@ichabod the psychiatric ward is an interesting concept, done very well in Buffy, but doesn’t entirely hold up with The Doctor. There would be a physical examination, the two hearts would be noticed. There would have to be a reason, someone at the hospital suppressing the information, in order for her to be incarcerated, and, frankly, someone…[Read more]

@pedant and @ichabod

There is literally nothing in canon that supports the idea that the Doctor would remain contained,

Um. There’s The Wedding of River Song, where he’s regarded as a crazy Soothsayer and it’s Amy who rescues him.

I think the better argument would be that the Doctor is rather frequently contained, but that if it’s for longer…[Read more]

@shinymcshine

The fall needed more setup.

Why? The story wasn’t about the fall, it was about the landing, and its impact. An already odd day for Graham, Grace, Ryan and Yaz was about to get a whole lot odder. And we the viewers knew something they didn’t, which made it rather delicious.

One of Moffat’s strengths (apart from command of metaphor,…[Read more]

@shinymcshine  @ichabod    I have to agree here with @pedant and @miapatrick, that no incarnation of the Doctor would have been happy with Karl’s action. The fact that (as far as I recall) she didn’t take her criticism any further suggests that she understood Karl’s feelings while disapproving of the act.

Also, the “test” was not to kill a de…[Read more]

Finally got another viewing in. More thoughts about it all.

The Doctor seems to have finally moved past the Time War, having regretted, forgotten, and done penance. This may mean that, for awhile, she is more of an open book, less of a mystery. I’m okay with that (although it seems that there will still be the occasional mystery!) We’ll see wha…[Read more]

@Ichabod and @shinymcshine

But it is a video game. It’s made clear it’s a video game. It’s just that this particular video game has real live people taking part.

But the mention of bonuses and race and prize makes it clear that this is a *game* for Art Malik’s character. That’s why he warns them not to touch the water – no fun in it if the…[Read more]

@shinymcshine

Contrapuctual

First off, falling out of the sky and crashing through the roof of a train should be dramatic

Why? Could you point to the page of the Big Red Book Of Rules For Stories that says falls must always be played straight? Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin must have regretted their entire careers when they read that.

I would…[Read more]

@ichabod  @Thane16

*Continuing off-topic, but it happens that I have a spare moment while drinking yet another mug of tea.*

According to my father, who was an authority on the subject, white chocolate barely deserves the name at all. It consists of cocoa butter, milk solids, stabilisers and a *lot* of sugar, but none of those parts of the cocoa…[Read more]

@miapatrick

My training has been cancelled. 🙁  Mum said “How on EARTH could I (her) have caused that to happen. What are you? FIVE?”  I didn’t get cake, though, so she easily could  ‘do’ weather. I’m sure words with Rain God are totally within her powers.

In fairness the tread was because she has to lift a drip…. which in our house has to be…[Read more]

@ichabod

Mum is coming up the stairs. She has a heavy tread. It’s like a scary horror flick.

I may not be modded but I’ll take my punishment if I am (but Mum started it. LOL). Worse (maybe) I’m threatened with no dessert!

And I like cake 🙁

@ichabod

Oh come on. @miapatrick and I are throwing up. FOR SURE.

I should add if one wishes to ad lib or write stories go to fan wank fiction thread.

T16 (and I’m the younger one! Jeckers H. Cripes)

Yeah, I’ll be modded off. But I will not stand for stupid and neither will The Mother!

@ichabod – don’t know about the characterisation. He’s set up a situation with two male companions linked by someone they both loved who is dead. Possibly my favourite line was when Graham was with Ryan as he woke up and says ‘come on, we’ll sort this out’. How Graham? You’ve just been accidentally teleported into space and stopped up by a…[Read more]

@ichabod

Low voices show pitch relationships. Words like “authoritative” are stimulated from data modelling when recent CTs and MRIs show low pitch calming to most but not all species. Sometimes there’s a Russell TeaPot on the boil when small words like “authority” emerge from larger concepts via modelling discussions.

Logical atomism, it can…[Read more]

@ichabod

Hi !   Why is it I feel that even though she’s the oldest Doctor she behaves a bit adolescent ?

It’s bugging me that its almost as if CC is trying to make her feel too “youthful” for a Doctor we all

know to be thousands of years old?  Its not terrible and its not terrific for me.

She may not have watched the show before production but…[Read more]

@ichabod

Some comments I’ve seen have pointed out Jodie throwing bits of the other Doctors into her performance, but I have to admit, I’m not seeing that,

As you say, it has been stated that she deliberately didn’t watch any of her predecessors in the role, but perhaps the writing and direction may have influenced her performance in that res…[Read more]

@juniperfish @ichabod

Eccleston

Tennant

Smith

Capaldi

Jodie.

There’s part of the challenge, right there.

English doesn’t really have informal vs formal address in the way that other languages do (eg: vous vs tu), but we inject it in other ways without even trying.

@ichabod So how does a female authority figure assert herself without wearing a version of male “authoritative” attire?

Ahh, well, that is the question. In television drama, female authority figures are often in “professional” dress as part of a role of one sort or another, like Gillian Anderson (detective) in The Fall or Keeley Hawes (pol…[Read more]

@Ichabod

Not sure that there’s nothing more to know about the Whittaker Doctor than we’ve seen. I liked her better in this episode than I did in the first one, so it may simply be that she’s a ‘slow grower’ for a lot of us.

But that sudden collapse into ‘I’ve failed’ was definitely a bit odd – and if the ‘Timeless Child’ is her (and that could…[Read more]

@ichabod

    Did anybody else have a bit of a reaction to how often JoDoc uses the sonic? 

I didn’t focus on how often it was used as much as HOW it was used.   As the end of the episode grew near, I began to wonder which mode she would use each time she pulled it of her pocket.  Seems like it has at least two modes……(1.)going to poke a wil…[Read more]

@ichabod

but I had trouble with “Deep Throat” for the same reason

I really hope you meant “Deep Breath” there!

On the other hand….