Okay. Chris Chibnall may have a very different style in mind than Steven Moffat, but that’s the second story this series that’s had me in tears by the closing credits.

Wow. Especially the idea of a race of aliens who aren’t monsters, who are trying to honour the forgotten fallen. What a theme for Remembrance Day.

@pedant

Yikes! What is it about BMW drivers?

And if he was going under 40 mph in a 60 mph zone, he must be the only BMW driver in the UK who drives under the speed limit.

Glad you at least found out the blood sugar is regulating. Hope you’re not too shaken up.

@miapatrick

It’s the trolley thought experiment on a massive scale.

No, it’s not. IF the medics are volunteers – which was the impression I got; they knew what they were doing and they knew about the bomb – then it’s not utilitarian at all. Quite the opposite.

Utilitarianism in the Trolley Experiment style is seen in Torchwood: Children of E…[Read more]

@Juniperfish

Oh, and to add on to that: I vaguely thought I’d heard Tsuranga before. It’s a mix – or may be a mix – of Tsur/Tzur, which is Hebrew for ‘rock’ and the Maori Tauranga, which means ‘safe haven’. The Hebrew also has the meaning of ‘safety’ – the kind of rock you hide in, use as a natural fort. So a very good name for an ambulance…[Read more]

@Juniperfish

“May the saints of all the stars and constellations bring you hope, as they guide you out of the dark and into the light, on this voyage and the next, and all the journeys still to come, for now and evermore….”

Yes, I had a feeling that the Whittaker Doctor being present at Grace’s funeral was significant. That was, as far as I kno…[Read more]

@miapatrick

What was most interesting to me was that the ship could so easily be blown up remotely, and would be, to protect the main world.

Which connects with the idea that this is a century that’s used to terrifying bio-weapons capable of destroying entire fleets/planets. If you notice, the medical crew were fully aware of the possibility…[Read more]

@kevinwho
Yes, I get why you should feel that way – you’re interested in why individuals could be racists.

However, as far as I can see, what Michelle Blackman was interested in – when she was writing Rosa – was the institutional racism that existed in Montgomery, Alabama.

Krasko, the cop, the waitress, the bus driver are racists, and nothing…

[Read more]

Anyway, one of the links between the stories is genetically or physically modified creatures. In the first episode, the locator device is a bio-engineered creature. In the second, the entire planet is full of bio-weapons. In the third, the ‘villain’ has been modified to be unable to physically harm people. In the fourth, the spiders have been…[Read more]

Russell T Davies wrote eight out of thirteen episodes in his first series of Doctor Who.
Steven Moffat wrote six out of thirteen episodes in his first series.

It seems to be a ‘first series as Head Writer’ thing – presumably by the time the new Head Writer is into their second series, the writer’s room has a better idea of the tone required.

@thane16

The latter mentioned Alvin Plantinga who my teacher was not happy about: (sorry ‘Pip) “as a theist he’s morally invested in the God Problem.”

Well, if your teacher was teaching Philosophy at the equivalent stage in the UK (A level – last two years of secondary school) he’d have to teach Plantinga, because he’s on the syllabus. And you…[Read more]

@thane16
You need an argument that leads to your conclusion.
Okay, so your argument is that you cannot establish the existence of God using rational argument

The important thing is to define ‘establish’ – I’d guess that your teacher intends ‘Show (something) to be true or certain by determining the facts’ (OED). In everyday English, you’ve…[Read more]

@pedant

Also: at any one time the UK has on hand between 4 and 7 days food.

Yeah, that’s because pretty well every first world country only has between three and seven days food in its warehouses. We’re not going to be eating rats, you know, if we had to fall back on our own food production. We would be willing to kill for a banana if, for some…[Read more]

@idiotsavon

So on that basis, do you think there’s merit in the argument that the Common Market *did* grow ; *did* transform, and that Europe and the UK (and indeed the world) have changed so much since 1963 that de Gaulle’s reasoning no longer applies?

I think de Gaulle’s reasoning still applies. Yes, the ‘maritime’ has changed, but the ‘ex…[Read more]

@pedant

What I said was:

It’s the EU’s big fault – their instinct is to expand

What you replied was:

In the case of expansion, the UK was driving it.

To which my reply would be: ‘well, yes. That was kind of what we were doing from the start – even when we joined we were trying to expand the then EEC (by joining it).’

You’re making a fairl…[Read more]

@pedant

Okay, now tell me what advantages to remaining in the EU were expounded by the Remain campaign.

Advantages, please. Not ‘disadvantages caused by leaving.’ Not ‘these facts aren’t quite the way they’ve been painted.’

Actual advantages used by the Remain side in the Referendum campaign. What was the positive view of the EU that they…[Read more]

@Idiotsavon

Well the first problem is that Leavers and Remainers generally mean different things when they talk about ‘sovereignty’.

Continental Europe and the UK have very different histories when it comes to the formation of nations. Then there’s the legal systems, where England (specifically) has a system that’s based on different premises…[Read more]

@alexanderbarnstaple

the Donald Trump character with the terrible American accent (on purpose) was ridiculously jolly.

There’s a long-standing joke in acting circles that it’s always the actors who are genuinely from the area who are told how terrible their accents are. Given that Chris Noth is originally from Wisconsin, I suspect the accent…[Read more]

@hobbyco

Am I the only one who is noticing that in every episode so far, the “baddy” is white and male

Yup, because as @miapatrick points out, that simply isn’t true. The baddy has been, respectively, alien, non-white (possibly alien), from the dominant race in a racist society, and not orange, honest, because the Orange One will probably sue…[Read more]

@msrbahar

I can’t wait until you hit the episode about Partition…

Seriously, are you the sort of person who, when told that someone is from Texas, insists that you already said they were from Louisiana?

@Rob

Yes, after much angst she eventually ended up with the Doctor-Donna clone with the human lifespan.

But on the whole, I don’t think ‘You’ll end up trapped in an entirely different dimension’ counts as ‘being kept safe’, even if Rose did end up with a wealthy Dad, a boyfriend and possibly a TARDIS.

@JimTheFish

Yes, that’s how I felt about…[Read more]