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[penguinfordprefect]

nothing prepared me for learning that the ‘OK Computer’ album by radiohead is a hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy reference

[spynotebook]

Just watched Doctor Who: Extremis, the latest episode of Doctor Who, aired a couple of hours ago on BBC 1, to air in a few hours on BBC America … lots of things to think about and talk about. Spoilers of course, what were you thinking?

1. A Long Time Ago – But Not In A Galaxy Far, Far Away

This is how the Doctor swore an oath. Who he swore an oath over. What’s in the vault. And how Nardole got involved in it all. The story arc of the show gets its beginning told, and it’s nature explained. No waiting till the end, here we go – oh and be aware that we’re starting another arc as well. This series of Docto Who is not so much structured as knitted…

And no, no Star Wars reference. But we do get Star Trek.

2. How To Kill A Time Lord

In an earlier episode, Missy put herself at the mercy of UNIT with gunmen aimed at both her hearts and two on her brain stem. Looks like she wasn’t as helpless as we thought, it is now revealed that Time Lords have three brain stems as well as two hearts. Add it to the list.

This is the Doctor after he left River Song on Derrillium. The River who then goes on to meet her death in Silence In The Library – only to be resurrected in a virtual world as an electronic memory of herself. Funny that.

3. Finally, A Reason For The Sonic Sunglasses

It’s common for blind people to wear sunglasses, not so much for them but for the sensibilities of others. And to stop those sensibilities getting in the way. Here the Doctor wears his often criticised sonic sunglasses, sign of a mid-regeneration crisis, not only a signifier for his blindness and an attempt to hide that from the world, but also as a device to help cover his condition, giving him a readout of the world around him. And those in front of him. Even if it stubbornly only goes so far. There’s none so blind as those who cannot get a proper readout on their sonic sunglasses.

4. Pope, Minus A Thousand Years

The actual Pope Benedict IX had one hell of a history. For a start, he was Pope on three occasions between October 1032 and July 1048. Aged approximately 20 at his first election, he was one of the youngest popes in history. The only man to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only man ever to have actually sold the papacy. He was briefly forced out of Rome in 1036, but returned with the help of Emperor Conrad II, who had expelled the bishops of Piacenza and Cremona from their sees. Bishop Benno of Piacenza accused Benedict of “many vile adulteries and murders”. In September 1044, opposition to Benedict IX’s “sodomitic lifestyle” (lovely) forced him out of the city again and elected John, Bishop of Sabina, as Pope Sylvester III. Benedict IX’s forces returned in April 1045 and expelled his rival, who returned to his previous bishopric. Doubting his own ability to maintain his position, and wishing to marry, Benedict decided to abdicate, and consulted his godfather, the pious priest John Gratian, about the possibility of resigning. He offered to give up the papacy into the hands of his godfather if he would reimburse him for his election expenses. Gratian paid him the money and was recognized as pope in his stead as Gregory VI. Benedict IX soon regretted his resignation and returned to Rome, taking the city and remaining on the throne until July 1046 – although Gregory VI continued to be recognized as the true pope. At the time, Pope Sylvester III also reasserted his claim.

In the world of Doctor Who, it appears that Benedict was a woman. And the Doctor spent a night with her… “I knew she was trouble.”

Jean de Mailly’s chronicle, written around 1250, contains the first mention of an unnamed female pope, and it inspired several more accounts over the next several years. The most popular and influential version is that interpolated into Martin of Opava’s Chronicon Pontificum et Imperatorum, later in the 13th century. Martin introduced details that the female pope’s birth name was John Anglicus of Mainz, that she reigned in the 9th century, and that she entered the church to follow her lover. The legend was universally accepted as true until the 16th century, when a widespread debate among Catholic and Protestant writers called the story into question; various writers noted the implausibly long gap between Joan’s supposed lifetime and her first appearance in texts. Pope Joan is now widely accepted to be fictional, though the legend remains influential in art, literature, drama, and film. But the idea that Pope Benedict was female would fit Jean de Maiily’s original writings.

Also, is it planned that she will be played by Angelina Jolie at some point?

5. The Pope And The Lesbians

Doctor Who can do many things. Crash history into history, world against world, culture against culture. This may be the first time such a show has had the Pope walk in on a first lesbian date right in the middle of talking about possible guilt. Ridiculous, wonderful, very very silly and utterly brilliant.

As for Penny? There was a Penny, you know. A planned companion by Russell T Davies who eventually was written out and replaced by the returning Donna Noble. But those who read The Writer’s Tale still occasionally wonder…

In a story about discovering that you are nothing, absolutely nothing, it’s good to have a giggle.

6. The Truth Makes For A Lack Of Faith

We have devout translators who commit suicide on learning the truth. Not that there is no God, not that there is no Heaven, but that there is no… anything, The ultimate in nihilist revelations. But… I’m not sure I buy it. The simultaneous and exact random number simulations fights against that there are all individual characters being created and recreated. Who would come up with their own random numbers based on stuff happening in their lives. Just as the characters are doing and thinking different things, so they would come up with different numbers, even if created artificially.

7. Lost In Translation

Why does the Doctor need a translation from Italian? Why does Bill when the TARDIS is meant to do that, such as The Fires Of Pompeii? Or could this be a sign regarding flaws in the fake reality that everyone is experiencing? It would be a useful get out clause… maybe they couldn;t quite get the TARDIS right.

Talking of which, Monty Python’s Flying Circus had the funniest joke in the world that killed anyone who read it, which scientists attempted to weaponise to fight the Germans in World War II, though it was rather dangerous to the translators. Is this a rather different take on that episode?

Though this is a game. Say has anyone been watching the Fourth Doctor episode The Android Invasion? The one in which the Doctor lands on a fake village on a fake Earth, created as a place to gameplan a real invasion?

But no, just as Bleeding Cool has seen a Douglas Adams reference in every episode this season, could this be to the pocket universe utilised by Zarniwoop in order that Zaphod Beeblebrox might survive the Total Perspective Vortex? Too much of a stretch?

8. Quite The Spectacle

Nardole without the glasses becomes someone else. Both in the hood, and then standing up to Bill, he’s not quite the doormat he’s been portrayed as. And allows Matt Lucas to throw in a few of his list of characters and voices along the way.

9. Borrow From The Future

What future could this version of The Doctor steal? Does it have a future to steal from? Or is this a sign that the story of this version of the Doctor exists beyond a sent e-mail? And what price will he have to pay for these moments of sight? Time to bring in Matt Feazell. Or, if I could fins that strip reprinted in Understanding Comics at this exact moment, I would…

So instead, let’s look at all the names who work at CERN. Doctor Who actors and staffers all…

10. Just Another Dead President

Slipping in between the panels of the comic book pages, Doctor Who likes to kill Prime Ministers and Presidents. Could they have taken a little more relish with this one?

Still, I’m not too happy about the idea of suicide as an escape from a reality you don’t want to face up to. There will be letters.

11. And Now The Big One

Are these aliens the Mondosian Cybermen yet to come? We know they are coming. The original Cyberman spoke by opening their mouths, for electronica style voice to pour out, without seemingly using tongues or lips, just like these creatures. These walking mummies, would look like they could do with a little cybernetic enhancement. Are these their earlier, withered forms? And will their invasion involve cybernetics?

Next week’s episode involving them does also involve a pyramid. I don’t suppose that could be a… tomb of the Cybermen?

Next week… Doctor Who gets later. Starting at 7.45pm on BBC 1. Tonight’s episode will air on BBC America at 9pm ET.

  Eleven Thoughts About Doctor Who: Extremis – The Game Of The Rose