The Almost People (3206)

[Cold Fuzz]

I was just getting sick of Tennant . And to me, Doctor Who stopped being exclusively a kid's show quite some time ago. Maybe 'family' show describes it better, since it has such broad appeal.

Though I thought that Tennant was a wonderful Doctor, imo, think he's a little overrated. We had a great sense of closure with The Stolen Earth/Journey's End. He started wearing out his welcome with me by "Planet of the Dead" though. By "The End of Time" I was ready for Matt Smith to take the reins. After re-watching the Ninth Doctor's episodes recently, I put Eccleston virtually tied with Tennant, while Matt Smith is the one I like the best. His episodes have the most re-watch value for me personally. The dynamic he has with River, Rory, and Amy--especially when all four of them are together--is unique and special. I didn't get quite the same spark with the other companions. Chemistry between characters--and actors--is really difficult to pull off.

[Galileo_Galilee]

The Doctor I like best is Tom Baker.

I liked Tennant, and I like smith, but I'm not too fond of Eccleston.

However, I don't think anybody noticed the double standard and possible hypocrisy on the Doctors' part in this episode.


He allowed the workers gangers to live, because life is sacred.

But he didn't allow ganger Amy to live.


Curious, that.


Also, for those who might not know, ganger is short for doppelganger.

In Norse mythology, a vardøger is a ghostly double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance. In Finnish mythology, this is called having an Etiäinen, i.e., "a firstcomer". In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a "ka" was a tangible "spirit double" having the same memories and feeling as the original person. In one Egyptian myth titled "The Greek Princess," an Egyptian view of the Trojan War, a ka of Helen was used to mislead Paris of Troy, helping to stop the war. In some myths, the doppelgänger is a version of the Ankou, a personification of death; in a tradition of the Talmud, to meet oneself means to meet God.


And there's even more interesting stuff in this wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelganger

[Professor_S]

This episode was pretty good. Middle of the road, as far as I'm concerned. The last couple minutes, of course, were intense (if a little predictable). But it definitely didn't blow me away. The whole ep was fairly predictable, including the Doctor swap. I have to say, though, it was a nice touch at the beginning when you could hear a couple of the previous Doctors!

Looking forward to the next ep!

[SGalisa]

Few plot points in the episodes that didn't quite add up to me.
...

Spoiler:

4) Real doctor needs to ask for new shoes, but ganger doctor finds identical outfit?

The shoes were created and programmed into the Flesh machine before the original shoes got melted down. Details, details...
The Doctor went into the castle and looked at the Flesh machine before the solar storm hit. It was then that he was communicating with the machine, and the machine with him, or at least with the sonic screwdriver that gave the Doctor all of the info he needed to know -- enough to plop his hand into the goo. Later -- The original Doctor's shoes got melted after he went to retrieve his TARDIS and discovered it sank almost all the way into the ground from the acid leak, which occurred after the Doctor got knocked off the rooster tower from the solar storm. Hope that helps.
Helps to see the story for the 2nd and 3rd times, too to catch all the little things missed on the first viewing round.

...

Spoiler:

2) Was there just randomly a second sonic screwdriver that the doctors were tossing around? It seems like a burdensome thing to carry 2 of, given how much bigger it looks than the last.

Time Lord pockets are bigger on the inside

yep -- the Doctor's pockets are bigger on the inside.
That's been sort of established probably before Tom Baker's Doctor #4, but definitely during Doctor #4 pulling out more things out of his pockets than seemed possible to fit. There's a long-term (entire series old classic and new DW) running joke that what's inside the Doctor's pockets exist within another dimension, as well.

...

Spoiler:

1) If Amy was a ganger being remotely controlled from when/wherever she is right now, why didn't she become a self-aware one like the others during the solar storm?

Spoiler:

1) I'm guessing ganger Amy was different since she had the same consciousness as realAmy

Don't know the answer. Maybe she was specially designed not to do that. And *who* created her ganger double anyway?? The Silence? That was only speculation, unless the next episode establishes it as fact.

...

Spoiler:

3) If the energy from the TARDIS stabilized the to people, why could ganger amy melt away?

The sonic screwdriver could be programmed to melt the even the Ganger Doctor, which it did. So, why not Amy? Sonic screwdriver overrides the TARDIS' stablizer control. Plus, maybe the TARDIS knew it was the only way to keep Ganger Amy around long enough, until the psychic connection to her real location needed to be severed. Remember-- the TARDIS is all-seeing of ALL time and space and dimensions at the same moment.

...

Spoiler:

3) If the energy from the TARDIS stabilized the to people, why could ganger amy melt away?

...

Spoiler:

3) It stabilised them so they don't turn freakydeaky, I'd imagine they could still be melted.

Another question is can the puddle of goo be reprogrammed by the TARDIS to recreate the Doctor, thus the theory of a Ganger Doctor (another copy of himself) being killed in the beginning of The Impossible Astronaut ep, could still hold true??

Afterall, his body was burned (melted down?) in the middle of a lake, so it was not exactly visible what was actually happening from the shoreline.

However, I don't think anybody noticed the double standard and possible hypocrisy on the Doctors' part in this episode.


He allowed the workers gangers to live, because life is sacred.

But he didn't allow ganger Amy to live.


Curious, that.

Well it has been said the TARDIS is telepathic, if not, it must have other receptors by which to know its inhabitants, maybe Amy's subconcious was bleeding through from her real body and screaming she was pregnant whilst conscious ganger Amy was trying to say she wasnt. A little psychic interference there i think.

It's not necessarily a double standard, *IF* the Doctor conspired with the TARDIS and TARDIS with the Doctor if Ganger Amy was going to be a problem/threat to the existence of the real Amy. Ganger Amy had original Amy's consciousness, but was more or less a walking shell -- it was not established as a separate Amy, because Ganger Amy was created differently to confuse the situations with the Doctor and Rory.

Ganger Amy didn't really seemed too concerned that Rory took off with Jennifer, even tho it seemed Ganger Amy was seeing the compassionate nurse side of Rory being expressed, and just let him do his nurse-related work.

I still think this was a situation of Ganger Amy being created as a fully functioning shell with real blood (in the Pirate story), but she was existing mentally in a dream sort of state -- as has been hinted by the eye-patch lady in the season six opener ep's orphanage scene "ehh, she's just dreaming" -- and could thus be disconnected from the shell at any point in time/space. The TARDIS would see that. And it might also explain why the TARDIS favored Rory with giving him super-secret TARDIS codes over Amy (apart from liking males), during The Doctor's Wife episode.

[Dusk]

I love the way this show embraces a sense of belonging, loyalty and the ties that bind.

Also thought the monster Jennifer was freaky. I can imagine a few kids flipping a lid over those scenes.

[Nth Chevron]

Heres a wondering question, if Amy was alseep and in a dream state at Demons Run, what happened when she slept in her dream state and dreamt?

How deep could this go before were talking becoming trapped in ones own subconscious?

N.C

[Carter1994]

Someone just watched Inception, didn't he?

There's just two layers: Amy's consciousness was in her 'ganger (layer 1), so when she-as-'ganger dreamt, she was in another layer (2). When she awoke, she went back into "1".

[mi_guard]

so Amy told the flesh Doctor that she saw the real Doctor die, but as the two had switched, in fact she informed the real Doctor of his future death - did I get it right?

[Alan]

so Amy told the flesh Doctor that she saw the real Doctor die, but as the two had switched, in fact she informed the real Doctor of his future death - did I get it right?

Yeppers.

[mi_guard]

Yeppers.

that must have been a bit of a shocker for him

[Alan]

that must have been a bit of a shocker for him

He hides things very well. He's secretive by nature.

[Nth Chevron]

After commiting genocide against 2 of the higher races, you think a forshadowing about the Doctors death is going to phase him?

Even slightly?

N.C

[maneth]

Interesting episode that posed more questions than it answered. Where is the real Amy?