Quotes from "The Rings of Akhaten"

Ellie: You kept it.
Dave: Of course I kept it.
Ellie: Why?
Dave: Cause this exact leaf had to grow in that exact way, in that exact place, so that precise wind could tear it from that precise branch and make it fly into this exact face, at that exact moment. And if just one of those tiny little things had never happened, I'd never have met you. Which makes this the most important leaf in human history.

Clara: I've never been here before. I've never been anywhere like it before. I just saw a little girl who looked like she needed help.
Merry: Really?
Clara: Really really.
Merry: Can you help me?
Clara: That's why I'm still here.

Clara: Why are we walking away? We can't just walk away. This is my fault, I talked her into doing this.
The Doctor: Listen. There is one thing you need to know about travelling with me. Well, one thing apart from the blue box and the two hearts. We don't walk away.

The Doctor: Okay. Let me go.
Clara: I can't.
The Doctor: Try, you have to.
Clara: Why?
The Doctor: Because it really hurts.

The Doctor: Oh, that is interesting. A frequency-modulated acoustic lock. The key changes ten million zillion squillion times a second.
Clara: Can you open it?
The Doctor: Technically, no. In reality, also no. But still, let's give it a stab.

Clara: Did you just lock us in?
The Doctor: Yep.
Clara: With a soul-eating monster?
The Doctor: Yep.
Clara: Is there actually a way to get out?
The Doctor: What, before it eats our souls?
Clara: Ideally, yeah.
The Doctor: Possibly. Probably. There usually seems to be.

Clara: Stop it, you're scaring her.
The Doctor: Good, she should be scared. She's sacrificing herself, she should know what that means. Do you know what that means, Merry?
Merry: A god chose me.
The Doctor: It's not a god. It'll feed on your soul but that doesn't make it a god.

The Doctor: Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story, one you might not have heard? All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago in the heart of a faraway star that exploded and died. that explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings. Until eventually they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Galel. And there will never be another. Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste.

Clara: You're going to fight it, aren't you?
The Doctor: Regrettably, yes, I think I may be about to do that.
Clara: It's really big.
The Doctor: I've seen bigger.
Clara: Really?
The Doctor: Are you joking? It's massive.

Clara: What about that stuff you said? "We don't walk away."
The Doctor: No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding onto something precious, we run. We run and run fast as we can and we don't stop running until we are out from under the shadow.

The Doctor: I have lived a long life and I have seen a few things. I walked away from the last great Time War, I marked the passing of the Time Lords, I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment until nothing remained. No time, no space, just me. I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman. I watched universes freeze and creations burn. I have seen things you wouldn’t believe. I have lost things you will never understand. And I know things, secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken… knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! So come on then! Take it!

Clara: This, the most important leaf in human history. The most important leaf in human history. It's full of stories, full of history, and full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been but never were... passed on to me. This leaf isn't just the past, it's a whole future that never happened. There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live, an infinity, all the days that never came.

The Doctor: Because there's quite a difference, isn't there, between what was and what should have been. There's an awful lot of one, but there's an infinity of the other. And infinity is too much...

Series 7 Episode 7: The Rings of Akhaten

Summary:
The Doctor takes Clara on her first trip in the Tardis and brings her to the Rings of Akhaten. Clara is quite impressed by the alien planet and the many alien beings she meets. When she wanders off, she meets Merry, the queen of years. The young girl is scared because she has to sing a song for the Old God at a festival which happens every 1000 years. Clara reassures her that she won't get the song wrong and the girl leaves with some priests. The Doctor finds Clara again and they both go to the arena to hear Merry sing. Something goes wrong and the girl is taken to the temple by a kind of beam. The Doctor and Clara follow her to the temple ad try to save her but they aren't able to keep the Old God from waking up. Clara takes Merry away but she leaves the Doctor in the temple where he gives his memories to the Old God, so he won't consume the people in this galaxy. His memories aren't enough but when Clara gives the Old God her biggest memory he seems to be satisfied.

I don't know why exactly but somehow I liked the last Doctor Who episode more than this one. The alien planet looked brilliant and the masks were great but somehow the story wasn't that good. I enjoyed it but something was missing that would have given the episode this little bit extra to make it spectacular. Maybe I will change my opinion when I watch the episode again but for now I liked the last episode more. Somehow it was strange that the Tardis didn't translate what the aliens said because she normally does that. I guess we've seen this more through the eyes of Clara this time and she probably hasn't been in the Tardis long enough for the translation to kick in. That's the only possible explanation for me. I wonder if the Doctor will bring Clara home at the end of every episode which would be a bit boring for me I think. Well, I will see what the next episode brings and I guess it'll be better again from what I've seen in the trailer.