Fantastic episode!!!!
Yes, the science is wonky. Obviously, the moon is not an egg in real life. But this is Doctor Who after all. It is make-believe. The show has always been about fantastical elements. That did not bother me.
I think the reason Clara flipped out on the Doctor was not because he made them choose but because of his very rude, patronizing and disrespectful attitude he has shown ever since his regeneration. I don't really blame her. Capaldi's doctor has treated Clara very poorly. After all, she has been his companion since before his regeneration. She has been on many adventures. She even risked her life, jumping into his time stream, and saved all his incarnation. The previous doctor, jumped into his own time stream and saved her because he cared about her so much. They had a very close relationship. Since the Doctor regenerated, he seems to have completely forgotten everything they went through together. He has constantly berated, insulted and treated her with utter contempt. So, she definitely had a right to be offended like she was.
What I find interesting about this episode is that Capaldi's doctor handled the situation very differently than previous doctors would have. I can see Matt Smith's doctor as well as David Tennant's doctor not leaving them alone, but instead taking an active role in protecting the life form.
One thing I do like about Capaldi's doctor is that he seems to have a perspective on life and the universe more appropriate to a thousand year old time lord. After all, if you've seen the entire universe and traveled from the time it started to the time it ends, you would have a much much bigger perspective on everything than humans would have who only live on their one planet for a few decades. Furthermore, when you've seen countless amazing aliens across the universe, some of them, undoubtedly more intelligent or more unique than humans, as the Doctor has, I doubt you would still hold on to the belief that humans are inherently special. So, as hard as it might be for Clara to grasp, I actually think that Capaldi's attitude that humans are not special is appropriate for him to have and makes much more sense from a time lord perspective than Tennant's gushing over precious humans all the time. Of course, Capaldi's Doctor does not know how to express these views in a sensitive way. He seems to feel like in the grand scheme things, the truth is more important than being nice and in fact if you are mature enough, you should be able to handle the truth and being nice should be irrelevant even.
And I do like Capaldi's decision to let the humans make their own decisions. He was respecting the right of humans as a species to make their own decision. And it points back to the Time Lord's attitude of non-interference from Classic Who. The Doctor was basically saying that just because he is a time lord does not given him the right to tell any species what to do, they need to make those planetary decisions on their own, and own the consequences of those decisions. That is what being a living species in the universe is all about. Plus, the Doctor knew that the right decision would be made and that it would lead to very positive consequences that were much bigger than any one individual (humans will relaunch their space program and explore the universe and endure till the end speech). So he was employing a wisdom that comes from being a time traveler and knowing what the bigger stakes are. So, I see this doctor has having a much more time lord like wisdom about the universe.
Yes, the science is wonky. Obviously, the moon is not an egg in real life. But this is Doctor Who after all. It is make-believe. The show has always been about fantastical elements. That did not bother me.
I think the reason Clara flipped out on the Doctor was not because he made them choose but because of his very rude, patronizing and disrespectful attitude he has shown ever since his regeneration. I don't really blame her. Capaldi's doctor has treated Clara very poorly. After all, she has been his companion since before his regeneration. She has been on many adventures. She even risked her life, jumping into his time stream, and saved all his incarnation. The previous doctor, jumped into his own time stream and saved her because he cared about her so much. They had a very close relationship. Since the Doctor regenerated, he seems to have completely forgotten everything they went through together. He has constantly berated, insulted and treated her with utter contempt. So, she definitely had a right to be offended like she was.
What I find interesting about this episode is that Capaldi's doctor handled the situation very differently than previous doctors would have. I can see Matt Smith's doctor as well as David Tennant's doctor not leaving them alone, but instead taking an active role in protecting the life form.
One thing I do like about Capaldi's doctor is that he seems to have a perspective on life and the universe more appropriate to a thousand year old time lord. After all, if you've seen the entire universe and traveled from the time it started to the time it ends, you would have a much much bigger perspective on everything than humans would have who only live on their one planet for a few decades. Furthermore, when you've seen countless amazing aliens across the universe, some of them, undoubtedly more intelligent or more unique than humans, as the Doctor has, I doubt you would still hold on to the belief that humans are inherently special. So, as hard as it might be for Clara to grasp, I actually think that Capaldi's attitude that humans are not special is appropriate for him to have and makes much more sense from a time lord perspective than Tennant's gushing over precious humans all the time. Of course, Capaldi's Doctor does not know how to express these views in a sensitive way. He seems to feel like in the grand scheme things, the truth is more important than being nice and in fact if you are mature enough, you should be able to handle the truth and being nice should be irrelevant even.
And I do like Capaldi's decision to let the humans make their own decisions. He was respecting the right of humans as a species to make their own decision. And it points back to the Time Lord's attitude of non-interference from Classic Who. The Doctor was basically saying that just because he is a time lord does not given him the right to tell any species what to do, they need to make those planetary decisions on their own, and own the consequences of those decisions. That is what being a living species in the universe is all about. Plus, the Doctor knew that the right decision would be made and that it would lead to very positive consequences that were much bigger than any one individual (humans will relaunch their space program and explore the universe and endure till the end speech). So he was employing a wisdom that comes from being a time traveler and knowing what the bigger stakes are. So, I see this doctor has having a much more time lord like wisdom about the universe.
