Sea Devils And Die: GeroniMoffat's Doctor Who In The 2010s

I'm somehow doubting that it's River/Melody in the spacesuit when the Doctor gets killed. As the older River was standing there watching it with Amy and Rory, she would presumably have remembered it - but at the same time she seemed genuinely thrown and pretty pissed off when the younger Doctor appeared in the cafe.

I hope the Big Bad isn't the Weeping Angels, they're good silent villains but I can't see them working as the climax to a whole season. More likely to be the Silence I reckon. We're definitely going to see 1969, or at least Canton Delaware, again.

but if it child River turned up, killed the Doctor, and then wandered off into the future to get imprisoned in Stormcage she would have grown up thinking she'd killed the Doctor in all finality at that point, so as an adult she'd watch herself kill him, be powerless to stop it, fruitlessly shoot at her younger self out of futile guilt and be totally sure that that was the end of him (at least for this meeting). The spacesuited Doctor-killer doesn't know that there's another younger Doctor wafting about nearby, they only know that they've killed the one in front of them.

if River had grown up being forced to live inside a spacesuit, though, you'd think she would remember some of it. or at least, not be an ideal person to notice wonderingly that the child must have fought its way out of the spacesuit.

5. We saw a little girl wander unattended through an American alleyway at some point after 1969, announce that she was about to die but it was no big deal, and regenerate, who I suppose we are now meant to be thinking is Melody River Song Pond, but I don't know how this fits in with anything

so, yes, more Canton Delaware due

I do not like this summer-long break, I'm going to be full of pointless ideas and theories for the next fortnight while there's no hope of getting them confirmed, and then when it's actually back on telly I'll be all "eh? who are these people and why are they doing any of these things?"

(yes, I was wondering why River doesn't remember anything about the child in the spacesuit, if she was the child in the spacesuit)

private eye claiming some fuckups by bbc wales means there won't be a series 7 next year, just some specials.

http://www.kasterborous.com/2011/06/series-7-postponed/

hmm

There's a lot of conjecture there. Smith could easily fit in other work around Doctor Who and there's no guarantee that Amy and Rory will last past this year even if a 2012 series does go ahead.

Unless the child in the spacesuit is a flesh avatar.

A flesh avatar that can also regenerate? Hmm...the other issue (and mark against it being River or indeed any human) is why emerge from and then return to the lake, altho its not clear to what extent the suit's occupant can control its actions.

Just to speculate because it's bugging me where this is all going now and forgive me if I'm missing something obvious: Perhaps young Melody's 1969 regeneration conveniently (but brutally) means there is no child for Rory and Amy to raise, leaving Mr & Mrs Pond rather upset and unable to continue TARDIS adventures without constant sadfaces. To have this not trouble them enough and remain into next year seems awfully cold (the situation as is being already pretty fucking cold but preferable to the Doctor having to slap a 'baby on board' sticker on the TARDIS door certainly...tho that gag seems almost worth it). Any permanent split between Amy and Rory (including killing the latter off once and for all) also seems too cold, so one seems unlikely to depart without the other. Even with Moff you'd think all this harshness will have a happy outcome for the otherwise happy couple. Right? But at this point I can't think of an outcome that keeps the Ponds in the show beyond Xmas (altho this may just be me lacking sleep) while excluding parenthood which it surely must...and its annoying that they may once again not be able to keep a companion around for more than two seasons.

bbc head of comms has now said on twitter that 14 more matt smith dr who episodes have been commissioned. i am astonished that private eye have printed unfounded rumours.

lol

Given the compressed nature of the show nowadays, I think 2 seasons is about the right maximum tenure for a companion; also, due to the change in show format it seems like modern companions have shorter tenures but they are actually around for more adventures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_%28Doctor_Who%29#List_of_television_companions (compare appearance number of the classic companions with the new companions; don't even get me started on the book appearances)

i've never liked the quick turnaround in nu-who for either doctor or companions personally and if gillan feels that just two years is enough (rather than what moffat thinks which may or may not the same) i do still find that strange and disappointing for someone so young and unestablished tho seemingly very successful in the show. that's assuming she doesn't stick around.

nu adventure = 1 45min episode
classic adventure = 5-6 30min episodes

xp

@steven_moffat
Steven Moffat
14 eps + Matt DEFINITELY. I've got a plan and I'm NOT TELLING YOU WHAT IT IS. Now hush or River shoots you with her Spoiler Gun.#formaqueue
12 minutes ago via web

xp: I thought I addressed that with "due to the change in show format"

also most classic adventures were presented as 4-part stories by the time of Tom Baker's tenure

private eye's past who gossip has been similarly way off

you can understand why matt smith might want to replicate david tennant's epic stateside success

if River had grown up being forced to live inside a spacesuit, though, you'd think she would remember some of it. or at least, not be an ideal person to notice wonderingly that the child must have fought its way out of the spacesuit.

don't think we're meant to conclude that she's been in the spacesuit from birth to Impossible-Astronaut-age* - could be that she's been RE-kidnapped by the Silence later on, who aren't affiliated with Madame Eyepatch. But the photo of Amy and babby (I looked, think she's under six months there) in the Silenced-up children's home suggests that maybe Amy raises her there at some point, perhaps for a couple of years...

*though I admit I largely think this because I am horrified that it could be the case! But she has to learn fluent English somewhere/somewhen, as Nixon didn't have a TARDIS to translate from Silence or Vasta or whatever Melody's captors speak.

of course it is entirely possible that Alex-Kingston-River is the 5th regeneration of Time Babby, and little-girl-in-American-alley is the third.

They can timey-wimey all they want and I will revel in every last second of it but if there's six time babbys all on the go at once I may well lose my grip on everything

btw nice to see that Moffat at least claims to have a ~plan~

So did the Cylons and look how that turned out.

adamathrowingpaint.jpg

ha ha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYQAv_-txhM

LOL, this is why the next episode is called "Let's Kill Hitler!"...

So, how did someone who's got a bit of swarthiness in them come from Pale and Paler? I'm guessing regenerations took care of that?

The bit I don't get is - if the bad guys had the real baby the whole time, what was the point of that whole fight at the end? Why were the monks bothering to attack? (For that matter, I don't get how the eyepatch lady went from "the Doctor's prisoner" to "taunting him on video from miles away")

Maybe the fight was to distract the Doctor so he didn't realise the baby was flesh, and to buy Eyepatch enough time to get away?

interesting graph in the observer yesterday - matt smith's 14 more episodes will put him on 49, which is more than tennant (47), eccles(13), mcgann(1), cbaker(31), davison(43)

but less than mccoy(69), tbaker(172), pertwee(128), troughton(119) and hartnell(134)

waht

slightly missed how patchy escaped rory and the pirates tbh

That can't be as high as 49, even allowing for Christmas specials and the last regeneration scene, surely?

mathy wathy

mccoy(69)

2 x 13 eps = 26 + next year's series of 14 eps = 40 + crap Christmas special with Katharine Jenkins = 41. Even giving him turning up at the end of Tennant's last one, that's still only 42. Are they counting the mini thing at the Doctor Who prom and the Children in Need special and some other random stuff as well?

-xpost-

I saw that and thought LOL Grauniad.

I still don't get how McCoy got to 69 episodes (or Davison only to 43 for that matter)

Are they counting appearance in the Sarah Jane Adventures as well, maybe?

(doesn't explain McCoy, I know...)

Tennant's total just seems to include the main series + xmas + specials, not the Children In Need one, not even the regeneration.

Well I mean Davison was in it for what, three years? 26 episodes a year? That's just off the top of my head. McCoy was in 3x14 + Dimensions in Time + the American movie which doesn't = 69. Observer my arse.

69 inc 5 doctors for davison acc. to wikip + my hasty arithmetic.

I just worked it out, they swapped McCoy and Davison.

(am sorry i posted that now)

So apparently we're not getting 14 episodes in 2012 after all...

Moffatt sez:

misquotes and misunderstandings. But I'm not being bounced into announcing the cool stuff before we're ready. Hush, and patience.

Yeah, people are already jumping on this without knowing any facts at all.

There seems to be a lot of talk about rumoured on-going production chaos that's rumoured to have caused this year's split and the rumoured 2012–2013 season rumoured rumoured, and I suppose there's also the chance that budget cuts are hitting it (although this show could probably fund itself with all the DVD and toy sales).

that is not how the funding works tho*. Who brings in more $ than anything other BBC property IIRC, and has its production budget cut year-on-year.

* same at w0rk here btw, even on [f0rm3r j0b] DVDs I compiled and sleevenoted and whatnot. sometimes got a free copy though.

"anything other property." to the cocktail bar!

Yeah I know income =/= budget where public funding is concerned, just thinking aloud.

Work of deviant madness or ornate joke: http://www.drwhogirlsknickers.co.uk/

Also:
http://youtu.be/XUDsDhNKiBg

I have just spent 5 minutes laughing my ass off, kudos