 |
| Any excuse to include a picture of Sara Kingdom. |
Central Premise Recycled From: The
Three Doctors (Clara: “There's three of them now!” Kate
Lethbridge-Stewart: “I think there's a precedent for that.”).
Moffat Auto-Recycling: Moppets (see
below); the Doctor's mad romance with a beautiful historical figure,
including antics on a white horse. Something nasty's happened to
seemingly innocent statues. Sonic screwdriver as penis-substitute
(The Curse of the Fatal Death). Nasty aggressive aliens which turn
out to be OK sorts, once you negotiate with them. The Doctor as
saviour, particularly of small children. Trenzalore.
Recycling Other People: The Moment is a
mashup of Neil Gaiman's Sandman characters Death and Delirium, and
Gaiman's own Idris from “The Doctor's Wife”, with an arguable
element of Head Six from Battlestar Galactica thrown in. The Big Red Button
from “Journey to the Centre of the Tardis”. A ghost
shows the Doctor events to come (Trial of a Time Lord and/or
Warriors' Gate). Nightmare of Eden featured images containing real
live monsters which get out and wreak havoc (there's also elements of
the wizard art in the Harry Potter series). The Bad Wolf makes a
reappearance. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life features a Machine
That Goes Ping. The Sarah Jane Adventures episode “Mona Lisa's
Revenge” featured paintings coming to life. Memory-wiping people
and Captain Jack's repeated deaths (Torchwood). Wish for the Doctor
to save you and he will (qv Russell T. Davies). Alan Moore and David
Lloyd's DWW comic “Black Legacy” involved a superweapon with a
personality. Gallifrey's fate is a mashup of what happens to the
Fendahl's planet in “Image of the Fendahl”, and how the Master hides his
Tardis in “The Keeper of Traken”. "The Judgment of Sutekh" by Lawrence Miles (history has been rewritten, but nobody knows about it).
Moffat Simultaneously Recycling Himself
And Other People: Motorbikes in the Tardis (The Doctor Who Telemovie,
The Idiot's Lantern and The Bells of St John). The gag about Queen
Elizabeth I marrying the Doctor has been ongoing since 2007. The
Silent also memory-wipe people.
Evil Household Objects: River Song's
red shoes are deadly enough to warrant inclusion in the Black
Archive.
Doctor Who! “I'm looking for the
Doctor...” “Well, you've certainly come to the right place...”
Hats! Tennant and Smith meet
fez-to-fez.
Moffat Moppets! The imminent
destruction of Gallifrey is made poignant by the device of including
as many gratuitous sad-looking children as possible, including one
carrying a stuffed rabbit (well, if Gallifrey has cats and mice,
presumably it could have rabbits as well).
Murray Gold's Top Ten: The Gallifrey
battle scenes provide yet another opportunity to go all Carmina
Burana on us. Carl Orff *did* write a few other pieces, you know.
Clara's Job This Week: Schoolteacher,
at Coal Hill School. At least she seems to have given up dying for
the moment.
Continuity Frakup of the Week: At least
three, all deliberate. Tom Baker's presence as The Curator, and the
number of regenerations the Doctor has used so far (plus Moffat's own
remarks on the same), are sure to keep the hashtags active until
Christmas. Less remarked-upon is the fact that one of UNIT's pictures
shows Mike Yates with Sara Kingdom-- did the First Doctor secretly
drop round UNIT in the 1970s/1980s, or did the parallel-universe Sara
of “The Destroyers” get her hands on a Dalek time machine?
Other Frakups: One UNIT soldier sports
a full beard (perhaps UNIT has laxer hair regulations than the rest
of the military?). The hut in the desert contains leaves and
agricultural equipment (that's one rapid desert?). Although the
Zygons copy clothing and accessories, they don't copy Osgoode's
inhaler or, apparently, Kate's mobile phone (since, when Kate
changes into her Zygon form in the Black Archive, her phone doesn't
change too).
Continuity Resolutions: Most of the
problems with the Zygons get either resolved or flagged up, e.g. how
they manage to know so much about the people they duplicate, and the
fact that their shape-shifting includes clothing and accessories
(though not inhalers). The memory thing
explains how none of the past Doctors and companions involved in “The
Five Doctors” remember its events.
Hurt or Eccleston? Regeneration scene
aside, about the only lines that would need changing were Eccleston
to play the War Doctor are the one calling John Hurt “Granddad”,
and the one referring to his “posh gravelly” voice (but
substitute “Jug-Ears” and “Northern”, and you'd be fine).
Nostalgia UK: It's an Anniversary
Special, so practically every second minute involves some sort of
shoutout to past history. So many people have been involved in
spotting them that I'm just going to refer you all to Google.
Item Most Likely To Become a Toy: It
just amazes me that there has been no release of a John Hurt action
figure yet; although apparently a
War Doctor Sonic Screwdriver was released as a convention exclusive
at the Doctor Who Celebration. Oh, and if anyone from Character Options is reading
this (evidence points to no, but what the hell), I'm adding a request
for a Night of the Doctor McGann to my usual request for a dress-up
Madame Vastra and Jenny.
