He’s ancient and Forever
He burns at the centre of time
And he can see the turn of the universe
well that is pretty much the day job for a Timelord,
but
*He’s fire and Ice
And Rage
He’s like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun
*
Do you think that the Doctor might just be having some issues about the destruction of his entire people?
Well that is one theory. Much more likely is that the Doctor and Martha have been crossing paths with Mr Saxon. After all John Simm has been cast for the last couple of episodes, and he is is a sinister looking dude with his mask and his tap-tap-tippety-tap-tap-tapping. Martha’s family (well her mother and sister at least) are already dragged into his orbit. Of course, Mr Saxon first appeared in Love and Monsters as the leading candidate for PM on the front page of the newspaper Victor was reading. There are a few other clues to do with the end of this series - the watch in Human Nature/Family of Blood, the design used for the Universal calling service on Martha’s phone and the pattern on the laptop the sinister people in Martha’s mum’s house used - they are all Gallifreyan symbols. Saxon = the Master is the bookies favourite I guess. In any case there will be some resolution of the fate of the Time Lords - I still think that the Doctor has become/is becoming the Valeyard
swinging back over to the acting again, was anybody else impressed by the fellow that played Baines? He creeped me right the hell out, and his voiceover at the end was very well done. I was impressed by his creepiness throughout both episodes, really… very creepy, but it didn’t seem over-the-top. He definitely outshined most of the other supporting cameos.
Or maybe that was just me 
I loved Baines - his whole shouty “Shut up be quiet there’s a good girl!” shtick was great…a lot of folks are hoping that because he’s been condemned to live forever, he’ll come back at some point.
Actually, I was just impressed with the entire Family of Blood - Mother of Mine, talking about Jenny: “She went with precious little dignity! All that SCREAMING!” chills
Great villains, I do hope somehow we’ll see them again someday.
For those of us not well versed in Dr Who lore, could someone explain two (three?) characters mentioned upthread:
Vileyard, The Master, The Saxon
I watched the good doctor as a kid and got caught up with the re-invented BBC Wales series, but am not up to speed with all the mythology and canon.
Feel free to use spoiler boxes.
The Master was a recurring villain in the original series - a renegade Time Lord and old rival of the Doctor’s. (He was first introduced in the Jon Pertwee [3rd Doctor] era, and cropped up at various points, in various different guises, thereafter.)
The Valeyard was the prosecutor in the Sixth Doctor “Trial of a Time Lord” season. I suppose, since it’s a bit specific … OK then. Towards the end of the story, it’s explained that the Valeyard is actually a potential, future, evil version of the Doctor himself, who is trying to make himself “real”, if you like, by taking over the Doctor’s remaining regenerations. At the conclusing of the story, he is seemingly defeated, but actually takes over another Time Lord’s body and makes his escape.
Mr. Saxon is a figure in the background, at the moment, referenced several times in the current season … who he really is, we don’t as yet know, though we may speculate. And the most obvious speculation is that 1) Mr. Saxon is the other Time Lord mentioned by the Face of Boe in “Gridlocked”, and 2) he’s actually the Master, or the Valeyard. But that would be the obvious speculation.
Reviving thread.
Same rules as the last Doctor Who threads I’ve revived, please. If it has aired in the US, you do not need to spoiler box it. If it has not, then please use the spoiler box. For instance:
That The Doctor used the “Chameleon Circuit” to disguise himself as a human, does not need a spoiler.
That Baines comes back in episode 87 and [insert something outrageous that I need more caffeine to come up with here] needs a spoiler box.
(To use the spoiler box, just add the tag [ Spoiler ] [ /Spoiler ] around the part you want to box.)
I was a little surprised at how the Doctor dealt with the Family at the end, it seemed a little cruel. New rule: Do Not Fuck With The Doctor.
Yes, Do Not Fuck With The Doctor, for you can be thrown into the event horizon of a black hole.
Can someone please post a spoiler as to what the Doctor did? I fell asleep twenty minutes before the show ended. Last thing I remember was the doctor ordering the retreat in the courtyard.
Father of Mine was chained with steel forged from the heart of a dwarf star and dumped into a black hole.
Mother of Mine… I don’t remember. Sorry.
Sister of Mine was imprisoned in every mirror. The Doctor visits her every year. I think this could be a nice set up for a future episode.
Brother of Mine was frozen in time and “watches over the fields of England.” He’s a scare-crow.
And if you ever look in a mirror, and see something move out of the corner of your eye, that’s her…
I think it was Mother who was trapped in the event horizon of a black hole, and Father was bound in chains and…dumped in a sewer?
That’s right. I combined the two punishments.
Thanks for reviving this thread, these two eps were just as, if not more, moving the second time around. Martha pinning the poppy to the Doctor’s coat at the end…“Age shall not weary them”… sob
And I love Latimer so very much for his channeling the Ninth Doctor for a moment there. Coward - every time.
Between these two episodes and Blink coming up next week, I just feel so, so lucky to have discovered this show.
Could you explain that? Not more of that olfactory telepathy, is it then?
I can’t explain how it happened, although I’ve seen the theory put forth that perhaps it was residual telepathy/memories/Time-Lord-yness from the watch and I like that theory, but I thought it was a shout-out to the Ninth Doctor when the one jerky lad whose name is escaping me at the moment yelled “Latimer, you filthy coward!” and he shouted back over his shoulder “Oh yes sir, every time!” The Ninth Doctor had that exchange with the Dalek Emperor - “What are you Doctor, coward or killer?” “Coward, every time.”
Cool.
One wonders if The Doctor will pop back to 200X and put Harriet Jones’s political career back on track. He essentially derailed “England’s Golden Age” out of spite because she destroyed the retreating Sycorax ship to protect against their returning or leadign others to Earth. Here he’s trapped four beings in hellish prisons for eternity out of petty vengeance. Supposedly the Family had limited lifespans and he was running from them initially to avoid killing them. So given that he could simply have imprisoned them for the remainder of their supposedly short lifespans, his vengeance is under his own lights infinitely less justifiable than Jones’s actions in defense of the planet.
I agree, and there is also the possibility one or more of the Family may escape.
Further, it occurs that if it was so easy for the Doctor to trap the Family following the events of the episode, why didn’t he just trap them before the events instead of running from them? Why go through all of this to begin with, when unless the Family had time travel abilities that were undisclosed during the episodes, he could simply have TARDISed away?
OK, looking at the Wikipedia entry for part one it does say that the Doctor says that the Family could trace him across the universe (so through time too? it doesn’t specify) but it still leaves the question open as to why he didn’t just trap them from the jump.
He was trying to be kind originally - I think Son of Mine says something to that effect when he’s narrating near the end.