• macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @Bluesqueakpip Good pick up on each of the characters.  We don’t really know much about Michael Troughton’s character, so I even will question whether he was a “real” character.  Maybe he was, but he’s the trouble with the connection.

    Shona is interesting.  I like your idea that she may have kicked Dave out.  Look at that list for Chr…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @Barbara Lefty But were the Dream Crabs dreamed too?  The central conceit of the episode is not trusting anything and that stretches into when everyone appears to wake up.  Of course, we’re probably overthinking everything.

    @Milliemaerose Moffatt has spoken about Orson Pink and basically said that Danny has other family and Orson likely d…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @janetteB There are many who aren’t aware that others did it before Inception.  I think the innovation from Inception was the time differences as you progress through the dream layers.  You don’t really fully get that in Last Christmas, just the idea that dream time passes far more quickly than real time.   Though it is implied when the Doctor jum…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @purofilion I agree there.  I loved his “idiot in a box” line.  It was one of those moments where I actually clapped with joy.  I did that too at the end of Mummy on the Orient Express where he transfers Maisie’s grief and torment to himself so he can see the mummy.  Those are reasons why I’ve never understood those who claim that Moffatt does not…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @purofilion I tend to look at the Doctor in Series 8 as a long reboot.  He was always the Doctor and was at his most tenuous in Deep Breath before meeting Clara at the “restaurant”, yet many of the warm personality traits disappeared.  To me, he most resembled Hartnell and early Tom Baker.  Deep Breath was a fine example of 12 in this series – he…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @ScaryB Santa may at least have some means of using Time Lord tech.  If 11 is to be believed, he knows Santa and hung with him.  Why is 12 so leery when he sees him?  There may be a backstory there – and I would not be averse to exploring it because I would LOVE to see Nick Frost in that role once more.  He was superb.  Of course he could just…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    My mind has often come back to this episode and series 8 today.  I just think of the Doctor’s cynicism towards the existence of Robin Hood and how that cynicism permeated Clara as she became like the Doctor – having seen so many fantastical things, she actually stopped believing in fantastical things.  Has Moffatt been examining the loss of i…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @nerys I’m pretty sure the Daily Mirror were the ones reporting Jenna Coleman was leaving.  I’m not sure if that was ever the case.  Maybe the ending was changed, or maybe it was leaked out to create a tension going into the special.  Someone at the Mirror wanted a scoop and got taken in the process.

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    @Bluesqueakpip The other thing was the Doctor’s comment about how quickly he deletes someone’s face from his memory.  It sounds cold to a degree, but there’s more to it than that.  There are layers for the Doctor’s own protection but also a focus on the things he finds important.

    I really loved the scenes with Danny.  When he spoke and clearly un…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Last Christmas

    Really unexpected, from start to finish – and all in a good way.  I think that Danny truly found a way to reach out to her so she could begin healing – and we saw the Doctor finally grow back into himself.

    A Christmas Carol still remains my favorite, but this is a great one.  Overall, I think Moffatt has done an exemplary job with Christmas s…[Read more]

  • I have to wonder, since Clara is not pregnant, whither Orson Pink?  When Santa knocks on the TARDIS and says that things need to get sorted quickly and that Clara and the Doctor are not alright, I wonder if he is […]

  • Wow.  Nick Frost has got Santa down.  How things have turned around since Robot of Sherwood where it was Clara asking the Doctor when it was he stopped believing in fairy tales.  Will we get an explanation about […]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @Fonsini As an American I can assure you that I took no offense.  I also happen to be an active church going American, yet still took no offense and saw it as a funny line and not a bigoted one.  I think the tongue was firmly implanted in the cheek by Moffat.  He and the BBC know that the show is growing in popularity in the US, so they aren’t go…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @zackyclear I’m not sure either why the robots were searching for the Promised Land.  Same goes for the clockwork droids.  We did see Missy plucking out characters from the Doctor’s timeline, but that could just have been for research purposes as she constructed her plans.  I don’t think we have every answer yet.  Moffat gave us “Silence will fall…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan Any summary for those of us not fortunate enough to live in the UK?  It would take some work to get iPlayer to work in Florida, methinks.  Though I probably can find it somewhere eventually.

    Now that Series 8 is over, I at least get to re-watch it and then go back to brushing up on Classic Who.  It’s a good thing that Hu…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @Mudlark I don’t think Missy was lying about Gallifrey.  The interesting thing is that she states quite plainly that it is in another dimension but gives the Doctor coordinates in normal space.  Was the Doctor not really listening when she spoke?  I knew she was lying at the end because that statement contradicted her original statement.  I thi…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @Barnable I’m pretty sure it was Missy that tipped UNIT off.  We heard her go through a series of accents in the episode, including a Scottish one when she was telling Osgood that she was going to kill her.  I think Missy was cluing Osgood in at that point that she had called UNIT and they had fallen into a trap.

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan Absolutely.  Great point on Missy/Master.  I tire of so many stories in different genres painting the villains as misunderstood.  It was an issue I had with Raimi’s Spiderman films.  Almost always, the villain was just misunderstood or a victim.  There is a bit of room for that on occasion, but it become a theme.  It’s…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @Bluesqueakpip Good catch on St. Nicholas.  I should have thought of that, especially since he is venerated by the Orthodox (I’m Orthodox) as a Wonderworker.  Moffat definitely has shown a tendency to highlight things such as St. Nicholas’ reputed accomplishments with great subtlety, yet he builds those things in so often.

    Of course we know t…[Read more]

  • macphisto96 replied to the topic Death in Heaven

    @Arbutus I thoroughly enjoyed Series 8, though didn’t have any of those moments myself, at least not like in the past.  I did get many laughs throughout the series.

    As for Clara not recognizing the women in the shop, she could have just been calling a computer shop and given a phone number to call.  Thinking about it, there may not have been a…[Read more]

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