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| Extremely hi-res, courtesy of Guest. |
So if you hate spoilers, turn away now, because . . .
Doctor Who boss Steven Moffat, 47, created the new characters and wanted them to scarier than any other baddies that have been on the show to date.
"I think the idea is very cool . . ."
And what is this idea? The Daily Mail refrained from most news sources' spoiler-free attitude to explain.
One of their special powers allows them to wipe the memory of humans, so anyone who sees them and then looks away will forget ever having seen them.
Unlike every great and awful monster on Doctor Who—from the Weeping Angels and the Haemogoths to Jonathan Ross (probably) and the Creature from the Pit—the Silence have the unusual and subtly terrifying ability to erase all knowledge of their existence. Steven Moffat exemplifies their powers.
"Imagine going downstairs and you can't remember if there was something upstairs."
Imagine being marked for death, as many of the main characters are in "The Impossible Astronaut", and not even remembering what the marks are for. Imagine finding yourself weeping in a pool of forgotten tears. Imagine being able to forget this major spoiler in the first place so that you'd enjoy the episode better.
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| Image source. |
But this is just the mode of operation of the Silence, which, yes, seems to be the spelling. They're not "the Silents", suggesting that they're some sort of collective intelligence à la the Borg, not "the Borgs". In any case and any spelling, the Silence seem to have some ulterior motive behind wiping minds and shooting lightning bolts in epic trailers.
I'm convinced that the Silence are some fundamental constant of the universe, Moffat's rendition of the Guardians, only more convincing and with better style. And why do they erase people's knowledge of their existence? You know, besides Moffat's ulterior motive of forcing children behind the sofa. Of course, in this case, I think I'll leave some cushions and snacks back there for April 23rd to be prepared, just in case.
If the Silence are, as I claim, a "fundamental constant", then they must serve some essential, non-arbitrary function. The "Are You My Mummy"-like child in the Prequel described how the Silence are everywhere, all the time, glowering like Winston Churchill after the 1945 election. They stalk presidents and Time Lords, Astronauts and Scottish redheads—but why?
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And there's a perfectly good reason why Moffat refuses to let us in on any hints as to the goal of the Silence; after all, as the creepy voice in "The Pandorica Opens" reminds us, Silence Will Fall. Does this mean their destruction? (Predictable.) The moment when they can finally be remembered? (Unlikely.) The day they accidentally trip and fall off a cliff? (Anticlimactic.) If they serve some purpose in the universe, or simply amongst themselves, then the fall of Silence must be pretty significant.
In fact, it's probably the core of Moffat's multi-series arc. Omega, the Master, River disguised as the Rani, or whomever conspiracy Whovians believe is the voice, well, behind the voice—this person has already detonated the TARDIS and triggered the universe's Blue Screen of Death. How could the prophecy "Silence Will Fall" possibly be greater than the destruction of all things? That is, unless we're about to go Davros on Series 6 and resurrect the whole Reality Bomb concept.
12 Comments:
I'm honoured that you used my wallpaper thnx
Aha, it's the Silence at work! I am not becoming forgetful in my old age :)
Very interesting and kind of goes along with some thoughts I have for the upcoming season. If you'll allow me to indulge breifly...
In the Eleventh Hour, when little Amelia is waiting for the Raggedy Doctor to return, the camera shows the inside of the house, a person flashes by then vanishes and finally rests at the clock on the wall. At some point I thought that maybe that figure wasn't Prisoner 0 as we were lead to believe, and now I'm thinking it could be a Silent.
Secondly, this could be nothing, but the stairs next to Amy's room bothered me since seeing the Lodger. The two sets of stairs are painted the same way. In Amy's house, no one ever goes up those stairs to that room, and from the outside of the house, there doesn't appear to be another floor (this could just be the way they shoot the house). Now, seeing as how the other Tardis returns this season, can it be at Amy's house too? And has been all along? The landing marks from the Pandorica Opens could be part of this also.
One last thing. I found it weird that Prisoner 0 was the only other character besides the voice to say "silence will fall". Was/is there more to this character than we thought?
Sorry to ramble on and if this has been covered before. Thanks for reading, if you did, and for letting me get some thoughts out.
Well I'm glad someone decided to use the hi-res image I sent them. No one else seems to like perfect images, sadly. And here's a theory: what if the cracks didn't really erase people from history, just the memory of them? Instead of never having existed, they did but no one can remember them, and they've been transported someplace after falling through the cracks? That would seem to fit in with the Silence's abilities and make the destruction of the universe a bit more unnerving if it wasn't really destroyed.
No one seems to see the resemblance between the Silence and the Ood. You know, the telepathic race whose civilization leapt forward thanks to the Timelords.
Their heads are shaped the same too! Silence = mutant Ood who messed with time travel?
Wow, this season will be the best! Can't wait!
Going on the fact that the staircase in The Lodger and the one in Amy's house are the same... the door at the top is the same as Amy's back door.
. . . Wasn't there a rumour that Amy's house was itself a TARDIS? And I thought that was just stupid.
Ok. I'll ad a really strange theory. On some forum, and I wish I knew which on because I'd love to read the remark again, someone wrote that in the pages of River Song's "book" There was a drawing of a woman, and words which could be read and the phrase was "Amy Pond - Tardis Pilot".
This was obviously written by someone who framed by framed for quite awhile but it's been haunting me ever since. I've never seen another reference to it, but I clearly remember the one note I did see.
I've been trying to work this into everyone's theories of Season 6, but so far it hasn't been mentioned.
Here's a bet: When the Doctor finally defeats the Silence in the series finale (yeah, like he won't), he'll say "Silence will fall!"
Any takers? ;-)
The picture of "Amy Pond - Tardis Pilot" can be seen here... http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wSPANO5qmhk/TCVCEDNTh2I/AAAAAAAAJ1I/D8yvGsfv7dg/s1600/PM135+NOTEPAD(2).jpg
The idea of Amy either as a Time Lord or as some aspect of the Tardis itself has been around for a bit, should be interesting to see if anything becomes of it.
Hey, what was this entire article on??
As soon as I scrolled down, I forgot..
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