Doctor Who Blog

Mother and Child

Here’s Amy and Melody. Aren’t they cute? Shame about the kidnapping, violence, war and shock revelations going on around them…

And what did you think of A Good Man Goes To War? Sound off in the comments section. We also have a TARDIS file up.

Doctor Who is on hiatus til the fall with this episode, but the DWIN website will continue to have goodies. We’re going to finally get back to putting up the Series 1 and 2 episodes this summer (we promise!) starting in the next couple of weeks as Space begins its next run through the Eccleston era. And of course we have our fantastic zine Enlightenment. And this summer, our fiction anthology, Myth Makers, is putting out its newest issue.

And if you love the new series and love to read and are in the Toronto area, then come out to Bakka Phoenix books next Saturday, June 18 for the launch of Time Unincorporated Volume 3. This is the first major collection of non-fiction writing about Doctor Who the new series ever released. It’s an amazing book (and I’d say this even if I wasn’t the co-editor) and is well worth a look. And it’ll help you get a Doctor Who fix during the off-season.

And come back to the Doctor Who blog for more fun and frivolity. We’re here for you, 24/7!

25 Comments...

Look for a young Lorna Bucket to make an appearance in the 2nd half of this season, inspiring her to look for him in her future.

Posted by Bryan Dogg  on  06/11  at  06:26 PM

Space isn’t looping back to Eccleston at the end of this cycle.  Merlin will be on instead.  :(

Hopefully the older episodes will return in the fall.  It would be nice if Space could integrate the specials with the regular episodes.

Posted by Bob  on  06/11  at  07:44 PM

For me, this was the first big dissapointment of the Moffat era.  Too much hype and setup that turned out to be only that.

A good man goes to war?  No… the Doctor does a sneak and rescue like usual.

He will rise higher than ever before, and fall so much further.  Really?  I didn’t notice either…

My wife called the Amy/River thing as the credits rolled on episdoe one, and we’ve been connecting the dots ever since, including the assumption that River was a bastardization of Pond (cemented with the line from Ildris).  Plus when we heard Melody… And all the looks throughout the season, well…  So strongly telegraphed I figured that had to be the big feint.

Apparently not.

But here’s the problem.  Why was this treated as such a dramatic, scary/bad, secret?  This is the day he finds out who I am, delivered in heavy, portent, terrible weight.  I can’t be there till the very end.  Um, sure you could.

Like the Doctor/prisoner, hunt/kill pre-credits sequence from ep 2, so much was done just to deliver a set piece to the audience, even though it’s indefinsible from a coherent story perspective.

Here’s to hoping the series 6b does a little better in the writing department.

Posted by Andrew  on  06/12  at  05:12 AM

Andrew, this is a bad thing for River, because after this point the Doctor will no longer know who she is. And she could only be there at the end because that’s what happened in the diary.

Posted by John  on  06/12  at  05:41 AM

If River is part Time Lord, then why didn’t she regenerate at the end of The Diary?  Obviously RTD never invisioned that River was part Rime Lord. Maybe Moffat will explain and expand on that later in the series?  Just feels like AB elephant in the room knowing she died and didn’t regenerate.

Posted by Rob  on  06/12  at  06:16 AM

I agree with Andrew, the portents of doom don’t make much sense, at least within the context of this episode (future episodes may elaborate on this—but again we’re asked to be patient for our delayed emotional reaction). I don’t have as much of a problem with River not showing up, although it does imply that she’s quite a prisoner to the future (both figuratively and literally).

The problem is that the relationship between the Doctor and River is becoming increasingly problematic. Her line to Amy to hold on because “everything is going to be fine” completely drains the tension over what is presumably coming next. It’s different when the Doctor says it to a someone because he doesn’t know. We (and all the children at home) can only trust that he’s the hero and will get them out of the problem. When River says it, it’s set in stone so to speak.

I do think her conversation with Rory at Stormcage at the beginning is quite poignant, as, like with the Doctor, she is moving to a point of withholding info from a father who won’t know her, while he will finally know her and mourn moments he wish he’d known. That works quite effectively.

I think it would be wise for Moffat to back off the strictly backward/forward gimmick and use it more sparingly. Nothing says they can’t have a few stories where there’s a bit of mutual forward momentum. Change it up a little. I’d love to see a comedy episode with River where the wrong combination of Doctor/River come together half way through an episode, complicating the plot.

Posted by Connie Wang  on  06/12  at  07:43 AM

> If River is part Time Lord, then
> why didn’t she regenerate at the
> end of The Diary?

This one might be defensible.  If memory serves (and mine is getting spottier, so don’t quote me) but I think there was an exchange between River and the Doctor that if he did it the power would burn out both his hearts.  You could take that to mean it would kill a Time Lord, and it did (her).

Posted by Andrew  on  06/12  at  07:53 AM

> she could only be there at the end
> because that’s what happened in the
> diary.

And do I admit to using the same argument with my friends who are casual viewers (who were unanimously underwhelmed by the sub-finale).  Probably the most apt response was “so we’ve been reduced to having to make excuses for the show?” :(

Posted by Andrew  on  06/12  at  07:56 AM

It’s the same “you can’t change history” excuse that’s been used over and over in the show. If it makes drama, I don’t have a problem with it.

But if it doesn’t satisfy you, how about: River couldn’t risk coming into contact with her younger self.

Posted by John  on  06/12  at  08:10 AM

At the end of the Library episode, River tells the Doctor that plugging himself into CAL would burn out his hearts and he wouldn’t be able to regenerate. Amazingly, Moffat covered himself off even that far back!

Posted by Graeme  on  06/12  at  10:34 AM

I think the idea is that the ‘fall’ is supposed to be the Doctor’s discovery that his fame has spread but only as the greatest warrior ever, and that this reputation has built to the point where people are prepared to make a weapon out of his friends’ child.

However, I just offer that as information, not because I’m convinced because a) I think that should hardly be news to the Doctor (Davros said pretty much the same thing to him in Journey’s End) and b) like Andrew, I kind of feel it failed to sell me on how it was any different than anything else the Doctor does, beyond the inclusion of lesbian Silurians.

That said, I thought Neve McIntosh and Dan Starkey, two actors whose performances as Silurians and Sontarans respectively have previously unimpressed me, really delivered, Starkey particularly.

Posted by Graeme  on  06/12  at  10:41 AM

I wonder if Rory is actually the “Good Man” going to war?  Especially since the Doctor made a point of telling whats-her-name eye-patch woman that he basically wasn’t a good man (when he said a good man doesn’t need rules).
Just a thought.
Obviously the River being Amy and Rory’s baby had been suspected throughout this series, and the name Melody at the beginning cemented it for me…but I still thought the reveal at the end was done brilliantly by all involved.
The rest of the episode had it’s ups and downs for me - some great character moments with the Doctor’s anger, Amy with the baby, River with Rory etc…but the whole Headless Monks and interstellar Army whatever stuff left me a bit cold.
And the Doctor blowing up the Cybermen’s ships just because they MIGHT know where Amy was seemed somewhat out of character, no matter what the circumstances.

However, it all leaves us with some wonderful possibilities for the rest of the series in the Autumn.

Posted by Julie  on  06/12  at  02:34 PM

Oh and I nearly forgot - we didn’t get it here, but the BBC transmission in the UK had another bit right after the end credits and that brightly coloured BBC logo.  A single close-up shot of a skeleton hand on the ground holding a sonic screwdriver…and a line underneath saying “Time is running out” (or words to that effect).

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!

Posted by Julie  on  06/12  at  02:38 PM

So ya…..why were the cybermen in this episode? The episode was okay. The big revelation as to who was River Song didn’t come as a real shocker for 2 reasons. 1) It’s been one of the popular theories buzzing on the internent for a while, and 2) I kinda figured out that there would be a connection of some sort weeks ago when I thought about the names Pond & River. I have only watched it once so far so I really don’t want to pass judgement yet but so far I’d say so-so.

Posted by Doug Grandy  on  06/13  at  07:18 AM

1) It’s been one of the popular theories buzzing on the interNET for a while. I really need to spell check before I click submit.

Posted by Doug Grandy  on  06/13  at  07:23 AM

I really really hope the mid-season finale is not Dr Who’s ‘jump the shark’ moment. I’ll have to wait until the end of the full season to see if that comes to pass or not.

And I, too, think that Rory is the “good man” River is guilty of killing…

Posted by LarryD  on  06/13  at  08:07 AM

Rupert Grint would be BRILLIANT as the next Doctor Who. The Doctor made clear several times that he wished to be ginger, and so it would be great to fulfill that desire with the perfect actor. That actor would be Rupert Grint. PLEASE spread the word! He would add the requisite humour and intensity, yes, but also a refreshing and much-needed visual change. Too many people are fixed on other actors simply due to trite fan popularity (like Benedict Cumberbatch or Patrick Stewart, etc.), or absurd inclusions of names just for inclusion’s sake (like Samuel Jackson or Daniel Radcliffe, etc.). However Rupert would be ideal. Let’s begin a solid fan-based, grass-roots campaign to see this come to fruition!  Indeed, we hope this idea gets spread and finds its way to Dr. Who producers and even to the actor himself! Best.

Posted by Sara  on  06/13  at  12:04 PM

Ha! I realise it was several weeks ago when I said that River’s time with the Doctor was going to end, but never did I imagine us to actually witness her birth/death. So one imagines now that River’s travels with the Doctor have come to an end - unless of course he chooses to revisit a moment that he spent with her? ‘Cos we all know that it’s possible that time can be rewritten and that if he wants to see her, he can, if it means that time isn’t changed.

Posted by Rachel  on  06/13  at  05:49 PM

I’ve been underwhelmed all season.  I just haven’t gotten into the whole Amy dynamic.  But this story gave me goosebumps in a few spots.  It is by far the best of the Matt Smith episodes.  I don’t spend much time with internet buzz, so the River revelation totally blew me away.  And “Would you like me to repeat the question” is one of the best delivered lines ever.  Now I need to go back and watch the last two seasons knowing what I now know.

Posted by John  on  06/14  at  07:43 PM

@john: With Space now in HD it would be nice if they were to go back and show eps. 1-7 again before starting on the second half of this season.

Posted by The Observer  on  07/07  at  08:56 AM

Awful, awful show - ruined the season for me. Im through with the left-wing agenda that these ‘progressives’ have diluted a great adventure show with. Since the relaunch the show has not been fun, only irritating.

Posted by Jorge  on  07/13  at  03:37 AM

This episode confused me so much. How did Rory get on the Cyber Ship? How did Rory get to Storm Cage with the TARDIS if he was alone? The questions that got answered were: How did River end up in 1969 America? Answer: She was brought there to keep her away from the Doctor. Next question: Who were River’s parents? Answer: Amy and Rory. Next question: Who was the ‘Good man that went to war’? Answer: Rory. Next question: Who did River kill who was so great? Answer: Umm… oops? I don’t have an answer to that one but I have a theory! Steven Moffat is using that to sound like it is obviously the Doctor but I think it his cleverly disquised and the real man she kills is Rory. The reason I think this is we have seen Rory die in… what? 3 or 4 episodes already?

Posted by Ryan  on  07/20  at  05:22 PM

I have read all the blogs, but no matter how much I watch it now, I can’t see past David Tennant as the real Doctor, so much more believable and twist in the tale when will his daughter turn up??

Posted by Jazza  on  08/13  at  11:54 AM

> when will his daughter show up

Well, given she was the missing link between acting and claymation, hopefully never.

Posted by Andrew  on  08/13  at  11:59 AM

thanks for the share.

Posted by Tahir ahsan  on  05/23  at  06:58 AM

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