I believe a rel is 1.2 seconds, or at least that’s what it was in Evolution of the Daleks (if my memory is right).

“It has all these other levels of phil…[Read more]

I was fortunate enough to get to a cinema show last week, and thought Rachel Talalay’s direction was even more impressive on a big screen than on TV. The shots up and down the sta…[Read more]

Many thanks for the extra information and the correction!

@tardigrade @ichabod  @ichabod “These are my memories so this is me”: I might be making a mess of this, but the Countess Scarloni has explained to me (by talking very slowly) that this…[Read more]

A few minor ones:

Captain Archibald Lethbridge-Stewart saluted the Doctor at their parting, just as the…[Read more]

Good to see SM audacious to the end: We don’t usually get a story where the focus is on three dead men walking and one dead woman walking. I thought we also got a powerful visit to what have been big SM themes: memories and the meaning of death. The christmas present for the Doctor was to get…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip

Judging by the archive copy of Radio Times, the audience could easily have missed hearing about the transfer between Hartnell and Troughton. The front cover is all about the return of the Daleks.

In his little book on Doctor Who in the BFI TV Classics series, Kim Newman argues the changeover was very low key. He writes t…[Read more]

From yesterday’s BBCAmerica’s Doctor Who’s Day Roundup, it’s possible to get to  bbc.in/2Be3O9h#DoctorWho with the claim “Hey, look! All the trailers, clips, pics and need-to-know facts about this year’s Christmas Special in one handy place” and “She is coming” is th…[Read more]

http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/tv/news/

Well, among Tom Baker’s first lines was one about Sontarans “perverting the course of human history,” and the 12th Doctor also shouted i…[Read more]

@wolfweed  In theory, if two Missy’s touch, it could cause Paradoxical Time Distortion (or Blinovitch Limitation Effect). A quick read of the Tardis Data Core on the Blinovitch Limitation Effect has examples where touching has not been necessary to produce the effect; proximity has been enough…[Read more]

@mudlark @thane15 @nick @ichabod   As I understand it…[Read more]

With PC’s regeneration and the protests of “No, no, no!”, I thought there were definitely echoes of the of the Second Doctor’s strongly resisted regeneration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_xRkPUMHhc

@devilishrobby similar dilemma that he faced in…[Read more]

Right, thanks! I’ve now caught-up with clips and trailers. In the DWM interview, SM says his (still at school) son did the calculations on the time dilation, but the son later thought he’d got his sums wrong. Artistic license will be in play!

On the questi…[Read more]

SM goes on about time dilation and this concept, assuming SM is not fibbing, will surely play a part. With a 400 mile long spaceship near a black hole, time will be running at a…[Read more]

Thanks for emphasising that conversation and that way of reading it. I was prompted to then watch the final ep…[Read more]

That’s a really interesting reading. In Series 9, the Doctor moaned about the pudding brains, but his attitu…[Read more]

The Doctor is quite testy by this point and not his usual self. He struck me as harsh towards the Picts (“embryos”), and acted in a way that went beyond his usual lack of social skills and indicated that he’s getting a bit fed-up dealing with the “children.” The key point I thought came…[Read more]

Greatly enjoyed what I take was a visual reference to Tomb of the Cyberman.

Bill’s right. Everybody loves The Thing.

I’m with @scaryb,…[Read more]

Yes, that was crucial last week too, and the Doctor even discussed it. On the other hand, we finally got into the Vault and there was no surprise at all that Missy was in there, and she does appear to be alone.

@wolfweed   We learnt nothing about the Monks really. 

Including the point of their inv…[Read more]

@ichabod  I doubt we’ll find out.  Maybe it was as simple as realizing that his own capacities were so hampered by the blindness that the best first move would be for humanity to try its heavy weapons…

@tardigrade  I don’t think the Doctor was very invested in the attack- it wasn’t his idea and…[Read more]

Yes, I agree, the Monks just don’t look as if they are going to abandon the Earth of their own accord. I argued upthread that, given the information available to…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave  @thane15      and why a pyramid exactly?

I’d dearly like to think the explanation is: Pyramids have turned up bef…[Read more]

The Monks seem likely to be an independent race acting alone. But once the Doctor has dealt with the Monks, then what’s the threat as we work towards the big climax to the series?? Or will the Doctor be fighting the Monks to the end?

That’s a good reminder to never forget the Daleks! They do seem to be at least trying to keep tabs on the Doctor, and  told Missy the Doctor had been on Darillium.

But who or what what is directing the monks?? I didn’t see any clues to that.

Yes, indeed! Talent over chums anyday.

Like @Whisht, I’ve pretty much thrown in the towel and I’m now inclining to Missy or the Master in the Vault. Perhaps this was pointed out earlier and I missed it, but a late thought from Knock, Knock,' was it an accident that the being/thing in the Vault was playingFur Elise’ when the Doctor was outside…[Read more]

What a pity! Thanks very much for passing this on.

Nardole is now looking more su…[Read more]

I don’t recall the Master ever playing the organ, but the Doctor has at least a couple of times, perhaps more. The occasions I can remember are in The Lazarus Experiment and the 6th Doctor story Attack of the Cybermen, in which the Doctor actually fixed the cha…[Read more]

Agreed. I thought it was dramatically a bit weak for all of them to escape.

@mudlark The same applies to Susan so I would be equally surprised…[Read more]

Have we had two examples this series of a variation of a base under attack? In Smile and Knock, Knock it was the base that did the attacking.

David Suchet would have made a marvellous Master!

Bill called the Doctor “grandad.” The Doctor insisted on “grandfather.” I think @thane15 and @blenkinsopthebrav…[Read more]