Spoilers (4)

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

Since this seems to be the current discussion area – I just re-watched Asylum of the Daleks. Brilliant episode, the perfect start for Season 7. (I posted some impressions in the forum for that ep).

Outside – 6pm – the winds are starting to pick up. Though not much rain as yet. Going to be an interesting night.

[janetteB @janetteb]

@dentarthurdent. All the best. Thinking of you and Mrs Dentarthurdent and sending well wishes across the water. (straight?) Too long since I did high school geography.

Meanwhile will enjoy reading the review

Cheers

Janette

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

Many thanks @janetteb
I think the water you’re sending well wishes across (much appreciated) is the Tasman Sea. Though I will be crossing Cook Strait in about 10 days (assuming all transport has resumed working normally by then) to rejoin Mrs D, who is still at our daughter’s place in Christchurch. So it’s just me here. I’ve let our next-door neighbours know we’ve got spare room if the stream floods, but it probably won’t get that high.

[janetteB @janetteb]

Just read the posts on the previous page, which I missed.

re having too many companions. I think the problem comes down once again to the writing, though I would be loath to say that the scrip writers of the first ever episodes were any better than Chibnell, because they probably weren’t they made having three companions work. Perhaps it was due to the deft touch of Verity Lambert at the helm and skilled directing of Warris Hussien but that combination of Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Susan/Vicky worked very well. Ian and Barbara were excellent companions though. I don’t think the combination of Doctor and three companions however has ever worked since. It certainly didn’t with Davison but that was a low point script wise and I don’t think he really ever had the authority required to carry it off.

The combination of authority figure, in this case human, and three young companions worked very well in Sarah Jane Adventures. Though the stories themselves were not great the dynamic of the characters made it very watchable. Sarah Jane/Elizabeth Sladden had the authority to carry it off. This is why I felt that having an older male companion in some way diminished the authority of the Doctor. IT should not be that way but due to conventions that most of us at least have grown up with, it just felt wrong to me.  I might well be misremembering about Graham telling the Doctor what to do, it felt that way maybe just because of my cultural background. All the companions in SJA were young and that made her the clear lead in the group as the more experienced person though they were able to bring skills and a fresh point of view that contributed to the dynamic.

As with every series there were good episodes through the Chibnell years and some bad ones but there was something missing that made the bad ones (mostly) re watchable and the good ones really stand out. Incidentally I would say the same of the Davison years.

cheers

Janette

(hope you are holding out over there on the North Island.)

[janetteB @janetteb]

Oh and I forgot to mention that there is a discussion thread on Local Hero in the Film section. It is a delightful film, one i re watch fairly regularly.

Cheers

Janette

[syzygy @thane16]

Mum and I are looking at some doctor who @dentarthurdent. You’re probably too busy to check in with us, but as mum would say we’re reporting in just to see you’re OK.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@thane16 @janetteb Thanks for your interest. Actually I’m just about to crash, it’s 3a.m. (This is not unusual for me, since I’m retired, the hours I keep are – unconventional 🙂 So far, touch wood, we’ve had moderately strong wind (but nothing exceptional) and moderately heavy rain (but nothing remotely like what we had two weeks ago). So far so good…

[janetteB @janetteb]

@dentarthurdent Glad to hear all is well. Hopefully will continue to be so.

It is one am here. Like you, since the s/o retired we have been keeping unconventional hours. I find nights to be the best time for writing, less disturbances.

Cheers

Janette

 

[nerys @nerys]

@dentarthurdent Glad to hear that you’re making out OK with the storm!

You mentioned the Weeping Angels episode in the Flux story arc. That’s what I meant earlier about feeling like I was being set up for something good, only to have the payoff fall completely flat. You are absolutely right about that being a good episode. I like your assessment of Chibnall being “carried away so often by a temptation to turn it up to 11.” That’s my impression, as well. I guess the question is, was that his inclination, or was he being pressured by others to do that? Dunno.

I think Jodie Whittaker has the capability of portaying the Doctor with more depth. I’ve seen her do it in other roles. So I have always attributed the character traits she deployed as overcompensating for lack of depth in the writing. But, again … dunno.

And, “Asylum of the Daleks” is one of my all-time favourite episodes!

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

Hi all, well, briefly, Cyclone Gabrielle was a bit of an anticlimax, at least right here. Lots of strong wind (damaged Mrs D’s dahlias), lots of steady heavy rain (but nothing insane like two weeks ago). So, just a big storm. I’ve got to go do ‘airport taxi’ (some flights haven’t been cancelled), love to talk about Who in a couple of hours when I get back.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

(Much later) Well, Gabrielle hasn’t done much around my house, though plenty of damage all round North Island. But it wasn’t going to let me off unscathed, I was checking the radiator (car was overheating) in an airport car park and Gabrielle slammed the bonnet down on my head. I was lucky, the bonnet catch skated off my skull and just made a 3-centimetre furrow in my scalp. Lots of blood, I looked like a killer vampire zombie 🙂

Back to Who – @janetteb, I don’t think Graham ever ‘told’ Whitdoc what to do, he may have offered advice on occasion, I really can’t remember. But he was an affable father figure and in that sense, yes, maybe he detracted from the Doctor’s authority. I never saw Sarah Jane Adventures though.

I do recall Smith’s ‘Doctor’ being too young, but he grew into it. Still, Capaldi had a head start in seeming authoritative, albeit slightly alien. I thought he (and the Moff) handled the ‘alien-ness’ very well.

@nerys I’m sure Jodie Whittaker could have made a much more effective Doctor with better direction. Of course her famous decision (apparently encouraged by Chibnall?) to not watch any previous Doctors can’t have helped, how could she possibly know what tone to give the Doctor without that? I’m not talking about canon or imitating earlier Doctors here, just about knowing what the role looked like.

Well, the next episode after Asylum is Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – by Chris Chibnall, of course. (And with respect, janetteb, if you thought Graham advising Whitdoc was bad, how did having Nefertiti meekly run off with the bigmouth he-man Great White Hunter grab you? 🙂 Myself, I didn’t like that one little bit. I thought Nefertiti was an excellent character with a lot of potential (well-cast, good actress too) who was woefully under-used.

Shall I watch that or skip straight to the delightful Town Called Mercy? Decisions, decisions…)

[syzygy @thane16]

@dentarthurdent

@dentarthurdent A Killer Zombie! That sounds pretty scary. We’re glad you weren’t ….scathed… well, it still happened but not quite what you were expecting.

Today, we were sleeping and this enormous explosive howl sounded, with a huge racket like the roof blowing off and it was a terrible thunderstorm. In all the years in this house dad was saying we had never experienced such a white-out, with winds, HUGE hail & massive rain so you couldn’t see more than an inch out of the window at one point.

When it cleared so you could see, chairs  were blowing down the street! Someone’s car floated gently past us. It was in slow motion. It’s funny how our brains stopped working. We were staring, slack jawed, not saying a word (though the wind would’ve stopped us hearing anything else) as this chaos swarmed around the house.

Mum thought the roof would blow off and the windows smash, so she closed shutters & curtains (to stop crashing glass) & then we all got ahold of our minds, checked the power, grabbed matches, torches & towels. Once we got organised, it stopped.

I looked on the Apple Weather App for our area, and it said “possible showers.” 😆😆

The empty pond now has at least 8cm in it. Water in torrents continues to flush down our steep driveway, and a friend’s house looked like Catermole’s job at the ministry of magic, where the baddie says to Ron Weasley, “it’s been raining in my officer for 2 days! Fix it.” Mum’s friend couldn’t believe the water pouring through his ceiling onto his new wood floors, furniture and bedding. So, we were lucky. We didn’t even have a car fall on our heads!

I hope you didn’t need stitches. I know how painful and irritating they can be. And
@winston we are wishing you all the best too. @janetteb mum was checking in with you as the heat in S.A. can be pretty awful in February. I was only there in December and it was nice: not like the humidity we have, for instance.

Happy valentines Day, everybody. ❤️❤️❤️

[syzygy @thane16]

@dentarthurdent hope  you didn’t need a young Doctor for your head injury: that would’ve been quite worrying? Head injuries can mean, like you said, a lot of blood. As a matter of fact, we had 2 nasty head injuries at soccer last weekend, and the blood flowed!

[janetteB @janetteb]

@thane16 We have had a remarkably cool summer. Thus far the mercury has only hit 40c once.  I see that QLD is in for some dramatic weather.

@dentarthurdent Hope the head it ok. Cars can be dangerous like that.  I was not a huge fan of the way the Nefertiti was written. She was fun but I found her a little over the top and the end with her going off with he man is weak. There is no real justification within the story for it either. Also the white hunter guy was a superfluous character. He served no real function within the story. I did not hate Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. It introduced Brian. There was some good dialogue which I suspect might have been added in by Moffat. It is a so so episode.

Cheers

Janette

 

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@thane16 Where are you? Brisbane? Your dose of weather sounds more like what Auckland had two weeks ago, at least as far as rain is concerned (though we had very little wind on that occasion). All the damage was done by floods and the saturated ground slipping away. Cyclone Gabrielle yesterday caused far more widespread damage in North Island but in Auckland it was just a pale shadow of two weeks ago. Your storm does sound like one of those isolated freak thunderstorms that sometimes happen, but highly alarming for all that. We (and bear in mind it ‘never’ freezes in Auckland even in winter) once had our entire lawn covered in an inch of white hail. Thunderstorms can do that too.

I have to say, a scalp wound gives the best ‘bang per buck’ in terms of spectacle. Because it bleeds furiously and looks really dramatic, but (so long as your skull is OK) it can’t be deep or dangerous so is pretty minor, and doesn’t even hurt much. At least mine didn’t. And I was focussing OK and not seeing double, so no concussion. But thanks everyone for your concern.

@janetteb I liked Nefertiti, she was a strong character. I didn’t find her over the top myself, but of course viewpoints differ. After all, Amy was a pretty strong character too (remember her line to Madame Kovarian – “River didn’t get it all from you, sweetie”). I agree, there was no reason for her to go off with Riddell. He came across initially as an egotistical wannabe he-man. He never developed enough character to appeal to anybody, least of all a strong determined woman like Nefertiti. There wasn’t time in the story to do all the characters justice, what with introducing Brian as well, maybe with a bit more development Riddell might have worked. But as it was, when I saw Nef and Riddell together at the end, I was mildly disgusted. I would sooner have seen her go off with Brian, unlikely as that might have been.

[nerys @nerys]

@dentarthurdent Oh gosh, your head injury sounds scary! Keep tabs on it. Something that seems minor can develop into something serious.

I didn’t realize that Jodie Whittaker chose not to watch any of her Doctor Who predecessors. I often felt she was channeling David Tennant’s Doctor (which would have made sense, since they worked together in Broadchurch).

@thane16 Your weather sounds wild! I’m glad it was only a spectacle for you, though it sounds like others suffered more than a spectacle.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@nerys That’s the thing about scalp wounds (that is, ones that don’t damage the skull). They’re highly dramatic, lots of blood, but by definition shallow. There’s also possible concussion but, partly because the bonnet catch skated across my head and deflected the blow, I don’t seem to have any. Never saw double or lost focus. But thanks, I will watch out for any bad symptoms.

Jodie Whitaker was going to study Who before her audition but Chibnall advised her not to.
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/jodie-whittaker-i-was-told-not-to-watch-doctor-who-before-my-audition/
Of course that doesn’t preclude her studying it *after* she got the role, but I haven’t seen any suggestion that she did.

Your comment to syzygy could apply to me too – I was lucky enough in both events that our house wasn’t badly affected, I was just a spectator, but a huge number of people have been flooded out or lost houses in slips.

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