Just watched The Greatest Show in the Galaxy on DVD, with the seventh Doctor and Ace. I found it reasonably diverting, and since it was mostly about a circus the effects were adequate for the story, except for the moment when the Ragnarok gods try to shoot the Doctor with – little yellow pointers of light?

Apropos of nothing very much,…[Read more]

@winston Good luck! I’m not sure I can offer any advice, other than, list your requirements and intended usage as clearly as you can, (e.g. I guess you need plenty of ports to connect external drives etc to), and try to find a salesperson who seems to know what they’re talking about. And, I think the latest high-performance PC’s probably…[Read more]

@vickymallard Finally 🙂 Yes ‘Rose’ is a good place to start. I would rabbit on about that’s where I started but I just said all that to Rewvian in the comment just above yours.

The mannequins were creepy. So was Plastic Mickey. And I agree it was a bit of a stretch that Rose didn’t recognise the strangeness, but I think that…[Read more]

@winston OK, I’ll keep it simple – carry on keeping your stuff on an external drive if you can. Or backing up to an external drive. It’s extremely unlikely that your PC will damage files on an external drive even if it (the PC) crashes with the drive connected. But if possible just make sure you have two copies of anything important in two…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u I absolutely agree 100% with everything you just said about ‘Blink’. 🙂

Do I have schizophrenia and I haven’t noticed, and you are just my alter ego posting and not telling me? (Hey, that could make the basis of a good sci-fi plot. Guy notices on-line posts from someone who shares opinions remarkably closely, tracks them…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u @janetteb
Jamie Mathieson and ‘Bill’ did a commentary on the ‘Oxygen’ DVD and I’m fairly sure that’s where I heard him ranking his four.

His site Jamiemathieson.com https://www.jamiemathieson.com/doctor-who has a lot of material on his Who episodes, like first drafts, ‘Steven made me do it’ moments, it’s a rabbit-hole of…[Read more]

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u
I agree with you both (and Jamie Mathieson) that The Girl Who Died was far the weakest of the four. The top three I’m ambivalent about the ranking of – I have a distinct fondness for Flatline but Mummy is also excellent. Oxygen is grimmer and grittier and carries more ‘punch’ than either. So I’d say all three very…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u That may be why I tend to overlook Oxygen – excellent though it is, it isn’t upbeat (except the ending). It starts with a truly sympathetic character and promptly kills her dead. Whereas Jamie’s other episodes, Mummy, Flatline, even The Girl Who Died are much lighter in tone (even if people are dying). But I did appreciate it…[Read more]

@winston You have my sympathy. Losing a PC is always a bit traumatic (even though I usually have a spare laptop lying around). My desktop lives in a big ancient tower case with half a dozen drive slots of which four are currently occupied so I can easily swap drives with a screwdriver (drives are – relatively – cheap) but it’s always a bit…[Read more]

Time I checked out getting the four (?) recent Ten(nant) episodes, I guess. Meanwhile I’m slowly idling through Twelve’s last series. Just re-watched Oxygen (and posted some random thoughts in that echo), like a good vintage wine it gets better every time I watch it.
(Do wines do that? I’m not a oenophile)

Working through Series 10, bit by bit…

Oxygen – starts with a shock – two dead people spinning through space. I have to say the exterior space station shots are visually excellent, very convincing. And the fact that there is no sound in space is used to shocking effect as Ivan can’t hear Ellie being killed by the space-suited zombies right…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u Interesting theory, but, with respect, I think it’s needlessly complicated. Much simpler if there are just two tardises. (And we know the Time Lords had a fleet of them. In fact, Type 40 suggests they had a very considerable number. So, plenty of Tardises to steal). Why would Clara and Ashildr/Me go back to Gallifrey? OK,…[Read more]

@vickymallard Just responding to a few of your comments. The Master – I though he became a lot more interesting when Moffatt wrote him (as compared to Russell T Davies). Especially in one of his other incarnations and I won’t spoil by saying which one 🙂

I did like the green spiky people, specially the sarcastic female one. Sinead Keenan…[Read more]

@vickymallard Viewer’s varying tolerance for ‘errors’ always fascinates me. I will happily accept a time-travelling Tardis that can materialise anywhere it wants, but I get highly tetchy if the Space Shuttle lands on the Moon because (1) it was never designed to go beyond Earth orbit and (2) it’s actually a glider (if a rather brick-like one),…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u I think you’re complicating it. I think there were only ever two tardises involved – the Doctor’s Tardis (Sexy/Idris) that he stole originally and that stayed with him right through all the twists and turns of the series.
And the second Tardis that the Doctor stole in Hell Bent which was taken over by Clara and Me. I don’t…[Read more]

@vickymallard Sorry, forgot to include you in my note to ps1l0v3y0u. It’s spoilery but I gave my account of what I understand of the Tardis in the Hell Bent thread.

@ps1l0v3y0u Since you asked, this is what I know of stolen Tardises.
In the beginning, the Doctor stole his Type 40 Tardis. He was about to steal a different one when Clara (appearing from his timestream) told him “Don’t steal that one, steal this one. The navigation system’s knackered, but you’ll have much more fun” (The Name of the Doctor).…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u This is spoiler territory so – if you don’t mind – I’ll answer this (as far as I can) in the ‘Hell Bent’ thread where it fits best.

@vickymallard I really liked this one. And I too, liked that the giant fly aliens were not the enemy (and in fact, acted very honourably. I felt quite sorry for them).

Lady Christina was great (in my view). A sort of female James Bond (or Emma Peel?) I would have liked to see a lot more of her. Maybe not workable as a Companion,…[Read more]

@winston Bees I’m cautious about, though I do like lovely big hairy bumble bees. I like spiders (and in NZ there aren’t any really poisonous ones), we used to have lovely big ‘Avondale spiders’ (an immigrant Australian Huntsman) a couple of inches across, in our garden, sadly I haven’t seen one for decades. And I also like moths, the bigger…[Read more]