10 Most Profound Doctor Who Quotes

The War Speech started off as an experiment of sorts. Moffat wanted to see how long Peter Capaldi could hold the screen for on merit of his acting alone - no music, no input from other characters - just an angry Scottish bloke acting his heart out. And by god does Capaldi nail this, laying down one of the most raw, powerful performances of his entire tenure, monologuing for close to ten minutes. It’s glorious.

Twelve is attempting to diffuse a tense military stand-off between UNIT and a Zygon revolutionary group, with both groups in posession of an Osgood Box - weapons of mass destruction that could give either side exactly what they want at the press of a button. The Doctor argues that war is ugly and pointless from the perspective of someone who has seen more than his fair share of the horrors of war. There are so many fantastic lines scattered throughout his speech, keeping up this constant momentum, that it’s impossible to pick just one.

It’s tempting to choose the moment where The Doctor interrogates Bonnie on exactly what she plans to do with her brave new world, and how she will defend her glorious revolution from the next one, begging her to break the cycle. Or perhaps the moment where the Doctor speaks about his own experience of war, and the guilt that dominated his life for many, many years. But, to me, there’s one part of this speech that really stands out:

"It’s not a game, Kate. This is a scale model of war. Every war ever fought, right there in front of you. Because it's always the same. When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die! You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn! How many hearts will be broken! How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning. Sit down and talk!"

This moment is so powerful, firstly because we can see The Doctor’s own trauma resurfacing, but also because this statement applies to every war throughout human history. Collateral damage is inevitable, and often it is the innocent who suffer most for the greed or self-righteousness of the powerful. It’s such a compelling argument - every war has to end sometime, treaties must be signed and compromises must made, it’s an inevitability. So why not forego all the bloodshed?

Is it an over-simplification, and a little utopianistic? Absolutely. But does that mean it’s incorrect? Not even a little bit .