# Doctor Who 4x11 - Turn Left **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705 "2008-06-21T18:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/21 "2008-06-23T13:03:20Z")
I think Rose’s different sounding speech was based on her having become more responsible in her role in alternate-universe-Torchwood, which was causing her accent to develop away from her casual teenager-speak. But I also thought that after her varied roles she’s had since _Doctor Who_ Billie just forgot what Rose sounded like. In the _Confidential_ episode she admits she had to watch the DVDs to remind herself how Rose behaved. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/22 "2008-06-23T13:36:53Z")
The Torchwood and Doctor Who Confidentials…are they actually full half-hour ‘making ofs’ for every episode? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/23 "2008-06-23T13:50:50Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] The Torchwood and Doctor Who Confidentials…are they actually full half-hour ‘making ofs’ for every episode? -Joe [/QUOTE] Pretty much yes, but with a few minor spoilers thrown in to tempt us into watching the next episode. Not that we need to be enticed. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/24 "2008-06-23T13:59:43Z")
[QUOTE=Stryfe] Pretty much yes, but with a few minor spoilers thrown in to tempt us into watching the next episode. Not that we need to be enticed. [/QUOTE] Are they worth watching? I download all my episodes from [unmentioned place] because I have no intention of watching edited ones a couple weeks later on Sci-Fi. I can download Confidentials, too, I just hadn’t bothered. Maybe I’ll start. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/25 "2008-06-23T14:14:36Z")
Am I wrong, or do I remember that in the last Christmas special, if the _Titanic_ hit, the whole Earth would be destroyed, and not just London? IIRC, they made a big deal about the baddie of the week being willing to sacrifice a whole planet for his own ends. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/26 "2008-06-23T14:49:43Z")
[QUOTE=Galwegian] Am I wrong, or do I remember that in the last Christmas special, if the _Titanic_ hit, the whole Earth would be destroyed, and not just London? IIRC, they made a big deal about the baddie of the week being willing to sacrifice a whole planet for his own ends. [/QUOTE] You’re right. The Titanic-comet would have leveled London, and then the drive emissions (or something toxic, anyways) would have killed off the rest of the planet. Of course, we’re operating with some potentially bad information. Without The Doctor, it obviously still fell on Earth, but that doesn’t mean that someone on board didn’t manage to eject the warp core or something like that. Someone on board may have chosen to do that instead of gambling on getting the Big Win and stopping everything the way The Doctor does most of the time. Just like it’s not likely that Gwen, Ianto, and Jack would have made a very good boarding party against the Space Midgets, but there it was. Maybe without The Doctor they had to be much more of a special forces team and less of a detective group. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/27 "2008-06-23T15:22:04Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] I didn’t think she was looking too skinny, just in no way a convincing teenager any more, what age is she supposed to be in the show? [/QUOTE] I’m guessing about her own age, i.e. about early to mid 20’s. She was clerking in a department store in the first episode. Piper was 22 when that episode was shot, which seems about right with the age of the character. Camille Coduri who plays Jackie is only 16 years her senior, but it’s not a stretch that Rose could be a product of a teen prgnancy. Also, Coduri looked older than 39 back in '05, I’d’ve pegged her at about my own age, about five years older, or even a bit more. I still think Piper looked gaunt and harried, but maybe living in [del]the dungeon[/del] another dimension does that to a person. Maybe it’s also because I don’t think she she was nearly enough Rose. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/28 "2008-06-23T15:31:31Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] I still think Piper looked gaunt and harried, but maybe living in [del]the dungeon[/del] another dimension does that to a person. Maybe it’s also because I don’t think she she was nearly enough Rose. [/QUOTE] Well, she does seem to be a very different Rose, so I’m not all that concerned about it. She’s been through a lot and a whole bunch seems to have changed about her. Works for me. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/29 "2008-06-23T16:39:26Z")
[QUOTE=Just Some Guy] Giant radio telescope actually, IIRC. And I also recall that the first episode of the next season had a plot line that it was a particularly traumatic regeneration. That said I can fan wank in a dozen reasons why the Doctor couldn’t regenerate and ignore the statement that the person made (presumably if his chest cavity is being occupied by a slab of concrete it would pose a problem, for example). As I stated before letting him regenerate and not be the same helpful, friendly Doctor afterward might have been a more effective way to go but harder to fit into an hour. [/QUOTE] There’s also the fact that he fought the Christmas monster thing _right after_ he lost Rose. He was in a dark place that whole episode. He might have chosen _not_ to regenerate when he died, the way the Master chose not to. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/30 "2008-06-23T18:06:30Z")
[QUOTE=pepperlandgirl] There’s also the fact that he fought the Christmas monster thing _right after_ he lost Rose. He was in a dark place that whole episode. He might have chosen _not_ to regenerate when he died, the way the Master chose not to.[/QUOTE Extremely good point. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/31 "2008-06-23T19:41:57Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] I’m guessing about her own age, i.e. about early to mid 20’s. She was clerking in a department store in the first episode. Piper was 22 when that episode was shot, which seems about right with the age of the character. Camille Coduri who plays Jackie is only 16 years her senior, but it’s not a stretch that Rose could be a product of a teen prgnancy. Also, Coduri looked older than 39 back in '05, I’d’ve pegged her at about my own age, about five years older, or even a bit more. [/QUOTE] Rose was born in 1987 (the year her father died), so she was 18 when the Doctor showed up in 2005. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/32 "2008-06-23T21:22:20Z")
And Billie Piper was born in 1982 so it’s not like that was a million miles away from her actual age. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/33 "2008-06-23T23:26:24Z")
[QUOTE=Leiko] Rose was born in 1987 (the year her father died), so she was 18 when the Doctor showed up in 2005. [/QUOTE] Is that canon? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/34 "2008-06-24T00:08:03Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] Is that canon? [/QUOTE] Assuming **Leiko** isn’t just making up the dates, well, I’d guess so. How come? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/35 "2008-06-24T00:46:50Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] Is that canon? [/QUOTE] Yup! I’m not sure when it’s first said for sure, although in “Aliens of London” (set in 2006) Rose is described as 19 years old, and “Father’s Day” (when Rose goes back to the day her father died, when she was just a baby) is set in the autumn of 1987. However, some evidence points to her being born in 1986 and being 19 when she left with the Doctor at the end of “Rose.” Then there’s the problem that an article said her birthday was 4/27, but an ad for Bad Wolf said she’s an Aries. It’s sort of a mess, but it is agreed that Rose is supposed to be 19 for most, if not all, of her travels with the Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/36 "2008-06-24T00:58:11Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] Is that canon? [/QUOTE] I have a strange suspicion that all the new _Doctor Who_ series are actually set a year ahead of when they’re shown. But that may be me getting confused with something else; perhaps it’s _Torchwood_ who do that. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/37 "2008-06-24T01:36:45Z")
It is Doctor Who who does the year ahead thing (not sure for Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood, actually). Except for the very beginning of Rose, the “present day” Earth is one year ahead, because the Ninth Doctor accidentally brought Rose back a year after she left. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/38 "2008-06-24T08:21:34Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Are they worth watching? I download all my episodes from [unmentioned place] because I have no intention of watching edited ones a couple weeks later on Sci-Fi. I can download Confidentials, too, I just hadn’t bothered. Maybe I’ll start. -Joe [/QUOTE] I enjoy them, plus if it’s a scary episode it helps my youngest daughter (7) to get to sleep when they explain how it was done and that the monsters aren’t real. They are usually worth watching and tend to have a few brief interviews with the writer or director which can be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/39 "2008-06-24T08:50:27Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Are they worth watching? I download all my episodes from [unmentioned place] because I have no intention of watching edited ones a couple weeks later on Sci-Fi. I can download Confidentials, too, I just hadn’t bothered. Maybe I’ll start. -Joe [/QUOTE] Sometimes they’ll delve back into the history of the programme when it’s relevant to the current episode - they did a retrospective of the Master IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705/40 "2008-06-26T01:51:16Z")
I’m a bit late to the party. For most of the episode I honesty felt it was not awesome, but just…okay. It felt a little bit too smushed to fit the time, and a lot of it felt kind of like a recap. Then the last thirty seconds happened and I started bouncing in my chair making little happy noises because of the turn for _completely awesome_. That’s the first time in possibly ever that I’ve been so blown away by the very end of something. I have a ton of messy speculation running around in my head right now, but I can’t settle on any coherent theories about what happens next. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-4x11-turn-left/453705.md?page=1)