Doctor Who thread II: "I should have a hat like that." [SPOILERS]

[Dogmantra]

Holy balls that was good.

I think

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that a certain River Song entirely stole the show around about the time she got shot at.

[Aotrs Commander]

New Episode:

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That was a good one. Questions answered, but so many more asked...

Highlight? Absoutely Rory laying out Hitler and punching Nazis. I was shrieking with laughter. He has come so far since he started! I think he's slowly becoming my favourite companion.

That is a level of awesome that few people can claim. (Captain America for one.)

...

Hey, shows of hands for making Rory the replacement for Captain Britain. He even has his own codename and uniform...!

[Dvil]

Hmm, that was slightly confusing, and I'm not sure how much sense it made, though it seemed like a surprisingly large amount. I thoroughly enjoyed it though, and I think it gave a lot of insight into river's character. I've learned to not analyse this series' episodes until later ones fill out missing information, so that's why i seem a bit unsure of my own opinion

[Lyesmith]

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HE PUNCHED HITLER
IN THE FACE

Rory is becoming a total memetic badass.


ALSO - Those Antibodies - very GlaDoS, don'tcha think? And the transforming deathbot was TOTALLY a "RED SPY IN THE BASE!" situation.

...Perhaps videogames are spoiling my ability to do culture.

[Raddish]

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They left Hitler in the cupboard...

In other news, awesome episode in my opinion, although...

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If Melody/River was the one who killed the Doctor when she was young and int eh spacesuit then she would not still be brainwashed/indoctrinated to kill him in the presenty time, I think, maybe...

[CurlyKitGirl]

Running commentary on 'Let's Kill Hitler'.

'Let's Kill Hitler' (season six, episode . . . eight?)

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Cold open to the Ponds making a . . . crop sign. And the Doctor's there!
Amazing! Love that crop circle.
But it's been one summer and no baby. Huh. Future newspaper with a new line crossing through the Doctor crop circle.
Ferrari? Sexy car. Boots. Nice. Mel is hot. And she's a car thief.
"Doctor not following this. Doctor lost. You never said I was hot?" And MEL IS HITTING ON THE DOCTOR! Why is the Doctor acting a little drunk?
And holding the Doctor hostage with a gun!
Mel: "Hell, let's kill Hitler!" TITLE DROP AND INTRO THEME.
*rocks out*
I truly love Eleven's them for season six.
It's a Moffat episode. Cue the love.

Aaawwww, backstory about baby!Amy and baby!Rory! And baby!Mel. So cute. Whoa. Mel's all Doctor love too. And in tonnes of trouble.
Oh, cute. Amy: "I count as a boy".
TEEN AMY IS OBVIOUSLY GROWN UP AMY. In a sexy schoolgirl uniform.
Mel stole a bus.
She's crazy. And Mel called Rory "Mr. Perfect". EEEeeeee. Mel ships Amy/Rory. And Rory's so cutely in love with -
Amy thought Rory was gay. Why? "In the whole time I've known you when have you ever shown the slightest interest in a girl. In ten years [...] name one girl when you've ever paid the slightest attention to." Rory runs. Amy gets it. Finally.
OH MY GOD SO CUTE.
MEL SHOT THE TARDIS! NO! And the Doctor tells "clever lies"

NAZIS! Okay the Janitor is the Terminator. But we're not - okay super spy centre thing. And they killed Rasputin? That's the Enterprise - Enterprise-E bridge design there. And now the Janitor becomes . . . is that Goebells?
Oh that is a cool special effect even if it is a bit game graphic-y and done much.
They're tiny humans inside the Terminator. That zoom out from the eye was amazing.
Oh, this is the tesselector thing. Love the joke. And - yeah. That jus is the Terminator, but with the Borg eye thing.
Oh. Eric Zimmerman. Was he real? "Leave him to the anti-bodies? " Like anti-body anti-bodies. They're robo-jellyfish.
Hi Hitler!
Zimmerman's going to kill Hitler. "Justice mode activating". Like the episode in Red Dwarf with the simulant who goes around judging people?
Oh, 1938 is too early. So we know that Hitler didn't commit suicide in 1945. He was eaten by jellyfish.
Hitler really did just have his life saved by the TARDIS Crew. I can see why the don't notice the flags and banners. HA! THe Doctor has a gun.
UP YOURS TEN IN 'THE SONTARAN STRATAGEM'. Oh their faces when they see Hitler.
So cool. And ironic.
D: "Believe me. It was an accident." The Doctor is very angry. He just told Hitler "The British are coming,"
RORY PUNCHED HITLER AND IS NOW HOLDING A GUN TO HITLER'S HEAD! "Shut up Hitler!" Oh my word. So cool.
R: "Right. Putting Hitler in the cupboard. [...]Right. In you go."
H: "Who are you?!" Rory. Pond. The Last Centurion.
And the perfect faint makes Rory and the Doctor suspicious. And Mel got shot. And -
wow. The Doctor is a war criminal.
Mels is dying, and Mel is River Pond. And the war criminal.
Called it. Two seconds before it happened.
This is weirdly call and fun. And Mels is going to regerate into River. Which means that she's regenerating into River Pond.
Wait. River in New York 1960-something regenerated into Mels 1980-something?
And yes!!!11! New!River (or Berlin!Hitler) is all bouncy and innocent and happy and look at those legs. And this is such a thing
Whoa. River just jammed her leg between the Doctor's. This is awkward for everyone. And
River: "Who's River Song?"
D: "Spoilers."
River "Spoilers?"
They giving everything to her.
Dude "Melody Pond: the woman who kills the Doctor." Who's Benjamin? And the guns? And things?>
BANANA GUN! River still wants to kill the Doctor. But you know.
This is like the thing in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. River claims being a psychopath and yeah. What we know is what we know. River: "I was born to kill the Doctor."
But this River isn't our River.
As I said before I got distracted. River is going backwards - and now forwards - in characterisation.
And she killed the Doctor! Poisoned him with love. Now we know where the hallucination lipstick comes from. This is so weird.
And the Doctor just decided not to die even as he dies. And the Last Centurion is chasing after River.
This is so great seeing my theory posted only last night that River is un-Sueing. And re-Sueing at the same time.
And now River just hit all the buttons the Nazis hate. And got shot by them. But she's regenerating still (think like with Ten and the Sycorax) and now River is sexy with a motorbike and dual-wielding semi-automatic rifles on her back.
Rory just "Heil!"ed Hitler, and punched out a Nazi. THIS IS SO COOL. And it was the Terminator. Who Terminated himself a motorbike.
The Doctor's death is a fixed point in time. The Doctor' ROSE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Thank God, it's not Rose any more. She's guilt. As is Martha. Donna is "More guilt" Why? Aaawww, that's so sweet. Baby!Amelia is "someone in the universe I've not screwed up".
Poison of the Judas Tree? Like in Jonathan Creek? The Doctor'll be dead in 32 minutes. Or this tree.
And the Doctor just humanised his voice interface into Baby!Amelia. And it's the phrase "Fish fingers and custard" that gets the Doctor going.
Somewhere/.
River just forced people to strip at gunpoint. Oh that's hot.
A second Amy robot just rolled up out of nowhere.
River, that stole doesn't suit you.
I think that's robo!Amy there honey.
It is. Rory and Amy are inside robo!Amy. I adore Rory. Rory is cute and adorable. And funny.
Here come the jellyfish!
But there's a dude with a headset who authorises their existence.

River is wearing Nazi uniforms.
THe movement is called the Silence and the Academy of the Question - or is the last a lie. Aslo: the Doctor is rocking is white tie suit. And he just said "Doctor Who?"
Oh that is sexy fine. Look at him.
Sonic cane. "Are you serious?" He really is. And the Doctor just "bigger on the insided" the Terminator.
Yeah. The Doctor's dying, but he's fibbing it. And just ordered the Terminator to stop killing River.
Wait.
Hehe. The Doctor just lampshaded the improbability of the Terminator.
Wait. The Doctor is dying now. And so he's going to go to 22/04/2011 to Lake Silencio to die there.

I was so right. This is like the Red Dwarf episode with the rogue simulant judging people. And these people just torture people just before they died.
Oh, the guy in Sulu/Data's position just got the Doctor info on his timeline.

The Silence "is not a species. It is a religious order or movement." It is their belief the universe will fall when the first quesiton - the big question - is asked.
So the Doctor did not what the hell hero genocide a species back in the opening two-parter.

They literally mean it when they "give [someone] Hell" It goes all red and flamey and everything.
Oh dear. Amy just sonicked many things. The ID bracelets in fact. Meaning Amy just murdered the bridge crew of the Terminator. Until they shut everything down at least. But it didn't work. Oh come on they even emergency beam upped. With the transporter look and sound too.
The Doctor's mostly dead, and really pretty when he's pale and look at those eyes and that pomaded here.
Lok at that music it's beepy weird somehow.
River: "Look at you. You still care. [...] That's impressive I'll give you that."

THIS IS WHERE MELODY POND BECOMES RIVER SONG. River wants to know about River, and he doesn't want to tell her. He just wants her to help him and it looks like she is. Well, she will obviously. But still.
And there are many jellyfish about to kill the Ponds! So the TARDIS appears inside the Terminator. Around the Ponds.
How did River know how to pilot a TARDIS before she became the River we knew this episode?
OH MY GOD.
River is "the child of the TARDIS" And it taught her to fly it.
Amy/Rory/TARDIS OT3 is canon. OH. MY. GOD.
Oh that music at 40 mins. So pretty and sad and the strings and I want this song.
River has to find River Song. "and tell her something from me". The Doctor tells River what River tells Ten!Doctor. I think. Somehow. Maybe.
THIS IS ALL VERY CONFUSING.
And the Doctor's dead nine minutes before the credits are scheduled to run.
River: "Who's River Song?"
Amy tells the Amy!Robot to show River who River Song is.
AND OUR RIVER HAS BEEN BORN. OFFICIALLY MELODY POND IS RIVER SONG.
What did the Doctor say?
River is using her regeneration powers to regenerate the Doctor.
River: "THe Doctor? Is he worth it?"
THE DOCTOR SAID HELLO SWEETIE TO RIVER AND IS KISSING HIM BACK TO LIFE. And it looks like the inside of the TARDIS when Idris was killing House!
This is all ridiculously well foreshadowed. Even using bits from RTD's era.

Oh. My. God.
The Doctor just got all River's remaining regenerations. And she had . . .three regenerations. So the Doctor just got ten regenerations from River.
And he bought her her TARDIS diary.
D: "She [River] will be amazing."
Aaaawww.
The Doctor knows when he's scheduled to die.
And the Doctor considers this a first date!
And the Ponds feel okayish with raising-but-not-raising Melody because they knew Melody growing up (and kind of raised her) and they know her as an adult.
And River decided to study archaeology (in 5252) because that's how she can find the Doctor.

Preview:
Rory "We're dead. Again"
So many eyes.
AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!
Eyes and dolls and eyes and oh my god the eyes and the dolls and that lift and something ate the granny!

Best Moment: Rory held Hitler at gunpoint and locked him in a cupboard. No. Every moment where you can see River-as-brainwashed-by-Kovarian do/learn/say/find out something River-as-we-know-her-from-before does/says/etc.
I also quite like the fact that Hitler's barely in it for five minutes and the entire title was a red herring. Really not even existing for anything at all but a joke. And it was cool.
And that Amy/Rory/TARDIS is canon.

Worst Moment: Not so much a moment, but the Terminator robot really was a walking compilation of things I recognise from other sci-fi shows. Weird that.

Best Special Effect: River gives her regenerations to the Doctor. It's beautifully, ethereally perfect and it all combines perfectly. The music, the setting, the emotions. It's a bit cheaty to include the music here, but when the effect mimics the music perfectly and brings to mind Idris from 'The Doctor's Wife' it deserves it.

Worst Special Effect: I don't know. Genuinely. But I suppose the jet of smoke bursting out from the bullet hole in the TARDIS wasn't very good.

Best Actor: I said this here, but I'll say again. Alex Kingston was fantastic showing us subtle changes in River Song's character so we can see her going backwards in maturity.
Here? Is the pinnacle. She is just wow. You saw me geek out. You can see so much of our River in the River of this episode, but in the rawest form. You see her potential, you know what she will do.
This is the middle of River's life, but we know what she was and what she is, and this is the perfect mix. I can see all the previous River's in the River of this episode.
This was River's episode from the moment she got shot as Mels. End of.

Worst Actor: You know, there weren't really that many actors in this. And they pulled stellar jobs. But that guy who was in Sulu/Data's position in the bridge of the Terminator.

Number of Other Sci-Fi Shows I Compared This Episode To:
Let's see Star Trek: TOS and TNG, Transformers, the Terminator films and Red Dwarf. So three or four. But a lot of comparisons with that.

Number of Times Rose Is Mentioned:
One. To my extreme horror. As you can tell. I like though that he simply calls her guilt. But now I want to know why Donna is "MORE GUILT". Stupid retroactive future spoilers.

Thoughts overall?
Typing in real time hurts. It's also not so much like my usual set up in that I can't pause and think things over, so this is more reactionary than thinking about the episode.
However, it was a damn cool episode, and, I think, worth the wait. Rory punched Hitler. Held Hitler at gun point. Told Hitler to shut up. Locked Hitler in a cupboard.
River became River, but you can see River as she evolves so rapidly over the episode. And she was sexy-fine-hot with guns. All those little callbacks (to us) are foreshadowing things for her.
This episode, in conclusion, was nothing like what most people were expecting. At all.
This was a fun, silly episode with genuinely heartbreaking and touching scene. And come on baby!Amy, baby!Rory and baby!Mels-who-is-River.
I kind-of vaguely thought maybe that Mels was River. Kind of. But didn't really think it was.
And watching Doctor Who Confidential Moffatt commented that Rory and Amy act really parental towards her, and this is so very true. I just wanted to throw in that here because you can really see that, and I would have mentioned it, but I was busy girling out over things.
I honestly think this is one of Moffat's best episodes. It's fun, silly, irreverent (all those sci-fi references can't be accidental), moves the plot forward really well at a great pace. We get more revealed about the Silence. So who were those aliens from 'The Impossible Astronaut'/'The Day of the Moon'? We get more answers than questions, but the questions are good ones. Sure, some of those answers are silly ones like 'where'd the book come from?' and the like. But it's great.
This was such a fun and silly episode. And yet it had serious moments. If you didn't feel sorry for the Doctor when baby!Amy!simulation didn't act like baby!Amy you have no soul. And when the Doctor died. Aaawwww.
And Rory must have had so much fun with this episode. Arthur Darvill did say in Doctor Who Confidential that punching Hitler is one of the coolest things he'll ever do in his life.
So going to rewatch this later when it's up in iPlayer. Maybe I'll do an addendum or something to this when I do.

Heh. They left Hitler locked in the cupboard.

Now I'm still halfway through 'The Sontaran Stratagem' (paused halfway through to watch the latest episode), so it's back to that even though my hands are extremely sore from rapid typing.
Apologies for poor grammar, spelling, incoherence and so on. I reacted and typed in real time.
Huh. Look at that. Actual replicas of WWII era vehicles and style and so on. Fine.

[Mercenary Pen]

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It has to be said, I speculated a little from the name ahead of the episode, and half-expected it to centre around the plot led by Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg to assassinate Hitler on 20th July 1944. In some respects I'm glad I was wrong because it allowed this, but in other respects we could have had a pretty amazing episode out of the real life assassination attempt as well... Colour me somewhat conflicted.

[Kobold-Bard]

{Scrubbed}

I hate not knowing how something ends before I watch it, it's why I usually wait until the final episode before watching stuff. Dr. Who is driving me crazy.

[factotum]

Curly, I don't think it's a terrible spoiler to say that was a Corvette, not a Ferrari (although I only know that because I watched Confidential on BBC3 ).

About the episode: it was all kinds of awesome, that's all I have to say about it!

Incidentally, there's an interview with Karen Gillan in this week's Radio Times where she says the following:

"I didn't want to rush into just anything after Doctor Who".

Could that possibly mean Amy Pond will be leaving the series at the end of this season? It would certainly make sense for that to happen, with all the revelations about River Song being her daughter and all that...

[CurlyKitGirl]

Curly, I don't think it's a terrible spoiler to say that was a Corvette, not a Ferrari (although I only know that because I watched Confidential on BBC3 ).

Corvette, Ferrari, I was close. Ish.

Incidentally, there's an interview with Karen Gillan in this week's Radio Times where she says the following:

"I didn't want to rush into just anything after Doctor Who".

Could that possibly mean Amy Pond will be leaving the series at the end of this season? It would certainly make sense for that to happen, with all the revelations about River Song being her daughter and all that...

Or maybe it involves her doing other projects between filming for seasons? Or just simply stating a fact.
I've often used the construction 'I didn't want to' when referring to vague plans about my future. 'I didn't want to do anything really intense after uni' said after the end of my first year, at the beginnings of the holiday. Before I'd made any plans.

I hope Amy and Rory can stay for ages. At least until after the 50^th anniversary because they just own all other Nu Who Companions I've seen so far. Donna's on the iffy bit as I've only seen a Christmas special, three episodes and twenty-six minutes of another.
So I'm pretty invested in Amy staying. Because you know if Amy goes Rory goes.

[Wardog]

I'm just trying to work out which bit of dialogue was the best ever in the episode Doctor Who anything:

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Rory: 'Shut up, Hitler'.
The Doctor: 'Rory, take Hitler and put him in the cupboard. Now. Do it.'

River: 'Well, I was on my way to this gay Gypsy Bar Mitzvah for the disabled, and I suddenly thought "Gosh, the Third Reich is a bit rubbish, I think I'll kill the Führer"'.

Amy: "How are we in here? How do we fit?"
Rory: "Miniaturization ray."
Amy: "How do you know that?"
Rory: "Well, there was a ray, and we were miniaturized".

The Doctor: "Well, at least I'm not a time-travelling shape-shifting robot operated by miniaturized cross people. Which I have got to admit, I didn't see coming."

[Thufir]

Well, that was amazing. I think other people said most things I want to, so I'll just comment and see if I have any thoughts left at the end:

Well, that was... interesting. If we're continuing the Doctor/River symmetry, is this the last time we're ever going to see Alex Kingston as River? Somehow, I doubt that.

Of course not. part from anything else, she's confirmed to be appearing in more episodes this series, and ep 13 is entitled The Wedding of River Song. Also we really kinda knew it wasn't universally going in reverse.

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And the transforming deathbot was TOTALLY a "RED SPY IN THE BASE!" situation.

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With you on that one. Even down to taking the glasses.

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They left Hitler in the cupboard...

Hell yeah!

In other news, awesome episode in my opinion, although...

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If Melody/River was the one who killed the Doctor when she was young and in the spacesuit then she would not still be brainwashed/indoctrinated to kill him in the presenty time, I think, maybe...

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I don't think we ever thought the Doctor was killed by Melody when she was a child. She can get back into that spacesuit.

Running commentary on 'Let's Kill Hitler'.

Yes!

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Mels is dying, and Mel is River Pond. And the war criminal.
Called it. Two seconds before it happened.

I called it before the episode, and then Moffat managed to convince me I was wrong.
See, I'd seen stills, and noticed this extra person in the TARDIS, and thought: "Hm, who is this? Melody can regenerate, so maybe...?" And from the way she pulled the car right up to the TARDIS I was sure River was going to get out, but then she didn't and it was Mels, and there was the background of her and Amy and Rory having been childhood friends, and also she seemed rather different to River - similar attitudes actually, but River always seems very in control of her aggression and so on, it always seems very directed, whereas Mels seemed very much out of control (Obviously now I realise that was because this is her before all her character development).
And then when the Doctor was saying he'd marry her if she survived I thought "Wait, but he has to marry River," and then she mentioned that her parents were there and OH.

Also, then I thought maybe it'd be a mislead with everyone thinking the Tesselector people were after the Doctor when actually they were after Melody, but then they made that clear pretty quickly.

Wait. River in New York 1960-something regenerated into Mels 1980-something?

I think we have to assume she got her hands on some form of time travel to get from 1969 to the 90s.

Who's Benjamin?

Think that's a reference to something? Hang on, I'll ask my parents.
Yeah, that line (And River's pose while saying it) is apparently a reference to The Graduate.

BANANA GUN!

I was disappointed Moffat didn't slip another "Bananas are good" in there.

And now River just hit all the buttons the Nazis hate.

Oh, I loved that bit.

And got shot by them. But she's regenerating still (think like with Ten and the Sycorax)

As it happens, this is an idea I've had ever since The Christmas Invasion: that Time Lords, during those first fifteen hours of regeneration, are basically invulnerable. And that they could possibly release some of that energy with potentially harmful effects. I envisioned a regeneration story wherein the Doctor would possibly make use of this to take the quick route to the bottom of a tall building (i.e. jump off it), and maybe fry some circuitry by cutting his hand and sticking it in.
So, yeah. I guess Steven Moffat had similar ideas. I feel quite pleased about that.

Donna is "More guilt" Why?

Spoilers.

I was darkly amused by the fact the Doctor's response to himself as the voice interface was "No, make it someone I like." The Doctor's relationship with himself is interesting, since he is an incredible narcissist, as seen in The Almost People, but conversely there's the Dream Lord - "There's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you."

River just forced people to strip at gunpoint. Oh that's hot.

Yep. Also definitely moving towards the River we know.

Rory is cute and adorable. And funny.

"I'm trapped inside a robot replica of my wife. Really trying not to see this as a metaphor."
I kind of feel that's Moffat pre-empting analysis and saying to the audience "Yes, I realise this could be taken to signify all sorts of strange and disturbing things, but in fact it has no real deeper meaning. Sometimes a robot replica of your wife which miniaturises you and teleports you inside is just a robot replica of your wife which miniaturises you and teleports you inside."

The Silence "is not a species. It is a religious order or movement." It is their belief the universe will fall when the first question - the big question - is asked.
So the Doctor did not what the hell hero genocide a species back in the opening two-parter.

Pretty sure the Silents are still a species. We have been noting a possible distinction between the Silents (aliens) and the Silence (which will fall). I think this confirms it. Though I do suspect some significant link between the two.

River is "the child of the TARDIS" And it taught her to fly it.

Which kind of explains why she seems to fly it even better than the Doctor. Also what she meant when she said she was taught by the best, pity the Doctor was busy that day. He was busy dying!
Also, drawing the link of calling her a 'child of the TARDIS' really makes their relationship work a whole lot better for me. As it stood, it kind of seemed like they got together because they got together - that River instigated the relationship because she was already well into it when the Doctor first got to know her, and as a result the Doctor would continue the relationship when she first got to know him, effectively instigating it from her point of view.
Which is still kind of true, but drawing (and emphasising) that link between her and the TARDIS (The Doctor's true love) gives them and actual connection as well so I could see them actually ending up as a couple even without everything being all timey-wimey.

The Doctor just got all River's remaining regenerations. And she had . . .three regenerations. So the Doctor just got ten regenerations from River.

Yeah, I thought when I realised the possibility of using her regeneration energy to revive him, "Ahah! Perhaps this is a sneaky way out of the Doctor dying at Lake Silencio! Though it would seem a bit obvious since they'll have already used it once in this episode..." and then we were told she'd used up all her remaining regenerations so that bit of speculation was well and truly crushed.

I also quite like the fact that Hitler's barely in it for five minutes and the entire title was a red herring. Really not even existing for anything at all but a joke. And it was cool.

Yep. Of course this is an acknowledged talent of Steven Moffat's - RTD mentioned it in the Confidential which followed Forests of the Dead, that everyone thought that two-parter was going to be about interesting monsters in the biggest library in the universe and then it turned out those were just a setting and it was actually about River Song, and this was just the same: we thought the episode would be about Hitler, when in fact Hitler was just a brief intrusion and in fact it turned out to be about... River Song! Again.

...yeah, I think responding to Koorly took care of all my insights on that episode.

Also, wow you must type fast.

[Sunken Valley]

Curly beat me to the reviewing! Confound that pony! She drives me to drink!

And now to present to the playground: Sunken Valley's Reviews! They're like Curly's except they are shorter. And less funny. And more critical. And more likely to have angry fans knocking at the door. By 100%. And they're not done in the same style. So they're not really like Curly's at all. Because they're not. Because they're Sunken Valley's. And they're shorter.

Spoilers!

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Overall opinion on Ep

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I thought it was better than expected but it still had flaws. First thing I noticed, Rory and Amy are back home. Not only that they are treating their encounter with the Doctor as their first since GMGTW. How did they get back home! Problem already!

Mel as River I should have got. The second I saw that red sports car I thought "River". It is such a dramatic entrance. There will be more on River in other sections.

So the Silence is a religious order. I bet it is puppeted by our favourite grey aliens. Wonder what the question is. DUN DUN DUN!

Overall everyone says this is Moffat at his best. It wasn't. by a long shot.

And that's it.

Stuff I liked

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Any scene with Hitler was comedy gold! Rory punching Hitler was funny! Another funny scene was River and the Doctor trying to outgambit each other. Reminds me of Curse of Fatal Death (moffat written). Another scene I found funny (but maudlin) was Amelia the voice interface and her repetitiveness. Sonic Cane was good as well.

Stuff I didn't like

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I have already said that the gap between GMGTW and LKH was jarring.

Another problem was Mel. When I first saw her, I was instantly reminded of Larry from Pinky and the Brain and the Remember the New Guy Trope. That made me mad. The payoff was good, of course, but it raised more questions than answers. Like how many regenerations did Mel go through to find Amy? How come she ages when River obviously doesn't? And how come she didn't try to kill the Doctor before? Furthermore, I did not like how Amy was so mean to Rory in the flashback. It's like Rose being mean to Mickey. And Gwen being mean to Rhys in the first two seasons of Torchwood. Also proof Amy would not have been a good parent: she cannot talk any sense into her besty.

That Space ship with mini people just seemed out of place. It didn't feel very threatening at all. Plus for a Moffat idea, it was terribly recycled.

Having River as the villain of the week sounds like a cool idea at first. However it just annoyed me. I have called River a Sue before. People have told me that I cannot call her a sue because she is suffering reverse character development. When we see River for the first time, what do we get. A villain sue. A villain sue with the power to shoot energy blasts in her first 15 hours of regen. Tennant and Smith could not do that. If they could we would have a whole load of less problems. Watch out Red Hulk, you have a rival! Not only that, when River converts to the good guys, she can heal the Doctor from super poison with her divine powers. Total sue.

I also thought the Doctor in a suit was far too posy.

The show has also become increasingly confusing and hard to follow. There was far too much action. In a bad way. When Rusty did action it's cool. When Moffat does it, it just confuses everyone. Doctor Who is becoming a chore to watch.

Shout out!

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I felt the "ship" was very much like the movie "Meet Dave" where little Eddy Murphy's use a big Eddy as a space ship. The probe bots were a lot like the ones on Star wars. And yes the Star Trek references.

And finally

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They left Hitler in the cupboard! If I was Moffat I would have done a scene at the end of the credits where Hitler was calling for help. I bet somebody has already made one of those "Hitler is angry memes" about it.

Overall grade: 6/10

[Thufir]

Oh, I just remembered my one thought that I didn't mention in my previous post:

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Rules, from rule #1: The Doctor lies, to rule #408: Always waste time when you don't have any. Have to wonder if these are general rules and the Doctor just doesn't usually mention them or if, on a whim, he came up with a load of rules to tell Melody when he found her?

They amused me, anyway.

And now to present to the playground: Sunken Valley's Reviews! They're like Curly's except they are shorter. And less funny. And more critical. And more likely to have angry fans knocking at the door. By 100%. And they're not done in the same style. So they're not really like Curly's at all. Because they're not. Because they're Sunken Valley's. And they're shorter.

Not going to tackle most of what you said that I disagree with, because in the end it's all subjective and down to personal taste and opinions - all that would happen is we'd both get frustrated and neither of us would convince the other so there's really no point.
But there are a few things I feel I should point out:

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First thing I noticed, Rory and Amy are back home. Not only that they are treating their encounter with the Doctor as their first since GMGTW. How did they get back home! Problem already!

End of A Good Man Goes to War - "River, get everyone home." I don't think it's a big leap to assume River followed that instruction.

Like how many regenerations did Mel go through to find Amy?

Jst before regenerating she said something about how the last time she did this she was a child in an alley in New York.
Not that it really matters in any case.

How come she ages when River obviously doesn't?

Presumably for the same reason Time Lords don't spend the entirety of their very long lives as children?

And how come she didn't try to kill the Doctor before?

She said - they'd only just met. Obviously she wanted to have some fun first.

Furthermore, I did not like how Amy was so mean to Rory in the flashback. It's like Rose being mean to Mickey. And Gwen being mean to Rhys in the first two seasons of Torchwood.

Except for the fact that Amy wasn't that mean to Rory and also she was a child, whereas your comparisons there are adults.

A villain sue with the power to shoot energy blasts in her first 15 hours of regen. Tennant and Smith could not do that. If they could we would have a whole load of less problems.

Yes, because I'm sure that's a very finely controlled technique and would carry no risk whatsoever of causing serious injury or death to the target when there were other, safer options.
Also, I'm under the impression the energy only flows out like that when it's healing injuries (Ten's severed hand, River having just been shot). And the Doctor isn't generally daredevil enough to injure himself just to allow him to attack someone.

Not only that, when River converts to the good guys, she can heal the Doctor from super poison with her divine powers.

Regeneration heals everything, this is an established fact. The only new thing here is the ability to transfer regeneration energy to someone else, and even that's not that new since the Time Lords apparently were able to give out new sets of regenerations to the Master, and also (Korli, don't open this spoiler)

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Ten channelling his spare regeneration energy into his handy spare hand.

If this makes River a Sue, then it makes the Time Lords an entire race of Sues.

The show has also become increasingly confusing and hard to follow.

OK, this is one of those subjective things I was trying to avoid, but I don't find it confusing at all, and I don't think I'm the only one.

[Androgeus]

Is it bad that the first thing in Sunken Valley's review was the "stuff I didn't like" part? Not that I'm really going to address much of it just

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I'll consent to River being a sue, but I still like her

And I'm with Thufir, I manged to follow the action in this episode.

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The probe bots were a lot like the ones on Star wars.

Aren't they meant to look like tesla coils?

Presonal Theory on Mels

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She probabbly regenerated again before childhooding with her mother, I mean she regenereted in 1969ish, amy was 7 in about 1997, I don't think she'd be able to bridge that gap with just one regen.
I think the line she said just before regenerating was "Last time I did this I ended up as a toddler"

On Karen Gillan and series 7, she said she's coming back but I've heard Bille Piper said that about series 3 so who knows.(Why do I feel the need to source what I say?)

[Thufir]

Personal Theory on Mels

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She probabbly regenerated again before childhooding with her mother, I mean she regenereted in 1969ish, amy was 7 in about 1997, I don't think she'd be able to bridge that gap with just one regen.
I think the line she said just before regenerating was "Last time I did this I ended up as a toddler"

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I thought I heard the word toddler in there, but I'm sure there was something about an alley in New York as well.

There is nothing else for it. I will have to watch the episode again!

[CurlyKitGirl]

Why can't I post my write up?

EDIT One: I can post this. And edit it.

EDIT Two: Just trying c&p'ing the thing into this post, but it didn't stick. Maybe if I try messing around with character limits even though I didn't get a warning.

Perhaps if I delete the archive . . .

EDIT Three: Didn't work.
Typical.

EDIT Four: Can I get the archive in here and post it?

Koorly's Archive of Her Doctor Who Write Ups:
Classic Who

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Fourth Doctor
Genesis of the Daleks Part 1/6, Part 2/6

Nu Who

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Retrospectives - as in 'writing up an episode that I've already seen recently (within a year)'

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Season One

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Brief Whole Series Retrospective

Season Two

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Brief Whole Series Retrospective

Blind - applied to seasons as a whole, some episodes will have been seen before, but a long time ago, I'll say which

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Season Three

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Ep. 1: 'Smith and Jones' -missing.
Ep. 2: 'The Shakespeare Code'
Ep. 3: 'Gridlock'
Ep. 4: 'Daleks in Manhattan' (part 1/2)
Ep. 5: 'Evolution of the Daleks' (part 2/2)
Ep. 6: 'The Lazarus Experiment'
Ep. 7: '42'
Ep. 8: 'Human Nature' (part 1/2)
Ep. 9: 'The Family of Blood' (part 2/2)
Ep. 10: 'Blink'
Ep. 11: 'Utopia' (part 1/3)
Ep. 12: 'The Sound of the Drums' (part 2/3)
Ep. 13: 'The Last of the Time Lords' (part 3/3)

Children in Need 2007 episode: 'Time Crash'
2007 Christmas Episode: 'Voyage of the Damned'

Bits and Bobs About Season Three
Retrospective - to be written later
Why I Do Not Like Martha/Ten (This was written between my write ups of ep. 8 and ep 9)

Season Four

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Ep. 1: 'Partners in Crime'
Ep. 2: 'The Fires of Pompeii'
Ep. 3: 'Planet of the Ood'
Ep. 4: 'The Sontaran Stratagem' Part 1/2

EDIT Five: Yes. So why not actually post my thing?!

EDIT SIx: Oh now it works. Time to edit. Blar.

[mootoall]

This episode. I don't even.

[Starscream]

Like it a lot. Everyone got a chance to be awesome, particularly Rory.

Fills in a lot of gaps in River's backstory, has some very funny jokes, has great chemistry between Amy and Rory (I loved the whole flashback thing), and sets up some fun stuff for later in the season.

Overall, I'm a happy fanboy.

[CurlyKitGirl]

The Nu Who Trek continues. And now, to boldly go where many have gone before. [*cue TNG theme (I love that theme song so much)*]

'The Sontaran Stratagem' Part 1/2 (Season Four, Episode Four)

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Before I even load the video, wow writers. Way to spoil the surprise. The preview didn't have the Sontarans named as such, some Whovians would know who the Sontarans are, many members of the audience wouldn't know.
Sure, it's not much of a spoiler; not as much as calling an episode where the Big Reveal is that the Daleks have masterminded the entire thing 'DALEKS IN MANHATTAN', but come on.
But let's get on with the show.
Oh my Lord, one second in! Not only do we get a creepy statue of a goat(?), a red lit manor house, but also an owl hooting in the background. Hogwarts much? Rattigan Academy?! Okay, this place is evil. A red building with spooky ornaments already suggests evil or trying too hard; but naming it after the world's greatest criminal is one of the most unsubtle ways of telling me this school is Evil with a capital E. Everyone at this school is Evil, but especially the Headmaster, the teachers and maybe the Prefects.
Two seconds in people and I already know the Place of Evil, likely suspects for Bad Guys, and probably involves using children's intelligence as some kind of super computer a la the Demon Headmaster books. Or the episode 'School Reunion'!
To Wikipedia! This episode aired 26/04/2008, 'School Reunion' aired . . . 29/04/2006. Two years. Nearly to the day. I know I normally do this when the intro runs, and I'm only two seconds into this episode, but WHO WROTE THIS STORY?! Helen Raynor. The writer of 'Daleks in Manhattan'/'Evolution of the Daleks'. Now I know why the title gives away the monster's identity. And why it appears to be ripping off one of the best episodes of season two. Oh no. Old Companion meets current Companion. I swear if Martha starts slagging off Donna I will flip.
I was looking forward to such deliciously clichéd happenings and now it's just going to go down the pan with a first part that I'm probably going to hate so much, and then a second part that is better than the first, but still not up to usual Who standards.
I think I've been there. You know, the manor house done in the style of the Gothic Revival of the early C19^th that just hovers forebodingly like an Evil castle clinging to an Evil cliff like an Evil parasite somewhere in the rural and wooded areas of a certain Eastern European country.
This is Margham Country Park, Port Talbot. I haven't been there before, but I've been to near clones of the place. Called it. "[A]n impressive and picturesque Tudor-Gothic style Victorian Mansion House". I don't even know where I picked up the architectural knowledge.
More red-robed cultists abducting women at night time. What is this Pompeii ? Also, called it. Evil people working at an Evil school. Can't actually see the woman yet, but I bet she's a student. It's a student! Ah, the robes are tracksuits. What kind of cult has red tracksuits as a uniform? That's lame.
Student: "You're going to regret this." Get your hands off me? The authorities will hear about this/print this exposé in a paper? Agonising death that was completely unexpected? Throwing her to the floor?
You know, in a manically clichéd way (five horror ones so far) this could be pretty fun. Would make an amazing drinking game.
"Get your hands off me!" And then she's thrown to the floor! I'm writing the script! Oh look, Evil student who is probably a Prefect. And he sounds American. Oh, my mistake, the student is actually a reporter.
"And spell my name right. Rattigan with two tees." So he's the Headmaster's son? Ugh, spoiled brat. He's got enough attitude to drown widows and orphans that's for sure. And she is going to print an exposé in the papers. I'm awesome. Look at me, I'm writing a Doctor Who episode!
Reporter: "This goes way beyond the newspapers! This goes world-wide! I'm telling you ATMOS is dangerous."
Brat: "If you had proof, you wouldn't be here."
Reporter: "Fine. If you won't listen, find someone else who will." The Brat pulls that face, you know the one, you've all made it, the 'don't they know I'm God and the centre of the universe' face. And then in a wonderful stroke of irony Reporter gets into a car with an ATMOS label on it. Even though she's convinced it's dangerous. Hypocrite much? I mean, unless this is a government mandate like catalytic converters or carbon neutral emissions then ATMOS should be an optional thing for a new car and thus not in most cars. If she really believed ATMOS was dangerous she'd sell that car and buy a second-hand car that doesn't have ATMOS in/on it. Or use public transport. Or walk.
ATMOS is an ATmospheric Emissions System. Punny name. This definitely makes her a hypocrite. You could just rip that thing out. What d'you mean ATMOS can't be disabled?! It's a piece of software, by definition it's something that isn't integral to the system so rip. it. out.
UNIT HEADQUARTERS!
UNIT! UNIT! UNIT! I have many clichés and UNIT. This makes me a happy bunny. UNIT! The Brigadier! he was one of mum's favourite characters. I'm going to see the Brigadier. Oh my word this is fantastic.
I detest the Brat, an insult to the name Rattigan. When he talks about the hypocritical Reporter he calls her "clever, but not as clever as me, obviously". And normally while I'd complain about him expositing to thin air for the sake of informing the audience about something, I genuinely believe this pompous little brat of an excuse for a teenager would talk to himself in order to stroke his ego. When was the last time I met a character in Who that I took such an instant dislike to? I think it was Diagonal Man from Ms. Raynor's last episodes.
Called it. He recommends "termination" of the Reporter. Then we zoom out to a purple telly box as a husky voiced man says "Remember your status. We do not take orders from humans." It's the Sontaran leader. Wow. Way to go spoil the surprise Raynor. I don't even need to watch the rest of the episode now. I know what the conflict is. The Sontarans created ATMOS because Evil! and they employed the Brat to distribute it because he's such an arrogant . . . genius, and ATMOS will destroy humanity.
Don't know what the Brat gets out of it, aside from the ego trip obviously. You know, it's brats like the Brat that give teenagers a bad name. We're not all like that. To continue, Martha is going to be a friend of the Reporter, so when she dies she's going to call the Doctor because the Reporter told Martha what she thought was going down.
Doctor comes in, there'll be a spat between the Companions, and the Doctor gasps when he meets his old friends and enemies. CLIFFHANGER! Next episode, conflict between the Brigadier and the Doctor, but they get over it, unite in AWESOME and defeat the Sontarans and the Brat is justly humiliated. Maybe dies. End episode. End serial.
I swear. If this is what happens, in that order, I'm writing to the Doctor Who office with a script I will write in less than a day. And I'll record myself writing it for proof.
Ugh, the Captain took the "military wisdom" of the Brat for seriousness. "She will be terminated." It's not even proper military parlance. What's that I hear you think? 'but the Sontarans are aliens and wouldn't know military slang'? The Sontarans are still speaking in English meaning they have some form of translator microbe that would translate idioms etc. Therefore my complaint is perfectly reasonable, if more pedantic than usual.
Here, have some UK military slang. Really, it's just got my goat up because it sounds too Dalek to me, and I don't like what Raynor did to the Daleks.
UNIT has answer phones. Called it. ATMOS has killed but she "can't prove anything". Why is she following the instructions of an ATMOS machine? When she's on the phone telling her superiors that she highly suspects that the ATMOS machines were involved in killing numerous people yesterday.
Call me cynical and well-versed in common media tropes, but if I were her, and I'd just been found snooping around trying to prove ATMOS killed people, I wouldn't then get in a car with ATMOS installed.
ATMOS is now Christine, and kills her. Death in an ironic way related to what she was investigating? Called it.
Hey, Donna's piloting the TARDIS! Left-hand down? Sounds like the usual thing people say when taking a learner driver out on the road! Oh! Phone call. Must be Martha. It was.
Titles.
Maudlin Martha is maudlin, and then she bunny-faced at 04:12. Back to stupid faced in what, five seconds on screen? Not good. Martha honey, you're a pretty girl, stop making stupid faces, they're one of the reasons I called you MtM. That and being stupid.
Why can't anyone say Doctor in this show? Rose said 'Docta', Martha says 'Doctah', Donna's normally too busy shouting to say anything. Hugtiem!
M: "Right. Knew it wouldn't take you long to find another one." NO! NO! Martha, you were pretty cool later on in season three, don't go all Rose on me now. Don't you dare. Don't. But at least the Doctor's got experience with former Companion/current Companion relationships now right?
Yes. T: "Please don't fight, can't bear fighting." Besides, we all know Donna would win.
D: "I've heard all about you. Talks about you all the time." First off, Donna's acting like an adult about this, not acting like a whiny temperamental toddler, proving once again that Rose is a bad person because I sure as Hell wouldn't act that nasty to someone even if I'd never been introduced to someone before. Second off, the Doctor's actually talking about former Companions who aren't Rose. This is a good thing. He's getting over the self-centred, clingy woman. Third off, Donna's happy to meet Martha. Fourth off, and most importantly, Martha got over her crush on the Doctor and is now engaged. Awesome.
Seriously.
She's engaged to Tom Milligan. And I remember that name! He was the man who helped smuggle Martha back into England in 'The Last of the Time Lords'. I knew they had chemistry!
Aww, this scene is lovely. These two girls get together and pick on the Doctor. It's like that scene when Rose finally grows up and starts hanging out with the wonderful Miss Sarah Jane Smith properly and starts bonding with her.
What's Operation Blue Sky? If it's to get the Doctor involved in the plot why not call it Operation Medic? Oh wow. UNIT! They're impressive, red bereted and dude, that's a lot of people.
Oh. ATMOSphere! Love this: T: "What are you searching for?"
M: "Illegal aliens!" But not the kind The Daily Mail harp on about.
This is so cool. I'm watching Martha - a Doctor assigned or attached to UNIT seize an entire factory with a massive armed force looking for aliens from outside space. This is like what I'm told Three's stories are like. How retro-meta.
As an aside, I'm mildly certain that the medical divisions of military forces can't just run a mission the way Martha's doing so. The RAMC only use their weapons in self-defence and are a non-combat branch of the military forces of the UK. Martha is acting outside of the traditional medical field of influence as she directs the close tactical seizing of a suspected enemy establishment.
That's like sending your electrician in to do the plumbing.
I love the music used for the seizing of the factory. The combination of the trumpets and strings give both a triumphant military air, but the darker strings also add some suspense.
However this is going according to the plan of the Sontaran Commander. But here's the thing, they're taking great care to obscure any details of the Sontarans. Except we saw their faces in the teaser for this episode. And that anyone with half a brain who was especially nerdy would Google Sontaran and find out what they look like. And half the audience already knows what a Sontaran looks like.
Because you showed it in the teaser, and then named the episode 'The Sontaran Stratagem'. Raynor, you cannot write suspense to save your life.
Anyway, the Commander calls the UNIT strike force toy soldiers as well as calling them small. Frankly, I'd be afraid of them.
Martha got fast-tracked through medical school. Even though her "experience on the field" was limited primarily to aliens from outside space (or the future). And none of it was performed in contemporary hospitals with the equipment she'd be using as a trained doctor. Moreover, what kind of doctor? Surgeon? IF so she'd not be Dr Jones, she'd be Miss Jones. There are dozens of specialisations within the medical field. Which did she specialise in?
And now the Doctor gets to meet the Brigadier for the first time since he was Three.I get to meet the Brigadier! So. Cool.
Colonel Mace is not the Brigadier. And why would a Colonel be running the field operations base during the seizure of a single factory. This is a criminal waste of talent. What if something goes wrong? You lose someone with decades of experience as a commander of men and of general manoeuvres. Oh me oh my, the Colonel is a fan of the Doctor. He's read "all the files" (read: seen all the episodes) and the Doctor is still technically a member of UNIT as he never resigned.
Hee. T: "[I used to work for them] A long time ago. Back in the '70s Or was it the '80s." Both probably. Three was definitely early '70s. Don't know if you were involved in any others.
I think UNIT pinched some Time Lord tech as that set looks way too big to be in a lorry.
Donna goes all Guantanamo Bay/police state on the Colonel, making me sigh in exasperation; way to leap headfirst into Silly without finding out why an elite military force seized "innocent workers". But you pulled your greatness right back with this line, "The name's Donna. Donna Noble since you didn't ask. I'll have a salute." If I knew Donna in real life I'd date her. Not 'Runaway Bride' Donna, but this Donna.
oh my gods the colonel saluted donna this is wonderful marry me donna! Sorry, Donna's charisma, insolent sarcasm and balls of steel made me lose my ability to punctuate.
And we get Plot from the Colonel. Yesterday fifty-two people died in identical circumstances all over the world. At the exact same moment. All inside their cars.
Just like the Reporter. But if these were the deaths to which she was referring earlier, then why didn't UNIT believe her when she was insistent that ATMOS was up to something? Because fifty-two identical simultaneous death world-wide just doesn't seem something people would look over.
Sarah Jane Smith noticed one secondary school getting exceptional test results and she was one reporter. UNIT is a United Nations funded military with access to literally anything they could imagine including the Valiant and this didn't twig any of their spidey-senses? No. Really.
UNIT and all its powers and influence are more oblivious than a single woman in her late-forties/early-fifties who has a broken K-9 and the internet and newspapers to aid her.
Desk. Head. Meet and repeat.
Aaaand they don't mention Reporter's death in that scene either, meaning that UNIT's close-mouthed stubbornness to one of their own got her killed.
As we already know the only thing all these deaths had in common was they had ATMOS installed. Apparently "everyone's got" ATMOS. It reduces carbon emissions to zero.
It's a green message.
Desk. Head. Meet, greet, repeat. I hate green messages and Anvils.
I can roll with alien tech that neutralises carbon emissions. UNIT does not roll with alien tech, hence the seizure of the factory.
What. ATMOS is just software, meaning it can be uninstalled or simply ripped out. Why didn't Reporter take the system out of her car before she went to the Evil School? But UNIT checked it out, all was cool, then it wasn't so they got an expert in. The Doctor, adorkably, doesn't realise the expert is him for a fair five seconds. And he's in his brainy specs.
D: "Why would aliens want to clean up our atmosphere? [...] Maybe they want to help?"
T: "Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth?" INCOMING ANVIL. Duck and cover! Well, in 2008 52 000 000 cars were produced, so a billion.
T: "Eight hundred million." Except the way Tennant says it makes it sound like he says billion. This is a surprisingly subtle Anvil all things considered. Just beat us around the head with the number of cars in the world. It left us to choose whether to think or not. Seeing as we cut to two redshirts in red berets in a pitch dark room illuminated by two torches looking at blueprints, I choose not to think right now.
Let's see how they die!
Wanna see a Sontaran kill someone. But that'll ruin the Big Reveal. That was ruined one week prior.
Let me guess, they're in the basements, and someone's going to say they want to go back, there's nothing there. Probably a boiler room or a janitor's cupboard. Called it.
Oh my, eerie looking white lights and something like a laboratory. Oh look, zombie people. "This area is out of bounds", bet they're outside the Sontaran cupboard. Called it.
But it's fine. The Sontaran Commander has honour. The UNIT redshirts shall pass. Meaning the Sontarans can mind control people from a distance.
Green glowy light in a dark room. It has a coffin in it. Ominous.
Oh look, a redshirt with a brain requesting back up! Bet you the radio doesn't work. And the redshirt who acted like a Git is being a twit. And a grabby one at that. You're in a military force that deals with aliens! Back away from the mysterious technology you nothing nothing about. Stupidity For the Sake of Plot!
The Git's after promotion. You touch something that could be the alien equivalent of an IED you're going to get demoted. At least Sensible Redshirt is being sensible.
Oh look, Sensible Redshirt was right. Something's banging inside the coffin. Now would be the time to run away and/or take cover. Especially as the music's gone all etherally scientific and uses something akin to a theremin. Maybe some sort of synth.
PONTI Git tries to open the unknown piece of tech and somehow does. Setting off al;arms. It's a puddle of stinking green goo.
It's the proto-flesh from 'The Rebel Flesh'/'The Almost People'! Or the Nestene Conciousness. OH MY GOD I WAS RIGHT! AUTONS! With freaky mouths that look like they've been partially sewn up. It's icky. There's an "umbilical cord" attached to its neck. Okay. Weird. PONTI Git just said he thought it was "harmless". T-minus sixty seconds to death. Then again, I do agree it looks barely alive. Then again, it's an Auton.
YAY! Sontaran! And PONTI Git is actually pretty awesome. He's swaggering around and calling a Sontaran (of which I know nothing bar the name and general physical appearance) "Humpty Dumpty" and implying he's a child playing dress up.
Why does the Sontaran Commander sound like elderly John Cleese? Guys, I am loving this Sontaran Commander, I'll call him Monty. He's producing some epic insults here. "Words are the weapons of womenfolk. I judge you unfit." Although a bit hypocritical as that verbal smackdown was indeed a weapon. An insulting one.
PONTI Git "What're you going to do? Bite our ankles." Well no, Monty's just lazored it into shards of bone. He has however surpassed the sixty second mark, so anything beyond that's a precious moment he should cherish.
Monty guys. Monty. He just ordered Sensible Redshirt to shoot him. And then to reveal via some techoTreknobabble that he disabled their weapons via . . . vibrations(?) the moment they entered the room. Dudes. This guy. He has a six-packed carved onto his armour. CALLED IT! He blocked their radio signals.
I got to go find out who did the voice for Monty. I'm in love with this voice. He rrrrolls his rrrrrrs so wonderfully. Christopher Ryan. This guy was in six classic British shows.
The Stratagem of the title involves disabling Sensible Redshirt for nefarious purposes later on. PONTI Git gets introduced to General "Monty" Staal of the Tenth Sontaran Battlefleet, "know as Staal the Undefeated". Removing his helmet we only see his eyes.
Even though the teaser from the previous episode clearly showed us what a Sontaran looks like.
Back with the Doctor it turns out ATMOS does what it says on the tin, but it's not alien, just ahead of its time. But then the Doctor snaps, "You're [the Colonel] carrying a gun. I don't like people with guns hanging around me. A'right?" Um. Yeah. No. You've carried guns yourself Doctor. Remember Nine in 'Dalek' with a freakin' lazor rocket blaster thing? Eight threatens to shoot himself with a gun. You, and your allies use guns.
What a - what a - what a doorknob!
I like that Martha's just smarming up his ego, "I learnt from the best" indeed. Yeah, you did. But you also acknowledge that the best isn't always there, so you have to settle for second-best, and removing any small advantage (like guns) second-best has is tantamount to shooting your arm off to spite your legs.
And where's the Brilliant Donna! There she is! Complete with a shoutout to Storm Troopers..
Oh my Lord Donna I want your babies. Donna used her temp skills and found out that noone ever at the factory has ever ever taken a sick day. Ever. That is very wrong, "Hundred of people working here, noone's sick". Love her. So much.
Rightly so, the others react with shock. Me, I think they're all Autons from that coffin down the basement. M: "I can see why he likes you. You are good." And we all know that if it was Rose here, not Martha she'd be pitching a fit. But these two are cool froods together. They're even going to work together at a medical centre to check out the workers.
The Doctor chases after the Colonel and I really want to Doctor to apologise to the Colonel. But the Colonel has to suppress his hurt and instead provide info on ATMOS. It's made by the Brat whose subject profile literally reads "GENIUS". A teen one at that. Hate. This Brat runs the Evil School (despite being no more than nineteen years of age) and handpicks its students from all over the world.
Given the audience knew all this before the characters did, I like this. Oh, Stupid Face Time: 17:32, the Doctor's drunk 'I really love you, you're my best mate' face. Eeeeew. Sounds a little pervy though when you combine it with the line "I get lonely" when he's implying he's going to visit said school. And in advance let me say that sixteen is the age of consent in the UK. But they never say how old the students in said school are. Potential ick there.
Donna debates calling her mum to warn her about ATMOS, and Martha asks about the family she left behind. Donna didn't say anything to them. We get Martha telling Donna about what happened to her family. Blah blah blah. You know, the Doctor could just drop Donna off on the hill with her Awesome Granddad a few hours after she first went off with him. Like he did with after your first four episodes. Martha's making Donna realise how important her family is (and she Bunny-faced me at 18:24). "Not the Doctor's fault. But you need to be careful. [...] He's like fire. Stand too close to people and he'll get burnt."
Back with Monty and the redshirts are now clones. And the brass is more menacing and ominous.
Hate you Doctor. Hate. "I want to talk to [the Brat]. Not point a gun at him." He has a point in that the Brat's not likely to speak to anyone in a uniform. But that's what civvies are for. Is there going to be an anti-gun Anvil in here somewhere? Because it's an incredibly unsubtle and unconvincing one.
What a weird rebuttal. The Colonel says that because the school's ten miles outside of Londinium the Doctor needs an escort. As opposed to taking a bus or a taxi? Or borrow a jeep.
Huh. I was right about the Colonel being a fanboy. I think he just wants to take a ride in the Doctor's TARDIS. Heee. The Colonel just called the Doctor on his antagonism. By calling the TARDIS a secret weapon.
But still. They compromise and give the Doctor a less obvious escort, and orders to declare a code red if things become FUBAR.
T: "I said no salutes,"
C: "You don't give orders."
T: "Oooh, cheeky" The Colonel just snarked at the Doctor.
NOOOooO! Donna. DON'T GO HOME. NO. DON'T. You're so cool. And now the Doctor's sad too. "So many places I wanted to take you. The fifteenth broken moon of the Medusa Cascade" [again? Didn't this pop up in the season three finale, and in 'The Fires of Pompeii'?]. There some other stuff, but no way am I able to transcribe that. Points to Raynor for creating images of alien vistas that a) sound gorgeous, and b) sound alien.
N'aaawww, look at the Doctor's throat all aquivering with sadness. Cute sad music as well. Strings and piano again.
I think this is one of the first times the Doctor's ever been able to say a proper goodbye to a Companion. I still think "Goodbye my Sarah Jane" was better though. So much emotion in so little. The two there knew everything that was involved in that goodbye, and so we too picked up the everything the Doctor was saying.
'Course, then the music picks up some humour because he just realised Donna's only going home for a visit. "You dumbo." I knew she was going to stay, but now that she's out of the plot there'll be less Donna. And less Donna makes me sad.
Back with Martha we find out that yes, the humans are clones. Worker: "I'm here to work. [...] Twenty-four [hours a day]". And the Redshirt Clones follow Martha and abduct her because she's got "security clearance level one". She deserves it because she bunny-faced me at 22:07. Keep your mouth shut Martha. I shouldn't have to have coined a word because of your inability to keep your mouth shut.
In Donna's plot she walking home. Only been gone some days apparently. Cue flashbacks to the previous three episodes and the trauma of adorable adpiose on screen time to girl out lava monsters and seeing children you know will be killed by Vesuvius' ashcloud and feeling what it feels like for an entire species to be enslaved.
Being a Companion is traumatic work. I actually like this brief series of flashbacks because often it's the subtle things that represent the enormity of what she's seen. Knowing so many people will die because she chose to make it so as the lesser of two evil (Pompeii), and representing it with a shot of two children in the ash-snow and so on.
Hi Granddad. Still being awesome.
Cue the running and hugging in the middle of the road scene. Nope. She's running to him. OH THE MUSIC. Want. And this is so sweet and lovely and these two are truly related.
Ugh. MtM is back. I don't understand how she can vacillate from being astonishingly perceptive/concerned (Martha calms the Doctor down post-gun rage and when talking to Donna about her family) and then walk down a place she has never seen before to see the Colonel. Stupidity For the Sake of Plot! But only a minor case.
Oh look. More bubbling green. And she finally figures out that she's in trouble. And as she screams all the lights go out.
Yay! Donna. Granddad is so sweet. Oooh, what's that pretty theme in the background? D: "I trust him with my life"
G: "I thought that was my job."
D: "You come first."
This is one of the most realistic and sweet family relationships in the show. And even when you throw mum into the mix it still feels like a proper real family.
Whoa. Doctor Who just invoked Godwin's Law. No. Seriously. For reals. Two episodes in one day . . . Apparently the Evil School is a bit "Hitler Youth" and if anyone had any doubts whatsoever as to the relative moral leanings of the Evil school are put to rest right here. It does also imply indoctrination and a sense of . . . racial purity as well. But that's what the Hitler Youth does to you when you take Modern History at GCSE. Really it's probably because Ms. Raynor took a History O-Level and it stuck with her. There are lots more 'cults' aimed at teenagers that run a rigid regime and indicate Evil.
Hey, a plot hole just got filled in! "[ATMOS is] fitted as standard in all government vehicles. We can't get rid of them until we can prove there's something wrong. Drives me around the bend." Still don't see why you can't just modify your vehicle, but at least there's a reason Reporter had ATMOS installed in her car.
And cue the slightly Psycho strings, mixed with a bit of that music from The Sixth Sense as we see teenagers willingly doing exercise all surveyed by the anemic looking Brat. Surveying his Evil kingdom like an Evil overlord. This is a fantastic piece of music. Really gives off creepy airs.
Oh sweet merciful fashion gods. Those poor teenagers. Those track suits are their school uniform. I'm so sorry for them. Really. That's just. Ick. These are typical school uniforms in this country. And most countries. For the UK once one leaves secondary school you don't usually have a uniform. I don't think any school in the UK has track suits as a uniform. Unless it's for school sports teams.
But the important thing is that the Doctor's geeking out over technoTreknobabble in the science labs that are way beyond anything you could reasonably expect any small group of teenagers, no matter how smart, to build. Gravity simulators and the like cannot be built on the basis of one person's fortune no matter how big. Because public schools don't actually get funding from the UK government, and so the Brat is funding all this personally. Which is highly doubtful. Terraforming?! Biosphere? Nanotechnology?! Flamethrowers?! No matter how much money you throw around, this seems to be a sixth form science lab. This breaks so many laws. So many. Who has a flamethrower regularly going off in the middle of a lab with dozens of other very delicate experiments going on?! Especially ones that are adversely affected by the heat?! Or the carbon given off? Or the fact that none of these children are wearing sufficient safety equipment to have a freaking flamethrower in the room exposed to all and sundry?!
Why isn't this place shut down?
But the Doctor's geeking out, and it's cute in his brainy specs.
The Brat is being a brat. Is that even a real American accent because I'm sorry, but those nasally American accents are the kind that everyone hates. Ryan Sampson is from Yorkshire. Okay, no one would believe anything like a genius Yorkshireman existed. Lancashire we could believe though. I see why he put on an accent.
So the BRat gets confrontational with the Doctor and UNIT. He's eighteen? No way in six years was he able to do all this. This boy is not a normal eighteen year old. And that's excluding the smarts.
As much as I hate this word, the Brat is a freak. I blame his intelligence.
Why does inventing something that neutralises carbon emissions take "blinkered vision"? Surely it's a good thing? No more car pollution. Okay, yeah, the oil runs out really fast. It's treating one of the symptoms without addressing the overall illness, but it's still a really good idea. It would slow global warming down some.
Okay, the Brat just invoked a tautology when the Doctor said "ATMOS system" which it is, S is for system; but the way he just leapt right in there. Either he's a major grammar Nazi, obsessed with proving his super-smartness or his social skills are nil. Or all of the above. I don't really feel like invoking aspies, OCD, ASD or similar. Too obvious.
T: "It's been a long time since anyone said no to you hasn't it?" Yeah, it must be. And you know what I just realised? Emancipation of minors (aged sixteen or seventeen) in England is dependant on the following factors:
a) marriage
b) joining the military
c) A court will order a minor emancipated only if s/he is able to prove that s/he is entirely economically self-sufficient (no assistance from anyone, even in the form of 'you can live here for free'), is emotionally capable of living alone, and has a home environment which is entirely unsuitable.
If the home is suitable, then the court will not order even the wealthiest and most mature seventeen year old emancipated, and if the first two criteria are not met but the home is unsuitable the minor will be sent to the care of another adult.
Meaning this boy has done all this in less than a year. BULL.
So where are the parents?!
T: "Not easy is it, being clever?" Well, actually it is. Socialise. I'm not clever, and I do find interacting with people awkward because I'm cripplingly shy, but I can do it.
T: "You look at the world and you connect things" [who doesn't? I do all the time. Can't stop.] "Random things. You think 'why can't anyone else see it? The rest of the world is so slow'" The Brat agrees, and I feel a little awkward as I sometimes type-shout that very thing when I'm doing these write ups. Oh well.
The Doctor then turns his speed up to twelve and quickly explains that no matter how smart the Brat is he still had help because many reasons. That purple round thing that looks like a stargate isn't just a thing it's an alien thing. "A teleport pod". The Doctor just pushes a button.
Idiot. Who knows where he'd go? He's in the Sontaran space ship now. And Monty's there! I can tell because of the voice. Then the Doctor ran which somehow started the teleport pod and he went back to the office and now there's a Sontaran. And the Doctor sonicked the pod broken before shouting "Sontaran!"
This Sontaran is Monty! Why is it always Monty? Aren't there any redshirt Sontarans? Not that I'm complaining! I love Monty. Monty's confused, and so is the Doctor. This stuff they've been doing "hiding, using teenagers, stopping bullets, that's not typical Sontaran nature". So what is? They "face bullets with dignity". And are honourable. I know Monty is.
Hi Mr. Potato Head! Huh. Looks like he's run face first into a brick wall. And Ross just made the same comparison I did. T: "You look like a big pink weasel-thing to him." Ah. Sontarans are a race of warriors (like the Klingons), grown in clone batches (like Stormtroopers). And their weak spot is a hole in the back of the neck. It means "they always have to face their enemies in battle". I don't know. What are the odds of a marksman being good enough to hit that little hole? That requires close up work or excellent hand-eye coordination and luck.
Or, if your the Doctor, a tennis racket, ball and a wall. How the Hell did he do that?! Even with foreknowledge that was a brilliant shot. Not-Monty dies.
Running! Driving away really fast in a car with ATMOS in. Stupid. Oh. Not-Monty was only stunned. And that was a quick repair job. Okay, I hate to do this, but they all look the same, and sound the same. They're all Monty.
Four hundred million AMTOS is sufficient to convert what?
The Brat is a psychopath. End of. "Fifty-two deaths in a second man. That is so cool." No. No it's not. That is an atrocious thing to say. It's one thing to say that about a fictional someone dying a fictional death, but to say that of real people. People you helped kill? That is so very wrong. This is beyond 'has no social skills' and into the 'dangerously mentally unsound' area. Even the Monty who's been with the Brat for a few minutes is giving him an aside glance at 32:30. Probably because it was a dishonourable way of dying or something (these guys are such Klingons). Actually he was just confused over an idiom (like a Vulcan). Hee, love that awkward silence.
The Brat has literally committed treason. On the entire human race. And he's happy to do it. He's literally bouncing up and down. Whatever this thing is, all four hundred million ATMOS are going to be activated and whatever happens is not going to be good for humanity.
This person has no soul. His is eighteen years old and has no soul. He believes this is a good idea, and that there is (presumably) not one person on earth worth saving aside from himself. He is a monster.
Ugh. MtM "Is someone going to tell me what the Hell is going on?!" Martha, honey, you have been seized by the enemy. neither the Sontarans or the clones seem the kind to burst into a declamation of their entire villainous plan. And stop bunny-facing!
Hey. The Not-Monty is Skorr the Bloodbringer. Love that name. Whut. It's just "simple hypnotic control" being used to dominate the redshirts and the factory workers. The ones who work twenty-four hours a day with no negative health affects? Semi-bull!
Oh. They're cloning Martha in a pool of green. Scary? The music says so. But I think not. Though now I think about it, two Marthas? I shudder at the idea.
back aboard the space ship we see a pretty shot of space and general bustle. The Brat knows war is coming to Earth, "It was never big enough for me". Git. And the Sontarans remember the Doctor!
"Legends say he led the battle in the Last Great Time War" [wait what. Well, now I know why Nu Who Doctor portrayals seem more anti-violence than I get the impression Classic Who Doctor portrayals were.
Also: the Doctor led the final battle of the Time War. And won. That's a scary thing.] "The finest war in history and we wenre't allowed to be part of it. Oh this is excellent. The last of the Time Lords will die at the hands of the Sontaran Empire in the ruins of his precious Earth."
That is a badass declaration. And the music is very determined and moody. The cellos hold the main theme, a brooding one, dark and threatening, before the violins join in. The danger is rising, the climax is coming, cue the drums. War. And zoom out.
I remember that ship from 'The Pandorica Opens'!
Called it. Clone Martha. That's kind of - Clone!Martha looks so much like Pocahontas it's uncanny. And well, she was my first platonic girl-crush when I was young if that makes sense. And I mean young. My second platonic girl-crush was Mulan. And she is beautiful and has a personality. The same goes for when she's a boy. I first saw Mulan in 1999. I was eight. So yeah. Nostalgia makes that reveal kind of hot.
Monty regrets the "ordinary" death-by-ATMOS the Doctor will experience mais c'est la vie. Eh bien, tant pis. Ross and the Doctor find out that ATMOS drives the car so the Doctor sonics it, but it's deadlocked.
Oh. Death by drowning again.
Hee. The Doctor logic-bombed the ATMOS. "You are not to do anything I say right? [...] THen I order you. Drive me into the river." Ross and the Doctor get out the car expecting an asplosion, but it fizzled like a disappointing firework on a drizzly Guy Fawkes Night. "Oh is that it?" Yay lampshade!
The Bad Guys assume the Doctor is dead. Clone!MtM is now an operative. And she's off to work. And no longer kind of hot.
Yay. Donna and the Doctor are back together! And are requisitioning a vehicle without ATMOS. And Granddad meets the Doctor again! So cool. Oh, Wilfred Mott. And he's all happy and stuff.
Oh dearie me. Clone!MtM just got contacted by the Doctor who's just told her about the file/name Code Red: Sontarans, and that UNIT is not to engage in direct contact with the Sontarans 'cause they'll die.
So I know what Clone!MtM's going to tell the Colonel then. Nothing whatsoever.
Guys, I love Wilfred. I hope he's a recurring character. See, unlike Rose's family or Martha's Wilfred has this thing called a nice personality. He sweet, and is endearingly protective of his "only granddaughter. So you [the Doctor] got to protect her all right?" And his and Donna's banter is so affectionate.
Whoa. Spiky things on the ATMOS box. Temporal pocket? The Doctor's the "man from the wedding"? What wedding? How does Donna's mum know and no one else including, seemingly, the Doctor. Is this another timey-wimey thing or did I forget - duh. Donna got married. Nearly. Where's my brain gone?
Oh look. The ATMOS thing is a smoke machine too. And the Montys are happy the Doctor survived because now there's "glorious warfare"! Who's Sondar? A God? Emperor? Aaawww, they're told to rejoice when they go to war.
Aside from exhaust fumes there was a gas released - poisonous - when the Doctor asploded the car. And of course the sweet and kindly Wilfred gets into the car to move it just as all the cars are deadlocked.
Even though you can just break a window to get out.
Here comes the gas1
Gold's done some lovely tense music for this cliffhanger. Shame that the wider shots of the gas being released into the atmosphere look shaky. But that is very good tense music. Though those strings are a little obvious for me.
Sontar-HA! Is this the New Zealand All-Blacks or something?
Ooh, GOld wrote this entire peice of music to go with the pace of the Sonar-HA!s, so as they speed up so does the music. Lovely bit of work there, actually makes their . . . warcry? seem a little threatening.
And we end on a shot of the Doctor being all lost and dazed with the gas seemingly marching on his position with Donna crying Doctor as the end credit scream kicks in.

Preview thoughts: Good. They kept the preview at the end of the credits. "The government has declared a state of emergency", marching Sontarans. Something is launching, lazors, the Brat seems upset - good - there's a Martha bunny-facing. The Doctor says again not to engage the Bad Guys in battle, something's being transferred in the TARDIS. And "the bravery of idiots is bravery nonetheless". And something's gone nuclear.
Yes. This is a teaser. It's tense, confusing, and throws in some big unknown threats on top of the already known threats. I like it.

Best Moment: Monty's first proper scene. Runner-up is Wilfred and Donna reuniting after a days long absence.

Worst Moment: THe Doctor is needlessly antagonistic over something that he's never had serious problems with before in a relatively peaceful scenario. Very out-of-character. Cut part of my rant.
Runner ups:The moment I realised there was a sub-plot and overarching plot that was a clone of 'School Reunion'. And the Brigadier isn't here.

Best Special Effect: The Sontaran battleship.

Worst Special Effect: That shot of the gas dispersing in the car park.

Best Actor: Christopher Ryan! So many Sontarans to play, and there are differences between them, but not so many it doesn't make them seem not like clones.
That doesn't make sense. I think.

Worst Actor: My kneejerk reaction is to say Ryan Sampson (the Brat) because he just rubbed me the wrong way instantly, but that's the character. I think the worst actor is the one who played the Sensible Redshirt. He didn't really stand out or have any interesting lines, really only seeming like a bland non-character existing just for symmetry.

Most Punchable Character: The Brat. But the Doctor comes really close.

Death Count:
Onscreen - one
Offscreen - fifty-two

Number of Times Rose Is Mentioned:
None. Except invoked by me.

Thoughts overall?
In spite of the fact that it was written by Helen Raynor, whose previous episodes I really didn't like, this was pretty fun. I managed to predict pretty much all the first third of the episode and lots of the rest, but clichés aren't bad if they're revelled in, and I think here they are. Not loads, but there does seem to be a lot of fun involved with the opening five or six minutes which is purely a walking cliché.
I didn't like the obvious comparisons to 'School Reunion' as I feel it actually weakened this episode overall because I can't help but look back at 'School Reunion' with fondness. Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Giles, and a unique setup as far as Nu Who was concerned. Recycling it so obviously was a poor idea, should have tried for something different.
I don't know how true to Classic Who the Sontaran portrayal is, but they're deliciously fun and revel in being a one-note species (literally) and the only reason I can draw so many parallels to other famous alien species is because most of them came after the Sontarans were made and the fact that they're so one-note makes it fun.
When was the last time I had a fun alien species/villain, aside from the adipose? The Master. And the Family of Blood. Sometimes one needs extra ham.
I can't really comment on all the messages as they're only half-made though. The thing that really bugged me actually was the sheer implausibility of the map of deaths and what it implied. I can excuse the shakiness on knowing the rules for the emancipation of minors in England because it is a bit obscure and picky. I can't excuse the basic common sense that dictates that there's no way fifty-two deaths could be fully autopsied in less than twenty-four hours and the reports handed over to UNIT and Martha. Even preliminary reports would take quite some time. Especially in cases of suspicious deaths where the COD is a complete mystery as a coroner wouldn't want to look like a berk would he? Here are my thoughts on it.
In other words: much better than her other attempt at creating an engaging and interesting (not rage-inducing) first half. Even with the faults involving revealing the Big Bad. But maybe I can excuse it as a Classic Who quirk.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Sorry for the triple post, but I think these are important parts that I had to cut out. Stupid character limit. Luckily the write up still makes sense without these bits in them proper.

Why I Didn't Like The Map

Spoiler

Show

M: "They were poisoned. I checked their autopsies, no toxins. Whatever it is left the system immediately." Bull. Did you see that map?! Some of those deaths were in the centre of sub-Saharan Africa! Pause of 08:06. Compare with this. You've got one in Algeria, one in Egypt, one in Saudi Arabia/Yemen, one someone near Senegal/The Gambia/Guinea-Bisseau/Guinea/Sierra Leone - some of the poorest countries in the world with some of the worst medical facilities on the world, one in Sudan, one in Tanzania/Kenya, one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one in Zimbabwe, and one in South Africa/Swaziland/Lesotho/Botswana.
That's just one continent. There's also one in Malaysia, one in the middle of East Russia, two in the Andes, one in south Argentina, one in Colombia, several in India whose health services I know for a fact are rather . . . lacklustre.
I can go on. There is no way that Martha actually got autopsy reports from -
you know what. This entire premise is impossible.
If we allow exact same time to be a half hour window (despite the COlonel stressing the fact it was the exact same "moment") we still have the fact that in many of the countries I picked out specifically autopsies are hardly the main thing on people's minds. What with several of those countries generally prohibiting them, or there being wars and famines going on. Or that the majority of the countries I picked out are in the bottom twenty poorest countries in the world with the Dem. Rep of the Congo only earning $328 per capita, Zimbabwe getting $424 and so on. And those are the 2010 figures.
Even if we are impossibly generous and say, all these countries earn the $10 000 odd that is the worldwide GDP (PPP) and thus have the facilities necessary to conduct proper autopsies think on this. Some of those deaths are in the centre of deserts, in very high mountain ranges or in rainforests. They'd be lucky to be found in a fortnight!
That's not even taking into account the eight or so deaths in China which is hardly . . . friendly, let's say. Or basic world politics. But we'll say politics isn't a problem.
You still ahve to contend with the fact that all fifty-two of these people were found within hours of dying, were autopsied the same day even though there wouldn't have been much of a reason to bump them up the autopsy list, to write up the full and final autopsy report and for all of these coroners to think the death suspicious enough to forward onto other people.
Within twenty-four hours.
You couldn't get that done within one country unless it was for a serial killer or something. Or a major incident.
There's no way this was able to happen. I'm sorry, but no way.
And why would all of these countries, even ones who hate the UN send on some seemingly innocuous reports? It could be any number of reasons these people died: aneurysms, complications following [insert disease/illness here], suicide, misadventure. The coroner could be incompetent.
And how do they know all these people were poisoned if there wasn't a toxin present? Martha didn't list off any symptoms of presentations of the fact such as hypoxia or abnormal pupils. What about the fact that poison is a vaguely defined term? What about the fact that many of the labs where these autopsies were supposedly carried probably didn't have up-to-date labs as found in MEDCs or tellybox shows?
How about the fact that in order to formally give a COD of 'poisoned' there has to be evidence of a toxin, or reasonable evidence to suggest it. And by Martha's own admission there was none.
This is so stupid when you start thinking about it.
I'm not even ten minutes into the episode and I've complained about (and Googled some of them) common poison symptoms, poorest countries in the world and the relative state of their medical facilities, logical fallacies based upon a world map showing political borders and the general state of politics worldwide.
But even if I let this go as Super Effiency Day or something, this means that all of this information was available to UNIT before Reporter died. Meaning this entire operation was planned in less than twelve hours. That is just so many types of tactical wrong. And if it was well-planned, then why didn't you tell Reporter that you believed her and were planning something? Because I'm eighty percent certain this was all sparked off by the TACTICALLY UNSOUND METHOD OF IRONICALLY KILLING SOMEONE INVESTIGATING YOUR COMPANY AND WHO HAD THREATENED TO TELL THE AUTHORITIES! IF SHE HAD NO EVIDENCE, AS YOU SAID SHE DIDN'T THEN YOU DIDN'T NEED TO KILL HER; YOU COULD HAVE SUED HER FOR SLANDER, NO ONE WOULD HAVE BELIEVED HER!
You brought this on yourself! And so did you UNIT! You are directly responsible for the death of the Reporter!

I Elaborate on the Doctor and Guns:

Spoiler

Show

I've seen this three second clip of Four holding and using a gun. Your Assistant Ace had her own rocket launcher. Just asked mum, she said Three used to carry guns around as part of his ensemble. And Eleven has used a gun. Or back when he was in Manhattan with Martha and were being attacked by Daleks. Or Captain jack Harkness and his guns. Admittedly one of those was turned into a banana (bananas are cool), but that was because it was a specific make and model rather than just because it was a gun.
While the Doctor doesn't often carry or use guns, he does and has. I don't know if he's ever shot someone or anything sentient, but for the Doctor to state what he did is more than a bit out of character. Not because he's not one to try for peaceful or non-violent resolutions, but because he was so confrontational about it. If nothing else, Three worked with UNIT for about five years (out-of-universe), UNIT is and was a military operation. Therefore for him to change tack so antagonistically is grossly out-of-character for him.
However, I will grant that after the unknown events of the Time War he may be more anti-weapon than previously. But the Doctor has used many weapons post-Time War. So why get antsy just around guns?
Worst part is that the Doctor does act antagonistic at times. When provoked. Just look at Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister of Great Britain), or the Weeping Angels. Or anything with Daleks. Or when you threaten his Companions or friends. Here, all the poor Colonel did was act curious about what the Doctor was doing, and in a way I find slightly fanboyish and endearing. Literally, what did the Colonel do to provoke that reaction from the Doctor? Wear a ceremonial service revolver in his presence. That's all. And remember, the Doctor's worked for UNIT before. And of course military associates would be trained to use weapons. And improvise them. Rather like yourself oh uppity Doctor.
Even Martha looks slightly taken aback. She'd better call him on it.
M: "Tetchy."
T: "Well, it's true."
M: "He's a good man." [Oh there's another. 'A Good Man Goes to War' involves rounding up many of your weapon-inclined associates to kill or threaten to kill people just doing their job. Oh, and River Song. Those military priests from that Angel two-parter . . . The evidence is just piling up to call this an OOC moment.]
T: "People with guns are usually the enemy in my books." [Please read the above rant. You have used guns. How can you forget that! Your Companions have used guns and worse. And I'm pretty sure that at least two of your Assistants were in the military in some fashion. Mum said that there was one called Ben who was in the Royal Navy! There is literally no reason for you to suddenly act this way. The last time either you or one of your allies used a gun was in the season three finale. Granted in that same season the wonderful 'Human Nature'/'Family of Blood' two-parter showed Smith!you unable to use a gun because you were a pacifist, but you didn't get all up in other's faces because you found guns physically repulsive.]
Martha takes offence to this, and rightly lambasts the Doctor. He got her the job at UNIT, so he knew there would be guns. He's not always there, and people have to have a way to defend themselves when the Doctor's gone. But then she pulls some obvious drivel about trying to convert UNIT - a force assembled to protect Earth from hostile aliens - to not using guns. This is stupid for many reasons. Humans fight using guns true, but Daleks have lazors of insta-vaporisation, Sontarans have lazor guns, Cybermen are robots, and even the inherently nonviolent Ood just have to stick an Orb to a humans head to fry their brains. Then there're the lava monsters. The werewolves. The Weeping Angels. Satan.
Cosmically, we have sticks. Small ones. Everyone else has guns, automatic weapons, biological/chemical weapons, surface to air missiles and freakin' nukes. And the Doctor at this moment believes that guns shouldn't be used to defend Earth against these weapons because . . . they upset his moral viewpoint.

[Reverent-One]

I Elaborate on the Doctor and Guns:

Spoiler

Show

I've seen this three second clip of Four holding and using a gun. Your Assistant Ace had her own rocket launcher. Just asked mum, she said Three used to carry guns around as part of his ensemble. And Eleven has used a gun. Or back when he was in Manhattan with Martha and were being attacked by Daleks. Or Captain jack Harkness and his guns. Admittedly one of those was turned into a banana (bananas are cool), but that was because it was a specific make and model rather than just because it was a gun.
While the Doctor doesn't often carry or use guns, he does and has. I don't know if he's ever shot someone or anything sentient, but for the Doctor to state what he did is more than a bit out of character. Not because he's not one to try for peaceful or non-violent resolutions, but because he was so confrontational about it. If nothing else, Three worked with UNIT for about five years (out-of-universe), UNIT is and was a military operation. Therefore for him to change tack so antagonistically is grossly out-of-character for him.
However, I will grant that after the unknown events of the Time War he may be more anti-weapon than previously. But the Doctor has used many weapons post-Time War. So why get antsy just around guns?
Worst part is that the Doctor does act antagonistic at times. When provoked. Just look at Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister of Great Britain), or the Weeping Angels. Or anything with Daleks. Or when you threaten his Companions or friends. Here, all the poor Colonel did was act curious about what the Doctor was doing, and in a way I find slightly fanboyish and endearing. Literally, what did the Colonel do to provoke that reaction from the Doctor? Wear a ceremonial service revolver in his presence. That's all. And remember, the Doctor's worked for UNIT before. And of course military associates would be trained to use weapons. And improvise them. Rather like yourself oh uppity Doctor.
Even Martha looks slightly taken aback. She'd better call him on it.
M: "Tetchy."
T: "Well, it's true."
M: "He's a good man." [Oh there's another. 'A Good Man Goes to War' involves rounding up many of your weapon-inclined associates to kill or threaten to kill people just doing their job. Oh, and River Song. Those military priests from that Angel two-parter . . . The evidence is just piling up to call this an OOC moment.]
T: "People with guns are usually the enemy in my books." [Please read the above rant. You have used guns. How can you forget that! Your Companions have used guns and worse. And I'm pretty sure that at least two of your Assistants were in the military in some fashion. Mum said that there was one called Ben who was in the Royal Navy! There is literally no reason for you to suddenly act this way. The last time either you or one of your allies used a gun was in the season three finale. Granted in that same season the wonderful 'Human Nature'/'Family of Blood' two-parter showed Smith!you unable to use a gun because you were a pacifist, but you didn't get all up in other's faces because you found guns physically repulsive.]
Martha takes offence to this, and rightly lambasts the Doctor. He got her the job at UNIT, so he knew there would be guns. He's not always there, and people have to have a way to defend themselves when the Doctor's gone. But then she pulls some obvious drivel about trying to convert UNIT - a force assembled to protect Earth from hostile aliens - to not using guns. This is stupid for many reasons. Humans fight using guns true, but Daleks have lazors of insta-vaporisation, Sontarans have lazor guns, Cybermen are robots, and even the inherently nonviolent Ood just have to stick an Orb to a humans head to fry their brains. Then there're the lava monsters. The werewolves. The Weeping Angels. Satan.
Cosmically, we have sticks. Small ones. Everyone else has guns, automatic weapons, biological/chemical weapons, surface to air missiles and freakin' nukes. And the Doctor at this moment believes that guns shouldn't be used to defend Earth against these weapons because . . . they upset his moral viewpoint.

This all would be perfectly reasonable if all regeneration did was change the doctor's physical form, but since even the doctor's personality changes in a regeneration, all the points about other versions of the doctor using guns, working with UNIT, ect, don't apply. Ten just really doesn't like guns, it's one of his things.

[sentaku]

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When River used up her regenerations where they all used up in healing the the Doctor, or did could of he gained additional regenerations from it.

[Szilard]

@Curly: I'm pretty sure the Sontarans said "For Sontar!" as in their home planet of Sontar. And I also think it was "Sontar-ha," some sort of Sontaran war chant.

[turkishproverb]

I Elaborate on the Doctor and Guns:

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I've seen this three second clip of Four holding and using a gun. Your Assistant Ace had her own rocket launcher. Just asked mum, she said Three used to carry guns around as part of his ensemble. And Eleven has used a gun.

Not true. Your mum missremembered.

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Three did not carry guns regularly, and decidedly not as part of his ensemble. Mostly because he used physical combat instead. ACE used a bazooka/rocket launcher, but it was never standard kit for her, though explosives were.

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And Eleven has used a gun.

Yes, but not as a weapon-as-such. A baseball lobbed hard enough might've done the same job.

Or back when he was in Manhattan with Martha and were being attacked by Daleks.

He didn't use a gun there. a prop gun showed up, and the daleks own weapons defeated them.

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Or Captain jack Harkness and his guns.

The guy nine, the closest to a pro-gun doctor we got in many ways, stopped from using them when he could, short of dalek invasion?

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. Admittedly one of those was turned into a banana (bananas are cool), but that was because it was a specific make and model rather than just because it was a gun.

Well, it being replaced by a banana was, his replacing it at all? Not so much.

Also, you're wrong. Bananas are good, not cool.

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While the Doctor doesn't often carry or use guns, he does and has.

Carried? Not for more than a single story at a time, and then usually because he needed to scare thugs.

Used? Not in the way you mean, not really. Mind you, he's been tempted...

I don't know if he's ever shot someone or anything sentient

Not that I can think of. Closest he came was using a Dalek-minion's Gun to threaten to kill Davros, and even then he kept putting it off until interrupted.

but for the Doctor to state what he did is more than a bit out of character.

Haven't seen it in a while, but given some of what he's done before, I doubt out-of character is the right word.

Not because he's not one to try for peaceful or non-violent resolutions, but because he was so confrontational about it.

Actually, that doesn't seem that un-doctorish. Heck, I can think of a few docs that would get plenty confrontational given the chance.

"UNLIMITED RICE PUDDING!"

[spoiler]If nothing else, Three worked with UNIT for about five years (out-of-universe), UNIT is and was a military operation.

They were softer back then, and he needed their facilities to help repair the tardis. Once repaired, he didn't so much "work with" them as help out on occasion when he was on earth. Kinda like he did before he came, to whoever was more on the "right" side.

Therefore for him to change tack so antagonistically is grossly out-of-character for him.

This is the guy who's threatened to abandon companions for changing history in a minor way. And to him? THIS IS ALL HISTORY. This is the guy who brought down a government for attacking fleeing, somewhat untrustworthy aliens.

However, I will grant that after the unknown events of the Time War he may be more anti-weapon than previously. But the Doctor has used many weapons post-Time War. So why get antsy just around guns?
Worst part is that the Doctor does act antagonistic at times. When provoked. Just look at Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister of Great Britain), or the Weeping Angels. Or anything with Daleks. Or when you threaten his Companions or friends. Here, all the poor Colonel did was act curious about what the Doctor was doing, and in a way I find slightly fanboyish and endearing. Literally, what did the Colonel do to provoke that reaction from the Doctor? Wear a ceremonial service revolver in his presence. That's all. And remember, the Doctor's worked for UNIT before. And of course military associates would be trained to use weapons. And improvise them. Rather like yourself oh uppity Doctor.

1. Half of this is contradicting your previous complaints.

2. The doctor's always been a bit self-contradictory.

3. He's never been a huge fan of soldiers. Even when working for Unit, and most of his military associates earned his respect. This guy? not really.

4. The doctor saw it as being checked up on. he don't like that. Remember when the time lords used to do it? He was, to put it mildly, annoyed.


That's all for now.

[Drolyt]

I'm not sure why we are spoilering when it just results in every post being full of spoiler tags and harder to read, but I'll follow suit.

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Well, finally got around to watching it. It was really good. Two scenes I didn't particularly like were the Doctor in the Tardis talking to the holograms and later his "dying" and trying to convince River to save Amy and Rory took too long. I think this is just a symptom of a larger problem with New Who, both RTD and Moffat are too heavy on the melodrama. I don't find that the Doctor regretting everything he does adds anything to the story. On the contrary, it distracts from the plot and the adventure. Still, it is far from ruining the episode. The best part is once again Rory, he is awesome and gets great lines. River and Amy were excellent as always. As for the robot thing, a bunch of people are seeing connections to other works, but my knowledge of Sci-Fi doesn't extend far beyond Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so it didn't bother me.

[Starscream]

Hee. T: "[I used to work for them] A long time ago. Back in the '70s Or was it the '80s." Both probably. Three was definitely early '70s. Don't know if you were involved in any others.

This is actually an inside joke for Who-fans.

The UNIT Dating Controversy is a debate among fans of when exactly all those UNIT-based stories were supposed to take place.

Back then continuity between stories was even messier than it is now. While those stories aired in the early 70s, there was character dialog that suggested they took place as early as the 60s (the Doctor refers to a trip to 1926 as being about 40 years before the "present", in a story that aired in 1973) or as late as the 80s (Sarah Jane once explicitly said she was from the year 1980, in a story that aired in 1975).

Basically the writers had no idea whether they were writing stories set in the present day, the recent past, or the near future. So of course, the Doctor doesn't remember what decade it was either.

[factotum]

I distinctly remember a story with a retired Brigadier taking part in some shenanigans around the time of the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977...

[Sunken Valley]

End of A Good Man Goes to War - "River, get everyone home." I don't think it's a big leap to assume River followed that instruction.

My bad, did not notice that.

Jst before regenerating she said something about how the last time she did this she was a child in an alley in New York.
Not that it really matters in any case.

Presumably for the same reason Time Lords don't spend the entirety of their very long lives as children?

But they do. The Doctor says at one point "I went here when I was just a kid. 120 years old." We can probably account half-time lord DNA into the half growing up but that does not explain the leap from 30 years of little aging to a 15 year period of aging like a normal person. Half-time lord biology is messed up.

Regarding your comments about the time lords being a race of sues, they totally are. But they don't make a fuss about it. Any character can be a sue it's all about the execution. River gets all the best entrances and exits, she's so super invincible that she can gun down an army of silent, she has a mixed up back story as the child of two of the best companions known to man (poll wise Amy came 5 on a list of greatest Dr Who companions and Rory is meme tastic) and even as a baddy she's the greatest war criminal in the universe, whereas Hitler is only a level 3 war criminal. She can also poison the Doctor with a super poison that will kill him for real with not antidote. Except her. River is a sue. But a cooler one then Rose. I just hope she stays a guest star.

@andorgenus: Stuff I didn't like was the third part of my review. But it was the biggest. I hope Night Terrors is smaller in this section.

[KillianHawkeye]

The Doctor says at one point "I went here when I was just a kid. 120 years old." We can probably account half-time lord DNA into the half growing up but that does not explain the leap from 30 years of little aging to a 15 year period of aging like a normal person. Half-time lord biology is messed up.

That could just be a figure of speech. I consider when I was 16 years old to be "when I was just a kid" even though I was more or less fully grown.