Doctor Who – Joy to the World notes.
The Queen’s Hotel – Manchester 1940
I quite like Basil and Mrs. Basil
Why are we in WWII again?
Basil: It’s the end of everything, you know. Everything we
hold dear. Democracy itself will fall.
I hate Pumpkin Latte
Aren’t those locked doors pretty much always just connecting
rooms?
Orient Express – Italy – 1962
Do a lot of people read Murder on the Orient Express on the
Orient Express? Bit on the nose.
OK, we’re opening with a montage of the Doctor bursting in
on various time periods and places to offer them the same lukewarm toastie and pumpkin
Latte. That’s a pretty clever way to
establish the concept of the hotel from the back door, as it were
MOTOE is a much thicker book than that. And she has handwritten pages
Base camp – Everest 1953.
Is there only one base camp?
Sandringham Hotel – London 2024. So, time of airing then.
I’m not loving Joy’s outfit
Apparently there’s a gay cabaret called ‘Main Stage’ right
next to the Sandringham
Joy: Do you have a room please? Just for the week.
Anita: Single?
Joy: Oh, does it show?
Anita: room, I mean.
Has Joy never seen connecting doors between hotel rooms? Why are we pretending this is a mystery?
Joy does seem lonely.
Talking with a fly will give that impression.
*** The star seed
will bloom and the flesh will rise
And now there’s a Silurian with a briefcase coming in
through the locked connecting room door uttering what is clearly this episode’s
quote of the week
London 4202. It’s
built up a bit. I’m sure there are
inside jokes there that I just don’t get
The Time Hotel. Love
the mix of costumes in their lobby.
Doctor in his jammies with two mugs
Creepy man with a suitcase looking for the third floor
The Doctor: I’ve got
a nav-com algorithm that homes in on fresh milk. I mean, I could just get a fridge.
When the Doctor asks who takes a coffee to the loo, the
concierge guy starts to say ‘I do.’ Before switching to ‘To ech their own’. The CC doesn’t reflect it.
Perceptive that he asks about the two mugs
The bigger on the inside joke might have worn out its
welcome.
The Doctor: OK. First I put my coat on. Why did I do that? Oh. And now I’m getting the sonic. What did I see?
Yeah, suitcase guy could not look creepier
Trev is sweet
Trev looks happy to be working with him
The Doctor: Stroll
with me. Keep it casual, like you haven’t
noticed anything dangerous.
Trev: I haven’t noticed anything dangerous
The Doctor: Then why aren’t you strolling better?
Trev: I’m pretending to not notice something I really haven’t
noticed. I haven’t perfected a stroll for that.
It is telling that the guy yhasn’t looked up to see that
atrium if they hadn’t seen it before.
The Doctor has enrolled Trev in the traditional ‘accomplice
who thinks the Doctor is an agent for someone and he;s helping him.’ I always enjoy that.
Why the mystery about where the guy is? He clearly heard the clerk tell him to wait
in the bar
Trev: Should I make my mind blank too, sir?
The Doctor: That may not be necessary in your case, Trev
The concept of the hotel is pretty cool. And not a million miles away from The Girl in
the Fireplace
I didn’t hate the Pisa joke.
It really isn’t a mystery why there’s an extra door in hotel
rooms. It’s for adjoining suites. Is that not a thing in other countries
Wouldn’t it be that the kitchens are 30 minutes in the past so
that they can delivery your food just as you order it? Trev says the future
Trev: Psychic graft.
It’s very efficient. It still
calls my mum if I forget to flush
Ah. OK. The Doctor knows that Mr. Briefcase is going
to a room that’s currently occupied.
That’s why he’s checking out unavailable rooms instead of following the
guy. I guess that makes sense. Seems like a very long shot though.
Trev: I’m on
this. This is going to be the least I’ve
ever let anybody down.
Ok, I totally love Trev
So they’re establishing a link from creepy suitcase guy to
the Silurian by having them both say the catch phrase. Love the way the handcuff is sentient and
strikes like a snake and also how only one person is under its spell at any one
time.
The eye flit thing is just like Harmony Shoal
Oh no, not poor Trev
And we’ve looped back to where we came in with his room service
tour
Trev being forced to betray the Doctor and the hotel is
heartbreaking
And at the end of the opening montage the Doctor sees Silurian
manager entering a room with the briefcase, so he knows he found the right one
Trev’s last words are ‘Oh dear. I went and let him down.
I adore how Anita is totally unfazed by lizard men and the
whole thing
Joy: Oh, this is men
all over. Even lizard men.
Anita: (poking her head around the corner) Oh, I know.
The Doctor: Pardon my French, but what the French is going
on?
I love how unfazed Anita is
The Doctor trying to get him to remember his own story as a
way of clinging to life is touching. And
also very Moffat
So this Silurian wandered into the hotel back in Silurian
times. Have the Silurians not risen per
the agreement back in Cold Blood? It
kind of appears not. Typical.
It’s a nicer moment when the Doctor is forced to acknowledge
that Joy knows what the star seed is and hew doesn’t
The Doctor: I’m thinking
Joy: Well, could you close the case and think?
The Doctor: I’m a very visual person
Of course it had to be more complicated than just closing
the case. 4 digit code needed
I like the solution that the Doctor can will himself to
create a bootstrap paradox to tell himself the code in a year’s time.
I don’t enjoy that the Doctor is mooning over a lost companion
yet again in the Christmas episode.
I’m not sure I like the Doctor attacking himself for being
lonely. It’s solely to set up the chair
as a vehicle to introduce him to Anita and it feels out of character just a bit
Convenient that The Doctor has the pamphlet showing where
the time hotel is featuring for the following year
I like using the psychic paper to take orders for what
people actually want
Man, Anita just will not be flustered by anything
And good on her for pressing the ‘who are you not phoning’
conversation.
What’s her story? Who
did Anita lose?
The microwave is also bigger on the inside. Seriously guys, you have to let that joke go.
The handing him a plunger gag was absolutely perfect
It takes you where you need to go. Steven Moffat is really hitting all the
greatest hits
He’s buying toy TARDIS’ on line.
And they’ve bonded over loving it when the clock goes
forward, leading to the Doctor remembering he has a chair and making a friend
Anita: You know what?
The Doctor: What?
Anita: This is my favorite night of the week.
The Doctor: Yeah.
OMG, the honeymooning couple while the Doctor investigates
the door. So funny
I LOVE these two as best friends.
Very smooth way to tell us it’s Guy Fawkes night.
And I love how casual they are about Anita just assuming
that the Doctor is gay and not making any sort of deal about it.
December 2025. The
Doctor was just going to leave her a present and leave without saying goodbye?? Dick move Doctor. This woman’s been your dear friend for an
entire year. Take her WITH YOU!!
The Doctor: You know what it was like? It was amazing. And you know why it was amazing? You.
The Doctor: Everyone who
knows you is so lucky. I bet you they
tell you that all the time.
Anita: Just the once,
actually.
I love everything about this relationship SO FUCKING MUCH
NYC Christmas Eve – The Exeter hotel
The Anita section is the perfect short story. Shame there has to be an episode around it.
He criticized himself for being alone, then his past self learns from that and
makes a dear friend, and then has to leave nher. It’s about the Doctor learning that he’s
worth being loved
The Doctor: I mean,
basically the code came from nowhere, but then so did the universe and no one
complains about that
Meanwhile, back in the actual plot
Why would they need to make a new star. There’s hardly a shortage of them
Interesting theory about hotel rooms. I’m not sure I buy it
He’s not wrong, that was a very sad room
He’s being so cruel to Joy
Ooo, him mentioning her mother pushed a button
That’s a beautiful view out of the treehouse
I know that the Doctor is deliberately pushing Joy into her
anger to free her from the suitcase, but it was right for her to obey the
rules. Even if she’s right that it’s
bullshit that the rich elites were partying anyway
Love the visual of the snapping handcuffs
Joy was conditioned by the case to think she was a star and
was beautiful. So the carrier becomes
the star? I thought the star grew from
the seed? That’s muddy
I hope we never actually meet Villengard
And just like that we get the reveal that they’re in a room
65 million years ago
I ijust don’t understand what making a star gets them.
The clear implication was that the case would ignite after
the elapsed time. Now they’re changing
the rules to say that the corp has to recollect the case and send a signal to
ignite it. They’re mioving the goalposts.
The consciousness upload is a direct lift from the library,
isn’t it.
Trev: As I told you a
very long time ago, I will not let you down, sir.
Mavity again. I’m
very over that joke
I do like the overall Indiana Jones vibe of the room. And the joke that the doctor has this whole
scientific plan to find the box and Trev just tells him the room number
Rope really has come up a lot with this Doctor.
And now all the time zones from the beginning montage play a
little part in getting the shrine open
I don’t think the standing on top of the train bit would
work anytime other than in a Christmas episode.
Woman on the train – James Bond connection
So Joy took out the seed – which we’ve been told numerous
times is going to detonate, and somehow absorbed it into herself and now it isn’t
going to detonate, because they keep changing the rules. Will it explode? Yes, but I guess she can levitate and somehow
fly billions of light years away so that the earth doesn’t blow up. Oh, and it makes her magic consciousness now
because… reasons.
You found a friend.
Her name is Anita. Go FUCKING get
her right now!!!
And somehow Joy cam connect to every single Christmas ever
now, because fuck defining what the rules are
OK, we get it. Every
single Christmas Joy’s star can be seen and gives everybody hope.
Ruby gets a call from her mum, That’s pointless.
Recommending her for working at the Time Hotel is better
than nothing, I suppose
And now star-joy can suck out and eat souls, I guess.
Bethlehem 001. I guess they don’t specify the month.
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