The Pilot
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Dentarthurdent 1 year, 4 months ago.
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15 April 2017 at 09:59 #56180
After a very long wait it’s finally here! A new series of Doctor Who, and the final series for Peter Capaldi. This first episode doesn’t disappoint.
Called “The Pilot”, it really feels like a pilot episode, much like the introduction we got in “Rose”. It may be an attempt to gain new viewers, but I prefer to think that Moffat has crafted it so that Capaldi can have a final season that plays like a fully encompassed story with a beginning, a middle and, sadly, an end.
The Doctor is introduced through the eyes of new companion Bill (Pearl Mackie). Her mind is opened to a universe that is, of course, bigger and more exciting than she could possibly have imagined. Bill is incredibly fresh and likeable and, as someone who knows her sci-fi, she is a great addition to the show. I can’t wait for more.
15 April 2017 at 20:13 #56213So, Bill rocks.
Immaculately judged use of Clara’s theme.
So will Bill end up going off with Heather (if rumours about a one-seasoner are true)?
‘cos they can’t kill Bill.
15 April 2017 at 20:24 #56214Lovely, i thought.
Loved the clockworkeque Nardel, the two doors like those huge mechanical clocks. And the ‘illusion of time’ montage.
I’ve always liked Capaldi’s doctor, but he’s never been quite so doctor as he was when Bill entered the Tardis.
Doctor what?
And the long route to ‘bigger on the inside.
Though I will always love Victorian Claracles ‘smaller on the outside’. Nardels explanation about how to make a Tardis
And the Doctor’s Christmas gift.15 April 2017 at 20:45 #56215Hi everyone <waves excitedly>
Well Peter Capaldi is giving the best Doctor of his life.
I love him as a university tutor in his musty old-skool office (blimey I don’t think it’s that posh at Bristol) with photos of River and Susan his grand-daughter on his desk (awww – emotional progress!) playing rock guitar in the back. Heh – bet he doesn’t answer his e-mail.
Those photos juxtaposed gave me a timey-wimey thrill. Maybe River and the Doctor did have a kid and Susan is their grand-daughter – huh. Yes, I know Eleven didn’t know who River was and if she’d shacked up with Doctor One that shouldn’t be the case – but hello Time-Lordy mind-wipe.
I’m in love with Bill already. Pearl Mackie gives her the most winning curiosity. She’s obviously an accomplished actor, as this first episode certainly put her through her paces – from dealing with her somewhat feckless adoptive Mum, to crushing over the girl with the star in her eye, to experiencing the TARDIS for the first time (I’m betting she got thoroughly lost looking for the loo).
The Doctor, sentimental creature, nipping back in time to take some pictures of Bill’s Mum for her and then popping them in a shoe-box for her to find. What a softie!
Nardole wasn’t too annoying (I’m not a particular fan) and the water-alien was pretty nifty CGI.
The sequence where the Doctor takes them into an old battle of his with the Daleks (was that on Skaro?) was genuinely scary, because it gave a really sharp window into what a terrifying creature the Doctor himself can be. Running straight into Dalek fire with young Bill? Tsk Doctor, your thrill-seeking reckless self is showing. Bill, so innocent, is excited not scared. She has not yet learned what a Dalek really is.
That end of the universe planet with the waving purple cactus plants looked an awful lot like the place Eleven took Rose where she saw the flying sting-ray. Intentional call-back (Army of Ghosts, 2×12)? Certainly Bill serving chips was a deliberate Rose call-back (remember when she served them undercover in the episode in which she met Sarah Jane (School Reunion 2×03)?
I love that Bill is LGBT and I love that there won’t be any romantic undertones between the Doctor and this companion on either side. That’s a first since Donna.
All in all, a pretty delightful opener.
Oh, and what the frilly heck is in that vault?
15 April 2017 at 20:47 #56216Fiery arsed penguin ergonomics…
15 April 2017 at 20:52 #56217Breathless. For me this had everything, pretty much pitch perfect. The obvious but not too laboured allusions to Susan – at last- and to River, echoes of the very first episode as well as the one which launched the revival with Rose, and the crucial decision which determined Bill’s future with the Doctor hinging on the subliminal recollection of Clara, hauntingly referenced by Clara’s theme – as @pedant notes above. Not to mention a helter-skelter, pleasingly scary adventure to introduce Bill to the wonders of Time and Relative Dimensions in Space – fast paced and not too complicated, but with plenty of layers and nuances for those who want to analyse it.
And, as @pedant says, Bill rocks. If this is a portent of things to come she could well turn out to be one of my favourites, if not the favourite companion to date
15 April 2017 at 21:02 #56218Ingredients:
Out of order sign – The War Machines
University Time Lord – Shada
Blank stare from underwater – LOTR
Shower scene – Psycho
15 April 2017 at 21:03 #56219Oh, and what the frilly heck is in that vault?
Yes, indeed; and the Doctor ‘has promises to keep’, for the purpose of which he has been in place for fifty, -or is it seventy? – years and counting. No doubt we will find out in the coming weeks, but it is a tantalising and hugely promising start to the season.
I am still gasping at how much was packed in to this episode, so effectively but with such economy.
15 April 2017 at 21:17 #56220Wot no Rusty?
The reward of chips…
The reward of photos?
The idea of the TARDIS as a lift reminds me of Charlie & the Glass Elevator…
15 April 2017 at 21:34 #56221Hi all,
I was genuinely over the moon with that, a lovely introduction to the series and for Bill.
Recent Episodes have got to breakneck speed, but the leisurely pace at the start goes all the way back to Rose, I think, in the amount of space allowed to introduce a companion to the Doctor.
SMs previous companions have been central to a specific mystery, and I though he was going to play a similar trick here, with the Doctors obvious fascination with Bill from the off. Not so, I now think. The fact that she is so Sci-Fi aware could lead to a great avenue to uncovering the real mystery of the vault though, with its mysterious Gallifreyan writings. Not the first time the Doctor has secreted an ancient Gallifreyan artifact near an educational institution. The egg-whisk of Rassilon, perhaps.
We really should list outstanding plot points from the last couple of series though. Rassilon, out there, for instance. I’ll post some thoughts on the BBC approved spoiler thread tomorrow about that final trailer. That got the blood pumping!
15 April 2017 at 22:02 #56223I did also notice that the words “Marie Celeste” were on the walls of the vault as Bill crept down the stairs to see what the Doctor and Nardole were up to.
A mysteriously wrecked ship…. Time-lordy perhaps.
But interestingly, one Arthur Conan Doyle apparently (thanks Wikipedia) published a re-telling of the story of the Marie Celeste in 1884 in The Cornhill magazine, titled J.Habakuk Jephson’s Statement.
Probably just Moffat messing with us, with a wee bit of meta-textual cross-over.
16 April 2017 at 00:17 #56225Well, that was just absolutely bloody delightful. Almost certainly the best introduction to a companion story of the new series, and certainly since Amy’s first story. And for my money it did at points approach the brilliance and exuberance of that story.
Bill is great and Pearl Mackie really did hit the ground running here. I love her already and if she has the sort of dark future that has been hinted at then I’m going to feeling quite watery myself come the end of the series. But if she carries on as she did in this episode then I think Chris Chibnall might be wise in trying to find some way to extend her TARDIS tenure.
And Capaldi is on fire here too. Having just wittered on at great length about how ‘unknowable’ 12 seems to be, I really did feel that I did know him now. And that Capaldi did too. Very Tom Bakerish in places but with his own stamp on the role too, PC has really nailed it now. And Nardole fits the dynamic too — and I wasn’t a fan to begin with. This has the potential to be one of the great TARDIS line-ups.
As to the story itself, that wasn’t massively the point of this episode (again rather like The Eleventh Hour) and was really just there to give the characters something to do while we got to know them. And yet the conclusion did approach touching at points.
All in all, a great start and the strongest series opener for quite some years.
16 April 2017 at 03:30 #56230Woohoo! Yes, what is in the vault? And what is The Promise that holds the lonely, restless Doctor to it, and would tempt him to give up a new friend in such a painful way?
Cool to see lots of old school shout-outs (Movellans!). And the last few minutes were packed with feels. Bill is already both awesome and sweet as sugar, and I like Nardole more and more with each appearance.
I’ll probably be awash in tears by season’s end…
16 April 2017 at 03:41 #56231Adore Bill, but how could a person not adore Bill? She’s original and absolutely endearing.
@missrori, @mudlark @juniperfish @phaseshift @pedant @miapatrick @jimthefish Agree, agree, agree.
Peter Capaldi has been my favorite Doctor since season 9 (not feeling it in season 8, plus still loyal to Doctor 11) but this episode reminded me why he is my favorite.
Moffat could not have done a better job, and a reminder to the haters and whiners about his writing that we are losing an incredible talent and gift to our Doctor Who universe.
Basically, I loved the episode. (:
So who isn’t assuming Bill is related to Clara or River or both? It occurred to me that the Doctor may know who Bill’s mother happens to be and found those photos to give her, but he may NOT be aware he is in the photo since his memory may have been erased due to her relation to Clara. If confused, read my posts on the ‘Listen’ thread. Just doing my duty as a Forum member and throwing down the crazy theories. Good to be back. (:
16 April 2017 at 03:51 #56232Adore Bill, but how could a person not adore Bill? She’s original and absolutely endearing.
@missrori, @mudlark @juniperfish @phaseshift @pedant @miapatrick @jimthefish Agree, agree, agree.
Peter Capaldi has been my favorite Doctor since season 9 (not feeling it in season 8, plus still loyal to Doctor 11) but this episode reminded me why he is my favorite.
Moffat could not have done a better job, and a reminder to the haters and whiners about his writing that we are losing an incredible talent and gift to our Doctor Who universe.
Basically, I loved the episode. (:
So who isn’t assuming Bill is related to Clara or River or both? It occurred to me that the Doctor may know who Bill’s mother happens to be and found those photos to give her, but he may NOT be aware he is in the photo since his memory may have been erased due to her relation to Clara. If confused, read my posts on the ‘Listen’ thread. Just doing my duty as a Forum member and throwing down the crazy theories. Good to be back. (:
16 April 2017 at 03:55 #56233Well I loved every minute of that and I have a silly grin on my face which will probably last for days. Bill was fun ,witty ,silly and curious ,all my favourite qualities in a companion. Nardole is a sarcastic little truth teller who is far braver than he acts. The Doctor is at his most “Doctorish” and Capaldi is so good I am speechless. I really felt like this was a new pilot and again I decided, like Rose and Bill , to go with the Doctor on his adventures in the Tardis.
What is in the vault? Hmmmm…
16 April 2017 at 03:56 #56234I was completely swept away by this episode introducing us to the Doctor’s delightful new companion. I agree with @jimthefish that this was the best introduction of a companion since Amy, probably my favorite of all the intros thanks to its Peter Pan whimsy. Pearl Mackie made her portrayal of Bill seem effortless … when I’m sure it was anything but. I would love to see her beyond this season. And Peter Capaldi was wonderful! Since his introduction, I have felt a tension (probably manufactured by me, and not real world at all) in trying to resolve his Doctor’s relationship with Clara; that tension seemed to overshadow so many of the episodes. I loved Clara, and was sad to see Jenna Coleman go, but I admit that tonight felt like a breath of fresh air. As so many of you have noted, I have a feeling that this season is going to be a tough one for me, with so many favorites signing off at the end. Well, it looks like we’re in for a great run, so I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.
(Speaking of endings: This third and final season of Broadchurch gives me much more confidence in Chris Chibnall taking over the reins. The first season was brilliant, the second disappointing, but in my opinion this season has restored the series to its former brilliance. So I feel like post-Steven Moffat Doctor Who is in very good hands.)
16 April 2017 at 04:00 #56235This was a wonderful intro to season 10. Adore Bill, but how could a person not adore Bill? She’s original and absolutely endearing. Agree with @jimthefish and @nerys that this has a wonderful introduction to a companion and I enjoy the sense of whimsy, humor and wonder infused back into the show.
@winston @missrori, @mudlark @juniperfish @phaseshift @pedant @miapatrick Agree, agree, agree.
Peter Capaldi has been my favorite Doctor since season 9 (not feeling it in season 8, plus still loyal to Doctor 11) but this episode reminded me why he is my favorite.
Moffat could not have done a better job, and a reminder to the haters and whiners about his writing that we are losing an incredible talent and gift to our Doctor Who universe.
Basically, I loved the episode. (:
So who isn’t assuming Bill is related to Clara or River or both? It occurred to me that the Doctor may know who Bill’s mother happens to be and found those photos to give her, but he may NOT be aware he is in the photo since his memory may have been erased due to her relation to Clara. If confused, read my posts on the ‘Listen’ thread. Just doing my duty as a Forum member and throwing down the crazy theories. Good to be back. (:
16 April 2017 at 04:04 #56236Anonymous @
@kharis? Is that you? I’m sure you were here, but the TARDIS has taken you perhaps?
I read 2 lines and then bam, you vanished?
Welcome to any newbies and to all other long time, absent friends.
Mum’s poorly so I’m typing for her:
And it’s weird (and that’s Thane). She hasn’t seen it, but she’s listened to it and is agog (don’t know the word but I am told to use a dictionary “for once”).
A friend of mine a retired colleague woke me up at 9 am with a “have you heard it?”
Groggy, I said, “What now? Trump? Something closer to home?”
“No, Doctor Who!”
Explaining I hadn’t, she said “hang on, I’m coming over: you won’t break your promise of watching it with the family but you can hear it.”
An hour later, with the USB, she’d fiddled with the woofer, blanked out the screen and we listened to the score. I consider myself fairly intelligent but Katharine has the ears of a whale. In the end we picked up Clara’s theme, Gallifrey’s old theme, Rose’s ‘chip’ theme; Adelaide’s theme from The Waters of Mars, River’s; parts of Midnight and a hint of Eleven’s -the last, not sure about. I picked out only four, but Kath’s a composer and whilst devoted to Who isn’t a Forum/social media person. I do keep nudging her to at least lurk, but anyway, this score was definitively the best -in my opinion. If the episode is as good as this dense, funny, tender and capricious score then we are in for a treat! Arbutus: looking forward to reading your comments (no @ as you mayn’t have seen it yet)
I’ll pop by later to read the comments.
Best to all,
Puro and Thane.
16 April 2017 at 04:09 #56237@thane15
HELLO! How are you? Sorry to hear your mom is doing poorly, sending healing love your family’s way.
YES! I heard all of those too, and it really got my head spinning, like when I heard old Who music in ‘Heaven Sent’ or a touch of River in certain episodes. Always fun to pick out the musical themes. The music was wonderful as usual and I was really caught up in this episode.
16 April 2017 at 04:11 #56238@kharis your post is back. Mum is waving wildly at you! *-_-* I’m typing so sorry for any misspellings.
Well, I adore Bill too. But don’t worry, my friend Kath, who goes to a Presbyterian church nearby, heard this:
“does homosexuality have to be everywhere? Why is Bill gay.”Kath, not usually rude at all, did say, “for morning tea, I have brought hag fish. Would you like some?”
The initial ‘respondent’ didn’t ‘get it’ -and for which Kath was sort of grateful being a lady who composes, bakes for church dos and is the nicest person in the word. One thing she isn’t, is homophobic. But it’s out there and as @pedant said “queer bashing exists” but sometimes it hides in small, sad minds.
Bring on the season (like your updated picture)
Love to you Miss Kharis, from Puro and Thane.
16 April 2017 at 04:19 #56239We’re good! This is going to sound weird, but Mum’s embarrassed she’s not dead. She was explaining 18 months ago that it was going, “tits up” (that’s Mum; I would never write that!). Anyway, new meds, better breathing….On drips a lot but loves the kindness of the Who people: Music thread, Sofa and the Pub! She’s had the odd silly moment. This episode’s score was so ‘refined’ she said -almost like a complex Hitchcock (@wolfweed picked up the Psycho-drama 😉 )with the whole string section,horns & trumpets -jazzy in parts and up and down every note. As Salieri might say: “too many notes” (apocryphal!)
Best to you. And how are YOU? Maybe we need to go to the Pub? 🙂
Thane, for Puro
16 April 2017 at 05:20 #56241@thane15 I hope you and Puro keep on keeping on!
16 April 2017 at 07:56 #56252@thane15
Yes, will see you at the pub, glad your mom has found some new meds, excellent news.
The music was intense, and extremely well-done as usual. Murray Gold always inspires me to choreograph. (:
Yes, @wolfweed ‘s observations were very keen. Didn’t Shakespeare say that there were only seven stories in the world? Not surprised this episode drew from so many famous stories. I’m already planning to rewatch it again tonight to help keep me awake until my kids are asleep so I can go hide the eggs. (:
16 April 2017 at 10:19 #56256@everyone- incidentally, the Guardian thread not too bad.
After Moffart doubled down in Sherlock, I did wonder how he was going to approach this last season. I love the complicated stories, the mysteries and insane theories they generate. But I also loved the freshness of this.
@kharis- though of course complicated theories can still be found! After all, Bill was in care, like Danny…
@Thane15- I’m so glad about your mother. And in fact it doesn’t sound so weird- something similar happened with my boyfriend, and yes, at points he felt a little embarrassed too.
Thinking back- will rewatch in a bit. I love the fact that he can still hear her. Just by looking at her photograph. He doesn’t need a ghostly digital presence, he’s had twenty odd years with her at the towers,
I love the idea of- I see him as a kind of resident guest lecturer/visiting professor. Not teaching any specific courses, just giving lectures on whatever he choses. There should be more of that kind of thing at universities. (I’m assuming he sorted out some kind of endowment long in the past to create the post. That is so exactly what I would do if I was the Doctor and needed to hang around somewhere.
So… what’s in the vault?16 April 2017 at 10:47 #56258A triumphant return indeed.
I was feeling echoes of Tennants/Davies finest hours in ‘Midnight’ & ‘Waters….’, respectively , in the episodes antagonist.
The repeating, then absorption of a person plus the endless streaming of water made for a tidy little nod-back to almost a decade ago, (jeez). really, a decade already.
Great, rapid yet precise storytelling. i have a wonderful feeling that Moffatt is going to go all out in his final season. I’m also feeling he will be gathering as many loose ends as he can find to tie into a wonderful finale. Can’t wait.
What is in the vault?
16 April 2017 at 11:46 #56260What is in the vault?
Something that needs a promise…
Promise to keep (and miles to go before we sleep….?)
Poetry and physics.
16 April 2017 at 12:40 #56261Scary puddle grabs girl(s) – see Poltergeist 3…
16 April 2017 at 12:42 #56262Oh the poetry and the physics … agreed. Beautiful — I loved the dark moment, the real tension and fear. I still thought the first ep in 2015 on Skaro really hit me, but mum is always saying that you can’t be ‘dark and macarbre’ all the time. I think you can but really, I guess what she’s saying is that Doctor has evolved; stepped out into the light with a different perspective. He’s emotionally regenerated.
The lines were whippy and then it slowed down a bit in the middle which I liked. Certain aspects were teary, the picture frame as Bill enters the room -possibly an old frame reminding us of Clara which also reminds me of the picture at the back of the Doctor’s office where, a lady in a hat from the 1800s could well be Clara?
Also, a spade in the same area downstairs before the “friendly door”
Loved how @tommo and others noticed the call backs -Mum said the Lodger with his mould in the ceiling was a bit like this. Nice touches. Also! The Hungry Earth.
In Aus, “shark attack!”
@miapatrick I’m glad about your boyfriend! That’s wonderful.
Thane.
16 April 2017 at 14:20 #56263Hi just a few jumbled thoughts on watching. Too tired to read through comments after a long day making souffles and ensuring they were the correct degree of burnt, (actually it was the mock fish fingers that got burnt), custard, jammy dodgers, (as this year our supermarket did not oblige) and semlor. (The later is Swedish, totally unrelated to Dr Who but required for Easter). Anyways some immediate reactions,
The Doctor visited Australia for the first time since the Troughton years though he did not stay long. Perhaps he will return and venture a little further than Sydney Harbour. Trust Sydney to hog the limelight..
Movellans. That necessitated a rewatch of Destiny of the Daleks. Have not seen it for years. I always thought they had potential to be interesting also giving the Daleks an ongoing enemy would add depth to the universe.
Lastly the theme of the episode seemed to be keeping promises, the danger of being bound by a promise and the importance of recognising when to let go. Perhaps the photo of Susan was featured as a reminder of a promise the Doctor has yet to keep, a promise made right back in the early days. The episode title, Pilot” might also be intended as a reminder of the very beginning of Doctor Who. I am wondering if that neglected promise will be a major plot point this series.
Other quick notes. I think Nardole is going to be a good addition to the Tardis crew. Bill is refreshingly different. Loved her intro to the Tardis. A very light weight episode but enjoyable. Even seems to have fared well BTL on the Guardian or maybe I just did not read far enough down to get to the serious snark.
Cheers
Janette
16 April 2017 at 15:22 #56266Hi, new user here from USA. Just finished watching the pilot and loved it. But to be honest this is the first time I have liked Peter as the Doctor. I always felt he tried to hard. It always seemed like he wanted to be somewhere else, playing a different part. Maybe this will finally be the season that he comes across the best because he is leaving. I think Bill is great, I get the Donna vibe from her. Totally amazed at everything and afraid of nothing, but not as bossy.
Thanks All
Red
16 April 2017 at 15:26 #56267One other thing I noticed, and others have remarked on this, is the sense of awe and wonder pervading this episode. With Clara, I often felt that was missing, simply because she knew so much. As a result, we in the audience did, too. With Bill, we’re back to everything being new again, with the sense of surprise smacking her (and us) in the face. It’s refreshing to have that back!
16 April 2017 at 15:45 #56268@thane15 I just read through the comments in this thread. Your mum’s comments have been in the back of my mind ever since she posted them. The last thing she should feel is embarrassment (though I think I understand why she would feel that way). We are all thrilled she has not shuffled off this mortal coil! How wonderful it is to know that improved treatments are making that possible.
16 April 2017 at 17:37 #56270After a second viewing I reiterate my love for this.
Thinking about it, there are a couple of vibes I picked up on this (I think @juniperfish called one with the Rose and chips vibes).
The main ones in terms of AG years came from series 5 and 6. During early series 6 we (and I’m sure @juniperfish will remember this) expended a lot of pixels on the Guardian blogs talking about ‘watery portals’ and the prevalence of water both as symbolic of time and as a mirror to other realms and dimensions. The other is The Lodger from series 5. An intelligent machine seeking a pilot and gauging candidates by their desire to not be in the place/situation they were in. A desire to escape. But this seems different and, somehow, kinder? The Silent Time Machine simply sought a pilot. This one sought a pilot and companion. Someone to share the journey and escape the mundane.
I can’t help thinking that this will be one of those occasions that the Doctor may have it wrong, and rather than a malevolent digesting of Heather, this is something else completely. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her. As the Doctor has said, It’s a big Universe. In front of the TARDIS. (Can I just say, in my capacity as a former Goth teenager of the eighties that if you locked eyes with someone as Bill and Heather did, with Love Will Tear Us Apart as a soundtrack, you may have just found The One, rather than having a crush).
This would fit in with both Series 8&9 both featuring characters as Orpheus, braving extremes like the Nethersphere and Confession Dial to recover loved ones.
16 April 2017 at 17:43 #56271Movellans. That necessitated a rewatch of Destiny of the Daleks
I don’t really believe in the concept of ‘guilty pleasure’ but I have to confess that Destiny of the Daleks (a story most fans give a good kicking) is the nearest I’ll come to it.
As an adult I recognise its limitations. It’s a weak sequel to a big story (Genesis).
But it does have some glorious Douglas Adams touches (he was Script Editor) including introducing Oolon Colluphid, the author of the “trilogy of philosophical blockbusters” entitled Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway? from HHGTTG to Doctor Who. The Doctor is pretty scathing when he reads one of his books while trapped.
It introduces Lalla Ward who is officially awesome as Romana. Her relationship with the Doctor a delight from the off. Having Adams on board, the jokes come thick and fast.
I have a massive soft spot for the disco robots. When I first saw the story I thought that the idea that their spacecraft buried themselves on landing was such a cool concept.
It’s funny, but they were in the same season as Shada, the story Douglas Adams wrote that had to be abandoned because of a BBC strike for the Studio work. Shada saw a retired TimeLord living in a University as Professor Chronotis, which this set up certainly reminds me of. I wondered if the inclusion of The Movellans was to reinforce that link?
16 April 2017 at 17:44 #56272@redlemons Welcome! I understand your feelings on Capaldi as the Doctor. I liked him in the 8th season, but he was not a favorite, partially due to the writing in some of the middle episodes. with the exception of ‘Listen’. He was making my favorite list after ‘Magician’s Apprentice’ and was on his way to the top by mid-season. It was ‘Heaven Sent’ and the following episode that put him in the #1 spot for me. ‘The Husbands of River Song’ is why my favorite companion is River, what a duo! So, for me the ‘The Pilot’just confirmed it for me. I hate knowing this is his last season, wish he would stay on one more, same with Bill Potts. I can feel this is going to be a great season. (:
16 April 2017 at 17:48 #56273You’re back! And it’s about time! 😉
16 April 2017 at 17:58 #56275@phaseshift, @kharis, @juniperfish et al — and of course Bill and Heather is a nice little tribute to (the) Hartnell(s)
16 April 2017 at 18:09 #56276not sure I am doing this correctly. Hopefully you will see my post. I do agree one of the best of his(Peters) episodes was the husbands of River Song. It made me smile. Bad writing? Yeah I guess that could be part of the issue but I guess I am a face person and I recieved very few expressions from him. Does that make sense? I miss every person that has played Dr who since I started watching in 1978. I will miss him too. May this season be great!
16 April 2017 at 18:14 #56277and of course Bill and Heather is a nice little tribute to (the) Hartnell(s)
Oh, well done that fish. Didn’t think of that reference at all. William “Bill” Hartnell and Heather McIntyre. A definite love story. I suddenly feel the need to rewatch An Adventure in Space and Time.
16 April 2017 at 19:13 #56278So the new companion is an orphan or a half-orphan, most of the time she’s happy-go-lucky but sometimes she’s sad because her mom died. She quotes her mother, who was a charming, lively woman. Bill is also very friendly, sociable and protective. How inventive. I hoped for something a bit different this time, not diffrent from Bill but from the previous companion introduction. But I like Bill and love Nardole.
The oil painting which hangs on Doctor’s office wall is Rembrandt self-portrait painted in 1669. It’s one of the most mysterious Rembrandt’s paintings as scholars still haven’t decided what the circles in the background mean. The original is on the display in Kenwood house so it’s not a coincidence that this picture was hanged there (the circles in the picture reminds me the circles in Doctor’s machine in the cellar and circular mirrors in Australia). Last year it was Beethoven and breaking wall, this year maybe Rembrand but I don’t know what exactly but definety the circle. Some historians interpret Rembrand’s circles as circles of life.
16 April 2017 at 19:14 #56279Loved the clockworkesque Nardel
Yes, that was a detail which didn’t fully register with me on first viewing: the mechanical whirring as he first ushered Bill into the Doctor’s study, and the dropping of the loose component. It explains how he was re-embodied. From the neck down he is now an android – but I have no doubt that minds here which are quicker on the uptake than mine will have noted that already and there will be a sighing and a shaking of heads at my obtuseness.
Watching for the second time I appreciated even more fully the gradual build up in pace from the leisurely pre-title sequence, in which Bill enters the study and we follow her gaze lighting on the various items hinting at the Doctor’s identity and past, from the photos to the Tardis to the bunch of old sonic screwdrivers in the pen holder. Then comes the sound of the Doctor’s guitar, the opening bars of Beethoven’s fifth with feedback, and then – which made me smile – the Doctor enters, carrying an old 78 HMV gramophone record.
His interest in Bill which caused him to summon her to his study and offer to tutor her seems logical. What teacher worth his or her salt would fail to notice someone who, among all the puzzled frowns, seemed to ‘get it’ and smile. Bill may not be enrolled as a student but she is clearly very bright. In the rapid cut sequence which records her progress in the ensuing months, the glimpse we get of the percentage marks on the physics papers she submits to the Doctor – all in the high 80s and 90s – are ample demonstration of this. She gives no explanation of why she did not consider applying to university, but it isn’t hard to think of possible reasons why she might have been deterred.
Things to ponder. The Doctor made a promise, but to whom, and why. Presumably the protection of earth is involved; so is the mysterious cabinet or whatever it is, with the massive metal hinges on doors embossed with Gallifreyan script, a gateway/barrier or a containment facility? It evidently needs adjustment from time to time and has an alarm system which interprets a student vomiting outside as a biological attack.
Poetry and physics, poetry and mathematics, same thing … ‘because of the rhymes’; and the Doctor’s perception of time chimes with an eccentric notion I have entertained for a very long time, so elicited a broad grin from me.
16 April 2017 at 19:39 #56280@phaseshift I was thinking along the same lines, but more proof that IT IS the same species, or at least the same group motivated by the same end, is the landing scorch marks match the pattern of the machine in ‘The Lodger’ not to mention the rot in Craig’s wall could easily be explained by weird water creatures, water tools or lures.
But why was the Doctor recognized as a passenger? Clearly he doesn’t want to leave for some reason. The vault?
16 April 2017 at 19:47 #56281@mudlark His reasons do seem logical, but wasn’t Nardole saying, “Not supposed to get involved” does this mean just in general, or specifically in a person who’s timeline shows something important to the future. He seems to know something, but evidence of the photo, but also that he feels the need to teach her “everything” and nothing less.
16 April 2017 at 19:56 #56282Nice to see that Rachael Stott got an Easter egg in the Dr’s study…
16 April 2017 at 20:02 #56283@redlemons Totally get that. (: I have my favorites (4th, 11th and 12th) but I truly adored all the Doctors and actually I’m one of those weirdos that like all the companions, also have my favorites, but in the end I’ve always liked all the characters in the Doctor Who universe.
16 April 2017 at 20:04 #5628416 April 2017 at 20:06 #5628516 April 2017 at 20:22 #56286@mudlark “His interest in Bill which caused him to summon her to his study and offer to tutor her seems logical. What teacher worth his or her salt would fail to notice someone who, among all the puzzled frowns, seemed to ‘get it’ and smile.” Okay, I like your interpretation, but I heard his interest in another way. I felt the Doctor was interested in her because being confused, having questions, LEARNING made her smile. It was that she DIDN’T get it and smiled that made him interested. It’s very ordinary to want to be knowledgeable, because we know as we become knowledgeable we can use it to our ends or advantage. School has become very degree or career driven, very few go to college these days just for the lovely sensation of being wrong, or learning something new. Would most students today even attend without the promise of a degree or advantage? I thought he was happy because he found someone happy being present in the journey of knowledge as opposed to the more common destination driven student. Like knowledge was chips for her mind; the more she feed her brain, her thirsty curiosity, the more she smiled.
Just my weird take on things as usual, probably way off.
I’m really prattling all over the Forum because I’m just so giddy Doctor Who is back on and it looks like it’s going to be a great season. So many thoughts and theories!
16 April 2017 at 20:26 #56287“Not supposed to get involved”
I took that to be a general principle. The Doctor is supposed to concentrate on the job in hand – whatever that is in the context of the gizmo he is monitoring in the vault – and not to concern himself with individuals. But when has that ever deterred the Doctor when something or someone engages his interest?
@pedant – and ichabod, if and when she has seen this episode
The notion of a sentient, or semi-sentient element in the drive of a space ship harks back to Joan D. Vinge’s The Snow Queen and the ‘smart matter’ which is the motive factor in the lost secrets of the star drive. I don’t think that this is referred to specifically in The Snow Queen, but it is central to the plot of the sequel, World’s End. It doesn’t, of course, necessarily follow that Moffat was aware of this, but ‘great minds’ and all that …
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