Doctor Who: 10 Beautiful Things About 'The Time Of The Doctor'

8. The Rose Connotations

It's important not to forget the people that you were, he said. And the Doctor really is the same person as he was hundreds of years ago. There wasn't nearly so much fan-service in 'The Time of the Doctor', perhaps because we had Tom Baker appear in the last episode. But one reference wasn't so much a reference as a connotation; this was a story about the progression of one character nearing death, and the relationship between a Doctor and his companion. It made sense to draw upon the episodes that did the same. When the Doctor sends Clara home, it's certainly reminiscent of his Ninth incarnation saving Rose in 'The Parting of the Ways'. Or what about when he tried to save her in 'Doomsday' by sending her to Pete's World with her family? There's a nod perhaps to Jack - Clara clings to the TARDIS to prevent being left behind - but the Rose connotations definitely answer a question: the Doctor will always save his companions from anything that even resembles the Time War. And that's lovely, isn't it?