The Best Pre-Title Sequences of the Revival (Part 3)
Guest contributor Sam Glover concludes the countdown.
10. Turn Left
“You have red hair. The reading is free for red hair.” NO DONNA. DON’T DO IT. The fortune teller (who, incidentally, is played by the same actress (Chipo Chung) who played Chantho in “Utopia”) is easily identifiable as a villain, and we’re all willing Donna away and back into the throngs ASAP. But she follows, the noise of the market vanishes behind the claustrophobic curtains and there’s a tiny scuttling noise… Flitting between the POV of some creepy-crawly (quite a large one, it turns out) and the increasingly agitated fortune teller, we learn a bit more of Donna’s past via an all-too-believable row between Donna and her mum. Back in the curtained-room Donna has begun to realise that something is awry but late, far too late, as she’s back in the car, back in the past, changing history… It’s such a fantastic premise. It’s fast, vital and disturbing as hell.
9. A Good Man Goes To War
Off the back of the jaw-dropping cliffhanger from preceding episode “The Almost People”, we are introduced in this episode with Amy Pond describing a man who sounds suspiciously like the Doctor as the father of her new born child. There’s a shadowy figure with a sonic screwdriver, running around a Cyber-ship. Surely there hasn’t been an affair? Of course not. It’s Rory – the “last centurion”, and he’s about to have one of the most badass speeches of Doctor Who:
Rory: “I have a message and a question. A message from the Doctor and a question from me. Where – is – my – wife? Oh don’t give me those blank looks. The twelfth Cyber Legion monitors this entire quadrant. You hear everything. So you tell me what I need to know. You tell me now and I’ll be on my way.”
Cyberman: “What is the Doctor’s message?”
MASSIVE GOD-DAMN EXPLOSIONS
Rory (who hasn’t flinched): “Would you like me to repeat the question?”
Epic stuff. Arthur Darvill is awesome, isn’t he?
8. The Wedding of River Song
The mildly divisive Series 6 finale cannot be accused of having a poor opening. Well, it could, but pipe down because I’m strongly disagreeing. It’s visually very impressive (pterodactyls in London, cars flying underneath balloons, a train emerging half way up the Gherkin), has lovely flourishes of humour (“do not feed the pterodactyls”) and is completely batpoo crazy. We’ve got those dinosaurs and flying cars followed immediately by a Roman chariot, a newspaper headline regarding the War of the Roses, Charles Dickens himself gracing the BBC Breakfast sofa and then good old Winston Churchill proclaimed as the “Holy Roman Emperor” living in Buckingham Palace. Oh, and he’s being tended to by a Silurian physician. When finally the Doctor arrives from incarceration at the Tower of London he’s in chains and fully bearded – much like he was back in “Day of the Moon”. And when good old Winston asks the question we’re all wondering (“What has happened to time?”) the Doctor’s response is as equally left-field as that episode. A woman indeed. And we all know which one…
7. Dark Water
Whilst death is prevalent throughout Doctor Who and companions are no strangers to suffering (poor Rory), I don’t think many people expected for Mr Danny Pink to snuff it before the credits had chimed in. And it hurts. Clara has been building up to telling Danny something massive (speculated on in far better detail here by Michael Conway) but, before she can, he’s abruptly uprooted from the human race. We’re left with the devastating moment of Clara running to the accident site only for it to be revealed that the accident happened sometime before. It’s heart-breaking. But then we get to the crux of how the episode would proceed. Something we’d all consider if we had access to a TARDIS. Could we save a dearly-departed loved one?
6. The Stolen Earth
Following the return of a certain Rose Tyler in the previous episode the beginning of Series 4’s two-part finale plays out as a greatest hits of modern Doctor Who companions. We’ve got Martha. We’ve got Torchwood. We’ve got Sarah Jane (and family). We’ve got Wilfred. We’ve got, err, a milkman. And then there she is, large as life, Miss Tyler is here! It may be only just the beginning, but WHAT a beginning it is. Clearly everything has gone mad, with all references pointing to something in the sky. I’m not sure many would’ve predicted the pantheon of glorious planets suddenly swaying through the heavens, and it is a remarkable sight.
Oh, and it probably wins the award for “most names in the introduction”. I hope you’re all fast readers as there were SIX to get through (and they missed out Bernard Cribbins, Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd).
5. Listen
I wholeheartedly agree with the DWTV community who voted Listen as having the best pre-credit sequence in Series 8. It’s utterly unique and has some fantastic visual effects. I particularly love the sight of the Doctor in his TARDIS observing fish at the bottom of the sea but, as was summed up much more eloquently in the poll results, what makes this scene so memorable is its view into the psyche of the Doctor when he’s alone. What does he do? He hypothesises. He speculates. He gets paranoid. And it’s fascinating. This is taken a step further when a piece of chalk rolls across the floor, and the Doctor’s question to the perfectly evolved hiders (“what would you do?”) is very simple and very, very creepy.
4. The Pandorica Opens
At SEVEN minutes I almost feel this shouldn’t be included as it’s pretty much a minisode in itself, but it’s just too brilliant to ignore. Bringing back Liz Ten, Vincent Van Gogh, Winston Churchill and River Song (who is, by turns, thief, graffiti artist and Cleopatra), it’s packed with smile-broadening moments. It’s the sort of sequence that just fills you with joy; by the time it reaches a conclusion with a picture of an exploding TARDIS that Cheshire Cat grin on your face is pretty much unmovable.
3. The Big Bang
It really was touch and go which way around the two parts of Series 5’s finale were going to fit on this list, but “The Big Bang” edges it on the strength of the words “OK Kid: this is where it gets complicated.” Whoooooosh *theme music* Out of all the moments on the list, it’s possibly the best timed theme music start. You get the tiniest moment to take it in, the ridiculous sight of the supposedly dead Amy Pond sat on the spot where the Doctor was supposedly-trapped-forever, before in comes the music. Cue dropped-jaws across the world. And during all this we get a Doctor in a fez, the return of the frankly marvellous Caitlin Blackwood as little Amelia Pond, and a tour of the National Museum. And it all begins following a re-cap culminating in the explosion of every star in the universe, and the words 1,894 years later appear on screen. Then Amelia is praying to Santa again, back from the Eleventh Hour. What?
2. The Night of the Doctor
“I’m a Doctor. But probably not the one you’re expecting.”
I’m just going to let that quote sit there for a minute. Take all the time you need to get that grin off your face. Seriously, I’ll wait…
One of the best moments of a year bursting with showstoppers was the surprise return of eighth Doctor Paul McGann. Teased as containing one of Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt (oh Moffat, you tease) it was absolutely gob-smacking when Mr McGann pops up to help the pilot of a crashing spaceship. I can’t have been the only one who punched the air. It’s only half a minute in length (to be fair, the episode’s not even eight minutes long in total) but it’s worth it just for those last ten seconds alone.
1. The Name of the Doctor
“OH MY GOD IT’S HARTNELL CLARA WHAT ARE YOU DOING AHHHH IT’S BAKER IT’S THE OTHER BAKER IT’S MCCOY IT’S PERTWEE (and Bessie!) IT’S TROUGHTON IT’S DAVISON IT’S, oh, it’s Smith, but HOLY POO! WHAT’S GOING ON?!”
Was anything else ever going to win this? Not for me. It was pretty much the catalyst for this list. It’s breath-taking storytelling that’s completely out of the blue. It shows us Gallifrey properly for the first time since “The End of Time” revs up the already fascinating mystery of Clara Oswald to ridiculous heights and, best of all, gives us classic Doctors. It’s a bit like the “all thirteen!” scene in Day of the Doctor, it was written squarely as a treat for the fans and boy does it deliver in spades.
Here’s hoping for more such moments in Series 9. I wonder if Missy will show up in time to break through Capaldi’s eyebrows in the credits…
