"They're just people, they're not Ponds."

[such_heights]

I rewatched this week's episode again this evening. It was a good choice.

+ This joins the ranks of happy squeeful standalone Who episodes along with the likes of Vampires of Venice. I really, honestly love it to bits.

+ Delightful guest stars! Nefertiti was totally fabulous, and Mitchell and Webb robots and Rupert Graves being charming in an asshole-ish sort of way and the Indian Space Agency and Rory's dad and everything. The episode did a great job of throwing in a whole bunch of people and giving them all a good amount of screentime.

+ Having the whole multiple chromatic characters who weren't evil and didn't die was jolly nice, wasn't it? I wish that didn't feel like a refreshing change, sigh. Keep on this trend, show, c'mon you can do it.

+ Amy and Rory were both on top form in this episode - both doing the things they do best and enjoying themselves once they'd recovered from the initial 'wtf'. Amy in particular, with her fangirling and Doctor-ish approach to the problems at hand and whole set of one-liners, was glorious. Yes Amy, yes you are a queen and also easily worth two men.

+ Rory's awesome nursing skills! He collects neat bits of med kit! He lies about injections hurting just like his daughter. <333 I loved his relationship with his dad and how it wasn't some big dramatic rift, but rather a quiet story of the two of them getting to understand each other a little better over the course of the episode.

+ ELEVEN HAS NOW KISSED ALL OF THE PONDS. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED. Oh god that moment was so amazing - just the Doctor being his alien fond tactile self for no particular reason and eeee, I am so pleased. Oh, Eleventy, you delightful alien queerball, you.

+ Amy and Eleven's conversation about the travelling was so lovely and kind of broke my heart. I love love love the way they're all trying to approach this like adults and acknowledge that they can have lives separate from each other but still want to be friends and oh, man, why can't the Ponds just stay forever? ;_; It's such a nice change from the trope of 'I want to stay in the TARDIS forever', and continues the theme that I love which is that growing up doesn't mean putting away childish things.

+ Speaking of growing up, I'll have to revisit my timeline post and see if I can figure out how Rory is 31 in this episode, because I seriously doubt he's more than maybe 2 years older than Amy and if this episode is set 10 months after 701, that doesn't quite fit. Of course, the ten months could refer to some other adventure, and Rory may be calculating his age based on how long they've spent in the TARDIS too, not his linear Earth age.

+ <3

Comments

[ladymercury_10]

AGREEING WITH EVERYTHING.

I really really liked it when Rupert Graves was like, "You know what I want more than anything?" and Amy says, "Lessons in gender politics?" and he gets this dreamy faraway look in his eyes and says like every third-grade boy (and girl!) ever "A dinosaur tooth!"

Amy and Rory getting to do the things they do best! And at the same time!

LOL it was funny how Rory doesn't even really react when the Doctor kisses him. Like, he makes a face like what the heck why would you do that, but he's just like, past trying to figure out why the Doctor does ANYTHING. I wish we got to see Amy's face. I bet she thought it was hilarious. And that was right after she said she was Rory's queen!

The traveling thing. </3 in all the correct and best and tying back to how their relationship has always been ways. I always assumed Rory was about 2-3 years older than Amy, because he was already working as a nurse in the first episode, when she was only 19. But who knows.

[such_heights]

Like, he makes a face like what the heck why would you do that, but he's just like, past trying to figure out why the Doctor does ANYTHING.

Right? Ahaha, oh Rory, your life is so difficult.

And yes, 2-3 years sounds right, but this episode made it seem more like five which I think is too much? The joy of overanalysing throwaway lines :D

[ashpags]

::flees other usual fandom hangouts::

Thank you for the squee!

Dinosaurs! Ponds! Adventures! <3

[such_heights]

SO MUCH SQUEE. ALL YAY ALL THE TIME. <3

[ashpags]

Your blog is like the Disneyland of the DW Fandom...Happiest Place on Earth!

[ignipes]

I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH.

That episode was just so much fun.

[such_heights]

I know! It was just ridiculously charming, I had such a great time watching it.

[masakochan]

Oh, Eleventy, you delightful alien queerball, you.

Yeees- he's that, and similar to one of those puppies you'd see sliding across a linoleum kitchen floor because they're so excited to see a person, or food. Which may or may not end in face-licking. xD

[silverhare]

Eee, yes! :D

[such_heights]

Exactly! BLESS. <333

[pocketmouse]

You said Eleven has now kissed all the Ponds, and I immediately thought 'when did he kiss Brian?' LOL.

I think it makes sense for Rory to be 31, I'm more unsure about Amy. Are they just going with actor age?

[such_heights]

Ahahahaha, there will always be more Ponds!

And well, I think Amy was born in 1989, and if this episode's set in 2015 (10 months after Asylum in Sept. 2014), then that would make Rory's birth year 1984, which seems like too much of a gap? He definitely doesn't seem five years older than her in flashbacks in 'Let's Kill Hitler' etc. You could maybe fudge it to be more like a 3 and a bit year gap, idk, which might make more sense. Or the episode is in fact set later than that, or Rory's not counting by Earth years, or who knows. *makes wibbly wobbley hands*

[masakochan]

I think someone has mentioned a deleted scene (maybe during series 5 IDEK) where he mentioned he was 4 years older than Amy.

Meaning Rory must've definitely been a 'late bloomer' if anything when it came puberty and growth spurts.

[such_heights]

Oh really? Huh, I don't think I've ever come across that.

[masakochan]

Ack! My mistake- apparently it was stated in a deleted scene waaay back in Vampires of Venice. At least according to one person in this thread.

[pocketmouse]

Well, he's got to be talking something that his dad agrees with, but he doesn't look 31, no.

Also, I love the difference in his explanation to his dad versus the time he took with Canton.

[such_heights]

Hmmm. Even if they're basing it on actor ages, Arthur was only 29 when filming that episode I think. *hands* I've got nothing.

And yes, ahahaha. I love watching them transition from regular Saturday at home to 'oh right aliens dinosaurs spaceship okay'. They are both pros by now. :D

[miarrow]

That's weird considering the Melody episodes where they were friends. Although it is a small town, I guess being friends and being very much not the same age group would be less strange, though I got the impression they hung out on a lot of school stuff.

Actually wee!Amy bossing older!Rory around and making him play Ragdy Man sounds pretty true to life and adorable.

[such_heights]

Actually wee!Amy bossing older!Rory around and making him play Ragdy Man sounds pretty true to life and adorable.

Yeah that's pretty much the best mental image, awwww. :D

[calapine]

SO MUCH LOVE. And I got a huge kick out of the ISA defending the Earth, cause that's something new and cool. Wouldn't half-mind seeing Indira again.

[such_heights]

Yes please, she was fab! And very sensible and whatnot, and I appreciated that the Doctor didn't completely flip out on her Harriet Jones-style or anything, that was a nice change.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

ELEVEN HAS NOW KISSED ALL OF THE PONDS. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED. Oh god that moment was so amazing - just the Doctor being his alien fond tactile self for no particular reason and eeee, I am so pleased. Oh, Eleventy, you delightful alien queerball, you.

And I loved Rory's casual 'ew, okay, all right... uh huh' in the background for all of 5 seconds before getting right back on track!

[such_heights]

Rory is pretty good at rolling with the weirdness of his life these days! :D

[queenfanfiction]

...wait, sorry, did you just say Rupert Graves? As in, not-my-division-but-I-am-good-at-football-and-have-five-children Rupert Graves? *busts out of the Sherlock off-season containment box like Loki through a Tesseract portal* Is this episode available on Torrent yet?

[concinnity]

This episode is available everywhere. :D

[such_heights]

Hahaha - indeed! Enjoy! :D

[kass]

the Doctor being his alien fond tactile self for no particular reason and eeee, I am so pleased. Oh, Eleventy, you delightful alien queerball, you.

YES YES YES THIS!

[such_heights]

HE'S SUCH A WEIRDO AND I LOVE HIM.

[concinnity]

YES. And I *needed* this post, because so many people on my timeline were upset about the episode, and I was too, in a couple of places. THANK YOU for the squee bandage!!

[such_heights]

Aw, you're very welcome! I think at this point I've accepted my role as font of squee about everything that is, or can be, squee-worthy. Which is not to say I don't think there are ever upsetting things about the episodes, just that everyone else seems to have that covered and I'd rather do the other thing. :)

[minim_calibre]

PONDS.

[such_heights]

BELOVED DARLINGS OF MY HEART. :D

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

I loved his relationship with his dad and how it wasn't some big dramatic rift, but rather a quiet story of the two of them getting to understand each other a little better over the course of the episode.

Nicely put!

There were so many lovely Pond characterization moments in this one. I liked it much better than the last, tbh; Amy and Rory felt like themselves.

[secondsilk]

I loved lots of things of things, too. Also that Brian is a Pond! Hahaha.

I'd thought that Rory was basically that same age as Amy. I mean, I hadn't thought about it much, but I thought that he was still studying to be a nurse in the first episode. If he's a year older (or almost 2 years older) than they could be in the same class as school if they do mixed classes. (Do they do that in the UK? a grade 5 and 6 classroom?)

I'm really hoping it is a thing. It might just be that Rory is counting how many months in total he has lived, excluding while being plastic, rather than how long it is since he was born.

[magic_at_mungos]

They do in some schools where there's a small intake for whatever reason.