Doctor Who?
I've really been watching an odd mix of Doctor Who lately.
Well, sometime between Christmas and March 30th, I watched some Fourth Doctor stuff. Namely "The Ark in Space", "The Sontaran Experiment", and a re-watch of "Genesis of the Daleks". Genesis was still very enjoyable the second time. The other two were nothing special.
Then Series 7 came back, so it was "The Bells of Saint John", "The Rings of Akhaten", and "Cold War". All lovely and highly thought-provoking.
Then I got a random urge to try and watch River Song's life in order. Which I have interpreted as:
A Good Man Goes to War (Birth, Exposition, Abduction)
The Impossible Astronaut Prequel
The Impossible Astronaut (Phone Calls, In Space Suit)
Day of the Moon (Finds Amy Observing Pictures, Breaks Out of Space Suit)
Let's Kill Hitler (Leadworth, Pre-Titles, Episode Proper)
Closing Time (Final Scene)
The Wedding of River Song (Most of the Episode)
First Night (First River Scenes)
Last Night (First River Scenes)
The Pandorica Opens (Vortex Manipulator)
First Night (Second River Scenes)
Last Night (Second River Scenes)
A Good Man Goes to War (Ending)
A Good Man Goes to War (Beginning)
The Impossible Astronaut
Day of the Moon
The Pandorica Opens (Episode Minus the Vortex Manipulator)
The Big Bang
Time of Angels
Flesh and Stone
The Wedding of River Song (Ending with Amy)
The Angels Take Manhatten
Last Night (Third River Scenes)
Silence in the Library
Forest of the Dead
That was good fun and somewhat intriguing. Didn't offer me much in the way of illumination, but it was still fun to piece it all together. I took liberties with the Vortex Manipulator, which seems to be a plothole that has fallen through a crack in Moffat's writing. None of the other Stormcage scenes have date stamps on them though. So if you accept the idea that First/Last Night, Demon's Run x2, America, and Pandorica all happened in the year 5145, and the idea that 5145 is five years after River's initial imprisonment, then it all works out. Either that or strike the date stamp from the Maldovarium scene. And in nearly all scenarios, accept the fact that the Doctor over-generalizes when he uses the phrase "fifty-first century". The rest of her timeline seems to be commonly accepted in most places I've looked. Though I've seen the order of River's appearances at Demon's Run disputed. She clearly has a diary entry for it though when she talks to Rory, meaning it's already in her personal past.
After that big complicated space-time event, I watched "Hide". Then I re-watched "Pond Life", "Asylum of the Daleks", "The Angels Take Manhatten", "P.S.", "The Snowmen", "The Bells of Saint John", and "The Rings of Akhaten". Can't say I learned anything new, but it was still good fun. And I'm convinced that the leaf (the leaf that had to grow in that specific way at that specific time) is different on purpose. People thought The Doctor having his jacket back in "Flesh and Stone" was a production error at the time. I stand by it. Second time through Akhaten inspired a graphic: http://me-llamo-nic.livejournal.com/143391.html
Then "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS". Fantastic episode that more-or-less erased itself at the end. More in a couple of paragraphs.
After "Journey", it was back to the classic era, but this time with a purpose. In discussion of some of series 7, elisi introduced me to an intriguing theory that Omega might be pulling the strings. The idea really took hold with me and I wanted to refresh/expand my classic knowledge. To that end, I re-watched "The Three Doctors" and "Remembrance of the Daleks", then watched "Arc of Infinity" for the first time. All three were very good. "The Three Doctors" is easily my favorite of the Pertwee Era. "Remembrance of the Daleks" is just brilliant. And "Arc of Infinity" was also very compelling. Very interesting to juxtapose scenes of Omega taking over the TARDIS in "Arc" with scenes of "something" taking over the TARDIS in "Pandorica". And then some dialogue across the years.
"You destroyed my TARDIS, but I will build another."
-Omega in "Arc of Infinity"
"Someone's attempt to build a TARDIS."
-Eleven in "The Lodger"-
As I say, the idea has really taken hold of me. Maybe I'm seeing connections where there are none, but it's still fun.
After completely convincing myself of Omega's involvement in current events, I watched "Journey" again. I'm convinced that they wouldn't just show an episode for no reason, but it's difficult to know exactly what significance it will have, going forward. Interesting that the lives of the Van Baalen brothers seem to have been rewritten a bit, after the Doctor implores them "Never forget this." Implying (as has been implied in the past with temporal energy being very malleable under the pressure of human memory) that some memories may persist even when these little pocket universes close and that those memories can change time in certain ways. And Clara didn't want to forget, so she may remember or have otherwise rewritten time in her efforts to remember. And I wonder if the Doctor has any memories of the events. He knows that two things must have happened, because he saw himself, but can he remember it both ways? If he can't, then he must still be driven mad with curiosity about Clara.
After that, I went combing through the revival series for bits about the power of words and names. Just a few scenes, even though I was tempted to watch full episodes.
"Doctor Who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" -The Girl in the Fireplace-
Then a bunch of stuff about words and names in "The Shakespeare Code". The idea that the tetradecagon amplifies the power of the words might be important in the future. Also, "Why would a man hide his title in such despair?" In direct reference to the Doctor's name.
Then "Last of the Time Lords".
"Doctor."
"Master."
"I like it when you use my name."
"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."
"As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"
And then "The Fires of Pompeii".
"Even the word 'Doctor' is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time." -Soothsayer...who then faints, possibly under the enormous complexity of the Doctor's name- (I'll come back to this one in a moment.)
"River, you know my name. You whispered my name in my ear. There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could."
-Ten, Forest of the Dead-
"The writing. The graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days. There were many days, these words could burn stars, and raise up empires, and topple Gods."
-Eleven, "Time of Angels"-
"On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered."
-Dorium Maldovar, "The Wedding of River Song"-
"Suppose there was a man who knew a secret. A terrible, dangerous secret that must never be told. How would you erase that secret from the world? Destroy it forever, before it can be spoken?"
-Eleven, "TWoRS"-
"The first question. The question that must never be answered. Hidden in plain sight. The question you've been running from all your life."
-Dorium, TWoRS-
"You can't help yourself. It's the same story every time and it always begins with the same two words."
"She'll never be able to find me again, she doesn't even have the name 'Doctor'. What two words?"
"Doctor...Doctor Who?"
-Vastra, Eleven, and Clara, "The Snowmen"-
"What's the use in secrets now?"
"Secrets protect us. Secrets make us safe."
"We're not safe!"
...
"The Library. I saw it. You were mentioned in a book."
"I'm mentioned in a lot of books."
"You call yourself 'Doctor'."
*threatening finger-point*
"Why do you do that? You have a name; I've seen it. In one corner of that tiny-"
*presses a finger to her lips to shut her up* "If I rewrite today, you won't remember. You won't go looking for my name."
"We'll still have secrets?"
"Ha. It's better that way."
-Clara and Eleven, "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"-
A hefty batch of quotes to be sure. Back to Pompeii for a moment. There's an implication that the Doctor's name is in the Medusa Cascade (which is a rift in time and space, so even that could be highly variable). Now, Medusa Cascade is mentioned a few times in Series 4, one of a few threads that converge there in the finale. When Ten arrives there he says, "I came here when I was just a kid. 90 years old. It was the center of a rift in time and space." Now all of that's well and good, but in "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" I can distinctly hear the words "Medusa Cascade" when Clara knocks over that jar of jumbled sound clips. First time I've spotted that phrase since "Journey's End" in series 4. Given the reveal of "The Question" in the previous series finale, and the reported title for this series finale...it seems sensible enough. Definitely keeps me curious though.
On a not-entirely-unrelated note, I'm expecting something like "Stavromula Beta" from "Trenzalore". Time will tell. It always does.
After my "words and names" binge, I did watch "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" on a whim...well partially for the Cascade of Medusa herself, after having spotted it in "JttCotT" and "Pompeii", both of which reference the Doctor's name. Mostly just for the fun of it though, because I had enough memory of it to know there were no name clues in it. I quite enjoyed it. I must say, I still have many fond feelings for the RTD Era.
In the past week or two, I've also been re-listening to The Eleventh Hour Podcast from the beginning. Their beginning was, as is probably obvious, the episode "The Eleventh Hour". So, that brought about some further whim-viewing. "Victory of the Daleks", "Amy's Choice", "Vincent and the Doctor", and "The Lodger"... and then "The Power of Three" on more of a whim than any of them. I found the series 5 episodes much more enjoyable now than I did when I first watched them. My last re-watch of S5 was just shortly after "The Big Bang" aired and I mainlined the series. I've gone back to the River episodes before, and "The Lodger" once, but it's been quite a long time since I've watched the others. They were definitely fun to go back to. I'm not big on all of the casual suicides woven throughout the Ponds' relationships and touted as expressions of love and devotion, but I was able to push that to the back of my mind and enjoy myself anyway.
Then I watched "Revenge of the Cybermen". Not great, but not terrible. I've never found Cybermen to be terribly interesting in the classic or modern eras, so my expectations weren't exactly high. Not sure if I'll get to the next one tomorrow or some other time entirely. I've been made aware that there's supposed to be a returning creature in the 50th Anniversary, so I'm somewhat eager to get to the next one. (And oddly enough, I noticed a brief passing reference to said creature in "The Power of Three"...which had a Stewart in...and I'm aware that the Fourth Doctor has just been contacted by the Brig. I swear "The Power of Three" was a complete whim. Sort of like how I accidentally managed to book-end my first viewing of "The God Complex" with two episodes of "The Curse of Fenric" on either side.)
Anywho, I'm deep into Who-obsession again. Loving every minute of it. I'm not always wild about The Moff, but I reckon Doctor Who is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. And the Moffat Era has definitely made significant contributions to the pile of good things. And the Clara Era has definitely been a big part of re-kindling my obsession. By the end of Series 7A, I had become highly skeptical, but I'm glad to have had this passion re-awakened so strongly.
Well, sometime between Christmas and March 30th, I watched some Fourth Doctor stuff. Namely "The Ark in Space", "The Sontaran Experiment", and a re-watch of "Genesis of the Daleks". Genesis was still very enjoyable the second time. The other two were nothing special.
Then Series 7 came back, so it was "The Bells of Saint John", "The Rings of Akhaten", and "Cold War". All lovely and highly thought-provoking.
Then I got a random urge to try and watch River Song's life in order. Which I have interpreted as:
A Good Man Goes to War (Birth, Exposition, Abduction)
The Impossible Astronaut Prequel
The Impossible Astronaut (Phone Calls, In Space Suit)
Day of the Moon (Finds Amy Observing Pictures, Breaks Out of Space Suit)
Let's Kill Hitler (Leadworth, Pre-Titles, Episode Proper)
Closing Time (Final Scene)
The Wedding of River Song (Most of the Episode)
First Night (First River Scenes)
Last Night (First River Scenes)
The Pandorica Opens (Vortex Manipulator)
First Night (Second River Scenes)
Last Night (Second River Scenes)
A Good Man Goes to War (Ending)
A Good Man Goes to War (Beginning)
The Impossible Astronaut
Day of the Moon
The Pandorica Opens (Episode Minus the Vortex Manipulator)
The Big Bang
Time of Angels
Flesh and Stone
The Wedding of River Song (Ending with Amy)
The Angels Take Manhatten
Last Night (Third River Scenes)
Silence in the Library
Forest of the Dead
That was good fun and somewhat intriguing. Didn't offer me much in the way of illumination, but it was still fun to piece it all together. I took liberties with the Vortex Manipulator, which seems to be a plothole that has fallen through a crack in Moffat's writing. None of the other Stormcage scenes have date stamps on them though. So if you accept the idea that First/Last Night, Demon's Run x2, America, and Pandorica all happened in the year 5145, and the idea that 5145 is five years after River's initial imprisonment, then it all works out. Either that or strike the date stamp from the Maldovarium scene. And in nearly all scenarios, accept the fact that the Doctor over-generalizes when he uses the phrase "fifty-first century". The rest of her timeline seems to be commonly accepted in most places I've looked. Though I've seen the order of River's appearances at Demon's Run disputed. She clearly has a diary entry for it though when she talks to Rory, meaning it's already in her personal past.
After that big complicated space-time event, I watched "Hide". Then I re-watched "Pond Life", "Asylum of the Daleks", "The Angels Take Manhatten", "P.S.", "The Snowmen", "The Bells of Saint John", and "The Rings of Akhaten". Can't say I learned anything new, but it was still good fun. And I'm convinced that the leaf (the leaf that had to grow in that specific way at that specific time) is different on purpose. People thought The Doctor having his jacket back in "Flesh and Stone" was a production error at the time. I stand by it. Second time through Akhaten inspired a graphic: http://me-llamo-nic.livejournal.com/143391.html
Then "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS". Fantastic episode that more-or-less erased itself at the end. More in a couple of paragraphs.
After "Journey", it was back to the classic era, but this time with a purpose. In discussion of some of series 7, elisi introduced me to an intriguing theory that Omega might be pulling the strings. The idea really took hold with me and I wanted to refresh/expand my classic knowledge. To that end, I re-watched "The Three Doctors" and "Remembrance of the Daleks", then watched "Arc of Infinity" for the first time. All three were very good. "The Three Doctors" is easily my favorite of the Pertwee Era. "Remembrance of the Daleks" is just brilliant. And "Arc of Infinity" was also very compelling. Very interesting to juxtapose scenes of Omega taking over the TARDIS in "Arc" with scenes of "something" taking over the TARDIS in "Pandorica". And then some dialogue across the years.
"You destroyed my TARDIS, but I will build another."
-Omega in "Arc of Infinity"
"Someone's attempt to build a TARDIS."
-Eleven in "The Lodger"-
As I say, the idea has really taken hold of me. Maybe I'm seeing connections where there are none, but it's still fun.
After completely convincing myself of Omega's involvement in current events, I watched "Journey" again. I'm convinced that they wouldn't just show an episode for no reason, but it's difficult to know exactly what significance it will have, going forward. Interesting that the lives of the Van Baalen brothers seem to have been rewritten a bit, after the Doctor implores them "Never forget this." Implying (as has been implied in the past with temporal energy being very malleable under the pressure of human memory) that some memories may persist even when these little pocket universes close and that those memories can change time in certain ways. And Clara didn't want to forget, so she may remember or have otherwise rewritten time in her efforts to remember. And I wonder if the Doctor has any memories of the events. He knows that two things must have happened, because he saw himself, but can he remember it both ways? If he can't, then he must still be driven mad with curiosity about Clara.
After that, I went combing through the revival series for bits about the power of words and names. Just a few scenes, even though I was tempted to watch full episodes.
"Doctor Who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" -The Girl in the Fireplace-
Then a bunch of stuff about words and names in "The Shakespeare Code". The idea that the tetradecagon amplifies the power of the words might be important in the future. Also, "Why would a man hide his title in such despair?" In direct reference to the Doctor's name.
Then "Last of the Time Lords".
"Doctor."
"Master."
"I like it when you use my name."
"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."
"As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"
And then "The Fires of Pompeii".
"Even the word 'Doctor' is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time." -Soothsayer...who then faints, possibly under the enormous complexity of the Doctor's name- (I'll come back to this one in a moment.)
"River, you know my name. You whispered my name in my ear. There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could."
-Ten, Forest of the Dead-
"The writing. The graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords. There were days. There were many days, these words could burn stars, and raise up empires, and topple Gods."
-Eleven, "Time of Angels"-
"On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the eleventh, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered."
-Dorium Maldovar, "The Wedding of River Song"-
"Suppose there was a man who knew a secret. A terrible, dangerous secret that must never be told. How would you erase that secret from the world? Destroy it forever, before it can be spoken?"
-Eleven, "TWoRS"-
"The first question. The question that must never be answered. Hidden in plain sight. The question you've been running from all your life."
-Dorium, TWoRS-
"You can't help yourself. It's the same story every time and it always begins with the same two words."
"She'll never be able to find me again, she doesn't even have the name 'Doctor'. What two words?"
"Doctor...Doctor Who?"
-Vastra, Eleven, and Clara, "The Snowmen"-
"What's the use in secrets now?"
"Secrets protect us. Secrets make us safe."
"We're not safe!"
...
"The Library. I saw it. You were mentioned in a book."
"I'm mentioned in a lot of books."
"You call yourself 'Doctor'."
*threatening finger-point*
"Why do you do that? You have a name; I've seen it. In one corner of that tiny-"
*presses a finger to her lips to shut her up* "If I rewrite today, you won't remember. You won't go looking for my name."
"We'll still have secrets?"
"Ha. It's better that way."
-Clara and Eleven, "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"-
A hefty batch of quotes to be sure. Back to Pompeii for a moment. There's an implication that the Doctor's name is in the Medusa Cascade (which is a rift in time and space, so even that could be highly variable). Now, Medusa Cascade is mentioned a few times in Series 4, one of a few threads that converge there in the finale. When Ten arrives there he says, "I came here when I was just a kid. 90 years old. It was the center of a rift in time and space." Now all of that's well and good, but in "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" I can distinctly hear the words "Medusa Cascade" when Clara knocks over that jar of jumbled sound clips. First time I've spotted that phrase since "Journey's End" in series 4. Given the reveal of "The Question" in the previous series finale, and the reported title for this series finale...it seems sensible enough. Definitely keeps me curious though.
On a not-entirely-unrelated note, I'm expecting something like "Stavromula Beta" from "Trenzalore". Time will tell. It always does.
After my "words and names" binge, I did watch "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" on a whim...well partially for the Cascade of Medusa herself, after having spotted it in "JttCotT" and "Pompeii", both of which reference the Doctor's name. Mostly just for the fun of it though, because I had enough memory of it to know there were no name clues in it. I quite enjoyed it. I must say, I still have many fond feelings for the RTD Era.
In the past week or two, I've also been re-listening to The Eleventh Hour Podcast from the beginning. Their beginning was, as is probably obvious, the episode "The Eleventh Hour". So, that brought about some further whim-viewing. "Victory of the Daleks", "Amy's Choice", "Vincent and the Doctor", and "The Lodger"... and then "The Power of Three" on more of a whim than any of them. I found the series 5 episodes much more enjoyable now than I did when I first watched them. My last re-watch of S5 was just shortly after "The Big Bang" aired and I mainlined the series. I've gone back to the River episodes before, and "The Lodger" once, but it's been quite a long time since I've watched the others. They were definitely fun to go back to. I'm not big on all of the casual suicides woven throughout the Ponds' relationships and touted as expressions of love and devotion, but I was able to push that to the back of my mind and enjoy myself anyway.
Then I watched "Revenge of the Cybermen". Not great, but not terrible. I've never found Cybermen to be terribly interesting in the classic or modern eras, so my expectations weren't exactly high. Not sure if I'll get to the next one tomorrow or some other time entirely. I've been made aware that there's supposed to be a returning creature in the 50th Anniversary, so I'm somewhat eager to get to the next one. (And oddly enough, I noticed a brief passing reference to said creature in "The Power of Three"...which had a Stewart in...and I'm aware that the Fourth Doctor has just been contacted by the Brig. I swear "The Power of Three" was a complete whim. Sort of like how I accidentally managed to book-end my first viewing of "The God Complex" with two episodes of "The Curse of Fenric" on either side.)
Anywho, I'm deep into Who-obsession again. Loving every minute of it. I'm not always wild about The Moff, but I reckon Doctor Who is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. And the Moffat Era has definitely made significant contributions to the pile of good things. And the Clara Era has definitely been a big part of re-kindling my obsession. By the end of Series 7A, I had become highly skeptical, but I'm glad to have had this passion re-awakened so strongly.