Series Finale: Doctor Who.

I have literally just finished watching the series finale of Doctor Who, titled 'The Name Of The Doctor'.

I found out a few weeks ago that the original title of the episode was to be 'The Funeral Of River Song', which devastated me! This seemed to be confirmed with the apparition of a tombstone for River at the start of today's episode. Although there was no physical death of River in tonight's episode, the emotional episode between her and the Doctor (shown above) was pretty heartbreaking and seems to signal an end to River Song's time in Doctor Who episodes.

This episode depicted the journey to Trenzalore, the Doctor's final resting place; he is forced there by Richard E. Grant's character 'The Great Intelligence' (you will remember him from the Christmas special, set in Victorian England). The Great Intelligence threatened the lives of those closest to the Doctor in order to get what he wanted: eternal revenge. What confused me was why this character had such an obsession with reaping revenge on the Doctor. As far as I was aware, the only time this character has met the Doctor was the Christmas special, so it seemed a bit far-fetched (I understand that that's usually the point of Doctor Who) that he was so ruthless in gaining revenge. After the episode however, I was told The Great Intelligence had been an enemy of the Doctor since approximately 1967, so maybe it does make a bit more sense now (but only to people who were alive then!).

Another thing which was a bit too far fetched for me was the unscathed nature of the Doctor and his life, apparently, after stepping into his own time stream to save Clara at the end of the episode. I understand time travel isn't possible or anything, but surely that would seriously screw the Doctor up?

For me, this episode didn't have enough action in it; the whole 'will he won't he' debarcle of getting the Doctor to Trenzalore was ridiculous because we already knew it was going to happen. This series has definitely been a turning point for the franchise, as it is more focused on humour and relationships rather than actual aliens/baddies/action. I picked this up from the first episode of this series (which you can read my review for here). I'm really unsure as to whether this is a good move, as the main audience for Doctor Who seems to be children, particularly boys. Will they really understand the concept of a lesbian lizard and Victorian woman? Will they care? I doubt it. 

I was sorely disappointed at the revelation of the Doctor's 'big' secret being the identity of John Hurt as an additional Doctor. Hurt told the press this himself weeks ago! It felt like a bit of a cop-out building up so much anticipation for common knowledge; I think we were all hoping the Doctor's name would actually be revealed.

Despite all this moaning, I am still phenomenally excited for the 50th anniversary episode, due for broadcast in November. I'm desperately hoping that the injection of previous loved faces, included David Tennant and Billie Piper, will be the much needed shake up that Doctor Who needs.

Catch up on the final episode of Doctor Who here.