Series 7 - Remaining Questions

[egdcltd]

I don't recall it being discussed in episode why she was regenerating. Didn't she also say something along the lines of "I'll get better" though?

[Andrew Curnow]

But that's the big question- at the end of DOTM everyone in the theater assumed she regenerated b/c of the bullet. If not, then why did she regenerate? She said she was "dying"...

How do you know that? When I watched it on TV, I assumed she was regenerating because she was ill because she'd got out of that suit. I took it that the suit was some kind of life-supporting device (isn't there a line in Day of the Moon about how the suit is feeding, etc, the occupant?) and that having torn her way out of it, she was ailing. Nothing to do with Amy shooting at her at all.

[FlyingBeastie]

How do you know that? When I watched it on TV, I assumed she was regenerating because she was ill because she'd got out of that suit. I took it that the suit was some kind of life-supporting device (isn't there a line in Day of the Moon about how the suit is feeding, etc, the occupant?) and that having torn her way out of it, she was ailing. Nothing to do with Amy shooting at her at all.

"I'll get better" is what she said after she said she was dying. So her getting better was her regenerating.

I saw the premiere when they came to NYC in the theater, so afterwards I heard the discussions and it was a general consensus that audience members felt Amy shooting her had something to do with her death.

In any case, definitely something that deserved some clarification and definitely should've been addressed when they discovered Melody was River and River was in the suit.

[egdcltd]

Would it have been mentioned on Confidential? I don't watch that, and this series I avoided almost all the trailers and next week stuff.

I don't recall Melody having been hit by the bullet, only the spacesuit being damaged. I would need to see the episode again to check.

[Perry Vale]

When I watched it on TV, I assumed she was regenerating because she was ill because she'd got out of that suit. I took it that the suit was some kind of life-supporting device (isn't there a line in Day of the Moon about how the suit is feeding, etc, the occupant?) and that having torn her way out of it, she was ailing. Nothing to do with Amy shooting at her at all.

Correct. When Amy meets the young River in the spacesuit in the orphange, you clearly see that the shot had missed her. Just to make it even clearer, Amy even says to her "I'm glad I missed".

The spacesuit, as older River tells the Doctor just afterwards, is for "life support".

[Anthony Williams]

So the question remains... why DID the child regenerate? I mean, it's never explicitly said that the suit was being used for its life support capabilities...

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I saw the premiere when they came to NYC in the theater, so afterwards I heard the discussions and it was a general consensus that audience members felt Amy shooting her had something to do with her death.

I guess no-one in the theatRE bothered reading that caption either then but then maybe Americans can't munch popcorn and read at the same time eh




That last bit was a joke by the way.

[Anthony Williams]

For the second time tonight... please, let's keep things civil, eh?

[Logo Polish]

Given that when Melody is in the astronaut suit and gets shot at, with the bullet missing her, it's April 1969, and that when she regenerates it's January 1970, I don't think there can be any connection at all.

[Jason Thompson]

The spacesuit, as older River tells the Doctor just afterwards, is for "life support".

A fact that I had to stifle a giggle at, given that that is the general function of any spacesuit.

Yes, this one goes to extremes providing nutrients and being able to move and having weapons in it, but generally, yes, the whole point of a spacesuit is to keep the person inside it alive....

[Rob McCow]

A fact that I had to stifle a giggle at, given that that is the general function of any spacesuit.

Not really... yes, without the spacesuit an astronaut would die in space, but they can always take it off while they're in a temperate climate on Earth without dying. So it's only life support if they're in a threatening environment.

[Jason Thompson]

But since the occupant of that suit is supposed to be River, and the use of that suit is on Earth in a temperate environment, we know she can also survive without it, so...

The point was more the way River and the Doctor seemed amazed at the life supporting capabilities of a spacesuit. It's even in the proper name for the backpack on the Apollo spacesuit, which is called the PLSS, or Portable Life Support System!

[Rob McCow]

Yeah... though why did the young girl's life need supporting in an Earth environment? I suppose they chose an Apollo-style spacesuit because it would be comparatively inconspicuous.

And what happened to her 'Amazing strength'? Can River go all Hulk?

[Jason Thompson]

Well, an Apollo-style spacesuit is pretty conspicuous anywhere other than on an Apollo mission, so that's not really a justification, is it? Astronauts didn't go wandering around in them.

[Rob McCow]

Yeah, but it's less conspicuous than (say) a gigantic mecha-warrior, or a bio-mechanical survival outfit. At least the spacesuit looks like it was made on Earth, in America.

[Jason Thompson]

True.

But then, if you're going to have your assassin wander out of a lake onto the (otherwise) deserted shore and blast the Doctor with an energy weapon so he starts to regenerate before you actually kill him, what's the difference between an Apollo space suit and a giant mech-warrior?

Which all kind of comes back to the question of why a space suit was involved at all, really.

[SiHart]

Which all kind of comes back to the question of why a space suit was involved at all, really.

Because it looked cool.

[Jason Thompson]

True, but sad if that's all the justification for it, given the significance of the whole thing in the arc.

(as an Apollo-nut myself, however, to me it always looked like a cheap BBC version of an Apollo suit, rather than an Apollo suit, but it was cool to see the TARDIS materialise next to a Saturn V on its launch platform. )

[Rob McCow]

But the space-suit fits in with the time period as well. The Silence might have pinched it and converted it, perhaps. Or something.

[Andrew Curnow]

There was certainly a line in Day of the Moon, to the effect that the Silents 'nick' or 'modify' other people's stuff to their own ends, which I think was a vague attempt to justify the spacesuit, and indeed the 1969 setting. I'm not sure it actually made any more sense than the water-level business justifying Amsterdam in Arc of Infinity, but the thought was there - so I guess if we can accept the story taking place in 1969, and the Silents want some kind of total body suit for their little girl, a spacesuit is maybe the most obvious thing? Maybe.

And I guess, however many hundred years later when they send River back to 2011, perhaps one of them said, "Well rather than nick a ultra-mecha-super-warrior-suit, why not just use this old Earth astronaut thingummy we've had kicking around for ages"...

Maybe.

[Jason Thompson]

It fits in in 1969. By the time the Doctor is shot in 2011 an Apollo spacesuit looks out of place anywhere but in a museum, never mind stepping out of a lake in Utah.

There was dialogue in Day of the Moon that indicated the entire Apollo program was pushed forward by the Silence because they needed the space suit. Still all a bit nonsensical for the sake of a striking image in the show.

[Rob McCow]

I dunno. I re-watched 'Journey's End' a few months ago and suddenly the Daleks' plan to destroy the Universe actually made a tiny bit more sense. I thought the Daleks would be destroyed too, but apparently they'd be safe.

In conclusion:

All of these questions were answered, but Murray Gold covered it up with some LOUD MUSIC!!!!

[egdcltd]

I wonder what happened to the Doctor in the about 200 years between the end of, er, whatever the episode was and Closing Time? There seemed to be a suggestion he was trundling around saying goodbyes and seeing things he'd never seen before. Must have been a pretty quiet 200 years for him.

[FlyingBeastie]

True, but sad if that's all the justification for it, given the significance of the whole thing in the arc.

That's the same justification as to why the Silence wear suits. Let's face it. Hence I keep saying this era seems quite shallow to me.

Given that when Melody is in the astronaut suit and gets shot at, with the bullet missing her, it's April 1969, and that when she regenerates it's January 1970, I don't think there can be any connection at all.

Really? I gotta re-watch the episode then.

But yes, why did the kid regenerate and where did those photos with Amy and the girl come from?

[Logo Polish]

I've noticed other people asking about this too, although I'd assumed the photo of Amy and the baby would have been taken between The Almost People and A Good Man Goes To War when they were still together.