<![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> There's a bit of a tradition that the Doctor can pull random mundane objects out of his pockets at convenient times - another element that gave this ep a nice old-school Tom Baker feel.

robertmonsters

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Does the Doctor always carry around a water pistol?

Doug Nelson

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @CargoCult: That reference must have been lost on an awful lot of viewers! I couldn't believe it when I saw Caecilius, Metella and Quintus!

I think it is pretty significant that they were the ones chosen to be saved, as well, who else can anyone name who died in the Pompeii eruption? This must be significant and will definitely have repercussions. Didn't they have a dog called Cerberus too? And I don't remember a daughter... Oh well.

MrLister

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Ah I seeeeeeeee, thanks!

robertmonsters

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @robertmonsters: all the Pompeii sets were filmed on the backlot of Cinecitta in Rome, which the HBO series also used.

Justin K. Rivers

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Also (sorry) looking at that wikipedia article, it does say they filmed in Rome itself, although I was sure they said they'd reused bits of the set from the series ROME (which for me explained the slight CARRY ON CLEO vibe - that having been filmed on leftover bits of set from Elizabeth Taylor's CLEOPATRA movie). So I'm stumped. Unless the bits of the ROME set were actually in Rome?

robertmonsters

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Hmm, according to wikipedia, "Davies encouraged Moran to insert linguistic jokes similar to those in the comic book series Asterix, such as Lucius Petrus Dextrus ("Lucius Stone Right Arm"), TK Maxximus, and Spartacus; the use of the phrase "I'm Spartacus!" refers to the 1960 film.[15][12] Moran based the ancillary characters of Metalla (Tracey Childs) and Quintus from Caecilius' family in the Cambridge Latin Course"

So I think I'm correct (but only just). Justin K. had a good point about tone though, I will conceded, and clearly RTD does do a tonne of rewrites. I just wanted to make sure James got a bit of credit for that specific set of references.

(I haven't asked him about it as he's a bit overwhelmed by all the positive comments - awwwwww).

robertmonsters

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @robertmonsters: Reuse the sets? I thought they filmed a bunch of this in Rome.

Dunny0

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @robertmonsters: Not doubting you or anything, but RTD has repeatedly said that he rewrites a lot - only not Steven Moffat's scripts.
" "I'll rewrite 100% if I have to," he said. "With Steven Moffat's scripts, I don't touch a word, but anyone else's I do." "([www.broadcastnow.co.uk])

But yeah, anyways, fabulous episode, congrats to your mate on a job well done, rewrites or no :-)

jbq

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> wow. what a fantastic episode. i haven't been so emotionally moved by an episode since "doomsday." amazing acting by all involved especially tennant and tate of course. some of the dialogue was a bit cheesy and heavy handed (that's the burden of the time lord. how many times have we heard that line by now) but i'm loving how each episode this season seems to be adding to the overall arc of what good is it being a time lord if you can't go back and fix things. the subtext during the tardis scene suggesting the doctor might go back to save the time lords from destruction was fantastic.

modernboy

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> It does matter whether specific lines, or a whole story strand, was written by James or by RTD. Otherwise all the good stuff gets attributed to the showrunner, with the episode writer getting none of the credit.

But then I'm a scriptwriter too (though not up to James's standard quite yet) and we can get a bit precious about these things...

robertmonsters

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Eurgh, sorry about the Severance picture there, that was my first comment. Clearly much to learn about Gawker commenting I have.

robertmonsters

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> What are the chances the Anipose ("weird fat baby things") are going to end up being the new Sontarans?

I could be wrong... just seems like the sort of thing the new team would do to tie it all together.

ComicDork

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @robertmonsters: It doesn't matter. RTD is the showrunner, and sets the tone that he wants. His input was there from the beginning.

Justin K. Rivers

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @Ryan H: I don't agree there. Martha was wonderful, but she was very different from Rose and now Donna.

One of the things that makes the show interesting and fresh is that it explores the companion's journey as much as it does the Doctor's, so each different companion brings a new tone to the series as each incarnation of the Doctor does.

JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]>

I'm fairly sure RTD didn't rewrite this episode - the writer (James Moran, who also wrote the excellent horror movie SEVERANCE)'s a friend of mine, and I think the only instructions he got were that the ep had to be set in Pompei (to re-use some sets left over from the ROME series) and there had to be an escape pod.

You can ask him though - James has a blog over here

robertmonsters

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @GodofMonkeys: I like it too! I'm going with that. Explains everything.

And yeah, no name! That would be dreadful. Perhaps this is the wrong forum for bringing up a Sex & The City parallel (though it IS fantasy), but the reveal of Big's name was effective only because it was in the last moments of the last episode.

Lizzie24601

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Much better than last week, though it would be hard not to be. I really like the developing dynamic between the Doctor and Donna. The rock monsters were a bit dull, and the show seemed like a chance for the Mill to show off it's capabilities, but the episode worked really well at times. Not sure about the corny epilogue. I also hope the family comes back to haunt the Doctor. I'd be surprised if it didn't. Next week looks interesting as well. Very relieved to have Who back on track.

IntoAshes

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @Lizzie24601: I actually kept expecting the episode to end with the fade out of the TARDIS followed by a large piece of pyroclastic debris landing on the family.

@Quadratus: Indeed, I don't want a name just like I didn't want midichlorians in the SW universe

Jack

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> According to Doctor Who Confidential the episode was supposed to be based more on Asterix than Rome so the cockney accent would fit in.
Catherine Tate is brilliant in the role now really going places with it and making more than just the new Tegan or the new Nan that we all feared it would be.


kevinjwoods

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Presumably you're aware that Theta Sigma is the abbreviation used in many manuscripts of the New Testament for the Greek word for God.

[exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com]

James McGrath

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Well, since the TARDIS got stuck in the shape of a British police call box, the translation circuit probably got stuck with the British stereotype.

Huh. Actually, I kind of like this theory.

GodofMonkeys

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @FunkyJ: If the TARDIS is, as Paul Magrs noted, "a machine for traveling between genres," then yes, the TARDIS supplies the appropriate comedy accents as well!

I think that's why the Brits are so good at portraying Romans - their accents denote social status, which fits nicely with the extremely class-conscious Roman society.

SeeingI

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> I understand that the Tardis translates languages fine - I don't have a problem at all with the concept.

What I do have a problem with is why it would change Latin into Cockney - as shown by the dodgy salesman who sells the Tardis.

I mean, really, does it translate stereotypes as well?

FunkyJ

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @CargoCult

yeah, i noticed that too - made me giggle and i was mildly disappointed that the whole bunch weren't there!

garius

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> AdamL

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Surprisingly, I'm finding lots to like about Donna (in much the same way I was surprised to find myself liking Billie's acting!). Standing up to the Doctor is something he's needed for a long, long time, and in this episode Donna simply refuses to let him away with his high and mighty "I'm a Time Lord, so shut your mouth" attitude - excellent stuff.

And I absolutely adored the scene linked to in the article! The way the two Seers started peeling back the layers of mystery to reveal the Doctor and Donna beneath was beautifully done. And did anyone else fine the young actresses' 'drunk and rude' performance totally intoxicating?

No? Ah. Just me then.

Urael

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Let me also state that I do not want them to tell us his name, I feel that it would take so much mystery away from the character.

Johan

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]>

I'd swear Theta Sigma was a nickname from high school, or college. Let's look it up. Wikipedia says it's a nickname from his 'university days'.

And then there's this: [upload.wikimedia.org]
Which is going to end up meaning absolutely nothing.

Johan

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> some things are fixed and something are in flux because thats how i see the universe. every waking second i see what is what was what could be what must not. thats the burden of the time lord donna and im the only one left.

malenfantreid

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Some things are fixed and something are in flux because thats how I see the universe. Every waking second i see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. thats the burden of the time lord donna and im the only one left.

malenfantreid

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @Lizzie24601: Wouldn't that be rather counter productive, what with all the "rejects" being recycled into Daleks? ;)

Still, I'd watch that show.
But only if it had a zany obstacle course.

Dunny0

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> And I loved Donna in this episode.

thefunnyone

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> I think Martha's lesson was to discover her strength, while Rose's lesson was to discover her purpose. Donna seems to be there to teach The Doctor lesson in temperance...which I love. The Doctor may be the student and the companion, the teacher, for once.

thefunnyone

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> I really appreciated this episode. Not only did it present a really cool cast of characters, but it threw tough questions at the doctor. And Donna was just made of win throughout the whole thing. its nice to see the more compassionate side of her when she seems to be so fiesty all the time.

matriaya

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Dunny0: Agreed. If he were looking for an effective assistant there would be, you know, some sort of qualifications required. He does sort of audition them on the job, but really, he just needs a straight man. Satellite 5 should get a "Who Wants To Be My New Companion?" program running, stat.

Lizzie24601

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @Charlie Jane Anders: I think it was shown fairly definitively last week, what with the Doctor explaining to thin air in the TARDIS, that he does just want someone to knock around with, and occasionally show off to.

The Doctor needs an audience, and obviously just cannot function without one.

I would assume that being the last of the Time Lords is probably very, very lonely so I can totally forgive him this quirk. ;)

Dunny0

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @Charlie Jane Anders: But in all honesty, Martha just did what she was told. Family of Blood, all she did was what was instructed in the video, she was at a complete loss with the "love" thing. The final episode of last season, the Doctor told her what to do and she did it. And a lot of times her cleverness, such as in the first episode with the oxygen, she was merely stating things that the Doctor already knew.

Rose had spent enough time with the Doctor to be able to figure things out on her own, push the Doctor in the right direction and even doing some of the things the Doctor would've done without prompting. Martha never really had that, the only time I can recall she ever bent the Doctor to her was when she forced him to tell the truth behind Gallifrey. I can see why Ryan would find fault with her as a companion.

Maldron

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @Ryan H: I thought Martha was a great companion... she was smart and resourceful, and could keep up with the Doctor most of the time. That's my biggest complaint about Donna -- especially back in the Christmas Special, she's portrayed as really not being that smart. The implication is the Doctor just wants someone around to look after, or to be his emotional compass.

Charlie Jane Anders

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @JennaW:
Yeah, but in a lot of ways Martha wasn't a very good companion. An entertaining companion, yes, but not very good at keeping the wheels spinning and the lights on.

Ryan H

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @Charlie Jane Anders:
@RRich:

*keeeeheeeheeee!*
(I'm 8 years old, apparently)



JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @TheRealVeon:
@Ryan H: "No second chances; that's the kind of man I am."

Which was pretty much the scariest thing any Doctor has ever said.

But Martha's presence doesn't hold him back in "Human Nature/Family of Blood" -- though there is some implication he did this without her knowing, but still.

Can you imagine Donna letting him stalk off in that state alone? She'd be running after, asking questions, and probably tempering his fury with at least limited-time punishments. Donna is a good balance for him because she doesn't feed his ego.


JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @TheRealVeon:
The idea of the companion holding back the Doctor's dark side really appeals to me.

I think it all goes back to Tennant's introduction with the Children in Need special and the Christmas Invasion. He says it a couple times himself. This regeneration went wrong. He doesn't know when to stop himself.

The last two seasons all come back to that. Every time he makes a snap judgment or doesn't listen to the people around him everything goes wrong.

So with the narrative of a fundamentally broken Doctor (if it exists in more than my mind) a companion that exists to challenge him is an interesting setup. And now that I think Donna can pull it off I am more than excited.

Ryan H

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @RRich: I knew that! But I did mean the other meaning...

Charlie Jane Anders

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> "Tossing it off" is a British idiom for wanking, Charlie.

RRich

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> I have to say that I was uncertain about Donna being the companion after the Christmas show. But, like many of you, I'm was really sold by this show. The whole thing with Donna is she's there to hold back some of the Doctor's darker impulses, which is something we haven't really seen before. While the Doctor wasn't really dark with Rose or Martha (I think having someone there brings simply reminds him of why he does what he does) they weren't really a controlling force in his life either. They were much more in his wake than anything else. With Donna we finally have something close to an equal, at least in terms of force of will. I really like it and I hope that it's one of the main themes through this season.

TheRealVeon

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> "I will be horribly disappointed if that decision doesn't come back to smack him in the forehead in a future episode."

I have to disagree. The Doctor said that the residents of Pompeii didnt have a word for Volcano until after the eruption. As the rescued family watched the destruction of Pompeii, the stone mason described the sight as 'Volcanic'. This makes me belive that he was ment to rescue the family all along.

Hope that made sense, its late here.

SmokeyTab

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> @t3knomanser: I agree with you, it never came up before when he had a couple of Doe-eyed admirers by his side, there's no reason for it to suddenly happen when there aren't any tangible feelings.

Maldron

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> I'm still iffy on Donna. Though there was much less of that horrible shrill Donna makes when yells loudly, I was kind of hoping she'd give the Doctor some back talk. I mean she dose, but its no more that what Martha or Rose did once in a while, just a snide remark here and there.

Killa_Charlie

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> I didn't mind the over-the-top-goodness of the first episode, I felt the Doctor needed it after losing The Master, and Martha, and Astron Pell ((along with the majority of the Titanic, really)) all in a row, he needed something where the answer wasn't chaos and death and tough choices. I know, it's stupid to ask for a show to balance itself karmically around a character, but I think even the viewers needed a break from constantly being forced to endure loss.

I agree though, as much as "Partners in Crime" changed Donna from the Runaway Bride to a match for The Doctor, this episode made her relatable. She seems there to ask the questions that we want to ask, and I'm glad for her. I'm far too new to the Doctor, having started with Eccleston, but I agree that Donna is shaping up to be a good companion.

Maldron

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Did anyone spot the gloriously awful reference to a certain range of Latin textbooks?

I nearly pissed myself laughing. Flashbacks to Latin lessons at secondary school - of textbooks with some deliciously bloodthirsty storylines in. Spoiler: Caecilius dies quite horribly when Vesuvius erupts, and only Quintus escapes...

CargoCult

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Donna is turning out to be an interesting piece of the "stunt casting" debate. I think everyone pretty much agrees that Bonnie Langford was a disasterous stunt casting, and people (including me) have been predicting Catherine Tate in that same mode. But it doesnt seem to be turning out that way, and I think the key to that is in the way Mel and Donna function differently as devices.

Justin K. Rivers

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> The "We're not married," shtick has to die. They did it in this episode and the coming attractions showed it in the next episode. RTD really loves putting sexual tension between the doctor and the companion no matter how little sense it makes.

t3knomanser

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> I like that the writers aren't trying to make Donna into another Rose or Martha. She's forced her way into the Doctor's life (instead of waiting for an invitation), and she's there to challenge him. Rose and Martha (as much as I loved the latter) simply followed him around without asking too many tough questions, aside from ones that required the Doctor to break out into technobabble.

Lizfu

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Furiursa

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> >I will be horribly disappointed if that decision doesn't come back to smack him in the forehead in a future episode.<< I sure hope so. I think, dramatically, the episode would have been much better off if he hadn't saved the family (though perhaps too early in the season for that sort of thing?) or if in the flash-forward we saw the universe right itself by killing the family in some other way. But if the decision just bites the Doctor in the ass somewhere else down the line, that works too. (I've seen speculation elsewhere that Donna is actually descended from this family - they're somewhat ginger, and named Noblus. Odds seem decent that they'll be back)

Lizzie24601

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> And the moment when she helps the Doctor press the lever -- which I interpreted as her taking half the responsibility off his shoulders -- made of win. Donna was fantastic in this episode.

JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[Doctor Who Finally Asks The Tough Questions About Time Travel]]> Man, this episode completely sold me on Donna. I wasn't sure about her after the first episode. The whole "You've got to save SOMEONE, anyone" scene made the character for me. That alone was right up there with the best the show has ever produced.

Ryan H

]]>