My understanding of it was that they were put into a kind of temporary stasis and covered with the giant bell jars so that they would survive the holocaust created by the rocket spraying the red poison all over. Mrs. Gillyflower was choosing only the smart, good-looking people to survive. Sort of a genocide/eugenics plot.
Diana Rigg has been awesome on Game of Thrones this season.
I loved the Doctor’s reaction to seeing Jenny, and her reaction to him laying a big kiss on her.
I guess the biggest question is how a crazy old woman with a parasitic leech designed a rocket in Victorian England?
This really seemed to be the work of the Great Intelligence. We know from the Christmas episode that the GI was actively working in Victorian England. But they never indicated he was behind this.
<slap!>
Doctor: You’ve no idea how good that feels!
They were the Silurian’s greatest enemy because their venom got into the water supply, not because the creatures themselves were particularly fierce. An individual mosquito’s easy enough to squash, but still hundreds of thousands of people die of malaria every year.
Just remind me?
The kid who gave Strax directions was Thomas Thomas. TomTom is a popular brand of SatNavs, especially in the UK.
Fun episode and I do enjoy the trio. I got the Holmes ref but not knowing Tegan missed that one and the TomTom one I completely missed.
I watch the show with my kids and we all really enjoy it. We were also thinking that the trio might get a shot at a spinoff. Especially as there are none running currently.
It seems like Clara is really saving this Doctor. I never really liked him with Amy and the first half of this season was pretty dreadful. Clara might actually save this freakish Monster of a Doctor for me.
*Moriah, Katharine Hepburn with a K not a C. *
If you’re going to channel someone, great choice but I didn’t really see it. Why did you think Diane Rigg was channeling her?
I found the Northern accents in this episode very difficult to understand. I usually don’t have problems with British shows. These were pretty thick. Especially the morgue attendant.
I had no problem with the North accent.
“Lots of planets have a North!” -#9
Yes, had to throw on the CCing for this one. Made me long for a nice episode of Ripper Street, it did. 
I do love Strax, and can’t quite see how anyone couldn’t–I mean, he’s a psychotic potato dwarf, after all!
Very solid episode, and one of the best “creepy” ones in a long, long time.
I can’t be the only one who noticed that his syntax is that of a SatNav. “You have reached your destination.”
What was with the Galvatron toy Clara was playing with when she got back home (right before she saw the photos on the computer)? Why would they use a toy from 1986 as a prop in a 2013 setting?
Interestingly, Galvatron could in theory have met the Doctor, since they both interacted with Death’s Head in the Marvel comics.
I loved it when the Doctor warns of what could happen if the venom fell into the wrong hands … and Mrs. Gillyflower is only too happy to assert that hers are, in fact, the wrong hands.
Yeh, liked that a lot. Diana Rigg really seemed to enjoy herself throughout. As did her real-life daughter (Ada/Rachael Stirling) - some of their scenes together must have been fun rehearsing.
I don’t know, but the possibilities that occur to me just now:
[ul]
[li]It might belong to a member of the cast or crew, and been included as an in-joke.[/li]
[li]It could have been one of a number of random “kids in the house” props provided by the set dresser, and it just happened to appeal to the director.[/li]
[li]The BBC, as a non-commercial broadcaster, has to take care to avoid the appearance of product placement – a long-out-of-production toy may have been chosen for that reason.[/li]
[li]Or the Dad might have an extensive collection of vintage Transformers, I suppose.[/li][/ul]
I assumed the Galvatron was a reference to next weeks episode with the Cybermen. Clara is in for a shock seeing a life size version of the Galvatron.
Just finished watching it. Enjoyed it a lot. Always loves me some Strax.
And Madame Vastra has already been compared to Sherlock Holmes, in the Christmas episode. Nicely spotted, Hermione - did not get that.
Funny, I’m perfectly okay with kids on the TARDIS, but my reaction to the previews to next week’s episode was “Oh Christ, not the Cybermen again!” I suppose I should be grateful it’s not the damn Daleks. Though with all the money they must have spent on those pretty new Le Creuset Daleks, you know the bastards’ll show up again. Dammit.
Missed this. I was thinking it was some reference to the nursery rhyme “Tom Tom the piper’s son”.
I thought about that and was glad he did not - it would have been something of an emotional cop-out, I feel. Ada has suffered, and she’s gotten some strength from that; magically fixing her eyes would cheapen her suffering and almost mock it.
Am I the only one who thought that Ada reminded him of Joan Redfern from “Family of Blood”? The actress, I mean, not necessarily the character. Maybe it was just the late Victorian hairstyle and clothing.
When people ask him what he’s a doctor of he’ll say many things. When they ask for medical help he’ll tell them that he’s not that type of doctor.
I picked up on it but I missed the Thomas Thomas TomTom implication.