Doctor Who: "The Impossible Astronaut"

[lizbee]

Spoiler free: Yes. That was acceptable.



My reaction to "The Impossible Astronaut":



Yeah. So basically I was Toph-facing through the whole thing. And occasionally turning to the cat to flail and go, "WASN'T THAT AMAZING?" (Harvey, however, is a hipster, and therefore believes the show got too mainstream after the introduction of the Daleks.)

(Katara can represent the people moaning about zomgmisogyny, already making noises. WHATEVS, PEOPLE, MY SPIRIT ANIMAL IS AMY POND.)

Let me try and get my thoughts in some kind of order:

I love SO MUCH that the crew has kind of temporarily gone their separate ways. It leaves a lot of room for extra, unseen adventures, and it also makes Amy and Rory seem more relaxed about travelling with the Doctor, that it's not an all-or-nothing thing for them. I was sad that Amy was no longer in her pretty house with TARDIS Blue wallpaper, but then I remembered that she has parents now, and they probably live there. (I was also amused to note that Amy and Rory have the same IKEA shelves that I assembled yesterday.)

Older!Doctor is pretty great. They worshipped him on Easter Island. He still spits out wine. I LOVE YOU, ELEVENTY, DON'T DIE!

I kind of expected that Eleven would be the character to die in the first episode, because ... okay, I didn't really expect it, I just didn't want anyone else to die. I suspect that it might be younger!Doctor in the spacesuit, shooting him, but that does leave the minor problem of, um, sooner or later we're gonna need a new Doctor. I assume the Moff does have a plan, I just can't imagine yet what it might be.

RIVER! I LOVE HER SO! She was great here -- not that she's ever not been great, but still, Alex Kingston overcame the handicap of wearing double denim and brought it. I loved her conversation with Rory, that outlines the epic quality of her relationship with the Doctor. She doesn't show Eleven that much vulnerability yet, but we saw it when she was with Ten. I was a bit eyerolly at the "I love for the times I see him" bit, but, hey, there doesn't seem to be much to do in prison beyond planning her next escape. ("She's doing it again. She's packing." One wonders how the warden of Stormcage feels about a prisoner who seems to regard the place as having a revolving door.)

(Then I pictured the warden as the Warden from the Boiling Rock.)

I do enjoy the way Rory fits in with the team, and how his basic respect for things like locks, the laws of physics and common sense contrasts with EVERYONE ELSE IN THE TARDIS. Amy's sad little "Rory, what do I do?" just broke me, because of all of them, he's the one who always goes on. Two thousand years of going on.

I accidentally got spoiled for Amy's pregnancy just before I watched the episode, but there were some nice attempts at misdirection, with River also getting nauseous right after seeing the Silence. I expect there will be wank about the fact she drinks wine and runs around and stuff. I, however, am excited for CANONICAL BABYFIC, and also hoping nothing horrible happens.

How impressive are the Silence?! I didn't expect to find them scary, but they were totally horrifying. And their ship, or at least, the ship beneath the bowels of Florida is the same as the TARDIS-a-like in "The Lodger". Speaking of callbacks, all those spacesuits were a bit reminiscent of "Silence in the Library", and there were a bunch of allusions to River's death, too. I hope there's an episode one day that starts with Eleven finding a way to upload River's consciousness from the Library back into her body. That would be a bit clever. Time can be rewritten, you know.

I was all, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO at the cliffhanger. It was awful! A wee child! Being shot at! By Amy! But then she was all okay and un-shot-at in the trailer, and I remembered that River's bullets didn't hurt the earlier spaceman. So that's all right. Also, I'm still not sure the wee child isn't some kind of alien monster, possibly of the same kind that was luring people to their deaths in "The Lodger". I'M JUST TRYING TO THINK LIKE THE MOFF, OKAY?

(Thinking like the Moff basically goes like this: IDEA, IDEA, IDEA, SOMETHING FUNNY, SOMETHING SEXIST, IDEA, IDEA, EVIL LAUGH.)

I have to say, I think they got more sexual references into this episode than half a season of Torchwood. Starting with the opening scene. The naked portrait. The naked-under-the-lady's-skirt bit. "Mrs Robinson." The screamer line. What would Mary Whitehouse say?

Comments

[trouble]

Oh my gosh, Alex Kingston is who I want to be for the rest of my life.

I believe that River is in the space suit, because we know she kills the man she respects most. :(

[lizbee]

Oh no! Now I can't get that thought out of my head, and it's just increasingly ... compelling.

[arch]

That is what I thought too. :(

[miss_s_b]

And me.

[bcholmes]

My first thought (on reading this) is "no no no no" because the Not-In-A-Spacesuit!River is already in prison for killing the man she respects most, so she should have remembered the situation and not been surprised by the sudden death of the Doctor. On a second watch of the episode, though, her reactions seems to leave room for that interpretation. Although the idea that she'd shoot at herself is interesting.

[myniamh]

Her little 'of course' after she runs out of bullets would be interesting if that is who it turns out to be.

[idlerat]

I thought that at first. But if that's the case, she should already know it, because isn't she in prison for that murder? I would assume that if it was she, however, that she was doing it on the Doctor's orders and with his knowledge - since otherwise, how could it happen, and he walks right into it, etc. And it has to be fixed, because otherwise they could never recast him.

But in any event it didn't seem to me like she knew *all that* (like, that she had killed him, that she was going to kill him, that he had asked her to...) But who knows, timey wimey...

[gominokouhai]

> (Thinking like the Moff basically goes like this: IDEA, IDEA, IDEA, SOMETHING FUNNY, SOMETHING SEXIST, IDEA, IDEA, EVIL LAUGH.)

I am tweeting this. Hope that's okay.

Loved it, need to watch it again before I have half a clue what's going on. I know that's the Moff's devious plan, I just can't stop myself.

> I think they got more sexual references into this episode than half a season of Torchwood

Yes! And that's how you do it properly. Children's show, is it? (Don't answer that.)

[lizbee]

Yes, tweet away.

And yeah, I'm planning on watching it again later. And maybe series 5 again, since it seems the Silence were spotted throughout that.

[gominokouhai]

Silence will fall. Or did everyone forget that? It's what I said when the programme started and everyone in the room had to shut up. I thought I was being funny.

I didn't even know they were called the Silence until you posted. As I say, need to watch it again.

[lizbee]

Come to think of it, I don't think they were named in the episode. But the name has been all over the promotional stuff.

[trouble]

No, they're not named in the episode. I found out from you.

[danel4d.livejournal.com]

The credits list "The Silent".

[trouble]

Don just said to me "And in the Christmas special when she sang 'When I'm with you The Silence is all around'."

DON IS EVIL.

[lizbee]

This ends with the Moff coming around to personally murder us all in our beds, doesn't it?

[trouble]

But who would he scare out of their wits then? No no, the Moff loves tormenting us all.

I'm really excited about the idea of seeing the Silents/Silence all over the place on rewatching Series 5, because I love that stuff. Moffat's found my sweet spot and I am his forever.

I personally don't think Amy's actually pregnant but I am not going to weep bitter tears if I am wrong. Ponds in Space pleases me.

[neigedens]

Holy crap, that is unspeakably creepy. I didn't even notice!

[copracat]

In my fantasy Doctor Who universe River spent some denim time singing karaoke with Dolly Parton.

You know 'I live for the times I see him' is that stupid thing those idiots have going on where they think the Doctor is the only star of the show, that the character they identify with (male, most powerful) is the only one that matters and everyone else are sidekicks who only exist when the most powerful male notices them. Privilege, that's why we hates it when we don't got it. Or more wittily, what you said IDEA, IDEA, IDEA, SOMETHING FUNNY, SOMETHING SEXIST, IDEA, IDEA, EVIL LAUGH.

I accidentally got spoiled for Amy's pregnancy just before I watched the episode

Is it real, then? That's much better than the alien impregnation storyline I was fearing. Though I would be much happier if it's plot related mind games shenanigans. While POND FAMILY IN SPACE makes my heart skip for joy the mother policing is already making me tired and sad and it hasn't even happened yet.

The Mrs Robinson line was adorable and, considering River's later conversation with Rory, a bit heartbreaking. Oh, Ponds in Space, how I love you for your glee and energy and heartbreak and fun and cleverness.

And now it's rewatch time!

[lizbee]

You know 'I live for the times I see him' is that stupid thing those idiots have going on where they think the Doctor is the only star of the show, that the character they identify with (male, most powerful) is the only one that matters and everyone else are sidekicks who only exist when the most powerful male notices them.

Yeah, exactly. I like that it adds an element of emotional desperation to their relationship, purely for angst purposes, but as an ongoing point of characterisation, I shall assume River's going to look back in a few days and go, "Did I really say that? And I was sober? What?"

Is it real, then?

The tabloids have been predicting that Amy would be pregnant, and Rory will panic that the Doctor is the father, which I take to mean that Amy is pregnant and the tabloids are writing badfic.

While POND FAMILY IN SPACE makes my heart skip for joy the mother policing is already making me tired and sad and it hasn't even happened yet.

Agreed on both points. Countdown to "Amy is a bad mother because she wears miniskirts instead of tents" and so forth.

[miss_s_b]

"Countdown to "Amy is a bad mother because she wears miniskirts instead of tents" and so forth."

And she drank WINE OMG!

[lizbee]

Yes, that was what I was thinking of. I always kind of side-eye that stuff, because my mother smoked heavily when she was pregnant with me, and I was a large and healthy baby. One glass of wine != foetal alcohol syndrome.

[miss_s_b]

Official government guidance is that pregnant ladies are ok to drink in moderation, and they tend to err VERY much on the side of caution.

[lizbee]

Ah. I know some American pregnancy books (don't look at me like that! I've never been pregnant, and I love pregnancy!fic!) tend to be NO ALCOHOL, NOT EVER.

[miss_s_b]

Yeah, but pregnancy books of all nations are just WEIRD. I read lots when I was preg with my mini-me, and there's some amazing bollocks spouted in some of them.

Daddy is/was a human biology teacher and he got quite cross.

[skipthedemon]

I recall River saying in Forest of the Dead, "He looks right through me, and it's shouldn't kill me but it does." Putting her line in The Impossible Astronaut and together with this one, I read that as older!River having thought she'd grown past falling apart when the Doctor doesn't remember her. Coming to terms with it. And she *doesn't* fall apart. But it still hurts like hell.

[nineveh_uk]

That works for me as an explanation - it's easy to forget, as the Doctor and River synchronise diaries, that because we follow the Doctor's perspective the audience doesn't actually know each time where this is in River's timeline.

[kaptainvon]

(Thinking like the Moff basically goes like this: IDEA, IDEA, IDEA, SOMETHING FUNNY, SOMETHING SEXIST, IDEA, IDEA, EVIL LAUGH.)

I'm sure there's room for FANSERVICE in there somewhere.

[idlerat]

In terms of the ZOMGmisogyny, what bothered me most was River's "I think it will kill me" when we already had Amy execute herself for love last season. Suttee is the rule, not the exception, apparently. And it hurts because I love the show, though evidently not as much as Amy and River love their men.

>:(