“You wait a moment, Doctor. Let’s get it right. I’ve got a few things to say to you. Basic stuff first.”
“Never be cruel, never be cowardly. And never eat pears! Remember – hate is always foolish …. and love is always wise.”
“Always try to be nice and never fail to be kind. Oh, and …. you mustn’t tell anyone your name. No-one would understand it anyway. Except …. “
“Except …. children. Children can hear it. Sometimes …. if their hearts are in the right place, and the stars are too. Children can hear your name.”
“But nobody else. Nobody else. Ever.”
“Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.”
“Doctor – I let you go.”
The BBC aired the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special last Monday. Titled “Twice Upon a Time” this Special promised to be the end for the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi, as he was fatally blasted by a Cyberman in the last season finale, “The Doctor Falls”. It was a great send off for a Doctor that I feel started with his first season being a very mixed bag, but by the time he hit his second season he started to really find his groove.
This final adventure for the 12th Doctor found him stumbling upon the very first Doctor (played by the great David Brinkley (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and Strain) who is also trying to delay Regeneration. The pair find themselves in the clutches of a strange new enemy that calls itself Testimony. We also get to see the last Companion, Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) one more time, even though she died in the previous episode when she was transformed into a Cyberman. I really like Pearl Mackie a lot. It’s a shame she only had one season as she brought a breath of fresh air to the series. Why anyone would sign up to be one of the Doctor’s Companions, though, is beyond me. They usually end up either dead, lost in time, or stranded in a parallel universe.
“Twice Upon a Time” may not have had a lot of action in it, but it was the perfect send-off for Capaldi. His speech towards the end of the episode when he finally resigns himself to Regeneration is now officially my favorite Doctor speech in the history of the show. I transposed it in full at the beginning of this column. Also, seeing our first look at the 13th Doctor, Jodie Whitaker, the first female Doctor, was so exciting! The first words out of her mouth, “Oh, brilliant!” was a stroke of genius.
So, in honor Peter Calaldi’s passing into Doctor Who lore, I decided to submit for your approval, the 5 best episodes of his tenure as this iconic character:
5. “The Magician’s Apprentice” – Season 9, Episode 1
The Doctor: “If someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator that destroyed millions of lives, could you then kill that child?”
Capaldi’s second season as the Doctor was a great turning point for his run as everyone’s favorite Time Lord. The episode opens on a young boy in middle of a war-torn planet, his life about to end. We come to find out that this boy is actually Davros, the inventor of the Daleks and the Doctor will have a choice to not save him and in the process prevent billions of lives from being “exterminated” by his greatest enemies, or show compassion for a child that has no knowledge of who he will become.
4. “World Enough and Time” – Season 10, Episode 11
The Master: “Hello, Missy. I’m the Master. I’m very worried about my future. Give us a kiss.”
This is the penultimate episode of Capaldi’s final season and it was a brilliant one. The Doctor and his friends (plus Missy (a fantastic Michelle Gomez)) find themselves on a ship, stranded beside a black hole. Because of its proximity to the black hole, the further you move to the rear of the ship, time moves much faster. When Bill finds herself trapped at the rear with a strange man, she spends a lifetime watching the Doctor slowly move across a control room, unaware that she has been remade as a Cyberman and that her odd companion is actually The Master in his former incarnation. It was great to see John Simm return as the Doctor’s archenemy. This episode is pure, timey-wimey Doctor Who at its finest.
3. “Listen” – Season 8, Episode 4
Clara: “So listen. If you listen to nothing else, listen to this. You’re always gonna be afraid even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion. A constant companion, always there. But that’s ok. Because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home. I’m gonna leave you something, just so you’ll always remember. Fear makes companions of us all.”
The only truly great episode of Capaldi’s first season, this episode saw Clara (Jenna Coleman) and the Doctor traveling into through time into the childhood of Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) and other moments throughout his time stream, including a future descendent of his in space. The duo then finds themselves traveling the Doctor’s own childhood where Clara actually teaches the young Doctor a lesson about fear. It was very cool to get a brief glimpse at the origins of the Doctor.
2. “The Doctor Falls” – Season 10, Episode 12
The Doctor: “Hey! I’m going to be dead in a few hours, so before I go, let’s have this out. You and me, once and for all. Winning? Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I’m not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It’s not because it’s fun. God knows it’s not because it’s easy. It’s not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it’s right! Because it’s decent! And above all, it’s kind! It’s just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live – maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, maybe there’s no point in any of this, at all. But it’s the best I can do, so I’m going to do it. And I will stand here doing it until it kills me. You’re going to die too, someday. When will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?”
The season finale that would prove to be the final regular season episode for Capaldi. The Doctor, still stuck on the ship from “World Enough and Time”, must mount a defense to protect innocents against a unbeatable army of Cybermen. Capaldi’s speech at the end of the episode is quintessential Steven Moffat. It boils down everything about the Doctor and why he does what he does into one memorable monologue. Also, seeing Missy and the Master together is awesome.
1 . “Heaven Sent” – Season 9, Episode 11
The Doctor: “It’s funny, the day you lose someone isn’t the worst – at least you’ve got something to do – it’s all the days they stay dead.”
Not only the best Peter Capaldi episode, but one of the best episodes of Doctor Who you can watch, “Heaven Sent” is a play on a Groundhog Day type narrative. Immediately after the apparent death of Clara, the Doctor finds himself transported and trapped inside of some sort of castle stuck in some sort of time loop. With a mysterious creature hot on his trail, the Doctor must relive the same series moments over and over again for a billion years as he slowly wears down a near impregnable wall by punching it with his bare fists. This a prime example of how a clever writer makes excellent use of all of interesting stories one can tell with a character like the Doctor. Capaldi spends most of this episode alone and it is his finest work as the legendary character.
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