Power of Three

[daibhidc]

Not bad. Probably could have been better.

I'm not sure it actually delivered what it promised: "the year when the Doctor came to stay". To start off with it's about the Doctor's inability to stay, which is fair enough. Then he skips nine months, which is a bit of a cheat. And then when he actually is staying, we don't really get much of a sense of that, beyond that the Ponds are used to him hogging the Wii.

But enough about what the episode isn't. The concept of the "slow invasion" is just as advertised, with the cubes gradually becoming so ubiquitous that people have practically forgotten they're there. I was a bit disappointed by how vague they're actual origin turned out to be: some Gallifreyan legend which basically wants to destroy the human race "because". OTOH, knowing how the Moff works, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the set up to something in the Christmas Special/the second half of the season/the Aniversary Special. And it all gets sorted out by the Doctor pressing buttons in a moment that will surely prompt a lengthy paragraph on TVTropes's Magical Defibrillator page.

(The other unfortunate bit of the baddie's plan is that it doesn't follow from what went before. Why were the scary orderlies kidnapping and sedating people? What is Creepy Android Girl actually for? Why did the cubes all start doing weird things before the countdown? And isn't it an amazing coincidence that there are seven bases, spread throughout the world, and one of them is where Rory works? This is one of those episodes with lots of good ideas, but no real sense of connecting them together.)

The bit of the episode that definitely does work: while we don't get a sense of the Doctor spending a year with the Ponds, we do get a good sense of a year in their real life. It's been ten years since the wedding, which means we're in what, 2020? (Is The Apprentice still going to be on in 2020? That's depressing.) The episode gave a great view of a normal life doing real things, which is occasionally disrupted by a madman in a box. (I love that the Doctor, despite Rory's continual "I'm a nurse" hasn't actually realised they have jobs.) In fact the weirdest moment I had during the episode was the end. I've been a Doctor Who fan since before I can remember. I've spent my entire life waiting for the TARDIS to take me to fight Daleks. I shouldn't feel like they made the wrong choice. But I do.

(Maybe it's because I know that somehow they're going to stop travelling with him after next week, so I was hoping that this was because they made that decision. If they decide they do want to keep travelling with him, that suggests a more permenent end. But it's also that, actually, it does feel like they're running away from real life.)

Brian continues to be great; I love how seriously he takes his mission to study the cubes, and that he insists on spelling out "You En Eye Tea". Oh, and Kate Stewart, UNIT's scientific head! I can't believe I didn't work that one out sooner; I mean, I know the Brig has a daughter called Kate and I still didn't make the connection! Jemma Redgrave is brilliant and I hope we see more of her. (Someone will have to remind me if this actually fits at all with Kate Lethbridge-Stewart's previous Expanded Universe appearances.)

Comments

[rhiannon-s.livejournal.com]

It's been ten years for them, they think, as in the time lived, but not ten years worth of day-to-day living. For example they just clocked up almost two months worth of living during the BBQ, and last week they were worrying whether their friends would notice them ageing faster than everyone else. I'm presuming that means the Doctor has done a fair bit of picking them up and dropping them off on the same day. A point that would have been a lot clear if the writer (Chibbers isn't it?) hadn't muddied the waters with offhand references to the Ponds also vanishing for months. We can only assume the amount of time spent on the former outweighed the latter.

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

I have only one thing to add:

The Birdie Song.

Also, I think I know what's destined for the Ponds. If I'm right, it's utterly devastating.

[scarfman]

Oh, and Kate Stewart, UNIT's scientific head! I can't believe I didn't work that one out sooner; I mean, I know the Brig has a daughter called Kate and I still didn't make the connection!

I had it spoiled for me before I watched and I still didn't recall her provenance while watching till the Doctor pointed it out. ALL THE FEELS

(Someone will have to remind me if this actually fits at all with Kate Lethbridge-Stewart's previous Expanded Universe appearances.)

She was in Downtime, which I haven't ever paid any attention to, but I saw a still on Tumblr of Redgrave and Courtney doing a scene together. If she's been anywhere else expanded, I haven't seen it referenced this weekend.

[scarfman]

Okay, according to what I've just read, it wasn't Redgrave who played Kate in Downtime.

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

She was also in the Missing Adventure Scales of Injustice as a little girl, but I don't think that did much more than aknowledge her existence as established in Downtime.

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Oh, and another spin-off video called Daemos Rising, which unlike the companion-cavalcade of Downtime featured no characters from actual Doctor Who at all.

[vatine]

The cubes doing weird shit was actually referred to ("they're probing people's reactions, trying to get as wide a cross section as possible", that MAY be slightly paraphrased, but should match the sentiment).

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Yes, but why? What purpose is there in pobing people's reactions to different stimuli (including being shot at!) when you're just going to send a pulse that stops everyone's heart?

There could be an answer. If Shakri was a Brainiac-like scientist who felt that humans needed to be recorded before he wiped them out, then yes, it would make sense that he'd want to see how they react to different stimuli. (It would also make sense that he'd kidnap them from hospitals.)

But he's not. Humans are vermin and he's got no interest in them at all. So it's not that.

[vatine]

Mapping them out so as to be able to construct the "kills everyone dead" pulse? Only thing I can think of and it kinda sorta makes sense (to the extent that DW ever makes sense).