Doctor Who (again) [SPOILERS]

[Kobold-Bard]

Ah, but in The Lodger the Doctor said it was not in fact a true Tardis. He even gos so far as to insinuate he would overload it to disastrous results.

I shall take your word for it, my memory is pants.

[Eldan]

Yeah. I'll have to rewatch that episode, I barely remember what it actually was about, except for Doctor hijinks.

[Androgeus]

Interesting idea:

Last season, we saw the Silent Tardis in the present, roughly forty years after humanity started killing them. So it seem at least some of them survived.

We see one in 2011 at the start of The Impossible Astronaut, so at least one survives

[Iskandar]

If I was to make a guess, I'd say whoever was in the space suit was post-hypnotic suggestion-ed to hunt down and kill the doctor for the Silent, which is why one was there in 2011, watching to make sure the Doctor did, in fact, die.

Which is also probably why the Doctor was so calm when the space suit showed up in the first episode. Thanks to the life support in that suit, he knew whoever it was would not, and in fact could not, stop for anything short of death. He knew one of them had to die (whether the Doctor's death there was real or not is something I'm not arguing yet, on insufficient evidence), had to be seen to die.

[The Big Dice]

He knew one of them had to die (whether the Doctor's death there was real or not is something I'm not arguing yet, on insufficient evidence), had to be seen to die.

The Doctor isn't going to die. For one simple reason: it's not oging to be much of a show without him.

One of the flaws in the format is, the Doctor has to always win, so the suspense isn't in whether or not he overcomes the situation, it's in how he does so. Tom Baker points this out in various interviews and DVD Tom-entaries. And he puts it in far more eloquent terms than I can. But that's the gist of it.

[BRC]

The Doctor isn't going to die. For one simple reason: it's not oging to be much of a show without him.

One of the flaws in the format is, the Doctor has to always win, so the suspense isn't in whether or not he overcomes the situation, it's in how he does so. Tom Baker points this out in various interviews and DVD Tom-entaries. And he puts it in far more eloquent terms than I can. But that's the gist of it.

Not just Doctor Who. You can say that about plenty of stories. Usually the assumption is that the protagonists will win. This isn't always the case, but when it isn't the works in question tend to get marked as "Dark" or "Edgy" and make a big deal about subverting this assumption.

The Tension comes from wondering how they are going to win, at what cost they are going to win, and perhaps making ourselves forget that the protagonists are basically guaranteed to win.

This is perhaps more so with Doctor Who because we have a less defined idea of the Doctor's resources. Normally we have a good idea of the tools the protagonist has at hand. Superman, for example, has super strength, flight, speed, invulnerability, heat vision, and whatever else he's been given. We can assume that he will solve the problem with some combination of those powers.
The Doctor's abilities are far more vague. He's got his sonic screwdriver, which does anything the writers need it to, the TARDIS, and his brain. Of these, only the TARDIS has well-defined abilities.

It's like with Sherlock Holmes. Frequently you can't guess the solution to a Sherlock Holmes story because much of the crucial evidence is known only to Holmes. Only Holmes noticed that there was no mud on the Coachman's boots, only Holmes knew about the rare toxin that, if administered in a proper dose, would put the sentries into a catatonic trance without them ever realizing it happened.
Of course, when Holmes gathers everybody together and explains it, everything makes sense. It's similar with the Doctor. He will stand up, pull out his screwdriver and say "But you forget, this is an Axteri Ship! The Axteri were a very clever species, they had to be in order to survive. They were very paranoid, and they ALWAYS had an escape route.", at which point he points the screwdriver at the wall, a bulkhead closes, and the room the villain is in shoot off as an escape pod.

Earlier he may have mentioned that the Axteri were obsessively paranoid, but he probably didn't mention that they made every room into an escape pod.

Basically, when watching Doctor Who, you're not trying to figure out if he's going to win, or how he's going win. You're just along for the ride.

[Kato]

Okay, you've got me there.

Yeah, rule of cool, mostly. But to cut the writers some (more) slack: The Silents were probably everywhere. There was no chance for the Doctor to work with the whole government in secret. The others had to put on some kind of show to make the silents think they were winning.
Yes, it's mostly Rule of Cool, but there's some logical explanation to most of the stuff going on (if you assume a certain value for 'logical')

I really have no idea if there are silents left... only the master of timey-wimey-stuff might know.

[Demons_eye]

Interesting idea:

Last season, we saw the Silent Tardis in the present, roughly forty years after humanity started killing them. So it seem at least some of them survived.

Don't know if anyone has said this yet but if it is a TARDIS, even a replica, when we first see it in the lodger that could be before the Silent get their hands on it.

[Nameless Ghost]

Don't know if anyone has said this yet but if it is a TARDIS, even a replica, when we first see it in the lodger that could be before the Silent get their hands on it.

I would say that that was impossible because the events of The Impossible Astronaut take place before The Lodger, chronologically.

But, you know, time travel.

[Reverent-One]

Ok, that was cool. This season's start has been better than the entirety of last season combined, I'm looking forward to what's coming down the pipe. Though River knowing the Tardis better than the doctor still doesn't sit right with me.

[Drolyt]

Though River knowing the Tardis better than the doctor still doesn't sit right with me.

I get the impression that's only because The Doctor is kind of careless and lazy. He throws it together, and if it works, yay! Why bother learning it the right way!

[Fuzzie Fuzz]

I get the impression that's only because The Doctor is kind of careless and lazy. He throws it together, and if it works, yay! Why bother learning it the right way!

Also, it's a brilliant noise. He loves that noise.

I'm of the opinion that he does it wrong on purpose, because he's the Doctor!

[Reverent-One]

Given it's that Doctor, it's always possible to explain something that way, but at the moment they seem to playing this rather straight, as seen in the first episode...
"We'll go in silent this time"
*Doctor fiddles with what is presumably the "parking break" and turns away*
*River then fiddles with the same thing, seemingly correcting him*

[Jallorn]

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Okay, so why didn't they show us that. They just kind of jumped to "Canton is killing the Companions/the Doctor has been trapped", then "The Companions are not really dead/Canton was working with the Doctor the whole time".

They just kind of cooked up some problems, then solved them five minutes later with no real explanation of why they existed in the first place. They could just of easily had shown Amy calmly being driven through Utah, counting the marks on her arms, River peering into alleyways in New York, then Rory sightseeing on the dam, all with marks all over them. Then they all regroup at Area 51 where the Doctor has been helping the government design a prison capable of holding a Silence.

The rest of the episode could have been pretty much identical, they would have reached the same conclusions, and there wouldn't be this giant 'Trust us, things happened" hanging over everything.

Also possible is that some of this is stuff that's going to be filled in later.

[Nai_Calus]

My crackpot theory for last season was that it was all a dream, so my crackpot theory for this season is going to be:

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The universe still isn't fixed and everything is still in flux. That's why Amy is pregnant/not pregnant and Rory sometimes remembers waiting for Amy and it's 'like a door'. Sometimes one thing is more dominant, sometimes it's in full flux like with the scanner at the end.

Also, the kid is Amy and Rory's. Due to continuing problems with the universe from not being rebooted quite right, either Rory or Amy or both is now a Time Lord and their kid subsequently is too and can regenerate.

Also, I loved in The Impossible Astronaut when Rory poked the Doctor in exactly the same manner the Doctor poked Rory in The Pandorica Opens.

And there's still the mystery of the missing ducks, and the non-existant third floor of Amy's house with the big staircase to nothing nobody ever notices.

[Drolyt]

My crackpot theory for last season was that it was all a dream, so my crackpot theory for this season is going to be:

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The universe still isn't fixed and everything is still in flux. That's why Amy is pregnant/not pregnant and Rory sometimes remembers waiting for Amy and it's 'like a door'. Sometimes one thing is more dominant, sometimes it's in full flux like with the scanner at the end.

Also, the kid is Amy and Rory's. Due to continuing problems with the universe from not being rebooted quite right, either Rory or Amy or both is now a Time Lord and their kid subsequently is too and can regenerate.

That's not that crackpot really.

[Mkhaiwati]

They murdered an innocent woman right in front of Pond for no reason beyond spite.

Right nasty pieces of work, and no mistake.

This jogged another part of my memory loose. (and brings more questions, too)

Seeing the alien in the bathroom brought back the memory to Amy of the Silent in present time when the Doctor was killed. But the Silent also told Amy to tell the Doctor what he couldn't know (at the time, I interpreted it as she couldn't tell the Doctor that Amy, Rory, and River saw his future self die) but.... that entire part was dropped fast, and never mentioned again. How did the Silent know the future? Something for later this season?

Also, River felt sick, too, in the Impossible Astronaut, in the warehouse. What if the child is her's and the Doctors (Amy could be just a "lovable Aunt" in the photograph)?

[Kato]

I'm sorry but River being pregnant with the Dotor's is the most hilarious idea ever, I think. (Okay, not most hilarious ever but pretty awesome)
Imagine, in the backwards timeline it's like a countdown to their encounter. 'Wait, you're not pregnant anymore?! But that means... HELL YEAH!' Okay, Eleven would be more subtile than that... if he even figures it out... er...

[Serpentine]

I like this idea.

[Drolyt]

Something for later this season?

I'm pretty sure it is this. Moffat seems to be making every detail count.

[dehro]

my theory about the regenerating kid is that

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she is rory and amy's but the doctor has had to "intervene" during the pregnancy to save amy's life from *insert random cause of death*, and to do so had as only option that of somehow hitching her up to the tardis, or himself, or both.., thereby saving her life and at the same time imbibing the foetus with some of the timelord's most fancy qualities. the tardis would be a better candidate, as it would allow her to time-travel on her own steam..which would be pretty amazing

[Kato]

Okay, so I went to the 'evil site' (tv tropes) to have a look what they were saying about DotM there and stumbled upon an entry I'm not sure I can agree with: Is it made clear you remember all your previous encounters with Silents when you see a silent? Yeah, Amy was flashing back to the silent she saw in 2011 on the White House's toilet but that was only a moment... I didn't really get the impression this was definitely the case but rather they just used her normal knowledge to get along when they saw one... What's your impressions on this? Or did I miss some input somewhere?

[Leecros]

teleporting Hyper Nixon solves problems with Patriotism.

That is one of the best comments ever. Mind if i siggify it?

Okay, so I went to the 'evil site' (tv tropes) to have a look what they were saying about DotM there and stumbled upon an entry I'm not sure I can agree with: Is it made clear you remember all your previous encounters with Silents when you see a silent? Yeah, Amy was flashing back to the silent she saw in 2011 on the White House's toilet but that was only a moment... I didn't really get the impression this was definitely the case but rather they just used her normal knowledge to get along when they saw one... What's your impressions on this? Or did I miss some input somewhere?

Perhaps it's one of those magical Time Traveler abilities. Because travels through time and space she can recall seeing the Silent. Similarly to how she and The Doctor could remember people who were wiped from existence thanks to the Time Cracks.

[BRC]

That is one of the best comments ever. Mind if i siggify it?

Of Course!

Perhaps it's one of those magical Time Traveler abilities. Because travels through time and space she can recall seeing the Silent. Similarly to how she and The Doctor could remember people who were wiped from existence thanks to the Time Cracks.

Except that the Silence's Memory Trick works just fine on Amy.
The Silence don't actually erase knowledge, they just erase the experience of seeing them. This apparently extends to seeing pictures of them, which is why the Doctor and Co don't know what they look like, because the moment you see an image of one you jump into "Silence" Mode, with access to all your memories of the Silence, which you then lose the moment you look away.

'S-Amy' caught on to the Silence's trick pretty quickly. Presumably, at some point S-Amy managed to do a low-tech version of the Tape-recorder Hand and leave a message. Simplest solution would be that she saw a Silence, pulled out her phone and called Non-S-Rory. Who then conveyed it to everybody else.

[Weezer]

This is a bit off topic of the new episodes but I was rewatching the West Wing and there's a remarkable resemblance between Matt Smith's doctor and Lord John Marbury. They share an insane brilliance, a certain arrogance and assuredness thats simply hilarious. Anyone else see the similarities?
For those who don't know him, heres his introduction to the series.

[small pumpkin m]

Okay, so I went to the 'evil site' (tv tropes) to have a look what they were saying about DotM there and stumbled upon an entry I'm not sure I can agree with: Is it made clear you remember all your previous encounters with Silents when you see a silent? Yeah, Amy was flashing back to the silent she saw in 2011 on the White House's toilet but that was only a moment... I didn't really get the impression this was definitely the case but rather they just used her normal knowledge to get along when they saw one... What's your impressions on this? Or did I miss some input somewhere?

Whoever wrote that was wrong. Remember Joy repeating the same sequence multiple times, where she obviously didn't remember the previous times it happens? Yeah, that's normal, and Amy specifically wonders why she is different.

[TARDIS]

I'm sorry but River being pregnant with the Dotor's is the most hilarious idea ever, I think. (Okay, not most hilarious ever but pretty awesome)
Imagine, in the backwards timeline it's like a countdown to their encounter. 'Wait, you're not pregnant anymore?! But that means... HELL YEAH!' Okay, Eleven would be more subtile than that... if he even figures it out... er...

Well, Susan had to come from somewhere, right, and we never did meet her parents ;)

This is the theory I'll be sticking to at the moment, given Moffat's love of classic Who... River is the Doctor's wife, and their kid is Susan's parent. Not certain about the whole time lock dealio, but... uh... OHH LOOK! TIMEY-WHIMEY BALL! *tosses*

[BRC]

Whoever wrote that was wrong. Remember Joy repeating the same sequence multiple times, where she obviously didn't remember the previous times it happens? Yeah, that's normal, and Amy specifically wonders why she is different.

Except that Joy DOES Remember the previous times. IIRC, she basically repeats her initial statement, then says "Wait, but I just said that". It takes them a moment to realize they just suddenly remembered seeing the Silence before.

[The Big Dice]

Well, Susan had to come from somewhere, right, and we never did meet her parents ;)

This is the theory I'll be sticking to at the moment, given Moffat's love of classic Who... River is the Doctor's wife, and their kid is Susan's parent. Not certain about the whole time lock dealio, but... uh... OHH LOOK! TIMEY-WHIMEY BALL! *tosses*

Susan's parents get hinted at once as far as I know in the classic series. A conversation in Tomb of the Cybermen where the Doctor is helping Victoria come to terms with her father having been exterminated by the Daleks. Other than that, it's not until the modern era they get hinted at again. Which is how you get books like Lungbarrow confusing the situation with the idea that Time Lords are loomed rather than born.

But if things do come to some handwaved by time travel deal with the child, it's going to prove (to me at least) Moffat really is both sloppy and unimaginative when it comes to time travel. He's a bit too fond of what the Tenth Doctor explained as "Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden. Except for cheap tricks."

That said, I'm looking back to The Empty Child and Blink rather than Curse of Fatal Death or Lady in the Fireplace. Moffat can give you all the elements, then put them together in a way that you weren't expecting.

[Jibar]

So this week's was good. No complaints there, no problems. Loved it.

Next week's however.

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Does anyone else feel like they're really pushing the Ood on us to be new 'classic' Who monsters? I kinda like 'em, but they're really showing up a lot.
My girlfriend also informs me next weeks is Neil Gaiman's episode, and I would've thought him a bit too original to be using the Ood like that.
Although oooo Time Lord shenanigans. That should be fun.