"The Girl Who Died" Grading and Discussion Thread

[Starkers]

^Of course 12 stares straight at Missy and doesn't know who she is, and Ten wanders around London while Harold Saxon busily building up his political career and doesn't sense his presence. Plus all those times the Doctor (usually Five) doesn't recognise the Master in his cunning disguises

I suppose it's just possible that the Master's just really good and masking his psychic imprint (or whatever it is)

I've always just worked on the assumption that on a subconscious level the Doctor remembers every face he's ever seen and when regeneration kicks in his subconscious just randomly chooses one?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Actually didn't the Master have some kind of field blocking him sensing him in London?

 

[Guy Gardener]

JACK: The moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator.
MARTHA: But this Master bloke, he's got the Tardis. He could be anywhere in time and space.
DOCTOR: No, he's here. Trust me.
MARTHA: Who is he, anyway? And that voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor.
JACK: If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated.
MARTHA: What does that mean?
JACK: It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. New man.
(A beggar is tapping the rhythm of the start of the old Who theme on his tin mug. Di di di dum di di di dum.)
MARTHA: Then how are we going to find him?
DOCTOR: I'll know him, the moment I see him. Time Lords always do.
MARTHA: But hold on. If he could be anyone, we missed the election. But it can't be.
(A series of public television screens on lamp posts are broadcasting the news.)
NEWSREADER [on screen]: Mister Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters.
(The new Prime Minister is walking down steps with his wife.)
MARTHA: I said I knew that voice. When he spoke inside the Tardis. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon.
DOCTOR: That's him. He's Prime Minister.
PHOTOGRAPHER [on screen]: Mister Saxon, this way, sir. Come on, kiss for the lady, sir.
DOCTOR: The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Master and his wife?

"See him" in person, or "see him" period?

 

[intrinsical]

It seems many people didn't catch the helmets had a built in Virtual Reality display that only the Mire and their leader can see. The Doctor hacked the VR display to project Ashildr's imagination.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Who's that now?

Really?

 

[Pindar]

Doctor Who meets Horrible Histories. I rather liked it.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

It seems many people didn't catch the helmets had a built in Virtual Reality display that only the Mire and their leader can see. The Doctor hacked the VR display to project Ashildr's imagination.

I actually figured that out after watching the episode again. They looked like they were about to shit their pants..

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Various sources. You can find most of them here: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Regeneration

Oh cool.. I bet the nanites idea is all "new who" stuff lol

Well, the term wasn't invented until the 1990s, so that's a given.

I've always just worked on the assumption that on a subconscious level the Doctor remembers every face he's ever seen and when regeneration kicks in his subconscious just randomly chooses one?

Romana appeared to waste several regenerations on a whim in Destiny of the Daleks, which has been a source of controversy. Finally, she consciously chooses the form of Princess Astra from The Armageddon Factor. The Doctor obviously skipped Regeneration 101.

 

[Starkers]

Romana is the only Timelord/lady we've seen do that though. It's another one of those things that in hindsight they really shouldn't have done!

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Romana is the only Timelord/lady we've seen do that though. It's another one of those things that in hindsight they really shouldn't have done!

I'm not certain, but it was probably Douglas Adams' fault as script editor. He seemed a bit glib about continuity if he thought he could extract some humour. Even at the time, quite a few people commented negatively about her regenerating like she was trying on new hats.

 

[Starkers]

Not to mention regenerating because she was bored/fancied a change rather than because she was dying.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Can't we rationalize it as just one regeneration where she was effectively still regenerating through the whole scene and was just, for the lack of a better word, in browsing mode before locking in the buy?
And who knows, maybe she electrocuted herself trying to screw in a light bulb in the other room and thought, what the hell, might just go shopping.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Can't we rationalize it as just one regeneration where she was effectively still regenerating through the whole scene and was just, for the lack of a better word, in browsing mode before locking in the buy?
And who knows, maybe she electrocuted herself trying to screw in a light bulb in the other room and thought, what the hell, might just go shopping.

Haha I like that..

 

[Starkers]

that made me laugh too!

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I like to think that Romana was simply a Time Lord who actually had read about regenerations and, as an academix, knew how to choose her body during it. Thus, her many changes in that episode consituted her first body, as it occured, like with Ten's hand later on, during a given time span at which she could do that.

If that makes any sense.

 

[Saul]

I liked the episode. Doctor is saving lots of people this season. Davros, himself with paradoxes, Ashildr.

But did anyone notice the book the Doctor was flipping through? Not his Diary. There was a book in one of the Viking's rooms which looked like something from a few hundred years hence.

Well if she gets her head lopped off that can't be fixed for one.

Face of Boe.

Boe is male and a different species

Boe is a "he" who can have babies and his species is never identified. Let's not forget that it was suggest that Captain Jack might be the face of Boe.

 

[Marsden]

I liked the episode. I was happy the Viking plot was wrapped up in one episode but the repercussions of what the Doctor does can pop up again later. He must have recognized her from a future time, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted to seeing her.

And while I thought it was completely unnecessary to explain the face I didn't mind the explanation given.

And this year I don't dislike Clara anymore. If she stayed like this I won't want her to go. Last year I was hoping they would get rid of her. Must have been that Pink character dragging everything down.

 

[Romulan_spy]

based on the preview of tomorrow's episode where Ashildr does not even remember or care about her name anymore, I suspect she is going to grow to resent her immortality.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

based on the preview of tomorrow's episode where Ashildr does not even remember or care about her name anymore, I suspect she is going to grow to resent her immortality.

I wonder if maybe she's OK with it and it's the Doctor that resents her for it.

 

[intrinsical]

based on the preview of tomorrow's episode where Ashildr does not even remember or care about her name anymore, I suspect she is going to grow to resent her immortality.

This is why I loved the episode so much. It has set up a teenage girl from the viking era to live forever. I really want to see what she has become after a few centuries.

The Doctor chose to explore the wonders of the galaxy with companions. Jack Harkness used his immortality to constantly protect the Earth from dangers. Ashildr gets dumped in an era where immortality is a pipe dream and nobody has seriously thought of the consequences of living forever. She has had no psychological preparation, no idea of how to handle outliving everyone she loves. And she's permanently stuck in the body of a young girl. Chances are, most people won't even treat her seriously.