"The Rebel Flesh" S6Ep5

Before we begin this week's blog, I actually DID watch "The Doctor's Wife" last week, but it was cuddle time on the couch for Emilie and I, so I didn't blog while watching it, and I always meant to go back and re-watch it and blog it, but I still haven't gotten around to that, so I hope to do so this week. I have also invited Emilie and my friend Katrina to join me as bloggers here. Emilie is a fan from the Jon Pertwee days, and Katrina has just started watching Doctor Who in the past three weeks and I figured she would be a great addition to the blogging team here with a fresh view of the show and fresh ideas. I am looking forward to their contributions! Now, on with this week's blog!

We open with a fly-in shot of ... is that Alcatraz? Where are Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage? Ooh, big threatening tank ... and what do they do? They open it of course. Like the Doctor, I really love the human race. Oops, someone is soup. Hello Amy Intro. I know, I know ... Steven Moffat believes the show is being watched by more new viewers than people who know what the heck is going on, but still.

Darts in the console room ... and the Doctor is STILL obsessing about Amy's pregnancy/non-pregnancy. The TARDIS s caught in the vortex ... I really like the fact that they can make with the really great vortex CGI in the new series. Dusty Springfield playing in a monastery... how novel. Aw, come on .... spears? Ooga-chaka, ooga-chaka! Now I am starting to notice that Matt Smith is sorta channeling Sylvester McCoy with his characterization ... kind of the roaming expert who manipulates the people he meets: "show me your critical systems", "which ones?", "you know which ones."

A tub of "flesh", made by taking a "weaving". Kind of reminds me of the novel "Lungbarrow" just a little bit. OK, the Doctor monitors a solar storm with a snow globe?!?!?! Huh???? The solar storm effects are great. And of course, the Doctor runs off to prevent tragedy, and what happens? He gets zapped, and acid starts to eat away at the TARDIS (actually the dirt beneath the TARDIS as the TARDIS Shouldn't be affected by the acid).

Wakey, wakey! Everyone got knocked about by the solar storm. Rory is just pissing me off. Dress him in a red shirt and kill him off already. The gangers are all alive, now they are seeking to figure out their "lives". Matt Smith is both old and young at the same time. He is young, but he has really old-looking eyes. Jennifer barfs flesh into the wash-basin ... and then she does the head on a snake thing ... I am thinking T-3000 from Terminator 2, here.

The Doctor figures out that the boss is a ganger instead of the real person. Ganger Jennifer seems to have taken a shine to Rory. Everyone is splitting up ... I thought Rory was a believer in the Doctor's cardinal rule: "don't wander off." Now he goes off and follows ganger Jennifer around. Dummy. Rory starts to really show how dumb he can be, getting roped in by ganger Jennifer.

LOL, the Doctor walks into a puddle of acid and finds the TARDIS buried almost to the signal light. Aww, come on ... show us what he sneezed up ... betcha he is a ganger too. The half-formed gangers remind me of Odo on Deep Space Nine. Hate to tell ya Rory, you are far luckier than Amy is! You know, seeing a ganger do a full-on exorcist twist was rather disturbing. Rory brings ganger Jen to Amy, and we now have an interesting twinge of jealousy from Amy ... the girl who ran off on her wedding night to travel with and hit on the Doctor. And why is it that the Doctor seems to be taking the ganger's side?

Sacred life? The storm causing the gangers to become independent life forms is an example of "sacred life"? The setting up of the simple binary equation of two sides, "us and them" is pretty simple. And of course, now we have a ganger of the Doctor starting to wander around. And of course, the ganger workers have the acid suits and they want to deal with the human crew. Doctor versus Doctor as the credits roll. We have to wait two weeks for the conclusion! Damn.