S8E7: Kill the Moon (SPOILERS)

"Let's write a story where the Doctor doesn't meddle and let's the humans make the big choices" Good concept and I don't think Clara and the kid acted too far out of what real people would do. The kid got scared (and bored) and wanted to go home and Clara just got ticked off that she was left to make a tough choice on her own. I think I should have enjoyed this different kind of episode, except for some reason this is the one I've liked least this series. Oh well, there is always next week and it's looking Clara free from the preview.

Convenient that The Doctor "pushed her too far" and proved Danny right. Let's see if they explain why Danny had such a bad day (was that a hint that the Doctor and Danny had a boys day out while leaving Clara to do the moon stuff?).

Strax was right to fear the Moonites.

Didn't like that the big beast just pooped another moon at the end. How could it have laid an egg bigger than itself mere moments after hatching?

This episode careened so frequently from stupid to brilliant and back again that I wasn't sure how to rate it...until Clara told the Doctor to go to hades. It reminded me of another story that was mostly stupid..."The Edge of Destruction." Both stories feature loopy soliloquies from the Doctor that reference the majesty of space, but more importantly, the best part of both stories involves a Coal Hill teacher cutting the Doctor down to size. It surprises me to say I think Clara actually had more cause than Barbara.

Clara's reaction to the Doctor's hijinks was one of the more authentic behaviors I've seen from a companion. Of course you're going to feel betrayed when the guy whose bacon you saved by jumping into his timestream and splintering yourself through time can't be bothered to help you out with a trivial little thing like the fate of humanity. I like Clara with a backbone and am glad she's gone out on a good note. (Yes, I know, but let me enjoy her memory for a week or two, all right?)

The scene had a little extra zing due to the theme of the episode. I'm sitting there watching it, marvelling at "Doctor Who" tackling an abortion story. The moment it's discovered a baby's on the way, the man bails and leaves the woman to deal with it. Typical. But then again, it's her choice, after all. Some of the stuff in this episode might seem heavy-handed, but for modern "Who" it's practically subtle. There is so much in this episode you could write a paper about it.

Which would be a bit of a waste because the rest of the episode is so freaking dumb. The moon is an egg. Really. Really? Aside from that being an SF idea as old as the craters, did the Moff really want to sign off on our moon being an egg for all time? That's really the Eggbase the Cybermen will be invading 21 years after this story? And did poor Clara really expect even one light to be left on down on the Earth? Why didn't those fools down there realize the baby would lay another moon right after it hatched? There's a paper here, too, and I'm sure there's more than one up on the internet already.

Even with a high dumbness level, I still rated the story as "Good." The good bits were very good (which merits a rewatching), and the bad bits...well, we "Who" fans all know we've seen worse (refer to the list I made in the "Time Heist" thread for a refresher). "The Edge of Destruction" only gets an "okay."

Ronpur wrote:

But, you can't fly a space shuttle to the moon!!

Ronpur, I'll bow to your more extensive knowledge. Yes, the shuttle was designed as a cargo vessel into Earth orbit. But looking at the episode it didn't seem outlandish that given 10 years you could be able to take a museum piece out, fit bigger booster rockets to break orbit, and launch a suicide mission to the moon. They went ahead and crashed the thing on its landing gear similar to a real touchdown. I didn't see them try to say that it could hover down or turn vertical and land like the old Bat-Rocket on Superfriends.

For once "Seeds of Death" actually makes a lot more sense that they'd pull a more traditional rocket out of a museum for a moon launch.

So I'll agree that I don't think the shuttle was ever intended to go to the moon. But how well do you think the producer thought this through?

squishy wrote:

Ronpur wrote:

But, you can't fly a space shuttle to the moon!!

Ronpur, I'll bow to your more extensive knowledge.  Yes, the shuttle was designed as a cargo vessel into Earth orbit.  But looking at the episode it didn't seem outlandish that given 10 years you could be able to take a museum piece out, fit bigger booster rockets to break orbit, and launch a suicide mission to the moon.  They went ahead and crashed the thing on its landing gear similar to a real touchdown.  I didn't see them try to say that it could hover down or turn vertical and land like the old Bat-Rocket on Superfriends.

For once "Seeds of Death" actually makes a lot more sense that they'd pull a more traditional rocket out of a museum for a moon launch.

So I'll agree that I don't think the shuttle was ever intended to go to the moon.  But how well do you think the producer thought this through?

We do have almost two Saturn V rockets sitting in museums too.  But, it really doesn't matter, it isn't like Doctor Who is known for it's scientific accuracy.  And it did look cooler to see the shuttle gliding down through the non-existent lunar atmosphere to crash on the surface!

They could have just had SpaceX take it there. Another Dragon on the moon.  

Also, it could have taken 10 years to rebuild a shuttle, since they were gutted before their museum missions.  Except for Discovery, which retained some of it's plumbing.

So, take a Saturn V, add a Shuttle on top:


This was a real design, still won't make it to the moon, but it is a start.

the moon. . .is. . .an egg. . .okay. . . .

The moon belongs to everyone, it shines there for you and me.

Another thing about this episode: its "revelations" about the moon are so stupid they make every other shady moon-related plot in "Doctor Who" twice as worse. Putting the T-Mat station that makes all Earth travel possible in "The Seeds of Death" up on the moon without making sure there was another way up to the moon in case this vital base needed repair was dumb enough. Now, putting the key to all Earth travel up on a freakin' egg and thinking that's a good idea is...well, that does sound like something 21st-century humanity is capable of. I stand corrected.