This is totally my favorite episode of this entire series so far. Wow! I LOVE Craig!
So the Doctor pops in on Craig to say hi, kind of like the Tenth Doctor went around and said goodbye to his former companions before he regenerated. So all the people who think that was crappy can SHUT UP now!! Craig and Sophie have a son now named Alfie, although the Doctor says that his name is Stormageddon (he speaks Baby). The Doctor notices that the lights are flickering, and against his better judgment, he decides to stick around and figure out what's going on.
Craig insists on going with the Doctor to investigate, hilarity ensures. It turns out that a Cybermat is draining energy, and Cybermen are taking people and converting them. The Doctor finds the Cyberman space ship, is captured, Craig tries to help, almost gets turned into a Cyberman, but then they hear Alfie crying and Craig is able to reverse the conversion.
The episode ends with River Song investigating the Doctor's "last" appearance on Earth. Then Eyepatch Lady and the Silence show up, stick River in a space suit, and put her at the bottom of Lake Silencio.
Likes:
1) The exchanges between the Doctor and Craig are fantastic, just like last time.
Doctor: You've redecorated! I don't like it.
Craig: It's a new house!
Craig: You know what to do if he cries!
Doctor: No, I don't!
Craig (OS): Me neither!
2) Okay, this baby is totally reminiscent of Stewie from Family Guy. While I don't like another baby being a character on the show, he is MUCH better than wet old Melody Pond. Also, I don't believe that the Doctor actually speaks Baby - I think he just speaks for the babies the way "speak" for our pets. He's just having a good time.
3) I love the Doctor's reference to K-9 when he's playing with the robot dog. "Not as fun as I remember".
4) I liked the Cybermat - it was very reminiscent of Tomb of the Cybermen.
5) Craig: Metal rat with a mouth! Metal rat with a mouth!
Dislikes:
1) Didn't like the baby. Why does everyone have babies? Best thing about Rose, Martha, and Donna - NO GORRAM BABIES!
2) I didn't like when the Doctor pretended he was going to kiss Craig. It wasn't funny at all, insinuating that even Craig might be a little bit in love with the Doctor. Everyone shouldn't be in love with the Doctor! Again, a HUGE complaint about the RTD era, and I have yet to read anything online about people having an issue with it now. Cause Moffat is such a gorram god to so many people.
3) I don't like Matt Smith tossing his hair around all the time. Can't they bobby pin it down or something? Hair spray? Something?
4) I didn't like the Ponds showing up. And suddenly she's a model. Of course, we have no idea how much time has passed. However, I have a very hard time believing she's a model. Not only that, but she's modeling Petrichor (the smell of dust after rain) and the tagline is "For the girl who's tired of waiting". So apparently she has control over the entire line of perfume. So is she a model or did she develop the perfume? That kind of career takes years to develop, and her only experience is being a Kiss-O-Gram. On the other hand, what did I expect her to do, become a rocket scientist?
5) Again, the solution to the problem is LOVE. Gag me with a spoon.
6) The Doctor says that his "shhh" power only works once, and only on those with underdeveloped brains, thus making it a big joke that it works on Craig and the girl in the shop. Haha! But then he uses the "shh" trick on the shopgirl a second time. Wait a minute ... what happened to it only working once? Oh, right, no one gives a shit about any kind of continuity these days.
Curiouser and Curiouser
1) These Cybermen lack the Cybus Industries logo, and the Doctor says that they've been buried there for centuries.
2) We finally get an explanation as to why River never remembered anything about her past - Eyepatch Lady says that they were "far too thorough" with her "dear little head".
Enjoy this little exchange between Craig and the Doctor:
Showing posts with label 11th doctor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 11th doctor. Show all posts
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
S6 Episode 11: The God Complex
Well. I'm not really sure how I feel about this episode. I've been thinking about it for a week, and I still don't know if I like it or not.
The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive at a hotel, every room of which contains a fear - clowns, mean girls, marionettes, etc. Each person has their own room, a room which houses their greatest fear. After seeing the thing which they fear, the person stops being afraid and utters the phrase, "Praise Him", which prompts a minotaur to hunt him or her down and eat their - what, their souls? Anyway, the people all end up dead. They get picked off one by one.
Of course, Amy opens a hotel room door and finds her fear, so the Doctor now has to race against time to save Amy. Must be Tuesday. He saves her, the Minotaur ends up dying after uttering some cryptic words, and the Doctor realizes that he needs to take Amy and Rory home. He leaves them at their house (with a new car for Rory), and Amy tells Rory that the Doctor is saving them.
Curiouser and Curiouser:
Amy's fear lies behind Door 7. The Doctor's fear lies behind Door 11. This is the 11th Doctor, but Amy is by no means the 7th companion, even in the new series. So what does Amy's door number mean?
Likes:
1) Not sure if I like this or not, but it was the first thing that sprang to mind, so I'm going to go with my instinct: I liked that we didn't see what either Amy or the Doctor feared. I feel that Moffat is leaving too much up in the air since he took over the show, but at the same time, I liked that we didn't have anything concrete. We may eventually find out, but I don't think it's necessary.
2) Rory was, as always, brilliant. It turns out that he never found his room because he doesn't have faith. Faith in what? Religion? I talked about this with my husband this week, and we decided that he has no faith in Amy since she kept her pregnancy from him. I quite agree with that; however, I still don't understand why Rory would have ever had faith in her from the beginning. Even now, after all they've been through, I feel like she couldn't care less about him. I don't know if they just don't have chemistry or what, but the Amy/Rory relationship seems so forced to me, and even when they're embracing, Amy is so cold towards Rory. But I digress.
3) I loved how Rory said to the Doctor, "that's my favorite car, how did you know?" and the Doctor replies, "because you showed me a photo and said, 'that's my favorite car.'" I thought the exchange was hilarious.
4) Howie, Rita and Gibbis were some of the most developed characters that we've seen so far. They reminded me a lot of Craig and Sophie (incidentally, Craig returns to us next week!)
5) You knew this was coming - AMY'S GONE!!! I have to say, though, that I doubt that this is the last we're seeing of the Ponds. But I almost did a little dance of joy. However, I DISLIKE that there will be no more Rory if they actually are gone.
Dislikes:
1) Again, the callbacks to other characters bothered me. I'm still not really sure why it bothers me so much when Moffat recalls Hartnell or other characters/aliens, but every time it just leaves me feeling highly uncomfortable.
2) Why does the Doctor give Rory a car? Rory doesn't need to be convinced to leave the TARDIS; he hasn't wanted to be there - well - EVER. Maybe it was a way of saying "thank you". I don't know, but I do know that for as hilarious as their exchange regarding the car was, I found the whole concept to be tasteless. Like a consolation prize or something. "You've lost all of time and space, but you did win this fabulous gift!"
3) When the Minotaur was talking with the Doctor at the end, why wasn't his language being translated? (I feel like this has happened before, too, but I can't remember which episode it would have been.) The TARDIS should be translating everything that the Minotaur says - I'm sure it was done on purpose to show how the Doctor is clueless, but still, little stuff like this really bothers me.
4) When the Doctor makes Amy lose her faith in him, I couldn't help but think, "Really? That's all it takes? She must not have had much faith in him to begin with".
5) I didn't like Amy and Rory's exit. First of all, I have a hard time believing that Amy is willing to just let him go so easily. However, he's left them a few times before, so maybe she thinks that he'll be back (and I'm sure he will be, those short skirts are like a Siren's call).
6) What was the point of the Weeping Angels? It couldn't have been Gibbis's fear, as he never turned to Minotaur-worship. I don't like how Moffat just throws something in for the sake of throwing it in. It's very frustrating.
7) I wish that Rory would leave Amy and travel with the Doctor. Arthur Darvil and Matt Smith remind me very much of Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton. I think it would be brilliant if Rory ditched the ungrateful bitch and took off with the Doctor. How much fun would they have?
8) The thing Amy fears is waiting for the Doctor? That he'll never return? God, could this girl be any more obsessed? She needs to get over herself. On the other hand, it's possible that because this fear is now "cured" by the Minotaur, that is why it's so easy for Amy to let the Doctor go?
9) I'm adding this in late because I've been doing some more thinking about this episode, and I've come to the conclusion that it makes no sense. The Minotaur feeds on faith. So it shows them what they're afraid of, and suddenly they're saying "praise him". Exactly HOW does this change occur? It makes no sense, and now I think I have to say that I don't like this episode.
Hey, this literally just popped into my head - during The Impossible Astronaut, River, Rory and Amy are all called to the Doctor because they're the people he trusts the most. Really? He's letting them go now, he has (presumably) another two hundreds years to live, and after less than two years, THESE are the people he trusts the most? River I can understand, since they apparently have this amazing relationship, but Amy and Rory? He hasn't met ANYONE in two hundred years that can compare? I guess you can argue that he trusts them the most because they already know what's going on, but still ... that wouldn't be trust, that would be called HEY YOUR DAUGHTER THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT YET IS GOING TO TRY TO SHOOT ME IN THE FACE AND SET OFF ALL THE EVENTS THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN IF YOU DIDN'T COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE - OOPS.
My husband and I were having a discussion about River Song last night, and I mentioned this in an online forum as well; I am so disappointed with what Moffat has done with River. He could have made her into a much more interesting character. Mels was fantastic, and instead of having her regenerate into Alex Kingston, she should have regenerated into a different actress. Every time he meets her in the future (from this point on) she could be played by another actress, or at least, several actresses. He could have continued this storyline for so long, and have the River he has a relationship with be one actress for a long time. Mels should have been a character from the beginning, and Alex Kingston would still have been able to appear up until Let's Kill Hitler (as this is the end of her life, though she doesn't know it). But, by making Mels regenerate into Alex, he now has to throw her into as many stories as possible because of her age. How can the Doctor and River get together now when Alex is clearly aging? She already looks much older than she did in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
And with that, I'm not sure I have much more to say about The God Complex. Yes, the Doctor has issues. Blah blah blah. We know this, it's been explored already in the last few episodes of the Tenth Doctor. Do we need to go over this again?
Here's your palate-cleaner (and a shameless plug). I made this video last weekend after hearing a brilliant Paul and Storm song. Enjoy!
The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive at a hotel, every room of which contains a fear - clowns, mean girls, marionettes, etc. Each person has their own room, a room which houses their greatest fear. After seeing the thing which they fear, the person stops being afraid and utters the phrase, "Praise Him", which prompts a minotaur to hunt him or her down and eat their - what, their souls? Anyway, the people all end up dead. They get picked off one by one.
Of course, Amy opens a hotel room door and finds her fear, so the Doctor now has to race against time to save Amy. Must be Tuesday. He saves her, the Minotaur ends up dying after uttering some cryptic words, and the Doctor realizes that he needs to take Amy and Rory home. He leaves them at their house (with a new car for Rory), and Amy tells Rory that the Doctor is saving them.
Curiouser and Curiouser:
Amy's fear lies behind Door 7. The Doctor's fear lies behind Door 11. This is the 11th Doctor, but Amy is by no means the 7th companion, even in the new series. So what does Amy's door number mean?
Likes:
1) Not sure if I like this or not, but it was the first thing that sprang to mind, so I'm going to go with my instinct: I liked that we didn't see what either Amy or the Doctor feared. I feel that Moffat is leaving too much up in the air since he took over the show, but at the same time, I liked that we didn't have anything concrete. We may eventually find out, but I don't think it's necessary.
2) Rory was, as always, brilliant. It turns out that he never found his room because he doesn't have faith. Faith in what? Religion? I talked about this with my husband this week, and we decided that he has no faith in Amy since she kept her pregnancy from him. I quite agree with that; however, I still don't understand why Rory would have ever had faith in her from the beginning. Even now, after all they've been through, I feel like she couldn't care less about him. I don't know if they just don't have chemistry or what, but the Amy/Rory relationship seems so forced to me, and even when they're embracing, Amy is so cold towards Rory. But I digress.
3) I loved how Rory said to the Doctor, "that's my favorite car, how did you know?" and the Doctor replies, "because you showed me a photo and said, 'that's my favorite car.'" I thought the exchange was hilarious.
4) Howie, Rita and Gibbis were some of the most developed characters that we've seen so far. They reminded me a lot of Craig and Sophie (incidentally, Craig returns to us next week!)
5) You knew this was coming - AMY'S GONE!!! I have to say, though, that I doubt that this is the last we're seeing of the Ponds. But I almost did a little dance of joy. However, I DISLIKE that there will be no more Rory if they actually are gone.
Dislikes:
1) Again, the callbacks to other characters bothered me. I'm still not really sure why it bothers me so much when Moffat recalls Hartnell or other characters/aliens, but every time it just leaves me feeling highly uncomfortable.
2) Why does the Doctor give Rory a car? Rory doesn't need to be convinced to leave the TARDIS; he hasn't wanted to be there - well - EVER. Maybe it was a way of saying "thank you". I don't know, but I do know that for as hilarious as their exchange regarding the car was, I found the whole concept to be tasteless. Like a consolation prize or something. "You've lost all of time and space, but you did win this fabulous gift!"
3) When the Minotaur was talking with the Doctor at the end, why wasn't his language being translated? (I feel like this has happened before, too, but I can't remember which episode it would have been.) The TARDIS should be translating everything that the Minotaur says - I'm sure it was done on purpose to show how the Doctor is clueless, but still, little stuff like this really bothers me.
4) When the Doctor makes Amy lose her faith in him, I couldn't help but think, "Really? That's all it takes? She must not have had much faith in him to begin with".
5) I didn't like Amy and Rory's exit. First of all, I have a hard time believing that Amy is willing to just let him go so easily. However, he's left them a few times before, so maybe she thinks that he'll be back (and I'm sure he will be, those short skirts are like a Siren's call).
6) What was the point of the Weeping Angels? It couldn't have been Gibbis's fear, as he never turned to Minotaur-worship. I don't like how Moffat just throws something in for the sake of throwing it in. It's very frustrating.
7) I wish that Rory would leave Amy and travel with the Doctor. Arthur Darvil and Matt Smith remind me very much of Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton. I think it would be brilliant if Rory ditched the ungrateful bitch and took off with the Doctor. How much fun would they have?
8) The thing Amy fears is waiting for the Doctor? That he'll never return? God, could this girl be any more obsessed? She needs to get over herself. On the other hand, it's possible that because this fear is now "cured" by the Minotaur, that is why it's so easy for Amy to let the Doctor go?
9) I'm adding this in late because I've been doing some more thinking about this episode, and I've come to the conclusion that it makes no sense. The Minotaur feeds on faith. So it shows them what they're afraid of, and suddenly they're saying "praise him". Exactly HOW does this change occur? It makes no sense, and now I think I have to say that I don't like this episode.
Hey, this literally just popped into my head - during The Impossible Astronaut, River, Rory and Amy are all called to the Doctor because they're the people he trusts the most. Really? He's letting them go now, he has (presumably) another two hundreds years to live, and after less than two years, THESE are the people he trusts the most? River I can understand, since they apparently have this amazing relationship, but Amy and Rory? He hasn't met ANYONE in two hundred years that can compare? I guess you can argue that he trusts them the most because they already know what's going on, but still ... that wouldn't be trust, that would be called HEY YOUR DAUGHTER THAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT YET IS GOING TO TRY TO SHOOT ME IN THE FACE AND SET OFF ALL THE EVENTS THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN IF YOU DIDN'T COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE - OOPS.
My husband and I were having a discussion about River Song last night, and I mentioned this in an online forum as well; I am so disappointed with what Moffat has done with River. He could have made her into a much more interesting character. Mels was fantastic, and instead of having her regenerate into Alex Kingston, she should have regenerated into a different actress. Every time he meets her in the future (from this point on) she could be played by another actress, or at least, several actresses. He could have continued this storyline for so long, and have the River he has a relationship with be one actress for a long time. Mels should have been a character from the beginning, and Alex Kingston would still have been able to appear up until Let's Kill Hitler (as this is the end of her life, though she doesn't know it). But, by making Mels regenerate into Alex, he now has to throw her into as many stories as possible because of her age. How can the Doctor and River get together now when Alex is clearly aging? She already looks much older than she did in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.
And with that, I'm not sure I have much more to say about The God Complex. Yes, the Doctor has issues. Blah blah blah. We know this, it's been explored already in the last few episodes of the Tenth Doctor. Do we need to go over this again?
Here's your palate-cleaner (and a shameless plug). I made this video last weekend after hearing a brilliant Paul and Storm song. Enjoy!
Monday, August 22, 2011
S6 Episode 7: A Good Man Goes to War
Well, I'm not sure where to begin with this one. It seems so disjointed to me, but I'll give it a shot.
The episode starts out with brief looks at various characters who have appeared in (I can only guess here) classic Doctor Who episodes. Each of their stories ends with the TARDIS appearing - the Doctor has come to collect his debts. He is clearly amassing an army to storm the castle and rescue Amy. Meanwhile on Demon's Run, Amy is talking to her newborn daughter, telling her not to worry because The Last Centurion will come to rescue them. Somewhere in space, Rory shows up on board a Cybership. He says he has a message and a question - "where is my wife?" When the Cybermen ask what the message is, there is an explosion in the background, as several Cyberships are blown to smithereens. Rory says, "shall I repeat the question?"
So Melody is taken from Amy; meanwhile, the Eyepatch Lady and her troops are mustering forces against the Doctor. Among them are the Headless Monks. I'm still not really sure why they're even in this, as they don't really serve much point. A young soldier named Lorna comes to Amy's room with a present of a prayer leaf with Melody's name stitched in the tongue of the Gamma forest people.
The Doctor shows up on Demon's Run disguised as a Headless Monk, and with him are all his buddies who are going to help him. They seem to take over Demon's Run quite quickly, saving Melody and giving her back to Amy. Now, instead of getting on the TARDIS and flying Amy and Rory and Melody off somewhere safe, they all just lark around in the big ol' empty place. The Doctor brings out a cradle for Melody and says it was originally his (which I don't believe for a second). He tells Amy that he believes that she was taken shortly before America, (which I have a hard time believing, too). The lesbians call him to the control room, and it is there that they tell him that the people who had stolen Amy were scanning Melody, and that she was part Time Lord. Cause Amy and Rory did the nasty on the TARDIS.
Just then, the Headless Monks attack and almost all of the Doctor's buddies are killed. During this, the Eyepatch Lady gets on a video link with the Doctor and says something about how fooling him once was super cool but fooling him again in the same way was like the epitome of awesomeness. Well, as the Doctor rushes to Amy, we see that the baby has melted into plastic goo - the baby was an avatar, just like Amy had been. So they have Melody after all.
Lorna dies after seeing the Doctor, and then River shows up. She brings the Doctor over to the cradle and says, "can't you read"? He gets all weird and mentally challenged again and then pops off into his TARDIS and quite irresponsibly leaves them all there. River shows Amy the prayer leaf from Lorna, and since it takes the TARDIS sooooo long to translate the written word, we now see that it says "River" on one side and "Song" on the other. Wow. River is Amy and Rory's daughter. Who'dve guessed?
Curiouser and Curiouser
1) So Moffat is supposed to be this brilliant writer, yet he knocks us on the head with the whole "River Song" thing. Apparently, he didn't think we were smart enough to figure it out from the name "Melody Pond". And River saying, "they don't have a name for 'pond' in the Gamma forests, the only water in the forest is the river". Again, WHACK! Beating us over the head with it.
2) While we're on the prayer leaf (which is actually a pretty neat little concept), let's talk about this whole TARDIS translation thing. According to River, it sometimes takes a little while to translate the written word. Yet, it had no problem translating HELLO SWEETIE on the side of a cliff the second they opened the door last season.
3) It makes no sense that Amy would have been taken before America. She thought she was pregnant. Then they separated, and months later she tells the Doctor that she's better - no pregnancy. It makes soooo much more sense for them to have grabbed her while she was on her own running across the USA, not before.
4) When Rory comes to River at her cell to ask for her help, she stares at him like she's never seen him before. She gets this look of awe and wonder on her face. It's almost sickening. She has to have known in all the previous episodes that Amy and Rory are her parents, so why has she never stared at them like that before, especially when she says that they've already met? Or did she lie? It's so messed up.
5) If Melody was taken from Amy so quickly, how on earth were those pictures of the girl and Amy in the orphanage? I have a hard time believing that Amy would have posed for such a nice picture at Demon's Run. Also, if Melody is River and is also the girl in the astronaut suit, then I will ask again - how does River not know what is going on?
6) My husband pointed this one out to me - the Cybermen in this episode don't have the Cybus Industries mark on them. Are they another type of Cybermen? Do they have a different origin story?
Dislikes:
1) What a strange way to discuss Rory. Moffat clearly wants us to think that Amy's talking about the Doctor - can we please be done with the love triangle? It's soooo tiresome. And seriously, she thinks that Rory has the ability to rescue them? Since when does she have any kind of confidence in Rory? Not to mention that he's NOT older than he looks, if, "in this reality", as the Doctor says, the universe has been rebooted. Also, the Doctor is the one who said that they were going to come get her, not Rory.
2) I can't believe the Doctor blew up an entire Cyber Legion to make his point. Since when is killing so easy for him? It really bothers me. I suppose it's to make their point about how the Doctor has become synonymous with "warrior". However, we already went through all of this at the end of David Tennant's reign. He was starting to act like God, etc. etc. I feel like we're just rehashing all of that. Not to mention the fact that Davros made a huge point about how the Doctor makes people dangerous, he turns them into soldiers. Well, here's the Doctor forcing them into that role, and half of them die. Does he even care? No, he just gets all giggly about River and prances off to his TARDIS, tra la la.
3) River Song is starting to look really old and puffy. I hope they get rid of her fast - and that's not likely to happen. It's going to become the River and Amy Show, isn't it?
4) When the Doctor and his buddies descend on Demon's Run, it really took me aback. One criticism of Russell T. Davies was that he was always bringing back companions and other characters. It's almost like Moffat said, "WWRTDD?" And seriously - Danny Boy? I'm sure that all the Moffat fans LOVED it, though. Had RTD done it, there would have been nothing but whinging. What constant, f-ing hypocrites.
5) The Doctor is so mean. He wants the Colonel to be remembered as "Colonel Runaway". Yes, this is something that Ten would have done (remember, "doesn't she look tired?") However, Eleven is such as ass about it. He cannot be angry without also being a total douche.
6) Again, why don't they just get in the TARDIS where they'll be safe? No, they have to skip around like they're on holiday. Idiots. I get that the Doctor wants to know what's going on, but Amy would still be safer in the TARDIS than anywhere else.
7) The hug between the Doctor and Amy goes on for so long, it's completely awkward. They're having a conservation in the midst of a hug. WTF?
8) When River tells Amy and Rory that she's their daughter, it so reminded me of a soap opera. And that's essentially what Doctor Who is now. Amy and Rory's daughter, who was stolen at birth, is really River Song, their best friend's future wife - we think - who all this time has been sharing adventures with them before they even knew they would have a child. BARF.
Likes:
When the Sontaran is dying, Rory tells him that he'll be okay, he's a warrior. The Sontaran replies, "I'm not a warrior, I'm a nurse". This is quite a reflection of Rory, who is also a nurse, and maybe not the warrior that he is pretending to be at the moment.
Speaking of Cybermen, I just watched this episode the other day - Tomb of the Cybermen - and this scene made me laugh so hard!
The episode starts out with brief looks at various characters who have appeared in (I can only guess here) classic Doctor Who episodes. Each of their stories ends with the TARDIS appearing - the Doctor has come to collect his debts. He is clearly amassing an army to storm the castle and rescue Amy. Meanwhile on Demon's Run, Amy is talking to her newborn daughter, telling her not to worry because The Last Centurion will come to rescue them. Somewhere in space, Rory shows up on board a Cybership. He says he has a message and a question - "where is my wife?" When the Cybermen ask what the message is, there is an explosion in the background, as several Cyberships are blown to smithereens. Rory says, "shall I repeat the question?"
So Melody is taken from Amy; meanwhile, the Eyepatch Lady and her troops are mustering forces against the Doctor. Among them are the Headless Monks. I'm still not really sure why they're even in this, as they don't really serve much point. A young soldier named Lorna comes to Amy's room with a present of a prayer leaf with Melody's name stitched in the tongue of the Gamma forest people.
The Doctor shows up on Demon's Run disguised as a Headless Monk, and with him are all his buddies who are going to help him. They seem to take over Demon's Run quite quickly, saving Melody and giving her back to Amy. Now, instead of getting on the TARDIS and flying Amy and Rory and Melody off somewhere safe, they all just lark around in the big ol' empty place. The Doctor brings out a cradle for Melody and says it was originally his (which I don't believe for a second). He tells Amy that he believes that she was taken shortly before America, (which I have a hard time believing, too). The lesbians call him to the control room, and it is there that they tell him that the people who had stolen Amy were scanning Melody, and that she was part Time Lord. Cause Amy and Rory did the nasty on the TARDIS.
Just then, the Headless Monks attack and almost all of the Doctor's buddies are killed. During this, the Eyepatch Lady gets on a video link with the Doctor and says something about how fooling him once was super cool but fooling him again in the same way was like the epitome of awesomeness. Well, as the Doctor rushes to Amy, we see that the baby has melted into plastic goo - the baby was an avatar, just like Amy had been. So they have Melody after all.
Lorna dies after seeing the Doctor, and then River shows up. She brings the Doctor over to the cradle and says, "can't you read"? He gets all weird and mentally challenged again and then pops off into his TARDIS and quite irresponsibly leaves them all there. River shows Amy the prayer leaf from Lorna, and since it takes the TARDIS sooooo long to translate the written word, we now see that it says "River" on one side and "Song" on the other. Wow. River is Amy and Rory's daughter. Who'dve guessed?
Curiouser and Curiouser
1) So Moffat is supposed to be this brilliant writer, yet he knocks us on the head with the whole "River Song" thing. Apparently, he didn't think we were smart enough to figure it out from the name "Melody Pond". And River saying, "they don't have a name for 'pond' in the Gamma forests, the only water in the forest is the river". Again, WHACK! Beating us over the head with it.
2) While we're on the prayer leaf (which is actually a pretty neat little concept), let's talk about this whole TARDIS translation thing. According to River, it sometimes takes a little while to translate the written word. Yet, it had no problem translating HELLO SWEETIE on the side of a cliff the second they opened the door last season.
3) It makes no sense that Amy would have been taken before America. She thought she was pregnant. Then they separated, and months later she tells the Doctor that she's better - no pregnancy. It makes soooo much more sense for them to have grabbed her while she was on her own running across the USA, not before.
4) When Rory comes to River at her cell to ask for her help, she stares at him like she's never seen him before. She gets this look of awe and wonder on her face. It's almost sickening. She has to have known in all the previous episodes that Amy and Rory are her parents, so why has she never stared at them like that before, especially when she says that they've already met? Or did she lie? It's so messed up.
5) If Melody was taken from Amy so quickly, how on earth were those pictures of the girl and Amy in the orphanage? I have a hard time believing that Amy would have posed for such a nice picture at Demon's Run. Also, if Melody is River and is also the girl in the astronaut suit, then I will ask again - how does River not know what is going on?
6) My husband pointed this one out to me - the Cybermen in this episode don't have the Cybus Industries mark on them. Are they another type of Cybermen? Do they have a different origin story?
Dislikes:
1) What a strange way to discuss Rory. Moffat clearly wants us to think that Amy's talking about the Doctor - can we please be done with the love triangle? It's soooo tiresome. And seriously, she thinks that Rory has the ability to rescue them? Since when does she have any kind of confidence in Rory? Not to mention that he's NOT older than he looks, if, "in this reality", as the Doctor says, the universe has been rebooted. Also, the Doctor is the one who said that they were going to come get her, not Rory.
2) I can't believe the Doctor blew up an entire Cyber Legion to make his point. Since when is killing so easy for him? It really bothers me. I suppose it's to make their point about how the Doctor has become synonymous with "warrior". However, we already went through all of this at the end of David Tennant's reign. He was starting to act like God, etc. etc. I feel like we're just rehashing all of that. Not to mention the fact that Davros made a huge point about how the Doctor makes people dangerous, he turns them into soldiers. Well, here's the Doctor forcing them into that role, and half of them die. Does he even care? No, he just gets all giggly about River and prances off to his TARDIS, tra la la.
3) River Song is starting to look really old and puffy. I hope they get rid of her fast - and that's not likely to happen. It's going to become the River and Amy Show, isn't it?
4) When the Doctor and his buddies descend on Demon's Run, it really took me aback. One criticism of Russell T. Davies was that he was always bringing back companions and other characters. It's almost like Moffat said, "WWRTDD?" And seriously - Danny Boy? I'm sure that all the Moffat fans LOVED it, though. Had RTD done it, there would have been nothing but whinging. What constant, f-ing hypocrites.
5) The Doctor is so mean. He wants the Colonel to be remembered as "Colonel Runaway". Yes, this is something that Ten would have done (remember, "doesn't she look tired?") However, Eleven is such as ass about it. He cannot be angry without also being a total douche.
6) Again, why don't they just get in the TARDIS where they'll be safe? No, they have to skip around like they're on holiday. Idiots. I get that the Doctor wants to know what's going on, but Amy would still be safer in the TARDIS than anywhere else.
7) The hug between the Doctor and Amy goes on for so long, it's completely awkward. They're having a conservation in the midst of a hug. WTF?
8) When River tells Amy and Rory that she's their daughter, it so reminded me of a soap opera. And that's essentially what Doctor Who is now. Amy and Rory's daughter, who was stolen at birth, is really River Song, their best friend's future wife - we think - who all this time has been sharing adventures with them before they even knew they would have a child. BARF.
Likes:
When the Sontaran is dying, Rory tells him that he'll be okay, he's a warrior. The Sontaran replies, "I'm not a warrior, I'm a nurse". This is quite a reflection of Rory, who is also a nurse, and maybe not the warrior that he is pretending to be at the moment.
Speaking of Cybermen, I just watched this episode the other day - Tomb of the Cybermen - and this scene made me laugh so hard!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
S6 Episode 4: The Doctor's Wife
Well, this was the first decent episode since Vincent and the Doctor. Let's get to it, shall we? Short and sweet.
The Doctor receives a distress signal from a Time Lord, they arrive somewhere outside of the universe and find Auntie, Uncle, Nephew, and Idris living on House, some kind of asteroid thing (I never really figured out what House was). The soul of the TARDIS is stolen and transferred into Idris. When she meets the Doctor, she starts talking apparent nonsense, kisses him, etc. The Doctor finds out that House has been killing Time Lords and cutting them up to remake Auntie and Uncle, Dr. Frankenstein-style. And, he eats TARDISes.
Amy and Rory get trapped inside the TARDIS, because being in life-and-death situations is what they do best. House messes with them, the Doctor and Idris, or "Sexy", as she says he calls her ("only when we're alone") build a TARDIS console from dead TARDISes and save the day. Well, Sexy saves the day because she is ANGRY.
Repeat Idea:
This is the fifth time that Rory dies.
Episodes in which Rory has died in some manner:
1) Amy's Choice: Rory dies in the dream, so he's not actually dead
2) Cold Blood: Rory actually dies
3) Day of the Moon: Rory doesn't actually die, but we think he does
4) Curse of the Black Pearl: Rory temporarily dies, but is brought back to life by Amy
5) The Doctor's Wife: Rory appears to have died after waiting for Amy for thousands of years, but it's just House messing with her mind
Likes:
1) For an episode with very little plot, there were tons of fantastic lines.
2) For as much as I hate Moffatt messing with time, I loved how Sexy (yes, I'm going to call her that because I think it's hilarious) had trouble with tenses and talking about things that hadn't happened yet. Because it's different when it's the TARDIS talking about it versus the Doctor doing whatever the frak he pleases - plus, she says that she exists in ALL of time and space simultaneously.
3) I don't know if this is a like, but there was something about Sexy's facial expression that reminded me of someone the first time through. Now I know who it is - she keeps doing Hermione Granger's "worried" face!
4) Suranne Jones was brilliant as Sexy. I LOVED her. It was so nice to see a character with real depth and emotion. We have not had a character like that since Vincent.
5) When Nephew gets atomized (or "displaced", as the Doctor says), the Doctor wryly observes, "another Ood I've failed to save". I literally laughed out loud. Every once in a while, Matt Smith just pulls out a perfect delivery.
6) Uncle was another great character - he is creepy, yet funny, and he is played to perfection by Adrian Schiller.
Dislikes:
1) There is no real point to this episode, other than the Doctor meeting the TARDIS. I guess that's okay, because it's about time we have a real character story. Vincent and the Doctor was a character story, and so was The Lodger, and I really liked them both. So maybe this shouldn't be a dislike. Hmm.
2) Captain Jack is bisexual, Eleventh Doctor is bipolar (I know, I know, Jack is actually omnisexual, but it didn't flow as nicely). Angry Doctor again. He gets mad at Auntie and Uncle and says, "You gave me hope and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it'll do to me". He looks like he's about to lose it. I know some people go on about David Tennant's angst, but holy crap. This guy needs to go to Anger Management or something. He's got two emotions: super-happy-monkey and pissed off.
3) I thought the entire concept of Amy and Rory being locked in the TARDIS was ridiculous. They just keep running down the same corridor over and over. What a brilliant opportunity to show us other rooms in the TARDIS, and it was totally wasted. I really Do. Not. Care. about the relationship between Amy and Rory's anymore. Why, oh why do they keep hitting us over the head with it? And while I normally love Arthur Darvill, he does NOT look like he's running for his life when the doors slam shut. Both times that he gets separated from Amy, he looks like he's out for a casual jog.
4) The first time I watched the episode and Amy and Rory stepped into the Ninth and Tenth Doctor console, I felt violated. Watching it the second time through a few months later, I still feel violated. I literally have a visceral reaction to it, like someone has punched me in the stomach. It's just wrong, wrong, wrong.
5) Amy says, "you can't say it, you have to think it" and then proceeds to put her hands up to her temples as if she's trying to read a mind and SAYS, "crimson, eleven, delight, the smell of dust after rain". It would have been sufficient for her to make that ridiculous mime and then have the montage of thoughts, she didn't have to verbalize it, especially since she just said that you can't say it!
Here's a little bit about another of the Doctor's wives ...
The Doctor receives a distress signal from a Time Lord, they arrive somewhere outside of the universe and find Auntie, Uncle, Nephew, and Idris living on House, some kind of asteroid thing (I never really figured out what House was). The soul of the TARDIS is stolen and transferred into Idris. When she meets the Doctor, she starts talking apparent nonsense, kisses him, etc. The Doctor finds out that House has been killing Time Lords and cutting them up to remake Auntie and Uncle, Dr. Frankenstein-style. And, he eats TARDISes.
Amy and Rory get trapped inside the TARDIS, because being in life-and-death situations is what they do best. House messes with them, the Doctor and Idris, or "Sexy", as she says he calls her ("only when we're alone") build a TARDIS console from dead TARDISes and save the day. Well, Sexy saves the day because she is ANGRY.
Repeat Idea:
This is the fifth time that Rory dies.
Episodes in which Rory has died in some manner:
1) Amy's Choice: Rory dies in the dream, so he's not actually dead
2) Cold Blood: Rory actually dies
3) Day of the Moon: Rory doesn't actually die, but we think he does
4) Curse of the Black Pearl: Rory temporarily dies, but is brought back to life by Amy
5) The Doctor's Wife: Rory appears to have died after waiting for Amy for thousands of years, but it's just House messing with her mind
Likes:
1) For an episode with very little plot, there were tons of fantastic lines.
2) For as much as I hate Moffatt messing with time, I loved how Sexy (yes, I'm going to call her that because I think it's hilarious) had trouble with tenses and talking about things that hadn't happened yet. Because it's different when it's the TARDIS talking about it versus the Doctor doing whatever the frak he pleases - plus, she says that she exists in ALL of time and space simultaneously.
3) I don't know if this is a like, but there was something about Sexy's facial expression that reminded me of someone the first time through. Now I know who it is - she keeps doing Hermione Granger's "worried" face!
4) Suranne Jones was brilliant as Sexy. I LOVED her. It was so nice to see a character with real depth and emotion. We have not had a character like that since Vincent.
5) When Nephew gets atomized (or "displaced", as the Doctor says), the Doctor wryly observes, "another Ood I've failed to save". I literally laughed out loud. Every once in a while, Matt Smith just pulls out a perfect delivery.
6) Uncle was another great character - he is creepy, yet funny, and he is played to perfection by Adrian Schiller.
Dislikes:
1) There is no real point to this episode, other than the Doctor meeting the TARDIS. I guess that's okay, because it's about time we have a real character story. Vincent and the Doctor was a character story, and so was The Lodger, and I really liked them both. So maybe this shouldn't be a dislike. Hmm.
2) Captain Jack is bisexual, Eleventh Doctor is bipolar (I know, I know, Jack is actually omnisexual, but it didn't flow as nicely). Angry Doctor again. He gets mad at Auntie and Uncle and says, "You gave me hope and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it'll do to me". He looks like he's about to lose it. I know some people go on about David Tennant's angst, but holy crap. This guy needs to go to Anger Management or something. He's got two emotions: super-happy-monkey and pissed off.
3) I thought the entire concept of Amy and Rory being locked in the TARDIS was ridiculous. They just keep running down the same corridor over and over. What a brilliant opportunity to show us other rooms in the TARDIS, and it was totally wasted. I really Do. Not. Care. about the relationship between Amy and Rory's anymore. Why, oh why do they keep hitting us over the head with it? And while I normally love Arthur Darvill, he does NOT look like he's running for his life when the doors slam shut. Both times that he gets separated from Amy, he looks like he's out for a casual jog.
4) The first time I watched the episode and Amy and Rory stepped into the Ninth and Tenth Doctor console, I felt violated. Watching it the second time through a few months later, I still feel violated. I literally have a visceral reaction to it, like someone has punched me in the stomach. It's just wrong, wrong, wrong.
5) Amy says, "you can't say it, you have to think it" and then proceeds to put her hands up to her temples as if she's trying to read a mind and SAYS, "crimson, eleven, delight, the smell of dust after rain". It would have been sufficient for her to make that ridiculous mime and then have the montage of thoughts, she didn't have to verbalize it, especially since she just said that you can't say it!
Here's a little bit about another of the Doctor's wives ...
Friday, July 22, 2011
S6 Episode 2: Day of the Moon
Here we are with Part 2 of Moffat's two-part series opener. When last we left our heroes, Amy had just shot at the little girl in the astronaut outfit. But now, surprise! It's three months later and Amy is running through the desert. Canton appears and pulls out a body bag. He apparently shoots Amy, who falls to the ground and we see that her arms are covered in black marks. Canton then corners River, who is writing marks on her skin as she counts the Silence. She then jumps out of a building. He also hunts down marker-covered Rory. Amy and Rory are taken in body bags to the Doctor, who is tied in a straight jacket out in Area 51. Soldiers have built some kind of magic box around him, and as Canton closes the door, Amy and Rory burst out of their body bags. The Doctor leans against the invisible TARDIS, and they rush off to save River, who plunges into the TARDIS's swimming pool as she dives off of the building.
Reunited in the TARDIS, the group discusses the Silence, whom they have discovered have been on Earth for thousands of years - it's not an alien invasion, it's been complete domination and no one knows. Well, except for the Doctor, Rory, Amy, River, and Canton. No one else remembers after seeing them except for these guys. WTF. They've been traveling the US for three months counting how many Silence they see. Also, Amy tells the Doctor that she's not pregnant after all.
Moving on. The Doctor injects a little red light in each of their hands - it's kind of a recorder, in which they can leave themselves messages. If the light is blinking, they've left a message, which is usually "holy crap, the Silence are here!" In X-Files style, Amy and Canton apparently travel from orphanage to orphanage looking for the missing little girl. I'm not really sure how they came to the conclusion that they had to go to orphanages, but there you have it. They find an orphanage that closed down in 1967, but the guy who runs it thinks it's not 1967 yet. He's clearly messed up. Amy explores and finds a bunch of Silence hanging from the ceiling sleeping. She runs out of the room, but forgets right away that there was something there, and she continues to explore. As she approaches a door, a slot opens in it and a lady wearing an eyepatch looks through and says, "I think she's dreaming". Amy enters the room and finds a child's room with lots of pictures of the little girl. She also finds a picture of herself holding a baby. Ooh. The astronaut/little girl enters the room, followed by the Silence, and Amy starts screaming. Canton finds a Silent, too, and when he hears Amy screaming, he shoots it.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has been tinkering in Apollo 11. He is taken into custody, but Rory and Nixon walk out of the TARDIS and convinces the guards to release him.
The Doctor shows up and they find that Amy is missing, and the blinking light is laying on the floor. They can hear Amy through the light, but they don't know where she is. They find the astronaut suit, which is empty - the girl clawed her way out of it, so she must be super strong ("my kind of girl", the Doctor says. ::Shudder::) The Doctor tells them that the Silence are implanting thoughts into people's minds, giving them ideas, advancing the culture (I'm still not seeing the problem with the Silence). The reason that man decided to go to the moon was because the Silence needed a space suit. Apparently the Silence are lazy and didn't feel like building one themselves.
Back in Area 51, Canton and Nixon walk out of the super secure bunker thingie to the surprise of everyone. Inside, Canton uses Amy phone to record the Silent, whom they took hostage, saying "you should kill us all on sight".
The Doctor discovers Amy's location and takes the TARDIS there. Just as Neil Armstrong starts his famous line, "one small step for man - " the Doctor interrupts the live feed with the video of the Silent saying "you should kill us all on sight" over and over and over. He tells the Silence that they just ordered their own demise. The Silence try to give them the Dementor's Kiss, and River opens fire. They all escape, but only after River'scheesy totally awesome gun skills, where she spins around while firing her gun, take out the rest of the Silence.
The Doctor takes River back to her prison, where she snogs him. She's shocked and horrified to discover that it's the first time the Doctor has kissed her. One step closer to death, River dear! The Doctor then runs a full-body scan on Amy to see if she's pregnant, and the scan keeps oscillating between POSITIVE and NEGATIVE.
The final scene shows us the little girl six months later as she regenerates. Ta da.
Epic Entrance
At first, you're all like, "whoa! Why is Canton hunting them down?" Amy pleads with him, "don't you remember the warehouse?" River asks him, "why are you doing this?" And the Doctor is all tied up. So wow, what made Canton do this? We don't know! We never find out! There is no point to this entrance, other than to demonstrate how awesome Moffat is. Seriously, there is no reason whatsoever. It's not like anyone really knew that the Doctor and his companions existed. No one else certainly knew about the Silence. Did something happen while they were going all over America looking for the Silence? Is it just a way for them to be reunited? What, they couldn't say, "look mates, we'll all reunite back on this spot on July 15"? I think this is not only an unnecessarily epic entrance, it's STUPID.
Repeat Ideas:
These aren't my typical I-have-beef-with-this repeat ideas. Just something that I've noticed has been mentioned before.
1) River says "There's always a way out" - this is what the Doctor says in The Time of Angels.
2) When Canton is hunting down Rory, he says, "I'm waiting for you to run. It would look better if I shout you while you were running." This is very similar to what is said in The Time of Angels about River Song: "Wait til she runs. Don't make it look like an execution."
Dislikes:
1) The writing all over them. It's creepy, it's shocking, but when you think about it, it's totally unnecessary. They know that there are countless Silence - do they really think they need to keep a tally? What are they going to do, take a census?
2) The flashing red lights in their hands. Umm ... why didn't the Doctor just give them, I don't know, a journal? Really, the only answer is to inject the flashing red light?
3) The Doctor's prison is comprised of zero balance dwarf star alloy. It's completely impenetrable; the blocks fuse together as they're placed on top of each other, and nothing can get in or out. Okay, cool. Wait - WTF? We haven't even been to the MOON yet - where did they get this supers awesome material? Again, it's completely ridiculous and its sole purpose is to add to the EPIC ENTRANCE. I'm more irritated the more I think about it ...
4) Nixon travels in the TARDIS. So, he's a companion now? Just like ALLLLLLL the other characters who have casually traveled in the TARDIS over the last season. It's like some kind of freaking taxicab.
5) The Doctor tells Nixon to tape everything that happens in his office. Sigh.
6) Since when does the Doctor encourage people to kill? And again, what did the Silence really do that was so bad? I feel like we don't have a good reason to get rid of them except they kill people who look at them too long.
7) I really feel like this whole Silence thing was pulled out of Moffat's rear end. The Silence clearly was connected to the Crack. Silence fell. SILENCE FELL. There are flashbacks when the Doctor learns what the Silence are called to people in Series 5 saying "Silence will fall" ... Okay, so are they telling him that the Silence will fall because of the Doctor? But then the Silent says himself, "and the Silence will fall!" Does "fall" have another meaning of which I'm unaware? I feel that the whole concept of the Silence being connected to the Crack is a real stretch. They could have been called something else and still had the same premise.
8) When the Doctor broadcasts the Silent saying, "you should kill us all on sight", it interrupts Neil Armstrong saying, "that's one small step for man -" but then picks up again with, "one small step for mankind". The video of the Silent clearly plays several times (it's not just being repeated for effect, to show that everyone around the world is seeing this). So what was Neil Armstrong saying in the interim? Seriously. It's a LIVE FEED. Also, you'll notice that after the Silent says that line, everyone turns around to see the Silence. Wait ... how did they know that the Silence were standing behind them?
Likes:
::crickets::
Okay, fine. I like Canton. Actually, to be more specific, I like Mark Sheppard.
Repeat Ideas:
1) Amy's ghosting. Yes, that's right, the only purpose for those little red lights are so that Amy can ghost, a la Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. Oh, and kind of Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. It just really aggravates me that he can't come up with a new device.
2) River lands in the swimming pool. Just like she flew out of that space ship in Time of Angels and the Doctor caught her. This is aggravating to me because if he can just go back and catch her, then no one can ever truly be in peril. And seriously, is the Doctor going to keep catching her? Yawn.
Curiouser and Curiouser:
1) In The Impossible Astronaut, River tells Rory that the Doctor "dropped out of the sky". When Amy is ghosting, she says, "you dropped out of the sky", and "my life was so boring before you". We think she's talking about the Doctor, but it turns out she's talking about Rory. Come on, no she's not. She's totally talking about the Doctor, exactly in the same way that River was talking about the Doctor when he dropped out of the sky for her (when she was a little girl! Fancy that! I'm shocked! The Doctor visiting one of Moffat's characters when she was a little girl? Who'd have guessed? Seriously, though, is Moffat screwed up or what, that this is a running theme in all of his story lines?) Anyway, I'm so glad that the whole Amy/Doctor/Rory thing has been cleared up. Right.
2) The Doctor talks to Rory about when Rory was the Last Centurion. He asks if Rory remembers that. Wait ... how could Rory remember it? The whole universe got rebooted. How would he remember that if he wasn't plastic anymore? Is this a setup for what happens later in the series?
These two episodes have me so mad, I kind of wish that every time I looked away from them I'd forget how much they infuriate me.
Ahhhh ... Ianto ...
Reunited in the TARDIS, the group discusses the Silence, whom they have discovered have been on Earth for thousands of years - it's not an alien invasion, it's been complete domination and no one knows. Well, except for the Doctor, Rory, Amy, River, and Canton. No one else remembers after seeing them except for these guys. WTF. They've been traveling the US for three months counting how many Silence they see. Also, Amy tells the Doctor that she's not pregnant after all.
Moving on. The Doctor injects a little red light in each of their hands - it's kind of a recorder, in which they can leave themselves messages. If the light is blinking, they've left a message, which is usually "holy crap, the Silence are here!" In X-Files style, Amy and Canton apparently travel from orphanage to orphanage looking for the missing little girl. I'm not really sure how they came to the conclusion that they had to go to orphanages, but there you have it. They find an orphanage that closed down in 1967, but the guy who runs it thinks it's not 1967 yet. He's clearly messed up. Amy explores and finds a bunch of Silence hanging from the ceiling sleeping. She runs out of the room, but forgets right away that there was something there, and she continues to explore. As she approaches a door, a slot opens in it and a lady wearing an eyepatch looks through and says, "I think she's dreaming". Amy enters the room and finds a child's room with lots of pictures of the little girl. She also finds a picture of herself holding a baby. Ooh. The astronaut/little girl enters the room, followed by the Silence, and Amy starts screaming. Canton finds a Silent, too, and when he hears Amy screaming, he shoots it.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has been tinkering in Apollo 11. He is taken into custody, but Rory and Nixon walk out of the TARDIS and convinces the guards to release him.
The Doctor shows up and they find that Amy is missing, and the blinking light is laying on the floor. They can hear Amy through the light, but they don't know where she is. They find the astronaut suit, which is empty - the girl clawed her way out of it, so she must be super strong ("my kind of girl", the Doctor says. ::Shudder::) The Doctor tells them that the Silence are implanting thoughts into people's minds, giving them ideas, advancing the culture (I'm still not seeing the problem with the Silence). The reason that man decided to go to the moon was because the Silence needed a space suit. Apparently the Silence are lazy and didn't feel like building one themselves.
Back in Area 51, Canton and Nixon walk out of the super secure bunker thingie to the surprise of everyone. Inside, Canton uses Amy phone to record the Silent, whom they took hostage, saying "you should kill us all on sight".
The Doctor discovers Amy's location and takes the TARDIS there. Just as Neil Armstrong starts his famous line, "one small step for man - " the Doctor interrupts the live feed with the video of the Silent saying "you should kill us all on sight" over and over and over. He tells the Silence that they just ordered their own demise. The Silence try to give them the Dementor's Kiss, and River opens fire. They all escape, but only after River's
The Doctor takes River back to her prison, where she snogs him. She's shocked and horrified to discover that it's the first time the Doctor has kissed her. One step closer to death, River dear! The Doctor then runs a full-body scan on Amy to see if she's pregnant, and the scan keeps oscillating between POSITIVE and NEGATIVE.
The final scene shows us the little girl six months later as she regenerates. Ta da.
Epic Entrance
At first, you're all like, "whoa! Why is Canton hunting them down?" Amy pleads with him, "don't you remember the warehouse?" River asks him, "why are you doing this?" And the Doctor is all tied up. So wow, what made Canton do this? We don't know! We never find out! There is no point to this entrance, other than to demonstrate how awesome Moffat is. Seriously, there is no reason whatsoever. It's not like anyone really knew that the Doctor and his companions existed. No one else certainly knew about the Silence. Did something happen while they were going all over America looking for the Silence? Is it just a way for them to be reunited? What, they couldn't say, "look mates, we'll all reunite back on this spot on July 15"? I think this is not only an unnecessarily epic entrance, it's STUPID.
Repeat Ideas:
These aren't my typical I-have-beef-with-this repeat ideas. Just something that I've noticed has been mentioned before.
1) River says "There's always a way out" - this is what the Doctor says in The Time of Angels.
2) When Canton is hunting down Rory, he says, "I'm waiting for you to run. It would look better if I shout you while you were running." This is very similar to what is said in The Time of Angels about River Song: "Wait til she runs. Don't make it look like an execution."
Dislikes:
1) The writing all over them. It's creepy, it's shocking, but when you think about it, it's totally unnecessary. They know that there are countless Silence - do they really think they need to keep a tally? What are they going to do, take a census?
2) The flashing red lights in their hands. Umm ... why didn't the Doctor just give them, I don't know, a journal? Really, the only answer is to inject the flashing red light?
3) The Doctor's prison is comprised of zero balance dwarf star alloy. It's completely impenetrable; the blocks fuse together as they're placed on top of each other, and nothing can get in or out. Okay, cool. Wait - WTF? We haven't even been to the MOON yet - where did they get this supers awesome material? Again, it's completely ridiculous and its sole purpose is to add to the EPIC ENTRANCE. I'm more irritated the more I think about it ...
4) Nixon travels in the TARDIS. So, he's a companion now? Just like ALLLLLLL the other characters who have casually traveled in the TARDIS over the last season. It's like some kind of freaking taxicab.
5) The Doctor tells Nixon to tape everything that happens in his office. Sigh.
6) Since when does the Doctor encourage people to kill? And again, what did the Silence really do that was so bad? I feel like we don't have a good reason to get rid of them except they kill people who look at them too long.
7) I really feel like this whole Silence thing was pulled out of Moffat's rear end. The Silence clearly was connected to the Crack. Silence fell. SILENCE FELL. There are flashbacks when the Doctor learns what the Silence are called to people in Series 5 saying "Silence will fall" ... Okay, so are they telling him that the Silence will fall because of the Doctor? But then the Silent says himself, "and the Silence will fall!" Does "fall" have another meaning of which I'm unaware? I feel that the whole concept of the Silence being connected to the Crack is a real stretch. They could have been called something else and still had the same premise.
8) When the Doctor broadcasts the Silent saying, "you should kill us all on sight", it interrupts Neil Armstrong saying, "that's one small step for man -" but then picks up again with, "one small step for mankind". The video of the Silent clearly plays several times (it's not just being repeated for effect, to show that everyone around the world is seeing this). So what was Neil Armstrong saying in the interim? Seriously. It's a LIVE FEED. Also, you'll notice that after the Silent says that line, everyone turns around to see the Silence. Wait ... how did they know that the Silence were standing behind them?
Likes:
::crickets::
Okay, fine. I like Canton. Actually, to be more specific, I like Mark Sheppard.
Repeat Ideas:
1) Amy's ghosting. Yes, that's right, the only purpose for those little red lights are so that Amy can ghost, a la Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. Oh, and kind of Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. It just really aggravates me that he can't come up with a new device.
2) River lands in the swimming pool. Just like she flew out of that space ship in Time of Angels and the Doctor caught her. This is aggravating to me because if he can just go back and catch her, then no one can ever truly be in peril. And seriously, is the Doctor going to keep catching her? Yawn.
Curiouser and Curiouser:
1) In The Impossible Astronaut, River tells Rory that the Doctor "dropped out of the sky". When Amy is ghosting, she says, "you dropped out of the sky", and "my life was so boring before you". We think she's talking about the Doctor, but it turns out she's talking about Rory. Come on, no she's not. She's totally talking about the Doctor, exactly in the same way that River was talking about the Doctor when he dropped out of the sky for her (when she was a little girl! Fancy that! I'm shocked! The Doctor visiting one of Moffat's characters when she was a little girl? Who'd have guessed? Seriously, though, is Moffat screwed up or what, that this is a running theme in all of his story lines?) Anyway, I'm so glad that the whole Amy/Doctor/Rory thing has been cleared up. Right.
2) The Doctor talks to Rory about when Rory was the Last Centurion. He asks if Rory remembers that. Wait ... how could Rory remember it? The whole universe got rebooted. How would he remember that if he wasn't plastic anymore? Is this a setup for what happens later in the series?
These two episodes have me so mad, I kind of wish that every time I looked away from them I'd forget how much they infuriate me.
Ahhhh ... Ianto ...
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