Episode 6: THE ALMOST PEOPLE

[Ian]

The Doctor and the Doctorganger kept swapping the sonic screwdriver between themselves, and the Doctorganger has it to atomise the ganger Jennifer. So where did the Doctor in the TARDIS get his from. He hadn't had time to make a new one.

The sonic on the other hand, the Ganger Doctor could have had one made of flesh. If it can manage clothes why not that? Any mechanical/electrical device is a lot easier to replicate than a living creature!

Yes, the sonic might be reproducable, but then why would the Doctor and Doctorganger have kept swapping it around?

Probably just misdirection for Amy, remember he was deliberately trying to mislead her at this point.

[lamuella]

Is it hypocritical of the Doctor to support the concept of gangers becoming human in the 22nd century, only to turn around and dissolve the Amy ganger in the Tardis? Wasn't she every bit as human as they were? She certainly wasn't being controlled by the original, which can only mean she had an existence all her own.

I thought the whole point was that she was being controlled by the original.  Amy's body was being kept elsewhere while her mind was plugged into the duplicate, hence her seeing the eyepatch ladies.

[lamuella]

I really enjoyed the two parter.    I think all aspects of production were in high gear: writing, acting, directing, design...

The question now is..  When exactly was Amy kidnapped?

Most would think it was when the Silence had grabbed her in "Day of the Moon."

BUT

Amy seeing the "Eye Patch Lady" happened before that scene.

This would suggest that happened sometime before or after  "The Impossible Astronaut" but before the first scene with Eye Patch Lady.

remember, there's a 3 month gap between The Impossible Astronaut and The Day Of The Moon.  Not only do we not know everything that was happening in that gap, but neither do the Doctor and his companions.  They have gaps in their memory.

I personally think Amy has been missing since the incident at the end of episode 1.

[Ian]

remember, there's a 3 month gap between The Impossible Astronaut and The Day Of The Moon.  Not only do we not know everything that was happening in that gap, but neither do the Doctor and his companions.  They have gaps in their memory.

I personally think Amy has been missing since the incident at the end of episode 1.

Well we never actually saw the resolution to Impossible Astronaut, just a couple of flashbacks, I think we're about to find out what really happened then.

[catbhoy]

Average episode 3/5 amazing ending beginning to this split season might be a good thing. After last nights cliffhanger I had to check that there was another episode to come. For me an up and down season but looking to end the fist half with an almighty high.

[cheeseblat]

remember, there's a 3 month gap between The Impossible Astronaut and The Day Of The Moon.  Not only do we not know everything that was happening in that gap, but neither do the Doctor and his companions.  They have gaps in their memory.

I personally think Amy has been missing since the incident at the end of episode 1.

Well we never actually saw the resolution to Impossible Astronaut, just a couple of flashbacks, I think we're about to find out what really happened then.

I think that this is a possibility as from this point on Amy never changes her clothes (apart from putting on the pirate hat and coat). Does this mean that The Silence took the flesh Amy? Certainly she was told by The Silence in the bathroom that she must tell The Doctor what he must know and what he should know - which implies that they were aware of the situation.

What clothes was Amy wearing before the TARDIS blue letter arrived?

How about for kooky theory - she has been pregnant since Amy's Choice and we are still with the Dream Lord!

[weeryty]

A cracking episode ending with the best cliffhanger so far in Matt Smith seasons.
Fantastic atmosphere with gret SFX especially near the end with Jennifer eleganotating(?)
No trailer for next week?! I understand why, but still.
Speculation:
Amy gives birth to time lord and The Doctor is the father.
Kooky theory:
when The Doctor regenerated and the gas from his mouth passed to Amy making her half time lord.

[lamuella]

remember, there's a 3 month gap between The Impossible Astronaut and The Day Of The Moon.  Not only do we not know everything that was happening in that gap, but neither do the Doctor and his companions.  They have gaps in their memory.

I personally think Amy has been missing since the incident at the end of episode 1.

Well we never actually saw the resolution to Impossible Astronaut, just a couple of flashbacks, I think we're about to find out what really happened then.

I think that this is a possibility as from this point on Amy never changes her clothes (apart from putting on the pirate hat and coat).

She dresses in a business suit to visit the orphanage.  She's in that suit when she first sees the eyepatch lady.

Here's a thought:

The Doctor has known she's not Amy for quite some time.  Could this be why he insisted that Rory and Amy have bunk beds?  To try and stop Rory and Amy from canoodling so that Rory doesn't have to think "oh god, I had sex with the Flesh"?

[lambowolf]

Interesting in retrospect that the Red Nose short had a duplicate Amy flirting with herself.

[lambowolf]

Thinking on when the Amy switching happened...

It had to be before Amy told the Doctor she was pregnant during "The Impossible Astronaut"

[Ian]

Thinking on when the Amy switching happened...

It had to be before Amy told the Doctor she was pregnant during "The Impossible Astronaut"

I disagree, in fact I think this proves she was still 'human' at that point, as ever since she has not been pregnant when we know she was a ganger. We know she was a ganger by Day of the Moon as that's when she first saw eye patch woman.

I think she was pregnant in IA, then in the unknown period between that and DotM (probably minutes after the end of IA though) she was replaced. So the pregnant Amy is now off at mystery location and we're left with non-pregnant ganger Amy who has flashes of eye patch woman.

[Ian]

Is it hypocritical of the Doctor to support the concept of gangers becoming human in the 22nd century, only to turn around and dissolve the Amy ganger in the Tardis? Wasn't she every bit as human as they were? She certainly wasn't being controlled by the original, which can only mean she had an existence all her own.

She must have been linked to real Amy in some way if ganger Amy could start having contractions and the TARDIS was half reading her as pregnant.
But she was real in her own right, and did deserve life surely, so it is definitely hypocritical of the Doctor to kill her simply because she wasn't the real one. It seems like it is a different rule for him, i.e. gangers should live unless they're someone he cares about. He got really angry before killing her, which shows he cares, and is maybe a precursor to next week, but it shows his dark side, and it isn't necessarily nice to see.

It's not directly stated in the show, but in confidential they confirmed that 'Ganger' Amy had no indepedant consciousness (like the Rebel gangers), so the Doctor hasn't killed anything by disolving that body, it just transferred Amy's consciousness back to her real body.

Remember, the Gangers only became conscious due to an accident, or after they were discarded. When they were working 'properly' they had no life of their own.

[Nick off of Twitter]

Is it hypocritical of the Doctor to support the concept of gangers becoming human in the 22nd century, only to turn around and dissolve the Amy ganger in the Tardis? Wasn't she every bit as human as they were? She certainly wasn't being controlled by the original, which can only mean she had an existence all her own.

She must have been linked to real Amy in some way if ganger Amy could start having contractions and the TARDIS was half reading her as pregnant.
But she was real in her own right, and did deserve life surely, so it is definitely hypocritical of the Doctor to kill her simply because she wasn't the real one. It seems like it is a different rule for him, i.e. gangers should live unless they're someone he cares about. He got really angry before killing her, which shows he cares, and is maybe a precursor to next week, but it shows his dark side, and it isn't necessarily nice to see.

If you rewatch it, it's pretty obvious that it's merely a ganger under Amy's control. That doesn't mean it lacks sentience, but not the total self-awarenesss of the gangers in the rest of the story. Everything it said and did was coming from Amy herself - unaware that she was somewhere else hooked up to a ganger. Hence the Doctor didn't kill it, but disconnected it from Amy - freeing both of them.

[The Master]

Is it hypocritical of the Doctor to support the concept of gangers becoming human in the 22nd century, only to turn around and dissolve the Amy ganger in the Tardis? Wasn't she every bit as human as they were? She certainly wasn't being controlled by the original, which can only mean she had an existence all her own.

No, because she hasn't been 'disconnected' the way Gangers in the monastery had been. So she's a single consciousness with two bodies. By destroying the flesh body he just returned her consciousness to her real body. That's why the images from the 'hospital' were leaking through to the Amy we've been watching. The Doctor talks about needing to know if it was safe to 'break the connection', that's why he went there in the fist place. It's not hugely clear in the episode, but is confirmed in Confidential.

Excellent, I feel a lot more comfortable with this now. That makes perfect sense. Came too thick and fast for me at the time.

[lambowolf]

Thinking on when the Amy switching happened...

It had to be before Amy told the Doctor she was pregnant during "The Impossible Astronaut"

I disagree, in fact I think this proves she was still 'human' at that point, as ever since she has not been pregnant when we know she was a ganger. We know she was a ganger by Day of the Moon as that's when she first saw eye patch woman.

I think she was pregnant in IA, then in the unknown period between that and DotM (probably minutes after the end of IA though) she was replaced. So the pregnant Amy is now off at mystery location and we're left with non-pregnant ganger Amy who has flashes of eye patch woman.

It depends...

If you go with the idea that the child is actually Rory's you would be correct.   However, if we go on the idea that "the bad guys" somehow made her pregnant with The Doctor or perhaps some other Timelord DNA it is conceivable that she was a ganger here.