I’ve been thinking of “Heaven Sent” as a classic bull-fight, in which matador and bull are one and the bull is so brave and splendid that in the end, the crowd demands that the he be not just spared but honored.

And I’m no fan of bull fighting, believe me.  Not in this life, anyway.

@countscarlioni  the upward journey of a soul through pu…[Read more]

In case it hasn’t been mentioned yet, another excellent review of “Heaven Sent” is here:  http://reviews.doctorwhonews.net

@jphamlore  I am sure Moffat did not intend this, but with the extreme suffering depicted that the Doctor underwent for billions of years, for me, the Doctor has paid in full for his actions in The Zygon Inversion. Thank you, Steven Moffat.

I’m not sure what you refer to as apparently blameworthy actions by the Doctor in “Inversion”, partly…[Read more]

Here’s a little something about skulls, picked up on tumblr:

“We had Peter in for a lifecast for episodes three and four [Under the Lake and Before the Flood] as we’d made prosthetics for the Ghost Doctor,” Kate Walshe, SFX producer at Millennium FX, told RadioTimes.com. “As we already had his lifecast, [producer] Pete Bennett and I discuss…[Read more]

@jphamlore  It may be as a defense mechanism to hacking, the Confession Dial is programmed to destroy any invader that does not correctly answer what its contents are. It is possible the Time Lords did not intend to torture the Doctor, or even to learn the nature of the hybrid, things just worked out that way.

Interesting possibility!

@arch   < …[Read more]

@lisa   I did like how he fell back into his comfort zone which was having Clara and the Tardis aka his mind when he needed his ‘deliberations’ . That’s how he managed his sanity.

Yes — that gave him someone to talk to besides the Veil.  About his sanity, I dunno . . . he could yet do something terrible, and need to restore himself from that.

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Well, that was — my head’s spinning and my stomach is all knotted up from the tension and the need to concentrate really hard.  It didn’t help that my TV’s sound is crap, and the music was pretty loud sometimes when he was speaking.  Once I nab the episode and can replay it on my computer, I’ll be able to catch what I couldn’t hear this time.  …[Read more]

@miapatrick   In Russia the serfs/slaves/robots who came with the land were sometimes referred to as ‘souls’ in transfer documents and I don’t think they meant that the owners owned their immortal spirit.

They used to talk of disasters in similar language — such and such a ship sank and 120 souls were lost.  I think it just meant “living human b…[Read more]

@janetteb   That’s a hellish amount of fire-damage.  I’m sorry to hear that it was so bad.  I remember reading about Australian bush fires in “The Thorn Birds”, many years ago.  It sounded horrible then, and it sounds horrible now.  When my sister lived in California, every summer she’d be fretting fiercely over the fire danger because she had…[Read more]

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@mersey  Clara will get some reward and the only reward I can imagine is Danny. (What exactly had happend to his soul after their last meeting? Had it just vanished?).

Depends, doesn’t it?  On that still open questions, what does “soul” mean in Doctor Who?  I don’t recall BG Doctors using the word “soul” this way.  The Doctor seems to be an ath…[Read more]

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@nerys   At some point some kindly doctor told me that without my glasses I was “legally blind”, which was charming to hear — made me feel so *special!* — but I really didn’t care much, as long as I could still get glasses or lenses, later, correcting my sight.  He was probably reading something wrong, that guy.  Maybe he needed to have his eyes checked.

@janetteb  I think what really frightened me as a child was the music which is why I am certain that particular show that effected me was Dr Who.

It’s funny being audio-oriented in a visually-oriented culture.  That’s my situation, anyway — maybe from having had bad near-sightedness from at least the age of six, diagnosed as progressive m…[Read more]

@mersey  Your theory is very bold.  It makes the Doctor co-evil and co-conspirator with Missy, two villains bringing down a virtuous heroine and her consort — congratulations on bonkerizing far out indeed.

@pedant  Malice is sufficient, but not necessary, to establish responsibility.

My mistake; I was thinking karmically (as I understand it), not legally.  Manslaughter, I suppose, lies between, then a spectrum of negligence leading to accident/act of god kind of thing..

@puroandson  Good to hear from you!  “Things to do” sounds promising, in terms of feeling better — here’s hoping that’s so.

ichi

p.s.  That is one smart, articulate, well-mannered kid you’ve got there.  I used to teach 14 year olds.  You got a good one, but you don’t need me to tell you that.

@mersey  Sounds as if I need to entertain myself this coming dead season with a re-watch of Series 5!

Here’s a thing: I just can’t help myself.

I hope the link works — it’s worth it.