History Recap / DoctorWhoS31E10VincentAndTheDoctor

'''Original air date:''' June 5, 2010

'''Production code:''' 1.10

Amy insists they return to the present. Surely their actions have allowed Vincent to live out his life and create many many more works? Yet when they arrive at the museum, nothing has changed. All the same artwork is present, and Dr Black laments about van Gogh's suicide at an early age. Amy tries to understand. The Doctor comments that life has good things and bad things, and all they were able to do is help give Vincent a few more good things within his short life. The Doctor demonstrates that the ''The Church at Auvers'' no longer has the frightening creature at the window, and one of the sunflower still-life paintings now bears a small inscription above Vincent's signature: "For Amy".

* HeroesWantRedheads: Vincent and Amy share a mutual redhead attraction.
-->'''Amy:''' If we ''had'' got married, our kids would have had very, ''very'' red hair.\\
'''The Doctor:''' The ultimate ginger.

'''The Doctor:''' The ''ultimate'' ginger.

* DrivenToSuicide: Depression is a serious condition, and you're not going to fix it with any single gesture, no matter how big. Even when Vincent is shown how much people love his art in the future, it didn't stop his eventual suicide since he was still living in a time period without proper mental help for someone like him.

* BigBad: The Krafaysis.

* EpiphanyTherapy: Subverted. Van Gogh says that the Doctor is the first doctor who has ever helped him with his condition, but his depression is not cured by his time with the Doctor and Amy, and he still kills himself. Notably, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]]" adds a wrinkle to this: Van Gogh's final painting was the TARDIS exploding, and he took this to mean that his friends died with it. Thus, it was a personal tragedy that pushed him back further into depression.

The one with flowers for Amy and a moving scene set to Athlete's "Chances".

The three leave the church and lie down, hand-in-hand, on a nearby hill. Vincent directs them to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starry_Night starry night]] above, describing how he sees the heavens as a canvas. Both the Doctor and Amy are awed by this sight, as we see the realistic starscape transformed stunningly into van Gogh's painting. Vincent holds the hands of his friends close to him.

* TakeThat: A minor example where the Doctor vents that he wouldn't be having this problem with a non-impressionist, proper painter when Vincent's sketch of the Krafayis isn't good enough to work with the Doctor's alien profiling device. To cheer up Vincent as he paints ''The Church at Auvers'', the Doctor also puts down Michelangelo (who took on the Art/SistineChapel despite a fear of heights) and Picasso (who needed to be reminded people have two eyes).

* BittersweetEnding: The day is saved and van Gogh realizes his importance in the scheme of things. He still kills himself in the end, but he never forgot his friends.
* BreatherEpisode: This episode is ''much'' lighter following Rory's death and [[{{Retgone}} disappearance from time]], with only a few oblique references to previous events.
* BrickJoke: When Vincent gives her a party kiss on the cheek, Amy advises him to shave before he kisses again. When he kisses Dr Black's cheeks, Vincent apologies for his beard.
* CallBack: When Amy says goodbye to Vincent. After giving him a hug and a kiss, she mentions that he should trim his beard before he kisses some one again. Later, when Vincent is overwhelmed by Dr. Black's praise, he gives him a kiss on both cheeks. As he pulls away, Vincent mutters "Sorry about the beard."

* ChangedMyJumper: Why, no, Amy, miniskirts ''weren't'' in fashion in Arles, France, in 1890.

* CharacterFilibuster: Yes, Vincent van Gogh was an awesome, if insane, guy, Dr. Black (though the speech itself still works).

** The Doctor mentions his godmother had two heads. This could mean that the Doctor's godmother was [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels an Aplan]]. Of course, it could also mean she suffered a glitch in her regeneration, as the Ninth Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays mentioned]] it can sometimes result in growing an extra head before he became the Tenth Doctor.
** While the Doctor tests his newest bit of AppliedPhlebotinum, it scans his image and prints out pictures of One and Two.
** Ten mentioned back in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday Doomsday]]" that he was "there at the Fall of Arcadia" during the Time War. Eleven has apparently just taken Amy to the same-named region in Greece.
** [[RunningGag Eleven saying that Amy and Vincent's child would've been the ultimate ginger.]]

* DoubleTake: After the Doctor, Amy and Vincent have left the museum, Dr. Black does a noticeable double take between the man who just hugged him and the portrait of Vincent van Gogh on the wall, and then decides that no, he ''couldn't'' have just met van Gogh in person.

* EpiphanyTherapy: Subverted. Van Gogh says that the Doctor is the first doctor who has ever helped him with his condition, but his depression is not cured by his time with the Doctor and Amy, and he still kills himself. Notably, "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens The Pandorica Opens]]" adds a wrinkle to this: Van Gogh's final painting was the TARDIS exploding, and he took this to mean that his friends died with it. Thus, it was a personal tragedy that pushed him back into/further into depression.

* FreudianSlip: (To Amy and ''Vincent'', mind you) "Amy, '''Rory'''!" "What?!" "Sorry."
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

'''The Doctor:''' The ''ultimate'' ginger.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Vincent has a problem with putting himself down because ''everyone else'' in his time period puts him down as well.[[note]]Vincent's brother supported him generously throughout his life. The brother was not very good at selling paintings.[[/note]]
* HesBack: After Vincent suffers through one of his episodes of depression, he returns, BadassLongcoat and nice hat in place, ready to go paint some monsters.

* ImprovisedWeapon: In addition to his [[ChairmanOfTheBrawl painting chair]], Vincent also has his ''easel''. The Krafayis winds up impaled on it.

* InSpiteOfANail: Showing van Gogh an exhibit of his paintings won't change them [[labelnote:much]]except for the removal of a monster and the addition of a dedication[[/labelnote]]. Even the ones that are in the exhibit and that he hasn't painted yet. It's wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, you know?
* InvisibleMeansUndodgeable: When the Krafayis first turns up, it smacks the Doctor around somewhat. The first time this happens, he's ''quite'' startled — he'd thought Vincent's reaction to the monster was a psychotic break.

* {{Irony}}: The Krafayis is a deadly predator from beyond the stars. However, only ''one'' is featured in this episode, which is quite odd considering how the Doctor describes them as pack animals. So why was it abandoned here by its pack? Because it's blind. That's right — the predator that can't be seen by anyone else ''can't see anyone''.
* LoopholeAbuse: Van Gogh refuses to allow the Doctor to pay for his drink or pay for his painting so he himself can pay for his drink. Thus, Amy proclaims that she will buy a drink for herself and then ''share it'' with whomever she likes. Van Gogh finds this acceptable. [[note]] If a pretty redhead's making the offer, why wouldn't he? [[/note]]

* MoodWhiplash: An episode featuring [[TitleDrop Vincent and the Doctor]] whacking an invisible alien with sticks ''and'' an inevitable suicide? Only in ''Series/DoctorWho''...

* NeurodiversityIsSupernatural: There appears to be a link between Vincent van Gogh's madness/depression and his ability to see invisible aliens. It's implied that he has synaesthesia, so it may be that his mind is interpreting other sensory information about the creature (its scent, the sound it makes when it moves) as visual data.

** The "Next Time" trailer for this episode ended with a coffin topped with sunflowers, implying it was Vincent's. In the actual episode, it's the coffin of a girl whose death-by-Krafayis Vincent gets blamed for and who we never even see. This is also an example of ShownTheirWork, as it's a reference to a lost painting van Gogh did of the same subject matter.

* OutOfCharacterMoment: The Eleventh Doctor decides to confront the Krafayis by swinging a stick at it, apparently attempting to bludgeon it into submission. In other episodes, especially in the revival, the Doctor disdains weapons and always attempts to find a peaceful solution first. He ''is'', however, trying to protect Vincent van Gogh ([[{{Understatement}} who's kind of important to the timeline]]). This can also be excused by him being under the impression that Amy's life was in immediate danger, and the fact that each new incarnation of the character is different from the last, including their tendency of using martial force.

* SeeTheInvisible: Vincent can see the Krafayis ''possibly'' due to his mental health difficulties, and the Doctor later has a special mirror for seeing the creature.

* TakeThat: A minor example where the Doctor vents that he wouldn't be having this problem with a non-impressionist, ''proper'' painter when Vincent's sketch of the Krafayis isn't good enough to work with the Doctor's alien profiling device. To cheer up Vincent as he paints ''The Church at Auvers'', the Doctor also puts down Michelangelo (who took on the Art/SistineChapel despite a fear of heights) and Picasso (who needed to be reminded people have two eyes).

* TrueArtIsAngsty: Gloriously subverted InUniverse. Dr. Black — Bill Nighy's character — who is an art expert, explains in van Gogh's presence how the latter managed to "transform the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty" and "use [his] passion and pain to portray the joy and ecstasy and magnificence of our world". It's not his ''pain'' that is beautiful, but how he used that pain to create positive beauty. This is why he is the greatest artist who ever lived.

Written by Richard Curtis, comedy writer whose works include ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'', ''Film/FourWeddingsAndAFuneral'', and ''Film/NottingHill''; in his words, he wrote the episode [[SoMyKidsCanWatch so his kids can watch]].

* HesBack: After Vincent suffers through one of his episodes of depression, he returns, BadassLongcoat and NiceHat in place, ready to go paint some monsters.

* NiceHat: Vincent has that marvelous straw hat. He even does the Franchise/IndianaJones "[[IndyHatRoll never leave the hat behind]]" thing while fighting.

* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Vincent has a problem with putting himself down because ''everyone else'' in his time period puts him down as well.

** Someone in the museum mentions a doctor who took care of van Gogh, the [[CallBack end of the episode]] has van Gogh say that the Doctor is the only doctor to make a difference in his life.

* AuthorAppeal: Richard Curtis had been fascinated by the life of Vincent van Gogh. Though it was a subject he knew "quite a lot" about, he still read a 200-page biography of van Gogh, which was more research than he normally would have done if working on other projects; he took van Gogh very seriously. As such, he wanted to be "truthful rather than cruel" and refused to write any jokes about van Gogh's ears after he famously cut one of them off.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: It's not discussed in the episode, but as mentioned above no one pronounces "van Gogh" the Dutch way, except the museum guide, who comes close. The other characters all use the British pronunciation, "Van Goff".

* RealityEnsues:
** Depression is a serious condition, and you're not going to fix it with any single gesture, no matter how big. Even when Vincent is shown how much people love his art in the future, it didn't stop his eventual suicide since he was still living in a time period without proper mental help for someone like him.
** On a less somber note, Vincent's sketch of the Krafayis is, while impressively detailed, still not accurate enough for the species to be easily identified by the TARDIS's computer banks. It eventually takes the Doctor donning a MagicMirror to get an accurate enough image of the creature for it to be identified.

* CallBack: Amy mentions that Vincent should trim his beard before he kisses some one again. Later, when Vincent is overwhelmed by Dr. Black's praise, he gives him a kiss on both cheeks. As he pulls away, Vincent mutters "Sorry about the beard."

* TearsOfJoy: Vincent is completely overwhelmed when he sees his exhibition in the future and hears Dr. Black appraise him, not knowing he's there, as "the greatest artist of all time." He's practically sobbing as he embraces Dr. Black and thanks him profusely. (And, let's face it, [[TearJerker the audience is doing this as well]].)

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The Krafayis enjoys one of the settings on the sonic screwdriver. The Doctor is suitably weirded out by this.

* PublicServiceAnnouncement: A concluding message in the initial broadcast took the opportunity to give some information on UsefulNotes/SuicidePrevention.

* VerySpecialEpisode: The BBC voice-over during the closing theme advertised a suicide prevention hotline. The episode's writer, Richard Curtis, even stated that he hoped it would help introduce ''Doctor Who''[='s=] younger audience to the concept of mental illness so they would learn to be more patient with those afflicted with it as they get older. However, it's a very [[TropesAreNotBad well-done example]], with this episode often being seen as one of the best in the revived series' run, with it even being mentioned as a highlight in Amy's travels near the end of her run as a companion.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: As this is the most self-contained of the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes we have seen all season, this one is without an appearance or the direct threat of a time crack. Although there are a few off-handed references to Rory; things like "Why are you being so nice to me?" and "I'm not the marrying kind" make more sense if you've been following the show.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: It's not discussed in the episode, but as mentioned above no one pronounces "van Gogh" the Dutch way, except the museum guide, who comes close. The other characters all use the British pronunciation, "Van Goff".