New Doctor Who Trailer for series 6 part II (spoilers):

[Eternal_Freedom]

She was in fact desperately trying to stop the explosion when she got stuck in the emergency time loop thing.

[Stark]

I'm glad your speculation means the facts are trolling.

Do you think there remains a chance of River's backstory as introduced will pan out? It looks like it's heading right for retcon city, because ... Mary Sue.

[The Romulan Republic]

I'm glad your speculation means the facts are trolling.

Speculation? Well, its still more than what you've got, which is a blatant fabrication. There is no evidence at all that River was responsible for the TARDIS blowing up. You know, maybe I missed something, but last time I checked, blatant lying wasn't considered a valid debating tactic here.

God damn it, this is becoming pathetic.

[Stark]

You mean how the alliance locked the Doctor up because they thought without him, the TARDIS couldn't be used/exploded, but how River was using it anyway (because Mary Sue) and thus ruined their plan to save the universe, requiring a far stupider one with way more fanservice? Sorry, aren't you the guy who thinks it was a quality finale? My mistake.

I'm happy to see you ignore the actual point, of course; Moffatt has clearly changed his idea of River's backstory (in my mind, clearly because he can now make the whole show ABOUT River) and so the events when 10 and River meet in Library now make almost no sense at all. She had to check her fucking diary to work out what time he was in, even though from her perspective he regenerated soon afterward and she died! Of course, nobody knew Tennant would leave so a retcon is necessary, but it's just a laugh.

[ChosenOne54]

I still fail to see how the explosion was River's fault. She happened to be in the TARDIS... but apart from that, like E_F said, she seemed desperate to stop it and get out.

[Stark]

I hope you guys never work for an insurance company. She was operating the vehicle when it destroyed the entire universe; if she hadn't, it seems to me that the alliance's plan would have worked fine (barring interference across the SEASON BARRIER), instead of requiring a whole sequence of hilarious terribleness to reset 100% back to normal only with less interstellar peace but more zany soap opera.

Y'know, if a writer didn't set up such ridiculous jeopardies season after season, you wouldn't need reset buttons. Good old Voyager. The logic behind the TARDIS destroying the universe is even really, really weak, so the jeopardy was elevated to that level simply because Moffatt thinks it has to be.

[The Romulan Republic]

You mean how the alliance locked the Doctor up because they thought without him, the TARDIS couldn't be used/exploded, but how River was using it anyway (because Mary Sue) and thus ruined their plan to save the universe, requiring a far stupider one with way more fanservice? Sorry, aren't you the guy who thinks it was a quality finale? My mistake.

This assumes that the alliance was actually correct instead of outside sabotage being involved (which is heavily implied by "Silence will fall."). Could you present some evidence of this?

I'm happy to see you ignore the actual point, of course; Moffatt has clearly changed his idea of River's backstory (in my mind, clearly because he can now make the whole show ABOUT River) and so the events when 10 and River meet in Library now make almost no sense at all. She had to check her fucking diary to work out what time he was in, even though from her perspective he regenerated soon afterward and she died! Of course, nobody knew Tennant would leave so a retcon is necessary, but it's just a laugh.

I ignored nothing. I'm not trying to debate River's backstory, and I am under no obligation to address it one way or another. I am merely contending that your claims about the events of The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang are questionable at best, if not outright made up. You are apparently attempting to change the topic by falsely accusing me.

ChosenOne54: I don't think there is any evidence it was her fault. I think Stark is just trolling.

[ChosenOne54]

Just because River was in the TARDIS at the time does not mean she caused the explosion. If you'll look at the scene, she seems completely lost as to why the TARDIS is behaving so strangely, and has no idea what's going on. That, coupled with the whole 'Silence Will Fall!!!!11!1!11' thing kind of implies that the TARDIS was sabotaged by... the Silence.

[Stark]

This assumes that the alliance was actually correct instead of outside sabotage being involved (which is heavily implied by "Silence will fall."). Could you present some evidence of this?

Listen to yourself. Even if it was due to an outside force, it was clearly building to a climax by itself, and even random idiots worked that out. If they'd been wrong, you'd just have the exact same horrible back to the future nonsense you got anyway, only with less River destroying the univere so she can put it on her resume OF EVIL. Less lame = better, dude.

I ignored nothing. I'm not trying to debate River's backstory, and I am under no obligation to address it one way or another. I am merely contending that your claims about the events of The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang are questionable at best, if not outright made up. You are apparently attempting to change the topic by falsely accusing me.

ChosenOne54: I don't think there is any evidence it was her fault. I think Stark is just trolling.

Man, I'm glad you can choose to nitpick a single phrase in a sentence about River's backstory and then claim you have no interest in the broader issues of her backstory! Demanding evidence for everything while providing none yourself is, of course, the hallmark of the trollhunter! Even if she DIDN'T destroy the universe (like a driver didn't really kill the pedestrian) the she clearly has very little time left to marry the Doctor and become super duper close to him and then forget she only met 10 like twice.

I guess I 'made up' that River was flying the TARDIS when it exploded. If it wasn't in flight, how would the ridiculous time machine logic have destroyed the universe? Writers fiat? Bad logic? INFINITY GAUNTLET? Oh sorry, wrong crap finale.

Just because River was in the TARDIS at the time does not mean she caused the explosion. If you'll look at the scene, she seems completely lost as to why the TARDIS is behaving so strangely, and has no idea what's going on. That, coupled with the whole 'Silence Will Fall!!!!11!1!11' thing kind of implies that the TARDIS was sabotaged by... the Silence.

That'd be important if I claimed she pressed the 'blow up world' button. She was the one the destroyed the universe, because she was operating the ship when the cracks blah blah blah. That's why the alliance wanted to imprison the Doctor; so he couldn't operate it. Sadly, they were unaware River was a giant Mary Sue.

[ChosenOne54]

My apologies, I misunderstood your argument; I thought you were claiming that River purposefully blew up the TARDIS, and the entire explosion was her plan, or something along those lines.

[Stark]

Yeah, I'm aware she was trying to save the day somehow, and unwittingly fulfilled the alliance's prophecy of TARDIS explosion. I'm speaking from an out of universe perspective, as her TARDIS piloting (and the amazing significance of this event) is another example of her amazing status as author's pet.

And we thought she was a mildly annoying character in a boring two-parter. Turns out? She's god and created the universe. Go go Stephen Moffatt! My only hope is that she's destroyed in the finale, but I think we all know she won't be. Oh well; I'd like to start watching the show again.

[Revy]

A while back someone sent me a stack of Doctor Who spoilers that included quotes from Moffat. In the section for spoilers on episode thirteen they have the following quote from him, listed as being taken from an interview with him from the Radio Times. I don't have that particular issue but I would suppose someone could track it down to confirm its authenticity.
Spoiler

The Silence, the unseen enemy who blew up his TARDIS last year, have laid deeper plans and set the deadliest trap of all – one that has been ticking away in the Doctor’s life for longer than anyone knows.

... if that is a genuine quote from Moffat himself then what the hell more do you want? The Silence blew up the TARDIS, not River. Also, quoting the episode itself:

RIVER: It's a trap, it has to be. They used Amy to construct a scenario you'd believe, to get close to you.

DOCTOR: Why? Who'd do that? What for? It doesn't make sense.

DOCTOR: River? River? River, what's happening?!

RIVER: I don't know, it's the engines. Doctor, there's something wrong with the TARDIS, like something else is controlling it.

Something else is controlling it. In other words the Silence were controlling the TARDIS and made it explode. If they can control it then it wouldn't have mattered whether or not River or the Doctor or anyone was driving the bloody thing, the Silence clearly had the means to remote pilot and remote destruct the thing. River was entirely free of blame as far as 'destroying the universe' goes.

At the very most you could argue that they couldn't have done what they did unless someone was physically present inside the TARDIS (evidence for that?), but even if that's the case then I repeat that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bottom line - the Silence had the means to control the TARDIS. The Silence had the means to blow up the TARDIS. The Silence are therefor responsible for destroying the universe. If I hide a suitcase nuke in the trunk of your car and then remote detonate it when you drive to work one morning, I am the asshole responsible for the ensuing destruction, not you.

Turns out? She's god and created the universe.

... I need an aspirin. How the fuck do you go from falsely blaming her for destroying the universe one moment, to claming she is a god that created the universe the next? How? Where the fuck does that come from? Did I miss an entire episode? If anything Amy could be accused of godhood/universe creating given that her memory played a role in rebooting the universe back to it's original status, but what did River have to do with it?

[TC Pilot]

I'm really getting sick of these series-long arcs. There is nothing less threatening or dramatic than saying that the damn protagonist of the entire franchise will die. And it's even worse that they've already pulled this sort of thing with "The End of Time," and that there's a long history of ass-pulls (remember "one of you will die" in "Journey's End"?).

[Stark]

... I need an aspirin. How the fuck do you go from falsely blaming her for destroying the universe one moment, to claming she is a god that created the universe the next? How? Where the fuck does that come from? Did I miss an entire episode? If anything Amy could be accused of godhood/universe creating given that her memory played a role in rebooting the universe back to it's original status, but what did River have to do with it?

Everyone in the DW universe can now trace their existence back to River Song, Moffat's Pet. Even many intergalactic wars owe their existence to this most absurd and overblown of finales! I mean, if she hadn't been tooling around and the alliance plan worked, River Song wouldn't be the second most important character in creation.

And the finale thing is made even more amusing because they could do 'series long arc' that doesn't result in INFINITE REALITY PARALELL SILENCE FINAL END. If there's one good thing about Moffat's shit its that he's trying to tell more personal stories - but trying to tell personal stories in front of a pantomime backdrop of ULTIMATE CRISIS ON INFINITE VORTEX is a real struggle.

If they could once - just once - have a finale that wasn't a DEM at the last minute to save ALL OF THE EVERYTHINGS EVER, maybe the trend would be broken. In 26 years the old show did this crap like, once? Twice? It is possible to sell threats or sacrifice to title characters dramatically, but not in these kind of 'oh dear I have to kill myself to stop the giant technofoozle crushing the temporal gaskets! Wait, no I don't ho ho fooled you' ways.

[Revy]

It's the same basic problem Stargate had - they got it into their heads that each season had to build up some monumental epic showdown against an increasingly over the top threat/villain resulting in a climax topping the one that came before. Constantly raising the stakes until the good guys are literally going up against godlike beings and fighting to save all life in the galaxy or universe. It's like they think if they don't top last year’s finale in terms of drama/danger/the stakes, everyone watching will give up on the show.

The obvious problem with that (well, one of them anyway) is that it doesn't take long before it reaches absurd levels that cannot possibly be resolved without DEM or insane levels of silliness. In the case of Stargate it got to the point where they were fighting a galaxy of religious fanatics led by actual godlike transcendental aliens capable of wiping out planets with their minds. And they defeated them with the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. I think they must have watched Indiana Jones once too often.

In the case of Doctor Who, they blew up the frickin universe itself. That's over the top as it is, but given the above mentioned trend I can only assume they are going to try and top that somehow, and my brain hurts just imagining what will come of it. I think their supposed killing off of the show's lead character is part of that effort, but as has been said before no-one is buying it for a second. You can't really have Doctor Who without the Doctor, so their repeated efforts in that regards to ham up drama just falls completely flat.

Now if they actually did kill him off and either end the show or keep it running with a different lead, then I might be impressed. But it just isn't going to happen.

[Erik von Nein]

I may have missed it, but what were the silence even trying to accomplish with that? Blowing up the universe kind of involves killing yourself in the process.

Damn Jonestown deals. I swear, if it involves a comet ...

[Parallax]

I'd assume that either:
a) Their plan didn't go quite the way they wanted it to. Probably messing with technology they don't quite understand.
b) It did go they wanted it do, knowing the Doctor would recreate the Universe/save everyone's asses. Resulting in a 'proto-universe' which would allow them to change some stuff unnoticed ... or the universal barriers were weakened. Or something.

I guess we'll find out in a few weeks.

[Broomstick]

Well, you'll find out in a few weeks - I don't have access to the second season until it comes out on DVD and my local library gets it. ~sigh~ Unless, of course, I can finagle access, but that can be tricky.

[ChosenOne54]

You could always buy them on iTunes. That's how I've watched most of the episodes.

[Broomstick]

Unless iTunes can run on my standard PC I can't use such a service - no iPhone, no iPad, no money to purchase them. On top of that, cost is a huge concern of mine. I'm pretty much broke all the time.

At this point, the easiest thing for me would be for a friend with legit access to invite me over and watch with them, but alas, I don't have any such person nearby at this time.

[Shroom Man 777]

You know, if those alliance guys of Daleks and Cyberoids had a bigger part with their buddy-cop team up as they act as a foil to the Doctor, in trying to get rid of him while simultaneously not (for once) trying to destroy the universe but instead save it, they could actually be quite awesome side characters and pseudo-antagonists. Would sure beat "hey, randome adventures everywhere" and then "suddenly these bad guys have joined forces to appear in one scene and then poof, they're all dead". And gah, the Doctor's grand pronouncements are getting overdone. It was good when Destro did it when he was out to save Rose and shit while scaring the Daleks, because there was blah blah emotional stake in it, but Smith and Tennant do this shit all the time and it just loses its impact and in the end, it just comes out as a git shouting loud on a microphone. Bleh.

[StarSword]

Unless iTunes can run on my standard PC I can't use such a service - no iPhone, no iPad, no money to purchase them.

iTunes works fine on Windows XP or later. Just make sure you match the system requirements, which I looked up for you. You're welcome.

[Broomstick]

Thank you.

[Big Orange]

Oh well; I'd like to start watching the show again.

Well, what do you expect from a middle-brow sci-fi show aimed at family viewing? I don't think we can properly judge S6 until its properly finished and I heard that 2012 will have less episodes (likely for the best, stop a '08 style creative burnout).

And Amy Pond with her cheesily OTT sword skills is likely due to her being that battle armour (with its onboard computer controlling the limbs in a skilfull way). I don't quite get the heartfelt loathing for River Song, even though she's the writer's action figure and her 'Spoilers!' catchphrase grates (people also forget what a overly cocky bitch Rose Tyler could sometimes be on S2 before getting exiled).

[The Romulan Republic]

Two new updates on Doctor Who:

First, Rory is confirmed to be returning next season:

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2011/08/15/doctor- ... l-be-back/

Also, the BBC has released the opening of Let's Kill Hitler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRqG64hDs4s