Moffat on The Name of the Doctor and Amy and Rory

In a recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine, a reader asked how the Doctor's tomb could still be there if Clara saved his life. Moffat's response is as follows

I’ve often wondered about that. Fortunately, late one night, the Doctor turned up in person and explained it to me.

THE DOCTOR: Changing time is tricky. It’s a bit like a detective story: so as long there isn’t an actual body, you’ve got a certain amount of wiggle room – for instance, if the body has, rather conveniently, been burned on a boat in Utah. Here’s the thing: I can change the future so long as the future has not already been established as part of my own past. I can’t rescue Amy and Rory because I already know that I didn’t. But what do I know about Trenzalore? There’s a big monument that looks very like my TARDIS. There’s a temporal fissure leading to my timeline. Maybe it’s my grave. Maybe, one day, it’s my burial ground. Maybe it is something else entirely, and we got it all wrong. Don’t know. Don’t plan to find out for as long as possible. The main thing is, Clara still jumped into my time stream, and ended up helping me through all of my life. All that is established, unchanged – but there’s wiggle room!

2012: Looking Back

2012 has been a big enough year for Doctor Who. We've had the departure of the Ponds, the dawn of a new companion, the return of River Song, prequels, and much more.

The Ponds
We first heard the news that Amy and Rory would be leaving late last year. There was massive speculation as to how they would leave until it was announced that their final story would feature the Weeping Angels. At that point, most of the rumors turned to them being displaced back in time. The rumors turned out to be true, but with the twist of them jumping off a building first. I think no amount of rumors or time could have prepared us for the ending. If you didn't cry, you're not human.

The New Companion
The rumors of the new companion started out around January with rumors that Sofia Myles would play the new companion. Moffat was apparently trying to mislead us, as it turned out the new companion was to be played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. After that, there were no official announcements about her, only filming reports that seemed to indicate her name was Clara. The next we heard of her was her appearance in Asylum of the Daleks, which turned out to be the best-kept secret in all of Doctor Who since David Tennant's appearance in Series 7.2. After that, rumors were flying left and right about her character Oswin Oswald and whether she was the same character that would appear at Christmas. There were also rumors of Clara being a ghost, based on filming reports of the Doctor saying he's going to find Clara at the funeral scene and reports that Clara would die in the Christmas Special. When at long last the Christmas Special came, it raised more questions than it answered. Instead of us asking why there were two women who looked so much alike at different points in time, we're now asking why there are three and why they all have the same name. Not only that, but we're also asking why two of them died and whether she's going to die in every episode (as some fans have speculated).

River Song
River Song's appearance in The Angels Take Manhattan was a nice addition to the episode. The Ponds' last episode really wouldn't have worked without their daughter present. The episode wouldn't have been as heartbreaking if she wasn't there losing her parents. Also, I liked the touch of the same monster being present when Amy met River for the first and last times. Then there was the part where River had been pardoned. You could see the look on the Doctor's face when he heard this and realized that she was now free to roam the universe and would eventually find her way to the Library.

Prequels
2012 marked the return of the prequels. We started out with the excellent five-part Pond Life in August, written by Chris Chibnall. It's arguably the best television short story Doctor Who has ever attempted. Prequel to Asylum of the Daleks provided essential backstory to the episode, unlike Prequel to A Town Called Mercy and most of the prequels from Series 6, which either were unnecessary scenes or contained information already in the episode. The Great Detective and Vastra Investigates serve to set the tone of the characters in The Snowmen, with the Doctor being retired and Vastra, Jenny, & Strax assisting Scotland Yard.

P.S.

Here is an unshot scene from The Angels Take Manhattan specially made by the BBC with voice-over by Arthur Darvill. It features Brian Williams after the events of that episode.

The Angel's Kiss is Now Available for Download

The tie-in ebook for The Angels Take Manhattan is now available for download!

Amazon US
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Series 7, Part 1 Review

I do reviews now, reviews are cool.

Overall, not my favorite season, that will always be Series 4 or 5 (I can't decide). Steven Moffat promised big blockbuster events, and that is precisely what we got. Each episode stands out on its own and does not depend on any of the other episodes. The season really lived up to all the anticipation, and was probably worth the 8 month, 1 week wait.

Jenna–Louise Coleman's appearance in Asylum of the Daleks was probably the best-kept secret in all of Doctor Who history. Despite at least three screenings of the episode to the public, not one word was leaked on the internet. It took me completely off-guard, so much so to the point where I wasn't even sure if it was her or not. I was probably half-way through watching the episode when I decided, "yes, that actually is the new companion." It was quite possibly the most brilliant thing Moffat has ever done, especially seeing as it was apparently an afterthought. He apparently did not decide to have the actress for the new companion play Oswin until they were halfway through casting for the Christmas Special.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and A Town Called Mercy definitely trace the development of a darker Doctor. The Doctor was more prone to simply kill someone to save other people/dinosaurs. Amy's comment about "this is what happens when you travel alone for too long" seems to harken back to the tenth Doctor. The 10th Doctor traveled alone for a period of a few years and eventually went on to do the whole "Time Lord victorious" thing in The Waters of Mars. The Doctor needs someone by his side at all times, and I think this really shows that. All through Series 6 and 7, the Doctor has only had a companion intermittently, he only came back to Amy and Rory from time to time. He did not have a full-time companion like he has had in all the previous seasons. I think Clara is definitely going to humanize him again, and bring him back to the happier, lighter stance that he had before.

The Power of Three was the most anticipated episode for me, personally. I was really looking forward to seeing an 11th Doctor-UNIT episode. I was actually hoping they would track him down through a Code 9 (see The Aliens of London), and was a little disappointed that they traced him through the artron energy in the TARDIS. The mention of the Zygons was good, though I'm still confused as to why they were sitting in the snow with the Doctor holding a cabbage, especially seeing as it was June. Also, is it just me, or was the Doctor wearing the coat from Let's Kill Hitler in that scene? The mentions of K-9 and the Brig also made me happy as a fan of the classic series. The ending of the episode was rather rushed, with too much happening and the Doctor solving the problem too easily. The sonic screwdriver turned out to be the solution to the episode, which I thought was supposed to be a no-no. Having the Doctor just sonic a screen and solve all the problems does not seem like a proper Doctor Who ending, it's just too easy. The UNIT inclusion worked rather well, the episode was a proper invasion Earth story. The only thing really missing was Trinity Wells.

The Angels Take Manhattan was the first time an episode of Doctor Who made me cry, though I will attribute that to the fact that I hadn't taken my medication and actually had more than two emotions. It only made me cry the first time through, which I think was due to the fact that I had heard it was a tearjerker and was actually expecting to cry, but after watching it once, it just didn't have the same emotional effect. I don't buy the whole thing about reading the future in a book forcing that future to happen. It's been stated before that "sometimes, knowing your own future is what enables you to change it". Never has it been said that knowing your own future forces it to come true. When River or the Doctor says "spoilers" to prevent revealing the future, it's just been explained away as you might try to change your future, which could have disastrous consequences. It's the whole 1st Law of Time thing, never try to interfere in your own timeline. It's always been stated that you can attempt to change your future, even if it might not work. This thing in The Angels Take Manhattan where knowing your future forces it to happen just seems like it's completely out of nowhere. Also when Amy was about to leave, the Doctor said she was creating fixed time and that he could never come see her. I don't understand why he couldn't just come visit her without changing anything. I do feel like it was the best departure of any New Series companion other than Martha. Martha simply chose to leave, Amy chose to be with the one she loved. Amy didn't actually lose anything, she still had her husband and her daughter.

The only other remark I have on this season is that the episodes seem shorter. They are the same length, it just seems less is happening. That may just be me though, it seems like my perception of time alters from school year to school year.

A Fall With Grace

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at The Angels Take Manhattan, entitled A Fall With Grace.

Moffat Is Pure Genius

Seriously, he's been planning the New York aspect of this episode for far longer than anyone imagined. Melody regenerated alone in 1960s New York. Well, guess who's stuck in the past in New York and wants children to raise? That's right, her f*cking parents! Amy and Rory get to properly raise their daughter.

I think she regenerated again after moving out from her parents, and ended up as Mels. Then she was picked up by the Silence and turned into a psychopath.

Amy & Rory Aging Curiosities

So in The Power of Three, Amy says she thinks Rory and her have been traveling with the Doctor for ten years from their point of view. In A Town Called Mercy, she (or maybe it was Rory, I don't remember) commented about their friends noticing how fast their aging. That makes it sound like it's been much less than 10 years for the rest of Earth. In yesterday's episode, it's apparently 2012 (when it's not 1938). Assuming that's Amy and Rory's present, that means they've only been traveling with the Doctor for two years, but from a wibbly-wobbly perspective, it's been ten years. So Amy is 23/31 years old.

Rory mentions in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship that he's 31, seeing as he's talking to his dad, that's the age his dad thinks he is. So if that was in 2012 also, that means Rory was born in 1981 and is a good eight years older than Amy. That would make sense, seeing as in The Eleventh Hour, she was 19 and he had already finished nursing school and was working in a hospital. It doesn't work in the flashbacks in Let's Kill Hitler when Amy, Rory, and Mels are all little kids. Rory is obviously around the same Amy in the flashbacks. So how did he land a job at a hospital when he isn't even old enough to have finished college? Especially since he's been working there for 18 YEARS!

And then, AND THEN, <spoilers>in The Angels Take Manhattan, their gravestone says Amy was 87 when she died, and Rory was 82.</spoilers> So Amy is now somehow 5 years older than Rory. Huh? All evidence seems to suggest Rory is older than her. Unless <spoilers>the Angel zapped Amy back to an earlier point than Rory.</spoilers>

TL;DR Amy & Rory's ages =