Fantastic episode. I'll have to rewatch it at some point to properly ingest it, but I really enjoyed it. There's still a lot of questions left hanging out there, but that's no different from
Babylon 5 or
Lost. There's a solid story here but with dangling questions. I have no worry that we'll get the answers by the end of the season (although I would say I wouldn't expect them in regards to River if Moffat hadn't already said we would get answers).
I'm really surprised to read that a lot of people thought The Doctor instructed humans to commit genocide. I didn't get that impression at all. I merely saw it as a scare tactic against The Silence and they would flee.
Either that or she's going to be Idris in Gaiman's episode (an old friend with a new face, which everybody has taken to mean someone from the classic series)
I really hope that's not the case. It would feel awfully cheap to have the line "an old friend with a new face" in the episode description and just do that. But then, this is coming from the same person who doesn't have a problem with
Zagreus using The Doctor actors in different roles or the situation with
Gallifrey IV. *shrug*
And what's with the woman with the Seven Of Nine eyewear, who looks in, says Amy is dreaming, and disappears?
I would be very surprised if we didn't see here turn up some time later this season. When she first appeared, for whatever reason, I found myself thinking of McCoy's first season. Huh.
I suspect that the Doctor knows a lot more about what happens to his future self than he's letting on. After all, he knew exactly who the astronaut was in the future. As he said, "don't play games with me; don't ever think you're capable of doing that."
My thoughts exactly. I find it very hard to believe that The Doctor doesn't realize he wrote the messages and probably knows something about his death, but he's just playing coy.
The Doctor also does not look at time in the same progression humans do. Consequently, since he moves about so easily and almost effortlessly it's possible he sees things with less urgency
Which is clearly exemplified by The Doctor's conversation with Ood Sigma at the beginning of "The End of Time."
Just be glad Doctor Who isn't a 22-episode season, or their heads would explode. I guess some people can't handle the idea of progressive storytelling. Or telenovellas. Frankly, I'll be quite happy if that woman in the door isn't revealed until the 50th anniversary episode, with little clues given along the way. Moffat won't wait that long, but just as the first episode of Series 5 set up the first episode of Series 6, I wouldn't put it past him to begin sowing the seeds for Series 7 now.
What bugs me though are these are the same critics who adored Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes and LOST despite the fact they were far brutal with the lack of answers until the end and there stories took 2, 3 and 6 years compared to the several months this one will take.
I think a lot of people just aren't used to this from Doctor Who, and it's a bit jarring. I, personally, love it, especially since it looks like they're going to use the more Stargate/Babylon 5/Farscape method of serializing major plot elements while still having individual stories.
Stole the thoughts right out of my mouth. Really, you did!
. Remember the future Doctor said I've been running for so long, he will stop just not yet.
Well so he did! How did I miss that? Is it a duplicate of the one that got eaten?
