Doctor Who 7x4 The Power of Three

General Trivia about this episode: This was the last episode filmed with Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill. The last scene shot was of their characters entering the TARDIS with The Doctor. When the doors closed behind them, all three actors hugged each other and began to cry.

I'm glad you enjoyed this one. I'm not a fan... BITCHER WARNING I am a fan of the idea of it. That's the tropes, 'a day in the life' or 'a view from the gallery'. These focus on background characters and we see the story from their perspective. I love this idea for how it opens up inspiration and ambition for good writers of character and dialogue. Compare this story with 'The Lodger' or its sequel which have very similar premises, and with this trio it should have written itself. It should be laden with classic Amy and Rory dialogue. These days are not typical Amy and Rory days: they have to make A Big Choice. The changes in their lives are all Big Changes, and there's little nuance or subtlety. Everything is written Large. The regular cast are great but the dialogue is so on the nose, all feels the same tonally as if each line ends with four exclamation marks. You talk about wanting to see boring stuff and I felt it wasn't boring enough. It's sabotaged IMO by piling a dozen more ideas on top of the basic premise of 'The Doctor lives with Amy and Rory'. The truth of the cubes is deflating and the countdown is drama for its own sake. In summary I should have written this episode. Someone with deep pockets give me a contract please. On the bright side: Brian Cox, Kate Stewart, Rory's dad. When I'm showrunner I'll get them back.

I'll be honest, this episode wasn't my favorite. First time I watched it years ago, it wasn't very exciting. And yes, I know that was kind of the point, but as a teenager I enjoyed the action. The "Shakri" or however you spell it, felt like just another "villain of the week". But I failed to take into account the moments between the Doctor and the Ponds. The dialogue was excellent, and really moved me far more than the first time I watched it. Interesting how your perspective on things like that can change with time.

You probably know this already, but just in case - after the next episode is another Christmas special!

Just a tip: after next episode, there is a minisode called "P.S.", which can be found on YouTube (just search for "P.S. Doctor Who"). Be sure to watch it, as it's really great!!

Despite hating the conclusion, this is one of my favourite episodes. Sadly the actor who played the Shakri was deliberately an ass on set. He purposefully messed up every take, so they eventually had to call it and try to salvage what they had. The actually rewrote that ending just to make the most of the terrible footage they had.

You forgot Martha. Batman AND Superman will be really annoyed!

Brian Cox - the guy that you love at 01:49 - is a National Treasure here in the UK as a science educator. He was also in a band back in the 90's call D:Ream. He was the keyboard player and their best known single 'Things Can Only Get Better' got to No 1 in the UK and No 9 in Australia in 1993

The 95% of the Episode really almost make up for the rushed ending, but the humans just becoming alive after having no heartbeats for at least minutes is just too badly written. I mean, they are humans , they are dead, no Willow magic around, come on! But the intimate dialogues are really beautiful. Btw, after the next episode, you should DEFINITELY watch this short minisode: (It's called P.S.) https://youtu.be/XWU6XL9xI4k

My previous, longer comment seems to have vanished so I'll just quickly sum it up. Good episode, bad ending. Liked the mystery of the cubes, the Doctor spending time in Amy & Rory's world, seeing Rory's dad again, and of course the scene with the Doctor & Amy where he talks of running toward them before they fade away from him. By the way, your p.s. has me feeling very dumb. I've read it twice and still don't understand what you mean (also, is there supposed to be a link to the YouTube edit?). Loved the reaction Juliette. Have a great day!

I'm glad the character stuff in this episode was so great, because that villain was... yikes. Still its a testament to the show that even the worst episodes have a lot of great moments

That speech about running to Amy & Rory before they fade from The Doctor is some of the most beautiful lines I think Chibnall had ever written (obviously to this point) One of my very favourite scenes with Amy & Matt 💔

so if you're wondering why the solution was so simple, its because the actor playing the Sharkri was incredibly difficult to work with, and ended up refusing to continue to work on the episode. The production team had to work with what little of him they had filmed

Wow, you totally forgot Martha when listing off 10's companions! Kate is the daughter of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart, a close friend of the third and fourth doctors, and a staple of classic who, all the way to the very end. The actor, Nicholas Courtney, passed away in 2011, which is what that phone call that the Doctor gets in the TARDIS in The Wedding of River song was about. I really wish they had worked in a tribute to Sarah Jane in the same way (at the time.)

When I was watching this episode during its initial airing I thought it was going to turn into a 2-parter before they rushed the ending, not helped by the actor playing the Shakri being impossible to work with so they had to salvage something workable from what they had managed to get. I agree that it's a lot of fun otherwise, with the added emotions of the Doctor's chat with Amy and the Doctor touching on what happened with all the other companions (of which there had been a lot even before Rose, as well as those coming in the future). That's probably my favourite bit actually alongside UNIT storming the Ponds house and Kate apologising for it all. It was interesting that you confessed that you didn't notice Eleven in his debut scene because you were in tears over Ten's regeneration and that was pretty clear to me watching at the time ;) I can only imagine what you'll be like when Eleven eventually regenerates as that's the hardest hitting for me personally however much I watch it.

Any idea when the next ep will come out? x

I suggest before you watch the next episode make sure you have plenty of tissues for it cos I feel you are going to need them

It's interesting that you mentioned the ending. A common and legitimate comment. Basically the actor who was playing the Shakri was not enjoying the process and refused to be as cooperative as some guest actors might be. They ended up not filming everything that was required to complete the story. So what we have was a cobbled together ending from what they had. Fun, but with quite a sudden off the cliff ending.

There was some real life complications with the hologram actor or something which made the ending very rushed and reworked after most of the filming had already been done. That's why the ending just doesn't make much sense