Doctor Who

[Doctor Sοnic]

Another great episode! Some questions answered but alot more raised.

The final scene, very interesting indeed.

And like Siriku and Kevin, I also really liked

the line about David Frost. It had actually occurred to me during the week whether they'd make any kind of reference to the whole Frost/Nixon thing.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

inb4 predictions that girl is Romana and/or Jenny

...

I'm guessing Romana.

[TheGerkuman]

There's no way they'll bring Romana back. Very little of the classic series has returned.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

People probably said that about the Master before Series N3.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Something thats been bugging me.

The silence have been constantly mentioned and referenced for Mat Smiths entire first season, they were built up and up and up right until the last series' climax and even in the Christmas special. (The song Abigail sings has the lyrics When you're alone, silence is all you see.

When you're alone, silence is all you'll be.

And they all died within the first 2 episodes of this new series!? What? Urm... What? Surely they should have been at least a series climax thing?

Then I think to what the actual line is "Silence will fall!"

Everybody is under the impression that the silence is literally that, everyone will be quiet, no noise etc. But, what if it doesn't mean that, what if Silence will fall is in the conext of Rome will fall, that the silence is supposed to fall, they had to die because something else even more terrible is going to happen?

It just seems that they went far too quickly for a villain that had such a big build up. They could have been the next Daleks or Cybermen, they had that much of a build up and had such an excellent method of being always involved with something only to get away with it.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

The key is that many alien races have been "running from the Silence". They've been beaten on Earth, but they go a lot deeper than that.

[Mollfie]

EDIT: Also, not wanting to sound racist, but isn't there a bit of an ethnicity mismatch for River to be Rory and Amy's daughter? D:

I haven't seen anywhere state that Alex Kingston is mixed race. I've seen lots of suspicion but no facts, I can only find one place that lists her ethnicity and it states that she's white. I know that she's half German but other than that I don't know anything else.

Great episodes, I don't find them confusing as so many others seem to (judging by Twitter so not exactly accurate lol). I find it enjoyable and I like them it's all wibbley-wobbley-timey-wimey and convoluted. Makes it more fun. Otherwise I get bored and those are the moments when I slip back into my dislike for Dr Who.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Mollfie

[Patticus]

Interesting viewing figures news, and it's good news:

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/05/01/doctor-who-%e2%80%9cthe-impossible-astronaut%e2%80%9d-final-consolidated-ratings/

The final consolidated ratings for “The Impossible Astronaut” are now in (in other words, including those people who recorded it and watched it within a week), and it’s very good news.

8.86 million and an audience share of a massive 43.3%.

That’s an increase of 2.3 million on the overnight figure, and combined with the fact that the episode was number one on iPlayer for the week, supports Steven Moffat’s assertion that overnights mean virtually nothing these days.

That figure compares very favourably with the final consolidated figures for other series premieres: “New Earth” had 8.6 million, “Smith And Jones” 8.7m and “Partners In Crime” 9.1 million.

This is great news and hopefully the viewer numbers won't dip too much as the series progresses.

[PSI Wind]

Does that include America or only the UK?

[Patticus]

I think those are just figures for the UK.

[Glenn]

I'm not going to write another essay, but I will say that "Day of the Moon" was pretty much as expected... in that it made me laugh, it made me frown, and it didn't answer a whole lot of anything. In other words, classic Moffat.

My favourite moment was Canton and Nixon left behind in the Oval Office, as the TARDIS vanished, discussing Canton's marriage plans. The final shot of Nixon's reaction, wide-eyed and shocked, was absolutely priceless and I immediately rewound the short exchange of dialogue to watch it again. And that's even after I kinda guessed about Canton anyway... all about the reaction, and it was great.

But was anything answered? Not really. Was the biggest question left unresolved? Absolutely. And right up until the end, when I thought there was a pretty simple identity to the Impossible Astronaut... slam. THAT ending.

Shame that Hugh Bonneville is guesting next week. I wonder if the whole episode will be placed under a super-injunction and we'll never get to see it?

[Patticus]

Shame that Hugh Bonneville is guesting next week. I wonder if the whole episode will be placed under a super-injunction and we'll never get to see it?

Why? I thought he was excellent in Twenty Twelve, I don't see what's so bad about him.

[PSI Wind]

Edited May 2, 2011 by PSI Aqua

[Doctor Sοnic]

I haven't seen anywhere state that Alex Kingston is mixed race. I've seen lots of suspicion but no facts, I can only find one place that lists her ethnicity and it states that she's white. I know that she's half German but other than that I don't know anything else.

Its never actually occurred to me that Alex Kingston could be mixed race. I can see that it might be possible though but I've always thought of her as white, not that I'd really given it any consideration before.

Does that include America or only the UK?

I think those are just figures for the UK.

Yeah, its for the UK only.

[Mollfie]

I've always presumed she was white too, just awesome looking with amazing hair!

[Doctor Sοnic]

I've always presumed she was white too, just awesome looking with amazing hair!

[DaLoLz]

The Daleks were pranked at the latest South Park episode.

Are amaricans really think we germans are talking like this?(a bit of topic sorry ^^)

[Kevin]

Amy with the sword = serious badassness!

The whole bit with that ghost was a big WTF. From the people disappearing when they touched her to her looking really creepy when she got angry.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

This episode is mostly a stand-alone, so the significant details are the next episode preview, and a couple of rather... odd incidental extras that were slipped in.

Like the Time Lady opening her TARDIS to give Amy a quick pep talk while she was half-asleep. She had an eye-patch too. I'm going to guess it's the Rani. Unless you have a better explanation.

The main plot detail, two universes managing to lean in on each other just enough to cross over is probably going to become a much more significant plot point in the future. Anyone else notice that this universe is probably also one where the dinosaurs never went extinct? Pterodactyl-men!

This is definitely going to be an amazing season of Doctor Who.

[Doctor Sοnic]

An enjoyable enough episode. Not one of the greats but I think its good to have a light hearted episode every now and again.

Of course one very interesting thing:

another appearance by that lady looking through the 'cell window' shutter thing.

And I always love it when they add in Tardis console sound effects from the classic series.

Edited May 7, 2011 by Doctor Sοnic

[Gabz Girl]

Yeah, this episode was pretty good. I compare it to the Pompeii episode; enjoyable, but not OMGAWESOME. =3

The next episode however certainly looks...intriguing.

[Patticus]

I thought that was quite a good episode, despite the inconsistencies.

The inconsistencies being the disappearing pirate and the leeches in the saltwater.

Of course one very interesting thing:

another appearance by that lady looking through the 'cell window' shutter thing.

This lady?

She looks like River Song to me...

[Gabz Girl]

I thought that was quite a good episode, despite the inconsistencies.

The inconsistencies being the disappearing pirate and the leeches in the saltwater.

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. At one point after the other guy was taken by the Siren I was like "...Huh? Wha? Wait a minute, where is he? Did I miss something??" XD Not very good.

Edited May 7, 2011 by Gabz Girl

[Octarine]

This episode is mostly a stand-alone, so the significant details are the next episode preview, and a couple of rather... odd incidental extras that were slipped in.

Like the Time Lady opening her TARDIS to give Amy a quick pep talk while she was half-asleep. She had an eye-patch too. I'm going to guess it's the Rani. Unless you have a better explanation.

The main plot detail, two universes managing to lean in on each other just enough to cross over is probably going to become a much more significant plot point in the future. Anyone else notice that this universe is probably also one where the dinosaurs never went extinct? Pterodactyl-men!

This is definitely going to be an amazing season of Doctor Who.

Oh dear lord, I hope so. Regardless, the next episode looks kind of amazing.

Anyway, Curse of the Black Spot was pretty decent; not fantastic, but far from the worst standalone episode we've seen. I don't feel like the pirates or the ship itself really got as much attention as they deserved and I'm getting a teeny bit sick of Rory dying/almost dying, but I really loved the twist with the Siren. Ethereal, beautiful girls and soothing music have been associated with monsters so often (on Doctor Who and elsewhere) that it was nice to see that this time the pretty thing really was as pure as it seemed.

I really liked the "consent form". It reminded me of a lot of the wackiness in The End of the World, the kind of thing that you can really only find in Doctor Who. It was also pretty funny to basically have the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager as a monster of the week.

[Patticus]

From the line "You're doing fine" I have the following theory,

The woman is actually the doctor delivering Amy's baby at the end of the series in a futuristic and/or alien hospital, and we are seeing at least part of the series through Amy's memories with her present occasionally slipping through since she's in some kind of coma or hallucination due to an oddly difficult birth.

Or something.