Mystery of the Hypothetical Gentleman

[superboyprime]

Just last month, IDW launched a new volume of their Doctor Who ongoing. And this time, right out of the gate, they've established an intriguing long term mystery for the series.

























Amy smashes the quantum resonator to get rid of the entity. Blunt, but effective.

Comments

[kamino_neko]

Wait. Buckingham drew this?

What the hell happened to you, Mark? You're usually better than this.

Granted, LIEFELD is usually better than this so that's a low bar, but Buckingham is usually good.

[crinos]

Seeing Amy and Rory again gives me a sad.

[aeka]

This. :'(

[icon_uk]

On the plus side they were happy in their new lives, made the best of their new situation, raised their adopted son and lived to ripe old ages. That's a more complete resolution than we normally get for companions.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

I thought the Doctor came off as a bit of a jerk there. "No, don't take the only chance you have to spend the rest of your life with your husband. Stay with me."

[icon_uk]

Given that it wasn't a certainty that she would end up in the same time or place, since these Angels were presumably not limited to the "Same Angel = Same destination" implied in Blink I can sort of forgive him that one.

But then, the whole scene makes little sense since the "fixed point in time"/"I'll never be able to see you again" waffle was even woolier than usual

[kamino_neko]

Thing is, he could have seen them again.

'Right, then. Hey, River, stay here with the Tardis, I'll see you in a bit. Oi! Angel! Over here!' *Poof*

*5 minutes later*

'Ah, River, been a long time.' 'It was five minutes, Sweetie.' 'For you. For me, it was, ah...*counts* 50 years? No, 60. Anyway. Had a lovely time with Amy and Rory. They adopted the cutest little boy. We should do that sometime...' *climbs into the Tardis, leaving River exasperated*

Conversely...he could borrow River's Vortex Manipulator, since it apparently doesn't have any issues with the time mess that's keeping the Tardis out.

For Rory's dad (and Amy's parents, presumably), and their human friends? Sad, sad, sad. For the Doctor (and River)...not so much.

[icon_uk]

The Vortex Manipulator allowed her to get past the disruptions in time that all the Angels congregated in New York was causing, and which mean the TARDIS can't

That's different from the reason that the Doctor couldn't visit them again... or something.

[dr_archeville]

Or gone back to a year before the Angels started popping up, and just wait for Amy & Rory to appear.

Or pop back to that time, but in a different place. Take a plane/train/whatever to get to NY, pick up the Ponds, then get back to the TARDIS.

There is, however, one thing I can think of that allows their predicament to make any sense: Rory killed himself b/c the Angels would always keep coming after him. The Doctor couldn't get the Ponds out b/c the angels would come after them no matter where & when they were. (Which... is also terribly wonky.)

[avantre]

Living in one place for 50-60 years is probably the one thing the Doctor (especially this one) couldn't do - remember the earlier episode with the dream of the Ponds living a quiet married life in a small village; the Doctor was twitching from boredom within a few minutes.

[kamino_neko]

That was stuck in a small sleepy (or so it seemed at the time) village.

50 or 60 years of wandering around Earth may be a smaller universe than he's used to, but it's still the planet where 90% of the weirdness on the show happens, and the time period where a good 75% of that happens.

Just the challenge of trying to avoid crossing his own path, and messing with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart when that becomes an option, should be plenty of entertainment. (Maybe 'borrowing' his TARDIS during some of the adventures in the 60s, 70s and 80s if he still manages to get bored. 'You're stealing the TARDIS?' 'BORROWING!' 'I'm sure that's what you said the first time you stole it.' 'Well, yes, but still, I know I bring it back this time, don't I?' 'This is a fixed point in time?' '... Yes.' 'Doctor?' '... Well, maybe.' '... Doctor.' '... Well, no, but just come on, there were Daleks this time, and they were REALLY angry.')

[sherkahn]

I always thought he was a jerk. A nice one most of the time, but a jerk none the less.

[crinos]

Adopted son? I must have missed that.

Of course, my head canon is that they tracked down young River in the past and "adopted" her.

As seen here: http://www.quiteunlikely.net/starlitblue/amyjwilliams.png

[icon_uk]

Then please allow me the privilege of introducing you to the planned but never filmed ACTUAL last scene of "The Angels Take Manhattan" which the BBC quickly released online in the form of storyboards strung together and Arthur Darvill's voiceover in his REAL last moments as Rory

P.S.

Keep a hanky handy, and the fact it wasn't filmed is a crime against television.

[kamino_neko]

I dunno. I think it's almost better in this form...

[icon_uk]

If it were a lesser actor than Mark Williams as the focus I'd agree, because this is lovely.

However, when I think of the subtle emotions he could have had running across his face as he read the letter and fully understood what it meant... it could have been magnificent.

[i_paint_the_sky]

It is a great scene, I'm definitely sad it wasn't filmed, though at the same time it is pretty much verbatim what happens in Blink, albeit with characters we care about.

[shadowpsykie]

excuse me... weeping *like an angel* now

[arbre_rieur]

It is a nice scene, but I don't believe it was meant to be part of "The Angels Take Manhattan." It was going to be a bonus web-based clip, like the one for the season premiere where the Doctor receives the message from Dalekified lady.

[avantre]

To me the worst one was: what happened to Ace? (I'm a mainstream guy, I don't count the books as a resolution) beyond the hint she may have started a gigantic charity. At least the other companions got some sort of leaving the Tardis scene.

[icon_uk]

I think the hint you mentioned is the best we're going to get and I like it. The Sarah-Jane Adventures was brilliant like that, and her outlining what happened is lovely

Rani - "Do you think there's lots of Jo Grants out there? You know, like the Doctors old companions?"

Sarah-Jane "I do a little research sometimes."

Clyde - "What do you google, TARDIS?"

Sarah-Jane - "Hey, it works! Well, no, I can't be sure but - there's a woman called Tegan, in Australia, fighting for Aboriginal rights, there's Ben and Polly, in India, running an orphanage there, oh - there was Harry. Oh, I loved Harry - he was a doctor, he did such good work with vaccines, he saved thousands of lives - oh and there's a Dorothy something, she runs that company A Charitable Earth, she's raised billions. And this couple in Cambridge, both professors; Ian and Barbara Chesterton. Rumour has it they've never aged, not since the sixties.... I wonder."

All that and a mention of Dr Shaw being busy on UNIT's moonbase. :)

Certainly Ace's fate there is a lot more reassuring than what the books/comics did, what with her being dead, or some sort of timestream-riding geek-fantasy "bad girl with a gun"*, or a Time Lord 2.0

* Though if you ever get a chance, try to get Sohpie Aldred to tell her stories about the day they took these photo's for the "New Adventures" book series, they're a hoot! :)

[kamino_neko]

a Dorothy something

Dorothy...that was Ace's real name, right? I like that ending for her. (Ace is my favourite companion, probably mostly because I started with Seven.)

[icon_uk]

Ace's full name was never revealed in the show, but her first name was Dorothy (in the books her full name was revealed to be Dorothy Gale McShane (she also used the name Dorothée for a time))

[arbre_rieur]

....Damn, that RTD can really write.

[shadowpsykie]

raised their adopted son and lived to ripe old ages.

wait.... WHAT?

[seisachtheia]

oh man. This comic has just reminded me how much I love Rory. (Well, and Amy and Eleven as one happy trio, too, but that goes without saying.) I'm sorry they had to go.