@blenkinsopthebrave and @janetteb

Only one TV appearance, yes. There was a name check in the Moffat era – Twice Upon A Time?

No,I wouldn’t bother with the Valeyard episodes, Janette. It was very much ‘what the heck is going on here?’ but not in a good way. Good actors and crew slogging their way through as scriptwriters died, script edito…[Read more]

@craig
Quatermass and the Pit Part 1 also seems to have been visited by an inept hacker.

@master124 and @devilishrobby
Yes, it actually explains a lot. Why the Time Lords have always seemed so … genetically engineered as survival machines (they are), why the Doctor is almost universally loathed on Gallifrey (no aliens on Gallifrey, but the Doctor is The Alien Who Must Not Be Mentioned).

Why the Doctor is so different (he/she is…[Read more]

@shepherd
As @winston says, there isn’t a transgender agenda. Female actors have been taking male roles for centuries (and male actors have been taking female roles for millennia). Women have played Prospero, Hamlet and King Lear – and I promise you that I can find you examples of women playing some of those roles before the word ‘transgender’ was…[Read more]

@antpage

So who do we get to replace Chibnall for the next season? This is tough. truly tough.

Especially tough because he’s already confirmed for the next series. Or season. So is Jodie Whittaker. Sorry about that.

If your internal conception of the Doctor is an authority figure, then the Whittaker Doctor isn’t going to be your cup of tea -…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Good to know.

I suspect the reason I’m liking Discovery better than Picard (apart from one being straight-up action adventure and the other aspiring to drama) is that Discovery stuck to the episodic style and Picard seems to be designed for a binge-watch. Since I don’t binge-watch, the current downward curve seems blinkin’ endless.

@dalekbuster523

I suspect the videos have been carefully selected – at least, in my part of London people are generally being very careful and keeping apart. However I could, if I wanted to, find a large group to film, (teenage boys, usually) all suffering from ‘it can’t happen to me’ syndrome. The Thames Path last weekend was also extremely…[Read more]

Hi, just popping my head up above the hibernation parapet.

So – I notice a lot of people on here liked Picard, but I’m currently on Episode 5 and feel as if the writers have mislaid their Prozac. Does it get any more cheerful? Any slight hint of optimism? At the moment I’m half expecting Picard to return home to discover the chateau has been…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

I think this two-parter would have a much higher reputation if it hadn’t come immediately before Blink. Three really excellent episodes in a row.

I’d agree that most of the humour in this episode comes from the villains – because this is a classic tragedy for everyone. Latimer (and Hutchinson) at least have their tragedy…[Read more]

@davros

I’m wondering whether racial integration was really so smooth in 1929.

Not one of my historical areas, so I wouldn’t know about Central Park Hooverville specifically – but Wikipedia says that the St Louis Hooverville was well known for being completely integrated. Given that, I’d say that whether or not it’s historically true, it’s a…[Read more]

Dalek Caan! I’d forgotten Dalek Caan.

I think this was Nick Briggs finest comic Dalek performance – a Dalek who appear to have discovered a secret stash of hallucinogens during the Time War and is just so, so completely stoned.

Stolen Earth is a terrific episode, in the trademark RTD style of throwing everything at the finale, including the…[Read more]

Also rather late to the party. It seems working from home involves a lot of, err, work. 🙂

What struck me on this re-viewing was the character work. Gaiman’s given some considerable thought to the way a multi-dimensional time machine would relate to time and seems to have ended up with an Idris who sees past, present and future in the same way…[Read more]

For those who like (or want to try) Big Finish Audios, they’re offering free downloads of selected titles during the lockdown. Some will be available throughout, others will be time-limited. They’re also doing various special offers.

First one up in the ‘time limited’ selection is The War Doctor – The Innocent with John Hurt. Available until…[Read more]

@winston and @blenkinsopthebrave and jimthefish

Also watched it again – it really is one of the best of the ‘introducing the new Doctor’ episodes. In a way, it’s a shame this didn’t get a cinema live-stream because it feels very cinematic.

When Matt Smith pops his head out of the Tardis with that cheeky grin and the twinkle in his eyes I still…

[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Agreed. Everything just works with this one: not just Curran’s performance, but Karen Gillan’s performance as someone grieving but not understanding why. And then there’s Matt Smith, being nice to Amy without being able to explain why.

It all just – works. A dramatic poem on the subject of depression and grief.

Why. Do. They. All. Have. To Try. “It”. In. America??

Short answer: an acting job in Hollywood pays about five to ten times as much as an acting job in the UK.

Long answer: everyone’s hoping like crazy they’ll do a Sir Patrick Stewart: get a high profile job in a high profile US series and earn so much from the spin-offs, conventions, etc tha…[Read more]

@miapatrick

Yes, I saw video of the goats! Llandudno hits the national news!

Typical nosy goats – no humans around so we’ll trot down from the headland and take a look, ooh, tasty flowers! And typical of a small dog. In their doggy minds they are equal to any challenge and if necessary, they’ll bring the goat down by the kneecaps.

Glad you held…[Read more]

@Craig
Happy Birthday! Hope it’s a good one in spite of the circumstances. 🙂

@miapatrick Yeah, it’s the not knowing the timescale that makes it worse. There was an article on NHS England’s response in the Spectator this week by Dr Max Pemberton which is simultaneously reassuring and scary. Reassuring because they are gearing up to do everything they can; scary because they don’t yet know how long they’ll have to be in…[Read more]

@miapatrick

I’m really sorry to hear that. I do know some cancer treatments affect the immune system, so it could well be that they’re cancelling treatments because they’re balancing the medium term progression against the short term chance of dying from Coronavirus.

Or it just could be that all their beds are full (or they expect them to be…[Read more]