Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet that’s not gonna mention the thing: it’s the Noobs and the Whovian!
My name is Austin and I’m the Whovian, and these are my sons Corbin and Tripp and we’re the noobs!
This is the podcast that introduces a whole new generation to Doctor Who by watching an episode each week and discussing it from the perspective of a dad who’s seen it before, and two sons who haven’t.
Welcome to Episode 95 covering Series 7, Episode 3: A Town Called Mercy.
Super-short Recap
This is the one where the Doctor, Amy, Rory, save a town called Mercy by kinda convincing a killer cyborg not to kill while a doctor, not THE Doctor, kills himself instead… in the Old West… in a Stetson.
Remember that one?
Production notes
- Story # 228
- Originally aired September 15, 2012 to 8.97 million global viewers
- Written by: Toby Whithouse – seems to like monsters
- School Reunion
- The Vampires of Venice
- The God Complex
- Directed by: Saul Metzstein
Cast
- Isaac – Ben Browder
- Played a recurring role in the Stargate series
- Most notably, he was the main role of John Crichton in Farscape
Checklist
- Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
- maybe
- Creature of the week
- Kahler Jex
- The Kahler could build a spaceship out of tupperware and moss
- The Gunslinger
- Kahler Jex
- Doctor Who Logo
- This week it was wooden slats with gunshots
- Hats
- He’s back in a stetson!
- Jiggery Pokery
- Sonic
- Override a security password
- Sonic
- Needless sacrificial death
- Was Isaac’s sacrificial death needless, or was it the right thing for once?
Other stuff we noticed
- Was the undertaker gag a Back to the Future reference? Or just a trope?
- Everyone who’s not an American, drop their guns!
- The gunslingers HUD said the Doctor was bi-cardial
Who’s Who?
- Who is Rory?
- He left his phone charger in Henry VIII’s suite
- He got toast crumbs on the console
- Who is Amy?
- There’s kindness, sadness, and ferocity in her eyes
- Our friends are gonna start noticing that we’re aging faster than them
- Who is The Doctor?
- He sees Keep Out signs as suggestions more than orders, like “dry-clean only”
- His Christmas list gets mentioned again: anachronistic electricity, keep out signs, aggressive stares
- He ordered a tea, but the strong stuff… leave the bag in
- Why would he want to kill you? Unless he’s met you!
- He’s matured, he’s over 1200 years old now
- In The Impossible Astronaut, he was 1103 & 908
- This means that Series 6 took 195 years of the Doctor’s time (most of which was between The God Complex and The Wedding of River Song)
- It also means that another 97 years have passed between The Wedding of River Song and A Town Called Mercy.
- So the time between visits with the Ponds has been getting longer in their subjective time, but the Doctor’s time between visits has been staggering!
- He speaks horse!
- Hm? What? Yes, whatever Amy said.
- Jex said that looking at the Doctor is like looking into a mirror, almost. There’s rage there, guilt, and solitude like me. Everything but the nerve it takes to get things done. Thank the gods my people weren’t relying on you!
- He genuinely doesn’t know if he’ll shoot Jex
- Today, I remember the victims first!
- He’d rather deal with Daleks than scared people
Can we talk about the consequences of war?
- There were a lot of parallels here between the two doctors.
Classic who connection
- The First Doctor also went to the Wild West in the Serial The Gunfighters. That time he went to Tombstone Arizona in October of 1881. That was the time of the famous shootout at the OK corral that involved Doc Holiday, the Earp brothers and a number of other gunslingers. This is a fun serial because the Doctor has a toothache and is looking for a dentist. Of course it’s not that simple and he is soon wrapped up with a gang of gunslingers out to kill Doc Holiday.
- Much like in A Town Called Mercy The Doctor is also deputized in The Gunfighters
- The Doctor honored all the victims of the Master and Daleks because he (presumably in all incarnations)
- When the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver in the duel against the gunslinger he pointed it up instead of at him. This is what many Classic Who Doctors did because the sonic was supposed to be a tool, not a weapon.
Overall impressions
- Overall rating out of 10 –
- Jared –
- Austin – 8.5 toothpicks stuck in the roof of my mouth
- Corbin – 7.5 cyborg eyes
- Tripp – 8 yellow circles
- Creep Level – out of 500
- Jared –
- Austin – 150
- Corbin – 135
- Tripp – 145
The Game Plan
- Next week, we continue with series 7 with The Power of Three .
Closing
Noobs and the Whovian is a production of Master Closet Studios, where it’s always smaller on the inside. Your Senior Producer is Austin Reason. Our Audio Engineer is Tripp Reason. Corbin Reason is our Production Editor. Special thanks to tardis.wikia.com for the trivia, and to Jared for the Classic Who Connection. Shout outs to Victor and Jared for their Patreon support.
You can find us at facebook.com/noobsandthewhovian or twitter.com/noobswhovian and email us at [email protected]. Consider supporting us at https://www.patreon.com/noobsandthewhovian. Please subscribe and leave a rating wherever you found us, and share us with a friend not because we’re a great show but because we watch one.
