Rate and Discuss 6.2: Day of the Moon

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I can't remember how he phrased it. But the gist was, one of these characters will die, and we arn't going to wriggle out of it. The episode revealed this character is the Doctor.

Unless that's just what you're supposed to think. Maybe Amy was killed by the Silence and replaced with a walking incubator automaton.

[FlyingBeastie]

So where is this great drop in episode two then?
I loved that, I forgot how this show can get away with doing twists like that.
Back to normal next week then.

Let me count the ways:

1. The beginning makes NO sense. Not a shred of sense.

Why are they running? From who? Who's in charge? It's not Nixon, he apparently didn't mind what was going on. Isn't Canton in charge? Why was there that awkward scene where he leaves the cube and the agents are pointing their guns at him questioning why he's been in there for days? Um, what rank was that one guy? Isn't he pointing his gun at a senior officer? Who's in charge?

2. Why did three months have to pass by for them to find out that the whole world was covered with Silents with a special concentration in America? Why was The Doctor arrested? Why, other than for dramatic effect, were the companions shot at? Did River know she was going to jump off the building? Is that why she parked the TARDIS there? How did the TARDIS end up in the cube if she was locked in the pool?

3. "Dwarf-Star" material eh? Hmm, seems awfully suspicious why humans have that sort of technology.

4. Speaking of technology- so the Silents can radiate lighting from their webbed monster hands, have a replicated TARDIS interior, can transport (at least I think they can? They never explained how they dragged Amy out of the creepy children's home and left her transmitter behind) Speaking of transmitters, how was it that they could hear Amy exactly? I thought it was just a recorder- I never saw The Doctor injecting a receptor anywhere else on them or mentioning how it makes any sort of psychic link. In fact, he says it connects with the cartiledge in your hand.

Back to the Silents- why did they need to go to the moon? How is it that they couldn't get to the moon exactly? WHY ARE THEY WEARING SUITS!?

5. While the climax of the story is a great idea, I just kept thinking at how NOT EVERYONE OWNS A GUN. More than that, what prevents the Silents from blowing up everyone who opposes them or even the weak people like Joy, the lady in the toilets, on a whim?

6. Wow, the Silents, even though they're all intimidating and shoot lightening, they're not very bright. Like that one Silent, who couldn't sense that Delaware had a gun on him, or the fact he was recording him. Talk about your typical bad guys who don't know when the hell to shut up.

7. Wait! There's more- what's the point of making the markings on YOUR FACE!?

8. WHY DO CANTON AND AMY SPLIT UP IN A CREEPY ABANDONED CHILDREN'S HOUSE WITH A CREEPY KEEPER!?

9. Hey kid- if you REALLY want them to help you, could you possibly get anymore VAGUE ABOUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS!? Jeez! Even 911 operators would hang up on you.

10. While this isn't something logically wrong with the story, it didn't sit well with me to see a child regenerate. Even in the theater, I nearly vomited in my mouth.

11. (Aw, how sweet- 11 things wrong with the episode to match with The Doctor we're on- how sweet!) THE TRAILER FOR THE NEXT EPISODE LOOKS AWFUL!

I don't think I've ever seen a Doctor Who trailer (from this new series) THIS bad. Even Fear Her, in my opinion, THE WORST EPISODE OF NEW WHO THAT I'VE SEEN, didn't have a trailer this awful.

IT LOOKS SOOOO CHEAP!!!!

Not only that- but the new Pirates movie had mermaids in it!!!

Are you frickin kidding me right now!?

The trailer is supposed to highlight the best bits of the episode- or at least wet your appetite to make you want to see it. The trailer did NEITHER!

It looks like it was done on a set- the lighting is all off- if you don't have a Horatio Hornblower budget, then tighten your shots, bro.

Also, I haven't seen Sherlock, but the writer for this "Curse of the Black Spot" (dumb title) is supposed to be the same guy who wrote one of the "not so good" episodes.




::SIGH::

And it's never been explained, but from what I can gather River is the one who sabotaged the TARDIS because the Silents did that whole post-hypnotic suggestion thing.

Talk about a lame big bad. Because they weren't all that big. Not even all that bad.

See why I'm really annoyed at Moffat right now? Because everything is done for effect or cos it's cool or for a twist.

The M Night Shamaylian of Who

2/10

[FlyingBeastie]

Also, I think we've sussed what's going on, because, unfortunately, Moffat is too obvious of a science fiction fan and is probably ripping off the Star Wars Last Command series with Mara Jade.

Notice how in Silence in the Library/Forests of the Dead we go from the scene where River dies and The Doctor is there crying and it cuts to Donna and that bloke who was her husband in the fake reality. I don't think this was done unintentionally and Moffat is probably doing one of those duality things and the whole story of River Song and The Doctor was that their relationship never existed. It was implanted in their memories. And through this post hypnotic suggestion River believed she loved The Doctor and sought him out and it was also implanted that she must kill him.

And for those of you who have not read the Last Command series, they resolve Mara Jade being programed to kill Luke Skywalker by having his clone get killed.

I think River is Amy's and Rory's child (notice how when Amy got sick, River felt sick) That, or this child is the product of some entity and Amy- notice how Amy was out for days. What if they impregnated Amy? And this child is the result?

But, most people probably just ignore my posts now cos I'm not worshiping the "brilliance" that is Steven Moffat.

Swings and roundabouts. Whatever.

[Anthony Williams]

Actually, Gizelle.... I'm with you on the vast majority of that.

Moffat is trying a little TOO hard to be clever. Alas, you have to make huge jumps in logic to understand where the story is going in a lot of places. And I'm not sure if I like it.

Day of the Moon was enjoyable enough, but there really was too much that didn't make sense. And far, far too much that was just left to be explained at a later date.

The argument against three-parters has always been "well, the audience's attention span isn't long enough..." But now we have not only more intensive season-spanning arcs than we ever did under RTD, but we also have arcs spanning multiple seasons.

Now, don't get me wrong... I LOVED Series 5. I thought it was fantastic. I love Matt Smith's Doctor. Heck, I even love Amy and Rory (but really, don't get me started on River Song). But the writing is just... well, it just requires too many leaps of faith. Let's have something more grounded, eh?

I'm sorry... I really wanted to like it, but there are just too many plot holes for me.

Ant x

[FlyingBeastie]

and then the President pops up anyway (Richard Nixon guest-starring as psychic paper for one week only!)

Oh, and how does Rory remember all that time as a centurion?

anyone? anyone?

Bueller?

You also make a good point at how The Doctor didn't interact with The Silents much and decided to just wipe them all out.

Like... never did he go, "Oh! Hi! Fancy a trip to the Moon? What for, may I ask?"

Instead he gives a few throwaway lines about how they've been influencing the human race.

Hmm, seeing as humans finally got to go to the moon- I'd say the Silents were a pretty chill bunch who actually helped the humans out.

(Psst! Doctor- your blatant ignorance is showing )

[FlyingBeastie]

The argument against three-parters has always been "well, the audience's attention span isn't long enough..." But now we have not only more intensive season-spanning arcs than we ever did under RTD, but we also have arcs spanning multiple seasons.

Now, don't get me wrong... I LOVED Series 5. I thought it was fantastic. I love Matt Smith's Doctor. Heck, I even love Amy and Rory (but really, don't get me started on River Song). But the writing is just... well, it just requires too many leaps of faith. Let's have something more grounded, eh?

Moffat could get away with it- he wanted to do one of those "end of this episode is the start of the next episode" things. And he did so with "Beast Below"/"Victory of the Daleks" and, you know, I didn't mind it at the time cos the whole series revolved around the crack.

Upon thinking more about this episode and reading Andrew's comments- it really could've been helped by an extra episode.

For one thing- I felt that there were two characters missing from this piece:

1. Instead of that creepy child doctor (even though he was acted out fabulously- great, great acting) why not have someone in power being influenced by the Silents? Let's say, why not the head of the FBI? Or Area 51?

That way, we have someone actively at odds with The Doctor and he's the one who unleashed the hounds on the companions. Meanwhile, with help of The Silents, he acquires the Dwarf Star material to lock him up. And Canton ends up double crossing him and we have a connector to The Doctor rejoining the companions in the TARDIS.

2. You're telling me that in all of human civilisation there's never been people who suspected there was something off?

Even RTD had that Welsh dad in "Rose" who was following The Doctor. And the people from "Love and Monsters". What if there was a group of people who were hunting The Silents?

Even "Back to the Future", which takes place in the 50's has a reference to aliens and Area 51. What if the companions bumped into a group of conspiracy theorists who did the marking thing? That way, you have a cool element in your story that actually had logic behind it. Not just dropping your audience 3 months into the future seeing three people running around marking themselves and looking for aliens they don't even know exist or not cos the theorists could've done some fair share of expositioning much like The Doctor did.

But then you wouldn't have had anything for The Doctor to do, granted, what else did he do? Really? Andrew again raised the point it was Canton who got the message from The Silent- why couldn't The Doctor? River was busy with the astronaut suit, he could've gone back to the cube and gotten the message himself.

Instead we have a scene where he licks the invitation that has no point (it actually should've happened earlier when he didn't want to go and would've made more sense there) and another scene where he's talking to Rory about memories that Rory should've never remembered because real Rory, who's not made of plastic, was not the one who waited for 2000 years in "The Big Bang".

We're just given more unnecessary tension in the Amy-Rory-Doctor triangle.

Why?

Because there needs to be tension so we won't be bored. So we won't have three happy-go-lucky people traipsing through time and space boring us all to tears.

Problem is, even the tension is trite and has been done to death- Moffat is just rehashing the same bull from last season ("Vampires in Venice"/"Amy's Choice")

Even Rose and Mickey's relationship had more going on in terms of conflict- also, it wasn't stretched out over such a long period of time. RTD clipped it in season 2 with the "Age of Steel" two-parter. And at least we saw that tension boil over time.

Also, we got a sense that Mickey deserved it.

With Amy and Rory, Amy just comes across like an ungrateful C-U-Next-Tuesday. And while we can suss out why Rory loves Amy and stays with her (he has no pair of his own) we never really get why Amy loves Rory. There's never been that scene, you know?

I quite like River Song and her exchanges with the Doctor. Kingston and Smith have wonderful chemistry. And, frankly, their scenes are the only ones that actually have any warmth to them and her character is very vibrant and sassy.

Moffat's turning Doctor Who into Lost and, frankly, that series along with everything else J.J. Abrams touches or has touched is a festering pile of pretentious

[Junkyard]

I'm not going to comment except to say that:-
1. I enjoyed 'Day of the Moon'.
2. This series has the most complex plot the show has ever had.
3. It won't be resolved until the last episode in Autumn.
4. Some fans arn't going to like the resolution at all.

[Alex]

I loved it, sure, the opening was a tad confusing, but I really liked that to be honest - it makes a refreshing change not to spoonfed by mainstream tv. And I've faith in Moffat that a lot of the loose ends will be tied up - and I'm really intrigued to see where he's taking us this year.

9/10

[Paul Clement]

That was an excellent episode and a solid 10/10 for me. Yes, it didn't answer all the questions, but then why should it? There is a need for some questions to only be answered over the remainder of the season and even possibly beyond. That's a far more realistic set of circumstances than assuming that the Doctor and co are able to resolve everything so very neatly at the end of each adventure. The Silence are still an unresolved issue, what exactly was the purpose of their presence on earth and why did they need to get to the moon? I don't know, but I'm looking forward to finding out. Who was the little girl and how was she able to regenerate? Again I don't know, but could make a few educated guesses, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

1. The beginning makes NO sense. Not a shred of sense.

Why are they running? From who? Who's in charge? It's not Nixon, he apparently didn't mind what was going on. Isn't Canton in charge? Why was there that awkward scene where he leaves the cube and the agents are pointing their guns at him questioning why he's been in there for days? Um, what rank was that one guy? Isn't he pointing his gun at a senior officer? Who's in charge?

Now this bit made sense to me. If the Silence are everywhere and able to know what is going on, do you work with the men in charge openly, and by doing so alert the Silence as to what you are doing or do you trick them into believing you are on the run from the authorities and therefore no threat to them. Canton was obviously sent by the Doctor to collect the companions back after a certain period of time, i.e when a secure area had been created where they would be safe from the Silence.

2. Why did three months have to pass by for them to find out that the whole world was covered with Silents with a special concentration in America? Why was The Doctor arrested? Why, other than for dramatic effect, were the companions shot at? Did River know she was going to jump off the building? Is that why she parked the TARDIS there? How did the TARDIS end up in the cube if she was locked in the pool?

She didn't park the TARDIS. The Doctor does after Canton tells him she jumped off the building. She knows the Doctor will save her, but she couldn't do it herself as the TARDIS was already in the cube. The cube was built around the Doctor and it. The TARDIS was invisible as it was when they first materialised in the oval office.

[Paul Clement]

5. While the climax of the story is a great idea, I just kept thinking at how NOT EVERYONE OWNS A GUN. More than that, what prevents the Silents from blowing up everyone who opposes them or even the weak people like Joy, the lady in the toilets, on a whim?

Everyone doesn't need to own a gun. one of The Silence could be killed in a variety of ways. If someone sees them in a street and attacks them, then people stop and look at someone going a bit nuts against thin air, then see the Silence themselves and also attack. The threat was that the Silence would never be safe staying on earth. The Doctor doesn't intend to let the humans wipe the Silence out, he's left them in a position where staying on earth is untenable because that would happen.

6. Wow, the Silents, even though they're all intimidating and shoot lightening, they're not very bright. Like that one Silent, who couldn't sense that Delaware had a gun on him, or the fact he was recording him. Talk about your typical bad guys who don't know when the hell to shut up.

They're not omniscient, how would they no that Canton had a gun or that there was a recording device in his hand? Not what they expected, especially the second issue as human's wouldn't have had that technology.

[Darren]

Let me count the ways:

1. The beginning makes NO sense. Not a shred of sense.

Why are they running? From who? Who's in charge? It's not Nixon, he apparently didn't mind what was going on. Isn't Canton in charge? Why was there that awkward scene where he leaves the cube and the agents are pointing their guns at him questioning why he's been in there for days? Um, what rank was that one guy? Isn't he pointing his gun at a senior officer? Who's in charge?

2. Why did three months have to pass by for them to find out that the whole world was covered with Silents with a special concentration in America? Why was The Doctor arrested? Why, other than for dramatic effect, were the companions shot at? Did River know she was going to jump off the building? Is that why she parked the TARDIS there? How did the TARDIS end up in the cube if she was locked in the pool?

3. "Dwarf-Star" material eh? Hmm, seems awfully suspicious why humans have that sort of technology.

4. Speaking of technology- so the Silents can radiate lighting from their webbed monster hands, have a replicated TARDIS interior, can transport (at least I think they can? They never explained how they dragged Amy out of the creepy children's home and left her transmitter behind) Speaking of transmitters, how was it that they could hear Amy exactly? I thought it was just a recorder- I never saw The Doctor injecting a receptor anywhere else on them or mentioning how it makes any sort of psychic link. In fact, he says it connects with the cartiledge in your hand.

Back to the Silents- why did they need to go to the moon? How is it that they couldn't get to the moon exactly? WHY ARE THEY WEARING SUITS!?

5. While the climax of the story is a great idea, I just kept thinking at how NOT EVERYONE OWNS A GUN. More than that, what prevents the Silents from blowing up everyone who opposes them or even the weak people like Joy, the lady in the toilets, on a whim?

6. Wow, the Silents, even though they're all intimidating and shoot lightening, they're not very bright. Like that one Silent, who couldn't sense that Delaware had a gun on him, or the fact he was recording him. Talk about your typical bad guys who don't know when the hell to shut up.

7. Wait! There's more- what's the point of making the markings on YOUR FACE!?

8. WHY DO CANTON AND AMY SPLIT UP IN A CREEPY ABANDONED CHILDREN'S HOUSE WITH A CREEPY KEEPER!?

9. Hey kid- if you REALLY want them to help you, could you possibly get anymore VAGUE ABOUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS!? Jeez! Even 911 operators would hang up on you.

10. While this isn't something logically wrong with the story, it didn't sit well with me to see a child regenerate. Even in the theater, I nearly vomited in my mouth.

11. (Aw, how sweet- 11 things wrong with the episode to match with The Doctor we're on- how sweet!) THE TRAILER FOR THE NEXT EPISODE LOOKS AWFUL!

I don't think I've ever seen a Doctor Who trailer (from this new series) THIS bad. Even Fear Her, in my opinion, THE WORST EPISODE OF NEW WHO THAT I'VE SEEN, didn't have a trailer this awful.

IT LOOKS SOOOO CHEAP!!!!

Not only that- but the new Pirates movie had mermaids in it!!!

Are you frickin kidding me right now!?

The trailer is supposed to highlight the best bits of the episode- or at least wet your appetite to make you want to see it. The trailer did NEITHER!

It looks like it was done on a set- the lighting is all off- if you don't have a Horatio Hornblower budget, then tighten your shots, bro.

Also, I haven't seen Sherlock, but the writer for this "Curse of the Black Spot" (dumb title) is supposed to be the same guy who wrote one of the "not so good" episodes.




::SIGH::

And it's never been explained, but from what I can gather River is the one who sabotaged the TARDIS because the Silents did that whole post-hypnotic suggestion thing.

Talk about a lame big bad. Because they weren't all that big. Not even all that bad.

See why I'm really annoyed at Moffat right now? Because everything is done for effect or cos it's cool or for a twist.

The M Night Shamaylian of Who

2/10

Sooo you didn't like it then.


1. The beginning makes NO sense. Not a shred of sense.

Why are they running? From who? Who's in charge? It's not Nixon, he apparently didn't mind what was going on. Isn't Canton in charge?


- It could have been a big set up. At least with Nixon and Canton helping to uncover the truth. The FBI/CIA may definitely have been pursuing them led by Canton who was protecting them (until he "shot" them). At the very least, Canton was working for the Doctor the whole time.



Why was there that awkward scene where he leaves the cube and the agents are pointing their guns at him questioning why he's been in there for days? Um, what rank was that one guy? Isn't he pointing his gun at a senior officer? Who's in charge?

- Easy. Whatever rank the guy was, if his senior officer has spent days in a sealed prison with a dangerous man (any food/water?), there will be suspicion.

2. Why did three months have to pass by for them to find out that the whole world was covered with Silents with a special concentration in America? Why was The Doctor arrested? Why, other than for dramatic effect, were the companions shot at?

- I don't know the first bit, but I think the Silence were everywhere, we just focused on America. The companions were shot to make it look like they were percieved (by Canton at least) as a threat.

Did River know she was going to jump off the building? Is that why she parked the TARDIS there? How did the TARDIS end up in the cube if she was locked in the pool?


- Not sure I'm with you there. The TARDIS wasn't parked by River. It was in the cube with the Doctor. He piloted it to the exact spot where River was falling and picked her up. With a splash.

3. "Dwarf-Star" material eh? Hmm, seems awfully suspicious why humans have that sort of technology.

- Hmm. Missed that bit

4. Speaking of technology- so the Silents can radiate lighting from their webbed monster hands, have a replicated TARDIS interior, can transport (at least I think they can? They never explained how they dragged Amy out of the creepy children's home and left her transmitter behind) Speaking of transmitters, how was it that they could hear Amy exactly? I thought it was just a recorder- I never saw The Doctor injecting a receptor anywhere else on them or mentioning how it makes any sort of psychic link. In fact, he says it connects with the cartiledge in your hand.

- The electricity thing may be biological, not technological. No one has ever actualy commented (on screen) that it is a TARDIS.
They probably can't transport. As you instantly forget you ever saw them, they are always there, but for you it is the first time you've seen them.

The receptor thing is a bit of a cheat, yes.

Back to the Silents- why did they need to go to the moon? How is it that they couldn't get to the moon exactly? WHY ARE THEY WEARING SUITS!?

- I haven't got a clue, actually.

5. While the climax of the story is a great idea, I just kept thinking at how NOT EVERYONE OWNS A GUN. More than that, what prevents the Silents from blowing up everyone who opposes them or even the weak people like Joy, the lady in the toilets, on a whim?

- Fists, sticks, stones. They probably could blow people up, but as the Doctor said, it would be a war and the Silence weren't bargaining on that.


6. Wow, the Silents, even though they're all intimidating and shoot lightening, they're not very bright. Like that one Silent, who couldn't sense that Delaware had a gun on him, or the fact he was recording him. Talk about your typical bad guys who don't know when the hell to shut up.

- Fair points.

7. Wait! There's more- what's the point of making the markings on YOUR FACE!?

- So they could have a spooky lightning/window reflection.

8. WHY DO CANTON AND AMY SPLIT UP IN A CREEPY ABANDONED CHILDREN'S HOUSE WITH A CREEPY KEEPER!?

- A very common phenomena constructed so people scream at the telly; "No!"


9. Hey kid- if you REALLY want them to help you, could you possibly get anymore VAGUE ABOUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS!? Jeez! Even 911 operators would hang up on you.

- Maybe, but how many people least of all Nixon would have believed her if she had said there was an alien race no one remembered seeing. And she was a terrified little girl, not as articulate at communicating information as an adult might.



10. While this isn't something logically wrong with the story, it didn't sit well with me to see a child regenerate. Even in the theater, I nearly vomited in my mouth.

- It didn't really faze me. If a child had been disintergrated by the Silence it would have.

And it's never been explained, but from what I can gather River is the one who sabotaged the TARDIS because the Silents did that whole post-hypnotic suggestion thing.

- When was the TARDIS sabotaged??

[debz1941]

very dark start to the series, loving it,,, but hope all these cliff hangers get answered and sorted out before the end of this years series. ive watched dr who since 1966 and my daughter whose 18 is also a follower now. My niece who is 7 loves it and has watched since she was 3, but she found some scences a little disturbing and couldnt watch the tv. (silence hanging upside down in the orphanage). This was after all a childrens tv program initially, we seem to be moving away from that and its becoming more adult based. Im not complaining at all, but hope sf can keep his young audience aswell as the older ones

[Andrew Curnow]

Despite my moaning of last night, I would just like to add that the regulars were great - Arthur Darvill in particular was excellent, he makes such a strong impression in a 'non-flashy' role, and the scene where Amy has disappeared was particularly strong.

Although, again, wasn't the Roman Rory an Auton constructed from Amy's memories? Surely this version was recreated via Big Bang 2, so shouldn't know anything about that at all.... Clearly it's going to be relevant, as they've mentioned it twice in as many episodes, but it's something else I don't really get.

[Darren]

My main worries are that

1 The Doctor is dead/will be dead and the little girl, whomever she is will take over

2 The Doctor is dead/will be dead and the series will end.

[Si Hunt]

Can someone answer me this -

So in the Doctor Who Universe, does the footage of the moon landings now have a clip of a big monster in the middle?

Si.

[Lissa]

Yes but anyone who watches it instantly forgets it so no one knows it's there. Ours might have the same footage in and we'd never know.

[J.R. Southall]

Actually, I googled "moon landing" this morning, and youtube produced a clip of Armstrong setting foot on the moon which it said was over two minutes long, but only seemed to take me about 20 seconds to watch. Which was strange.

[Larry]

As already mentioned There are a lot of unanswered questions and quite a few things that didn't really make any sense at all though I have to say that dosen't really bother me to much. I think my biggest dissapointment is that after a whole series build up with the Silence, it all felt a bit under whelming the way it was resolved. many people have comented on the darker feel and how complicated the plot was and I just wonder if this is putting off the casual viewer as there has been a drop of almost a million viewers from last week. (overnights this week 5.4m). Of course it has been another bank holiday with good weather so I guess next weeks episode will give us a better idear of the ratings. Although I don't think the 6pm start is helping.

[Perry Vale]

Some more random thoughts...

The Silence call Amy "Amelia". Could the still unexplained (to my knowledge) shadow that flits across the screen in The Eleventh Hour be a Silent?

Amongst the photos on the desk of Amy's "daughter", there's one that is very cleverly blurred/out of focus. It looks remarkably like a Silent, to me.

Is that Piers Wenger as an extra in the scene in the bar when they're all watching the moon landing/subliminal message?

River says the space suit contains technology from 20 different races.

She also (echoing Andrew Curnow's comments) suggests the suit could function on it's own.

Will Beth Willis ever appear in Doctor Who?

[Stuart Wallis]

Don't think there was any explanation about why the Silence wanted to get to the moon, and there certainly wasn't one for where the dwarf star alloy came from. As for the Silence's having taken over the world in the space of three months, I gathered that they'd been on Earth for some considerable time. "We've had all the time in the world...", to coin a phrase.

I'm giving this episode 7/10 for scary atmosphere, though the plot holes and continuing reliance on unanswered questions... (It would be nice to have some stand-alone stories again, without having to worry over whether you've missed or forgotten something, or with plots just dragging on.) There was also the matter of the Silence's voices being very hard to understand.

A couple of other points. Firstly, I feel the matter of the Doctor's death is going to be fudged, the supposition coming from this sort of thing is now unfortately something we're now quite used to, particularly on New Who. And secondly, the girl doesn't have to be anything to do with the Doctor, Amy or River. The Time Lords have returned before, you know...

[J.R. Southall]

Can anyone tell me how Amy came to see one of the Silents in the 2011 segment of the first episode, when the Doctor has seemingly disposed of them in 1969? Is this possibly another example of Moffat's wibbly-wobbly to be resolved later in the series?

[Terry Leptil]

Shock ending!

[Perry Vale]

Oh, and another thing...I predict that Amy's flashing red 'thought stream' will make another appearance before the year is out...

[Si Hunt]

I think she will eventually make out the face of her Mother in her dream and realise it's the woman she's been living with for the past year.

Oh no, wait, that's "Neighbours".

Si.

[FlyingBeastie]

Now this bit made sense to me. If the Silence are everywhere and able to know what is going on, do you work with the men in charge openly, and by doing so alert the Silence as to what you are doing or do you trick them into believing you are on the run from the authorities and therefore no threat to them. Canton was obviously sent by the Doctor to collect the companions back after a certain period of time, i.e when a secure area had been created where they would be safe from the Silence.

That's a whole lot of assumptions, and, again, make the Silents look really dumb. How is it that they can be present for the Doctor's death, post-hypnotic suggest, and yet can't figure out they're being fooled?

Talk about a massive plot hole....

She didn't park the TARDIS. The Doctor does after Canton tells him she jumped off the building. She knows the Doctor will save her, but she couldn't do it herself as the TARDIS was already in the cube. The cube was built around the Doctor and it. The TARDIS was invisible as it was when they first materialised in the oval office.

Again, a whole lot of assumptions and leaps of faith...