Two Odd Things About the Beast Below

[wshaffer]

This is the second episode we've had in a row where the number 0 has been oddly prominent. Is "Zero" the "Bad Wolf" of this season?

Also, did anyone notice the sign "Magpie Electronics" above the hole in the street that Amy investigates? Random reference to wind up the fans, or meaningful clue? (I'm leaning towards random reference myself.)

Comments

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

See, I couldn't get past the Star Wars homage and trying to figure out what was up with it. It was so consistent, and yet I'm not sure who the Empire and who the Rebel Alliance was - or whether that was the point.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Apart from "Help me Doctor, you're our only hope", and the resemblance of the hooded guys to Jedi, were there other correspondences with Star Wars? I guess maybe Amy and the Doctor falling down a garbage disposal chute counts.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the Queen running around with blasters, being in a giant mouth with teeth and getting ejected out of it, the panning over the starwhale, and tons of visual imagery, plus the whole garbage disposal chute scene, which had some shot-for-shot references.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I guess it's been long enough since I've seen Star Wars that I didn't pick up on all the references. (Although, I remember catching quite a Star Wars vibe off of "The End of Time Part 2".)

I still can't ascribe any particular meaning to the references, unless it's just the Doctor Who production team simply glorying in the fact that they can do Star Wars style visuals. (There is a story about the 1977 Doctor Who production team going to see Star Wars and realizing that they could never compete with it visually. This is always followed up with, "Of course, what's really important is the story," but there is a sense that Star Wars inaugurated the period of Doctor Who being self-consciously defensive about its ability to compete with big-budget American sci-fi.)

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Is "Zero" the "Bad Wolf" of this season?

Conceivably. Also, the Crack in the Universe. Notice how it opens in the side of Starship UK?

(I'm leaning towards random reference myself.)

Me too, but it is funny to see it as a "retro" feature on the Starship.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Also, the Crack in the Universe. Notice how it opens in the side of Starship UK?

D'oh! I was actually so caught up in other stuff with this episode that I completely failed to notice the significance of that. Yes, I'm guessing that the Crack in the Universe will be making a regular appearance this season.

[blencathra.livejournal.com]

Did you notice the inconsistency with Amy's age when she went into the booth? We heard her age given as 1306 but her age on the screens was 1308.

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

I missed that! I'll have to go back and take a look. Interesting that two years is the gap between when the Doctor leaves after seeing off the Atraxi and when he returns to pick up Amy. Maybe there's an alternate timeline where she leaves with him right after the Atraxi leave.

Certainly all the signs point to something very weird going on with Amy's timeline.