@TardisBlue     In my own writing at least, dangling participles are not a thing up with which I will put.   🙂   Although I am something of a grammar geek, I do try to be more chatty than not on the forums, so as not to come off as though my nose is too high in the air. But there are some fabulous writers hanging around here, and they make me…[Read more]

Oh dear. I’ve never seen such a place for perfectly nice people putting one foot wrong and then feeling that they have to go away forever. Have you all gone Canadian?

I have no idea what was said to cause offense and don’t wish to know, but everyone should be entitled to second chances, do-overs, and so on, and I hope that @supernumerary will…[Read more]

@tardigrade    I like the idea that the TARDIS prefers to look like a diner and so just sticks that way. Why not? We know the Doctor’s TARDIS has some firm views, and possibly prefers to look like a blue box.  🙂

@tardigrade    Actually, I think in some ways that it is Clara who is now more “adult” than the Doctor. It wasn’t Clara that threatened all of time and space etc. etc. to save her own life. That was the Doctor. Clara has grown up, she is ready for Time Lordish responsibilities now.

Nice bonkers theory on the life of the universe…[Read more]

@Morpho    Ohila also calls the Doctor “boy”. Might we suspect she’s actually Gallifreyan? Perhaps a relative or teacher?    This moment jumped out at me as well. I liked it. It hinted at a relationship that predates the Time War. Certainly the Doctor seems to have a relationship of some trust with Ohila at least, if not the rest of the Sisterh…[Read more]

@midnyt    Not sure that Clara’s ending was meant as “leaving it open for her to come back”, more as something that Moffat saw as a reasonably positive and convincing end to Clara’s character arc. As you didn’t like the character then it might not matter as much to you, but for someone who did like Clara, it was really a very uplifting fi…[Read more]

@Miapatrick    The love is gone with the memory, though the reasons for love might remain with the information. She tried twice, in Face the Raven and Hell Bent, to persuade him that she didn’t want him to tear up the universe for her. But this is the only way he could be stopped.   Oh, nicely put.

@Mudlark @pedant @everybody else who guesse…[Read more]

@Avaris     BBC can really do a Paternoster Gang and Clara Who Spinoff.  It will be quite (a-hem) interesting character relation between Vastra, Jenny, Clara and Ashildr. This will be just very weird. But I bet every episode will pass the Bechdel Test for sure.     Throw in River Song! How anyone can say that Moffat doesn’t write strong fema…[Read more]

@JimTheFish      But opening with Skaro and ending with Gallifrey and with more than a few serious Who highpoints in between, that was, in my view, one of the most accomplished series of Who, either BG or AG.   Oh, I definitely agree with this. I loved Series 8 but this was better. At the moment, I can’t think of a misstep, and the whole thing…[Read more]

@supernumerary   @tardigrade

You both make some good points. The fact is that those who feel strongly that Clara should have died will of course not be happy with this outcome, and fair enough. I could have lived with her death because it was well done, and appropriate in all the ways we have discussed. I’m not unhappy with this outcome, how…[Read more]

@pedant    Congratulations! What drink can I get you?

Re HHttG radio play: I have a set of cassettes like that as well! Sadly, I no longer have a cassette deck on which to play them.

I also thought that Coleman was fabulous in this. In addition to the scene you mention, I loved the spot where she realized what the Doctor had put himself th…[Read more]

I forgot to say that I liked that the Doctor didn’t altogether forget Clara and her importance to him, but he forgot enough of the emotional connection that he is essentially free of her. This was nicely done. I liked him at the end, making his new sonic screwdriver and facing the future. Being a doctor.  🙂

Okay. I was not expecting that in any way. I wasn’t sure at first that I was liking the direction it was going in, but it surprised me and I’m pretty happy with it. I know I will have lots more thoughts once I have had time to digest it, but randomly:

In the end, Moffat managed to take us back to Gallifrey without really revealing anything new…[Read more]

@tardigrade    He might have considered writing “keep spade” instead of “bird” one time though , since the point of that spade would be pretty useful against the wall compared to his fist    Yes, that would have been practical!

Interesting thought about Missy as we know she definitely “sent” Clara to the Doctor. And even thought the Doctor is on…[Read more]

@puroandson      Ah. What is similar? What is opposite? How far do you travel around the circle before you end up where you started? And what’s time to a Time Lord?    🙂   Insufficient wine with dinner, apparently.

I agree, as I think I have said on the other thread, that what the Doctor experience inside the confession dial was probably…[Read more]

There have been a lot of interesting ideas about the virtual vs. physical reality of events in the episode and it’s all wonderful. I’m inclined to lean toward the “subjective” rather than “objective” interpretation, although not strongly in support of any one description of exactly how/why that works. Lots of people have had very creative th…[Read more]

@pedant   Well, I was trying to be discreet. I wore the sonic shades and no visible question marks.

@lisa @Mersey @Bluesqueakpip @pedant

Personally, I view the Zygon two-parter as at least a bit allegorical. For one thing, the process was simplified as each side was represented by the will of a single individual. So the Doctor’s speech could move Kate to lay aside her weapon. In reality, reaching agreement is much more complex because multiple…[Read more]

@Josh    Welcome! If you think that post was long, then you haven’t been paying attention here.  🙂

@Brewski    Oh, yes. Half Time Lord, half TARDIS, all Doctor.   🙂

@mudlark   I am not comfortable with the idea of penance to expiate the guilt he feels for his failure to protect Clara, especially such a protracted penance.  I think, rather, that he feels persistence and ultimate survival are what he owes her, who has so often prompted him to live up to his name and be his better self.

I think in a way that bo…[Read more]