Doctor Who Geeks , new thread!

[TheAngelshavetheOod]

Hope no one else hasn't started one

cakebot River got to 1938 but the TARDIS couldn't. She said that it was because the vortex manipulator could sneak through

Headfirst - yes ,he's being odd. And obviously doesn't trust Clara. But there's something not quite right about her...

What's going on with the steam rising from the circle he drew on the floor? Was that ever explained? I don't think it linked to anything else in the story.

Like Headfirst I don't like this Clara as much as either of the other two. And she doesn't seem as bright as they were (or is that just a hangover from the implausable 24 year old who knows nothing about the internet?) and has not mentioned souffles yet. Awaiting a 'she doesn't like souffles and therefore is not a 'real' Clara' reveal in the next few weeks.

I wonder if we find out why the Tardis doesn't like her when we go into the heart of the Tardis next week?

You're right, I don't thnk the circle was ever explained. It wasn't where the rope/harness came through in the house in the bubble universe was it?

oh yes, the circle - and it being colder, that wasn't explained at all. And the Tardis not liking this Clara, her being devoid of all interests last week (just saying she liked 'stuff'), not knowing about internet etc.

oh and the circle was in what the empath called "the heart of the house"...

And the empath warned Clara there was a sliver of ice in the doctor's heart......

All I'm saying about the repetitive mentioning of "health & safety" is that it's not something the general public would be aware of in 1974 and wouldn't understand. I am old enough to know unfortunately! Why did he keep saying it?

Maybe because he's not from 1974?

I would say the Health and Safety thing might have been because he was pretending to come to inspect the machinery and if the new legislation had just come in... Also, while the episode was based in 1974, it wasn't been written in 1974 for a 1974 audience...

sliver of ice in his heart - yes, did wonder about that too...

I like the sliver of ice in his heart-cold spot at the heart of the house link.

There were references to old doctors too, 10's orange suit, the umbrella and hat stand, maybe they mean something, maybe they are just affectionate nods to the past doctors in the run up to the anniversary.

Yes, it makes sense that he would harp on about health and safety to justify why he was there but get it wrong for the time

I thought that the circle of steam was where the well was - there had been references to a well - and that the ghost was someone who had been dropped down the well and left to die. Then we got all the stuff with the crashed time traveller, that completely kiboshed my theory. So I don't know.

I did think it was a far better episode than the last two - far more of a classic Doctor Who. I especially liked the photos through time thing - though I did wonder how, if the first place they went was so hot that the Doctor needed a protective suit and was too hot to touch when he came back in, the camera still functioned, and the film inside didn't melt or distort.

Wells have always been somewhere ghosts are supposed to live. There was one at a house my mum and dad lived in and it was quite freaky, hidden away, dank and old. But as she was a time traveller and not a ghost, did the well have any significance?

I thought that 'well' was just the name people had used for that black spinny disc that was the worm hole thingy?

OK, so I may have re-watched the episode and liked it better second time round

The bits in Clara's dialogue I found jarring were:

• The opposite of bliss is.... Carlisle (rather than despair or sorrow)
• It sticks out like a.... big chin (rather than a sore thumb)

Big chin was mentioned in the Dalek ep, wasn't it? So that may be a hark back to that episode and Carlisle may be a clue to a future ep?

Two other things I noticed during the re-watch. Near the start, Emma says "She's dead". We're supposed to assume that she's talking about the spirit, but the spirit isn't dead - it's just in a parallel universe. Next thing, Clara pops up. What if that was supposed to refer to Clara? The undead presence Emma detects is Clara. Emma later says that as an empath she sometimes projects what she wants to see/feel from others - what if she can only believe her eyes that Clara is a living, breathing human girl right in front of her, rather than what she picked up subconsciously before meeting Clara, ie that she is dead and what we have is a ghost or echo of some kind?

Also - what is Clara's role? Alec Palmer says to Emma "You gave me a reason to be, you brought me back from the dead". The Doctor, to all intents and purposes, is dead in the eyes of his enemies. He has been wiped from every database etc, thanks to Clara - and after losing Amy and Rory he has been playing dead, or at least dormant. There is no spark to go off exploring, which is what he gets when he has a companion. The mystery of solving Clara is bringing the Doctor back from the dead - he is travelling again in time and space, with her at his side. Is this also foreshadowing that she will cause him to do something that means he is remembered again across the universe? That he literally comes back to life for all his old enemies? Or just that she helps him rediscover his love of travelling and exploring across time and space?

Finally, big play about lovers/couples and distant descendants. Is Clara a message from River, to get her boy back in the game he so loves? Or their progeny? Lots to mull, in retrospect.

Just marking my place I remember lots of you lot from last series, nice to see you all again! (I've nced)

I quite like Clara although I can't work out what's going on at all! I'm tempted just to watch it casually this time because I nearly drove myself distracted with River and her stupid, nonsensical timeline last time. I have spotted odd bits and pieces, like the book in the first one, so I'm obviously still looking for some links

Oh, and re the 'big chin' my DSis texted to ask if I thought Bruce Forsyth was going to be in it

Bruce Forcyth

Agreed Teej, the Bliss/Carlisle thing was just odd. I wondered if it was just supposed to be humorous banter,oh look at us aren't we quick witted and terribly droll but to be honest, it felt like if that was the case they picked the wrong town. Carlisle's not the Bahamas, but it's pretty inoffensive as towns go. Scunthorpe however... So in short, I think it's a plot device of sorts.

Hello, just placemarking, really, except to add that:

• I thought "sticks out like a chin" was a reference this Doctor's phiz
• the Doctor did seem (to me) to explain the well as a wormhole
• the Russian accents in the last episode were worse than those in the Hunt for Red October (particularly the stresses)

Thanks for all the interesting gossip and references!

Liked Clara teaming up with the tardis

I was thinking about this earlier in the week and it crossed my mind that maybe the Tardis doesn't dislike her, but is trying to protect her. She doesn't like Clara being in the Tardis unless the Doctor is with her, maybe there is something inside it doesn't want her to find? (Maybe we'll find out in Journey to the Centre of the Tardis?)

Also, I read that Stephen Moffett has stated he will be tying up all of the loose threads he has left hanging in Series 5 and 6.

The main ones I can think of are The Silence (who didn't want him to reveal his name), and the Tardis exploding and what made that happen (In one episode Vincent predicts the explosion in a painting which seems to show 2 Tardis' crashing).

I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of the cracks caused by the explosion. Maybe there is one left, the one that was on the other side of all the cracks we saw, the one that was at the centre of the explosion that caused them?

Or maybe I'm overthinking

Brue Forsythe would be the ultimate alien horror in Doctor Who!

If there are two Tardises crashing, maybe that happens in the anniversary special, when 10 returns (if it is 10 and not 10.2) - or maybe DT isn't just filming for the special?