More DW Meta. DW S4x08 and the case for Jack...Spoilers!

[rabid1st]

Don't get yourself upset about the title on this post, even if you are spoiler sensitive.

It's not a spoiler about episode 8...or really...anything.

It's just about something someone purposed after episode 8 that I found rather silly.

But I am going to discuss both things in this post...4x08 and Jack's history with the Doctor...so don't read any further than this cut if you don't want to know...or if you haven't seen Torchwood. I have, btw, should anyone want to respond to me about this and reference TWS2.

Okay, I admit when I first heard the "It's Jack" idea I chuckled. I hadn't really digested the preview clips yet and I felt that the "Jack is involved somehow with everything people" were getting as bad as we "Rose is involved with everything people" and managing to get all worked up about a squareness gun. And...well...there was a lot of repetition of theme in this episode from other Moffat episodes. It is not beyond the realm of reason that Moffat just has the one stock adventure character at his disposal and it reads like Jack to us.

But...after I thought about it some more...and digested the coming attractions clip...I can make a better case for River being Jack. Which I shall now do for the benefit of those who I chuckled at earlier. :grin: I can so be humble, Kes! Yes, I can! Maybe I was wrong to think the idea was silly...and here's why...

1) River says they've been to the end of the universe. Okay, well the Doctor goes lots of places twice and could have found some reason to take River there or go to rescue her as she is on some archeological dig...but it would mean delving into a very nasty paradox on top of a major event at the end of where the TARDIS could comfortably travel. So...is he likely to go the the end of the universe, again? Maybe not. So maybe River is someone who was there in Utopia. Jack or Martha or the Master. Or we are talking about another end of the universe...such as the one that might be about to happen with Rose.

2) The recognition thing seems to go beyond the physical. If this is Jack from our Jack's future...then she would recognize Ten...but she seems to recognize THE DOCTOR. So, it seems she's met a future Doctor and knows that there are more than one of him. Also she seems to be apart from him a lot and they need the "diaries" to catch up when they meet again. This would imply they pop in and out of each other's lives.

3) She calls it "very early days"...but again doesn't recognize him. She is talking about the Doctor's early days. For some reason he's shared some things with her and not others...which makes sense with him. Again, she could just be a beloved companion ala Sarah Jane, but the early days thing doesn't apply to the Master. They go way back. Early days applies to Jack or Rose or a time before this River person knew him at all. Add in that she was shocked over Donna being there...and she's placed the time frame at a scary point for her. Maybe close to the time she knows she will lose everything, her body and her chance to be normal again. Or maybe a time she can influence her own future from.

4) Early on Jack said that the Time Agency stole 2 years of his memories. That's why he left them. I have always felt that it was possible he knew the Doctor before, during those 2 years, and that's why they were taken. Maybe the two linear years of diary keeping for River are the 2 years that were taken from Jack. Maybe it wasn't the Time Agency that took them...maybe it was the Doctor.

5) Also early on Jack said that he'd been pregnant and wouldn't be doing that again. So, if he was a woman at some point...that would explain the pregnancy. This time is the 51st century and we see via the statues how flexible the use of flesh is during this time. That's one thing that we have to consider. It is possible that gender could be flexible as well as sexual preference being flexible*. Jack meeting Ten takes the "new look" of the Doctor in stride...knowing about regeneration from his time at Torchwood...but maybe also accepting the idea of changing bodies and forms more easily. Jack could have been male, then female, then male then a big giant head in a tank.

6) River does seem to be a Time Agent of sorts...and something of a con man. She refused to sign her contract. There are character similarities with her and Jack...the adventure persona...the "Hello, sweetie" and "Pretty boy" comments. Also, the I hate you sometimes business in the preview is very like Jack as is the Doctor's "I know." Though those things also match up with a long standing and uneasy marriage. It is doubtful that TEN knows this woman as she now appears but River might know something that will make it clear that she is Jack and/or the Face of Boe.

7) The Face of Boe is the only other person that we know of that can send a message to the Doctor via the psychic paper. And Boe might be Jack. River might be Boe. And when Boe saw that the Doctor was with Rose...he went away without sharing his news in New Earth. That has always made me think that Boe knew better than to mess with the Rose time line. This is something Jack would be sensitive about doing as well...messing with Rose's time in anyway. Not only because he loves Rose and he understands what she and the Doctor mean to one another, but also because she is so closely tied to his own story.

8) And here it would be coming around again...when River meets Donna...she realizes that she has called the wrong Doctor...or called him way too early in his Tenth life...and she can't share anything with him about what's to come.

So...see...it does all go back to Rose. :grin:

*This played into my Donna could be the next Doctor theory as well. And that adds another really kicking dimension to all this. If they are introducing the concept of changing genders. But is it a dimension that the regular Doctor Who viewer can swallow? Or will they insist on a "proper Doctor" going on in 2010.



Rae

Comments

[grbggrl.livejournal.com]

Not that it means anything as of course Jack could travel in time as a Time Agent...but The Doctor also says that it's the 51st century, which is when Jack is from.

I don't think it's going to turn out to be Jack...but I really really don't want her to be a future wife/lover/whatever of The Doctor...so speculating is fun.

[binah1013.livejournal.com]

I don't know any spoilers for this two-parter, but I love your speculation. In fact, I haven't watched this ep yet. I'm going to watch them both when part 2 comes out. I'm kinda wary about it in a GiTF kinda way. I'd rather be disgruntled or pleased in one sitting, rather than waiting like a turkey in suspense for a week.

When the promo stuff came out last week, the River Song stuff seriously harshed my squee. Seriously. It even dampened my fanfic appetite. However, I know some good Rose stuff is coming up. So I figure if Moffat is up to fuckery, then I want to compress the experience. I'm not all that conversant with which eps that Moffat has done (other than Blink and GiTF), but I don't trust him. Wait for Rose to be completely out of the picture before turning him into Captain Kirk, says I. Then, I'll be fine with Dr. Kirk. In the meantime, I care.

I guess my fandom focus will never be as intense as it was with XF. That's probably a good thing.

[abbyromana.livejournal.com]

I like your theory that Jack is River. When I read you summary I didn't think I would, but yeah! If that's what it is I could live with that. It actually would be kind of a fun turn of events.
Also it would be much better than her being some future lover or wife or Time Lady.

Here's hoping Moffett follows your line of thinking. ;)

[pathnotfollowed.livejournal.com]

haha oi - sounds familiar :p

i'm firm in my belief that it is jack - i especially like the thought that he mentioned he was pregnant once; that hadn't occured to me before.

also worth mentioning, on a really basic level - river has an american accent. bearing in mind that for all intents and purposes, it is a kids show, something like accents would be a key clue, surely?

i am loving all this theorising btw!! :D

[islwyn13.livejournal.com]

River has an American accent? Did I miss that? I thought she had her "Alex Kingston" accent going. One of the other archaeologists had an American accent, but not River, I don't think.

*goes back to rewatch and listen to accents...*

[pathnotfollowed.livejournal.com]

i thought she did... although i am crap with accents so could be wrong - there was a definite twang

[islwyn13.livejournal.com]

Well, she has lived in America for many years...maybe the accent is rubbing off on her? :)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Alex herself has a British accent, I believe. So she could well be doing an American accent here. And it doesn't truthfully matter as Jack isn't REALLY American...he's 51st century alien world bloke. He's just spent time with Americans and picked up their accent a little more...he was PLAYING an American when he met the Doctor and Rose because Jack Harkness was American.

Rae
thinking the same would be true of Alex...like John Barrowman she's been in the States long enough to have a sort of unfocused accent going on there.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Oh...true. She does have an American accent. And she's quite...mannish. Also, didn't she say that there was only one person she didn't find attractive...meaning she found all of the other people attractive...including the women. Of course, that does go with the 51st century mores as expessed by Jack and John in Torchwood.

I certainly think Jack would try being a woman if he could do it. Because it is an experience everyone should have if they are universally inclined, as it were, being the other sex. I think the idea of that is more or less fanon in Doctor Who anyway...that the Doctor could be male or female following a regeneration. It seems reasonable to assume that if there is a way for Jack to become a big giant head...there's a way for him to become female.

Also...for kids...those suits take a lot of the sexuality out of a character...so River Song being Jack (that's not his real name) Harkness...makes some sense. For all we know Jack's people have names like River Song for men. His brother's name is Grey after all. Maybe it's something like Grey Song.

And the idea of Jack as a part-time love interest for the Doctor through his long life...does rather suit the whole concept of his living forever. I sort of felt that was why Rose made Jack eternal...that she wasn't just unable to control the power...but instead she knew that the Doctor needed someone like Jack, to be his friend. They are bound to run into one another over and over again. And River's attitude...very like the Face of Boe's attitude, I think. A sort of sweet indulgence of the Doctor...and that definitely matched up with other events.

So...I think you will definitely have some crowing rights...and it would speak well to the Moffat years being interesting, too...if River turns out to be Jack.

Rae

[princessblue791.livejournal.com]

If she's Jack, I'm fine with her. If not, lets hurry her along to her demise. Lock her in a room with an angry weevel, a dalek, and a Paul Rieser novel and lets move on.

*shakes fist at Moffat

LET THE DOCTOR HAVE ROSE!!!

Yes, again...he just strikes the wrong note

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that he doesn't get RTD's Doctor very well...but I do think RTD uses Moffat to great purpose. Like the introduction of sexuality and Jack in Empty Child/The Doctor Dances...was brilliant...that is really my favorite Moffat example, even though...at the time...I resented Jack.

GitF, as I've often said, was at just the right place in the story...and the clockwork men were marvelous and the child Reinette was adorable...and I can see the fantastic illustration of ephemeral humanity against the Doctor's much longer lifespan. But, I didn't really ENJOY the episode because it wasn't really much of my Doctor and Rose was shunted to the side and not as well done. Then, in Blink...well...I liked the episode a lot...thought it was scary...but again Martha and the Doctor are shoved aside. I don't mind so much about Martha...but, it was sort of a stand alone story about Sally Sparrow.

I liked Sally though...and she would make a smashing companion. She's the only one of the lot that I think makes a smashing companion and that includes Jack. I think Sally has what it takes to be lovable and yet work well with the Doctor...so I think that Moffat is capable of crafting a good companion as long as he isn't trying to craft a person the Doctor loves...he's very bad at that.

He's actually very Mary Sue...it seems. He wants his character to be the bravest, brightest, most amazing woman ever to set foot in the Doctor's path...and it is lovely that RTD didn't suffer from that when he set out to create Rose. Instead, RTD thought...what is the Doctor missing in his life. It's not adventure, beauty or brilliant conversation. What he is missing is tender loving care...someone to hold his hand. Someone who isn't dazzled by him, but who deeply understands who he is...someone like Rose Tyler.

Rose would never hate him. Rose would always understand and feel for him.

Rae

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

Hi Rae :)

I am completely unspoiled so I have no idea, but I do think people are over elaborating on this one. With all the meta of "spoilers" and the fact that they were in the biography section, maybe the message came from Rose and River Song is just a red herring stalking fan girl who picked up his biography and is pretending to know him? A time agent like Jack was? I do think that the message to him might have been completely unrelated to River Song, but I'd have to rewatch the ep for appropriate dialogue that relates.

I have no idea, just thought I'd say hi.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Howdy old time collaborator!

Long time no crosspost. Hee! But yeah...as I said...I found the Jack idea silly at first...and I do like the idea of fangirling even...that's so close to the concept of spoilers it's not even funny. But it would make me groan even louder I think if it turns out that River isn't related at all. I thought she mentioned the message to him first...you got my message. I'd have to check it.

I don't put it passed Moffat to completely miss the idea that we are all breathlessly waiting for Rose...but I think RTD is very likely to want to start seeding red herrings at this point in the story. And it is possible that the Doctor can simply choose to change this possible future and consign his relationship with River to the dust bin.

As I say in one of the comments above...I was sort of expecting us to do "It's a Wonderful Life" at some point this season so that the Doctor can see what his life will become if he doesn't go to Rose. And this could be that time...I was expecting it at Christmas...for the obvious references...but here we could be getting a glimpse into the woman who ends up with the cold, hard Doctor he will become in future. She mentions he doesn't trust anyone...she says sometimes she hates him and he says "I know"...she talks about how young his eyes are...and calls him "pretty boy."

So, if she has seen him...and he looked like Ten...then he's had some very hard lessons...and I don't like that idea for his future. Even if it's Jack...I don't like to think that the Doctor goes on getting more and more worn down. I want him to go to Rose and feel better. Maybe he can change this future. Which is the whole point of "It's a wonderful life." As long as River does nothing at the library to change his life...other than show him what it will be like...I think we avoid a paradox.

Rae

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

What intrigues me is that I just have no idea how they're going to treat Rose coming back (assuming it is Rose and not the Big Bad -- my years of Buffy have made me dubious). I think my uncertainty is that I'm not sure if we're meant to consider the 3 specials in 2009 as part of the RTD arc.

If the Rose/Doctor love story is ending at the end of this season, then I wouldn't be surprised if RTD goes for the schmoopy ending, because clearly he wants it.

Under that scenario, we can assume that Rose doesn't leave him until she dies, and then the specials can continue onward with stunt casting and individual adventures, leaving us with a 2010 season that starts with the contemporary year being 2040 or so.

But would a contemporary 2010 audience want that and would the budget stand for "future" london? This would only work if Moffat goes for a completely new setting for Who, and I'm not sure if they'll reset quite that much.

So no Rose happy ending then? Maybe she's the Big Bad after all! Oh, I'm overthinking it again. I'm just loving this season, really. I always relate it to the X-Files -- as much as I love the overarching Mulder/Scully, you got to love the monster of the week, and I've been really pleased that the season has gone more along the lines of Season 1 in terms of that.

/random babbling.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I think the easiest solution for 3 episodes in 2009 is what RTD already promised...encores.

An encore is a return to the stage after the main perfomance is over. RTD, as you noted, clearly craves the schmoopy ending for his Doctor and his Rose. And he is in the best position of anyone to get what he wants. Additionally, he's said he would like David Tennant to be the Doctor forever.

This can't happen realistically...as in David Tennant gives up his entire career and just goes on playing the Doctor forever. But it could happen in the context of Rose Tyler's "Forever." If indeed, the Doctor goes to Rose in another universe...and lives out her lifetime with her. Her lifetime could be hugely increased...to say 500 years even...by the Vortex energy within her or her time on the TARDIS altering her biology. But it would still probably be a limited lifetime they would share.

Meanwhile...in the Agatha Christie episode...we get a major hint about how they could do 3 encore episodes...simply have the Doctor remember them for us. This would allow them to age David Tennant artificially...as he acts as introduction person for the story. And yet, have him relatively young and footloose in the encore story. He could be tucking a little boy into bed and the little boy asks him for a story...and he tells it...in flashback.

Personally, I think that would work very well for Christmas...as we could then have something we didn't quite understand at the first...the Doctor in a darkened house...lightning flashing outside...a little boy up way beyond his bedtime and startled by the strange figure in his door...a man offering to tell him a story. Then, after the story is done...the boy is asleep...and the man quietly exits the room. Cameo by Billie as Rose...asking if everything is okay. The Doctor says he's just told him a story...she groans and says..."Oh, now he'll have nightmares for a week."

Rae

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

Heeee. As much as I like that idea, that's what fanfic is for, I think, not canon :) But hell, you never know.

Now, where did all those bees go?!

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It took me one night to come around to Doomsday. And the way I came around has all unfolded pretty much as I foretold. Like you, I felt RTD wouldn't leave his story unfinished. I predicted the nature of relationship with Martha. In fact, RTD went much further than I suggested on Martha, carrying the crush through the entire season. I purposed the same thing we saw...only I didn't expect him to carry it on so long. He's doing the same thing with Donna that I would have done...having the Doctor heal to the point where he COULD go on. And I still have some hope that this business with River is the path untaken.

I think if it is...we will learn that Donna is going to die very soon in the next part. And we will learn that River has a very uneasy but passionate relationship with the Doctor. Basically, we will be learning that nothing ever changes for the Doctor and he just keeps changing and getting harder and more aloof. This is what Jackie warned Rose about..."You'll just keep changing..." until one day we won't be able to recognize you.

Ironically, this is what the Valeyard warned the Sixth Doctor about, too. And we have seen him changing in this long RTD arc...growning colder, more god-like...less human. What makes the Doctor such a successful character is his humanity...his yearning to get closer to us. He never relied on his god-like power...but on his charm. But he doesn't understand some things about us...the things he mentions to Agatha Christie...ordinary everyday things...and loss. He never stays put, never commits and so he never loses. Putting Rose away in another universe was a way of keeping her safe forever. But it has cost him dearly, I think. I hope he is braver this time. I hope RTD sees that it isn't god-like power that makes him the Doctor, but his lovable and caring nature.

Rae

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah, you could be right about the fanfic-y nature of that scenario.

I do think that the solution this season is going to be linked to Time Lord breeding...and how you get more Time Lords. I don't think it is the same as how you get more Gallifreyans (which could well be what he wants from Rose...more Gallifreyans).

Rae

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do agree there's a DEFINITE procreation theme. Too many breeding planets mentioned, too much cloning. And yes, absolutely, Time Lords vs. children is a totally different thing.

[liber-noctuae.livejournal.com]

hi,
long time lurker, but this paragraph got me thinking

"
Meanwhile...in the Agatha Christie episode...we get a major hint about how they could do 3 encore episodes...simply have the Doctor remember them for us. This would allow them to age David Tennant artificially...as he acts as introduction person for the story. And yet, have him relatively young and footloose in the encore story. He could be tucking a little boy into bed and the little boy asks him for a story...and he tells it...in flashback."

now I know this post is about river song being jack, but maybe....maybe that little boy is really a little girl.....

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Oh...and re: Monster of the Week...first, X-FILES MOVIE! YAY!

Second, I do find I've really enjoyed this season of Doctor Who and I really won't mind Moffat doing a week to week thing...as long as he has creative people working with him. My point on Moffat is that he probably doesn't have the skill needed to continue RTD's storyline. Hence, my feeling, long and frequently expressed, that RTD needs to wrap up his Doctor/Rose love story in a sweet and happy bow and depart stage left.

That happy bow being...the Doctor finds a way to live out Rose's lifetime with her...in peace and relative security. Maybe they could open a little sweets shop. :grin:

Rae

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

We don't get the XFiles movie until OCTOBER! It's going to be near to impossible to stay unspoiled :(

My point on Moffat is that he probably doesn't have the skill needed to continue RTD's storyline. Hence, my feeling, long and frequently expressed, that RTD needs to wrap up his Doctor/Rose love story in a sweet and happy bow and depart stage left.

No question that RTD will wrap up Rose/Doctor - it's his arc, not Moffat's, and he won't leave it undone. Not so much a question of skill, I'd argue, but of authorial vision. Happily or un, is the question for me -- I suspect, that just as I initially HATED Doomsday, I'll come around to whatever he decides as the true canon and logical progression for the 'ship. it just might take me a year or so to recognise that happily ever after in the Whoverse is not necessarily a quickly recgonised happily ever after, if you know what I mean. Of course, I'm hoping for the easily recognisable happy, but I'll take anything that adequately justifies Billie's return. According to the tabloids, she and Larry Fox seem quite happy with her Secret Life as a Call Girl and trying to get her knocked her up, so I think Who is very much in her past now and I'm really hoping for A Huge Master Plan 4 Season Arc that will bring her back.

Guess I'll have to wait patiently until next Saturday :)

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Good Lord! October? I had heard it was slated for July 25th...what happened? :gapes:

I do think that there is a huge master arc plan REASON for Billie's return. I don't know if the whole point was to bring her back...or if the bringing her back is part of the point. The point to this season seems to be that the Doctor can't have that life...still...he can't have a family again...not now.

And there has been a huge push about breeding and, really, alternative ways of breeding after your home planet is destroyed. I am still sort of on my DoctorDonna theory...that Donna is dying...that the Doctor can save her by making her a Time Lord...and with the help of another Time Lord...he can save Rose and her universe.

One thing I don't think any of us really address is the question of the universe we see every week in Doctor Who being OUR universe. I mean, I know that there's no zepplins...but we haven't had all these alien invasions either. Maybe the Doctor can leave a faux Doctor behind...go to Rose...live out her lifespan with her...and then go on to OUR universe.

Rae

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

It's October for Britain, July for the US. Hence the fact it will be nearly impossible to avoid being spoiled by icons etc.!

And there has been a huge push about breeding and, really, alternative ways of breeding after your home planet is destroyed. I am still sort of on my DoctorDonna theory...that Donna is dying...that the Doctor can save her by making her a Time Lord...and with the help of another Time Lord...he can save Rose and her universe.

Ah, interesting. A reason then for the introduction of all this cloning technology (actually, that might fit given the placement of the Jenny episode alongside The Long Game and Human Nature/Family of Blood with their ikportance for the finales)? But the danger there would be the doctor REALLY playing god, a god of creation rather than destruction -- or, maybe that's ultimately what the Doctor's Journey from the Time War, according to RTD, actually is.

[auntiesuze.livejournal.com]

Although I can definitely make a case for River being Jack (maybe some evolutionary step between Jack and the Face of Boe??), I don't think they're the same person.

However, I do think that there is a link. What if River is like some sort of alternative version of Jack...a female version? Not Jack himself, but they say that we've all got a double out there somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me if Jack's double is female. ;)

I don't know. Something about River definitely seems "off" to me, but I can't put my finger on it. I need to watch the episode again.

It's been interesting seeing the diverse reactions from the peanut gallery. Seems that people either loved this episode or hated it. I have to say, it hasn't been my favorite Steven Moffet story (Blink was much scarier and cooler, IMHO), but I don't hate it. And my opinion may improve in the second part.

The little girl is definitely a part of the computer system (if not the whole thing). Did you notice that the rug she keeps collapsing on is the same as the symbol on the Library computer? That's a neat correlation. I just can't figure out why they would make a computer (or security system or whatever the heck she is) self-aware and stick her in a virtual world. There must be a purpose, but I'm not seeing it.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well...might just be a scifi purpose. I think she's a failsafe of some sort...CAL. I didn't actually dislike the episode, I just think that it shows Moffat's limitations. I mean, if the adventure space character has nothing to do with Jack...then she's a lot like Jack. If she's the Time Traveler's Wife...then Moffat already did that story with Reinette in Girl in the Fireplace.

I would like her to be something completely original. That would make me feel better about Moffat as head writer...because I've sort of noticed his episodes, while scary and nice stand alone bits...are just that...rather stand alone. So, I would say, he's likely to head up a rather stand alone series. A string of Monsters of the Week episodes...and that's fine with me...provided I've already had some nice warm cozy closure on my Rose/Ten love story.

After a longlife of cozy cuddling with Rose Tyler...I can easily see the Doctor wanting to get back out there and see the stars again. But I would hate to think that he would just move out of his pain into that sort of shallow existence...it just doesn't satisfy. And it's rather sad...like those 40 something guys hanging out at bars hitting on 20 year old college girls. There comes a time in life when you do need to have some other experience besides running around and seeing new things.

If RTD had never raised the question of the Doctor as a lonely angel...if he'd given us that sporty guy that runs around and has a good time...we might be okay going on with that...but unfortunately...I don't think cramming the genie back in the bottle is going to work. Take this season...certainly it's lots more fun...the Doctor is enjoying himself and Donna. Donna is great...but the ratings are still slipping because there's just no point to it all. I think that for Doctor Who to continue...there has to, from time to time, be a point to it all.

This time...RTD's time...the point should be rest and recovery of self after the war...a lifetime with Rose would do that. Next time...the point can be something else...maybe the return of the Time Lords...I don't know. But if there is no point at all...I don't think the audience will stay interested.

Rae

You want to hear my DW S4x08 crack theory?

[nightbeast.livejournal.com]

River is Jack's daughter, in possession of the Master's ring and Ianto's diary.

... What do you think - 10,000 to 1 odds?

I can't take Moffat's episodes seriously anymore. But fair credit to him, I do talk about his eps a fair bit, even if he's laughing at fandom with 'spoiler' comments and doesn't like to inherit companions. I fear for Rose in 2010, and hope RTD resolves her arc before he hands the reins over.

My second crack theory of River is that she's evil. Jack shows us it's not difficult to assume a different identity if you're in the 51st century. He also shows us psychic ability to cold call the Doctor's paper. She's lured the Doctor to a place with no witnesses infested with an enemy he doesn't know how to defeat (yet). The 'TARDIS' book - a biography of his life - is readily available in such a place.

My third crack theory is that she's a part of the Library's computer system. The library knows it's in trouble and the molecular imprint of the 'saved' is degenerating. As with the hand in the Doctor's Daughter, there's a paradox with the call on the psychic paper. The Doctor arrives and is scanned, and the computer looks up his biography. It realises he can save everyone, so has made an extra effort to create full people from the biography, an extension of the faces on the nodes. They can be fodder for the shadows to give him time to figure things out.

Ah, writer's block inspires creativity in everything but the thing you want to work on. :)

Oh, and a fandom gag

[nightbeast.livejournal.com]

Jack's face has to appear on one of these library nodes and somebody quips "The Face of Boe!"

...32 hours without sleep and counting

Re: You want to hear my DW S4x08 crack theory?

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Okay...I'll put a fiver both ways on that Ianto's Daughter theory being the right one!

:snicker:

I'm glad I'm not the only one that can't take Moffat seriously. I almost expect them to say that his appointment was a joke and the show is really ending for a bit after Christmas 2008.

However, I do also think that he can create watchable Doctor Who...if he has enough staff help with the episodes and they don't need him to continue on with the angst and emo. I really feel that if RTD wraps up Rose/Ten in a happy for her lifetime bow...then we can have a footloose and fun Doctor again for a bit and not mind if the episodes are a little lacking in some essential follow through.

Rae