I have to say, I liked the ending twist. River Song’s death was foreshadowed quite explicitly, so that was no surprise. But the Doctor-ex-machina actually made sense to me. No, the technobabble was gibberish, but it made sense that given how much time he would have to think about it, he would be able to figure out a way to save her in the end. Usually, he just pulls out some BS solution in the nick of time (Christmas special, I’m looking at you!), but this time it made sense why he would be able to find a way to get it to work, thanks to the wonders of time travel.
I find it interesting that Moffat’s episodes manage to be so creepy, yet so kind to the secondary characters. Everyone lives in The Doctor Dances, Madam Pompadour dies of natural causes, the gargoyles in Blink simply send people to a different time period, and in this episode all the secondary characters get to continue on in virtual reality. Quite different from the usual episodes where the death tolls are often staggeringly high.
If this is any indication of the direction Steven Moffat is going to take the series when he becomes showrunner, all I can say is bring it on.
I loved it. Everything worked for me. It made much more “sense” than most of the complicated Doctor Who stories, and had some lovely character moments, both sinister and sweet.
And I thought the two kids playing Donna’s children were really impressive when they had to say their lines.
Yeah, neither this doctor nor Christopher Eccleston are people I’d immediately think of as “my type.” But, there’s something about their enthusiasm that makes you want to fall in love a little bit, take their hand, and run!
I’ve seen every Doctor Who episode ever broadcast in the US and I must say this was probably the best ever. The plotting was nothing short of brilliant, with all the twists nicely set up, and the idea of the Doctor meeting a former companion that he hasn’t met yet was pure genius. There were so many great things going on – Donna being unable to connect with her virtual husband, the relationship between the Doctor and River, the use of Doctor Moon. Everything had layers upon layers and nothing was what it seemed.
It’ll be hard to top. I’ve already recommended it for a Nebula (Blink was robbed last year).
Great two part arc. I can’t add much that wasn’t already said, but between his Doctor Who stories and Coupling, please just consider me an official Steven Moffat fanboy now.
It took me a long time to figure out who Doctor Moon was and I never caught on to the little girl being the main computer until she clicked away her Dad and curled up on the floor.
levdrakon, nailed it. It was great to see the “Rich Selfish Guy” actually turn out to be caring and intelligent.
I think I missed something, what did the Doctor finally give the shadow creatures in the end**?** I couldn’t figure out what they got for letting everyone teleport away.
The chance to survive. The Doctor told them that, since they were in a library, they should look him up and see just what a badass he really is, and work out what their odds were if they didn’t do what he wanted.
You see this bit was a bit odd to me. Sure the Doctor is a giant in the scope of history, but a badass? He made out he was some kind of “wrath of god” when in fact he goes out of his way to avoid killing anything, even villains.
I guess I get it. In the Whoverse Dictionary the entry next to **Ultimate Badass ** is Dalek with the added note, mostly deceased as the Doctor defeated the entire race by himself and destroyed all but a few strays. Additional note, (more than once)
I think the point he was making is not that he’s the meanest toughest critter west of the Pecos, but that he is rarely defeated and they would have no chance of winning so get out while the getting is good.
Well, he can get very Old Testament when he’s testy. But even when he’s in a good mood, it’s fairly rare for anyone to go up against him and come away with a whole skin (exoskeleton/carapace/bonded polycarbide casing). Just look at his recent record:
Nestene Consciousness: destroyed.
Cassandra: dried up and burst.
The Gelth: blown up.
Slitheen family: blown up.
Dalek: blown up.
The Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe: pulverized.
Blon Fel Fotch Passameer Day Slitheen: regressed to egg.
Dalek armada: disintegrated – erased from existence.
Sycorax: defeated in single combat, then blown up.
Cassandra (again): foiled and allowed to die.
Werewolf being: destroyed by diamond-focussed moon laser.
Krillitanes: blown up.
Clockwork robots: marooned in time.
Cybermen: driven insane and destroyed.
The Wire: trapped in Betamax cassette.
The Beast: dropped into black hole.
Abzorbaloff: melted.
Warring Dalek and Cyberman armies: banished into interdimensional void.
The Racnoss: drowned.
Florence Finnegan, the Plasmavore: killed.
Carrionites: destroyed.
Daleks (again): destroyed (again).
Dr Lazarus: killed.
Family of Blood: various, but all nasty.
Stone Angels: temporally frozen.
Master: shot.
Max Capricorn: killed in fall.
Nanny: killed in fall.
Pyroviles: destroyed.
Sontarans: blown up.
Vespiform: drowned.
In 903 years of Police Box travel, he’s battled evil in all it’s forms, and never been defeated. In the past, he’s destroyed, or allowed the destruction of, 11 individual spaceships, three whole space fleets, three planets, and two universes (admittedly small ones).
Just looking at the scoresheet, which way would you bet?
That’s the point - he goes out of his way to avoid killing, even Bad Guys, and the death toll is in the billions. Trillions, probably. Maybe more. And he’s trying NOT to kill!
Would be pretty damn scary if he suddenly declared he was coming after you, wouldn’t it?
I thought it was made pretty clear that Tennant isn’t her Doctor.
Which would mean to me that they have to find a younger version of that actress to play the wife/companion/lover/whatever to some future Doctor down the line.
Which is cool with me, as long as they give her more than a year as Companion. I mean, that should be an entire five-year arc or something like that.
Quite a few of those the Doctor didn’t kill, Nanny was killed by the Adipose, the Beast was killed by Rose, the Sontarans blown up by the faux-American bloke etc.
Anyway, it just seemed a bit ridiculous that the great flesh eating swarm had him right where they wanted him (he was just standing there defenceless) and they suddenly got scared and ran because he’s the Doctor. It’s like someone is holding a gun to your head and you say “Look me up, I’m a badass” so they decide not to pull the trigger.
Heh, good point on the Doctor being a badass when he wants to be. But knowing the Doctor, I just figured he was bluffing. The time it took the Vashta Nerada to read up on him woulda given him enough time to figure out how to save everyone. He’s bonkers like that.
I’m so so sorry but the explanation they gave for those things was kind of lame. So there are these microscoping organisms on every planet that strip you to the bone in a millisecond and are so frightening that unlike Daleks and Sontarans the only defense is “run” but yet they usually don’t kill anyone?
Oh…ok look you up…it’s “The Doctor” right? Not too many hits th…fuck it lets just swarm his head.
