@blenkinsopthebrave   The ferry went up and down over each wave at an angle of about 45 degrees. All three of us remained silent.

Funny effect, that; I was once on a teeny tour boat heading out from Juneau for an exploration of Tracy Arm, I think it was, and the stretch of open water that we had to cross was absolutely horrendous (well, to my e…[Read more]

@thane16  Moffat was holding these characters: the new Doctor, the present Doctor, the first Doctor and the soldier, very gently in his hands, shaping and highlighting, forming and processing. It was a sight to see.

It was; and you’ve put it very well.  A labor of love if ever I saw one, on everyone’s part.

@missy  Yes, I read that Murray Go…[Read more]

@missrori  Weirdest theory I’ve seen about the First Doctor’s sexism as running gag — a commenter at The Mary Sue genre discussion site argued that it’s actually Moffat’s way of clandestinely expressing how much he hates women, couched as a joke.

Gods, they can be idiots over there sometimes!  Moffat doesn’t hate women, just came with the standar…[Read more]

@lamontcranston  @missy  The show is a “gimmick” show.  The gimmick is its flexibility (starting with the shape-shifting self-renewing hero in the police box), which allows it to respond to changes in our surrounding culture in a conscious way.  How weirdly stuffy and reactionary would DW look now, next to even superhero shows that just fold con…[Read more]

I hope everyone had a warm and happy Christmas — mine was quiet and relaxing, good company and good food (except for an oddly congealed spinach thing — but the lemon squares made up for that).  It’s weirdly warm here in the US Southwest, for this time of year; dry as a bone.

My sister’s dog has shown a talent for tool-using: the yard is full…[Read more]

@jimthefish — Aargghh!  Lime green?  I hope someone was put in the stocks for that.

@missy   I never was good at writing down my emotional response to anything. I simply feel.

Well, that’s what us hyper-verbals do in the world: put it out there for people to recognize as their own; or, just as importantly, not, or not quite.

For those who th…[Read more]

Some bits and bobs from radiotimes.com:

Episode writer and departing showrunner, Steven Moffat said that getting Capaldi’s send off right “took whatever emotions we were both having about leaving and put them on screen where they belong”. Moffat added: “By the time we got to that part of filming I think Peter and I were probably the least emotion…[Read more]

@missrori  I did appreciate that Twelve wasn’t quite so alone in the end, choosing to be alone when he regenerated notwithstanding.

Well, he’d just had a big, all-together-now group hug (“I don’t think I’m a hugging person now . . “) with people he loved but couldn’t “lose” any more because they were already dead, except as memories — they we…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip  The ring was the only part of the Capaldi Doctor’s costume that stayed throughout. It’s a symbol that this Doctor’s time had finished – the one thing he has constantly worn – no longer fits.

Ah!  Perfectly put.  Thank you.

@jimthefish  I agree that they pushed D1’s out-of-date attitudes a bit too hard, and it grated to have 12 te…[Read more]

@miapatrick  Regeneration feels like death to the Doctor sometimes, the end of that personality.

So here’s Moffat insisting all over the place (as he’s been wont to do) that of course the Doctor doesn’t actually DIE, he just steps onto a different moving sidewalk, after a dramatic light-show.  And yet — the Capaldi seasons have been all about d…[Read more]

Just saw the film tonight in a freezing cold cinema, came home, and watched it again on Amazon Prime.  God damn it, those people — the actors I mean — were excellent!  And Capaldi was superb.  Now 12 is over, and I’m feeling both sated and bereft.  He projected such a pervasive sense of steadfastness in the midst of doubt, vulnerability, and a n…[Read more]

@missy  I’m just — sad, I guess.  The show is resilient; whatever happens in S11, I trust it will endure, bounce back if needs be, and go on to thrive, with Whittaker/Chibnal or others.

The question for me is whether *I* will bounce back from losing the writers and actors who have made me an enthusiastic DW fan again: will it remain “…[Read more]

@craig  OOOoooohhh, wow!  We’re on the map of international Trollery, are we?  What an honor!  Prepare to repel boarders . . .

@gamergirlavatar  @missy  @janetteb   Yes; Moffat and Capaldi used S9 and S10 in particular to push the Doctor as far into the dark as they could — without turning the show into something that younger viewers would no longer be comfortable with or understand.  Not that kids don’t experience loss, pain, heroism, and despair, on the scale of the…[Read more]

Loved The Big Sick — very strong sense of people maturing right before our eyes.

@missy  Why does it have to be a female? No one has come up with an adequate answer

I think it’s the wrong question; that’s why.  “It” doesn’t *have* to be “a female”.  But IMO it *is* a good idea to find new ways to vary the recipe (ways that speak to the culture that’s happening at the time) in order for the cake not to become flat, stale, an…[Read more]

@gamergirlavatar  I’m a lot more nervous about Chibnall than I am about Whittaker, myself, but that’s because Moffat is the kind of writer whose work I enjoy — for its energy, its daring, and its intelligence — and I’ve found what I’ve seen of Chibnall’s work flatfooted and draggy.  But maybe the DW challenge will bring out some spark in him t…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip  Hurray for the bones of novel!  Congratulations!

@thane16  my hair is turning curly and I’m taller.

Thank goodness!  It would be a problem if your hair were taller and you were turning curly.

I am feeling frisky today because a) my asthma is letting up, and turns out to be the cause of all this g.d. sleeping I’ve been doing…[Read more]

@missy   Thanks for the reminder — Happy birthday, Thane!

And thanks for the 5 Meet as well — I can get BBC Radio four on my computer!  I think I did once, anyway.

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...