Discussion/game: The scene that...

[templeremus]

We're well into our Who-less weeks now, and (if you're on the British side of the globe) the day are getting colder. And I reckon nothing warms the cockles of the heart like a bit of nostalgia. So I thought I'd put it to you; choosing from all the riches of series five and six, what scene:

1. … always raises a smile
2. …has you hiding behind the sofa/sofa cushion
3. …has you punching the air
4. …leaves a lump in your throat
5. …gives you the shivers
6. …makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside
7. …do you wish we’d seen (i.e. an implied or referenced event/adventure)
8. … do you re-visit again and again

Feel free to answer as many or as few as you like, in as much detail, and with as much justification, as you want.

1. Doctor, meet Roranicus- The Pandorica Opens

For starters, it’s a great piece of mime on Matt and Arthur’s part- the Doctor re-enters, comes right up to Rory, extends one finger and prods him firmly in the chest. Rory rocks back on his heels, creaks a bit.
Followed by that gloriously awkward opening exchange, with pitch-perfect comic timing.
“Hello again.”
“Hello.”
“….”
“How you been?”
“Good. Yeah, good. I mean- Roman.”
Love it.

1. House messes with the TARDIS- The Doctor’s Wife

 
Psychological horror always gets under my skin more than jump-scares, and this whole sequence had disturbing imagery in spades. The way Karen plays Amy’s breakdown when she finds Rory’s not-corpse could probably go under number 4, as well. Dark, tense and with a real emotional grip.

1. Rooftop Doctor montage- The Eleventh Hour

 
Going way, way back to Matt’s first story, this was the moment in which my glee at his utterly marvellous performance spilled over into hopeless, fannish devotion. First we get the quiet authority of the whole lead-in speech, with the visual flourishes as Matt cements his star status along with his appearance; next the swelling notes of Eleven’s action theme, the triumphant run through all his many faces, and: Hello. I’m the Doctor.
(I may have done a little Flail of Joy the first time I saw that scene. And then a few times more after that.)

1. “I’m giving her the days…”-The Girl Who Waited

Absolutely everything about this scene, from Arthur and Karen’s  knock-out performances, to the script, music, lighting, use of split-screen; it’s all beautifully done. And oh, it hurts. Here, the resolution of the story does nothing to take away the pain of what’s gone before; as in Amy’s Choice, there’s a darkness that you feel lingering over the characters, even as the credits roll. 

1. Back from (before) the dead- The Impossible Astronaut

Even though I, perhaps from trying to second-guess Moffat once too often, had seen the twist coming from the moment of the elder Canton III’s departure, it still played out to spine-tingling effect. Everybody’s reactions are so wonderfully characteristic, and Matt does a stupendous job at giving us a Doctor who is palpably younger than the one who just burned on a beach minutes beforehand.

1. Pond family reunion- A Good Man Goes to War

Crying Romans are cool. Also heart-meltingly adorable. And the Doctor speaks baby, and Melody loves her Big Milk Thing, and for one precious moment everything is right for our heroes.

1. ‘An Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express. In space.’ The Big Bang

I mean, come on. Doesn’t that just sound every kind of awesome? And we would have had more of the honeymoon-Ponds, before everything got all mad and complicated and not-so-phantom pregnancy for them by The Impossible Astronaut. Don’t get me wrong, having a husband and wife team onboard the TARDIS makes me very, very happy. But I wish we’d seen a bit more of the earlier stuff.

1. Oh dear lord, where to start? There’s the Rory/Amy kiss in Amy’s Choice, the Starry Starry Night sequence in Vincent and the Doctor, the Doctor’s farewell to Idris in The Doctor’s Wife, the Doctor/Melody post-regeneration standoff in Let’s Kill Hitler…but I think it still has to be Amelia’s bedtime story, in The Big Bang. Because every time I see it, something else strikes me afresh. Last time it was how utterly ancient Matt’s whole posture makes him; there’s so much exhaustion to it, so much finality, even as he finds the words that will bring him back. And then he’s gone, and the stars are shining, and Amelia dreams of him until her wedding day.