That was somewhat hectic; a bit like one of those science fiction or fantasy novels which are narrated from multiple points of view and skip between them with such dizzying frequency that one keeps on having to back-track, but the pieces are beginning to link up. I enjoyed it and found myself more fully engaged than has generally been the case…[Read more]

Well, that was quite the chaotic mess. And yet, it was a chaotic mess that I think I, on the whole, rather enjoyed. As @craig says, if you look at it as you would a regular AG Who episode then structurally it’s a mess but I think the key is to look at it like a first episode of BG gap story. I rewatched Image of the Fendahl as my Halloween treat…[Read more]

@juniperfish

As @bluesqueakpip says , Williamson’s tunnels do exist, date from the 1820s, and are nothing to do with mining.

Williamson, who was a wealthy businessman in Liverpool, bought an area of undeveloped land in the Edge Hill area of Liverpool and proceeded to build houses there of very eccentric design, and to excavate an extensive…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip  – I love the idea that Dan is the Master (maybe chamelion-arched?).

@whereami62 – the credits described blue crystal-face dude as “Swarm”.

But there’s a lot we don’t know. Swarm the blue entity seems to consume life-force in a similar way to the space-cloud called the Flux. So, are they they same entity, say, at different stages…[Read more]

For me on first viewing this episode amounted to an information overload delivered much of the time at a machine gun rattle. I may be getting old,* but my hearing is still pretty good, and even so at times I had to resort to subtitles to keep track of what was going on, which didn’t help. There were plenty of intriguing and very promising…[Read more]

Merry meet everyone!

Thanks to @Craig for keeping the Forum going.

I’m excited for a serial story, as I much prefer a contiguous narrative thread to pull on, Minotaur style.

There WAS a lot going on and I feel I need a re-watch – bit of a Halloween smorgasbord of aliens, with Sontarans, dog-aliens, whoever blue-crystal-face (Swarm) is, Weeping…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

I’d say the odds of Olly Alexander as the next Doctor just shortened dramatically.

I’m not so sure. I doubt RTD will want to return to YoungWhiteBloke territory plus Olly has a lot of irons in his fire to be taking on the life-consuming task of the Being The Doctor. I am hopeful though that it gives T’Nia Miller (currently t…[Read more]

Have been reading a bit more about season 13 (no spoilers though). It seems that they are going to jettison the separate story structure in favour of one story told over 8 episodes. I am assuming that this will re-engage with the consequences of The Timeless Children.

Since all we have been given so far is a 30 second teaser, it would be nice if…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip    I think you’re probably right about the Lancaster.   Lancasters are ‘iconic’ and there are probably quite a number of them around; less so, Wellingtons (although more were actually made, throughout the war).   Wikipedia says, just two exist (and one of those was fished out of Loch Ness!)

My ‘favourite’ ‘wrong’ artefact (which…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip there has always been hints that the Doctor is a timelord like no other even in the BG era. This seems to be  more so in so in the Cartmel Plan period and certainly in the unfortunately shortened McCoy tenure and also in the officially sanctioned books of the gap years also his knowledge of and association with major Celestial…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip. Could not agree more about Gallifrey being destroyed. Also find it difficult to accept that the doctor is not a timelord/lady of Gallifrey who seems to be this immortal being from another dimension/universe. Bit of a origin story remake that seems to change the last 56 years or so of doctor who.  Don’t like the idea however it was…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip Thanks for the detailed summary, and agree–yes it is effective–if it was, let’s say, the opening episode of a three or four part miniseries that was done as a dark story of corrupt business and corrupt government conspiring together to create a dystopian future. Sounds like just the type of thing Chibnall could do well–if it was…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip @miapatrick Thank you for that clarification. I’m from the States, but live in Canada, which has a parliamentary system similar to the UK’s. The “secretary” designation raised eyebrows for both me and my Canadian husband.

@blenkinsopthebrave I may have to bite the bullet and go the purchase route. Or be prepared to be patient…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip Thank you for that excellent analysis. It arms me with a lot more context for a second (and hopefully more appreciative) viewing.

Question: Did I hear correctly that the security official, who eventually became leader of her party and prime minister, was called Secretary? Is that correct, in the UK? I would have thought she’d be…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip – yes, that confusion with Jack. The most likely time to me seemed to be when he was travelling with Nine. I kept thinking – why wouldn’t he have a room? Didn’t eleven and the bunkbeds at least establish the idea of bedrooms on the Tardis? I haven’t watched it for ages but I think Nine was when Jack was around for a while, at least…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip

I thought Martin Belam provided a very good assessment of the episode, particularly his reflection that “it was an extremely long slow burn of a set up before it got going”. Exactly. I am talking about pacing, and about showing, rather than explaining, what is happening.

For example, my reference to “Robocop”. The opening of…[Read more]

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

@bluesqueakpip

“It’s possible that the storyline is heading in a direction where the Doctor is losing all her ‘props’ – Gallifrey, Time Lord and now the Police Box – in a way that symbolises the past she now knows she’s lost. But if that’s the direction I’d expect it to end with the Police Box back as she gets her sense of self and identity (w…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip  I agree, when you gotta go, you gotta go and when you go you need the T.P.

Stay safe

@bluesqueakpip Odd about the toilet paper. We had the same thing here in New Zealand. I must admit to being moderately guilty, I didn’t go crazy buying it but we were in Christchurch when it all kicked off and we came back up to Auckland with three packs of TP in the back of the wife’s Mazda. Cleaning products all flew off the shelves too, luckily…[Read more]