Dr.Who S29E12 "The Sound Of Drums"

[Vegi]

'Though isn't the typical lifespan for a Time Lord regeneration a hell of a lot longer than 100 years? I mean, the Doctor was 953 years old at the beginning of his seventh incarnation, and all but one of his previous incarnations had been cut short well before old age became an issue.

Yes. In fact if I recall correctly the first incarnation of The Doctor was in the neighborhood of 450 years old when he regenerated, and it certainly was not from old age. I'm just thinking The Masters comment was for everyone who was watching and that they would just perceive it as 100 years of aging. They probably would have been thinking 'what the fuck' if he said like 600 or something, and then of course he would have had to go into a long ass explination....that's my guess at least.

Mrs. Saxton. I was intrigued by her. She's human right? At least that's what the torchwood representative believed. She seems to have legitimate feelings for The Master. And he didn't show any body language or hints that he was using her, he came off as appearing to legitimately like her. I wonder if we'll have more of this relationship explained?

Oh yeah, Christoph 'Doom' Schneider. Best doomsday music EVER. Here come the drums here come the drums.....hey there baby baby.....

Hah, I'm going to have that song stuck in my head for weeks.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Technically, this is a three-parter, not a two-parter. The episode "Utopia" was setting the stage, "The Sound Of Drums" puts the plans in action and next week is the conclusion (thought hopefully with The Master fleeing to carry on his work).

I REALLY want to know what this drumming all means, who the Troclofane really are and what this "war" is for. The darkness comments dropped remind me of a similar sub-plot element in TW.

[Bounty]

Oh yeah, Christoph 'Doom' Schneider. Best doomsday music EVER. Here come the drums here come the drums.....hey there baby baby.....

...the album's called "Here come the drums". Damn, I hadn't even noticed that

I wish they'd expanded the hunt for the Doctor a bit. The phonecall with the master and bit with the CCTV was great but too short.

Overall, I don't really know what I'm supposed to think about this episode. All the parts are there, it was fun and disturbing and all you could ask for, but I'm just not really that into the story at the moment. It all feels a bit...unfocused. Dunno, maybe it's just because I was expecting a very different plot.

[Dahak]

I REALLY want to know what this drumming all means, who the Troclofane really are and what this "war" is for. The darkness comments dropped remind me of a similar sub-plot element in TW.

Yes, I had to think about this plot point, too. Maybe some "dead" species that the Master somehow brought/brings back?

[NecronLord]

I wonder if it's significant that the drumbeat has the same rhythm as the baseline to the DW theme. Probably not.

Apparently RTD just tapped it out, so, he probably got it from there.

The Master handing out jelly babies was awesome.

Clearly, jelly babies have a potent impact on Time Lords.

'Though isn't the typical lifespan for a Time Lord regeneration a hell of a lot longer than 100 years? I mean, the Doctor was 953 years old at the beginning of his seventh incarnation, and all but one of his previous incarnations had been cut short well before old age became an issue.

Yep. But I figure he wasn't being exact, he just held it down until he got the effect he wanted.

---

I'm thinking that the Toclafane are either the Utopia Humans, or possibly somehow Time Lords. The former seems better; as it would be a paradox for them to kill their own ancestors.

Also, the young Master's outfit was the Time Lord robe from The War Games so presumably it's something a little more casual.

And the Seal of Rassilon is not forgotten, there's a big one on the floor, presumably where the aspirant stands, before the Untempered Schism.

I'd rather they gone with something more resembling this, from the Leekly Bible (an abortive Dr Who ressurection before the TVM) than the big snow-globe look the dome had. I now want a Citadel snowglobe...

Also, I'm hypothesising that the Untempered Schism, as it appears to be artificial, may be how the Time Lords get some of their apparent rediculous amounts of knowledge about every culture they run into... Some kind of bonding with the Time Vortex...

[andrewgpaul]

It doesn't matter if the cabinet 'deserved' to be gassed; the Master is eeevil!, and so he kills them. Evil genius corrupting his foes to his service, then killing them because they can't be trusted is an old cliche.

Listen to the voices of the 'toclafane'; they're childs' voices. I reckon they're 'escape pods' for Time Lord children, sent into the Void to escape the Daleks (The Master implies that the Daleks had landed on Gallifrey just before he fled). As for the murderous rampage, well, they're obeying the Master, and presumably they're quite open to suggestion. Think of it like the child soldiers in Sierra Leone, but with lasers.

[Stark]

I'm thinking inventing a massive psychosis the Master has had since childhood but only mentioned now is gonna need a tiny bit of papering over. And I mean beyond 'he likes war, he likes helping people'.

'Turns out the vortex drove him mad. Don't tell anyone: it's not like we keep everyone's biodata around or anything. Might ruin his career.'

Aside from the hilarious Valiant and the Master/Doctor stuff, I actually found this episode kind of meh.

[NecronLord]

It doesn't matter if the cabinet 'deserved' to be gassed; the Master is eeevil!, and so he kills them. Evil genius corrupting his foes to his service, then killing them because they can't be trusted is an old cliche.

Who said that wasn't evil?

Listen to the voices of the 'toclafane'; they're childs' voices. I reckon they're 'escape pods' for Time Lord children, sent into the Void to escape the Daleks (The Master implies that the Daleks had landed on Gallifrey just before he fled). As for the murderous rampage, well, they're obeying the Master, and presumably they're quite open to suggestion. Think of it like the child soldiers in Sierra Leone, but with lasers.

A popular theory, it seems.

[NecronLord]

'Turns out the vortex drove him mad. Don't tell anyone: it's not like we keep everyone's biodata around or anything. Might ruin his career.'

That's just when the Doctor thinks he went nuts, remember. He might just be a bad person.

[Stark]

That's just when the Doctor thinks he went nuts, remember. He might just be a bad person.

Given the effect of the drums not only on the Master but on everyone, and the Toclafane whinging about their urgent need to leave wherever they were, I'd say it's something a bit more than ringing in his ears.

However, the Master is CLEARLY insane, proper insane now, not just mean or selfish. Turns out a chameleon arch can edit you to be human, without being able to edit out complete insanity - which again suggests it's something more interesting. Sadly, none of that in this episode.

[Vympel]

I quite liked it. I still don't know what the heck they were talking about the Dalek Emperor and the Cruciform though. And how come the Doctor didn't know they resurrected the Master?

[Big Orange]

I'll say what I said at SB, was I the only one happy to see the arrogant twit President Winters get disintegrated. He landed (apparently unannounced) in the UK, started quoting UN mandates while putting out crap like "we can remove you from office", and telling the Army to stand down. Then he says the Presidential Seal is to be used rather than the UN one. The guy was a typical hypocritical politcian and good riddance to him.

He came across as a pompous fool, but I don't think he deserved to die like that - I also give him credit for looking through most of the Master's bullshit and trying his best to stop the Master within the bounds of international law. His sudden execution was yet another example of the Master's obvious sociopathy.

The Master talking about the Dalek Emperor accessing the Cruciform was very likely the Daleks succeeding in storming Gallifrey's capital citadel or something.

I'm not so sure about the Toclafane or the Paradox Machine, but perhaps the Paradox Machine is supposed to accomadate the Toclafane totally fucking up Earth's nominal timeline? I was also genuinely intrigued by next weeks preview where you see millions of Toclafane orbs flying in tight formation over Earth, flying past the spires of a massive Toclafane facility and Martha gawping at awe into an opened Toclafane sphere (sleeping Gallifreyian baby curled up inside? ).

And finally the Toclafane are talking about some Thing in the darkness (so it's not some hokey CGI demon after all?) and the drum beat do match part of the Doctor Who theme tune, with the four notes...

[Stark]

I love watching Orange make shit up.

Conversations from the front line -

'Jack could have just shot the Master in the face instead of trying to give him a big hug and getting shot.'

'Nah, his gay lover told him not to do anything.'

'600 million people > gay lover.'

'Na uh.'

[Ezekyle Abaddon]

Is it possible that the Masters madness has been so worked into him it is now a part of his biodata code so that even he cannot escape it anymore.

[An Ancient]

I'll say what I said at SB, was I the only one happy to see the arrogant twit President Winters get disintegrated. He landed (apparently unannounced) in the UK, started quoting UN mandates while putting out crap like "we can remove you from office", and telling the Army to stand down. Then he says the Presidential Seal is to be used rather than the UN one. The guy was a typical hypocritical politcian and good riddance to him.

Loved how both news channels (BBC and CNN?) were putting their own spin on the arguments between the government.

I also gave a rather loud cheer.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Is it possible that the Masters madness has been so worked into him it is now a part of his biodata code so that even he cannot escape it anymore.

It could be that the watch device was damaged or did something unexpected that not only remade him as a Gallifreyan again, but enhanced his psychosis for megalomania and now he's totally batshit insane.

The Doctor seems to be more than a wee bit concerned by how The Master is acting since he doesn't have the faintest idea what's going on. At least with the Daleks and the Cybermen, you knew what you were fighting against. What the hell is the problem now?

[Bounty]

It could be that the watch device was damaged or did something unexpected that not only remade him as a Gallifreyan again, but enhanced his psychosis for megalomania and now he's totally batshit insane.

Or, with a new set of regenerations and no Time Lord interference to hold him back, he's like a kid in a candy store. That's the impression I got: he doesn't have anyone watching over him anymore - the last man who could stand up to him is at his mercy. Ultimate freedom to mess with the galaxy as he pleases.

[Lost Soal]

I'll say what I said at SB, was I the only one happy to see the arrogant twit President Winters get disintegrated. He landed (apparently unannounced) in the UK, started quoting UN mandates while putting out crap like "we can remove you from office", and telling the Army to stand down. Then he says the Presidential Seal is to be used rather than the UN one. The guy was a typical hypocritical politcian and good riddance to him.

He came across as a pompous fool, but I don't think he deserved to die like that - I also give him credit for looking through most of the Master's bullshit and trying his best to stop the Master within the bounds of international law. His sudden execution was yet another example of the Master's obvious sociopathy.

He saw through nothing, and cared for international law only so far as it served his purpose. He was the typical arrogant US President who believes they should be running everything. He was probably the same president who tried take over during the Christmas Invasion.
You only have to look at his responce to the Toclaphane;
"You are not The Master"
"I can be your master if you want"

[Admiral Valdemar]

That comment did seem to show his arrogance was getting in the way of rational thinking which led to his demise sooner rather than later.

[NecronLord]

He saw through nothing, and cared for international law only so far as it served his purpose. He was the typical arrogant US President who believes they should be running everything. He was probably the same president who tried take over during the Christmas Invasion.
You only have to look at his responce to the Toclaphane;
"You are not The Master"
"I can be your master if you want"

Eh. "We want the Mister Master" and so on was rather baffling, what would you say, with everyone watching you, and bizzare sci-fi soccer balls flying around your head? He was in way too deep, but given the situation, I can easily forgive that. "Who is the Master?" might seem like the obvious response here, but we're not exactly on the spot in front of a worldwide audience, fully aware that every single large scale alien contact for the past forty years has involved lots of people getting murdered, and that we're probably next if we fuck up.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Still, POTUS was accepting responsibility and should have swotted up on what to do when the time comes. It felt almost like he wanted to follow those excellent first contact events in TWOTW and ID4.

[Starglider]

Still, POTUS was accepting responsibility and should have swotted up on what to do when the time comes. It felt almost like he wanted to follow those excellent first contact events in TWOTW and ID4.

The UK was three-for-three on meeting new life forms and blowing them to tiny pieces at that point, and that's not counting the two separate Torchwood fiascos or the 1,531 separate alien lifeforms blown up by the Brigadier in the 1970s. Given that track record I really couldn't blame the US for being skeptical about the UK's ability to handle a peaceful first contact.

But if you want the dirty xeno scum vaporised, we're the Terran experts.

[Admiral Valdemar]

One hundred trillion years on, humanity is still around. I saw only one inhuman piece of filth alien, so that means we won in the end.

HOO-MANS! HOO-MANS! HOO-MANS!

[Starglider]

One hundred trillion years on, humanity is still around. I saw only one inhuman piece of filth alien

...who was extremely cute. Thus, GO MASTER, VOTE SAXON, STOP THE HUMAN PLAGUE BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE

[Admiral Valdemar]

I'd prefer her if she was a catgirl.

=3