The 'darkest' things that have happened in Doctor Who

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,152
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Thought this might be an interesting thread, especially to think about the things that aren't exactly at the foreground of the story or aren't addressed.

Rewatching 'Utopia', I realised how incredibly bleak it was, despite the somewhat optimistic tone throughout most of it. Every surviving human in it will go to Utopia, the last reminiscence of hope, only to find nothing. Then they regress into a hive mind and are turned into heads in spheres, and kill their ancestors for fun.

Also, the Earth the Doctor leaves behind at the end of 'Parting of the Ways' is left decimated, it is implied. not to mention the fact that the Doctor "made" that version of Earth in the first place.

Those are just of the top of my head, but I'm sure there are pleanty!
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Comments

  • jrmswfcjrmswfc Posts: 5,644
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    The end of "Earthshock" was probably intended by the writers to be dark and sombre - however, for many of us it was a cause for celebration :D
  • codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,682
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    Well, the end of the universe itself was pretty dark, as shown in The Pandorica opens...
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,027
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    Has to be the appointment of Russel T Davies as the Producer .... rather than someone who could maintain some semblance of canonity with the original 1963-89 series.
  • codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,682
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    DariaM wrote: »
    Has to be the appointment of Russel T Davies as the Producer .... rather than someone who could maintain some semblance of canonity with the original 1963-89 series.

    Has to be the appointment of this poster who takes broken record to either robotic or autistic levels.

    I hope for your sake you are a spambot who posts the same thing automatically because your contributions add nothing except for discussions about how wrong you are.

    Next.
  • DICKENS99DICKENS99 Posts: 2,619
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    Considering the Davison doctor had the line "“a man is the sum of his memories. A Time Lord even more so” makes his brutal suppression of Donna's memories even more disturbing...he knew he was effectively 'killing' the Donna as he knew her and even worse she knew what he was going to do to her and screamed and fought against him even as he wiped her out. For me, the one tonal misstep in the new series, it was just too bleak.
  • DICKENS99DICKENS99 Posts: 2,619
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    Has to be the appointment of this poster who takes broken record to either robotic or autistic levels.

    I hope for your sake you are a spambot who posts the same thing automatically because your contributions add nothing except for discussions about how wrong you are.

    Next.

    Though if you look at their posts in other threads they are quite sensible....maybe DariaM is a trekkie resentful that Who is on air and ST isn't. ;)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,152
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    DICKENS99 wrote: »
    Considering the Davison doctor had the line "“a man is the sum of his memories. A Time Lord even more so” makes his brutal suppression of Donna's memories even more disturbing...he knew he was effectively 'killing' the Donna as he knew her and even worse she knew what he was going to do to her and screamed and fought against him even as he wiped her out. For me, the one tonal misstep in the new series, it was just too bleak.

    And now I'm sad :(

    Although I wouldn't call it a misstep; it's certainly very bleak, but I do think it's one of the most powerful moments emotionally in the show.
  • inspector drakeinspector drake Posts: 910
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    DICKENS99 wrote: »
    Considering the Davison doctor had the line "“a man is the sum of his memories. A Time Lord even more so” makes his brutal suppression of Donna's memories even more disturbing...he knew he was effectively 'killing' the Donna as he knew her and even worse she knew what he was going to do to her and screamed and fought against him even as he wiped her out. For me, the one tonal misstep in the new series, it was just too bleak.
    This.
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    I think Season three is generally the darkest the show has been since it returned. And brilliantly so! I loved it. You had the fact of the doctor being the last of his kind (or so he thought) casting a massive shadow over the season like never before. Then you have the pitch black darkness of the doctors punishment of the Family which must count as one if his most severe and troubling moments- that while two parter is full of sadness and rage to varying degrees. The final scene with Jessica S in the Farmhouse is almost coruscating of the doctor and his nature. Factor in the WW1 comparisons.

    Then you have Blink- pure terror.

    And what of the finale?! And by finale I mean it as a three parter with Utopia included. The very end of humanity, the return of the Master, the horrific revelation about the origin of the Toclafane, the torture of Jack, the damage to Marthas family. And alot more. Even the stupid Goblin Doctor couldn't spoil it.

    I loved where RTD took the show in that season. It stays with me like no other.
  • codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,682
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    The Time Lord Victorious was also a very scary moment, at least for me.

    I assumed that this episode was a foreshadowing of a very dark Christmas where the Doctor would be more Jekell than Hyde, more Angelus than Angel, etc, and the arc they were building up to would be someone who knew him previous would see what he'd become and put a stop to it by killing him.

    Then you'd have an 11th Doctor being very remorseful and trying to atone what he'd done.

    I guess that's why I should never predict who plotlines, I wasn't even close :p

    Also: Midnight. Just a group of people in a room.
    Chilling.
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    And now I'm sad :(

    Although I wouldn't call it a misstep; it's certainly very bleak, but I do think it's one of the most powerful moments emotionally in the show.

    I love that moment. It is more jarring on rewatching as tonally that finale is all over the place. After the cheese ball, cheering/laughing out loud moments with the Tardis towing the earth home you then have the frankly bizarre resolution of Roses story which fits uneasily and then the all out tragedy of Donna and the mindwipe. He clearly had no choice though did he? She would be dead otherwise. It was a kindness albeit a cruel one.
  • sandydunesandydune Posts: 10,986
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    Do you think The Doctor might get the blame for stuff when it hasn't been his fault but he seems an easy target to blame for things that happen .:confused:
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    The Time Lord Victorious was also a very scary moment, at least for me.

    I assumed that this episode was a foreshadowing of a very dark Christmas where the Doctor would be more Jekell than Hyde, more Angelus than Angel, etc, and the arc they were building up to would be someone who knew him previous would see what he'd become and put a stop to it by killing him.

    Then you'd have an 11th Doctor being very remorseful and trying to atone what he'd done.

    I guess that's why I should never predict who plotlines, I wasn't even close :p

    Also: Midnight. Just a group of people in a room.
    Chilling.

    YANA! That's pretty much what ai thought. My jaw remained dropped right up until the first five minutes or so of the End of Time when with the silly central locking of the Tardis and garlands they basically reversed over everything that had gone before. There were some dark and intense moments in that episode but it didn't go where I had hoped. I wish RTD had been a bit braver. How dramatic to have had Rose or Wilf having to 'kill' Ten to stop him from destroying everything! But I accept this is a family show and sometimes it shouldn't be too dark. Part of me still thinks theres an unwritten finale for Ten which takes it in that direction and it wouldve been classic television. Really classic and era defining. Shame it didn't happen.
  • sandydunesandydune Posts: 10,986
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    She would be dead otherwise. It was a kindness albeit a cruel one.
    Would she, maybe he assumed that, what if Donna was different and she could have found a way but The Doctor hadn't realised, maybe that had been the moment.:D
  • PrimalIcePrimalIce Posts: 2,897
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    I thought Asylum Of the Daleks had quite a brutal ending for Doctor Who and brilliantly acted too.
  • TheSilentFezTheSilentFez Posts: 11,103
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    I've always found The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit to be pretty dark.
    Potentially meeting Satan was always going to make for a dark story, but this was made better by the Doctor's beliefs being challenged and the degree of uncertainty at the end- did the Doctor actually just meet Satan, the embodiment of evil?

    Some of the quotes are pretty dark:
    "Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor. Some may call him Satan. Or Lucifer. Or the King of Despair. The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night. And these are the words that shall set him free."

    [To members of the crew]
    "The captain, so scared of command.
    The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife.
    The scientist, still running from Daddy.
    The little boy who lied.
    The virgin.
    And the lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child, who will die in battle so very soon..."

    "You get representations of the horned Beast right across the universe in myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine, Daemos... The Kaled god of war, the same image, over and over again. Maybe, that idea came from somewhere. Bleeding through, a thought of every sentient mind...

    Originating from here?

    Could be.

    But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual Devil?

    Well, if that's what you want to believe. Maybe that's what the Devil is, in the end. An idea."

    I love these two episodes. By far the best in Series 2.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 611
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    "They Holy Terror".

    It starts off all fun, and comedic and "All hail the big talking bird!", but then it gets really dark, and disturbing.

    Moffat once said it was his favorite Sixth Doctor story, and I can see some parallels between it and "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances". But it's sort of the opposite in terms of how it ends.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,152
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    I've always found The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit to be pretty dark.
    Potentially meeting Satan was always going to make for a dark story, but this was made better by the Doctor's beliefs being challenged and the degree of uncertainty at the end- did the Doctor actually just meet Satan, the embodiment of evil?

    Some of the quotes are pretty dark:
    "Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor. Some may call him Satan. Or Lucifer. Or the King of Despair. The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night. And these are the words that shall set him free."

    [To members of the crew]
    "The captain, so scared of command.
    The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife.
    The scientist, still running from Daddy.
    The little boy who lied.
    The virgin.
    And the lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child, who will die in battle so very soon..."

    "You get representations of the horned Beast right across the universe in myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine, Daemos... The Kaled god of war, the same image, over and over again. Maybe, that idea came from somewhere. Bleeding through, a thought of every sentient mind...

    Originating from here?

    Could be.

    But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual Devil?

    Well, if that's what you want to believe. Maybe that's what the Devil is, in the end. An idea."

    I love these two episodes. By far the best in Series 2.

    I'm with you on that one, two of my all-time favourite episodes.
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    sandydune wrote: »
    Would she, maybe he assumed that, what if Donna was different and she could have found a way but The Doctor hadn't realised, maybe that had been the moment.:D

    He didn't hang about did he? Whoosh! I'm taking those memories! Poor Donna.
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    PrimalIce wrote: »
    I thought Asylum Of the Daleks had quite a brutal ending for Doctor Who and brilliantly acted too.

    Agreed. It is very brutal and I only realized on watching it again quite how much. It makes it all the more disappointing for me that Clara hasn't really gotten any better throughout the rest of S7 as her performance in those final scenes is amazing.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,670
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    Inferno is pretty dark. An entire parallel earth is killed off. It was really quite a surprise to watch it. :(
  • brumiladbrumilad Posts: 1,467
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    DICKENS99 wrote: »
    Considering the Davison doctor had the line "“a man is the sum of his memories. A Time Lord even more so” makes his brutal suppression of Donna's memories even more disturbing...he knew he was effectively 'killing' the Donna as he knew her and even worse she knew what he was going to do to her and screamed and fought against him even as he wiped her out. For me, the one tonal misstep in the new series, it was just too bleak.
    Hmmm maybe I saw it a different way in context to the rest of the series and The End of Time pointed to.

    I thought series 4 quite pointedly suggested to Donna being desperately unhappy living a facade of a life she thought she should with the Doctor. That she had been totally demoralized by her mother and therefore started to try and live another life, one which wasn't her fantasy but the desire of the person who treated her well... Wilf (as followed through in The End of Time where we see how much he is suffering from no longer having Donna to live his life through).

    For me the darkest moments of season 4 weren't when she lost her memory but those moments of despair when Sylvia's disdain cut Donna. Such a contrast from previous seasons where the mothers love was such a dominant feature. The ending for me while certainly sad was also sweet, she'd lost the Doctor but found her mothers unconditional love and support.

    That's what I thought the point was?!
  • codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,682
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    And the lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child, who will die in battle so very soon..."

    Took me a while to realise that while Rose didn't techincally die, she is listed as a casualty after this battle so he wasn't even lying.

    But in the End, the Doctor got one over on Satan, so that's not that bad going :p
  • 16caerhos16caerhos Posts: 2,533
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    I've always found The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit to be pretty dark.
    Potentially meeting Satan was always going to make for a dark story, but this was made better by the Doctor's beliefs being challenged and the degree of uncertainty at the end- did the Doctor actually just meet Satan, the embodiment of evil?

    Some of the quotes are pretty dark:
    "Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor. Some may call him Satan. Or Lucifer. Or the King of Despair. The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night. And these are the words that shall set him free."

    [To members of the crew]
    "The captain, so scared of command.
    The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife.
    The scientist, still running from Daddy.
    The little boy who lied.
    The virgin.
    And the lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child, who will die in battle so very soon..."

    "You get representations of the horned Beast right across the universe in myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine, Daemos... The Kaled god of war, the same image, over and over again. Maybe, that idea came from somewhere. Bleeding through, a thought of every sentient mind...

    Originating from here?

    Could be.

    But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual Devil?

    Well, if that's what you want to believe. Maybe that's what the Devil is, in the end. An idea."

    I love these two episodes. By far the best in Series 2.

    Another vote for The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. I thought the image of Scooti's dead body floating in space, getting closer to the black hole with everyone just watching was one of the most disturbing scenes in Doctor Who ever.
  • sandydunesandydune Posts: 10,986
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    He didn't hang about did he? Whoosh! I'm taking those memories! Poor Donna.
    :D

    Memories only fade a little, always there, like the stars. The Doctor makes the stars come back, like crying and laughing at the same time.:D
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