150 Oxygen

Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet that fell asleep watching its own show! 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 150 (feels like we should acknowledge this for a second?), covering series 10 episode 5, Oxygen.

Super-short Recap 

This is the one where the Doctor and Bill fight space suit zombies in space. And Bill doesn’t die.

Production notes

• Story #269
• Originally aired May 13, 2017 to 5.27 million viewers
• Written by: Jamie Mathieson – Mummy on the Orient Express, Flatline, and The Girl Who Died
  • He also wrote Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel which is one that popped back up on my radar for a possible Timey Wimey
• Directed by: Charles Palmer – haven’t seen him since series 3 when he did Smith and Jones, The Shakespeare Code, and Human Nature/Family of Blood.

Checklist

• Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
  • 12 times!
• Creature of the week
  • Smartsuits
• Jiggery Pokery
  • TARDIS 
    • So wait, does the fluid link really matter? Was One lying the whole time?
  • Sonic
    • It got brokedid
  • Psychic paper
    • Said they’re from the Union, whatever that is… 

Other stuff we noticed 

• Space, the final frontier… final because it wants to kill us!
• What happens if I throw up in my helmet? Colors and smells!
• Like every worker everywhere, we’re fighting the suits!
• How do you buy oxygen
  • Other thing about the oxygen

Who’s Who? 

• Who is Nardole?
  • The Doctor tried to ditch him by sending him to Birmingham to get a packet of crisps. 
    • Bristol to Birmingham, UK is 1.5 hours.
    • This would be like me sending one of you out past Ft. Worth to get a bag of chips!
    • Fun fact, Bristol, TN to Birmingham, AL is 5.5 hours!
  • He had his face swapped while on the run
  • Space doors are SUPPOSED to go shuck shuck!
    • Just a reminder that Nardole is NOT human.
  • He knew the AI, Velma, before?
  • Cuddle
• Who is Bill?
  • She wants to know if there’s a Yelp for space!
  • She’s racist? ha!
• Who is the Doctor?
  • He’s back teaching at uni
  • A distress call is his theme tune
  • The universe shows its true self when it asks for help. We show ours when we respond.
  • Do people ever hit you? Only when I’m talking!
  • Can the suits learn and grow? Get tired of carrying around pesky humans? I can relate.
  • Are you out of your mind? Yes, but that’s a new thing.
  • Of course it’s Bill. Fate and me, we have a thing.
  • The universe is your crustacean. Is that like “the world is your oyster”?
  • He’s blind at the end of the episode

Can we talk about the Doctor’s secret plan?

• Why couldn’t he share his plan with them?!
• He said at the end that it was for the same reason he couldn’t tell Bill her suit couldn’t kill her, because the suits would hear.
• That second bit I get. But as for the final plan, who cares if the suits hear?! He’s just about to tell them, why does it matter if they know before they come in the room?
• It’s drummed up drama, lazy writing.

Classic Who Connections

• The Fifth Doctor went out into the vacuum of space in Four to Doomsday. That is the one where Adric is deceived by the badguy and unknowingly betrays the Doctor and his fellow companions. There are two androids named Persuasion and Enlightenment and the Doctor uses a cricket ball to propel himself through space to the TARDIS.
• The Doctor and companions were almost sucked out into the vacuum of space. This also happened in The Daleks’ Master Plan.
• The sonic screwdriver is broken. We first saw that in The Visitation with the Fifth Doctor. 

We see a return of the fluid link! I don’t think that’s been mentioned since the second serial The Daleks.

Overall impressions

• Overall rating out of 10
  • Jared – 3 – Fluid Links
  • Austin – 4 zombies tumbling pointlessly through space
  • Corbin – 5 utilitarian capitalist zombies
  • Tripp – 6 they killed blue!!!
• Creep Level – out of 500
  • Jared – 50
  • Austin – 250
  • Corbin – 50
  • Tripp – 150

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
  • Jared : Missy (the Master)
• Who did he make the vow to?
  • Corbin: Maybe River?
  • Tripp: A Timelord, maybe River?
  • Jared: Gallifreyan Time Lords 
• How does Bill leave?
  • Tripp: she dies, she sacrifices herself
  • Corbin: she’s gonna get a life

The Game Plan 

• Next week, we’re covering episode 6, Extremis. Now, the wikia lists this as Part 1, but it also calls it story 270, not 270a. So, we’re gonna cover them separately I think.