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such_heights) wrote2011-04-25 02:32 am
such_heights) wrote2011-04-25 02:32 am
Entry tags:
Doctor Who 6x01 recap, part one
I don't know if this is going to become a regular feature or not, but given how much speculating I'm doing about this episode, I thought I would write it out in case anyone else was interested. Also, pretty show was pretty and I made a bunch of screencaps - feel free to take and use any of the below if you want.
We start the episode with a dedication to Elisabeth Sladen, so that half the audience can start crying before the story even begins. :(
Then we join the Doctor as he appears to be going on a jolly good romp through time.
However, it quickly comes apparent that we are seeing this events from Amy's perspective as she attempts to trace the Doctor through the history books. She and Rory are settled into their new home and haven't seen the Doctor in two months. Amy thinks he's being deliberately ridiculous in his adventures and trying to draw attention to himself, deciding that he's up to something. The Ponds' place is ADORABLE - it's all decorated and shiny-looking and there are photos on the walls including one of Amy in her police outfit and Rory in his Roman outfit. Of course. :D Ponds!
Rory also appears to have a thing for Laurel and Hardy films, although he misses the Doctor popping up in the middle of one, wearing the obligatory fez.
Amy gets up to answer the door, where she receives a card marked number 3, containing a date, a time and a map reference. As the card is TARDIS blue, she concludes it's from the Doctor.
Meanwhile, in Stormcage prison, River Song has received a matching card marked number 2. Then the facilities goes on red alert as the guard realises that she's packing. What I ADORE about this moment is the way that it establishes that River can break out any time she likes, which we know. And that makes it interesting because clearly she could also stay on the run forever if she wanted to. My personal theory is that she uses the prison to chill out for a while, do her time, and write her memoirs. Awesome.
Amy, Rory and River converge on Monument Valley, with Amy and Rory pulling up in a big yellow school bus marked number 51, presumably a shout-out to Area 51 and the general US UFO-themed feel of the whole episode.
They find the Doctor wearing a stetson and lounging against a classic red car. He greets the Ponds with great enthusiasm:
"So, someone's been a busy boy, then!"
"Did you see me?"
"Of course!"
"Stalker!"
"Flirt."
"Husband."
River does not approve of the stetson. Also, she is REALLY HOT. NNNGH.
They relocate to a conveniently located diner in the middle of nowhere, and River and the Doctor start doing diaries, referencing the statues of Easter Island and an encounter with Jim the Fish.
Amy asks what the Doctor's been up to, and he says that he's been running faster than ever, but has finally decided it's time to stop, and that he's going to need them all with him. He says that they're going to have a picnic and then head to Space, 1969.
Credits!
The four of them have a delightful picnic by a lake and are adorable together. The Doctor continues to have the fussiest taste ever, Amy continues to have the most gorgeous smile, omg I love them all.
The Doctor claims to be 1103, and Amy points out he was 908 last time she saw him. He brushes it off and replies that he wasn't going to mention she's put on a couple of pounds, which is either ~foreshadowing~ or misdirection for later on.
Amy then looks up and notices a mysterious figure in the distance. As soon as she looks away, and the others ask what's going on, she can't remember. The Doctor rapidly changes the subject. He starts talking about the moon landing and 1969, and says that a lot more happened that year than anyone remembers, before adding, "Human beings. I thought I'd never get done saving you." A van pulls up, and an old man steps out, raising a hand to the Doctor, who acknowledges him in return.
A figure in a spacesuit starts to appear out of the lake. The Doctor walks to meet it, instructing the others to stay back and not to interfere.
The Doctor says to the figure, "Hello. It's okay, I know it's you." The figure opens its helmet, and the Doctor says, "Well then." The shot pulls back, and we see the Doctor talking and gesturing but can't hear what he says.
The Doctor bows his head, and the astronaut stretches out its hand and shoots some kind of energy pulse at the Doctor. He collapses.
Amy runs towards him but River and Rory bodily hold her back. The Doctor starts to regenerate, and all three of them look in horror as he says, "I'm sorry."
The astronaut shoots him again, and he falls to the ground. They run towards him, and River rapidly concludes that he's dead - he wasn't able to regenerate.
River fires her round into the retreating astronaut to no effect, and she sadly lowers her gun, saying, "Course not."
Amy can't accept that he's dead, hoping he's a clone or a duplicate. The old man from earlier comes forward holding a canister of gasoline, and confirms that it is the Doctor, and he is dead. River realises they have to burn the body.
Rory spots a boat a little way down the shore, and decides they should do the thing properly.
Amy, meanwhile, has completely fallen to pieces and I can't even deal with her being so sad. Her posture, her pleading with the Doctor to just wake up, her asking Rory what to do, the entire way she reverts to a lost, abandoned child is the SADDEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD. I am tearing up just typing this. AMYYYYY.
They send the Doctor off on his funeral pyre.
The old man reveals he also had a matching invitation - number 4. He introduces himself as Canton Everett Delaware the Third, and explains that although he won't see them again, they'll be seeing him.
River realises that they don't know who received envelope number 1, and as they return to the diner she and Rory try to figure it out.
Amy, meanwhile, tells them to stop talking because nothing matters any more, the Doctor's dead. AMYYYYYY.
Rory spots an opened blue envelope on another table, and as they start to try and ascertain who was sitting there, the Doctor appears out of the back door.
Amy hugs him, River slaps him, and Rory pokes him.
A delightful direct parallel to Rory returning in 5x12. :D
River asks the Doctor how old he is - 909. They realise they've just watched a much older version of himself die, and that said older version invited his younger self along for some reason.
River realises the three of them are going to have to conceal what they know from this version of the Doctor.
They convene at the bottom of the TARDIS console room. Amy wants to tell the Doctor what they know but River insists that they can't, it could create a paradox that would destroy the universe. They try to figure out why the Doctor called them all there, knowing he was about to die. So they could avenge him? Save him?
Amy asks how on earth River could be okay with this, and she explains that neither the Doctor's death nor her own frighten her compared to a far worse day that's coming for her.
The Doctor says they're landing at a big temporal tipping point where anything is possible - something the TARDIS can't resist. He and River proceed to be HOT LIKE BURNING.
Then the Doctor's cheer fades and he demands to know what's going on. He is suddenly SO OLD, in that amazing way that Matt Smith does.
River says he's going to have to trust them, and the Doctor is incredibly suspicious of her, asking again who she is and who she killed.
Then Amy steps forward, asking him to trust her and do this and not ask why. The Doctor worries that she's being threatened and asks her to swear on something that matters.
"Fish fingers and custard."
It's good enough for the Doctor, and he whirls into trying to figure out who Canton is. River thanks Amy, and there's a palpable sigh of relief.
End of this part of the recap! Questions raised:
1. Where does this fall in River's timeline? Her conversation with Rory later on implies that it falls before the events of S5 for her, but I'm not sure that's the case. She obviously knows both Amy and Rory -- though she will presumably meet them again after this story -- but also said nothing at Rory's comment about the universe having previously blown up. And previously we've had lines to specifically remind us of things that haven't happened for River yet. So, until definitively stated otherwise I am assuming her personal timeline goes Pandorica Opens --> Time of Angels --> Impossible Astronaut.
2. What does the Doctor say to the astronaut that we don't hear?
3. Why does he summon everyone specifically to watch him die? He must know they're going to want to stop what happens. And rewriting time in order to save his own life, if possible, is actually totally his style, so I think that must be at least partly it. There would be much simpler ways to get the four of them en route for 1969. If he just wanted his body to be burned, Canton could have done that alone. So many theories!
4. WHAT IS GOING ON AHHHHHH.
Part two.
We start the episode with a dedication to Elisabeth Sladen, so that half the audience can start crying before the story even begins. :(
Then we join the Doctor as he appears to be going on a jolly good romp through time.
However, it quickly comes apparent that we are seeing this events from Amy's perspective as she attempts to trace the Doctor through the history books. She and Rory are settled into their new home and haven't seen the Doctor in two months. Amy thinks he's being deliberately ridiculous in his adventures and trying to draw attention to himself, deciding that he's up to something. The Ponds' place is ADORABLE - it's all decorated and shiny-looking and there are photos on the walls including one of Amy in her police outfit and Rory in his Roman outfit. Of course. :D Ponds!
Rory also appears to have a thing for Laurel and Hardy films, although he misses the Doctor popping up in the middle of one, wearing the obligatory fez.
Amy gets up to answer the door, where she receives a card marked number 3, containing a date, a time and a map reference. As the card is TARDIS blue, she concludes it's from the Doctor.
Meanwhile, in Stormcage prison, River Song has received a matching card marked number 2. Then the facilities goes on red alert as the guard realises that she's packing. What I ADORE about this moment is the way that it establishes that River can break out any time she likes, which we know. And that makes it interesting because clearly she could also stay on the run forever if she wanted to. My personal theory is that she uses the prison to chill out for a while, do her time, and write her memoirs. Awesome.
Amy, Rory and River converge on Monument Valley, with Amy and Rory pulling up in a big yellow school bus marked number 51, presumably a shout-out to Area 51 and the general US UFO-themed feel of the whole episode.
They find the Doctor wearing a stetson and lounging against a classic red car. He greets the Ponds with great enthusiasm:
"So, someone's been a busy boy, then!"
"Did you see me?"
"Of course!"
"Stalker!"
"Flirt."
"Husband."
River does not approve of the stetson. Also, she is REALLY HOT. NNNGH.
They relocate to a conveniently located diner in the middle of nowhere, and River and the Doctor start doing diaries, referencing the statues of Easter Island and an encounter with Jim the Fish.
Amy asks what the Doctor's been up to, and he says that he's been running faster than ever, but has finally decided it's time to stop, and that he's going to need them all with him. He says that they're going to have a picnic and then head to Space, 1969.
Credits!
The four of them have a delightful picnic by a lake and are adorable together. The Doctor continues to have the fussiest taste ever, Amy continues to have the most gorgeous smile, omg I love them all.
The Doctor claims to be 1103, and Amy points out he was 908 last time she saw him. He brushes it off and replies that he wasn't going to mention she's put on a couple of pounds, which is either ~foreshadowing~ or misdirection for later on.
Amy then looks up and notices a mysterious figure in the distance. As soon as she looks away, and the others ask what's going on, she can't remember. The Doctor rapidly changes the subject. He starts talking about the moon landing and 1969, and says that a lot more happened that year than anyone remembers, before adding, "Human beings. I thought I'd never get done saving you." A van pulls up, and an old man steps out, raising a hand to the Doctor, who acknowledges him in return.
A figure in a spacesuit starts to appear out of the lake. The Doctor walks to meet it, instructing the others to stay back and not to interfere.
The Doctor says to the figure, "Hello. It's okay, I know it's you." The figure opens its helmet, and the Doctor says, "Well then." The shot pulls back, and we see the Doctor talking and gesturing but can't hear what he says.
The Doctor bows his head, and the astronaut stretches out its hand and shoots some kind of energy pulse at the Doctor. He collapses.
Amy runs towards him but River and Rory bodily hold her back. The Doctor starts to regenerate, and all three of them look in horror as he says, "I'm sorry."
The astronaut shoots him again, and he falls to the ground. They run towards him, and River rapidly concludes that he's dead - he wasn't able to regenerate.
River fires her round into the retreating astronaut to no effect, and she sadly lowers her gun, saying, "Course not."
Amy can't accept that he's dead, hoping he's a clone or a duplicate. The old man from earlier comes forward holding a canister of gasoline, and confirms that it is the Doctor, and he is dead. River realises they have to burn the body.
Rory spots a boat a little way down the shore, and decides they should do the thing properly.
Amy, meanwhile, has completely fallen to pieces and I can't even deal with her being so sad. Her posture, her pleading with the Doctor to just wake up, her asking Rory what to do, the entire way she reverts to a lost, abandoned child is the SADDEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD. I am tearing up just typing this. AMYYYYY.
They send the Doctor off on his funeral pyre.
The old man reveals he also had a matching invitation - number 4. He introduces himself as Canton Everett Delaware the Third, and explains that although he won't see them again, they'll be seeing him.
River realises that they don't know who received envelope number 1, and as they return to the diner she and Rory try to figure it out.
Amy, meanwhile, tells them to stop talking because nothing matters any more, the Doctor's dead. AMYYYYYY.
Rory spots an opened blue envelope on another table, and as they start to try and ascertain who was sitting there, the Doctor appears out of the back door.
Amy hugs him, River slaps him, and Rory pokes him.
A delightful direct parallel to Rory returning in 5x12. :D
River asks the Doctor how old he is - 909. They realise they've just watched a much older version of himself die, and that said older version invited his younger self along for some reason.
River realises the three of them are going to have to conceal what they know from this version of the Doctor.
They convene at the bottom of the TARDIS console room. Amy wants to tell the Doctor what they know but River insists that they can't, it could create a paradox that would destroy the universe. They try to figure out why the Doctor called them all there, knowing he was about to die. So they could avenge him? Save him?
Amy asks how on earth River could be okay with this, and she explains that neither the Doctor's death nor her own frighten her compared to a far worse day that's coming for her.
The Doctor says they're landing at a big temporal tipping point where anything is possible - something the TARDIS can't resist. He and River proceed to be HOT LIKE BURNING.
Then the Doctor's cheer fades and he demands to know what's going on. He is suddenly SO OLD, in that amazing way that Matt Smith does.
River says he's going to have to trust them, and the Doctor is incredibly suspicious of her, asking again who she is and who she killed.
Then Amy steps forward, asking him to trust her and do this and not ask why. The Doctor worries that she's being threatened and asks her to swear on something that matters.
"Fish fingers and custard."
It's good enough for the Doctor, and he whirls into trying to figure out who Canton is. River thanks Amy, and there's a palpable sigh of relief.
End of this part of the recap! Questions raised:
1. Where does this fall in River's timeline? Her conversation with Rory later on implies that it falls before the events of S5 for her, but I'm not sure that's the case. She obviously knows both Amy and Rory -- though she will presumably meet them again after this story -- but also said nothing at Rory's comment about the universe having previously blown up. And previously we've had lines to specifically remind us of things that haven't happened for River yet. So, until definitively stated otherwise I am assuming her personal timeline goes Pandorica Opens --> Time of Angels --> Impossible Astronaut.
2. What does the Doctor say to the astronaut that we don't hear?
3. Why does he summon everyone specifically to watch him die? He must know they're going to want to stop what happens. And rewriting time in order to save his own life, if possible, is actually totally his style, so I think that must be at least partly it. There would be much simpler ways to get the four of them en route for 1969. If he just wanted his body to be burned, Canton could have done that alone. So many theories!
4. WHAT IS GOING ON AHHHHHH.
Part two.
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"Flirt."
"Husband."
:DDD
Amy hugs him, River slaps him, and Rory pokes him.
That also made me laugh a lot, written out like that. Despite how emotional it is! I'm shallow and sometimes they are just adorable. Basically because I have no earthly idea what is going on! And only hope we find out enough next week to not make us wait ALL SEASON to find out all the big, important stuff?
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Also, I ganked your photo of the picnic by the water with the moon to use as the wallpaper on my phone!
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Thanks for the recap! I got so excited I totally talked over the fish fingers and custard line, so it's good to make sure I didn't miss much.
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Love this recap! Love those Ponds!
Mmmm, PONDS!
(River and the Doctor aren't bad, either)
I am looking forward to these recaps just to try to process everything that went on. :D
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1. I was confused too, because River doesn't know Rory in 5x12 - so I think it does probably go in that sequence. Also intriguing is how the Doctor numbered the envelopes in order of how much he trusted everyone, so something happened during those 200 years that put River above the Ponds? (IDK if I'm reading too much into it, but the younger Doctor clearly didn't trust River, so...)
2. SO MANY QUESTIONS! Argh, there's so many possibilities as to who the astronaut is, my first thought was River (to tie in with the ~she killed someone~ thing) but if she's in prison for killing him then obviously it should have happened before 5x12 for her - which it didn't - so...my guess is that it's someone unrelated.
3. They've got to save him, haven't they? I MEAN, REALLY D:
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Love the recap in general! Thanks!
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1. Pandorica Opens/Big Bang has to be the first Eleventy episode in River's timeline because she didn't recognize Rory, and I don't think that can be put down to him being erased from history, seeing as River is River. I don't think they're travelling in opposite directions, just horribly out of order. I agree with your current timeline, though.
3. There are so many shoutouts to last season in this episode, and I keep thinking of River's point that the Doctor lies, and also the Doctor's line about 'you don't get to decide what I need to know.'
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Help me someone my mind has just stopped and is whirring on this one point..
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And there are a few other reasons I think it's likely that TPO precedes TIA. River doesn't use it but she's got her vortex manipulator on all episode, so obviously it could be a different one, but that seems inefficient somehow. Much more like her to have stashed it somewhere for the next time she breaks out.
Also - and this is pure speculation - but in TPO she states that he'll find out who she is very soon now, and that's when everything changes, but unless next week proves me wrong, my money is on that happening in the midseason (or season if Moffat wants to be eeevil) finale. Now obviously, values of "very soon now" change massively, but I quite like the idea that the River in the Pandorica episodes knows that the Doctor is headed towards that meeting relatively soon because of someone someone mentions at some point to her, but hasn't yet experienced the interim adventure they're going to have. So she implies that he's about to find out, but...is actually a little wrong about that because she hasn't yet had the Astronaut adventure? BLAH! STUFF!
I know that her speech to Rory talks about how one day she'll see him and he won't have the faintest clue who she is and that hasn't happened yet, but I think she meant literally not even know that she will be important to her, rather than not knowing exactly who she is yet - so I think that's a callback to the Library episodes, which obviously we know are right at the end (UNTIL SHE GETS OUT OF THE COMPUTER).
As to whether this episode happens before or after the Angels episodes, I don't think we can know, but I'm going to tentatively say before because I like to think she did earn her pardon. We know she must get out eventually because she goes off to be a professor which is unlikely to happen while she's still choosing to spend her time behind bars. So until proven otherwise, I'm assuming that's how she eventually gets released!
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Me too. I love the idea of River as Howling Mad Murdoch ... in Space! :)
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I'm in the middle of a re-watch now but as I said above, I'm a little confuzzled as to how this fits in River's personal timeline. So we know that Forest of the Dead is the end of the line for her. But that was also the first time in the Doctor's timeline that he met her (which will never stop killing me). So we know that she never encountered a Doctor before Ten (because *he* would have known her), but we do NOT know if the first time she meets him he'll be Eleven or a later incarnation. So are we led to believe by the fact that she takes his alleged death in stride that Eleven is "her" Doctor?
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(I just want River to NEVER STOP APPEARING on this show!)
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(Anonymous) 2011-04-26 03:04 am (UTC)(link)I am so glad I can always count on you for screencaps of Amy and River at their hottest. That pic of River when the Doctor is feeding her his cheesy "moth to a flame" line! And when she opens the envelope!
And how did I miss the hotness of Amy in her kitchen?
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And yes, I hope we get at least SOME answers on Saturday or I may explode.
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So glad we agree on this point! The computer is clearly a little holiday for her in just the same way prison is. Yes.
Anyway, in general I agree with this! Though the more I think about it the more my brain hurts just a little, and normally I'm fairly good with time travel.
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