Doctor Who NEW season (contains spoilers)

[Tuxian]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is this plan you speak of? Again, I've never seen a DW before Nine.

Hoo boy. Ok, where to start to explain the Cartmel Masterplan...

As you're (probably) aware, the original Doctor Who ran from 1963-1989. At first, the Doctor was a very enigmatic character, a man who kept many secrets from everyone, even his traveling companions. As time went on, and more and more about the Doctor, his race, and his history was revealed.

• The Time Lords being revealed, and given a name, at the end of season 6.
• The Master being introduced in season 8, proving that there were other "renegade" Time Lords.
• The events of The Three Doctors introduced the character of Omega and showed more about the Time Lords.
• The stories "The Deadly Assassin" and "The Invasion of Time" explored more of Time Lord society.
• The story "State of Decay" gives another small bit of Time Lord history, about how they fought a war with a race of giant vampires under the guidance of Rassilon.
• The story "The Horns of Nimon" showed just why the Time Lords have such a restrictive policy as to the topic of "interference" with other races.
• The story "The Brain of Morbius" shows yet another bit of Time Lord history and shows that the Master is not the only Time Lord who became a criminal.
• The return of Omega in "The Arc of Infinity."
• The events of "The Five Doctors."
• The entirety of season 23, "The Trial of a Time Lord" reveals even more about the Time Lords, and that there are darker forces at work on Gallifrey than even the Doctor had previously imagined.

With all of this, the aura of mystery surrounding the Doctor had faded, leaving him appearing to be just another Time Lord, bouncing around from place and having a penchant for interfering.

But a man named Andrew Cartmel, along with Ben Aaronovich and Marc Platt, came up with a way to bring some of the mystery and wonder back to the character of the Doctor. To that end, that liberally sprinkled hints throughout the tenure of Sylvester McCoy's three seasons as the Doctor that he was more than "just another Time Lord." In particular, the stories "Silver Nemesis," "Remembrance of the Daleks," "Ghost Light," and "The Curse of Fenric."

The basics of the plan ran something like this. In the dawn of Time Lord society, there were two great figures. Omega, a stellar engineer who developed a powerful device later known as the "Hand of Omega," a stellar manipulator that he could use to transform a star into a new power source for his race, a black hole that became known as the Eye of Harmony. However, Omega was trapped in the collapse of the star, and vanished from the universe. Rassilon was the one who was able to harness the power of the Eye of Harmony, balancing it against Gallifrey itself and thus providing the Time Lords with a limitless supply of energy, which he then used to create time travel technology (it's hinted at that all TARDIS draw their power from the Eye, at least in part). However, Rassilon was a cruel, ruthless man, who used his power to construct a vicious game, the Death Zone, and used a Time Scoop to pluck up creatures from throughout space and time, dump them in the Zone, and watch them fight to the death.

But, as with all things, there is more to the story. Whispers of a mysterious figure, known as The Other, who stood beside Omega and Rassilon at the dawn of Time Lord society. The intent of the Masterplan was to establish that the Doctor is this Other, a Time Lord (or at least, the reincarnation of one) who saw the dawn of their society, and knows many things that have been hidden.

Unfortunately when the series was canceled in 1989, the Masterplan never came to full fruition. But it was used as background for the writing of many of the novels that took place after the series ended, and the novel "Lungbarrow" finally reveals what the Doctor really is, and how he knows the many mysterious things that he does.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Count me among the people who was glad to see Lord Walder Frey Solomon get what was coming to him. Killing a bunch of harmless Silurians, shooting Brian, shooting Tricie, and planning to essentially sell Nefertiti into slavery?

Never been so glad to see someone get what they deserved.

I'm always a fan of episodes where someone new and relatively ordinary gets to experience the wonders of the universe, as Brian did this ep. People like Nefertiti and Riddell don't count, exactly (she's a bloody Queen and he's Mister Walking Innuendo), and part of me is disappointed we didn't get to have Brian say The Line after experiencing the TARDIS. ("It's bigger on the inside?")

I knew some of the Cartmel Masterplan (I at least knew about "The Other"), and if this is where the Grand Moff is taking us, I'm all for it. It's not new to this season that the Doctor is missing from databases. Back in "The Long Game" (Ninth's season-- the ep with Simon Pegg), the Editor's computers couldn't scan the Doctor either.

Something else just occurred to me, however. Back in "The Wedding of River Song," the Doctor asks Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill the following (I may be paraphrasing some):

Doctor: "Suppose there was a man who had a secret. A secret that must never, ever be revealed. How would you keep that secret safe?"
Churchill: "I suppose... I'd remove the man."

It has been established that the Order of the Silence wants to prevent the First Question-- which must never, ever be answered-- from being answered. What if the Silence are now trying to remove the man to protect that secret? Well, okay, we already know that's what they're trying to do. We already know they've tried to kill him, but that proved to be a mistake, as River Song and the Ponds proved that there are untold billions (if not more!) out there who would help the Doctor in his hour of need.

So how do you kill someone so loved without bringing the multitudes down on your head when they try to protect him?

Remove the man. Make it so they no longer remember him. When no one remembers him, no one will leap to his defense.

[Mytical]

You know..about that prophesy (or whatever it is called) about the First question. I think that it is actually a self fulfilling prophecy. Because..when it is answered Silence will Fall..and what is the society trying to keep it from being answered called?

[Kheldarson]

I just finished watching the Power of Three...

Can we say sappy episode?

[cinema guy]

Did the Pond's end make you cry? I have to admit, I did.

It was a very cool episode. Lots of great stuff in it.

Spoilers, in white: I'm not quite sure what the Angel's were up to made sense, but there was the Statue of Liberty & Melody the detective.

Can't wait till Christmas.

[Kheldarson]

I'm not going to deny it, I cried for a while after that. That sucked.

And response to spoiler in white: The Angels built a time traveler trap. You get stuck in the loop if you see yourself die. So they forced it with the hotel.

[Jester]

Karen Gillan managed to look even hotter with glasses on than she normally does. Which is pretty damn impressive.

That being said, I did NOT like the way they ended the Ponds' run. I DID like the way The Doctor's relationship seems to be progressing with River.

I am going to look forward to the Christmas episode, just not as much as I normally do. I already miss Amy.

[cinema guy]

And response to spoiler in white: The Angels built a time traveler trap. You get stuck in the loop if you see yourself die. So they forced it with the hotel.

Spoliers follow.

But {white} the angels fed on the temporal energy caused by the time loop. Yet they caused the time loop. It is a bit like using a water wheel to power a pump to supply water for the water wheel.

But that is only a minor quibble with a cracking episode.

I did like like the Pond's exit. Although {white again} I'm pretty sure the Doctor could see them again - afterall the only fixed part is that they are buried in New York.

How long do we need to keep things hidden? The show is screened only a few hours later in the US than the UK. Does anyone get it significantly after that?

[customersruinmylife]

I absolutely loved the episode. It was an emotional rollarcoaster. It was also probably the scariest episode of new-Who that I've ever seen. I actually jumped at several points.

I do have one tiny little quibble though: I wish they had put a little shot at the end showing Amy and Rory living their lives happily in New York. OK, maybe that's a little cheesey, but I'm really sad that the last thing we saw of Rory was him being zapped away!

[cinema guy]

I do have one tiny little quibble though: I wish they had put a little shot at the end showing Amy and Rory living their lives happily in New York. OK, maybe that's a little cheesey, but I'm really sad that the last thing we saw of Rory was him being zapped away!

That would have been good. I agree.

[Jester]

How long do we need to keep things hidden? The show is screened only a few hours later in the US than the UK. Does anyone get it significantly after that?

One word: DVR. Just saying.

[firecat88]

For like four hours after the show, I was still very sniffly and teary. I'm not going to lie. But, then, I knew this was going to be brutal. Particularly for Whovians like me who didn't start watching the show until very later.

See, when I first started watching Doctor Who, I did not start with Eccleston. I didn’t even start with Tennant. I went back and watched them on reruns on BBCA, of course, but my first Doctor was Matt Smith. Thus, his first companions were *my* first companions too. So having to see them go, as touching and bittersweet as their ending was, was difficult.

All of that being said, though, last night's episode was amazing. @_@ It was creepy and suspenseful in all the right ways and, as usual, I could not have predicted half of what happened in it. And (spoilers hidden for those who haven't seen it yet) how awesome/crazy was it that the freakin' Statue of Liberty was a Weeping Angel?

Question, though (spoilers hidden again): Was the Angel that sent them both back the creepy-ass smiling one? Also, how the heck did it manage to escape the paradox?

[JoitheArtist]

I'm just gonna sit here and FEEL EVERYTHING for a little while...

I really loved the episode (though the masochist in me wanted (spoiler in white) the Ponds to exit with the jump off the ledge, because that was amazing)

I LOVE that (spoiler) the Angels were scary again, and River was incredible as always.

I have some quibbles with a few details, but honestly, it was a great episode. And a hell of a lot better than Donna's exit.

I think I'm going to miss those two at least as much as I missed Rose...

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh....

[Kheldarson]

Spoliers follow.

But {white} the angels fed on the temporal energy caused by the time loop. Yet they caused the time loop. It is a bit like using a water wheel to power a pump to supply water for the water wheel.

But that is only a minor quibble with a cracking episode.

I viewed it more as having your cake and eating it too...but the analogy that I would use is a bit...er...disgusting so, yeah.

I did like like the Pond's exit. Although {white again} I'm pretty sure the Doctor could see them again - afterall the only fixed part is that they are buried in New York.

I think this one depends on how the temporal displacement works and his rules about being in the same place more than once. Plus they had just disrupted New York with a paradox...which is why they couldn't get Rory in the first place. I don't think the Doctor can move around New York in those two time periods now.

How long do we need to keep things hidden? The show is screened only a few hours later in the US than the UK. Does anyone get it significantly after that?

I got lucky with having the evening off to be able to watch it....normally I watch the episode Monday, thanks to my DVR.

All of that being said, though, last night's episode was amazing. @_@ It was creepy and suspenseful in all the right ways and, as usual, I could not have predicted half of what happened in it. And (spoilers hidden for those who haven't seen it yet) how awesome/crazy was it that the freakin' Statue of Liberty was a Weeping Angel?

We thought it was a bit silly actually....how could it move without being seen constantly??

Question, though (spoilers hidden again): Was the Angel that sent them both back the creepy-ass smiling one? Also, how the heck did it manage to escape the paradox?

Could have been, but not necessarily, and something always survives. This is standard.

I really loved the episode (though the masochist in me wanted (spoiler in white) the Ponds to exit with the jump off the ledge, because that was amazing)

That would've been an interesting ending. Especially after the black humor there.

[Miss Maple Leaf]

We thought it was a bit silly actually....how could it move without being seen constantly??

Somewhat spoiler-y suggestion: Everyone blinked at the same times?

After all, we heard it slowly approach, while the Angels have been established as being able to move several feet in the time it takes to blink. Perhaps people did see it move but didn't realise what it was and therefore didn't know not to blink? Or maybe when they saw the statue wasn't in its proper spot they all rubbed their eyes simultaneously to be sure that their vision wasn't playing tricks on them thus giving it time to move towards the apartment complex?

Other than that, though, I've got nothing. Hey, Moffatt? You wanna come on by and chime in on this? Give us your Word of God on the subject?

While it was cool to see in the episode, unfortunately I already knew beforehand about that spoiler. When Space showed a preview of the episode during The Power of Three, they included the scene of Rory commenting on how he'd always wanted to see that thing but didn't expect it to come to him.
Thanks to that, I knew what was going to happen, so I didn't feel the shock of seeing it when it did occur.

Way to ruin it for the Canadians, guys.

Also, is anyone even more terrified of the Weeping Angels now? I thought they were downright scary already, but this episode made them even worse!

Spoilers: First of all, the Weeping Cherubs. The laughter of the Weeping Angels was bad enough in Season 5, but the child-like giggling coming from Cherub versions of those monsters was downright creepy. Especially when you could hear the pitter-patter of their feet as they moved around the room but you couldn't see them.
I think I'd rather deal with an adult Angel than those Cherubs, and that's saying something!

Also, Was anyone else completely unnerved by the smiling Angel? I thought they were scary enough with their blank faces or the snarling ones they have, but the smiling one was creepy on a whole new level.
When I saw it I thought 'Why is it smiling?!? They never smile! What is it so happy about that it's smiling?!? Ahh!'

Yeah, it kind of freaked me out. :sweat: