131 Under The Lake and Before The Flood

Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet committed to watching 4 hours of Doctor Who this week: It’s the Noobs and the Whovian! 

Welcome to Episode 131, covering series 8 episode 3 and 4: Under The Lake and Before The Flood.

This is the one where the Doctor and Clara fight space ghosts while underwater and don’t actually create a bootstrap paradox.

Production notes

• Story #255
• Originally aired October 3 & 10, 2015 to 5.63 & 6.05 million viewers 
• Written by: Toby Whithouse
• Directed by: Daniel O’Hara

Misc Trivia

• First episode since The Unicorn and the Wasp (Series 4, 2008!) to not feature the sonic screwdriver

Checklist

• Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
  • Yep, on a technicality
• Creature of the week
  • Ghosts
    • A splinter of time and skin but unnatural
  • Fisher King
    • Amazing costume
• Jiggery Pokery
  • TARDIS 
    • She ain’t happy
    • It didn’t translate the glyphs on the ship
    • She wouldn’t let him go back
    • Security Protocol 712, the echelon circuit has been activated
  • Psychic paper
    • Did it actually just tell the truth for once by saying he was from UNIT?
• Needless sacrificial death
  • The leader who knocked the girl out of the way of the engine

Other stuff we noticed 

• Tivoli!
• He took apart the TARDIS radio and built a clockwork squirrel
• A future ruled by cats? So the Sisterhood of Plenitude eventually take over the universe?!
• One of the cracks in the dam was The Crack!
• Time travel movie trope

Who’s Who?

• Who is Clara?
  • Die with whoever comes after me but don’t leave me!
  • Did traveling with the Doctor change you, or were you always willing to put other people at risk? He taught me to do what had to be done.
• Who is the Doctor?
  • You’re itching to save a planet, admit it.
  • He doesn’t do hugs, but he also doesn’t do high fives apparently
  • His knowledge of sign language got deleted to make room for semaphore 
  • His cards are hilarious
  • He has a duty of care
  • My God. Every time I think it can’t get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It’s impossible, it’s evil, it’s astonishing. I want to kiss it to death.
  • You’re gonna go back in time. How do you do that? Very well.
  • This regeneration was a bit of a clerical error anyway.
  • I’ve always been an admirer! Finally someone worth talking to!

Can we talk about how this felt like two different episodes?

• Bootstrap paradoxes

Classic Who Connections 

• Sarah Jane Smith’s last serial as the Fourth Doctor’s companion was The Hand of Fear. When the Doctor drops her off in South Croydon so she can return home she walks away as the TARDIS dematerializes. Only then does she realize she’s not in Croydon. In School Reunion it is revealed that he actually dropped her off in Aberdeen. One of the Doctor’s apology cards apologizes for dropping someone off in Aberdeen. Another card is a scripted apology for an attack by the Cybermen or Daleks
• Autons are mentioned
• The Fisher King says Time Lords are “cowardly, vain curators who suddenly remembered they had teeth and became the most war-like race in the galaxy.” This covers the change in Time Lord nature from Classic Who to New Who.

Overall impressions

• Overall rating out of 10 – 
  • Jared – 7 Doctors leaving their companions behind
  • Austin – 6 Tivolians
  • Corbin – 6 underwater Russian cities in Scotland
  • Tripp – 6.5 ghosts with no eyes 
• Creep Level – out of 500
  • Jared – 125
  • Austin – 300
  • Corbin – 100
  • Tripp – 150

The Game Plan

• Next week, we cover episode 5: The Girl Who Died. 
• After we cover The Woman Who Lived, we’re hopping onboard the wibbly wobbly train to cover Interstellar for Timey Wimey #14.

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 Connections. Shout outs to Victor, Jared, and James for their Patreon support.

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Until next time, be safe if you can. But always. Be. Amazing.