Thoughts on The Shakespeare Code

[kaliha]

Some thoughts on the Shakespeare Code


Romeo, Romeo, where for art though Romeo?

Do you think that people used to actually do that and serenade their loves? If they did, why has it pretty much fallen out of favour?

We witches three

CassieLilith looked a lot like Vengence Demon!Anya in her make up. I won't ask how come she got to be pretty but her 'mothers' stayed all hook of nose and green of skin. It seems a bit unfair. Because I'm a bit slow it took ame a while to place her as Cassie from Hex.

Obligatory Bum shot

One for the ladies. Discuss ;)

The Doctor shows his love for his ship

Hopefully the kiddies at home didn't notice and started asking their parents what was going on. "Mummy, why is the Doctor doing that to the TARDIS?" "Well, when a 900 year old alien and his spaceship love each other very much…"

Getting back on topic, loved how Martha was asking how the TARDIS worked. Nice one, asking the right questions (although getting an answer is a totally different matter). And the Doctor's failed his TARDIS driving test (which adds credence to his joyriding through time and space). I bet he doesn't even know how it works, not really.

She's got a tight grip

Less mortals would be clinging onto the railings for dear life by now. Wonder how long it'll be before he lets her have a go?

A brave new world

Yay for that look of realisation when an Assistant realises that the Doctor's not talking out of his arse than that his frankly magnificent ship really does travel in Time and Space.

Love the fact she;s well up on her skiffy concepts too, what with her worrying over the Butterfly Effect and accidentally killing her granddad, which leads really nicely into the Back to the Future conversation later on.

Skipping ahead slightly, I loved her exchange with him later on when he tells her that she can go and tell everyone that she met Shakespeare and she points out that if she did, she'd end up in the loony bin – so not going to be writing about it on your blog then? ;) I do love the sensible head that's on her shoulders. I do think it's what the Doctor needs, someone to make him pull his neck in a bit.

Won't people talk?

I'm glad that they did comment on Martha's background, it galled a bit for Mickey not to be commented on at all, but then again he only visited the present and the future so it likely wasn't a big issue like it was in the sixteenth century. I also like the fact a big deal wasn't made of it. Hopefully, now the comment has been made, it won't be mentioned again, because if handled badly it does have the possibility of causing fandom meltdown.

The Mill are outsoing themselves again

Look at how detailed the CGI paintings are. The water moves and it's so lifelike you can almost smell it (and I bet it doesn't smell sweet either)

Oh Doctor, haven't you learnt that every time you look smug something bad happens?

Obviously not.

Martha sets a new trend

Us Brits love a good terrace chant :)

He's not much like his portraits

This is a much better image of Will Shakespeare than what we get taught at school. The image of a stuffy medieval man, really doesn't sit well with a lot of the stuff he wrote. This Will was, well, cool.

adbracadabra

Ooh, poppets. That really does take me back to school and the days of The Crucible (god, I hated that play).

The Doctor has a fangirl moment

Just like he did with Dickens and Queen Victoria and all the other famous historical persons he's met. Bless him.

Putting this one in just because



Psychic Paper doesn't work on geniuses

Shakespeare says that it's blank – so it's obviously not working on him, but he knows so much about them and even for a genius it's a bit of a leap. We know from The Empty Child that if you don't give the paper your full concentration it can reveal things that you wouldn't want others knowing ("Available, very") so who's to say that the Doctor didn't let slip a stray thought ot that the paper changed slightly when Martha touched it.

Political Correctness gone mad

Yes, well, things were different in the sixteenth century, but on the second viewing of this I did get the distinct feeling that Will was testing them. Like later on when he comments that the Doctor has very old eyes in such a young face and that Martha's eyes betray that she still doesn't believe the Doctor is real.

The man's like a sixteenth century Derren Brown.

Actually, that would neatly explain quite a lot. After all, in order for his plays to be successful he has to appeal to the masses, which means you have to get in their heads, play on their hopes and fears. And as the doctor points out later, words can change a man.

Martha can hold her beer

In her massive pewter tankard. Also I loved her Tooth & Claw style forsooths. Verily, I did. The Doctor needs to write a Guide to Time Travelling (which includes no wandering off from the TARDIS, no murdering the native language, try the fish)

Now that's a nasty way to die

Drowning on dry land. Awful. I do have a nitpick. Surely when Lilith ripped off the poppet's head his head should have come off? If she was just don't to stop his heart surely she would have just stabbed him with her scissors. I do like some continuity in my magic and it was sadly lacking here.

Even two Doctors can't save him

I do like the fact that when someone's hurt, Martha goes into doctor!mode. It's like a switch is flicked in her and it's simply brilliant. Because it is the best way to cope with something like this.

No Martha, he really isn't joking

You can tell because he's using that Very Serious Look. The same one he used when he flushed all the spiders down the plughole.

Hubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

You can't have witches without them being huddled around a cauldron.

Martha is impressed by the quality of the room

Travelodge it ain't. The bed comes complete with it's own bedbugs and rats behind the skirting. I suppose it does have an en suite of sorts though.

The Doctor always travels prepared

I wonder if it's sonic?

The Doctor is a fan of a certain boy wizard

Bless him, crying through the last book. I bet he stayed off the internet and hidden in the Time Vortex until he had it all read so he wasn't spoilt.

I wonder if he's seen any of the films….

…like Goblet of Fire f'instance?


is that an ACME anvil I see before me?

Considering the Doctor is always supposed to be looking forwards, never gazing back upon his past (as so many have pointed out over the years he does seem to be dwelling a lot on Rose). In some ways it really annoys me, because it's making Rose the most speshul of all of them which isn't true. She's just as good (or as bad) as any who have come before and any who will follow later. Even Jack only got a one line remembrance and that was in something that wasn’t even canon!

I sort of understand why they're doing it. After all, Rose was the first person he really opened up to (according to the canon anyway) after he blew everyone up in the Time War, but holding her up to Martha and making Martha be found lacking only generates pity-like for the character instead of letting people like her based on her own merits and that's what really annoys me.

Of course the whole bed scene does also point out that the Doctor is incapable of seeing what is in front of his eyes (in this case mere centimetres) which I'm sure will have repercussions throughout the rest of the series. And don't get me started on the second reference to Rose. I'll just get angry.

Martha is unimpressed

She's be even more unimpressed if she discovered I originally called her Rose in this caption.

Boss-eyed

Poor Shakespeare, so easily possessed (and I'm sure this spell appears in one of his plays too – positive, but I can't think which one, help?)

Exeunt chased by a bear

His handwriting's not very neat.

I am somewhat saddened that no one made an "Alas poor Yorick" gag with the skull/candleholder. But I suppose it would have been too obvious.

Creepy little dolly

I did like it's little Shakespeare beard though.

Ah, now that's your classic witches look that is



The Doctor's starting to regret coming to 1599

And Martha's still in a bit of a mard with him too, but she's concentrating on the business in hand, recalling all those hours of Midsomer Murders and Rosemay & Thyme and looking at all the evidence.

The World's a stage

I think the big!hair Doctor is going to be his thing this year (as the glasses and the licking were last year)

Whoa Nelly!

Martha is shocked to be getting chatted up by Shakespeare of all people. And points out that he has a wife at home. *tuts* he's a bad boy that Shakespeare.

57 academics just punched the air

OMG Gay Agenda! Then again, being 'flexible' wasn't really as stigmatic as it has been in recent history (as long as the Church didn't find out).

Bedlam

Never complain about the NHS again. Whatever happened to Bethlem Hospital. *goes and Googles to find out* it's now a museum, so there you go.

Super Hans!

Now there's a face I didn't expect to see. He's the Architect – well he's a lot less wanky than the lest Architect committed to film.

The Doctor gets narky

He doesn't like people messing with his precious humans and in a scene very reminiscent of him identifying the Slitheen his plays a game of 'Name that Alien'

I name thee!

Fairytales have taught that there is great power in a name and back in the real olden days people never used to share their real/full names with people in fear of being bespelled. Which is always something that's intrigued me, so it's nice to see it being used here.

Obligatory scene with glasses!pron

Fans cheer. Hoorah!

Crystal Balls

Quick, let's get more witchcraft references in. I don't really understand it's purposes. Are the rest of the Carrionites trapped inside it or is it just a gateway? Did I miss some plot because I was cheering for the glasses?

Is it the finger?

Well, it is rude to point.

That name keeps me fighting

I have a few issues with this. The Doctor is supposed to be rather psychically strong. People/aliens just can't walk in and have a poke-around to see what's in there (unless you happen to be Reinette) so it was a bit annoying that Lilith could. Unless she got it from someone else. Surely the Doctor's head would be full of things like Gallifrey (because he does have a lot f unresolved issues there), not necessarily Rose. After all, he sent her where she was safe (and it was his idea). I feel it's a bit shoehorned in and it makes me sad.

Is Rose this year's Bad Wolf/Torchwood?

Unless she didn’t pull it from the Doctor's head. But it doesn't make sense to have it come from Martha. Gah.

And more old skool references with the Eternals too.

Again more echoes of the Doctor being the man without a name. Hiding behind titles (the Doctor, The Oncoming Storm). But this time a reference to him hiding his name. Why is he hiding his name? Why do I get the feeling it's all a bit sinister? *worries*

That won't work on me

Asexual doctor agenda ahoy!

Oi, you've got two hearts!

He's a tricksy one that Doctor. Now, if Lilith could read the Doctor's thoughts wouldn't she have known that?

Martha Jones: human defibrillator

Is she going to do this every week, do you think?

So pretty!

God bless you The Mill!

Expelliarmus!

JK Rowling saving the day, filled me with much amusement. I wonder what she thought of it all :)

And Martha saved the day too. She's going to make a habit of it, I can see.

I have to say that on one hand I did like the whole magic is science thing, because it grounds it but I also didn't like it because it took the mystical-ness out of it. I'm a contrary sort.

Little, little crystal ball, who's the angriest of them all?

So then, they're all trapped in the crystal ball with no chance of escape? Or will future assistant accidentally release them at some time in the distant future? We do learn that the TARDIS has a dusty attic though.


Will tries the hard sell

But his unfresh breath lets him down. Gutted. And Martha missed out on being able to boast "I snogged Shakespeare" and that would have been a claim and a half.


We discover how the Doctor equips the wardrobe room

He pinches it from theatres across Time and Space. The Sycorax reference was made of win though.

A Rose by any other name…

How I laughed. After all how many D/Rose fics has that little sonnet made it into?

Off with his head

Oh Doctor, you have such a knack at pissing off royalty. Love the fact that it's something he's done in the future (and as the Tenth Doctor as Lizzie recognised him) which means we'll be coming back to sixteenth century London again at some point. But what could he have possibly done to annoy her so much.

Poor TARDIS

She gets so battered. Bonus points if she materialises next week with the arrow still embedded in her.

In conclusion
Absolutely loved the Back to the Future reference. It really did make my night. In fact, it really was packed full of the pop-culture references, almost Buffy episode-filled. Particularly with how contemporary they are, which will likely date it badly, but what can you do?

And Freedonia? The Doctor shouldn't be allowed to name fictional countries.

In fact, apart from the extremely unsubtle Rose references I enjoyed it very much. Okay, it wasn't particularly historically accurate but it was rip-roaringly fun.

Hoorah!

8.5/10

And Gareth Roberts thinks Dan Brown is an awful, awful man. Love him!

Comments

[refusion.livejournal.com]

"Mummy, why is the Doctor doing that to the TARDIS?" "Well, when a 900 year old alien and his spaceship love each other very much…"

Doctard, ftw? xD

Ps, am lolling very much at this.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Oh, inadvertant capping, how I love thee. I always keep stupid faces like those in, there's some doozeys of Martha this week too.

[refusion.livejournal.com]

Teh Doc one is just begging to be made into an icon of sorts.

God bless Tennant and his gurning!

[kookoograve.livejournal.com]

i was getting ready to go out when i saw this episode so didnt have full concentration, but i thought it was pretty good!! :)

That really does take me back to school and the days of The Crucible (god, I hated that play).

*shudder* oh how i hated having to study that for my gcse exam..

love your review :D

[owl]

Why shouldn't Lillith have pulled 'Rose' from Martha's head, if Martha's jealous of Rose? If she had been in the Doctor's head there would have been more interesting things there.

Still doesn't explain the 2 hearts, as Martha knows about those.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Mainly down to the way it was phrased, the whole thing about Rose's name coming down on the North wind and the fact Martha was suffering from an acute case of unconsciousness...

[lanaya1980.livejournal.com]

Surely when Lilith ripped off the poppet's head his head should have come off?

Ah, that would have scarred any kids watching for life, so yes, they should have done it.

Also, 'Freedonia' is a Marx Brother's reference, I believe.

"Land of the spree, and the home of the knave"

[megwriting.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed, it's from "Duck Soup."

[lm-jillybean.livejournal.com]

I will and forever wish that Rose died at the end of 'Parting of the Ways'. She should have died then, become part of the TARDIS, and that would have been fine. No sulky second season Rose.

I loved this episode, and on the whole Rose-BadWolf-Torchwood thing, there was a poster in this calling for crewe on the SS Rose, you can find it on the Beebs website. I'll be totally pissed if Rose keeps coming back.

Loving Martha though - she rocks

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Oh, men singing in front of my window would be nice, yes. But then we've always been a little more practical, over here it was custom to bring a ladder with you to get into your loved one's bedroom ;)

[marcella-riddle.livejournal.com]

so not going to be writing about it on your blog then? ;)

Guess again. The TARDIS apparently has a wireless connection.

Are the rest of the Carrionites trapped inside it or is it just a gateway?

You can see that they are in the cap.

Now, if Lilith could read the Doctor's thoughts wouldn't she have known that?

But would he really be thinking about that?

So then, they're all trapped in the crystal ball with no chance of escape? Or will future assistant accidentally release them at some time in the distant future?

Imagine if it got knocked over and smashed. There's a cheap episode. Mutiny in the TARDIS.

The Sycorax reference was made of win though.

You do know that RTD nabbed the Sycorax off Shakespeare, right?

Oh Doctor, you have such a knack at pissing off royalty. Love the fact that it's something he's done in the future (and as the Tenth Doctor as Lizzie recognised him) which means we'll be coming back to sixteenth century London again at some point. But what could he have possibly done to annoy her so much.

What's betting she's series 4's historical figure? She has to be, because surely it'd be against BBC charter to imply a future episode and then expect people to buy a book to find out about it?

It's also funny because I'm planning a fanfic around Arbella Stuart, one of the claimants to the thrown when Elizabeth died.

*

And according to the commentary, Gareth Roberts is back next series, as is Chris Palmer, the director of S&J and TSC. Yay!

[taeli.livejournal.com]

As a fan who has only seen a few of the older Doctor episodes, I'm curious...where might I find Eternals and Architech information?

Also, I just want to say how very much I enjoy your recaps. Thank you. =)

[narm00.livejournal.com]

For the Eternals, check out the Fifth Doctor story "Enlightenment", where they're the main characters.

The only other Architect in Who, off the top of my head, is Kroagnon, the 'Great Architect' in Seventh Doctor story "Paradise Towers".

[taeli.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

To be or not to be.....

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

I think the Doctor hides the really important stuff via Time Lord mental powers. Though if he is still mourning the loss of Rose, it is i think reasonable to assume that the Witch only scratched the surface and therein lay the thoughts about Rose and the fact he likes to hide behind titles.
Overall the best historical episode yet. Shakespeare is a god damn Rock Star :-D I do hope they return to the 16th century, just to see how the Doctor got on the wrong side of ELizabeth "orf with his head" II.

Now i enter murky waters of the past.... The Doctor was meant to be a reincarnation of another Time Lord called the other, who was around at the time Rassilion and Omega. The other was meant to have been as powerful as Rassilion and Omega. However i doubt RTD will be that fanwanky and mine that old story arc up for the new series.

The Doctor probably knows how the TARDIS works, he's just not a very good driver (TARDIS requires 6 Time Lords to operate it properly, the Doctor does it on his own, hence the mistakes. Though the TARDIS probably has a mind of it's own).
As for where you can see the Eternals in the classic series:
The Eternals appear in the 5th Doctor's era, i believe the serial was called Enlightenment (also starred the Black and White Guardians with those big dead birds on their heads). www.gallifreyone.com episode guides should prove useful.

[si-lloyd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I liked this episode, shame I missed the last one. Set your recorder for next Saturday's episode!

Also, Martha - much more attractive than Rose. What's he thinking?!

[diatonically.livejournal.com]

I love your reviews so very, very much :) (just never commented because I'm shy!) May I add you?

[enigmatic-lies.livejournal.com]

great summary.
I agree, they should drop the Rose thing, nothing needs to be said, we can all tell he's thinking about her. and I thought he named the country Freedonia cos Marthas real name is Freema...?
and the JK reference made me laugh so so much

[chicklet73.livejournal.com]

*cheers*

Reading this was almost as good as watching the episode again. I love all your thoughts and comments...

...And I especially love the obligatory bum-shots.

*stares happily*

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I aim to please :)