@nerys
Glad it was helpful.

UK senior politicians are called ‘Secretary of State for xxx’ just as in the U.S. The terms date from the same period. However, the UK has a practice of calling any Secretary of State who is also in the Cabinet ‘Minister’.

So, unlike the US, ‘Secretary’ is often a signal that you aren’t in one of the really important…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

We see the Dalek from Resolution being driven away, there is a stop at the side of the road, the truck is driven away, there is huddled discussion between Robertson and the scientist, there is a demonstration of the Dalek to the corrupt politician…

Yup. It was a long slow burn of a set up. That is, the plot proceeded m…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Martin Belam, who wrote this year’s recap over at T’Other Place, made a very good point. He was watching this with his kids, aged seven and ten. The bits he found clunky were also the bits where the seven-year-old was going ‘aha!’

The Verhoeven film was brilliant. It was also rated 18 in the UK. It was not aimed squarel…[Read more]

@jamjarr

From a production point of view, I think the neon was to give us an easy way of telling the two Dalek factions apart. From a story point of view, the jazzy light show was to demonstrate that these were human designed Daleks. Face it, we do tend to think everything robotic looks better with flashing lights.

Ooh, and did anyone notice that the Doctor thinks Jack’s never had a room in the TARDIS but Jack said he had a suite? Either Jack’s travelled with a now forgotten incarnation, or their timelines are slightly out of synch.

Yes, I thought that was pretty good. I think the Doctor being tossed in the clink for nineteen years may have been a slight leg pull for Steven Moffat and his ‘am I a good man’ arc, in that the Whittaker Doctor has now also had a long period of identity crisis … but offscreen.

The ten month mistake also proved to have dramatic point, as it was…[Read more]

Hope everyone had a good and safe Christmas and that you all managed to eat and drink too much even in these most difficult times.

Merry Christmas

Pip

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

@blenkinsopthebrave and @geoffers

The not-always-good Captain is front and centre in one of the BBC publicity photos, so it’s now as official as it gets.

@nerys
Glad to hear the news that your Dad’s oxygen levels are now up to scratch and they’re thinking in terms of a move to rehab. That is good news. As @dentarthurdent says, not wanting to read etc is part of resting – and from what I’ve been told, a more serious dose of Covid is really energy-sapping.

My Mum lives back in North Wales and they’…[Read more]

@nerys
Glad to hear your Dad seems to be staying stable. Yeah, COVID is very weird and can present with all sorts of symptoms (or none at all). I think Strange Noises hit about 10% or so.

@blenkinsopthebrave

I classed the archive as handwavium – the Master showed he can hack the Matrix more than once, so I’d expect him to be able to copy the interesting bits. But we’ll see.

I think the definite ‘unreliable narrator’ bit for me is where Brendan in the cover story is deliberately shot by a criminal, but the Master is oddly insiste…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

He actually hasn’t ignored everything that’s gone before, any more than, say, RTD ignored everything we knew about the Master when he decided to make him a) driven insane by the Time Vortex and then b) driven insane by a homing signal sent through the Time Vortex by Rassillon. In a very similar way, Chibnall has given us inf…[Read more]

@janetteb

Ah, yes, the mad queues at the supermarket. Currently I’m in Lockdown 2, the sequel and supermarkets here are a lot calmer. Apart from toilet paper. Why there was panic buying of toilet paper at the beginning of both English lockdowns is one of life’s little mysteries, especially since the UK not only manufactures toilet paper, it exp…[Read more]

@geoffers @blenkinsopthebrave

To be honest, the reason given for the original rumour (police box is to be changed because of the way the police are perceived by the public) sounds like something someone’s made up for its click bait value.

The whole reason the BBC still has the trademark was because the Metropolitan Police lost their case that t…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

The BBC owns the trademark for the TARDIS. Furthermore, the TARDIS has changed its outward appearance before – Baker2 and Capaldi – but only for a short period each time.

Basically, I can imagine the BBC signing off again on a temporary change to their highly valuable trademarked property, but not on anything permanent.…[Read more]

@geoffers

I suspect it MAY be connected with the Fugitive Doctor/Timeless Child storyline. The Judoon still have that millennia old arrest warrant and a very, very annoyed officer who had his horn removed. So it may be that the Doctor realises that the appearance of a Police Box results in a squad or more of Judoon appearing – and TEMPORARILY…[Read more]

@nerys
That’s good news! Hoping and praying that your Dad continues along the needs-hospital-but-not-intensive-care pathway to recovery.

@dentarthurdent Sorry, do you mean there isn’t a giant glowing eye in the middle of New Zealand?

@nerys

So sorry to hear about your father and I hope the Remdesvir treatment goes well.

Even if you were living close by, the hospital very likely wouldn’t let you visit. That’s the worst of it – quite a few people I know have had COVID and you just have to hope and pray each time that they’re one of the lucky ones. I hope your Dad is too.…[Read more]

Hi, everyone

Terrible news. Forty one is far too young. He was a real enthusiast who helped make his Guardian blog a lovely place to be – one of the few above-the-line commentators who’d join in below-the-line and (sometimes) argue it out with posters. You could tell he saw himself as a fellow fan, not simply a critic.