752 – Girl in the Franceplace | Sleepin’ With Doctor Who S2 35

Episode Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and friends beyond the binary, my patron peeps … hey patrons, I'm feeling a little humid. Because there's a rare humidity streak here in the Bay area. Or it could be the hot air coming out of my mouth. Thanks patrons.

Hey, are you up all night, tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome, this is Sleep with Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. All's you need to do is get in bed, turn off the lights and press play. I'm gonna do the rest. What I'm going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever's keeping you awake, whether it's the thoughts, feelings, physical sensations. Whatever's keeping you awake.

Could be stuff you're thinking about, right? Like I said, those are thoughts. It could something physical you're feeling or a combination of the two. Or it could be all three. It could be emotion. Like, emotional thing, like feelings. I guess there's physical sensations, there's feelings. There's thoughts and a lot of times they're all interrelated. But whatever's keeping you awake, I'd like to keep you company, take your mind off that.

What I'm gonna do is send my voice across the deep, dark night. I'm gonna give you a lulling, soothing creeky dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents, the smoothing and the patting and the rubbing down of a safe place and padding it. I'm going to say..Hey. Back that truck up. We need some more padding in here. In fact, I've been going … this is imaginary, but I've been going a coast to coast, pole to pole … I've been to the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, and oh boy, circling the equator and all points in between. In search of more padding. I say, “Tell me about the foam you have there. Oh boy.” He say, “How much to buy … tell me about these sponges. Maybe we'll come back to this because it feels rich.”

If you're new, welcome. I'm glad you're here. This is a podcast that's gonna take your mind off of stuff while you fall asleep, to keep you company. It's a bit inane … I believe, and you might even add an ‘S' in there. Some people do when they listen. But if you're new, here's a couple things. Give the show a few tries. And that's no pressure from my end. You can give it one try if you don't think it works, or you can give it a few. I want to help you fall asleep, but this doesn't work for everybody, but most people that it does work for, hundreds of thousands of regular listeners. Almost to a T, so 90%. They say it took two or three tries to get used to it. And then I said, “Oh, okay. It's a bit of nonsense.” When you're first listening, your instinct might be to figure it out and pay attention. And you can, but I tend to jump around and go on tangents and wonder about bulk foam and sponges and things like that.

Okay, we'll open cell and close cell. That'll be good. What we'll do … if you're new, give it a few tries, but don't try … look at the show like you'd look at water flowing by slowly or listening to the sounds of birds or a fountain. You'll say, “Hey, it's not that bad. I don't know what the birds are saying.” That's what most listeners say at breakfast, they say, “Hey, sweet'ums?” “Yeah, snook'ums.” “Scoots there, your pod buddy was rambling last night, was he talking about … was he calling dragonflies fly buddies or something?” “Oh, no honey, I think he was talking about that 80s show Bosom Buddies, but I don't know, I fell right asleep, with something close to a smile on my face while you were melodiously snoring next to me sweet'ums.” “Oh, thanks snook'ums. Do you want … I hope you have a great day and awe go out there int the world and flourish. Create the community that we wanna be or see.” “Okay, snook'ums.” “By the way, check out's at 11am.” “Oh, thanks for my breakfast, here's your tip.” Anyway, sorry, but that was even a tangent within a tangent.

But if you're new get … I think I kind of explained that the show doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Structurally, what to expect, we start off, you probably heard it was a few minutes of business. That's how we keep the podcast free and the highest quality for the podcast it is and we keep it going. So thank you when your hand hits the fridge tomorrow, regular listeners will remember that. If you're new, not important. Then we have an intro, which we're probably about five minutes into. Intros are around 12 minutes of me explaining what the podcast is. 700 plus times haven't settled on a certain way that works, say, “Well it's a meandering show within a show,” a bit like a monologue. Heavy on log. Ideally to make you sawing logs.

It's not very efficient, but actually in a weird way, it is efficient, 'cause some people use it as a wind down, get ready for bed. Get into bed, get their pads or get their pillows settled and their stuffed animal buddies, plush as some people call it. Some people are getting … maybe brush your hair, balming, oiling, moisturizing, spritzing, poufing, whatever you're doing as they wind down. That's like a lot of listeners. A few listeners skip the intro. Some people fall asleep during the intro. And actually, more and more people I hear from, they say, “I listen to the intro at bedtime and during the day when I need a little break, I need a little relief.” I say, “Scoots … just like Calgon, ‘Take me away.'”

There's no right or wrong way to listen to the show. It's a podcast, it comes out twice, Sundays and Wednesdays. And that's the structure. Oh, no That's part of the structure. That's beginning. Then we'll be covering Doctor Who in a way … I'll be doing a recap. A bit of, kind of like, heavy on the night cap if I can keep using these sleepy puns tonight. And I'll say, “Hmm. What kind of screwdrivers did the wood Doctor hue … ? ‘Doctor Hue.' Was there ever … Did Doctor Who ever have a friend, Dr. Hue. H-U-E or H-U-G-H? What does Hue think of Doctor Who. ‘Who You?' said the Boo.” That was the famous … there was actually Dr. Seuss, Doctor Who … it was almost created in my mind. It was never actually a crossover series, but The Dr. and the Doctor, I called it.

But then what happened was … as a prop when I was going to imaginarily do this and pitch BBC, I got one of those rubber mallets or whatever and then I just kept saying “Doctor Who? Check our patients and their knee reactions,” And then I imagined the doctor … one doctor doing the rubber hammer to see if my knee would jump. Which it did. And then the other doing the sonic screwdriver. That would be about our coverage of Doctor Who. You'll recognize it. Maybe it'll reawaken your love of the Doctor and Rose and Mickey. Or maybe you'll say, “Well, I'd have to check that out. Haven't checked it out yet. Sounds pretty dreamlike.”

And I would say, “Oh boy, is this Doctor Dream … Is it Rose's dream? Look at this, it's a perfectly comfortable sentence: Rose is dreamy. Mickey's dreamy. Doctor's dreamy.” And the plot lines are usually pretty dreamy. No steamy though, you say, “I'm not into steam, Scoots. I prefer my steam in wherever … my shower.” Well, they call dancing and Doctor Who, or kissing. So, don't worry. You can check it. I'm sure there's tons of good fan fic out there. So, you could just check that out after … the Doctor After Dark. The Dr. and the Doctor after Dark. I didn't even write that. The Dr. Seuss fan in my brain said, “No Scoots, no! Don't even say it again. The Dr. and the Doctor After Dark.” And I said, ‘They were just looking at the stars. That was it. And saying, ‘Look at the hue of those stars, Who.' ‘Hue?' ‘No, Who, Hue.'”

Okay. That's the structure of the show, so that might give you a good idea that it took me a about five minutes to explain the structure of the show. And then we end with some thank yous between the into and the story … the TV recap, there's some business too. And that's it structurally.

As far as listening, you don't need to listen. This is one of the few podcasts you can listen close if you can't sleep. Believe me, I'm gonna be here to keep you company. That's one of my main goals is for those sliver of people that are stuck or you wake up lonely. I'm here to keep talking. I'm here to keep you company. But that also creates this contact where I'll be here so you don't need to listen to me and maybe that'll help you rest. You'll say, “Scoots is gonna be here talking whether I'm listening or not.” It's interesting. I say, “You got it. This is what I do.” So, there's no pressure to listen. There's not pressure to fall asleep. That's also why I'm here about an hour.

And there's 299 other shows waiting to go in the feed. You see, you fall asleep at your leisure. It might during the intro. You might need a couple episodes. Maybe you're out of town or something. On the road. You got some test tomorrow. I'm here. I'm here to help, I've been there. Believe me. And it's my honor to help. Like I said, as I've started to travel the world within my mind, I was researching and I said, “Wow, can we get this safe place that I'm trying to create? Well, would more padding and padding, once I get P-A-D-D-I-N-G then it involves more P-A-T-T-I-N-G,” because I said, “Well, I gotta … you can't have P-A-D-D-I-N-G without saying, ‘Okay, let me pat it down. Let me smooth it and pat it too. And rub it down and say, ‘safe place,' just like PBD … or BBDV … just like, or Motown Philly.” Anyway.

Okay, what about sponges and I say, “Okay, how do you get these sponges? Have these sponges lived a full life? Cause I know they're nat …” And they say, “Of course they have Scoots.” And I say, “Sponge-baron, are your fingers crossed? ‘Cause I could just go … I don't need.” Then I went totally off topic. I dove in the water. I tried to talk to the sponges and sing them a song and say … and then I said, “Okay, maybe go back to the foam.” And then I traveled down, around the … one of those tropics and then I just lied in the sand for a while and enjoyed that and my feet in the water. And I said, “This is pretty good for this situation, but not helping padding and a safe place, because no sand … can't have sand in safe place, unless you … we could separately create that for you in an individualized safe place, not a generalized one.”

And then I said, “Okay, let's go back. Should we get that foam that's all chopped up? Should we have some of that? What about a closed cell versus open cell? Gray cell or green?” I said, “That goes in and out of my head. And I sing that.” And then I say, “Okay.” I said, “What is the best? What is the natural color of foam?” And then I thought about foam parties, which are popular, maybe at dance clubs at some point in history. I never went to one. And I thought about scented foam. And then I said, “You know when foam works best? For patting and smoothing and rubbing it down.” Just imagine it. The most comfortable foam you can imagine. Just right. It's our friend Goldilocks once said, “This one is just right. Scoots has smoothed it. He's patted it. He's rubbed it down. He's either cooled it or warmed it. And he's welcomed me in.” He says, “Hey you came skeptical. Maybe you'll leave this time skeptical. Give it a few tried. See if it works for you. Try a couple bowls of oatmeal or whatever it was … porridge. Try to leave it as you left it and put 'em in the sink, GL, or whatever, other than that, come check it out to see if it works. I'd like to help.”

And that said, I'm really appreciative of your time. I'm glad you're here. I work very hard and I yearn and I strive to help you fall asleep. Thank you so much for coming by. And here's a few ways we keep the show going.

Alright. We're talking episode five of series two. Episode five, the girls in the fireplace, 11th Doctor. I believe. You say, “Scoots you been doing it?” I say, “Yeah, believe.” The Girl in the Fireplace. And immediately made me think of Girl with a Pearl Earring and there's a masquerade party. The people are playing some sort of chase game, like chase somebody at the … chase the masquerade. Which is a fun, friendly game.

Then our hostess, I believe, she sees a broken clock, like a broken phone. Is that what I put? The clock is broken. Oh yeah. It's broken like a phone. Like shattered. Like the face of a phone you dropped. A dude in a red velvet … a rich guy in red velvet. That's one thing I noticed. Red velvet suit. A red velvet suit. And then that was originally who I thought this was. It turns out its Nanette. And she talks into the fireplace. She says, “Don't worry, the man's coming. He's coming. He's on his way. He's always watched out for me and tonight he'll be there.” And he says, “Who? What man.” She goes, “The only man other than you I've ever loved, sweet red velvet rich guy.” Turns out its the King, but she says, “No, no. Don't look at me like that.” She goes, “Go to your queen,” and then she goes, “Doctor, Doctor, can you hear me?”

She almost says, “Annie, Annie can you hear me?” But she says, “Doctor, doctor, can you hear me?” Except that it's “Annie are you okay, Annie?” The clocks have been not working. It's time. Then we see the Tardis. It's a spaceship … let's see. What am I saying? It's 3000 years later. Tardis, Tardis snarl ship rotating. Tardis sound. The ship that we see, it looks like a bunch of vents on a rod. I think the doctor says, “Dark like Mickey's mind.” Is that what he really says?

Let's see. Nothing here … brilliant. I'm on my first space ship. Rose goes, “It's abandoned.” Doctor goes, “Yeah. Nothing here. Let's do a quick scan, just in case. What's the dates? 1000 years into the future. Oh no, 3000 give or take.” 51st century, Dagmar Cluster, long way from home. Two and a half galaxies, Mickey.

“Mickey, meet the universe.” “So realistic,” he says. The Doctor says, “Some cowboys were doing repair work in here. Warp engines are ready to go, full capacity. Enough power to punch a hole in the universe.” And they go, “But nobody's on here.” Rose is like, “What are they out for a smoke?” And the Doctor goes, “No. I've checked all the smoking pods.” And then Mickey says, “I smell Sunday roast.” Rose is also wearing a Wichita Falls T-shirt.

Then we see 18th century fireplace and mantle in a room. The Doctor goes, “That's something you don't see every day. Not even a hologram. This thing's legit.” “And you could see,” Rose is like, “You could see something on the other side,” but Rose goes, “That's on the hull of the ship.” And there's a young girl there. Doubled sided, real fireplace. Nanette is who I thought it was at first. He says, “Where you at?” She goes, “Paris of course.” And Doctor goes, “Don't worry, this is just a routine fireplace check. Nothing to be concerned about. What year?” She goes, “1727.”

What does this say? “Cities … insiders … ?” Let's see. She says, “1727. Doctor goes, great year. Except for August. Stay inside. Enjoy the rest of your night.” Oh yeah, “Stay indoors.” Okay. And then Mickey goes, “What's the 51st century.” And the Doctor goes, “Yes. Some sort of space show temporal hyperlink.” Mickey goes, “What's that?” And Doctor goes, “Oh it's a made up word for magic door.” Rose goes to France in 1727. Then Doctor rotates. We see Nanette again, whose real name is Renette. She's 4 years older.

Walls and walls of window. Oh, Doctor walks around and looks at the window. Snow in Paris. A horse calls. You see the Doctor light some candles in a room. She has a hobby horse in her room. There's a clock ticking. Doctor talks about resonance. Loose connection. They talk about the clock, they hear the clock. There's ticking, but there's no clock. Then we see, we've learned that there's a clockwork person as the Doctor watches over a … clockwork robot. He just saw the house of the clock and the walls and so that was timely.

This is way out. It should be out on video now … I mean, streaming and DVD. The Doctor looks under Ronette's bed, gives a spritz of water to some plants with his sonic screwdriver. Oh, he meets a clockwork robot, he goes, “What are you scanning her?” He goes, “Not yet. Yeah, you're incomplete.” Driveled is that Doctor sends it back, ices it. Oh, they had a little duel, duellypoo. Mickey's wearing a Nintendo Roots shirt I think. And the Doctor says, “This is some space age clockwork we're dealing with.” Some sort of short range teleports going on here. Oh, 'cause the clockwork thing teleports out. The doctor says, “Don't go look for it. Give me a second.” But he heads right back to France.

And Rose has a form thing. “Rose has a form thing?” It looks like a carburetor. Oh, “foam thing.” A thing like a … looks like a carburetor. And her and Mickey rush off. I still thought it was Nanette at this point when I was taking notes. Checking. He says, “I'm back to check in the room again.” There's a bird cage in her room. A harp.

Oh, she comes in. Doctor says, “Oh. Hello. I was looking for Renette.” And she has as knowing smile. But she's now not child anymore. And she's very regal, I would say. And she touches the Doctor's face, she goes, “It's not normal that you have an imaginary friend that goes beyond childhood.” She goes, “You're to be congratulated on your persistence.” The Doctor goes, “Goodness Renette! How you've grown.” And she says, “Reason tells me something … ” ‘Cause she goes, “Oh, you haven't aged a single day. It's impolite of you.” Yeah, “Reason says you shouldn't just be peering in and out of my fireplace.” And they have a really big kiss. Oh, she goes, “Yeah, you're human.” And she goes, “Yeah, we've known each other for so long.” Oh, “reason tells me you're not real.” And he goes, “Oh, don't even listen to reason.”

Meanwhile, someone's yelling for her to hurry up. And then they kiss. Hubba, hubba, hubba. And then, somebody says, “Mademoiselle Poussin.” And she runs out and then Doctor realizes, “No, Renette Poussin, Madam Toile, mistress of Louis the XV. Uncrowned queen of France. Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan, gardener.” And he says, “I just snagged Madam de Pompadour.” Which, I always thought that meant something else. But it just means kiss, 'cause they used that on Harry Potter recently, when I was watching Harry Potter. And they were just talking about kissing.

Louis XV, Doctor cannot behave … he can't believe it: Madame de Pompadour. Doctor returns not happy. Mickey and Rose are gone. Doctor runs into a horse on the spaceship. Mickey finds an eye size camera. Rose finds … she says, “This ship really has heart. I can tell you Mickey. This ship has heart.” Doctor looks around with his horse. His hands are in his pockets. He opens doors to a cowboy side doctor preeps. Parasols.

Oh, he opens doors … goes to the countryside, and the Doctor is spying on Renette and her friend in parasols. And they're talking about what seems to be the king. She says, “Oh, Catherine, you're up to no good.” And she goes, “Oh, well what about Madam Chatera?” And they have a laugh at her. And she goes, “King's gonna need a new mistress. Don't you love the king?” She goes, “Yeah. He's the king. I love him with all of my heart. Look forward to meeting him.” And they kind of catch the idea the Doctor's watching. She goes, “Everybody knows your ambitions.” Renette goes, “Everybody in Paris shares them.” They say, “What about the Yew Tree Ball?”

Then we're back at the ship. Rose and Mickey are being watched by something. Then they're looking through a mirror as they go, “Is this like a normal two way mirror,” but it goes to France? And they go, “Look at this guy, or something. Poe. Look at the guy who … Poe. Look at the guy who stow.” They say, “Oh. It's the king of France.” And they go, “What is this? A time window?” He goes, “Yeah, it's a time window.” And Doctor says, “Oh, by the way, I'm hanging with a horse. So it's pretty sweet.” They go, “What is this time window for? Why is there a horse on a spaceship?” And the Doctor goes, ‘Little perspective,” He goes, “All over the ship, there's windows and doorways into 16th, 17th, 18th century France.”

We see Ronette meet up with the king. He goes, “All along the timeline of this one woman. Why?” And I'd like to say the Doctor doesn't know. He goes, “Jean Antoinette Poussin. Known as Renette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived. Hubba hubba.” And Rose goes, “Hubba hubba what? What's she up to?” And she goes, he goes, “Mistress of the king.” And Rose and Mickey have a laugh about Camilla at that. And the Doctor says, “I think this is the night they met. Yew Tree Ball. Yup.” And he goes, “If time is flat, then she'll fall along her timeline, become his official mistress. Rooms at the palace. Madam de Pompadour.” Renette looks in the mirror. Rose goes, “The queen musta loved her.” He goes, “Well, they kind of did get along 'cause it's France, you know. It's little different over there.”

Renette sees somebody standing there. It's another robot. And Doctor rolls in, says, “Hey Renette.” She goes, ‘Hey fireplace man.” And the Doctor grabs the clockwork robot, freezes it. Mickey and Rose along in this? Let me see. Time window. Close up, Doctor goes into action mode. Checks herself. Close up, Doctor, action mode. Answer all questions. Oh, Doctor says, “Make it listen to you.” And they said, ‘Ask it questions.” And then it says, “Yeah. I'm number 7.” And Doctor goes, “What's up with the ship? We lost 82% of systems. An ion storm. What are you sitting around? We're short on parts.”

Mickey says, “Typical. Always the parts.” The Doctor goes, “Where's the crew.” They goes, “We don't got any parts.” Then Doctor goes, “Okay, get that now.” They say, “Okay, we're preparing the ship anyway you can.” He goes, “What else are you doing? Why are you opening all these time windows? We're using a lot of energy to do that. Why don't you just go home.” Then he goes, “We can't leave until we have one more part.” The Doctor goes, “Why aren't we taking it?” He goes, “It's not complete yet.” And he goes, “Okay, you're just trying to take Renette's operating system. Why her?” And the droid goes, “We're the same.” And Renette goes, “We're not the same. We are in no sense the same.” The droid goes, “We are the same.” Renette goes, “Get out of here.” And then the droid teleports away. And they go, “Let's go back to the ship and find it.” Rose and Mickey do. And take the horse, Arthur, I named the horse Arthur. It was a good big laugh for Mickey also.

Let's see, “Get out,” “Trust me.” Okay. Then the Doctor does a little mind meld with Renette. He goes, “You gotta trust me. I gotta look inside your mind.” And she goes, “Fireplace man, you're in my mind.” And then Mickey's trying to stir up trouble with Rose, he says, “Madame de Pompadour, Cleopatra, Sarah Jane Smith, this Doctor … ” He says, “He called Cleopatra Cleo.” Then they get caught by some clockwork robots, say, “Lets go down and have a meeting and play some chess. First take a nap.” Meanwhile, the Doctor's euphoric while scanning Ronette's brain. This must be the metaphor part with the dancing.

Then she gets inside the Doctor's head. She says, ‘Oh, it must be lonely in there, Doctor.” And the Doctor says, “In here? You're not lonely.” She goes, “You lonely little boy. Lonelier then and lonelier now.” Doctor says, “How'd you do that?” She goes, “Once you open a door, it goes either way.” And then she says, “Dance with me.” And she goes, she goes, “Aren't you supposed to dance with the king tonight?” She goes, “Yeah. Well … ” She goes, “First we'll dance with you.”

Then they, Mickey and Rose, wake up in a clockwork masquerade. Mickey does not like it. They say, “You're kind of compatible.” Rose goes, “Us two? No.” Then she tries to talk her way out. Then the Doctor reappears, he's singing. First you hear him singing. Then he rolls in. He's kind of wasted. He's got a headband. A tie for a headband, sunglasses. He's bragging about inventing drinks. He's been dancing. I think he said, “The oncoming storm.” Doctor goes, “Oh, you sound just like your mom.”

Let's see, she gets a clockwork masquerade. Oh, Doctor says he invented the banana daiquiri. Oh, he calls one of them, your mister thicketythickety thick face from Thicktown, Thickania. Says that to somebody. He's there, talks about about a millimeter command circuit. Pours wines, but it was multi-grade anti-oil really. It was a whole fake out. Shuts down the Zeus plugs, I think. He says, “I don't know why they need 'em in Madam de Pompadour's operating system. She goes, “C'mon, let's get moving. We gotta shut the ship down.” He goes, “Oh. That's what the Zeus Plugs for.” And Rose goes, “Why don't you just go there when she was 37?” And the Doctor goes, “I don't know. I think that they're doing trial and error.”

But they can't close the windows. Then a bell rings. She is complete. It begins. And then we see all the clockwork troops heading out for a big dance. We see Ronette at the window. And Rose sneaks in. It's, I think, five years later. Her 37th birthday maybe. Or in five years, when she turns 37. She goes, “It's gonna be wild. But don't worry. The Doctor will be there.” And I can't explain. And Renette goes, “I'll be ready. You just explain to me now.” She goes, “No, no, no. I've only got five minutes.” And she goes, “We're on this ship. It's got windows into your life. It's complicated.” And she goes, “So you guys get to jump around, but I weary traveler, must always take the slower path.” And Rose goes, “You're really sharp.”

Renette goes, “What are we gonna do?” And Rose goes, “Just keep the robots talking.” She goes, “They'll respond to you. Might not be able to stop them, but you can delay them until the Doctor arrives.” And Ronette goes, “He's coming.” And Rose goes, “Yeah. And he's there when you need him. That's the way it's gotta be.” And she goes, “Can't have the Doctor without the rest of the Doctor Who parts. The whirring and the Tardissing.” Rose goes, “Yep.” She goes, “None of this was supposed to happen, but … ” Ronette goes, “Well, I wouldn't have it any other way. He's an angel. I'd tolerate anything.”

And Mickey calls after Rose. He comes through a tapestry. And then Ronette sees in the ship. She goes, “Is that my future?” She sees that, she goes, “I'll take the slow path then.” And rose tries to help, and then she says, “The Doctor's worth all this.” Then we see the crazy masquerade hide and seek party from the beginning of the episode. Everybody's running around. Ronette says, “The fire place calling for the Doctor.” The clockwork robots have just synthesized voice thing going and then, let's see what happens next?

The proximity to the time portal. They have to take Ronette. They get a little way and Ronette, they say, “Hey we caught you. Hide and seek!” They take a sort of day to try to find an idea all time agrees. What does that mean? They escort them. Rose goes, “How'd they get in there?” Doctor goes, “They teleported.” And Rose goes, “Can we take the Tardis?” He goes, “No. We're stuck in this.” He goes, “We need a truck.” And they go, “We don't have a truck.” And rose goes, “We gotta do something.” Doctor goes, “Well, if I jump into that world, I don't know if I can get back.”

And then Rose gives or Ronette gives a speech, she goes, “Kindly remember,” to the robots, she says, “Kindly remember this is Versailles, the royal court, no making noises, no bossing me around. Decision is no. I'm not going anywhere with any of you. Not going into your world. Not going to the ship.” And they say, “Were clockwork robots.” She goes, “Yeah I don't care.” You're just from my childhood.” And then she goes, she knows the Doctor. Then we hear a horse and we hear hooves and we hear the Doctor and the horse jump through the mirror. Doctor goes, “Madame de Pompadour, you look younger every day.” There's hero music through the mirror. “Wow. Hero. In suit.”

King of France gets a what's up. I think that actor says I'm here to fix the clock. Then there's a brick wall where the Doctor went through. Okay, then Rose is stumped. Mickey is like, he's gotta a lot of questions, “How the Doctor gonna get back?” Rose senses that the Doctor's not coming back. Link with the ship's gone. And the Doctor goes “How many ticks in that clockwork heart?” And I said, “That is a song title” or something, holy moly. The Doctor that loved the clockwork being.

Takes Ronette by the hand. Mickey is wary or weary or something. Rose is thinking. She looks at the stars. The Doctor wind and wrackly looks to the stars. Oh, the Doctor, with wine and Ronette. Oh boy. He's already … he looks to the stars. Mickey's also worries 'cause they can't run the Tardis. Ronette goes, “You know all the stars don't you? Every star.” And Doctor goes, “Well, just not the names. Those are just titles. They don't tell you everything.” She goes, “Just like you.” And he goes, “Just like you.” And she goes, “I'd love to see the stars as close as you have.” And Doctor goes, “Well …” She goes, “But you're stuck here. Did you know that would happen?” He goes, “Oh yeah. Pretty much.” And she goes, “But you still came here for me.” He goes, “Yep.” And she goes, “But aren't there a lot … can't you use another door?” He goes, “I don't think so.” He goes, “I think breaking the glass on the mirror probably.” He goes, “I'll clean that up. I'll pay for that.” He goes, “Oh, money. Money.” Then she goes, “Here's my lonely angel, stuck on the slow path with me.”

Doctor goes, “Yeah.” He goes, “Here's to the slow path.” And she goes, “It's a pity. I think I would've enjoyed the slow path.” I think that was … this was a foreshadowing. And the Doctor goes, “What do you mean?” And he goes, “I'm not going anywhere.” She goes, “Oh. Aren't you?” And that's her bedroom, which she had moved, she says, “My whole bedroom moved. Fireplace and everything from my childhood to here.” And this was a bit titillating, because she leads him by the hand to a bedroom. Bed's covered in rose petals. Or flower petals. But then she's like, “Don't you think this'll still work.” And the Doctor goes, “Wish me luck.” And he goes, “Then I'll come back and you pick a star and we'll go to the star together. We'll figure it out. Me, you and Rose and Mickey.”

“But you know, just one trip probably.” He goes, “If I'm lucky, very, very lucky.” And the Doctor plays around, he goes, “Oh, it's working. I'll be back in a … ” something. “A jiffy.” Gets back, pick a star. Something is all happy. Oh, the Doctor gets back, he's all happy. Rose is on her tiptoes, kind of torn, obviously. Doctor goes back for Ronette. And the King of Paris is there. He goes, “Oh, she went back to Paris.” Or the King of France. Of France. He goes, “She left a note.” He goes, “By the way, when I say Paris, I mean the big Paris in the sky.”

‘Cause he's five years too late. Oh, and Doctor goes back, he goes, “How long did you wait?” Rose goes, “Five and a half hours.” He goes, “Perfect.” And he says, “Okay, well … she's 43. Here's a letter.” He goes, Doctor doesn't read the letter right away. Then they go back to the ship. It's Rose and the Doctor and there she goes, off in the rain. Only 43. Puts the note in his pocket. Something to do with course. Quite right. Shrugs, “Of course. Quite right.” Return to … it was all awkward.

He says, Rose says, “Why Madame de Pompadour?” This is a great ending. Doctor goes, “Maybe we'll never know. Maybe shit was mixed up.” And Rose goes, “You okay?” Doctor goes, “You better believe it.” And Mickey goes, “Rose show me around this Tardis.” Then the Doctor reads the note, it says, “My Dear Doctor, Path never seemed more slow. It is nearing it's end. We're not gonna meet again. But that's what reason tells me and I don't wanna listen to reason. I've seen … I know all things are possible. Hurry though, my love. My days grow shorter. Godspeed, my lonely angel.”

And the fireplace goes out. And then we see, as it fades out, that there's a portrait of Madam de Pompadour. At first, I say Okay, that's interesting. Where's that? 1721-1764. And then we see that the ship is called … the ship that started the episode says the SS Madam de Pompadour. It's a little bit of a mystery. It's it like the ship was … they're the same because the ship was named after her? It's interesting. There's still a little bit of a mystery, but makes a little bit more sense. The episode comes to a close.

A few things came up here. Madam de Pompadour. Jean Antoinette Poussin. A Poisson. Poirot. Maybe a member of the French court. Official mistress from 1745-1751. And influential on the court and court favorite. Took charge of the king's schedule. Aided, advisor. Wasn't popular politically. Or had political rivals. She was never alienated needed the queen. 13th lady in waiting to the queen. Prestigious position. She was patroness of architecture and decorative arts including … especially porcelain. Patroness of philosophy of enlightenment, including Voltaire. But some people said she was a malevolent political influencer. But historians say she was a patroness of the arts and a champion of French pride. And people said, dudes were intimidated by here because she was overturning social and gender hierarchy. Since she was not born into the aristocracy. She's worked her way up. There's a lot more stuff about it. But she went to salons in Paris, where she met some of the philosophies and she met the king, became part of court. It'd be in there. That's all from Wikipedia.

What about The Girl with the Pearl Earring? The film and the painting. I didn't see the film, but it's 2003 romantic drama film by Peter Weber. It's adapted screenwriter, Olivier De Hetread. It was adapted from the book The Girl with the Pearl Earring. It was starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. It's about Vermeer in Holland, let's see. They didn't want to make it a traditional period film. Like something from masterpiece theater. They wanted to make something quite different from that and use distinctive lighting and color schemes similar to Vermeer's paintings. It earned a worldwide gross of 31.4 million. 72% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Two Golden Globes. Nominated for ten British Academy Film Awards. Three Academy Awards. I don't want to ruin the plot of the movie or the book. Runs 100 minutes. And it's also based on the book. Looks like the painting didn't …

Oh, here's The Girl with the Pearl Earring, the painting. It's by one of the Dutch golden age painter. It says … T-R-O-N-I-E. I don't know what that means. Of a girl wearing a headscarf and a pearl earring. It's been in the Hague since 1902. In 2006, it was selected as the most beautiful painting in the Netherlands. It's of a head, not meant to be a portrait. It depicts a European girl in exotic dress with large pearl earring.

It was on oil canvas. Probably painted around 1665, restored in '94. 1994. Subtle color scheme and intimacy of the girl's gaze towards the viewer enhanced … also discovered that the background probably should've been a deep enamel-like green. The effect was produced by applying a thin, transparent layer of paint called a glaze over the present day black background. However, the two organic pigments of the green glaze, indigo and well, that faded. I think you can still see it in the Hague. It has been in the De Young. It went on tour, yeah, 2013-2014. Yeah.

And then the historic novel by Tracey Chevalier, it came out in 1999, fictionalizes circumstances of the painting's creation. Then, it was made into a movie. Banksy used it in a mural in Bristol. I think, where did I read that? How someone said that it probably wasn't even a pearl earring. Let's see. I thought I saw that somewhere that it was maybe more of a tin earring. Maybe I already said that. Someone said … oh, at the time were aluminum or something like that. But what are you gonna do? So, it's a little bit about The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

What about masquerade balls. Let's learn a little bit about the history of that from Wikipedia. It's a costume ball. Compare the word of formal written in pagent, is what mask means. Less formal, costume parties are descended in this tradition. Usually encompasses music and dancing, night time events, used or entertainment and celebrations. In the 15th century, there were a feature of carnival seasons. Then involved increasingly in an elaborate, allegorical royal entries, pageants and triumphal processions.

Listen to this, the ball day are dance … a burning men's ball was held by Charles VI of France. And costume ball…. These ones are all in the 1300's, they were extending the costume public festivities in the 16th century Renaissance. Elaborate dances for he upper class even in Venice. The Venetian Carnival associated with that. And then the end of the Venetian Republic in the 18th century had declined. It became popular … oh, it was already popular in Europe, Sweden. So, a lot of stuff interesting right around this time when … There was a revival of masquerade balls in the 1990s in North America. Party atmosphere with formal dancing being less prominent. And obviously still have different ways we celebrate with that kind of dress.

Now, Rose had a shirt from Wichita Falls and I found this from Wichita … I said, I'd get a look of the shirt and believe it or not, one of the radio stations already had something about it. I wasn't the only one that took a notice. This is from 92.9 NIN by Tony Kearns from May 6, 2014. Some people, Wichita Falls is unknown, but it's represented in movies and television, including 1971's Last Picture Show, set in the '50s. It's about the life … semiautographical book about Larry McMurty, who's wrote Lonesome Dove, Brokeback Mountain. The film was … parts of the movie were filmed in Wichita Falls and that was up for 8 Academy Awards, including Chloris Leechman for best supporting actress.

The W-A-R to Home, that was an Emilio Esteves movie from 1996. Martin Sheen, Kathy Bates, tense thanksgiving. It was only made on a $3 million budget. The Real Gilligan's Island. Well … Bowling, let's see. BFS, Bowling for Soup provided a rendition of this classic Gilligan Islands, a short lived TBS reality series, The Real Gilligan's Island. Kind of like Survivor, but the contestants are dressed like Gilligans. And maybe it's just Bowling for Soup did a video about it.

Pillow Talk, Doris Day and Rock Hudson. That was … “They'll never believe this back in Wichita Falls” is what Rock Hudson says. King of the Hill, in the '90s, Wichita Falls was training camp for Dallas Cowboys. Hank Hill was not happy about that. He takes his son Bobby on a trip to Wichita Falls to see the cowboys training. To try to get them to move to where Family Guy … King of the Hill is, Arlen Texas.

Let's see, Adventures of Superman, season one, there was a scene there. James Bond movie, License to Big Farm, from 1989. James Bond, his buddy Felix Lieter gets married. They're looking for him, originally. He says, they came all the way from Wichita Falls when they were plain undercover. And then we have Rose's shirt, Wichita Falls Tigers, Doctor Who. There was a fashion trend in England of shirt logos of fake sports teams from America. That might have been where it's from. There's a couple more. That's from 92.9 NIN about Wichita Falls.

A little bit more about Wichita Falls, you say? Okay, I'll tell you a couple more things. If this thing loads for me. It's the seat of Wichita County, Texas in the US, populations 104,553 in 2010. 35th most populous city in Texas. Beautiful, these falls look lovely, the restored falls of the Wichita River. They look a little bit manufactured, but they gorgeous. Off of interstate 44. Far north, let's see, north east Texas, it looks like. I mean, I don't know what people in Texas consider north east Texas, so it might be north central Texas, but not on the northernmost point. Let's see it's geography and stuff. Density, timezone, humid subtropical climate. It gets hot. And it gets down to over 50-60 nights of freezing lows do occur. In 2011, it was the first Texas city to have 100, 100 degree days. A little bit about Wichita Falls. It's a beautiful. “Wichita Falls,” saying it is beautiful.

What about Sunday roast? Scoots, tell me about Sunday roasts in England. I'll tell you right now. It's a traditional British meal, typically served on Sunday. Roasted meat, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy. Vegetables, roast parsnips, Brussels sprouts, peas, carrots, runner beans and broccoli can be included and cooked in different styles. Sometimes you'll get a cheddar cheese sauce, also popular in Ireland. Especially in Ulster, it says here on Wikipedia. It was ranked second on a list of things people love about Britain.

And let's see. Yeah. It's had a major influence on other food cultures. It was often eaten after church on Sunday. Eating a large meal following church services is pretty common in Christian countries. But Sunday roast as a meal is uniquely English. On Sundays, all type of meat and dairy are allowed to be eaten. Unlike on Fridays when many roman Catholics and Anglicans abstain from eating meat and eat fish instead. And likewise, traditional for Anglicans and English Catholics to fast before Sunday services and break the fast afterwards. I mean, I think I would have it roasted …. I gotta figure out how to make Yorkshire pudding, but I can definitely roast some potatoes and some meat. I think I have that ability.

Something about, oh, fireplace mantle took a spot in this episode. Then I decided, let's Google “mantle” and see what comes up. This is from ThoughtCo.com. 6 Fascinating Facts About the Earth's Mantel by Andrew Alden from 2018, March 16th. It's a layer of hot solid rock between earth's crust and its iron molten core. Makes up the bulk of earth. And Scoots, you didn't even know this? It's the mantle, buddy. Two thirds of our mass on our planet. 30KM down and 2900KM thick. Has the same recipe elements as the sun and other planets. Other than hydrogen and helium. Mantle's a mix of magnesium, silicon, iron and oxygen that roughly matches the composition of garnet. The top part of the mantle slowly started by plate motions, with subduction and upward motion, with tectonic separation. Some geo chemists think the upper mantle is a rocky version of a marble cake. There's plate tectonics, hot spots. You can explore the mantle with a seismograph. You can model it in the labs. Looking at rocks and how they change under pressure.

Mantle has layers and they each have their own internal boundaries. This has come over a century of research. The base of the crust or the moho … It goes down 660, then the transition zone. And that's when physical changes start, then the lower mantle. Seismic waves of the lower mantle are affected so strongly that people say that rocks might even be different in their chemistry, not just in their crystallography. This controversial layer at the bottom of the mantle, about 200KM thick has an odd name, D-double prime. Yeah. That's a little bit about the mantle. You could read more on Thought Co. What else did we have?

Wait. You know, it snowed in Paris. It snows, have you seen the snow in Paris? Have you heard me sing that song? Because I haven't written it yet. There was a big snowfall this year in Paris. There's a bunch of articles that's in February, lot of great pictures up. Parisian's might have been happy, but the photos from the City of Lights from early February this 2018, I think it's what year it is. Six inches of snow fell. Late on a Tuesday. And it covered Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower in pristine layer of white. Largest snow accumulation since 1987. Brought traffic to a halt. Drivers were supposed to stay at home. They felt like the city wasn't really prepared and it was slow. But they also got more than … it was more than 1-2 inches, you couldn't really salt the roads. They said they'd learn from it, but really the world was sharing the pictures, which were really so beautiful.

A couple more things. Here's your SAT word for the week: resonance. Which is R-E-S-O-N-A-N-C-E, a phenomenon in which a vibrating system or an external force drives another system to oscillate with greater amplitude and specific frequencies. This is resonant in physics. Let me look up … if I can just look up the definition of the word. Probably can't, 'cause I … it's a tendency of a physical … I think that's what … Oh, here we go, let's look it up in the dictionary. Can you use resonance in word? Yes. Resonance is slowing Scoots down, here. Okay. Resonance comes from old French resonance, Latin resonance, resonatia, and resono. Quality, being resonant, a resonant sound or echo, reverberation. Produced by blowing over the top of a bottle. Sound pronounced by a hollow space. Something that promotes an association or strong emotion. Increase of amplitude as we said. Increasing strength of duration of a musical tone produced by sympathetic vibration. We know about that here on this podcast. And I want to resonate with you, welcome to a nice calm safe place.

What about steam punk? I wouldn't have associated steam punk with clockwork things, but I think they are both associated. Because steam punk is more of … for some people, just an aesthetic than it actually has to use steam instead of winding. But I probably … if I had more time, I could do … 'cause neo-Victorian … oh, steampunk and neo-Victorian are different. Oh, neo-Victorian movement does not explicate a technology. It embraces just the positive aspects of Victorian era's culture and philosophy. It's like a kind of retro future. Welles and Verne wrote in it. I just thought about this clockwork stuff. I guess I don't have more time to research more clockwork stuff, 'cause I think it's cool that these were clockwork beings.

Another thing that came up was parasols and I found in a New York magazine, Nymag.com. Great article form June 5th of this year, 2018, by Alison Frear. I pretty much live under one of my dozen parasols this summer. It said, hey the sun's the real deal, so get out of the sun. And these are some of the ones that Alison recommends. This one's a deal, a Quasimoon 20 inch white paper parasol umbrella. Around 6-7 bucks, Alison says I would keep a ton of these. They're really portable. If it gets ruined and they don't look … and because it doesn't call a lot attention to itself. It's a high recommend.

Then there's a Kung fu Smith parasol, around 20-30 bucks. It's a pagoda shaped, pointy one, striking in a black and white color scheme. There's also a cotton lace parasol that looks like it's like $20-30. You add a little style to that. There's the Lilly Lark zebra UV protection sun parasol. Now, that was is on the higher end. We're talking couple hundo. A handmade fabric parasols, so by Lilly Lark, wearable art. UPF 50 plus coating. It's got bamboo frame. Hand carved by local artisans. There you … the Tesla of parasols … yeah. This is a cute little fly, anti-UV, embroidered, sun protection folding parasol. That's in the 20s-30 dollar range. This one also works. It looks like it's a rain … that one's pretty cool. I'd say, do I need another umbrella? I would go with that. Those are some parasols.

What was a Zeus plugs. I had to look that up of course really quick. Just ends up … let's se what it says. It was just one or two … this was at the Tardis Wikka It might not work. It's just something you use to repair … here it goes. Tardis at Wikka.com. Zeus plugs are used in the maintenance of Tardi or Tardises. Doctor decided he didn't need the plugs … repair. Tardis's thermal couplings. That was in one of the TV shows. It's in … the tenth Doctor use to close some time windows on the Pompadour.

What about the Palace of Versailles? Is it … Madame says, “This is Versailles, get your act together.” I haven't been to France. I'd like to go. It's the principle royal residence from under Louis XIV, 1682 till 1789. And it's a 12 miles, 20 kilos, southwest of the center of Paris. It's now a very historic site. It has a ceremonial hall of mirrors. Royal opera. Royal apartments, royal residences. A lot of cool things. Hamlet created for Marie Antoinette, Garden of Versailles. It lost a lot of its furniture during the revolution. 2017, 7.7 million visited it. Second most visited monument behind the Louvre and just ahead of the Eiffel Tower. Expanded over time from … over the years, they kept expanding it. Louis the XIII purchased a hunting lodge there, or built one. Then Louis XIV visited the chateau on trip. Said “I like this joint,” or something. Sounds like a place I'd love to visit. You get out there. I love those gardens, if the weather's right and my mood's right, which is a rarity.

Let's close on speech synthesis. I just want to look a little bit because anybody's born in the 80s is familiar with when stuff talks like robots, which is a speech synthesizer, either by software or hardware. And now we have more, like tech speech systems that can convert language text into speech or symbolical linguistic representations. Phonetic transcriptions into speech. It can be created by concatenating pieces of recording speech from a database. Systems of store phones and diaphones, have the largest output range, but lack clarity. It's just interesting, these early ones which talk like clockwork figures in this movie.

But even before electronic signal processing, people tried to build machines to emulate human speech. There was as early as 1000AD, Roger Bacon even tried in the 1200s. A little bit about the … there's even more about these acoustical mechanical speech machines, which I guess he's being bent on in this show.

So, check it out and that's it. Get comfy and goodnight.