Doctor Who 10x03 Thin Ice

[kerravonsen]

Yes, I am behind. I will eventually catch up, I'm certain.
Liked it. Bill was magnificent.
Though I had to turn the volume up to maximum to catch what they were saying, and didn't always succeed.
Transcript here.

Y'know, I would hate to be a companion. But having the Doctor as my own personal tutor? That would be awesome squared. I meant to say that in relation to "The Pilot", but I'm saying it now.


Bill shows a bit of genre-savvy at the start. Good.

When Bill steps gingerly onto the ice, anyone get a flashback to Rose in The Unquiet Dead?

For the first time, we get to see the Doctor learning a skill from someone (the coin tossing) -- usually he just mentions somebody famous from history that he learned something from.

I think my favourite bit in the whole episode was where Bill confronted the Doctor about how whether or not he'd killed anyone.
As for the Doctor's sudden leap to "over 2000 years old", I suspect that the Doctor lost track of how old he is ages and ages ago, and he just picks a number which sounds good to him at the time. And, technically, one could argue, after the events of "Heaven Sent", that he's billions of years old anyway...

Favourite Quotes:

"She's a bad girl, this one. Always looking for trouble." -- the Doctor, of the TARDIS.

BILL: You know what I mean. Every choice I make in this moment, here and now, could change the whole future.
DOCTOR: Exactly like every other day of your life. The only thing to do is to stop worrying about it.
(profound!)

BILL: Regency England. Bit more black than they show in the movies.
DOCTOR: So was Jesus. History's a whitewash.
(so true!)

BILL: How is that a screwdriver?
DOCTOR: In a very broad sense.
BILL: All right, how's it sonic?
DOCTOR: It makes a noise.

DOCTOR: What's wrong?
BILL: What's wrong? Seriously, what's wrong? I've never seen anyone die before.
DOCTOR: A few hours ago, we were standing in a garden full of dead people.
BILL: That was different.
DOCTOR: How?
BILL: They were dead already.
DOCTOR: Morally and practically, that is not a useful distinction. Unlearn it.
BILL: Don't tell me what to think.
DOCTOR: I'm your teacher. Telling you things is what I do.
BILL: Yeah? Tell me this. You've seen people die before, yeah?
DOCTOR: Of course.
BILL: You still care?
DOCTOR: Of course I care.
BILL: How many?
DOCTOR: How many what?
BILL: If you care so much, tell me how many people you've seen die?
DOCTOR: I don't know.
BILL: Okay. How many before you lost count?
DOCTOR: I care, Bill, but I move on.
BILL: Yeah? How quickly?
DOCTOR: It's not me you're angry with.
BILL: Have you ever killed anyone? There's a look in your eyes sometimes that makes me wonder. Have you?
DOCTOR: There are situations when the options available are limited.
BILL: Not what I asked.
DOCTOR: Sometimes the choices are very
BILL: That's not what I asked!
DOCTOR: Yes.
BILL: How many?
(No reply.)
BILL: Don't tell me. You've moved on.
DOCTOR: You know what happens if I don't move on? More people die. There are kids living rough near here. They may well be next on the menu. Do you want to help me? Do you want to stand here stamping your foot? Because let me tell you something. I'm two thousand years old, and I have never had the time for the luxury of outrage.
(sorry, I just had to quote the whole thing) (yay for transcripts)

DOCTOR: Human progress isn't measured by industry, it's measured by the value you place on a life. An unimportant life. A life without privilege. The boy who died on the river, that boy's value is your value. That's what defines an age. That's what defines a species.
SUTCLIFFE: What a beautiful speech. The rhythm and, and vocabulary, quite outstanding. It's enough to move anyone with an ounce of compassion. So, it's really not your day, is it?

BILL: No time for outrage. You've never had time for anything else, right?
DOCTOR: Don't be smug. Smug belongs to me.
BILL: Are you really two thousand years old?
DOCTOR: Why?
BILL: I just wanted to know how long it takes before you can make a speech like the one you just made. It was worth the wait.

BILL: We already know the answers. Why are you even asking?
DOCTOR: I don't know the answers. Only idiots know the answers. But if your future is built on the suffering of that creature, what's your future worth?

NARDOLE: Sir, you said you wouldn't be going off-world.
DOCTOR: Do these look like off-world clothes to you?
NARDOLE: But, sir, you said you'd be coming back to your office!
DOCTOR: Look, here I am. I'm in my office. I'm drinking my tea, in my specially chosen tea clothes.

Comments

[thewayne]

Yeah, we turn on subtitles for both The Doctor and Class, frequently also for Graham Norton.

I felt a little deceived because it appeared to me that the closing of Thin Ice with the re-homing of the urchins seemed to me to be the opening of the next episode of Doctor Who but it wasn't. I was slightly miffed by that. The next ep was still quite good, but there was still miffige.

Looking at your cuts brought to mind the sonic screwdriver line from David Tennent in the cybermen ep when he meets The Doctor in Victorian England whose sonic screwdriver is, in fact, a screwdriver. The sonic part is when he whaps it upside a pipe.

[kerravonsen]

Looking at your cuts brought to mind the sonic screwdriver line from David Tennent in the cybermen ep when he meets The Doctor in Victorian England whose sonic screwdriver is, in fact, a screwdriver. The sonic part is when he whaps it upside a pipe.

(grin)

[watervole]

I love reading episode commentaries.

[kerravonsen]

8-)

[marta-bee.livejournal.com]

I'm still mired back in series eight, so am skipping over the substance, but did want to say it's encouraging to see people enjoying it. I'm loving eight, btw! Just not enough time.

Also, I commend you your icon choice. Nine was, is, and always will be my doctor.

[kerravonsen]

You make me feel better about being just a few episodes behind!

Also, I commend you your icon choice. Nine was, is, and always will be my doctor.

YES. In all his big-eared stoic angsty glory, with grins like sudden sunshine.

Mind you, I love them all. Because they are all the Doctor. Even Six. 8-)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I liked the byplay with Bill and the Doctor. With their conversations we are learning more about him than most other Companions managed with their respective Doctors.

[kerravonsen]

I think Bill has one advantage that most other companions never did: she had him as her tutor. This means that she has interacted with him a LOT more than other companions have done, before the adventures started. Yes, yes, the topics would have been about physics, but we already know that the-Doctor-as-professor finds it difficult to stay on-topic. Which means Bill has had huge long discussions with him about all sorts of stuff, and she's used to asking him questions. And getting answers.