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Illustrated thoughts on Doctor Who 4x09
Hello, it's looks like someone else has been to the factories in Villengard
I do like a good squareness gun. Although I don't understand why River didn't just cut of pursuit by filling in the hole again either (yes I know it would ruin an exciting chase scene but it niggled me). She's also not very straight with it either.
I do love the expressions on the Doctor's and River's faces in this cap.
Meanwhile the little girl is enjoying this on the telly.
It must be a bit surreal to see her mind on the TV. (That green dog-thing's from IKEA too!) (Team Cardiff must spend loads on their IKEA storecards).
Lookit her, absolutely glued to he telly.
This is an accurate reflection of what kids around the country are doing at the same time.
Nice jammies Donna
Donna proves her leet-skills for spotting something wrong.
Sadly Doctor Moon is on hand to delete out anything that would help Donna remember who she really is
He's in her mind, changing her registry values.
Suddenly they were outside
I have dreams like that. It's a great way to cut out all the boring stuff and get to the fun stuff.
Donna's never been fishing before has she
Of course, she's doing some fishing of her own :) but high heels and sequins are not quite the thing for a muddy river bank. Donna's putting the glamour into angling.
That's Donna's wedding dress!
No, I know it's her wedding dress, obviously, she's wearing it. I mean it's her dress from The Runaway Bride. I expect at least one essay on the state of Donna's mind with her still associating that dress with happy wedding days. (And it's also an example of the BBC getting the most out of our licence fee. Good on them).
Doc-tah!
His hologram even leaves a shadow. Sort of. Unless it's Donna's shadow, I can't really tell.
The Moon always looks massive when it first rises
I think this one is a little bit closer to the planet than ours. That's quite an antivirus programme too, is 'Doctor Moon' (ooh, it's all falling into place now is it not?)
It'll be the only story you'll ever tell
Of course River mentioning the fatal words "if you survive" seems to indicate that none of them will be lasting out the episode. It's like saying "What could go wrong?" or "Have you ever taken a shortcut before?"
Anita isn't that convinced
River explains that she knows the Doctor in his future (helpfully for everyone who missed last week's episode).
Want to borrow my/your screwdriver?
The Doctor still doesn't understand why River's got a sonic screwdriver, that looks so much like is but is also so different. (And to be honest I prefer the old version, it's much more streamlined and hasn't got loads of sticky-out bits that will get stuck in your pockets.
However when they release one as a toy I'll probably buy one cos I'm weak for flashy pens (which is what the toy screwdrivers are.)
It's secret password time
And cue for lots of speculation on what the Doctor's name could possibly be. I'm guessing that it's quite long due to the length of time Alex Kingston was nuzzling his ear. I quite fancy it being a variation of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
They're doing it again!
They've got a death wish, all standing in each other's shadows.
The Doctor's picked up a signal
Is there nothing the screwdriver can't do? Can it double up as a teasmaid? Can you change channels on the telly with it? (actually, yes, it can do that can't it).
It's Donna! Yay!
The Doctor is pleased that Donna is still possibly alive and won't be a face on an information board for the rest of eternity.
Poor Anita
She takes her impending doom very well. I'd be having a right temper tantrum it is was me. She's much more mature than I am. Just some silent tears. Poor Anita.
It's a cunning disguise of cunningness
And so simple too.
Meanwhile, in Donna's head
Donna is getting visits from a Scottish Widow (probably wanting her to get a pension or something).
Donna goes to meet her
And everyone else completely ignores the strange woman in the Victorian dress. Who has the familiar voice of Miss Evangelista. I'm surprised it took Donna so long to catch on.
The Doctor decides to try to reason with a mindless horde
That's not going to end well is it? There will be tears before bedtime you just mark my words.
The Doctor makes first contact
And only last week he was muttering on that you couldn't reason with them. Changed your tune have you Doctor?
The Doctor can't see the wood for the trees. Literally.
The Doctor does get it. For ages. Even five year old s have caught on by now. For the self-proclaimed cleverest bloke in the galaxy the Doctor can be amazingly dense. It's quite frustrating really. Especially when he can see all the pasts, present and futures and understands how probability works in conjunction with them. Shame Donna's not around to give him a slap about the head to knock some sense into him.
Poor Other Dave
:(
Always have an escape plan
It's the only way you can get to 90-odd years old. I'm not too impressed with the health and safety in this Library though, the hatch isn't marked or cordoned off, what if it opened unexpectedly? *tuts* Obviously the HSE doesn't exist in the future.
action!Doctor
Has a bit of a James Bond moment.
The little girl thinks it's all ace
And also exciting.
Someone's been running the clone tool all over that playground
I feel a little bit smug that I noticed that all the kids were the same before Miss Evangelista brought it up. I'm glad I'm getting more observant.
Poor Miss Evangelisa
She's been all corrupted by the machine. But it's okay, she's now clever to make up for it. (Pretty and clever aren't mutually exclusive you know. You can be both at the same time, a radical concept I know).
Small children everywhere
are freaked out by her scary look. I'm surprised she didn't end up hiding behind the sofa. But there's shadows behind the sofa, stay in the light…
Obligatory glasses moment
Check. Did we have a 'bananas' comment as well this week? I don't remember.
Red sky at night, shepherd's delight
Somehow I don't think that there's much delight to be had here.
It's hard being a little girl with an alien-filled Library in your head
And she deleted Doctor Moon and her faux!dad too. She's certainly a girl with dangerous temper trantrums.
It all starts to come out now
The little girl, Charlotte, is the literal ghost in the machine. It's hard to imagine what her father was going through to decide to put her daughter's consciousness into a computer in order for her to live forever inside her own head and her own dreams. It's a bit terrifying to tell the truth.
Poor Anita
The cunning plan didn't work. That's often the case with the cunning plans. And it turns out the "someone I liked" comment from the trailer for this episode wasn't about Donna at all. Huh.
Getting back to the plot though I still don't understand how they are getting into spacesuits - sealed units - airtight due to using them in vacuums and the like. And the Doctor managed to bargain with them. A race he said that he couldn't communicate with last week.
River pulls the sucker punch
Literally. She's got a very good right hook, and I do get the strangest feeling that this isn't the first time she's thumped him one.
River is like a girl guide
Always prepared. With handcuffs. Are they something that she's had to use lots on the Doctor? The Doctor is not impressed to be caught in such an uncompromising position. You'd think though, being able to see the past, present and future, he'd be able to see it coming.
He does does tortured and helpless very well
Oh River :(
She's picked up some bad habits off the Doctor. Including sacrificing herself for the greater good. Oh River, we knew you for so short a time.
Meanwhile Donna's perfect life is ripped apart
Poor Donna.
Nearly everyone lives
Is it a rule that you have to be dressed head to toe in black to visit the Library?
The Doctor waits patiently for Donna to find him
I think he's got other things on his mind than to worry about what he'll tell Donna when she finds him.
Is 'all right' Time Lord for completely not all right?
Donna does catch on quickly. You can't help for feel for both of them. The Doctor doesn't even have the consolation of everyone lives this time.
Oh noes! Lee!
And it's a stutter that keeps them apart for the rest of their lives. How awful. :(
Donna makes a difficult decision
and brushes over it with barely a thought. How tempted must a person be to find out how their story ends, to flick to the end of a murder mystery and see whodunit. It just goes to show how much Donna has changed since we first met her that Christmas so long ago.
The only book that's free of the taint of the library
The Doctor suddenly realises that he is actually a bit clever
He'd given himself a massive clue all along and hadn't realised it. (See my note before re: the Doctor's denseness).
But how did her communicator last for so many years?
As pointed about last week the data ghosts only transmit for minutes or hours at most. Did the screwdriver keep it powered, was the inside of the screwdriver outside of time and space (a bitnlike the inside of a TARDIS) or what?
The Doctor does something stupid
But the kids loved it. I bet Charlotte was bouncing on her IKEA sofa in glee when he dived down the the transporter shaft.
It's not the end of River's story
But being a conscious being inside a dream must get a bit wearing after a while, or is she just a shadow of her former self? Will she be fleshed out personalitywise by the computer? Will Doctor Moon make her forget the real world?
And the Doctor saved everyone else too
I still wouldn't class it as an everyone lives result though. But Miss Evangelista did get her face back again. That must please her.
Just click your fingers
I get the distinct feeling that the TARDIS is humouring the Doctor.
And they all lived happily ever after...
Or did they? Could Charlotte create famous archaeological digs based on the books in the library for River and her team to investigate, give them something to do. Could they communicate with the outside world? Their family or friends?
As far as an ending goes, it's not actually very satisfying.
In conclusion
Yes it was riddled with plot holes (why didn't River close up the holes behind her, why didn't the team keep their helmets on after the first death, why were the standing in each other's shadows), stupidity from the cleverest person on the planet (why yes, Doctor, I am looking at you there) and lots of back references to earlier episodes (all it was missing was a bananas are good reference).
But I still loved it. Obviously I'm easy to please. :/
I really liked River, even though her character was painted in the broadest strokes. I can't understand all the hate and vitriol directed at her, although saying that Donna got pretty much the same reception in The Runaway Bride and look at all the love for her now.
I hope that we do get more episodes with River, because I think she would make a really good companion, especially if she got a bit more character development. Due to the limitations of the episode she was very much written in a tell-not-show way and in the end we learnt nothing about her as a character other than what we were explicitly told.
8/10
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I've gotten amazing use out of the little one that's just a torch. It's small and light enough to fit in my purse, and thus has seen me through several blackouts.
I'm guessing that it's quite long due to the length of time Alex Kingston was nuzzling his ear.
I'm guessing Alex Kingston was making the most of being able to nuzzle him on camera! :>
I do get the strangest feeling that this isn't the first time she's thumped him one.
Of course it isn't! Sometimes, frankly, that's the only way to reason with him; bash him over the head and do what needs doing. Martha slightly got it; Donna has completely grasped it. Survivor guilt or masochism? Only the fandom can decide.
You'd think though, being able to see the past, present and future, he'd be able to see it coming.
Being able to see and wanting to look at what appears to be white noise in his head seem to be two separate concepts.
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There was an incredibly easy way around the SPOILERS. Every time someone asked River about the Doctor, she should have written it down, shown the person the bit of paper and then leafed it in the FORBIDDEN BOOK.
The same principle applies to the next episode, but hey, Moffat writes cliche fanfic here: paper thin plot to showcase a brilliant idea.
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