Dr Who 23/4/11: The Impossible Spaceman

[Leigh S]

Isn't that because the two doctors 2nd Doctor comes from the fabled season 6b - after he was sentenced at the end of the war Games, but before he was exiled? Thats why he is on a mission from the Timelords, which doesnt make much sense if it was the televised Troughton we were watching (after all, he was on the run from them throughout his tenure, which only ended once they caught him)

[House of Usher]

Hum. So you're saying that the Second Doctor and Jamie were, indeed, a lot older when they encountered Colin Baker than they were at the end of The War Games, because a lot of actual story time (years, in fact) passed between the Second Doctor being captured by the Time Lords and his regeneration to become the Third Doctor? Blimey.

[Leigh S]

That's the theory...

Personally, I hold by the theory that its best not watch anything after Destiny of the Daleks, which also works!

[Greg M.]

Or alternately, the presence of two Doctors shorted out the time differential, ageing the younger one to catch up with the older. (That's Moffatt's explanation from 'Time Crash' as to why Peter Davison is no longer 29.)

That doesn't explain Jamie though. Or the mission from the Timelords. Or the fact that Doctor 6 complains Doctor 2 has better Tardis steering than him. Ah, season 6b...

[chilipenguin]

I've always thought that an easier way around the age issue in a multi-Doctor story would be simply to employ the multi-dimension MacGuffin. Simply pull the relevant Docs from their own dimensions (ones in which their respective incarnations haven't died yet). That also deals with the issue of creating a paradox when the various versions meet.

[SmallBlueThing]

I've always thought that an easier way around the age issue in a multi-Doctor story would be simply to employ the multi-dimension MacGuffin. Simply pull the relevant Docs from their own dimensions (ones in which their respective incarnations haven't died yet). That also deals with the issue of creating a paradox when the various versions meet.

Or, have the multi-Doctor special take place on Vortis, with the zarbi, and smear the camera in Vaseline again. Then no one would ever notice.

SBT

[Tiplodocus]

Well I right enjoyed that.  Nice use fo limited location filming - just watched Planet of the Apes too. But didn't it look a bit orange and teal in some shots?

There was an awful lot going on - possibly too much for your average family audience who don't slavishly watch every single episode.

Oh and...
Doctor: Scream if anything dangerous happens.
[spoiler]River: Always a screamer me. Oops, there's a spoiler for you.[/spoiler]I had to take a cold shower.

Looking forward to next week.

[Matt Timson]

I was a bit confused over River and the Doctor's timeline at first- but it's not that difficult really.  He first met her on the day that she died and, sure enough, he didn't know who she was. Presumably, every time we see River now, she is younger than the last time we saw her (which will be a real headache for the make-up dept at some point) and the Doctor is older.  As she gets younger and he gets older, he will get to know her better.

[Dandontdare]

He first met her on the day that she died

this is my problem with it - when she first appeared in the series (was it the library story?), he apparently had never met her, so a) it wasn't the day she died; and b) she wasn't distraught  as she said she'd be in this episode ("the worst day of my life").

as for the Troughton/Davison ageing problem - all Who actors should be contractually obliged to agree to cryogenic freezing when they leave the programme, so that they can be revived looking suitably youthful for any future crossover team-ups.

[SmallBlueThing]

River DID die in silence in the library. But her 'soul' ended up in the library core memory.

Vom.

SBT

[Mudcrab]

I like the maddening timey wimy stuff. The Doctor/River stuff is of course The Time Traveller's Wife, or a better (less girly ) example would be Colonel Kassad and the Shrike-type woman in Hyperion (Dan Simmons). That'll obviously make little sense if you haven't read it, but it's an awesome book/series, so consider that a recommendation if you like confusing time travel and general weirdness.

Still, pretty high concept for the Saturday night BBC rabble.

Also, you can surely get away with multiversal theories now since the Moorcock Doctor Who book!

[Colin YNWA]

On a bit of a tangent from the timey whimey stuff but the BBC has the over nights in and it averaged 6.5 million. 1.5 down from Matt Smith opener last time. Given it was a sunny day, such a sunny day (Thunderstorms aside) doesn't sound too bad, though wasn't it sunny last year for the opener?

Anyway I'm sure the good folk over at Gallifrey One (or whatever its called now not visited for a while) will be panicking and heralding the series demise and what not but seems okay for me. This figure is the over nights and doesn't include the adjusted figure for those that watch it after recording etc.

Mind having said all that I do wonder how important the viewing figures are these days and would imagine that other revenue streams are more important these days...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13180650

[Matt Timson]

He first met her on the day that she died

this is my problem with it - when she first appeared in the series (was it the library story?), he apparently had never met her, so a) it wasn't the day she died; and b) she wasn't distraught  as she said she'd be in this episode ("the worst day of my life").

as for the Troughton/Davison ageing problem - all Who actors should be contractually obliged to agree to cryogenic freezing when they leave the programme, so that they can be revived looking suitably youthful for any future crossover team-ups.

Well, to be fair, if I said to you, "I'll be furious when I see that guy", it doesn't actually mean that I definitely will be furious when the time comes, just that, based on the way that I feel while I'm saying it, I believe that I will be furious.  A lot might happen between now and then and I might actually be quite pleased.  Note, also, that she didn't actually say that she would die on that day- just that she might.

Also- that episode (although I think it was actually a two-parter) was the day that she died- but I don't really think that matters.

The real point is that they are travelling in opposite directions.  He didn't know her at all and she knew as much about him as she was ever going to know.  This situation will slowly reverse itself.  Like I said before, the only real headache is the fact that River needs to get progressively younger for it to work.

[House of Usher]

Does that mean when they were in the diner and she was going through her Tardis notebook there was less information in it than it had contained previously in episodes where she appears as her older self?


On the subject of the diner, I couldn't work out if was a real American diner in America or just the American diner in Cardiff Bay with something clever done to the windows and the view of outside by CGI. I suppose it was the latter!

[BPP]

the way they shot the diner did look like they weren't in Kansas anymore - mind you continuity wise you'd probably rather just shoot it all without a massive relocation going on. My guess would be real-yank diner at 3am when its shut.


The two-time-lines thing is of course bobbins - its a very sweet idea but would require her character (the one who starts with full knowledge and ends up not knowing him) having to lose memory constantly (or at several junctures per her explanation so far) which, of course, makes no sense. Unless she has some memory disorder. regardless of them jumping in space-time they remain fixed as individuals with cumulative experience and knowledge.