@ps1l0v3y0u

You don’t need patience, or any commitment, to read the Discworld books.   Any more than you need a commitment to watch an isolated episode of Doctor Who.   The ‘recommended reading lists’ give the impression, possibly inadvertently, that each ‘series’ is one continuing story.  This is just not the case.   Although many of the charac…[Read more]

@janetteb I’m currently reading Lords and Ladies, which is of course a ‘witches’ one. Though my preference is for Nanny Ogg, which probably says something about my moral character 🙂

I’ve got the Hogfather movie on DVD, on my ‘rewatch soon’ pile. I’m a little surprised a lot more Discworld movies weren’t made. I guess with the wide cast of…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u   I guess Clara the Dalek only required Jenna’s presence when she was actually visible inside the Dalek.   The rest of the scene would have used a stand-in Dalek.   So with that, and one other Clara-lite episode which Moff mentioned but i don’t recall, I guess that amounted to one Clara episode saved.

And it appears the Dalek syste…[Read more]

@whohar

I think ‘Fifth Elephant’ may well have been derived from ‘5th Element’. It’s very common in literature and drama, I think it’s perfectly legitimate and a nice nod to the original work.
There are plenty of examples in Doctor Who. ‘Spyfall’ obviously comes from ‘Skyfall’ (James Bond). ‘Empress of Mars’ is very obviously a tribute to Edgar…[Read more]

@janetteb Pleased to see you’re a Pratchett fan too. For some reason, to me the other work that most resembled the Discworld is Doug Adams Hitch-hiker quintet. Notwithstanding that Discworld is explicitly fantasy and Hitchhiker is explicitly Science Fiction. But there’s just something about the situations and characters that make them ‘feel’…[Read more]

@whohar
I’m reading through Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, in order. This is a long-term project. I do love an author with a good turn of phrase, and Pratchett certainly has that. So does Steven Moffat (of which more in a moment).
In between that I’m reading [geek mode ON] Hamilton Ellis’s British Railway History, Part 1. Which is what it…[Read more]

@whohar   Thanks for that.   That article is actually excerpts from a video interview with Stephen Moffet, it very helpfully  gives a link to the interview, which is on Youtube here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T-wYCvusZ4

I know what I’ll be watching for the next hour and a half.    Moffat is always interesting to listen to.

@whohar   Care to give us a link to that interview?   Thanks.

@translatorcircuit Unfortunately, what you think ‘should’ happen to the rights carries little weight with those who actually have custody of them. In particular, if the BBC were wound up, it would probably be the duty of the receivers (or whatever their title was) to maximise the financial return.

As for ‘The Time Machine’ somehow invalidating…[Read more]

@janetteb I agree with you about the budget and special effects. First of all, the FX should support the script, not replace or outweigh it. I think there’s a certain quality of FX to properly support the story. Less, and you get things like the embarrassing unconvincing ‘guns’ in Blakes 7, or the gods in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy looking…[Read more]

@winston    Yes, we had noticed rather a lot going on.   The orange Feuhrer in Washington is a busy boy isn’t he?

1867 is quite recent.   Still beats Australia though.

I wish you happy birthday, good luck and elbows up!    🙂

@translatorcircuit      And I had the impression that Doctor Who only existed because of the BBC.   Silly me.

If the Beeb was closed down the rights wouldn’t suddenly disappear.   They would probably be sold off to the highest bidder – who would probably be Disney or Netflix or one of those.   Doctor Who: Jedi Knight  meets Alien.   It would make a mint.

@janetteb   I wanted to like it (the movie).   Maybe I was being a bit indulgent of it.   I haven’t felt impelled to re-watch it though.   And as I recall, it didn’t really feel like Doctor Who.

Night of the Doctor, now, was an excellent little cameo.  (Is ‘cameo’ the right word?)   Moff’s dialogue was on its best form.   As it was with the onl…[Read more]

@janetteb    You mentioned the Who movie with Paul McGann.   I think, based on seeing him in The Night of the Doctor, he would have made a fine Doctor.   He had the gravitas, the personal magnetism, the looks.

Most unfortunately, he fell into the Gap.   I’ve seen the movie.   Taken as a random sci-fi movie, there was nothing wrong with it.   Jus…[Read more]

@nerys   @janetteb   Well that Guardian article was – interesting.   What took me by surprise was the author’s nomination for all-three-in-one   – Peter Capaldi.   Seems a bit startling at first.   But maybe not so far-fetched.   Could he do Bond – I think as an ageing but still deadly Bond he certainly could do it.  Could he do the Doctor – we kn…[Read more]

DISCUSSION ABOUT CLASS - SPOILERS...

@ps1l0v3y0u    @janetteb   I didn’t know Wells was so personally  interesting.   We had to do some Wells novel in English at school, so of course we were scornful of the old-fashioned language.   It wasn’t The Time Machine or War of the Worlds, and I was never sure if the latter was written by H G or Orson anyway  🙂       In my early sci-fi…[Read more]

After a re-watch of The Story and the Engine –

Hmmm. Last series in this mid-series slot we got Boom!, 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble. (As the incorrect menu on my probably-bootleg? DVD reminds me.) What it links to, though, is The Well (very good), Lucky Day (not so good) and The Story and the Engine. So how will this turn out?

Hmm, ethnic. I hope…[Read more]

@janetteb   Well, I think I can recommend The Well and The Story and the Engine.   But of course it’s all a matter of taste.

And I do agree also about UNIT and the series.