Let's Kill Hitler

"Well, I was on my way to this gay gypsy bar-mitzvah for the disabled when I suddenly thought, "gosh, the Third Reich is a bit rubbish; I think I'll kill the Fuhrer."

Writer: Steven Moffat 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 27th August 2011

Series: 6.08

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory, River

Synopsis 

Hijacked at gunpoint, the TARDIS crash lands in 1930s Berlin where the Doctor comes face to face with the greatest criminal in all of history - and Hitler.

Verdict 

Let's Kill Hitler was an excellent episode to kick off the second half of this sixth series. Unlike the series that would follow it, the second half very much continues in the same vain as the first as things aren't too different from A Good Man Goes to War. Now of course the episode and storyline was completely different but the basic premise was finding out a lot more about River Song - the daughter of Amy and Rory. I didn't care too much for the scenes in the car in the crop field, I thought they were a bit unnecessary. It was pretty needless that the tracks ended up spelling Doctor. But then Mels arrived and the episode kicked into action! She really was brilliant. She seemed everything that is the opposite of the kind of friends I imagined Amy and Rory had as they grew up but she was dynamic and I liked that. On the run from the cops after stealing a car, she threatened the Doctor to whisk her away to safety. She'd learned about time travel, now she wanted to kill Hitler. However, it didn't seem she was the only one as were introduced to the controversial Justice Department who were housed inside the Teselecta. Despite my rating and the overall quality of the episode, I wasn't overly keen on the Teselecta. The ability of it is tremendous and I like the idea of the Justice Department, but in terms of this episode it wasn't overly great. Their method of miniaturisation was intriguing but I really disliked the antibodies. Surely if you built a robot to house miniaturised people who can only be beamed in on the control's command then you don't need inside defences. Especially if the criminals you seek and find are "given hell". That riled with the Doctor and it was clear he and the Department wouldn't see eye to eye. But the story was all about Melody Pond, who'd we better know as River Song following the regeneration we saw here. I like how it tied up the loose ending of Day of the Moon with the young girl regenerating on the streets of the USA. Now, she'd been shot by Hitler. Not exactly the worst way to trigger a regeneration, it's certainly a memorable one! It's much better than the shot that caused the Seventh Doctor to regenerate in The Movie. Speaking of Hitler, I thought the representation was poor. I've studied a lot of Nazi Germany over the last four years and with the setting being 1938, what we saw didn't depict the Fuhrer well at all. If the TARDIS had crash landed during the last days of the War then the representation would have been adequate but this wasn't the case. I did love the dialogue that was provided though. I thought it was absolutely brilliant that Hitler said to the Doctor he'd saved his life. Well, the Time Lord got things wrong there. He saved Adolf Hitler from dying in 1938. A frightening thought. But perhaps not as frightening as Hitler's intrigue in the TARDIS. Just imagine the chaos there would be if he got hold of a time machine. It's an incredible thought to ponder though. Back to Mels being shot though, and she revealed all about her identity. She was actually Melody Pond, the daughter of the people she'd grown up with. I guess that means toddlers regenerate into toddlers which is a nice little fact. The look on Amy and Rory's face when they realised who the truth about their "best mate" was superb. As the Doctor comically pointed out, Amy had named her daughter after her daughter. Ha! The regeneration sequence was done very well and I believe it's the first full sequence change of a Time Lady (if that's what she is) we've seen actually occur on screen. Romana wasn't quite the same in Destiny of the Daleks. I like how we've been given ways of making the different incarnations of Melody Pond and we're of course familiar with River Song. This episode highlights my love of her comment saying that when she first met the Doctor he knew everything about her. That's exactly what the case was here. He even knew her name before she did and he beat her to saying 'spoilers' which I thought was wonderful. The flashbacks of what the Doctor did to tidy things up when he knew River was coming were a bit naff but immediately the chemistry between the pair was as good as ever. River's reactions to her new incarnation were super - it's nice seeing someone other than the Doctor react to regeneration I must say. Not that it'll ever get old. Rory punching Hitler and then locking him in a cupboard must have been a life highlight! Although I think we may have seen that earlier in the episode when Amy finally realised that he was in love with her. It was lovely to see how the couple officially got together before The Eleventh Hour - a story that was neatly referenced. The Vampires of Venice was also referenced once more and it seems the Doctor really did like those vampires! The Doctor's reference to dancing with everyone at his companions' wedding was comical and yet so believable. If only things at the end of The Big Bang continued a bit longer! River's greeting of the Nazi officials was sublime. You can see from my quote how good it is and I don't think there's ever been a more anti-Nazi sentence in the history of television! I do wish that this story was a bit more about Nazism rather than the Teselecta but I guess things were still surrounding the series arc of the Doctor dying. He gained vital information about the Silence and the fact they were a religious order rather than a species. He also learned of the question that's hidden in plain sight which would ultimately be revealed in The Time of the Doctor. But overall, despite my pickiness over some flaws this episode really was brilliant! The Doctor died and then River gave up her regenerations to resurrect him which ties things up nearly with Forest of the Dead. I also love how the Doctor, perhaps inadvertently in regards to writing, was unable to regenerate from the poison. This again tied in with his farewell perfectly. The images of Rose, Martha and Donna were unexpected but it's nice to know he still feels the guilt. The climax was emotionally felt and I like how he bought her the TARDIS journal. They'd gotten off to a good start from River's perspective it seems! I think the thing that hurt the episode the most and reduced the rating considerably was the Justice Department were about to kill Hitler and then didn't because it was too early in his time stream. What the hell were they doing there in the first place then? Thankfully what came after made up for this blunder.

Rating: 8/10