Vincent and the Doctor (TV story)

Vincent and the Doctor is the tenth episode of Series 5.

Synopsis
During a visit to an art gallery with Amy, the Doctor's interest is caught by a painting of a church by Vincent van Gogh: there's a face in the window of the church – a curious, shadowed creepy face with nasty eyes. The Doctor is worried; he's sure he has seen the face somewhere before, but how? There is only one thing for it: a trip in the TARDIS back to 1888, so the Doctor can find out from the artist himself.

Plot
The Doctor has taken Amy to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, where they admire the work of the painter Vincent van Gogh. As the art expert, Dr. Black, tells his tour group about van Gogh's work, Amy thanks the Doctor for bringing her there, and wonders why he's taken her to a series of amazing places. One particular piece catches the Doctor's eye, and he points out a malevolent, shadowed face that appears in one of the windows. Disturbed, the Doctor decides they must travel back in time so they can speak to van Gogh himself.

In 1890 France, they manage to track down van Gogh at a local cafe' where the artist never pays for his drinks and has earned a bad reputation. The Doctor attempts to break the ice, but the distrustful artist rebuffs him angrily. Amy, however, ingratiates herself to him very quickly since he thinks her "cute", and thanks to her offer to share a bottle of wine with him. Over wine, the Doctor clumsily broaches the subject of the church painting, but the trio is interrupted when a woman wails for help. They rush into the alleyway to find a young girl dead, ravaged by some sort of beast, and her anguished mother blames van Gogh's madness for her daughter's fate. Pelted with stones, they run from the small crowd, and Vincent tells the Doctor that a similar murder occurred a week prior.

They leave for Vincent's home, where he allows Amy and the Doctor to stay the night. The small home is cluttered with paintings that the artist sadly considers worthless to anyone but himself. However, in spite of his poor sense of self-worth, he believes the universe is filled with more wonders than one could imagine. Later, Amy is attacked outside by a creature only Vincent can see. The Doctor attempts to help, but is knocked about by the invisible creature. Vincent, however, drives it off and saves them both. Back inside, Vincent sketches the creature for the Doctor, and the Doctor goes back to the TARDIS to fetch a device that allows him to identify the creature as a Krafayis, a vicious pack-predator that has been abandoned on Earth.

Vincent promises to help them stop it, but when the Doctor promises him that after that they'll be out of his hair, he shuts himself in his bedroom and breaks down in tears. The Doctor approaches him and Vincent tells him that everyone leaves him in the end, forgotten and hopeless. The doctor attempts to empathize, but Vincent becomes furious and orders him to go. Frustrated and saddened for the man, the Doctor tells Amy they are leaving, but will first have to defeat the creature on their own. As they gather their things and prepare to depart, Vincent appears, his mood has shifted and he's dressed and ready to go with them, determined to assist.

As they walk to the church, Vincent tells Amy that if she can "soldier on, then can Vincent van Gogh." and goes on to say that he can hear her sadness and loss, something she herself cannot detect. On the way, the funeral procession for the dead village girl moves down the road, and the trio stop and pay their respects briefly before continuing on, and Vincent looks back upon the sunflowers that lay atop her casket. When they reach the church, Vincent begins to paint, stopping occasionally to quiet the Doctor who is bored by the long wait. Hours later, the artist spots the beast inside, lurking past a window. The Doctor plans to stun the creature with his sonic screwdriver, and tells Vincent and Amy to remain outside and not to follow him. Amy agrees, but when the Doctor is gone, Vincent asks her if she'll follow, and she replies "Of course."

Inside, the Doctor finds his plan a difficult one to execute, and from outside Vincent spies the creature stalking the Doctor instead. Amy dashes inside, and the pair are forced to hide inside a confessional. They are saved by Vincent who fends off the creature with his chair, allowing the three of them to retreat and hide. The Doctor attempts to reason with the creature, but fails. Vincent describes the creatures actions, saying its feeling its way around the room. The Doctor realizes that the Krafayis is blind, and that's why it was left behind. It finally charges, and Vincent attempts to repel it with his easel, but the creature impales itself, something that the artist did not intend. As the Krafayis lays dying, the Doctor makes out that the creature is afraid, and he strokes and comforts it as best he can as it breathes its last. Vincent sadly observes that the frightened, lonely creature had been lashing out in fear and frustration, the way that humans do when they are afraid, the way the villagers sometimes lash out at him. Outside, the three of them lay down in the grass and look up at the sky, and Vincent describes the world he sees: a night sky that is deep blue, not black, framed by swirling air, a canvas for the shining stars above. Finally able to see what Vincent sees, the Doctor says he's never seen anything quite as wonderful as the things Vincent sees. Holding their hands, Vincent says "I will miss you terribly." In the morning, they say their goodbyes and Amy tells Vincent to be kind to himself, and he tells her that if she ever leaves the Doctor, to come back to him so they can marry and have many children. He embraces Amy and the Doctor, but before they can leave, the Doctor decides tells Vincent he wishes to show him something first. The trio walk to the TARDIS, and then take him on a journey to the Musée d'Orsay in 2010. There, the Doctor shows Vincent how his art has come to be regarded. The Doctor approaches Dr. Black and asks him how he feels van Gogh rates in the history of art. As Vincent listens with his back turned, Dr. Black dubs him "the greatest painter of them all", and says that the artist turned his pain into works of great beauty in ways nobody ever had before, and may never do so again. He goes on to say that he was not only the greatest artist of all, but one of the greatest men who ever lived. Reduced to tears of joy, he embraces Dr. Black and kisses his cheeks in gratitude. As they leave, Dr. Black, still flustered, pauses for a second and looks at Vincent's self portrait before discarding the idea. They then take Vincent back to Arles in his own time, where Vincent says he'll walk out with his easel the next day a changed man. He thanks the Doctor yet again, and asks Amy if marriage is still out of the question, she kisses Vincent's cheek and says she's "not really the marrying kind"

They leave a smiling van Gogh and return once more to the Musée d'Orsay, where Amy expects to see that Vincent's history had changed, and had lived a long life and painted many new paintings. However she finds nothing new, and Dr. Black lecturing a tour group about van Gogh's suicide at the age of 37. Distraught, Amy posits that they made no difference, and the Doctor says that life is a mixture of good and bad, and that the bad doesn't devalue the good, and that they had added to the good in Vincent's life, and that if they look closely, perhaps some little differences had been made. "The Church at Auvers" no longer shows a beast in the window, and a painting of sunflowers in a vase now bears the dedication: "For Amy".

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Vincent van Gogh - Tony Curran
 * Dr Black - Bill Nighy (uncredited)
 * Mother - Chrissie Cotterill
 * Student 1 - Morgan Overton
 * Student 2 - Andrew Byrne
 * Maurice - Nik Howden
 * Waitress - Sarah Counsell

Story notes

 * The episode was incorrectly entitled, Lend Me Your Ear.
 * Unlike most stories in this series, this story focuses much more on characters than plot, and has hints and references to van Gogh's depression and suicide, something the series has not explored very much before. In fact, a message and phone number for the 'BBC Action Line' was broadcast following the 'Next Time' trail, for those wanting more information on 'issues raised in this program.'
 * Pictures of the First and Second Doctors are printed on the TARDIS's typewriter.
 * This is possibly the first one parter or single episode in the series not to have any conclusions about the series' story arc, for e.g no cracks, silence, cliff-hangers, foreshadowings etc. However, some of the paintings in the episode do have a connection to the finale.
 * Although originally believed to be standalone, spoilers make this story involved with the series arc, some mentioning van Gogh's paintings, one of which is Dr Gatchet, relating to the finale. Dr Gatchet is supposed to be appearing in the mentioned episode. Others include van Gogh communicating a disturbing prophecy to the Doctor in the finale through one of his paintings, and a van Gogh reference in The Lodger.
 * Bill Nighy was not credited for his role.

Ratings
to be added

Filming locations

 * National Museum of Wales
 * Trogir, Croatia
 * Roald Dahl Plass, which is supposed to double for the Musee D'Orsay in Paris

Rumours

 * It was rumoured that either the Timoreen, the Ha'rik or the Skarkish will appear. The monster was a Krafayis.
 * It was rumoured that Vincent van Gogh will stab a yellow monster. He stabbed the Krafayis, the monster is pale yellow.


 * Howard Lee plays a character called "Dr. Gachet" . Dr. Gachet was van Gogh's real doctor, who nursed him during his final years. He was mentioned but he was not actually in the episode.
 * Nighy plays a van Gogh expert, with similar fashion tastes to the Doctor himself. This turned out also true. He also wore a bowtie.
 * Steven Moffat stated in a recent interview that the controversial topic of the regeneration limit for Time Lords will be "addressed in a very, very cheeky way by an old friend of mine" at some point in Series 5. As the "old friend" could very well be Richard Curtis, the issue might be addressed in this episode. This turned out to be false for this episode, but it could happen in later episodes with Alex Kingston's character of River Song addressing the subject, as Steven Moffatt created her character.
 * As a Vincent van Gogh painting will feature in the events of "The Pandorica Opens", it is likely that this story will bring more developments to the main story arc of the series. This was not the case, with the episode being more or less a stand-alone story, but apparently the finale will still feature a Van Gogh painting in some way. This connection may be illuminated in "The Lodger", as a pamphlet for a Van Gogh exhibit can be seen on Craig's fridge in the trailer.
 * It is rumoured that Vincent will propose to Amy or ask the Doctor to travel with them because in the preview clips, he shows a large interest in Amy and the Doctor and even tells Amy that he loves her. This turned out true.

Production errors

 * When running through the streets with his mirror, the Doctor screams "Ahh", but his mouth is not synced with his screaming.
 * For most of the episode, Amy is wearing tights. During the church scene, when van Gogh starts painting the Church, they've gone. Later on when the group are hiding from the monster, she's wearing them again, as was the case with the previous episode.

Continuity

 * The Doctor and Dr. Black compliment each other's bow ties, the Doctor exclaiming again that "bow ties are cool". (DW: The Eleventh Hour, Amy's Choice)
 * The Doctor mentions that he had a godmother with two heads. Before his ninth regeneration, he declared that he might have ended up with two heads. (DW: The Parting of the Ways) Although it seemed like a joke at the time, this statement suggests that a regeneration actually could result in the creation of an extra head. It may also be a reference to the Aplans. (DW: The Time of Angels)
 * The first and second Doctors are pictured.
 * The Doctor finds his scanner-mirror device by rifling through a chest in the TARDIS' alcoves; this plot device for providing artefacts and tools was utilised in several of the previous incarnations' series (e.g. DW: The Abominable Snowmen, where the Second Doctor finds a holy Tibetan bell and Jamie a set of bagpipes). It has also been used in the Tenth Doctor's era, in which he retrieved an Agatha Christie novel. (DW: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
 * The Doctor once again mentions that he is ageing mentally, contrasting with his physical appearance. (DW: Time Crash, The End of Time)
 * Amy mentions that the Doctor took her to Arcadia. The planet was featured in NA: Deceit, and the "fall of Arcadia" was mentioned as one of the events of the Time War in DW: Doomsday.
 * The Doctor mentions Rory, to which Amy asks "who?" Amy also says that the Doctor is being extra kind to her, feeling guilty about Rory's erasure. Van Gogh also sees that Amy is crying, although she doesn't know why; he theorises that she has lost someone. After receiving a half-joking marriage proposal from Vincent, Amy tells him that she's "not the marrying kind". (DW: Cold Blood).
 * This marks the fourth episode this season which opens on a nature shot. DW: The Time of Angels, DW: Amy's Choice, DW: The Hungry Earth and this episode all open on beautiful, wide-open fields on bright, sunny days.

Home video releases
BBC Video - Doctor Who Series Five - Volume Three will feature Amy's Choice, The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood and Vincent and the Doctor. It will be released on Monday 2nd August 2010 (UK Only) on DVD and Blu-ray.