Doctor Who Reaction - "Let's Kill Hitler" - Matt Smith ▶ August Schedule ◀ Monday - Doctor Who Wednesday - Dark Friday - FMAB House of The Dragon PATREON - / filmbuff INSTAGRAM - / imsardar TWITTER - / _filmbuff_
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Most people seem to miss the part where Mels says "I was a toddler, in the middle of New York'" - this is a reference to her previous regeneration which we saw in the last scene of "Day of the moon" where the homeless man freaks out as the girl regenerates.
Its true but she must’ve time traveled or aged more slowly because regenerating in 1970 as Mels and then “growing up” together with Amy and Rory until 2010-ish?? She still looked quite young.
@@meijing2114 Well, I think that it is accepted canon that Time Lords don't age as fast as humans, and because she was conceived in the Tardis she has regenerations, and possibly a slower aging process.
This episode tends to get a lot of hate, but I've always enjoyed it. It has it's problems no doubt, but I absolutely love Matt Smith in this episode. His performance is so gooood!
i think this episode would’ve been received so much better if mels had appeared a couple of times so we know ahead of time why amy names her daughter after her, and it would be a crazy twist because we would think she specifically couldn’t be river
@@mamaseesa3122 You know that one episode of Community where the joke is that Jack Black just shows up and acts as though he's already part of the group, even having flashbacks showing he was always there and nobody ever noticed or mentioned him? This episode is that unironically lol. The story parts are very hamfisted in. The adventure part like everything with Hitler are fun but it all just feels like a backdrop to deliver exposition about the main plot.
Moffat very specifically titled the Series 5 finale 'The Big Bang' instead of something like 'Big Bang 2' because he knew what Rory and Amy would be doing at the end, offscreen, and what he was planning to do with that plot point...so well spotted(!)
i love the fun imaginative nature of this episode, plus the tie ins of story threads and the performances are on point. asking who raised mels is a very good question you should hold on to...for later
I’ve always loved this episode. It doesn’t get a lot of love from fans, but I think it’s Eleven, Amy, Rory and River at their best. Such a fun episode! Great reaction!
Matt Smith is wonderful, as always. As others have said, this gets a lot of flack but it is a lot of fun and I enjoy it. You make plenty of fair criticisms but I am glad you really enjoyed some of the big moments.
While this episode is a bit hairbrained, it's SO worth it for the performances. Matt absolutely floors in nearly every scene, in PARTICULAR when he's lying on the stairs. God, the way he looks into River's eyes... As if his face in her hair is the only place he'd rather die. SO stunning. So *layered.* It's just 🤌 And insofar as the Ponds are concerned with the whole missing daughter/daughter-as-River-Song thing... I think they're still having a hard time with that. Like Amy says, "She's our daughter. She's _River..._ *and* she's _our daughter_ ." And you've gotta remember... it was Amy that clocked immediately the nature of the relationship between the Doctor and River Song at the crash of the Byzantium... and now she knows *that's her baby girl.* 😬 I mean if I were Amy it'ed be pretty dissonant. It's not even quite clear whether Amy is even able to fully identify with being the person who gave birth, considering she didn't really have an experience of being pregnant and then immediately found out she was about to birth an infant. Like, what part was real? What _is_ real? If your experience wasn't actually the truth? And regardless of that equation, there's further re-calibrations going on with Amy insofar as her own understanding of who she actually is as a person on the whole. It's pointed out to her in Amy's Choice by the Dream Lord that she thought she was the most important person in his life. "The one to which the Doctor tells everything." And yet she doesn't know his name. But, like you said, River does. And while it doesn't seem that Amy knows that specifically, it doesn't really matter that she doesn't know the extent of how much her daughter will know (or already does know) the Doctor, because the very act of the Doctor wanting to speak to River rather than her as he dies _tells_ her that. It's a gentle call-back to the goodbye scene in The Big Bang. River comes to Amy and says that 'before he goes' (in the Pandorica) he wanted to see her, and Amy questions why he doesn't want to say goodbye to River herself and she replies, "he doesn't really know me yet..." He's about to effectively die, and he wants to see his little Amelia one last time (to effectively make sure that Amy remembers him so he is brought back, but still.) Here in this moment, he's trying to do the same, about to die BUT, he says "I need to talk to your daughter." And... Jesus, Karen Gillian's performance in that one moment when the camera returns back to her... She's confused, hurt, rejected... Because in that moment, she sees that this man, who before didn't want to see in his final moments the woman that Amy knew would be so important, now does. She's been supplanted. _By her daughter..._ Who's never really actually been her daughter. 🤨(At least from Amy's experience perspective of River Song as a person.) And Matt's world-weary sigh as he realises that _she's_ realised that is also worth mentioning. A _lot_ changed between those two characters within three back and forth shots, it's _crazy._ I think that it's there in that moment that Amy realises that the Doctor's chosen River Song over Melody Pond... Because if he does bring her baby back... River Song is erased. He even knows how to find her baby, because he knows that River Song knows where she was kept... So if he really wanted to... he could glean that information from River and go back and fix it all. But, weirdly, he doesn't. (At least that's how it is from Amy's perspective, she's not aware of the ridiculous amount of paradoxical problems that the Doctor is trying to prevent from unravelling by *not* rescuing Melody Pond... And that's without knowing the even more catastrophic potential paradoxes just within Amy and Rory's own life with their daughter generally. If he saves Melody Pond, she won't be there as Mels to get them together in order for them to create herself. And this is probably why we see such a dramatic change in the Doctor's demeanour from the end of A Good Man Goes to War, where he's so ecstatic and racing off to (presumably) see River Song, to the Let's Kill Hitler prequel where he's clearly warring with these two responsibilities. River, knowing that she had to ensure her own survival as Mels, probably didn't _let_ him rescue Melody Pond. Except she couldn't have told him that because spoilers. But Amy doesn't know that.) But back to Matt Smith's Doctor, because there's a _very_ important Time of Angel's callback in this episode that's important for his character throughout his entire run... Remember when the Doctor explained that River Song was "the future, my future" to Amy when Amy first met her? And Amy responded with "and you're basically running away from that?" ... Now here, he tells River to never run when she's scared. Never run when you're scared, _like I did._ He literally says to Amy, "I can run away from anything I like, time is not the boss of me." But now he's come to understand that although he _can_ run from what he's scared of, it's probably not a good idea. Because all you're going to do is run yourself into a corner. Into a rock and a hard place. Into a fixed point. 😉 The Doctor's slowly coming to realise that he has a responsibility. He has a responsibility and a duty-of-care to the people in his life and the people his life _affects._ And that's what makes the 11th era the most character driven era. (And therefore, imo, the best. ☺)
Matt Smith is literally incredible. It’s not super in with the style of your channel maybe. But I’d highly recommend watching The Crown and Last Night In Soho even on your own time. It’s so powerful seeing Matt play other characters, really highlights his amazing performance as the doctor. The mannerisms and everything are so intentional yet so natural and believable. I’m always so fascinated by actors and actresses who can completely change their body language and their voice and everything to fully embody a character instead of always keeping the same sort of vibe in every character. So impressive.
this episode marks the second time river is referenced as Mrs Robinson which is really funny because in the context of the show river would be Elaine and AMY would be Mrs Robinson
Pointless trivia: When the Doctor whispers to River Song "tell her I love her," what Matt Smith actually whispers to Alex Kingston is "your top's come open." You can actually see him saying it, and Alex has to fight off a laugh
Thaaat isn't true. If you jam your earbuds into your ears you can actually hear what he says (and if you look closely Matt actually grabs hold of her lapel to pull her closer at the beginning of the shot.)
A couple of thoughts for me. First I do like this episode, it has its flaws but in the end i find it fun and well acted. That said, second is i agree: I do wish that Mels was shown in earlier episodes rather than apearing and resolved within the first 20 minutes of one episode. It just would have hit harder if we got scenes or at least references to Amy and Rory's eccentric friend that obsesses over the stories that Amy tells. On a seperate note, I get the feeling that she didn't turn around from killing to loving the Doctor in this episode. I get the feeling that a combination of her parents oppinion and stories of the Doctor as well as finding out that there's a long history the Doctor's history with River that Melody hasn't experienced yet all comes crashing down on her. So I don't think she loves him yet, but becomes obsessed with trying to understand her own future and his past. As if she doesnt fully undersrand her decision to save the Doctor so she both saved him and got into archeology to figuere it out (paradoxical reasoning but thats what i get from the ep).
I believe Mels was being “raised” by the silence at the time. You know she grew up in that orphanage for a while til she regenerated. But I think she was still raised and conditioned to kill the doctor by the silence after that. But I’m not sure if anything has been confirmed about that or not.
great reaction as always! this episode has always been one of my favorites, in large part due to how perfect Alex Kingston's performance of a "pre-River" River is. some of the episodes coming up in the near future (specifically 6x09, 6x11, and 7x03) deal with some REALLY interesting concepts that i can't wait to see your take on. keep up the great vids!
Always appreciate your honest commentary. Still a few great moments despite the divisive nature of the episode. Also your outro music is fantastic! 👍Who is the artist or is it an original piece?
Always found this to be a very odd episode. Enjoyable moments within it for sure, but it literally feels like Moffat just tore up his original plan and whipped this episode up to hastily cover all the River Song stuff.
If you ignore amy and Rory i love this episode as its really fun and bonkers. Lots of fun. However, I've never liked the fact that the awful reality of amy and Rorys child being kidnapped, followed by learning their childhood friend had lied to them their whole life is treated lightly. Most adults would be angry, confused and distrustful of all these characters. These things are swept aside. Its quite cartoony in that sense.
To the doctor, the idea of going back in time solely to torture people at the very end of their life seems… gross and immature, but sees the darkly humorous aspect of it. This plays into how he reacted in season 1, when that kid brought back technology from 100,000 years in the future and lets him fend for himself when in reality the technology would be useless as it’s unlikely to be backwards compatible with today’s technology.
Counterpoint: Tennant's Doctor has watched River Song die and not regenerate. Therefore Matt Smith's Doctor knows River can't regenerate, so he realises she must have given away her regenerations. There's a degree of manipulation, but the 11th Doctor is acting on information the 10th Doctor gathered.
That’s not necessarily true (the part about him realizing she gave up ALL her regen energy.) Even if she had one left, she would have died, just like the Doctor would have. That’s the only reason she took his place, he wouldn’t have been able to regen so she wouldn’t have ever met him.
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Most people seem to miss the part where Mels says "I was a toddler, in the middle of New York'" - this is a reference to her previous regeneration which we saw in the last scene of "Day of the moon" where the homeless man freaks out as the girl regenerates.
Its true but she must’ve time traveled or aged more slowly because regenerating in 1970 as Mels and then “growing up” together with Amy and Rory until 2010-ish?? She still looked quite young.
@@meijing2114 Well, I think that it is accepted canon that Time Lords don't age as fast as humans, and because she was conceived in the Tardis she has regenerations, and possibly a slower aging process.
The "Believe me, it was an accident." scene always gets me. 😂 Probably my favorite comedic moment in the whole show.
This episode tends to get a lot of hate, but I've always enjoyed it. It has it's problems no doubt, but I absolutely love Matt Smith in this episode. His performance is so gooood!
Hate?? I love this episode, where are the haters lol?
i think this episode would’ve been received so much better if mels had appeared a couple of times so we know ahead of time why amy names her daughter after her, and it would be a crazy twist because we would think she specifically couldn’t be river
@@mamaseesa3122 You know that one episode of Community where the joke is that Jack Black just shows up and acts as though he's already part of the group, even having flashbacks showing he was always there and nobody ever noticed or mentioned him?
This episode is that unironically lol. The story parts are very hamfisted in. The adventure part like everything with Hitler are fun but it all just feels like a backdrop to deliver exposition about the main plot.
Never heard anyone hate this episode, are you sure you don’t live in an alternate universe?
@@dylancole1910 Could ask you the same thing lol. I have generally seen dislike for this episode. I personally don't mind it, but it's got problems.
Moffat very specifically titled the Series 5 finale 'The Big Bang' instead of something like 'Big Bang 2' because he knew what Rory and Amy would be doing at the end, offscreen, and what he was planning to do with that plot point...so well spotted(!)
i love the fun imaginative nature of this episode, plus the tie ins of story threads and the performances are on point. asking who raised mels is a very good question you should hold on to...for later
I’ve always loved this episode. It doesn’t get a lot of love from fans, but I think it’s Eleven, Amy, Rory and River at their best. Such a fun episode! Great reaction!
Matt Smith is wonderful, as always. As others have said, this gets a lot of flack but it is a lot of fun and I enjoy it. You make plenty of fair criticisms but I am glad you really enjoyed some of the big moments.
While this episode is a bit hairbrained, it's SO worth it for the performances. Matt absolutely floors in nearly every scene, in PARTICULAR when he's lying on the stairs. God, the way he looks into River's eyes... As if his face in her hair is the only place he'd rather die. SO stunning. So *layered.* It's just 🤌
And insofar as the Ponds are concerned with the whole missing daughter/daughter-as-River-Song thing... I think they're still having a hard time with that. Like Amy says, "She's our daughter. She's _River..._ *and* she's _our daughter_ ." And you've gotta remember... it was Amy that clocked immediately the nature of the relationship between the Doctor and River Song at the crash of the Byzantium... and now she knows *that's her baby girl.* 😬
I mean if I were Amy it'ed be pretty dissonant. It's not even quite clear whether Amy is even able to fully identify with being the person who gave birth, considering she didn't really have an experience of being pregnant and then immediately found out she was about to birth an infant. Like, what part was real? What _is_ real? If your experience wasn't actually the truth? And regardless of that equation, there's further re-calibrations going on with Amy insofar as her own understanding of who she actually is as a person on the whole. It's pointed out to her in Amy's Choice by the Dream Lord that she thought she was the most important person in his life. "The one to which the Doctor tells everything." And yet she doesn't know his name.
But, like you said, River does. And while it doesn't seem that Amy knows that specifically, it doesn't really matter that she doesn't know the extent of how much her daughter will know (or already does know) the Doctor, because the very act of the Doctor wanting to speak to River rather than her as he dies _tells_ her that.
It's a gentle call-back to the goodbye scene in The Big Bang. River comes to Amy and says that 'before he goes' (in the Pandorica) he wanted to see her, and Amy questions why he doesn't want to say goodbye to River herself and she replies, "he doesn't really know me yet..." He's about to effectively die, and he wants to see his little Amelia one last time (to effectively make sure that Amy remembers him so he is brought back, but still.) Here in this moment, he's trying to do the same, about to die BUT, he says "I need to talk to your daughter." And... Jesus, Karen Gillian's performance in that one moment when the camera returns back to her... She's confused, hurt, rejected... Because in that moment, she sees that this man, who before didn't want to see in his final moments the woman that Amy knew would be so important, now does. She's been supplanted. _By her daughter..._ Who's never really actually been her daughter. 🤨(At least from Amy's experience perspective of River Song as a person.) And Matt's world-weary sigh as he realises that _she's_ realised that is also worth mentioning. A _lot_ changed between those two characters within three back and forth shots, it's _crazy._
I think that it's there in that moment that Amy realises that the Doctor's chosen River Song over Melody Pond... Because if he does bring her baby back... River Song is erased. He even knows how to find her baby, because he knows that River Song knows where she was kept... So if he really wanted to... he could glean that information from River and go back and fix it all. But, weirdly, he doesn't.
(At least that's how it is from Amy's perspective, she's not aware of the ridiculous amount of paradoxical problems that the Doctor is trying to prevent from unravelling by *not* rescuing Melody Pond... And that's without knowing the even more catastrophic potential paradoxes just within Amy and Rory's own life with their daughter generally. If he saves Melody Pond, she won't be there as Mels to get them together in order for them to create herself. And this is probably why we see such a dramatic change in the Doctor's demeanour from the end of A Good Man Goes to War, where he's so ecstatic and racing off to (presumably) see River Song, to the Let's Kill Hitler prequel where he's clearly warring with these two responsibilities. River, knowing that she had to ensure her own survival as Mels, probably didn't _let_ him rescue Melody Pond. Except she couldn't have told him that because spoilers. But Amy doesn't know that.)
But back to Matt Smith's Doctor, because there's a _very_ important Time of Angel's callback in this episode that's important for his character throughout his entire run... Remember when the Doctor explained that River Song was "the future, my future" to Amy when Amy first met her? And Amy responded with "and you're basically running away from that?" ... Now here, he tells River to never run when she's scared. Never run when you're scared, _like I did._ He literally says to Amy, "I can run away from anything I like, time is not the boss of me." But now he's come to understand that although he _can_ run from what he's scared of, it's probably not a good idea. Because all you're going to do is run yourself into a corner. Into a rock and a hard place. Into a fixed point. 😉
The Doctor's slowly coming to realise that he has a responsibility. He has a responsibility and a duty-of-care to the people in his life and the people his life _affects._ And that's what makes the 11th era the most character driven era. (And therefore, imo, the best. ☺)
Matt Smith is literally incredible. It’s not super in with the style of your channel maybe. But I’d highly recommend watching The Crown and Last Night In Soho even on your own time. It’s so powerful seeing Matt play other characters, really highlights his amazing performance as the doctor. The mannerisms and everything are so intentional yet so natural and believable. I’m always so fascinated by actors and actresses who can completely change their body language and their voice and everything to fully embody a character instead of always keeping the same sort of vibe in every character. So impressive.
this episode marks the second time river is referenced as Mrs Robinson which is really funny because in the context of the show river would be Elaine and AMY would be Mrs Robinson
Pointless trivia: When the Doctor whispers to River Song "tell her I love her," what Matt Smith actually whispers to Alex Kingston is "your top's come open." You can actually see him saying it, and Alex has to fight off a laugh
Thaaat isn't true. If you jam your earbuds into your ears you can actually hear what he says (and if you look closely Matt actually grabs hold of her lapel to pull her closer at the beginning of the shot.)
A couple of thoughts for me. First I do like this episode, it has its flaws but in the end i find it fun and well acted.
That said, second is i agree: I do wish that Mels was shown in earlier episodes rather than apearing and resolved within the first 20 minutes of one episode. It just would have hit harder if we got scenes or at least references to Amy and Rory's eccentric friend that obsesses over the stories that Amy tells.
On a seperate note, I get the feeling that she didn't turn around from killing to loving the Doctor in this episode. I get the feeling that a combination of her parents oppinion and stories of the Doctor as well as finding out that there's a long history the Doctor's history with River that Melody hasn't experienced yet all comes crashing down on her. So I don't think she loves him yet, but becomes obsessed with trying to understand her own future and his past. As if she doesnt fully undersrand her decision to save the Doctor so she both saved him and got into archeology to figuere it out (paradoxical reasoning but thats what i get from the ep).
I love doctor who ( is why I choose this TH-cam name)
This episode are very good, seriously Mel’s regeneration is blow my mind 🤯🤯
I believe Mels was being “raised” by the silence at the time. You know she grew up in that orphanage for a while til she regenerated. But I think she was still raised and conditioned to kill the doctor by the silence after that. But I’m not sure if anything has been confirmed about that or not.
Love this episode 🥰 So glad you liked it too! Great reaction!
great reaction as always! this episode has always been one of my favorites, in large part due to how perfect Alex Kingston's performance of a "pre-River" River is. some of the episodes coming up in the near future (specifically 6x09, 6x11, and 7x03) deal with some REALLY interesting concepts that i can't wait to see your take on. keep up the great vids!
I can't wait for you to get to Heaven Sent. But it's so far away 😭
Beard's looking exquisite, Im!
A few shortcomings aside, quite an enjoyable episode. Definitely thought you'd like having more Doctor and River banter. Can't spell simp without Im 👀
Although many people find this episode to be a joke Matt Smith and Alex Kingston were on top of their game
Always appreciate your honest commentary. Still a few great moments despite the divisive nature of the episode. Also your outro music is fantastic! 👍Who is the artist or is it an original piece?
I love your analysis of the episode. Always spot on.
Always found this to be a very odd episode. Enjoyable moments within it for sure, but it literally feels like Moffat just tore up his original plan and whipped this episode up to hastily cover all the River Song stuff.
While this is an episode I do enjoy watching I do also share a lot of the same criticisms that you do
4:28 Too many years to find TH-cam (turn on ccs)
If you ignore amy and Rory i love this episode as its really fun and bonkers. Lots of fun. However, I've never liked the fact that the awful reality of amy and Rorys child being kidnapped, followed by learning their childhood friend had lied to them their whole life is treated lightly. Most adults would be angry, confused and distrustful of all these characters. These things are swept aside. Its quite cartoony in that sense.
To the doctor, the idea of going back in time solely to torture people at the very end of their life seems… gross and immature, but sees the darkly humorous aspect of it. This plays into how he reacted in season 1, when that kid brought back technology from 100,000 years in the future and lets him fend for himself when in reality the technology would be useless as it’s unlikely to be backwards compatible with today’s technology.
Counterpoint: Tennant's Doctor has watched River Song die and not regenerate. Therefore Matt Smith's Doctor knows River can't regenerate, so he realises she must have given away her regenerations. There's a degree of manipulation, but the 11th Doctor is acting on information the 10th Doctor gathered.
That’s not necessarily true (the part about him realizing she gave up ALL her regen energy.) Even if she had one left, she would have died, just like the Doctor would have. That’s the only reason she took his place, he wouldn’t have been able to regen so she wouldn’t have ever met him.
@@sirimity also, regeneration wouldn't save her, since Tennant had one left and if it mattered, him doing it wouldn't be a death sentence.
@@canadian__ninja He had 2 left remember Journey's End