Doctor Who 2008: Sontarans cometh, RTD Ood 'ave 'im etc.

It reminded me of some of the more off-the-wall old Who stories, like Kinda or Ghost Light.

"a pet name for online Who fans"

mingmongs?

Astonishing, sorry.

Moffat's dislike of online fandom comes to a head in the script here, I think.

Rather amusing because Moffat was a semi-regular on alt.comedy.british when Coupling was airing. Guess the Dr. Who fans are another kettle of fish.

I've been listening to a lot of the 8th Doctor audio dramas lately, which are mostly really good. Except for the ones set in America, which have accents just as bad as the cross-atlantic productions that flip things around, shall we say.

This feller has a way of scaring kids. Brilliant. Cannot wait to see where it's going.

Didn't read the 'no spoilers' bit as Moffatt trolling the fans but if he is, then A++ trolling.

But really, who gives a shit? That episode was fucking brilliant, sorry. If I was a 10 year old kid that would have shitted me up more than anything.

So that's Moffatt's future companion we've glimpsed there, perhaps? I quite liked her. Donna is not long for this world I think :/

She was thingy from ER! I only just realised thing, I spent the whole episode thinking she was thingy from Eastenders.

realised this

This feller has a way of scaring kids and then ratcheting it up to the point of being borderline cruel. He did it with the montage of statues in Blink. He did it again here. Shadows that eat you on alien planets thousands of years in the future = quite scary. Mild presence of shadows that eat you, in dust particles in streams of light, on Earth now, that very occasionally cause people to disappear without trace = I want my mummy.

Also a hint that the next companion might come from the future rather than a present day Earth.

Framing the whole thing through the eyes and mind of a child was a great device as well. Surprised how rarely actual kids have featured in nu-Who but when they have it's been brilliant each time.

What would be even more awesome would be if the girl's doctor was actually a future incarnation of the Doctor, closing the circle.

"Framing the whole thing through the eyes and mind of a child was a great device as well." This is surely misdirection? I liked the 'reveal' when the doctor is torturing the security camera device with his screw driver.

Yeah it is midirection but we don't know why the security system is connected to the mind of a child on present day Earth. It's a bit Girl in the Fireplace all that.

that's Moffatt's future companion we've glimpsed there, perhaps?

I don't see any reason why she'd have to be a) a future companion b) even *shown* in the next season of Dr Who . The impression I got from the 'comparing diaries' thing was that the two of them live their own lives, on their own timelines, and every so often meet up to spend some time together: she isn't an adjunct to him, she isn't constantly by his side, she doesn't need him to take-her-away-from-her-boring-life.

In fact if she's explicitly supposed to be 'in a relationship' with the doctor it would be really awkward to have her as a companion.

don't know why the security system is connected to the mind of a child on present day Earth

I was kind of assuming that it's not i.e. that the 'girl' is a simulation running in the 'mind' of the security device. So when Dr Moon says 'the dreams are real, and the reality is the dream' he is being correct. Either the security system has gone 'mad' over the last 100 years or it is in some kind of protection shut-down mode.

Lady from ER = future regeneration of a Doctor, no?

I mean, she is the Doctor. Or that's I thought...

Given the 'hello, sweetie' and the hands-on and the 'your eyes are so much younger!' and the 'you gave my your sonic screwdriver' and, i think, some spoilers that i read, i assumed she was some kind of future love-interest.

DO I HAVE TO REPEAT FUTURE WIFE AGAIN? OK, I WILL.

FUTURE WIFE.

I EVEN GAVE YOU A BIG HINT TOWARDS THE BOOK 'THE TIME TRAVELLER'S WIFE' WHICH HAS A LOT OF THE SAME PLOT.

I will stop shouting now.

She could be a re-Jenny-ration (she kept saying she tried to bring the Dr back to just after he'd met her, which would be about right). Her being the Doctor didn't occur to me but it would explain why she has the screwdriver. She also mentions having been "to the end of the universe" with him, but surely she's not the Master. Mind you, if she was any of these wouldn't the Doctor be able to sense her being a timelord?

And yeah - Colin Salmon was telling the girl that her real world was all a lie and her dreams were real, so her brain is meant to be a security system.

Ha, you're right that it's not really likely/possible, but her being the Master would ROCK!

Future wife is a definite possibility, although flirting with everyone was kind of her schtick. The plots of this episode and the book aren't THAT similar*. Presumably she can't be from that far in the future, she seemd to recognise Tennant's Doctor, rather than some future incarnation, and I'm assuming Tennant won't be hanging around for that much longer.

The alternative is that the Doctor spoilers himself and realises that he never actually meets her, and this is more misdirection and she's actually a villain. Wouldn't explain the sonic screwdriver mind.

Jenny would be the worst of all possible answers.

*Although the novel has a character called Alba OMG DO YOU SEE???

Like, there is NO WAY they are going to let that Tardis book just sit around without someone opening it.

Yeah, so if someone reads the book, does the timeline in which she meets the dr, gets married etc. all disappear? i.e. she is his future wife but that never happens for him.

Or maybe the Doctor decides not to let that timeline happen, after reading the book and finding out about horrible stuff that happens because he met her.

Or maybe she sold him some crisps and he dropped his sonic screwdriver on the way out.

I'm assuming the Alex Kingston character dies and that the Doctor feels in some way responsible for this and goes back to meet her, causing the whole affair thing; thus timeloop.

The child is very obviously the AI for the library's main systems and presumably is the Cal thing the the Mr Lux character is concerned about retrieving. She's also very obviously downloaded Donna and the others she's "saved".

Donna, by all indications, won't survive the series. Which is a pity as I think she's been the best of the nu-Who companions. But I wouldn't have expected them to be able to keep Catherine Tate for more than a series anyway.

Alex Kingston has been to the end of the universe with the Dr, she talked to him with the psychic paper like the Face of Boe did, and she's flirting with him a lot. She's Captain Jack.

Sorry, I'm just being silly now.

Revelations and speculations aside, I thought this was a pretty great episode -- but it did feel a little rushed and even "stagey" -- maybe as if Moffat was writing for the studio sitcom audience. Having said that, I'd rather have an ideas-full rushed episode than another Ood/Titanic non-starter.

Also, as Matt points out: Shadow = Scary. Living Skeleton Spacesuit with Four Shadows = Holy Fuck.

And that first shot of the skull inside the space suit gets my vote for "Nu-Who moment most likely to have scarred me severely as a child" of the four series so far...

i think she is his future biographer

I do not much care for that curly-hairded flirtface.

oh, i kinda liked her a lot. she is more self-assured than either rose or martha, without the self-lampooning seriousness of donna.

if i was a kid i wld totally be having nightmares abt the skeleton in a space suit zombie shadow monster!!

Perhaps, Alex K is the little girl and also she is the Rani.

it wld be awesome if flirtface were some incarnation of captain jack - she does act like him! i doubt she is the dr's wife, if only b/c i do not want the dr to have a wife

Captain Jack is already immortal, having a regeneration as well would just be greedy.

Incidentally does she have a name yet?

yeah i know she's not cpt jack, but she's like him, a lot.
xpost
professor river song!

i think we shld read into that name

http://www.rossanthony.com/R/images/riverdance.jpg

Before they cangd it, the next episode was going to be called River's Run.

cangd = changed

Could she actually be a future Doctor? Or Time Lady (Rani/Romana/other)?
A baddie?

She is an intergalactic massage therapist.

who else has ever called him 'pretty boy'??

I loved Donna's reaction.

I know Donna will not end up as repetitive crap abstract sculpture face but I really don't want her to.

Like The Catherine Tate Show?