Posted in: Movies | Tagged: bbc, doctor who, let's kil hitler

Ten Thoughts About Doctor Who: Let's Kill Hitler

Published Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:34:19 -0500

Last updated Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:46:26 -0500

Obviously there are spoilers, what are you thinking? Seriously?

1. A Bit Of A Corny Beginning

Ooh, I haven't done this for a while. How does it go again? Okay, normally aliens are meant to leave messages in corn fields for humans. So it's rather nice to have humans leaving messages in corn fields for aliens. Oh and yes, I've got BT Infinity now, so we've got HD screencaps. Yes, look impressed. Also a great River Song entrance. Even if it isn't. Or isn't yet.

2. A Life Less Ordinary

Nice to see that Amy did actually have some kind of life. And that the Doctor meme was rather infectious. Got to love little and slightly litter Rory here, he really is great whoever is playing him. As is Amy's blatant selfish view of the world, unable to see anyone's perspective but her own. Ironic, considering Mels, who she's been pallying around with for so long. And such a mother figure she was to her, always there when she gets in trouble…

3. It's The Numskulls!

There used to be a British comic strip called The Numskulls in DC Thomson title Beezer and then The Beano , which featured the little people inside bigger people, controlling them. People in the eyes, the nose, the stomach, all that. It's been revisited a few times since, but you know what Steven Moffat was reading as a kid. Although it also looks like a submarine. And also like Star Trek (with a rather Janeway look in that screencap, no?)

If they are looking for Hitler at the end of his life, haven't they noticed there is no war going on and Hitler's not in a bunker? Stupid stupid numbskulls. Dumbskulls, even. Although they can grow motorbikes out of their bottom. I bet a Japanese toy manufacturer is planning that right now.

4. Monsters Made With Sticky Back Plastic.

Doctor Who has had its fair share of stinkers over the years. And these antibodies are amongst them, with wiggly tentacles that just hang there. Not exactly The Matrix is it? But you know, given the context, I didn't really care.

Of course the real monsters are elsewhere.

5. Doctor Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler

What do you do with Hitler? Save his life, then stick him in the closet. obviously. Treating Hitler with slapstick rather than confrontation with a genocidal mass murderer is an interesting take, more Chaplin than Downfall. And that's where he's left, never really addressed again. Because there are more important issues than the death of millions. So when did Hitler come out of the closet then?

Nice bait and switch on the worst monster than Hitler, when we we'd be conditioned from the previous episode to expect that to be The Doctor…

6. Regeneration As A Weapon

You know, I did tell you to watch out for this one. Congrats to those remembered what the "her moment has been prepared for" line referred to, and worked out what it meant this time… so River Song's timeline gets even more complex.

And if indeed Amy was a mother figure to Mels, then she kind of had a mother-daughter relationship with Mels/Melody/River. Even if her daughter was pretending the whole time.

But the act of regeneration we've seen being rather unstable in what you get, from the Doctor's head getting muddled to Romana being able to flip between bodies before settling on one, to the Doctor regrowing a hand. Looks like it means you can deal with bullets too. I want one.

But also as well as harming, it can heal. We saw how in Mawdryn Undead, the Doctor's lives could have been used to give life to others. Now we see that power in action… oh and they got rid of the whole "State Of Grace" continuity error with one line as well.

Can anyone picture Nina Touissant-White can sit in Soho bars late at night with Derek Jacobi, comparing who got cheated out of a long standing role as a major character in Doctor Who due to some regeneration nonsense, the most?

7. I Bribed The Architect First

Steven Moffat has a wee bit of a rep for recycling his work. Just a bit. Well, he's environmentally friendly. We've even seen little bit of his Curse Of Fatal Death parody of Comic Relief turn up once or twice. Well this has the biggest bit of that going. In that comedy episode starring Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor and Jonathan Pryce as The Master, the two have a war over who managed to back in time first and bribe the architect of the pyramid they are standing in, as to whether the traps the Master has set up work… or not. Bill and Ted did the same in their Bogus Journey. And this is that, without the time travel. Who can out think and prepare for the other first. Nice to see a smart, on the ball Doctor.

And we know the Doctor finds any excuse to use a banana. Ooh look, River Song is trending worldwide on Twitter.

8. Rory Gets The Best Lines Throughout

"Shut up Hitler!"

"Is anyone finding today just a little bit difficult?"

"That's not helping."

"It's that kind of day."

"I'm trapped inside a giant robot replica of my wife. I'm trying not to see that as a metaphor."

And he gets to punch out Hitler.

It's nice to laugh out loud when watching Doctor Who. You know, in a good way.

9. Does That Mean She's The Baddy, Then?

We've all seen the Mitchell and Webb sketch. At least I hope we have. If not go here now. Anyway, it's all a bit blatant here. She's the bad guy, we get it, she's dressed as a Nazi. But this is basically River Song Year Zero. The first time she met him, she killed him. And then brought him back from the dead. Only to kill him again, sometime along her personal timeline. Oh and nice line about adjusting her age for previous episodes… is that how someone who is a kid around 1990 regenerated into a toddler in the alleyways of America as far back as 1969?