And who was the lady who gave “real” Clara the Doctor’s phone number in “The Bells of St John”? I originally thought it was River, but maybe it was Clara. But surely Clara would have recognized herself?
Also, any episode that has Strax, Jenny and Lady Vastra in it is always one I like. I adore Strax! I especially love the idea of him going to Glasgow on holidays so he can kill pleasant peasants, and the peasants enjoying his company. I wonder if you can get a Strax ringtone for your phone? That would be brilliant.
I loved the River was in it, and it was River who was dead, but I’m really jack of The Doctor not telling companions about other companions. Especially when it comes to River. Liked how they did all the doctors in it; and I really liked how when Clara was in that place at the end and all the doctors ran past. I didn’t take any notice though of if there was an outfit I hadn’t seen before, to signify the doctor after 11 (But there totally should be since Eleven said it held all his regenerations, so I may need to rewatch that bit). I’m assuming that once there is Twelve, they’ll go back to this episode and tweak it to include him/her/it.
I’m looking forward to John Hurt! He is a good mix of doctors, as I’m assuming he’s between 8 and 9. So he has the “cragginess” of 8, and almost the outfit of 9, but he doesn’t interfere with their timelines. And if his ‘war crimes’ were so bad he wasn’t The Doctor during them, it puts a whole new slant on 9. It means he had to make the conscious decision to become The Doctor again, and why he runs so much from war, and agonized about fighting. There is a good chance that if John Hurt does a brilliant job, 9 will end up being my favourite doctor, purely because of his immediate back story.
The FX team should get an award for the way all the doctors and Clara fitted together. That was really well done!
I was disappointed in The Whispermen. I was expecting something along the lines of The Silence in terms of scariness, and I found them slightly wanting. For me, The Weeping Angels (not the New York ones. The New York ones were stupid. And The Statue of Liberty is not an angel.), the Silence and the monster we never saw but made that lady repeat everything everyone said (The "Midnight" episode) are the scariest monster/aliens they’ve had.
I’m back to looking forward to the 50th anniversary episode now.