@Missy    To be fair, had River not firmly believed that Smith Doc was in his last possible incarnation, I think she would have guessed fairly quickly who the Doctor was. But sometimes a very strong preconception can make the truth practically impossible to see.

@joamdalf     Personally, if I met someone who seemed clever enough but freely said a…[Read more]

@ichabod    I think it was just brilliant, to have him succeed in bringing her back to a sort of life, not once but twice (in his mind-Tardis in Heaven Sent, and in a sort of reality in Hell Bent) — but the end of their traveling together is the price.  So he also fails.     And not just the end of their travelling, but he loses even his remembran…[Read more]

@craig       A deathless tune. My son has done a couple of different versions in various choirs, and it reduces me to tears every time. Happy birthday!

@puroandson       I agree, the half inch is critical! I am technically 5 ‘ 1 1/2, but I have always called myself 5’2, you have to hang on to your dignity where you can, right? Young Arbutu…[Read more]

Fifteen seconds of glorious Easter music (I would post the entire Saint Matthew Passion, but I guess that would be excessive!).  🙂

@Craig and everyone!   Happy Easter, lovely people. As always, thanks for making this such a pleasant place to hang out!

@Mudlark   Glad to hear that your date with your new hip is now firmed up! Based on my own family members who have done this, it should change your life for the better!  @Whisht, my mother-in-law has had both hips and thre…[Read more]

@ichabod @kharis       I love your Doctor descriptions, very eloquent. Matt Smith “dancing through his time as the Doctor”, and Tom Baker’s “larger than life flare”. Bang on! Regarding Capaldi, he has absolutely cemented his place for me as my favourite of the AG Doctors. Cranky but loveable!

@TheDentistofDavros       I agree with your assessments, although I would put Four and Romana as my favourites. I also agree with those who voted in Four and Sarah Jane! I also thought Rose had a better chemistry with Nine than with Ten, reasonably so as her character was designed for Eccelston’s more subtle, rougher-around-the-edges Doctor. Agree…[Read more]

@DalekTor    Having conquered the Universe and destroyed everything not Dalek-kind, they would no longer have a purpose. Their society would become corrupt and would ultimately collapse in on itself. Finally, a tiny group of visionary Daleks, understanding what the Daleks had done to themselves, would set out on a quest, in search of some re…[Read more]

@tardigrade  @winston    When I watched this again recently, it came as a pleasant surprise how much I enjoyed it. I remembered having been really irritated by the Reaper monsters as I found the concept unconvincing. I would far rather have had a rational reason for why Pete’s death couldn’t be changed, which would have been easy to do given the…[Read more]

I adore Capaldi and loved his solo turn in Heaven Sent, but even so, I wouldn’t want a whole series of that! I doubt that it is a minority view.  🙂

I would enjoy an older companion. I’m currently going through Series 4, and remembering all over again how much I loved Donna (I just finished the Sontaran Stratagem two-parter and there was the…[Read more]

@winston      I quite seriously thought you said “happy trolls”. And that “you have been busy” was somehow referring to yesterday’s spammer. And it all made sense somehow, for about 10 seconds.  🙂

@Whisht     I don’t remember if you posted that track before but it’s great.  For the birthday of the Superior Whisht (which I can’t believe, btw, I’ll bet he says the same about you!), with no hints as to the kind of music he likes, here is a gorgeous tune chosen at random from my favourites. Couldn’t quite decide which version to post, so I went…[Read more]

@puroandson        Popp was truly fabulous, such control over every pitch. And I agree, that aria is one of the most beautiful ever!

Is this version one of your 32?   🙂

And did you also know that Andreas Scholl could sing like this?

@Whisht     If @puroandson can give you The Walking Dead (loved the song, btw, Puro), I guess I can give you this from Fiddler on the Roof (because I saw a production last week and can’t get the songs out of my head now!). So here it is, complete with lots of glasses raised and noisy dancing (suitable birthday celebration, no?). Mazel tov…[Read more]

@Missy @janetteB     Ha. I found both Rose and Martha irritating, and only came to my happy place with the arrival of Donna! (That’s a bit unfair, actually, as I didn’t find either of them irritating all the time. Certain elements of their characters as written bugged me, but between times I enjoyed them both.)

@winston   @puroandson     Yes! My laptop (4 years and counting) is called “Salento” (after a part of Italy which I love). I was encouraged to give it a name by Mr. Arbutus, who was formerly the IT leader at a startup company where he named all the servers after composers. It was great when he would get messages from his team, saying that this…[Read more]

@Ichabod      Take care of yourself. Look forward to seeing you back after a speedy recovery!  🙂

@Kharis    I’ve finally had a listen to the music at the spot you mentioned, and I agree. The use of electronic sound at that point and the rather angular melodic shape definitely sounds like early eighties DW. They used to be fond of a kind of synthesized sound that sounded to me like recorders, and a sort of triadic melody line, and this bit re…[Read more]

@Missy @puroandson @Kharis         Replying here rather than Before the Flood so as not to get modded (although I think the Mods must have all popped off to warmer climates as it is so quiet around here lately!).

I couldn’t agree more with the love for Murray Gold’s work on the show, it has been stellar. While there have been occasions when I…[Read more]

@Missy     It wasn’t that I didn’t like Martha as a character, but the fact that RTD chose to write her as having “fallen in love” with the Doctor, based on nothing very deep as far as I could see, even after he made it specifically clear that he didn’t feel that way. Then she moped around for the rest of the series because he didn’t recognize her…[Read more]