@winston

Absolutely! The Eleventh Hour has to be one of the most perfect episodes they did. It has everything. Wonder, magic, hope, excitement, adventure…Like you, I loved it. And even out here on the relatively balmy west coast, Doctor Who isn’t complete–at this time of the year–without a blanket.

Just reading a new book on the history of citizenship and African Americans in the 19th century (as one does) that arrived in the mail today. The author is Martha Jones (no, I know what you are thinking because it occurred to me as well). So I looked her up on google, and when I found her website, I thought it was great that she had thought about…[Read more]

@scaryb

How brilliant that you are back!

I am currently sitting in front of the fire looking at one of the cats (who has, of course, far better access to the fire than I do) and I am thinking that you may well be right…they may indeed be aliens masquerading as earth-bound felines. They have, for example, turned us into their servants, who are…[Read more]

2019. Looking out the kitchen window this morning it seems strangely similar to 2018. Time will tell.

@janetteb Well, fortunately, it is a surprisingly mild winter out here this year. No snow so far. As for the two cats, they are indoor cats, who at the moment get to lie around in front of the fire. In fact, the biggest decision they have to make…[Read more]

@janetteb

I wish I was able to show you a photo of the two cats lounging in front of the fire as I type this (keeping in mind it is a Canadian winter).

Of course they came from Brisbane, so they were used to extraordinary Australian summers and Christmases. (Is “Christmases” a word? It doesn’t sound quite right.)

ps. totally agree on Babylon 5.

@fatmaninabox

In short, Doctor Who has been ‘fundamentally changing’ since it was first broadcast and I dare say it will continue to do so for as long as it continues being made.

An absolutely brilliant post where every example you used was perfect.

Good to see you again.

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

@thane16, @winston, @craig, @pedant, @cathannabel, @jimthefish, @janetteb, and @everyone

Ok, The Christmas TV setting is being arranged, and yes, there is “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and, as indicated earlier, “Die Hard”.

But the truth is that the the main events are the two all-time Christmas favourites in the Blenkinsop…[Read more]

@winston

Apparently, when it was released in Japan, it had the title: “The Reluctant Hero”, and the catchphrase to the movie was, apparently, “the detective who has no shoes!”

It sort of captures the movie perfectly.

As we all start to prepare for the festive season, it raises the question of which Christmas movie we should decide on watching.

Should it be Jimmy Stewart in  “It’s a Wonderful Life”?

Should it be Edmund Gwenn in “Miracle on 34th Street”?

Should it be Alistair Sim in “Scrooge”?

No. There is only one possible movie it could…[Read more]

As one who loved the TV series “Deadwood” (at some point I might ramble on about how the show was a brilliant allegory for the rise of civil society from a Hobbesian universe that was “nasty, brutal and short”) the following article is a Christmas present come early:

https://www.slashfilm.com/deadwood-movie-photos/

@craig

I know we are at the end of a series, when contributions slow down, but it does seem that the activity on the site has slowed down considerably in comparison to what it used to be like.

I am not entirely sure why this should be so, but this site has been running for a number of years, and we have had so many regular contributors who,…[Read more]

@craig – Third the motion.

@pedant

That is a great reflection by Lisa Morton.

@nerys, @ichabod, @craig

I suppose this discussion really should be over on the Films thread, but I also suppose spoilers are less of an issue when it comes to Blade Runner, as it seems unlikely than there is anyone with internet access who is not aware of the film.

For me, it will always be the original theatrical version with the voice-over. I…[Read more]

A short piece t’other place with an extract from an Observer article from December 1966, on the place of the Daleks in Who. Some great photos from behind the scenes of “The Power of the Daleks”.

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2018/dec/15/observer-archive-the-daleks-18-december-1966

We are getting close to the festive season where we become warm and fuzzy, and in that spirit I offer the following clip.

Heart on sleeve, I find this incredibly inspirational:

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p06l4h3h/is-this-italy-s-smallest-library-

Have been thinking more about why I was so down on the episode as I indicated yesterday. I said that it was as if Chibnall was trying to recapture the Sydney Newman/Verity Lambert period, but it seemed filtered through the lens of Broadchurch. I still believe that. Let me go back to the Silurian 2-parter. There are obvious connections between the…[Read more]

Finally got to see it, and…well, to be honest, I was not all that impressed. Yes, I could see what they were saying about “you have to be better than that” with regard to Graham. But I really think that was done so much better by Chibnall in the Sulurian two-parter.

As for the Ux—I didn’t get any feel for their uniqueness or importance. We were…[Read more]

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...