Doctor Who 5x04 Review
May. 8th, 2010 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaThe Time of Angels
• It was so wonderful to see River again. I loved her in season four and I’m happy to see her return. The first time I watched she felt a little off but on the second viewing she worked much better and I suppose any difference I sense could just be put down to time (this is her younger self) and... well, time (it’s been awhile since I watched her previous episodes). I loved the opening scene.
• It’s interesting just how much she knows. We knew she was very knowledgeable about the Doctor from season four, including the fact that she knows his name, but the extent of stuff she reveals knowledge of in this episode surprised me. She knows this current TARDIS better than the Doctor but that can be explained by her long knowledge of him and the fact he’s only had this new inside for a short while. He doesn’t yet know what everything does on the console and I liked the moment of her pointing out what they do. She knows how to pilot the TARDIS, and does it even better than the Doctor, to the point that she can correct him about it. She knew how to get his attention. She seemed well aware of what he was doing at all times and reacted to him as someone who knew him really well. It was interesting. I love the idea that she has met multiple Doctor’s including past version, and perhaps has even met all of them.
“It’s not supposed to make that noise. You leave the breaks on.” – River
“Yeah, well, it’s a brilliant noise. I love that noise.” – Doctor
Heh. Me too. It’s just not the same with the noise.
• “He thinks he so hot when he does that.” – River. Heh. And so true – the Doctor’s expression when she said that was all ‘oh, yeah’. It’s interesting, again, because we didn’t see this with either Nine or Ten (and I don’t believe the previous versions either?) though I suppose that Ten’s penchant for licking things, and being able to tell things from that would sort of count. So is Eleven’s extraordinary sense of smell, which we’ve seen before, something unique to him or is this incarnation simply more showy about using it (or relies on it more than the others)?
• “Oh, I had lessons from the very best.” – River
“Well. Yeah.” – Doctor
“It was a shame you were busy that day.” – River
Hee. But also hmm. Now she could just be bugging him and he did teach her which I think that is most likely but if she wasn’t... then who taught her? Someone who knows the TARDIS and knows how to fly her and all I can think is another Time Lord. I wonder if another one is out there in the universe? Now I suddenly want to read a story where Romana steals the TARDIS and River for a bit and they get in a lot of trouble and Romana teaches River various tricks.
• The Doctor’s interactions with River were very interesting because they were so... grim. He was serious with her at all times, brisk even, and there was no joking around or teasing or bonding or shared moments of excitement. He was so serious both with her and around her. When he says “Her past. My future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order.” he was so bleak and... contained within himself and I knew that at that moment he was thinking about her death. The ‘my future’ was bitten off, well, bitterly. I’m assuming that this is the first time he’s met her since her death so I suppose his attitude is understandable and it’s got to be painful.
• “ I can run away from anything I like. Time’s not the boss of me.” – Doctor. Heeeee. ♥
• “I’m nobody’s taxi service. I am not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship.” – Doctor
“And you are so wrong.” – River
He seemed so irritated here, definitely out of sorts, but I think a large part of it is because he knows that she’s right – he will always be there for her. More than that he knows in his future, and has known from his first meeting with her, that she is going to be very important to him and yet he already knows how it ends and his anger and pain over that is making him snappish.
• River’s interactions with the Doctor were also interesting. There is her continued complete trust in him – I don’t know what else to call her literal leap of faith at the beginning except the most extreme example of one that I can think of – and her nicknames and teasing, and her still knowing more than him. However she doesn’t seem as... hmm, flirty? In season four I definitely got the feeling that they had been more than just Companion/Doctor and the theory that they were married worked because of how she reacted to him. She touched him and looked at him like a lover. I’m not quite getting that from this River and Doctor. Despite all the talk of them being married could this be when they were just Doctor/Companion? I loved the scene where they both realise, pretty much simultaneously what’s wrong.
• This episode was really pushing the idea that River could be the Doctor’s future wife. It gets brought up twice by Amy and not answered by either the Doctor or River in any way that could be considered 100% confirmation. But the idea that they could be married is now out there in the show and not just a fan theory and I wonder if it’s going to turn out to be true or if it’s a red-herring?
• So I like Amy a lot and she has already had several moment of awesome including one in this episode but on the second round of River and the Doctor being all ‘you’re so awesome’ I found myself really annoyed. The first time was warranted. River’s “You’re brilliant.” worked as did the Doctor’s admiration. The second time – River’s “You’re good. ... very good.” when Amy confronts her about possibly being the Doctor’s wife – did not work for me so well. And then we got a third time with the Doctor telling Amy “You’re magnificent.” which just really felt like too much in that scene. (If they were going into certain death together it would work, but as it played out... not so much.) It felt more like TPTB poking me and going ‘look how awesome and amazing and the bestest ever Amy is, don’t you love her like everyone else?’ and I don’t appreciate that. Amy being awesome stands for itself and I don’t need to be told by the other characters three times in one episode that she is.
• “You’re still here. Which part of ‘wait in the TARDIS until I tell you it’s safe’ is so confusing?” – Doctor
“Oh, are you all mister grumpy face today?” – Amy
Heeee. I love how Amy said that.
• Amy blinking one eye at a time was pretty smart and her pausing the tape on the static to get rid of the angel with quick-thinking and indeed, as River called it, amazing.
• The Amy/River interactions were nice – no jealousy or cattiness or possessiveness about the Doctor at all, both of them were pretty impressed with each other, they did that laughing together at him thing he so hates (well, okay more being amused by him). I’m hoping the next part will give them a more substantial, non-Doctor, scene.
• I loved the Doctor telling River to hug Amy, because he was busy, and while River didn’t hug her she did go up to Amy, put her hands on her arms and told her “You’re brilliant.” How River said that was interesting actually. She looked at the Doctor when she said it and it came off very pointed. It was like she was being protective of Amy and warning the Doctor appreciate her.
• You know for all the Doctor’s complaining it didn’t take much for Amy to convince him to stay. If he really hadn’t wanted to go out there he could have just offered to take her to a different world. A large part of him probably did want to get as far away from her as possible, to not have to deal with her existence right then, but he’s just so darned curious.
• “I’m telling you now that woman is not dragging me into anything.” – Doctor. Heh. Yeah, like there is any chance of that. It’s only his second meeting with her and I’m sure he knows better. Plus look who’s talking there!
• When River mentioned a thing in the belly of the ship ‘that can never die’ I immediately thought of Jack.
• I loved the little moment of River calling out the Doctor, all casual like, for him to sonic her phone and boost the signal and he grudgingly takes out his screwdriver and does it without a word. Amy’s “Oh, Doctor, you sonic’d her.” was amusing too.
• Amy’s line about “I’ve never seen anyone do that.” made me shake my head a bit because at this point Amy has only been on three adventures. There are a couple times where it seems like TPTB are trying to sell Amy/Doctor in a way that would work better if she’d actually been his Companion longer. She’s only ever met one person who actually knew the Doctor in person, Churchill, so it’s not like she has a wide range of people to compare to.
• When Amy first realised that the Angel had moved, when she knew for sure, she should have immediately ran for the Doctor – not stared, tried to turn it off, tried to unplug it, stare again. It took her far too long to call for help.
• So the Bishop clearly has heard of the Doctor enough to consider him worth an army and someone competent and who he respected. How does he know him?
• I was getting some definitely Vashta Nerada flashbacks with the Angels. Though at the end River states that the Angels were trying to get the Doctor mad whereas the Vashta Nerada once they learned who he was ran away. Also the whole thing with the Angel using Bob’s voice felt like a call back too.
• The Doctor biting Amy’s hand made me laugh. Oh, Doctor.
• “I don’t need you to die for me Doctor. Do I look that clingy?” – Amy. Hmm. This really felt like a dig but I’m not quite sure about whom. Rose? I’ve read that Moffat doesn’t like Rose and thought she was too much a ‘clingy girlfriend’ (or something similar). Regardless of whether it was aimed at her or not it definitely felt like a dig aimed at someone and it annoyed me.
• So River graffiti’d the home box in ‘old high Gallifreyian’ – when and how did she learn that? Did the Doctor teach her that and why? And does that mean that she also know Gallifreyian? The fact that she wrote ‘hello sweetie’ makes me laugh.
• So was the native species all time displaced as per the Angel’s usual method or killed? If the entire species were displaced where and when were they displaced and how hasn’t the Doctor not noticed it? Did they all end up in the same relative time and place?
• It was so wonderful to see River again. I loved her in season four and I’m happy to see her return. The first time I watched she felt a little off but on the second viewing she worked much better and I suppose any difference I sense could just be put down to time (this is her younger self) and... well, time (it’s been awhile since I watched her previous episodes). I loved the opening scene.
• It’s interesting just how much she knows. We knew she was very knowledgeable about the Doctor from season four, including the fact that she knows his name, but the extent of stuff she reveals knowledge of in this episode surprised me. She knows this current TARDIS better than the Doctor but that can be explained by her long knowledge of him and the fact he’s only had this new inside for a short while. He doesn’t yet know what everything does on the console and I liked the moment of her pointing out what they do. She knows how to pilot the TARDIS, and does it even better than the Doctor, to the point that she can correct him about it. She knew how to get his attention. She seemed well aware of what he was doing at all times and reacted to him as someone who knew him really well. It was interesting. I love the idea that she has met multiple Doctor’s including past version, and perhaps has even met all of them.
“It’s not supposed to make that noise. You leave the breaks on.” – River
“Yeah, well, it’s a brilliant noise. I love that noise.” – Doctor
Heh. Me too. It’s just not the same with the noise.
• “He thinks he so hot when he does that.” – River. Heh. And so true – the Doctor’s expression when she said that was all ‘oh, yeah’. It’s interesting, again, because we didn’t see this with either Nine or Ten (and I don’t believe the previous versions either?) though I suppose that Ten’s penchant for licking things, and being able to tell things from that would sort of count. So is Eleven’s extraordinary sense of smell, which we’ve seen before, something unique to him or is this incarnation simply more showy about using it (or relies on it more than the others)?
• “Oh, I had lessons from the very best.” – River
“Well. Yeah.” – Doctor
“It was a shame you were busy that day.” – River
Hee. But also hmm. Now she could just be bugging him and he did teach her which I think that is most likely but if she wasn’t... then who taught her? Someone who knows the TARDIS and knows how to fly her and all I can think is another Time Lord. I wonder if another one is out there in the universe? Now I suddenly want to read a story where Romana steals the TARDIS and River for a bit and they get in a lot of trouble and Romana teaches River various tricks.
• The Doctor’s interactions with River were very interesting because they were so... grim. He was serious with her at all times, brisk even, and there was no joking around or teasing or bonding or shared moments of excitement. He was so serious both with her and around her. When he says “Her past. My future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order.” he was so bleak and... contained within himself and I knew that at that moment he was thinking about her death. The ‘my future’ was bitten off, well, bitterly. I’m assuming that this is the first time he’s met her since her death so I suppose his attitude is understandable and it’s got to be painful.
• “ I can run away from anything I like. Time’s not the boss of me.” – Doctor. Heeeee. ♥
• “I’m nobody’s taxi service. I am not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship.” – Doctor
“And you are so wrong.” – River
He seemed so irritated here, definitely out of sorts, but I think a large part of it is because he knows that she’s right – he will always be there for her. More than that he knows in his future, and has known from his first meeting with her, that she is going to be very important to him and yet he already knows how it ends and his anger and pain over that is making him snappish.
• River’s interactions with the Doctor were also interesting. There is her continued complete trust in him – I don’t know what else to call her literal leap of faith at the beginning except the most extreme example of one that I can think of – and her nicknames and teasing, and her still knowing more than him. However she doesn’t seem as... hmm, flirty? In season four I definitely got the feeling that they had been more than just Companion/Doctor and the theory that they were married worked because of how she reacted to him. She touched him and looked at him like a lover. I’m not quite getting that from this River and Doctor. Despite all the talk of them being married could this be when they were just Doctor/Companion? I loved the scene where they both realise, pretty much simultaneously what’s wrong.
• This episode was really pushing the idea that River could be the Doctor’s future wife. It gets brought up twice by Amy and not answered by either the Doctor or River in any way that could be considered 100% confirmation. But the idea that they could be married is now out there in the show and not just a fan theory and I wonder if it’s going to turn out to be true or if it’s a red-herring?
• So I like Amy a lot and she has already had several moment of awesome including one in this episode but on the second round of River and the Doctor being all ‘you’re so awesome’ I found myself really annoyed. The first time was warranted. River’s “You’re brilliant.” worked as did the Doctor’s admiration. The second time – River’s “You’re good. ... very good.” when Amy confronts her about possibly being the Doctor’s wife – did not work for me so well. And then we got a third time with the Doctor telling Amy “You’re magnificent.” which just really felt like too much in that scene. (If they were going into certain death together it would work, but as it played out... not so much.) It felt more like TPTB poking me and going ‘look how awesome and amazing and the bestest ever Amy is, don’t you love her like everyone else?’ and I don’t appreciate that. Amy being awesome stands for itself and I don’t need to be told by the other characters three times in one episode that she is.
• “You’re still here. Which part of ‘wait in the TARDIS until I tell you it’s safe’ is so confusing?” – Doctor
“Oh, are you all mister grumpy face today?” – Amy
Heeee. I love how Amy said that.
• Amy blinking one eye at a time was pretty smart and her pausing the tape on the static to get rid of the angel with quick-thinking and indeed, as River called it, amazing.
• The Amy/River interactions were nice – no jealousy or cattiness or possessiveness about the Doctor at all, both of them were pretty impressed with each other, they did that laughing together at him thing he so hates (well, okay more being amused by him). I’m hoping the next part will give them a more substantial, non-Doctor, scene.
• I loved the Doctor telling River to hug Amy, because he was busy, and while River didn’t hug her she did go up to Amy, put her hands on her arms and told her “You’re brilliant.” How River said that was interesting actually. She looked at the Doctor when she said it and it came off very pointed. It was like she was being protective of Amy and warning the Doctor appreciate her.
• You know for all the Doctor’s complaining it didn’t take much for Amy to convince him to stay. If he really hadn’t wanted to go out there he could have just offered to take her to a different world. A large part of him probably did want to get as far away from her as possible, to not have to deal with her existence right then, but he’s just so darned curious.
• “I’m telling you now that woman is not dragging me into anything.” – Doctor. Heh. Yeah, like there is any chance of that. It’s only his second meeting with her and I’m sure he knows better. Plus look who’s talking there!
• When River mentioned a thing in the belly of the ship ‘that can never die’ I immediately thought of Jack.
• I loved the little moment of River calling out the Doctor, all casual like, for him to sonic her phone and boost the signal and he grudgingly takes out his screwdriver and does it without a word. Amy’s “Oh, Doctor, you sonic’d her.” was amusing too.
• Amy’s line about “I’ve never seen anyone do that.” made me shake my head a bit because at this point Amy has only been on three adventures. There are a couple times where it seems like TPTB are trying to sell Amy/Doctor in a way that would work better if she’d actually been his Companion longer. She’s only ever met one person who actually knew the Doctor in person, Churchill, so it’s not like she has a wide range of people to compare to.
• When Amy first realised that the Angel had moved, when she knew for sure, she should have immediately ran for the Doctor – not stared, tried to turn it off, tried to unplug it, stare again. It took her far too long to call for help.
• So the Bishop clearly has heard of the Doctor enough to consider him worth an army and someone competent and who he respected. How does he know him?
• I was getting some definitely Vashta Nerada flashbacks with the Angels. Though at the end River states that the Angels were trying to get the Doctor mad whereas the Vashta Nerada once they learned who he was ran away. Also the whole thing with the Angel using Bob’s voice felt like a call back too.
• The Doctor biting Amy’s hand made me laugh. Oh, Doctor.
• “I don’t need you to die for me Doctor. Do I look that clingy?” – Amy. Hmm. This really felt like a dig but I’m not quite sure about whom. Rose? I’ve read that Moffat doesn’t like Rose and thought she was too much a ‘clingy girlfriend’ (or something similar). Regardless of whether it was aimed at her or not it definitely felt like a dig aimed at someone and it annoyed me.
• So River graffiti’d the home box in ‘old high Gallifreyian’ – when and how did she learn that? Did the Doctor teach her that and why? And does that mean that she also know Gallifreyian? The fact that she wrote ‘hello sweetie’ makes me laugh.
• So was the native species all time displaced as per the Angel’s usual method or killed? If the entire species were displaced where and when were they displaced and how hasn’t the Doctor not noticed it? Did they all end up in the same relative time and place?
