On The Sofa (10)

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  • #73393
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @nerys

    Just watched “Midnight” again (because of your post). When I first saw it years ago I didn’t really appreciate it because it didn’t feel like a Doctor Who episode,  but this time I thought it was pretty good. I still don’t think of it as a Doctor Who episode, but I do think it was a really brilliant version of a Twilight Zone episode.

     

    #73394
    janetteB @janetteb

    @nerys and Merlin in Merlin, though  that show was so a travesty that maybe that role is best forgotten.  I loved Belfast too. I think it was a good approach to showing the troubles, the horror is distilled through the eyes of the child. I have a friend who grew up in Belfast during that period. Having heard some of her stories, made this film even more poignant for me. I have not had a chance to catch up with her since watching it and see what she thought of it.

    The warmth of the film, the sense of community rang true for me too. I hitched to Belfast in April 1984. I had arranged to meet up with my friends outside Tourist Information but they were late and I was sitting alone on the street, for hours. So many people stopped to ask if I was ok yet in the background the streets were barricaded and military patrolled, guns poised. I was struck by the juxtaposition of simmering violence and simple human warmth. Also Northern Ireland was a hitchhiker’s dream, no problem getting lifts and they were all friendly, helpful and kind.

    And because this is The Sofa random Dr Who reference, the friend from Northern Ireland is a Dr Who fan who hosted a podcast discussing sci fi. She also once had to pick up Colin Baker from the airport and drive him to the Convention centre and spoke very highly of him.

    Cheers

    Janette

     

    #73395
    nerys @nerys

    @janetteb I have read mentions of Merlin, also starring Colin Morgan (the actor who played Jethro in “Midnight”). I haven’t seen it, so I can’t comment one way or the other. I love your memories of Northern Ireland, though it saddens me that they are tinged with the threat of violence. It’s heartbreaking what that meant for so many people … including your friend.

    @blenkinsopthebrave One of the reasons I love “Midnight” so much is because, for me, it distills the Doctor’s character to his essence and pits him against a foe who is both mysterious and one we can sympathize with. And yet the threat to our Doctor felt very real to me. The episode played out more like a stage play than television. The fantastic ensemble cast knocked it out of the park, IMO. And yes, it really does feel like a Twilight Zone episode.

    #73396
    winston @winston

    @nerys  @blenkinsopthebrave   Midnight is an intense episode that is like the Twilight Zone . I can almost hear the opening narration and the do-do music.We never know what exactly is happening or who is causing it and we never know why. Watching the small group of random tourists become so scared they turn into potential murderers is chilling. Two innocent women die , one heroically the other a victim of the unseen being. Lost forever ………….in the Twilight Zone.

    stay safe

     

    #73397
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @nerys  @winston  @blenkinsopthebrave    Midnight was one of RTD’s best-written episodes, I think.   It was actually a bottle episode  (I checked to see I’d got the terminology right and, surprise,  Wikipedia lists it as an example of that  🙂     but all the more intense for that.   Scared people turning on each other is always frightening.   The stewardess, who initially was a hostile figure, saved the day in the end.    And, nobody even knew her name.   Very effective.

    And the monster was all the scarier for being unseen.   A bit like the noises in the base at the end of the universe in ‘Listen’.   RTD and Moff both know that the unseen is very hard to beat for scariness.

    Back to Midnight – I tend to pair it mentally with Blink – both were self-contained, standalone episodes that didn’t interact with the main narrative of the series, both were among their writers’ best stories.

    #73400
    Missy @missy

    @nerys

    Loved Merlin. I have the box set.

    Missy

     

     

    #73427
    nerys @nerys

    @dentarthurdent Midnight was one of RTD’s best-written episodes, I think.

    I am so glad you corrected me on this! For lo these many years, I have mistakenly thought that “Midnight” was written by Steven Moffat (possibly because I confused it with “Blink”). Bravo to Russell T Davies!

    #73457
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    Mrs Blenkinsop and I were walking around the neighbourhood on the weekend and, in one of the many little book libraries that adorn the fence of a number of houses around here, she found  pristine copy of The Doctor Who Technical Manual published in 1983. It gave instructions on how to build your own Tardis, Dalek, Davros, etc. Also in it was reference to what came to be known as the Whomobile. It was only in, I believe, two Pertwee stories. I saw a lot of Pertwee stories back in the day, but I do not recall seeing it.

     

     

    #73459
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @blenkinsopthebrave   That was pleasantly serendipitous.   Re the Whomobile, I thought that was a reference to Bessie, his old vintage car, but obviously not.   (And howcome I instantly remembered Bessie’s name when I haven’t seen any Three episodes for 40+ years?   Was there ever a more useless factoid than that?   My brain’s memory banks must be like an old rubbish tip, and about as much use for practical purposes.   Sherlock famously thought he could control his, I certainly can’t control mine).

    That was an entertaining clip from Pertwee, though I don’t recall ever seeing the Whomobile.   It looks quite floppy and unstable as a vehicle, though it’s so low to the ground I think it would skid rather than fall over.

    In other news, I just finally watched the first episode of Series 13  Flux (and posted my impressions in that forum).   Well, there was a lot of stuff to digest, not all connected though presumably that will happen later.   Chibbers had everything cranked up to 10.

    #73462
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    @dentauthurdent you’re right the whomobile was a different vehicle. It was a futuristic looking triangular “hovercraft’” type single or two  person vehicle as I remember, I think they used it in a couple of stories though his “Bessie” souped up vintage car was Pertweedocs main non Tardis transport. Just as a point of interest I seem to remember they also used a micro helicopter similar to the one used in the Bond film “You only live twice “. You have to remember the early Pertwee era was when they experimented with making Dr Who more “Bondesque” it’s also when they introduced the Doctor using Venusian Karate and I think it was also (though not entirely sure) when the sonic screwdriver was introduced. As I said this was the era when they attempted to make the show more action and gadget oriented.

    #73468
    Rewvian @rewvian

    @blenkinsopthebrave I had never heard of the Whomobile, and it’s one of those things I’m kind of glad didn’t stick, lol.  I guess every fandom has some short-lived thing like that though.  At least the cool stuff caught on, like the sonic screwdriver.

    @devilishrobby I guess we have James Bond to thank for some of the more experimental improvements to Doctor Who!

    #73469
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @rewvian    Well, the show has never been more action and gadget oriented than it is right now (I just watched Ep 2 of Srs 13 Flux).   Non-stop action, explosions everywhere, and the Sonic Screwdriver Roolz!    I think we’re about back to Star Wars level (and I don’t mean that as a compliment).  There’s even a Wookie.    The CGI’s good though.

     

    #73472
    syzygy @thane16

    Hallooo everyone!
    yes, us too: sad about Bernard Cribbins dying…(belated).

    @winston indeed, I also found the ep Rose a brilliant introduction to NuWho/After Gap.

    Neither did I have any idea the 9th Doctor was to regenerate into TenDoc.

    speaking of Tennant, I don’t think ABC Aus receives the TV shows from The BBC in quick time anymore but The Inside Man by Moffat looks interesting. Has anyone managed a look yet?
    A lot of Forum pages have disappeared into a ball of timey whimey 😉 so I’ve missed some messages & posts.

    all our love, Thane & Puro. 😀

    #73474
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    Have a correction to make I stated in my earlier post that I had thought that the sonic screwdriver had been introduced by the Pertweedoc  but I was in error, though I wasn’t entirely sure when I said it. It was actually introduced in the TroughtonDoc story Terror from the Deep apparently, finally got around to googling it as it was nagging at me.

    #73483
    winston @winston

    @thane16   Hey!  I hope everything is good for you and the family. We have been busy here getting all the fruit and veg harvested and jam and  jellied, pickled and preserved, frozen and dried and stored away for the long dark of winter. Although I love gardening and all the work that goes with it I am so happy when winter does  come. Almost 4 whole months of being inside doing things like crocheting while watching Who and painting while watching Who and well you get the picture.Lots of time to catch up on all the other shows I want to watch too. Maybe I will find The Inside Man at my library.

    You will be having spring now and I hope the weather is good to you. Not too hot, not too cold but just right. Say hi to “the boy” for me.

    Stay safe

     

    #73495
    janetteB @janetteb

    @thane16 Lovely to hear from you, (both) Big waves from way down south, (and quite a big west) Hope you are not being flooded. The east coast is really suffering. We are just getting moderate rain, which is very welcome, though the farmers will start complaining if it doesn’t dry up soon in time for harvest.

    @winston the idea of a winter where one stays inside keeping warm and doing indoor things sounds lovely. Winter here is when the garden requires most attention, weeding, pruning, preparing for spring planting. Unfortunately these days my gardening time is most taken up with editing a gardening podcast. I am learning about all the things which I should be doing but don’t have time to do.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #73503
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @janetteb    I thought Rose was a bit harsh towards Mickey, too.   But on the other hand, Rose was  blonde, as photogenic as all get-out, had a bubbly personality, and Mickey was – a bit of a drip.   I never found Rose irritating myself.   But then, as I say, she was young and blonde   🙂

    In other news – we usually get the weather after you guys have finished with it.
    But we had the mildest winter ever, but then just a week ago, courtesy of El Nino or La Nina or summat, we got a blast of cold air direct from Antarctica, covered South Island and even Wellington in snow, coldest October day ever recorded. Lasted two days and by the following day I was back walking along the beach in beautiful calm warm weather again. Our weather is truly going bananas.

    Back to Who – I’m half way through the Flux episodes. Lots going on, almost too much. Every villain except maybe the Silents (and I wouldn’t be surprised if they appeared at some point).   I have to say the Weeping Angels were very good, Chibbers’ best story yet (and I assume we have to credit his co-writer equally for that).   I had dreaded what Chibbers might do to the Moff’s most iconic monster, but I’m quite pleased with the way it worked out. Claire having an angel ‘in her head’ is new. The stuff about the Doctor having worked for Division is typical Chibbers.

    I’ve just finished the third season of ‘Sherlock’. Wow, the Moff in full steam. ‘His Last Vow’ – I had not expected Sherlock to shoot Mandelson or Murdoch (we wish!) or Milverton or whatever his name was, in cold blood, in front of police witnesses. That is something TV heroes just do not do. But Sherlock is borderline psychopathic. Memo to arch-villains – if you have blackmail dirt on everybody in power, and your safety depends on them all being intimidated by that fact, do not reveal to someone as coldly logical, loyal yet ruthless, as Sherlock, that the entire ‘filing system’ is in your head with no copies anywhere.   Especially when you are hated by everybody of power and influence so that nobody is going to want to avenge your convenient death.

    #73504
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @janetteb – oops, that first para was in response to your post #50 in this forum (last one on the first page).   In case you were wondering where ‘Rose’ came from.   This site has a peculiarity, that if I read the last comment, scroll up to log in to reply, it resets itself to Page 1.   So I read your old comment, 1017 posts ago,  about Rose and Mickey right before I posted.

    Sorry about that   🙂

    #73505
    janetteB @janetteb

    @dentarthurdent it is an artifact of this website, when threads get to long they tend to jump back to page one. IT has confused me many a time. Always fun to read back over old comments though.

    We have had a really cold, wet winter which has dragged into spring. This is unusual weather for SA. humid and wet though thankfully we tend to be on the edge of the rain depressions so don’t get the extremes that the eastern states are suffering. It is just too dismal for holidays or picnics and we are getting a little grumpy because we have not got away now for almost a year.

    Cheers

    Janette

     

    #73506
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @janetteb    Our winter was the exact opposite of yours.   The weather does seem to be getting more erratic.   But anyway, I hope your weather improves for the spring.

    #73547
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    In the way of general rambling – it’s dawned on me that, with the end of the Flux series, I’ve finally reached the end of the long trek through nuWho that I started many months ago.   (OK there are a couple of specials still to go, but essentially this is the end of the line.  Until RTD gets going).   Makes me feel sort of lost, at a loose end.   What to watch next?    I did just try the first ten minutes of Game of Thrones (which I have never previously seen) but I found it too grim and humourless.   My idea of mediaeval is the Doctor riding into the arena on a tank.    🙂

    I could re-watch Torchwood, or at least the first 3 seasons  (maybe not the two final seasons, well, did I mention I found Game of Thrones too grim?)

    Battlestar Galactica, maybe, now that’s quite a saga.   (The ‘reimagining’ from 2004, not the original)   It had its moments, though I found the most interesting and sympathetic characters all turned out to be Cylon ‘skin jobs’.

    cr

     

    #73551
    Krathoon @krathoon

    Finally, we get the new special this weekend with Ace and Tegan. Lately, I have been watching the seventh Doctor from the beginning. Currently on Remembrance of the Daleks.

    #73554
    janetteB @janetteb

    @dentarthurdent. Did you watch Babylon five? It is certainly divisive. A lot of people just didn’t warm to it but those who got through season one or skipped season one and started watching season two, (like me) are devoted fans. It has plenty of humour too, great characters, now antique CGI some very wobbly scipts and acting but once it gets into its stride with a fantastic arc it is great. We are currently rewatching. We tend to alternate, B.5, Dr Who.

    @krathoon I never got through Remembrance of the Daleks. I do enjoy the later seventh Doctor stories and am looking forward to seeing Ace again. Such a fun companion though I have reservations about Chibnell’s story telling.

    cheers

    Janette

     

    #73556
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @janetteb    I’ll take note of that, see if I can pick up a copy of B5 (maybe Season 2?) to dip into.

    #73600
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    Well, I decided (in amongst other things) to go back and re-watch from Eleventh Hour again. Because the Moff’s writing is just so enjoyable.
    So I watched that yesterday and it was. Good I mean.

    Watched The Beast Below today, I remember that as a fairly mediocre ep, but actually it’s darn good too. Sophie Okonedo was great as Liz 10 (only other thing I’ve seen her in was Aeon Flux, the movie – actually a movie I really like, with great production design – I believe it got some flak from fans upset that it was nothing like the cartoon series, which is understandable but in no way reflects on its quality as a SF movie). Back to The Beast Below, it offered a classic moral dilemma, both for Liz 10 and her government, and the Doctor. And there were things that Liz’s advisors weren’t telling her – for her own good? Things that she herself had decided she shouldn’t know about. I found this fascinating.

    #73637
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    And I just watched Victory of the Daleks. Can’t find a separate thread for it so I’ll just post my odd impressions here.

    Um, the flight of Stukas that was shot down by the Dalek – I’m not sure that Ju87 Stukas ever attacked London. They were more suited to pinpoint dive-bombing attacks on shipping and the like, over the Channel and South Coast ports, with their slow speed a daylight attack on London would have been suicidal, even if their limited range had permitted it. He111’s or Ju88’s were much more likely to have been used against London.

    “You will help the Allied cause” (Bracewell to a Dalek) – did the “Allies” exist as such before the USA entered the war in December 1941? By that time the London Blitz was over and the Battle of Britain long since over.

    But Amy not remembering the Dalek invasion is, maybe, the first sign that there’s something seriously odd about Amy’s existence. This episode was written by Mark Gatiss but that bit was pure Moffatt.

    ‘Churchill’ is too fat to be convincing, but I guess he was the closest they could get.

    It appears Bracewell was the first Dalek ‘skin job’? I think the next one was Darla, in Asylum of the Daleks? And then Tasha, of the Papal Mainframe, in The Time of the Doctor. And then Bors in The Magician’s Apprentice. Can’t think of any others off the top of my head. I don’t know if there were any in OldWho.

    The new technicolour Daleks are just too pretty (in colours, not shape) to be threatening.

    It would appear that the Dalek mothership has moved from its original location behind the Moon, to Earth orbit. Does this make the attack by the souped-up Spitfires any more feasible? Not much, but I guess every little helps. What is more of a problem is that Bracewell has manufactured and equipped several Spitfires with his alien upgrade in the space of ten minutes. How is this logistically possible? This puts in the shade the minor improbabilities of how 20mm Hispano cannon or .303 Brownings could have any significant effect on a Dalek mothership, or how the Spitfires’ engines are audibly running in a vacuum, etc etc…

    OK, that’s just me being geeky. Involving Churchill, and Spitfires, and recent history, is on risky ground for me because I’m likely to say “no, it didn’t work like that”. Much though I’m nitpicking, I did find the episode reasonably entertaining. Amy is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

    #73639
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    Just reading that Disney has announced that it is increasing the budget of Who dramatically as part of the new deal with the BBC. I think this is a sad omen for the future of the show. As I said on another forum:

    When Tom Baker held two pieces of wire and agonized over potentially wiping out the entire race of Daleks, did he need a gargantuan budget to make the point? Of course not. Given the choice between planet-exploding special effects and wobbly Zarbi, I vote for the Zarbi.

     

    #73640
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    @blenkinsopthebrave

    Yes, but have you ever watched Disney Plus?

    My experience with the Marvel shows is that while they have indeed given them a whacking great budget (for TV) their influence is mainly concerned with which characters to introduce from the comics, possible spin offs and which actors and directors to approach once they’ve decided on characters and series. Once they’ve greenlit, the artistic decisions are left to the director and show runner.

    Given the Marvel experience I can see why Bad Wolf and the BBC think Disney is safe. If they’re told ‘Doctor Who needs to have a largely British cast’, they’re going to look at British actors, just like they agreed that Ms Marvel needed a largely South Asian heritage cast and show runner. They like PG 12 anyway, so ‘family friendly’ and ‘no guns’ won’t be a problem. Likewise, they’re very unlikely to ask to move production from the UK because they have productions in the UK right now.

    I know we all have horror flashbacks to The Movie That Shall Not Be Mentioned, but I think it’s unlikely we’ll suddenly discover the Doctor is half human and seems to be visiting San Francisco a lot. 🙂

    #73641
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @bluesqueakpip

    I suspect we are talking about slightly different things. I accept that the artistic decisions will be left to the director and show-runner. I suppose I am invoking a “corrupting influence of money” argument. I am a bit concerned that when there is enough money on offer to visualize black holes and exploding…well, anything really (cars, cities, all carbon-based life) then there is a temptation to tell stories that allow you to do just that. Will that opportunity impact on the decision to tell smaller, more intimate stories like Vincent and the Doctor?

    If Disney budgets can still allow for the equivalent of Tom Baker holding two pieces of wire, that’s great. I hope it could work that way, but I remain sceptical.

     

    #73645
    Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip

    @blenkinsopthebrave

    I think there’s a difference between ‘we can afford to blow stuff up’ and ‘we can afford more than six episodes’. At the moment, the BBC are struggling to finance six, or maybe three specials every eighteen months.

    Yeah, Disney are quite happy with the type of show where two moons collide one week and then a few weeks later we have three people in a citadel at the end of time discussing whether a deterministic universe with no major wars is preferable to a free-will universe with a multiverse destroying war.

    There was, obviously, a fight scene. As one of the actors said, that’s the genre. But then, Tom Baker had Daleks because that’s the genre. But they can definitely cope with ‘three people talk for most of the episode’, even if they do wave lots of budget at them.

    #73653
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @blenkinsopthebrave and @bluesqueakpip

    I’m with Pip on this one. While there are crash-bang-wallop shows on Disney+, the general trend, as far as I can see, has been for character and plot driven series. WandaVision, Obi-Wan Kenobi and especially Loki (which is so timey-wimey that you’d swear that Moffat had had a hand in it) have all looked great but have all been driven by the writing. Assuming that doesn’t change anytime soon, (and I can’t see why it would while RTD is at the helm) then I can’t see Disney’s involvement being a cause for concern, rather one for quiet optimism because, as Pip says, it more than likely means a steadier stream of new episodes.

    #73673
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    If I may sidetrack (I think this is the forum?) – I picked up a copy of I Robot (Will Smith 2004) at the charity shop and just now watched it. I wasn’t expecting much but it was actually surprisingly good. It had a murder mystery and a plot even I could follow, the CGI / special effects and the worldbuilding were extremely good, and the story was kept tight to the few leading characters which helped to focus my attention. So it goes into my DVD collection.

    Contrast that with Van Helsing which I watched last week, which has *everything* – Frankenstein and monster, Dracula and brides, vampires, a rapid-fire repeating crossbow, a ginormous CGI castle, all in a huge mish-mash and it was hard to feel anything for the characters.

    Anyway, must get back to Who, Rewvian just overtook me as I expected 🙂

    #73749
    Oochillyo @oochillyo

    hey everyone 🙂 how are you all 🙂

    I was just thinking with the trailer we have for the 2023 specials 🙂 and the returning Classic villains we had in the 2nd special episode 🙂 is this Classic return pattern good or bad for the show or a mix ?

    Is it like a sugar rush – it’s fun at first but too much too soon is bad.

    I always hear people say there’s too many references to Classic Who and nearly every time an old enemy is brought back into New Who they lack the bite they used to have, I hear many say the show leans too far into its past with references and so on, when driving a car a steady wheel is better than one leaning too far in one direction for too long, a lot of fans seem worn down with soo many references and Classic returns its always who’s gonna be ruined next time their back.

    I don’t know what’s best for the fans and the show, a lot of us have access to Classic Who so it’s nice to see the contrast and at least of the original versions and stories, when these people or aliens are brought back we want the best out of them, I do enjoy when Classic aliens return and it sort of links the two shows with connective tissue.

    I understand the fear of messing it up cause soo often its true, a legacy villain is ruined or not used enough like the Great Intelligence or the Zygons so after the returning villain special we had and are yet to have 🙂

    My ultimate question – is it harming the show to fill it with all these classic elements and references over and over again, maybe a break would be good and to reenforce the show with some new creations and moments that become the new golden apples to pick from, would a hypothetical goal of filling New Who with everyone and every creature from Classic be good or bad ?

    I don’t want to be too specific cause I’m on the Sofa, take a look at this website I love returning to it from time to time 🙂 it’s really good as it shows in order the main characters,  people and aliens that have been in the show starting from Classic to fairly recent, you can work out the aliens ect that are yet to show up to the latest party, who would you invite and how, like proper roles or little cameos maybe an overarching part of a series.

    Monsters and Aliens – Characters – The Doctor Who Site

    Do you enjoy classic returns and references, is there a balance the Show hasn’t reached between Classic and New ?

    Time’s change so must Who too ?

    Take care everyone 🙂

    Regards – Declan Sargent

     

    #73751
    nerys @nerys

    @oochillyo Declan Sargent, I think Doctor Who has painted itself into a corner. The first post-gap season did a good job of walking that fine line between introducing new aliens and bringing back the old ones. Then it seemed that we got caught in ever-increasing levels of fan service to make sure that every season had the old favorites … to the point where my husband, who is younger but has been a Doctor Who fan far longer than I, muttered, “Oh, great, another flippin’ Dalek episode!”

    On the other hand, I like it when they are creative with the old villains. One of my favorite episodes is “Asylum of the Daleks” because of the imagination they used to present a Dalek in a more sympathetic way.

    So I am of two minds. We can see what happened with Chris Chibnall’s attempt to try something new. And how soon we forget that there was criticism of Steven Moffat’s ideas for new aliens, with some complaining that they weren’t menacing enough.

    And yet I, too, will often sigh and say, “Oh, great, another flippin’ Dalek episode!”

    #73752
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    @nerys I have to agree to a large extent about your comment about the overuse of what has been called legacy villains like the daleks  especially in the last few years I kept thinking especially for the Xmas/new year specials I think almost all were Dalek stories we had at least 3 specials on the trot that were Dalek centred. In part I think this has been  driven by classic fans wanting traditional style  who stories and part a lack of imagination by the writers in producing new foes that are liked by the viewers. Also to be fair Doctor Who  even in the Classic era has  always gone back to classic foes like the Daleks and the Cybermen time and again, I think most seasons have contained at least one story containing at least one of the legacy villains.

    #73761
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @nerys @devilishrobby Of course the Daleks are *the* canonical Doctor Who villains, instantly recognisable. But for me, the scariest aliens are definitely the Weeping Angels, closely followed by the Silents.
    Asylum of the Daleks is one of my favourite episodes, simply because it’s so inventive. The Dalek parliament saying “Save us, Doctor” – that’s a new one. And Darla, the first ever Dalek ‘skin job’ I think. And the Moff manages to produce such casually chilling dialogue like – DOCTOR: You had a daughter.
    DARLA: I know. I’ve read my file.
    And of course, Oswin Oswald, souffle girl. The Moff kept giving us clues that all might not be well with her (like, where does she get the milk?) but it was still a complete surprise to me when it was revealed she had been converted. Well, maybe not totally a surprise, I had an undercurrent of suspicion at the back of my mind, but it was like a perception filter or a somebody-else’s-problem field, she was such a brilliant character my mind didn’t want to entertain the possibility that she hadn’t survived.
    And the nice touch that Oswin erased the Doctor from the Daleks’ memory banks, so when the Doctor teleported back into their Parliament the Daleks didn’t know to shoot him and were reduced to chanting ‘Doctor Who?’
    Forgive me rabbiting on, but that’s definitely in my top ten list.

    #73763
    Oochillyo @oochillyo

    hey everyone 🙂 how are you all 🙂

    I guess this would have been better for Halloween but just thought of it now ha 🙂

    I was on the Loo thinking of Doctor Who as you do ha 🙂 and thinking of the spin off’s like K9 and Company which lead me to Sarah Jane Adventures and thinking how unnerving the theme tune for that was as a kid especially with episodes like The Eternity Trap which was really creepy with the mansion ect and Eye of the Gorgon and thinking whats unnerving in Who or expanded media of Who that we dont think of cause it’s the show but in real life or a different context like a true horror film would be spin chilling stripped from a family friendly perspective 🙂

    So here are 3 and a half examples that I’ve heard small mentions of and one I thought of 🙂

    1 – Slitheen strip people’s insides to wear as the suit, but there are Slitheen children suits so its implied in the show that sometimes kids don’t escape and aren’t safe from the Monsters, we see two child suits in Sarah Jane Adventures with Korst who pretended to be Carl and Nathan.

    2. Cybermen feel pain – I heard recently not sure if this is right or not but they say Cybermen do feel pain all the time, it’s just the emotional inhibitor stopping them from registering it so maybe it’s even worse to be a Cybermen.

    3 – Sontaran’s and their potato bodies – I heard this once but I don’t know where from that ages ago before the cloning process they were still fighting the Rutans (I believe) and their electric powers were very deadly to Sontaran’s, losing the war and maybe on the verge of extinction they started the cloning process and for some reason not sure why they started to remove their internal organs like lungs ect to clone quicker maybe or be less effected by the Rutans which is why Sontaran’s have the probic vents to breath.

    I think the suit is a life support system for them, who knows if they even have much of their lower body left like Davros, we see their hands and the shape of legs but we dont know for sure what’s below the neck line and what’s left.

    Side note its strange then if this is a life support system that Strax can wear suits like a dinner suit ect and still be fine and breath ect

    Perhaps the Doctor fixed him when he brought him back unless he has the armor underneath the dinner costume I have forgotten if this is the case also why would they need the X Ray device if they are clones with no organs and bones ect, maybe it developed with the position of nurses 🙂

    The side note – Weeping Angles in order to survive inadvertently become the loneliest creatures in the Universe, wow that’s a horrible realisation, survival of the loneliest not relying or being tricked by someone and I guess team work generally went out the bin, its fortunate they can communicate with each other or it would be very sad indeed, their greatest strength made them the loneliest creatures in the Universe and I would be soo upset if something like this occurred to me if in order to survive I had to be alone.

    I think it’s amazing how two of the oldest species/civilizations in the Doctor Who universe being the Time Lords and the Weeping angles set themselves away from others or be cursed with loneliness, the none interference policy and turning to stone respectively, and who is the loneliest Time Lord now – The Doctor who is the best survivor of all and the loneliest.

    Its not like many films ect where the hero is isolated even in certain films where they hero doesn’t want to be surrounded by anyone ect by the end they learn to let others in ect but in Doctor Who our hero is plagued with another curse, metaphorically the curse of the TimeLords this loneliest path of survival, everyone around him ages and decays and he is alone, as Madame De Pompadour once said the lonely God as well as lonely then and lonely now it’s always just him and the Tardis in the end as Amy once said.

    Maybe that’s why we attach to the Doctor soo much we don’t like to be alone and see him alone deep in our hearts I don’t know maybe bit silly since we love the show and The Doctor for better reasons like they are awesome and escapisms ect but the character of the Doctor maybe that’s a key element but sad one too to think about.

    So these are the things you may think twice about somedays that are unsettling.

    Despite the sad thoughts please:

    Stay Positive everyone 🙂 take care hugs 🙂

    Regards – Declan Sargent

    #73766
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    Mrs Blenkinsop and I were just reflecting on what Jodie Whittaker episodes we would really want to watch again. And the sad answer is we could not think of any.

    Capaldi, Smith, Tennant…lots.

    Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Tom Baker…masses of them.

    Davidson, Colin Baker, McCoy, McGann…well, probably only “The Five-ish Doctors”.

     

     

    #73767
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    Well, I agree on Capaldi, Smith and Tennant. And I’d add a couple of Eccleston’s.

    Jodie Whittaker – um, Spyfall. Fugitive of the Judoon. Village of the Angels. Eve of the Daleks. Those are the ones I would repeat on a watch-through. But if I were just picking a single episode to re-watch, I don’t think any of them would come to mind. Maybe Eve of the Daleks.

    But none of them inspire the joy or emotions I get from watching Blink, or Asylum of the Daleks, or Day of the Doctor, or Hell Bent, or Listen, or The Girl Who Waited, or The Doctor’s Wife, or Magician’s Apprentice/Witch’s Familiar, or Zygon Invasion/Inversion, or Last Christmas, or… I think that’s enough.

    #73771
    winston @winston

    @blenkinsopthebrave  Sadly I agree about the 13th Doctor’s episodes but since I have them all except the last few specials I will watch them all again. I found Capaldi a little jarring at first but the more I watched him the more I understood “his” Doctor and learned to love the 12th. I am hoping the same happens on re-watching 13s era.

    I always liked  Whittakers performance but not always everything going on around her. I am determined to understand “her” Doctor .

    stay safe

    #73772
    syzygy @thane16

    Hey @winston

    agreed. I’ll benefit from a re-watch. I found the final episode (or film) a real tear jerker which is usually my litmus test for success.

    hellooo to all…

    #73773
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @thane16 (welcome back, old friend) and @winston

    Like you, I would probably agree (now that I give it more thought) that the final Whittaker special deserves a rewatch. Funny, the appearance of Tennant in a story with Whittaker evoked a memory of Broadchurch. A pity Chibnall didn’t manage to squeeze Olivia Colman in as well.

    (Well, on reflection, perhaps not.)

     

    #73778
    winston @winston

    Happy 59th Birthday Doctor Who!

    #73794
    syzygy @thane16

    Yes, the cast of the final Chibnall set of Who episodes was star studded -any more & it may’ve been unwieldy. Tegan & Ace weren’t characters I knew particularly well so I did  research & watched a few excerpts & scenes. It gave a nice boost to do that on Who’s 59th birthday.
    – speaking of Olivia Coleman, I was watching The Crown with Thane who was/remains deplorably uneducated about certain aspects of British history. He had the barest knowledge of the IRA, for example; post war rationing & the events surrounding Mountbatten. Mat Smith did a great job as Prince Philip….

    #73805
    nerys @nerys

    We’ve been watching Avenue 5, an HBO series, and also Mr. Inbetween, a dark comedy out of Australia. Scott Ryan is remarkable in the lead role. And, for a bit of lighter viewing, we are watching Yes Minister, if you can believe it. Rewatching, actually. My husband was a fan back from before we met, and so after we got together I started watching it with him. I’m pretty sure PBS was carrying it at the time. It’s amazing how much of the satire still holds up today! But it’s also a little sad to realize that all of the actors in the original main cast have passed on.

    #73806
    nerys @nerys

    Like so many other folks, I’m feeling sad over the passing of Christine McVie.

    Her music had such an earthy warmth. Always relatable, never pretentious, yet brilliantly written. I love her soulful voice and bluesy piano playing. She really grounded the band. When she left for a while, I missed her. Say You Will was a brilliant album, really Buckingham Nicks Redux. But, without Christine McVie’s songs unifying the two extremes of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, the album lacked coherence. I was so happy when she rejoined the band. I don’t think there were any new Fleetwood Mac studio albums, though she did record an album with Lindsey Buckingham that, as I recall, paved the way for her re-entry into Fleetwood Mac.

    Such a sad loss for her family, friends, bandmates and all who knew and loved her. At least we will always have her music.

    #73807
    winston @winston

    @nerys     We watched Avenue 5 and liked it. I only watched the 1st series and I don’t know if there is any more. Will have to Google it. I have not heard about the other series and will have to Google it too.

    We watched the 2nd series of Picard which we both liked and I watched all of the Umbrella Academy. For fun I saw the latest series of Taskmaster and Qi. In between I am starting my Who Christmas , next stop The Runaway Bride.

    I recently saw an old Ed Sullivan Christmas compilation show and almost everyone is now gone.It was a sad nostalgia.

    It is very sad about Christine she was a great performer.

    Stay safe

    #73809
    janetteB @janetteb

    @nerys and @winston I watched series 1 of Avenue 5 and found it to be hit and miss, but I still enjoyed it and look forward to watching series 2 (which has just come out, I don’t know on what platform) I have not heard of the Australian series either. (much to my shame.) Will look for it.

    We have yet to watch series 2 of Picard. A couple of months ago the s/o suggested a re watch of B.5 one night when I was feeling really burnt out and it was just what I needed at the time but of course we were not able to stop at one episode so are now working through series 4 while the list of shows we have to watch keeps growing. Have not had much time for tv watching in the last month. Likewise I have not yet started on my seasonal tv viewing. The last month has been incredibly busy for me, (hence my lack of comments here) culminating in a quiz night last night, which went well despite some organisational hiccups. (we were unable to get into the venue to complete set up and the person with the pass code arrived later than promised so there was a bit of chaos to begin with but our quiz masters are wonderful and made it fun for everyone.)

    Cheers

    Janette

     

     

     

     

    #73811
    nerys @nerys

    @winston and @janetteb The second season of Avenue 5 is also a bit uneven, yet I find more to like than dislike about it. If you should find Mr. Inbetween and decide to watch it, be forewarned that it has a lot of violence. If that’s not your cuppa, then you might want to pass.

    Picard … what can I say? I loved the first season, but was greatly disappointed by the second. It was like watching a completely different series: Same characters, but lacking the narrative deftness of the first season. Why they changed the theme music is completely beyond me. They went from something quite memorable to a sort of overly dramatic mishmash … which, in a way, describes my impressions of the story arc, itself. I’m glad that other people enjoyed it. But for me, as the second season went on, it felt like obligatory viewing, not something I looked forward to.

    I gather a third season is in the works, so I am hopeful for something I will enjoy.

    #73812
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @nerys, @janetteb

    I, too, loved the first  season of Picard, but gave up on the 2nd season after a couple of episodes. I thought it was a travesty. Having seen the trailer for season 3, my expectations are low. A real pity.

     

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