Doctor Who, series 6 thoughts and ruminations. SPOILERS
I worked some of this out in the shower. I do a lot of good thinking in there, okay?!
The Doctor who shows up at the beginning of Impossible Astronaut. Am I the only one who felt that that scene, the Doctor, everything felt a bit... off? Odd, maybe? Because something about the Doctor and the invitations just felt weird to me. And then they were all out in the desert having a picnic, and the Doctor mentions he's 1103. I'm sure everyone got their inner ALERT ALERT SOMETHING HAPPENED WHAT, because the last time he mentioned his age he was 906 or 909 or something like that. Two hundred years older.
Amy's reaction: "" and the Doctor's response, "Well, you've put on a couple of pounds, I wasn't going to mention it." The Doctor seems cranky on being called out on his age. Really? While Amy and Rory were off enjoying their honeymoon, etc., the Doctor managed to rack up an extra two hundred years' worth of adventures? All while fucking about with history just to catch Amy and Rory's attention? Something seems off about that whole thing. All the times Nine and Ten were about not interfering, not changing history, yadda yadda yadda. And here Eleven is just gleefully fucking about with everything? Hmmmm.
And then Eleven gets shot. The Astronaut and the Doctor by the Lake. The Doctor says, smiling, "I know it's you, don't worry." He knows who's in the space suit. And whoever is in the space suit kills him with electricity--and when his regeneration cycle starts, kills him properly. The Astronaut knows about the Doctor's regeneration. Knows the Doctor.
Fast forward to the end of Day of the Moon. That little girl. She's wandering around the streets of NYC and happens upon this hobo, whom she tells she's dying. And then she regenerates. That little girl? A Time Lord. Who else regenerates like that? Unless Moff is setting something totally different up for us, that regeneration was meant to tell us that that little girl IS A TIME LORD.
I think the little girl regenerates into Eleven. Into 1103-year-old Eleven. And the 909-year-old Eleven who comes back while Amy, Rory, and River are in shock about the Doctor's death, and gets slapped by River, is the "real" Doctor.
Granted, this doesn't explain everything: how that little girl could/does regenerate into Eleven, and why she becomes an older version of him, but to me it feels possible, likely... it feels like it's the kind of thing Moff would do.
Also, I'm sure everyone else found it strange that immediately after Eleven explains to the Silence What He Did -- blasting that "You should kill us on sight!" across the entire population watching the moon landing, that he appeared to forget about the little girl and the Astronaut suit and everything. Time for more adventures! I have destroyed the monster. Well, no, you didn't. You started the process for getting rid of the Silence. You didn't follow through. And you just appeared to forget about that little girl who alerted you to the SpaceMan. Who started everything in the first place. Eleven went to the President, who told him about the calls begging for help from the Spaceman. Which is how Eleven discovered the Silence. And the little girl ... did he forget her? He appeared to! That doesn't say he DID forget, but he is definitely acting as though he forgot.
Now when going after the Silence, Amy was found in what looked EXACTLY LIKE that space ship/control room/whatever from The Lodger. The little girl from the Lodger was luring people in to ask for help. "Please help me! I need your help." Now we have a little girl asking the President for help. There is NO COINCIDENCES in Moff land. This was done for a reason. There was an interview that said that there will be a sequel to The Lodger. So what this says to me is that the events of The Lodger are not standalone, but we will revisit them, they will come up again. So whatever that ship was, whatever that little girl was, it hasn't gone away forever. And The Silence were in that control room, keeping Amy prisoner. Telling her she'd been there for days but she kept forgetting how long it was.
So I'm also thinking that in the Lodger, it was The Silence in that spaceship on the second floor. I think the Silence can take on other forms. When you look away from them, you forget they were ever there. Why should they always look like some monster? (And let me tell you, the Silence are the most monster-y monster I have seen in a LONG TIME) Maybe that's their default, but being possessed of the ability to make people forget them as soon as they're out of sight... who's to say they can't take on other forms as well? You'd just forget them. Hence... the Doctor has forgotten the little girl, he has forgotten ever seeing her, he has forgotten she was the author of this whole adventure, this revolution of the Silence. And he forgot having some encounter with her. So going with all the times that Moffat didn't show us the scenes which Amy et. al. forgot and then made themselves remember... we didn't see where the Doctor encountered the little girl, forgot her, and thus enabled her to have his form imprinted upon her, so she could take it. This is a huge stretch but if the Doctor forgot... and didn't think to record it on the blinky red nanotech thing because the little girl was a little girl, and didn't look like The Silence, because it didn't match up with everythign else... how do we know what happened? So my theory is the little girl is using him/ his form.
So we have two Doctors: the "real Doctor" who is clueless about the 1103-year-old version of himself making Amy, River, and Rory watch him die, and the little girl who regenerates into an older version of himself and shows up at the very beginning of Impossible Astronaut, looking and acting (mostly) exactly like The Doctor.
Unrelated, I feel like the only one in fandom who does not particularly like River Song. Not because she's a Mary Sue or because of her smug way of refusing to talk about "spoilers". But because I don't trust her. Little mannerisms, looks from the Doctor ... he does not (yet) trust River. Their timelines are exactly opposite. What she knows of him, why she trusts him, is all in his future STILL. His past with her has been the Pandorica, the second coming of the Angels, and the Library/Forest of the Dead. That's it. All those three times she has known him, held things she knew about him that he didn't over his head, basically cockily walking around the TARDIS like she owns the place. And the Doctor bemusedly goes along with it because he chooses to believe that she is his future and therefore he'll learn the truth about her later. But it's very convenient that she knows his future and he knows hers. And the Doctor doesn't appear to remember the end of her from Forest of the Dead. Or he doesn't show that he knows he will be the author of her fate, at least. I don't trust River. She's in prison, she said for killing the best man she ever knew. I think she is deceiving The Doctor, and using this backwards-timeline thing as a way to keep on deceiving him. And each time they meet, they discover more and more of each other. Someone else's reaction post to Day of the Moon mentioned how tragic it was that that kiss between the Doctor and River (his first with her/her last with him) was set to ominous/sad music, rather than happy. From my point of view, it works, because River still has not established why she should be trustworthy, only walked in demanding that the Doctor trust her for reasons only she knows. She will happily fall off a fifty-story building (or jump into space) expecting the Doctor to be right there with his TARDIS, and he is. I don't think the Doctor understands yet why he goes along with her. And I don't think the Doctor trusts her.
Oh yes, point out how they flirt and banter. I think the Doctor does it sort of automatically. She does it, so he merely reflects it right back to her. It doesn't necessarily reveal anything about him or his feelings. Also, he flailed when Amy came onto him in s5, and he really flailed when River snogged him. Eleven in this part of his timeline is just not into that. So what happens later in the Doctor's future that makes River think he IS up for that? Is this what we'll discover more of in the episode called The Doctor's Wife? Or is it going to drag out all season, the story of the truth of River's past and the Doctor's future, along with the mystery of the little-girl Time Lord? There is a lot going on here and I might just watch both episodes over again soon.
I feel like this is not very... deep-thoughts or even very creative, but I feel like the above is exactly what makes the most sense based upon past Who episodes and plot arcs. Also, Moff being an evil genius. This is going to be a rather complex season, plot-wise, and I'm loving that so much. I like that this is going to be more than "let's go hopping around various vacation destinations throughout Time and Space!" as it has been, but it's all going to be a Real Story with the Doctor and everything.
And there is so much more I haven't addressed, but there is so very much to think about that may come up in later rumination/reaction posts.
The Doctor who shows up at the beginning of Impossible Astronaut. Am I the only one who felt that that scene, the Doctor, everything felt a bit... off? Odd, maybe? Because something about the Doctor and the invitations just felt weird to me. And then they were all out in the desert having a picnic, and the Doctor mentions he's 1103. I'm sure everyone got their inner ALERT ALERT SOMETHING HAPPENED WHAT, because the last time he mentioned his age he was 906 or 909 or something like that. Two hundred years older.
Amy's reaction: "" and the Doctor's response, "Well, you've put on a couple of pounds, I wasn't going to mention it." The Doctor seems cranky on being called out on his age. Really? While Amy and Rory were off enjoying their honeymoon, etc., the Doctor managed to rack up an extra two hundred years' worth of adventures? All while fucking about with history just to catch Amy and Rory's attention? Something seems off about that whole thing. All the times Nine and Ten were about not interfering, not changing history, yadda yadda yadda. And here Eleven is just gleefully fucking about with everything? Hmmmm.
And then Eleven gets shot. The Astronaut and the Doctor by the Lake. The Doctor says, smiling, "I know it's you, don't worry." He knows who's in the space suit. And whoever is in the space suit kills him with electricity--and when his regeneration cycle starts, kills him properly. The Astronaut knows about the Doctor's regeneration. Knows the Doctor.
Fast forward to the end of Day of the Moon. That little girl. She's wandering around the streets of NYC and happens upon this hobo, whom she tells she's dying. And then she regenerates. That little girl? A Time Lord. Who else regenerates like that? Unless Moff is setting something totally different up for us, that regeneration was meant to tell us that that little girl IS A TIME LORD.
I think the little girl regenerates into Eleven. Into 1103-year-old Eleven. And the 909-year-old Eleven who comes back while Amy, Rory, and River are in shock about the Doctor's death, and gets slapped by River, is the "real" Doctor.
Granted, this doesn't explain everything: how that little girl could/does regenerate into Eleven, and why she becomes an older version of him, but to me it feels possible, likely... it feels like it's the kind of thing Moff would do.
Also, I'm sure everyone else found it strange that immediately after Eleven explains to the Silence What He Did -- blasting that "You should kill us on sight!" across the entire population watching the moon landing, that he appeared to forget about the little girl and the Astronaut suit and everything. Time for more adventures! I have destroyed the monster. Well, no, you didn't. You started the process for getting rid of the Silence. You didn't follow through. And you just appeared to forget about that little girl who alerted you to the SpaceMan. Who started everything in the first place. Eleven went to the President, who told him about the calls begging for help from the Spaceman. Which is how Eleven discovered the Silence. And the little girl ... did he forget her? He appeared to! That doesn't say he DID forget, but he is definitely acting as though he forgot.
Now when going after the Silence, Amy was found in what looked EXACTLY LIKE that space ship/control room/whatever from The Lodger. The little girl from the Lodger was luring people in to ask for help. "Please help me! I need your help." Now we have a little girl asking the President for help. There is NO COINCIDENCES in Moff land. This was done for a reason. There was an interview that said that there will be a sequel to The Lodger. So what this says to me is that the events of The Lodger are not standalone, but we will revisit them, they will come up again. So whatever that ship was, whatever that little girl was, it hasn't gone away forever. And The Silence were in that control room, keeping Amy prisoner. Telling her she'd been there for days but she kept forgetting how long it was.
So I'm also thinking that in the Lodger, it was The Silence in that spaceship on the second floor. I think the Silence can take on other forms. When you look away from them, you forget they were ever there. Why should they always look like some monster? (And let me tell you, the Silence are the most monster-y monster I have seen in a LONG TIME) Maybe that's their default, but being possessed of the ability to make people forget them as soon as they're out of sight... who's to say they can't take on other forms as well? You'd just forget them. Hence... the Doctor has forgotten the little girl, he has forgotten ever seeing her, he has forgotten she was the author of this whole adventure, this revolution of the Silence. And he forgot having some encounter with her. So going with all the times that Moffat didn't show us the scenes which Amy et. al. forgot and then made themselves remember... we didn't see where the Doctor encountered the little girl, forgot her, and thus enabled her to have his form imprinted upon her, so she could take it. This is a huge stretch but if the Doctor forgot... and didn't think to record it on the blinky red nanotech thing because the little girl was a little girl, and didn't look like The Silence, because it didn't match up with everythign else... how do we know what happened? So my theory is the little girl is using him/ his form.
So we have two Doctors: the "real Doctor" who is clueless about the 1103-year-old version of himself making Amy, River, and Rory watch him die, and the little girl who regenerates into an older version of himself and shows up at the very beginning of Impossible Astronaut, looking and acting (mostly) exactly like The Doctor.
Unrelated, I feel like the only one in fandom who does not particularly like River Song. Not because she's a Mary Sue or because of her smug way of refusing to talk about "spoilers". But because I don't trust her. Little mannerisms, looks from the Doctor ... he does not (yet) trust River. Their timelines are exactly opposite. What she knows of him, why she trusts him, is all in his future STILL. His past with her has been the Pandorica, the second coming of the Angels, and the Library/Forest of the Dead. That's it. All those three times she has known him, held things she knew about him that he didn't over his head, basically cockily walking around the TARDIS like she owns the place. And the Doctor bemusedly goes along with it because he chooses to believe that she is his future and therefore he'll learn the truth about her later. But it's very convenient that she knows his future and he knows hers. And the Doctor doesn't appear to remember the end of her from Forest of the Dead. Or he doesn't show that he knows he will be the author of her fate, at least. I don't trust River. She's in prison, she said for killing the best man she ever knew. I think she is deceiving The Doctor, and using this backwards-timeline thing as a way to keep on deceiving him. And each time they meet, they discover more and more of each other. Someone else's reaction post to Day of the Moon mentioned how tragic it was that that kiss between the Doctor and River (his first with her/her last with him) was set to ominous/sad music, rather than happy. From my point of view, it works, because River still has not established why she should be trustworthy, only walked in demanding that the Doctor trust her for reasons only she knows. She will happily fall off a fifty-story building (or jump into space) expecting the Doctor to be right there with his TARDIS, and he is. I don't think the Doctor understands yet why he goes along with her. And I don't think the Doctor trusts her.
Oh yes, point out how they flirt and banter. I think the Doctor does it sort of automatically. She does it, so he merely reflects it right back to her. It doesn't necessarily reveal anything about him or his feelings. Also, he flailed when Amy came onto him in s5, and he really flailed when River snogged him. Eleven in this part of his timeline is just not into that. So what happens later in the Doctor's future that makes River think he IS up for that? Is this what we'll discover more of in the episode called The Doctor's Wife? Or is it going to drag out all season, the story of the truth of River's past and the Doctor's future, along with the mystery of the little-girl Time Lord? There is a lot going on here and I might just watch both episodes over again soon.
I feel like this is not very... deep-thoughts or even very creative, but I feel like the above is exactly what makes the most sense based upon past Who episodes and plot arcs. Also, Moff being an evil genius. This is going to be a rather complex season, plot-wise, and I'm loving that so much. I like that this is going to be more than "let's go hopping around various vacation destinations throughout Time and Space!" as it has been, but it's all going to be a Real Story with the Doctor and everything.
And there is so much more I haven't addressed, but there is so very much to think about that may come up in later rumination/reaction posts.