Wednesday 21 October 2015

Heroes and Hybrids.

The Girl Who Died.What a fantastic tale. Worthy enough to be told about a crackling smoky fire in a Viking long-house. One small band of Viking heroes and their wondrous strange visitors taking on a band of space bullies who intend to..er, drink them! A tale worth recounting as might have been told in the glory days of Noggin The Nog(Who joyously got a name check. Hope Peter Firmin was watching.) For me it was one of those episodes that felt it had a transcendentally running time in that they managed to get so much into a single story. That said it was not even the end of the story as the epilogue suggests so much more.Not as much as the preview of next weeks off course.
           What a lovely shot that was too; near the beginning of the episode as we watched The Doctor wipe his shoe on the grass and Clara leaned out of the open doors of The Tardis. The forest at night and the glimpse of the interior of The Doctor's home. Just Lovely. One of those quiet moments that makes one sigh. And smile.
              More talk of hybrids too. A theme? Coming from a hybrid himself. Oh yes, do not discount the facts we learned about The Doctor in the television movie. That he is half human. Like it or not the discovery made by The Master is canon after all. Yet no one ever mentions it. As if a human heritage is something to be ashamed off.
               Another theory off mine with regard to continuity came to nothing. I had thought the young Viking Ashildr would prove to be some human incarnation of The Master's daughter. An adopted child abandoned or seized by the Vikings in some earlier raid. Well if the Master/Missy would go to the trouble of hiding himself/herself  at the very end of time why not hide the only person he/she felt kinship with some where in a dark age? I suppose the story of the girl who died has still to play out but I do not think this will now prove to be the case.
(This is one of Peter Firmin's wonderful pieces of art. I use only with respect and affection for his work. Seek out The Noggin The Nog dvd. It is a truly wonderful thing.)