Ultimate Doctor Who Madness

[Jim North]

Also it's implied that suggestions don't last forever unless they're repeated. So unless people keep rewatching it, they'll stop killing Silents I think? Maybe?

Yes, I thought about that, actually . . . it is indeed mentioned in the scene where dude straightens the Doctor's tie that the hypnotic nature of the message will eventually wear off and be forgotten, indicating that this might be the case. However, it's also mentioned that when people see a Silent, they remember all the previous times that they saw a Silent. So even if a person has only seen the moon landing once when they were a kid (like me), then there's a distinct possibility that they will remember having seen the subliminal message. It might not instill in them the original urgency, but if Amy-Rory-River had ever seen the moon landing video before, there's still a good chance they might still go "Hey, wait a minute . . . "

[frazzledog]

Has anyone tried looking for spoilers? I know I have, and one thing I found out is that Metal Eyepatch Lady has a name.

I also found out that the season finale is on June 4, right after my birthday!

Spoiler: show

And that Jenny, Lucy Saxon, Silurians, and Cybermen will be part of the finale. And that the Jenny is played by a different person....

Cast spoilers in the Spoiler, BTW

[Joopac_Badur]

Spoiler: show

Ha! I figured that Jenny would be coming back! Rumor has it that originally RTD wanted her to die at the end of the episode she first appeared but Moffat (having already been picked to take over the show), requested that she live. If that rumor is true, then I imagine he certainly would bring her back.

The Silurians and Lucy Saxon though? Huh, didn't see those coming, especially Lucy. Although, the Morning Show did a small piece on Doctor Who and the anchor was actually recorded doing a small news bit for Doctor Who (as in, they used a real news lady for a part of the story involving the news). In the clip, she said something along the lines of "Holy Roman Emperor, Winston Churchill, was spotted this morning on his daily wholly mammoth run."

In the real news clip done about Doctor Who, she toured the set and there were Cybermen and those Roman soldiers.

Could perhaps the Silence make their proto-TARDIS work and completely screw up the space time continuum? One where the Silurians dominate the Earth instead of the humans and Lucy Saxon is alive? Hmmm ...

[Agrajag]

Dude! Spoilers! Come on! Talking about stuff that has happened already fine whatever. But don't put actual future spoilers here without a spoiler tag. Argh.

[Joopac_Badur]

Noted.

[Ben]

ok since I'm slow and watch on aussie tv I just watched the black spot episode.

Seriously can someone please let all of TV Land know HOW THE FUCK TO DO CPR? You literally have to break there ribs for it to have any effect. You can't just press down on there chest for a bit.
Fucking pisses me off.

[frazzledog]

ben, why do you watch on tv when you are so behind everyone else? I could give you a link where you can watch it at least the next day! (I normally find a place to watch it early, like, 6-ish my time, but then I watch it again on the TV. No, I don't have a problem)

[Ben]

I know were I could get them the day after, but some shows I just enjoy watching on TV. Dr Who for example is kind of a family thing with me. (mum dad, sisters etc all watch it)

[Joopac_Badur]

!!!The Doctor's Wife!!!

So all those rumors about River Song being a manifestation of the TARDIS not true, eh? Or are they? That last line TARDIS-Idris said about "The only water in the forest is the river" leads one to conspire about how River dies in the Library which the Doctor does describe as a forest. And who would the Doctor come to trust more than anyone other than the TARDIS in a physical body?

If that's the case, that River is somehow a living body that can contain the Heart of the TARDIS, it might also be possible that the little girl seen in the first two episodes is also River/TARDIS. A human body can't contain the TARDIS for long; it blows up eventually. The Silence, knowing this and wanting a TARDIS for themselves, create the space suit to keep the body alive. The little girl breaks free, and now a little bit smarter, knows how to regenerate to keep herself alive (because it appears that regenerating uses the same stuff that emits from the TARDIS). River, seeing all this, plays dumb for the Doctor's sake, knowing that it will all work out in the end.

But who knows? It's all a big stretch, really.

The episode was great though. I kept pretending that "the House" was actually House, M.D. which made me giggle. Did anybody get a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy vibe when the Doctor described the planet they were on being like a smaller bubble on the outside of a bigger bubble, but not really, similar to when Ford Prefect described the universe beginning like filming sand draining in a bathtub and then watching it in reverse?

The scenes between Idris and the Doctor were absolutely beautiful. Every bit of it captured their relationship perfectly, and I love how Idris claimed the Doctor just as much as he claimed her. It's funny, too, because the third story in the entire franchise of Doctor Who dealt with the fact that the TARDIS is very much a living thing ("The Edge of Destruction"). It's funny how years later they come back and address this point in full.

[Jim North]

SWEET.

MOTHERING.

CHRIST.

Should Gaiman write more episodes? Fuck no. Forget Gaiman writing more episodes. Can we please have Gaiman write EVERY episode? I love Mr. Moffat's writing dearly, don't get me wrong, but that . . . that was just . . . damn.

The creepy atmosphere of this episode is absolutely perfect. Doctor Who has done creepy before of course, and Moffat has been particularly good at it, but Neil Gaiman is a whole different kind of creepy that I want to just eat like candy every day.

I love that Sexy (can we call her Sexy?) calls the Doctor her Thief. It's just so perfect that she would think of him that way. Such an amazing topper on one of the longest held and beloved bits of continuity in the series.

When the Cloister Bell started ringing again, I was cheering its return, but then I was almost immediately like FUCK THAT, TARDIS CORRIDORS, HOLY SHIT, WE'RE FINALLY GETTING TO SEE THE TARDIS CORRIDORS AGAIN! And then of course, it was all HEY IT'S THE CORAL DESKTOP THEME! It was like a never-ending nerdgasm of truly epic proportions that simply kept getting better and better.

But speaking of the corridors, even though I knew it was just an illusion cast by House, the age-jumping Amy-hating Rory thing was hard as hell to watch. See, other DW writers, if you want to do horrific emotionally-wrenching stuff with Amy and Rory's relationship, this is how you do it. This is how you make your viewers squirm on the hook. Watch and learn, dammit!

Regarding the telepathic connection thing, in Sexy's defense, they're both the pretty ones, so picking Rory was plenty fair enough.

Finally, the finale. I'm going to admit it. I cried. Very literally. I cried like a big stupid baby. I'm feeling myself starting to tear up a little again just thinking about as I write this. I'm not even going to talk about it here in the thread we made to specifically talk about spoilers, because everyone needs to see this for themselves. You people who are looking for the spoilers before watching the episode, stop that right this instant, and go watch the episode! NOW!

And that's it. I just . . . it just . . . burble burble burble! I can't possibly love this episode enough. I'm going to wait for a few days, and then I'm going to watch it again. And then just before watching the next episode, I'm going to watch it a third time. I'd just keep watching it over and over again one viewing right after the other, but I don't want to burn out on it. I want to keep that emotional level, preserve it.

This is why Neil Gaiman is seriously one of the best authors who has ever lived. He may have his occasional missteps, but when he gets it right, he will melt your fucking face off with awesomeness.

[Jim North]

Okay, now that I've had a little time to calm down . . .

So all those rumors about River Song being a manifestation of the TARDIS not true, eh? Or are they? That last line TARDIS-Idris said about "The only water in the forest is the river" leads one to conspire about how River dies in the Library which the Doctor does describe as a forest. And who would the Doctor come to trust more than anyone other than the TARDIS in a physical body?

She also said "This is the time we talked," not "This is the first time we talked" or "This is one of the times we talked" or even "This is the last time we talked." If anyone would know that a future version of her had been walking around inside of her, it would be her, one would think. And she obviously knew about her own future. She was simply having difficulty talking about it since she was stuck in a more linear existence with less processing capability than usual. She'd almost certainly know if she were River in her future.

And even if River were some kind of humanoid TARDIS, surely she couldn't be the same TARDIS as Sexy because I actually like Sexy.

[Agrajag]

Yeah, the first thing I said after watching it was "Holy shit, that's the best episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen."

I hope River isn't the TARDIS. That would be dumb as hell. I hope River is some crazy thing no one has thought of. Otherwise I'll be pretty disappointed.

And yeah, Idris/Sexy is way more entertaining and likeable than River. Too bad we can't have her as a companion.

[Monkeychewtoy]

I won a debate with this episode, and I am so happy. A friend of mine and I were talking about Doctor Who last week, and I mentioned that I was frustrated with how the TARDIS was obviously ignoring where the Doctor wanted to go, but they never seemed to address this directly. I thought it was obvious that the TARDIS simply took him where he needed to go, but my friend was of the opinion that the Doctor was much more in control of the TARDIS than that. I was incredibly grateful when Sexy just came out and hollered it in his face.

Also, I suspect we'll see a lot more about the relationship between artron energy and the Doctor's human companions... including Amy's unborn child.

[Jim North]

[Agrajag]

I've been rewatching some Tennant-era Who recently. I think season 4 is my favorite, and Donna is easily my favorite companion. She's funny, smart, capable, and doesn't want to sleep with the Doctor. And so far all of the eps in her season have held up pretty well. The only major issue so far is with The Doctor's Daughter, and my complaint is that Martha doesn't need to be in the episode at all. She does nothing useful the whole time.

Also that episode is way funnier now that Tennant and the girl are married.