The Girl In The Fireplace (2804/204)

[Jonzey]

Not when he can drop her back to the time and place she came from before anyone could notice.

That is true, but remember the first time he took Rose back and he was accidentally a year late?

[The Signal]

Well it can be a little touch and go, but the TARDIS seems to go where there is trouble (this is the main cause for wrong placements in time and space), aliens 1 year out, 1 year isnt too bad, so it went there, barring some sort of alien threat in France it woudl probably go where it was supposed to.

[Wraith Scientist]

Couldn't they just have used the TARDIS to go back to when she was alive?

[Jonzey]

Couldn't they just have used the TARDIS to go back to when she was alive?

No, cos he can't cross his own time path.

Which I don't think actually means anything, it's just their way of stopping Deus Ex Machinas of going back in time and stopping a problem before it starts.

[Flyboy]

Exactly. I've seen no romantic signs of affection from the Doctor at all. All of that stuff comes from the girls (Rose, SJS, Whatsername from this ep).

And who can blame them? I mean, I'm a straight guy but even I will admit that he is a good-looking man.



That's what I thought, but surely plucking a historical figure out of the timeline like that would have consequences on the future?

Yes you can call me FOB.


Anyway. I disagree that there was any romantacism on the Doctor's half.

[Hulabaloo]

Sometimes i feel people think into things too deeply.

However i do have my own thought;

Would a 18th Century Person really say; Who the HELL are you?

I mean come on, isnt that bad language or someat?

EDIT:

Looking over my last post and rewatching the ep, i do have to give Mickey his due when he takes Rose so that the Doctor can have some time on his own.

[Jonzey]

Sometimes i feel people think into things too deeply.

However i do have my own thought;

Would a 18th Century Person really say; Who the HELL are you?

I mean come on, isnt that bad language or someat?

EDIT:

Looking over my last post and rewatching the ep, i do have to give Mickey his due when he takes Rose so that the Doctor can have some time on his own.

Maybe the TARDIS translators went into expletive mode. The polarity probably needs reversing.

Edit: And yeah, I agree about Mickey. I think since the Doctor regenerated, Mickey sees him as more of an equal, and more 'normal' than he thought before. Which is why he makes those jokes about him and his woman-enticing skills and why he wanted to come along. I think he feared the Doctor slightly at first.

[Matt G]

Hmmm...

1. Definately more schmalzy than the average Who ep. OK, so it's not as bad as SG1's Chimera but...

2. Mickey was OK...but there wasn't really much for him to do here.

3. Are they seriously expecting us to believe the Doctor would be trapped in the 18th century.

Overall the Doctor as a character was cool here but the ep itself was iffy. Least good of the bunch IMO so far this season.

[BC - 303]

it wasnt brilliant, that was my though at first, but then i read this and i realised, it WAS brilliant. The mechanical men were great, not scary 4 me, but brilliant.
David T was exelent as per usual.
I liked the down play of Rose, not that i dont like rose, just shes TO main a charactor if you know what i mean.
I liked Mickey, and i hope he stays for a while. The ice guns were great.
i didnt get it all at first, but after a while i did.
moral of this stort: - Never get AI clockwork robots

[Hywel]

I really liked this episode. Everybody in the room jumped when something moved under the bed. Genius!

I loved the ending - the reveal of the ship's name was really well done.

[Easter Lily]

Anyway. I disagree that there was any romantacism on the Doctor's half.

I still think that there is enough ambiguity for the viewer to take whatever they want from it. The writers on Dr Who Confidential are not shy to highlight the romantic nuances so I guess the intent was there. Of course, others have taken it further. On Outpost Gallifrey I notice there's been a lot of discussion about what Reinette really meant when she said... "there comes a time when the lonely boy needs to learn how to dance". Of course, with a modern audience, it's inevitable that a large proportion of people will take that to mean "sex" a la The Doctor Dances.

Personally, I don't think that that reading of the episode fits in with the overall story. Not because I am squeamish about the idea but because the tone of the episode exudes a child-like quality about it... "the lonely boy", "my lonely angel"... This is why I like the Peter Pan idea. The Doctor is the little boy who never grows old... He chances upon Reinette as a child and becomes her protector seemingly throughout her life. Of course she's intrigued... she's intelligent, vivacious and a woman ahead of her time. The Doctor appears to be a man unlike any she has ever met. The mysterious stranger that pops in and out of her life at just the right moment.
I am convinced that the Doctor does reciprocate those feelings but ultimately he is still an adventurer. His loneliness while in some ways inevitable is also self-imposed. He does have feelings in varying degrees for all his companions and particularly for some of his female companions but he knows and they know that he has no pretensions to being domestic. He will go on, no matter what. His appetite for adventure is seemingly insatiable.

This is why even though the show's been bombarding us with all these romantic overtures of late, I'm not too worried about the Doctor getting tied down. To a large extent, I think it is important for Rose (and perhaps new viewers) to be faced with that stark eventuality of associating with a time lord.

[Willow'sCat]

I still think that there is enough ambiguity for the viewer to take whatever they want from it.

There was no ambiguity, the look he gave the grown up Reinette said Woof!

The old Doc would have barley noticed her attractiveness IMO.

On Outpost Gallifrey I notice there's been a lot of discussion about what Reinette really meant when she said... "there comes a time when the lonely boy needs to learn how to dance". Of course, with a modern audience, it's inevitable that a large proportion of people will take that to mean "sex" a la The Doctor Dances.

Well that is what I thought but then I do live in the gutter. And we never did see them dance.

[Easter Lily]

There was no ambiguity, the look he gave the grown up Reinette said Woof!

I suppose what I was trying to say was that people can take what they want from the episode. If they want to see romance they can, if they don't want to they can as well.
It wasn't a comment about the Doctor's appreciation of Reinette obvious physical attractions.
Frankly speaking, it's rather surprised me lately to hear more than one person say that the fourth doctor flirted with Romana because I never once thought he did. Obviously some people saw something there that I didn't.

Well that is what I thought but then I do live in the gutter. And we never did see them dance.

Well, apparently the weekly commentary suggests that it was really just a dance.
His singing "I could have danced all night" and his mention that the French do give good parties gave me the impression that there wasn't any "hanky panky".

[yaaayoubetcha]

I loved the ending - the reveal of the ship's name was really well done.

I would love to see a follow up ep at some point to see what the original point of the ship was and why, with the tech to travel thru time, the maintenance bots were clockwork.

I'm not ripping on the plot of this ep, I think it was excellent, i just think it would make a really great multi-doc ep down the line...get a regeneration in there in a few years and then have an ep set on the ship and have Tennant be on board as it's taking place near the timeline of this ep.

[ShadowMaat]

I really liked this episode. Everybody in the room jumped when something moved under the bed. Genius!

LOL! I jumped a foot! Mom said, "What the heck are you watching?!"