Doctor Who 6x08: Let's Kill Hitler

[kerravonsen]

Well.
Hmmm.
Well.

That was rather farcical.

"I have a gun, you have a time machine; let's kill Hitler."

"Rory, put Hitler in the cupboard."

"I can explain everything... Heil!" (punch)

And a robot "justice" machine operated by miniaturized people! That's so 50's Sci-Fi.
I put "justice" in quotes because it isn't justice, it's vengeance.

I liked how the Doctor implied that if River killed him it was between them, and wasn't anybody else's business, and that he could forgive her if he wanted to.

I didn't see the "gives up her regenerations to save the Doctor" until just before it happened. Then I realized that it fit very well. It explains why when we meet River later/earlier, there's no indication that she isn't anything but a normal human.

The whole thing with Mels growing up with Amy and Rory made me feel as if reality was being rewritten again. Why? First of all, because this is the first time we've heard of Mels, which is very fishy. Secondly, in the original timeline, Amy had to put up with "twelve years and four psychiatrists" and Rory was the only one who stood by her, and even he thought it was a game. With Mels in the mix, seemingly even more outspoken about the Doctor than Amy herself, surely things would have turned out differently.
Character is plot.

The Silence is a religion, eh? Interesting. What is the name of the species in first two episodes, then?

"Silence will fall when the Question is asked."

That doesn't really explain what their agenda is, though. Well, apart from wanting to kill the Doctor.
Do they want Silence to fall, or do they want to prevent it?
Surely silence has already fallen; it fell last season. OTOH, there's a heck of a lot of "effects precede causes" in the writing of current Who.

So. We learn a bit. We laugh a bit. We cringe a bit.
Part of me was going "wow", part was going "huh?", part was going "um...".

I'll probably have further thoughts when I've read other people's reactions.

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Part of me was going "wow", part was going "huh?", part was going "um...".

That was pretty much my reaction too. I think that whoever coined the saying "too clever for his own good" may have had Steven Moffat in mind. :)

Moffat certainly seems to have a thing about religious cults. Various ones keep on turning up.

Yes, the robot machine operated by miniaturised people certainly seemed very 1950s. And the idea of the Ultimate Question looked as though it might have been borrowed from Douglas Adams. (I don't suppose that it will turn out to be "what's 9x6?" though!)

[kerravonsen]

Moffat certainly seems to have a thing about religious cults. Various ones keep on turning up.

They're very convenient when one wants a conspiracy. But he's not the only one, RTD did it too.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Nine times six passed through my mind too... well, eventually, I had to work backwards from 42 in base 13 to remember what the question was. (Base 13 always struck me as important, because 13 episodes is of course the correct length for a television season.)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

And also 13 is traditionally associated with ill-luck, which most HHG characters had an abundance of.

[cyriljackal.livejournal.com]

"Silence will fall when the Question is asked."

Who is the Doctor?

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Considering the whole shebang was created to kill the Doctor, the question ought to be "Why so much effort against one man?".

Putting Hitler in the closet. Inspired "I thought he'd been in the closet for years!".

How did the "Justice League" make such a mistake? That and if the Doctor was so terrible, why aren't they hunting him? Or are they waiting for a specific time and date. In which case is the spacesuit Melody, or them in a "Justice" ship?

So the Doctor now knows the time and date of his "death". But doesn't he anyway after Amy let slip?

[kerravonsen]

But doesn't he anyway after Amy let slip?
She didn't give the details, as far as I can recall.

[eviltigerlily.livejournal.com]

Some people think the Doctor is Very Good and some think he's Very Bad. The little people must be the first kind.