The Bells of St
John
Central Premise Recycled From: “Silence in the Library” blended with “The Long
Game” and garnished with just a soupcon of “Partners in Crime”.
That, or “The War Machines”.
Moffat
Autorecycling: Mysterious force absorbing people into it; person
trapped in alternate dimension sending video warning to others,
“Don't click” = “Don't Blink”; “I don't know where I am” =
“Hey, who turned out the lights?”/“Are you my mummy?” Moffat
Moppets (two of them); spoon-headed robots with the faces of absorbed
people; Monks; the Doctor becoming obsessed with some unlikely woman;
the Tardis phone ringing; jammy dodgers; Amy Pond Williams apparently
wrote a novel called Summer Falls. For the second time this
season, someone is clinically dead for enough time to cause brain
damage and yet wakes unaffected.
Recycling Other
People: Clara miraculously gets mad computer skillz, like Donna in
“Journey's End.” The Doctor rides a motorbike, like in the McGann
Telemovie and “The Idiot's Lantern”. Lincoln and Haisman yet
again uncredited.
Evil Household
Objects: The wifi.
Doctor Who!: Clara
says it, and he goes on about how much he enjoys hearing it.
Outfits! (hats are
no longer cool): Monk's robe, until monks are not cool that is. The
fez does make a couple of cameos.
Small Child!:
Clara's babysitting two of them, and another one turns up in the
cafe. Miss Kizlett turns out to be one on the quiet.
Murray Gold's Top
Ten: Abysmal Disney kids' movie comedy music as the Doctor gets
changed.
Clara Dies Due To:
Being zapped by the spoon-head, then revived as above. Twice.
Clara's Job of the
Week: Child-minder.
“Run, you clever
boy, and remember”: turns up as a painting title and a wifi
password mnemonic.
Topical Reference
to Puzzle Future Generations: the London Riots of 2011 were
apparently down to the baddies as well. There's something which can
be mistaken for a Tardis at Earl's Court (no doubt in the Doctor Who
Exhibition, though Matthew Kilburn points out that there's also a police box in Earl's Court Road).
Gratuitous Plot
Hole of the Week: Who gives Clara the Doctor's phone number as a
helpline, and why?
Continuity Frakup
of the Week: Miss Kizlet probably ought to be a younger person; she
was picked up by the Great Intelligence as a child and the
wifi operation can't have been running for longer than about ten years, and yet she's clearly
in her sixties.
Nostalgia UK:
Reverse nostalgia-- the Shard is new, but give it ten years and
setting a story on the Shard will sound like setting one on the Post
Office Tower.
Item Most Likely to Wind Up as a Toy: No really marketable monsters this week, so we'll
have to settle for Clara, and the Doctor in yet more outfits,
spoonhead format, and so forth. “Summer Falls” is already a downloadable
e-book.
