The Giggle

[Devilishrobby @devilishrobby]

@ps1l0v3y0u I agree bringing Tenents 10 back as 14 was I think a situation extingency Jodie had left the show and I believe Ncuti was not available for the filming of the most of the 60th specials. Given that a showrunner handover was going to occur  they could possibly have tried to persuade Jodie to have hung on for the specials and then they could have bought back tenant as 10 in a multi doc  capacity much like the 50th anaversary episode.However that would have changed the whole dynamic of the regeneration to Ncuti IMO.as to the fututive Docs  using a Police Box Tardis we know from the Timeless Child narrative the Division hadn’t been beyond manipulating the Doctors memories, so perhaps HartnellDoc  recollection of how the Tardis became stuck in its Police Box persona is a false memory and is why a Fugitive Docs use of the police box disguise happened. Just going back to using Tenant as 14 it was hinted that timelords will reuse a regeneration look back in the 50th anniversary with Tom Bakers appearance as the CuratorDoc and his comment that occasionally a favourite face will reoccur.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@devilishrobby

I believe, but don’t quote me, that whitdoc wouldn’t boogie for anyone but Zchib. So that scenario would seem to be a non-starter. Yes! Gatwa was a busy boy last year, and they had to get the 60th anniversary thing in the can.
But think what you could do with 2 Doctors! Apart from bum around Seville shiving restauranteurs and perving up Peri. 14 can’t simply be watching the racing in the hostelries of Chiswick.

10/14 could be the darkest doctor. Good Queen Bess will attest to that! Bring it on!

And what do we actually know about The Division? They’ve been there as long as the Timelords. So they could be there in earlier Who, getting up all sorts of nefarious stuff couldn’t they? But they couldn’t wipe everybody’s brain all the time, which is how come The Universe had to go.
Actually, no has been prepared to straight-jacket me and stick me in front of TTC + T’Floox yet, so I shouldn’t really comment.

re the Ruth’s policebox tardis… was the impossible girl directing 1 & Susan to the right Death Star elevator yet another bit of Division flim flam? In Zchib’s dreams maybe.

And wherefore REG? And what exactly is the Vlinx??

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

Just re-watched The Giggle. I notice I didn’t post anything on first watching, and this is because – as an episode – it was neither remarkably good nor awful (as far as I was concerned). The plot was well acted, with great CGI sets, but it seemed a pretty run-of-the-mill action episode otherwise – it just didn’t grab me. (Btw, I never saw the Toymaker in previous series).

It was a nice if slightly cloying happy-families send-off for Fourteen with Donna’s family – but how long was that going to last, since he hasn’t actually regenerated does that mean he’s now immortal? And there are TWO doctors at the same time in the same universe (the previous 10a was of course off with Rose(1) in a separate universe). Though multi Doctors is not a new thing so I suppose that’s OK.

I was disappointed to see so little of Rose(2), when she was introduced with a fanfare in The Star Beast. I would have liked to see her in Wild Blue Yonder (yes that was strictly a two-person ep, so it would have had to leave out Donna. It would have worked exactly as well. I’m not indulging in Donna-hatred here, I’ve got over that, but we’ve seen Donna in – what – ten episodes and Rose(2) only in one, plus a tiny cameo here.

The Vlinx – where did that come from? Is this some character from OldWho or from the comics or radio (which I know nothing about)? [Paranoia mode ON:] Is this due to some Disney requirement to have at least one alien monster in every episode? [/Paranoia] I’d better stop now, there are too many stupid rumours swilling around the Internet already. The reference to ‘social media’ Internet distortions and misrepresentations was painful but apposite, it’s only got worse over the last couple of years (and that’s as political as I’m going to get).

Doctor 15 – I like him on first acquaintance, he has an infectious personality. But why doesn’t he have any trousers?

I do like it that the Tardis didn’t feel it necessary do destroy its interior this time around. Does it only do that if a Doctor regenerates inside it? (Besides, with what the new set must have cost, it was never going to redecorate this early).

On the whole, this three-episode ‘series’ had two decent episodes and one (IMO) outstanding one – Wild Blue Yonder, so a step up from recent years. Be interesting (for me) to see where the next season goes (I’ve got the DVD set on order) – you all know how it went by now, I guess.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@dentarthurdent

I assume Rose 2 will eventually be given her own arc.

The Meep was launched from a cartoon. That was fun. And cartoony!

I think everyone assumed The V’linx was from the same place. I asked the question at the time and I got no answer.

The V’linx would seem to be a neologism; either it sprang fully formed Rusty’s Mighty Brain, or you need to knock the letters together.

It’s product of technology… Vinvocci? Cyber? Dalek? Gallifreyan?

V

Link

A link to someone called V… something… presumably not lizards…

ah! Vinvocci??  No, they could never compete with the NHS… not even if Trump got back in.

It’s on the tip of my tongue…

Something… associated with the letter V…

Someone to do with The Doctor…

Or Kate, Mel… Victoria…

Obviously nothing at all to do with REG.

I give up.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@ps1l0v3y0u You may well be right about Rose (2). I had assumed that the final scene with 14 and the Noble family was a farewell, effectively losing track of him, the same way 10a was ‘lost’ with Rose(1) in another universe. But of course in Dr Who this is not a foregone conclusion, as we saw in these three episodes (and the preceding one), old characters come back all the time.
So that was a reckless assumption on my part.

I’ll soon find out, I’ve got the next season on order.

As for the Vlinx, it seems (from comments made in some of the DVD ‘extras’) that it is an all-new creature. Whether it will be linked back to some previous creature – we shall see.

The Vinvocci were fun. Much helped by Sinead whatever-her-name-is (Keenan, I googled) ‘s air of exasperated frustration. Wouldn’t mind seeing them back

[nerys @nerys]

“The Giggle” was a satisfying, if, for me, an overly drawn-out, conclusion to this three-parter. It was wonderful to see Wilf again at the beginning, as well as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart later on.

Did anyone else see a startling resemblance between Neil Patrick Harris’ Celestial Toymaker and Matt Smith’s Doctor? Occasionally I had to do a double-take to remind myself of which character I was watching.

The beginning of the episode, with the puppets and Doctor and Donna lost in the corridors, was genuinely creepy. It’s the first time in quite some time that I’ve felt that in a Doctor Who episode.

For me, the highlight of this concluding episode was that the Doctor got both of his wishes. The meta-crisis Doctor ended up with Rose and her family, and this Doctor ended up with Donna and her family. Best of both worlds … literally.

The bi-generation was a rather interesting way of setting up the new Doctor. But somehow that part felt very drawn-out to me. It was a different way of introducing the new Doctor, I will give them that. And I certainly liked Ncuti Gatwa. I will look forward to seeing more of him! But I guess I’m used to regenerations being fleeting events, so it was hard to wrap my head around those extended scenes of the two Doctors together.

Ah, such reverberations with what’s happening now. If only there were a solution like eradicating a giggle to make the world sane again.

[winston @winston]

@nerys  I just watched these a little while ago and I enjoyed them all. I love the Doctor and Donna combo and I was thrilled to see them together again along with Donna’s family and Unit. Donna gets her memories back and the Doctor gets his friend.

The bi-generation was certainly different and I am still fuzzy about how that works but whatever. It is just a timey-wimey thing! The 15th Doctor is great.

So much happened in these specials that they need a few watches to catch it all but the ending was worth it. The 14th Doctor is settled with a family of his own and a working Tardis, who can ask for more.

These episodes were pure escapism and we can really use that these days.

stay sane

[nerys @nerys]

@winston That’s true about the working Tardis! Though No. 14 didn’t seems so inclined to use it, did he? Still, as others have noted, the 14th Doctor is on call if needed.

There was an echo of the Whittaker Doctor in the need to search for and create a family with his companions (though I don’t think that story was told particularly well in the Chibnall era). But here it was more convincing, that, by having a family of his own, the Doctor could heal from past traumas inflicted on him.

It was fascinating to see the Celestial Toymaker’s attempts to taunt the Doctor, in front of Donna, with the marionettes of past companions and how their time with the Doctor came to an end. And yet, as much as the Toymaker tried to undermine the Doctor’s rebuttals (“Well, that’s alright, then!”), we know that what the Doctor says is true. All is not lost.

As you say, pure escapism … very much needed these days. Now I must wait for the 15th Doctor episodes to land in my library!

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

Just popping back in from an extended bout of real life to say that Mrs Blenkinsop and I just re-watched (over two nights) “Wild Blue Yonder” and “The Giggle”. Of the two, we both thought “The Giggle” was the better of the two. (I realize not everyone would agree.)

I especially loved the way RTD alluded to television, and the giggle that attended its birth, as the instrument of mankind’s current insanity.

It was also obvious that the Tennant Doctor and Donna Noble are the two characters that RTD excels in writing about. Try as he might, he simply has not found a way to do justice the Gatwa Doctor.

 

[nerys @nerys]

@blenkinsopthebrave It’s interesting that, not so long ago, television was blamed for all of society’s ills. Now it’s cellphones. But I think RTD had a good point about returning to that earlier concern. Of course, it’s a bit odd when a TV show laments the damage done by television.

I wonder if the reason RTD does so well with Tennant’s Doctor and Donna is because he knows them so well. Whereas he’s just not there yet with Gatwa’s Doctor.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

Having given up on rewatching the Legend of Ruby Sunday, basically because I’m not that fond of UNIT, I found returning to The Giggle a bit hard work.

A lot of it was great, good acting, well visualised, and theres no problem with 14 surviving as a shell of man. Mel… for me she will always be a desperate attempt by JNT and Grade 40 years ago to make the show wholesome again. Is that what RTD is trying to signal?

And ultimately the Toymaker just rolls over: an adjunct to the bigeneration. Also I now know the sequel… the next series… will be a bit of a curate’s egg. In particular the yawny UNIT bits seem to be a dry run for ‘Legend of Death.’

And all those ‘clues’ may or may not just be a waste of time. Because he said so. Oh!

But why Bill and Sue and 3 babbies? Why? And why Mavity? The Doctor almost recognises the change. Why does he not question the presence of The Vlinx? If one significant thing has changed, why not others? Isn’t virtual reality a game? Is the Toymaker really defeated?

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