The reason I mentioned ‘improv’ was sparked by ‘On the Turning Away’. That has four sung verses, followed by nine guitar solo ‘verses’ (not sure what to call them, I expect there’s a word for them). Except that sometimes there’s eleven in the solo, or even thirteen. (There are plenty of videos on…[Read more]

In fact I’ve noticed there are many different versions of tracks on the Net, some official, some bootleg from various…[Read more]

I was a bit of a classical snob when I was a teen. Beethoven,…[Read more]

As musical scores go, I thought Murray Gold’s score called ‘The Shepherd’s Boy’ was one of the…[Read more]

I…[Read more]

But what I came to say was, that garden idea of yours is intriguing.  You becoming part of the garden.  A garden that captures people.   Has that ever been used in Doctor W…[Read more]

I don’t like it very much.   This is definit…[Read more]

The just-married couple in Anita’s Sandringham Hotel honeymoon suite took the Doctor’s incursion remarkably calmly, I thought. Just a reminder t…[Read more]

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

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]

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]

… 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Some people were annoyed that Moff’s companions were obvious bloke adjuncts. They have a point. I’ sure Bill ‘molested by a puddle’ also had some people frothing. 

Not sure what ‘bloke adjuncts’ means.   They were normal heterosexual people (like, the 90%) who naturally had boyfriends (or, in the case of Bill, girl-puddl…[Read more]

I do like strong female characters who don’t just stand on a chair and scream when they see a mouse.   (Though I did have a female acquaintance last…[Read more]

Well, ‘Alien’ would fail that and the hero was a woman, ffs! So would ‘Hell Bent’ (I don’t think Clara and Ashildr talked to each other about anything other than the Doctor, although…[Read more]

And I, like you, was also disappointed in the companions, or rather the treatement of them. I re…[Read more]

All the other books are satire too, of course.   And I’m certainly not saying Small Gods was bad, I’d sooner read it than, say, anything by a less talented writer  (which is most of them).

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]

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]

And it appears the Dalek syste…[Read more]

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]

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

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

1867 is quite recent.   Still beats Australia though.

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

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.