Doctor Who (9x11) | Full Length
Added 2020-09-04 19:05:37 +0000 UTCHeaven Sent
OR you can watch it here, if you're so inclined: https://archive.org/details/DW-9x11-FL
Comments
Regarding your point about "this had to start somewhere" when you figured out it was a time loop, Moffat had planned the whole logic of the story out before writing. He goes on about it in one of the Doctor Who Magazines, although he does stress that since it's not in the episode it is just his personal headcanon, the audience can make up whatever they want. But it is an interesting read nonetheless. Basically the very first time he arrived in the castle it took him years, maybe decades to find room 12 and figure out what to do with the diamond wall. There was no "bird" message, no skulls, no "I AM IN 12", he just figured it out after a very long time through trial and error. And so he eventually figures out whats going on and what his plan is - use the teleporter to keep creating versions of himself to punch through the diamond wall and get out of this place without revealing his secrets. But he realises over time that he needs to speed things up otherwise he'll never get out so he starts leaving himself clues, although not all of them work because the rooms reset themselves. So he has to go through a period of trial and error again, testing to see what stays and what gets cleaned up. Eventually he finds ones that work like the "I AM IN 12" and the "bird" message and they stick around for the next time. The diamond wall doesn't reset because it's not a room in the confession dial, the diamond is the outer wall of the dial itself. He's literally breaking his way out of the dial. A good example is his clothes, the first time he climbs out of the water there is no earlier version of his clothes waiting for him, just a pair of regular plain clothes which he puts on and leaves his own to dry, returning for them later. But in one iteration he doesn't bother returning for his dried clothes to speed things up, just leaving them hanging. So the next time around he runs into the room and his previous set of dry clothes are there, which he changes into immediately. Skipping over the point where he changes into plain clothes, goes off, and returns later to put his own back on, "tightening the loop" as Moffat describes it. That's why we start the story 7000 years in, the Doctor has been through the process a whole bunch of times and has slowly over time tightened the loop into this period of days or weeks so we're not wandering around this castle with the Doctor for years at a time. But Moffat obviously chose to not put any of this in the episode because it would ruin the pacing and the atmosphere of the story. It really is an absolutely incredible piece of work. From Steven Moffat, Rachel Talalay, Peter Capaldi, and Murray Gold, not to mention Jenna Coleman and all the other crew involved. They all just decided to go all out on this one, and it really paid off. Moffat actually asked the BBC if they could extend this episode by 10 minutes purely because after a long time editing they had it absolutely perfect and didn't want to cut it down any further, which the BBC graciuosly agreed to and is why the episode is 55 minutes long rather than the standard 45.
desdinova
2020-09-05 06:17:05 +0000 UTCHands up if you've never stared intently into the eye sockets of a skull that you can recall.
Will
2020-09-04 21:52:58 +0000 UTC
