7X07 The Rings of Akhenaten (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!)

[Slugboy]

So telekinesis too? No problem.

For me, it wasn't so much the fact that Merry had telekinesis, but rather why she would use it against Clara.

After some thought, though, it makes more sense to me. Essentially, Merry believed that her failure had made Grandfather angry, and the only way to appease him was via her death. All of a sudden she has two strangers showing up trying to rescue her (and thus condemning her people to death, or so she thinks). One of them (the Doctor) is occupied holding a door open, while it looks like the other one (Clara) is about to grab her and take her away. So she uses her telekinesis to ensure Clara can't interfere with her sacrifice.

Once the Doctor convinces Merry that she doesn't need to sacrifice herself to prevent her people from being killed, and that doing so would simply be a waste (his whole speech was solely for her benefit), she releases Clara from her bondage.

Maybe I was just too thick to pick up on this the first time I watched it. But it is a relatively meaty part of an otherwise fluffy (in my opinion) episode. It's a pretty depressing image, though, a society where a little girl who believes she failed is willing to give her own life in recompense.

 

[Slugboy]

I just found out an interesting detail about this episode. Everyone probably noticed that, at the very beginning of the episode, the Doctor is reading an issue of The Beano dated 1981 (no doubt to indicate the era for the viewer).

However, a more subtle indication of the era is the song that is playing from the very beginning to when Ellie rescues her husband-to-be from getting hit by a car. It is Ghost Town, by the UK ska band The Specials, which was also released in 1981 (and was apparently a hit song). So there is both a visual and auditory clue as to the time period.

I imagine older British viewers appreciated this reference more than younger viewers or foreign viewers (like me).

 

[Psion]

I just found out an interesting detail about this episode. Everyone probably noticed that, at the very beginning of the episode, the Doctor is reading an issue of The Beano dated 1981 (no doubt to indicate the era for the viewer).

However, a more subtle indication of the era is the song that is playing from the very beginning to when Ellie rescues her husband-to-be from getting hit by a car. It is Ghost Town, by the UK ska band The Specials, which was also released in 1981 (and was apparently a hit song). So there is both a visual and auditory clue as to the time period.

I imagine older British viewers appreciated this reference more than younger viewers or foreign viewers (like me).

Imagine how a-twitter we'd all be by now if they'd chosen an Ultravox song! We'd be sure that was a clue about Clara.

 

[Starkers]

Obviously this is a clue that Clara is either A/ A ghost or B/ The regenerated Dennis the Menace

 

[MikeS]

I wanted to like this as it seemed to be trying to say something very deep and meaningful about life and religion. Life - the Doctor's speech to Merry about atoms and starstuff. Religion - the Doctor says something to the vampire about "the beautiful things created on the back of your evil". However, as mentioned, the (beautiful) music needed quietening so that we could hear what the characters were saying and the story needed to be less rushed.

I am not in the camp that feels every detail needs to be explained - they could breath on the motorbike; atmosphere/forcefield, it does not matter - that they can is enough. Clara is also not visibly hungry at any point - "but the writers didn't tell us what she had for breakfast! <mockshock>..." This is where alot of people fell down in their watching of Lost - not everything needs to/will be explained.

I too was reminded of Father's Day during Clara's backstory. I'm sure it's due to nothing more than being set in the same era.