@thane16    The Moment was a weapon so powerful it had achieved intelligence.   And maybe even a conscience.   (Current AI has quite a long way to go).    And Billie Piper was one of those people the camera loves.  Even leaning against the wall of the cell in the Tower of London behind three Doctors, she was stealing the scene without moving a…[Read more]

@thane16    Wild Blue Yonder was great, and a perfect example of how to properly use CGI.   And having just two cast intensifies the drama.   The alien ship looked truly beautiful.   Probably my favourite RTD(2) episode.    And, the reintroduction of Donna was successful.

School Reunion was good because it introduced the Old Companion well, it…[Read more]

Gosh, look away for a couple of days and the comments fill up.
@thane16 Syzygy (I thought I posted this) That lecture was in Bill Potts first episode, The Pilot. Transcript at chakoteya.net.
I thought the idea that Rose(2) could solve the metacrisis by being non-binary – it didn’t really make sense to me, and it felt distinctly forced – RTD…[Read more]

@syzygy  @thane16   Oh yes those ‘cue cards’.   “Sorry for the loss of your friend/relative/pet.”   How Capaldi delivered those lines without cracking up I don’t know.  (Reminds me of those ‘personalised’ offers we used to get a few decades ago from Readers Digest and the like –  “Dear [Dentarthurdent], we are certain that you and your family a…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u    I agree that Disney, with their tendency to milk old classics for all they’re worth, and cartoonise everything, was not a good fit.   And since their name was on it, I assume they vetoed anything too adult.   Their only plus is, they tend to be woke, and much as I deride that term and tendency, I guess it’s better than being bigot…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u   Hmmm, so you think RTD was making himself essential?   Possibly so.   Obviously Mrs Flood / The Rani was an extremely long-distance arc.

But suppose RTD and the Beeb had parted ways halfway through, I guess someone else could have found a continuation of the Mrs Flood storyline.   But as for all the other storylines – first it woul…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

Well, I just watched the final double episode, and the Doctor seemed a lot more human and like his normal self in that one.

How ‘monster’ could an arc be?   Mrs Flood has been lurking for – how many seasons?

The ‘science’ in that was so – metaphysical – I don’t think I can nitpick anything.   I’m not sure how the Bone Creatures who…[Read more]

Random thoughts on The Reality War.

… and the Doctor got rescued by Anita from the Time Hotel. That came out of left field. But it worked, and nice to see her again.

So it’s Big Reset Button time again?

The Time Hotel seems to have expanded its capabilities to have become a sort of ersatz Tardis, flown by Anita.

Nice to see Rose(2) again…[Read more]

Random thoughts on re-watch.

Somehow, the Rani, though a bit obnoxious, doesn’t have quite the threat level conveyed by other Who villains.

Oooh, the Doctor in bed with a Companion. That’s a first. I mean, we’ve known that previous Companions were in love with their Doctors, but I think this is the nearest we’ve seen to them actally doing Luurve…[Read more]

@janetteb   Not saying the guy didn’t deserve it, but it was un-Doctor-like.   Also, the Doctor appeared to be partly motivated by revenge for himself being frozen, which was also quite out of character.   The guy had plenty of reason to hate the Corporation, but taking it out on the rest of the Universe was unacceptable.   If he had just set out…[Read more]

@whohar    I’d agree wholeheartedly with all that.

Also, I’d add, the writing lacked a certain polish or sparkle that Moff used to inject into it.   And, I think, a certain sense of humour.   I’m thinking of, say, the interaction between Clara and the Doctor in Flatline, or the Doctors in Day of the Doctor.   Can anyone point to a Chibz episode…[Read more]

Well, I just watched it again.   Wrote several paragraphs, most of which I’ve deleted because they were just repeating what I posted a year ago.    A couple of points survive –

Blowing the roof off – that’s certainly drastic. Minor quibble – I’m not sure the Doctor and the Tardis would get sucked into space – there must be artificial gravity sti…[Read more]

@thane16

in the social messaging of Chibbers I thought it was overtly political – except I understand that’s both essential (plays & stories were always this) & part of Who’s rich history but something about the execution of their messages was clunky or unsubtle….

Well, you said in three lines what I took a page to do.   The ‘social messaging…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u   Chibz’ ‘history’ eps made me cringe because of the inaccuracies in the ones I do know a little about, which leads me to doubt his accuracy on those I don’t know about. (I stole that from somebody). I have to admit I didn’t watch Rosa because I was sure it was going to be a depressingly simplistic stereotype of white men bad, black w…[Read more]

@thane16 Um yes, that Edit function does seem a bit – erratic. I try not to use it. If I have to, and I’m feeling cautious, I just copy the whole post into a text editor first, that way if something goes wrong I’ve got a copy on my system.
And long comments, I do use a text editor and just paste the whole thing into the edit box.
I think the…[Read more]

@thane16    I do hope you didn’t have to retype the entire post.   I should have offered to fish it out of my inbox and send it to you.   I just didn’t think of it.

I’ll comment on your points tomorrow.   It’s 3-34 a.m. and Mrs D reminded me it’s about bedtime.   (I’m retired so don’t have to worry about getting up in the morning.   Mrs D is…[Read more]

@thane16  syzygy    I see a long post from you in my mailbox (addressed to demtarthurdent) and I see your one-line correction just above my last comment, but i can’t see your long post in this forum.   Not sure what happened there.

@ps1l0v3y0u   I think what you call ‘bloke adjuncts’ is simply within the normal range of reactions of one human towards another human(oid).   The premise of the show is that the Doctor is the Main Character (and happened to be a bloke).   The Companion was, like all hero’s companions, a supporting character – except that, from ‘Rose’ onwar…[Read more]

@syzygy @thane16 Um.

I think @ps1l0v3y0u meant that women could sometimes be written as “another bloke” as opposed to a well thought out female character. If I’m wrong please chip in.

I’m not sure what that means. Well, if they got drunk with the other – girls, cracked juvenile bad-taste jokes, and went out on the pull on Saturday night, I guess t…[Read more]