@whohar thanks for the link. It sounds as though the 26 Yule special might be RTD’s swansong. I expect there will be big announcements next year, new partnership,new show-runner new Doctor. Fingers crossed they chose well and realise that it takes more than just a big budget to make good Dr Who.

cheers

Janette

@winston We always include this episode with our Christmas re watch too. I do like it too though Rose’s costume is questionable but then, like Bill, she chose it herself. (Bill chose better)

cheers

Janette

@winston I recall enjoying this episode at the time but I don’t think I have ever re watched it. I did enjoy the diversity of aliens, and the humour. From memory it was beginning to feel as though Dr Who was really back but it isn’t one that i chose when I am going back through old episodes to watch. So many better episodes were to follow.

cheers

Janette

@whohar that seems quite likely. I would say that the BBC feel that RTD has not delivered the series saving coup that they were hoping for and they are fumbling in the dark right now for any way to keep their cash cow afloat. I don’t have much faith in whatever decision they make right now but will keep fingers crossed because I am a stubborn…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u Yes it does seem like clickbait rather than news. I suspect it is just that, something to fill a page, get Who fans to read in the hope they notice the adds on the side.

cheers

Janette

@dentarthurdent Agree the relationship is subtle. Much is left to the reader to construe which is pitch perfect.

@ps1l0v3y0u Maybe the Doctor and Martha followed the spawning critters to Western Drumlins and got zapped. He was still holding the file which he had not had time to read. Or he put the file in his bigger on the inside pockets and…[Read more]

@whohar  I agree it is a move borne out of desperation hopefully not a misstep but that is perhaps my eternal optimism at play. fingers crossed it will be well handled if and when Who returns.

cheers

Janette

@whohar I doubt Billie Piper would play the Doctor for long. I suspect she is a “filler’ as there is no certainty as to when the next series will be and she stepped in as a favour to RTD and the show, and fans. I do think she could be good and would like to see her run with the role for a couple of episodes then hand on the baton to the next…[Read more]

@winston I also like the fan club in Love and Monsters so agreed not all bad.it began well but the ending was questionable. Kill the Moon however I can find nothing positive about at all.

It would be nice to be able to do a Kryten (Red Dwarf) type memory wipe. (He had his memory of all of Agatha christie’s works deleted so he could read them…[Read more]

also I am not keeping up with this thread. I have a lot more to read so apologies for my post being a little behind the flow of the discussion which I am enjoying and will comment on if time permits.

cheers

Janette

@winston that is a noble goal. All of the episodes, even Love and Monsters and Kill the Moon!!! I always skip a few when we re watch. I do like the plan though, from Rose to Dr Rose?.

I have such happy memories of watching Rose that first time, now over twenty years ago. (making it now into our cuT TV Club criteria but I still have some series of…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u that would explain why I did not find that episode so shocking. I was watching the edited version from DVD or maybe VHS. I think my s/o bought me the box set one Christmas or birthday.

Re companions. Barbara could be quite critical at times but as with Sarah Jane it depended on the writing. I felt that the writers really let the…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u I was about 11 or 12 when i watched I Claudius but because it was ABC, (Australian Broadcasting Commission) Mum thought it was “respectable” until the ABC announced that they were censoring an episode. She got a bit jittery about my watching it after that. I think I had to skip one episode but watching it later don’t really see why the…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u You would be thinking of Phineas Finn? I was a young teen when the family inherited a 50s vintage black and white tv set and The Pallisers, (BBC) was airing along with such classics as War and Peace and I Claudius. (oddly it was several years later that I discovered Dr Who)

@winston I love our library and try to actively support it as…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u that is a good list and nothing that I would disagree with. “chucklegramps” always makes me chuckle.

I look forward to your list of old Who companions. that might take some time.

Cheers

Janette

@ps1l0v3y0u We do have a good library system. Can borrow from any library in the state which is handy though Fftd is in our local library. I have seen it on the shelf, did not realise that we did not already have it.

cjeers

Janette

@ps1l0v3y0u Really glad you drew attention to this. I realised that we don’t have the animation and so have ordered the DVDs from the library. Really keen to watch it. It might be the story I remember from when I was young..

cheers

Janette

@whohar thank you for the update. Potentially positive though you last point absolutely nails the issue. It is essential to preserve the essence of the series.  i felt that the bigger budget did not help with that. It make the more recent series feel more “Hollywood”. It was glossier. Dr Who should never be “glossy”. it needs to preserve that…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent I read the book a few years ago and really enjoyed Moffat’s writing style but It is more of a companion to the episode which was almost perfect. (Only imperfection that springs to mind is Liz 1’s very modern hair style)

@ps1l0v3y0u I read a lot of the early novelisations when I was a teen back in the dark days before video. The…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave thanks for sharing. that does sound promising though as @nerys points out, what we want is for the Tardis to be “going somewhere”. I suspect  that the BBC is considering their options right now and I hope that “reduce the special effects budget and put more focus on good story writing” is a feature of the…[Read more]