Live from Master Closet Studios, you’re listening to the only podcast on the internet that wasn’t here yesterday! It’s the Noobs and the Whovian!
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 152 covering series 10 episode 7, The Pyramid at the End of the World
Super-short Recap
This is the one where the Earth gets peacefully attacked by aliens, a bunch of really important people die, and a typo nearly kills the human race, and Bill gives up the human race’s freedom for a pair of eyes.
Production notes
- Story #271
- Originally aired May 27, 2017 to 5.79 million viewers
- Written by: Peter Harness & Steven Moffat
- Harness also wrote The Zygon Invasion/Inversion along with Steven Moffat
- Directed by: Daniel Nettheim
- He did last week’s Extremis, as well as The Zygon Invasion/Inversion
Misc Trivia
- Turmezistan, where this episode takes place, doesn’t exist.
- This episode marks the last time we’ll see Twelve playing his guitar. A moment of silence please…
Cast
- Secretary General – Togo Igawa
- Played a doctor in Torchwood
- Voiced Hiro in Thomas & Friends!
- The Monk – Jamie Hill
- Played the Foretold in Mummy on the Orient Express
- He was also one of three actors to play the Silents
Checklist
- Name of the episode spoken in dialogue?
- Nope
- However! This is the title with the most words in Doctor Who history. Interestingly, if you go by character count instead of word count, The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe beats it out.
- It’s also a nod to the sequel to Douglas Adams’ hit novel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Douglas Adams, you’ll remember, was a writer for Doctor Who
- Creature of the week
- The Monks
- they chose to look like this to look like humans. You look like corpses. You ARE corpses to us.
- The Monks
- Jiggery Pokery
- TARDIS
- Sonic
- Psychic paper
- Random
- Jibberty Jabberty
- Needless sacrificial death
- Attack Eyebrows
- Oh my God. No, I’m the Doctor. But it’s an easy mistake to make: the eyebrows!
- The Question/Doctor Who?
- The Doctor Breaks the Fourth Wall
- Jammie Dodger sighting
- Running count – 4
- Adventures in closed captioning!
- The march towards 13
Other stuff we noticed
- Penny doesn’t believe in aliens. Here we go again!
Who’s Who?
- Who is Bill?
- Corbin hates that she gave up the earth for the Doctor’s eyes
- Who is Nardole?
- I like his coat toggle being a mic
- The wiki faithfully recorded all the bio data that the sonic sunglasses were feeding the Doctor. In this episode, we are told that Nardole is 237 years old, 5’6”, 216 lbs, with a resting heart rate of 78bpm. He’s also 86.5°F (30.3°C)!
- Who is the Doctor?
- RotW: The end of your life has already begun. There’s a last place you will ever go, a last door you will ever walk through, a last sigh you will ever see. And every step is taking you closer. The end of the world is a billion billion tiny moments. And somewhere, unnoticed, in silence or in darkness, it has already begun.
- Are you talking to yourself in there?
- He has to keep coming up with ways to get around admitting he’s blind.
- There’s a line in the sand and I’m the man on the other side.
- Every trap you step into is a chance to learn more about your enemy.
- Adorable, handsome, but still approachable Doctor!
Classic Who Connections
- The first time the TARDIS was double locked was in the serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Overall impressions
- Overall rating out of 10
- Jared – 7.5 gasses the turn people into goo
- Austin – 7 soft boiled eggs that I imagine the Monk chewing on
- Corbin – 8 echolocation sunglasses
- Tripp – 8.5 weird monk things
- Creep Level – out of 500
- Jared – 100
- Austin – 150
- Corbin – 100
- Tripp – 170
Theories
- When Does Missy get out?
- Corbin: episode before World Enough and Time, so the finale two-parter is about her
- Tripp: World Enough and Time
- How does Bill leave?
- Tripp: she dies, she sacrifices herself to save the universe
- Corbin: Missy kills her
The Game Plan
- Next week, we’re covering episode 8, The Lie of the Land.
- Then, it’s back into some Classic Who with our first official story from The Master Plan with 1976’s Fourth Doctor serial: The Deadly Assassin!
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 Thing One: Tripp Reason. Our Production Editor is the Other One: Corbin Reason. Special thanks to tardis.fandom.com for the trivia, and to Jared for the Classic Who Connection. Shout outs to Victor and Jared for their Patreon support.
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Until next time, be safe if you can. But always. Be. Amazing.
