@pedant I think season 9 was the most powerful since Matt Smith’s first (which will always hold a special place for me) and the acting quite outstanding.

Cheers! With on that.

@timecahoot lack of Ohila’s sympathy towards Doctor after he came out of confession dial seriously bothered me. It seems to me that Ohila came to Gallifrey just bec…[Read more]

@lisa   River seemed more authentic (?) somehow compared to Clara for me. Its like some folks are on a quest
for wonderfulness (Clara) and others are born with that (River). I think- maybe?

Yes, maybe; though there’s also the age difference.  Clara is very young when we first meet her, still looking for further boundaries of herself.  Having foun…[Read more]

@pedant  [of River]  You don’t get to have the beautiful balcony scene without the Doctor seeing that, for all her wild ways, she is a good person who loves him unconditionally, with no expectation of reward. She is wild, but true. And then he says “Hello sweetie” and she realises that the sunset is loves her back . . .  there was huge bravado.…[Read more]

@arbutus  I don’t think that the Doctor’s statement about sensing other Time Lords can be taken as fact any longer. 

Agreed — I suspect that that’s one of those remarks (like McGann and “half-human”) that the writers have been trying to wriggle out from under ever since, mainly by just forgetting all about it.  Now that Gallifrey is unfroz…[Read more]

@jphamlore  I think the Doctor through much of the episode was hoping River Song would recognize him but did not want to do something completely obvious that would announce his presence such as pulling out the sonic screwdriver.

I thought it turned into a bit of a game for him — how far would things have to go for her to catch on?  Some fans a…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip  Here, all the total sh*ts are deservedly dead and the bloke who gets the diamond is someone who did the brave and decent thing of checking for survivors.

Okay, got that; just to put my own comment in context, locally, some of us USians are a bit raw on such subjects, per this (yet another instance of what should be a massive…[Read more]

@puroandson  Could we agree it’s a thought process or spiritual nourishment view and not an hypothesis following the Platonic mode of thought?

Sure, no problem here.  ‘Tis not the season to be arguing.

@pedant   much more interesting: the a courageous everyman who was rewarded for trying to find survivors in a dangerous crash site.

Well, no; that’s a magic man with no need for money taking steps to get a treasure home to its current owners with the reward going to somebody who may or may not be interested in the restaurant business on D…[Read more]

@jphamlore   The Doctor went back in time and arranged for the construction of the Singing Towers of Darillium himself.

What a delightful thought!  Making good use of his Heaven Sent experience in breaking down the unwanted rock around and between the towers, only with tools this time . . . tuning them, now, that would take real genius!

ideas o…[Read more]

@jphamlore  Clara did return to Gallifrey in an instant of time and then had herself put back in her body for her death at Trap Street, so the Time Lords were none the wiser.

Ah — okay, yes, if she pops out of time at a point shortly after her escape with CapDoc, the TLs wouldn’t know that she’d been gallivanting about time and space with…[Read more]

@puroandson  Puro Solo,  the little reference to Clara’s tune when River begs the Doctor to find a loophole and he says “sometimes things end”,

Okay, that answers my major question: this is CapDoc *post-Clara*, having traveled back in time to a Christmas season between Angels Take Manhattan and Silence in the Library.  This is the echo we need…[Read more]

@puroandson  The “24 years” line wasn’t delivered in a “whey-hey, we have 24 years bab-eee, let’s go rock my …”
It was as it should be. The Doctor is a star system, a sunset, a monolith (You know, if you really check out those words there’s a little bit of the naughty in them).  But as Missy said “we humans.”

Puro Solo  — Well, most of us, a go…[Read more]

@puroandson  Puro Solo, how about “exhilaratingly exorbitant”?  Wonderful, anyway.  I’ve watched Heaven Sent/Hell Bent enough times now to come away without that weird sick-gut feeling I got the first few times — I kept thinking, during HS, “God, this is just *horrible*!  How can they *do* this?”  And I wasn’t talking about the writing or the…[Read more]

@jphamlore  Losing Moffat both as showrunner and lead writer would be a tremendous loss for the show. In some sense I think he is speaking to us as fans, telling us to enjoy the moments we have left with him.

Good point — and whether he’s telling us that or not, it certainly is my intention to do just that!  Though another 24 years might be a t…[Read more]

@oswino  when the doctor and me where talking she suggested that clara and the doctor may have a kid?.He shuts this down

Whoah, what?!  That must have flown right by me . . . I’m sure there’s fanfic on the subject, but you’d have to google it, I think.

@puroandson  the music perhaps last year whilst sweet and gimmicky has been replaced with a go…[Read more]

Loved it, guys; really.  Perfect tone, lively pace, beautiful playing — and another quiet ring of the mortality bell at the end, exactly the balance of acceptance of hard reality and joy (in the beauties and comforts of some sweetly extended playtime beforehand) that we saw CapDoc lose in S8-S9, to (almost) disastrous effect.  Funny; now I t…[Read more]

@puroandson

Edible ball non-bearings, then?  Tasty, I hope!

@puroandson  @pedant  I think it’s my inability to pronounce ‘Orgoreyn’ correctly.
How did the author intend it to be pronounced?

I think it’s “OR-go-rain”.  She had a linguist friend generate a language for that book, I think (or maybe it was for another one later on . . .).  I can ask about the pronunciation, if you like, via e-mail.…[Read more]

@nerys  Sure — I’m thinking of the noodling part, just “fooling around”, rather than doing exercises, lessons, or playing a particular piece.  But that can also be a form of rest, too.  As long as it’s not competitive with anything else, including one’s own last or best effort.  Free-wheeling body, free-wheeling mind, slaves of nothing, for a whi…[Read more]

Funny; not the needle part, just the little prick . . . Um.  (shut mouth)  (oh, open it again, go on — )

Happy holidays, everyone!

ichi