#series 7

[scrprints]

James Cook S7 Rise Collection 2

[lizshaw]

TARDIS Profile: Liz Shaw, in Doctor Who Chronicles: 1970 (Doctor Who Magazine, June 2025)

[bobert-man]

The Long Song is Doctor Who

Although very popular, I feel the thematic subtext of the Smith era of Doctor Who is often unexplored by fans, an aspect where I think this is very apparent is in the Long Song from Rings of Akhaten. I remember listening to a podcast recently and when talking about regeneration scores the hosts spoke about how Capaldi's last track being ghe Shepherd's boy tied into all sorts of cyclical themes throughout his era but when talking about Eleven they just said "The Long Song is a sacrifice or something." Something that becomes especially interesting in the context of how it's second only to I am the Doctor on most platforms as the most listened to song from the series.

Rings of Akhaten is an interesting story in which, as Clara's first adventure in the Tardis, draws the connection between her and the Doctor entirely around how the pair both protect a little girl from her own lack of self-worth. I could probably be her for hours talking about the episode and what it says about religion and how that topic is so reoccurring in the era but that's not the focus here. The song itself is something sung by the little girl and her community to support the Doctor when he goes on a suicidal mission entirely to make sure the little girl doesn't give up her own life in support of an oppressive god who tells her that her life doesn't have worth.

The Long Song is introduced early in the episode as this long standing piece of art where the person leading it hands it over to the next person to keep it going forever, the Doctor specifically described it as

"Chorister handing over to chorister, generation after generation after generation."

Now this is obviously evoking the history of the show, this episode is in fact the start of a 7 episode run where each week would have a reference to one of the 7 Classic Who Doctors (sorry Paul) as a celeb tv who in celebration of the 50th, the show's history was on the mind of the show. It's especially fitting putting a parallel to the unique artistic process of the show in the episode that is in tribute to the first Doctor. The last time this track plays in the era is during Matt's regeneration makes this point especially clear as the track used is a medley of Eleventh Doctor tracks with the Long Song specifically played during the part in which he describes the process of regeneration, in the Eleventh Doctor’s regeneration the show is affirming that connection between the role of the Doctor and the Long Song. The Long song itself then, in the 50th year, becomes the symphonic represtation of all the artists who worked on the show from 1963 to 2013.

Something that becomes especially interesting when you consider that the song's most famous use, at the end of Rings of Akhaten is during the sequences where the Doctor and later Clara use the memories of loss and the tragedy of the days that should have been from people taken too soon all of which is done within the story to teach a little girl her life has worth.

The Long Song tells us that Doctor Who, as a piece of art is primarily based around three things:

- The inevitablity of change and how it's beautiful as long as you remember who you've been

-The pain of loss and how being open and honest about it allows children to grow up safe

-And how all of it can be told by an ever shifting group of different people creating art over generations

[solarduckarts]

trying to continue my "series" of drawing every companion of new who, and yes, I will draw Amy and Rory, just give me some time! I hope you guys like it, I really love Clara and I'm thinking of making more arts of her!!

[jamiragondrawstuff]

When are we going to address the elephant in the room that is the 11th Doctor's time spent on Trenzalore and his regeneration into 12? He was happy travelling around as normal, except now post-Day of the Doctor, he has the hope that Gallifrey's now out there somewhere. Then one day he meets up with Clara and suddenly the planet all those spaceships are hovering around turns out to be the one he's been avoiding. Literally the hill he was told he would die on. And he has to go there anyway, no putting it off anymore. And at this point he still thinks he's on his last life, even though we as an audience didn't know for sure until the moment he told Clara that (even if some of us worked it out with maths). So we have an Eleventh Doctor who is really the Thirteenth, who has cheated death before on Lake Silencio, (which suddenly makes more sense now, the way he went into it assuming he couldn't get out no matter what he did, for most of Series 6) (ignore the simulated regeneration energy, that was just the Teselecta robot doing it for show and probably to deflect from the notion that this Doctor is on his last pair of legs). And how long does he have to stay there on Trenzalore as it's sherrif? 300 years, then several hundred more. It's not stated explicitly in the story but it's assumed to be around 900 years, and that's how Matt Smith's Doctor gets so old, wrinkly and forgetful of everyone and everything to the point that he still says Barnable's name by force of habit. Or maybe dementia. Then he goes up the bell tower to make his final stand, and is saved by the crack opening up and sending him regeneration energy. So now he can regenerate infinite times, something that was always hinted at as being possible in Big Finish audios and such but never confirmed. It officially confirms that the regeneration limit WAS a conspiracy by Rassilon to keep everyone else in check. The Doctor regenerates in the weirdest way as well. He basically explodes everything around him like a nuke, and then rushes off to the TARDIS looking as young as he did at the beginning of the story, gets changed into his regular Series 7B outfit and calls Clara from Glasgow in their future/Earth in the 21st century (which is probably the past at this point). And does his whole speech about "Not forgetting one line of this, I swear. Not one day. I will always remember when the Doctor was me." And THEN after an abrupt sneeze of a regeneration into Peter Capaldi (who for some reason has no idea how to pilot the TARDIS, I dunno maybe all those long years on Trenzalore made him forget or something...) they fly off and end up in the mouth of a T-Rex and drag said T-Rex into Victorian London. And for the ENTIRETY of Series 8, 9 and 10, the Doctor's time on Trenzalore is literally NEVER addressed or mentioned again. 900 years stuck on a single planet, fighting a long protracted war against Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and who knows what else, and Peter Capaldi's Doctor never brings it up. I get the feeling that his second episode, Into The Dalek, is him going around cleaning up the mess left in the wake of Trenzalore. But that's just personal headcanon. We never hear that planet's name ever again. It's just left by the wayside as if it never happened, when it could have been a goldmine of personal trauma and psychological issues for Twelve to address, just like the Time War. I'm sorry, but this has been on my mind since 2013 and I can't let it go. Whenever the Doctor spends an EXTREMELY long time in one place it kind of gets under my skin somehow. Not as much as Heaven Sent, but it's close.

@dw-opinions-you-wont-like very interested to hear your take on this.

[redlettermediathings]

Jay recommends

Full movie:

[snugbug27]

MY FAVORITE DOCTOR WHO EPISODES 3/? - S07E00 'The Time of The Doctor'

[pizzacade]

The newly included introduction from Amy Pond (who after being sent back in time with Rory started going as Amilia Williams) addressed to The Doctor in the combined release of Summer Falls/The Angel's Kiss/Decil In The Smoke.

It also reveals that she met an elderly splinter of Clara at some point in time.

If you wish to read the interview with Amy at the end of the book, read ahead.