Addendum: This was written before The Name of the Doctor was broadcast.
I thought I’d posted this but apparently I forgot to press publish. So its a little redundant now but nevertheless here it is.
Tomorrow’s episode of Doctor Who might reveal the Doctor’s name. I think this would be a bad idea. It is hard to say exactly why I think this but I think I can brake it into two points.
- The mythos of the show. In the quintessential episode of Doctor Who the Doctor will arrive, he’ll introduce himself as simple the Doctor. Having the definite article in his name has great power. It is also interesting to me that all the people he meets just take to calling him Doctor. They never enquirer as to exactly what his doctorate is in or for any information this gives the character an almost godlike quality.
- What could the name be? As he is an alien the name will simply be a construction of sounds. His name could be Alkatha – and that is just a random phrase I made up on the spot – it could be Galcorodonelkane – it could be Anan 7 for all we know – it could be anything. The Doctor is unlike any other character in fiction and I think that naming him would mean the story would lose its power.
Unstable Orbit 