So Doctor Who is back on our televisions at last! Caleb Woodbridge and Sarah Burrow bring you their thoughts on episode one of series 7 along with brand new guest contributor Emma Sandrey.
Are the Daleks still an effective villain? What happened to all the different Daleks we were promised? Just how did Amy and Rory get to the point of divorce? We discuss this and more in this weeks commentary and of course we consider the impact of Jenna-Louise Coleman’s early appearance – and that twist!
Souffle anyone?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:02 — 29.5MB)
Great interesting podcast and was my first time listening to one of yours and visting your site. I Just a comment on the the remark of the ponds not sorting out there relationship problems, its a commen comment i believe. I think that if people stood back and look at the real world people often dont sort out problems like that between themselves its the reason we have relationship councilors. Not far fetched at all to me more real life,
I think the idea of a couple having a sit down together and rationally talking it out is how we would like it to be but often the case doesnt happen. other than that i think the could of maybe explained it better maybe it will be explain more in the Power of three as thats supposed to be the Ponds at home Episode.
Great Series 7 introductory podcast gang! I enjoyed listening to your various insights. Two things hit me while listening to the commentary, as I watched the episode along with you. First, I have to wonder (knowing that Steven Moffat wrote the episode) whether Rory’s question about the Daleks, “What color?” Amy and the Doctor’s confused looks, and then Rory’s explanation, “Sorry, there weren’t any good questions left,” are a somewhat hidden Moffat suggestion for all of the Doctor Who fans who have been fretting over the new colorful Daleks created in the Progenator of “Victory of the Daleks.” In other words, Moffat may be saying, “Get over it. It’s just a color scheme!”
Second (and I’m a bit more sure of this point), there was a terrific bit of either writing or directing in a couple of scenes down on the Asylum planet. But it wasn’t too blatant or obvious. And its subtle nature is just a terrific story element in my mind. Do you recall Amy’s quote to the Doctor when discussing her and Rory’s split-up? She said, “It’s not one of those things you can fix like you fix your bow tie.” Well, then the Doctor cleverly sets up the time and space for Rory and Amy to have a heart-to-heart discussion about their love, knowing that they need that space to work things out. When they finally do have that talk, and Rory somewhat angrily shouts, “Then why didn’t he just tell us!” (basically saying why didn’t the Doctor simply give Amy his bracelet and skip all of the need for the Amy-Rory angst), the scene immediately switches to a quick take of the Doctor fixing his bow tie, cleverly hearkening back to Amy’s admonition to the Doctor a bit earlier in the episode. All of this drives home the notion that the Doctor knows quite a bit more of human relationships than Amy thinks, as you all noted in your commentary.
“Run, you clever boy.”
Thanks for the comments! Great to have a first-time listener, James – glad you enjoyed it. I agree that it’s a problem that people face in real life, and that people avoid talking about their issues. But it seemed like Rory was totally clueless about why Amy was divorcing him, and it then seemed rather too easily resolved. If they revisit this later, that will help, but it still seemed rather too rushed in this episode to me.
That’s a brilliant observation about the bow-tie, Mark. I can see that this will benefit from further rewatching!