A random thought.  This occurred to me when Osgood was first introduced in Day of the Doctor, but I haven’t thought much about it since.

However, now that there are all these hints about the bootstrappiness of Clara’s existence and whether or not other characters may or may not be related to her (or be her), what do we think about the similarity…[Read more]

@lisa – 1. When I think about the idea of an older man talking o 2 young girls
and then they get snatched well just saying that it felt unnerving and i cant decide
if I think that scene is courageous or crude

I actually found this scene very funny, in the way that it flipped expectations.  I expected the Doctor to be mistaken, and to look like a…[Read more]

And now for the ramblings of Dr Ben, in no particular order:

I agree with those who say that the message and symbolism were laid on a bit thick.  Not because I disagree with the message, or because I think such political issues are inappropriate for DW, but rather because I found myself being pulled out of the drama and instead playing a game of…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave – Well, I envisage a scenario where Ashildr will be there to stop the Doctor from saving Clara. In other words, to allow Clara to fulfill her destiny.

Oh Master Blenkinsop, what a beautiful thought.  For the Doctor to be in a position (yet again) to save Clara’s life, and for Ashildr, with her (by then) 1100 or so years of l…[Read more]

@jimthefish – You are correct that that never gets old!  It’s funny – when Capaldi was announced, I thought I would never be able to unsee Malcolm Tucker.  Now that he’s been the Doctor for over a year, I’m having trouble the other way!  Why is the Doctor in a suit swearing at people?

@kharis – The (K)Nightmare Child thing is tantalizing.  I can…[Read more]

@Kharis — Point well taken about how Ashildr could probably alter her face/voice with technology.  Totally plausible.

Tangent: @pedant taking someone to task for misspelling his name is, as they say over at Metafilter, “eponysterical”. 🙂

Presumably the X-rated Doctor Who outtake would also include Capaldi employing some of the language that…[Read more]

I greatly enjoyed this episode, and again, my comments are going to come out as stream of consciousness and replies to what I’ve read here, most of which will be un-tagged because I can never remember who said what.  You’ve been warned.

— @missy – I disagree.  I think her acting was quite good.  She shows a tremendous self-possession for such a…[Read more]

@purofilion – What’s your opinion @jphamlore of the Orson paradox?

I’m not @jphamlore but shall answer nonetheless.

I am 90% convinced at this point (although I would welcome being surprised) that Moffat has no intention of answering the remaining questions he asked in “Listen”.  I think this is not sloppy writing, but rather fits in com…[Read more]

@mirime – Yes and no.  Adelaide Brooks, after all, felt very strongly that history needed to play out the way it was supposed to.  I think that was more about the Doctor’s God complex – realizing that he was letting bad things happen to good people because of rules that he felt no longer applied to him.

Here, a bigger difference was that he was d…[Read more]

So much to say!  This was actually my favorite episode so far this season, and perhaps my favorite episode since Flatline or Orient Express.  None of the historical inaccuracies bothered me at all, as the monster-of-the-week plots are increasingly employed as a means to advance the character development and the larger arcs.

And oh what a reveal a…[Read more]

@purofilion @arbutus @jphamlore

Puro, you will certainly enjoy the Dirk Gently series, and you will enjoy them more when you learn that the basic story for the first book is taken in large part from Adams’ unfinished Doctor Who script Shada.  I fully agree with Arbutus that, as much as I love Hitchhiker’s Guide, the Dirk Gently series is a…[Read more]

@purofilion – The Bach thing in Dirk Gently is a bit difficult to explain out of context.  Time traveler hears beautiful alien music, goes back in time, gives it to Bach, timey-wimey.

@purofilion @arbutus – One of my old music theory professors described Beethoven as the original rock star, and used the Waldstein as an example.  “Can you imagine being at a fancy party in 1804, all dressed up in the latest fashions, and in walks this crazed lunatic, 33 years old, dressed in dark colors with crazy disheveled hair, and sits down…[Read more]

Still digging through the thread (was out of town this weekend and only watched the ep last night), but I’m surprised no one has mentioned that the Beethoven bootstrap paradox from the beginning is more or less what happens with Bach in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.  I suspect that former DW story editor Douglas Adams is never far f…[Read more]

@kharis – Good call with Missy’s pointed stick and the Queen of Wands!

Oh and a couple more things.

On the subject of whether the Doctor knew what he was doing from the beginning (including, why did he tell about Gallifrey, how could he know Missy would save him at the right time, etc.) — I’ve always gotten the message that the Doctor makes it up as he goes along, and then, when everything works out, he convinces…[Read more]

@ichabod – Completely disagree.  She’s shut up in horrible, stinky Dalek armor that transforms her into a monster, to the outward eye (and ear).  The Doctor is in a fury because he thinks Clara is dead — so he’s not thinking clearly.  Missy is lying to the Doctor, and Clara knows that the Doctor has old bonds with her, and seems to be believing…[Read more]

So I don’t know my history as well as I should, but what if Missy was a woman *before* she was Roger Delgado, and was in fact the Doctor’s first wife?  The brooch, therefore, could have been a gift to her from the Doctor at the birth of *their* daughter.

It would explain their love-hate relationship, her comments about what is he really running…[Read more]

@Barnable, you are amazing.  Well played.  (in re Dark Santa, assisted suicide, etc.)

@Spider, I’m pretty sure that was created especially for the teaser, rather than intended to be part of an episode.  I could be wrong, of course.

So my favorite bonkers theory is one that was alluded to briefly by @nerys and others many pages ago.  The tangerine is not only a sign that Santa is real, but that Santa in fact saved the day.  To wi…[Read more]