Doctor Who: the Rebel Flesh

[miss_s_b]

As is usual, I'm not going to make a final proclamation on this till the second part airs, but provisionally, I rather enjoyed it. It kicked off lots of reference detectors in me - The Thing, obviously, but also Star Trek, and even Welcome to my Nightmare (Cleaves channelling Vincent Price's mad curator was utterly awesome) - which might lead some to call it too derivative, but I don't think it crossed the line from multiple nods to rip-off.

Clearly, the most interesting thing about this is the fan theories it has sparked off.

• I don't think that this is an auton origin story, because it is set in the 22nd century, and there's no evidence that they can time travel unless they are in an alliance with other races who can (c.f. Pandorica Opens).


• I very much like sir_guinglain's theory about Amy springing from this episode.


• My own theory which I thought of which is a theory and is mine is that the Doctor who dies at the beginning of Impossible Astronaut is the real actual Doctor, but the series will continue with Clone!Doctor.

I am quite relieved that this episode not awful; the writer has entries on each side of that ledger. I liked the characters, although Marshall Lancaster didn't seem to have gone too far from Chris Skelton in his performance. I loved Cleaves and Jennifer, and the fact that clone!Jennifer seemed to be the "strong" one and clone!Cleaves the reasonable one, whereas the originals were the other way around. I loved Rory's nursey empathy, and Amy's reaction to it - basically a nod of permission. I still think Amy is poly: Got my boys, got my space ship...

And yeah, the cliffhanger was signalled a mile away and wasn't really a surprise, but it was still fun.

I want to know how they are going to get Idris Sexy the Tardis out of her acidhole...

Comments

[sir_guinglain]

I'll be a little disappointed if what is revealed next week isn't as exciting as what I think is going on... and I wonder if we already have Clone!Doctors in this episode. Matthew Graham said that he was 'channelling his inner Patrick' for this one, and indeed one of the characteristic of the eleventh Doctor was that like the second there are glimpses of a huge strategy and impossibly wide perspective behind an apparent obsession with the trivial and the flippant jokes.

[(Anonymous)]

I saw Marshall Lancaster on stage in the Railway Children and he was exactly the same in that too. I think he's one of those actors who just plays himself.

Weaselx

Marshall Lancaster

[rankersbo.wordpress.com]

Nothing to do with the episode, but in Cambridge (where I lived before moving to Yorkshire) Marshalls is a company based at the Airport that services aircraft, but also has a big car dealership selling about six brands of car.

After watching Ashes to Ashes I imagined that at the end of the horsshoe, next to Marshall Honda, there was Marshall Lancaster, selling large military aircraft...

[karohemd]

Interesting theories! I hadn't thought of Amy being a clone, it would explain a few things.
Also, I want to know who hatch/eyepatch lady is!

[ponygirl72]

I agree with you that TIA!Doctor was the real Doctor, but my theory is that River will realize that the Doctors' friends can get around the modified grandfather paradox (they can't save the Doctor because if he doesn't die in TIA, they don't know that they have to go back and save the Doctor in the first place) by first saving him, and then having River-in-a-spacesuit kill a Ganger!Doctor in the exact same time and place, thereby convincing TIA!River, Amy, and Rory that they need to go back and save the Doctor. Paradox resolved.

I don't have a good theory on Amy's pregnancy/the Time Lord kid, but I suspect that Amy is pregnant in the "Real!Doctor dies" timeline and not pregnant in the "Ganger!Doctor dies" timeline (or vice versa), so the TARDIS sees-- and reports-- both possibilities, when she scans Amy.

[leoniedelt]

wow. i am confused just reading that.

[ponygirl72]

LOL! The scary part is, there is some discussion of variants of this theory over at Gallifrey Base, and the prevailing opinion seems to be "THAT'S WAY TOO OBVIOUS-- TEH MOFF WOULD NEVER WRITE SOMETHING THAT STRAIGHTFORWARD."

O_o

[leoniedelt]

i gave up trying to keep up with Gallybase a long, long time ago.

[ponygirl72]

That is a sign of great wisdom on your part. :-)

[rankersbo.wordpress.com]

Being a fool to myself, because the post hasn't quite got out to Germany with this week's episode...

We watched the confidential from week one, and Moffatt was insistant that the 1103 year old Doctor we saw die in TIA was the real one, and he really did die. Now I know the Doctor Who showrunner has a history of "telling lies" to protect the surprises in store, but this seems a pretty direct statement to be that sort of misdirection.

ponygirl72's theory seems to combine the two, it *was* the real Doctor, but they changed events subtly enough to save him without destroying the Web of Time.

I forgot to say...

[rankersbo.wordpress.com]

Oh and yes, this also fits with Miss S-B's theory too.

[(Anonymous)]

Anyone catch a couple of Myst references in the first couple of scenes?

R

[(Anonymous)]

I also don't think this is an auton origin story, and am quite surprised to have seen the theories pop up, because of the Doctor's reference to 'early tech'. The Flesh is creating fully-functional fully-human constructs rather than animating unconvincing plastic limbs - if anything it seems more advanced than anything the Nestene has ever managed.