@birdtomahawk  Oh, great — thanks!  But, “Citizen Kane”?  Not initially, for sure.  Talalay says (in the “extra” for this episode) that she went to the German Expressionist film makers and their work, specifically “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (those dramatic shadows, lots of stairs, moments of wordless menace!).  You can absolutely see the…[Read more]

Came across this, this morning, on reddit:

Production Notes (Steven Moffat Q&A) for Doctor Who Magazine #495: "Memory is a funny thing… we manufacture memories all the time." from gallifrey

If anyone here can resist reading the rest, after Moffat’s invitation not to proceed, my hat is off to that person!  Though I feel quite comfortable ignoring what doesn’t suit my view of Heaven Sent .…[Read more]

Have people seen this?  I’m not sure I understand it, but it seems quite provocative:

Doctor Who Magazine’s ‘Sleep No More’ Review from DWM 494 – ‘“Do not watch this,” implores Rassmussen. Oh, but we think that you’ll be very glad you did…’ from gallifrey

@brewski   I would be more convinced that he intended no out if at the end Watson was there, desperately holding onto Holmes, losing his grip and witnessing his fall, and then finally recovering and identifying the body. THAT is the author saying “I mean it. He’s done!” 🙂

Well, yeah . . . hard to argue with that.  Perhaps ACD’s intentio…[Read more]

@jimthefish  What an excellent fish!  I particularly appreciate the comments on the KKK/Suffragette scene, a weird little phantasmagoria if ever there was one . . . and, that which can never be insisted upon too often, the fact that not liking a particular tv show isn’t proof that the show is bad.  It’s just a clear sign that the show in qu…[Read more]

@brewski   “How can Sherlock solve crimes without his smart phone?” That pretty much says it all.

ARGH!  We’re doomed.  Seriously.

ACD killing of Holmes permanently. I never believed it for a minute!

Well, I recall seeing some correspondence from ADC to a friend rejoicing in having finally divested himself of that damned Holmes, and I do beli…[Read more]

@janetteb  @winston   You’re welcome — it’s amazing to see how much forethought goes into just a fragment of the script — I’ve always thought of it in theatrical terms (since that’s the only kind of directing I have any first-hand experience of), which was focused on talking to the actors, “What if you try it this way” kind of thing — not t…[Read more]

Here it is:

You read this and understand why when somebody asked Peter Capaldi if he’d like to direct an episode, he answered with an emphatic, “No!”, explaining that he’s seen enough of how extremely complicated and demanding the job is.

@missy   Yay, missy!  I thought it wasn’t going to be available in full until March, though — ?  With the two Xmas specials, I mean — Last Xmas, and Husbands?

@dralygonix  I would just LOVE to get to know folks around here, but where oh where to start.

Fret not, you have already started.  Maybe go back and read the forum material on the eps…[Read more]

@craig  Thanks!  So glad we’re back on track again.  We all share in the joy, I think.  Happy New Year!

@birdtomahawk  Oh, don’t apologize; it could have taken way too long to find your reviews otherwise, and we need them now, while S9 is still clear in our heads (well, as clear as these things get).  As for the source of that observation, trust Steven Moffat to know pretty much what he’s doing.  Thinking about his work from a writers’ p.o.v. ju…[Read more]

@birdtomahawk  11 to 12 is discussed in Deep Breath to be him revealing his true self to Clara.

Hmm; I think it’s more testing out what his true self *is*, in the course of which self-discovery he also reveals more than he normally would to a companion, because he’s busy flailing around trying to find his balance (and she’s 11’s Impossible Girl…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip Sherlock Holmes is practically the prototype of the Detective-with-issues who treats women badly…

Not to mention Mycroft, fat or thin, who lives, apparently, in his club (to which, I imagine, women are not admitted *at all*, or are relegated to a corner of the “strangers room “). I found Mycroft’s comment about the “hidden enemy” b…[Read more]

@birdtomahawk  Thanks for your reviews!  This one in particular I found very interesting — particularly the observation that most of the Doctor’s major reflections and equals (more or less) have been women in S9 — Ashildr, Clara, Missy.  It hadn’t occurred to me to see it that way, but I think you’ve got hold of something important there.

Good lord, a *third* Holmes brother!?  Oh, you run with it, boys, run!

Thanks for good stuff — I sort of surfed through the whole thing in a daze of confusion so it’s nice to have a bit of firm ground (maybe) to stand on.  I  do protest, though, the idea of a “fictionally misogynist” London, since you don’t have to scratch deeper than a mi…[Read more]

Ah, sweet.  Haven’t listened to Flaming Lips for a long time, and that sound sure has changed a lot since.

@whisht  What you said!  This is a great place, with a very inviting sofa.

@missy   Yep; Moffat is an amazing talent with the gift of long perspectives — very useful, in writing stories about time travel, I should think.

@missy  SM said “Husbands” was an old script of his, that he presumably re-tooled to cap off S9 with a view of the Doctor post-Clara and doing well, not to mention having learned about accepting the fact that things end, and you just have to accept it.  New Doctor-ly maturity, to match a mature companion-for-the-xmas-season (+ 24 yrs on D…[Read more]

Ah, new year is one and three quarter hours away here — no fireworks yet.  But happy New Year anyway!

Ichi