Spoilers Doctor Who 2024 (spoilers)

[Hussar]

Meh. It’s fun and it makes me smile.

That’s about all I ask from any entertainment.

 

[overgeeked]

Again, it's a children's show. A clever 10-year-old gets to feel clever when they solve the anagram. It's not there to stump or impress the adults.

 

[ART!]

Regarding the anagrams and wordplay, with The Doctor having let supernatural stuff back in the universe (or let it run more rampant) maybe words are powerful and the supernatural beings are bound to them. There's a load of precedent for that in mythology, fairy stories, etc.

 

[Ryujin]

Regarding the anagrams and wordplay, with The Doctor having let supernatural stuff back in the universe (or let it run more rampant) maybe words are powerful and the supernatural beings are bound to them. There's a load of precedent for that in mythology, fairy stories, etc.

"True Names", for example, in book series like Earthsea. Binding demons by their True Names in mythology.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I’m sure the issue of True Names has featured in Doctor Who before, but I can’t remember where.

 

[Hussar]

I’m sure the issue of True Names has featured in Doctor Who before, but I can’t remember where.

Well, there's the whole "you must never tell your real name" thing that the Doctor has had going on for years.

 

[Tonguez]

I’m sure the issue of True Names has featured in Doctor Who before, but I can’t remember where.

The Shakespeare Code Doctor Tennant v Carrionites, a witch race from the Dark Times (Time Lord prehistory) who use names in Shakespears lost play to open a portal to the Deeper Darkness

 

[MarkB]

I’m sure the issue of True Names has featured in Doctor Who before, but I can’t remember where.

I feel like there was some of it in The Curse of Fenric, and also an older UNIT-era story I can't remember the name of - the one with the living gargoyle, and the Brigadier ordering "Chap with wings - five rounds rapid!"

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I feel like there was some of it in The Curse of Fenric, and also an older UNIT-era story I can't remember the name of - the one with the living gargoyle, and the Brigadier ordering "Chap with wings - five rounds rapid!"

The Daemons (AKA Dennis Wheatley wants his plot back). I think it’s alluded too, but not a significant plot point.

 

[Guest 85555]

Is it, though? Naming all your villains with anagrams is clever? Or is it... a bit dumb?

Why would they do that? Darth Vader isn't called "MillFal Conellium" for good reasons. It makes no sense. TRD pulled the same trick with Professor Yana ('You Are Not Alone') -- why would the Master call himself an acronym of a thing that an alien said to the Doctor 11 episode ago? Is that clever? Is that a "plot*?

I dunno. I think the more times RTD does this same thing, the less convincing it is. 'Bad Wolf' still makes no sense, for the exact same reason. He confuses sprinkled wordplay with plot.

I am currently watching the early seasons again with my wife (she hasn't seen them before). It is interesting watching them with her point of view and I am also watching the episodes with my own fresh perspective. On this point I have noticed the same thing this time around. It really stands out as one of the things about the show in a way that feels kind of silly. It would be one thing if the puzzle made sense in world, but like you say it is just this random thing because an alien said something 11 episodes ago. Also when we got to Daleks in Manhattan and my wife saw the first Dalek show up her response was "Again?!?!?". She loved the Shakespeare Episode but she seems to be more of an Eccleston fan than a Tennant fan.

We are on the Martha Jones episodes now (I really liked her as a companion).