Behind the scenes of Series 6 two parter + DWM covers

[Lonemagpie]

Killing off future beardy Doctor will be a cheat...

Would it really be, though?

I have a friend who was so utterly pissed off about the Doctor's line about 507 regenerations in "The Death of the Doctor" that I swear she was going to spit nails. It wasn't the casual disregard of the "rule of 13" that everyone knows. It's that 507 is so far away from where we are today that the show will never reach 507 Doctors. 507 took away an endpoint for her. She wanted a final Doctor, because she wanted a look at what the Doctor will do and what the Doctor will become if he knows that his permanent death is a very real possibility.

Assuming the bearded Doctor is a future Doctor, and not a clone Doctor or a shapeshifter pretending to be the Doctor, killing him would give my friend exactly what she wants. We have an endpoint -- the eleventh Doctor dies and he doesn't regenerate -- and we know it's going to happen, and what does the Doctor do when faced with that knowledge? That he really and truly is mortal?

That's territory that Doctor Who hasn't mined before.

Except for approximately one scene in The Two Doctors - and even if they did such a thing, which they might, (or tried making him human and mortal for a the midseason cliffhanger) it'd get retconned as soon as Matt Smith decides to hang up his fez or stetson, and the 12th Doctor is cast.

 

[The Doctor]

Can the Doctor rewrite his own life and avoid his fate?

If I were Moffat, that's what I'd do. Kill a future Doctor.

Killing the Doctor but having him rewrite his fate *IS* a cheat. It may be what he's planning but it would be a cheat. And, we know that the BBC would not allow a permanent death for the Dr at this point.

Mr Awe

Meh. Wibbly-wobbly and all that.

I don't think that Moffat will kill 'old' Doctor 11 because it's boring. It's what we expect because Amy and Rory will clearly be around for the season, The Doctor isn't going to die for another 496 regens or so and we've already seen River die.

Given all that, I'm guessing that whomever dies is either a) an impostor or b) not dead by the end of the two-parter. My money's on Rory. He is the show's punching bag, after all.

 

[Bones2]

The Doctor isn't going to die for another 496 regens or so...

*2

 

[Admiral_Young]

Rory's already been killed technically, killing him twice (permanently) would seem redundant to me. I think that if they want to go for emotional impact and shock they should kill Amy, seems like it would be logical choice. I agree that it will probably be the Bearded Doc. They can't kill River because of the Silence in the Library factor unless they really want to mess with the timeline.

 

[Samurai8472]

They can't kill River because of the Silence in the Library factor unless they really want to mess with the timeline.

I now wonder what the timeline would be like if River died in season premiere.

I think the one we'll meet in Utah is younger than the one we saw at the end of "The big bang"

 

[Admiral_Young]

I wonder if we'll ever see their first chronological meeting. I'm guessing not.

 

[JoeZhang]

From the Times

Spoiler: on who dies

The first episode finds us in Utah. River Song (Alex Kingston), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) have all been invited, by a stranger, to meet for a picnic in the middle of the desert, but find out — fewer than four minutes in — that it is actually a wake.

It turns out, to gasps from the screening audience, that all the rumours were true: a major cast member does die in this series. A major cast character. They set fire to this person. The sci-fi forums will be ablaze with the space-time consequences.

Spoiler: On the particular abilities of the badguys

I can tell you that major new baddies have arrived, with faces like skulls made of roots. They look like Edvard Munch’s The Scream, but with their mouths covered in skin, like a sinew tarpaulin. These aliens have one very effective weapon: you forget them as soon as you stop looking at them. As the audience only sees what the protagonists remember, the sudden jumps in time, and the physical consequences that have unravelled during the amnesia, lead to some genuinely startling moments.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Very interesting.

 

[StCoop]

From the Official Synopsis for Episode 1 by the BBC:

This strange summons reunites the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in the middle of the Utah desert and unveils a terrible secret the Doctor's friends must never reveal to him.

So that answers that question then.

I win a cookie!

 

[Mr Awe]

Why keep hammering away at that idea, that time can be rewritten, if he's not going to use it? It's Chekhov's gun on the mantelpiece.

Nah, it's Voyager's Reset Button. Lazy writing of the highest order. Do whatever you like because you can just undo it in the end. Like you can lock the Doctor up "forever" in an unescapable box only to have him escape five minutes later by cheating.

Yet, I'd still take Moffat's cheat over Braga's cheat or RTD's cheat, because Moffat tends to play fair with his audience, and he gives the audience enough pieces of the puzzle that a bright person can work it out for themselves. Braga's and RTD's cheats were fiated from the beyond and had no grounding whatsoever.

That, I agree with totally.

Mr Awe

 

[StCoop]

That, I agree with totally.

Really? Escaping from the Pandorica by having already escaped from it? That's bigger than all of RTD so-called DEMs put together.

 

[Mr Awe]

I'm talking about the totality of Moffat. I trust him more.

Mr Awe

 

[wamdue]

That, I agree with totally.

Really? Escaping from the Pandorica by having already escaped from it? That's bigger than all of RTD so-called DEMs put together.

agreed, I was never a fan of that, at least with say Last of the Time Lords, the paradox engine was in place at the start of the invasion, so it was less of a cop out.

Still that moment when the box opened to Amy and her saying "Right kid heres where it gets complicated" is a classic.

Still the Doctors confidence that his future self would tell him which lever to use, seemed wrong, but hey the TARDIS was a paradox, so its not really so odd to think a paradox would be created to get out of it.

 

[JoeZhang]

People always seem to miss the other one in the that episode - why little Amy is thirsty.

 

[captcalhoun]

because the Doctor stole her drink from her earlier, because she was thirsty later?

 

[StCoop]

Still that moment when the box opened to Amy and her saying "Right kid heres where it gets complicated" is a classic.

Except it makes no sense. Why is she acting like she knows where she is and what's happening, when she was dead, sorry "mostly" dead when she was put in it?

To me (and I know lots of people love what he's doing) that sums up Moffat's style over substance philosophy which left me feeling so disappointed last year.

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

Before they sealed Amy up in the Pandorica, the Doctor left her a "message" via mind-meld. How that works when you're dead, I haven't a clue.

 

[TiberiusMaximus]

^She was only mostly dead! There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.

 

[wamdue]

To me (and I know lots of people love what he's doing) that sums up Moffat's style over substance philosophy which left me feeling so disappointed last year.

dont get me wrong the whlole "you only knew what to do, because I saw you do it" stuff is fine as a cheap gag, but I think it was over played in the S5 finale.

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

^She was only mostly dead! There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.

Thank you for reminding me!
Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.
Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.