat ’s Doctor Who era has been one long story , about the Doctor and the secretiveness . The Silence are cite in Matt Smith ’s very first episode , and their actions have overlook the Eleventh Doctor ’s sprightliness . But we still do n’t really have intercourse what this is all about , and we ’re hoping for more clues when the show yield on Saturday .
And as we rewatch old episodes , we inescapably wind up up ask : Is there a Moffat Master Plan ? One that pass to a climax he project out long ago ? And is this all going to wind up making sense , in the end ?
Of course , there ’s a formula of thumb : Pretty much any meter you wonder if a telecasting show ’s creative team is winging it , the reply is hold out to be , “ Yes . ” It ’s somewhat much the nature of television , where everything is chaos and creators are at the clemency of outside forces .
At the same sentence , Moffat is understandably telling one prospicient serialized floor on Doctor Who . There ’s never been an epoch of the show where the stories were so strongly attached . In time of year five , the Crack dominates the storytelling , to the point where if you take the Crack out , neither the Weeping Angels two - parter nor the Silurian two - parter has a proper climax . In season six , everything is build around the saga of River Song being born , falling in love with the Doctor , and ( apparently ) kill him .
And of course , Moffat has said recently that there ’s no arc whatsoever in the newfangled season of Doctor Who . But he ’s also said that he lie . And we ’re clearly in the midsection of a sprawl tale that wo n’t be completed until we see the Fields of Trenzalore and see why the secrecy were so slap-up to get rid of the Doctor .
Should Doctor Who have a master plan , in any caseful ? You could argue that a big part of the show ’s appeal has been that it go anywhere and do anything — which means having a loaded electric arc , with tons of recurring characters , is actually put too many limits . Russell T. Davies ’ root to this conundrum was mostly to make the show ’s arc about the companions ’ personal journeying , while tossing in the occasional breadcrumb like “ Bad Wolf ” cropping up over and over . The paradox of Doctor Who might be that the more you adjudicate to make a sweeping epic poem out of the show , the minor it actually becomes .
But leaving that inquiry aside , what can we determine from the stories that have already aired , about the story that Moffat ’s in the middle of notification ?
Fame and the power of meet . The Doctor is either legendary or famed , and he faces monsters that reach power from not being seen .
Moffat starts introduce the notion of the Doctor ’s fame as early as “ Forest of the Dead ” during the David Tennant era . The Doctor stares down the Vashta Nerada by telling them , “ You ’re in a library . Look me up . ” He similarly stares down the giant eye of the Atraxis in “ Eleventh Hour , ” tell them , “ I ’m the Doctor . Basically , run . ” In “ The Pandorica Opens , ” the Doctor tries a alike saddlery with the gathered exotic United States Army , giving a grown shouty speech on top of Stonehenge . And then , in “ A Good Man go to War , ” we see lot of average hoi polloi gossiping about the Doctor ’s myth , and the Doctor turn out to have loads of never - before - seen allies . in the end , in “ The marriage ceremony of River Song , ” the intact universe responds thirstily to a call for service on the Doctor ’s behalf .
And in both of Moffat ’s time of year finales , the Doctor sacrifices his celebrity to save the universe .
In “ The Eleventh Hour , ” the Doctor discovers that everyone he adjoin in Leadworth recognizes him instantly , because of all the drawings and “ cartoons ” young Amelia Pond drew of him . He ’s topically renowned as the “ Raggedy Doctor ” from her stories . He ’s become sort of a fairytale fiber , a man of folklore .
At the end of the time of year , the Doctor give his own existence to bring up the universe — and the principal mode we see this is that everybody has forgotten the Dr. . But he is able to reconstitute himself by getting young Amelia Pond to remember him , once again , as a sort of fairy story , about a human being who head for the hills away in a boxful that was somewhat wedding - themed ( honest-to-god , Modern , borrowed and blue ) so she ’ll think of him on her wedding daytime . The Doctor enjoin Amelia , “ We ’re all just stories in the end , so make it a good one . ”
In season six , River Song refuses to shoot the Doctor , and that refusal induce the full creation to blockade , because of timey - wimey clobber . And then in the meter - check universe that result , River build a elephantine sender to reach out to the entire universe , which — as observe above — responds with messages of love life and gratitude for the Doctor . But the Doctor decides to talk through one’s hat his own end , because he “ get too big . ” The universe is saved , but the cost is that the Doctor needs to fly . ( Something that will in all probability stick about as much as the Randomizer did . )
And in the most recent season finale , we check that the Doctor has the ultimate sort of fame : his very name is of monumental , cosmic import . ( More on that below . )
Meanwhile , Moffat is famed for his monster thatonly have power when you do n’t see . The Weeping Angels can only move when you ’re not seem at them . The Vashta Nerada live in the shadows , and you have to “ look the shadows ” recognise them . You ca n’t commemorate the secrecy unless you ’re bet right at them . Even the Smilers are hidden in plain muckle and turn vile when you ’re not look .
https://gizmodo.com/how-philosophy-explains-why-steven-moffats-monsters-are-5801413
But the Silence are tied up with both eyesight and retentiveness — you forget their very existence when you ’re not view them . In “ Day of the Moon , ” they recount Amy that she ’s been their prisoner “ many day , ” and her “ memory is weak . ”
A major theme in time of year five , too , is the “ perception filter ” — which allows something black to be hidden so that you only see it from the “ corner of your heart . ” shroud “ where you never desire to look . ” There ’s a concealed way in Amy ’s family , allowing Prisoner Zero to persist obscure from the gargantuan eyeball . And in “ The Lodger , ” a starship is hidden atop Craig ’s house by a sensing filter that makes it appear to be an extra flooring that mass think has always been there .
As we said , the Silence have driven most of the action for the past two seasons . In time of year five , they vaunt up the TARDIS — or at least , a voice tell “ secrecy will fall ” is heard as the TARDIS blows up . This plosion create crack in the universe , include the crack in Amy ’s sleeping room rampart that starts everything off . Why do they blow up the TARDIS ? We can only guess it ’s their first effort to kill the doc , and destroying the full creation is just an unintended side - effect . ( We may never know for sure . )
In season six , the Silence kidnap Amy Pond as she ’s pregnant with a child conceived aboard the TARDIS . When she gives birth to River Song , they snatch the child and raise her to be the thoroughgoing assassin , program her to kill the Doctor . They go to immense length to produce an assassin who ’s part - Time Lord , and get her to a “ ready point ” in time so she can kill the Doctor in a elbow room that ca n’t be revoke .
And eventually , we find out that the muteness is n’t a raceway , it ’s a “ spiritual order , ” and their central teaching is that secrecy must fall , so that the question will not be asked . “ A interrogation that must never , ever be answered , ” as Dorium place it . This question : “ Doctor who ? ” Apparently the Doctor ’s own name is “ a terrible , dangerous secret that must never be recount . ” So terrible that even the Doctor seems to take that he might have to die to keep it secret .
But the Doctor is destined to go to the “ Fields of Trenzalore , ” at the “ Fall of the Eleventh , ” “ when no living creature could speak incorrectly , or break down to suffice . ” He ’ll be asked his name , and he ’ll have to say it , and terrible thing will result . ( And it seems somewhat potential that the “ Fall of the Eleventh ” will be the end of Matt Smith ’s Doctor . ) The secretiveness is do-or-die to prevent this , and it ’s fundamentally the whole reason for their existence . But we know the future River Song in “ quiet in the Library ” apparently knows the Doctor ’s name , something the 10th Doctor says he ’d only unwrap for one reason , at one time .
It ’s distinctive of Moffat that the Doctor decide he ’s get “ too bad , ” at the accurate same import that we discover his very name is crucial to the entire universe .
And all of this raises the obvious question : How does someone ’s name become so cosmically authoritative ? the great unwashed tend to be given their names at birth , after all . So either the Doctor ’s real identity is that of someone whose very existence is problematic . ( As in the famous “ Cartmel Masterplan ” from the eighties , which would have watch the Doctor being an embodiment of a fabled Time Lord form . ) Or else , the Doctor used his own name to varnish something , some terrible military group , and if you talk his name , something will be released . In any case , you have to assume the Doctor ’s name was in the beginning benignant and became terrible because of some foundational event .
Meanwhile , of course , the Silence are building a fourth dimension machine in their subterranean lair when we see them in “ Day of the Moon . ” And it ’s identical to the abandoned pseudo - TARDIS that we see to it on top of Craig ’s theatre in “ The Lodger . ” The logical implication is that the Silence want to be Time Lords themselves , but they kind of suck at it . The Silence also have dug subterranean tunnel “ everywhere ” on Earth , bleed all under the Earth’s surface of the planet , and they ’ve been influence human history for yard of year .
Also , in “ A Good Man , ” Madame Kovarian state they ’ve struggle an “ sempiternal , blistering war ” against the Doctor . Is this just referring to their Wile Coyote - esque attempts to kill the Doctor ? Or are there some hostilities we have n’t witnessed yet ?
Tons of people have notice that the readiness in “ A Good Man ” feature what seem to be Omega symbols — is this a hint that Omega , the ancient Gallifreyan who apply the Time Lords their power , is behind all of this ? Or just a spiritual affair , with Alpha and Z being fundamental religious terms ? ( Or , assome have suggested , are those actuallya mapping of Stonehenge ? )
mass also detect that the side of Melody Pond ’s crib in “ A Good Man ” has a row of symbols , start with an Omega , below her name .
Meanwhile , we have one immense man of evidence that Moffat really is just making all of this up as he goes along : River Song ’s derisory origin . In an era where we ’re perpetually being told that people are stories , River Song ’s own story is a mess hall .
River commence off as a entrancing , brilliant character , but as we ’ve read more about her , she ’s become a dreadful plot machine . We ’ve covered this before ( hereandhere ) but River Song really does seem to be the cardinal failure of Moffat ’s Doctor Who .
https://gizmodo.com/why-this-years-doctor-who-finale-was-mostly-better-th-5844553
In a nutshell , here ’s her backstory . She ’s born aboard the asteroid Demon ’s streak , then she ’s kidnapped and taken to 1960s Florida , where she ’s raised in a bloodcurdling bleak orphanage . The Silence use all their considerable brainwashing power to train the baby River to shoot down the Doctor . Eventually , she get away , go to New York , and regenerates . She then bums around for 30 - odd years , before becoming Rory and Amy ’s juvenile delinquent booster Mels , who ’s so obsessed with the Doctor , she ca n’t stop bringing him up in shoal .
When she in reality meets the Doctor , Mels immediately assassinate him — but on recognize she ’s River Song , the cleaning woman the Doctor will finally get married , she has a sudden change of heart and give up all her remaining positive feedback to save the Doctor ’s aliveness . She then goes and studies archeology , so she can find “ a serious valet ” ( aka the Doctor ) again . The Silence eventually nobble River from her archeology school and push her to kill the Doctor , her brainwashing having completely worn off by that power point . But she wo n’t do it , and instead the universe is forced to a halt .
As River says in “ The Wedding of River Song ” :
Take a child , kick upstairs her into a everlasting psychopath , introduce her to the Doctor . Who else was I going to pass in passion with ?
The Doctor marries River , but he never says he bonk her , and the way the fit is staged , it ’s almost like he ’s hook up with her to appease her , to get her to restart time and bushel the world . In fact , the Doctor mostly seems tired of with River . And as a wedding present , River gets locked up in Stormcage for almost the rest of her life history , for a slaying the Doctor could well show she did n’t commit . ( But it ’s okay because she have to go out with the Doctor every night . )
There are some huge secret plan holes with this whole plot line — including the fact that River ’s brainwashing break down so easily , when we ’ve visit what the Silence can do with an grownup mind , let alone a nestling mind . And the enquiry of what she was doing for 30 year between 1969 and when she suffer up with Young Amy and Rory . Also , who exactly arrested River for killing the Doctor , and who has jurisdiction over such a law-breaking ? Why does she go to pass years with her parents Amy and Rory , but then not like when they ’re about to be killed inside the Tesselecta ?
Mostly , though , I do n’t believe in this story emotionally . I do n’t believe that Amy could have her baby stolen and decide that it ’s all right that she missed the first 40 years of her minor ’s life because she eventually meet Mels . ( At that gunpoint , Amy is a child , but Mels is middle - senior . ) I do n’t believe that Mels could be raised in the horrible orphanhood we glimpse in “ Day of the Moon ” and brainwashed to wipe out , and then get over it as quickly as she does in “ lease ’s Kill Hitler . ” I do n’t believe that being raised as a sociopath leave to you to fall in love with your signify victim . I do n’t believe that the Doctor has any feelings for River Song , other than being curious about her unsolved closed book — before that mystery is solved . I do n’t consider that River really thinks of Amy and Rory as her parents .
The kinship between Amy and Rory feel absolutely real to me — particularly on Rory ’s side . But nothing about River Song has the same level of credibility , at this point . There ’s also the fact that her birth , life history and death are all in service to the man she marries , making her completely subordinate to the Doctor . She gives her life for him not once , but twice .
underage spoiler below …
Still , it seems as though we ’re not done teach more about River Song — we ’ll get one last chance to see River and her parents together , in this time of year ’s “ Angels Take Manhattan . ” Andthe other solar day , Karen Gillan told us that there will be “ a pretty Brobdingnagian revelation ” about the fact that Amy did n’t get to raise River as her child . “ We are going to learn something very , very lively to that history line . ”
https://gizmodo.com/matt-smith-and-karen-gillan-explain-how-doctor-who-will-5938254
And it seems quite likely that whatever new thing we learn about River this downslope will also be the next breadcrumb in the elaborate on-going story that Moffat is telling — which may have a climax , of sorts , with next year ’s fiftieth anniversary .
Screencaps viaSonic Biro . I also consultedepisode transcript at Diary of a Procrastinator .
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