As you should have realised by now, we’re taking a look at each of our time travelling heroes to see if we can work out whether it is the Doctor, River Song, Amy or Rory who will meet their much-advertised end in The Impossible Astronaut.
Possibly the least likely of the four – heralded by Steven Moffat with the cry “We’re not lying, we’re not cheating. One of those four people is going to die. The Doctor’s darkest hour is coming,” – is Rory Pond, a man quite happy to take his wife’s name following marriage.
But hang on, haven’t we been here before?
Didn’t Rory die last year? Twice?
That’s right, he did.
Thanks to the bizarre dream world of Amy’s Choice and the machinations of the enigmatic Dream Lord, Rory sadly came a cropper in front of Amy. Only of course it was a dream (or was it…?)
Add to that insult the fact that he was then slain by a Silurian in Cold Blood and then resurrected as an Auton replicant with Rory’s memories, the poor Mr Pond has been killed more times than South Park’s Kenny (well not quite, but it seems like it).
So surely he won’t die this time around…
…or is that what The Grand Moff just wants us to think, eh?
He’s a fiendish chap that Steven Moffat, creating monstrous enemies that move when you have your eyes closed, that manipulate recording and communication devices, with some mad timey-wimey element thrown in to play with your head while you’re trying to work out how the Doctor can overcome this particular challenge.
As we don’t yet know how this death is going to occur within the narrative, if The Impossible Astronaut features any non-linear elements (either within it and the second part, Day of the Moon or within the season as a whole) we’re pretty much left to speculate.
However if Rory is set to meet yet another sticky end, then there is bound to be a lot of chatter about this after the event. After all, without an interesting undoing of his death (at which point one begins to wonder if death has lost its meaning in the Whoniverse) Rory is still appearing in later episodes of the series, unless Steven Moffat paid Arthur Darvill to hang around on set for 9 months.
The only logical way to go is for the first couple of episodes to actually be chronologically near the end of the series. Then they could kill off a character and have the other eps lead up to the first two……..
It seems to me like Steven Moffat is taking a queue from Marvel Comics when it comes to marketing. It’s all about hyberbole. There have been several covers of comic books going “ONE OF THESE CHARACTERS WILL DIE” or something to a similar effect. (“WHO WILL LEAVE?,” “ONE OF THESE CHARACTERS WILL JOIN *insert team here*”)
I have no problem with that. I love Marvel Comics. =D It’s just the first thing I thought of when heard about this and saw the alternate magazine covers was this: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3616/3678977956_0f4ea7c4b7_b.jpg
Yes, but if Rory dies in episode 1 and then pops up again at another point in time then something bigger might be going on. In fact there might be multiple Rory’s throughout time. Hmmm….
All bang-on analysis with one exception – Auton Rory didn’t get destroyed! The Silurian incident was the second time Rory got called, first time was during Amy’s Choice (but it was all a dream!). Still, you’re right about everything else!
Gosh yes, there’s about three lines missing from the article! Wonder how that happened?
Well, time CAN be rewritten, y’know.
Just like this article
oops. First time he got KILLED. Not called.