The Impossible Astronaut (3201)

[BloomGate]

I did raise an eyebrow at the Secret Service agent myself actually...

I didn't think it would just be me.

[pbellosom]

It is insane how quickly this came out:

http://store.qmxonline.com/My-Myster...ter_p_127.html

[Blencathra]

LOL. I'll have to get one of those.

[SaberBlade]

JFK had Abraham Holden, the first black Secret Service agent (Kennedy personally appointed him). So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Nixon may have had a black Secret Service agent but I will admit, he did come off as the episodes token racial minority character.

Rory's English.. 13 C is a warm summer day here

Plus it was filmed last July which means we're all lucky Rory and the others weren't filming everything naked. God knows how hot July in Utah gets.

[Admiral Mappalazarou]

Critic reactions.

Interesting mix of responses.

Colvile's review in particular made me aware of the parallels to previous Moffat episodes, and surprisingly when rewatching the scene when River groans about her future with the Doctor to Rory - I thought of Girl in the Fireplace;

- "My Doctor." (also used by Harriet Jones and other characters, but not in River's remorseful 'missed opportunity' tone)
- "Every time we meet I am closer to him and he is further away from me." - paraphrased because I can't recall the exact quote


I'm not saying they are related, but it did remind me of the episode. Especially since it is suggested that both River and Renette had 'more than friends' feelings for the Doctor.

[Galileo_Galilee]

River Song was sick too, so I don't think it's a pregnancy. I think the sickness is some sort of reaction to the alien's abilities, and may be some sort of side effect to them.

You know the companion I'd like to see again?

The Doctor's granddaughter.

Susan Foreman.

I'd like to know what she's been doing.

[Blencathra]

Something that idly crossed my mind while watching is that the aliens in the warehouse had left some sort of gooey secretion all over everything

Spoiler:

which reminded me of The Eleventh Hour when Amy picked up the Doctor's sonic

Spoiler:

Prisoner Zero never struck me as being a particularly "oozy" type.

It's probably nothing. But fun to speculate.

[P-90_177]

I'll let Darren know he can close the forum..

If we're not going to discuss the episode and come up with theories about what we think could happen next then what's the point of being here?

To discuss what we thought about the episode and enjoy eachothers company.

Besides I'm not saying not to come up with theories. I'm saying Moffatt is usually so off the wall that anything you do think off will more than likely, ultimately prove to be wrong.

Something that idly crossed my mind while watching is that the aliens in the warehouse had left some sort of gooey secretion all over everything

Spoiler:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5228/...6986d34d_z.jpg

which reminded me of The Eleventh Hour when Amy picked up the Doctor's sonic

Spoiler:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5182/...d76bfda2_z.jpg

Prisoner Zero never struck me as being a particularly "oozy" type.

It's probably nothing. But fun to speculate.

That's actually a pretty good point. But then again the Silence don't look to be particularly oozy either. However.......

Spoiler:

We do know from the season 6 trailer that at some point Amy and Rory potentially find themselves back on the Old Tenth Doctors TARDIS potentially during his regeneration so it could be that The Silence have been effecting the Doctors life for quite some time.........

Having said that I'm fairly sure The Silence aren't going to be the big enemy that the Doctor has to face. They seem more like they could be lackies or just a stepping stone to someone or something alot bigger.

[Teddybrown]

Something that idly crossed my mind while watching is that the aliens in the warehouse had left some sort of gooey secretion all over everything

Spoiler:

which reminded me of The Eleventh Hour when Amy picked up the Doctor's sonic

Spoiler:

Prisoner Zero never struck me as being a particularly "oozy" type.

It's probably nothing. But fun to speculate.

The slimeness will be answered in Part 2
I accidentally read part of a synopsis for part 2 and that whole set up will be explained I think, or it will be implied

Also, pbellosom posted this in the Series 6 discussion thread
http://omfgerbear.tumblr.com/post/45...tions-of-their

Its a list of possible moments where the Silence could be sighted or indicated in series 5
Anyone want to check them out?

[Billz]

It is insane how quickly this came out:

http://store.qmxonline.com/My-Myster...ter_p_127.html

I know a few fangirls who would kill to have that poster.

[pbellosom]

Also, pbellosom posted this in the Series 6 discussion thread
http://omfgerbear.tumblr.com/post/45...tions-of-their

As stated in that thread there's another one in the Lodger at around 13:53 that the list maker seemed to miss. I'm fairly certain the Lodger ones are deliberate, but the Big Bang seems more likely to be one of the crew walking in front of the camera by accident.

[P-90_177]

The slimeness will be answered in Part 2
I accidentally read part of a synopsis for part 2 and that whole set up will be explained I think, or it will be implied

Also, pbellosom posted this in the Series 6 discussion thread
http://omfgerbear.tumblr.com/post/45...tions-of-their

Its a list of possible moments where the Silence could be sighted or indicated in series 5
Anyone want to check them out?

I've checked all but the Lodger and Big Bang one. Certainly I can remember the bit from the Lodger because I've always thought it seemed a bit random. As was how Amy suddenly decided to mess with one of the TARDIS controls in The Eleventh Hour.

The one from the BEast Below I never noticed but it is so frightningly obvious when you see it.

The Victory of the Daleks example is a bit more vague. I'm not hundred percent convinced by that one.

[sparklegem]

Thanks to everyone that made plain why we are calling the new aliens The Silence.

Also, pbellosom posted this in the Series 6 discussion thread
http://omfgerbear.tumblr.com/post/45...tions-of-their

Its a list of possible moments where the Silence could be sighted or indicated in series 5
Anyone want to check them out?

I've checked all but the Lodger and Big Bang one. Certainly I can remember the bit from the Lodger because I've always thought it seemed a bit random. As was how Amy suddenly decided to mess with one of the TARDIS controls in The Eleventh Hour.

The one from the BEast Below I never noticed but it is so frightningly obvious when you see it.

Wow, really interesting. The thing that makes these baddies so scary is the same thing that could lead us to potentially seeing them when they are not there. I completely agree that The Beast Below is very obvious. Not sure about the Eleventh Hour ones. For the Lodger, I thought it was just Amy looking at the phonograph horn and being disgruntled with the Doctor, but now that people have pointed out that Amy does the weird intake of breath thing twice in the episode, I'm more convinced that there is something to it. Plus, we now know that the Silence are somehow connected to the Lodger time engine.

With regard to the Big Bang, I initially thought those dark shapes behind the sarchophagi were just the stands holding the sarchophagi up, but in two frames when the camera is at roughly the same position, those dark things have moved--in the second frame you can see much more of a head shape. Plus, I don't think the black figure fluttering out of the frame was an accidental crew member--the show shoots enough takes of each scene that I would imagine they would never be in the position where they would have to include something like that. I can't believe I didn't see it before, but I am now kind of freaked out by those black figures.

I wonder how much explanation the actors got when filming these foreshadowing scenes--if they knew how they were going to play out in season 6 or if they were just told "act as if you suddenly see something startling, and then keep going about your usual business".

[Teddybrown]

Thanks to everyone that made plain why we are calling the new aliens The Silence.
Wow, really interesting. The thing that makes these baddies so scary is the same thing that could lead us to potentially seeing them when they are not there. I completely agree that The Beast Below is very obvious. Not sure about the Eleventh Hour ones. For the Lodger, I thought it was just Amy looking at the phonograph horn and being disgruntled with the Doctor, but now that people have pointed out that Amy does the weird intake of breath thing twice in the episode, I'm more convinced that there is something to it. Plus, we now know that the Silence are somehow connected to the Lodger time engine.

With regard to the Big Bang, I initially thought those dark shapes behind the sarchophagi were just the stands holding the sarchophagi up, but in two frames when the camera is at roughly the same position, those dark things have moved--in the second frame you can see much more of a head shape. Plus, I don't think the black figure fluttering out of the frame was an accidental crew member--the show shoots enough takes of each scene that I would imagine they would never be in the position where they would have to include something like that. I can't believe I didn't see it before, but I am now kind of freaked out by those black figures.

I wonder how much explanation the actors got when filming these foreshadowing scenes--if they knew how they were going to play out in season 6 or if they were just told "act as if you suddenly see something startling, and then keep going about your usual business".

Times like these I really wish i had the DVDs now, so I could go back and rewatch these
Time to look on youtube!

[P-90_177]

Yeah it made me wonder how much info they were given. But quite likely they were just told a certain way to act at a certain moment and they did it. They might not have any idea why.