Sadly, Ms BadWulf has given up on Doctor Who, as she feels that 12 is just too unlikable. She was introduced to the programme in the cuddly era of Tennant and Smith, and has never really cared for any of the BG stories. (My last attempt at trying to convert her to the cause by showing her Pyramids of Mars ended up with peals of laughter at the…[Read more]

@wordmuse As for Clara – well, we’ll just have to wait and see what the show does with her character.  But I have to admit to tentative disappointment. She’s gone from being my 2nd favorite companion (after Amy and Rory (I view them almost as a single companion), during the Matt Smith episodes) to someone that I don’t look forward to seeing al…

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@geoffers @Brewski You mean like… a Doctor? Hmmm…

That’s an interesting thought, and would explain why the Mummy was going for the weakest first, which I was at a loss to explain to myself.

Still, it does seem like a very odd sort of triage, to actually eliminate the weakest, even if they weren’t in immediate danger of death.

I think, ther…[Read more]

@Melloyello  From the opinions of Dr. Who fans, around the net, Clara and Danny’s plot line my get shortened up to keep from losing viewers, or dropped altogether.

This isn’t coarse commercial television where providing eyeballs for advertisers is the purpose. This is thankfully the BBC, and it is for the creators to be able to tell the story that…[Read more]

@ScaryB And another misunderstood monster this week – well, the mummy was still a monster but was only acting on (defective) programming. Gus however…

I really enjoyed this monster – its appearances were initially mysterious, but its motivation and the mechanism by which it operated were both explained satisfactorily to me. The science was agai…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip Different moral situations. Last week had a good choice (let the baby Moon Dragon live) versus a bad choice (kill the baby Moon Dragon because you fear it). This week has a choice between bad and worse.

Hmm. I still think I disagree. Your description of the Moon Dragon options  as respectively good and bad is only valid from e…[Read more]

I thought the IN SPACE vibe, albeit similar to Voyage of the Damned, was reminiscent of Enlightenment, one of my favourite 5th Doctor stories. The period style vehicles travelling through space, with advanced technology hidden behind the decor is a narrative choice that works well for Doctor Who, in a way that would feel forced in some other s…[Read more]

What did everyone think of the fact that Clara has changed her mind about travelling with the Doctor just because Danny has said it is OK? That doesn’t seem very 21st century of her to me and Ms BadWulf.

@Bluesqueakpip Another soldier. And was that salute rather similar to Danny’s, or what?

My thoughts exactly!

Well, it looks as if the Doctor’s outlook has moved from idealistic in the previous episode to utilitarian in this one. Previously, he felt it was appropriate to risk a metaphorical mother’s life for a space baby, and this week he bullies dying people because they are useful to him. His bedside manner is truly awesome.
Other thoughts – Clara in a…[Read more]

@janetteB Also interesting to note, and purely random I am sure, but thus far  this series we have found out that Robin Hood, Hollywood style, was real and there are dragons.

Does that mean that it is all taking place in a stage managed fantasy world? That would support some of the bonkers theories from upthread.

@janetteB Have just watched the egg turn red. There is light cloud making it darker but still very impressive. Son is speculating on how much more impressive it would be to be on the moon watching the “earth rise”.

You might like this!

Earthrise: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Earthrise.ogv

Has anyone here played Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening? I am having another bonkers theory moment that was inspired by thinking about this game and the latest series of Doctor Who.

From ZeldaWiki:

The Wind Fish is a character featured in Link’s Awakening. He is a large, flying whale who makes his home atop Mount Tamaranch on Koholint Island,…

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@ScaryB He turned up as soon as the button was pressed. He was monitoring. Or waiting till the end of the countdown. (Quick trip round the moon, kill some time  , head back )

Makes me think that it was intended to be a suicide mission. No way they could expect set the bombs, launch the shuttle and get clear in time.  (There again there there wer…

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@ScaryB It was always the Doctor’s intention to come back for the humans as soon as they’d made the decision.

How would he have known that the decision to nuke had been taken unless there was the lunar equivalent of a mushroom cloud?

@BESD1 thanks for introducing me to the Trolley problem. Having read up on it it seems the biggest problem with it, or at least its variants, is that it seriously overestimates how fat a person can be.

Dang you and your adherence to scientific rationality! It totally spoils the story if you can’t just *believe* in the fatman. 🙂

(I always…[Read more]

@thommck Thanks for the link to the Trolley problem, a great head-scratcher. Although, it doesn’t seem to include an altruistic suicide option?

The way that the problem is framed is designed to exclude a self-sacrificial option, as that would test a different psychological phenomenon – the willingness to self sacrifice.

The fatman thought ex…[Read more]

The Doctor’s disregard for his duty of care towards Courtney, a child in his care that he abandoned to die in a nuclear explosion that she would not have been exposed to had he not brought her there

@ScaryB No he didn’t. He very deliberately sent her to the TARDIS so she’d be safe*.

 

Hmm. I’m pretty sure that at the 29 minute mark in the show…[Read more]

@ScaryB I am sympathetic to those for whom the science side of the show, especially this story, is falling short.  But I found the character interplay and the central dilemma engrossing; for some reason it’s one of those stories that resonates with me and it’s been hanging around my head (in a good way!) since I watched it.  For example I found r…

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@Mudlark As I understand the genre it can be defined as stories set in possible futures which are founded on extrapolations from current scientific knowledge and theory, or social and economic trends, or stories set in an internally consistent future based on a plausible and coherent, if not necessarily likely, science and technology. It also incl…

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