I liked the soundtrack. On my next watch, I’ll be paying closer attention to it because the bits I noticed were very effective.

In the relationship between this episode and “Extremis”, it seems to me that because of those events, the Doctor, before we meet the aliens or even hear about the pyramid, is familiar with the level of the threat. He kno…[Read more]

@thane15    I agree that the “without reward” etc. is fairly key. I wonder if it will apply to Missy.

On the subject of exposition, I don’t think that the decision to ask for help would be considered exposition, it’s still an action as far as I can see. Exposition sets up action, but action can also set up action (if that makes sense!). The mis…[Read more]

Random replies to some of your excellent comments:

@Miapatrick     I imagine the sight restorers are either in his office or in the TARDIS, probably not in his pocket.

@wolfweed  To be fair, it wasn’t world peace, only a temporary agreement between three people. It’s hard to imagine it would have survived for long. The Fenric situation was si…[Read more]

Okay. This completely exceeded my expectations. Plenty of suspense, just enough plot twists, and the ending wasn’t what I expected at all. Brilliant.

I’m looking forward to reading all of your thoughts on what we saw and what might be coming next!  🙂

@blenkinsopthebrave    Thanks for the tip. I should have thought to check that, as I know they are doing a lot more of that 21st-century stuff on the CBC nowadays.  🙂

@winston @thane15     Real Doctor, at the beginning of the episode, said to Missy-in-the-vault, “They mustn’t know I’m blind.” So he hasn’t done anything to them yet at least. I wonder if he will get the idea from Digital Doctor? I think that goes beyond timey-wimey.   🙂

Yes to “a good deal of fun”. I don’t think any other AG Doctor has bee…[Read more]

@craig    You absolutely did. It wasn’t specifically your comment that triggered the thought, there were a few people who said something similar. I love your multi-Doctor Christmas episode idea!

@pedant    Apparently you have hidden depths!  🙂

I haven’t seen any of it, but I’ve heard good things. I missed it when it aired on the CBC, so will have to wait because, ironically, it isn’t currently available on Netflix Canada. Don’t get me started.

I just got through rewatching this and loved it even more the second time around. Just a quick comment to those who have suggested that the episode is merely window dressing for a small bit of arc exposition. In a reductionist sense, I suppose this is true. Some here will be familiar with Schenkerian analysis in music, in which the entire…[Read more]

@thane15   Puro, you have written some interesting things here, but I really will need to get in my re-watch before I can engage with them sensibly!

@blenkinsopthebrave     I personally find that no matter how familiar the tropes, if they are wrapped up in sufficiently interesting paper and shiny bows and ribbons, I don’t recognize them unti…[Read more]

@tardigrade     The CERN scientist, when asked what they were doing, said, “Saving the world”. That suggests that it wasn’t escape, but foiling the plans of the simulators, that was the goal. Presumably also true for the clerics, as that goal might be viewed of being worth going to hell for, and a president who thought he was helping his people.

@thane15     It’s true about Moffat’s book/story themes, even as far back as the Silence in the Library two-parter. And I love this: The book can be a TARDIS of its own, in my opinion, and can appear in several places at different times.

Puro, I love your post 57766, about the expectation of genuineness and truth from others. This is a theme…[Read more]

@wolfweed @whisht

I was terribly excited about the Doctor’s reference to the female pope, because of the mythology of Pope Joan in the 9th century, possibly intersecting with the Benedict of that time. Until I saw @wolfweed‘s post and realized that the Doctor’s pope was Pope Benedict the 9th, not Pope Benedict in the 9th century.  🙁   I said I n…[Read more]

Great comments! Some thoughts back:

@Miapatrick     Yes. No new stories. Only new, interesting versions of the old ones. And what is good to one person is boring to another, and so on. We’ve had this discussion around here many times. Science vs. fantasy, action vs. emotion, plot vs. character, and all the positions along the spectrum between tho…[Read more]

I think I’ll need to watch this again before I can comment coherently. Mind-blowing. On first look, it seems to me to be a complete right-turn from the themes we’ve been seeing up to now. We’ve gone from home, family, care straight to the heart of things—veritas.

Well, everyone has about covered my reactions to this. I am really loving Capaldi in this series. Everything somehow feels less “over-the-top” than it has often felt. I suppose, as we make our way toward the finale, that this will change, which is okay. But the energy, passion, and wit of this Doctor continue!

One thing of note for me: the…[Read more]

@thane15   Love that ragtime Beethoven! When I was in high school, our musical one year was Gay 90’s musical review, complete with singers, stand up comedy, and staged melodrama. I was the pianist, and I got to dress up in a long pink dress and floppy hat, and accompany the entire thing on a piano that had been retuned to that style. It was some…[Read more]

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do on this thread, but I just wanted to post this link for @thane15 (Puro):

good morning pic.twitter.com/Ut6RYpyVAH

— Igor Levit (@igorpianist) May 8, 2017

(@pedant, don’t trample on my dreams. When I was 12 or so, Tony Orlando was my idea of perfection! 🙂 )

@MissRori    Interesting. I confess I’ve stayed away as much as possible from any information about what’s to come. However, based on even the little we know about the vault, that doesn’t seem surprising.

@mudlark   If you accept the premise of alien woodlice, then it doesn’t require a great deal more effort to suspend disbelief as regards their alien powers.    In my view, a lot of DW watchers need to be told this a lot more often!  🙂