@devilishrobby Spelling is a thing for me going way back. I can blame my parents, I suppose, since they were always such perfectionists about it. It must’ve rubbed off on me.

@miapatrick I was a newspaper reporter and freelance writer from 1981 right up through early 2020, when my freelance assignments dried up and have never resumed. So I know…[Read more]

@nerys that last line – that is <i>precisely </i>the problem I encounter when proofing my work.

@devilishrobby my main problem with spell checkers is that at one point I kept accidentally clicking ‘add word’. Which didn’t even have the effect of eliminating the squiggly lines, because I rarely misspell a word the same way twice.

Although we m…[Read more]

@devilishrobby though I’ve noticed they seem to have changed their comment to the more innocuous but deeply ironic given the nature of their original complaint ‘role on Russel’. A switch so provocative it definitely seems to confirm troll.

@craig

Just supporting what @devilishrobby said.

@devilishrobby

It was Karl from Whittaker’s very first episode – at least, the credits named the character as Karl and he was played by the same actor (Johnny Dixon).

The question is, was it a little joke, or is it significant?

That was a fun one – resetting to one minute later was a good use of the time loop concept. Also good use of the guest stars – Adjani Salmon figuring out how to save himself was a highlight.

@devilishrobby yeah, Whittaker seems to be joining Davison as someone who only relaxed into the role when she knew she was leaving it.

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@devilishrobby It had a bit of a Marvel Comics vibe to it, didn’t it? It struck me as a feeble attempt to capture the spirit of The Avengers (the Marvel Studios film, which I haven’t seen … not the TV series starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg, which I love). It just felt like this big mob of characters stuck together in an overly convoluted…[Read more]

@devilishrobby Yes, the lack of a big bad (unless Chibnall brings in Time at the end to say that time itself is the big bad–and that sounds ridiculous even as I write it) has been a problem. Absolutely agree with what you say about the less-than big bads that are jammed together–Swarm, Azure, Tecteun, the Grand Serpent. The only one that had any…[Read more]

@devilishrobby I agree. I think I need to rewatch this season now, from the beginning, and work out my thoughts about this. @juniperfish mentioned a “kitchen sink” vibe, and that’s exactly how I felt. Everything was tied together, but it felt rushed and a little unsatisfying. Yet parts of it were wonderful. I loved the Doctor finally showing us a…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

 I must make my posts more focussed…

Oh, I was referring to the news article. Your posts are always irreproachably erudite and concise.

They certainly allowed RTD, Moffat and Chibnall to do things in their own radically different ways

True but I always got the impression that they were there for the creative vision but that th…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Chibnall even references it with brief shot of what appears to be Lungbarrow

Yes, that struck me too. Chibs will have serious stones on him if he brings Lungbarrow into TV canon. But then he’s already shown himself capable of that with the whole Timeless Child thing anyway.

@mudlark

Well, bonkers is what we do here, so why…[Read more]

I’ve just been re-reading some of the comments on the previous three chapters and was reminded of this evilly bonkers theory proposed by @devilishrobby in the discussion of The Halloween Apocalypse

What if it turns out the Doctor as the timeless child is in fact not only the progenitor of the Timelord race as the current past story seem indicate,…

[Read more]

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@devilishrobby

So sorry for delay, I agree with you.

Missy

@devilishrobby lol. Isn’t bonkers theorising what we do here.

Heh, yep.  But I was afraid I was out of practice.

@blenkinsopthebrave Now that is a bonkers theory. I like it!

I particularly like the idea that the Doctor is the real Doctor, but everything we have seen over the last three years has taken place in an alternate reality.

Thanks.  I co…[Read more]

Hi all – hope you’re all well.
You’ve said much of what I was thinking, but said it far more cogently.
You’ve also said things that I didn’t think but which gives me a lot to consider!

I’m guessing that someone has already mentioned a feeling of Doctor Who: Endgame from this.
Something about people disintegrating into dust in a seemingly…[Read more]

@devilishrobby

Though maybe these comments need to go into another room called the room of wired and wacky theories

But that is precisely the mandate of this site: “Theories even more insane than what’s actually happening” And your comments fit the mandate splendidly!

Indeed that is what I have loved about all the comments on “Chapter One” so…[Read more]

For me on first viewing this episode amounted to an information overload delivered much of the time at a machine gun rattle. I may be getting old,* but my hearing is still pretty good, and even so at times I had to resort to subtitles to keep track of what was going on, which didn’t help. There were plenty of intriguing and very promising…[Read more]