# Doctor Who - Series Six - Part II **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860 "2011-08-24T03:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![vdgg81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@vdgg81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vdgg81)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/381 "2011-09-19T17:01:58Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > It reminded me of The Curse of Fenric with Ace and Silvester McCoy - he has to talk her out of her faith with the Dr to save the day. In **The Curse of Fenric** it is also revealed that the thing in which The Doctor puts his faith are his companions. He recites a list of their names for protection against the vampires. I also thought it was pretty clear that young Amy was in actual Amy’s room. The angels were there for the cowardly alien and we latter see both Amy and Doctor take a peek at their rooms, with only the contents of Amy’s room being revealed latter. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/382 "2011-09-19T17:02:53Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > Just because Rory and Amy were living together in a house at the start of TIA, it doesn’t follow that this was the house where he left them at the end of TGC It’s a different house or at least a different door. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/383 "2011-09-19T19:48:10Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I just got around to watching _The Girl Who Waited_, and I hated it. Even for Doctor Who, the premise was too ridiculous and inconsistent. For example: > > - It was implied that Apalapuchia is a planet, and a popular tourist destination. That would mean they get alien visitors all the time. How could their medical system be incapable of treating aliens, or at least know enough not to kill them through “kindness”? > > - Two Streams (?) is a quarantine facility. How could it have one entrance for both visitors and patients? And a button that lets you choose which one you are? > > - Are we supposed to understand that Chen7 kills infected people in 24 hours, but if you’re in an accelerated time stream, it won’t kill you until 24 hours have elapsed in the outside world? So your body gets older, but the pathogen’s advances are stopped? That doesn’t make any sense. > > - There was nothing in the series to indicate Amy knew how the sonic screwdriver worked, let alone know how to build one. Of course 37 years is a long time, but with no books, schematics, parts, etc., this seemed highly improbable. > > - Why aren’t the hand-bots tipped off by the Interface on where Amy is hiding? For that matter, why are they two different systems, and why couldn’t Amy hack the handbot control system? > > - How did Amy find out that the hand-bot’s hand contained an anesthetic? There are no other people there (in her time-stream), and the first time it happened to her, she would have been injected and killed. You got the over-arching themes of prejudice, discrimination, questioning social stereotypes, the basis of proper relationships, etc, though? You at least got that far, right? Ftr, this was a properly smart piece of work. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/384 "2011-09-19T20:53:07Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > F > And I think I missed a bit of explanation – why was the Minotaur in the holotel-spaceship? It was a prison, they said – for him? Then why did people keep coming aboard? There was something about wardens, but I didn’t quite get that… His race set themselves up to be worshipped as gods on planets, which works well enough until the people get all secular on them and then put them in prisons … prisons in space that do not need wardens, but not being cruel they want to let him eat, so the prison was set up to bring him meals, people with belief systems. Why it looks like a hotel from 80’s earth? Never explained. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/385 "2011-09-19T21:18:04Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > His race set themselves up to be worshipped as gods on planets, which works well enough until the people get all secular on them and then put them in prisons … prisons in space that do not need wardens, but not being cruel they want to let him eat, so the prison was set up to bring him meals, people with belief systems. > > Why it looks like a hotel from 80’s earth? Never explained. not being cruel they harvest other sentient life forms to feed him. Yh not cruel at all! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/386 "2011-09-19T21:21:23Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > But, when the Doctor dropped Amy off, the search for Melody didn’t even warrant a mention? No ‘wait, weren’t we going to try and save a kid or something?’? I haven’t really been bothered by the relative absence of parental worry so far, but this didn’t really ring true to me… As addressed above, “saving the baby” became moot once they realized that the baby grows up to become River Song, who they’d all previously met and had numerous interactions with. Those are fixed points in time now - a time-traveller can’t take an action that changes their own past, or else screaming flying space monkeys show up to eat the universe (as per “Father’s Day”). Therefore “saving baby Melody” would be impossible because it would cause River to have never existed and therefore severely alter Amy’s and Rory’s entire lives (since it was their daughter, in the form of Mels, who was their best friend in school and convinced them to become a couple) and a good chunk of the Doctor’s recent experiences as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/387 "2011-09-19T21:23:33Z")
> [@vdgg81](#): > > In **The Curse of Fenric** it is also revealed that the thing in which The Doctor puts his faith are his companions. He recites a list of their names for protection against the vampires. > > I also thought it was pretty clear that young Amy was in actual Amy’s room. The angels were there for the cowardly alien and we latter see both Amy and Doctor take a peek at their rooms, with only the contents of Amy’s room being revealed latter. I think so - I will need to check ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/388 "2011-09-19T21:33:14Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > I think so - I will need to check About the only thing that you can tell for sure (I tried to see a couple times) is that Young Amelia’s room doesn’t have a “Do Not Disturb” sign on it. Can’t even make out the room number. Can’t even tell that there are numbers - looks like a blank gold plate to me. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/389 "2011-09-19T21:43:26Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > not being cruel they harvest other sentient life forms to feed him. Yh not cruel at all! Maybe their definition of “sentient” specifically excluded “people with belief systems”. I know I feel like that sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/390 "2011-09-19T22:34:47Z")
Boom! Pot shot at religion in a thread that has nothing to do with it. Take that all you religious people! ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/391 "2011-09-19T22:44:47Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Eh? It rang all the time during the Baker years, and it has been explicitly referenced in the Tennant days too. It was first introduced in Baker’s last ever story, so not quite _all_ the time. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/392 "2011-09-19T23:02:26Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Maybe their definition of “sentient” specifically excluded “people with belief systems”. > > I know I feel like that sometimes. :rolleyes: Can ya keep this crap out of the thread? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/393 "2011-09-19T23:37:34Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > About the only thing that you can tell for sure (I tried to see a couple times) is that Young Amelia’s room doesn’t have a “Do Not Disturb” sign on it. Can’t even make out the room number. Can’t even tell that there are numbers - looks like a blank gold plate to me. > > -Joe I had frame by framed it. I think it was very intentionally made so it was unclear. Quick cut to the door being thrown open and number not able to be seen. > [@Nobody](#): > > Boom! Pot shot at religion in a thread that has nothing to do with it. Take that all you religious people! If anything I thought this episode showed some respect for religious faith in their treatment of Rita. Yes, the arranging for the feeding of their former god by capturing wandering sentients with strong belief systems, as being “not cruel” was with irony noted. It may be that the writers were indeed meaning to take a pot shot at the smugness of some militant atheists … I dunno. But that was the explanation as given. Once they threw off belief in their (false) god they imprisoned him, but would not kill him … instead they set it up for others, others who _have_ belief, to be sacrificed to the false god they discarded. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/394 "2011-09-19T23:47:04Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Why it looks like a hotel from 80’s earth? Never explained. The Doctor explains that the prison is beginning to fail, and so it’s stuck in a setting (80’s Hotel) appropriate for some other sentient being’s (probably human’s) fear (hah - like the Tardis stuck as a police box!). I guess when it was working, the prison would completely reconfigure for each ‘guest’ - now it manages to create rooms that terrorize, but old rooms (like the evil gym teacher room) stick around, as does the hotel setting, instead of being purged. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/395 "2011-09-20T00:12:56Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Maybe their definition of “sentient” specifically excluded “people with belief systems”. > > I know I feel like that sometimes. Not appropriate in this forum. Don’t to it again. No warning issued. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/396 "2011-09-20T00:16:24Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Yes, the arranging for the feeding of their former god by capturing wandering sentients with strong belief systems, as being “not cruel” was with irony noted. It may be that the writers were indeed meaning to take a pot shot at the smugness of some militant atheists … I dunno. But that was the explanation as given. Once they threw off belief in their (false) god they imprisoned him, but would not kill him … instead they set it up for others, others who _have_ belief, to be sacrificed to the false god they discarded. Go figure. Maybe it’s as simple as the people who built the prison said "It will feed him - _but not with us."_ ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/397 "2011-09-20T01:36:35Z")
Slight hijack, but lately on BBC America I’ve been seeing advertisements for Doctor Who toys, Dalek robots, and so on from Underground Toys. In the UK did they make toys, action figures, and what-have-you, during the first run of the series (1963 - 1989)? ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/398 "2011-09-20T02:20:10Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > In the UK did they make toys, action figures, and what-have-you, during the first run of the series (1963 - 1989)? Big list [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_merchandise). ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/399 "2011-09-20T02:54:25Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Big list [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_merchandise). Holy crap. I don’t know how much of that was available here in America, but back in the day I would have owned so much of that stuff. I was really hooked. I mean, I still am now, but dang! Anyway, we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860/400 "2011-09-20T16:22:33Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Maybe it’s as simple as the people who built the prison said "It will feed him - _but not with us."_ Was it a prison? Or was it something their species built to let them go out and feed among the stars when belief on their own worlds ran out, but eventually what was a feeding ship became a prison in time becaue he no longer wanted to be there? -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-six-part-ii/593860.md?page=21)