Doctor Who: P.S.

[such_heights]

So the BBC have released a short video of an unfilmed scene that Chris Chibnall wrote as a coda to 705, with Brian. Storyboards with narration by Arthur Darvill, it's lovely and totally a tearjerker.

Spoilers for the video follow.

---

FEELINGS. asldjkas *cries*

I imagine that as this is happening, River is doing the very same thing at Amy's parents' house. Yes.

Oh, god. I'm sort of glad this wasn't filmed because it fixes canon a little more absolutely and leaves less wriggle room, but it is a lovely idea, that Brian gets some closure, and a grandson to boot. It also makes the Ponds' happily ever after feel a bit more real, with Rory's letter here as well as Amy's letter to the Doctor. They really, really did get to do the things they wanted - build a life together, raise a child together, grow old together. I'm still completely not okay that they're gone, but I am glad to know that.

Also, wow, can you imagine what a child they brought up from scratch must be like? How completely amazing he must be? If Melody is their superhero daughter out among the stars, then I hope that Anthony is their superhero son down here on Earth, carrying on their legacy of stories and bravery and love.

And in conclusion, this:

Comments

[cantarina]

Curse you, Chibnall and Darvill! I cried!

[pocketmouse]

I'm glad they didn't film this, because it means maybe I can convince myself to keep my headcanon that 705 didn't take place 'til a while after 704, and we wouldn't have to worry about making Brian sad.

It still doesn't help with the gaping plot hole of them not actually being fucking stuck. That's what I really want resolution on. I don't like the idea of them having to live through WWII; but at least they're one up on everyone else history-wise, so they know what's coming and how to prepare for it, though I still feel bad for Rory having to live through it again.

1946+60=2006. That's a baby in those pics. 'Present' day is at least 2015, right? He'd have to be actually almost 70, not in his 60's.

No, I want my Ponds baaaaaaaaaaaaack.

[snorkackcatcher]

It still doesn't help with the gaping plot hole of them not actually being fucking stuck

Just rewatched it, and if it helps I think it can bear out my take, which is that the paradox isn't so much supposed to be

"Amy and Rory end up in New York in 1938, and the temporal lines are too mixed up to retrieve them from specifically that point in time and space"

but something like

"Amy and Rory end up in New York in 1938, and live out their lives in the past, and the Doctor knows that's what happened because of the book and the gravestone, and can't change or even approach that fixed point without a temporal disaster that's a smaller-scale version of what happened in The Wedding of River Song"

Of course (as with what happened to Rose and Donna) it's also nicely set up so that it could be got around if the cast members concerned ever change their mind -- by making the appearances roughly the same while not actually changing time quite as badly as the fixed point not happening at all, again as with TWoRS. This new scene would made that harder, but since it's unfilmed it doesn't necessarily count, right?

[pocketmouse]

I agree that the reason the Doctor thinks he can't go back is because he read it in a book, and that means it's true, but the details we have about the book are so vague - he doesn't read endings, so we don't know if he read the last chapter after he saw the title, and we don't have a year Amy and Rory died, let alone proof they're buried there, and there were other parts of the book that he thought were true that turned out not to be, and River can go back to Amy and Rory. So it still doesn't work for me.

[snorkackcatcher]

Well yeah, maybe those are the loopholes the writers left themselves? :) Of course, it would need to be carefully set up so that the Doctor knew just enough to make him convinced that he knew what had happened, but with enough missing pieces in his knowledge that it could be worked around.

Not sure River can go back either, mind you -- she talks about "sending" the book to Amy, not giving it to her personally?

[pocketmouse]

I think there are ways to leave loopholes to come back without making the characters seem so stupid. Or at least make the logic of it clearer to the audience.

I got the distinct impression River was going to give the manuscript to Amy.

[snorkackcatcher]

FTR (make of it what you will) her line is "OK, this book I've got to write. Melody Malone. I presume I send it to Amy to get it published?"

[pocketmouse]

Thanks, I don't have a transcript and I'm at work. So it's ambiguous as to how River gets the manuscript to Amy, but I don't see her as the type to send package to wait 20 years. It's all too ambiguous for me, in a way that reads to me as sloppiness as opposed to leaving an opening.

[kass]

Oh, my heart!

::sniff::

[recessional]

I like that. It works for me.

[elisi]

Oh that's beautiful and now I'm almost crying. Again. But I love it. <3

[aella_irene]

Oooh.

(I think I shall combine this with my headcanon that they are also Canton Everett Delaware III's adopted parents, and Phil Coulson's grandparents via an adopted daughter.)

[ladymercury_10]

I did start to cry, but then I had a train to catch. :P

I do like the idea of keeping things open-ended, but really it makes me feel much better to think that Rory and Amy got to have a baby to keep, and that Brian had someone to keep him company after they were gone. It was sad they didn't mention River, but I like to imagine that perhaps they thought losing them and having a grandson older than him was enough to stick Brian with for one day, and they'd deal with the timey-wimey later. River only looks about 40, which would be probably too young to have been their adopted child, and so maybe after Brian and Anthony do some catching up he'll get to introduce him to his sister. Because I also like to imagine that either she managed to visit them in the past, or that they got to have Melody just for a little while in the seventies (they would have been in their sixties or so then, if they got sent back to '38), or that they at least found her and helped her get to Leadworth somehow.

[oparu]

Oh that's lovely!!!! Rory you darling. So glad they were happy. Funny how their son's American. ;)

[laurashapiro]

Yeah, that works. Ow.

[mergatrude]

Oh, this is so good to see! I was so worried about Brian and I'm glad they didn't forget him.

Thank you for sharing.

[onehundredmoons.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Perfect.

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

I watched it at work and had actual tears rolling down my face. I really did love that Rory got a good bye too and that Brian found out what happened to them. It would have killed so much more to see if actually filmed