@janetteb   Further thought – of course the Moff really lampshaded that in ‘The Lie of the Land’ where the History Monks erased themselves from history when they left.   That was a very ‘1984’ episode.    But surely someone would wonder about the big square of waste land in the middle of London where their pyramid was.

@janetteb   I have a much more positive view of Churchill than you do.   But my reservations about Victory of the Daleks are, partly because it does mess with history (I think you share that) and also, like you, Spitfires in Space?   How much effect does anyone think 20mm Hispano cannons would have on a Dalek ship?

Personally, whether I appro…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave   I’m not very familiar with JNT.   I did just read about the Cartmel ‘Master Plan’ (on Tardis.fandom.com) which sounds as if it could have been very much more interesting.   Of course whether it would have worked that way in realisation is one of those things we’ll never know.

I agree about the importance of show runne…[Read more]

@janetteb    Obviously I entirely agree with you about the heavy-handed bit.   For example, the ‘plastics pollution’ episode (‘Praxeus’ was it?) turned me off – and I’m a greenie and a leftie!    Actually I’m a cynic when it comes to a Message – any time I’m ‘explaining’ things to a meeting the sceptical streak in my mind is thinking ‘are these p…[Read more]

@janetteb   Yes, I did like Rigsy as a character.   This greatly helps in Face the Raven to justify Clara taking such a risk to save him – I would have been much more impatient with that if he had been unlikeable.   (I know that feeling is morally unjustifiable but I think it’s natural).    And it made for even more pathos in the final scene wi…[Read more]

Well, McGoohan’s ‘Danger Man’ (Secret Agent in the US) was a spy series that occasionally featured technological gadgetry (this was just before the James Bond movies went all-out in that direction).   The other thing about DM was that, just sometimes, there would be a plot where the ‘villains’ weren’t really villains at all but innocent c…[Read more]

Random thoughts on re-watching ‘Flatline’ – I see the last post was also by me, so I’ve edited out most of the repetition.

The Doctor hacking into Clara’s optic nerve and giving her an earpiece is a really clever way to keep him involved, and a fount of many witty moments. I absolutely *love* the way Clara uses the mirror on the wall to give the…[Read more]

@nerys    Can I add my hopes that you are safe.   This year the climate seems to have gone berserk – here, it’s floods.

@blenkinsopthebrave    I have to admit, I find many older TV episodes somewhat lacking in conviction.   I think it’s partly due to better production values these days.   I emphatically don’t think heaps of over-the-top whizz-bang is a substitute for a good story and acting, but I have to admit that insufficient or inadequate props (like some o…[Read more]

Oh yes, I’d forgotten about Journey Blue.   I liked her and I thought the Doctor was too hasty in rejecting her because she was a soldier.    Of course in previous series Rory was a Roman soldier for millennia (though it could be argued that was through force of circumstances rather than choice).

The Mummy I also felt sorry for.    A bit like Cy…[Read more]

@janetteb   “I feel that Danny is better written in Moffat’s head than he is on the screen.”     Yes you’re probably right.   Of course, also, characters sometimes suffer from inconsistency due to different writers doing different episodes.

Jamie Mathieson, who wrote Mummy on the Orient Express, also wrote the excellent Flatline (up next), Th…[Read more]

Further thoughts on re-watching Mummy on the Orient Express.

The Mummy looks sufficiently dilapidated and horrifying. But it’s nice to find a story where the danger is finite and not cataclysmic.

“Your train awaits, milady” “Wonderful” “The baggage car. But thanks for lying”

The locomotive looks typically French, which is quite appropriate for…[Read more]

@janetteb    I don’t think you’re missing anything (not watching KTM again, that is).   Never mind, Mummy on the Orient Express next.

I know the feeling of ‘which version is best’, it plagues me too.

I think you’re right about subconscious memory.   Prompting it (by re-watching the same thing) probably evokes very similar thoughts and reacti…[Read more]

Well, I just re-watched Kill The Moon, in case it seemed better to me second time around.   Sometimes this happens – I felt a bit more positive about The Caretaker – but with KTM, suffice to say it didn’t.   I ended up writing a lengthy screed which was remarkably close to what I posted a year and a half ago.   Either my subconscious remem…[Read more]

@winston   Yes I felt bad for the policeman.   The reception desk in the Nethersphere was intriguing, I thought Seb was perfectly cast, by the way.   (Lots of foreshadowing for Dark Water).

I agree entirely about Danny.    Aside from my natural bias for the Doctor and Clara (and therefore Danny should have been more impressed) – well, he *should*…[Read more]

Well, The Caretaker certainly started off in promising fashion. “There’s no way out of this, we’re going to die here.”
I respectfully submit that cutting to Danny in the restaurant querying Clara’s tan is cheating, I WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY ESCAPED.

But the opening sequence is just establishing that Clara is getting quite addicted to her daily…[Read more]

@janetteb    That guy’s head collapsing was horrific.   And yes it had occurred to me also that it wouldn’t happen that way.   Very good CGI though.    Actually I don’t think ‘scrambling’ his brain by sucking all the thoughts out would reduce its volume.   But I find it curious the way *some* things cause us to have – what can I call it – ‘reali…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave The ‘new’ Doctor of which you speak, in connection with Regency clothes, is that Ten(nant) (or should that be 14? Or 10(c)? All highly confusing), or Ncuti Gatwa who I suppose is 15. Probably. Or 14 if Ten(nant) Mk III doesn’t get a new number. I give up.
OK, according to the Beeb, Tennant is 14, Gatwa is 15. OK.
Quite like…[Read more]

I think I may have posted my impressions previously, but obviously not in the Time Heist thread.
Quite an intriguing episode, though tends to be overshadowed by ‘Listen’ which preceded it. The intro certainly grabs you, with the instantaneous jump from Clara’s flat to the conspiratorial hidey-hole in the bank. “It’s just a phone Clara. Nothing…[Read more]

@winston @janetteb   Pretty cold and dreary here too.   The weather has stayed quite warm (notwithstanding the occasional record rainstorm and flooding) up until a couple of weeks ago, when it suddenly fell off its perch so to speak.   So now we’re into winter.   It managed to be quite pleasant for a couple of hours this afternoon, I went for a w…[Read more]