The Doctor Who Club v.4

[MasterGohan]

I get that rooms can be changed fairly easily, and I like the new console, it just seemed like there was no real explanation for the new look. We don't normally see many of the other rooms in the TARDIS (except in "The Doctor's Wife" as you mentioned which I really liked) so the console IS the TARDIS for most people. So when it changes, at least to me, it should be kind of a big deal. Or at least a bigger deal than "I'm sulking at the loss of my friends/in-laws and don't want anything around me to remind me of them." Just my opinion.

 

[VampirateMace]

Whaaa? That's a huge deal! He may be a practically immortal supieror alien being, but he's still rather childish, so of course he would try to keep from being reminded of his BEST FRIENDS instead of trying to adjust to his new reality without them.

Besides if the Doctor was simply fickle (and the production budget was huge), we could have a new TARDIS every couple episodes.

 

[Aegon]

Doctor Who returns on 30th March!

How exciting. That means there are only nine more Who-less Saturdays to go! I'm very excited for this series, what with Clara and the new Cybermen, who happen to be in the episode written by none other than Neil Gaiman. I'm relieved that it's not returning earlier, since I may be in France the week of its return for a school tour (my teacher broke her leg recently so we may not be going, unfortunately). But anyway...

Spoiler: Speculation regarding enemies that has a reasonable chance of coming true

Upcoming merchandise was recently unveiled at a toy fair. Amongst it were these (I don't know what they are xD). The Ice Warrior head has teeth that weren't present (I believe) in the Classic series, so some speculate that they'll be returning. Well, people are always speculating their return, but this is being used as evidence now. I wouldn't be surprised if they do return, since it seems strange to sell them alongside well-known new series monsters. If they ever do return, I can't see them changing the design much, since the original has aged so well. Also, Moffat has teased that his finale is immensely fan-pleasing.

Ten months until the fiftieth anniversary! This is going by considerably quickly. I can't wait to see what's in store.

-The Eleventh/Rory Williams

 

[elyvorg]

Guys! March 30th! That's when the series begins again! Sooo basically it has just gone back around to starting at Easter like before, but, hey, at least the Easter weekend is really early this year. =D

...well, pfft, The Eleventh beat me to it. xP But yes. Excitement!

As for your responses to things I have previously written, let me say how AWESOME it is to be able to even have this conversation! I've never really spent much time discussing Doctor Who with people since many of my friends are only casual fans of the show if they watch it at all, so this forum is a welcome treat to me.

That's exactly what I aim for this club to be: a place where people itching to have lengthy in-depth discussions of Doctor Who, perhaps because they don't have anywhere else they can find opportunities for them, can come and do just that! Hearing that you see the club this way makes me happy.

Amy never has a family in the traditional sense. When we first meet Amelia she is alone though being raised by an aunt. Well we never see said aunt until the end of season 5 when Amelia is going to the museum and even then she's more of a stand in like the adults in the Peanuts cartoon. I don't even know if we're told her name since we only see her in one episode. ... (though it always kind of bugged me that she had no visible parental units).

Well, at least for series 5, Amy's lack of parents - as well as the fact that her lack of parents was never really brought up because Amy didn't even consciously know she'd lost them - was a large part of the point for her storyline. I will give you, though, that it did of course give Amy a different feel as a companion compared to the previous ones who'd had families. And in series 6, given that Amy and Rory were married and had been living in their own home until the Doctor invited them to America to kick off the series, it didn't really feel like there was that need for their parents to have a noticeable presence, since the two of them had become independent and started their own life together. But yeah, it makes things different. I do think that seeing more of Amy's parents after the wedding, though, could have led to some interesting stuff, what with them being perfectly normal lovely parents who once upon a time had never existed. It's a shame that never managed to fit anywhere in the story (or, well, perhaps it was just because the actors who played Amy's parents in The Big Bang weren't available to come back, but).

But to me, and this is just my opinion, it made the adventures less real, less grounded, because they weren't for anyone specific. Let me explain. When the Doctor has the reboot the universe or save the planet from the Atraxi it is for the planet as a whole or the universe as a whole. There is no specific reason other that it will save everyone. When the Doctor and Micky and Rose go to stop the Cybermen it is for the purpose of saving Jackie (even though that Jackie wasn't technically Rose's mom). Or when the Doctor and Martha have to stop Lazarus (I know, not a threat to the whole Earth) they fought to save Martha's family from being killed. What I'm trying to sai s that the conflicts seemed a bit more grounded to home to me.

I completely see your point here and agree that it is nice to have the more personal stakes sometimes when a companion's family - an ordinary family who never asked to be dragged into the Doctor's dangerous world - is in peril. However, this does only happen in the three or so episodes a series which are actually set on Earth with the family present. Every other episode still just has the same basic save-the-world stakes (or sometimes save-the-companion or even save-the-Doctor, which I would argue is equal or even higher stakes than the companion's family), whichever Doctor's run they're part of.

One thing that has bothered me about the 11th Doctor's time is the lack of tie-ins to the previous Doctors (except for the 4th Doctor). Everyone on Earth seemed to have forgotten all the Doctor's previous shenanigans and they never really explained why. Yeah there were cracks in the skin of the universe and people forgot stuff but once the Doctor rebooted the universe and Amy willed him back into existence shouldn't that have been fixed? There are potentially people living on Earth that should remember the Doctor's exploits. Martha and her family, Micky, and Donna's family to name a few. And what about Captain Adelaide Brooke? It was the Daleks who killed her parents and the theft of the Earth by the Daleks that inspired her to go into space which in turn led to a fixed point in time with the destruction of Bowie Base One. It always irked me that all of that was just written off as forgotten by everyone when it was integral to so many people.

Eh - I think this is less to do with the Eleventh Doctor and more just to do with Steven Moffat being the showrunner. He wanted to start afresh and tell his own stories without having to feel obligated to constantly refer back to the things Russell did, I suppose. Maybe things would technically make more sense if past storylines were still taken into account, but after a point it'll just start to become a tangled mass of continuity. I mean, if it has to stay completely consistent with the earlier parts of the reboot series, then by that logic it should also try and stay completely consistent with all of the Classic series, and that would start to get impossible and leave no breathing space for telling the stories Moffat wants to tell. I find it best to not think too hard about the Moffat era's relative lack of harking back to the RTD era and just consider them on a separate basis.

I will admit that I had not thought about a lot of the things you said especially about the beginning of season 7. I'll have to rewatch those episodes with new eyes which wont be hard since those are some of my favorite Matt Smith episodes.

Hee, it makes me happy to hear that I've inspired you to rewatch the half-series and maybe spot some things and come to some conclusions you might not have noticed before! I hope you have fun doing so. :3

One more thing that you might be able to answer. Where the heck did Strax come from and how did he come back? I know he was in the episode where we find out that River is Amy and Rory's daughter, but he's never seen before that and he died in that episode. It's as if he was just made into an important character lately simply to have one. If anyone could clear that up for me, I would be grateful.

Apparently there's going to be a little DVD extra scene showing what happened to Strax and how he survived. It just wasn't brought up in The Snowmen because it wasn't really important. Some other friend of the Doctor's saved him, like he said; that's all we really needed to know for now. The extra scene will just be for the curious.

As for where Strax originally came from - that's never been explicitly stated, however I for one thought there was something of an implication in A Good Man Goes to War that it was the Doctor who'd given him his work as a nurse as penance for... some kind of war crime-ish thing that he'd probably done simply due to being a Sontaran. Because that's absolutely the sort of "punishment" that the Doctor would have dealt out, at the time.

Or at least a bigger deal than "I'm sulking at the loss of my friends/in-laws and don't want anything around me to remind me of them."

I'm with VampirateMace in that this is a big deal and a perfectly valid reason for a TARDIS-interior-change. The Doctor is the main character; if something significant happens to change him as a character - even if it's not a regeneration - then it's significant to the show as a whole.

I know the TARDIS usually remodels herself, but surely it wouldn't be impossible for the Doctor to have been the one to do it this time? Or maybe it was something like a collaborative effort between the two of them. (Or maybe the TARDIS did it all herself and just let the Doctor think he was doing the work. I can just imagine her doing that.)


66 days to go! yaaay precise countdown~

-elyvorg/Amelia

 

[MasterGohan]

Well, at least for series 5, Amy's lack of parents - as well as the fact that her lack of parents was never really brought up because Amy didn't even consciously know she'd lost them - was a large part of the point for her storyline. I will give you, though, that it did of course give Amy a different feel as a companion compared to the previous ones who'd had families. And in series 6, given that Amy and Rory were married and had been living in their own home until the Doctor invited them to America to kick off the series, it didn't really feel like there was that need for their parents to have a noticeable presence, since the two of them had become independent and started their own life together. But yeah, it makes things different. I do think that seeing more of Amy's parents after the wedding, though, could have led to some interesting stuff, what with them being perfectly normal lovely parents who once upon a time had never existed. It's a shame that never managed to fit anywhere in the story (or, well, perhaps it was just because the actors who played Amy's parents in The Big Bang weren't available to come back, but).

Having seen all of Amy's arc again, I am glad they made her the way that they did because even from the start she acted like his mother, telling him what to do. Then it's revealed that, well, she is his mother (in-law) and suddenly all of her sternness with his is justified. You are right that she had a very different feel but you are also right that by the time the parents could have shown up she was already independent. I recently rewatched ALL of the Matt Smith episodes and have grown to like the Ponds more than I originally did.

I completely see your point here and agree that it is nice to have the more personal stakes sometimes when a companion's family - an ordinary family who never asked to be dragged into the Doctor's dangerous world - is in peril. However, this does only happen in the three or so episodes a series which are actually set on Earth with the family present. Every other episode still just has the same basic save-the-world stakes (or sometimes save-the-companion or even save-the-Doctor, which I would argue is equal or even higher stakes than the companion's family), whichever Doctor's run they're part of.

Yes, you are right. most of the episodes, since they take place on alien worlds or the past, have the same stakes. I just missed those earthly connections that made the episodes in the present feel like if I looked out the window I would see it happening in the distance. And who's to say that won't happen again.

Eh - I think this is less to do with the Eleventh Doctor and more just to do with Steven Moffat being the showrunner. He wanted to start afresh and tell his own stories without having to feel obligated to constantly refer back to the things Russell did, I suppose. Maybe things would technically make more sense if past storylines were still taken into account, but after a point it'll just start to become a tangled mass of continuity. I mean, if it has to stay completely consistent with the earlier parts of the reboot series, then by that logic it should also try and stay completely consistent with all of the Classic series, and that would start to get impossible and leave no breathing space for telling the stories Moffat wants to tell. I find it best to not think too hard about the Moffat era's relative lack of harking back to the RTD era and just consider them on a separate basis.

I totally agree. He has to carve his own niche, make his own path. But after 4 seasons of literally everything being intimately connected, it was rather bracing to have nothing connected. Now, 3 seasons later, there is plenty of interconnected Moffat-only material so its less bracing. But the break where RTD left and Moffat took over stung for at least a season.

Hee, it makes me happy to hear that I've inspired you to rewatch the half-series and maybe spot some things and come to some conclusions you might not have noticed before! I hope you have fun doing so. :3

As I said earlier I rewatched the whole of the 11th Doctor and loved it. And I saw quite a few throwback lines referencing RTD's years so I feel there is much more continuity than I originally saw.

Apparently there's going to be a little DVD extra scene showing what happened to Strax and how he survived. It just wasn't brought up in The Snowmen because it wasn't really important. Some other friend of the Doctor's saved him, like he said; that's all we really needed to know for now. The extra scene will just be for the curious.

As for where Strax originally came from - that's never been explicitly stated, however I for one thought there was something of an implication in A Good Man Goes to War that it was the Doctor who'd given him his work as a nurse as penance for... some kind of war crime-ish thing that he'd probably done simply due to being a Sontaran. Because that's absolutely the sort of "punishment" that the Doctor would have dealt out, at the time.

The Curious. That would be me. Kind of a cop out though if you ask me. Just saying.

I'm with VampirateMace in that this is a big deal and a perfectly valid reason for a TARDIS-interior-change. The Doctor is the main character; if something significant happens to change him as a character - even if it's not a regeneration - then it's significant to the show as a whole.

I know the TARDIS usually remodels herself, but surely it wouldn't be impossible for the Doctor to have been the one to do it this time? Or maybe it was something like a collaborative effort between the two of them. (Or maybe the TARDIS did it all herself and just let the Doctor think he was doing the work. I can just imagine her doing that.)

I've been swayed. I guess what got me was that he'd never done that before yet he had lost important companions before, even one he was in love with. But, this time, he had time. Usually he is immediately thrown into some other adventure, but here he has time to just sit and sulk and realize that he wants a change. Or maybe the TARDIS did decide for him. We really don't know.

March 30th is an awesome day! its very close to other awesome days. I'm participating in a local Pokemon tournament on the 23rd, my birthday is the 24th, Doctor Who comes back the 30th, and Game of Thrones comes back the 31st. Great time of year. I can't wait.

MasterGohan/Micky the Idiot

 

[Aegon]

Well, there's finally more Who news being reported. Some of the actors who'll be appearing An Adventure in Space and Time, a drama that details Doctor Who's inception (though the span of history it'll cover has yet to be confirmed), have been announced. David Bradley, who played Solomon in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship last year, will take the role of William Hartnell, while Carole Ann Ford will be played by Claudia Grant. Jessica Raine was also announced as Verity Lambert, the original producer. I think they're all excellent fits (physically, at least), and it'll be great to see David Bradley in particular. The actors who'll portray Ian and Barbera should be revealed shortly. I'm greatly looking forward to Adventure, though it is nine months away!

I recently finished reading Dark Horizons, an Eleventh Doctor novel, and I have to say, my opinion of it has been transformed utterly. After a slightly slow start (though I think I was being somewhat unfair and hasty), it became very exciting indeed. The characterisation of the Eleventh Doctor is superb, the pacing is great and the climax is beautiful. I enjoyed it massively, so I'd definitely recommend it. There's also a cheeky little cameo from a certain trio of travellers. A blast from the past, perhaps? I don't want to spoil it in case anyone does read the book, because I found it to be quite amusing. And now I'm making a big deal out of barely anything.

So, I just thought I'd mention what I'm about to mention, since it's mildly interesting. My DWM arrived today (next month's features a preview of Episode 1/Episode 8, which reminds me that we should be getting episode titles soon enough), and Moffat's Production Notes features a lengthier version of River Song's "Demons Run" poem that didn't make it into the final script. It's a shame, as I think it's perfect. It'd have accompanied River's appearance very well and would have made it less sudden, certainly.

Spoiler: Demons Run - full version!

Demons run
When a good man goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
Friendship dies
And true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war
Demons run
But count the cost
The battle's won
But the child is lost
The fight goes on but what's it for
When a good man goes to war
Now rise the sun
Now dawn the day
When good men run
And women stay
When battle's done
When nothing's won
It's a woman's work to say
Well then, soldier, how goes the day?

-The Eleventh/Rory Williams

 

[VampirateMace]

Haven't started a new Doctor Who novel yet, but I do have a couple downloaded which I plan to read.

I watched 'The First Doctor Revisited' yesterday. During the first half it seemed to be a clip show recap of companions and monsters, which was only interesting because I've seen so little of the original series. But the second half, Moffat starts talking about an episode without showing clips, then the full 'Temple of Doom' Aztec episode rolls. Maybe he was clear that the whole episode was going to play, and I just wasn't paying very good attention. But, Yay! I'd have watch it sooner if I known there was a episode buried in there. I don’t know why, I watch several British shows, and even the modern Doctor Who has ancient civilizations played by British actors, but it bothered me that the Aztecs had British accents.

I saw a full size sonic screwdriver for sale in a book shop recently. Awesome, but it’s so big compared to my girly hands I decided against getting it… I’ll have to get a hold of one of the smaller versions, or make one.

Edit:
Oh, also another show starts on BBC on the 30th that apparently also features a woman who exists in multiple copies or parts... will this cheapen Oswin?

 

[MasterGohan]

You know, I haven't read any of the Doctor Who novels. But I am reading the Star Trek The Next Generation Doctor Who Assimilation2 (longest comic book name ever!) comics and they are awesome! I hadn't heard of this An Adventure in Space and Time but now I'm excited and want to see it. I did see the First Doctor special and it was good. There was only about 30 minutes of interviews and explanations which was sad but the episode was great. I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did.

Oh, I have a full sized sonic screwdriver but mine is the blue one from the Ninth and Tenth Doctors.

 

[Thecatteam]

I've been (very slowly) making my way through Classic Who for about a year now. I've only made it to "The Crusade" (really pathetic, I know), but it's great to hear all this Aztecs buzz! I personally preferred "The Romans," but Barbara's role in "The Aztecs" cemented her as my favorite character so far.

 

[VampirateMace]

It real is a good episode (for what it is). Of course I didn't say much before because I know there's other people who won't have seen it. So, spoiler tags...

Spoiler: Aztecs

I love how it doesn't have aliens, but still manages to have monsters, (dispite what Moffat claims). Humans can be monsters too, as shown in a few of the modern episodes.

And the Doctor's accidental fiance, it was an honest mistake, but you could tell he still loved her, even if it wasn't in a romantic way. I think he says 'my heart' to her, which makes me wonder when the two hearts thing was decided, I'll have to rewatch and see if that is what he said.

The backgrounds and props were what they were, and it was reasonable given when it was made, but the fact that the wheel the Doctor was carving got bigger, was that alien tech? Made me laugh anyways.

 

[Becoming]

So I guess I'll be bumping this thread? We don't have much new information to talk about, but it's a month until DW starts up again.

I'm kind of curious as to how the Doctor is going to approach Clara, now that he knows something's up with her. A normal person would try to not alarm her with talk of all that's been going on, but that's never been quite the Doctor's style . . . I also want to know the circumstances of Clara becoming the companion. Will she meet the Doctor without really trying (like all other companions) and then become a companion because the Doctor knows something's up with her . . . or will the Doctor deliberately try and get her to travel with him? Like purposely materialize the TARDIS in her bedroom or something? Or maybe he'll just kidnap her. With the Doctor, you never know.

Also, this had been brought up before (probably), but I'm just thinking: Amy and Rory were sent back in time from 2012 New York. It's definitely possible that they (or Brian, that is what their son is called, right?) had a part in helping Melody after she regenerated for the first time. She did become a toddler, after all. That would also explain how the hell Mels was able to grow up with Amy and Rory, too. Although that doesn't quite explain the not-ageing thing . . . I'm thinking about this too much, aren't it?

kjt/Clara Oswin Oswin

 

[Aegon]

School has just about killed me.

So I guess I'll be bumping this thread? We don't have much new information to talk about, but it's a month until DW starts up again.

Yeah, there has been an absence of news lately, but that appears to be changing, as is evident later in my post.

I'm kind of curious as to how the Doctor is going to approach Clara, now that he knows something's up with her. A normal person would try to not alarm her with talk of all that's been going on, but that's never been quite the Doctor's style . . . I also want to know the circumstances of Clara becoming the companion. Will she meet the Doctor without really trying (like all other companions) and then become a companion because the Doctor knows something's up with her . . . or will the Doctor deliberately try and get her to travel with him? Like purposely materialize the TARDIS in her bedroom or something? Or maybe he'll just kidnap her. With the Doctor, you never know.

I can see both working. I guess we'll have to wait until 30th March to find out. I can see him finding her and promising her the wonders of the universe, without disclosing the fact that there are multiple versions of her throughout time and space. But the modern era Clara was seen in the graveyard, looking at the gravestone bearing the Victorian Clara's name, so she could already be aware of it.

Also, this had been brought up before (probably), but I'm just thinking: Amy and Rory were sent back in time from 2012 New York. It's definitely possible that they (or Brian, that is what their son is called, right?) had a part in helping Melody after she regenerated for the first time. She did become a toddler, after all. That would also explain how the hell Mels was able to grow up with Amy and Rory, too. Although that doesn't quite explain the not-ageing thing . . . I'm thinking about this too much, aren't it?

I like to think this happened, too. It's a nice thought and I see no reason to dismiss it. As for not aging, Time Lords seem to age at a much slower rate than humans, though Mels was also seen to be aging at a normal pace. Perhaps the slow-aging effect wore off after some time since she's only partly Time Lord? Or maybe she could control it. Oh, and Amy and Rory's son was called Anthony Williams; Brian is his middle name, after his grandfather.

As I mentioned at the beginning, new details regarding Series 7 Part 2 have emerged.

Spoiler: Series 7 Part 2 promo image and synopses

Here's the promo for the series. The new-look Ice Warriors are visible! There seem to be only minor adjustments, which is great. The original design stills stands well to this day, I think. Obviously, the image is terribly exciting (loving the purple), too. Meanwhile, Moffat had this to say about the upcoming episodes:

"It’s the 50th year of Doctor Who and look what’s going on! We’re up in the sky and under the sea! We’re running round the rings of an alien world and then a haunted house. There’s new Cybermen, new Ice Warriors and a never before attempted journey to the centre of the TARDIS. And in the finale, the Doctor’s greatest secret will at last be revealed! If this wasn’t already our most exciting year it would be anyway!"​

Sure, it sounds fairly generic and most of it was already known, but the part regarding the finale is extremely teasing. Could it be? The question? "Doctor who?" I thought that'd be saved for the anniversary special.

Additionally, the first episode has been confirmed as The Bells of St John, an an accompanying pseudo-synopsis has been released.

"Set in London against the backdrop of new and old iconic landmarks, The Shard and Westminster Bridge, 'The Bells of St John' will also establish a new nemesis, the Spoonheads, who will battle the Doctor as he discovers something sinister is lurking in the Wi-Fi."

I'm greatly looking forward to seeing the modern London setting and how that works out. I'll wait until I've watched the episode to pass judgement on the Spoonheads (one of which can be seen in the promo image). It looks like they could be quite bizarre.

There's a really fantastic interview with Steven Moffat on YouTube that's well worth a watch. He addresses issues such as the running time of the anniversary special; it's a brilliant interview. He's restored my confidence in him, anyway.

Twenty-nine days to go. Not too much longer...

-The Eleventh/Rory Williams

 

[VampirateMace]

I can see both working. I guess we'll have to wait until 30th March to find out. I can see him finding her and promising her the wonders of the universe, without disclosing the fact that there are multiple versions of her throughout time and space. But the modern era Clara was seen in the graveyard, looking at the gravestone bearing the Victorian Clara's name, so she could already be aware of it.

I don’t recall her actually looking at it, at least not reading it, so I don’t think she knows the stone had her name on it, and if she did, well, it’s not that uncommon.

I like to think this happened, too. It's a nice thought and I see no reason to dismiss it. As for not aging, Time Lords seem to age at a much slower rate than humans, though Mels was also seen to be aging at a normal pace. Perhaps the slow-aging effect wore off after some time since she's only partly Time Lord? Or maybe she could control it. Oh, and Amy and Rory's son was called Anthony Williams; Brian is his middle name, after his grandfather.

Aging on the show has always been hard to gauge, Amy and Rory were supposed to be much older than the actors actually looked near the end, hence the reading glasses to make Amy look older. River (just having regenerated from Mels in ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’) mentions ‘that she might take the age down gradually to freak people out,’ but this may have been a just a joke and/or a reference to how her life was pretty much filmed backwards.

Can’t wait for the new episodes…

Spoiler: ...but

I hope the thing revealed in the finale isn’t a series killer. I would have thought that if they were ever going to revel his true name it would that it would be in the last episode. And I don’t want Dr Who to end! Part of me also wonders if it actually is Dr. John Smith, because he keeps going back to that name, but why would anyone on Galifrey be named John or Smith. No, that’s just stupid, isn’t it?

 

[kuzronk]

I have only seen two nu dw episodes. Didn't really enjoy the second episode. Should I keep watching?

 

[elyvorg]

Right, guys, it's time this club sprang back into activity again, because there's only two weeks left to go, and there is a new trailer! Yaaay!

Spoiler: As usual, trailer thoughts

This gives us a bit of an idea of how the whole Clara mystery is going to work: no, this Clara doesn't remember anything about her previous lives, and yes, the Doctor is going to tell her about it rather than keeping it from her. Those are some of the things I'd been wondering about since Christmas, so I'm glad to get some idea of that already.

"You are the only mystery worth solving."
I know that meeting Clara in The Snowmen helped the Doctor in that she gave him something to live for again, but it doesn't look like she's helped him much beyond that yet. From the way he says this, it seems like Clara is the only thing he cares about, and everything else in the universe still doesn't really matter to him. D: Hopefully this is something that'll slowly change throughout the series as he has more adventures with Clara? (Also, the spacesuit he's wearing in this clip - isn't it the same one he originally got in The Satan Pit and wore again for The Waters of Mars? That's kind of neat.)

On the note of spacesuits, there's also the Doctor and Clara walking in what appears to be space judging by the big fiery sun nearby - or maybe it's a planet, because it looks like they're walking on its rings - without wearing spacesuits. Huh. Wonder how that's going to work. Plus, that big fiery sun/planet almost seems to have a face, in a later clip.

"Run, you clever boy."
That's kind of worrying; isn't Clara only supposed to say that when she's about to die? I doubt that's what's happening in this case, though, because I still doubt this Clara is going to die. Maybe the Doctor just told her what her previous selves said as they died, and now this Clara casually uses it like a catchphrase-ish thing.

"I am the Doctor, and I am afraid."
Putting aside the fact that the mere existence of this sentence makes me very excited for whichever episode it appears in, I also can't help but wonder: sure, yes, the Doctor does get scared sometimes, but why is he admitting it, especially as there doesn't even seem to be anyone else around? This is rather intriguing (...to me, at least), and I am definitely looking forward to finding out what exactly is going on there.

Also, and this is from a while ago, but: images from some of the episodes. The captions on them mention what episodes they're from, allowing us to get an idea of what the first few episodes of the series are going to involve.

Spoiler: Vague episode lineup

Episode 6 (as in, the first one in this half-series): The Bells of St. John; modern-day London, see The Eleventh's post up there for more info.

Episode 7: Has that monster with the brown wrinkly skin. Judging from backdrops, I'd guess it's an alien planet.

Episode 8: Ice Warriors, on a submarine! Should be fun.

Episode 9: A haunted house; probably the setting of the "ghost story" mentioned in the article The Eleventh quoted bits of. Based on a shot in the post-Christmas trailer, it may feature those monsters with no eyes and pointy teeth and top hats.

...and that's where the images stop. From other sources, I believe episode 10 is the one that was tentatively titled Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, and episode 12 is written by Neil Gaiman and has Cybermen. So that's most episodes at least vaguely accounted for.

That promo image The Eleventh posted a while back is pretty cool, too! I was very struck by the sheer purpleness of the Doctor's outfit in it (at which I would have gone all elyvorg-overanalyses-the-Doctor's-taste-in-clothes again, except that isn't what he's seen wearing in any clips or images from the actual episode, so huh).


I am kind of sad that there doesn't seem to be a prequel for this half-series coming along at any point. I feel like there could perhaps be potential for one, given the current situation the Doctor is in, and if there were, I'm sure I'd enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed practically every prequel recently. But eh. Maybe there still will be one and it just hasn't come yet.



kuzronk: I think you should keep watching, at least for a bit. The thing about this show is that it's episodes are so incredibly varied - so that might mean there'll be a few you won't like as much, but it doesn't necessarily mean you won't like most of them. Give it a chance for a few episodes more to see if it's the show in general that isn't really for you, or if it was just that one episode that you didn't particularly like.


~two weeks to go!~

-elyvorg/Amelia

 

[MasterGohan]

I totally agree. Let's get this party started! So I watched the new trailer and WOW is the word that came first. I decided to do a closer watch of said trailer and saw some interesting things.

Spoiler: In-depth Trailer

The trailer starts with a scene from what looks like a old broken down carnival. There is an old ripped up tent in the middle, what looks to be a ferris wheel to the right as well as a various other indistinguishable rides. A sign on the ground reads "Spacy Zoomer Ride". Five people stand looking at the scene, two of which are the Doctor and Clara. There is also an older man with a top hat and coat as well as what appears to be a male child and older female child. Clara seems to have no memories of what has happened to her other selves and the Doctor seems to wonder why. The next scene has the Doctor and Clara walking among the rocks of the rings of a glowing orange planet. The rock that they are walking towards appears to have a building or settlement on it. You can see what look like windows with lights in them on the rock. While the Doctor says that Clara is the only mystery worth solving, a man that looks like an old airplane pilot. The Doctor is then shown in his old spacesuit. A ship is then shown flying into the rings of that orange planet and it looks like there is an explosion on one of the larger rocks ahead of the ship. We then get to see one of the monsters of the series. They're bald with pale skin wearing black and silver button down coats with what look like a grill over their mouth and nose and goggles over their eyes but that could just be their faces since it doesn't appear to be a mask. There are a couple of shots of Clara (one of which looks to be deep in the TARDIS) and the TARDIS flying through space. There is a shot of the Ice Warriors walking through the submarine with what appears to be bullets hitting them and sparking off. There is a shot of the Doctor using the sonic as a flashlight in the same tunnels that we saw Clara in before (again it looks to be deep in the TARDIS). As Clara delivers her now catchphrase we are shown another of the monsters in the series. The pale eyeless creatures with sharp teeth wearing top hats and coats (Myrddraal anyone?). We then get a look at the new Cybermen. The faces are slimmer without the raised faceplate. Its smooth with no angles and the tears in the eyes are little more than a slight bump in the eye hole. The mouth looks a little bigger and the antennae are closer to the head. The plates on the body (what can be seen of them) are smaller and overlapping giving them a more reptilian look. We see the Doctor sitting across from someone telling them that they have no idea who they are dealing with. He looks angry. There is then a shot of what looks like a Sigorax yelling followed by a plane heading toward the ground and the Doctor running through the plane, very funnily if I might add. The Doctor the says that he's seen bigger prompting Clara to aske "Really?" so I can only assume that there is something quite large in front of them. Also when Clara asks "Really?" there is a female child wearing a crown with her. The Doctor then reveals that he was joking and we get a shot of what appears to be the glowing orange planet from before with a face. The Doctor is standing before it in what looks to be a structure of some sort. You can see a floor and pillars on either side at the edges of the screen. Clara and some unknown uniformed individuals are shown retreating from (in Clara's case attacking) the Cybermen. We get a good look at the Cybermen here. The chest is completely different. The symbol on the chest is much smaller and the chest piece is much smaller as well. Also none of the wires or tubes are exposed in this version. the Doctor is then shown hanging from a rope and being lowered into a blue vortex. Strax is then shown running and shooting confirming that he'll be a continued presence. The Doctor and Clara are then shown in the TARDIS as several explosion rock the console. As the final scene opens we see the Doctor from behind with a strange looking creature behind him. It looks kind of wooden but with blunt spikes protruding from its back. They appear to be standing in a foggy forest clearing. The Doctor then turns and nothing is there. The Doctor then reveals that he is afraid.

I absolutely love this trailer. The Cybermen look so much sleeker and yet more powerful at the same time. The new villains all appear to be quite scary and the Ice Warriors look great. Also there are a few throwbacks to the Davies years. The spacesuit that David Tennant used as well as the reappearance of the Sigorax are both welcome additions to the series. I am really looking forward to the mystery that is Clara Oswald.

 

[elyvorg]

I am kind of sad that there doesn't seem to be a prequel for this half-series coming along at any point. I feel like there could perhaps be potential for one, given the current situation the Doctor is in, and if there were, I'm sure I'd enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed practically every prequel recently. But eh. Maybe there still will be one and it just hasn't come yet.

Well, what do you know. I was pretty certain there'd be potential for a prequel here, and, yep, there totally is one, available this Saturday! And since it features the Doctor ("taking a break from his search for Clara", apparently), I imagine that, like every other prequel with the Doctor in, I will love it to bits. I am very excited to see it.

Other stuff: there's some images for The Bells of St. John, a few of which are interesting and might actually be a little bit spoilery, so be aware if you're averse to that. Also, this is definitely worth a look (and not notably spoilery); it has interviews with Steven Moffat, Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman, as well as titles and synopses for the first four episodes. That and it has those movie-poster-esque images for said first four episodes; apparently they're keeping that up with this half of the series, and I approve.

Spoiler: Brief opinion on one of the titles

I really like the title for episode 9, Hide. There's just something so creepy about it. It only being a single word makes it almost sound like an instruction: hide, because something terrifying is out to get you.

(Incidentally, in case anyone other than me is interested, from poring over trailer clips I am like 95% certain that this is the episode which has the Doctor admitting that he is afraid. A combination of that creepy title and the fact that something here is going to really truly scare even the Doctor? I am looking forward to this episode a lot already.)

MasterGohan, I doubt that's a Sycorax in the trailer there. Sycorax have white, bony faces; this thing's skin is brown.

(this isn't much of a party yet; where is everyone else? :< )

~9 days to go!~ also, yay, prequel!

-elyvorg/Amelia

 

[Griff4815]

Just a week to go!

I saw that prequel for The Bells of St. John and it was cute. I sort of expected the part at the end for some reason.

Spoiler: Prequel

It brings up a lot of questions about Clara, as that Clara was different from the one that we saw at the end of the Christmas special. Also, is that the first time that we find out Clara's last name is Oswin?

 

[elyvorg]

The prequel! It is adorable and lovely - and actually kind of interesting. I think that everyone, even those who don't usually watch the prequels (although why on earth not? they're invariably amazing) should at least see this one before they watch the episode next Saturday.

Spoiler: Prequel to The Bells of Saint John

I like the basic premise here of the Doctor, sad and lonely, talking to a little girl who knows nothing about who he is but manages to help him out anyway. That's really sweet. I've always loved this Doctor's interactions with children.

To get a child's perspective on the Doctor as a stranger is kind of neat - she pegs him as "old" and "strange" for very childlike reasons, and she's totally right even though she has no idea of just how old and strange he truly is. I really like her perceptiveness of his feelings, as well. The Doctor's trying to put a brave face on things and pretend that he's fine, but she completely sees through that and can tell that he's sad and probably lonely too. I also like how, when he denies that he's lost anything, she ignores that and carries on as though he said yes, which eventually gets him to admit what he's lost so she can begin helping him.

On the Doctor's end, I honestly hadn't expected him to have been, up until now, wandering around aimlessly in the hope he'd just happen across Clara again. That's really kind of irrational of him to expect that - perhaps it has to do with how, in The Snowmen when he discovered that there were multiple Claras and he hadn't permanently lost her, he took it as a sign that the universe was finally deciding to be nice to him, and so he just expected that it'd make everything easy from this point on. Not so, and he must have gradually realised this and started worrying that he might actually never find her again. I like how it took the simple, innocent perspective of a child to point out to him that expecting to happen across this friend of his due to destiny is pretty silly, and really he should be thinking about where she might be and actively trying to find her. The little girl has no idea of the full complexities of the Doctor's situation; she finds it sad, but to her it's ultimately a pretty simple problem with an obvious solution that he's just overlooking.

And then it turns out that this little girl was Clara Oswald all along! I feel like I should have probably seen this coming, but because I somehow didn't, it blew my mind in the best way. The already-adorable interactions between her and the Doctor gain an added level of heartwarming in the knowledge that it was Clara herself who was giving the Doctor this advice and unwittingly helping him find her again, even though neither of them knew it. And it's kind of fun how Clara found the thought of him bumping into who he's looking for thanks to "destiny" to be a load of rubbish - and yet that's pretty much exactly what was happening. The universe did have the Doctor just happen across Clara again! ...but not a version of her he recognised. Apparently the universe has a cruel sense of humour. (and when I say "the universe" here, I'm really thinking "Steven Moffat".) That said, I don't actually find it tragic to learn that all along the person the Doctor was looking for was right there and if only he'd known that then his search could have succeeded already. Ultimately, even if she had told him her name, I don't think the Doctor would have wanted to take a Clara this young on adventures with him because of the danger - he probably wouldn't have even told her he'd be back for her when she was older, because that totally screwed Amy up when he did it with her.

This could mean a lot for their future relationship, too - will Clara remember him? I know she's very young here, and she only talked to him for all of two minutes, but they definitely had something of a connection there, so I don't think it's impossible that Clara would have always remembered that sad man on the swing. If she does, it's going to kind of blow her mind to learn that all along the person he was looking for was her. This could also be how Clara begins to learn about her previous lives, since the Doctor said he'd met her twice before and yet she doesn't remember ever seeing him before except that time in the park. And, of course, if Clara remembers this and mentions it then that means the Doctor will also learn that she was the little girl at the swings, and I think it'll mean a lot to him to know that it was Clara herself who helped him out back there.

Plus, this means that we've technically started to get to know this version of Clara Oswald now. I like her quite a bit from this alone - I've already mentioned how I enjoyed her perceptiveness of the Doctor's emotions, so I really hope this continues in her adult self. Provided she remembers him, she's going to already be aware of what a lonely man the Doctor is, right from the outset, which should be interesting since that's something that it usually takes a new companion a few episodes to fully figure out.

Also, trailer for The Bells of Saint John! It has a couple of interesting things in it:

Spoiler: Thoughts on that trailer; will mention prequel

It seems the Doctor is literally showing up on Clara's doorstep here - admittedly that might not be the first time he sees her in the episode, but for now I'm assuming it is. And it looks like Clara doesn't remember him from the swings when she was a kid - but if this is early on in the episode then there's nothing to say that her memory might not be jogged somewhere down the line.

That woman who is probably the antagonist saying "He's here," would, in any other series, have made me instantly assume she meant the Doctor, and that she knows he's shown up to ruin her plans. However, no-one's supposed to know that the Doctor exists right now, so, hmm.

People's minds trapped in the wifi; that sounds like a pretty cool concept. Looks like Clara's will be one of these minds at some point, too. I wonder if her genius-hacker-ness will mean that this actually ends up being a bad thing for the antagonists - I mean, something similar happened before with the Daleks and Oswin.

~one week to go!~

-elyvorg/Amelia

 

[Becoming]

Well, I haven't posted in a while, but with both the prequel and the trailer for the new episode . . . stuff to talk about! I'm just gonna say everything in the one spoilers...

Spoiler: this is that one spoiler

Thanks to something I read on tumblr, I already knew that the girl the Doctor was talking to was Oswin. I really like how we've been getting prequels lately, they're really neat. It's good to see what the Doctor's up to and, hey, he's got a little bit of hope! I was kinda expecting him to find out that he was talking to Clara right then though. Like Clara's mum would call her over and he'd realize.

But I'm still happy with how it turned out. It was sweet.

Okay, well now I'm watching some DW online and I caught the end of TATM. Watching that was a bad idea. PS is on right now, and hopefully The Snowmen will be on afterwards. I really should rewatch that.

And like halfway through I'll probably tune in to Pokemon Smash. But back to the trailer...

Oh yeah The Snowmen is on now.

Spoiler: back to it

So the trailers, both for the new episode and the series in general . . . I like how Clara attacks (kinda) the Cyberman. She doesn't take crap from anyone, does she? And, uh, the Doctor being scared. Anyone else thinking that this scene might take place in the fields of Trezanlore (spelling?). But if that is the case, it would explain why the Doctor is saying that he's scared - because he can't lie, can he? And that would also explain why he's scared.

So the episode trailer, it seems like the Doctor is mucking about when it comes to Clara. He's literally just walking into her life, on her doorstep. Well, at least Clara's story is going to be different than the other companions.

I'm not yet ready to be scared of the wi-fi. Like, I'm on the internet via the wi-fi now. And now the wi-fi is evil!? No thanks, Moffat.

Finally, anyone else noticing the hive-minded-ness of everything that Clara's been involved in? The Daleks, the Snowmen, and now the wi-fi, kinda? I'm starting to think that Clara's existence (the fact that there are many of her) has to do with some hive-minded-ness of the universe? Like, I dunno, something is manipulating time and space to recreate her? No, well, hmm...how to explain? Like there's an original Clara (say present day one) and through some hive-minded-ness the universe has created multiples of her that experience the same events (like dying with the same last words, having the same name, etc). Except none is the 'original' Clara either? They're all connected and all experience similar events but none is the first Clara?

Try to make sense of that.

This is all I have to say. I'll be watching The Snowmen now

kjt/Clara Oswin Oswald