h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If anyone is interested, and hasn't spotted it already, BBC4 is showing "The Hand of Fear", from 1976 as a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen. It's on tonight (Mon 9th), concluding tomorrow.

Nice. I'll have to pick it up on iplayer, though.

I noticed a thread of dialogue last episode.

In the last few moments of 'Impossible Astronaut'

Doctor to Amy: "What are you doing?"
Amy to Doctor: "Saving your life!"
Doctor: "NOOOOOOOOO!"

When Doctor is on the plank in 'Black Spot'

Doctor to Amy: "What are you doing?"
Amy to Doctor: "Saving your life. Is that okay with you?"

Clearly she felt the need to check this time.


Geggs

In episode 2, did anyone notice how River reacted when the Doctor said about going to look for the girl in a childrens home?

Hi RTG,

You needed to be reading the NAs if you wanted resolution to those questions...

Gif

I gave up on them ages ago when they started releasing them faster than I could read them.

The Moff attacks people who give away Who spoilers...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13353367

Hear, Hear Says I!

FB

Must admit I enjoy speculation and information teasers, but I did recently manage to accidentally read one major spoiler (no, I shan't repeat it!) which I didn't want to know yet. And that on a site that is normally not too bad - I don't mind location shots from filming and occasional props being shown as they generally raise more questions than they answer - but this was dialogue and a plot point.

On a different note, what do folks make of the hidden messages in the 'Fourth Dimension' section of the BBC pages for the episodes so far?
(you have to click on the section after 'Overview' under the episode)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010tb7q - Impossible astronaut
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010y5l3 - Day of the Moon
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0110g4b - Curse of the Black Spot

My favourite "nerdly" site is Den of Geek. One thing I really like about their way of doing things is that they clearly mark in the title and in what the tweet if it contains SPoilers. They also usually have non spoiler versions.

Meaning I can read speculation and teaser stuff with confidence.

FB

First impression: great episode, exhibiting the very best of Who. It took an idea, drew it out, played with it a bit, and showed us a new side to it.
Now, I am aware that I have difficulty separating Neil Gaiman's style (which was all over this story) from the content itself, since Gaiman's style is one I like. After all, he's the closest thing I have to an idol.
However, I just loved the characterization of the Tardis/Idris. She was almost a female version of the Doctor (albeit a little more random), which is the reason for the episode title: 'The Doctor's Wife'. I find it very pertinent that "she" makes a much better match for him than Riverboat Song, and in fact shows up how wrong for him Ms. Moon River is. That's just me, though.
Also, just in case nobody else brings it up: "The river is the only water in the forest." What can that mean?

That was magical, but I guess that's to be expected from Neil Gaiman. It hit two big things for me, seeing more of the TARDIS and getting to know her better.

Suranne Jones was unrecognisable (I kept on waiting for her to appear before I realised she was already there) but she was absolutely marvellous. She was a real foil and equal for the Doctor and it made total sense that she chose him to run away with because she's just about as nuts as she is. God where to start with just how good the insight into the TARDIS' character and her relationship with the Doctor was - it's on a par with Amy's Choice where we got to see the Doctor's insecurities. They were a perfect pair, from the ruthless practicality ("this asteroid will hit absolute zero in 3 hours - safety is relative"), pathos ("I think all my sisters are dead and we're looking at their corpses") and just general kookiness ("You can't archive the future" "No, you can't, I can").

Wandering around the rest of the TARDIS was pretty cool and also very creepy (but they *have* to stop killing Rory, it's getting tiresome) and it was lovely to see Ten's old console room.

Having Rory and Amy improves the show immeasureably: it can't just be a crazy old man with his magic box and comely friend, they have to have the different characters interacting and when they do it's wonderful: Rory and the Doctor bonding over the TARDIS dying was brilliant (I particularly enjoyed the TARDIS describing Rory as the pretty one and the Doctor being gobsmacked).

So the only water in the forest is the river: can't think who that might refer to.

Worried that I may be heading towards deafness ... I'm struggling to hear the dialogue above the sound ...

Another episode of incomprehensibility to me. I usually like 'clever', well-plotted television but Moffat's beginning to lose my interest in Dr Who. I don't know what I want because I'd got bored by the end of RTD's tenure but I would like something that doesn't need a second or third viewing to begin to have some idea what it's about ...

yep, really liked that
Idris was indeed very good, some very good ideas in all that.

Oh my god they killed Rory! Rory is Kenny, indisputable

Watched the short deleted scenes and wish now we'd been able to see the whole vision Gaiman had for the ep, sounds really interesting.

And the clue trail/hidden messages in the 'Fourth Dimension' section of the web page finally pays off with a short video which adds more questions and hmmm, well, interesting.

Personally, I'm really enjoying the whole 'not giving you all the answers on a plate' nature of this year so far.

I find it hard to put into words how awesome I thought that was. Dr Who + Gaiman + Moffat = Massive, Masive Win.

God damn that was blooming marvellous.

FB

It's interesting (and heartwarming) how much overlap there is between fandoms of Who and Gniel. However, I would be interested in opinions of this episode from people who are unfamiliar with Neil Gaiman's work*.

* I gather such people do exist, and I assure them that they have a lot of wonderful experiences to look forward to if they give his work a try.

I've only read Stardust, so I'll have to go through the rest of Gaiman's stuff.

I saw flourishes of Stardust in this episode: Idris reminded me of Yvaine a fair bit and the use of familial words instead of names.

Anyone else notice that the Doc is getting pretty ruthless when it comes to allowing the bad guys to get killed of late?

He seemed pretty relaxed about the Silence getting whacked, and about the TARDIS killing House.

FB

Why didn´t they get Hugh Laurie to do the voice instead of Michael Sheen?

I´m not very familiar with Gaiman´s work and I still thought it was a pretty cool episode. I liked how the codeword for the door worked. Idris reminded me a bit of Helena Bonham Carter.

BTW, was the hatch woman in that episode at all?

FB

No, no hatch woman.

I've not really read any of Gaiman's stuff, just the Pratchett collaboration and the Alice Cooper thing.

I thought it was different and distinct. I did sag a little when the residents of Beyond The Universe turned out to be Dickens rejects (with a dash of Shelley (Mary) of course). Liked the idea of the Corsair, but then I was always a sucker for anything Time Lordy.

I didn't find it particularly confusing - but not fantastic either. More sort of - interesting. The living Tardis reminded me a lot of Compassion from the EDAs. And House reminded me of - erm, the Houses from the NDAs. And the general feel reminded me of Faction Paradox, also from the NDAs/EDAs. Plus the idea of the Tardis as the Doctor's oldest companion reminded me of a similar idea somewhere else from within 'whodom', though I can't remember where. And all topped off with strong shades of The Brain of Morbius.

All that said - the idea and the episode of 'The Doctor's Wife' were a darn sight better than 'The Doctor's Daughter'

On the whole, a quite good episode, but not up to the Gaiman hype or the standard of the first 2 eps in my opinion.

Gif

Much more appreciative of that on second viewing. Probably helped by watching the pre-credits bit and being able to hear the dialogue (will have to check my telly).

Early parts of the story were very reminiscent of The Brain of Morbius (a dark rocky planet with a timelord stranded and servants rebuilt from other crash victims).