@ichabod oh I think it’s the right strategy. And character work might be the focus of this version of Who. I think Jaz’s turn might well be next week. When there’s a bigger team, giving everyone equal time ends up a bit like those bands where everyone sings a line in turn. This week, the Doctor was dealing with accidentally abducting and nearly…[Read more]

@ichabod

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

Yes, it did rather bring to mind the War Doctor’s sarcastic comment in The Day of the Doctor. On the other hand, it was used mainly if not entirely for opening and closing doors and as a scanning and diagnostic tool, both uses which are now established as…[Read more]

@Miapatrick

That there is a custard cream. Absolutely useless in my opinion without a cup of tea,

I cling to a fading hope that some day before I finally pop me clogs there will be a Doctor who likes ginger nuts or chocolate digestives. Sadly, custard creams, with or without a cup of tea, appeal no more to my palate than do jammy dodgers, which…[Read more]

@ichabod Totally see what you are saying and agree.

Like you, at the end of the day, I just want to love it.  I’m hoping as the season progresses I learn to love it.

@ichabod

Nor me, unfortunately. Hey ho, back to my box sets.

Missy

@ichabod  You now officially get the label of “Great Doctor Who Seer” or maybe you have a TARDIS and already saw episode 1 of the 13th Doctor before we did, because you nailed it a few weeks back:  “Every show a self-contained story” sounds to me like a return to 100% “monster of the week” and no need to bother staying for the end, because t…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

@ichabod “…and that’s Lowest Common Denominator territory: stay bland and perky so as not to upset anybody anywhere, everybody just wants “light entertainment” for their family evenings, and the qualities that made the thing go in the first place get filed down to nothing, in an effort to safeguard a much bigger investment and  a much bigger…[Read more]

@ichabod

Indeed it will be interesting.

Missy

@ichabod

Hmm, perhaps I do that do the same thing – but not often.

Missy

@ichabod

I have never understood the moans and groans from some women, that Mr. M. didn’t write strong roles for females?

Did they actually watch any of the series? Especially the Peter Capaldi series?

Are they so determined to be the ‘equal’ – which of course they can’t – of men, that they were/are in denial?

On wonders what these same…[Read more]

@ichabod

More the latter, I think.

Shakespeare is credited with introducing about 1700 new words into the language; some of them of completely new coinage, usually based on Latin or Greek roots; others created by combining existing words or elements of existing words in new combinations so as to convey subtler gradations of meaning, or by using…[Read more]

@pedant

I do find the wandering apostrophes a residual problem in my brain. Millions of apostrophes lost when the words “DONT WALK” replaced the red figure of a person standing, not walking, when crossing the street. I always preferred the figures in red or green… Actually, if I start writing like the above I just sound like Yoda. Whilst thi…

[Read more]

@ichabod

Basque is, I gather, difficult for a non-native speaker to learn and does not resemble any Indo-European language in grammatical structure or vocabulary.  It is generally supposed to be an isolated survival of an earlier  language or group of languages predating the arrival of languages of the Indo-European group in Western Europe, t…[Read more]

@TempusFugit  @ichabod

I seem condemned to continue in linguistic/grammarian mode at the moment, so ‘wotthehell,  archie, wothehell  🙂

The English language stems from the same common Germanic root as most of the languages of northern Europe – German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian – so the latter start with an advantage when learning En…[Read more]

@thane16

is “to totally…” THAT much of a grating alliteration?

It’s all down to personal opinion, of course, but it certainly grated on my sensitive inner ear. Those were the opening words in what was, as far as I recall, a piece publicising the excavation in question, and I may have been influenced also by the way it fitted into the sente…[Read more]

@ichabod A while back I read Steve Silberman’s Neurotribes, which is effectively a history of autism in its being recognized, diagnosed, defined, etc.  It notes that early SF fandom and clubs in the 1920s or so seemed to attract a lot of people who, today, would likely be diagnosed as autistic.  In fact they seemed to be the people who helped or…[Read more]

@ichabod I have not seen any of Ianucci’ work, not even The Thick of it but I do have a doco he did about Charles Dickens and can’t think of a better person to adapt the great man’s work. I am really looking forward to D.C. too. Peter is an interesting choice for Micawber. I have Death of Stalin but have not watched it yet.

Cheers

Janette

@pedant @mudlark @ichabod @JanetteB

I think it was here that I learned  less commas are better. In fact, yes! @jimthefish mentioned on the Buffy pages that as a journalist he was taught only to use commas when absolutely essential (@mudlark is it “learned” or “learnt”?).

I over-use commas: that I know for a fact.  🙂  Because, people, facts ar…[Read more]