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@dentarthurdent With Chibz’ Doctor, one got the impression it was there simply to make it ‘sound sciencey’ or maybe make up for something that should have been better plotted.

I agree. That’s why, for me, this episode stands out among the Chibnall-penned ones, because the Doctor’s observations were pertinent, not just filler.

@ps1l0v3y0u Also…

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@dentarthurdent

Eve of The Daleks

Thank you. You rescued me from 5; I was about to watch Warriors of the Deep, just to snigger at The Myrka. This is MUCH better. It comes with a high rep. The long cold start works. Chib’s dialogue practically sparkles. The set-up intrigues. It has urgency. Everyone… well five people… get zapped again and again…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u     Re Moff:

I like clever writers, whether book or script.   No such thing as ‘too clever’, in my view.

(I’ll qualify that:   I don’t like writers who show off their ‘cleverness’ by deliberately using incomprehensible words or phrases, that’s just egocentrism in my view.   But that’s more likely to happen in text than in a script).…[Read more]

@nerys    I think the Doctor babbled very little in this episode, compared with previous Chibz episodes.   But I came to it after watching RTD/Gatwa’s seasons, so probably the technobabble was more noticeable.

I know there was previous technobabble in Who, but usually it was restrained, used only when necessary for the furtherance of the plot…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave I confess that I didn’t make that connection to Hazran. What did spring to mind when I watched the episode was the connection with role played by Lillian Gish as the woman who protects her orphan charges against Robert Mitchum’s deranged Preacher in the fabulous “”Night of the Hunter”…

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@dentarthurdent I probably shouldn’t have said the Doctor didn’t babble at all in this episode. But it felt greatly minimized to me, compared to other episodes. And, let’s face it, it’s not like previous incarnations of the Doctor didn’t babble. But I always felt like there was a flow to it, a stream that I could follow. Oftentimes, Whittaker’s…[Read more]

[A year later:]

Legend of the Sea Devils

Starts off really well. Very atmospheric, very sinister, very Xena. Madam Ching really has some presence. I really like the actress, by the way.

The mood is kinda spoilt by Dan wearing the cartoon comedy pirate clobber. And Mr Carnival-mask Sea Devil. Looks a bit like a dyspeptic mutant Chihuahua with a…[Read more]

Mara Stories.

I suspect the snakes were about to raise their heads… whenever we get underway again.

So, early 1980’s… other people may have different views but the three ‘peaks’ of the Davison era must be ‘Caves’, and Chris Bailey’s Mara Stories. I know Earthshock had impact (see what I did there) but to say it was flawed would be a mumbling un…[Read more]

Moff… I come to praise Moff not bury him.
There were those who thought he was too clever. Clever in the Nuwho is what psychobabble was to Classic.

There were those who missed Tennant. Tennant was the new Tom. Interesting that Hinchcliffe/Holmes are never really praised for ‘making’ Tom. Most of those who say ‘I liked Tennant’ probably wouldn’t…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent

Im a big fan of Capaldi and, yes, we would certainly be poorer for not having him in Who. But Moff + Whittaker would have served up some treats I think.

There are a lot of reactionary folk on The G (more now than ever it seems), and the “Moff can’t write…” comments were rarely backed up by anything logical, so my assumption was…[Read more]

Yes bring in Billie as the Doctor. If Maxil can become 6, Caecilius becomes 12, & 10 becomes 2 other versions of himself, why not? I can no more understand the voices saying ‘no. Not happened yet. Can’t be real. La la lala la!’

As to… WHY? I assume Rose represents something to the Doctor… and you might as well call it love. And 6 represente…[Read more]

@whohar Well, if the 12th Doctor had been Whittaker, it would have been interesting to see how well she did with, errm, better direction. 🙂 Though by the nature of it, we wouldn’t then have seen her actual Chibz-directed performance so we would never be able to make comparisons. (But that’s a hypothetical, to my mind Capaldi + Moff = the Best Doc…[Read more]

@winston I also like the fan club in Love and Monsters so agreed not all bad.it began well but the ending was questionable. Kill the Moon however I can find nothing positive about at all.

It would be nice to be able to do a Kryten (Red Dwarf) type memory wipe. (He had his memory of all of Agatha christie’s works deleted so he could read them…[Read more]

@janetteb  Yes, all the episodes. I actually don’t mind Kill the Moon or Love  and Monsters. In fact I like the Who fans who meet to discuss the Doctor but soon become friends and even more. They all had a cruel ending. I don’t enjoy the episodes where the Doctor “dies” and regenerates ,  too sad for me. The cruelty of the cybermen also creeps me…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

Very interesting, although I must say that the press criticism passed me by at the time. I do remember seeing “Moff can’t write women” and “Mary Sue” in the comment sections of t’other place, and, yes, he could verge on cartoonish characterisations sometimes. I think he did, clearly, pave the way for the first female Doctor as he…[Read more]

Well I finally got my re-watch started, at Eve of the Daleks.

The idea of an ever-shortening time loop is quite a good plot device. In one way it faintly resembles CapaldiDoc’s repeated death in Heaven Sent, though the details are of course very different and this only lasts 50 minutes, not billions of years.

I’m not too sure *why* it resets on…[Read more]

@janetteb   I wouldn’t worry about ‘not keeping up.’    I used to comment on episodes as I got them then and then found that the previous comments I was ‘replying’ to were made two years before…   One of the hazards of ‘catching up’ with DVD’s.

But I don’t recall anyone ever being put out about it.

Having watched the movie recently, I can se…[Read more]

also I am not keeping up with this thread. I have a lot more to read so apologies for my post being a little behind the flow of the discussion which I am enjoying and will comment on if time permits.

cheers

Janette

@winston that is a noble goal. All of the episodes, even Love and Monsters and Kill the Moon!!! I always skip a few when we re watch. I do like the plan though, from Rose to Dr Rose?.

I have such happy memories of watching Rose that first time, now over twenty years ago. (making it now into our cuT TV Club criteria but I still have some series of…[Read more]