148 Knock Knock

Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet that always reads the contract FIRST! 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 148, covering series 10 episode 4, Knock Knock 

Super-short Recap 

This is the one where the Doctor and Bill fight an alien house made out of tree cockroaches that eat people and turn other people into trees. 

Production notes

• Story #268
• Originally aired May 6, 2017 to 5.73 million viewers
• Written by: Mike Bartlett
• Directed by: Bill Anderson

Cast

• Shireen – Mandeep Dhillon
  • She played Lieutenant Garan in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
  • She is also in After Life, with Ricky Gervais
• The Landlord – David Suchet
  • He was Poirot!

Checklist

• Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
  • I think so… 
• Creature of the week
  • Dryads? Lice?
  • I wasn’t really clear if they WERE alien, or if they’re from Earth.
• Jiggery Pokery
  • TARDIS 
    • He should hire it out as a removal service

Who’s Who?

• Who is Nardole?
  • You don’t have to leave earth to find monsters. There’s plenty of things that want to kill you right here.
• Who is Bill?
  • She’s renting a haunted house
  • She just found out he’s called a Time Lord
  • She’s trying not to freak out. 
    • Most companions go on high-alert pretty quick, but she’s like “There’s no living puddles, or killer robots, or big fish or whatever.”
  • This is the bit of my life you’re not in.
• Who is the Doctor?
  • He’s her Grandad! I don’t look old enough to… hold that box for that long!
  • He loves Chinese food
  • Don’t be scared, it doesn’t help.

Can we talk about them all coming back?

• Once you eat a sandwich, you can’t just vomit it back up into a whole sandwich. 
• By the logic we saw in the episode, I fully expected the other groups of young people from each decade to be standing in the rubble when the house collapsed.

Classic Who Connections

• The idea of companions living two lives, one in the TARDIS and traveling with the Doctor really started with the Third Doctor 
• The doctor claims that he doesn’t sleep, or at least he says “sleep is for tortoises.” He claims he only sleeps after regeneration, which he did in Spearhead from Space (Second to Third Doctor), Robot (Third to Fourth Doctor), Castrovalva (Fourth to Fifth Doctor), Time and the Rani (Sixth to Seventh Doctor) in classic Who. Apparently, he also sleeps after a big lunch. In The Two Doctors we saw him take a nap after a large lunch.
• We had a great reference to Time Lord attire when Bill is asking about Time Lords wearing robes and big hats and the Doctor replied “Collars mostly”.

Overall impressions

• Overall rating out of 10
  • Jared – 9 flesh-eating houses
  • Austin – 8 creaking floor boards
  • Corbin – 7 dryads
  • Tripp – 7.5 grandads 
• Creep Level – out of 500
  • Jared – 300
  • Austin – 400
  • Corbin – 100
  • Tripp – 250

Theories

• He took an oath to not leave Earth.
  • Do these look like off-world clothes?
  • You said you were going for tea. And here I am, in my specially chosen tea-clothes
• What’s in the vault?
  • Corbin: A villain, Lady Me?
  • Tripp: The Master
• Who did he make the vow to?
  • Corbin: Maybe River?
  • Tripp: A Timelord, maybe River?

The Game Plan 

• Next week, we’re doing Men In Black III 
• Also, we need some suggestions for upcoming timey wimeys. We only have a few ideas left, like possibly one.
  • So, here’s the requirements:
    • Family-friendly – that’s why we’re not covering the Terminator franchise… yet.
    • If written, it need to be short – no novels, only short stories
    • Accessible – we don’t want to have to buy a $50 Collector’s Edition Blu-ray or subscribe to some random service we’ve never heard of