The Pilot
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Dentarthurdent 5 months, 1 week ago.
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17 April 2017 at 10:27 #56342
he still doesn’t technically remember clara, i’m guessing, but he does remember donna, quite well, and the moment when he decides not to mind-wipe her memories was a call back to that, methinks…
Well, in the moment when the Doctor hesitates as he reaches out to wipe Bill’s memory, the music which we hear is Clara’s theme 🙂
As I have maintained throughout, all the evidence suggests that his memory of Clara has been not been completely obliterated – possibly because the neural block had been configured initially for a human brain, and she may not have been completely successful in ‘reversing the polarity’. He can no longer recall what she looked or sounded like, or how he felt about her; he can no longer *see* her. When he was talking to her in the diner, though, he could remember details of at least some of their adventures together, including the events which led up to his decision to use the neural block on her and the reason for the decision, which was to protect her. There is still a subliminal memory which can be evoked by certain situations or trigger events.
(Did anyone else notice her question about if the Doctor is from another planet, how is it that TARDIS can stand for “time and relative dimension in space”? I did a little fist pump when she came out with that!)
So did I 😉 Since it was Susan in An Unearthly Child who first explained that the bigger-on-the-inside police box was called a TARDIS and why, I assume that the acronym was a translation into English of a corresponding Gallifreyan acronym, but I don’t think that it was ever explained specifically as such.
Bill said The Doctor had been there 50 years but 50 years starting when? It had to be after Danny and Clara died. I thought they died in 2016… Hum?
*ahem* He’s a Time Lord with a machine which travels in time and space and, as he explained in the lecture on time which we saw, for him at least the concept of time as a one-way sequence of one-after-the-other events is an illusion. He’s been dodging randomly or not so randomly from the past to the present to the future and back again ever since Barbara and Ian followed Susan to Forman’s scrap yard.
17 April 2017 at 10:53 #56343@ichabod I would agree with you if it was any of the other Rembrandt’s late self-portraits in which he did depicted himself as an old man who stares in disbelief how the young man full of self-confidence and self-esteem he was turned into this tired and lonely old man. But even than the sense of humor didn’t abandoned him as he painted himself im one of his self-portraits as an ancient greek painter Zeuxis who died of laugh in front of an old woman who demanded from him to paint her as Aphrodite. But the Self-portrait with the circles is exceptional in many ways. Look how monumental this picture is. Rembrandt didn’t depict himself as an old and tired man. He painted himself at work with his palette, brushes, and maulstick. But in the moment he cached he broke the work, put his hand on his hip and looked straight ahead like he would like to say defiantly ‘Look at me, I’m Rembrandt, I’m a genius’. There’s no other painter who devoted so many pictures to paint himself. Such a great number is exceptional. This series of late portraits can be compare only to earlier Titian’s self-portraits who, what is interesting shared similar fate to Rembrandt, loosing his wife and children and died in loneliness. But you won’t see those loses and so many bad decisions Rembrandt had made in his life in this portrait. He finished it the year he died in poverty and loneliness with a granddaughter as the only relative he had. But this self-portrait is a kind of exegi monumentum manifesto. Rembrandt from this painting is proud and fully aware of his talent and skills and just like Horace knows his place in the world of art and that he will defeat death. Funny thing is that for many years after Rembrandt’s death his paintings were very low valued and in 18th century a box of chocolate was more expensive than Rembrandt’s painting. Of course chocolate was a highly luxury good, but come on, food? There is one more fact I love about Rembrandt (it has nothing to do with Doctor Who). One of Rembrandts’s pupils was Carel Fabritius who is known as Johannes Vermeer’s teacher. There’s no proof for it and some historians (maybe even most of them) question that but it’s unquestionable that they knew each other and Fabritius highly influenced Vermeer. I like the fact that two of the best dutch painters were connected and Vermeer was a grandsuccesor of Rembrandt.
And one last thing. Doctor played again 5th ‘Fate’ Symphony. The goddes of fate was Fortuna and her symbol was a wheel which itself symbolize cycle, repetition or change.
Knowing that I’m usually 100% wrong this picture means nothing but it’s nice to speculate for once about something I’m passionate about.
17 April 2017 at 11:18 #56345I forgot about Cornelia, Rembrandt’s daughter whom he had with his lover Hendrikje Stoffels. She of course outlived her father.
17 April 2017 at 11:23 #56346@mudlark my understanding is that he cannot return to an exact time he has already been. Paradox right? But clearly the memorial shows Danny and Clara’s names. Bill said the Doctor has been there 50 years and Bill dresses like early 90’s . Can’t be earlier because of the smart phones. I am just trying to figure out if it’s 2017 and Bill just likes that look. Am I making too much out of nothing?
17 April 2017 at 12:11 #56347As far as I am aware he can revisit any time or place he has visited in the past, and even remain there for quite long periods, so long as he does not intervene directly in his own time line or try to alter anything which is a fixed moment, which would, of course create serious problems. He can even meet and interact with past incarnations of himself in certain carefully engineered circumstances, as we saw in Day of the Doctor, when the Moment brought three versions of the Doctor together in an attempt to find an alternative way to bring an end to the Time War.
Time in the universe of the Doctor seems to be a pretty elastic and forgiving medium for the most part, else he would be pretty restricted in his ability to travel through it.
17 April 2017 at 12:37 #56348He leaves broken time lines and plot holes everywhere
Plotholes shmotholes – examples or this is just empty whinging.
lol, i’m genuinely headed into fanfiction/shipper territory!
Shoot yourself now! It’s for your own good.
wouldn’t the bloody tardis be the safest bloody place to stash (bloody) whatever is inside?
Unless it would create a paradox of some kind.
As I have maintained throughout, all the evidence suggests that his memory of Clara has been not been completely obliterated
It has – he didn’t recognise her when she was stood right in front of him.
However, he is very much aware of the hole in his memory where she should be.
Imagine your life and all its events and adventures. Imagine someone your care about, who was not just present but participated,. Now keep all the events and adventures, but remove that person.
Imagine the feeling of loss that might involve. 24 years with River and he finally learned to manage it and even learn from it. And every time he is about to do something stupid:
“You said memories become stories
when we forget them. Maybe some of
them become songs.”17 April 2017 at 12:50 #56349phew !
LOTS of great comments – and far to many names to @ back to but really loved reading all your thoughts.
I’ve only seen it the once (last night) and will re-watch now that I’m armed with what you’ve all seen, but some thoughts…
If my memory from last night is not faulty… I loved how Bill got into danger in the end, ignored the Doctor’s warning, touched the alien/watery thing and through her own strength pulled back and rescued herself. This is a companion who can look after herself!
Is it just me or did the actress who played Heather remind you of Clara? I don’t think its a plot point, but it certainly had me wondering if it was deliberate (I now don’t think it was!)
Not a fan of the new title music (or if its not new, then on first listen last night). Beefier bass notes and shriller ‘weeee oo weee ooo’. And quicker tempo. Again, I don’t have a professional ear and should re-listen but… ah well.
Having said that I should also admit that I have a new TV (hooray!) but its sound is worse (like so many of the new thinner TVs). What you give up in weight/ thickness, you lose in speakers etc. Ah well, will have to re-watch using headphones methinks as I also missed some dialogue.Bill Potts – as in Bill & Ben ??
@mudlark and @pedant – you mention The Snow Queen (which I haven’t read) but another literary ship that had a mind and needed a companion is The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey. Not sure if there’s any connection, but it was a ship who needed a companion/ pilot.
@mersey @phaseshift – am loving the Rembrandt musings; perhaps he was in the Tardis at one point then..?
And yes – Love Will Tear Us Apart Again brought a smile!Too many other people to tag but loving that so many are back and new members beginning to chat too (hi @redlemons ).
oh, and yes @Thane15 /Puro – hi-waisted jeans are fashionable again as are practically all fashions from mid 80’s onwards (in fact ‘new’ fashions which don’t simply recycle the old don’t seem to exist except maybe Japanese-influenced new-goth extremely clean deep black and white).
Honestly, I have to walk through ‘fashionable’ / hipsterland (Shoreditch, Hoxton and Dalston) and am confronted by the styles I grew up through. And if I’m honest I think they are some of the most unflattering styles I can think of !
[ends the fashion update from the least fashionable man on the planet!];¬)
17 April 2017 at 13:00 #56350Stephanie Hyam had a part in Sherlock, so I suspect it was just a case of casting somebody they liked and had confidence in.
Very good point about Bill’s self-rescue, which also nicely counterpoints her coming close to “buying a ticket” with Watery!Heather.
17 April 2017 at 13:02 #5635117 April 2017 at 14:13 #56354On the subject of the Doctor’s forgetting and the effects of the neural block, I don’t think that we disagree quite as much as you seem to think we do. If you look again at what I wrote above, I don’t dispute that he couldn’t *see* her or recall what she was like, even when face to face with her in the diner. He did remember, though, that there was someone who was with him in certain adventures, and he remembered the events leading up to his attempt to use the neural block on that person and the reason why, because he told her so in so many words. He also had a lingering sense that she was somehow important to him, though the how and why eluded his grasp completely.
All I mean is that we have been given a number of pointers to suggest that there is still a buried awareness in his subconscious mind which responds to certain events or what would otherwise be direct reminders and may in some instances influence his actions. I suspect that you may still be harking back to the original debate in the discussion of Hell Bent, in which at first, I admit, I read too much into the signs of that subliminal response, but of course if you disagree that there is evidence of even a subliminal awareness, we must agree to disagree and leave the matter there.
I
17 April 2017 at 14:34 #56355Re:TARDIS
In the 50th Anniversary season, we saw the Doctor and Susan escaping into a TARDIS on Gallifrey. So, it is a question, isn’t it? Why an acronym name that only works in English for a Gallifreyan time machine?Possibilities:
- Susan was human, kidnapped by the Time Lords for some nefarious reason. She named TARDIS in English because it was her native language.
- Both Susan and the Doctor are Gallifreyan, but have some kind of (possibly genetic) connection with Earth and humans. Both Susan and the Doctor have married humans, both Susan and the Doctor have insisted on spending time on Earth. She named the TARDIS in English as a symbol of her (and the Doctor’s) dual heritage.
- Susan was Gallifreyan, became fascinated with Earth when she and her grandfather were in exile, and was playing around with English acronyms. She simply thought TARDIS sounded cool, just as she thought human pop music was fun to listen to. .
Since she left, the Doctor’s fascination with Earth and insistence on calling his ship ‘TARDIS’ has been his way of remembering his granddaughter. He protects the planet she lived on; his ship is called by the name she gave
17 April 2017 at 14:50 #56356I think I have watched all episodes of Dr. Who shown in America. Has there ever been an episode where they show more of the Tardis? Sleeping quarters, kitchen so on…?
17 April 2017 at 15:13 #56357TARDIS Interiors generally turn out to be a lot of corridors. 😉 We saw early shots of the interior of the TARDIS in the 1964 story Edge of Destruction – spaceship style cabins and not much belief in doors. I recall a shot of a cabin in the Davison Doctor’s era, but that was also basically ‘ship’s cabin’ style.
Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS in S7 (Smith Doctor) showed the most we’ve seen of the interior, with extensive use of the TARDIS library, the Doctor’s workshop, the engine room and … corridors. 😀
17 April 2017 at 15:54 #56359In 1 of the episodes of the detective series ‘Lewis” there was a college professor who’s Oxford rooms were
so grand I thought ‘good grief Charlie Brown!” – those profs apparently get to have all kinds of special treats!
Or maybe the Doctor has extended the TARDIS field outside of the TARDIS to make it appear like the rooms
are very grand when in reality its a closet? I wonder if he’s keeping any special Galifreyan books on his
shelves like the professor in Shada did? Or possibly the crypt in the basement is a Shada type prison?
I found that old episode on Tardiswiki and 1 of the notes references a comment made about the control
room and the kitchen too so many shades of Shada?
17 April 2017 at 16:12 #56362@ichabod Gods, I hope you’re right! I don’t think BC 3 has shown up here yet —
In Canada I’ve been watching it on the Bravo channel.
17 April 2017 at 16:25 #56363@geoffers but he does remember donna, quite well, and the moment when he decides not to mind-wipe her memories was a call back to that, methinks…
I think it’s also in direct response to Bill’s remark to him, about how he would feel if someone did that to him. Which, of course, is exactly what happened. Somehow he feels that resonance, the emotional echo of Clara. He knows of her factual existence, but all details of his familiarity with her have been erased. He knows that, and lives with that void, so he realized it’s not something he should do to anyone else. Not anymore, unless that person is fully prepared to pay the price … which Donna was not prepared to do.
17 April 2017 at 16:26 #56364My suspicion is that the Doctor has A LOT of influence at St Luke’s. 50 (or 70) years will get you that. Not many secrets you don’t know. not many kindnesses you can’t perform.
17 April 2017 at 16:28 #56365Oh and I can deal with Nardole. I think it adds a layered dynamic to the stories.
17 April 2017 at 16:51 #56366I think they’re hoping that Matt Lucas’ Nardole will turn into something like Catherine Tate’s Donna – a one-off casting for a very comic part that can be extended as a longer term companion. Because the comedian is also an actor.
I’ve seen Matt Lucas on stage, so I’d say he’s perfectly capable of playing a comic companion who might prove to be a lot more than the comic relief. Like Matt Smith and Catherine Tate, he’s a National Youth Theatre alumnus.
17 April 2017 at 17:41 #56367St. Luke’s University was almost St. Jude’s, the patron saint of impossible causes…
A disturbing thought just occurred. What has Leonard (Nardole) just done in the TARDIS loo (that should maybe be left for a while)? Presumably he’s a cyborg (robotic apart from the head) so has he dropped some smelly ball bearings in there or what?!?
17 April 2017 at 18:01 #56368I’m thinking that the tech used can derive energy from biologicals (i.e. food). David Weber has a similar problem for his human personality imprinted android in the Safehold series – it can use food to scavenge needed materials, so it poops out the stuff it doesn’t need.
Is this the first time it’s been definitely confirmed on the main programme that the TARDIS has a loo? I know it’s been mentioned in the webisodes, but I think this might be a first for a TV episode of Doctor Who.
17 April 2017 at 18:30 #56370I think you’re right – 1st TV mention.
Probably done so that this doesn’t have to happen:
17 April 2017 at 18:53 #56371@mersey Thanks for your comments on the Rembrandt — love the line of descent to Fabritious! So, you’re seeing the portrait as a statement of entirely justified pride in his accomplishments? I’d see that as, “Here I stand, a fat old guy with paint on my hands, but I know that I am top of my class and that posterity will not forget me!” That certainly works, and it works as something the Doctor could see himself in, too. Or maybe he just likes the company — those self-portraits are so damned present. “You’re not just looking at me; I’m looking at you, too.”
@mudlark (of Clara) There is still a subliminal memory which can be evoked by certain situations or trigger events.
I’m hoping they won’t hesitate to use that whenever situations offer the chance; it’s a great way to validate the power of that relationship even though he only remembers the outlines of her story with him. Maybe he’ll get to color them in before the end . . .
17 April 2017 at 19:09 #56372@wolfweed Dr Poo was disgustingly funny! Particularly the response of the Daleks.
17 April 2017 at 19:17 #5637317 April 2017 at 19:54 #5637417 April 2017 at 20:26 #56376@ichabod @bluesqeakpip Oh, how I’ve missed your insights! (: Enjoying reading everyone’s comments, missed this.
17 April 2017 at 20:50 #56378@bluesqueakpip — interesting ideas re. TARDIS naming and none of which I particularly have a problem with. Except, it doesn’t account for the Monk/Master/Rani also use this name for their craft as far as I can remember. Not sure why they would agree to use what’s essentially a pet name invented by Susan.
17 April 2017 at 20:57 #56379Possibly because the TARDIS translates the Gallifreyan word as ‘TARDIS’?
17 April 2017 at 21:00 #5638017 April 2017 at 21:52 #56381Apologies for not responding earlier to your comment concerning The Ship Who Sang. As I remember, in the latter novel the core of the ship and its pilot was the brain and nervous system of a human woman who had been born severely disabled but brought up from infancy as a cyborg and trained for this eventual role. The ‘smart matter’ in Joan Vinge’s novels is an engineered form of semi-sentient matter which, like the Tardis, is not anchored in space or time and, as the motive power in interstellar ships, could bypass relativistic restrictions and so enables travel between star systems across the galaxy – which seems to have some similarities to the persistent puddle seeking a pilot and a passenger and able to pursue the Tardis. ‘Smart matter doesn’t really feature in The Snow Queen, except insofar as the secret of it has been lost, but it does feature prominently in the sequels.
17 April 2017 at 22:02 #56383The third of your possibilities is definitely the most likely in my opinion, and if so, maybe the Tardis herself then decided it was cool. As you point out, ever since that point it is the way she has translated whatever is the Gallifreyan term, whether or not the Gallifreyan term is itself an acronym.
17 April 2017 at 22:06 #56384@ wolfweed A disturbing thought just occurred. What has Leonard (Nardole) just done in the TARDIS loo (that should maybe be left for a while)? Presumably he’s a cyborg (robotic apart from the head) so has he dropped some smelly ball bearings in there or what?!?
Good question! I wonder if he just used it to dispose of some sort of other waste (not sure how it would be generated, or by whom) on the TARDIS, since he was not suspecting that a human might actually need to use it in the near future? So not his waste, necessarily, but some other type of waste, and the loo was a convenient place to dump it.
17 April 2017 at 23:40 #56389Is it just me or did the actress who played Heather remind you of Clara?
Yes, very much so. I noticed two echoes of Clara besides the musical motif. Firstly the actress who plays Heather has a bit of a look of Clara. Secondly the close up photo of Bill’s biological Mum was so similar to Jenna Coleman’s features it made me wonder if they’d photoshopped a mix of the model’s face and hers.
The other thing I found interesting was the way they cut to Susan’s photo when Bill asked ‘why me’. Moffat seems to be hinting that the young female Companions are often ‘foster granddaughters’.
17 April 2017 at 23:43 #56390I love that an off the cuff comment about the Tardis name has brought up so many questions, I also rewatch the Pilot again and this time I noticed that when the doctor says to Bill I noticed you, he was looking straight at Susan. Please let me know what you guys think. Again thanks for being so welcoming. Although I watched Dr Who for many years none of my friends are interested so no one to discuss the show with. Love Sci fi , fantasy, fiction. Big fan of Anne McCaffrey, Marissa Meyer,Isaac Asimov but you guys are way beyond me.
17 April 2017 at 23:55 #56393@bluesqueakpip Yeah, I thought the TARDIS was automatically translating every language, alien or otherwise, into English so that the English-speaking listeners on hand would understand it. So doesn’t it stand to reason that would apply to acronyms, as well? It’s just a more sophisticated “translation” of words that fit a particular meaning to their corresponding (pronounceable, as a word) initials.
@redlemons but you guys are way beyond me.
I felt that way upon joining, but the thing I’ve learned is that most everyone fits in here. As long as we love Doctor Who, behave reasonably and don’t go on the attack, we’re all equally welcome. Each individual brings a unique perspective to the table. I love the passionate and thoughtful discourse we find here!
17 April 2017 at 23:58 #56395@redlemons and @bluesqueakpip — Yes, I noticed the cut to the picture of Susan as well. My theories on that are a) as Pip says both Bill and Susan fitted a particular criteria for companionhood (a theory that I quite like) or b) that a hint was being dropped that Susan is going to be of significance this year. Certainly the riffing on the Hartnell era this year is already quite pronounced and seems to lend credence to some of the theories about the finale which I had hitherto relegated to the realms of deluded fanwankery.
Oh, and the TARDIS translation theory is a great one. Yeah, that could well be it.
18 April 2017 at 01:26 #56397I loved this episode. I thought it was the best start to a season for a long time, maybe since Rose. Peter Capaldi was fantastic as usual, Pearl Mackie made Bill really likeable and believable, and even Matt Lucas pulled off a pretty good performance as Nardole.
Steven Moffat’s script was written perfectly, with every line of dialogue being amazing and immaculately judged. The parallels between this and An Unearthly Child made me love it even more.
I think that John Simm’s Master is in the vault. At the end of Last of the Time Lords, the Doctor says that he needs someone to care for. If it’s the Master in the vault, then the Doctor is caring for him…
18 April 2017 at 02:03 #56399Hullo @theeleven Agree with you totally on the episode. Not entirely sure how to reconcile Missy running around causing chaos with The Master being locked in the vault, but there is always “timey wimey” I suppose. Come to think of it, if Missy and the Master are going to share screen time, I suppose there has to be “timey wimey” involved!
I seem to recall The Doctor saying something like “I don’t want to have to find out” when Nardole asked him about the contents of the vault. This is a hazy recollection from one viewing. Will have to watch it again, but if I am right, then, yes, such a statement might refer to The Master, or…? Rassilon, perhaps? Maybe not. But there is definitely something ominous in there.
18 April 2017 at 02:24 #56400Late again! Before I read all your posts (can’t wait) I’ve made a list of my likes and dislikes.
After I’d watched The Pilot, my reaction was that it was missing – what I called – Moffat Magic. However, having watched it again my mind has changed.
Likes: Little touches such as: Reference to chips, reminding me of Rose. PC breathing on a record (LP.) Bil’s comment about running like a penguin with its arse on fire. The banter scene between Bil and the Doctor at the Vault, with Nardole encouraging them. Photos of Susan and River on the desk. Clara’s theme, when CP is about to erase Bil’s memory, and Susan, River and the Tardis protesting – or at least he thinks they are. Finally, for now at least, the photo of the Doctor caught in a mirror taking photos of Bil’s mum.
Dislikes: The cutting of the Dalek scene, when it was one of the funniest scenes in the episode – WHY? Not quite explaining what the alien craft that captured Heather actually was? That might be me of course and I missed something.
Mystery: Is the Vault relevant or a red herring, if not what could be in it?(One can’t trust Moffat) And what promises did the Doctor make? Must dash, shall be back soon to read all your posts.
Missy
18 April 2017 at 05:09 #56405Thanks @blenkinsopthebrave!
I’ve been thinking about a theory as to who Bill’s mother was, and I think it makes sense.
I think Bill’s mother is Jess Collins, of the DWM comic strip. Bill’s mother would have been a young adult around 1973, which is when the strips take place. Bill says that she looked a lot like her, and if you look at two photos together, of Jess and Bill, there’s a lot of resemblance. Also, it would explain why the Doctor was there to take the photo, as in the story “The Pestilant Heart”, he is marooned on Earth and forced to live with Jess and her family.If anybody has any opinions on this theory, please tell me. I’d love to hear the forum’s opinions.
18 April 2017 at 07:34 #56407Why does the pond narrator sound like Colony Sarff?
18 April 2017 at 08:22 #56408Anonymous @
The other thing I found interesting was the way they cut to Susan’s photo when Bill asked ‘why me’. Moffat seems to be hinting that the young female Companions are often ‘foster granddaughters’.
Hurrah, successful log in, and just in time to say that’s a brilliant theory and I really hope that’s what Moffat is getting at. It’s certainly a lovelier idea than the slightly creepy white elephant alternative.
Hello, we haven’t met! I’m going to strongly endorse your Master theory. There’s no timey-wimey issues so long as the Master does eventually get out of the vault which, since he’s in the trailer, is a safe if. Galifreyan calligraphy and Simm showing up again at least have to be inextricably linked… Or do they?
But on season openers, it would have to be something pretty special to top Asylum of the Daleks for me. Like The Impossible Astronaut kind of special.
I liked it, but share the common feeling that the alien plotline was incomplete and too ad hoc in it’s details. Liquid with the ability to travel to any point in space and time, unless it doesn’t have a handy romantic interest of a main character to ‘want’ it to leave… It’s a bit of a design flaw.
Also the need for a pilot who sufficiently wishes to leave is a direct lift from an excellent Matt Smith episode (The Lodger) as no doubt less tardy members have already noted.
Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely Easter. And Christmas. And Easter before that.
18 April 2017 at 08:58 #56409Went to Michelle Gomez( Missy) IMDb it says she shows up in season 10 episode 6 Extremis. No further info. I think the Doctor is keeping her in the vault. Spoiler?
18 April 2017 at 09:08 #56410I think that Mr Huffle high tech lie detector, is in the Vault. Well, it’s not more bonkers than Eurus Holmes. 🙂
It seems that all of us enjoyed this episode.
Missy
Apologies, I could have sworn that her name was spelled Bil – not Bill.
18 April 2017 at 09:19 #56412PC breathing on a record (LP.)
Unless my brand-new eyes were deceiving me that was a 78 RPM gramophone record, not an LP – just a small incidental joke thrown in for those who can remember 78s and old-style gramophones, I think.
18 April 2017 at 09:24 #56413re: The TARDIS- how is it done in other languages, anyone know? Do they just put together the first letters in Spanish, French etc? I didn’t entirely get her question, because all the word Tardis is is the acronym, and that’s just the English version, because the translation circuits also translate everything into (modern) English, presumably because that is where One ended up when he first came to earth.
@morpho- I noticed at the end, though, she wasn’t just repeating Bills words. Well, at first she/it was, but with her/it’s (I’m going to stick with her for now) own emphasis, and then she said Bills name. The Doctor might be wrong, there might be more of Heather in there than there was supposed to be. Or it might just be that a general, constant desire to leave is why she was chosen, but a wish to keep a promise and stay with Bill was too specific…Definately resembles the ship in The Lodger, which reminds me of why I like the Lodger. What happens when the Doctor finds a companion type who just doesn’t want to go anywhere, is happy where he is. (Plus I rate James Corden more highly as an actor than most people. After all, most people manage to accept that Ruth Jones isn’t really an abrasive, belligerent goth in real life…
Re: Bill, one thing I said in the Other Place when people characterised her slowness in grasping that she’s in a spaceship is that really, walking into the Tardis and looking around, ‘a knock through’ is the most logical explanation. When it moved, ‘a lift’ was probably the closest you could get to a reasonable explanation. We know that she’s in Doctor Who, Bill seems like the first companion in a long time who doesn’t. Which makes sense, Amy had been living with the cracks in her walls, Clara hadn’t yet jumped into the time-stream, but timey-whimey, in a way she always had. I do hope Bill stays on for a series or so longer, but if she doesn’t, I think this series might be like Moffart’s great episodes under RTD- a stand alone series rather than episodes (Blink was almost completely stand-alone, The Girl in the Fireplace, and the two library episodes told their stories within that space.) Like I’ve said, I’ve loved his arcs and complexity. But here I think he might well win back some of the whingers, just before he goes.
Though I am also certain that the return of watery Heather will be hinted and foreshadowed, before she returns in the final episode, at which point she will be roundly denounced as a deus ex machina. Which will be fun.
18 April 2017 at 09:47 #56414Found this
The Master is returning. In addition to the return of Michelle Gomez as Missy, John Simm will also appear this season as The Master. The villainous Time Lord spent a few weeks filming for the new season, and through some timey-wimey loophole will actually get to interact with Gomez’s Missy. “They are absolutely wonderful together,” Moffat told Radio Times. “They are hilarious, it’s absolutely gorgeous. You’re in for a real treat. A real treat.”
Yeah love Simm great actor!
18 April 2017 at 10:34 #56415Apologies if this has been posted before. I forgot there is now an “aftershow”. This isn’t too bad.
18 April 2017 at 11:23 #56432Must admit I’m not too troubled about the nature and detail of the intelligent oil. Both Prisoner Zero in The Eleventh Hour and the ship in The Lodger were similarly loosely sketched and are really only there to hang all the lovely character stuff on. Same goes for Rose actually. If we hadn’t actually seen Autons before and therefore had all the details of their modus operandi already filled in for us, we would really be none the wiser about them.
RE. The vault. I do like the idea that it’s the next Doctor being contained in there and that perhaps Capaldi’s doc is already regenerating. The Master being in there makes sense too but I feel that would be just a little bit underwhelming. There being a person in there at all actually feels a bit Pandorica-esque to me. Maybe it’s something else entirely. A portal maybe. Or maybe it’s Gallifrey.
And having watched it again, can I just reiterate how much I love this episode.
Oh, and I’m also loving the lava lamp in the Aftershow. Want.
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