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6x02 Day of the Moon (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!!)

How dost thou rate the Doctor's adventure?


  • Total voters
    158
I finally saw the first 10 minutes of Day of the Moon. Um ... couldn’t they have digitally removed the NEW bridge by Hoover Dam? I know there was some caption that it was not Hoover Dam, but it looked like it and the bridge. Btw, if you’re ever in Vegas, drive out to the Dam and park and walk across the bridge. FAN-TAS-TIC views!!!

I thought the same thing at first, but then they pointed out that it was actually the Glen Canyon Dam, and that bridge behind it was built in 1959.

I googled Glen Canyon Dam. Definitely a different bridge, for all the similarities with Hoover’s. Both still amazing twin constructions.
 
Just watched the episode again and loved it. I think Lonemagpie is on to something regarding the little girl's regeneration. I think it's connected to the Doctor's shooting in the first episode. I believe this is going to be a season long...or even half season long arc and we could get looped back to the start. Murray's music is bang on again.

Interesting but weird Amy/Doctor/Rory stuff going on in that episode too. It's like Moffat is purposely trying to mislead us still lol. Can't wait for next week.
When I wached TIA the second, I definitely got a vibe from the Doctor's Death scene that it seemed a deliberate act to get Regeneration Energy to the Space Suit person(?)
 
not sure but wast the black jeep in the beginning a much new model than 1969? looks like and 80's model but im no expert
 
Ya know, from the way River talked about The Doctor's ability to regenerate in "The Impossible Astronaut", and her knowledge about the process in general, it would certainly seem to indicate that she's had some actual experience with at least one of The Doctor's regenerations, if not more than one. So where does this expertise come from, when we've pretty much witnessed all of the doc's regenerations (save one) and River wasn't involved? (I'm not remotely implying she witnessed McGann to Eccleson regeneration, so get that out of your head!)

Moreover, when she met 10, she didn't immediately assume he was an earlier incarnation. In fact seemed a bit surprised that he was an earlier incarnation, and a bit miffed that he didn't already know and trust her. Thing is, why would she ever consider the possibility that he was a post-11-incarnation, if she'd seen 11 actually die?

In fact, when she looks in his eyes, and realizes that he truly is a younger incarnation of the Doctor she knew, she pretty much implies that she's been acquainted with more than one later incarnation of him, and that none were as early an incarnation as him.

Now while I know that "continuity" is a bad word in the Whoverse, most authors don't write stories that invalidate their own previous works. That is, while they're sometimes more than willing to ignore the continuity of other authors, they usually maintain a kind of "personal continuity" of their own, which guides their own projects within a series of works. I'm assuming that Moffat has a plan of some kind, and isn't going to violate any ground rules that he himself has gone out of his way to establish.

And he's pretty much established that River circa "Silence in the Library" has known several incarnations of The Doctor, all of which apparently came after Ten.

The River Song that the Doctor encounters in the library not only doesn't expect his life to end in his very next incarnation, but seemingly knows for a fact that it doesn't. And I think that Moffat going to be true to that.
 
Well, that was better than part 1 anyway. The Silence are kind of cool now, though still not creepy or scary at all. And slipping the video into the moon landing footage was a clever way to defeat them.

I must say I'm impressed that for once they someone avoided the cliche of Nixon as a bastard and actually depicted him as somewhat lovable. He was a fun element in this story.

I'm going to say it now: drop the Doctor/Amy/Rory love triangle. That has no potential other than to be very dreary, and really how cliche and predictable.

The opening sequence where Amy, Rory, and River are being "chased" through America doesn't really make too much sense. They've been on the run for three months, but they still manage to look relatively good looking. Okay, Rory was a bit dirty looking but still looked better than you'd expect someone on the run to look.

Overall, this story isn't a favourite of mine, but it's still decent and delivered the necessary entertainment quota. One of my favourite bits, the Silence going on about they don't need weapons, which prompts Canton to shoot it and say "welcome to America."

Next week, pirates! Arrr, this should be fun.
 
The Wormhole said:
I'm going to say it now: drop the Doctor/Amy/Rory love triangle. That has no potential other than to be very dreary, and really how cliche and predictable.
Seems to me that the whole schtick with Rory misunderstanding Amy's thoughts coming through the transponder was "dropping it". It was the writer's way of establishing, once and for all, that Rory was "the one" for Amy, and that The Doc wasn't. Period.
 
I finally saw the first 10 minutes of Day of the Moon. Um ... couldn’t they have digitally removed the NEW bridge by Hoover Dam? I know there was some caption that it was not Hoover Dam, but it looked like it and the bridge. Btw, if you’re ever in Vegas, drive out to the Dam and park and walk across the bridge. FAN-TAS-TIC views!!!

I thought the same thing at first, but then they pointed out that it was actually the Glen Canyon Dam, and that bridge behind it was built in 1959.

I googled Glen Canyon Dam. Definitely a different bridge, for all the similarities with Hoover’s. Both still amazing twin constructions.

No, that was definitely Glen Canyon Bridge and Dam. Here's an aerial short showing both the dam and the bridge. Note the steel-truss construction on the bridge's arch. Now here's Rory on the dam and you can clearly see the bridge in the background. Again, same steel-truss architecture. Finally, here's a shot of the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge, looking over Hoover Dam. Similar, but hardly twins, you'll see that the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge has a concrete arch instead of the steel-truss arch. You'll also see that Hoover Dam has four prominent intake towers that stretch back into Lake Mead, a feature that Glen Canyon Dam lacks.

Still, I agree they are amazing constructions and fondly remember my visits to Hoover Dam. Now I've got to see Glen Canyon Dam!
 
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Ya know, from the way River talked about The Doctor's ability to regenerate in "The Impossible Astronaut", and her knowledge about the process in general, it would certainly seem to indicate that she's had some actual experience with at least one of The Doctor's regenerations, if not more than one. So where does this expertise come from, when we've pretty much witnessed all of the doc's regenerations (save one) and River wasn't involved? (I'm not remotely implying she witnessed McGann to Eccleson regeneration, so get that out of your head!)

Moreover, when she met 10, she didn't immediately assume he was an earlier incarnation. In fact seemed a bit surprised that he was an earlier incarnation, and a bit miffed that he didn't already know and trust her. Thing is, why would she ever consider the possibility that he was a post-11-incarnation, if she'd seen 11 actually die?

In fact, when she looks in his eyes, and realizes that he truly is a younger incarnation of the Doctor she knew, she pretty much implies that she's been acquainted with more than one later incarnation of him, and that none were as early an incarnation as him.

Now while I know that "continuity" is a bad word in the Whoverse, most authors don't write stories that invalidate their own previous works. That is, while they're sometimes more than willing to ignore the continuity of other authors, they usually maintain a kind of "personal continuity" of their own, which guides their own projects within a series of works. I'm assuming that Moffat has a plan of some kind, and isn't going to violate any ground rules that he himself has gone out of his way to establish.

And he's pretty much established that River circa "Silence in the Library" has known several incarnations of The Doctor, all of which apparently came after Ten.

The River Song that the Doctor encounters in the library not only doesn't expect his life to end in his very next incarnation, but seemingly knows for a fact that it doesn't. And I think that Moffat going to be true to that.

I think he has to work around the fact that his Doctors changed. I'm not sure he can truly make it make complete sense this way. My guess is she has to be around at least for the 12th Doctor. That way she can at least assume 10 is after 11, but before 12. Since it's difficult to know how long both Moffat and Smith will be around, my suspicion is he'll want to complete the story before that point, though.

However, I do agree with the conclusion. The River at that point knows this isn't the end of the Doctor. Since I think they'll tie up this story this season, I'm going to guess the River at this point in her timeline will be involved in resetting the Doctor's death. But there's a lot of unknowns to juggle at the moment.
 
The Wormhole said:
I'm going to say it now: drop the Doctor/Amy/Rory love triangle. That has no potential other than to be very dreary, and really how cliche and predictable.
Seems to me that the whole schtick with Rory misunderstanding Amy's thoughts coming through the transponder was "dropping it". It was the writer's way of establishing, once and for all, that Rory was "the one" for Amy, and that The Doc wasn't. Period.

Okay, but to me that was already established without question or doubt at the end of Amy's Choice. Which makes it ridiculous to bring a love triangle up here.
 
Then again, I cheered when he shot him. Shooting the bad guy in that situation makes a lot of sense and it's something the Doctor would never do. Maybe it's because I'm American that I like it, I don't know.
 
I would have liked it better if he had said: "Welcome to Earth" and then shot him. The aliens afteral were all over the Earth, not just in America. His one statement there implies that he was shooting him cause he's an American, or the alien was in America, which in reality they had infested the entire planet.
 
I would have liked it better if he had said: "Welcome to Earth" and then shot him. The aliens afteral were all over the Earth, not just in America. His one statement there implies that he was shooting him cause he's an American, or the alien was in America, which in reality they had infested the entire planet.

Well, the British have such vastly different sensibilities about guns from we Americans, that I suspect they think we are a nation of hair-triggered gun-lovers because of our Second Amendment. It's a minor cultural quirk on their part ... a bit of a prejudice they entertain.

Of course, back in 1969, I think guns were almost as popular in Great Britain before a number of laws were passed that gradually "disarmed" their citizens.
 
I would have liked it better if he had said: "Welcome to Earth" and then shot him. The aliens afteral were all over the Earth, not just in America. His one statement there implies that he was shooting him cause he's an American, or the alien was in America, which in reality they had infested the entire planet.

Maybe Moffat hasn't seen ID4 yet. :techman:
 
Actually, it's Delaware who didn't seen that movie. Therefore, he didn't think of the line. Once he saw it, he was kicking himself for not thinking of that.
 
Overall, I find the idea of humanity being able to overthrow the Silents because of the Doctor's line quite laughable. As many have pointed out, not everyone will have a gun or other weapon handy and as soon as they go to get one, they'll forget, giving the Silents enough time to get away.

Not only that, but how much of the world saw the landing? Did the majority of Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, etc. see it? If I were the Silents, I'd just move my base of operations away from America towards the countries that probably did not air the landing en masse. Of course, maybe that explains the declining influence of America since 1969. Maybe the Silents involved themselves in the Vietnam War as retaliation against the Doctor and America?

There's also the matter of just how many Silents there are and how many people they've influenced. Honestly, I'll admit I'm not that important in the grand scheme of things, would the Silents even waste their time with me? Chances are, they only picked individuals to influence, and those individuals became the elite (politicians, business men, etc.). And if that's the case, then the odds of people surrounding those individuals having weapons would be greater than the average citizen, anywhere on Earth.

As for what the Silents did and whether or not they are the enemy the Doctor seems to think they are, their crime is manipulating humanity. To what end, we're not sure, as the reason for the space suit being made is still a mystery, past the idea of the Silents needing it for the girl. Did they influence every major event in human history or just some of them? Were they there guiding Da Vinci, Copernicus, Columbus, The Founding Fathers, Popes, Kings, Pharohs, etc.? All of the above? Some of the above? And what if their end game was to prepare humanity for something? What if they were here to protect us? To help us realize our potential?

And what kind of aliens come here and don't have the ability to make a spacesuit of their own? Wouldn't that imply someone brought them here (or they got here by accident)?

Reminds me of Kirk's question in The Final Frontier: "What does God need with a space ship?"
 
I don't think the point of the broadcast was for all of humanity to simultaneously kill the Silence, just to make them aware of them, so that the Silence would see their position is no longer tenable and just leave without a fight.
 
Plus, once again, I think it's spliced into all future broadcasts too. So it extends to each generation the second they get access to television and see the clip.
 
Plus, once again, I think it's spliced into all future broadcasts too. So it extends to each generation the second they get access to television and see the clip.

Now that we know the Silence have been on Earth for thousands of years, I'm absolutely delighted by the mental image of all the Silence running around yelling in sheer panic with the Cyber-King and other similar but public invasions.
"Carl, really. Why did we have to conquer THIS planet?!"
 
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