W.T.F. is ‘Doctor Who’?: first four episodes you need to start
By Sam Callahan
“The Beast Below” The Eleventh Doctor and Amy
“The Beast Below” Season 5, episode 2
“You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there’s children crying?” – Amy Pond
“Yes.” – The Doctor
This is a particularly good introductory episode because it’s one of companion Amy Pond’s first forays into the future in the TARDIS.
It’s episode two of a fresh Doctor: number Eleven, played by Matt Smith, and he takes Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) to a time after Earth has died, and the human population has taken to the stars.
They find “Starship UK,” a spaceship upon which Britain was built to survive past Earth. Of course, he runs into a mystery which must be solved, and Amy Pond helps him solve it…in her nightie.
We learn a lot about the Doctor in this episode. We are exposed to his ancient wisdom, how he is somebody who understands people at their base, in their habits, culture, and soul.
This is an episode that highlights his compassion in a lonely and deep way.
With Matt Smith’s Doctor — with Eleven– we get a glimpse into the way he thinks and how he feels in a way we hadn’t yet done.
He’s been a parent, a grandparent, a best friend, a lover, a leader, and he is alone in the universe. The last of the Time Lords.
This isn’t the first time we hear of this in the new series; it’s said in the first episode of the first season, but this moment is more poignant and ultimately more meaningful in the plot of the episode, as you’ll see when you watch it in full. (Spoilers!)
via GIPHY
There are two moments in this episode that brilliantly describe the entire point of the series. The Doctor gives Amy a directive to find the crying girl, and Amy responds:
"Amy: And what are you going to do? The Doctor: What I always do– stay out of trouble…badly. Then, she calls after him: Amy: So this is how it works, Doctor? You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there’s children crying? The Doctor: Yes."
Quick Lesson:
The law of the Time Lords is that, as a species with time travel, they are not allowed to interfere with the events of history.
Way back when the Doctor was a young 450 years old, he stole the spaceship called the TARDIS and ran away from his people because he couldn’t abide by their laws of non-interference.
He couldn’t sit by, watching planets get scorched, people tortured, witnessing genocide.
“A moral dilemma is when your actions don’t line up with your values,” I think George Washington said that, or at least the character did in AMC’s brilliant mini-series Turn.
The Doctor had a moral dilemma, and so he stole the TARDIS and has been traveling ever since.
