The Doctor's Wife (3204)

[GeekFights]

Favorite line:
Uncle:Just keep back from this one. She bites!
Idris: Do I? Excellent! Biting's excellent! It's like kissing. Only there's a winner.

I loved this episode and am mostly trying wrap my head around the Tardis existing all at once (time-wise). Not worrying about that, I think this is the perfect time story-wise for us to be introduced to the Tardis. We know that big things are happening on the show (with River and Amy and the previous episodes) and sometimes it's easy to forget that the Tardis is more than a really really cool toy. This episode not only changed how the Doctor feels about her (confirming their relationship that was one of actions but no words previously) but how I feel as well.

[mathpiglet]

I may be the only one, but I didn't like this episode much at all. I have tried, but I do not like the latest incarnation of the doctor as being to manic for my tastes. I've enjoyed Dr. Who for many years and I'm losing interest.

[Alan]

Favorite line:
Uncle:Just keep back from this one. She bites!
Idris: Do I? Excellent! Biting's excellent! It's like kissing. Only there's a winner.

I loved this episode and am mostly trying wrap my head around the Tardis existing all at once (time-wise). Not worrying about that, I think this is the perfect time story-wise for us to be introduced to the Tardis. We know that big things are happening on the show (with River and Amy and the previous episodes) and sometimes it's easy to forget that the Tardis is more than a really really cool toy. This episode not only changed how the Doctor feels about her (confirming their relationship that was one of actions but no words previously) but how I feel as well.

Yeah, those lines you chose there were just some of the great ones to come out of this great episode! Not only did more wonderfully funny lines come out of this episode add to the massive list of unique Doctor Who humour but it also added more to the 50-year mythology and to the Doctor's back story with his TARDIS and even evolved his relationship with his great ship too! I certainly know that I won't ever look at that brilliant blue box in the same way ever again!

I truly hope Steven Moffat gets Neil Gaiman back to write more for Doctor Who! I think he's well-suited to writing for this show judging by this episode and I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't alone in thinking that!

[Blencathra]

I agree Alan, I'm not going to look at the TARDIS in the same way again either. That one episode has changed everything for me and so much more for the better. I mean we all knew the TARDIS was alive but how much? Well now we know and she's wonderful.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3505/...d17d396b_o.gif

[Sealurk]

I may be the only one, but I didn't like this episode much at all. I have tried, but I do not like the latest incarnation of the doctor as being to manic for my tastes. I've enjoyed Dr. Who for many years and I'm losing interest.

Really? Well, to each their own. Personally the Eleventh Doctor is easily, without a doubt, my favourite incarnation so far, and I suspect he will remain so until the end of the entire series, but I can understand that the manic aspect of his personality could be off-putting. After the (for me) all too human and (over) emotional Tenth Doctor, I love the renewed sense of him being alien, ancient and ever so slightly odd.

Yeah, those lines you chose there were just some of the great ones to come out of this great episode! Not only did more wonderfully funny lines come out of this episode add to the massive list of unique Doctor Who humour but it also added more to the 50-year mythology and to the Doctor's back story with his TARDIS and even evolved his relationship with his great ship too! I certainly know that I won't ever look at that brilliant blue box in the same way ever again!

I truly hope Steven Moffat gets Neil Gaiman back to write more for Doctor Who! I think he's well-suited to writing for this show judging by this episode and I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't alone in thinking that!

Ditto. The reviews and appreciation for this episode have been near universal in their praise and often, adoration. My biggest problem with it is simple - it should have been a two-parter, at least! I've always had a soft spot for the TARDIS, even when I haven't particularly been taken with an incarnation of the Doctor, and I've often wondered how it perceives the Doctor, what he does, has done and evidently, will do. Not only will I never look at the TARDIS the same way again, I'll never look at old episodes the same way either!

I agree Alan, I'm not going to look at the TARDIS in the same way again either. That one episode has changed everything for me and so much more for the better. I mean we all knew the TARDIS was alive but how much? Well now we know and she's wonderful.

Previously I suspected the TARDIS was alive but so alien as to be near impossible to communicate with, that she or it had an intellect but that it was so vast, different, ancient and quiet, maybe even a little cold or disconnected because of it's nature as to simply not perceive the universe the same way as humans or even Time Lords. But now, I find I actually love the idea that the TARDIS wanted to see the universe and deliberately let the Doctor steal her. And I especially love that she is so fond of him - that scene where they talk for the very last time is going to stay with me for a very long time.

There is no doubt in my mind that this has become my all-time favourite episode of Doctor Who. It is also, in perhaps an odd way, the best advertisement for good fan fiction too!

[Alan]

I agree Alan, I'm not going to look at the TARDIS in the same way again either. That one episode has changed everything for me and so much more for the better. I mean we all knew the TARDIS was alive but how much? Well now we know and she's wonderful.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3505/...d17d396b_o.gif

Totally! No other show I know could give such a beautiful voice and personality to a ship in the way Doctor Who did with the TARDIS. The fact that they both stole each other away from Gallifrey to see EVERYTHING...its magical.

"I just want to say you know YOU have never been very reliable."

"And you have?"

"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go."

"No, but I always took you to where you NEEDED to go".

The bored Time Lord that wanted to see the universe and interact with the people he meets and help out when he can and the retired TARDIS that still had so much more life in her and still had so much more to see...what a wonderful partnership and great explanation for all these adventures!

[GeekFights]

My biggest problem with it is simple - it should have been a two-parter, at least!

I disagree. I think that wrapping up the story succinctly, even when it meant leaving out all of the little bits that Gaiman thought through like Auntie and Uncle's backstories, was a good idea. I've read plenty of books where I could tell that the writer loved the world they created so much that they couldn't leave anything out and those books turn out with too much exposition (not that I'm saying that's the case, I'm just saying that Gaiman is probably used to not using all of the material he creates in the final product in order to maintain cohesion and pace).

I am all for the rest of the material being released as bonuses for fans who want it, but I think that the episode was wonderfully paced as is.

Also, I kind of like having jumping off points for other stories/fan fiction/etc. Implying House's history with Time Lords without going into details gave me tons of ideas for stories in that pocket universe.

[rosey_angel]

Awesome episode. I was nervous when they put the TARDIS into the woman because I have always imagined what she would say to him, and I thought they might screw it up with canon. Lucky for me, she was every bit as I thought she would be. I always liked the idea that the TARDIS was kind of mother-Henning him. He always thought he was so good and she is obviously the star, and now they have shown that. More manic and odd then I thought, but that makes sense because she is an odd being in a human body. I love that she saw their leaving Gallifry differently; he thinks he stole her but in reality she stole him. And I love the line about her taking him where he needed to go. I read a fanfic once where the doctor complains that the TARDIS lever listens to his directions after he lands where/when he shouldn't have but Rose says that wherever they land they are needed. I like that they made that canon. I laughed out loud when the TARDIS incarnation is introduced and Amy says “did you wish really hard?” or something to that effect. And then her name – “sexy”. You just know there are going to be jokes about that later, when the scars have healed a bit.

I like the line about biting being like kissing only there’s a winner, similar to the 2007 Jekyll incarnation when referring to killing people “It's like sex. Only there's a winner”.

The only downside, and this is a very minor downside, is that they didn’t show more of the TARDIS interior. Amy and Rory were running through a lot of halls, I thought they might duck through the pool room, try to hide in the closet, run through the library, that sort of thing. But like I said, not a very big deal.

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

The Best.

[mizzoueng]

It was a great episode, I thought the noise the TARDIS made was a result of the equipment inside but now it looks like it is actually the voice/call of the TARDIS.

Funniest part for me was when they were arguing about the pull sign on door of the TARDIS. The Doctor always pushes it open and the sign clearly says "Pull to Open".

The TARDIS graveyard had to be the strangest thing. Each was very different and some even looked militant. Others looked built for speed (large thrusters, etc).

[Alan]

It was a great episode, I thought the noise the TARDIS made was a result of the equipment inside but now it looks like it is actually the voice/call of the TARDIS.

Funniest part for me was when they were arguing about the pull sign on door of the TARDIS. The Doctor always pushes it open and the sign clearly says "Pull to Open".

The TARDIS graveyard had to be the strangest thing. Each was very different and some even looked militant. Others looked built for speed (large thrusters, etc).

Well there's different types of TARDISes. The ones in the graveyard were presumably more advanced that the Doctor's Type 40 Mk. I. I'm not surprised that there were some militant looking TARDISes in the graveyard though. The Time Lords would have needed Battle TARDISes and War TARDISes for the Time War against the Daleks.

The ones with the big thrusters could just very well have been TARDISes disguised as spaceships. The Master's TARDIS turned itself into a spaceship and even Concorde once but it doesn't necessarily mean that they'd operate like what they appear to look like. On the other hand...fighting a war would have required fighting outside of the space/time vortex so having some manoeuvrability and speed during actual space travel would have been a necessary thing so having thrusters would have been essential.

[Blencathra]

It was a great episode, I thought the noise the TARDIS made was a result of the equipment inside but now it looks like it is actually the voice/call of the TARDIS.

Funniest part for me was when they were arguing about the pull sign on door of the TARDIS. The Doctor always pushes it open and the sign clearly says "Pull to Open".

The TARDIS graveyard had to be the strangest thing. Each was very different and some even looked militant. Others looked built for speed (large thrusters, etc).

I thought in one way she was right and in another she was wrong. Yes the sign says pull to open but I always thought that just meant the little door with the telephone inside. Aren't the big doors normally locked & could only be opened by a policeman with a key? Now I can imagine those would normally open outwards as the police would have had a desk and chair inside, so inward opening doors wouldn't be sensible.

[Nth Chevron]

If some of them looked truly militant (whatever that means for a TARDIS with a chameleon circuit) then that would imply that House had semi-active hand in the Time-War - a possible connection for future use?

N.C

[Coco Pops]

This Doctor is more Inspector Gadget then the Doctor and if you can't see that well then you can't see that... But he is funny. Just I hope this funniness doesn't drag on for too long or I'll dump this show it's becoming a stale joke.

OMG Idris was gorgeous...... I love the TARDIS woman...... It's a shame they can't give the TARDIS a voice...... Howcome House called her Idris yet she couldn't tell the Doctor her name was Idris?

She was lovely. ooh I'm in love..............

At least we know now that the TARDIS never takes the Doctor where he wants to go but where hs needed.... She knows having the time vortex inside her and all.. And that she stole him as much as he stole her from Galifrey..

Overall it's a great episode and there's a connection to the Library episode remember what Idris told the Doctor "There's only one river in the forest" "Forest of the dead" / "Silence in the library."


Oh and did you know that "Amy's Choice" from last season ties into this current series. Steven Moffat said so...

[Coco Pops]

"Did you wish really, really hard?" Ha!

And the TARDIS deciding her name is Sexy, I loved that. I loved the idea that the TARDIS chose the Doctor just as he chose her, that she's fond of him and I especially love the "I always took you where you needed to go" line.

Did you catch the Doctor's reply when she said her name was "sexy" "only when we're alone" was ingenious and so quick