@blenkinsopthebrave  and @janetteb  I have just finished watching the 4th episode of Picard and I can’t believe how good it is and how much we are loving it!  It gets better every episode and it is fun seeing Picard gathering up his new crew. I also admit to giggling every time someone swears and imagine Scotty or Jordy swearing at the en…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

There has been a reference to something like the Cyberium in “Who” before–in “Tomb of the Cybermen” with the Troughton Doctor. And the current crop of Cybermen have a similar look/design as the Cybermen from from “Tomb of the Cybermen

The entirety of the 25th Anniversary story Silver Nemesis is about sentient metal – Val…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

@blenkinsopthebrave

That’s really interesting. Thanks for sharing. So, the 1950s then. So, it’s just a nostalgia trip then rather than something more politically charged (although t’interwebs tell me that the 1950s was a time of intense IRA activity with a sustained border attack campaign, so maybe it is going to play into it, after all.…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

As others have pointed out, coppers in Ireland are indeed known as Garda. I’m still wondering if the decision to set this little section in Ireland is going to have more import as a setting than just to make a slight teasing pun. The time period has to be significant too. Did we get a specific time for this action. Is it, for…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave yes – I already knew it was Guarda, but this episode really bought it out. I even said to my boyfriend ‘I like that it’s guard in Ireland.

So I looked on OED and I feel that my response is reasonable. Police comes from public order, administration, possibly regulation. To police something is one kind of thing. To Guard is to…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip       @blenkinsopthebrave

I’ve been thinking that clock has a Time Lord in it and its waiting for his immortal body.

It might be KO ?   My hunch is  that he’s another Time Lord using a perception filter like

the Ruth Doc.    There was a resemblance between KO and old Brendon.

If you look with a magnifying glass at the screen…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Oh, I think the clock has a meaning and I don’t think you’re grasping at straws. The camera focus on the clock wasn’t casual – the actor placed it quite deliberately for its very own close-up and that close-up was long enough to have made a real live actor a very happy bunny.

But I think its significance is as a symbol of tim…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

I had a good look at a freeze-frame of the clock and I’d say it’s an ordinary carriage clock with Roman numerals.

The only odd thing about it is that the Roman numerals look a bit funny – at first I thought they were in the wrong places, but it’s just that the right hand stroke of the X is really thin and difficult to see.

@blenkinsopthebrave @nerys

Just popping in. My brain may be fuzzy as it’s been a long day and I’ve had a couple of after dinner G&Ts. But I think he was called Yana – which stood for “You Are Not Alone” (a running theme that series).

Why that makes any sense whatever, I have no idea. But it was a great reveal.

@blenkinsopthebrave …, the connection between Brendon and Yama being discovered as babies is fascinating,…

I’m totally blanking out on this. Who is Yama?

Also, I agree with you that there are hints of Graham and Ravio heading off together into the sunset.

@psymon I agree with your take on Graham’s verbal stumbling as he introduced himself. I…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave and @mudlark

Or maybe they were entities who simply assumed the appearance of the father and the senior policeman.

I noticed the different reactions when I rewatched as well. I think you’re probably right, Mudlark – the minders assumed the appearance of the two people that Brendan would trust most in all the world. His…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave   and others who have speculated about the seemingly ageless ‘minders’.

Could they have been Time Lords who were chameleon arched and have now rediscovered their identity?  Or maybe they were entities who simply assumed the appearance of the father and the senior policeman. Either way the presentation clock is obviously a C…[Read more]

@missrori I’m not buying that the Irish Garda is a Doctor/Time Lord – despite some similarities with the Police Box visual. Otherwise why would he not regenerate when he was shot and fell from the cliff? As pointed out by @jomomentor the recovery was more Captain Jack in style so lends itself more to him being a fixed point in time and immortal -…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave I saw a little shared ‘moment’ between the two of them and predicted: Graham’s leaving, either through death or re-marriage.

Both are actually set up too. He’s worried about the cancer returning. He still has feelings of guilt about Grace. Please, please, please be the second one, though. The man’s earned it, and it leaves…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave You have a point. I am really enjoying Picard.(and I a not a “treckie”) but won’t be able to watch the most recent episode until next week however. It has become one of those rare series that we watch together and the kids are out and about this weekend. We have done a podcast reviewing the first episode which I should get up…[Read more]

A good episode. though like @mudlark I was not keen on the bad “Jane Austen pastiche ” at the beginning. It felt “soapy” and reminded me too much of a certain Red Dwarf episode. the S/O was saying that he preferred last week’s episode but then the story picked up and all was forgiven. I do love the Mary Shelley story though am not an authority and…[Read more]

Chibnall wrote all of Broadchurch. The man knows how to write pieces set in the modern era…

Getting the tone right for Doctor Who must be a bit of a balancing act.

@blenkinsopthebrave Are you suggesting Graham’s bladder is bigger on the inside?

As my husband and I keep saying, we have to remind ourselves that it’s not just the Doctor and her companions who are different. It’s the head writer and all (or at least most) of the other contributors, as well. I find myself enjoying some episodes, and not enjoying others as much.

I agree with @blenkinsopthebrave about the pacing, especially…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip

I did not mean to disparage Chibnall’s ability as a writer in general; he just seems so much more at home dealing with people in the world as it is or was in the past.

Over the past 60+ years I have read a great deal of science fiction and a somewhat lesser amount of fantasy by numerous different authors. Many have written…[Read more]