I enjoyed Clara's first outing in space. I like her a lot. It took me a while to warm up to Amy, and I'm so happy to like the Doctor's new companion right from the start. This episode was similar to Amy's first outing in space, "The Beast Below." That episode also involved a little child, with the companion trying to help her. Emelia Jones, who played Merry, is a good little actress. She was very believable and had some very nice moments.
I loved the look of this episode. The colors were so luscious and the effects were effective. I loved all of the aliens in the market, and I loved the Doctor's interactions with the aliens. The story ended up being a little convoluted, but there were some great moments, and there weren't any big mysteries (other than one, that I can think of) I felt needed to be solved.
Observations:
The opening of this episode was sweet. It was cute to see how Clara's parents met and how the leaf in her book is significant. It was a little creepy and "stalkerish," though, that the Doctor was hanging around. He could have taken the Tardis immediately to the exact moment Clara said to come pick her up, but instead he took a bunch of "side trips." I guess he's still trying to figure out the mystery of her.
It's cute to see Clara waiting on the stairs waiting for the Doctor to show up, clutching her book, "101 Places to See."
The Doctor tells Clara that he's been to Akhaten before - with his granddaughter. I'm assuming that that was from an earlier classic Doctor Who episode. I know that the Doctor traveled with someone he called his granddaughter. I don't know if she really was his granddaughter, and I don't know if they actually had an episode on Akhaten. However, it's cool that he's referring to one of his earlier regenerations, especially since it's the 50th anniversary of the show.
Clara eats the fruit before the Doctor even tells her that it's safe to eat. She's a brave one.
Clara looks like she's going to ask the Doctor about his "granddaughter," but when she finally catches up to him she doesn't. Darn it. I wanted to hear his answer.
Why doesn't the Tardis translate the languages of all of the aliens for Clara? There are some funny bits because she can't understand them, and the Doctor has to translate, but I thought the Tardis translates for them.
So, there are a couple of references in this episode that remind me of Once Upon a Time. Clara tells Merry a story of when she got lost, and after her mother had found her, her mother told her that no matter where she went, if she ever felt lost, she will always be there for her, and she will "always come and find" her. Sound familiar? Like the line that got a little old between Snow White and Prince Charming? Clara has to give something that she treasures to the alien to get the moped. Let's see that sounds a bit like August (Pinocchio) giving the string to The Dragon for the remedy to stop him from turning to wood.
The Doctor tells Clara that they need to give the alien something "precious" for the moped. And Clara gives her a ring. Now, that rings a bell too, doesn't it? *wink* We know what kind of person Clara is to be willing to give away her mother's ring in order to save Merry.
Last episode, a motorbike. This episode, a moped. What will it be in the next episode? *wink*
The song that Merry sings to try to help the Doctor was very pretty, and when everyone joined in with her, it gave me chills. The swaying of the people in the stands was pretty funny, but the moment was very effective. The Doctor's monologue was very effective also. Matt Smith does those monologues very well.
I like that the leaf comes back to pay a big part of the story.
I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see Merry again before the Doctor took Clara back home.
When the Doctor takes Clara home, she says that it looks different. Did something they do in Akhaten change anything at home? Hmm.
Ellie: Oh, my stars! Are you all right?
Doctor: Fine. Marvelous. Refulgent. Possibly a bit embarrassed. That's not dangerous, is it?
Ellie: What's not?
Doctor: Embarrassment.
Ellie: Not to my knowledge.
Doctor: Whew!
Doctor: She's not possible!
Clara: It's...
Doctor: Yes, it is. It so completely is.
Doctor: You know, I forgot how much I like it here. We should come here more often.
Clara: You've been here before?
Doctor: Yes, yes, yes. I came here a long time ago with my granddaughter.
Clara: Why is everyone here?
Doctor: For the Festival of Offerings. Takes place every thousand years or so when the rings align. It's quite a big thing, locally, like um, Pancake Tuesday.
Doctor: That's what's used for currency here. Psychometry - objects physically imprinted with their history. The more treasured they are, the more value they hold.
Clara: That's horrible.
Doctor: It's better than using bits of paper.
Clara: I know the perfect box.
Merry: What's this?
Clara: A spaceshippy thing. Timey Spacey.
Clara: I don't think it likes me.
Merry: And you were never scared again?
Clara: Oh, I was scared lots of times, but never of being lost.
Clara: Why are we walking away? We can't just walk away. This is my fault. I talked her into doing this.
Doctor: Listen, there is one thing you need to know about traveling with me - well one thing apart from the blue box and the two hearts - we don't walk away.
Doctor: Okay, let go.
Clara: I can't.
Doctor: Clara, you have to.
Clara: Why?
Doctor: Because it really hurts.
Clara: Can you open it?
Doctor: Technically, no. In reality - also no.
Doctor: Hello there. I'm the Doctor. And you met Clara. She was supposed to be having a nice day out. Still, it's early yet.
Doctor: Did I mention that the door is immensely heavy?
Doctor: You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back.
Merry: Yes.
Doctor: I see. But Clara's right. Absolutely never gonna happen.
Clara: It's awake? What's it doing?
Doctor: Oh, you know, having a nice stretch.
Clara: She didn't say "story," she said "soul."
Doctor: Same thing. A soul is made of stories, not atoms. Everything that ever happened to us, people we love, people we lost, people we found again, against all the odds.
Doctor: The elements came together to form new stars and new planets, and on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart forming shoes and ships and sealing-wax and cabbages and kings. Until, eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe.
Merry: Do you promise?
Doctor: Cross my hearts.
Doctor: Stay back! I'm armed! With a screwdriver.
Clara: I say leg it.
Doctor: Let it where exactly.
Clara: I don't know. The Lake District?
Doctor: The Lake District. Lovely. Let's definitely go there. We can eat scones. They do great scones in 1927.
Clara: You're going to fight it, aren't you?
Doctor: Regrettably, yes. I think I may be about to do that.
Clara: It's really big.
doctor: I've seen bigger.
Clara: Really?
Doctor: Are you joking? It's massive!
Clara: We don't walk away.
Doctor: No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run. We run and run, fast as we can, and we don't stop running until we are out from under the shadow. Now, off you pop. Take the moped. I'll walk.
Doctor (to himself): Any ideas? No, didn't think so. Righty-ho then.
Doctor: There's quite a difference, isn't there, between what was and what should have been? There's an awful lot of one, but there's an infinity of the other.
Doctor: Home again. Home again. Jiggety-jig.
Clara: If you want me to travel with you, then fine. As me. I'm not a bargain-basement stand-in for somebody else. I'm not going to compete with a ghost.
Next time: Cold War
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