DW S1 "The Impossible Astronaut" Instant Reaction

[crabby_lioness]

This isn't going to be one of my long essays yet.  I have to wait for until I find all the pieces of my exploded brain for that.

Clearly someone told Moffet he couldn't possibly top what he had already done.

Clearly he took that as a challenge.

THANK YOU!

But for the benefit of those fans worrying over the ending...

..there's no way that could be a little child in that spacesuit.  Those things were made for a 6 foot man and weighted over 400 POUNDS.  A kid couldn't even stand in one of those things, let alone walk;  and they certainly wouldn't appear that tall.

(Dd1 would like to point out that every time River Song shows up, it's a two-parter.)

Comments

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

It said the thing ate her so maybe the creature is six feet or in the guise of a spacesuit?

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

Seconded.

[twirlandswirl.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking, too.

[qaffangyrl.livejournal.com]

also a bit of revisionist history was having an african-american being head of the president's security in 1969. doubtful.

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

I... sort of get the feeling that this is at least partly a British-view thing. That year is right at the beginning of the Black Panther Party. Four years after Malcolm X was killed. Immediately after what was possibly the biggest year of the civil rights movement: 1968, when MLK Jr. was murdered, when Louis Armstrong's last, best and sweetest hit came out. Black men were extremely visible in the news during those years, so that they would be included by foreign filmmakers makes sense.

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

fwiw, if Google can be trusted, the first Black Secret Service agent assigned to the White House was Abraham Bolden in 1961, the second was assigned in 1962, and Nixon's predecessor Johnson was protected by a Black agent, Donald W. Tucker. So, although the Service's record on racism is far from ideal, a Black agent in the Oval Office in 1969 is not improbable.

(Although tbh I think mayamaia has hit on the real reason for this casting in her comment below - UK viewers watching a show set in the US expect to see Black characters!)

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

As Head of Security, yes. As an agent, no. But he'd have been ten times as competent as anyone else on the squad to get the job. Think the Victorian era Torchwood ladies.

[bisonmomma.livejournal.com]

Hi, I followed the link from the Doctor Who site. I wanted to add the fact that astronauts didn't live in FL. In "Lost Moon" Jim Lovell, an Apollo astronaut, states pretty clearly that the majority of them lived in Houston. He talks about flying to FL for the launch.

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

Ah, but most of the suits would be in Florida, wouldn't they? Why store them in Houston, when there are no launches there?

[mouser-fluff.livejournal.com]

I live in Houston and have had a childhood pretty well ingrained with NASA. There are probably a LOT more suits here at JSC because we use them for testing, storage, NBL lab (the giant training pool) and much more. Astronauts spend a lot more time in Houston training for missions and just generally waiting around for years at a time, and almost all of them live here in the Clear Lake area (south houston). But even just searching for a 'spaceman', unless there was a launch to happen soon (within a month or so), I would have defaulted to Houston. In fact, I was pretty mad that they DIDNT at least throw the name out there. I chalk it up to them being British, and not really knowing a thing about how NASA works. Sigh. Even with cool stuff here, we always get forgotten for the Cape.

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

Good points. Well, we can hope that the "other lead" the doctor said he was following is not just whatever he picked up from the crew and can explain this in a more satisfying way.

I don't think Houston gets that forgotten... everyone knows the line "Houston, we have a problem" from the 13th Apollo mission.

[twirlandswirl.livejournal.com]

But we get prettier light shows here in Florida. :P

[jenny-wildcat.livejournal.com]

I'll have to go back and look, but the way her face appeared in the helmet looked a little fishy to me. I thought it looked like a projection or a hologram.

[cscottd.livejournal.com]

..there's no way that could be a little child in that spacesuit. Those things were made for a 6 foot man and weighted over 400 POUNDS. A kid couldn't even stand in one of those things, let alone walk; and they certainly wouldn't appear that tall.

So.. the astronaut is... impossible? :)

[twirlandswirl.livejournal.com]

Hahahahaha.

I literally lol'd. Well played.

[thornyrose42.livejournal.com]

I think that it is likely that there is some alien illusionary tomfoolery going on. But still way to shock the teatime audience Who.

[myxstorie.livejournal.com]

Dropping in to say your icon is awesome XD

[thornyrose42.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I find that it perfectly compliments most posts. ;-)

[nikki4noo.livejournal.com]

When the child spoke, I immediately thought of the Empty Child.

[faith-less-one.livejournal.com]

(Dd1 would like to point out that every time River Song shows up, it's a two-parter.)

She's just too epic to fit into only 45 minute slots. :D

[xenelle.livejournal.com]

I did wonder how the kid could move in it. I also thought that the voice was a projection until I saw her. (a la Empty child).

To be fair I didn't even think about the Secret Service Agent being an anachronism until you pointed it out though as an Aussie ex-pat in Britain, I don't know much about the intricacies of race relations in 1960s US, barring the main, the only thing I thought of was that some of his line readings fell flat to me.

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

I was just annoyed at his being portrayed as slightly incompetent and pissy. IF a black man were raised to that position in that era, he'd be on the ball in every detail.

[twirlandswirl.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure he WAS being incompetent. By all current actual Earth-knowledge, anyone who shows up in the middle of the Oval Office is probably to be distrusted.

[roberty88.livejournal.com]

Its a little kid, mark my words.