@morpho    I liked the Doctor’s explanation that the butterfly effect happens anyway, even without time travel.

*Loved* that; a quick and easy way of dispensing with a long, depressing disquisition on why Time travel into the past is bound to change the future to *some* extent, but you’d probably never know (who says it has to change in ways you…[Read more]

@missy  Or — was that Missy he played it for?  Or both, when he spotted them on the battlement above?

@phaseshift   I suppose the ultimate question is whether you think the show deserves such analysis or not.
I think it does

As do I; given a durable framework and many changes rung upon it over the years by different writers, show runners, cast members, et al, the result is ripe for analysis (and gets plenty of it, happily).  And, let’s not f…[Read more]

@jimthefish   I’ve loved the guitar/fading rock star aspect of Capaldi’s Doc…

D’you think I’m off in seeing a gleam of self-satire in the flamboyance of the entrance-with-guitar-and-tank?  It never struck me as “fading rock star” but rather as “wannabe rock star” — which was, at one point, what Capaldi and his friends all were.  “If you can’t be…[Read more]

@Puro  Hell, I’d listen.  So, here’s a guy who got what he wanted: his “dream job”.  Now he’ll head out on his own and think about all that that meant, and what it means now.  I remember when he said on some panel, or in some interview, back at the beginning, something about how overjoyed he was to have this chance at the role of his dreams, but…[Read more]

@pedant  I get the impression that nobody was offended but old fan geeks (like me) who think that having been watching forever, they somehow have acquired the right to defend “their” show from anything they see as “new”, plus the right to school everybody else in the few ways that it is appropriate to enjoy DW (unlike me, thank goodness).…[Read more]

@mersey  So — “Loose clues drop shoes” and other war-time slogans . . .  Yes, I’m on Eco’s side but Barthes is no dope, and writers of both inclinations have lots of fans who love their work.  I will miss Moffat — more, or less, depending on what Chibnall does in his turn.  I hope he delivers more of what you’re looking for.

@missy What if you…[Read more]

@pedant   Read your piece; thanks for that.  I’ll go look at 13 Reasons.

@mdlark  Stories in which every meaning is dictated, every t crossed and every i dotted, and in which nothing is left to the imagination of the reader or viewer are seldom very satisfying.

When an artist says (or thinks) “I hope my work survives for a decade or two after I’m gone”, he or she is usually talking about hoping that the work has…[Read more]

@redlemons  As far as his playing the guitar, if I lived as long as him I think I would learn lots of instruments.

Yes — things aren’t hopping all the time; we don’t get to see the quieter moments a stretches of time in the Tardis, we get the *stories*.  Why wouldn’t he play guitar?  Though I think he’d play some quieter, more meditative work to…[Read more]

@thane15  Excellent idea!  Let us know the outcome . . . !

Meanwhile, Here, just because I can.  Well.  Because I can’t help myself.  And I’ve recovered from LMAO over it.

Hope the link works.  It’s worth fixing it, if not.…[Read more]

@pedant  A Scottish band writing music for a French TV show 

“Les Revenants” was so good that there was a US imitation of it (perfectly dreadful — ended up being all about the FBI), and there’s an Australian take on a similar idea called “Glitch” which I think I’ve recommended here before.

@thane15  Puro — Duncan’s Escape: Finding Joy[Read more]

@mudlark  Wheat and other cereal crops, like all grasses, are wind pollinated and require no intervention on the part of insects or micro robots

Maybe this wheat has been engineered to be artificially pollinated because of some weird quirk in the weather patterns?  Or the vardies just like flying around and have made a job for themselves that l…[Read more]

@pedant — Well, the combo of that photo with that headline really caught my attention!  Generally in the US we don’t let any dead people, doctors or not, perform any kind of surgery!

It’s a grim matter, though.  I’ve seen several cases reported of immigrant families sending daughters back to their native country in order to get sliced up per h…[Read more]

@redlemons  I found the previous episodes with Clara brooding

Yes, they were.

Terrible that I want my soul lifted by a fictional character? Maybe … In the Pilot I finally found him delightful. Now after Smile, I know I will miss him.

Nothing terrible about that!  The Doctor is for everybody over-all (all, that is, TV watchers who love SF/F and…[Read more]

@thane15  You’re welcome, Puro — I have to say, I appreciate so much having this forum on which to think about these things “out loud”, and in such good company.  That’s made this stretch of DW (Moffat/Capaldi) especially rich for me (and, I think, for others — not just a fascinating series, but excellent conversation around it as well).

And t…[Read more]

@countscarlioni    there has been a reference to “promises” and Nardole referred to an “oath.” To whom or what has the Doctor made his promises/promise/oath? The being(s) in the vault (assuming there are beings in there)? To himself? To a Keeper of the Vault?

Yeah!  How nice to have something to grab onto that *isn’t* “The Doctor is dying!”  W…[Read more]

@missrori    Perhaps he was thankful for something to keep him “grounded”,

Maybe he has been, and felt that he needed a “resting life”.  And teaching in a university setting is a good way to be around young people and be useful to them without expectations of very close bonds developing to any individual.

So along comes Bill . . . and all bets a…[Read more]

@thane15   [of the writing in S8-9]  I think it has held up quite well, personally. It was certainly “dark” (Lordy, is that word overused!) but certainly, whilst I’ve adored The Pilot and Smile, my son, Thane is pining for Series 8 and in particular 9: his sadness is connected to a feeling that it will never reach those particular depths in char…[Read more]

Got to it today, and “Smile” made me smile; I especially like that contrast, “Wet brain; dry brain”.

I like Bill very much.  CapDoc’s comment, “No one’s ever looked at it like that before” is a summary of why she brings this fresh feeling to the show — she has an eye for practicality and a nice logical style of thinking, so she asks the…[Read more]