IMO, Van Gogh’s suicide is a ‘fixed point’ in spacetime and the Doctor knew from the start that he wasn’t going to be able to keep him alive. He just didn’t have the heart to tell Amy.
Number five here. I snuffled a bit at Starry Night and lost it completely as Vincent listened to the tour guide and realised that all the pain wasn’t for nothing.
Oh, and speaking of Starry Night, I’m really, really glad that they didn’t use that bloody awful song!
I thought the Tardis granted the Doctor and his companions the ability to understand and be understood in any language. Does that apply to reading in any language as well?
Nope. If that was the case there wouldn’t have been an urgent need to go back and save him. He could have just said, “He’ll be fine”. Even after going back, were Van Gogh a fixed point in time and space, he wouldn’t have been at all concerned about him dying.
-Joe
Yes. In the episode “The Impossible Planet” from series 2, The Doctor knows something is wrong when he can’t read the symbols written on the walls of the base station.
Did they go back to save Vincent? I thought it was just the Doctor’s curiosity about the ‘not very nice’ face at the window.
Do they really call him Vincent Van Goth in British English? Good episode, but that name thing really distracted me.
I thought they were pronouncing it as Van Goff.
They were, with the Egghead Tour Guide pronouncing it as “Van Gock”, which is the third pronunciation I’ve heard.
As for The Doctor going back to “save” VVG, I think it’s clear he was. It wasn’t curiosity, it was “Oh shit, gotta go NOW!”. Then, when back there, he was quite clearly concerned for VVG’s survival.
Oh, and good news for Torchwood fans.
-Joe
I heard a great definition of a snob as one who pronounces van Gogh “as if he had a Brillo pad caught in in his throat”.
Bill Nighy’s pronunciation is closest to being right, because it’s a Dutch name: “Van Gchoch.” But the British pronunciation is the generally accepted version.
The US pronunciation isn’t even close to right, and should be banished.
Van Goff.
Neither Van Goff or the American Van Goe is correct. I’d argue that Van Goff is a lot closer than Van Goe, though.
It’s supposed to be something like “Van hockkkkk” where the ckkkkk sounds like you’re about to spit…
I do wonder why we ever pronounced it with a [g]. but I do get both ending sounds. It’s the difference between what happened to cough and bough. In one the ending sound completely disappeared, in the other, it got moved more forward in the mouth.
Also Wiki says that, in the artist’s dialect, it probably would have been pronounced [ˈʝɔç], quite similar to, of all things, the English name Josh. (although the sh is the German ch in ich)
Vincent Van Gogh was a fun episode. I thought they did a good job handling his mental illness. They didn’t insult the real man by ignoring it. But, they also remembered the kids watching.
Nice touch with the monster. A personification of the mental demons that tormented Vincent. I loved the Doctor’s reaction when Vincent first attacked the monster. The Doctor thought he was hallucinating. I don’t recall the Doctor dealing with a disturbed individual before. Certainly not at this fragile an emotional level. Matt did a good job conveying the Doctor’s kindness and concern for Vincent. It seemed apparent that the Doctor knew there was little he could do to help the man…
The lack of budget was very apparent in the limited CGI. I was disappointed we didn’t a better battle scene with the monster. Especially when Vincent stabs it.
I’m not sure what to expect from tonight’s episode. I’m cautiously optimistic purely on the basis that I’d like to have seen what the Doctor got up to while stranded in the 1960’s during Blink. Sitting on the couch, bored, eating beans on toast…
Well, that was an episode of Doctor Who. Mostly harmless, and good natured.
…that was awesome.
Any predictions on next week?
I think at this point I’d be quite happy watching Matt Smith pottering about the Tardis for 45 minutes, perhaps polishing some of the controls, making Amy a spot of lunch, or having a chat with a passing cat. He really is the Doctor that has lived in my head since about 1973.
Who is this:
Stolen from somebody elses account. It looks like Nick Cave, I guess.
Looks like Andy de la Tour to me.
