Now that you’re ready, pour yourself a sonic screwdriver and settle in for the breakdown:
Nighties and Rathboners, #Normal
Emily: So…we start with a T-Rex, who’s on fire terrorizing a quaint 1860’s London?
Lorena: A loud one at that! It’s very Cyberqueen from the post-Donna Christmas special
Emily: Very!
Emily: Isn’t this the time period and madam vashtra and jenny live permanently?
Lorena: Yeah, I think so, since they’re in it and appear to be key components of the episode
Emily: And PC in a nighty!
Lorena: Yes! Is the nighty a throwback to David Tennant’s first episode?
Emily: Ha! The Sycorax…my handy spare hand
Lorena: “It’s a fightin’ hand!” I can’t watch that scene without imagining Jackson Rathbone saying it with his side talkin’ mouth
Emily: haha! The number of times I saw Jackson in person because I became a 100 monkeys groupie
Lorena: OMG you are for real?! Hahahah <3
Emily: When his friends start recognizing you because you show up AT.EVERY.SHOW.
Lorena: Bless your SOUL! I don’t think I ever listened to his music, but I’m sure it’s fun. He’s a fun guy
Emily: Crappy quality but from the viper room… one of the songs I actually really like.
Lorena: Cool! I am listening on Spotify
Emily: And the best, Whale Porno
Didn’t Jenny Die?
Emily: Well anyway enough about Jackson.
Lorena: Right! Back to the other side of the pond and like 150 years ago
Emily: Right.
Lorena: Okay, so since the first viewing, something has bugged me. I thought Jenny died in The Name of the Doctor?
Emily: When they were in the séance right?
Lorena: Right!
Emily: I remember her saying it was getting cold. I’m trying to remember if she actually died.
Lorena: I really thought she had, but obviously not?
sourceEmily: I’m googling on wikia.tardis. Okay, it says: Jenny died in the new timeline without the Doctor, while Strax had forgotten his friendship with Vastra and became aggressive, forcing her to kill him. Clara reversed these effects by entering the timeline after the Intelligence, saving the Doctor wherever he went. The Doctor then decided to save Clara by entering his timeline himself, telling the Paternoster gang that the TARDIS could return them home with the fast return protocol if he didn’t return. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
Lorena: Aha! Very sensible for us Whovians 😉
Emily: So, the alternate timeline/paradox jumping dimensions sort of explanation
Lorena: All minor details thrown in with the epic River goodbye and the introduction of wtf John Hurt
Emily: Right, there was so much going on in that!
Lorena: Yeah, talk about a Moffat clusterfuck
Talking the Moff
Lorena: Speaking of… let’s talk Moffat for a moment
Emily: okay
Lorena: I really liked him RTD era and Series 5, but it’s been waning. What do you think of him?
Emily: He’s an evil genius with way to much going on in his head
Lorena: haha!
Emily: I wonder if Sherlock pulls him away from Doctor Who! I didn’t know what DW would be like without RTD!
Lorena: I adore how scary he makes things, but then find that Mark Gatiss is really excellent at scary and compelling stories. I do agree that Sherlock pulls him away
Emily: Sherlock is like 3 feature films, DW is 6-8 tv eps. But he is a control freak and puppet master to many
Lorena: Right, whereas I feel like RTD said, “Here’s the idea. Write it.”
Emily: RTD wrote a lot of them
Lorena: I guess I feel like everything is too overbearingly tied together in an awkwardly enigmatic way, whereas the series with Rose, Martha, and Donna lack that, but are so strong emotionally. And maybe I just have spent more time with those characters?
Emily: Do you think it’s because fans are crazy and read into every plot twist that if he doesn’t have them mapped out they would pick him apart?
Lorena: Maybe… but I feel like he likes that. Let’s take RTD era Moffat episode Girl in the Fireplace; one of the best Dr Who episodes ever
Emily: LOVE! It’s one I use to hook people, that and Vincent & the Doctor
Lorena: Where is that Moffat?!
Emily: I get where you’re coming from
The One Where Lorena Dinna Understand
Lorena: Okay, we’ve digressed a lot haha
Emily: haha indeed we have! Okay PC in a nighty, murders, but is it the first one. And why is T-Rex on fire in London?
Lorena: Murders? Is that in the the part I can’t understand due to his Scottish?
Emily: “Question is, have there been any similar murders?” That’s what I hear
Lorena: OH! I hear, “How does everybody feel about it” HA! It’s not even similar to yours.
Lorena: ok, I 100% heard what you hear this round.I might need your help to even understand this season!
Emily: Closed captioning, though it’s not always right
Lorena: Maybe that’s why Jenna is leaving. She’s all, “I know what’s on the script…”
Emily: She can’t understand him?
Lorena: Yes!
Peter + Clara = Dad Feeling, Ew!
Lorena: I am interested to see how Clara is with Peter. All the clips make her seem very withdrawn from him, which is night and day to Matt Smith
Emily: Yeah it’s total dad feeling
Lorena: But not even! It’s more like
Emily: when 11 was crushing on her
Lorena: random stranger who is old enough to be your dad, and isn’t hot, and you’re kind of creeped out by
Emily: Yes, but in your heart you’ve grown to love him.
sourceLorena: like, I’m okay with them together in the dynamic, I just am not feeling good vibes on screen yet
Emily: But does Clara even know he can regenerate?
Lorena: Of course! She’s been through ALL of his regenerations
Emily: oh duh! I was just remembering Donna not knowing and thinking it would be like that
Lorena: Clara knows the Doctor more intimately than anyone, which in a way makes this dynamic super cool. Since he’s 100% new, but not
Turns Out, We Suck As Whovians
Emily: So… robot phantom of the opera
Lorena: Yes! The cyborg warrior from the Western episode
Emily: Cross between town called mercy and the fashion from Dr. Simeon in the Snowman
Lorena: Right! At first I thought it was Simeon. Is he finally dead? No, I suppose he’s in the doctor’s timeline?
Emily: I think so?
Lorena: OMG. We’re supposed to be the TN Doctor Who experts and we have no clue who is dead or not!
Emily: haha
sourceEmily: Okay, but Simeon and the 3-4 other guys showed up w/ blank faces showed up on Trenzalore all dressed like the robot phantom of the opera
Lorena: right! But it’s not exactly uncommon dress for that time
Emily: No, but it’s Trenzalore, not Victorian London. But, I think he turned to dust but I don’t remember?
Lorena: Goodness, we need to watch Name of the Doctor and regroup lol
Emily: I need to rewatch the end of Matt Smith
Lorena: Let’s move on with this trailer to something we get
We Employ Haley Joel Osment Again
Emily: Let’s go back to the trailer and the phantom of the opera robot’s hand. I’m looking at :14 and the hand is all wrinkly
Lorena: Okay, looking now…WHOA! He has like Silence hands!
Emily: Right!
Lorena: I didn’t notice that at all, but now it’s all I see!!!
Emily: I paused to see what was with the face.
Emily: Oh! Other hand is flame thrower
Lorena: Or a very handy torch
Emily: My handy spare torch hand
Lorena: Right, we all need one!
Emily: yes
Lorena: But pause, let’s discuss the phantom of the opera’s face. At first I thought “Mercy for sure”, but now I see that it’s not
Emily: It’s inside
Lorena: It’s peel away fake flesh to reveal the interior
Emily: Total steampunk w/ skin over
Lorena: Not a cyborg
Emily: Yep
Lorena: Oh my. The androids never end!
Emily: Someone’s AI gone awry?
Lorena: maybe
Emily: There’s trouble, so where else would he be?
Lorena: They turned on the human emotion and he tried to go home? Maybe Jude Law will be in this…(hopeful)
Emily: ha! Haley Joel Osment hasn’t worked in a while
Lorena: He’d make a good villain here. Maybe that’s him? Just with less weight and some aging makeup? Didn’t he get really big or something?
Emily: Yeah really round face
Lorena: The perfect cover for an android! And maybe that explains Jenny… “I see dead people”
Emily: M. Night Shmamlamading dong is a working for Moffat now. Must be it!
Lorena: HAHA
Peter Straddles that Horse
Lorena: Is Peter riding a horse or is that a stunt double?
Emily: He’s a little old but
Lorena: I don’t think it’s him
Emily: You never see his face
Lorena: The part where its hooves are up, no way! Too costly for them, too risky
Emily: Yeah
Lorena: They’ve got shooting schedules!
Charles Dance Rumours?!
Lorena: Somewhere I saw/read/heard that Tywin Lannister actor is in it this year?
Emily: What?
Lorena: It could’ve been fan-rumor. I am super not into reading about things ahead of time
Emily: I just checked imdb. So far he’s not listed
Lorena: Well, we can hope. They had Michael Gambon!
Emily: Gambonadore! Yeah he’d be a great villain! He is a great villain
Lorena: He truly is. I do find him kind of hot though. He’s got good facial structure and nice eyes
Emily: Reminds me of Vincent Price sort of
Lorena: Huh, yeah, I see that (and now have Thriller in my head)
Really, WTF is this T-Rex Doing There?
Emily: So after the horse, someone enters a very lit long tunnel with rivets, but I can’t tell who it is and who enters from either side. At :17
Lorena: Yes…it looks like Clara or Jenny
Emily: Dress-wise yes
Lorena: But Clara isn’t in era costume is she?
Emily: I don’t think we’ve seen her in that
Lorena: So maybe it’s an unknown?
Emily: It’s like on for a split second the dinosaur rawred longer
Lorena: It seems like a baddy coming to visit another baddy
Emily: Yes
Lorena: The dinosaur that will be so irrelevant I’m sure
Emily: Right, and this will be like OMG sooo relevant
Lorena: Though tied to the Silurians?
Emily: interesting
Lorena: Yeah… like dinosaurs on a spaceship situation, those guys didn’t die. Maybe the t-rex arrives ON FIRE from the atmosphere!
Emily: maybe that spaceship did end up crashing on earth
Lorena: dun dun dun
Emily: and Vastra is mad at Filch because he killed all of her people
Lorena: hahaha RIGHT
TARDIS Changes?
Emily: I love Jenny and Vastra drawing swords together
Lorena: Yes! They’re the best!
Emily: okay, let’s finish the last 9 seconds
Lorena: Yes…the TARDIS. Is it different? It’s kind of purple?
Emily: The TARDIS is different indeed. At :21 she says you redecorate and then “I don’t like it”, which is EXACTLY what 10 said in the 50th anniversary special to 11. i just love that she’s saying it right back to “him”
Lorena: Do you think that will be the end? Cuz he’s in his costume, not his nighty
Emily: I think. He has to go and get her
Lorena: Not the end end, but
Emily: She’s got to be in the ep more, so she’s got a job
Lorena: yeah, clearly she’s got tons of shots in the trailer, but I feel like she’s entering the TARDIS at the end and all, “Nope sorry! Where’s Matt?”
Emily: and he has to pop ahead in the future and say come help me there’s a T-Rex on fire in 1850s London. I think the “Am I a good man?” comes at the end
Lorena: Right! That exactly
Spoilers? No thanks!!
Emily: You avoided all script leak spoilers right?
Lorena: Oh yeah. Don’t give me any of that!
Emily: me too. No I don’t know anything
Lorena: We get SO LITTLE, why spoil anything?
Emily: DW is one thing I won’t stand to be spoiled
Lorena: Me too! #theworst
Emily: YES!
Okay, so no clue how we got ALL of that from 30 seconds of trailer, but suffice it to say that we are INTO IT! Be sure to keep an eye out for our episode breakdowns… it’s gonna be epic!
“Deep Breath” airs TOMORROW August 23 at 8:00pm EDT. Can you guys remember when the US wasn’t even airing Doctor Who on the same schedule as the UK? How far the fandom has come… #WhovianPride
