Doctor Who speculation

[such_heights]

Thinking about it, I CALL SOME SERIOUS SHENANIGANS. Okay. The facts are these:

In this episode, a newly regenerated into Alex Kingston Melody Pond poisons the Doctor. He sends Amy and Rory off after her and staggers into the TARDIS, where a voice interface in the shape of Amelia tells him, time and again, that he has 32 minutes to live. He hears/imagines hearing her saying 'fish fingers and custard' and drags himself up to the TARDIS console and goes ... somewhere.

The Doctor then reappears in the hall where the Tessalecta is confronting Melody, changed into the top hat and tails he wore to the Ponds' wedding and seemingly fine, saying that "you should always waste time when you don't have any, time is not the boss of you, rule 408." However, he clearly now has far less than 32 minutes to live, and I think the Tessalecta says he has 3 minutes, at some point during that scene?

So what did he do for the other 29 minutes, other than get changed? Go back to Amy and Rory's wedding? Quite possibly, because there's a lot of unresolved stuff still going on there:

We don't know why someone made the TARDIS explode on their wedding day - to prevent River being conceived? To cause it, in a roundabout way? And how could River be there? Two things from the end of S5 that seem relevant are River saying that when the Doctor flies the Pandorica into the heart of the TARDIS they'll all wake up where they ought to be, and the Doctor telling Amy that if she just remembers her family who never existed, they'll be there, because she's special and has the whole universe pouring into her head. Amy brought back the daughter she hadn't had yet because that's where she needed to be.

And a couple of other observations - Mels calls Rory 'Mr. Perfect'. The best man she's ever known, perhaps? They're implying that River is going to kill the Doctor in a future point in time for her from this episode, but I'm not buying it that easily. The Tessalecta's records say that Melody Pond kills the Doctor, not River Song, and also I just think it's a bit too easy. What if, in fact, River's in prison for *not* killing the Doctor? Assuming that the Clerics are involved with the Silence, which seems very plausible. And maybe she doesn't kill anyone at all, or maybe it's Rory (temporarily) for Reasons of Plot. I can't imagine it's that easy for her to just walk away after she aborted her mission.

The Doctor lies. River lies. Amy has a magic brain. Rory always comes back. Melody Pond is a superhero and she's going to be amazing. Time can be rewritten. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN. *hands*

Comments

[pocketmouse]

I am once again reserving all judgement, because Rule 1 is always in effect. Although I am leaning more towards it not being Rory River kills, because Moff specifically says she's going into archaeology to find the Doctor, and in the episode she said she was looking for a good man.

So, y'know, I'm holding off on speculation and just writing porn instead.

[theniwokesoftly]

So, y'know, I'm holding off on speculation and just writing porn instead.

This should be a t-shirt or an icon or something.

[ashpags]

YES.

[coffeesuperhero]

The Doctor lies and River lies and there are just so many things that don't make sense, the more I think about them. I have a feeling (and I hope, I hope, I hope that I'm right) that we're in for a finale that ties in moments from River's story in Silence in the Library all the way through to this season's eps, but I've got no justification, it's just what my gut's telling me.

I JUST WANT A HAPPY ENDING. I'M GOING TO FOCUS ON THAT. IT CAN HAPPEN.

[avendya]

WHY IS IT NOT SATURDAY YET.

[aoftheis]

THIS IS WHAT I THINK EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK THAT IS NOT SATURDAY.

[onehundredmoons.livejournal.com]

Keep speculating, you brilliant thing! I'm off for a second viewing now...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_samalander/]

APPARENTLY there is speculation that he just came from the wedding: http://keithjacks.tumblr.com/post/9527202300/possibly-the-most-important-thing-in-lets-kill-hitler

Because the corsage.

[ashpags]

They are all lying liars who lie! >.< It makes me wish I could go back to being brand new to Who and able to mainline entire seasons in a day or two. This stress is not good for me. Pooooooooooooooonds.

I have gone back and re-watched the first bit of LKH three or four times now. I love the Wee Ponds a ridiculous amount, even though they *are* ridiculous.

Now I am going to watch Eleventh Hour because I need more Wee Pond!

[beccatoria]

See, partly this is because I don't like the idea of her killing Rory because it feels...I don't know, glibber than most of Moffat's twists, but that doesn't mean it won't be so - it's certainly a solid notion and in support of it I offer the fact that I think the Justice folks said that they traveled back through time to punish war criminals who had never stood trial in their lifetimes, which would imply that from their perspective Melody Pond was never punished for killing the Doctor. (Though a way around that is the notion that the Justice folks are from, like, the 49th Century and eventually River surrenders to stand trial in a time-can-be-rewritten sorta way and they agree to put her in prison rather than giving her holographic hell-torture or something).

Anyway. A THOUGHT.

[juniperphoenix]

My roommate suggested that he went back to the wedding to get the blank book, which would be nicely circular — although I feel like he must have done something else there, too.

[lokifan]

It's been my theory for a while that Rory will be the one River kills - there was so much confusion and paralleling between them pre-hiatus. Especially in A Good Man Goes To War, because the Doctor specifically says *he's not a good man* - he needs rules where a good man wouldn't - and I think the Sontaran's death, as well, shows that the good man who goes to war when he's meant to be a healer is Rory.

I hope I'm wrong :((

[snorkackcatcher]

It's been my theory for a while too, sadly. Admittedly there's an element of "omigod they killed Rory. BASTARDS!" about it, but that refusal of the Doctor to show Amy what the documents said was either meant to be very suspicious ... or meant to be a red herring. (That's Moffat for you. But he does usually get his plot twists ending up where they're meant to be.)

Bonus oddity: River's "never shoot a girl while she's regenerating" comment -- the effect of it causing a blast of regeneration energy(?) seemed to contradict the premise of the Doctor being shot during the regeneration cycle during The Impossible Astronaut. I suppose you could argue that River/Melody had completed the basic regeneration already and was now in the 14-hour phase where you can regrow hands and so on, or it could be another hint like jacket!Doctor in Fleah and Stone.

All the emphasis on River kissing the Doctor does make me wonder if the way to bring the Doctor back will be to take a leaf out of the Master's book, with a genetic imprint from the lips or whatever it was?

[skipthedemon]

Yeah, my interpretation is in IA he did not get to *change*. Killing a Time Lord mid regeneration has to be very well timed, I think. Once the new body is formed, there's excess artron energy that can do a lot of healing, but it dissipates eventually.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

GAH! I love your speculation. I'm trying not to think to hard because this season (IE last) seems to be the 'PLANT THE HOLES THEN FILL THEM LATER' plan. So, going to let it go a bit and see.

[wishfulaces]

I was rewatching the Angels eps last night with River & Amy, and River said she went to jail for killing a good man, and I really did flash onto, "Oh, please don't kill Rory." Hasn't he died enough already yet?