Hey, guys — check out this link!

http://www.doctorwhonews.net

I’m off to buy my membership in this year’s World Con so I can vote in the competition for the Hugos!

Thanks for the story — very flavorful and of its time, reminds me of a phase when I read Machen and Lovecraft and Coppard, and of course James.  Lovely, shivery days . . .

Looks good to me — change of pace, fresh air, just what the Doctor needs after going through the wringer of S8-S9 with that person he can’t quite remember any more.  A closed chapter, that — but one that can be re-opened at a later date, if someone so chooses, when it’s the lighter style that needs a rest.  And I’m all for it, either way.  A li…[Read more]

@missy  Thanks for the info on M.R. James!  I’d no idea . . . Loved his stories, but I haven’t come across the one you  name — must go find!

ichi

@puroandson  Wish I did know, but I don’t, luv.  Thanks for the info on AMC.  It’s useful to learn about what causes the causes of the sudden fuck ups that fuck shows up.  I don’t know the adagio you mean — but I mightily respect the form for what it can add to a film story.  Thinking of the adagio in the film “Barry Lyndon” that cued the audi…[Read more]

@di-i-yana  I have to hold back a bit on what’s my favorite, until I wind back to S8 and then run on up to current, probably this summer . . . need some of the perspective that time and absence provide.  I do still see the pairing of CapDoc and Clara as particularly rich and successful, with its dips and doodles and miss-steps etc.  I still see it…[Read more]

re Class: I’ll certainly watch, hoping for the best (Moffat is, after all, Moffat).

@mudlark   Thanks.  A drone attack — so, current reality then, not SF.  Sounds worth the wait, over here.

Helen Mirren on the Graham Norton show spoke a bit about Alan Rickman’s last film role, which is a movie called “Eye in the Sky”.  Anybody know whether it’s been released yet?  Has anyone seen it?  Sounds very SFy.

@puroandson  Like when guys buff up like mad to play boxers or beefy midwestern guys . . . I guess it depends on the reasons for “looking like” that character’s description, and how far you’d have to go for how much of an effect.  Is there a bit of a double standard about this, too?  Lots of “ugly duckling” movies with women dolled down to look ho…[Read more]

@missy  Ah, those “things” that happen — DW spark plugs!  You don’t have to know exactly how they work, but they do keep the engine rolling onward.  A great way to avoid having the characters explaining to each other what we’ve watched them doing an episode or twelve back.

@missy  Peter capaldi kissing Clara’s hand is a real killer. Why is it, that such a simple act can break one’s heart?

Yes, that was inspired, wasn’t it?  We needed something more focused and specific than a hug, since hugs had become ore common emotional currency between them.  Apparently — I read in some commentary, maybe Rachel Talala…[Read more]

@arbutus  . . . .return to the Doctor of old, who said farewell to his companions with gratitude and affection, wished them well for the future, and then moved on, the carefree wanderer of old.

In some ways, I think that would be a great move, though maybe more suited to Chibnall than Moffat . . . ?  They have, after all, pushed the heavy-duty e…[Read more]

@missy  For possibly the second time in his life, he is completely helpless.

Yes — and instead of frantic, when he realizes that Ashildr can’t help either, he goes still — and turns to look away from Clara, the doomed one who’s doomed because (in his mind, at least) he kept taking her into danger with him, to please her and enjoy her company.…[Read more]

@kbranach  Yes, great season, in my book.  Loved Heaven Sent.  Hell Bent, though, has caused much more dissention among the fans (at least those who post on discussion boards), so I’ll be curious to hear what you think of it.  There’s a good deal of interesting commentary on Heaven Sent on Rachel Talalay’s blog.  I found it fascinating.

@bluesqueakpip  Glad to hear it — I wonder if Maplethorp will be a break-out role for Smith: the potographer’s name is pretty well known and touched with scandal and outrage, so I think the chances of lots of attention to the film are good.

@janetteb @dentistofdavros  @pedant  Thanks, all, for the acting career followups.  Have the ass…[Read more]

@puroandson  Lansbury did damn near everything and was part of the hit phenomenon musical “Sweeny Todd”, with Len Cariou.  I think she took on MSW as a sure thing and long-term earner, and had the chance to do that because her face was so familiar and people really took to her.  I disliked the show, mainly because like damn near *everything* ev…[Read more]

@stitchintime  Some people have made their entire careers out of one role and done all right at it, others not. It probably takes a certain type of performer in a certain type of role to pull it off, but does not seem to work well for too many.

Yes, it’s an individual thing.  How many years did Peter Falk play Columbo?  Then there’s “Murder Sh…[Read more]

The more I think about it, the more I want to see the Engineer from the Orient Express as a companion, at least for a while . . . Or someone else who can provide not the spiral of increasingly dangerous energy with Clara, but its opposite  — someone who is calm and steady and can offset-ground-contrast to  the Doctor’s fizz-whiz-bang! aspect, t…[Read more]

@winston  I expect “they” are people in the entertainment biz, and I think they’re mostly right about that.  I can remember feeling uncomfortable about Tom Baker’s Doctor toward the end of his run — the feeling that his performance had become hollow in some way, and a bit forced.  Running on fumes, you could say, or “phoning it in”.  A recent boo…[Read more]