N-S6E11: The God Complex

The premise of this episode was fun and clever.  A hotel with a room for everyone, though you really don’t want to find it.  Rooms pull of so many things for so many people.

Sad clown with a balloon (looks like it was played by Matt, but I’ve heard it’s not).

Lucy Hayward, 214, that brutal gorilla, drops papers

Commander Halke, defeat

Tim Heathe, having photo taken

Lady Silvertear, Daleks

Paige Barnes, other peoples’ socks

Tim Nelson, balloons

Noddist Prince, saberwolves

Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth

158, gym teacher

Joe Buchanan, ventriloquist dummies, cufflinks

Howie Spragg, pretty girls, glasses

Rita, disappointing family/failing

Gibbis, 216, weeping angels

Amy, 7, that the Doctor won’t return

Doctor, 11, ??? [do not disturb sign]

I noticed that when people were taken by the minotaur, they often left things behind, which are noted on the list above: Lucy’s papers, Joe’s cufflinks, Howie’s glasses – why?  What was the point in them leaving things in the hallways after they were taken?  Were they a form of the person’s faith being left behind?  It would explain the cufflinks.  Maybe Lucy wrote to address her faith?  As for Howie’s glasses… no idea.  He needed them because of all the reading he did on the conspiracy theories?

Quotes!

Doctor: “She’s threatening me with a chair leg.  I’ve never been threatened with a chair leg before – No, hang on, I tell a lie.”  Points if someone can find which episode he was threatened with a chair leg in; if there actually is one, that would be rather amusing.

Things Gibbis says because Gibbis has the most entertaining mindset in the episode:

“We’re lining all the highways with trees so the invading armies can march in the shade.”

“Resistance is exhausting.”

“All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed, is that too much to ask?”

Doctor: “It’s as I thought, it feeds on fear.  Everything—the rooms, Lucy’s note, even the pictures in reception—has been put here to frighten us.  So we have to resist it.  Do whatever you have to.  Cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens.  But do not give in to the fear.”

This whole episode is an allusion to the Doctor himself and several exchanges refer to it:

Doctor, talking to the minotaur: “You have lived so long even your name is lost.”

Rita: “Why is it up to you to save us?  That’s quite a god complex you have there.”

Doctor: “I brought them here.  They say it was their choice, but offer a child a suitcase full of sweets and they’ll take it.  Offer someone all of time and space and they’ll take that, too.  Which is why you shouldn’t.  Which is why grown-ups were invented.”

Rita: “All of time and space, ’eh?”

Doctor: “Oh yeah.  And when we get out of this, I’ll show you, too.”

Rita: “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but whatever it was, I have a feeling you just did it again.”

Doctor, translating the minotaur: “‘An ancient creature, drenched in the blood of the innocents.  Drifting in space through an endless shifting maze.  Such a creature, death would be a gift.’ Then accept it.  And sleep well.”  He pauses as he stands to walk away.  “‘I wasn’t talking about myself.’”

Several things came up during the episode:

Rory finds the fire escape, which was interpreted as him not having faith in anything.  One would think after all that’s happened that he would at least have faith in Amy, but that doesn’t seem to be the case – which I find rather satisfying after how often she’s treated him like crap.  Go Rory!

Also, Rory has the Sonic all the time in this series and suddenly now he’s got the mop.  Give him time and he’ll turn up with the Fez and then we’ll have Nurse Who instead of Doctor Who.

Another quote brings something else to light that seemed a bit odd:

Doctor: “Pond!  Bring the fish!”  There’s a bowl of goldfish that keeps appearing throughout the episode and after Amy’s instructed to bring the fish with them, Gibbis is seen during the phone call with Rita stealing and eating the fish – why are they so important?  Why did they have Rita’s death conincide with Gibbis eating the fish?  Why parallel those events?

Also, if the weeping angels were really Gibbis’s room, he should have been in line after Rita and before Amy.  He found his room before she did.  He was active; the Doctor did not cut the food supply as boasted at the end of the episode.

Many of the Doctors fears came to a head in this episode, from his room to having to break Amy’s faith.

Doctor, looking in room 11: “Of course.  Who else?”

The TARDIS’s cloister bell can be heard in the background.  What does the Doctor fear?  Losing the TARDIS; losing time and space; losing his place keeping order.  What does the Doctor have faith in?  The TARDIS.  She doesn’t always take him where he wants to go, but she does take him where he needs to go.  She’s the one constant in his life.

Doctor: “I stole your childhood and now I’ve led you by the hand to your death.  But the worst thing is I knew.  I knew this would happen.  This is what always happens.  Forget your faith in me.  I took you with me because I was vain.  Because I wanted to be adored.  Look at you, glorious Pond.  The girl who waited for me.  I’m not a hero.  I really am just a madman in a box.  And it’s time we see each other as we really are.  Amy Williams.  It’s time to stop waiting.”

Back on Earth, in England, we have SADFACE DOCTOR!

He comes to drop Amy and Rory off and then goes about his usual selling points.  Amy has to be the strong one and tell him no, that she wouldn’t accompany him again.

When the Doctor stands in the doorway of the TARDIS, it creaks.  Is this to accentuate how old they are?

As the TARDIS vanishes:

Rory: “What happened?  What’s he doing?”

Amy: “He’s saving us.”

And just like that, faith restored.

It was odd, watching the end of this episode.  I wasn't spoiled for what was coming.  It came as rather a shock Amy and Rory's time was up.  Being the new fan of Who I am, they were my first companions; this is the first time I've witnessed the end of a journey.  But it's really not the end for them.  There's still too many loose ends to wrap up before the end of the season.

N-S6E10: The Girl Who Waited

This was a great episode that could have been a lot better with a little thought.  Minor things, granted, enough to be bothersome buy not enough to detract from the enjoyableness of the installment.

Quotes!
Love the rip on today's generation at the beginning of the episode - hinted at earlier with the mention of the number one destination being the planet of coffee shops.

Amy: “Have you seen my phone?”

Doctor: “Your phone?  Your mobile telephone?   I bring you to a paradise planet two billion lightyears from earth and you want to update ...Twitter?”

Amy: “Sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades; it’s a camera phone.”

Doctor: “Glasses are cool, see?”

Are you genuinely promoting glasses or trying to appease the hipsters?

Rory: “Bit of earth, bit of alien, bit of whatever the hell that is…”

Looking through the gallery and commenting on odd alien art - something bubbly.

Amy: “And there he is, the voice of God.”

Are we foreshadowing The God Complex here?

This episode was more about Rory than Amy and it was wonderful being reminded what a sweetheart he is.

Rory: “I don’t care that you got old.  I care that we didn’t grow old together.”

Rory: “Two Amys together, can that work?”

Doctor: “I don’t know, it’s your marriage.”

Doctor: “What’s the nasty Amy done to you, dear?” to the TARDIS.

Doctor: “There can only be one Amy, which one do you want?  It’s your choice.”

Rory: “This isn’t fair.  You’re turning me into you.”

Way to place that moral dilemma on Rory, Doctor.  He obviously knew from the start and passed the blame off, which undoubtedly came up again later when young Amy woke up and asked where old Amy was.

I have to ask why they didn't just give the handbots eyes.  Obviously it needed its head to be filled with tranquilizer guns and no eyes to advance the plot.  Beyond that, it was totally a design flaw that they didn't have eyes.

When Rory left the green anchor room to find Amy in the red waterfall room, he should have wound up in a different time stream from both Amy AND the Doctor.  Again, it didn't happen so the plot could advance, but it would have been nice if they'd kept it consistent.

I loved that for once, FOR ONCE, Amy was focused on Rory.  She told him she loved him before they split to let the saving commence.  For once, she put her faith in Rory to save her instead of the Doctor (because the Doctor couldn't, due to Gen7, but that's beside the point [also, shouldn't Amy and Rory have had residual disease on them when they entered the TARDIS again?  Wouldn't that have affected the Doctor?].).  She (both of them) believe that Rory's the most beautiful man she's ever met, and not just in the physical way.  Also, as an aside, their first kiss had something to do with the Macarena, which is adorable.

When they finally make it back to the TARDIS, Rory kicks the doors open to make his entrance and I couldn't help thinking, "They open out the way!"

A new meme seems to be emerging: Rory dies all the time; Amy's fake all the time.

One of the things that bugged me about this episode was how quickly old Amy changed her gears at the end. She was so desperate to go with them, to keep living, but then when Rory's about to unlock the door and let her in, she tells him not to.  I guess they could explain it away that she traveled so much with the Doctor, she knew deep down that it couldn't happen, but it was still a break in character.

What bugged me the most about the episode was how bitchy Amy was about having to wait a whole 36 years, and that she bitched about it to Rory of all people.  Her waiting for them 36 years has absolutely nothing on Rory the Roman waiting 2000 years.  It was insult to injury and just plain insensitive.  Someone obviously forgot that fact about Rory when they wrote this episode.

Things to think about:

-Why does the Doctor keep giving Rory the screwdriver?  This has happened on multiple occasions and Tennant was so offended when River had the sonic in series 4.  Is there something special about Rory that he keeps getting his hands on it or what?  Are we going to be tuning into Nurse Who in the future?

-How did Amy make a sonic?  Where did she get the parts, how did she know how to assemble it, how did she get it to function?  How does one go about making a sonic from random parts?  Are they all getting Time Heads?

N-S6E9: Night Terrors

This episode is the reason I'm so far behind on posting.  The most meh episode I've seen.  It's got a few stand-out lines, but there's really nothing worth talking about.  Even the confidential had to half-fill itself with stuff completely unrelated to the episode to use its time.

Little things:
Mention of Jim.  Does he happen to be a fish?

For some reason "pantophobia" greatly amused me.

Quotes!

I absolutely loved that they made fun of themselves with Rory in this episode.  They recognized that they've killed him off far too often and let him be exasperated about it.

Rory: “Augh.  We’re dead, aren’t we?  We’re dead - again.”

Rory: “This is probably 1700-and-something.”

Amy: “Yay, my favorite year.”

Doctor: “No, not in the cupboard, why not in there, George?”

Because someone forgot to let Hitler out.  Seriously.  There's too many opportunities to remind people that Hitler's still in the cupboard.

Rory: “This is weird.”

Amy: “Says the time-travelling nurse.”

Doctor: “Stupid Doctor.”  -whacks self in the head-  “Ow.”

My favorite quote from the episode (and one of two things worth watching it for, in my opinion):

Doctor: “I’m not just a professional, I’m the Doctor.  It means I’ve come a long way to get here, Alex, a very long way.  George sent a message, a distress call if you’d like, and whatever’s inside that cupboard is so terrible, so powerful that it amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space.  Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire.  Through empires of glass and civilizations made of pure thought and a whole terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities.  You see these eyes, they’re old eyes and one thing I can tell you, Alex: Monsters are real.”

Alex: “You’re not from social services, are you?”

Doctor: “He’s a Tenza, remember, he’ll be whatever you want him to be.”

Now there’s a power to abuse.  With how much influence parents have over children already and how they destroy an individual's sense of self with their expectations, that's really sending a message.  I guess George is going to be perfect, then.

And of course, the nursery rhyme.  Because it's not full of plot, nope, not at all.

“Tick tock goes the clock

And now what shall we play?

Tick tock goes the clock

Now summer's gone away.

Tick tock goes the clock

And what then shall we see?

Tick tock until the day

That thou shalt marry me.

Tick tock goes the clock

And all the years they fly.

Tick tock and all too soon,

You and I must die.

Tick tock goes the clock

We laughed at fate and mourned her

Tick tock goes the clock,

Even for the Doctor.

Tick tock goes the clock

He cradled her and he rocked her.

Tick tock goes the clock,

Even for the Doctor...”

Things to think about:

-What’s with the glass eye?  Is it Madame Kovarian's?  Did she hide it away so she could wear that blasted eye patch?

N-S6E8: Let's Kill Hitler

And we're back!  Welcome.  You will experience a tingling sensation and then death.

Little things...
The Doctor's got a new coat.  Why?  Probably because he feels like it.  The old one is on the rack by the door inside the TARDIS.

SONIC CANE.  I want one.

It would have been great if they'd planted Mels earlier.  Sure, the fanatics would have been all over it in an instant, but it would have given the whole exchange a bit more validity.  As it stands, it's just a bunch tacked on so they can bring River into the episode.  Convenient and not particularly convincing, especially when she's the once that pushes them to get together.  Though, "You named your daughter... after your daughter" was a great line.

We have another reappearance of the TARDIS hallways from The Doctor's Wife!  Those things sure get around.  Great on them for reusing sets, but really, they could put more effort into making it not so obvious what they were before.

Rory badassery continues by punching Hilter in the face!  And putting him in the closet.  And then punching that other guy in the face... and driving a motorbike:
Amy: "Can you ride a motorbike?"
Rory: "I expect so.  It's that sort of day."
He's come into himself and accepted it ever so well.

Alex Kingston was having entirely too much fun during her regeneration.  Entirely too much fun.  And it was both great and tiring to watch.  I do love that we got another dose of the Squirmy Doctor, though, when she was showing off her teeth.  He manages to wrap a leg around her when she comes over.  Having the Doctor say that only River is allowed to call him sweetie was, for lack of a better word, sweet, as was the Doctor giving her the diary she's kept as long as we've known her.

What wasn't so sweet about River in this episode was how quickly they portrayed her attitude toward the Doctor as changing.  Obviously, she's still out to get him [I actually think it's the little girl River that kills him, because that's still in the Doctor's future], but the amount of change, from wanting to kill him to saving his life was way too much.  Unless the TARDIS said something when she flew it (she seemed to change the most between seeing the Doctor on the steps and flying the TARDIS), I don't see any reason she should have changed that much.  Too much character "development" too quickly.

Quotes!
Doctor: "Permission?" to hug Amy.
Rory: "Granted."

Young Rory: "I thought we were playing hide-and-seek.  I've been hiding for hours!"
Young Amy: "Well, we just haven't found you yet."
Young Rory: "Okay..."

Doctor: "You stay alive and I'll marry you.  Deal?"
I'm sure this is going to come up again sometime in the future.

Doctor: "Don't run.  Now, I know you're scared, but don't run.  Never run when you're scared."
We'll see how well they hold to that in the next episode.

Things to think about:
-It was said that what the Doctor was poisoned with was from the Judas tree.  Perhaps this is from the Gamma Forests we heard about in AGMGTW?  I hope we learn more about it, seeing as it's able to kill a Time Lord so quickly AND it prevents regeneration.

-They said River was a war criminal.  What war?

-The Silence is a religious movement, an academy of the question.  Obvious question is what the question is.  I'm pretty sure the answer is 42, but that's what they're waiting to hear, so likely not, but whatever.

-What is this justice department?  Who runs it?  I get the feeling it's someone we already know.  The Doctor said he didn't see it coming, but he didn't seem too surprised.  Like he's come across it before.

-Somewhat in the same vein, and I'm pretty sure it was just me, but did the antibodies look suspiciously like Dalek bodies?  The ones inside the trashcans, of course.

-So the Doctor downloaded information (chiefly that on his own death) from the justice robot...  what else did he steal?

I also hear there's a Christmas special in the works.  Lots of things to look forward to.

N-S6E7: A Good Man Goes to War

If you haven't found it yet, watch it here.
I'm not sure if the Grand Moff still has it or not.
As such, I'm going to get my complaining out of the way.

We open with yet another time gap.  As far as plot devices go, this was probably the most well executed for the current series.  However, having the mid-series finale jump time in the future really gives it a feeling of floating off in space, disconnected from everything else that's gone on.  Most of this series has felt disjointed in that manner, though.  Because of the jump and then the jumping around from location to location and person to person, the episode feels very choppy and is just a tad difficult to follow.

And then the beating begins.  No, not the war spoken of in the episode title.  I mean the beating of the audience, over the head, regarding the big reveal promised in this episode.  Let's start with the baby's name: Melody Pond.  Hmmm... that doesn't sound similar to any other names so far in the show, nope, not at all.  Then they toss the fact that it's River's birthday at us.  Really?  REALLY?  This was actually the breaking point for me.  I've been trying to deny the end result (and sticking by my TARDIS theory), but that just killed it for me.  Couldn't deny it any longer.

Slightly less obvious beatings include that River couldn't be there for the battle (she'd be crossing her own time stream, of course, but couldn't tell Rory that) and that Melody didn't like the TARDIS noise.  That could be taken a couple different ways; most obvious that the noise was the breaks and River had previously mentioned that the Doctor leaves the parking break on... less obvious that the TARDIS is her main rival for the Doctor's love.

Getting away from that, there's all the play at the Doctor being Melody's father.  Starting with Amy at the beginning of the episode, describing a father who'll never let her down, who an army can't stop, who's the last of his kind, who looks young but is hundreds of years old, who has a name but is better known to the universe as... the last Centurion.  The Silurian asking how the baby started, the Time Lord DNA having made its way into Melody's genes...  That was the fish the audience was slapped with after being beaten over the head.

Little things seemed out of touch, too.  Like Jenny.  Who is she?  It was implied that she was a regeneration of the Doctor's daughter from Tennant's time, but she didn't know what the TARDIS was and wasn't acknowledged by the Doctor.  Last he saw her, she was most definitely dead according to him.  I'm hoping she's someone else and that we weren't stuck with the end result of deleted scenes.

I think I'm done complaining.  No promises.

Quotes!
I loved the Headless Monks.  They're cool.  They should show up more often in the future.
They believe the "domain of faith is the heart and the domain of doubt is the head," according to Lorna.

River and her relationship with Stormcage has always amused me, especially when she picked up the phone and told the guards, "Oh, turn it off.  I'm breaking in, not out."  That whole scene was brilliant, including the exchange between her and Rory before the mood shifted:
Rory: "Unless there are two of them."
River: "No, that's a whole different birthday."
...all I've got to say to that is oh my.  And fanservice.  Copious amounts of fanservice.  A grand number of fangirls across the globe just had heart attacks and died of dreams come true.

Not quite sure what to make of it yet, but during the confusion with the Headless Monks, the Doctor's voice can be heard: "I'm not a phantom, I'm not a trickster.  I'm a monk."  Another good one, though mostly with how it was delivered, was, "Oh look, I'm angry.  That's new."

The Sontaran nurse Strax was amazing.  He had absolutely fantastic lines, including, "Don't slump, it's bad for your spine" and "I have gene-spliced myself for all nursing duties.  I can produce magnificent quantities of lactic fluid!"  Loved it, 100%.

Finally, we can never have an episode without some mention of something being cool.  Best one was definitely when Amy said, "Crying Roman with a baby.  Definitely cool."  The Doctor's affecting their speech habits.

Oh, and I suppose the voice-over bit River did toward the end of the battle was good:
"Demons run when a good man goes to war.  Night will fall and drown the sun when a good man goes to war.  Friendship dies and true love lies.  Night will fall and the dark will rise when a good man goes to war.  Demons run but count the cost; the battle's won but the child's lost."

Other things of note!
Badass Rory continues!  Moving up from "the big guns," he now has sword and gun for massive damage.

Sith Lord Monks!  Those swords they had looked an awful lot like lightsabers, though I'd have to admit these ones are a bit more intimidating and less whooshy.

"We are not fools!"  What a pathetic rally cry.  I mean, I suppose they're a religious army, so a certain amount of misplaced ego is acceptable, but still.  Really sad rally cry.  Maybe it was all part of the plan to lull the Doctor into a false sense of security?

There were a lot of debts called in, as noted, and we saw a lot of different faces, spanning the Cybermen (who should have had a larger role, in my opinion, but maybe that means we'll see them again in the second half of the season), the Sontarans, the Silurians (haven't heard anything about them since series 5, but seems they're doing well), the Judoon and even the newly created space pirates!  Nothing says [mid]series finale like multiple races coming together.  Missed the Daleks, though.

Things to think about:
-Who is Lorna Bucket?  She's from the Gamma Forests and has run with the Doctor, that much is obvious, but she's also apparently from his future, since he doesn't know who she is.  Maybe that's the big twist coming up - everything the Doctor does from now on will be in reverse to his time stream?  Naaah.  Not even the Moff would go that far... would he?

-Who is Madame Kovarian and why does she want Melody/River?  There was a comment during the episode that implied she was from the Gamma Forests as well, so that'll likely be explained in the near future.

-This is probably from further back in the series, something I haven't seen yet, but what debt did Dorium owe the Doctor and why was he so terrified of paying it back?  Something of a moot point, seeing as he became headless, but still something I'd like to know.

-When Rory entered the room Amy was in, he Soniced the door open (you can hear it).  But when he came in, he didn't have the Sonic and it wasn't shown that he gave it back to the Doctor.  In fact, the Doctor had the Sonic recently (when he was in the monk's robes during the morale rally), so I'm not sure when he gave it to Rory.  That aside, since when does the Doctor trust him enough to give him the Sonic?  He was rawr enough when River had it in Silence in the Library.

-And of course, the big reveal, which I've skirted around.  River Song = Melody Pond.  I loved that we got some of the squirmy Doctor in that reveal (mostly looks to the potential parents-in-law); that much made me happy.  But my question: why are the names reversed?  Why is she River Song instead of Song River as the in-order translation demands?  Is the Gamma Forest like the Japanese in that the last name comes first?  Slightly off that train, do we have to call her Melody now or can we keep calling her River (I much prefer the latter).

Until September!

AGMGTW Prequels

Here we are, a day before the mid-series finale.  There's three "prequel" type clips and a trailer for A Good Man Goes to War, not really telling much but still saying so very much.

First up, the trailer:

Confirmed: We'll know who River is.
Plus, Cybermen!  Rory the Roman!  Mysterious hooded men!  Oh, my~
Doctor: "The child is not a weapon!"
Mme K: "She will be."
Not sure what to make of this, but there's a lot of talk that River is Amy's daughter.  I don't buy it, but this line in particular (assuming they're actually together in the episode) makes me question it.  River is definitely a weapon.

Next, the first prequel:

Dorium meets with the hooded men, who are looking for security.  This baby is intended to be heavily guarded, if nothing else.  Definitely makes it sound like this is leading up to the girl in the space suit from TIA and DotM.  Sentient money is a nice touch; I'd like to see what it looks like.  Dorium does imply that they've taken the Doctor's child... don't know if that's a herring or what.

And the second prequel:

Dorium meets with Mme K, where he warns her and her adviser that the Doctor hasn't done nothing for a month but has likely been calling on debts from across the universe.  Their base is on an asteroid, Demon's Run, which very likely implies this is where Amy is being held captive.  Dorium reminds them of a very old saying, "Demons Run when a good man goes to war."

Finally, a little bit of recruiting gone awry:

Rory shows up at Stormcage as a Roman; River is quite dolled up and is holding her journal.  She may have just been with the Doctor, as she's not in her cell.  When Rory tells her his and Amy's baby has been taken, her face falls and she says she cannot be there until the very end - after the Doctor has fallen to his lowest low after his highest high.  "This is the day he finds out who I am."

Augh, be Saturday already!

N-S6E6: The Almost People

The majority of this episode is meh, to put it bluntly.  Humans and Gangers make peace, some humans die, some Gangers die, but there's always a happy ending for them.  Monster-Jen is terrifying and should never be brought up again.

But then there's the ending.  Just those last two minutes.  Amy's Flesh.  Has been for quite a while.  She was kidnapped and held hostage and is having a baby, wherever she is.  Hatch-Patch is indeed a midwife, and a terrifying one at that.  There's speculation tying "the only water in the forest is the river" to the second Weeping Angels episode, titled "Flesh and Stone."  I don't think the writers would have had a fake Amy recreate the universe; something about that just feels invalid.

There were several hints to this in this episode alone: the Ganger Doctor was able to connect with her and see what was going on.  He was the first to tell her to breathe.  He said to her after she saw Hatch-Patch that it was a "time memory" while the Doctor said, "it's in my head."  Don't know if he could see it too or not, but would make life a bit easier finding her if he could.  Ganger Doctor also told Amy to "push, but only when she tells you to."

Speaking of Amy giving birth, was it just me or did it look like a Dalek eyestalk with a green pupil between Amy's legs at the end there?  Creepy~

And going off creepers, we saw creeper Rory and fanservice ("I'll break out the big guns") Rory in this episode... AND he didn't die for once.  Guess it was "Amy's" turn to do that.  Rory did seem to know that Amy wasn't right and trusted the Doctor enough to let him dissolve her.  Maybe that means Amy does love him beyond when he's dying, just not when she's Flesh.

Flesh Doctor was amazing.  Double Doctor trouble was most definitely a grand idea.  Loved it when the Ganger Doctor was getting used to himself and pulled a Tom Baker clip out of the archives asking, "Would you like a Jelly Baby?"  And their shenanigans popping up and down and finishing each others' sentences.
Ganger: "Tough old sexy."
Doctor: "Tough dependable sexy."

Sexy which, of course, was completely fine.  As much as the TARDIS likes to wander off, get lost or stolen, she's great at finding her way back when and where she needs to be.  I bet there's a contradiction somewhere about her outer indestructibility, though.  Sinking all the way through the ground?  The ground is solid, just a little acid-y.  Did she sink by her own will?

And of course, Amy's mistake, not realizing they'd switched shoes.  I had to rewatch the episode and keep close tabs on which Doctor was doing what to catch a lot of things.
Ganger: "Well, my death arrives, I suppose."
Doctor: "But this one we're not invited to..."
Now the Doctor knows that they've seen his death and what the TARDIS blue invitations were for.  What he'll do with that information we don't know yet, but certainly there will be some tension and blame and accusations coming out of it.  I can't imagine the Doctor would be pleased with any of them for keeping that from him this long.

Things to think about:
-How did the Doctor find out Amy was Flesh, though?  He said at the end that they were there in the first place because he needed to see the Flesh in the early days.

-Where is Amy?  Who took her?  When was she taken?  There's the speculation about Flesh and Stone, but beyond my unease with the idea, there's the fact that there was a huge time gap between series 5 and 6 - too long for Amy to be pregnant with Rory's child.  There was also the few month gap between The Impossible Astronaut and The Day of the Moon, which means she was likely taken by the Silence, which is what I'm leaning toward (also why she wouldn't remember she was in a Ganger).

Next episode, A Good Man Goes to War, is the mid-series finale; the last episode until September.  Looking at the credits posted on the IMDB, we're getting River back, as well as Jenny (remember the little girl regenerating?  Placing my bet on who that was~), the Silence and the Cybermen.  A Moffat episode, of course.  Can't wait, even if it's a cliff hanger.

N-S6E5: The Rebel Flesh

Another episode I'm not sure what to think of.  It came across as very short, to the point I was surprised when it ended.  Granted, I was on an hour-and-45-minute flight and definitely had quite a while to go, but it still felt short.

But there's always highlights!  Like seeing Raquel Cassidy as Foreman Miranda Cleaves, also known as Jo Porter from Party Animals (which she starred in alongside Matt Smith... it ran for 8 episodes and despite being good critical reaction, was not commissioned for another season due to a severe lack of viewership).  It's worth a watch, if you haven't seen it.

Amy's face when Rory was comforting Jennifer was beautiful.  She only loves him when he's dying, but watch out, she's full of jealous if anyone makes a move on him.  Rory's in danger in this episode again, will he die by electrocution this time?  Be melted by acid?  Be eaten by Gangers?  Tune in next week!

And the Doctor lost the TARDIS again in this episode.  I think it's more over-done in this season than Rory's death at this point and still I hear no one complaining about it.

Things to think about:
-Speaking of losing the TARDIS, is it melted or sunk or what?  The Doctor didn't seem too worried about it, so I don't think she's melted, but she's definitely lost and will have to be retrieved.

-Ganger Doctor!  How much of the Doctor's powers does he have?  Will he be able to regenerate?  What does this mean for the Doctor and how he deals with the Gangers?  It's easy to say the Gangers deserve to live when they're copies of humans, but when they're copies of Time Lords?  Can't have that running around.

N-S6E4: The Doctor's Wife

Wibbley-wobbly, timey-whimey, spacey-wacey.

Holy feebas, that was an amazing episode.  Watched it online in the early afternoon and got all wound up, killed a number of hours before watching it again and got all riled up once more.  I know I'm not allowed to watch Doctor Who before bed, but with this episode it really didn't matter.  Thank you very kindly, Neil Gaiman.

Awesome quotes!
-TARDIS: "You stole me and I stole you."

-Doctor: "My TARDIS."
TARDIS: "My Doctor."

-TARDIS: "I stole a Time Lord and ran away."

-TARDIS: "I'm thinking all of my sisters are dead, that they've been devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses."

-TARDIS: "Oh, my beautiful idiot, you have what you've always had.  You've got me."

-Amy: "Did you wish really hard?"
Doctor: "Shut up, it's not like that."
TARDIS: "Hi, I'm Sexy."
Doctor: "Still shut up!"

It had the energy of one of Moffat's River episodes (you can't deny there's a different dynamic when she's in the script) and maintained it all the way to the ending climax.  I was initially disappointed in the lack of squirm when the TARDIS first kissed the Doctor, but it turned out it was just shock and he quickly took to hiding - and maintained his squirminess.

I both loved and hated the idea of Time Lord distress signals, as I'm sure was meant to happen.  I don't know if they've been introduced before, but I'm sure we'll see them again at some point.  I was surprised that he didn't confiscate them and take them with him, though.  Those are the last words of his species and should be preserved.

Couple of let-downs:
-Killed Rory again, if even for a few moments.  Make up your damn minds!  It's made it obvious Amy only loves him when he's dying and that does not bode well for their marriage/relationship.
-Reaction to the patchwork people was very toned down.  They were obviously conglomerations of Time Lords that had been lured to the junkyard and the Doctor hardly batted an eye.
-The reappearance of the old control room.  You'd think he might have reacted to it a bit more, though to be fair it was discussed on the way to the physical TARDIS.

Oh, where to start with the squee moments.  The whole of the episode's dialogue was simply stellar.  It was keyed up the whole time, keeping that marvelous energy going.  There were a lot of similarities between the interactions of the Doctor and the TARDIS and the Doctor and River, but that might just be the flirting style they've settled on for Eleven.

Where this leaves the Doctor is quite and interesting position.  He's known the TARDIS is sentient, but now he knows it can speak given the chance.  I bet anything he'll be looking for a way to humanize her again, either by giving her a voice or a body... which body that is, however...

Gaiman, in an interview from WonderCon 2011:

The episode stars Suranne Jones as Idris, a character that Gaimain says: "May turn out being an old acquaintance of the Doctor's but with a new face."

While obviously this means the TARDIS, but as far as I'm aware, it hasn't had a face before.  Suggesting it has a new face just feels like it's pointing more toward a certain someone I'm biased toward.

Things to think about!
-Which universe are they in?  They never said they returned from the other one from the Black Spot, though they did say that they returned to theirs after reclaiming the physical TARDIS.  It would be easy to say they forgot they were in the alternate one... which might be where Hatch-Patch is taking place.

-Why does the Doctor keep losing the TARDIS?  What does it mean he keeps losing her?  It's as recurring as Rory's death and not nearly as noticed. I think it has something to do with River, since we are getting close to her reveal.

-"The only water in the forest is the river."  This obviously references our favorite River Song.  Beyond that, does it mean that Amy [Pond] won't be around at some point?  What is the forest in this metaphor?  I love that it's the TARDIS that says this.  She seemed to be speaking backward as River is prone to traveling.  I don't know what that means, if they came from a similar creation or what.

Either way, can't wait for the rest of this season, whether it's got a big nasty break in the middle or not.  Just gives me more time to catch up on older episodes.

Hidden Messages on BBC.com

With each episode, the BBC website releases some background and history under the episode's "Fourth Dimension" tab.  In each paragraph, there is one italicized word.  When put together, they form a sentence.  These sentences are such:

N-S6E1: All the secrets you seek can be found here on the Webb.

N-S6E2: We found your message, you're alive, but what secrets d'you mean, my friend?

N-S6E3: I mean I glimpsed him and may the gods help him... or perhaps you can.

N-S6E4: To see what I saw, click the spot beyond the Doctor's home planet.
The period at the end of the final paragraph (which ends with "Gallifrey") is a link to this page.  It contains a video in which the Doctor says, "Oh, hello.  If you can hear me, please, listen to me.  It's about time and very how little of it I've got left.  Everything that happens next depends on you."

N-S6E5: Message interrupted.

N-S6E6: [No message.]

N-S6E7: [No message.]

N-S6E8: When reason slept, when mothers wept, when soldiers crept, the monsters came.

To be updated...

N-S6E3: The Curse of the Black Spot

Another episode all over the place.

I did like how it was mostly self-contained, only bringing up new questions for occurrences already in the series, such as the cyborg woman.  She seems to be connected to sleep and dreams, as the first time she appeared, she said something to the effect of “she’s only dreaming” and this time appeared as Amy was coming out of sleep.

Beyond that, I don’t know what to speculate about her.  There's talk that she's Amy's midwife, but the question remains when that happens and why the TARDIS is freaking out over it.  There's a theory that Amy gave birth while the Silence were there and hence can't remember it... but then what was everyone else doing in the 9 months that happened in?  Time will tell.

I’ve heard talk that Avery appears earlier in the series but am not sure when; if it’s true, this episode probably ties up older loose ends or provides background.  I look forward to finding him again.

I will admit I had a couple squee moments in this episode, mostly based on the previously posted theory.  When the Doctor tries to operate the TARDIS and has to abandon ship, one of his last options to coax her to work is “We could try stroking her and singing her a song.”  I think it might have worked.  Also, when he found her in the space ship…

EDIT: Feebas, am I listening to myself?  "Singing her a SONG?"

He was quite happy, almost too happy.  But what I want to know is if the TARDIS just got confused because of the shared space or if it’s sick.  I’d really like to see something come up in the future about the TARDIS being sick – I’m sure someone will make the love-sick connection.

I was torn with Rory.  While they did a wonderful job making the episode a tear-jerker, I’m really getting tired of Rory dying-only-not-really and being brought back.  If he really had drowned (one, he should have been able to swim), he wouldn’t have come around on his own after Amy gave up on her (fail) CPR (two, CPR doesn’t work that way).

Either kill him or leave him be, don’t keep killing him and bringing him back.

Amy’s pregnancy seems to be more aggressively indecisive.  I hope that comes to a head pretty quick here.

Couple thoughts:
-What universe are they currently in?  They didn't return to the proper one at the end of the episode.  If they don't make a show of jumping back through their reflections at some point, I'm going to start preparing my 'told you so' for the rest of this series.  It would be pretty lame to base the rest of the series off a parallel universe, though, so I'm really hoping I'm wrong.

-Suddenly we find ourselves able to pop between universes that are pressed up against each other.  I'd really rather not have Rose start making appearances again.

Neil Gaiman's "The Doctor's Wife" next week.  We'll see how that goes.  Looks like we'll have a cameo by cthulhu, too (Ood?).

River Song is the TARDIS

I was ranting and raving at about 1:30 in the morning last night after rewatching S6E2 (Day of the Moon) and seeing S4E9-10 (Silence in the Library, Forest of the Dead) for the first time.  Who River is has been bugging the crap out of me and I spent this evening thinking about it and she has to be the TARDIS.  There's so many things saying yes, and I'm not the only person who's stumbled on this theory.

From Greywulf's Lair:

More accurately, she is the TARDIS from the future (after... y'know... that THING happens) regrown from Amy's Ring. That's why she can fly the TARDIS, write Gallifreyan and keeps a dairy (her "memory bank") that looks an awful lot like the ol' Police Box. As she is regrown, her Chameleon circuit is working too, which is why she looks amazingly like Alex Kingston. And yes, that does mean that River Song is bigger on the inside than she is on the outside.

 Don't go there.

 Want more proof?

Add an L from somewhere (I'm sure they'll invent a middle initial or something) and River L. Song is an anagram of Lover's Ring. Ok, it's a stretch, but worse anagrams have been made in Doctor Who :D

 In this episode she says to herself "Oh Doctor. It's amazing I let you out" - something only the TARDIS can say!

 The TARDIS is The Doctor's constant companion, friend, ally, and has proven time and again (no pun intended) that she is utterly devoted to him. In a way, she IS his wife. The TARDIS has demonstrated her ability to create Sonic Screwdrivers which explains how she got one in Silence in the Library.

 From Scott at Iceburg Ink:

Well, it all started with hearing about the Series 6 episode that Neil Gaiman has written called THE DOCTOR’S WIFE in which the Doctor finds himself in a spaceship graveyard and the rumor is that Suranne Jones who plays a character called Idris (TARDIS sounding ain’t it?) is actually the Doctor’s wife. Who could BE the Doctor’s wife? Why his TARDIS of course! He loves his ship. Loves it. Calls it sexy at times.

-River carries with her a diary. A blue one cut with the panels on the cover to look like a TARDIS. 

-She knows the Doctor's true name! 

-She also carries a sonic screwdriver that looks like Ten’s sonic. 

-She at certain points has had Jack Harkness’ wrist-time-traveling device, an item the tenth Doctor confiscated for a time. An item specifically made by his people to police time and could not be gotten by her any other way than being in (or part of) the TARDIS.

-She also carries the Squareness Gun, another item once owned by Captain Jack Harkness and confiscated by the Ninth Doctor (in the Moffat penned episode from Series 1, THE DOCTOR DANCES) and likely then resided in the TARDIS. 

-She can fly the TARDIS by herself (a feat the Doctor can’t fathom), knows where the blue stabilizers are (another thing the Doctor didn’t know about), and can land it without the brakes on (the Doctor always leaves the brakes on resulting in the telltale VWAARP VWAARP sound). 

-She has been in the TARDIS during two different occasions when the TARDIS was in mortal peril, once in the loop at the end of the series 5 finale, THE BIG BANG and survived. 

-When the Doctor meets her again in the Series 6 opener THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT his first words for her are “Okay, what have you got for me this time?” the very same words he spoke to the TARDIS when standing in front of it after it regenerated itself during the Series 5 opener THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 

-In THE PANDORICA OPENS when River sees Amy's raggedy Doctor dolls in her house she says "I don't know why I ever let you out." Think about that statement...really think about it. 

-He always refers the TARDIS as she (but all captains do that about their ships so that may be nothing) 

There is also the other theory that River is Amy’s future daughter (Amy has preggers stomach pains in THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT and River seems to have phantom sympathy pains) and that the man she kills is Rory who would be her actual father. But that one is an even wilder speculation than my above nonsense.

 From Bullet Point Ballet:

There are all kinds of little events that have happened - specifically, when Churchill tries to call the TARDIS and the phone rings for her!

5/14 EDIT: Upon airing of "The Doctor's Wife" and the line, "The only water in the forest is the river."
From JoeUK on Gallifreybase.com:

I think we are now looking towards River being the TARDIS: 

1) He calls the TARDIS "sexy" 

2) The epsiode is called the Doctor's wife, and most evidence points towards River being the Doctor's Wife 

3) This would also allow the time-girl to be River and regenerate, it is not inconceivable that a TARDIS in a flesh body can regenerate! 

4) Would explain why River can speak High Gallifrean / Pilot the TARDIS / understand Time Lords so well.

I suppose the only hole is that River talks about the Doctor picking her up and knowing all about her when she doesn't know anything but that could also be to throw people off. We know it has been said that River isn't who we suspect her to be, I just think that her being the plain Doctor's wife is far too obvious for Dr Who!

One thing I know I want to add - River is the one who told the Doctor the doors to the TARDIS would open if he snapped, if her Doctor snapped.  Sure, she's seen it traveling with him, but how did he start snapping in the first place?  Because she told the 10th Doctor.

So there you have it.  They'd already said it and saved me the trouble of typing it all out (though formatting that was annoying) and probably said it better than I would have.  But such doesn't detract from the strength of the evidence.  River is the TARDIS.  Keep watching.  I'm willing to bet this will turn out true.

N-S6E2: Day of the Moon

Wooooo, Doctor/River flirting AND kiss~  <3

He so awkward and squirmy when he gets himself into those situations.  It’s adorable and really adds to the feeling of youth in this incarnation.  Makes for quite a number of depressing exchanges with River, but time will tell with that.  Spoilers.

The Silence are creepy. Not nearly as creepy as the Weeping Angels, but they’re creepy.  And the Doctor didn’t really deal with them, just killed a bunch of them and brainwashed the human race into systematically killing them off.  Prognosis: They will be back, no doubt about it.

Richard Nixon was abused WAY too much in this episode.  Oh hi there, I’m the President.  Don’t mind me; just let this guy do what he’s going to do.  Also, I’m going to walk out of this prison that’s been sealed for the past few days even though I wasn’t in it when it was closed.  Pomp and circumstance and America.  In England.

As expected, the episode does a wonderful job of confusing you in the beginning, making you feel better, scaring the crap out of you, making you rejoice with a solution, tricking you into thinking a happy moment is going to be sad and then leaving you with some crap-tastic mystery or whatnot that leaves you feeling crappy, wanting more or both.  My emotions!  They are not a roller coaster that exists for your pleasure!

Couple thoughts:

-Who’s in the astronaut life-support suit?  Need to rewatch S6E1 for what the exchange with future Doctor.  Is it Rory?  They’re setting him up to have enough motivation.  Is it the little girl?  Somehow I don’t think she’d return to the suit after escaping it.  Long-shot with no evidence at the moment, is it River?  All that speculation she kills the Doctor and that’s why she’s in prison, etc.

-Who is the little girl?  They suggest she’s Amy’s daughter, but they wouldn’t give the answer that easily, especially with the girl regenerating at the end of the episode.  She must be related to the Doctor somehow.  Time will tell if she’s a clone, Amy’s, River’s (she’d know already...spoilers?), or the TARDIS’s.  And that last one is a legit concern.

-What’s up with Amy’s pregnancy?  Obviously it’s not the Doctor’s or at least she would know.  That leaves Rory, and he’s a cyborg or something like it now, so can he reproduce to begin with?  And as for the TARDIS not being able to confirm or deny her pregnancy... do we have time travel baby on our hands like in Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife?  Or just a normal/cyborg-human baby affected by time traveling in the womb?

Waiting sucks.  I’ma go watch new series 4, since it’s due soon and I want my bloopers!  Or I’ll get distracted wanting to make a Doctor Who timeline, of what place he’s been when throughout the entire series.  Would give me something to pay attention to as I watch it from old series one.

The angel is full of forests!

N-S6E1: The Impossible Astronaut

The new series starts out with a bang and gratuitous Matt Smith fanservice!

And the death of the Doctor.  Not the eleventh Doctor, the Doctor.  In general.  As in no more Doctors.  But there’s supposed to be 13 of them, so we know something will happen during the series (or at least before the end of Matt Smith’s role) that will counteract this.

So we’re in on one of River’s spoilers finally.  Feels good to be in-the-know about something for once.  We know how it ends, now we just have to get there.  The universe has already been blown to smithereens, so I’m not sure what punishment remains for messing with space and time.

On the topic of River, DEAR GOD, the flirting in this series!  I love it!  They’re overly blatant and yet still manage to make it their own amazingly hot, comedic romance – without leaving either too happy.  The Doctor’s like a preteen, not sure of what he’s getting himself into and leaves room for the unhappy point of view River’s coming from.

The current villains (the Silence, as we’ll find out) are Dementors.  They are literally Dementors in suits.  And a terrifying thought: Everyone would be screwed if there were ever to be a cross-bred offspring of Silence and Weeping Angels.  Angels with the ability of the Silence to be forgotten when you can’t see them.  Great good gods.

A couple things to think about, mostly concerning hints picked up from the second episode:

-The girls said a couple things that might be some pretty heavily shaded foreshadowing:

Amy: “Maybe it’s a clone or duplicate.”

Clone.  I haven’t seen it myself (working on that, I’m only missing three Doctors), but I know the Doctor has a daughter/clone.  Either she was in the suit or she will be the answer to the Doctor’s death.  Or both.

River: “A Timelord’s body is a miracle.”

My thoughts immediately went to Amy and her pregnancy issue.  Perhaps she’s going to need some sort of intervention from the Doctor to be able to carry to term and/or survive, seeing as impending death is an excellent plot point.

-At the end of the episode, we see the little girl in the suit (we’ll ignore she looks CG).  That suit is shot by Amy and is later found with a bullet hole in the upper right of the helmet.  The suit present at the Doctor’s death does not have a bullet hole; therefore it’s not the same suit, destroying the connection to the little girl.  It shoots green light.  Whomever is in it seems to know about the Doctor and his regeneration.  The Doctor seems to know who it is and seems to be filled with sorrow, regret or guilt concerning them.

-Finally, River: “The Doctor’s death doesn’t frighten me, neither does my own.  There’s a far worse day coming for me.”  At Rory’s prompting, she explains a day will come when the Doctor won’t know her and because she lives for him, that prospect might kill her.  Obviously, it’s River and this isn’t the whole truth (if it’s the truth at all) because that would be spoilers.

Onward!