And now for something completely different...
Written on the Friday before the season finale of the Sixth Series of Doctor Who. I swear. Oh god, I'm probably posting this like a week late [edit: having found an internet café, I haven't! I wrote this yesterday evening, though], having watched the last episode - one of the most anticipated this year - days after everyone else. GAH.
ANYWAY:
With no internet (well, limited internet at the school), I've had a lot of time in the evenings and between meetings and such to watch what DVDs I brought and what I've had on my harddrive. (Being Human - a BBC series about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who live together in a flat in Bristol, is full of lulz and such)… including Doctor Who. Now, knowing that the season finale will air soon, I thought I'd get my thoughts on what will happen down on (digital) paper, so to speak.
I do not believe that Steven Moffat has the balls to kill off the Doctor. For one thing, he'd (and probably his descendants) would get death threats from Whovians for time immemorial if he did. Secondly, it would be just too awesome for the Doctor to escape death once again in an extremely clever way. Besides, if the Master can come back umpteen times from "I'm really dead this time guys, for real this time, seriously", and if he's supposed to be a darker reflection of the Doctor, there has to be a few parallels.
That being said, I'm pretty sure that the Doctor that was killed in the first part of The Impossible Astronaut was not the one that lived to be 1103 years old. My main evidence? His interactions with River. The more I watch that initial scene in the diner, the more I think it's true.
The line that really makes me think is when River and the Doctor are comparing diaries.
River: Right then, where are we? Have we done Easter Island yet?
Doctor: [Rifling through his diary]… YES! I've got Easter Island.
Now, if he had actually lived through the incident River was talking about, he would probably remember that he did something so important that they made statues in his image, and would have replied immediately in the affirmative. He's very old, but he does say in A Good Man Goes to War to that dying girl he doesn't know that "I remember everybody." He's old, not senile (though he probably is insane on many levels). Again, if he had actually experienced the Easter Island adventure, he would have said yes immediately. Instead, he flips through the diary first and says "Yes, I've got Easter Island!" Not, "yes, I remember that" or some other reminiscence (although the "Still building his dam" line about Jim the Fish might poke a hole in my theory… or WAIT it could also be a planted line in the diary!)… he has to find the entry to "remember" the incident.
He also definitely looks like he's reading "Jim the Fish" from the diary as well. River is mostly looking for reassurance that this is the Doctor she knows - and they never know what order they meet in. It doesn't have to be much, a reference to shared experiences.
That says to me that the Doctor that was killed mid-regeneration was one of those flesh avatars or something else… not himself.
Also, I think that there's some ongoing symbolism with the colour of the Eleventh Doctor's ties - red for the past, blue for the future. The first Doctor in the episode is wearing a blue bow tie, the second red. That's gotta mean something, amirite? No, wait, crap: the second one is wearing a blue bow tie too. Curses!
(No, I'm totally not grasping at straws!)
Also, the Doctor at the picnic at Lake Silencio claimed he'd never drunk wine before... though didn't he get served it by Craig in "The Lodger"?
They also STILL haven't had their picnic in space, 1969. THE DOCTOR WOULDN'T BREAK HIS PROMISE LIKE THAT.
I have evidence. But the strongest evidence I have is that the Doctor just isn't allowed to die. Fandom won't let him.
ANYWAY:
With no internet (well, limited internet at the school), I've had a lot of time in the evenings and between meetings and such to watch what DVDs I brought and what I've had on my harddrive. (Being Human - a BBC series about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost who live together in a flat in Bristol, is full of lulz and such)… including Doctor Who. Now, knowing that the season finale will air soon, I thought I'd get my thoughts on what will happen down on (digital) paper, so to speak.
I do not believe that Steven Moffat has the balls to kill off the Doctor. For one thing, he'd (and probably his descendants) would get death threats from Whovians for time immemorial if he did. Secondly, it would be just too awesome for the Doctor to escape death once again in an extremely clever way. Besides, if the Master can come back umpteen times from "I'm really dead this time guys, for real this time, seriously", and if he's supposed to be a darker reflection of the Doctor, there has to be a few parallels.
That being said, I'm pretty sure that the Doctor that was killed in the first part of The Impossible Astronaut was not the one that lived to be 1103 years old. My main evidence? His interactions with River. The more I watch that initial scene in the diner, the more I think it's true.
The line that really makes me think is when River and the Doctor are comparing diaries.
River: Right then, where are we? Have we done Easter Island yet?
Doctor: [Rifling through his diary]… YES! I've got Easter Island.
Now, if he had actually lived through the incident River was talking about, he would probably remember that he did something so important that they made statues in his image, and would have replied immediately in the affirmative. He's very old, but he does say in A Good Man Goes to War to that dying girl he doesn't know that "I remember everybody." He's old, not senile (though he probably is insane on many levels). Again, if he had actually experienced the Easter Island adventure, he would have said yes immediately. Instead, he flips through the diary first and says "Yes, I've got Easter Island!" Not, "yes, I remember that" or some other reminiscence (although the "Still building his dam" line about Jim the Fish might poke a hole in my theory… or WAIT it could also be a planted line in the diary!)… he has to find the entry to "remember" the incident.
He also definitely looks like he's reading "Jim the Fish" from the diary as well. River is mostly looking for reassurance that this is the Doctor she knows - and they never know what order they meet in. It doesn't have to be much, a reference to shared experiences.
That says to me that the Doctor that was killed mid-regeneration was one of those flesh avatars or something else… not himself.
Also, I think that there's some ongoing symbolism with the colour of the Eleventh Doctor's ties - red for the past, blue for the future. The first Doctor in the episode is wearing a blue bow tie, the second red. That's gotta mean something, amirite? No, wait, crap: the second one is wearing a blue bow tie too. Curses!
(No, I'm totally not grasping at straws!)
Also, the Doctor at the picnic at Lake Silencio claimed he'd never drunk wine before... though didn't he get served it by Craig in "The Lodger"?
They also STILL haven't had their picnic in space, 1969. THE DOCTOR WOULDN'T BREAK HIS PROMISE LIKE THAT.
I have evidence. But the strongest evidence I have is that the Doctor just isn't allowed to die. Fandom won't let him.