Rec: Eleventh Doctor
I've decided to post a recommendation of a slightly different sort this week. Instead of recommending a fanwork, I'm going to recommend a TV series. Or.. well, a part of a TV Series.
This recommendation is for Doctor Who, but I'm not going to be talking about all of Who. I'm only going to tell you about the Eleventh Doctor.
Doctor Who is one of my most long-standing loves. I can’t claim to have been a fan for as long as some (I was too young for Classic Who, so I only picked it up when it restarted in 2005), but what I lack in longevity, I like to think I make up for in fervour. Particularly when it comes to the Eleventh Doctor, who I love.
So... in this post I'm offering a quick run down of the characters and a highly subjective 'best-of' in the hopes of reigniting the love in those who already watch the show, and giving a bit of a roadmap to those who have never seen it before.
I'm also doing it because 1) The Eleventh Doctor is now gone (a tragedy from which I am still recovering) and so it seems somehow fitting that I cover his time in the TARDIS. A sort of tribute to his era, if you will. 2) I’ve just spent the last two months consuming the Eleventh Doctor in an effort to prepare myself for Twelve, so it is all freshly rewatched and reloved.
A Beginner's Guide - The Characters
Doctor Who is a show that is entirely about the characters. There might be a monster each week, but to me that’s almost incidental. In fact, the best monster of the week episodes are actually the ones where the monsters are there to help develop new facets for the characters.
While there have been many important characters come and go under Eleven’s observant (if somewhat easily distracted) eye, there are only really five that you need to know.
The Eleventh Doctor
Eleven is physically younger than Ten, but he has old eyes and the weight of centuries upon his shoulders. The darker side of Eleven can be hard to see at first and, of all the Doctors, he probably excels most fully at following Rule 27 (never knowingly be serious). But, if someone threatens something he holds dear, then it is all too easy to see why he’s the most feared creature in the universe.
For meta that very effectively outlines the essence of Eleven (while exploring the difference between him and Ten) see: Same Man, Different Time by elisi and The Tragedy and Death of the Lonely God and the Rise of the Trickster. Or: How Moffat re-booted DW by elisi
The Eleventh Doctor is probably my favourite Doctor. There is not a single moment (not a single moment) that I can think of where he was misplayed, or truly out of character. There were bad episodes, and there was definitely bad dialogue. But, there was never bad delivery or an out of character reaction.
The Twelfth Doctor has a lot to live up to… I really hope he manages it.
Travelling with the Ponds
The Ponds are, in many ways, the defining companions of the Eleventh Doctor era. Without them the TARDIS feels empty. The Doctor travelled with Amy alone for a time, but it wasn't long before Rory joined them... and, I'll be honest, it was when Rory joined the team that they really felt complete.
Amy Pond
The first face that the Eleventh Doctor ever saw was the one belonging to Amelia Pond - seven years old and just a little bit fairytale. Twelve years on, and Amelia was Amy - a little harder around the edges and somewhat less trusting, but with no less fire in her soul.
Amy is all legs, opinions, and ironclad refusal to believe the Doctor when he says he’s going to be all right. (She believes the Doctor when he says she’s going to be all right. But that’s different.)
Amy is married to Rory Williams and most of the time she seems to understand how lucky she is.
Rory Pond nee Williams
Rory is quiet and unassuming. He’s utterly in love with his wife. And he’s a good man. That’s very important, remember that. Because, as Terry Pratchett says in Men At Arms: "If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power.... They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar… A good man will kill you with hardly a word.”
Rory is, among other things, my sister's favourite character. M loves his black and white morality, and his single-minded devotion to Amy. I tend to like my characters more grey, and my devotion a little less blind, but I have to acknowledge that she has a point. Rory is one of the strongest characters of the Eleventh Doctor's era, and without him the TARDIS would have felt empty.
The Doctor And His Wife
If the Ponds are the defining companions of the Eleventh Doctor's era, then - in many ways - his strange back-to-front romance with River Song is the defining relationship.
River Song
A time traveller who knows more about the Doctor’s future than she ever admits, River Song is probably one of my favourite characters from New Who. Composed, confident and capable, she refuses to be caged (quite literally - she spends much of her time imprisoned in the Stormcage, but she frequently breaks out as though the bars were made of mist) and she seems to see it as her right to give everyone, even the Doctor, (especially the Doctor), a run for their money.
She also happens to be the Doctor’s wife. And the biological child of Amy and Rory. Don’t worry - it makes sense eventually.
River Song has not met universally positive reviews from fans of the series. In particular, I've frequently encountered the sentiment that Moffat's favourite Doctor isn't Eleven, it's River. She's too knowing, people say. She's too powerful.
Personally, however, I've always loved River, and everything that Moffat was trying to do with her. In her, the Doctor finally has an equal. He also has someone who understand just what it means to love him. River isn't jealous or possessive. She doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve, and she gives the Doctor all the freedom he needs.
That doesn't mean she doesn't love him. Entirely the opposite.
River will always be one of my favourite characters in New Who. Even if her story is confusing, not always internally consistent, and sometimes too rushed it doesn't matter...
Where River is concerned, it has never been the surface features that matter, but the core characteristics. River is, in every way, the perfect woman for the Eleventh Doctor and no one will ever convince me otherwise.
For the clearest chronological account of River’s life see: River Song, Her Story
For some beautiful meta on River and her relationship with the Doctor then read this: The Doctor’s Final Lesson, courtesy of River Song byelisi
Clara Oswin Oswald
The Impossible Girl, Clara first meets the Doctor in the Dalek Asylum where she dies. She then reappears as a Victorian barmaid and nanny. Again, she dies. By the time she finally meets the Doctor as Clara Oswald, citizen of 21st century Earth, he is as confused as we are.
Aside from the mystery surrounding her many deaths, Clara takes awhile to develop as a companion. Partly because her character growth was subsumed by a 'big idea' and it was only when that idea was entirely worked through, and we finally knew who the Impossible Girl was that she was allowed to be a character in her own right, and partly because, well, she's not a Pond.
If the Eleventh Doctor hadn't regenerated so soon after the Impossible Girl arc was resolved, I feel like a lot of these problems would have been worked through, and Clara's general lack of Pondliness might have been overcome. As it is, I feel the greatest leap forward for her character happened in Series 8 Episode 1. (Which is technically beyond the scope of this post, but which I feel merits mention anyway.)
For some great meta about Clara as a companion to the Eleventh Doctor see Clara Meta: Schrödinger’s Companion (once again) by elisi
A Viewer's Guide - The Top Ten Episodes
The Eleventh Doctor was in control of the TARDIS for three seasons. Three, glorious seasons, with countless awesome episode.
But... not all episodes are created equal and some are better than others.
If you only ever see ten episode of the Eleventh Doctor's era, then these would be the ten I would recommend.
10. The Power Of Three
The Doctor joins the Ponds on Earth to help puzzle out the unlikely invasion of millions of sinister black cubes that arrive overnight... But, when months pass and nothing happens it seems like surviving the invasion will be easy. It's the waiting that's going to be hard.
Half of me wants this episode to be higher up my list, while the other half wants to push it so far down that it brushes up against the absolutely horrific The Curse Of The Black Spot. That’s because, in so very many ways, this is actually two episodes, not one.
One episode (the better one) is about the Doctor and his Ponds. It’s about Amy and Rory deciding that they’ll keep travelling with the Doctor, and damn the consequences, for as long as they have left. It’s about the Doctor finally acknowledging what we’ve always known - he’s never going to want to be entirely free of the Ponds, not even if it’s for their own good.
The other episode (the one that deserves to be in my bottom five) is about a badly paced, unevenly told and terribly contrived invasion, in which hundreds die and no one cares.
If this episode had been all of the former and none of the latter, then I would have been very happy indeed. As it is, it just slips into my top ten.
9. A Christmas Carol
Amy and Rory are trapped on a crashing space liner, and the only way The Doctor can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser. But is Kazran Sardick beyond redemption? Or will the Doctor's journey throughout his past reveal hidden depths.
The beauty of a Christmas Carol is not the plot, or the characters. In fact, it’s an episode in which both the plot and character development falls to pieces when scrutinised even a little… So why is it so high on my list?
Essentially my answer boils down to the ambience and the rawness of the emotional highs.
First, the art department outdid themselves with this episode. Everything from the ever so slightly steampunk feeling of the planet, to the fish that swam in the sky were note perfect. This is, in so many ways, the AU Dickensian world done right.
Second, when you watch this episode without expecting things like logic and reason to apply, then there’s so much that works. Especially on the emotional level. Gambon is fantastic, and every inch of his transition from bitter, lonely old man who doesn’t care if hundreds die, to someone who is capable of caring enough to decide to save, them is believable... not because of the script, which is pretty rubbish at explaining it, but because the acting is so very, very good.
8. The Doctor’s Wife
A distress signal takes the Doctor, Amy and Rory to a bubble universe where a malevolent creature named the House takes control of the TARDIS. But, is the beautiful and insane Idris more than she seems, and can she help them get the TARDIS back?
So, The Doctor’s Wife. Everyone loves this episode right? I don’t need to tell you why it was fantastic because, presumably, you already know. (And if you don’t, you do now. It was fantastic.) So... Instead of telling you why I like this episode, I feel like I have to justify why this isn’t higher on my list.
Just like almost every Doctor Who fan in the history of ever, I loved the Doctor’s Wife. I thought it was bold, original and striking. It had an amazing script and impeccable acting, but…
It didn’t feel like an eleventh Doctor story. Mad, I know. Especially since Matt Smith is my favourite thing in the history of all things Doctor Who. But it’s true. Now I’ve seen Capaldi, I wish they’d kept this episode for him… I think it suits the tone of his Doctor far more.
I think the title, more than anything else, gives away the fact that its been inserted in the wrong place. For me, it just didn’t work having an episode called ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ that wasn’t about River in the middle of a season where the finale was called ‘The Wedding Of River Song’.
I love this episode and agree with almost every positive sentiment expressed about it (up to and including the fact that the title is perfect), but I just think its placement needed to be more thought out. If it had been sat-on for a little while and trotted out with Matt once Clara had arrived, or if it made part of the line up of episodes for Capaldi, I think it would have made more sense.
(Also, the inside of the TARDIS was underwhelming. I tell myself it’s because House stripped the quirkiness of the TARDIS away, but I secretly fear that the production team really does think the TARDIS should look like that. Urgh.)
7. The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone
The Doctor is recruited to track the last of the Angels through the terrifying Maze Of The Dead by the mysterious River Song - but can he trust her?
I was sold from the minute I saw the heels, and absolutely lost forever when the heels were swapped out for boots.
River Song is probably one of my favourite characters in New Who. I know that other people might disagree, and that the public’s reception to her certainly hasn’t been unanimously positive, but she has always been one of my favourites. (Even when Moffat rushed her characterisation in Let’s Kill Hitler and A Good Man Goes To War. Even then.)
There are a few things I don’t like about these episodes. In particular, I don’t like the way they deal with the angels. I groaned aloud when the angels moved on camera, and my general sentiment has not changed with time… the angels were misused in these episodes, especially in Flesh and Stone. (Although, the angels random and entirely illogical ability to deadlock a door from several metres away also had me gritting my teeth in The Time Of Angels).
However, the positives of these episodes far outweigh the negatives. Every single moment of interaction between the Doctor and River was perfect, and the plot (for all it misused the monsters) was largely brilliant.
6. The Lodger
There’s a house on Aickman road with a staircase that people go up, but never down. To solve the mystery the Doctor faces his greatest challenge yet - he must pass himself off as normal.
I’m not normally a fan of James Corden, but when I watched The Lodger all of my usual objections just disappeared.
To be entirely fair, my lack of objections probably has more to do with the awesomeness that was Matt Smith in this episode, and less to do with Corden himself, but all in all, that doesn’t stop it from being a good episode.
There were two things that absolutely sold me on The Lodger. First, it was the slower pacing. I always love stories where the pacing is slowed right down and the narrative isn’t struggling to fit inside the forty-five minute time frame without overflowing. In The Lodger it gave Matt Smith a chance to really shine in a way that doesn’t happen in most episodes where the second half is almost entirely taken over by running and screaming.
Second, there was the hint of a larger, untold story behind the time machine on the upper floor of the flat. I’m an absolute sucker for stories with that sort of teasing cliff-hanger and they’ll catch me every time.
5. The Impossible Astronaut/The Day Of The Moon
The Doctor dies on a beach in Utah, only to reappear soon after, two hundred years younger and with no knowledge of his fate.
I hesitated over the positioning of these episodes for a long time. Part of me doesn’t think they deserved to be so high up the list… but part of me really wants to send them higher.
The part of me that thinks they belong further down (near The Time Of The Angels) is frustrated at all the wasted potential. These episodes were so amazing that I fully expected Moffat’s follow through, when it came, to be just as good. Unfortunately, that was emphatically not the case, and so now I can’t help but be slightly bitter when rewatching them. They were so good. Why did all that potential have to go to waste?
However, the part of me that thinks they need to be higher on the list is willing to recognise (without bitterness) that they were absolutely amazing episodes in their own right, and insists that they shouldn’t be marred by what came later.
In the end, I chose to compromise and place it here at number five.
4. Hide
Something terrifying is hiding in Caliburn House, causing the Doctor and Clara to embark on a ghost hunt.
I’m a little sad that this is the only episode with Clara that makes it on the list… but at least it’s a doozy.
Hide did almost everything right in terms of character,atmosphere and dialogue. It was genuinely scary when it needed to be scary, and touching when it needed to be touching. It absolutely deserves to be in the top ten.
My only complaint is that the end undercut the rest of the episode to an extent that left me rather unhappy. But still, it was a great episode, and definitely the episode that showed me how well Clara and the Eleventh Doctor could be when working together.
3. The Eleventh Hour
The Doctor has regenerated into a brand-new man, but danger strikes before he can even recover. He has 20 minutes to save the whole world - and only Amy Pond to help him
A near perfect introduction for the Eleventh Doctor, this episode pretty much tops my rewatchability scale. I never skip this episode when rewatching the season. Not ever.
Overall this episode was the one that proved to me that Matt Smith was made to play the Doctor. In it, he’s so very perfect from start to finish in a way that is actually gobsmacking when you think about it. You’d expect - with this being the first episode - that it would show some of the same teething issues that were displayed in The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks, but… it doesn’t.
The Doctor that Matt Smith plays in the Eleventh Hour is every inch the Doctor that he goes on to play during his entire tenure in the TARDIS.
(The only negative thing I have to say about this episode is that the monster plot is a bit ho-hum, but given all the awesome to be found in every other aspect, that actually doesn’t matter. Not a bit.)
2. Amy’s Choice
It’s been five years since Amy Pond last travelled with the Doctor, or has it? On the eve of the birth of her first child, Amy finds herself facing a heartbreaking choice - one that will change her life for ever.
I watched Amy’s Choice back-to-back the first time I got my hands on it. The first time it was good. After all, the story was gripping, the villain was truly villainous, and the acting was superb. But the second time? The second time it was awesome.
The reveal at the end of Amy’s Choice - that the Dream Lord is actually feeding off the Doctor to create the danger - is one that seems a bit ‘oh, well, that’s nice’ at first glance. It ties the whole thing up neatly and that’s about that. But… if you rewatch it and really start thinking about the implications, then it lifts the story to a whole new level.
The title is deceptive - it makes you think the story is about Amy and her choice. But it’s not about that at all. This episode is all about what’s going on beneath the surface. It’s about the Doctor, pure and simple.
For a brilliant review of the episode, which articulates much better than I do why Amy’s Choice is just the most awesome thing ever, visit androzani and read it here.
1. The God Complex
The TARDIS lands in what looks like an ordinary hotel, but the walls move, corridors twist and rooms vanish and there is a room for every visitor. A room that contains their deepest, darkest fears. Fears that will hurt them. Fears that will see them dead.
Among other things this episode had one of the best characters ever introduced for a single episode of Doctor Who: I think that everyone who watched this episode wanted Rita resurrected and travelling in the TARDIS (I know that I would have paid good money to see it happen). It also wasn’t afraid to step into dangerous territory, and speak about fear and faith in a way that was genuinely confronting. Both of these things would have pushed this episode into the top ten for me, but neither of them is actually why this episode is, almost hands down, my favourite.
This is my favourite because, to me, it is actually at the heart of the Eleventh Doctor’s story. It is the episode in which the myth of The Lonely God is dismantled over and over again - first in Rita’s calm rejection of the Doctor as a saviour, and again later as Amy loses her faith in him.
There are holes in the plot, and a couple of ‘why all the rubber?’ moments when you finally see the minotaur, but the episode overcomes that because it’s about so much more than the monster in the end.
In fact, it’s hardly about the ‘real’ monster at all. It’s actually about those monsters we create for ourselves. The ones we let dictate our actions, and which we are helpless to stop because the monsters aren’t monsters at all - they’re us.
The God Complex only just scraped onto this list above Amy’s Choice - mainly because the setting, the atmosphere, and the other characters all worked so well for me - but I feel like it’s right that they should be sitting next to one another. Both The God Complex and Amy’s Choice belong together because they’re about so much more than they appear to be at first viewing. The entire plot of Amy’s Choice was driven by the Doctor’s subconscious, and the same thing is happens in The God Complex where everything is driven by the characters’ faith and fears.
Both Amy’s Choice and The God Complex explore the characters in a way that actually digs beneath the surface and tells the audience something more. You have to work for it - the revelations aren’t obvious or easily accessible on the first viewing - but if you’re willing to take the time to think through some of the implications of things that happen throughout the episodes then you’ll be rewarded.