@winston and @oochillyo, Just rewatched “The Unicorn and the Wasp”. It is outrageously silly, but…it is also lots of fun. The way they incorporate so many Agatha book titles into the dialogue is wonderful. As for “Empress of Mars”, I loved it it! It is one of my favourite episodes. Thinking about it, it is probably because both stories capture…[Read more]

@Oochillyo I had that problem with a photo on another website. My solution was to reduce the size of the photo. That seemed to work.

@janetteb Yes, snow is magical. When it first falls. Then, it is powder snow, and it is lovely to walk through. But then, as @dentarthurdent points out, it turns to slush. But worse, it freezes, and it stays like that seemingly forever. Impossible to drive through and impossible to walk on. Unless, of course, you embrace the idea of lots of…[Read more]

@oochillyo

Yes, I am all in favour of having a viewing of some classic Who. While you like the Tom Baker Doctor (who doesn’t?) we have looked at quite a lot of his stories. Might I suggest a story from another brilliant classic Doctor? What about the story “Inferno” from the 3rd Doctor, Jon Pertwee? It is a spectacular story, with a cast who are…[Read more]

@janetteb

Yes, agree entirely. I tend to look back at Australian media occasionally, and came across this

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-06/an-australian-familys-reckoning/13124732?nw=0

I found it very powerful and it had a resonance with my family memories (mine are not as powerful as what is represented in this story, but they are still…[Read more]

Came across this and had to share it.

After a life in Australia, this is where I moved to. But not in 1936, I hasten to add. This was a tourism film made in 1936 to show off the city. Strangely, much still remains, although the topiary garden has gone, alas. What I love about the clip is the way it reveals that the whole city was designed to…[Read more]

Having only moved to Canada a few years ago, Mrs Blenkinsop and I were reminiscing on what we remembered most fondly about Australia.

These two commercials came to mind.

and

@janetteb

We decided to watch “Day of the Daleks” after you mentioned it. (I hadn’t seen it for a long time.) This was quite soon after watching “Inferno”. For me, there is no comparison. “Inferno” is far stronger and far more entertaining. You said you wanted UNIT in the story you chose—well, since you have not seen it yet, I do not want to spo…[Read more]

@nerys So very sorry to hear this. I am glad you had the opportunity to have those good talks, though. They are tremendously important.

Take care.

It is cold here on our island outpost in Canada, so Mrs Blenkinsop and I just re-watched (for the umpteenth time) “The Lodger”.

What a wonderful episode. “Kiss the girl!”

A wonderful pisode.

Just read that Michael Apted, who made the 7 Up series (the most remarkable documentary series ever made (tracing a group of British children from the age of 7 (1964) at seven year intervals until the age of 63 (2019).

He also was a great film director, with a James Bond film under his belt, along with many other films.

The 7 Up series made a…[Read more]

@janetteB

If you are doing a Pertwee story this year, can I suggest “Inferno”

It was brilliant. And it had the last performance of Caroline John as Liz Shaw (probably my favourite companion).

@craig

Just following on from @devilishrobby, there is a spammer roaming on the site.

@bluesqueakpip Thanks for the detailed summary, and agree–yes it is effective–if it was, let’s say, the opening episode of a three or four part miniseries that was done as a dark story of corrupt business and corrupt government conspiring together to create a dystopian future. Sounds like just the type of thing Chibnall could do well–if it was…[Read more]

@nerys

As @arbutus reminded me, a good commercial-free option is to purchase it on iTunes for $4. It is there for repeated viewings, and it is mercifully ad-free (and I agree with you, the intrusive commercial breaks are just the worst).

It was 1964. Gerry Marsden. I am starting to realise how old I am.

@bluesqueakpip

I thought Martin Belam provided a very good assessment of the episode, particularly his reflection that “it was an extremely long slow burn of a set up before it got going”. Exactly. I am talking about pacing, and about showing, rather than explaining, what is happening.

For example, my reference to “Robocop”. The opening of…[Read more]

Well, first viewing: I felt it was more of a simulacrum of Doctor Who, than actually Doctor Who. Perhaps 15 minutes (toward the end) of real Who and an hour of something between a soap and a drama.

Compare the opening premise here of a repurposed Dalek to become the face of policing (with a satire on corporate greed thrown in) to the opening…[Read more]

@nerys That was a very uplifting story about selflessness. In its own way, very Doctor Who.

@dentarthurdent Love the story of the sea lion. Many years ago we used to live in Newcastle on the east coast of Australia. Crappy town, but we lived across from a beautiful beach. One morning we went walking and a whole bunch of dolphins went swimming…[Read more]

@winston, And a happy new year to you (and everyone on the site) in return!

All your reflections resonated (but I am not going to confess to pyjamas, of course…)

Where I am, fireworks have been set off somewhere down the street, the cats have been totally freaked out in response to the fireworks, Mrs Blenkinsop and I have been remembering past…[Read more]