218 –"A Good Man Goes to War" | |||
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Doctor Who episode | |||
Cast | |||
Others
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Production | |||
Directed by | Peter Hoar | ||
Written by | Steven Moffat | ||
Produced by | Marcus Wilson | ||
Executive producer(s) |
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Music by | Murray Gold | ||
Production code | 2.7 | ||
Series | Series 6 | ||
Running time | 50 minutes | ||
First broadcast | 4 June 2011 | ||
Chronology | |||
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"A Good Man Goes to War" is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who , and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 June 2011. It served as a mid-series finale. The episode was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Peter Hoar.
The episode follows the cliffhanger of "The Almost People", which reveals Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) had been operating a Flesh duplicate of herself and is in fact held in a remote location and about to give birth. Alien time traveller the Doctor (Matt Smith) and Amy's husband, Rory (Arthur Darvill), muster an army of allies and set out to find both Amy and her child, a girl named Melody Pond.
The episode reveals the recurring character River Song (Alex Kingston) is Amy and Rory's child. River's identity was kept in top secrecy, and only a few members of the cast and crew were issued the correct ending of the script. The beginning of the episode contained many different locations which were challenging for the production team. The main setting, Demons Run, was filmed in a military base and hangar in Cardiff. "A Good Man Goes to War" was watched by 7.57 million viewers in the United Kingdom and received an Appreciation Index of 88. Critical reception was positive, and the episode was nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).
On 28 May 2011, immediately following the broadcast of "The Almost People", the BBC released a prequel to "A Good Man Goes to War". The prequel had Dorium talking to two Headless Monks. He gives them the brain of a Judoon, which contains a security protocol the monks need. Dorium tells them he knows what they are up to, as he has heard rumours around the area. He asks them, "All this, to imprison one child? Oh, I know what you're up to, I hear everything in this place. I even hear rumours about whose child you've taken. Are you mad? You know the stories about the Doctor? The things that man has done? God help us if you make him angry!" [1]
The Eleventh Doctor and Rory have discovered Amy, Rory's wife and the Doctor's companion, has been abducted from them and her place taken by an avatar made from "the Flesh", a semi-sentient shape-shifting material. The Doctor tracks Amy's location to an asteroid base called "Demons Run" (or "Demon's Run"), and he and Rory gather several of his allies to attack. Rory tries to convince River Song to help, but she insists that she cannot since this battle is where the Doctor will learn of her true identity.
At Demons Run, Amy has been held by Madame Kovarian, who has taken her infant daughter Melody Pond. Amy befriends human soldier Lorna Bucket, who had met the Doctor before as a child on her home planet; Lorna gives her a good luck token with Melody's name, written in the Gamma Forests' language on it.
Demons run when a good man goes to war,
Night will fall and drown the sun,
When a good man goes to war.
Friendship dies and true love lies,
Night will fall, and the dark will rise,
When a good man goes to war.
Demons run, but count the cost;
The battle's won, but the child is lost.
Aided by additional Silurian and Judoon forces, the Doctor and his allies, who owe him debts, secure the base, find Amy, and reclaim Melody from Kovarian. The Doctor celebrates his victory, but Madame Vastra informs him that Kovarian had been scanning Melody and found traces of Time Lord DNA; she asks if Melody could have been conceived while Amy and Rory were in flight through the Vortex in the TARDIS. The Doctor realises this is what happened.
Lorna arrives too late to warn the group about Kovarian's trap. The TARDIS is blocked by a force field, and her army of Headless Monks attack, killing many Silurians, fatally wounding Strax and Lorna, and beheading Dorium before they can end the battle. Kovarian contacts the Doctor, elated to have been able to fool him twice, and reveals she will use Melody as a weapon against him. She sends a signal to cause Melody, made of Flesh, to disintegrate in Amy's arms, with the real Melody in her possession.
River Song arrives, and the Doctor berates her for not helping. River shows the Doctor Lorna's token for Amy, and the Doctor sets off in the TARDIS excitedly, telling River to return the survivors of the battle home. Amy demands River explain what the Doctor saw. She shows them Lorna's gift with Melody's name on it, and as the TARDIS translation circuits engage, River explains that Lorna's people in the Gamma Forests have no word for "pond", the only water in the forest is the river; the words come out to be "River Song". River reveals she is Amy and Rory's daughter Melody.
The Cybermen that appear in the episode are intended to be from Mondas, rather than the parallel Earth seen in "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel". [2] Rory wears the armour of a Roman centurion, as first seen in "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang." [2] The Fat One and Thin One refer to the Doctor sending the Atraxi away from a planet before calling them back "for a scolding," an incident which took place in "The Eleventh Hour." [2] "The only water in the forest is the river," the phrase River uses to explain why the people of the Gamma Forest translate "Pond" to "River," was first said to Rory by Idris in "The Doctor's Wife." [2] In the seventh series opener "Asylum of the Daleks" it is revealed that Amy's experiences on Demons Run rendered her infertile. [3]
"A Good Man Goes to War" is the seventh episode of series six and also the 777th episode of Doctor Who, but there are no seven puns as the production team did not realise this until after shooting. [4] The episode's idea stemmed from lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat wondering if the Doctor, who was typically a pacifist, could be provoked enough to assemble an army. [5] The Headless Monks were first mentioned in "The Time of Angels", added to that episode's script to help explain the monastic look of the Delirium Archive the Doctor and Amy were visiting. [5] Similar troops also known as "Clerics" appeared in "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone"; [2] Moffat stated it seemed many armies in the future in Doctor Who were of religious origin. [5] The possibility of the English word "doctor" originating from the Doctor was a notion made by Moffat on Usenet in 1995. [6] [2]
Moffat had planned the revelation about River Song "for a long time"; when creating Amy, he chose "Pond" for her last name to create a link. [7] Moffat intended for the "answer to be as complicated as the question". [5] Moffat informed actor Alex Kingston of the secrets of her character at the end of the previous series and she was not allowed to tell anyone; lead actors Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill were unaware of the identity of her character. [8] River's identity was kept in top secrecy; the script read at the read-through had a false ending, and only a select few were issued the real script. [5]
The episode sees the return of several minor characters. Dorium previously appeared in "The Pandorica Opens", while Henry and Toby Avery from "The Curse of the Black Spot" and the Spitfire pilot Danny Boy from "Victory of the Daleks" make cameos. [2] Moffat said he planned to include John Barrowman to reprise his role as Jack Harkness, but Barrowman was busy filming Torchwood: Miracle Day and was unavailable. [9] Originally the episode contained a scene with Ood Sigma, previously seen in "Planet of the Ood", "The Waters of Mars", and "The End of Time", but it was cut from the final episode. [2] Russell T Davies is still listed in the credits for creating the Ood. [2]
"A Good Man Goes to War" began shooting in mid-January 2011. [10] The various sets seen at the beginning of the episode were challenging for the production team. [5] A Cardiff alleyway was dressed to look like a Victorian street for a brief introduction scene with Vastra, while a hotel bar in Cardiff was used for Dorium's nightclub. [5] Demons Run was filmed in a military base and hangar in Cardiff. Steam was added to the set to give it a more spaceship-like feel. [5] The army of clerics was made larger with visual effects. [5] The set used for the chamber Amy was kept in was the same used as the Oval Office in "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon". [5] Baby Melody Pond was played by twins, a common practice used in filming so that one twin can rest while the other is on set. The twins were three months old. [5] Gillan and Darvill were both nervous about holding the infants, but they felt it added to their acting. [5] Gillan stated the episode showed a different side of Amy and thought female viewers would sympathise with her. [11]
The Headless Monks were played by stuntmen, and so the actors were free to improvise on their choreography when fighting them. [5] For the scene in which the hoods of the Headless Monks are pulled back, a shoulderpiece was created for actors who were shorter than the ones who normally portrayed the monks. [5] Dan Starkey, who plays the Sontaran Commander Strax, previously appeared as Sontarans in "The Sontaran Stratagem" / "The Poison Sky" (2008) and "The End of Time" (2010). [2] Neve McIntosh, who played the 19th-century crimefighter Silurian named Madame Vastra, previously played the sisters Alaya and Restac in "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood" (2010). [12] Both Starkey and McIntosh underwent extensive make-up and prosthetics for their characters. [5]
"A Good Man Goes to War" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2011 on BBC One and BBC HD [13] and in the United States on BBC America on 11 June 2011. [14] UK overnight figures showed the episode was watched by 5.5 million viewers, a rise of half a million from the previous week and coming in sixth place for the night. [15] Final consolidated ratings showed the episode was watched by 7.57 million viewers with an audience share of 31%. [16] It achieved an Appreciation Index of 88, the joint highest for the series at time of broadcast. [17]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Digital Spy | [18] |
IGN | 9/10 [19] |
Radio Times | [20] |
SFX | [21] |
The A.V. Club | A- [22] |
"A Good Man Goes to War" received positive reviews from critics. Writing for Radio Times , Patrick Mulkern found the episode surprising, entertaining and a demonstration of Moffat's storytelling skills, noting that the inclusion of various characters added excitement and depth, reminiscent of Seven Samurai (1954) or The Magnificent Seven (1960), and called it "a rather fabulous episode in which Moffat again gets to pull out the big guns". He particularly praised the revelation of River's identity and Kingston's performance for providing "an extraordinary combination of sarcasm/relief/happiness/sadness". He emphasized that the depiction of different sexual orientations challenged stereotypes. [20] IGN's Matt Risley described it as an "epic" mid-series finale which "opened with a grandstanding, wonderfully OTT pre-credits tease and didn't really let up from there". He praised the spectacle and character development, but felt it led to a certain amount of "the odd rushed scene...forgettable supporting [characters], and little opportunity to develop the Headless Monks into anything particularly imposing". [19] Keith Phipps from The A.V. Club hailed it as an exciting, captivating episode that skillfully balances answers and new mysteries, keeping viewers engaged and likely to discuss it for years to come. He saw secondary characters such as Lorna Bucket, Strax, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint contributing to the episode, and Demons Run with its Anglican Marines and Monks adding depth to the setting. He considered Rory's transformation into The Last Centurion to be an intriguing change, adding that River's reveal scene and the emotional weight it brought is beautifully orchestrated and leaves a lasting impression. [22] Dave Golder of SFX felt it "saved" the sixth series and offered "a satisfying slice of fantasy television which ticked lots of boxes: it featured dashing, daring storytelling which was bold and confident; it looked fantastic, there were some hilarious lines and the performance of the star upped his wattage a couple of notches once again". However, he was more critical of the Monks and the direction of the battle at the end. [21] Neela Debnath of The Independent was also favourable, praising the use of the cliffhanger and felt the complicated nature of the episode "draws people more into the show and gets them thinking about it". [23]
Digital Spy's Morgan Jeffery praised the pre-titles sequence, the cast performances, and "a terrific 50 minutes of entertainment". As minor flaws, he felt that Vastra was underdeveloped and that the impact of the Monks was inadequate because "their purpose and origins are never really explained". [18] Similarly, Gavin Fuller of The Daily Telegraph thought that even though the episode was good, there was a lack of significant background motivation for the villains. He also pointed out that the revelation of River being Amy's grown-up child might clash "with a series where loss has often been brushed off as soon as the next couple of episodes". Fuller praised Smith's Doctor, noting the recent shift toward a more serious tone and the authentic portrayal of the Doctor's "awkwardness when discovering the truth about River." [24]
On a less positive side, Dan Martin of The Guardian praised the final reveal and found plenty to love, but stated that he did not feel emotionally connected to the Marines and Lorna due to the fast-paced storytelling. Unlike other reviewers, Martin expressed disappointment in Smith's Doctor, comparing him unfavorably to David Tennant's portrayal. [25] He later rated it the second-to-worst episode of the series, though the finale was not included in the list. [26]
The episode was nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form), [27] though it lost to Neil Gaiman's episode "The Doctor's Wife". [28]
Two of the new characters introduced in the episode, Vastra and her assistant Jenny, have proven quite popular among fans, with numerous forums and SFX calling for the BBC to commission a spin-off series. [29] Moffat stated in an interview that he did not have time to work on a spin-off but was open to the possibility of the characters returning. [30] Vastra and Jenny, as well as a revived Strax, were made a recurring part of the seventh series [31] [32] [33] and given a Big Finish audio spin-off series [34] in 2019.
The Eleventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He is played by Matt Smith in three series as well as five specials. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other Doctor Who spin-offs.
River Song is a fictional character created by Steven Moffat and played by Alex Kingston in the British science-fiction series Doctor Who. River Song was introduced to the series as an experienced future companion of series protagonist the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time in his TARDIS. Because River Song is a time traveller herself, her adventures with the Doctor occur out of synchronisation; their first meeting is with the Tenth Doctor, the Doctor's first and apparently her last. Kingston plays her in 15 episodes, as River becomes a companion, romantic interest and eventual wife of the Doctor in his eleventh incarnation portrayed by Matt Smith. From a production perspective, the Twelfth Doctor is the last incarnation to meet her, spending a 24-year-long night with her, before her first meeting with the Tenth Doctor. From the timeline perspective, the final time River meets with the Doctor, she is a hologram/echo from the library archives; she and the Eleventh Doctor part ways in the episode, "The Name of the Doctor".
Amelia "Amy" Pond is a fictional character portrayed by Karen Gillan in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Amy is a companion of the series protagonist the Doctor, in his eleventh incarnation, played by Matt Smith. She appears in the programme from the fifth series (2010) to midway through the seventh series (2012). Gillan returned for a brief cameo in Smith's final episode "The Time of the Doctor".
Rory Williams is a fictional character portrayed by Arthur Darvill in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Having been introduced at the start of the fifth series, Rory joins the Eleventh Doctor as a companion in the middle of Series 5. As Amy Pond's fiancé, Rory is initially insecure because he believes Amy secretly loves the Doctor more. Later, however, he proves to be a hero in his own right and he and Amy get married. The couple conceive a daughter aboard the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS, while in the time vortex, but their baby is kidnapped at birth. In "A Good Man Goes to War", Rory and Amy discover their time traveller friend River Song is actually their daughter, Melody Pond. The Doctor and River marry in "The Wedding of River Song", and Rory becomes the Doctor's father-in-law. In "The Angels Take Manhattan", the fifth episode of the seventh series, he and Amy are transported back in time by a Weeping Angel, leading to the couple's departure from the series.
"The Time of Angels" is the fourth episode of the fifth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 24 April 2010 on BBC One. It is the first episode of a two-part story written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith; the second episode, "Flesh and Stone", aired on 1 May. Moffat utilised the two-part episode to bring back a couple of his previous creations: the Weeping Angels from his series 3 episode "Blink", and River Song from the series 4 episodes "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead".
"The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 19 June 2010 on BBC One. It is the first in a two-part finale; the second part, "The Big Bang", aired on 26 June. The episode was written by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes.
"The Big Bang" is the thirteenth and final episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, first broadcast on 26 June 2010 on BBC One. It is the second part of the two-part series finale; the first part, "The Pandorica Opens", aired on 19 June. The episode was written by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes.
"The Rebel Flesh" is the fifth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 21 May 2011 on BBC One and on BBC America in the United States. It is the first episode of a two-part story written by Matthew Graham and directed by Julian Simpson, concluded in "The Almost People".
The sixth series of British science fiction television programme Doctor Who was shown in two parts. The first seven episodes were broadcast from April to June 2011, beginning with "The Impossible Astronaut" and ending with mid-series finale "A Good Man Goes to War". The final six episodes aired from August to October, beginning with "Let's Kill Hitler" and ending with "The Wedding of River Song". The main series was preceded by "A Christmas Carol", the 2010 Christmas special. The series was led by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, alongside executive producers Beth Willis and Piers Wenger. Sanne Wohlenberg, Marcus Wilson, and Denise Paul served as producers. The series was the sixth to air following the programme's revival in 2005 after the classic era aired between 1963 and 1989, and is the thirty-second season overall.
"The Almost People" is the sixth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 28 May 2011. It is the second episode of a two-part story written by Matthew Graham and directed by Julian Simpson which began with "The Rebel Flesh".
"Let's Kill Hitler" is the eighth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, Space and BBC America on 27 August 2011. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Richard Senior.
"Night Terrors" is the ninth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One and BBC America on 3 September 2011. It was written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Richard Clark.
"Closing Time" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 24 September 2011. It was written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Steve Hughes. It is a sequel to "The Lodger", an episode Roberts wrote for the previous series.
"The Wedding of River Song" is the thirteenth and final episode in the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 1 October 2011. It was written by lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Jeremy Webb.
"The Snowmen" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on Christmas Day 2012 on BBC One. It is the eighth Doctor Who Christmas special since the show's 2005 revival and the first to be within a series. It was written by head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein, with the special produced in August 2012, and filmed on location in Newport, Wales and Bristol.
"Asylum of the Daleks" is the first episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, broadcast on BBC One on 1 September 2012. It was written by executive producer Steven Moffat and directed by Nick Hurran.
"Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is the second episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It first aired on BBC One in the UK on 8 September 2012 and on BBC America on the same date in the United States. It was written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Saul Metzstein.
"The Angels Take Manhattan" is the fifth episode of the seventh series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC One on 29 September 2012. It is the last in the first block of episodes in the seventh series, followed by the 2012 Christmas special "The Snowmen". The episode was written by head writer Steven Moffat and directed by Nick Hurran.
"The Name of the Doctor" is the thirteenth and final episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 18 May 2013. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein. The episode was watched by 7.45 million viewers in the UK and received positive reviews from critics.
Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax are a trio of recurring fictional characters in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, created by Steven Moffat and portrayed, respectively, by Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart, and Dan Starkey.
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