• @arbutus

    Yes, I am with you–why does everyone think that Ashildr had contact with Missy? Please, to all those people out there, and as Amy used to say all the time: “Explain”

     

  • @kharis

    Perhaps the most brilliant spot ever.

    As to what it means, my suspicion is that it was planted by Moffat et al for us (meaning all those who love seeing bonkers theories in the show). To be honest, I don’t think it has a meaning. Why? Because it is too deeply embedded. Moffat only drops hints of what is to come if everyone sees it, and…[Read more]

  • Loved it. Yes, I am partial to historical episodes, but that wasn’t the reason I loved it. It was because it was an episode that flirted with (yet avoided) tragedy,  dealt with loss and regret and loneliness. It was an episode about damaged people–Ashildr, The Doctor, and in the coda, Clara.

    I found it very moving, actually, and the fact that it…[Read more]

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    @ichabod

    The leaf. I interpreted the leaf as a story she was told by her parents–that her father had been out walking, a leaf fell and distracted him, causing him to almost walk into the traffic, a young girl instinctively grabs him out of harms way, they fall in love, they marry, they have Clara. I have always seen it as simply a sweet tale…[Read more]

  • A K9 movie?!!

    Perhaps it was something to do with the fact that I was at university during the Tom Baker years, and his Doctor seemed really cool. But then along comes K9, and, to an undergraduate who thought he was more sophisticated than he actually was, K9 seemed awfully cringeworthy.

    Am I remembering correctly that K9 was introduced, in…[Read more]

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    @countscarlioni

    When I watched the episode, I was struck by Clara’s wording: “I think she deserved it”.

    That seems to me to have rather negative implications. As opposed, say, to “I think she earned it”.

    Not sure I have a point to make, beyond the fact that the phrase seemed rather strange in the context.

     

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    @ichabod

    Birthday greetings!

    I raise a glass to you. Well, given that it is 9am in my part of the world, I raise an espresso to you!

    And, yes, I fully agree that Doctor Who really does have the capacity to speak to us personally in ways that other popular culture doesn’t.

    Cheers.

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Cloven Hoof

    @purofilion

    “Oh Canada”

    Yes, indeed. The champagne has been flowing freely over here in Ontario.

    It’s funny, I fell in love with Canada during all those visits while I was living in Australia, only to discover when I moved here that Harper was doing his best to dismantle all that I associated with being “Canadian” and replace it with a type of…[Read more]

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    On the question of the Doctor giving Ashildr a spare chip, I am wondering if that chip actually works. I seem to remember him working on the first chip as Ashildr lays dead then immediately placing it on her. When did he get the opportunity to convert the second chip for humans before he leaves it for her?

    But, if so, why would he give her a chip…[Read more]

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    @spider

    Your trip to Pompeii sounds brilliant.

    @ichabod

    Now go lie down and enjoy your jet-lag while you’ve still got it . . . !

    Jet-lag? From Italy to the UK? Back in my working days when the Qantas Club Lounge was a second home (halcyon days…) I used to travel regularly from Australia to the UK and back. Now we are talking real jet-lag!

    @Rob…[Read more]

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    @pedant

    Yes! One of the recurring themes of Moffat is that we are all stories in the end. That is how Moffat breaks the 4th wall without actually breaking it, if that makes sense.

    I have the feeling that the departure of Clara will be linked to that theme in some way.

  • @gamergirlavatar

    I think that is a really lovely and insightful reflection on Clara. I agree entirely, and  I wish I had expressed it that way myself.

     

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    Just re-watched the episode. At the point at which the Doctor realises why he has the face he has (to save people, just as he did at Pompeii) and decides to save Ashildr, he shouts into the air that if anybody is listening and objects, “to hell with you”.  It occurred to me, not just that he was shouting at the Time Lords, but that he was…[Read more]

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    @countscarlioni

    To follow-up the point on the Doctor’s trousers (which I believe are supposed to be Troughton era trousers-see below the bit from the Radio Times in August), Peter Capaldi has directed us to “specific trouser things that happen for specific reasons” in the series (unless he’s joking!?). Why, then, point us at the Troughton era for…

    [Read more]

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    Lots of great reflections on the board (of course). And not everyone agrees with each other—sorry, @cumquat!

    Agree with @countscarlioni that this was a very deep episode lying beneath a seemingly-lighthearted romp. And it is for this reason that I liked this episode so much more than last week, when I felt that Whithouse was saying: “Look at how…[Read more]

  • BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

  • blenkinsopthebrave replied to the topic The Girl Who Died

    An enjoyable episode. Have not read any posts yet, but my first thought was a comic take on “The Seven Samurai” where the villagers have to be defended (and trained to defend themselves) by the wandering samurai.

    The call back to The Fires of Pompei was well done, and the creation of the immortal hybrid (with the possibility of some (or even…[Read more]

  • @craig, just realised that I am perfectly capable of looking at the activity page myself, so please ignore my earlier message.

  • W@craig

    Just following up on @pedant‘s query. I realise, from your explanation to @pedant, that you are restricted by how much space you can use (at least, I think that is what you are saying) but the tendency when you log on is to simply look at the most recent posts that are highlighted, and only later do you realise there are posts on other…[Read more]

  • @craig, @mirime

    Reading your posts on confronting a new Doctor, I think back to my first experience. I was 11 when I saw the very first episode of Doctor Who in 1964 ( it was a bit late in arriving in Australia). It was a life-changing experience. Then the Doctor (not simply my Doctor, but, as far as I, or anyone watching then was…[Read more]

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