Home Artists Posts Import Register

Content

"The Girl in the Fireplace"

Reaction HIGHLIGHTS Link: https://vimeo.com/433364586/78f0c73c5c

Review Begins At:  49 mins & 34 seconds

Episode Synopsis:  The Doctor, Mickey and Rose land on a spaceship in the 51st century only to find 18th century Versailles on board, the time of Madame De Pompadour! To find out what's going on the Doctor must enter Versailles and save Madame De Pompadour but it turns into an emotional roller coaster for the Doctor.

------------------------

Links To All Our DOCTOR WHO Reactions:


Files

Dr Who 2x4 WATCH ALONG

This is "Dr Who 2x4 WATCH ALONG" by The Reel Rejects on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Comments

Dani S

Loved the reaction guys! and I guess the best way I can describe it is, if you go back in time after you've become part of events you could end up running into a past version of yourself which could cause horrible events (take for example when Rose touches her baby self in the season 1 episode "Fathers Day.") Or you cpould end up changing the timeline, even while knowing what's actually meant to happen. If you change a timeline you're apart of then why would you have gone back in time in the first place, which would create a paradox. As for this episode the doctor may not have been able to go back bc from what he's heard Reinette never saw him after the night of that party (this can be seen when the Doctor talks to the king for the last time and then later in Reinette's letter to the Doctor). Meaning he would know that's how the timeline went and therefore couldn't go back and change things. Im not completely sure if this is correct but that's what Ive always assumed from this episode. I hope this makes sense and sorry if it doesn't or just made things more confusing! 😅

Daryl

This one is definitely up there in the list of the best episodes of any series. This comes from both the performances and the writing. Steven Moffat's name is often attached to some of my favourites. When you mentioned the score from the music box being great for the scene. Adding to the whimsy and childhood themes. I loved that observation. In that moment it then made me think... A music box is also clockwork isn't it. 🤔 I wondered if that was a conscious choice. I'd never picked up on that before. Great reaction as always guys.

Toasted Toad

I have only one problem with this episode, and that's that I wish it was placed slightly differently in the season. It would have been better if it had come before School Reunion, rather than after. Because we've just had the Doctor say to Rose how special she is to him, and then the very next episode he has a romance with someone else. The ship's fixation on Madame de Pompadour was very much because it was named after her. We were told it got damaged and cannibalised the crew to repair itself, so its AI is not working properly. It has therefore assumed that it should *be* Madame de Pompadour, and she has to be the right age (I think it's the age of the ship). The portals don't work properly - time moves much faster for Reinette than for the Doctor. And they are unsteady - we have had seconds equating to hours, and the last time, it equates to years. She stayed where she was told, but the Doctor never came back (or came back too late). Still, enjoyed your discussion at the end as usual. It's a great episode.

Rosie Batey(DarthYoda066)

Actually that was one of the bits of trivia I decided to leave out but I’ll put it here. 🔵 This was planned as the second episode of the 2006 series, however when Russell T. Davies realised how experimental it had become in Steven Moffat's hands, he decided to move it to fourth in the running order between Doctor Who: School Reunion (2006) and Next weeks episode which I won’t name so as to not spoil the villain for the episode.

Toasted Toad

Oh really - that's so interesting! I wish they had stuck to their original plan.

Rosie Batey(DarthYoda066)

Also did anyone notice Gwens Actress from Merlin in this episode? All we need at the moment is Arthur and Morgannas actors and then we have the Merlin set on Doctor Who 👌

Reggie B

am i allowed to say that i hate this ep? i know a lot of people love it but i cannot stand it tbh. the dr "falling in love" w someone he first met as a CHILD? creepy. we also HEAR that renette is so intelligent but all we actually see her do is pine over this guy she, again, first met as a young child. plus in the last ep, the dr says to rose no, i will never abandon you. one episode later, he abandons both rose AND mickey and i think is just an ass to them?..... sigh. if youre someone who likes this episode, or even loves it, good! im genuinely glad you enjoy this episode, there are legit some great moments (like mickey finally taking a trip in the tardis! yay!) but for me, theres just too much for me to dislike. (ps. feel free to reply w what u liked abt this ep, or why u like it if u do, but im honestly not in the mood to debate the issues i had with it, sorry lol.) anyway, on to the next ep!

Adam C Turek

David Tennant and the Madam DePompador Actress actually dated for awhile after this, hence their "chemistry". It was already established that the Doctor didn't see her again, and he can't cross his own timeline, so if he went back to see her again, he wouldn't have got the letter, thus destroying the reason for him to go back in time with the Tardis, its a Paradox.

Jason Usher

Great reaction, This is one of my favorite 10th Doctor(David Tennant) stories

Quin

3 years later, not sure if you'll ever see this, but I mostly agree with your sentiments. I never really liked that aspect (or Steven Moffat's obsession with "dancing" as a sexual euphemism). But I just try to rationalize it as being mostly from Reinette's side. In my mind, the doctor wasn't "falling in love" with her, and while there was a semi-romantic element on his end, I feel like it was more so just living in the moment and being captivated by who she was. And just being a massive flirt, kind of like Captain Jack. Though I honestly don't think the childhood aspect is all too problematic, just because it's such a short period. He only popped in for a few minutes, and while it did significantly influence her, it wasn't like he was manipulating her. But the point about Reinette's infatuation is definitely fair, I just try to put it to the side so I can still appreciate the emotional beats. I have a pretty mixed opinion on Steven Moffat as a Doctor Who writer tbh. He's pretty brilliant with concepts and even at times characters, but I also feel like he never quite understood or appreciated the core of who the doctor was, and was always infusing his own preferences into the episodes, causing a bit of a mis-match, leading to a lot of episodes that I both love and hate at the same time...