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Edited by Mrph1 on Jun 12th 2025 at 5:03:16 PM
The Headless Monks are the Silence, decapitated and largely de-powered in order to get around the Doctor's trick
That had occured to me too. Also, some people seem to be under the impression that the Headless Monks are the elite mooks of the Church of England, but they're not: Anglican Marines need to convert to become Headless Monks, so the Headless Monks aren't Anglican.
I'm not quite sure where the Papal Mainframe fits in the whole story. Is it the highest authority within the Church of England, or is it the leader of the Headless Monks? Maybe the Headless Monks are Catholic?
Has anyone noticed anything that could shed some light on the role of the Papal Mainframe?
edited 10th Jun '11 4:14:46 PM by JOZeldenrust
It's possible that the Catholic Church has somehow reunified. (Were the marines ever specified as being Anglican? I don't remember that...) That would still leave the Headless Monks outside the church orders, though.
The Papal Mainframe is Pope Peter II integrated into an immortal supercomputer
edited 10th Jun '11 4:20:15 PM by Noaqiyeum
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOFat One and Thin One are the only gay thin/fat Anglican married couple (that's why they don't have names), and I think that the episode implies that the organisation itself isn't Church of England, only Those Two Guys.
edited 10th Jun '11 4:36:59 PM by OldManHoOh
...again, I'm pretty sure that the Headless Monks exist outside of the normal church's organization.
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOThat's what I thought.
Father Octavian would be a rather odd name for an Anglican priest, too, I think.
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOThought: we've been told that Silence-induced amnesia "sometimes" causes nausea/vomiting. We saw this effect in Amy and River. Amy was later revealed to be quasi-pregnant by proxy.
Is River pregnant in The Impossible Astronaut? I doubt it due to the fact that every time the Doctor meets her it's always the previous time she met him. But if it were so that drops a ton more tragedy on the kiss scene at the end of Day of the Moon.
Fresh-eyed movie blog
It's not certain that she always meets the Doctor exactly earlier than she last met him.
I figure it's a general trend. In any case it definitely doesn't apply to her as a baby, so I figure he might see her in order for one or two points as she grows up. But with Adult River, it's impossible to say for certain the order of meeting, since she always seems to know exactly when they are at because of the diary.
By the way, it was the Doctor's diary, which he gave to her when he completed it right? Shouldn't that be soon if they are moving mostly in opposite directions?
edited 11th Jun '11 2:33:39 AM by the1ultimate
I call forth Unlimited Stories!
Seeing as they show up more than three-hundred years after the family tree stops, I'm finding it hard to believe it really matters.
Episodes like the last few makes me wish Doctor Who would do serials again.

And one could argue that the Doctor would have no reason to put his "Time Lordiness" into Tim (or Daughter of Mine) and just made his presence known to them.
edited 10th Jun '11 3:23:15 PM by OldManHoOh