The Well

[Craig @craig Emperor]

Well, (sorry, couldn’t help it) this should be an interesting one. There are rumours that this is connected to the rather brilliant “Midnight”, one of RTD’s best and spookiest.

Far in the future, on a tough, brutal planet, a devastated mining colony has only one survivor. To discover the truth, the Doctor and Belinda must face absolute terror.

It’s written, once again, by RTD, and is directed by Amanda Brotchie, who I think did a great job on last week’s “Lux”.

And it guest stars the lovely Rose Ayling-Ellis as the one survivor. She is the deaf actress of “Eastenders” fame who won the hearts of the public on “Strictly Come Dancing”.

Let’s hope it lives up to the standards of its predecessor.

[Devilishrobby @devilishrobby]

Hmm ( I couldn’t copy our Lord Emperor’s opening as much as I wanted to), so it’s a sequel to the episode Midnight but did RTD slip-in that the midnight entity may be one of the pantheon of mad gods with the brief reference to the laugh. Also I’m also wondering if May 25th is supposed to be a fixed point that may have been changed which is why the Tardis can’t reach/access it. Also I see we had our Mrs Flood encounter though she sounded pleased that the Doctor had been able to activate the transponder device. I’m trying to work out if that’s supposed to be a good thing or bad thing.

[Craig @craig Emperor]

I thought it was the best so far – but then I do love a spooky, scary one. I mean, it ripped off “Aliens”, but did it’s own thing with it. And it was almost a bottle episode again, like “Midnight”, with them all stuck in one room. RTD done good this time.

And for those (maybe not of these shores) who don’t know Rose Ayling-Ellis and how she won “Strictly” here’s the winning dance. She’s a star.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

Good old fashioned Base Under Siege, complete with arsy squaddie who knows best. Yes, a hint of Aliens. Also the drop over Vulcan from Star Trek reboot. And more than a bit of Under The Lake and Waters of Mars. Companion gets shot through the chest and survives. Somehow. Just as well Shaya didn’t have a Varron T disrupter.

But yes, it’s planet Midnight.

Mind you, you know what else can’t stand mirrors? Yes, you do! Which one do you reckon? Dukkha, Anatta or Annica?

They’re on a little list.

Looks like Mrs Flood is going all Susan Triad on us.

Terrific. A B+ and 2 A’s so far.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

Very well done. And very creepy. Given that no one on the ship has heard of Earth or the human race it taps into the question wether we are watching fiction or reality.

As for the appearance of Grand Moff Triad at the end, I reserve my judgement.

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

I enjoyed it. Some random thoughts:

1. It works, even without the Midnight tie-in.

2. Pretty bleak for a Who episode. Multiple violent deaths, a suicide, a companion being shot and having to be revived, and the monster gets away.

3. The Doc cries again. This must be a plot thing.

4. The Doc loses. It’s a bit of a theme now that he’s been rather ineffective (and reliant on others) in several eps, but to completely lose a battle is unusual. Everybody dies.

5. Why wasn’t the Doc in danger when he was chasing the commander at the end? He was right behind her?

6. I didn’t understand the logic behind the Mercury waterfall. Any ideas?

7. Did the Doc leave his sonic behind on the video monitor?

A solid ep I thought. The season is shaping up much better than the last one.

[WhoHar @whohar]

Some further ramblings:

Mrs Flood. Tears. Floods of tears? Dunno what this means but I’m sure it means something.

The monster in this ep had a different way of working. In Midnight it was possession / taking over speech. Here, it was much more visceral and physical. Like the change seen in  the Weeping Angels behaviour post Blink. I can’t see this being significant, but it’s interesting to me.

Are we sure this is the same monster? It said it knew the Doc but that doesn’t mean it was the same entity.  We know about the Greek gods, but we’re not Plato.

And yes, as mentioned above, I think there was a reference to this monster being a Pantheon member. God of backpacks?

Why did the Doc cry? Didn’t seem to be any reason in-story.

Is the continuing mention of Bel(inda) anything to do with the Bel from Once, Upon Time in the Chibnall Flux run?

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar

The Snowmen: the intelligent snow became tears when that iteration of Clara died. You had the snow. Now you get the wet stuff.

Midnight: no we don’t know that this IS the same critter. Though The Doctor said that before it was ‘having fun.’ Times change. You asked about the ‘Mercury Fall’… I’m not sure it would form a mirror, but that’s Russ’ logic.

There is a monster/species which can’t bear mirrors and also delights in having fun with trapped people, unguarded minds, wind chimes, animated tattoos. And they’re on the Harbinger’s list. I’ve previously named names. One may have gone down with Shaya. That leaves another two.

I just hope there were no ‘eye-booger’ monsters on the Harbinger’s list.

[winston @winston]

I really liked this one, a little creepy and a few nasty jump scares (I hate those ) plus some excellent acting by all. We never get a good look at the thing but that adds to the creepiness. The mister said the next day that he kept seeing things out of the corner of his eye and being startled. Great reaction from a non- whovian. I’m sure there are things that don’t add up but it kept me on the edge of my seat from the start to the WTF ending.

Midnight was a very disturbing episode ,maybe better than this one but this was a good sequel.Maybe the Doctor is crying because he remembers the 2 women who died that day, one to save him. He was the most helpless I have ever seen him, unable to save himself or the women from an invisible monster. Maybe he cries because he knows how helpless he is to save the people around him. Lots of people died in this one.

Mrs Flood again. why?

stay safe

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

Are we (the audience) being played like a fiddle by RTD? We are all looking at Mrs Flood as the mystery, but what if it lies elsewhere?

All through Season 1, Ruby was the “special” companion, who turned out to be ordinary.

In Season 2, Belinda is the ordinary companion who just wants to get back home. What if she is, in fact, extraordinary?

A couple of things I noticed in TRR:

1. When Belinda enters the Tardis, her reaction is a bit muted. Like she’s seen one before.

My reaction at the time was that maybe RTD was trying something different / setting up the character. Then…

2. Later on she says to the Doc something like “Is this your Tardis?”, but this was before the Doc had mentioned what it was called.

I found this a bit odd at the time but put it down to an editing issue.

Then in Lux, she says something like “Let’s get home to Gallifrey”. This is strange phrasing to use, and I took it initially that she meant “let’s get you (the Doc) home to Gallifrey”. But maybe Gallifrey is also her home.

There are a number of scenarios potentially at play here:

– she may have known the Doc / another TL before.

– she may be a TL herself but be hiding it, or not realise she is one.

– she may be another version of the pre-Hartnell Doc.

– she may be another version of Mrs Flood (who also knows about Tardises (Tardi ?), and can time travel, so may be a TL.

There is some counter evidence but it could equally be misdirection and explained away.

Also, it’s late here, I’m  tired and I’ve spent far too long thinking about this, so I’ll just leave it in the ether…

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar

Well observed.

… also is this the reason why she was quite so forthright about dna sampling? Though why shouldn’t she? It’s a contrast to Rog of the William’s bunch for instance.

Alternatively, for those who may have ah kinda been following my erm… song and dance over the critter from Midnight, one germanic etymology for ‘Belinda’ is bright serpent.

[syzygy @thane16]

Interesting thoughts. I also noticed how Belinda’s fond mention of her dad’s routine at the pub on Friday turns to an interest in the wardrobe with barely a tear after the Doctor promises her she’ll get home, he will “sing” and Bel’s mum can “whistle” at his behind. I thought it a strange reaction?

So, is Belinda the new Master or Mrs Flood?
Puro.

[Mudlark @mudlark]

A bit late on the scene, but I may as well add my pennyworth.

As it was a very long time since I last watched Midnight I decided to watch that again before tackling this episode so that I could compare the two directly. It seemed doubtful that a return to the theme of an isolated group of people facing the unseen and inexplicable could match up to the original, but in the event I think the approach was sufficiently different to ensure an equally shocking impact, and for my money it was the best episode of the three so far this season. Rose Ayling-Ellis was particularly impressive in her portrayal of panicky desperation and terror.

The idea of possession by an unknown and presumably malign entity, as in Midnight, is always creepy, but equally so is the sensation of something following you, sensed but not seen, as with the traveller on a dark and lonely road who  ‘ …. turns no more his head, Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread’  *  And like the Balrog in Moria when the dwarves dug too deep, this monster rose out of the pit the miners dug to reach the diamond layer.

Here, as in Midnight, someone sacrifices herself in an attempt to get rid of the monster, but where in the former case all ended well for those who survived, here we are left with no such assurance.

* Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,  also quoted in the MR James story The Casting of the Runes 

[Mudlark @mudlark]

@whohar

I agree that there are hints of something a bit odd about Belinda, as if she knows things that, on the face of it, she shouldn’t. The answer, though, may lie in a crucial incident in The Robot Revolution. When the two time-separated instances of the document registering the naming of Belinda’s star touch, Alan regresses to conception and is swept up by the polisher bot, but Belinda and the the Doctor experience a scrambled review of her life past and (potentially) future. This, on top of the time fracture (schwup effect) could well explain why she sometimes ‘remembers’ things prior to experiencing them.

Incidentally, it seems to me clear that the time fracture, which the Doctor thought he had resolved but which clearly he hasn’t, has shunted them into an alternative time stream in which the earth has been destroyed , which is why they can’t get back.

 

[Mudlark @mudlark]

@whohar @winston

Yes, the ongoing enigma of Mrs Flood. First the ubiquitous slightly nosey neighbour who knows more than she should, with a tendency now and again to break the fourth wall like a Greek Chorus, now she does seem to be doing a Susan Twist, popping up in different guises and in wildly different times and settings. My latest hypothesis is that she is the Harbinger for the Really, Really Big Bad of the pantheon; or, alternatively, she is an arch manipulator, Time Lord or otherwise, pulling the Doctor’s strings in furtherance of some grand design in which the v(ortex)indicator plays a key part.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@mudlark

Belinda and the the Doctor experience a scrambled review of her life past and (potentially) future.

That’s an excellent point and not one I’d considered.

I suggest it may still point to Belinda being in some way special, given the dialogue I mentioned previously. What it does do, however, is to open up other solutions for her significance outside of the TL / Gallifreyan connections of my hastily-written conclusions from earlier. I need to think again.

That sequence also harks back to the Toymaster saying he had made a jigsaw of the Doctor’s life. Perhaps we are now seeing that scrambled version where things don’t fit together correctly.

[Whisht @whisht]

Hi all – I am really tardy this season!
Nice and creepy and Rosie Ayling very good.
She knew the monster was ‘attached’ and lied.
But also the pain she displayed when she begged “Don’t turn your backs on me” was poignant.
The Midnight Monster enjoys playing games…

As for Mrs Flood – my first thought was this

but that was me just being silly.
;¬D

However, maybe Flood needs the Doctor to use vindicators to get ‘back’ to May 25th because she can’t get there either (yet seems to be able to travel through time).
Did the Doctor want to lock her out but is now unwittingly letting her back ‘in’ because he has forgotten?

Who nose?

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whisht

The still of Balok, from Star Trek’s The Corbomite Manoeuvre, is on the nose. A puppet as it turned out. The protagonist was in fact a hyper intelligent baby.

The potential use of puppets is worrying for anyone who saw the Bandrill ‘video link’ from 1985’s Time Lash. However, the Bandrills look nothing like Anita Dobson, unlike the Balok puppet.

[winston @winston]

@whisht  I didn’t think about Mrs. Flood being unable to get back to earth and needing the Doctor to get her there somehow. Food for thought. Thanks.

By the way that guy in the picture freaked me out as a child.

stay strong

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