A-ha! I remembered this time AND WordPress SHALL NOT EAT THIS POST. It’s time for us to come together ’round the world to liveblog the sixth series of Doctor Who. This fourth episode, written by the fabulous Neil Gaiman, is titled “The Doctor’s Wife,” which makes me want to pee my pants and punch myself in the face at the exact same time. LET’S DO THIS.
omg omg omg omg WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR SO LONG!
I won’t use an image from the show, for those who don’t want to be spoiled.
This liveblog starts relative to you. So if it is airing on your television, start liveblogging away in the comments. Same for if you happen to be watching it online by less-than-legal means. (Though I would just time it with another time zone so you can comment with other people!) We already do this with Fringe and it works rather nicely. To avoid seeing spoilery comments regarding the episode from past livebloggers, I merely stay on the first page of comments and comment away, only going back after it’s over in order to comment on what other people said.
Sound fine? Just make sure not to post spoilers before this episode airs.
SEE ALL OF YOU TOMORROW!!!!
I just have to say: I didn't look very carefully at the picture, and at first it seemed like it was Neil Gaiman, Helena Bonham Carter, and Matt Smith all posed together and I wondered why on earth Helena and Neil hadn't done anything together before. (Er, that I know of. Feel free to correct me, peoples of the internet!)
And now I have to live with this ridiculous desire for Neil Gaiman and Helena Bonham Carter to work together on something (though what on earth that would be, I've no idea) AND IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT, MARK. I BLAME YOU.
EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD MAKE MORE SENSE TO BLAME MYSELF. I BLAME YOUUUUUUUUUU.
She DOES look very Helena-esque!
It's the hair. Definitely the hair.
Hah, I'd mentioned to a friend that the outfit designs made the characters in the trailer look like Sweeny Todd extras.
Actually, I think they even mentioned in some interview (I think it was Gaiman who said it), that her character is very Helena Bonham Carter. So probably the look is intentional! 😀
Neil Gaiman and Helena Bonham Carter would clearly meet in the battle of wacky, unruly black hair. Would her long hair succeed in confusing and disarming the enemy? Would his shorter hair handle the turns better? Will they put aside their hair difference and join together in the fight against boring, conventional hairstyles?
IT SHALL BE THE BATTLE OF THE AGES.
I want to see a three-way Battle Of Wacky Unruly Black Hair between Neil Gaiman, Helena Bonham Carter and Andy Serkis. 😀
See, I watched it and I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't Helena Bonham Carter! (:
Shaking and crying, been waiting a whole year for the Neil Gaiman penned episode!!
I hope I can find a place to watch it streaming…
I feel almost ashamed that I don't know who Neil Gaiman is.
Neil Gaiman writes great comics, great books, great short stories, and awful poetry.
You should be. 😉
Neil Gaiman is a legendin the Britsh Alt comics scene, and a very successful fantasy and horror author. I love his work, and am very excited to see what he does with Dr Who.
I have been waiting a really really long time for this.
<img src="http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/8833/tumblrll5507w1ag1qfpf18.jpg">
I just realized something about this picture that's a tiny bit spoilery for the episode. So don't read the rest of this comment unless you've watched it already.
So he's pointing at the "pull to open" part, isn't he?
I was going to say… XD
I have never noticed that PULL TO OPEN part until she mentioned it!
IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.
NEIL GAIMAN, MY LOVE FOR YOU BURNS WITH THE INTENSITY OF A THOUSAND SUNS!!!
I.CANNOT.WAIT!
ASDFGHJKL;ASDDFGHJKL;
Oh my god Neil Gaiman episode aldkfjad
It's almost as good as if Douglas Adams could rise from his grave and write us one more Who episode. Almost.
I think if anyone would want to be a zombie writer, it would be Douglas Adams. <33
Hmmm, I've started to feverishly hallucinate the episode, so the liveblog starts here?
WHY IS THE TARDIS VOMITING RAINBOWS? OH WAIT THAT'S ME.
To be fair the TARDIS did pretty much vomit rainbows all over this episode.
SO EXCITED. Even if we New Zealanders have to wait another week until we actually get the Impossible Astronaut… Doh well. For the moment, this shall fuel my Neil-Gaiman-Doctor-Who desires:
http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/…
Well its better than how long we had to wait for the Christmas Episode, I think? Assuming we're good people who don't download it or anything.
Non-spoilery gifs.
<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkqdemik881qawng8o1_500.gif "/>
<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkven2m9z31qebkxoo1_500.gif "/>
Hehe, I could watch that Matt gif all day.
the silence gif is perfect! 😀
I'm going to my sister's flat to watch Eurovision tonight! So excite! But she doesn't watch Doctor Who, so I'll have to see it on iPlayer tomorrow I think. BOO.
So I guess I won't liveblog, since I won't be in sync with anyone else, but I will come to post/read comments after I'm done. 😀
Much though I love Doctor Who, Eurovision is a once-a-year event!
Sharing the Eurovision excitement! Hopefully it won't be as disappointing as last year's was.
LOL, yes, Eurovision! Drinking games will commence after Who at my place!
I admit couldn't help myself and trawled the net to find spoilers for The Doctor's Wife — which I shall keep to myself.
So waiting for this. Nice to learn that Neil Gaiman has already changed his mind about penning another Doctor Who episode. Previously he said that he would only write the one episode i.e. The Doctor's Wife, but now he is supposedly full of lots of ideas, and, he says, eager to write more Doctor Who stories.
Interesting fact: This episode was supposed to be in Series 5, but for budgetary reasons it got moved to Series 6 and we got The Lodger (I think) instead. Which is a 100000x better and enjoyable "replacement episode" than Fear Her (*DEATH GLARE*). Gaiman then rewrote it to include Rory and said in an interview that he loves it all the better for it, and that many of the best lines were the new ones written for Rory. 🙂
And I totally agree that Gaiman should write more episodes in the future. 🙂
SO EXCITED!!!
Did anyone see the Today Show interview with Matt Smith? Meredith Veira asked Matt if she could be The Doctor’s next “travel buddy” in his “travel machine.”
I'm not sure if I saw the same thing, but I watched the video in which she visited the set. I loved it when she asked him to size her up and tell her if she would make a good time traveler and he said immediately, "Not a chance." And she was like :'(… Obviously she didn't expect that! 😀
Although there were some SERIOUS spoilers for (I think) the series finale in that video…
In an interview with Neil Gaiman I read recently, he said that he showed the Doctor's Wife to some of his friends at his home. Neil Gaiman watched the watchers as they watched the episode AND he said that the cheeks of all friends were damp from tears while watching the episode.
I find it ironic that after Moffat's spoiler rant. Two major spoilery plot elements for this episode which I shan't spoil here were officially released into the open by the BBC.
I trawl the net a lot for Doctor Who information, and I never came across the spoiler outline stories of Part 1 and 2 that Moffats raging about. If they exist they must have appeared on an obscure personal blog of an attendee of the Doctor Who U.S. screenings.
Agree that more spoilers appear on official sites — and I'm talking to you BBC.
If it was out there it must have been on Gallifrey Base somewhere. Probably in a section I avoid like the plague. All I knew was that one of the four was going to die and there being a major plottwist at the end of the second episode. I was completely about wrong about both of 'em. Thank god. As Moffat stated stories are the moments you don't expect.
But yeah Moffat should punch the guy in charge of releasing information. Pics of the Doctor being shot were released by the BBC on the morning the episode came out. Thankfully I didn't see them but that's just unacceptable.
While I wish the Beeb wouldn't do that at least it's easy to avoid spoilers there. Think what Moffat was referring to was the asshats who go on Who forums and start threads with titles like "saw Impossible Astronaut and the Doctor Dies!", no way of not reading that if you go to that forum. Or put a detailed breakdown of the episode online after seeing it early. Or "spoiler free" reviews that aren't.
Blogtor Who actually writes pretty good spoiler-free reviews of the episodes.
I AM EXCITE.
Not going to get excited, not going to build my hopes up in case it turns out to be disappointing…
Oh who am I kidding? OMGTHISEPISODE WHY ISN'T IT TIME YET?!
Okay having just checked the iPlayer it looks like it will be possible to watch Confidential AND Eurovision, YAY!
I am so excited about this episode.
This and Euroviz all on ONE NIGHT.
BEST NIGHT EVER RIGHT??? XD
Due to the delay in Australia in airing Eurovision I get them at different ends of it but DOCTOR WHO AND EUROVISION IN THE SAME DAY YAY!
<img src="http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv301/vick1986_album/DoctorsWife.jpg">
<img src="http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv301/vick1986_album/DoctorsWife2.jpg">
*snorts* XD
Neil Gaiman episode? Oh Hell Yes. Now they just need to film that episode Stephen Fry wrote and get Terry Pratchett to get over his slight distaste for Who and write one and we're all set. Speaking of famous authors and Dr Who, has anyone told Mark about RTDs idea for a JK Rowling episode? She would have been in the episode itself and some macguffin would be making her imagination come to life and the Doctor would help her. I believe Tennant put a stop to it by using his yearly veto an episode option, bless that man. I think this was in "A Writers Tale".
Yes, yes, YES!!! We totally need a Stephen Fry episode, a Terry Pratchett episode and a J. K. Rowling episode.
Suddenly I've rediscovered my appreciation for Tennant… That really would have sucked, I still despise the reference to JK in the Shakespeare episode.
Pratchett doesn't dislike Who btw, He did a piece on why it's not scifi that certain scum newspapers used as edited source material to make it seem like an attack. In fact the entire article started with how he couldn't hate Who despite his complaints.
I'm with Pratchett on this one – I love Doctor Who, but it isn't really science fiction, much closer to fantasy. Doesn't make it any less of a good show though!
Yeah, DW is kind of like Star Wars in that it has a lot of sci-fi elements (space ships, robots, aliens), but it really tells more of a fantasy story.
Newspapers misinterpreting something someone said? Impossible!
😛
You guys, I only had the barest idea of who Neil was, so I got Good Omens from the library… and stayed up to one in the morning last night reading it. I now am converted and SO EXCITE!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE that book. Two of my favourite authors teaming up! 😀
While I do adore Good Omens, maybe it's not the best book to start with if you want to familiarise yourself with Neil Gaiman's style. I suggest Neverwhere, it's pure brilliance.
Looked it up.
I'm assuming you mean the show, but it also lists a novel version…?
Definitely the novel version. I have seen the show, and while it's pretty good, it has nothing on the book. I was actually afraid of Knightsbridge station because of it for a while. 🙂
the show did come first…although I would only recommend watching it once you are an unadulterated Gaiman fan boy/girl and of the mentality that he can do no wrong…the show is much easier to take then.
HOWEVER, Gaiman was frustrated by the quality of the show and how limiting it was to the story he came up with so…..drumroll….tada! Neverwhere Novel!! It's great and a fantastic introduction to pure-Gaiman. Although, like you, my first Gaiman was Good Omens (followed shortly by Neverland, and then EVERYTHING WITH NEIL GAIMAN'S NAME ON IT. seriously, I read Martin Millar's Good Fairies of New York because Neil wrote the introduction.)
Hello, my name is Megan and I'm a Gaiman Fangirl.
Yeah, I know the show came first, but it's just not the same. Gaiman has a gift with words which, I think, TV shows or movies just can't convey. Not even Stardust (and I know that millions of people will want to murder me for saying this).
Funny thing, but my first was the Sandman series. A bit different, and still one of my favourites.
Welcome to the club, Megan. 😀
One of Us.
I love Anansi Boys, by the way. Try it some time.
I prefer Anansi Boys to American Gods. Much more lighthearted.
Terry Pratchett wrote most of Good Omens, I'm afraid. It's so blatantly obvious. Try Neverwhere or Coraline to get a better idea of his personal style. Or of course, Sandman.
What's obvious isn't always true. They've said in interviews that some of the most obviously Terry bits of Good Omens were actually Neil amusing himself by doing a Terry impersonation (and vice versa).
I love his short story collection, Smoke and Mirrors.
I'd never read his stuff, I've got quite a few friends who are fans but I just haven't gotten around to it – but after this episode, I definitely intend to start!
I HOPE EVERYONE WILL READ SANDMAN ALONG WITH MARK WHEN HE GETS TO THAT
Can we liveblog Eurovision after this please? It's usually alternative enough…
ONE HOUR TO GO SO EXCITE HRHHHHNN
It's a flaoting bx. "I've got Mail!" He jsut sounds so excited! especially as he thinks it;s other timelords.
Oh, and that answers that question. Yes, there CAN be a female Dr. It's canon now, bitches.
Well I doubt he gets mail often. Certainly not now.
less than an hour to go, here in the UK.
She VWORPS. Dr TARDIS OTP I knew it.
"What makes you think I'd ever give you back?"
And she's called him 'my Dr' before, when she was in Rose. She loves him, doesn't she?
brb, crying forever. SO SWEET.
THIRTY FIVE MINUTES, COUNTING DOWN.
That's Ten control room. Id'd have rather seen 4's.
Jus for the nod to the classics, you understand.
Eh, they'd have to rebuild that one, who knows if BBC has kept it in storage? But that WOULD have been snazzy…
Wow, why did some twat down-vote you for your opinion? I upvoted you to bring balance to the Universe.
Can anyone suggest a good streaming channel?
Nope, but you can torrent it from thebox.bz within 10-20 minutes from the end of the original broadcast. 🙂 That's how I get it ('cause otherwise I'd have to wait for the DVD, since DW doesn't broadcast in my country. I still get the DVDs when they come out, though).
http://watchseries.eu/serie/doctor_who
Loombo and Megavideo links are usually pretty good bets.
'Fear me, I've killed all of them'
That line was soooo AWESOME!!
I'm ready. At an angle I can see computer and TV, keyboard on lap. Apologies for typos from here on in- it's the awkwardness of my angle.
I also have one window open to comment on, and another window to follow comments- did someone say there's a way you can see newest comments?
15 minutes to go.
FIFTEEN MINUTES TO GO CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF /squee
FUCK. SNACKS. NEED SNACKS.
FISH FINGERS AND CUSTARD.
Do fish have fingers?
10 minutes. We all excited?
FIVE(ish) MINUTES!
5 minutes. My leg is jiggling lots. NEIL GAIMAN EPISODE FUCK YEAH.
Perhaps I'm holding this up to high a standard, ensuring disappointment.
Nah.
NEIL GAIMAN EPISODE, FUCK YEAH.
Hello everyone! First time I'm organised enough to be watching and have my laptop on at the same time.Yay!
GODDAMIT MUM STOP FALLING ASLEEP FIVE MINS AAAAA
Urrrgh, So you think you can dance. Wrong. Wrong. Terrible.
Come on guys! RTÉ don't show Doctor Who and I can't get the BBC so does anyone know a reliable stream for it?
Sorry. I think Netflix shows it?
http://watchseries.eu/serie/doctor_who
Loombo or Megavideo links.
Here we go. God I cannot stand the excitement.
GTFO UK TEAM
DR WHO DR WHO DR WHO DR WHO DR WHO DR WHO
FKSGMXZDF IT'S STARTING
OMG OOD
Gloomy sci-fi cave. People in werid outfits. OOOD.
Outfits are classic Gaiman.
HSDFALFKL WHAT IS HAPPENING
LOL KNOCKING IN DEEP SPACE?! OMG ILU NEIL
WHAT THE FUCK LEAVING THE UNIVERSE OMG MY BRAIN
The swimming pool's gone 🙁
This is all rather steampunk.
OOD.
I am about a minute behind, as my damn brother was putting cokes in the fridge and we cannot start until my dad, my brother and I are all installed in our living room with the curtains closed. CURSE YOU RORY. (it is really confusing in my house as I have a habit of squeaking things at tense moments, and when my brother is watching and I am just going "RORY DON'T BE DEAD" he just sighs and has to put up with it.)
Not the swimming pool! Not again!
HOLY SHIT DID THE TARDIS GET A HUMAN BODY? DR/TARDIS OTP!!!!
Of course<</i> the TARDIS is the Doctor's Wife. Brilliant!
omg uncle marry me
THE Dr is getting rather a lot of kisses lately.
His chin is hilarious, HUMAN!Tardis.
OOD <33333333333333
OMG. OMG.
asdfgh THIS IS LIKE THE LIBRARY ALL OVER AGAIN ;_________;
omg sentient world? YES YES YES YES YES
That lady has TARDIS spirit in her o-O Oh goodness.
THEME MUSIC FUCK YEAH! I groove along in my armchair to it like a boss at all times, inappropriate or no.
I love that there is a washing machine outside the universe.
REALLY, LADY. THAT WAS NOT APPROPRIATE. RESTRAIN THYSELF.
Lovin' that guy's hat, as well. Nice and fancy, man.
I'm betting this is where socks go as well when they get lost in the dryer..
and all the ball point pens.
and all the rolls of packing tape from my store.
OR part of a TARDIS with the chameleon ciruit still working??? Hmm!
OMG LOTS OF TIMELORDS???????? NEIL WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME
A mythology episode! dealing with timelords, Tardis, and Dr past pain. SO EXCCITED I MAY NOT BLINK.
Creepy person ;___;
Never trust something that uses others voices to speak. You should have learned that lesson already.
OMG STOP TOUCHING AMY CREEPY LADY
Poor Tardis girl ;___;
Of course, the Dr STOLE the TARDIS. She calls him 'her thief'.
Oh, Dr.
;____________________________; doctor
Amy, Marry me.
OH SHIT TARDIS WHERE ARE YOU GOING
I cannot wait to watch the Confidential of this. I adore those outfits.
MOAR TIMELORDS. I really hope this will not be like that time with the Master, that was rather dreadful and all. Every time the Timelords come back it NEVER ENDS WELL.
Oh dear, many Timelords have been there. That too cannot end well fuuuuuu
"The house loves you." eeek.
"Do fish have fingers?" AWESOME.
HAHAHAHAH DOCTOR YOU SLY DEVIL
Dr, what are you doing. You NEED them with you here.
"Well they can't all be in here."
ORLY.
green smoke. where are the timelords hiding? There are the boxes!
FFFFFFUUUUU BEHIND YOU
Eeep! Nice collection of distress signals.
Oh god
oh god this is so creepy
Creepy!!!!!!!!! Bits of dead Timelords.
OH SHIT BOXES
WHAT IS THAT GREEN SMOKE LIGHT
OMG THE TARDIS
Oh god, Neil Gaiman and Steven Moffat? This will be terrifying, if that's what they're going for.
oh god
YANDERE TARDIS? YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES
The TARDIS stole the doctor?!
LOVE IT!
So now the Doctor has the screwdriver?
He always did, he sent Amy and Rory away on purpose.
Rule number one…the Doctor lies. 🙁
"You wanna be forgiven." Endless sads 🙁
Oh snap! That green light cannot be good! Also, RUDE, Doctor. Blatant, gleeful lying right there.
OH GOODNESS. "This is what it picked up…cries from the long dead." Good god, awww, Doctor. The look on his face, I WANT TO HUG YOU SO MUCH DOCTOR.
what the good god is that green light.
LOL fishfingers
I dislike that this type of personality was chosen for her. Too.. 'adorable'. Not quite the right word.
Nah, it's perfect. Insane, prickly and perky. The Tardis has already struck me as all of those.
It's just so awfully Gaiman.
What a surprise 😉
Well.. exactly. Boring.
Oh dear. No point in a guest writer unless they're using their 'style'.
What would be the point in a Neil Gaiman episode if it doesn;t feel like a Neil Gaiman episode?
Good writing?
I dunno, I didn't hire him. *shrug* Power to you if you like it.
…. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?
Not as in, "this episode was poorly written", as in "I expect they hired Gaiman because he can write well, which I personally feel is done a disservice by using the "daffy aristocrat lady" trope for the TARDIS".
:/
… nope, you've lost me.
Well,
anninyn asked what the point of Gaiman guest-writing would be if he didn't add some of his common, worn-in personal tropes (such as 'the woman who is wide eyed, daffy and perky with an aristocratic air and great big messy hair').
And I replied, meaning that Gaiman is capable of more than just using those common, worn-in personal tropes, and that that capability could have been what they hired him for. The ability to write well, without using variations on a stock character-base.
He wrote everything else in this episode, too, not just her. I don't read Gaiman so I don't know what his tropes are, but if that's the only one you feel cause to bring up, then the rest of the episode's goodness sounds fine to me.
And I don't know how else you would write a complex high-tech time-and-space mechanism than a little flighty and quick-to-speak somewhat arrogant person.
Yeah.. but that was the only bit I criticised. I didn't say "and the rest was shit".
I said Gaiman can write well, I said I didn't like this one little bit, these two things together do not add up to "he wrote this whole episode poorly and I don't know why they hired him at all".
I'm not claiming you said that. That's why I said the rest of the episode must be fine, because I believe you think that. And that's why I pointed out I'm not familiar with Gaiman's tropes. But you seem to be upset he utilized tropes and I was asking if this was the only thing that you didn't like.
PSYCHIC TARDIS IS PSYCHIC
NOOOOOO AMY AND RORY PLZ DON'T DIE ;_________;
She mAh, House feeds on TARDIS ..
Tha's the Zero room! I thought they jettisoned the Zero Room?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
THIS IS SO FUCKING BRILLIANT.
NOOOO DYING PLZ DON;T DIE TARDIS
LOL MADMAN WITHOUT A BOX
SADSZDGH
BEST EPISODE EVER SEXY THE TARDIS YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES
He calls her 'Sexy;' THAT'S BRILLIANT.