After writing the last post I had a bath. I always like to find something to watch at the same time, and today I decided to rewatch the “Dream Lord” episode again, because I’m sure I could remember something about it. I was a bit drunk the first time, didn’t really pay too much attention and wanted to be sure. Here it is:
Sure enough, here’s the “Dream Lord”, a manifestation of the Doctor’s subconscious, visible to the Doctor as a reflection in the console of the Tardis while he’s awake.
You know what this smells like to me? It smells like herring. Red herring. A distinctly fishy aroma indeed. There’s a piece of information we’re missing from the series, some hint of a nemesis not connected with the “Axis of Evil.” At least, it could be a nemesis of some kind. But what evidence is there for a mysterious as-yet-unidentified antagonist? Is it entirely safe to rule out the rather lame Dream Lord?
So with these questions in mind, I began to think about the other unanswered questions from the series we’ve seen so far. It meant going back over all the episodes and double checking various things. The first stop on the journey was to ‘The Lodger’ with one of the series’ biggest unanswered questions:
DOCTOR
Oh… Oh, of course! The time engine isn’t in the flat. The time engine IS the flat. Someone’s attempt to… build a Tardis
Crikey! Someone’s tried to build a Tardis, eh? The question is… who? Who’d have the knowledge and ability to do it? Apart from the Doctor himself, obviously. But the design of the home brew Tardis is much neater than anything you’d expect from the Doctor. It’s all a bit dark, isn’t it?
Another clue to the mysterious third party came in the last episode, The Pandorica Opens. River Song is attempting to pilot the Tardis with little joy.
RIVER SONG
Doctor! There’s something wrong with the Tardis…. like something else is controlling it.
[And Later on in the episode:]
RIVER SONG
Someone else is flying it. An external force. I’ve lost control!
All very mysterious indeed. Who’s that ‘other’ person? Is there another person? Are they connected with the person who built the home-brew Tardis, or is that another decoy, another red herring?
I’m almost convinced it’s a red herring. Let’s go back a bit further to something pointed out by the blogger, “Ian B”. In the second part of the 2 parter about the Weeping Angels, Amy is left alone in the woods with her eyes closed. Here’s the Doctor just before he runs off:
Note that he’s not wearing his jacket. But the Doctor comes back with some final words… but wait! What’s this! He’s suddenly wearing his jacket again!
Wow! What a continuity error, yes? Well, maybe not. Here’s the dialogue from that scene:
DOCTOR
Amy. You need to start trusting me. It’s never been more important.
AMY
But you don’t always tell me the truth.
DOCTOR
If I always told you the truth I wouldn’t need you to trust me.
AMY
Doctor. [beat] The crack on my wall. [beat] How can it be here?
DOCTOR
I don’t know yet but I’m working it out. Now, listen: Remember what I told you when you were seven.
AMY
What did you tell me?
DOCTOR
No! No, that’s not the point. You have to remember.
AMY
Remember what?
And with that the Doctor, with Jacket, is also gone. Again I feel the need to say crikey. What can it all mean? So let’s jump forward again to The Pandorica Opens. Amy’s confronting the Doctor about the engagement ring she’s found in the Doctor’s jacket pocket at the end of the previous episode, “The Lodger”
AMY
I found this in your pocket
DOCTOR
No no, that’s a memory. A friend of mine, someone I lost. Would you [hesitating] mind?
AMY
It’s weird… I feel… dunno… something.
DOCTOR
People fall out of the world sometimes. But they always leave traces. Little things we can’t quite account for. Faces in Photographs, luggage, half eaten meals… rings. Nothing is ever forgotten. Not completely. And… if something can be remembered, it can come back.
Ah ha! Now, I think, we’re getting to the meat of what this series is all about, about how the Doctor will magically save the universe. Well, sort of. Let’s go back to find out what the Doctor said to Amy when she was 7. Most of it was to do with food, but there were a few lines that leap out that could be important. Useful, at least, to remember – if you’re a companion, that is.
DOCTOR
The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way, and it’ll snap itself shut
and
DOCTOR
The engines are phasing. It’s going to burn! 5 minute hop into the future should do it!
Ah ha! Is this it? Or is it something rather simpler?
DOCTOR
Trust me… I’m the Doctor.
Another interesting little bit of oddness from The Eleventh Hour was that the crack in Amy’s wall wasn’t a Stalinist one. It didn’t delete things from existence. It allowed things to jump from one part of the Universe to another. In other words, in all likelihood, the Doctor – assuming he gets out of the Pandorica (and let’s assume that he does) – will be using those cracks to flip around to all the various places and times that cracks appear to set things straight.
Perhaps.
It may be that we’re not going to get answers to the mysterious antagonist in the next episode. That might be left as a cliff-hanger for the next series, and if that’s what happens I think I’ll be able to live with it. I’d actually be pretty impressed. As for fixing the Universe… it seems that as long as there’s someone left to remember it, it can be brought back – according to Moffat’s logic of the way his Universe works.
It’s not enough information to entirely predict what’s going to happen in “The Big Bang” but it’ll certainly give people something to chew on, I think!
