History Recap / DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut

** The sound the aliens make sounds quite a bit like the {{Predator}}.

* ShoutOut: [[spoiler: Joy asks the Silence in front of her whether it's "some kind of StarTrek thing".]]
** Also, the Doctor swears he ended up in the Oval Office by accident; he was looking for the [[{{Discworld}} Oblong]] one.

* MoodWhiplash: The scene in the bathroom, flipping between comedy and horror each time the woman turns her head. She asks [[spoiler:the Silent]] if he is wearing a ''StarTrek'' mask, and is then electrocuted.

The Doctor is able to convince the President -- after some difficulties with the Secret Service -- that he is an investigator from Scotland Yard capable of solving the mystery. He realises that the child's "name", Jefferson Hamilton Adams, was actually answering the President's question "Where are you?". It's a little girl, and she's is at an intersection of streets each named after these of the founding fathers. (Two of which, the Doctor remarks, [[HoYay fancied him]].)

* NiceHat: The Doctor's Stetson.

Amy and Rory haven't seen the Doctor for two months, though they've discovered references to ridiculous adventures of his throughout history. They receive a letter through the post: a map reference and a date, inside an envelope of TARDIS blue numbered '3'. In the distant future, River Song receives a similar message within the Stormcage, [[CardboardPrison prompting her to escape once again]]. She poisons black market magnate Dorium Maldovar, owner of the Maldovarium, and trades him the antidote for a TimePolice wrist watch.

Our heroes and Canton travel to the location that the Doctor deduced, finding strange alien technology there -- including an astronaut suit. The Doctor realises that when the little girl said she was scared of a space man coming to "eat me", she probably meant the suit. River and Rory investigate an underground passage, unaware that it is full of the strange aliens which they keep seeing and forgetting. They discover a weird, TARDIS-like vessel which [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger Amy and the Doctor might have recognised,]] but before they can discover anything about it, something unseen happens to Rory.

Amy and Rory haven't seen the Doctor for two months, though they've discovered references to ridiculous adventures of his throughout history. They receive a letter through the post - a map reference and a date, inside an envelope of TARDIS blue numbered '3'. In the distant future, River Song receives a similar message within the Stormcage, [[CardboardPrison prompting her to escape once again]]. The message leads them to Utah, where they meet up with the Doctor. Even more time has passed for him since Amy saw him last -- he is almost two hundred years older -- and he talks about important events taking place in Space, 1969.

The four first have a friendly picnic on a lake-shore, but the camaraderie is interrupted by the arrival of a number of enigmatic figures -- a tall shadow witnessed by Amy, then just as quickly forgotten; an older man carrying a jerry can; and strangest of all, an astronaut rising from the lake. [[spoiler: The Doctor warns the others to stay back, whatever happens, before walking forward to talk to the astronaut. After a brief conversation, which neither the other characters nor the audience hear, the astronaut shoots the Doctor-]]

[[spoiler: Wow, they haven't done that since ''Time and the Ra''-]]

[[spoiler: He is then shot again. In the middle of regenerating. Which kills him ''permanently''.]]

[[spoiler: The mysterious astronaut then sinks back into the lake, apparently unaffected by an enraged River's gunshots.]]

Amy can't believe that [[spoiler: the Doctor could really be dead]], but at this point the old man explains that it is indeed [[spoiler: the Doctor, and that he is truly dead. The can he carries contains gasoline, to burn the Doctor's body; Rory suggests they give their friend a proper {{Viking funeral}} using a nearby boat.]] Afterwards, the old man introduces himself as Canton Everett Delaware III, adding that this is the last time he'll see them, but they'll see him again. He explains his presence as being due to another mysterious envelope, his marked '4'. After he leaves, River notices that they haven't seen anyone bearing an envelope with a '1' - who does [[spoiler: the Doctor trust]] most of all?

The answer, to their shock and disbelief, is [[spoiler: the Doctor himself -- but a younger version, only slightly older than when he left Amy and Rory.]] After getting past their initial reaction of shock and anger, they are able to convince him to travel back to 1969. Although hesitant, the Doctor is willing to blindly trust Amy -- but not River -- after making sure she isn't being compelled or threatened somehow.

In 1969, the younger Canton is recruited by President Nixon to investigate a mysterious daily phone call that the President receives from a terrified young girl. The Doctor is able to convince the President -- after some difficulties with the Secret Service -- that he is an investigator from Scotland Yard capable of solving the mystery, realising that the child's 'name', Jefferson Hamilton Adams, was actually answering the President's question "Where are you?". The child is at an intersection of streets each named after these three of the founding fathers.

Meanwhile, Amy has an encounter with the [[spoiler: shadow she saw earlier - actually a terrifying, be-suited alien which casually kills another woman, and warns Amy that she must tell the Doctor something. As soon as anyone looks away from these aliens, they forget that they have ever seen them.]] Amy manages to take a photo of the creature using her phone.

Our heroes and Canton travel to the location that the Doctor deduced, finding strange alien technology there; River and Rory investigate an underground passage, unaware that it is full of [[spoiler: the strange aliens which they keep seeing, and forgetting.]] They discover a weird, [[spoiler: TARDIS-like vessel]] which [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger Amy and the Doctor might have recognised,]] but before they can discover anything about it, something happens to Rory.

Canton runs off after he hears the girl again calling for help; following him, the Doctor and Amy find him unconscious, his gun lying next to him. As she struggles to remember something, Amy suddenly tells the Doctor that [[spoiler: she is pregnant]] - but before the Doctor can react, the astronaut appears. Hoping to [[spoiler: change time and save the Doctor's life,]] Amy immediately grabs Canton's pistol and fires at the astronaut... just as it lifts its helmet to reveal that it is [[spoiler: the little girl.]]

** And the Silence themselves, who are MindScrew incarnate.

-->'''River:''' "Have we done Easter Island yet? They ''worshipped'' you there. Have you seen the statues?"

--> '''Doctor:''' These are my top operatives, [[ShesGotLegs The Legs]] ''[[MsFanservice (Amy)]]'' , The Nose ''[[ButtMonkey (Rory)]]'' and [[TheGraduate Mrs. Robinson]] ''[[ChristmasCake (River)]]''.

* OverCrank: Used in the final scene.

[[spoiler: Wow, they haven't done that since Time and the Ra-]]

[[spoiler: Wait, are they seriously switching to the [[TheNthDoctor Twelfth Doctor]] alre-]]

* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleOnMale: See 9 entries down.

-->''You're going to have to trust us this time.''\\

** Apart from her fearing it more than death - and we know it's her death too. Kind of. In a reversed way. Only not really reversed.

** It's worse than that. [[spoiler: Not only does the Doctor not know her, but she realizes that she'll never see him again afterward. And if she doesn't take his place in the Library, she'll never have known him. Hell, she'll never have ''existed''.]]

* CardboardPrison: Stormcage is starting to look like one - this is the second time River breaks out. One wonders if she's only there because she wants to be.
** It's gotten to the point that River will openly pack and inform the guards of her travel plans. This incites an ''armed response''.

** When we see Stormcage Prison responding to River's packing, there's an establishing shot of men running down a windowless corridor/tunnel with a wet floor, a favorite shot of RussellTDavies.

* DramaticPause: After the Doctor [[spoiler:is mortally wounded on the beach and the regeneration process starts, the music swells and becomes dreamlike - only to stop abruptly when he is shot a second time.]] A second later, another track, with a much more scary feeling, replaces the first.

%% The Silence's inspiration, which Word of God states is Munch's The Scream has nothing to do with the trope BadassInANiceSuit.

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: Apparently, in the Whoniverse, they were created in honor of the Doctor, whom they worshiped. MattSmith does have the nose and chin for it.

** You can only remember things about [[spoiler:the Silence]] when you see them, including past encounters. [[spoiler: When River finds them underground right after they get to the warehouse, she looks terrified, remembering everything about them and what she endured as a child.]]

** After River (whose markmanship can usually be trusted) fails to shoot the titular astronaut, she mutters "No, of course not". She's saying that because [[spoiler: it's her ''younger self'' in that suit. Of course she would miss - if she hadn't she wouldn't be standing there. [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast She already saw herself miss.]]]]

** To be fair, River didn't know that. But remember that Part where she immediately moves to shoot the Astronaut, resignedly muttering "No, of course not?" after she misses it? [[spoiler: That's her ''past self'' in there. What seemed like a quick act of vengefulness is basically another of her attempts at a HeroicSacrifice, if not a fully blown suicide attempt... or indicative of how gaping the Silence-induced gaps in River's memory are.]]

* InMediasRes: The opening scene for the season with the older Doctor getting shot? Not gonna happen in his timeline until the last episode of the season.

* MerlinSickness: River and the Doctor aren't just meeting in random order; they're traveling in opposite directions. Every time they meet, it's later for one and earlier for the other. [See also: CallForward]

* MoodDissonance: [[spoiler: The Doctor has died, [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt seemingly]] permanently, and the surviving companions are fiercely debating what to do now. Cue younger Doctor stepping out of the bathroom to crack jokes and ask what everyone seems so broken up about.]]

* RunningGag: From bow tie, to fez, to Stetson.

* TimeyWimeyBall: In Moffat tradition. We have [[spoiler: the Doctor inviting his companions to attend to his death which he already knows will happen; invites someone else who ''they'' haven't met yet, but he's met them; and also invites his past self to meet up with them after he's died]]. Make sense?

* TonightSomeoneDies: It was rumored that someone on the main cast would die. Amy? Rory? River? The Doct--no, wait, Matt Smith still has the rest of the season on his contract. [[spoiler:It's the Doctor. Specifically, one 200 years older than the usual one. Team TARDIS has to convince Current Doctor to try and save Future Doctor without Current Doctor knowing who he's saving or why.]] [[TimeyWimeyBall If you're confused]], blame Moffat.

* TranquilFury: [[spoiler: The Doctor is very, ''very'' annoyed that his companions are hiding who their recruiter is, a future Doctor, and says, quite calmly, "don't play games with me. Don't EVER ever think you are capable of that." ]]

Amy and Rory haven't seen the Doctor for two months, though they've discovered references to ridiculous adventures of his throughout history. They receive a letter through the post - a map reference and a date, inside a envelope of TARDIS blue numbered '3'. In the distant future, River Song receives a similar message within the Stormcage, [[CardboardPrison prompting her to escape once again]]. The message leads them to Utah, where they once again meet up with the Doctor. Even more time has passed for him since Amy saw him last - he is almost two hundred years older - and he talks about important events taking place in Space, 1969.

The four first have a friendly picnic on a lake-shore, but the camaraderie is interrupted by the arrival of a number of enigmatic figures - a tall shadow witnessed by Amy, then just as quickly forgotten; an older man carrying a jerry can; and strangest of all, an astronaut rising from the lake. [[spoiler: The Doctor warns the others to stay back, whatever happens, before walking forward to talk to the astronaut. After a brief conversation, which neither the other characters or the audience hear, the astronaut shoots the Doctor-]]

[[spoiler: He is then shot again. In the middle of regenerating. Which kills him ''permanently.'']]

The answer, to their shock and disbelief, is [[spoiler: the Doctor himself - but a younger version, only slightly older than when he left Amy and Rory.]] After getting past their initial reaction of shock and anger, they are able to convince him to travel back to 1969. Although hesitant, the Doctor is willing to blindly trust Amy - but not River - after making sure she isn't being compelled or threatened somehow.

In 1969, the younger Canton is recruited by President Nixon to investigate a mysterious daily phone call that the President receives from a terrified young girl. The Doctor is able to convince the President - after some difficulties with the Secret Service - that he is an investigator from Scotland Yard capable of solving the mystery, realising that the child's 'name', Jefferson Hamilton Adams, was actually answering the President's question "Where are you?". The child is at an intersection of streets each named after these three of the founding fathers.

Meanwhile, Amy has an encounter with the [[spoiler: shadow she saw earlier - actually a terrifying, besuited alien which casually kills another woman, and warns Amy that she must tell the Doctor something. As soon as anyone looks away from these aliens, they forget that they have ever seen them.]] Amy manages to take a photo of the creature using her phone.

* AlcoholIsPoison: AvertedTrope. However, viewers asked why [[spoiler:Amy, who knows she is pregnant]], is drinking wine during the picnic. StevenMoffat replied [[spoiler:[[SelfDeprecation "She's Scottish"]]]].

* TheFirstLawOfSitcomAcoustics: Amy, Rory and River all have a rather loud conversation about how they cannot tell the Doctor exactly what is going on (and spell out exactly what is happening by doing so) just beneath the glass floor in the TARDIS, well within his earshot.
** It gets worse, he actually interrupts their conversation by sticking his head down over the edge of the floor and tells them to come up top. There is no way he could not have heard it.
%%%
%% No, he probably didn't hear it. In The Almost People, he mentions being invited to his own funeral as if that was news to him.
%%%

* AbuseIsOkayWhenItIsFemaleOnMale: See 8 entries down.

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai

** And it wouldn't be the [[{{Supernatural}} first time]] Mark Sheppard played an AmbiguouslyGay character.

[[spoiler: The mysterious astronaut then sinks back into the lake, apparently unaffected by an enraged River's gunshots]]

---> '''River''': [[TheImmodestOrgasm I'm quite the screamer.]] [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Now there's a spoiler for you!]]\\