Before the Flood (time shift)

We arrived back at the lobby at zero-zero fifty-five and had to hide behind the potted palm to avoid confusion.
- Alan Moore, Chronocops, 2000 AD Prog 310

Or, if you want to be all obvious about it:

A paradox is only the truth standing on its head to attract attention
- G. K. Chesterton

Me:  Yeah...  Bootstrap paradox...

Him:  I feel like I've mentioned that at some point before.

Me:  You did.  It was Listen, last year.1

Him:  Was it?

Me:  Hmmm.  So, Beethoven.  The bit at the start where there weren't enough walls in the TARDIS...

When Yawns the Sea Badger.

Me:  Did you want to say anything about that?

Him:  Oh, yeah.  Too many walls.

Me:  Too many walls.  The fourth wall was well and truly missing there.2

Him:  Yeah, that was bizarre that bit.  What was that-?

Me:  What was that about?

Him:  "And a Merry Christmas to all of you at home."

Me:  Obviously it's just an illustration of the paradox and how it works, but it was very reminiscent of - I can't remember if it was a Time Twister or just a Future Shock, but it was in 2000 AD - about the guy who wrote Shakespeare's plays.  But that wasn't the only 2000 AD story that Before the Flood felt reminiscent of.  The other one was Chronocops by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons which was almost referenced exactly at one point, where they were hiding behind the toxic waste cans.  But there we go.  Okay.  The theme was definitely heavier.  It was different, wasn't it?

Him:  Oh yes.

Me:  In fact, I think Murray Gold's done more versions of the Doctor Who Theme than anyone else, seeing as he does twelve a year by the sounds of it. 

Him:  He doesn't tell anyone though.  Does Murray Gold do the theme music?

Me:  Yeah.  I think he changes the arrangements, yeah.

Him:  I would've thought they would've brought in...

Me:  Someone else?

Him:  Yeah.

Me:  Corey Taylor from Slipknot?

Him:  Ipknot.

Me:  'Ipknot'. 

Him:  And Stone Sour.

Me:  I was a little bit disappointed he didn't go full-Cookie for that one, but there we go.  Did you recognise Peter Serafinowicz? 

Him:  No.

Me:  He was the voice of the Fisher King.  The guy who voiced Darth Maul. 

Him:  Did he not do Darth Vader?  No!  Darth Vader was the Green Cross-

Me:  Yeah, Dave Prowse.  Vader was voiced by Simba's dad, James Earl Jones.  Anyway, so the Minister of War's going to be coming up - we haven't seen that one yet. 

Him:  That might not be coming up for a very long time. 

Me:  It might not be.

Him:  It might be, y'know, an extreme trap door.

Me:  I'd give it... three weeks.  I think Clara's very dead.  She's very doomed.  

Him:  But you thought that last year.

Me:  She was doomed last year but Jenna Coleman saved her.  The way Clara behaved in that wasn't good.  And O'Donnell shouldn't have died.  O'Donnell's death was really stupid.

Him:  Well...  I get your point, but your wording could be better.  She had to die, but of the four cardinal directions available for her to check, she luckily didn't look behind her in the tiny room she'd just come out of, she didn't look in front of her because that was a wall, but she chose to look to the left - despite it being a dead end - and not to the right-

Me:  It was ridiculous.  It was obvious the Fisher King'd stopped walking right behind her.  That bit wasn't very well done.

Him:  The thing I don't get is...  It walked away.  It walked away and then it ninja'd its way back.

Me:  Ha!  I thought it was standing behind her.  The Fisher King was really good.

Him:  Walks with a purpose.

Me:  Walked with a definite purpose.  Rather than a porpoise.  It was interesting to see that Paul Kaye played Prentis as Mark Gatiss.

Him:  Yes!

Me:  Or a sort of League of Gentlemen character maybe. 

Him:  Just a general Mark Gatiss.

Me:  It felt like Mark Gatiss, didn't it?

Him:  Yeah.  I'm surprised it wasn't to be honest.

Me:  I was a little bit disappointed with Prentis' death scene, where, for some reason, they played the wrong music over it.

Him:  That was bizarre.  The death scenes in general were bizarre.  What was he doing to them?  Was he flicking them to death? 

Me:  I dunno.  We never found out. 

Him:  Well, what happened?  What did he do?

Me:  We don't know. 

Him:  Why does Prentis die immediately when...  They have no wounds, no burn marks; their clothing isn't damaged.  Y'know, the Doctor in a rugby tackle did more damage to his clothing than the Fisher King could ever do.

Me:  I'm not a big fan of Slipknot, so I'm not going to say anything. 

Him:  Ipknot.

Me:  When O'Donnell was listing Martha and Rose and everything, she was really helping cement the fact that this is the NuWhoniversary...  This is a celebratory season... of the last ten years.  I think that came through very definitely there.  I thought Capaldi was brilliant.  Again, the acting was excellent throughout, but I don't think it was quite as successful as last week.  It was still very, very good indeed.

Him:  This is what I don't get.  You can't seem to decide whether you liked it or not.  First of all you made this face after it was done, which, y'know, made it look like you wanted to kill it to bits. And then you were like, "It was great!  It was awesome!"

Me:  There were a couple of off-beats.  The stuff that happened to O'Donnell.  That was wrong.

Him:  I think that was more bad directing than script-writing.

Me:  Well, I think it probably just said, "Peril Monkey turns here".  There was no-

Him:  The thing is though, right, she was dead regardless, the second that it knew she was there.  She wasn't getting out.  But, instead of devoting, like, two minutes to it - with her trying to hide or whatever - they just ended it like that, which is bizarre, but as far the script went, and as far as the scene and the set went...  She was dead. 

Me:  The bit with Moran pursuing Cass down the corridors, I thought that was well done.  I also though that it went on a bit too long.  The sound design was nice, but we didn't really need the Photoshop filter to show us how she sees things through sound.  Or, vibration even.

Him:  That did go on for quite a while.  I was kind of disappointed they didn't use the effects of the ghosts in the dark more often because it was really good.  They just... appear.

Me:  It was creepy.

Him:  'Cause the first thing you see is the axe -

Me:  Yeah.

Him:  - despite the fact that the axe is behind him, because he's see-through.

Me:  It wasn't as good as last week, but the two of them together make a really strong story.  Oh yeah, and Clara is definitely, definitely doomed.  On that bombshell-

Him:  You don't want to make stagnant pond noises?


1.  No, Steven Moffat really doesn't read the blog.  Despite all the evidence to the contrary.

2.  For me it veered close to being over-pleased with itself.  And smug.  Also, the Magpie reference was, possibly, a bit too fanny.  Still, NuWhoniversary and all that.