@janetteb

Yes, I suppose writers’ relationship with the show was different after the gap, because of the gap. But there are loyal writers who were apparently cast aside before. And writers who were obviously commissioned, delivered and slid away after; Maxine Alderton almost made the Fam and T’floox work for ooh 45 minutes or so. Where is she?…[Read more]

@nerys I know the slugs ignored Lindy because they were working through in alphabetical order.
(As an aside, had the AI read the ‘Hitchiker’s Guide’ quintet, wherein Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, being immortal and bored, set out to insult every living thing in the Universe *in alphabetical order*?)

But, why do it that way. And why ‘build’…[Read more]

@nerys @dentarthurdent @janetteb

This was the high water mark of S1. Only the finale (of the series) was a real problem, because those 2 eps dragged, and begged so many questions. That is, intelligent guesses can be made about to the arc but most people aren’t that interested. This means the show (or rather RTD and Gatwa) become a target to peop…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u @janetteb Sadly, Canada has its own “Defund the CBC” initiative, led by those who, quite predictably, feel their own political causes are not sufficiently championed. But, given how reliant Canada has become on American broadcasters, the CBC is really the only broadcaster in Canada promoting Canadian culture (especially music). If we…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent The only reason the slugs ignored Lindy is because they were killing in alphabetical order, and they hadn’t yet reached P for Pepper-Bean. That’s why she betrayed Ricky September in the conduit. She knew her turn was next because P was coming up in the alphabet. But then Lindy remembered Ricky September’s birth name, Richard…[Read more]

@janetteb Thank you for that clarification on corsets. I did not know that!

You also make a good observation about the TARDIS’s perception filter, whose primary purpose, as I recall, is to cause people not to notice it. But it seems like it’s been invoked as a kind of deus ex machina to conveniently explain away what would strike the audience as…[Read more]

@mudlark @janetteb Thanks, I will look up the summary on the home page. It looks like there are also video clips, so hopefully I can watch them. I don’t think I’ve watched any of the pre-gap episodes (though my husband did before he went off to university). Not enough time … and I’ve found it hard enough to keep up with the post-gap ones.

@janetteb

I’m investigating why Who struggles to hold on to good creative people. For instance, JNT was famously reluctant to work with Robert Holmes. Chris Boucher wrote Face of Evil, Robots of Death and Fendahl… all ‘A’ imho, but he left Who to edit Blakes 7 and the Beeb wouldn’t let writers do two shows simultaneously.

Looking at David Fis…[Read more]

@nerys @mudlark @janetteb

Here’s an interesting thought… Pyramids of Mars was hinted by Doggo in Space Babies and the desolate world without music… BUT I wonder if there is also a link to Image of The Fendahl, 2 years later?

Evidence…

There are 12 deities in the pantheon; The Fendahl is a Gestalt being with 12 components Fendahleen and ‘the co…[Read more]

@janetteb I have been really looking forward to this, the return of Moffat to Dr Who and it did not disappoint. it was so good, tense, political, and with emotional depth. Ncuti really “aced” it. This is the first time we have seen the depth of his Doctor. He has so much energy and in this that is all focussed simply on keeping still. Ruby is sha…

[Read more]

@whohar @nerys @dentarthurdent @janetteb

design by committee? More dictact in my opinion, and contrary to the spirit of the show at that. I’ve probably said too much already.

The question is, with so much (supposed? imagined?) interference, why HAVE the main parties been so diplomatic? Well Andrew Cartmel wasn’t. Moffat has made the odd sal…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

@nerys

@dentarthurdent

@janetteb

I think the reason Chibz gets a ‘free pass’ from other showrunners is just politeness or ‘professional courtesy’.   You don’t badmouth your fellow workers even if you think they’re crap.

Absolutely understand this. What I don’t understand is why RTD doubled down on it in the latest two series. He co…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u @whohar @janetteb @dentarthurdent I do agree with you about disliking what Chibnall did to the canon, especially with Gallifrey. But then, I was disappointed with how Gallifrey was handled after the 50th anniversary special. Here we had the Doctor’s jubilation at setting out to find it, and then we got little joy (I mean that in the…[Read more]

@janetteb @whohar @dentarthurdent

Final word.

My initial thought re Chib was that the undoubted mess revealed a degree of incompetence and that was it. BUT I was also aware of criticism of Moff, suspicious about incongruities in his story lines (though I suppose that could also be the way Moff rolls); also a little surprised that the Being Human…[Read more]

@janetteb   @ps1l0v3y0u  @whohar    @janetteb     Like Janetteb, I found Chibs’s rewriting of the whole Who timeline too much to take.   ‘Future’ events (by which I mean ones the Doctor’s timeline hasn’t reached yet) can do what they like, but ‘past’ events had better fit into the sequence or they just confuse and annoy me.   Which am I supposed t…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

@nerys

@dentarthurdent

@janetteb

Moff’s legacy:

Timelords rehabilitated

The Doctor gets a new regeneration cycle

1 is 1, he turns the cylindrical uncamouflaged Tardis into a police box.

All three are trashed in TTC

This is why I am surprised Chibnall gets such a free pass from the previous showrunners. He must have known what t…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent @translatorcircuit @janetteb

Sea Devil music was of course all by the Radiophonic workshop… KC’s The Devil’s Triangle features in Mind of Evil.

Tsk gonna have to watch that now.

@translatorcircuit @whohar @janetteb

colorisations and edits… The Daleks was well received; War Games not, and rightly… I was very excited at the time: it’s an outstanding story but it should really have been divided into two specials… War Games and Time Lords. However, the original 250 mins is far too long.

Sea Devils? I’ll have to watch it.…[Read more]

@janetteb

I wonder if the BBC are going to continue to produce these condensed / colourised / re-scored versions of classic stories. They’ve done Docs 1, 2 and 3 now, so presumably a Tom Baker story is due next. I wonder which one. They previously did a feature-length version of Genesis, which was transmitted and is also available on Blu-ray I…[Read more]

@janetteb

yes. The only solution is to copy from pages

Anyway… love to read the full version.

I liked it. Xmas specials aren’t really Moff’s thing. Not a great rec for 2026…