The Rebel Flesh

"The Rebel Flesh" is the start of yet another two-part storyline. This adventure involves The Doctor, Amy, and Rory landing on a secluded island in the future that is covered with dangerous acid. The crew of the factory creating the acid have learned to manipulate a self-replicating fluid to make clones of themselves that they can control from special beds to manage the island so their real bodies are unaffected by the acid. Something goes wrong and the originals and the clones meet and conflicts arise. The Doctor, ever the peacemaker, does his best to stop the fighting but it is out of his hands and a battle begins. The episode leaves us with the terrifyingly dangerous image of The Doctor's clone. Who knows what will happen with him in part two?!

The main trait about The Doctor that I feel gives this show purpose outside of pure entertainment is his incredible kindness. Through The Doctor, the show promotes a message of acceptance and understanding. Over the years, The Doctor has had companions of multiple races, genders, ages, and sexual orientations and he has cared for every one of them immensely. Throughout his travels, when The Doctor encounters new species, he always gives them the benefit of the doubt and seeks to understand their behavior and their story before passing judgement on them. Even though the actual scenarios are fantastical and unrealistic, the theme of acceptance runs through this show without taking an abrasive, soapbox-y approach.

Another great thing Doctor Who offers to audiences is the feeling of membership. Doctor Who fans are more than just people who tune in ever week - they are a community. Because of its nature as a revived show (it originally aired from 1963-1989), Doctor Who connects generations of television watchers in a way that no other show really can. The tradition of Doctor Who has been a part of British culture for years, of course because it is a British show. But since its arrival to America via the BBC America network, the Doctor Who community has become truly global. And because of the technology available today, the Doctor Who community can speculate, appreciate, and exchange all kinds of information and fun facts to enhance their experience with the show and make it more interactive. Everyone enjoys feeling included and as Doctor Who becomes increasingly more popular, I can't help but be proud to say I was here all along. I love being able to introduce people to this show and watch them fall in love with it.

Also, because Doctor Who airs in the States on BBC America, it has exposed Americans to another TV culture with British shows like Top Gear, Skins, Being Human, and The Tudors. Several of these shows have even been recreated for American audiences, similar to the way the hit show The Office originates in a British sitcom of the same name. The relationship between American and British television worlds is a new phenomenon being explored. BBC America has gone so far as to create a blog called "Anglophenia - British Culture with an American Accent" (http://blogs.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/) for its American viewers interested in everything British. Arguably, without Doctor Who, BBC America would still be a channel that most people skip through when browsing channels but the success of Doctor Who and other shows on the network is changing the game!

I think the reason for Doctor Who's success is it is so versatile. There is something for everyone in this show. There is drama, comedy, romance, science fiction, fantasy, history, music, literature...you name it. The whole concept is that The Doctor can travel through time and space so there really are no boundaries to what the show can do. Doctor Who has made me laugh hysterically, cry like a baby, and scream in total fear in the span of one episode, let alone an entire season. What Doctor Who brings to the table is progressive and very refreshing.

As for the unanswered questions we left off with last week? ALL STILL UNANSWERED and yet another Eye Patch Lady appearance. It's honestly torture.

The Doctor's Wife

A few seasons ago, there was an episode called "The Doctor's Daughter." I remember the anticipation leading up to that episode. The thought of The Doctor having a daughter was freaking everyone out, considering the fact that The Doctor is supposed to be the last of his kind (Time Lords). It turned out that his "daughter" was created during that episode by a machine that took some of his cells. Still, it was pretty cool. So, when I saw the title for this week's episode, I was reasonably excited. What I found was an episode that is sure to go down in Doctor Who history.

Who is The Doctor's wife, you ask? She is none other than his beloved TARDIS (Nope, not River Song - not yet, at least).



(The Doctor and his "wife" just after they first met)

The relationship between The Doctor and the TARDIS has never been explored to the lengths that it was in this episode, which is strange if you stop and think about since the TARDIS and The Doctor are the longest running characters in the series. I'm sure it seems strange to refer to a space ship as a character but that is truly what she is. To affirm this notion, in this episode, a turn of events led to the TARDIS' matrix (basically, her soul) being stolen and transferred into a woman's body. For the entirety of the episode, The Doctor and Idris (the woman housing the TARDIS matrix) said everything they had been wanting to say to each other for the duration of their centuries-old relationship. The way they sweet talked and bickered and worked alongside each other was a perfect manifestation of their usually non-verbal relationship. One of my favorite moments was when The Doctor yelled at the TARDIS in frustration for being famously unreliable and never taking him where he wanted to go. She quickly replies and says "...but I always took you where you needed to go." There was also a great conversation where they talked about how they chose each other when The Doctor first fled his planet, Gallifrey. As a long-time follower of the show, any moments of backstory are always special for filling in the gaps of the characters before the point where the show began. By the end of the episode, her body was failing and the matrix needed to be recovered to the physical TARDIS. The Doctor and his "wife" shared a tearful goodbye...I'll admit I teared up when she started to fade and he whispered "I don't want you to..." This show gets me every time. It's a bit pathetic, really. Not to leave us in sadness, as The Doctor gets ready to head to his next destination, he talks to his TARDIS and a lever moves of its own accord, reassuring him, and us, that she can still hear him and she will continue to take him where he needs to go.

None of the plot lines I have been following were addressed in this episode...I'm getting anxious! However, there is something new to add to the list. Just before her body failed her, Idris said this to Rory: "The only water in the forest is the river." The Doctor said he didn't know what it meant yet but I'm sure we'll figure it out sooner or later. As far as speculation goes, I'm guessing it will have something to do with River Song. Although, I'm learning with Doctor Who, it is usually never what you suspect.

I'll leave you with some of my favorite quotes from the episode.

"Biting's excellent. It's like kissing. Only there's a winner." - Idris

“She’s a woman, and she’s the TARDIS.” -The Doctor
“Did you wish really hard?” -Amy
“Shut up, not like that.” -The Doctor

“Oh, it’s the warning lights! I’m getting rid of those, they never stop.” - The Doctor

And a picture of Amy and The Doctor with the TARDIS! It's bigger on the inside.

The Curse of the Black Spot

The problem with watching an action-packed and suspense-filled show like Doctor Who is it never fails to leave you hanging. Like I wrote in my previous post, the two-part season opener left us with a laundry list of questions begging to be answered. I anxiously waited all week for a new episode and what did I get? A filler episode. I understand that they can't give everything away in the first few episodes of the season. I realize this is how they keep me coming back for more, and it is clearly working. Frustrations aside, this was a pretty good episode. At first, I was apprehensive - this episode's pirate theme has been done before by virtually every other media form since the success of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie - but it didn't entirely disappoint. Don't get me wrong, I love Pirates of the Caribbean and I love the pirate theme, but after a while, it's hard to make it interesting. In true Doctor Who fashion, the plot combines traditional pirate lore, like walking the plank and the Siren, with a spaceship and futuristic medical technology. There were some classic Doctor Who moments - funny asides, wonderfully dry British humor, and several plot twists before the ultimate resolution. Overall, it was not one of my favorite episodes and not just because it was a filler. Truthfully, some of the best episodes have been fillers and in fact, the first episode I ever saw and probably my favorite to this day was completely irrelevant to the overall plot of its season. However, I didn't feel like this week's characters, obviously aside from The Doctor, Amy, and Rory, were very compelling. This is definitely a testament to what I pointed out in an earlier post - as incredible as the story lines are, what really moves this show along is the characters, and as shown by this episode this goes for both regular and guest characters.

This episode did feature a second appearance by the Eye Patch Lady (see above), a second inconclusive body scan of Amy regarding her possible pregnancy, and more discussion between Rory and Amy about The Doctor's imminent death. River Song was not featured or discussed in this episode. Ultimately, all of last week's questions still stand. Ugh.

Bonus: If you're wondering about the title of my blog or if you're just looking for a laugh...watch this clip.

Day of the Moon

The 2-part season 6 opener concludes with "Day of the Moon." Part 1, "The Impossible Astronaut," left us with the Doctor, his regular companions -Amy and Rory, sometimes companion/love interest - River Song (we're still figuring her out - more on this later) and their partner on this particular adventure - Canton Delaware, all trying to defeat "The Silence."

The Silence have been widely recognized as the Doctor's most terrifying opponents in recent memory. The terrifying power of The Silence is not simply their menacing appearance and power to instantly obliterate life. What makes The Silence so horrible is that the second you aren't looking at them, you forget they exist. The team takes to marking their bodies with tally marks every time they see one so they don't forget. The Doctor also implants recording devices in their hands so that when they come across The Silence, they record a message of what they look like and can later replay it when they have forgotten. It becomes apparent that The Silence have basically been controlling the entire planet for years. Canton manages to record a video on Amy's phone of one of The Silence gloating and saying that humans should kill The Silence on sight because they are so dangerous but they can't even remember seeing them. Meanwhile, Amy is captured by The Silence and the other three have to search for her. The Doctor locates her using the chip in her hand and they find themselves in The Silence control room. At this time, Apollo 11 is preparing to lift off with the whole world glued to their televisions. The Doctor threads the video Canton took into the news broadcasts and humanity finally remembers that The Silence are everywhere and take to defeating them.

As the episode wraps up, we're left with some dangling questions regarding overarching plot lines. First, The Doctor takes River Song back where she came from - the future, where she is in prison for killing someone (we still don't know who). The conflict of their relationship is that River's past is The Doctor's future - their stories are running in the opposite directions. Before The Doctor leaves, River kisses him, as she believes is normal behavior for them. However, The Doctor is stunned because on his timeline, they have never kissed before. This saddens River because she realizes that was, for her, the last time they would kiss and it means they are reaching the point where they will meet and he won't recognize her. Knowing that their end is coming, there are still several questions about River that need answers - How did her and The Doctor meet? What exactly is their relationship? Who did she kill?

Next, is the question of Amy's pregnancy. When The Doctor gets back on the TARDIS (his time and space travel machine) Amy tells him that although she told him earlier she was pregnant, she really isn't and doesn't know why she said it. The Doctor asks why she never told Rory and she says that she didn't tell him because she is worried that if she had been pregnant, all the time and space travelling would have affected their child. Later, when Amy is talking to Rory, The Doctor has the TARDIS do a body scan of Amy and the screen keeps flashing between pregnant/not pregnant. When Amy was alone in the room where she was found by The Silence, it was a girl's bedroom that had pictures on the dresser. One of the pictures was Amy holding the little girl, giving the impression that she was her mother. The next scene after the TARDIS is dated six months later. We see the same young girl apparently dying on a street in New York City when all of a sudden, she begins to regenerate - something that only Time Lords like The Doctor are able to do. Is this Amy's daughter? Is she a Time Lord? Why is she in New York City? There are plenty of questions about this plot line to be answered.

The whole battle against The Silence began because The Doctor led Amy, Rory, and River to witness him being killed by a girl in a spacesuit who was controlled by The Silence (the same girl in the pictures with Amy who we later see regenerate...coincidence?). While they are mourning his death, they encounter The Doctor from the past, who doesn't know he is going to die and this is The Doctor they have been with in these episodes. They know they cannot tell him what happened but he knows there is something they are not telling him. Amy always struggles with keeping the secret and she is sure that he showed them his death so they can eventually save him in his future. Will Amy spill the beans? Will they be able to save him? Why was he killed?

The last unanswered question in this episode is that of the eye patch lady.

While Amy is in the bedroom, a hatch opens to reveal a lady with an eye patch who appears to be talking to someone in the room with her. The hatch quickly shuts and she is never discussed or seen in the rest of the episode. I'm sure she will appear again and play a large role in a future conflict. I can foresee her appearing all season and being critical in the season finale story line.

These unanswered questions are what keep me watching Doctor Who. This show does a great job of connecting story lines throughout episodes while still making every episode an exciting, new adventure. With all the monsters and strange planets, the role of the companion serves to connect the audience with the story. Because the companions are modern humans, they represent the audience with their reactions to what The Doctor shows them. The core of the plot lines of Amy and Rory's marriage, her pregnancy, and The Doctor and River's relationship are very human in nature and provide something that doesn't require much fantasy to understand. Even though they involve fantastical elements, as an audience, we're able to empathize with the emotions of the characters. As crazy as it sounds, Doctor Who is very believable, even realistic. Time/space travel and monsters aside, the driving force of the show is the characters. Even The Doctor, who is an alien from another planet, has the appearance of a human and though there are moments he struggles to understand why humans do the things they do, he feels the same things humans do, making him a very relatable character.

Season 6, I should say Series 6 as the British do, is off to quite an exciting start. I always think it will be impossible to top the previous series but so far, it's looking like they are on the right track!

The Impossible Astronaut

On the surface, Doctor Who seems like just a nerdy sci-fi show about a time and space traveler and his companions. Though that is in many ways an accurate description of the show, a closer look proves more. Because of the genre of the show, it doesn't really aim to construct a reality that is familiar to the reality of the audience. However, through the role of the Doctor's various companions over the years, this show sends a pretty accepting message to its viewers. In recent years, companions of the doctor have represented a broad range of ages, social backgrounds, races, genders, and sexual orientations. The settings and story lines are often unrealistic because they involve alien planets and species created by the writers of the show. The human companions provide a link to the audience

The thing I most appreciate about Doctor Who is that it assumes its audience is smart and knowledgeable. In this season's premiere, The Doctor and his friends Amy, Rory, and River, journey to America in 1969, at the time of the moon landing. The dialogue between the characters as The Doctor explains where they're going provides some context but assumes that the audience is familiar with the historical setting. While this may seem to alienate viewers who are less familiar with history, I think the story provides enough context to understand the events in the episode but the viewing is enhanced if the audience is familiar with the historical facts. For example, when The Doctor meets President Richard Nixon at the beginning of his term and Nixon learns that The Doctor is from the future, he asks if his term as president will be successful or not. The Doctor answers him with a knowing smile and says, "They'll never forget you." Though it is never directly referenced, it is implied that The Doctor is alluding to Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. Understanding the historical context allows the audience to enjoy the show more and discern between historical fact and the imagined "facts" contained in the plot.