The Doctor and Amy meet Vincent Van Gogh. Our TARDIS file tracks the provenance of Vincent and the Doctor. And what did you think? A masterpiece? Or outsider art? Comment in the comments section. And remember (yes, all of you who watched the Season Finale in Britain and elsewhere tonight): NO SPOILERS for future stories not broadcast in North America.
Posted by Graeme on Sunday, June 27 at 1:00 am
Rise And Fall (Spring 2011 season reviews): Enlightenment reviews the stories from Season… um, it’s 6.1 this year, right? Plus:
We’ve had a number of queries from members regarding the delayed publication of Enlightenment this year. The DWIN Executive wants to share the following message concerning Enlightenment with DWIN members. Read more
For the first time in Canada, the Doctor Who Christmas Special will actually air on Christmas Day! December 25 at 9pm
Following the wedding at the top of an Ancient Ameri-Egyptian Pyramid, you are now cordially invited to attend the reception below…
The TARDIS Files are popping in to see an old friend before they have to go…
15 Comments...
Beautifully done episode, and a true respite from the awful news coming out of Toronto today. I’m not too concerned about the historical issues - if anyone thinks Doctor Who is a history textbook, they need professional help! - as the TARDIS File correctly states, it’s all about the person. I’m glad the episode didn’t dwell on Rory’s death - it was pretty clearly indicated the Doctor is trying to somehow make it up to Amy by taking her to a bunch of cool places. I don’t know if it was intended, but I thought the birds we saw Vincent painting at the start looked quite a bit like the Crack. That was my big worry about the episode—I really didn’t want something weird like Vincent Van Gogh being erased from history to happen. I thought it was well done. And what about uncredited (!) Bill Nighy as the guy in the museum! What a cool cameo, and I wonder if the references to bowties and the like wasn’t a sly dig at the fact that Nighy was once a candidate to play the Doctor!
Posted by Alex on 06/27 at 02:32 AM
I have cried twice before for Doctor Who - once, briefly, when Donna “died”, and once when Ten regenerated into Eleven. Never before have I cried over TV the way I did for this episode. The scene of Van Gogh in the Musee D’Orsay was so overwhelmingly emotional it really surprised me, and touched me so that I am still struggling for words to describe it.
This is easily my favourite episode of the season so far, and it could very well become my favourite ever. I’ve never been one of those fans who’s into Doctor Who for the sci-fi aspects (not to say that I don’t enjoy them, they’re just not my primary focus), I’ve always watched it for the human side of things.
Van Gogh became such a rounded character, more so than any of the historical figures we’ve met before. I loved how they handled Van Gogh’s mental health - sensitively yet with real depth to it. And his symbolically vanquishing his inner demons with his art (by killing the Krayafis with his easel) was a nice touch.
Posted by Pharaoh on 06/27 at 06:26 PM
Every episode so far has harkened back to a Tom Baker episode as was last night. The “crack in time” was similar to the “Key of Time” episodes.
Tom Baker even did an art episode.
Posted by Bill Hayes on 06/27 at 10:58 PM
This was absolutely brilliant. Definitely my favourite episode of this series, and very high on my list among all Who stories ever.
Why? So many many reasons. But the bottom line is, that for the first time this series I became so caught up in a character that I cried. And it doesn’t take much for me to let loose the waterworks, I was always getting teary over Ten and his companions. But what’s so significant here is that as said, it hadn’t happened yet this series (although I almost did for Rory), and it wasn’t The Doctor or Rose or Donna I was crying over, it was a “guest” character. In only 45 minutes, Vincent became as important to me as almost anyone has before.
This wasn’t a Who episode. Okay well yes it was, but it didn’t have to be. It was a story about a few days in the life of one tormented man that just happened to be framed within an episode of Doctor Who. Tony Curran was absolutely perfect. Richard Curtis’ story was absolutely perfect.
Of course there was a lot of poetic license taken with the character, but considering there’s nobody alive today who can say how right or wrong the character turned out, it doesn’t matter. All I know is that I’ve been left with the feeling that I know a little bit more about someone from history (whether I really do or not), and I’ve got an intense desire to find a print of ‘A Starry Night’ for my wall! (Kudos too, to The Mill - I presume - for that fabulous sequence when the night sky transformed.)
And as everyone has said, the scene of Vincent in the museum, with the accompanying music, was so perfect that no words were needed. The look on Vincent’s face said everything. I can’t say it enough - to get an actor like Tony Curran who was able to convincingly portray every emotion under the sun(flowers! haha!), and look so much like the real Van Gogh - what a stroke of luck or genius or both.
The chicken-dinosaur-alien which sounded like an elephant and galloped like a horse would have been a bit laughable if it was the main focus of an episode, but as the embodiment of Vincent’s fears,and the means to an end to move the story - it worked just fine.
It was lovely to see this Doctor in a situation where, chicken-alien or not, his focus ended up being on the well-being of another person. Another step on the road to regaining his own ‘humanity’ that seemed to be missing after the regeneration, but thankfully has been coming back bit by bit over recent episodes.
Even Amy was enjoyable in the Vincent scenes and the museum scenes, although she fell backwards somewhat into her usual wide-eyed sarcasm when the monster was around. And speaking of Amy, (perhaps this is just how my mind works!), but where and how did she spend the night? The Doctor trotted off to find the creature and go back to the TARDIS for his machine, and in the morning when he returned Vincent had been in his bed so it’s not as if they were up all night, er, just talking….so where did she sleep in that little place? Ahem.
Bill Nighy - what a gem. He took a tiny cameo that could have been played by anyone, really, and made it into an integral part of the story. And his final “no, it couldn’t have been” moment was the icing on the cake.
Niggly bits (that weren’t near enough to take any enjoyment away - but I’ll mention them nevertheless):
- Vincent was sitting waaaay too close to the church to paint it from the perspective he gives it in the actual painting.
- If the TARDIS has the perception filter that prevents people from taking any notice of it, then why was it papered in local advertising of the time? Or, if the filter wasn’t working for some reason, why did the locals just cover it with flyers instead of wondering what on earth this strange out-of-place thing was?
- And on a related note, if the TARDIS translation thingy was obviously working (due to the accents comment), then why did The Doctor have so much trouble understanding the chicken-alien, and why couldn’t Amy understand it?
And finally, this is a really geeky thing to point out and no doubt means nothing to anyone except to me - but in the museum, the sculpture that was just outside the entrance to the Van Gogh gallery was Rodin’s “The Kiss”....which just happens to (supposedly) be one of David Tennant’s favourite works of art.
Posted by Julie on 06/28 at 12:39 AM
Can I just add myself to those who were blown away by Bill Nighy’s performance? That man is truely a chamelon, if I didn’t know him, I wouldn’t be able to say that it was one of the best guest parts ever!
I’ve said before that I’m a fan of Richard Curtis’ work, and I wasn’t let down.
I can’t comment too much else on the episode, as I’m sure I didn’t see it all. The Space Website has been causing me problems lately, and I never saw the opening credits. I have no idea how the Doctor and Amy got to Van Gogh, what brought them to him, etc. If I get the chance to rewatch it (they have been quick to repair episodes when I’ve voiced objections before), I’m sure I won’t leave you alone with your praises of the episode. I was told that it was critically acclaimed in the UK, and from what I saw, it was!
The full episode I’m sure, will be one of the best of this series!
Posted by Rachel on 06/28 at 03:56 AM
Brilliant episode, of course. I was very glad to see the Doctor do something even Ten failed to do: to show Vincent that he would be remembered, as opposed to what usually tends to happen with historical figures (Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens…). The way Vincent could see things that others couldn’t (including Amy’s sadness, which even she couldn’t recognize) was beautifully executed. And, yes, Bill Nighy’s cameo was fantastic, too. One thing that bothered me – the Doctor said that Vincent wasn’t a “proper” painter in the TARDIS, but later called him the greatest painter who ever lived. (???) Still, the low points were hardly enough to taint the episode.
Posted by Demosthenes on 06/29 at 02:25 AM
If I may add to my comments earlier, the more I think about this episode, the more I am coming to the opinion that Stephen Fry was clueless when he dismissed Doctor Who as a children’s program a few weeks ago. He clearly hasn’t seen this episode—it is NOT a kid’s episode. It raised mature, intelligent issues and touched on elements of darkness and light a six year old wouldn’t understand. I heard the original UK broadcast ended by displaying the number of a suicide hotline (someone who saw the UK version can perhaps confirm this). This definitely wasn’t a case of a show handling anything in a juvenile way. We still have 3 episodes to go, but in my opinion this will be DW’s major Hugo contender next year. And, frankly, if it doesn’t get an Emmy nomination of some sort (for Tony Curran’s performance, if nothing else), it will confirm Emmy’s alleged anti-SF bias. But then, there was no excuse for Emmy to have ignored Girl in the Fireplace and Blink, either (not when UK shows are regularly nominated).
Posted by Alex on 06/29 at 02:53 PM
It did Alex, you’re right (about the public service announcement at the end, in the UK - it said something like “if you have been affected by what you have just seen…” etc).
I was actually surprised there was nothing similar here because it definitely was very powerful subject matter.
And like you, I can’t stop thinking about the episode. One of the best pieces of television I’ve seen in quite a while - of ANY programme!
Posted by Julie on 06/30 at 12:18 PM
At first I wasn’t wowed by this episode. The story itself didn’t interest me, and it seemed like there wasn’t much effort put toward it. By the end, I was loving the episode. Like the earlier episodes, the episode centered around the actor’s proformance and quirks. The one that really stands out is Van Gogh. The episode seemed like an tribute to Van Gogh, but in a good way. The episode was really touching, uplifting almost. I think the message was that everyone has a unique talent and is special in some way.I wouldn’t mind if they did more episodes like this, if they could maintain the level of quality, but I don’t want the stories to fall by the way side. All in all, great episode. Why must we wait another 2 weeks for the next one?
Posted by Mr.E on 07/01 at 02:59 AM
I don’t know how many of you will read this, it being a fairly old blog post, but if you do, I have some terrible news. This could just be rumours, or maybe everyone already knows this and I was just slow to find out, but apparently, they’re going to make a Doctor Who movie starring Johnny Depp. It will be written by Russell T. Davies and will be released sometime in 2012. The Daleks are said to make an appearance, and the storyline will be something along the lines of the Doctor going back in time to cure illnesses such as the bubonic plague with a crew of volunteers. This is not set in stone, and it may not even happen, but personally, this sounds pretty dire to me. Help!
Posted by Demosthenes on 07/02 at 10:01 PM
Don’t worry Demo, it won’t happen. Johnny Depp is an excellant actor, but he would make a horrible Doctor, not to metion he’s too well known to play the part. Also if there were DW movie being made, wouldn’t Matt Smith be the cast as the Doctor? In any case it’s only a silly internet rumor, like the one about Johnny Depp as the Riddler in the next Batman movie.
Posted by Mr.E on 07/03 at 04:42 PM
That’s a relief. We will hope for the best, then.
Posted by Demosthenes on 07/03 at 09:09 PM
anyone else notice the reference to being the “time lord victorious”?
after vincent says he didn’t mean to kill the krafayis the doctor says “sometimes winning is no fun at all”
Posted by ari Goldberg on 07/04 at 04:26 PM
No, I didn’t Ari but that’s a good observation. The saying is also a good one in life, the battles we fight the hardest to win end up costing too much and make us question if it was worth it. But that’s off-topic.
Posted by Mr.E on 07/04 at 05:59 PM
It’s interesting to watch the last 6 years as a progression from wounded, hands-off Doctor (9th) through to cocky Time Lord victorious (10th) and finally the somewhat disencumbered persona of the 11th who seems to have learned from his journey.
Posted by Scott on 07/04 at 07:27 PM
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