We've already posted this synopsis for "Let's Kill Hitler"
once today, but it's worth reiterating for those who don't read past the front page. (We know who you are.)
In the desperate search for Melody Pond, the TARDIS crash lands in 1930s Berlin, bringing the Doctor face to face with the greatest war criminal in the Universe. And Hitler. The Doctor must teach his adversaries that time travel has responsibilities - and in so doing, learns a harsh lesson in the cruellest warfare of all.
Yes, it does rather sound like Moffat is throwing around crazy ideas, so it's probably best to outline what's been said in just a brief few sentences.
- The TARDIS crew are still looking for Melody. Even though they've found her. Because she's River Song. So . . . reliving childhood memories, then?
- For some reason, the TARDIS is forced to crash land.
- "Let's Kill Hitler" takes place in 1930s Berlin, which is rather odd, considering most people are interested in the 40s. This episode might partially explain Hitler's rise to power, or at least put some perspective on the whole "Invading the rest of Europe sounds like a good idea" thing.
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| Circa 1928 |
- Who is the greatest war criminal in the universe? The "And Hitler" part makes it quite clear that these are two separate characters. So are we dealing with a Space Führer? Jawohl. Or maybe — actually, more likely — Kovarian is the greatest war criminal. After all, even if she and Colonel Runaway were taken down by the likes of glorified iguanas and rhino people, they still took part in a pretty serious and mysterious "war against the Doctor".
- If the Doctor is teaching his adversaries that messing with the wibbly-wobbly continuum has consequences, then this episode might just be another example of Moffat time travel shenanigans. (Good word: shenanigans.) Just, please, Steven, whatever you do, don't give Eva Braun a fez.
- Now, could "the cruellest warfare of all" refer to anything other than the holocaust? It just goes to show that Moffat is goose stepping into some pretty vulnerable subject matter.
Moffat is a master of packing huge chunks of story into small time frames, but let's just hope that forty-five minutes is all he needs to get in some good old Nazi thrashing. Except, with time travel, things could get
a little strange.
14 comments :
'Let's Kill Hitler' might just prove the wisdom of abandoning 'Dr. Who and the Nazis' back in the old era.
When was the last time they showed actual Nazis characters on Doctor Who? Had to have been since all the way back in the Seventh Doctor era.
The Nazis and the Holocaust is a very delicate matter... I hope Moffat knows what he is doing..
It's an old joke that when someone gets a time manipulator the first thing they do is try to kill Hitler--usually before he's risen to power. Of course then other people have to fix the timeline because you can't rewrite history. I kind of suspect this is part of the plot.
7th Doctor officially only faced the Russians in The Curse of Fenric, and 9th Doctor didn't directly face the Germans in Empty Child (though they were obviously around) nor did 11 in Victory of the Daleks. Silver Nemesis has it that the Nemesis statue inspired the invasion of Austria.
7 DID face off against Nazis, and have some serious time-travel paradoxes, in Big Finish's set starting with Colditz (which featured a pre-10 David Tennant) and continued more recently.
There are other WW2 related non-canon stories published as Novels - http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/World_War_II .
I think the biggest war criminal in the universe is the older version of Melody. She was put in jail for something horrible, and it was mentioned that she could be used as a weapon.
But he's already been face-to-face with River. Several times . . .
Joe Shelby, you're forgetting the novels. The 7th Doctor faced the Nazis more than once in the Virgin novels.
In the 4-part miniseries that kicked off the New Adventures, the Doctor had to face the greatest war criminal in history, and Hitler. (And, to make things even more fun, also the War Chief and the War Lords, who had their own agendas.)
I don't think this is a coincidence. In fact, I think the Moffat-era writers have been systematically reusing all of best ideas from the novels.
I'm not saying there's nothing new in the Moffat era; for one hugely obvious example, the novels never dealt with anything like the idea of having a real family traveling with the Doctor. And I'm not complaining, either. In fact, I love it. The TV show can do things the novels couldn't pull off, and vice-versa. Go back and re-read Alien Bodies after The Impossible Astronaut, the Compassion-as-a-TARDIS novels after The Doctor's Wife, the post-Remote-Fitz novels after Rory's 2000 years in plastic, etc., and both the novels and the episodes become better.
Anyway, beyond Timewyrm: Exodus, 7 had to face the Nazis again at least once in Just War, and then 8 did so at least twice in Autumn Mist and The Turing Test. There are probably more that I don't remember. And I'm sure a few previous Doctors dealt with them in MAs and PDAs, too.
"Greatest War Criminal in the Universe"
Soooo... in Dr Who canon, who was it again who basically committed double-genocide to end the Time War?
*shrug* - just a thought...
Perhaps something happens and the Doctor does kill Hitler and time changes and the rest of the episodes are all about fixing things up. We know that in episode 13 there are pterodactyls and mammoths and Emperor Churchill and Romans with cell phones... so something got mucked up somewhere.
The two comments above me just made excellent, salient points.
Yes, the Doctor is very likely the greatest criminal. That definitely makes sense. Perhaps that has something to do with why River goes to jail?
And yes, killing Hitler is a good starting point for the insanity of Episode 13, but, if true, that means Episodes 9-13 can't be observed as standalone in any way, shape, or form.
I forsee a lot of camp comedy Nazis. I can't imagine the New Series handling a subject like Nazism sensitively.
Something that worked in the novels and audios may not work so well on the small screen.
Surely "still looking for Melody" means baby Melody. And, the TARDIS crew? Didn't he leave them all behind?
@Nick: And that's not even considering 8's earlier genocide to end the Second War in Heaven. Or the multiple genocides against both Dalek and Time Lord survivors that he (usually indirectly) perpetrated in his last 2 incarnations. Or the countless attempted genocides of the Cybermen throughout his lives. For that matter, 11 just blew up an entire ship full of innocent Cyber-bystanders just to get their leaders' attention.
@Matthew Celestis: I agree that Exodus-style Nazis wouldn't work on TV, although I think that's as much because of the difference between incarnations as the difference between novels and TV. When 7 made friends with their upper-echelon types, you knew there was some secret plot behind it--and besides, he's always a little creepy. If 11 tried the same thing, it would come across as a ringing endorsement of Nazism....
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