"The Girl Who Died" Grading and Discussion Thread

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, that wasn't really all that good. The episode is basically alien shows up on Earth in ancient times, threatens the locals. The Doctor decides to toughen said locals up into a fighting force, which fails spectacularly. Instead, creativity and ingenuity save the day, in the form of using electric eels to destroy the alien's robot minions and then some kind of hallucination to make him scared, film that and threaten to post it on Space YouTube. Then we get a death scene, a resurrection required in a Moffat script, only to have the Doctor regret resurrecting immediately afterwards.

Okay, does every story this year have to dwell on dealing with death? That is seriously becoming a downer and rather depressing. Hell, with last year's arc being about the promised land/afterlife and this year's being about dealing with death, the Capaldi era is so far turning out to be the most morbid of Doctor Who.

And yeah, I'll echo other sentiments that the explanation for the Doctor's face was rather ham-fisted and didn't really seem to organically fit in this episode. Why did they have to insert that in this episode? I would have thought

Spoiler: future episode

episode 11 which is basically a Peter Capaldi one-man show would have been more appropriate to deal with this.

 

[Nightowl1701]

The Doctor talked about immortality being losing other people. Foreshadowing the departure of Clara?

Yeah, I'm getting that feeling. They're foreshadowing the hell out of Clara dying.

Which tells me it either ain't happening, or it'll happen in a way that'll pull the rug out from everybody. Moffat does not do the obvious. Ever.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I don't really see why they had to address his face just because he had played a different role a few years ago. It seemed like it came out of nowhere.

I liked the part where he gave the would-be soldiers funny names.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't really see why they had to address his face just because he had played a different role a few years ago. It seemed like it came out of nowhere.

They certainly didn't have to, but Moffat did promise the day Capaldi was cast that it was going to be addressed in the show.

Yeah, we waited two years for that.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't really see why they had to address his face just because he had played a different role a few years ago. It seemed like it came out of nowhere.

They certainly didn't have to, but Moffat did promise the day Capaldi was cast that it was going to be addressed in the show.

Yeah, we waited two years for that.

While I agree they didn't have to address it I liked that they addressed it in a low-key manner and didn't overdo it. And I don't think it came out of nowhere, the seeds were planted in the last adventure and made sense to come up here.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Was an interesting episode.

Did anyone catch the throwaway line the Doctor said about "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?" it just happens and he just moves on. I picked up on it because it's one of those things fans always pick on the show for hehe. It is also a huge trope on Star Trek...

If I was the Doctor I would have been a real dick and uploaded the video they made to the galactic web for all to see. I don't think Ashidr is the hybrid mentioned earlier. I am almost certain that is Dalek related..

Clara annoyed me a little.. This is how I see her dying..

They are running down a corridor and pass a bit that has chompy crushy things like Galaxy Quest and while the Doctor makes it through Clara hits a forcefield. Cue off screen squeal and squelchy sound..

Part two of this episode looks interesting.

 

[Mr Light]

<<Did anyone catch the throwaway line the Doctor said about "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?" it just happens and he just moves on. I picked up on it because it's one of those things fans always pick on the show for hehe. It is also a huge trope on Star Trek...>>

That was a running joke with the Third Doctor. Pertwee always said that.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't really see why they had to address his face just because he had played a different role a few years ago. It seemed like it came out of nowhere.

They certainly didn't have to, but Moffat did promise the day Capaldi was cast that it was going to be addressed in the show.

Yeah, we waited two years for that.

While I agree they didn't have to address it I liked that they addressed it in a low-key manner and didn't overdo it. And I don't think it came out of nowhere, the seeds were planted in the last adventure and made sense to come up here.

Well if you're going to make fandom wait two who years for the explanation, it had better be something a bit significant that was.

<<Did anyone catch the throwaway line the Doctor said about "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?" it just happens and he just moves on. I picked up on it because it's one of those things fans always pick on the show for hehe. It is also a huge trope on Star Trek...>>

That was a running joke with the Third Doctor. Pertwee always said that.

Although the phrase is often associated as the Third Doctor's catchphrase, Pertwee only spoke it twice on screen, The Sea Devils and The Five Doctors. Target novelizations did have a field day with the line, however. Especially the ones by Terrance Dicks.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

<<Did anyone catch the throwaway line the Doctor said about "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?" it just happens and he just moves on. I picked up on it because it's one of those things fans always pick on the show for hehe. It is also a huge trope on Star Trek...>>

That was a running joke with the Third Doctor. Pertwee always said that.

Kind of ruined it by following it with "I bet that means something, it sounds great". Should've just left it at that.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

The Doctor talked about immortality being losing other people. Foreshadowing the departure of Clara?

Yeah, I'm getting that feeling. They're foreshadowing the hell out of Clara dying.

Which tells me it either ain't happening, or it'll happen in a way that'll pull the rug out from everybody. Moffat does not do the obvious. Ever.

I don't know how it'll happen. I don't want it to happen because I love Clara, but I see it coming. That's what was rumored, and basically twice in the last 3 weeks we've had the Doctor fret over Clara making the TARDIS her life, having a duty of care for her, guilt if something happened to her, etc. etc. And then the whole curse of immortality thing...you continue on while the people you care about go away.

Something will happen to this Clara, probably. It'll hurt the Doctor very much, and one of her time splinter versions will show up and help him deal with it. That's what I see happening with this season's arc.

 

[auntiehill]

I thought it was OK, not nearly as horrible as the Robin Hood one--started fairly cringe-inducing but actually got better as it went along and had one or two very good moments. I gave it a "good," for an average. I guess I'll have to see the follow-up to see how it wraps up the storyline.

 

[Mr Soak]

Did anyone catch the throwaway line the Doctor said about "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?" it just happens and he just moves on.

The Doctor also quoted the Seventh Doctor. "Time will tell, it always does."

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

What if ??


Clara is still a Dalek? and the Doctor is in denial and the TARDIS is helping his denial..

Well failing that she still has all the Dalek nanites inside her from that episode..

 

[auntiehill]

Did anyone catch the throwaway line the Doctor said about "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?" it just happens and he just moves on.

The Doctor also quoted the Seventh Doctor. "Time will tell, it always does."

^I also liked the presence of the 2000 year diary.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Did anyone catch the throwaway line the Doctor said about "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?" it just happens and he just moves on.

The Doctor also quoted the Seventh Doctor. "Time will tell, it always does."

^I also liked the presence of the 2000 year diary.

Yes good catch there too...

I wonder if it's bigger on the inside of the covers with infinite pages..

 

[Gov Kodos]

I don't really see why they had to address his face just because he had played a different role a few years ago. It seemed like it came out of nowhere.

They certainly didn't have to, but Moffat did promise the day Capaldi was cast that it was going to be addressed in the show.

Yeah, we waited two years for that.

If they wanted that plot, I suppose they could have gotten Colin Baker to come back and find out what about that last seen face prompted the 6th to chose that wardrobe.

 

[Australis]

I've liked this season more than any eplast season. This was quite good, imo, and I thnk we actually havve a reversal here - usually ep 1 good, ep 2 not so much. Here I think ep 1 OK, ep 2 better.

I liked the face explanation.

A thought on immortality: one life is not enough. I'd take it, if I could. Yes, everyone you know, including children, will die... nut we all do anyway. Maybe I would ask it be conferred on tose I love instead... but they aren't me, and may grow to resent it. It's a tricky decision, and not opne made in seconds or minutes, even hours. To me, it's growing old that kills you. Not the physical deterioration, just the sheer weight of memories and experiences. Aaaand that's enough of that.

 

[Sketcher]

Most importantly, have we seen the end of the sonic sunglasses?

 

[sttngfan1701d]

A thought on immortality: one life is not enough. I'd take it, if I could. Yes, everyone you know, including children, will die... nut we all do anyway. Maybe I would ask it be conferred on tose I love instead... but they aren't me, and may grow to resent it. It's a tricky decision, and not opne made in seconds or minutes, even hours. To me, it's growing old that kills you. Not the physical deterioration, just the sheer weight of memories and experiences. Aaaand that's enough of that.

"Highlander" touched on the burden of immortality often. I guess other shows have too, but that one stands out in my mind the most. Your loved ones die while you go on. You have to pretend to die every once in awhile, and you have to keep on the move, never staying in one place more than 20 or 30 years. But that was back in the 90's. I wonder how a modern show would explore it?

Anyway, the Doctor's dilemma is much more complex than Duncan MacLeod's ever was. Like you said, the sheer weight of memories and experiences. 2000 years of "life", sure, but so much DONE in those 2000 years. From one end of the universe to the other, traipsing through time and space, meeting thousands upon thousands of people. So when you do find someone that "anchors" you, like Clara right now for example, you fight very hard to keep them safe. Because otherwise it's back to your blue box, on your own again, until you stumble across someone else that inspires you enough to care for them again. In more than just a passing way, that is.

It's a hard life.

The Doctor is worried about Clara now. She's grown very attached to this lifestyle, and deep down he knows that she's not a time lord but wants to be. So on the one hand he's glad to have her around, teaching her the rules and saying "We're time travelers," (not just "I'm") but also wanting to keep her from going all-in because she doesn't know the stakes. And he doesn't want to lose her. That's what they're building this year, it seems to me.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Even worse, Clara seems perfectly fine with the idea that her time in the TARDIS will likely end with her death. In fact, she'd prefer that to living out her natural life back on Earth wasting her time with 'hobbies.' There's nothing there for her anymore, and she's probably still a schoolteacher more out of habit than anything else now. All her other selves died aiding the Doctor - what's one more?