WEBVTT NOTE This transcript was created on 2026-06-07 at 15:36:21 1 00:00:40.619 --> 00:00:51.299 Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to Flight to Entirety, the only Doctor Who podcast you sneak out to listen to in private during dinner dates with your attractive new boyfriend. 2 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:53.100 I'm Nathan. 3 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:54.060 I'm James. 4 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:55.200 Pete. 5 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:56.280 I'm Hannah. 6 00:00:56.340 --> 00:01:01.560 Well, it sort of paid off 3 years ago and it kind of paid off the year after that. 7 00:01:01.619 --> 00:01:02.939 And so here we are again. 8 00:01:03.060 --> 00:01:11.579 The doctor's doing his best to save the world while hiding from everyone around him, the fact that he's really the star of a science fiction TV show from the 1960s. 9 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:13.620 Will it pay off this time? 10 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:17.400 Let's find out as we discuss the caretaker. 11 00:01:44.459 --> 00:01:51.719 I want to start with things that are a bit less controversial or a little bit less heavy, this episode. 12 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:57.359 So, Hannah, I'm going to ask you, what did you think of the Skovox blitzer? 13 00:01:57.540 --> 00:01:59.939 I wish it was more threatening. 14 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:03.840 I think visually, I quite like him. 15 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:13.919 The look of it, I like the sort of doctor's method of lowering it in and I like seeing it blown up because I like seeing stuff blown up. 16 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:20.159 But I sort of kept questioning the fact of why hasn't it had a bit more buildup. 17 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:27.060 It's the part of the episode that sort of takes a backseat and feels like it needed fleshing out more. 18 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.300 We only see one person get killed by it. 19 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:32.520 Well, we don't actually even see them killed. really, do we? 20 00:02:32.580 --> 00:02:39.599 And I kept feeling like those opportunities to get rid of people, kill some of the kids off, say there's been kids gone missing. 21 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:44.039 Or if you're a bit squeamish about murdering some children. 22 00:02:44.099 --> 00:02:45.780 Um, teachers. 23 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:51.479 The previous caretaker felt like when we could have a really obvious one to get rid of. 24 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:57.539 So, I wanted more from it. and um, also, why now? 25 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:00.060 Why is it a threat just right at this moment? 26 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:05.819 Yeah, I wanted a bit more from it to for it to be a bit more intimidating. 27 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:12.300 I was getting vibes of the big robot at the beginning of Blake 7, like in series one. 28 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:13.439 Yeah. 29 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:20.400 But I also think there's a real kind of mechanoid thing going on there in that it's like big and round. 30 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:24.419 It's sort of too big to comfortably get through doors or be in spaces. 31 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:30.900 And then it keeps narrating what it's doing, but including sort of random numbers and stuff in there all the time. 32 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:36.240 And it does sound like the sort of thing that Gareth Roberts might go for. 33 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:38.219 It's very retro. 34 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:40.379 And it has got a name that sounds like a cold sore ointment. 35 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:41.819 That's the main thing that I just count. 36 00:03:42.659 --> 00:03:45.599 I would just see that being marketed in chemists up and down. 37 00:03:46.020 --> 00:03:51.780 But it's almost like it's almost defying you to say, this obviously isn't really an episode about this. 38 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:53.939 This is a romantic comedy episode. 39 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.500 Yeah, here's a monster. fine, there you go. 40 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:00.000 Like the absorbel of in Love and Monsters actually turned out to be have a much bigger role. 41 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:03.360 There were layers to that, whereas in this, it's much more like this. 42 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:06.960 This is the comedy episode about, well, we'll talk about what it's about. 43 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:08.400 What is it really about? 44 00:04:08.460 --> 00:04:17.339 It feels like it is a, you know, sitcom, rom-com, and then they've gone, oh, wait, we've got to make it a Doctor Who episode and put some sci-fi in. 45 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:25.980 Yeah, I wonder which direction the script went in to get there because I understand this is one of those where the and between the 2 scriptwriters' names is pretty much an argument. 46 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:30.779 It feels like you're watching a script, but there was an argument between 2 different writers who are pulling in. 47 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:34.800 I suspect Roberts tends to write these very comical episodes. 48 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:43.019 Moffatt was really wanted to go into the darkness of the doctor's character and relationships and things and maybe that's how it ended up sort of having the shape that it did. 49 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:48.000 It's definitely one where I'd like to soon like how the multiple drafts developed. 50 00:04:48.060 --> 00:04:57.779 I get the impression that Moffatt's giving himself co-writing credits all the way through this year because he's offered writing the romantic comedy subplot. 51 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:12.060 So, you know, which is definitely there in something like into the dalek, well, very much there, and you can see which things Phil Ford has written and which things Moffat has written here because it's largely about those central relationships. 52 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:16.980 I think there is some tension between the 2 approaches. 53 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:24.300 And I do think that the Skovox Blitzer does tap into a theme that we've had all year about soldiers. 54 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:26.579 So it's something that's awaiting orders. 55 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:27.600 It's a killing machine. 56 00:05:27.660 --> 00:05:30.360 It's, you know, like a super soldier. 57 00:05:30.420 --> 00:05:39.839 Here we have a big dumb robot soldier, and that exemplifies all of the things that the doctor's been saying about soldiers all season. 58 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:55.019 And he defeats it by tricking it into believing that he's its commanding officer, which is exactly the thing that Danny accused him of being in their fight in the TARDIS earlier. 59 00:05:55.079 --> 00:06:01.259 So I think it is trying to have some thematic link to the main plot. 60 00:06:01.379 --> 00:06:05.819 It kills that guy who's called Matthew, I think, in the credits. 61 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:11.459 And you see his hand, like this charred hand fall into shock. 62 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:16.620 Like, a charred arm with detached from the body. 63 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:18.600 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 64 00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:22.920 Oh, yeah, yeah, it's not like it's just the hand. kind of forearm. 65 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:23.759 Just the forearm. 66 00:06:23.819 --> 00:06:25.079 Yeah, yeah, it's pretty brutal. 67 00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:28.139 What does it make Danny pink a dentist or a florist? 68 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:33.540 That could have just as easily come with that as the thing. could have been more comic potential in that. 69 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:37.980 We've talked a little bit about this in previous episodes because it's come up all year. 70 00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:44.939 Suddenly the doctor comes along and he doesn't like soldiers and that's not out of nowhere. 71 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:47.939 Like, that is a sort of plausible character trait. 72 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:52.319 And you know, each new doctor has different character traits, but they run this so hard. 73 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:59.939 Yeah, and like, and obviously the thing people will say is, but yeah, he was friends with unit and everything, but he wasn't at the start. 74 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:05.040 End of episode 7, Silurians, Doctor, is not, is not best pals with the bigger. 75 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:10.680 So it's not a place that the doctor could never go to, but it does just land with a massive flood at the beginning of this era. 76 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:12.120 Your face just keeps me. 77 00:07:12.180 --> 00:07:12.899 I don't like soldiers. 78 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:16.139 I don't like soldiers and it's like, yes, you said that. go somewhere with it. 79 00:07:19.199 --> 00:07:40.500 Well, I was just casting my mind back to them and remembering that that was a period in Britain where the whole, are you wearing a poppy, the whole post, but we want post, mid-Iraq wall, the post-beginning of the Iraq war, um, thing was was putting the country's relationship with its military into a sort of new mode, and it was like, is this trying to comment on that? 80 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:47.279 Are we becoming more American in the way that we treat our military and is Doctor Who trying to engage with that, but then the way it ends up being resolved at the end of the season? 81 00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:50.579 Is it that the doctor has learnt to not be nasty to soldiers? 82 00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:54.180 Or, and so I, I don't know if it's got a, it doesn't. 83 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:55.019 Yeah, I'm not sure. 84 00:07:55.079 --> 00:07:56.220 I don't know why they're doing it. 85 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:59.100 Yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't seem to work. 86 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:00.720 It seems confused. 87 00:08:00.779 --> 00:08:11.579 And like, I don't think it can possibly be on the doctor's side because the doctor is so kind of nasty whenever he's doing it. 88 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:18.120 And I think, you know, refusing to take Journey Blue on board the TARDIS at the end of Into the Dalek. 89 00:08:18.180 --> 00:08:21.540 It seems really unpleasant and unreasonable. 90 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:27.120 And it just seems to be there to set up this conflict between Danny and the doctor. 91 00:08:27.180 --> 00:08:36.360 Do you think that's hanging a lantern on the fact that at the end of the season spoilers, Missy turns up with the whole army for him? 92 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:42.299 Oh, I think that that's why that happens, you know, because that's playing into that thing. 93 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:56.700 And here we already get the sort of accusation from Danny that the doctor doesn't like soldiers, but he's the sort of person who orders soldiers to go and shoot people, like he's the person who lights the fire. 94 00:08:56.759 --> 00:08:57.899 Yeah. 95 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:05.879 So there is that, but I just think it's sort of confused and it just makes the doctor seem unreasonably awful. 96 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:16.860 I feel like it needed more nuance because If you look back, arguably the doctor has acted as a soldier in the past. 97 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:30.059 But I feel the distinction you would want to make there is that he's more or less been a reluctant soldier rather than one by choice, which he looks upon someone like Danny. 98 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:57.779 And I'm just looking ahead to, when you're mentioning the Scobox split, it made me think of the mummy on the Orient Express, who is a kind of reluctant soldier who has been stuck in this role for centuries and is just waiting to be told that the sort of war ends, um, Discover split is ends because of it, hearing its leader, that ends because it's his from its enemy that they surrender. 99 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:06.360 There's a theme running through the season with that, but it's not necessarily coming across in the most nuanced way. 100 00:10:06.419 --> 00:10:11.279 Yeah, I think that the show doesn't know what it's trying to say. here. 101 00:10:11.340 --> 00:10:14.940 And I wonder if it's trying to say anything. 102 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:22.019 You know, this is the episode where a roundabout midway through the season and we're setting up this conflict between the doctor and Danny. 103 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:23.039 They meet for the 1st time. 104 00:10:23.100 --> 00:10:26.220 You know, it's a big revelation and they don't like one another. 105 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:33.659 And Moffatt's given the doctor a reason not to like him because he's a soldier. 106 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:46.080 And I think we reject that reason, and Danny's the one who calls attention to the idea that the doctor doesn't like Danny because he fears he won't be good enough for Clara. 107 00:10:46.139 --> 00:10:55.259 But it just seems like a lot of work and a lot of trouble to get this episode to work and I just wonder whether it works at all. 108 00:10:55.740 --> 00:11:08.700 Yeah, sometimes it just feels like they watched the 1st episode of Twin Dilemma and decided what it really needed was to be extended for 12 weeks and and like have this season, has this archive, does Clara even want to travel with this horrible man anymore? 109 00:11:08.759 --> 00:11:11.100 And I'd always spent 12 weeks finding that out. 110 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:19.860 You know, it's an interesting place to go to, but to just stay in that place rather than travelling through it fairly briskly and getting on with things. 111 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:26.399 And then the series that when we come to her her story comes to that conclusion whether she has that perfect leaving scene and then decides to stay for another year anyway. 112 00:11:26.460 --> 00:11:32.399 So that back projects onto this episode, the fact that they're banned, and the doctor is, the doctor is so horrible to her. 113 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:37.799 Sometimes, and it's always for a punchline, and, and, but their punch lines at the same level. 114 00:11:37.860 --> 00:11:43.980 It's not like a comedy that has a really big laugh, and then you rain back a bit, and then another, it's just like, snip, snip, snip, sn. 115 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:49.620 And some of them are, the joke's on, obviously, on him because he's, you know, the thing about, oh, he can't tell that she's beautiful. 116 00:11:49.679 --> 00:11:52.740 She's obviously beautiful, therefore when he sort of insults her appearance. 117 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:54.480 It's funny because the joke's on him. 118 00:11:54.539 --> 00:11:55.440 Okay, we can take that. 119 00:11:55.500 --> 00:12:00.840 But then the bit where he pops up in the window for extremely small class of only 12 children, which... 120 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:02.220 I counted about 14. 121 00:12:03.299 --> 00:12:07.080 Like, why is this not twice the size and overcrowded? 122 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:08.519 That's the real history. 123 00:12:08.580 --> 00:12:11.879 I could a lot of points I could pick apart about the realism of this school. 124 00:12:11.940 --> 00:12:25.860 You see, for me though, like, I'm a school teacher, and one of the things that I like about this season is that it's said in a school, and there are things that it gets right. 125 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:40.500 And we talked in our listen episode about the way that the 1st date between Danny and Clara only really starts to work when they're telling war stories about Courtney and laughing and stuff and that's what really breaks the ice. 126 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:41.879 And that seemed very real. 127 00:12:41.940 --> 00:12:47.340 And there are things here which I think work. 128 00:12:47.399 --> 00:12:52.500 Like, you know, he started his career writing about kids in a school and he's sort of comfortable there. 129 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:59.580 And I think probably that's not a bad thing for him to go back to. 130 00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:04.919 And also I kind of like that Doctor Who is set somewhere again. 131 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:19.019 We haven't had that for a while, and maybe not since the Russell T. Davis era, has the show had such a close link to a particular time and place on Earth, and that's one of the things that I loved about the RTD era. 132 00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:20.279 So I kind of like that here. 133 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:36.539 Despite my problems with this episode, I'd have quite happily seen us, like come back here and keep seeing the doctor carrying on as a caretaker, you know, just taking over whenever the old guy's on holiday and or sending him off again, just when there's something up going on near the school. 134 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.840 It does work quite nicely as a sitcom setting. 135 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:50.220 There's something actually quite nice next week, how he's just there in his normal magician's costume, you know, wandering around the school with Clara for no readily apparent reason. 136 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:53.340 It's kind of like he's just sort of here all the time now. 137 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:55.019 I kind of, I kind of like that. 138 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:59.519 With the relationship between the doctor and Clara. 139 00:13:59.580 --> 00:14:09.299 Because those are so obviously sitcom punchlines and because Clara's never phased by them, like she just thinks it's an idiot, she's not hurt or anything, it's not causing any harm. 140 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:21.480 I don't find those things quite as upsetting as whenever he does it to other people and like the way he treats Danny, this episode is so awful. 141 00:14:22.019 --> 00:14:25.559 I find that scene so awkward to watch. 142 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:34.379 It's really horrible and even seeing the doctor sort of like the way he spoke to like Journey Blue similarly. 143 00:14:34.440 --> 00:14:37.559 It's, We're only here for an episode. 144 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:47.820 Clara can apologise, but she's doing an awful lot of apologising and it's not really acceptable when it's, I feel watching both Danny and the doctor. 145 00:14:47.879 --> 00:14:55.139 That scene where they're in the TARDIS and Danny's sort of milding off about him being a lord. 146 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:58.679 I look at them both and think neither of you know one another. 147 00:14:58.740 --> 00:15:05.279 Why are you jumping to conclusions so much and instantly being so harsh about one another? 148 00:15:05.340 --> 00:15:08.100 You're both as bad as one another here. 149 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:11.039 I think that's also the problem, isn't it? 150 00:15:11.100 --> 00:15:16.919 Because Danny's really pretty and like he was sort of adorably awkward in the early episodes of the season. 151 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:22.379 And when he's shouting and stuff at the doctor, he just sort of seems unpleasant. 152 00:15:22.500 --> 00:15:34.320 And then that scene after that where Danny kind of gets cross at Clara for not confiding in him about the doctor. 153 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:37.259 That seemed a bit unreasonable as well. 154 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:44.700 Like there's a, there's, it's really sort of a standard moral principle that if you have a secret alien friend. 155 00:15:44.759 --> 00:15:47.039 You really should tell the people you love about them. 156 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:50.879 Like, how, like, how is she to know what, you know, is there a rule? 157 00:15:50.940 --> 00:16:07.139 They're also, there's an implication here that they have been dating for about a year and a half because it's not said in dialogue, but he is a new teacher, like at the beginning of the season, he's just started working at the school with her. 158 00:16:07.139 --> 00:16:12.120 And then in this episode, there's a reference to, oh, last. 159 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.279 Courtney's last... 160 00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:23.700 Yeah, so like literally this, this is now said. a year or more after Danny and Clara Ahmet. 161 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:24.840 So they've been dating a long time. 162 00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:27.600 She's been keeping this secret from him for a long time. 163 00:16:28.019 --> 00:16:37.019 I do think they need to be a bit more explicit about that length of time, though, because it's not, you know, within a Doctor Who M series. 164 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:51.600 We are thinking of it as being under a year and it does feel like it's, they're still in that early whirlwind phase of romance, which is why him overreacting, well, it seems like he's overreacting, that she's kept this secret for so long. 165 00:16:51.659 --> 00:16:57.240 But likewise her coming out suddenly and saying, oh, I love him feels like a bit. 166 00:16:57.299 --> 00:16:58.440 Oh, that's a bit soon. 167 00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:07.319 We, you know, you, it feels like there should be signs that you're further along in this relationship, you know, maybe they're talking about moving in together or something, but none of that's there. 168 00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:09.960 Yeah, it's the pulling in 2 directions again, things. 169 00:17:10.019 --> 00:17:12.119 We're just getting to know each other jokes. 170 00:17:12.180 --> 00:17:18.059 So they've got to go in, even though the plot has to say, we know each other really well at the same time. it kind of stumbles. 171 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:20.400 I've been watching quite a lot Buffy the Vampire Slayer lately. 172 00:17:20.460 --> 00:17:21.420 And it suddenly struck me. 173 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:26.039 Danny Pink is Riley for a month from series 4 and must be the military boyfriend. 174 00:17:27.180 --> 00:17:29.099 He's very pretty too. 175 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:30.839 Very good, yeah. 176 00:17:31.019 --> 00:17:34.740 They don't have unpleasant character attributes in general. 177 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:39.660 But they collide with the story rather than flowing through it. 178 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:50.759 And, you know, we do get to see Capoli having great sparky interaction with a character who meets him at his own level and and I think Courtney Woods is going to be a fantastic companion. 179 00:17:50.819 --> 00:17:52.619 I can't see how it's going to go wrong. 180 00:17:52.619 --> 00:18:03.359 Because when she's being as nasty to him as he is that she's the only person who just talks to him in exactly the same way he talks to her and it really clicks. that one scene where she comes for the for the blue role. 181 00:18:03.420 --> 00:18:06.480 Um, but, uh, particularly. especially that one scene. 182 00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:09.000 It's suddenly like, oh, these 2 are clicking. 183 00:18:09.059 --> 00:18:11.700 It just really stands out at me in a way that with the Clara stuff. 184 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:13.140 And yet the bit through the window. 185 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:16.200 That's the bit where when he's correcting her over a lesson. 186 00:18:16.259 --> 00:18:20.220 That's the bit where, oh, hang, no, he's not just getting confused about social mores. 187 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:24.960 He's deliberately choosing to humiliate her in front of a class by telling her she's wrong while she's teaching them. 188 00:18:25.019 --> 00:18:27.900 That's not the same as saying I haven't noticed you put makeup on. 189 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:31.140 That's a nasty... him being a bastard. 190 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:31.619 Yeah. 191 00:18:31.619 --> 00:18:32.220 Yeah. 192 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:33.539 I like with Courtney. 193 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:37.019 It's nice to meet you disruptive influence. 194 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:43.980 And also just throw away and I may have a vacancy, but she loves to come apart. 195 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:53.519 Capaldi's reaction to her saying she's a disruptive influence is just fantastic because of course the doctor's a disruptive influence and he's got to respect that. 196 00:18:53.579 --> 00:18:54.839 I think that's really quite sweet. 197 00:18:54.900 --> 00:18:56.220 And that is great. 198 00:18:56.279 --> 00:18:58.380 And I also thought it was delightful. 199 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:07.200 It was just the doctor and Courtney and the TARDIS dropping the Scobox blitzer off at the end and that's sort of unexpected and actually rather great. 200 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:12.059 I sort of like the fact that that tag scene clearly takes place quite a bit later. 201 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.380 And I'm not a fan of children, Doctor Who. never was. 202 00:19:16.440 --> 00:19:18.720 When I was a kid, I liked Dr. Hooks who didn't have annoying children in it. 203 00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:22.440 And there's a lot of them in this era, but yeah, she makes me laugh. 204 00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:23.400 I think she's good. 205 00:19:23.460 --> 00:19:26.400 And I think she'll do quite well next week too. she was great. 206 00:19:26.460 --> 00:19:29.220 I actually like that she throws up in the TARDIS. 207 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:33.839 I think, yeah, why wouldn't you, someone occasionally get space sickness, you know? 208 00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:35.160 Clearly not for everyone. 209 00:19:35.220 --> 00:19:44.339 I actually quite like the doctor's reaction to that too, because he's been a caretaker lately and he just repeats a line about a spillage from earlier on in the episode and that's quite good too. 210 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.519 And go away humans. 211 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:49.799 Never lose your temperature while writing a sign. 212 00:19:49.859 --> 00:19:51.480 That feels very moffin. 213 00:19:51.539 --> 00:19:52.799 Yeah, that's a line. 214 00:19:52.859 --> 00:19:54.660 That's a laugh out loud moment for me. 215 00:19:54.720 --> 00:20:02.940 It's like the sign in Husbands of River song, the Carollers will be criticised sign that he puts on the Tartar store. 216 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:05.400 It's the same kind of thing. 217 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:50.700 My favourite thing about the episode is before it starts go wrong, and that's the precredit sequence, which I just think is so much fun and so propulsive, and it's throwing away a whole series of adventures, and the lines are really funny and the camera work is really quick, you know, and it has her leaping out of a Doctor Who adventure and then just turning up to meet Danny. 218 00:20:50.759 --> 00:21:02.099 And like the 1st shot even has that shot of Vazquez rocks from, you know, arena in Star Trek, you know, like it's a CGI version of that that they're chained up in front of. 219 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.039 And, you know, the fish people, what are they like? 220 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:09.599 They're like fish and people. took her to see the underwater menace. 221 00:21:09.660 --> 00:21:10.799 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 222 00:21:10.859 --> 00:21:11.759 The underwater man is. 223 00:21:11.819 --> 00:21:14.099 Like all of that stuff is actually really fun and funny. 224 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:26.460 And I have to think that her coming back later in the day with a tan has got to be a reference to the Sensorites. when Barbara. 225 00:21:26.579 --> 00:21:34.980 But that links to the, if you're doing that, then, well, no, we'll get there in a bit, but there's a bit where later where she says we're doing a play, which is what Barbara says in the Crusade. 226 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:38.880 Well, she doesn't say it is what he's doing and that she rolls with it in the crusade. 227 00:21:38.940 --> 00:21:40.619 Clara's Barbara, I haven't thought it. 228 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:48.359 I actually got the, she says, what are you doing here to Danny in exactly the same, like in a Barbara voice. 229 00:21:48.420 --> 00:21:50.279 Like, it's absolutely there. 230 00:21:50.339 --> 00:22:01.200 That's why I think that's why I'm convinced that the, uh, the 1st draft had the Skovox splits it as a meganoid because it's just so full of this sort of 1st doctor star. 231 00:22:01.259 --> 00:22:08.819 Also, like the school principal, the head teacher was originally Miss Coburn in the 1st draft. 232 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.200 There go. 233 00:22:10.259 --> 00:22:15.539 Is it in this or in class that there's a sign outside saying chair of the governor's, Mr. Chesterton? 234 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:16.619 The doctor. 235 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:17.880 Obviously to the doctor. 236 00:22:17.940 --> 00:22:18.240 Well, okay. 237 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:23.039 So we can still say, ah, so they could have called in the governor's board for a meeting to defeat the Mecca. 238 00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:27.839 Why does the doctor lure it to the school to destroy it though? 239 00:22:27.900 --> 00:22:28.980 It's kind of quick. 240 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:30.059 What expediency? 241 00:22:30.660 --> 00:22:35.160 I mean, is it is it that it's empty at night that it's coming back at night that he's doing it at night? 242 00:22:35.220 --> 00:22:37.200 He says it's the only I don't know. 243 00:22:37.259 --> 00:22:40.380 He's got a sense of nostalgia because his granddaughter went... 244 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:43.140 That must have been a leisure centre nearby somewhere. 245 00:22:43.259 --> 00:22:48.779 Well, you could find an empty tennis court or a swimming pool somewhere overnight. 246 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:52.799 Yeah, I just think we wanted an episode in a school, didn't we? 247 00:22:52.859 --> 00:22:55.019 And we didn't want to think too much about it, I guess. 248 00:22:55.140 --> 00:22:57.180 But which school this is filmed in four? 249 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.240 Well, so that's a tradition, isn't it? 250 00:23:00.299 --> 00:23:03.420 I like the fact that he as a caretaker. 251 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:22.019 I know it's partly like, oh, we've seen him as a teacher before, but I realise watching him getting up to various things throughout the episode that the caretaker anywhere is someone who can go and walk around, go wherever they want, unimpeded, and generally no one will ask too much about what they're up to. 252 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:25.500 They'll just presume that they, Yeah, they're fixing something. 253 00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:28.019 Yeah, they're putting something back in place. 254 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:35.039 And although we have the scene of Danny and Adrian watching him fiddle with the electrics, they then have to go off and teach classes. 255 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:36.660 So they're out of the way quite quickly. 256 00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:41.099 So it does quite quite well as a role for him to have in the school. 257 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:43.140 Is there a double meaning? 258 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:44.460 There's usually a double meaning. 259 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:52.259 Because like Danny taking care of Clara or the doctor's taking care of Clara or something or she's... 260 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:57.720 Yeah, um, Sorry, it's always been carry on. 261 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:03.240 I was so angry at the end of that one that he didn't take Zoe Ashton with him. 262 00:24:03.299 --> 00:24:03.960 She my favourite. 263 00:24:04.019 --> 00:24:04.680 She's great. 264 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:05.519 During the year. 265 00:24:05.579 --> 00:24:06.359 She's so good in it. 266 00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:07.680 It's my Abigail cast. 267 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:10.680 Imagining up the Dalek is like up the Pompeii. 268 00:24:10.740 --> 00:24:11.940 So, up Pompeii. 269 00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:12.900 Up the Pompeii. 270 00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:42.420 So we kind of alluded to this episode, when we were talking last year about journey to the centre of the TARDIS, and I think that this episode, probably unintentionally, unintentionally, ends up doing some problematic things with race. 271 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:45.660 Yeah, it's just so cringy. 272 00:24:45.660 --> 00:24:55.200 And I'm sure I think I'm sure it is accidental, but then you can say that a lot a lot of it is, and that's that's the problem in in reality, that's the problem, but, you know, unconsciousness and not not. 273 00:24:55.259 --> 00:25:03.900 And because they're conscious, they've got a show that's got 2 leads who are both white, that they're clearly making the effort to make sure that they are conscious, they want to cast a more diverse gas. 274 00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:09.539 But that means the people that they interact with, who are not our heroes, are going to be disproportionately. 275 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.019 I don't know, it can just blunder into something like this. 276 00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:21.180 And the whole, I mean, I get, I don't know if I'm, if it's the age you have to be, to get the, um, the soldier becomes a PE teacher thing or is that a universal thing? 277 00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:25.019 Because even like in the 70s when I was little at school, that was a thing a PE teacher's work. 278 00:25:25.140 --> 00:25:26.220 Yeah, that was lost for me. 279 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:27.180 Ah, right, right. 280 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:27.420 Yeah. 281 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:27.660 Yeah. 282 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:32.220 So that's that was a thing that it was the job that an ex soldier could easily get. 283 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:33.960 And often they were quite scary. 284 00:25:34.019 --> 00:25:39.059 Oh, because they didn't like that. the endurance and the physical training and all that sort of stuff. 285 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:39.660 Yeah. 286 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:40.799 So that's where that comes from. 287 00:25:40.859 --> 00:25:42.900 But landing on top of what's already gone before, yeah. 288 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:47.279 The doctor's best friend was a soldier who became a maths teacher. 289 00:25:47.339 --> 00:25:51.420 And he was surprised, admittedly, when he discovered that. 290 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:55.500 But just the repetition of it. 291 00:25:55.559 --> 00:26:08.880 And so it's not just that he's being insulting because sometimes that's funny and because of, as I said, because of the way he plays off Clara and Clara reacts to it, it doesn't seem to kind of seem particularly wounding. 292 00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:35.640 But because Danny's kind of annoyed and just because it makes it look like he thinks Danny is stupid, and we've also hinted, perhaps, in the opening that Clara sometimes thinks he's stupid, you know, there's that thing where the doctor's being mysterious and Clara says, it's a mistake very clever people make when they think everyone else is stupid. 293 00:26:35.700 --> 00:26:40.740 And then Danny says the same thing to her when she's mysterious as well. 294 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:45.180 And so having them think that he's stupid and sure. 295 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:46.920 It a one off, if it's a one off thing. 296 00:26:46.980 --> 00:26:54.059 But then you have the 2 naughty boys who get approached by Matthew the evil policeman for bunking off school. 297 00:26:54.119 --> 00:27:04.740 You have Courtney, who's a disruptive influence in school, and the doctor sends her off to do shoplifting or something at the end of their conversation. 298 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:20.039 I'd also add in Courtney's parents into that, in that you might have expected them to almost be absent parents or, you know, something wrong going on at home, but they're just kind of presented as quite dim, really, I think. 299 00:27:20.099 --> 00:27:24.839 They seem kind of more affluent, but thick, don't they? 300 00:27:24.900 --> 00:27:26.519 Like, yeah, yeah. 301 00:27:26.579 --> 00:27:27.660 Yeah, or something. 302 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:33.000 And look, they're trying to be more modern in the way they can't and more diverse in the way that they cast. 303 00:27:33.059 --> 00:27:40.559 And all of that is absolutely laudable, but you have to be conscious about what you're doing then, I think. 304 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:44.700 I think it's Peter was having this conversation with me a while ago. 305 00:27:45.059 --> 00:27:55.799 Colorblank casting is laudable, obviously, and it's good that there is more diversity in the casting of this show, but you need to be conscious of that. 306 00:27:55.859 --> 00:28:03.180 You need to be aware that this script could be read in a way which is racist. 307 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:13.079 Like, you know, like you have to be aware that that character there is going to be read through multiple levels of understanding. 308 00:28:13.140 --> 00:28:22.500 And if you're treating, like all those minds, you know, like that repeated line, I'm a maths teacher, no, I'm not just not getting it. 309 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:30.720 Just reads as, you're an ex-soldier, and you're black, and therefore, I think you couldn't possibly be a math teacher. 310 00:28:30.779 --> 00:28:36.359 I know that's not the intention, but it comes across as really quite racist. 311 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:39.059 And we've also had the line. 312 00:28:39.119 --> 00:28:44.220 Even Adrian has said, oh, he used to be an engineer and deal with electronics. 313 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:45.960 So he's got skills. 314 00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:49.019 It's not just like, you know, he spent years. 315 00:28:50.339 --> 00:28:52.500 Yeah, which is, you know, very mature. 316 00:28:52.559 --> 00:29:04.980 The implication from everything, like the doctor's, I'm saying, I feel like even when you've got Adrian there like reinforcing, backing, aim him up, like, yes, he definitely was. 317 00:29:05.160 --> 00:29:09.299 The repetition of it just becomes really irritating. 318 00:29:09.900 --> 00:29:29.039 I think too, it's disappointing because Stephen Moffatt in his 1st TV show actually had the same problem, and that's the character of Fraz, who is the person that they cast as black, and he was the dimwit on the Juni Gazette. 319 00:29:29.099 --> 00:29:30.420 He was the dumbest kid. 320 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:39.539 And I've heard Moffat in interviews say that he was kind of horrified that, you know, our one black role went to the dimwit child. 321 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:55.380 And so he pulled back on that aspect eventually of the character and he just became sort of more disengaged from the job and kind of rather sweet and likeable, but they didn't emphasise him being dim. 322 00:29:55.440 --> 00:30:01.019 And one of my favourite episodes of the show unexpected from a later season. 323 00:30:01.079 --> 00:30:02.279 You know, he's one of us. 324 00:30:02.339 --> 00:30:05.160 He's a fanboy and all of that sort of thing. 325 00:30:05.220 --> 00:30:08.160 You know, he's, uh, he's a super likeable character. 326 00:30:08.220 --> 00:30:09.299 It works out well in the end. 327 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:27.900 But it just strikes me that if in his youth, he was aware that this was a problem, I don't know why no one's bells rang, and, like, we'll talk more about this next week because it continues with Courtney and Kill the Moon, and, of course, in Flatline. 328 00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:35.700 You know, when they go to cast a graffiti artist, he's going to be a superb, like a truly superb actor who I'm glad has that role. 329 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:42.779 But again, it's just a little bit of a pattern, I think, in this season and it's a problem. 330 00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:44.940 Yeah, it's kind of thoughtlessly. 331 00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:50.400 Well, hopefully, thoughtlessly, it's leaning into all these stereotypes. 332 00:30:50.460 --> 00:30:51.059 Yeah. 333 00:30:55.619 --> 00:30:58.079 Towards the end of the episode. 334 00:30:58.140 --> 00:31:01.740 We have that sort of final scene once it's all been resolved. 335 00:31:01.799 --> 00:31:03.480 And so Danny's saved the world. 336 00:31:03.539 --> 00:31:07.920 Do we have a comment on his his leap over the scope of his skills? 337 00:31:08.220 --> 00:31:09.900 It's amazing. 338 00:31:09.960 --> 00:31:11.339 Polly Langford herself couldn't have done that. 339 00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:14.400 Hey, come on. 340 00:31:16.980 --> 00:31:20.519 And she could have sung the theme tune as the music. 341 00:31:20.579 --> 00:31:21.599 I'm going to talk about music. 342 00:31:21.660 --> 00:31:23.220 I know you like Marigold a lot more than I do. 343 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:25.680 The music at the start is just right. 344 00:31:25.740 --> 00:31:26.279 It's funny. 345 00:31:26.339 --> 00:31:37.859 Yes, here we are, a montage of hijinks and escapades, but then as it progresses and there's the bit where she's in the school and the music is just yelling at me that this bit's funny and wacky and actually it isn't any unfunny and wackier than the previous bit. 346 00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:41.460 And so the music is trying to escalate the Madcap caper vibe. 347 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:52.500 Well, what's on screen isn't escalating and so that splitting of where it's at flips it and makes it less funny because the music's trying to tell me it's that a moderate punchline is a huge punchline. 348 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:54.720 The action scenes have got cooking. 349 00:31:54.779 --> 00:31:56.160 I'm not entirely dunking on it. 350 00:31:56.220 --> 00:32:10.380 Actually, I am going to dunk on it a little bit because he uses the doctor's theme, the, the, the new doctor's theme, which I think is magnificent for Clara wandering around distracted the covoc splitzer, and I'm not quite sure why that is. 351 00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:15.059 And then he seems, oh, maybe it's a madman in a box is the music. 352 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:21.240 There's an old series 5 music cue when he shows Danny the TARDIS, perhaps, and maybe that's okay. 353 00:32:21.299 --> 00:32:35.579 But I do think Murray has a habit of over egging comedy scenes, which is a problem, and I do think that sometimes he reuses cues in, he's a busy man, I guess. 354 00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:41.759 But he does reuse cues sometimes when they just don't seem to be really that appropriate. 355 00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:50.460 I mean, that resolution is just as complicated as it needed to be for the episode to work, I guess, given what the episode is really about. 356 00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:59.160 But I have to say that I also found that final scene where Clara's lying in Danny's arms while they're watching TV at the end. 357 00:32:59.220 --> 00:33:04.079 I actually found that also extremely uncomfortable. 358 00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:23.160 Well, I just kind of think that Danny has come off now as unpleasant and controlling as well, and like I always wanted to like Danny because again, you know, pretty, and he was in the history boys and all of that, that always turns out well. 359 00:33:23.220 --> 00:33:25.859 Turns up in Gavin and Stacy as well. 360 00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:28.200 Yes, I have none of Gavin's friends. 361 00:33:28.259 --> 00:33:30.599 Very strong memory. forgotten that. 362 00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:35.460 There's a scene of him having sex with a bridesmaid at the wedding and I've never, ever forgotten it. 363 00:33:37.920 --> 00:34:01.619 But because now the doctor and Danny are both quite unpleasant and they've spent the episode jockeying after Clara, I'm not normally worried about Clara because I think she gives as good as she gets and she's proven herself able to cope with lots of things, but now it's kind of like the 2 most important people in the show are both kind of horrible. 364 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:03.359 Toxic and controlling. 365 00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:05.039 Yeah, like there's that line. 366 00:34:05.099 --> 00:34:12.239 I want you to be honest with me, like, because, you know, I would never want to not be able to help you or something like that. 367 00:34:12.300 --> 00:34:26.099 Oh, if you break that promise, we're finished, you know, like, there's a threat and then there's, there's a kind of implicit, you know, you need to tell me things because I need to help you and it was, it's kind of almost infantilising as well. 368 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:27.300 It's... 369 00:34:27.420 --> 00:34:36.239 It's unfair of him as well because he's hiding things from her, which doesn't really come out for her until the finale. 370 00:34:36.300 --> 00:34:41.099 And it comes back to that thing as well of it doesn't feel like they've been together that long. 371 00:34:41.159 --> 00:34:43.440 They haven't shared absolutely everything with one another. 372 00:34:43.500 --> 00:34:49.920 You know, we know he never shares his soldier experiences with her in that much detail. 373 00:34:49.980 --> 00:34:53.219 In fact, we've never seen him discuss any of it whatsoever. 374 00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:54.300 It's clearly a closed book. 375 00:34:54.360 --> 00:34:59.699 He does mention the 23 wells he dug on the 1st date. 376 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:02.940 I think that I think that's maybe the problem. 377 00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:04.139 You mentioned that he's a soldier. 378 00:35:04.199 --> 00:35:09.599 But I think that's maybe the problem is that because he's ashamed of that, he doesn't share it. 379 00:35:09.659 --> 00:35:13.380 And so she maybe doesn't even think of him as a soldier. 380 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:15.300 Well, she says that. 381 00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:17.820 She says he's not a soldier, he's a maths teacher. 382 00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:32.579 Yeah, and but to her, because he's kept that part of his life worn off to her, she doesn't see how the doctor would find it so problematic despite his well-established kind of for the last 4 episodes. 383 00:35:32.579 --> 00:35:35.099 Uh, issue with soldiers. 384 00:35:35.159 --> 00:35:42.300 I've been watching this season all the way through and I keep expecting that revelation to have happened already. 385 00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:45.780 The revelation about what Danny did in Afghanistan. 386 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:51.239 It's made clear to us that something happened that he kills civilians. 387 00:35:51.300 --> 00:35:58.380 We know that by Into the Dalek from that 1st scene in the school where the kid asks him and he doesn't answer the question. 388 00:35:58.440 --> 00:36:06.659 But I had thought the revelation, that we at least knew by now exactly what it was, but I obviously misremembered. 389 00:36:06.719 --> 00:36:13.380 Yeah, I mean, it's so lampshaded that we know we've already filled in the blank sort of it and it's just a case, I mean, the detail. 390 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:15.480 It doesn't come as it's not a shock when he reveals it. 391 00:36:15.539 --> 00:36:16.440 Okay, fine. 392 00:36:16.500 --> 00:36:26.219 And yeah, I guess with like you said, the weirdness about him and Clara's stance at him being threatening to leave her. is supposed to be teeing things up to say, we haven't resolved this relationship now. 393 00:36:26.280 --> 00:36:27.599 You know, we've got a good few episodes to go. 394 00:36:27.659 --> 00:36:28.980 Yeah, what's going to happen next? 395 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:30.960 And it's like, I hate them all. 396 00:36:31.019 --> 00:36:32.280 I don't care. 397 00:36:32.460 --> 00:36:36.119 I want to see Courtney be arguing with the doctor. 398 00:36:36.179 --> 00:36:41.039 Um, because the quip ratio has to be kept up and that means that all the constant digs at each other. 399 00:36:41.099 --> 00:36:42.059 Yeah. 400 00:36:42.119 --> 00:36:48.780 I mean, I think I've got a sort of higher tolerance for the sort of Moffat quippery, um, than, than you do. 401 00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:52.260 But Moffatt kind of learns throughout his career. 402 00:36:52.320 --> 00:36:53.699 And I think he does get better. 403 00:36:53.760 --> 00:37:05.400 And I think things like coupling, which are also sort of weirdly gender essentialist and very kind of heteronormative. listen to me talking. 404 00:37:05.460 --> 00:37:11.460 Um, uh, you know, like he moves away from that, he gets better at representation. 405 00:37:11.519 --> 00:37:27.300 He is the 1st person to introduce a queer regular character into the show, like a proper queer regular who is superb and who doesn't have a weird problematic relationship with a doctor is just, you know, one of the best companions of the new series. 406 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:29.880 Yeah, and wonderfully actually played by a queer actress as well. 407 00:37:29.940 --> 00:37:31.260 Yeah, yeah. 408 00:37:31.320 --> 00:37:32.820 So he gets there. 409 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:49.679 But this is him and probably Gareth Roberts are not the 2 people to write this sort of stuff together because I just think all 3 of the characters or at least the doctor and Danny come off as just deeply unpleasant people at the end of it. 410 00:37:49.739 --> 00:37:53.340 And I think that's a problem. 411 00:37:54.059 --> 00:37:59.099 I do find myself wondering why any of them are choosing to spend more time with one another. 412 00:37:59.159 --> 00:38:06.420 Even Clara and the doctor at this point, it feels like, are you just sticking with him to have adventures? 413 00:38:06.420 --> 00:38:13.500 And it's not a healthy relationship and it makes me think, it's not as bad, but like Perry and the 6th doctor. 414 00:38:13.559 --> 00:38:21.300 The line between and quite unpleasant comments just seems to be getting more blurred at times. 415 00:38:21.480 --> 00:38:29.940 You know, it's the kind of thing where you, I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I always identified with a companion. 416 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.320 And, you know, I know that I think Russell T. Dave is the same. 417 00:38:34.380 --> 00:38:40.199 That's why he named Rose after himself and why they share the same birthday and all of that kind of thing. 418 00:38:40.260 --> 00:38:46.260 You know, like I was Sarah Jane when I was watching it for the 1st time and that was who I wanted to be. 419 00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:49.800 I wanted to travel with a doctor like she does and have adventures. 420 00:38:49.860 --> 00:38:57.780 And I think the new series wants to interrogate the premise of the show and it does that, you know, all the way back in school reunion. 421 00:38:57.840 --> 00:39:02.699 Maybe the doctor's a bad person for leaving these people behind now that he knows how to go back for them. 422 00:39:02.760 --> 00:39:10.139 You know, Moffatt's interrogated the doctor as someone who every week blows up a whole bunch of people, you know, and then leaves. 423 00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:11.760 And I think all of that stuff's worth doing. 424 00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:13.980 And that's sort of fun and interesting. 425 00:39:14.039 --> 00:39:21.659 But I do think the idea that Clara is using the doctor just to have adventures. 426 00:39:21.659 --> 00:39:25.860 And that's not fully here yet, but it's going to be, isn't it? 427 00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:34.139 And particularly next year, or that the relationship is going to destroy her or something, that the relationship's a problem. 428 00:39:34.199 --> 00:39:39.179 Like making that relationship problematic to the degree that this one is. 429 00:39:39.239 --> 00:39:46.980 I think might be a mistake or might be one of the reasons why people lose sympathy with this, this pairing. 430 00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:56.940 It's interesting thinking to the finale when the doctor and Clara are parting and they're both lying to one another. 431 00:39:57.000 --> 00:39:58.980 She says she's going to go off with Danny. 432 00:39:59.039 --> 00:40:04.199 He's trying to reassure her that he's not going to be on his own because he's found Gallifrey. 433 00:40:04.260 --> 00:40:06.360 He's cottoned on. 434 00:40:06.360 --> 00:40:12.179 Perhaps that she doesn't want to be with him and is kind of filling some obligation. 435 00:40:12.239 --> 00:40:15.000 Um, I don't know. 436 00:40:15.059 --> 00:40:19.440 It's, it's, difficult to sort of weigh that up at that point. 437 00:40:19.500 --> 00:40:37.440 I mean, we'll get to that, but that is so upsetting and such a problem that Moffatt has to have Nick Frost break in on the closing credits to reassure the children at home that everything's going to be okay for Christmas, you know, like even he recognises that that ending is really a bit unpleasantly downbeat, I think. 438 00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:41.159 Yeah, but it does sort of, it is where we're heading. 439 00:40:41.219 --> 00:40:42.239 Yeah. 440 00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:48.420 There's that moment where she, um, they were bickering in the TARDIS. and then Clara City shows us the invisibility watch and Clara's face literally lights up. 441 00:40:48.420 --> 00:40:49.980 Yeah, actually put a... 442 00:40:49.980 --> 00:40:52.199 And and and it's like, this is what we're doing. 443 00:40:52.260 --> 00:40:52.980 This is why we're doing it. 444 00:40:53.039 --> 00:40:59.219 Um, which is a, on its own is a nice moment, but then, but in the broader context, the rest of the time she just hates him. 445 00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:01.679 So she just hit it for the for the gadgets. 446 00:41:01.739 --> 00:41:02.460 I just hate it. 447 00:41:02.519 --> 00:41:06.300 I mean, I think she is genuinely having fun in that opening sequence. 448 00:41:06.360 --> 00:41:14.639 I think, you know, fish people and sand piranhas and all of that sort of thing is clearly something that's just really fun. 449 00:41:14.699 --> 00:41:20.579 And even though she and the doctor are bickering at the beginning there, she's not kind of upset by it. 450 00:41:20.579 --> 00:41:24.659 That does make adventuring with a doctor look terrifically good fun. 451 00:41:24.719 --> 00:41:33.119 I like that the directing between that opening, it's all really fast cut and like weird angles and the music. 452 00:41:33.179 --> 00:41:47.639 That and the scene where they're like annihilating the Blitz is really similar and it mirrors that excitement and even though it's frightening and scary, it's what she lived for with the doctor. 453 00:41:55.739 --> 00:42:00.539 So, at the end of this one, we have a mystery lady appearing again, somewhat briefly. 454 00:42:00.599 --> 00:42:02.519 I think somewhat CGI'd in, I've got to say. 455 00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:05.820 Green screened in. green screen. 456 00:42:05.880 --> 00:42:08.219 We all know it's green screen, but suddenly we all start saying CGI. 457 00:42:08.280 --> 00:42:14.460 It's madness With a very annoying assistance, played by another member of the thick of it cast. 458 00:42:16.380 --> 00:42:18.179 I can't remember. 459 00:42:18.239 --> 00:42:22.739 I wasn't engaging on the internet much back then, so I didn't know if people were already guessing who she was. 460 00:42:22.860 --> 00:42:26.940 Was it kind of seen as obvious or was there a, is it the Rani? 461 00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:27.960 Is it a new character? 462 00:42:28.019 --> 00:42:39.900 I think a lot of people were leaning towards the Rani because the idea of it still seemed very controversial, the idea of like a time lord sort of like changing gender at the time. 463 00:42:39.900 --> 00:42:44.760 And so I think most people going, oh, they won't do that or they won't be like brave enough to do that. 464 00:42:44.760 --> 00:42:47.699 And they were thinking, oh, they'll do something new and have the Rani. 465 00:42:47.940 --> 00:42:51.300 I was pretty sure it was the master. 466 00:42:51.300 --> 00:43:02.039 And I think because the big episode 11 Revelation that it was actually the Rani would have just fallen completely flat, like who the hell is that? 467 00:43:02.099 --> 00:43:03.239 You know? 468 00:43:03.300 --> 00:43:20.519 So it really had to be, it could only be the master, I think, because we'd seen 2 masters before, this is now Moffatt's been on the character and I just, you know, I think that casting, I think Michelle Gomez is the best master without a doubt. 469 00:43:20.579 --> 00:43:22.920 I think she's absolutely superb at it. 470 00:43:22.980 --> 00:43:27.420 And I love seeing her sort of pop up every so often. 471 00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:29.639 And we haven't seen her for a bit. 472 00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:31.920 And we only barely see her here. 473 00:43:32.219 --> 00:43:35.219 I think that this arc is actually pretty good. 474 00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:39.719 And I think that it's not the sort of arc that he's done before. 475 00:43:39.780 --> 00:43:43.619 He's done the 2 arcs previously, basically been about Amy. 476 00:43:43.679 --> 00:43:53.159 And this is much more of a sort of science fiction-y sort of arc, and I guess, about introducing a character who's important to the doctor. 477 00:43:53.219 --> 00:43:55.860 And I think this stuff's fun. 478 00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:58.139 Like Chris Addison's a great addition. 479 00:43:58.199 --> 00:44:03.659 I think this end scene view of the Nether sphere or one of its other many names. 480 00:44:03.719 --> 00:44:15.599 It's my favourite one so far in the series because it's been hinted at and we kind of know what it is, but the people we've seen that are all quite calm about it. 481 00:44:15.659 --> 00:44:25.800 I love that we get this PCSO's reaction and it's, it is one of absolute horror and they really lean into that dark aspect later. 482 00:44:25.860 --> 00:44:34.019 And, you know, it contrasts so well with just Chris's wonderfully cheery charmingness throughout. 483 00:44:34.199 --> 00:44:39.599 It's a wonderful, like, horrible revelation for this PCSO. 484 00:44:39.659 --> 00:44:43.139 I did do a little shaking my fist at it, though, when it was a Moffat. 485 00:44:43.199 --> 00:44:44.280 They're not really dead again. 486 00:44:44.340 --> 00:44:47.219 You can't let anyone stay dead, can you, muffin? 487 00:45:08.280 --> 00:45:11.159 Well, do whister, that's all we have time for this week. 488 00:45:11.219 --> 00:45:18.000 We'll be back next week for a sensible and utterly unremarkable 45 minutes of television in Kill the Moon. 489 00:45:18.300 --> 00:45:35.880 In the meantime, you can find us wherever you get your podcasts, and you can keep up with us on our website, FlightthroughEntirety.com, where you'll find links to our accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Mastodon, as well as links to our other podcast, Bondfinger, Jody Interterra, maximum power, and untitled Star Trek project. 490 00:45:36.420 --> 00:45:43.559 Until next time, may your partner always be kind and responsible enough to impress your space dad. 491 00:45:43.619 --> 00:45:46.079 Thank you very much for listening and good night. 492 00:45:46.139 --> 00:45:47.039 Good night. 493 00:45:47.099 --> 00:45:47.820 Good night. 494 00:45:47.940 --> 00:45:48.840 Good night. 495 00:45:54.900 --> 00:46:02.340 That was Flight Through Entirety, starring Nathan Bottomley, Hannah Cooper, Pete Lambert, and James Selwood, theme arrangement by Cameron Lamb. 496 00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:09.179 This episode, both as bad as one another, was recorded on the 28th of January 2023 and released on the 21st of May. 497 00:46:12.360 --> 00:46:16.380 Well, that's flight through entirety over for this week. 498 00:46:16.440 --> 00:46:22.199 If anyone needs to contact me, I'll be high up in the skies of high rule, collecting lizards and glueing fans to things. 499 00:46:22.260 --> 00:46:24.360 I'll see you in a couple of months. 500 00:46:30.420 --> 00:46:31.739 All right, well I think that was good. 501 00:46:31.800 --> 00:46:32.340 What do you think? 502 00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:34.559 We got to got our bitch on. 503 00:46:34.619 --> 00:46:35.400 It's been a while. 504 00:46:37.019 --> 00:46:41.460 I'm happy we found some positive things to say because their notes were all. 505 00:46:41.519 --> 00:46:44.639 My notes were mainly questions of meat picking holes in it. 506 00:46:44.699 --> 00:46:49.860 And yeah, I felt bad about that because then I realised, well, actually when I just watch it and I'm not analysing it. 507 00:46:49.920 --> 00:46:51.119 It's really fun story. 508 00:46:51.179 --> 00:46:53.400 Yeah, I thought, yeah, I agree. 509 00:46:53.460 --> 00:46:54.599 I mean, I had fun. 510 00:46:54.659 --> 00:46:57.420 I didn't hate it, but like it was, you know, yeah. 511 00:46:57.480 --> 00:46:58.079 Yeah. 512 00:46:58.139 --> 00:47:00.239 Yeah, I think there's none to be had, for sure. 513 00:47:00.300 --> 00:47:01.199 No, me too. 514 00:47:01.260 --> 00:47:15.239 I mean, I watch it when this is actually quite enjoyable, but I find it really difficult to enjoy because of, yeah, the sort of uneven nature of the problematic racism. 515 00:47:15.360 --> 00:47:22.739 I know one thing we haven't mentioned that I do like is the doctor's assumption that Clara fancies the guy. 516 00:47:22.739 --> 00:47:27.780 The young, handsome, dashing, time traveller. 517 00:47:27.840 --> 00:47:28.739 I do quite well. 518 00:47:28.739 --> 00:47:30.059 I like that they do that. 519 00:47:30.239 --> 00:47:33.420 It just makes him look like an idiot. as well. 520 00:47:33.480 --> 00:47:35.400 Like, it's more kind of just... 521 00:47:35.400 --> 00:47:42.659 I think Clara looks idiotic as well when the doctor's there smiling and, you know, cooing at them. 522 00:47:42.780 --> 00:47:45.360 It's like, surely, you know, he's crap at this stuff. 523 00:47:45.420 --> 00:47:46.559 You're meant to pick up on this. 524 00:47:46.619 --> 00:47:47.639 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 525 00:47:47.699 --> 00:47:48.780 Why hasn't she worked there? 526 00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:51.840 Why didn't she just go, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 527 00:47:51.900 --> 00:47:52.559 Yeah. 528 00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:53.099 Yeah. 529 00:47:53.159 --> 00:47:53.880 Yeah. 530 00:47:53.940 --> 00:47:55.860 I mean, and there is that theme running through. 531 00:47:55.920 --> 00:48:08.159 And everyone's telling, you know, the hierarchy of cleverness that the 3 characters tell us about that sort of almost implies and at the top of this is is the showrunner is like even cleverer than the doctor. 532 00:48:08.219 --> 00:48:18.420 And it's like, is the theme of this year what it's like when you formerly used to be a young, clever boy that the impossible, wonderful girls would flirt with. 533 00:48:18.480 --> 00:48:29.820 And now you discover that you're a middle-aged Scotsman, um, as a, who is a time lord and or showrunner, who's having to reconcile themselves to the fact that, you know, those brilliant girls are actually affecting younger people than you instead. 534 00:48:30.599 --> 00:48:36.119 Danny, I think Danny even asks, like, do you fancy him or something? 535 00:48:36.119 --> 00:48:59.940 And it made me kind of count up and realise, we have had every single one of the modern companions as there's been, they have either fancied him or someone has like asked if they fancied like a couple as one another, which really feels odd and stand out because it, it's like, surely we had, like even by 2005 reached the point of men and women can be friends without fancying one another. 536 00:49:00.059 --> 00:49:02.940 I mean, do you love him? 537 00:49:03.000 --> 00:49:05.460 And she says, no. 538 00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:07.019 And then he goes, come on. 539 00:49:07.079 --> 00:49:08.519 And she says, well, not in that way. 540 00:49:08.579 --> 00:49:10.800 And he's like, what other way is there? 541 00:49:10.860 --> 00:49:14.340 It's like, let's do it again. everyone knows what people mean when they say that. 542 00:49:14.400 --> 00:49:15.960 You know, like... 543 00:49:15.960 --> 00:49:17.880 It's like, yeah, he's like a brother. 544 00:49:17.880 --> 00:49:19.199 He's my best friend. 545 00:49:19.260 --> 00:49:20.880 He's my space guy. 546 00:49:20.940 --> 00:49:21.480 Yeah, weird.