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And here I am again. Kind of embarrassing to find the last post was me, saying much the same things. I cut a few repetitous comments and just left the rest.

The intro makes me realise just how spooky the Tardis must be when one person is alone in it. Just you, in all those miles of corridors, with no other living thing within light years – except for – what?

This is the episode where Clara’s relationship with Danny really gets fraught. They say the course of true love never runs smooth and in this couples’ case it’s more like negotiating an obstacle course. It starts off with the sort of excruciating small talk that nobody can ever get right. And Danny really should learn to lighten up and not take his PTSD out on everybody else. Not if he ever wants to score.

Just when we were starting to forget the Doctor’s alienness he comes out with a bit of non-human logic – “You said you had a date. I thought I’d better hide in the bedroom in case you brought him home.”

The Doctor is in full spooky mode tonight. “What if the prickle on the back of your neck is the breath of something close behind you?” I love Clara’s rejoinder, “How long have you been travelling alone?” of which the Doctor completely misses the intended implication and takes literally, “Perhaps I never have.” You can tell the Moff’s dialogue anywhere.

The doctor’s account of the someone-under-the-bed dream is enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck. I actually take some comfort from the fact that my bed only has a 2″ gap under it.

The silent *thing* under the bedspread is scaring the daylights out of me. It’s all in how it’s photographed plus the spooky music. The Moff knows well that hidden terrors are far more scary than the ones we can see.

Cheeky though the Doctor is, he’s no match for Clara when she takes control. “Sit!” as if the Doctor is a dog. And we find out that Danny Pink had his whole life determined by Clara (and the Doctor) visiting him and impressing Dan the Soldier Man on his juvenile self.

“Is that what I look like from the back?” “It’s fine.” “I was thinking it was *good*.” Yay Clara!

So she tries again with Danny and this one goes off the rails too. Danny is just too sensitive and suspicious for my liking. If I was having tea with a chick as gorgeous as Clara I’d cut her some slack, well several miles of slack. I have to sympathise with Clara’s desperate attempt to insist that there’s ‘nothing weird’ while a man in an astronaut suit is beckoning her from the back of the restaurant. So she follows him into the Tardis and is just going off on him – “Is there any other way you can make this any more surreal than it already is?” And the suit takes his helmet off and it’s a Danny lookalike. Moff was definitely enjoying himself with this one.

And so we’re at the end of the Universe (again?) “Last man standing in the Universe (I always thought that would be me).” Nice little aside from the Doctor. Question: Is that a veiled forward reference to Me (aka Ashildr?) You can read so much into a Moff dialogue.

“She’s doing the all eyes thing. It’s because her face is so wide. She needs three mirrors.” It’s a measure of the Doctor’s weirdness that he can get away with saying things like that.

The night in Orson’s time capsule is the spookiest yet. With bedspread thing part of its scariness was its silence, here we have disembodied noises with no source where no living thing has any right to be. This is truly frightening. What, if anything, is knocking on the door?

So Orson rescues the Doctor and Clara rescues them all by engaging the Tardis telepathic circuits and ends up – in the barn on Gallifrey where the War Doctor took The Moment? Clara has been there (in Day of the Doctor). (In fact since Clara has been right throughout the Doctor’s timeline too, who knows where they might end up. Did the Doctor ever consider that before introducing Clara to the telepathic circuits? Nope, thought not.)

So the speech the Doctor gave to Rupert Pink was an echo of the speech Clara gave the Doctor in the barn and dammit, Moff just made it quite clear which barn it was with a flashback.

For a structurally very simple episode, there’s a lot in it. And if ever an episode qualified for hide-behind-the-sofa status, it’s this one.   A classic.

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@janetteb   Well that was entertaining.   But I’m genuinely not sure if they were supposed to be ranked best-to-worst or worst-to-best.

Personally, I would rank Sylvester McCoy’s costume as the absolute worst (though I love McCoy as the Doctor).   Those question marks!

And Jodie Whittaker’s as second worst, that baggy trench coat makes her look like a clown for some reason.

And that blue thing of Ncuti Gatwa’s makes him look like a pillowcase.  Or a gangsta.   Pure Miami Vice.   Maybe he looks better in the actual episodes, that remains to be seen.

Colin Baker looks like a pioneer of LGBTQ gayness (though I’m sure that wasn’t intended at the time).   By the way I have a beef with the rainbow generation, I have a couple of nice umbrellas in eight colours (i.e. better than Colin’s) that I now can’t use as, y’know, umbrellas because they would send a clear signal that I don’t intend.   Drat.

For the rest, I thought Matt Smith’s was okay, Peter Capaldi’s was fine, Paul McGann’s was fine, Jon Pertwee’s was fine and dandy, well, very dandy, Patrick Troughton’s was fine, Ecclestone’s was excellent and David Tennant’s was the most stylish.

So there you have it.  Whichever way the Grauniad thought they were ranking it, they were horribly worng.

(Just to establish my credentials as a fashion guru I should confess that I’ve travelled halfway round the world in shorts, a tee shirt and sandals.   My idea of formal attire is putting a rally jacket on that lot and swapping for a fancier pair of sandals.   Not quite Michael Palin’s intrepid traveller from Monty Python but not far off.)

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@janetteb I forgot to mention that Robot is also a very visually appealing episode, at least the outdoor scenes. The whole episode has a very pleasant feel to it (which is odd considering the nastiness of the robots).

Interesting that you picked up on the golden arrow too. As a dramatic device saving the day it was a good idea, pity that it just didn’t work. I think Gatiss put it in partly to show the Doctor, Robin and Clara acting in unison.

I have this slightly cynical impression that plot elements put in to show the advantages of co-operation, or sometimes to demonstrate the merits of some under-valued character, tend to fall flat. The worthy intention of the writer to make a point doesn’t quite fit with the natural flow of the story, it seems a little forced.

Back to the arrow, I’ve gone on before now about the apparent capriciousness or inconsistency of our (well, my) ‘incredulity’ circuits. I think, for me at least, the further something is from everyday concrete reality, the easier I can accept it – the Tardis for instance. It’s things that just skirt physical reality that give me a mild twinge of uneasiness. Like the stone block that Robin was lugging after they escaped from their cell – how did they pull that out of the floor? But usually I can gloss over it for the sake of the story.

(On the opposite hand, I’m reminded of souffle girl in Asylum of the Daleks and ‘where does she get the milk?’ That was Moffat waving it like a flag in front of my face and I still didn’t get the clue – probably because Oswin was such a vivacious, lively character that my brain didn’t want to entertain the idea that she might not be real. So I glossed over that (because it didn’t seem significant) and the revelation that Oswin was a Dalek was a real shock, and very sad. The Moff fooled me completely. I (like the Sheriff with Clara) was delighted by his effrontery. But it takes great skill to get away with that.)

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The Sheriff is a really nasty piece of work. In fact him murdering Quail was so unexpected in an episode like this, it was shocking.

The hollow in the woods is, I’m certain, the same one in the Sherlock episode The Hounds of Baskerville. But some great comedy in the Doctor checking Robin’s men to see if they’re real. And suspecting some sort of virtual reality. “It’s very green hereabouts, isn’t it? Very sunny.” “So?” “Have you been to Nottingham?”

The shooting in the archery contest is, of course, totally impossible. Which raises the question of whether this whole story is, as the Doctor suspects, a virtual reality environment.

Killer robots trying to repair their ship – haven’t we seen this two episodes ago? Never mind, this one is sufficiently different in the details that the similarity only occurred to me this time round.

Doc and Robin having an ego-waving contest in the cell is funny, particularly when the guard decides that Clara is the brains of the outfit. Which in this instance she is. I absolutely love the way Clara worms the story out of the sheriff, then when he asks for hers, straight-out admits she was lying. “People are so much better at sharing information if they think the other person has already got it.” What a nerve. This is a guy who kills people on a whim. But to the Sheriff’s credit he has the intelligence to appreciate Clara’s boldness. Or maybe he’s just fallen under the spell of her personality. (I rather think Elizabeth 1 must have had a personality like that).

Oh, and I might have forgotten the similarity with the robots in Deep Breath, but then Gatiss goes and lampshades it! I’d forgotten that too. I did like the photo of Doctor 2 (Patrick Troughton) as Robin Hood. I wonder if that mini-series is on video.

Question – is Robin real, or is he (as the Doctor suspects) a robot tailored to suit the legends? That might explain his archery shooting (though it woudn’t explain the Sheriff’s). I see the Doctor later explains his own accuracy with a homing device in his arrows.

Though I don’t like the Sheriff, Ben Miller imbues him with a certain pragmatic frankness. “Why would we create an enemy to fight us? What sense would that make? That would be a terrible idea.”

There is some credibility in the robots needing gold for their circuits. Gold is a premium metal for electronics use on account of its high conductivity and resistance to oxidation. However, I have major logistic** reservations about the golden arrow thing. First, considering the huge amounts of gold we saw them using, the amount in the arrow would be insignificant. Second, even if it hit the ship, how would it be instantly and magically incorporated into its circuits? And thirdly, given the puny range of actual arrows, there is no way Robin et al could actually reach the ship with an arrow.

**Not sure if ‘logistic’ is the right word. ‘Practical’? ‘Mechanical’? ‘Terrestrial’? I’m looking for a word that describes the niggling doubts I feel whenever a fictional event skirts too close to everyday reality and causes me to lose my suspension of disbelief.

Did like the Doctor’s parting gift to Robin, reuniting him with Marian.

So, quite a pleasant episode, good fun, even if overshadowed by the episodes neighboring it (Into the Dalek and Listen).

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@janetteb Well, I’m not sure whether “Dad skills” really indicates that the Doc had children, he could have picked up such skills as an uncle or something. He also speaks Baby but then he also speaks Dinosaur (and I’m not sure that indicates anything about his progeny 🙂 And horse. (Where did he pick those up? The influence of the Tardis translation circuits?) Anyway, it’s not a big thing so far as I’m concerned.

I get the impression that every OldWho Doctor was very platonic in his relationships. I recall the kerfuffle when Rose showed signs of getting emotionally involved with Ten (or was it with Nine before that?) In hindsight, it was probably just as well that RTD did address that directly, in a sense he defused it. If he hadn’t, and attempted to maintain the same platonic fiction in today’s suspicious climate, I’m sure the conspiracy theories would have been swirling. Anyway, I liked it, it added some human interest.

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@janetteb ‘Silence will fall.’ It just seems an apposite quote.

Modern communications put us in touch easily with people on the far side of the planet, but if we’re not here to operate our end of the link, we just – go quiet.

It’s slightly sad, that. We all have an instinct for closure, to know how the story ended, but mostly the Internet doesn’t provide a mechanism for that.

Sorry for the melancholy, I’d better watch Robot of Sherwood for a bit of silliness to cheer me up.

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You’re probably right about Danny and Clara. I just naturally tend to take Clara’s side because I like her, and she’s found herself in a slightly awkward position trying to lead a double life. I’ll see what I think as the situation develops.

Re Susan, was it canon that she was actually the first Doctor’s granddaughter, or was she just a companion and that was the cover story? My thoughts went to Jenny, the Doctor’s daughter, who was certainly a timelord since she can regenerate. (And of course was a ‘Doctor’s’ daughter in real life 🙂

Umm, Susan, Jenny, Clara and Me, even Bill and Heather, oh yes and Rusty, the Doctor seems to leave loose ends littering the space-time continuum, doesn’t he?

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@janetteb Yes, Danny was a bit problematic. Possibly part of this was that he only had a few episodes to develop in. So it seemed rushed even if there were implied interludes between stories that we didn’t see. But he also seemed to be quite demanding – not a good thing when his potential girlfriend was a strong character aka control freak like Clara. Rory had the good sense to let Amy make the running, also Rory guarded Amy for 2000 years. What did Danny do for Clara that entitled him to say what she could do? He was just no fun. Also, I’m probably biassed because he and the Doctor instinctively disliked each other. But I accept that it can’t have been easy for him.

I dimly remember the toy soldier (I guess I’ll shortly be reminded), yes I think it was circular. Not sure why Orson would be related to Susan though.

@winston I think you summed up Twelve well. And Capaldi was perfectly cast for that. (I know they always say that, but in this case it was true and just worked). I love the Scottish jokes, by the way. “Why do you keep talking like that? What’s gone wrong with your accent? It’s spreading. You all sound all English. Now you’ve all developed a fault.” (I’m English).
Part of the ‘soft and squishy’ was, he really did feel responsible for his companions. (And so did Eleven). Even if their unfortunate ends were not directly his fault, it was because they hung around with him that it happened. Hence why he went to such extreme lengths to retrieve Clara.

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My impressions –

Really good opening. Love the way the Doctor takes the moral ascendancy over Journey who is holding the gun and makes her ask ‘please’.
DOCTOR: The Aristotle’s the big fella parked in the asteroid belt, yeah?
JOURNEY: It’s shielded.
DOCTOR: More or less.
Love the understated way Capaldi delivers his lines.
And the new wrinkle on ‘bigger on the inside’. I think the Moff delights in finding new variations on that trope. (If it was Phil Ford’s doing I apologise to him, but it sounds like Moff to me).

But the military are still going to shoot the Doctor on principle as a security risk. This is serious shit. I heartily sympathise with the Doctor’s sarcastic “You don’t need to be liked. You’ve got all the guns.”

Danny Pink looks like a bit of a dork, but I do like the way Clara’s first encounter with him is written. She’s a smart cookie, and very perceptive.

And I like even more the developing relationship between Clara and the Doctor. “This is Clara, not my assistant. She’s, er, some other word.” “I’m his carer.” “Yeah, my carer. She cares so I don’t have to.” Oh, nice one!

This Doctor is seriously cynical when confronted with military. Giving Ross a tracer so they can follow where the antibodies dump his ashes. Arguably Ross caused his own demise by attracting the antibodies but still… “Is Ross here?” “Yeah, top layer, if you want to say a few words.” Just, wow. I can’t imagine Eleven ever saying anything like that.

But of course ‘curing’ the Dalek turns it back into a homicidal killing machine. Who didn’t see that coming? (Well, I didn’t).

Question: How did Gretchen end up in Missy’s Heaven? Never mind timey-wimey, this is positively metaphysical.

But it is so deliciously ironic that what turns Rusty into a Dalek-destroyer is the hatred it sees for Daleks in the Doctor’s mind.

Dalek armour is no match for the Dalek gun. That’s not an anomaly, just – interesting.

“Victory is yours but it does not please you”. Rusty is now a very perceptive Dalek. “I am not a good Dalek. You are a good Dalek.” Ouch!

I felt truly sad for Journey Blue when the Doctor refused to take her along. At another time she would have made a great Companion. But I guess the position of companion (or carer?) was already taken. Add in Danny Pink and the regrettable Courtney and the available positions become extremely limited.

Another really good episode.

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Ah, I think I escaped having one of those pacing wires. I don’t have a pacemaker, I just had a defective valve that they repaired in situ with a new valve seat. The biggest pain for me was being on rat poison** for the next six months with weekly blood tests. (**Okay, warfarin).
Still, we live in fortunate times in that respect, a generation earlier I would have eventually just quietly died.

Enough of that! I just re-watched Deep Breath again, for some reason I underrated it first time I ever watched it, but now I think it’s a delightful episode. The Paternoster Gang are always entertaining, particularly Strax’s efforts to be a butler. “May I take your coat?” [Clara:] “Not wearing a coat.”
“What’s all that?” “Clothes.”
“May I take your clothes?” “Probably not.”
“Are you wearing a hat?” “It’s hair.”
“No, I think it’s a hat. Would you like me to check?”

Into the Dalek next…

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@devilishrobby What surprised me was how quickly I ‘recovered’. I’d expected to be in hospital for weeks, I was out in a week. I think the day after the operation, or maybe the next day, I was able to shuffle to the toilet unaided.
Actually the whole experience was – not unpleasant. I had a nice comfortable bed in a light airy room, and I could just lie there totally lazy without the usual guilty feelings that I should be doing something useful, which was a novelty to me.
The other thing that surprised me was, I think I was on morphine the first day, methadone the next, and after that – paracetamol. Who would have thought it would be so effective?

Doctor Who – I just watched Deep Breath. Love it, it more than makes up for my mild disappointment with The Time of the Doctor. I’d quote some favourite lines from it but really I’d just have to list the entire transcript. I thought that Twelve’s initial confusion manifesting itself as being unable to tell people apart was funnier than Eleven’s inability (in Eleventh Hour) to find anything he liked to eat.
“Oh, you two. The green one and the not-green one. Or it could be the other way round, I mustn’t prejudge.” And “Oh, you remember, er. Thingy. The, er, the not-me one. The asking questions one.” I’m personally bad at names and faces so I know how Twelve felt – but it was much funnier when he does it.

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@winston @janetteb Well I can claim to being a literal tree-hugger. When I had heart surgery (they take a chainsaw to your breastbone for access, I’d never wondered about it before, just assumed they pressed a button and a panel in your chest slid open like all good androids), they wire it back together afterwards and it doesn’t hurt while its mending except when you laugh – or cough. A nurse showed me how to grab a pillow and hug it tight thus relieving the strain and pain. Of course, going for recuperative walks, there was never a pillow handy so if I felt a cough coming on I would just run to the nearest tree and hug it tight. Or power pole.

We have 110kV power lines above one boundary so the casuarinas on that side are still there – the power company come and trim them every year so they never grew tall enough to be a threat, either to the power wires or houses. At one stage they warned that people would be charged for this but they never did, maybe too many people objected.

Re not looking, there is one place I will never visit again. (Digression – when ‘Hercules’ and ‘Xena’ were being made here I made it a hobby to track down their filming locations, just because I could, I love maps and scenery and it was fascinating ‘detective’ work. Also, it got me started on my hobby of walking up bush tracks). And one place I found was Woodhill Forest at Muriwai, in particular Cable Road (a forest track) and the nearby Okiritoto Stream which meandered through the pine forest – it was a magical spot. You could wander along the stream bank with the tall pines above you, like a natural cathedral. Eventually, being a commercial pine forest, that ‘block’ was logged. I know this because I read it, I have never been back and never will because I want to remember it how it was, without overwriting my memory. It’s still forest and doubtless covered in healthy young trees by now, and in maybe 30-40 years it will be like it was, but I’ll never see it.

Back to Doctor Who – just watched The Time of the Doctor. It failed to engage me the way Day of the Doctor did (though I liked Tasha Lem of the Papal Mainframe). But seeing the Doctor in old age never appeals to me. I must be age-ist, I much prefer watching non-decrepit people. I’ll be real fun in the retirement home. (By some quirk our TV keeps feeding me adverts for ‘funeral insurance’ and retirement villages). Never mind, next ep is Deep Breath, introducing Twelve, and for some reason I find a bedraggled and furious Clara incredibly attractive.

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@janetteb @winston Hey! Life exists in the forum! I too hate the sound of chainsaws (also leaf-blowers and weed-whackers, if they’re powered by obnoxious little two-stroke engines). But chainsaws particularly, because it means some tree is getting murdered. That said, I have a chainsaw, but an electric one. I think there could be good reason for banning all petrol-powered garden hand tools in built-up areas, without a special permit.

And I have had to get trees cut down – some planted by the previous owner when he built the house. A row of ironwood trees (casuarinas) that got too tall – maybe 20 metres. That left a huge acacia (wattle) that overhung the lawn and the back boundary, for years I would be a little apprehensive when the forecast was for strong winds, eventually I bit the bullet and had it cut down. I do feel a sense of relief now. All the other trees around the boundary are not big enough to do more than minor damage. There are a couple of really vigorous lemonwoods (pittosporum) that I planted in place of the casuarinas, they’ve grown to about 10 metres – not enough to worry me. But after I had the acacia cut down, little acacia shoots started sprouting all over the garden, I would never have thought its roots extended that far.

Janette, ‘On the Sofa’ is ‘closed to new replies.’ I’m not sure why.

I’m sporadically re-watching my way through Doctor Who, most recently The Day of the Doctor (what’s not to love?). And I also just watched my way through Sherlock. That series really rewarded paying attention, you could tell the producers had taken their time to get everything right. But it was full of surprises. I was *not* expecting the way Holmes dealt with Magnusson at the end of Season 3…

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@winston Yes, if I have to choose one Who episode to watch (as a one-off) it’s likely to be The Day of the Doctor. Dramatic and enjoyable to watch.

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I’m an inveterate hoarder of ‘things that might be useful to somebody’ (as Mrs D rightly says, “Too many things!”) So I can never just throw away a book because somebody, somewhere, might be looking for just that book. If somebody wants it, that’s great and I don’t care whether it’s worth anything (in monetary value). I take the slightly optimistic view that anything interesting is likely to get snapped up and anything unsold after a few weeks is probably common enough that there isn’t a ‘somebody, somewhere’ desperately looking for just that thing.

There was a (very small) chance that one of my used books was ‘collectable’. The answer to that would be to check before I listed it but personally I didn’t bother, because my objective was to clear bookshelf space, not make a profit. (And I never check the value after the sale, what would be the point? Actually I do have a few books that are probably worth something – not huge amounts but in the tens of dollars – but they’re not surplus at the moment). I guess you could do a quick check on Ebay prices for some of your Who items if you feel inclined and have the time to spare.

I did (just once) have a lucky sale. My quite nice woodgrain belt-drive Yamaha turntable that sat in a corner of the lounge, never used, for forty years and I eventually stuck it on Trademe – somebody might want it for something – shot up to $400. Apparently vinyl is back in fashion. Who knew? (Well I didn’t). So then I sold my stack of long-obsolete 12″ LP’s that I had never quite got round to throwing away. But the odds of that happening again are – small. (I kept Dark Side of the Moon though, purely for decoration 🙂

Anyway, however you proceed, best of luck with your Who memorabilia.

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The Night of the Doctor
I love the meta-ness of Eight’s introduction – “I’m a doctor. But probably not the one you were expecting.”
A nice little mini-episode that establishes why the Time Lords are feared and hated by the galaxy and gives us the background of Eight regenerating into the War Doctor.

The Day of the Doctor – just some random impressions.
Re-using the Episode One intro is cool. But I’m glad we got straight into the action.

The Tardis now responds to Clara’s click of her fingers. That’s a change. Presumably since Clara saved the Doctor (and maybe the Tardis?) by going into his timeline – the Tardis has revised its attitude to her.

“The ravens are a bit sluggish, tell Malcolm they need new batteries” – classic.
And “What’s our cover story for this?” “Derren Brown.” “Again?” “We’ve sent him flowers.” Beautiful.
And of course everyody loves Osgood. Perfectly cast in the role.

A highlight for me is the scene between the War Doctor and The Moment. “The interface is hot.” “Well, I do my best.”
And “If I ever develop an ego, you’ve got the job.”
Interesting that The Moment selected a character from the War Doctor’s future – Bad Wolf aka Rose to be the Interface. “Stuck between a girl and a box. Stoy of your life, eh, doctor?” “I chose this face especially for you. It’s from your past. Or possibly your future. I always get those two mixed up.” Just like the Tardis, eh, Moment? Incidentally, Billie Piper’s looks – specially her eyes – are a perfect fit for a character who has to act as the de facto conscience of the Doctor.

And the bickering between Ten and Eleven on their first meeting. “Hello ladies.” “One of them is a Zygon.” “I’m not judging you.”
And adding the War Doctor to the mix just makes it better. 11: It’s a timey-wimey thing. WD (disgustedly): ‘Timey-wimey’? 10: I’ve no idea where he picks that stuff up. (You hypocrite, Ten).

This episode is crammed full of neat twists. Like the memory wipe on exit from the Tower, Clara having been there before (and not remembering),
Kate turning out to be a Zygon.

And The Moment pointing out that the Doctor’s screwdriver has had the necessary 400 years to calculate the co-ordinates to open the door – “It’s the same screwdriver. Same software. Different case.” (The Moment is smarter than the Doctor). And they’re just about to disintegrate the door when Clara walks through it – “Wasn’t locked.” Love it when the Moff subverts his own drama.

And the Zygon invasion through time in stasis cube ‘art’. Neat!

“I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but at the time so did the Zygon.”

“Oh, look, the round things.” “I love the round things.” “What are the round things?” “No idea.”

Nice confrontation between Kate-Zygon and Kate in the Black Archive.
And very clever the way the Doctor gets the Gallifrey painting conveyed to the Black Archive, then they go back in time and insert themselves into the same painting, to break out. “Hello.” “I’m the Doctor.” “Sorry about the Dalek.” (Clara: “Also the showing off.” Clara’s such a cynic, one reason I love her).

Interesting that, even though the Doctors have temporarily wiped the memories of the humans and Zygons as to which they are, Osgood and Osgood-Z seem to know – and aren’t letting on.

This is one of my absolute top favourite episodes. My two favourite Companions, plus Osgood, plus John Hurt, plus a witty script – it’s got everything. And (unlike some episodes that seem to have everything but somehow don’t work), in this one it all comes together perfectly.

I also (now on about my fifth viewing) can now follow the plot easily and precisely. Though the Moff didn’t hide anything from us, the complexities of time travel are such that it takes several viewings to sort out events mentally. But this means that the episode gets even better with re-watching.

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@who-fan-byproxy ‘fraid I can’t point to any special places (maybe others here can?). I’d just suggest Ebay (yeah I know). Listing on the Internet does vastly widen the market and also targets interested customers who might be searching. I can’t answer for Dr Who stuff, but a while back my bookshelves were overflowing (estimated 1500 books) so I sorted out ~150 surplus books – everything from science to gardening – and I couldn’t give them away! Biggest local second-hand bookshop was overstocked and didn’t want them even for free, biggest charity book fair didn’t want them because they were too old. (Apparently 50 Shades of Grey is the only sort of thing they think they can sell…) So I bit the bullet and photographed them all and put them on Trademe (our local eBay) at $1 each plus postage and within three weeks 80% of them were gone, in less total time than I’d spent trying to give them away.

Probably my low price helped, but I just wanted the space and hate to throw anything away that somebody, somewhere might find of interest.

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Well, a very enjoyable ep, but full of possibly cryptic messages and meanings (as the 1000+ posts in this forum attest), and ending on a bit of a bombshell reveal (John Hurt). I’m not even going to try to theorise about any of them.

A few random comments (I could write dozens) –

I just *love* Strax’s guilty pleasure on his days off – sneaking off to Glasgow for a bit of Glaswegian relaxation.

And I like the beautifully observed awkward introductions around the seance table. River creating champagne for herself (‘How did you do that?’ ‘Disgracefully’), Vastra trying to find the right word for Clara (‘assistant’). “Professor Song – I never realised you were a woman.” And Strax chimes in with “Well neither did I” which, coming from Strax, doesn’t help at all.

The Doctor is no match for Archie and Angie in a battle of wits. Agreeing to play Blind Mans Bluff with them. You would not hire this guy as a babysitter.

I must confess to being needlessly confused by Trenzalore, the first time round – how can the Doctor (i.e. Eleven) have a grave when he regenerates into Twelve? But of course it isn’t Eleven’s grave, it’s the grave of the last Doctor ever, I think. That works for me, anyway. So now the whole storyline makes a lot more sense to me.

Interesting that, instead of concluding the episode with the usual ‘wind-down’ scenes of the Doctor and friends returning to normal life, Moff chose instead to cut it on a reveal of the War Doctor. I guess we can take the usual ending as read. It does almost feel like a cliffhanger, even though nothing (at this point) hangs on it.

Actually, a very good episode, and another I like better on re-watch when I know the storyline a little better.

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@janetteb Yes, it’s a very good ep, I think it only suffers (slightly) in my recollection if compared with Neil Gaiman’s other episode The Doctor’s Wife. Which is hardly a fair comparison, Doctor’s Wife was exceptional.

Incidentally, the Cybermen all freezing up trying to compute an impossible chess problem, reminds me of a passage from Doug Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide – when the ‘Heart of Gold’s computer Eddie went AWOL trying to make the perfect cup of tea at Arthur Dent’s insistence while Magrathean missiles were homing on them.

Current equivalent – “Please wait while Windows upgrades your system” 🙂

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Well it would seem that Clara’s charges have successfully leaned on her, and she has persuaded the Doctor, to take them on a trip. I have to say I like the Maitland kids. They’re intelligent (unlike the obnoxious Courtney of Kill the Moon). And even though the funfair/planet is near derelict, and surely a massive disappointment, they’re open to having their interest aroused.

Warwick Davis (as Porridge / the Emperor) is a delightfully engaging character.

At one point the scariest thing is the Doctor – “Don’t wander off!” but he won’t say why. And Angie does get a little grumpy and annoying at this point.

Clara seems to take being in command quite capably. Helped by the fact that Porridge seems to accept her authority and he seems to be some sort of senior figure (we only know he’s Emperor on a re-watch).

And the argument between the Doctor and Cyberdoc inside his head – that’s good drama.

I have to say I’m aways a little discouraged when we see legions of Cybermen converging on the small platoon of troops. Especially when they can instantly upgrade to neutralise any weapon used against them.

The Doctor getting Cyberdoc to tie up the Cyber-army calculating a chess problem was sheer genius.

Angie deducing that Porridge was the Emperor was smart. And the last-minute rescue signal / implosion bomb seemed a bit convenient on first viewing, but I think it holds up. It’s the Emperor activating it, it would justify sending an Imperial cruiser to the rescue.

I like this much better on a re-watch. This wan’t just another Cybermen story. Neil Gaiman’s sense of whimsy shows through in his characters, and they are, for me, the main interest in this episode.

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@missy I think you misread my post, I did see the first few eps of the original Doctor Who. And as much as I could catch intermittently for the next few years.

I lost track sometime around the Pertwee years. I have since gone back and watched the last few McCoy stories and I do like him and Ace. If only they could have had the benefit of NuWho’s effects budget. And I think McGann would make a marvellous Doctor though I’ve only ever seen him in the short episode Night of the Doctor (haven’t seen the movie).

Most of the rest I agree with you on, except I did like Amy and Martha (though not as strongly as Rose and Clara). Oh I said that, didn’t I? Donna I never warmed to, largely because of her unfortunate first appearance – shouting at the Doctor who was in shock after losing Rose – gave me a strong prejudice against her. I feel a little more charitable on re-watching.

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@winston “This episode is one of the scariest and I never watch it in the dark.” I’m guessing there that you’re referring to The Hounds of Baskerville? Agree about the scary. As it happens Mrs D was at her cousin’s so I watched it late last night, alone in the house. I’ve got a lot better about being alone in the house at night in recent years. But I still watched it with my eyes half shut ready to shut them if anything too scary happened. And the storyline was easier to follow this time around (which is often the case).

I recall watching the pilot 60-minute A Study in Pink years ago. It was okay, but didn’t really grab me. I got the boxset but didn’t watch it for ages – but now I’m a confirmed fan. Definitely the best Holmes series. And the casting – specially Holmes, Watson and LeStrade, but everyone else too, is excellent.

Back to Journey to the Centre of the Tardis – that may be the most we’ll ever get to see of the Tardis interior. But (for obvious reasons) nobody’s ever made a map of the Tardis. I’m not sure if it would be physically possible to draw it on paper, quite aside from the Tardis’ habit of reconfiguring itself.

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… speaking of which, just started watching The Hounds of Baskerville and the last shot of the pre-title sequence is a guy standing in the exact quarry in the woods that was used for Robin Hood’s lair in Robot of Sherwood.

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Um, what Clara read in the book. The name of the Doctor? Other than that I can’t hazard a guess. Don’t really know if there was something that would have revealed itself in a later scene and got cut for time, or just got lost.

If the ep had been written by the Moff I’m pretty sure it would have been tied up at some point, but it was written by (googles – ) Steve Thompson. He did a pretty good job though.

Going off topic (now that’d be a first on this site), I just watched Sherlock – Scandal in Belgravia again. My favourite ep, and not just because of the breathtaking appearance of Irene Adler, oh no. The battle of wits (and unacknowledged emotions) between her and Sherlock are a joy to watch. It demands and rewards full concentration. Great casting, by the way, the two of them are totally believable.

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@auntie8nay6 I think I saw the first few episodes of Doctor Who. I remember I was ‘too young’ to be allowed to watch Quatermass and the Pit – which was a truly scary BBC sci-fi. ‘Who’ came along four years later. Patrick Troughton was my favourite early Doctor. I sort of lost interest after Jon Pertwee, though.

I became a fan of Blakes 7, which had some marvellously sarcastic dialogue, particularly Avon. I’m a sucker for well-written and original dialogue.

It wasn’t till NuWho in 2005 that I recovered an interest. Eccleston was good and Billie Piper was fabulous. So I followed it again until midway through Season 5 when I sort of lost track. More recently (and I can’t remember what prompted me) I took it up again, all on DVD’s, about the same time as I ‘joined’ this forum I think, so I now have all the series from ‘Rose’ up till the last one. My favourite new Doctor is Capaldi. Favourite companion – Rose or Clara, though Martha and Amy are close behind.

And I’ve since back-tracked to get the last few stories of Seven (McCoy) – very witty guy, McCoy, and there’s definitely a rapport between him and Ace.

Currently on my third sporadic re-watch from ‘Eleventh Hour’ onwards, currently towards the end of Season 7.

Welcome to the site (though I have to say, your profile pic is a bit inauspicious – ‘moisturise me!’)

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650 comments on this episode so far? Wow, it certainly outdid its predecessors in fan interest! Also (from a quick sampling) wild or arcane theories. I’m not even going to try to theorise.

Random impressions –

This Doctor is showing a very tough ruthless streak. Sets the self-destruct to 30 minutes unless the thugs help him find Clara. Doesn’t matter that there was no self-destruct – I believed it, so did they.

The Tardis is full of loot (sorry, mementoes) from previous eps – the telescope from Tooth and Claw for example. And the famous swimming pool. And the Library, truly impressive.

But also a truly scary creature that pursues Clara.

Some of the Tardis concepts are fascinating. The reconfiguration ‘machine’. The Encyclopaedia Gallifreyica – bottles of words.

And the Tardis is fighting back – reconfiguring into a maze. But then protecting the humans by creating spare console rooms after Tricky gives back the easter egg ‘circuit’.

But what are the scary burnt creatures? And ‘running through corridors’ has never been so well, or so effectively, done.

The more I re-watch this episode, the more I like it. Partly at least because the plot becomes easier to follow with prior acquaintance.

At least till the Big Friendly Reset Button. I’m not quite sure how that works. Well, it takes them back to the critical moment in time where they can nullify the events of the episode – but how exactly does it do that? Timey-wimey…

Still, I enjoyed (re)watching this ep much more than I expected to.

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And Hide was excellent. On re-watching, a number of things that were a bit vague or confusing before, have resolved themselves.

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‘Hide’. My vague recollection is that one-word titles are often ‘small’ episodes but among the best. Blink. Listen. Midnight. Umm, Rose. Dalek. Gridlock. 42 – well, there’s always an exception. Flatline. Smile – maybe. Oxygen. Extremis. (Rosa Kerblam Resolution Spyfall Praxeus – obviously the rule fails with Chibnall).

Anyway, back to Hide – this is all good spooky stuff.

“Doctor?” “Yes?” “I may be a teeny, tiny bit terrified.” “Yes?” “But I’m still a grown-up.” “Mainly, yes, and?” “There’s no need to actually hold my hand.” “Clara.” “Yeah?” “I’m not holding your hand.” Classic. An oldie but a goodie, works every time.

The romance between Emma and Palmer (who doesn’t want to admit it) is nicely handled.

Is the orange space suit the Doc uses on primordial Earth, and old dead Earth, the same one he got (as Ten) in The Satan Pit? It has a remarkably long life. (In terms of episodes, not just in terms of time travel). But that excursion prompts Clara to feel the awful existential vastness of time. “One minute you’re in 1974 looking for ghosts, but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever’s standing there. To you, I haven’t been born yet, and to you I’ve been dead one hundred billion years. But here we are, talking. So I am a ghost. To you, I’m a ghost. We’re all ghosts to you.” To which all the Doc can say is, “You are the only mystery worth solving.”

The bubble universe floating in space is vertiginously scary, and beautifully done. As is the spookiness of the forest. And then the Doctor loses the place where he left the rope.

So I think I understand it this time round – Emma is creating a virtual copy of Palmer’s house in the bubble universe to guide the Doctor and Hila ‘home’.

The monster makers have excelled themselves with the misshapen creature in the forest.

Love how the Tardis interface chooses Clara as ‘the person Clara most esteems’. As Clara says, “You cow!”

And the reason the Doc came to Palmer’s house was – to ask Emma, as an empath, what nature of girl Clara is. Answer: Quite ordinary.

And I like the coda, that the ugly monster we saw glimpses of – was two, one in the house and one needing a lift. And, it gives a meaning to that stock hand-holding sequence.

So we don’t find out where the Doctor (presumably) takes Hila – one assumes the paradoxes would be too great if she stayed with her great-ancestors. But I guess we don’t really need to know.

I really like this episode.

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A fairly straightforward but entirely watchable effort by Mark Gatiss.

The characters were fairly stock – the fundamentally decent Captain, his nasty lieutenant the Party loyalty monitor, the slightly subversive Professor. Quite why a Russian sub on an operational footing should be excavating Martians or mammoths was never explained but it doesn’t really matter.

Nor why the Tardis chose to materialise there instead of Vegas (other than that line from The Doctor’s Wife, ‘I always took you where you needed to go.’)

The sub was pretty spacious inside (but then all movie subs are. Actors gotta have room to act). Not like the fairly cosy dimensions of e.g. Russian sub S56 which I got to photograph in 2017. But that wasn’t nuclear, maybe nuclear subs are bigger.
Only false note was “It’s in the walls” – huh?

Not many women look good in uniform (IMO) but Clara does. Also, curiously, do female Chinese army security guards.

The Tardis translation circuit persists after the Tardis has strategically relocated itself. Interesting. Loved the way Clara took a few seconds to realise she was speaking ‘Russian’ (actually, she was speaking English but being heard as Russian, and vice versa).

I do like David Warner as the Professor. Nice bit of left-wing (um, left-wing? This is the USSR? Yeah, still left-wing) subversion of the military authorities. I was pleased, though surprised, the Prof survived. (Gatiss you softy).

(What was I doing in a Russian sub? It’s a war memorial. In Vladivostok. Admission 200 rubles (about $5) if you want to take photos.)

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Well, Rings of Akhaten was just as (un)impressive as first time around, sad to say.

Aside from some vague clues relating to Clara’s origins.

Cold War, on the other hand, was a vast improvement, solid work by Mark Gatiss. I just relaxed & enjoyed it. I posted a couple of random impressions on the relevant thread.

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@winston Thanks! I’ve been enjoying a smorgasbord of painkillers – codeine, paracetamol and diclofenac (not all at once!) I’m back in Auckland now, been driving all day (400 miles from Wellington), I’ve just realised I haven’t felt the pain since I took some codeine this morning (and the codeine should have worn off a while ago). Now activity – walking, driving – tends to mask the ache anyway. I’ll know when I try to sleep, if it creeps back. But as ‘stones’ go, I think this one counts as mild to moderate (at worst).

And yes the affordable healthcare thing is marvellous. Means I don’t have to think of the financial implications if I have a symptom.

But anyway, I’m now reunited with my Doctor Who DVD’s. Rings of Akhaten is the next story, I didn’t rate it all that highly last time round, maybe it was just a bit space-opera after Bells of St John (which was brilliant). Akhaten reminded me strongly of a typical Farscape episode – all the aliens in the market were pure Henson. And – logistics problems (or problems of scale) – how could they cross from one planet to another in an unpressurised speeder? How did the singing work (no sound in a vacuum)?. Did I miss something? (And yet, the idea of peoples’ consciousness – their identity – being wirelessly sucked into a computer network in Bells of St John didn’t even make me blink. As always, my threshold of credibility is variable, arbitrary and possibly fractal).

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@nerys Thanks, mine aren’t too bad, and moderate painkillers are working quite well. Probably depends on the size of them.

I’ve only had stones once before, and it was lower down just above waist level – I can’t remember if kidney or something else. I was out walking, just made it back to the car and drove home in some pain. That was the only other time I’ve rung 111 (the emergency number) for myself – by then the pain had receded but I was afraid to drive through town to hospital in case it returned in traffic. I got transferred to a paramedic who listened carefully to my symptoms, recommended I take paracetamol/ibuprofen and drive myself to the nearest clinic – which I did successfully. Saved an ambulance, quite rightly.

Hope your snow behaves itself and doesn’t turn into a blizzard or something. The weather this year has been insane.

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@janetteb Dental work isn’t covered by the national health system in NZ either. The one gap in the coverage. It does show how far dentistry has come when I’m more worried by the possible bill than I am by fear of the ‘procedure’. Did your s/o try ‘shopping around’? – not all dentists charge the same. I feel a little bit apprehensive for him, that sounds like a long time to have toothache.

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Hi @janetteb I was wondering when somebody would break the silence.

I’m in Christchurch, far from my Who DVD’s. Been having dramas though – at 4a.m. on the day I was due to fly down, I woke with a pain in my left side, didn’t really feel like a heart attack but after an hour of wondering what it could be, I rang Healthline to check the symptoms, they promptly transferred me to 111 who promptly sent an ambulance (!) Anyway the two charming young paramedics gave me an ECG parked in my driveway, that showed all normal, they wanted to take me to hospital for blood tests to confirm it wasn’t cardiac but I respectfully declined (because travel bookings) but promised to see a doctor immediately when I got to Christchurch.

So in Chch all docs were booked up so I went to a 24-hour A&E clinic – spent all day there being tested (the staff found me a comfy armchair to wait in, and offered me painkillers from time to time) – had an ECG, blood tests, two X-rays and an MRI scan – diagnosis kidney stones. The whole day cost me just $70, thank you public health subsidies. So now I’m snacking on painkillers and I’ll see my quack back in Auckland if they’re still going on in a week.

Your S/O’s toothache – I feel sympathy for. I’ll take kidney stones (so long as I have a good supply of drugs) any day. Can he get to see a dentist? Dentistry has improved out of all recognition since I was young. Then, going to see the dentist was the most frightening thing I ever did. Now, I go for a check-up without a second thought.

Other than that, weather’s been mostly fine and the sea is nice and warm, the swimming’s great.

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@thane16 Puro? I don’t know enough of oldWho to make comparisons. So my comparison is of Thirteen with the rest of nuWho. Just for the record, I’m a leftie greenie pinko commie treehugger. (Well, maybe not commie, more like socialist – same thing to Americans 🙂 But I groaned at some of Thirteen’s episodes, the Message was so blatant. Orphan 55 for example, or Praxeus, or Arachnids. And it frequently made no logical sense either.

I have to admit I never watched Buffy either. The televerse is full of series I never watched.

“If the currency of life is time, then how much we have of it & how we use it, is a gift.” That’s very poetic. I think I’ve had slightly more than my statistical share of time to date (and intend going on having more as long as I can.) I feel like just wasting time is a crime. (Enjoying oneself is never a waste of time in my book). Though currently I seem to lack the energy to do as much as I ought / want to. Um. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, – A bit over two years ago, I was on a long walk to the beach, a nice day in early summer, and on a little-used track through the bush down to the shore I came upon a young dead woman hanging from a tree. (So I rang 111 and the fire, police and ambulance turned up, all the usual). That – incident – made quite an impression on me – how could anyone ever think their problems are so great they don’t want to live the rest of their life? I just can’t understand it. But it reminds me to appreciate the things I’ve got.

Apropos of which, the Thirteen episode which dealt with depression, the one with Yaz sitting by the road over the moors, I thought that one was quite well handled.

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@janetteb If I was forced to nominate the ‘local hero’ I might suggest Ben, but maybe that’s just me being subversive. But I tend to agree with you, there isn’t really a definite one.

@thane16 Puro – yes there could be messages sprinkled throughout the film, but they are so low-key they’re not obvious. If anything the film tends to undercut such messages. For just one example the pristine remoteness is belied by the RAF roaring overhead dropping practice bombs. Or the rabbit, which they carefully look after – until the innkeeper makes it into a stew. But that’s the fate of many rabbits around there, and the innkeeper/accountant isn’t a bad guy.
At no point does the film hammer you over the head with THE MESSAGE in, dare I say it, Doc13 fashion.

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@winston Gabrielle (and the extreme rainstorm two weeks before) didn’t hit our house badly (though Gabrielle did have a go at me personally 🙂 but others weren’t so lucky.

To fill in the picture – two weeks ago Auckland experienced the most extreme rains ever, but little wind, massive flooding everywhere (including places that had never flooded before), many slips from the sodden ground, huge areas flooded and many houses lost and roads blocked or subsided in slips. As I recall the Coromandel peninsula and Northland also got a hammering.

Then Gabrielle arrived. When I said ‘not as bad as forecast’ that was just my personal impression – at our house, the rain was merely heavy (not a ghost on what we got two weeks before), this time with strong winds, BUT Gabrielle was a widespread storm causing massive flooding, slips and wind damage from Northland (again), past Auckland, the Coromandel (again again) and right down to the East Coast and Gisborne and Napier – Hastings. It’s the most damaging storm ever to hit New Zealand, partly because the damage is so widespread (normally damage like that is confined to a single region). In Auckland itself the flooding was significant (but not like two weeks before) but there were many new slips and trees brought down – I went to drive to Piha for a swim yesterday (the weather was fine), never got there. By the time I got to the Piha Road I’d had to make three diversions around closed roads, and the Piha Road was closed to all traffic except emergency vehicles. And there were orange cones around small slips and fallen trees all over the place, too many to count. And it’s like this over half the North Island.

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@nerys That’s the thing about scalp wounds (that is, ones that don’t damage the skull). They’re highly dramatic, lots of blood, but by definition shallow. There’s also possible concussion but, partly because the bonnet catch skated across my head and deflected the blow, I don’t seem to have any. Never saw double or lost focus. But thanks, I will watch out for any bad symptoms.

Jodie Whitaker was going to study Who before her audition but Chibnall advised her not to.
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/jodie-whittaker-i-was-told-not-to-watch-doctor-who-before-my-audition/
Of course that doesn’t preclude her studying it *after* she got the role, but I haven’t seen any suggestion that she did.

Your comment to syzygy could apply to me too – I was lucky enough in both events that our house wasn’t badly affected, I was just a spectator, but a huge number of people have been flooded out or lost houses in slips.

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Hullo Puro. I must admit I’m a little confused, you and young syzygy both use the same name and log in as @thane16?
I’m pleased you and young syzygy came through the storm unscathed.

Are these storms getting more frequent? We’ve had two major events in two weeks here. But it seems to me the few regulars on these pages have been experiencing wild weather a lot more recently (or is it just my memory of older events fading).
Today was fine so I went for a drive to the beach (via two diversions around closed roads) but the Piha Road was closed anyway. So I drove down to Titirangi Beach, low tide, there was a car sitting at the base of the cliffs. I don’t think it drove there or floated there, I think it came 50 feet down the cliff with a slip.

I just watched A Town Called Mercy to cheer me up. Marvellous episode.

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Just watched this again. This has become one of my favourite episodes, beautifully written by Toby Whithouse.

I wasn’t going to comment again, but my fingers itched, as they do when an episode delights me.

“Why would he want to kill you? Unless he’s met you.” Amy, you cynic.

(Why is the power cable from Kahler-Jex’s egg to the town sparking? That’s usually a sign of shorted insulation and imminent failure. I think the Beeb’s FX department just got a little enthusiastic.)

“Thank you for choosing Abaraxas Security software. Incinerating intruders for three centuries.” I love these ‘user-friendly’ automated death threats.

And I love the armed confrontation between Amy and the Doctor. “you’ve clearly been taking stupid lessons since I saw you last.” (Contrary to my previous post, Amy’s little massacre in Wedding of River Song pre-dates this episode. For some reason she’s way more competent with a sub-machine gun than a six-gun).

The confrontation between the Doc and the young wannabe gunfighter outside the Sheriff’s office is beautifully written and acted. And absolutely believable.

And I do like the Doctor’s trick at the gunfight with the Gunslinger, to confuse and overload his targeting with running people tattoed like Kahler-Jex, and let Kahler-Jex escape. And, implicitly, trusting the Gunslinger not to massacre anyone out of revenge/frustration.

But the strength of this episode is that nobody is black-and-white, good or evil. And there is no easy ‘right answer’. (Contrast that with Solomon, last week).

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@thane16 Where are you? Brisbane? Your dose of weather sounds more like what Auckland had two weeks ago, at least as far as rain is concerned (though we had very little wind on that occasion). All the damage was done by floods and the saturated ground slipping away. Cyclone Gabrielle yesterday caused far more widespread damage in North Island but in Auckland it was just a pale shadow of two weeks ago. Your storm does sound like one of those isolated freak thunderstorms that sometimes happen, but highly alarming for all that. We (and bear in mind it ‘never’ freezes in Auckland even in winter) once had our entire lawn covered in an inch of white hail. Thunderstorms can do that too.

I have to say, a scalp wound gives the best ‘bang per buck’ in terms of spectacle. Because it bleeds furiously and looks really dramatic, but (so long as your skull is OK) it can’t be deep or dangerous so is pretty minor, and doesn’t even hurt much. At least mine didn’t. And I was focussing OK and not seeing double, so no concussion. But thanks everyone for your concern.

@janetteb I liked Nefertiti, she was a strong character. I didn’t find her over the top myself, but of course viewpoints differ. After all, Amy was a pretty strong character too (remember her line to Madame Kovarian – “River didn’t get it all from you, sweetie”). I agree, there was no reason for her to go off with Riddell. He came across initially as an egotistical wannabe he-man. He never developed enough character to appeal to anybody, least of all a strong determined woman like Nefertiti. There wasn’t time in the story to do all the characters justice, what with introducing Brian as well, maybe with a bit more development Riddell might have worked. But as it was, when I saw Nef and Riddell together at the end, I was mildly disgusted. I would sooner have seen her go off with Brian, unlikely as that might have been.

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@thane16 And by the way, I like Clara best, but I do love Amy too. And Nefertiti – I think she would have made an excellent Companion if the job wasn’t already taken. I would have loved to see more of her.

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@thane16 syzygy – you raise an interesting point about credibility. I think we all have our individual ‘limits’ of what we find credible and the border is not a straight line.

In the case of ‘Dinosaurs’, I’ll grant time travel, no problem (it’s part of the premise of the series). And the dinosaurs follow from that, the ship was built to convey them. Again, no problem. And the ship can understand commands from Amy (because, Tardis telepathic circuits, also common TV convention) – no problem.

However, being chased by the robots and riding on a dinosaur are real-world things (well, substitute elephant for dinosaur and it would be) and you can see, visually, that it’s a painfully slow process and the robots could have shot them ten times over. Also, it looks ridiculous.

And the other “oh, no” moment, for me, was “the ship [the size of Canada] coming through the atmosphere” – what?? ‘The atmosphere’ is generally considered to be a thin shell of gas around the Earth, any ship that size starting to penetrate the atmosphere is about to hit Earth with devastating consequences. (Technically, the ‘atmosphere’ could be defined to stretch up to maybe 10,000 km, but that’s just isolated molecules drifting around and NOT what most people would call ‘atmosphere’. And anyway, even at 10,000km, a 5000-km size ship would be far too close to deflect with missiles). Chibbers could so easily have avoided this by changing a few words.

In general, the nearer to ‘everyday reality’ we venture, the tighter our limits on credibility. In The Snowmen, there was a horse-drawn carriage in London – fine. If someone had turned up driving a Mini, we’d want a darn good sci-fi explanation.

Asylum of the Daleks was an excellent example – “Where does she get the milk?” Sounds trivial, but it was a genuine plot point. The fact that Oswin was a Dalek (who believed herself to be human), that teleports exist, that Daleks had utilised a whole planet for their ‘asylum’ – all that is perfectly credible science fiction, needing no special explanation, whereas an unlimited supply of milk does raise doubts (as the Moff intended, though he cunningly deflected them).

I’m not sure if I’ve explained this very well.

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And I see the last comment was by me. I just re-watched and, since most of my impressions were not identical to the above, I’ll post ’em.

Queen Nefertiti, yes. Love Queen Nefertiti. And she has the hots for the Doctor, which doesn’t hurt.

Riddell? – never. Why would the Doc, who opposes violence (except when Daleks are involved), ever hang out with an egomaniac White Hunter whose hobby/obsession is murdering innocent wild creatures for fun?

Brian, I like, grumpy though he is.

I do like Amy’s interrogation of the ship’s computer. She makes a thoroughly competent investigator.

Nice bit of continuity that Solomon’s ID system can’t find anything on the Doctor. (This is a result of Oswin’s deletion of him from the Dalek database and the Doctor’s deletion of himself from the Inforarium in the short that preceded this ep).

The ‘escaping on the triceratops’ is just farce, it makes it hard to give the story any credibility. Did someone in the production team just want to maximise the return on their animatronic half-a-triceratops? How far would a golf ball roll anyway?

“The ship’s coming through the atmosphere. I’m going to start the missile program.” This is ridiculous. Definitions (opinions) of the atmosphere vary, but most would probably say it’s where some tangible concentration of gases exists – say 50 – 80km where meteors start to burn. If the ship is ‘the size of Canada’ (5000km across) that’s obviously virtually touching, the sentence is ludicrous. And a quick Google on Chibbers’ part could have avoided that completely. Also, how many missiles would be needed to destroy a ship that size? If Chibbers had resisted the impulse to ‘turn it up to 11’ and made the ship the size of, say, Toronto – 50km across – that would have been amply large enough to hold the population of dinosaurs and to pose a lethal threat to Earth.

It’s almost as if Chibbers doesn’t *want* his story to appear credible.

The ship “needs two operators of the same gene chain.” Oh how convenient for the story, making Brian useful. What was there about the Silurians that made that requirement probable? Chibbers does this sort of thing all the time, like the way Ryan had some unique knack in the Whitdoc seasons, and it’s so transparent and annoying.

Solomon got exactly what he deserved. Oh, and Nefertiti taking him down was a nice touch.

Brian looking over Earth was a nice image. But Queen Nefertiti shacking up with the deplorable Riddell – ugh!

Not a terrible episode, but if only Chibnall could learn to scale things better (like the size of the Silurian ship and its proximity to Earth) it would be just so much more credible. Oh, and make Riddell less obnoxiously he-man – like, with more charisma and less ego.

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Oh, and one thing more – I never could figure out just who the ‘local hero’ was.

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I came across this on DVD in a charity shop, so bought it (mainly because I remembered Mark Knopfler did the music). Watched it the other day – wasn’t till the intro credits I realised Peter Capaldi was in it. And I recognised him quicker from his voice than his looks – he’s got craggier and more characterful with age.

I dimly remembered the plot as “ruthless American tycoon buys up little village to evict the reluctant locals and destroy it” – which was almost completely wrong (or at least, so incomplete as to be misleading). There were no real villains in this film – the nearest might be the couple of geotechnical engineers who happily contemplated building the refinery. And the film didn’t really have a Message. I did like the way Capaldi’s character quickly capitalised on the tycoon’s eccentricity for stargazing to promote the observatory idea. Best viewed in a relaxed mood and let the story and scenery gently wash over you, I think.

Incidentally, the movie theme ‘Wild Theme’ aka ‘Going Home’ is one of Knopfler’s most beautiful compositions, the first time I heard the live version from their ‘On The Night’ DVD it brought tears to my eyes. It still does. I’ll see if I can give a link

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(Much later) Well, Gabrielle hasn’t done much around my house, though plenty of damage all round North Island. But it wasn’t going to let me off unscathed, I was checking the radiator (car was overheating) in an airport car park and Gabrielle slammed the bonnet down on my head. I was lucky, the bonnet catch skated off my skull and just made a 3-centimetre furrow in my scalp. Lots of blood, I looked like a killer vampire zombie 🙂

Back to Who – @janetteb, I don’t think Graham ever ‘told’ Whitdoc what to do, he may have offered advice on occasion, I really can’t remember. But he was an affable father figure and in that sense, yes, maybe he detracted from the Doctor’s authority. I never saw Sarah Jane Adventures though.

I do recall Smith’s ‘Doctor’ being too young, but he grew into it. Still, Capaldi had a head start in seeming authoritative, albeit slightly alien. I thought he (and the Moff) handled the ‘alien-ness’ very well.

@nerys I’m sure Jodie Whittaker could have made a much more effective Doctor with better direction. Of course her famous decision (apparently encouraged by Chibnall?) to not watch any previous Doctors can’t have helped, how could she possibly know what tone to give the Doctor without that? I’m not talking about canon or imitating earlier Doctors here, just about knowing what the role looked like.

Well, the next episode after Asylum is Dinosaurs on a Spaceship – by Chris Chibnall, of course. (And with respect, janetteb, if you thought Graham advising Whitdoc was bad, how did having Nefertiti meekly run off with the bigmouth he-man Great White Hunter grab you? 🙂 Myself, I didn’t like that one little bit. I thought Nefertiti was an excellent character with a lot of potential (well-cast, good actress too) who was woefully under-used.

Shall I watch that or skip straight to the delightful Town Called Mercy? Decisions, decisions…)

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@janetteb Yes I know I missed some, the episode was just chock-full of so much delightful stuff I couldn’t quote it all. Or I’d just have to copy and paste the entire transcript from Chrissie’s site.

Like:
DOCTOR: I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it.
RORY: In fairness, that is slightly your M O.

Or Harvey, when confronted by the dessicated corpses of his mates:
HARVEY: No, of course. Stupid me. I died outside, and the cold preserved my body. I forgot about dying. (And before we realise the implications of that he sprouts a Dalek eyestalk).

I think, by the way, this was the first appearance of Daleks in human disguise? Darla being the first. Adds a new level of creepiness to the Daleks.

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Hi all, well, briefly, Cyclone Gabrielle was a bit of an anticlimax, at least right here. Lots of strong wind (damaged Mrs D’s dahlias), lots of steady heavy rain (but nothing insane like two weeks ago). So, just a big storm. I’ve got to go do ‘airport taxi’ (some flights haven’t been cancelled), love to talk about Who in a couple of hours when I get back.

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@thane16 @janetteb Thanks for your interest. Actually I’m just about to crash, it’s 3a.m. (This is not unusual for me, since I’m retired, the hours I keep are – unconventional 🙂 So far, touch wood, we’ve had moderately strong wind (but nothing exceptional) and moderately heavy rain (but nothing remotely like what we had two weeks ago). So far so good…

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