@fonsini – ah, I’d forgotten about you,  kind of thought you’d gone off in a huff last time we collectively shut down your rather unpleasant and narrow minded nonsense.  Anyone who watches Doctor Who basically to count the number of black characters in order to work out whether this is ‘feasible’ or not really is in the wrong place.   Do ple…[Read more]

Some fabulous stuff going on here, too much to keep up with, and too good for me to be able to add anything really significant.  However, I am mulling particularly all of the thoughts about how this series deals with death, and I feel a blog coming on.  Will post it here if it turns into anything sufficiently coherent/interesting.   Specially lov…[Read more]

@purofilion – I can picture it all too easily…  very funny if you’re not the one on the inside of the self-locking door!

As if there isn’t enough to ponder and construct bonkers theories about – how, and why, did @purofilion get trapped in the cupboard?  I doubt Moffat will shed any light at all on that one…

@otherstuff  She knows it from the newspaper advert in Deep Breath that was used to get her and the Doctor to the restaurant.

I do think – hope –  that the whole ‘conscious after death’ thing will be proved to be a fake, as it’s just too dark and hideous and traumatising a concept to bear, whether one has just been bereaved, or had to reassure a child that cremation can’t hurt the dead person, or not.  In which case, are the inhabitants of the nethersphere actually p…[Read more]

@ – well, lots of people really, but inc. @Miapatrick, @purofilion, @zeitgeis…  Clara’s lying seems to me to be a compulsion rather than forced on her by the situation with either the Doctor or Danny.  In every situation with either of them where she has the chance to tell the truth, she opts for a lie instead.  Why? I don’t honestly think it…[Read more]

Fascinating discussions here, as always, and as always I feel I have very little to add!  However, for what it’s worth…

Re Danny, I am uneasy.   I can see both perspectives (@blenkinsopthebrave and @bluesqueakpip). Clara’s incessant, compulsive lying makes Danny seem more responsible – but whose fault was it that they lost a child?  How lon…[Read more]

Only one watching, as usual, and I was v tired but for what they’re worth, one or two thoughts.

The Annabels concurred re the daft science but for me that’s not a deal-breaker – oddly enough less so as I work with physicists, and know how the community is divided on theories about the universe (eg dark matter), and as I always recall a dear and…[Read more]

@Arbutus  Absolutely – enjoyed, not fully agreed with.  It was refreshing that the writer was putting a different point of view without demonising those with whom he was disagreeing.  And yes, the show has its roots in diversity – as the Adventures in Time & Space drama (which was absolutely wonderful, I thought) made clear, with the key parts pl…[Read more]

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-who/32264/doctor-who-and-faith-bigger-on-the-inside

Doctor Who hosts a frank and open discussion about the things that matter most to us as human beings: love, death, forgiveness, safety, adventure, and yes – belief.

Interesting piece here about Who and faith.  As a humanist (I prefer that as a positive…[Read more]

@PhaseShift To really admire it I’ve found it beneficial to stop a safe distance away from it. Yorkshire is perfect. I can really admire London from Yorkshire.

A good point, well made.  The view of London from Sheffield is pretty damn fine.  Mind you, the view of hills and moorland from my dining room window in Sheffield is awesome.

@ScaryB thanks for the Alice clip – I remember watching that on TotP!

@arbutus totally agree that the Doc should not fit in too well.  I adored Tennant, but with hindsight and without the distraction of his considerable charms, I think he was too human, and Smith set things back on track from that point of view.

@ScaryB I checked again with my son who is (a) a fount of knowledge on a great many topics, including (but not restricted to) football, American history and politics, the Spanish civil war, Marvel superheroes, AG Who, and otters.  He is very certain about the otters, so otters it is.

The Guardian blog comments this week appear to have been taken…[Read more]

Is it remotely possible that in Clara’s rant about Jane Austen she referred to Blorgons?  Because that would be – whilst completely arc-irrelevant – rather nice.  http://madmanwithabooth.wikia.com/wiki/Inspector_SpaceTime_Wiki

Only just watched it, and just the once, so lacking in any terribly coherent thoughts.

@TheBrainOfMoffat – Auton or otter – I heard auton, my son definitely went with otter, and his hearing is likely to be better than mine what with being young and all.

@phileasf – The parents’ evening comment – I didn’t register it at the time, but (and without…[Read more]

Well, that was fantastic.  Genuinely creepy.  Reminded me a lot of something Stephen King said about how when we’re grown-ups we know there’s no monster under the bed, and we also know that if we get on to and off the bed quickly enough the monster under the bed can’t get us….  And he knows a bit about such things.

Haven’t worked out what I th…[Read more]

Enjoyed the episode – it felt a bit like a little light relief (although with hints and echoes of the darker themes).  But the badinage between Doc and Hoody also reminded me a lot of the ‘banter’ between the various doctors in DotD, even down to the bit where they’re in a cell not working together to come up with a coherent plan……[Read more]

@Fonsini  If this is a parody of BTL Daily Mail/Express UKIppery then cleverly done, though really, most of us would probably rather you hadn’t.

If not, I think you’re in entirely the wrong place.  We’ve all been brainwashed far too effectively, as you predict, to be won over by your arguments.  Otherwise, how could we fail to conclude that th…[Read more]

@Devilishrobby Yes, I thought the crack looked familiar…  Significant?  Not sure, could just be Moffatt messing with our minds.