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New Who -- Tomorrow
Aug. 26th, 2011 09:08 pmHi all,
New Who starts tomorrow, and there are some theories I've had since watching the first half of the current season (New Series 6), that I want to post now before the new season starts to run. So in no particular order.
1. The Impossible Astronaut who kills The Doctor -- I think it's River Song. When we first meet River in "Silence in the Library" she remarks on how young the Doctor is. I've always thought this didn't refer to physical appearance but to the age of his soul. It seems that with all their meeting out of order -- River has seen the Doctor's death (which she did in "The Impossible Astronaut" and he's seen her's in "Forest of the Dead"). Also, fairly soon into re-meeting River, we find she's in prison for killing a man (I think this is in the 5th season Weeping Angels story, but it may have been mentioned in "Silence/Library".) Asked if she killed "A good man", River replies, yes, she killed a good man. And the last episode before the break was called, "A Good Man Goes to War", the Good Man being the Doctor. I don't think that's a co-incidence. And the way River tears into the Doctor in that episode makes me think -- yeah, she could be the Astronaut.
There's also a few notable continuity issues with River that I don't think are glitches but delibrate clues. When Rory, in Roman dress, takes River out of prison to bring her to Demon's Run -- she says something like "You're Rory?" with a tone of awe in her voice. It's also a tone of not recognizing him. Yet at that point, we've since Rory and River in episodes together more than once -- so that River is an earlier River than the one we've seen previous in the series who knows Rory. (Whew -- time travel, it's hell on the verb tenses!)
Also with River's continuity, when the Doctor kisses her and remarks "It's the first time," -- River nearly collapses, and the look on her face is pure grief. I think it's because she knows, that the last time he will kiss her, since the two are meeting out of order. And for River, that knowledge is devestating.
2. Did/Does River kill the Doctor on her own, because he's gone beyond the pale? Or, Does the Doctor ask her to? Personally, and this is a dark thought, but I think he asks her to. I think the Doctor explained to her she had to kill him during his Regeneration and prevent his 12th Regeneration from occuring. A sort of Time Lord suicide, if you will. There's a few reasons for this. First, the 12th Regeneration of a Time Lord is almost always unstable, and they almost always go bad. We have seen the Doctor confront Time Lords at the end of their lives who were completely bonkers over and over again (Borusa, The Master, Rassilon, Omega, The Valeyard, Rassilon again). The Doctor, especially with River's warning in "A Good Man Goes to War", might have enough introspection to try and avoid becoming something he despises, someone evil. Or he may give River instruction such as, "If I ever get really out of hand and you can't head me off, this is what you do." It just seems like only a Time Lord would know the one way to truly kill a Time Lord is to do so while they are regenerating.
And the Doctor who dies at the beginning of "The Impossible Astronaut" is truly, truly ancient. They did, with make-up, manage to make him look much older (without doing really bad flour-in-the-hair makeup), and when he's comparing diaries with River, it's like he's checking things off a list to make sure he has absolutely done everything he's supposed to. The Doctor at that point is probably 2000-3000 years old. RTD gave Eccleston's Doctor the age of 900 but I thought that was too young, considering that the 7th Doctor once makes the remark it's easy to rewire alien machinery "when you have 900 years experience". They've tried to keep with an clear continuity for the Doctor's age since "Rose", but I still think he's older than he's saying. (Also based on various quotes about the Doctor's age in the classic series).
3. Names -- In "Silence in the Library", River gets the Doctor to trust her by whispering his name to her. The Doctor says "I don't tell anyone my name. There's only one time I ever could". I think most fans have assumed the "one time" is his marriage to River. But what if the "one time" is his asking her to kill him, his explaining why she must, his explaining when she must, and his explaining how to do it? Scary, isn't it? (I thought of that when watching, "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon"), and it's one reason I found those two episodes so frightening.
4. The Bow Ties -- I don't think it's an accident or quirk that Matt Smith has two. In practically the first interview I saw with him talking about being the New Doctor, and his costume -- he mentions the Bow Tie, that Bow Ties are cool, and "I have a Blue one as well". I think the Red Tie and Blue Tie will eventually show we have two Doctors running around, and two time lines -- and this will be explained by the end of the current season. We've already seen the Doctor cross his own timeline once in "Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone".
There's also a precedent for ties indicating time zones for the Doctor in Doctor Who. In "Trial of a Time Lord", there are four stories -- each to come from different eras in the 6th Doctor's life: past, present, and future (and the conclusion). The four different sub-stories are in part differentiated by Colin Baker wearing different color floppy bow ties for the stories that take places in the different Eras
Also, RTD, said when the Series 1 first aired, about the title sequence that the two colors, Red and Blue, were meant to suggest the TARDIS moving in different directions -- to the future or the past. (No, I don't remember which color stood for what.) I almost feel like re-watching the series and noting what tie the Doctor (Matt Smith) is wearing and when. Plus, in "A Good Man Goes to War", I felt like I was really watching a slightly different Doctor. Same with his ruthless treatment of The Silence. (Normally, The Doctor, at least gives a warning before decimating a species.)
Finally, Did you notice that the ship in "The Lodger" is exactly like The Silence's ship in "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon"? But did you also notice that it looks an awful lot like the TARDIS? Look at the central council! And the Silence's description of themselves -- guiding man since the dawn of time, actually sounds a lot like the Doctor. Which makes me wonder if they are like some sort of weird, parellel-mirror universe evil version of Time Lords, or what? Lots to think about, and I can't WAIT for the rest of the new season!
--Olivia
New Who starts tomorrow, and there are some theories I've had since watching the first half of the current season (New Series 6), that I want to post now before the new season starts to run. So in no particular order.
1. The Impossible Astronaut who kills The Doctor -- I think it's River Song. When we first meet River in "Silence in the Library" she remarks on how young the Doctor is. I've always thought this didn't refer to physical appearance but to the age of his soul. It seems that with all their meeting out of order -- River has seen the Doctor's death (which she did in "The Impossible Astronaut" and he's seen her's in "Forest of the Dead"). Also, fairly soon into re-meeting River, we find she's in prison for killing a man (I think this is in the 5th season Weeping Angels story, but it may have been mentioned in "Silence/Library".) Asked if she killed "A good man", River replies, yes, she killed a good man. And the last episode before the break was called, "A Good Man Goes to War", the Good Man being the Doctor. I don't think that's a co-incidence. And the way River tears into the Doctor in that episode makes me think -- yeah, she could be the Astronaut.
There's also a few notable continuity issues with River that I don't think are glitches but delibrate clues. When Rory, in Roman dress, takes River out of prison to bring her to Demon's Run -- she says something like "You're Rory?" with a tone of awe in her voice. It's also a tone of not recognizing him. Yet at that point, we've since Rory and River in episodes together more than once -- so that River is an earlier River than the one we've seen previous in the series who knows Rory. (Whew -- time travel, it's hell on the verb tenses!)
Also with River's continuity, when the Doctor kisses her and remarks "It's the first time," -- River nearly collapses, and the look on her face is pure grief. I think it's because she knows, that the last time he will kiss her, since the two are meeting out of order. And for River, that knowledge is devestating.
2. Did/Does River kill the Doctor on her own, because he's gone beyond the pale? Or, Does the Doctor ask her to? Personally, and this is a dark thought, but I think he asks her to. I think the Doctor explained to her she had to kill him during his Regeneration and prevent his 12th Regeneration from occuring. A sort of Time Lord suicide, if you will. There's a few reasons for this. First, the 12th Regeneration of a Time Lord is almost always unstable, and they almost always go bad. We have seen the Doctor confront Time Lords at the end of their lives who were completely bonkers over and over again (Borusa, The Master, Rassilon, Omega, The Valeyard, Rassilon again). The Doctor, especially with River's warning in "A Good Man Goes to War", might have enough introspection to try and avoid becoming something he despises, someone evil. Or he may give River instruction such as, "If I ever get really out of hand and you can't head me off, this is what you do." It just seems like only a Time Lord would know the one way to truly kill a Time Lord is to do so while they are regenerating.
And the Doctor who dies at the beginning of "The Impossible Astronaut" is truly, truly ancient. They did, with make-up, manage to make him look much older (without doing really bad flour-in-the-hair makeup), and when he's comparing diaries with River, it's like he's checking things off a list to make sure he has absolutely done everything he's supposed to. The Doctor at that point is probably 2000-3000 years old. RTD gave Eccleston's Doctor the age of 900 but I thought that was too young, considering that the 7th Doctor once makes the remark it's easy to rewire alien machinery "when you have 900 years experience". They've tried to keep with an clear continuity for the Doctor's age since "Rose", but I still think he's older than he's saying. (Also based on various quotes about the Doctor's age in the classic series).
3. Names -- In "Silence in the Library", River gets the Doctor to trust her by whispering his name to her. The Doctor says "I don't tell anyone my name. There's only one time I ever could". I think most fans have assumed the "one time" is his marriage to River. But what if the "one time" is his asking her to kill him, his explaining why she must, his explaining when she must, and his explaining how to do it? Scary, isn't it? (I thought of that when watching, "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon"), and it's one reason I found those two episodes so frightening.
4. The Bow Ties -- I don't think it's an accident or quirk that Matt Smith has two. In practically the first interview I saw with him talking about being the New Doctor, and his costume -- he mentions the Bow Tie, that Bow Ties are cool, and "I have a Blue one as well". I think the Red Tie and Blue Tie will eventually show we have two Doctors running around, and two time lines -- and this will be explained by the end of the current season. We've already seen the Doctor cross his own timeline once in "Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone".
There's also a precedent for ties indicating time zones for the Doctor in Doctor Who. In "Trial of a Time Lord", there are four stories -- each to come from different eras in the 6th Doctor's life: past, present, and future (and the conclusion). The four different sub-stories are in part differentiated by Colin Baker wearing different color floppy bow ties for the stories that take places in the different Eras
Also, RTD, said when the Series 1 first aired, about the title sequence that the two colors, Red and Blue, were meant to suggest the TARDIS moving in different directions -- to the future or the past. (No, I don't remember which color stood for what.) I almost feel like re-watching the series and noting what tie the Doctor (Matt Smith) is wearing and when. Plus, in "A Good Man Goes to War", I felt like I was really watching a slightly different Doctor. Same with his ruthless treatment of The Silence. (Normally, The Doctor, at least gives a warning before decimating a species.)
Finally, Did you notice that the ship in "The Lodger" is exactly like The Silence's ship in "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon"? But did you also notice that it looks an awful lot like the TARDIS? Look at the central council! And the Silence's description of themselves -- guiding man since the dawn of time, actually sounds a lot like the Doctor. Which makes me wonder if they are like some sort of weird, parellel-mirror universe evil version of Time Lords, or what? Lots to think about, and I can't WAIT for the rest of the new season!
--Olivia
