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25 July 2015 at 12:52 #41418
@arbutus. Thank you so much for that link. Made me feel soooo much better about my messy house. Now I can just claim that I am not being pretentious. My mess is genuine.
@Purofilion. That story about the bread rolls had me laughing out loud. Thank you. I needed that after an exhausting day.
@blenkinsopthebrave I have not yet said how good it is to have you back. (actually I did but the internet ate my post.)
Cheers
Janette
25 July 2015 at 12:41 #41417@phamlore Just as the Doctor can play fast and loose with fixed points in time when it suits him (and the needs of the script writer/director) so the scriptwriter/director can play fast and loose with what is or isn’t established lore in Who.
or that at least is my belief…
Cheers
Janette
23 July 2015 at 04:12 #41370Welcome. I hope that you will do more than lurk. I am certain that once the new series begins and” bonkerising” gets into full swing again you will not be able to resist the temptation to join in. 🙂
Cheers
Janette
23 July 2015 at 04:08 #41369@barbaralefty. Lovely pic. Thank you for sharing that. I am glad that Wee Lefty had such a lovely time. What a pity that we have to be so cautious about posting pics these days. It is hard to imagine what harm there can be in sharing images of children having fun. A sad reflection or our Tabloid-ised society.
I was able to take our boys to the Doctor Who Experience back in 2007Â when AG Who was still in its infancy and the exhibition no doubt a poor precursor to what it is now. I had planned to take them castle hunting but when we saw the posters for the exhibition medieval stone heaps lost their appeal. Just being in Cardiff and visiting some of the locations used was excitement enough. We were rather inclined to shout afterwards, “we’ve been there” when viewing. (We had spent the past five days visiting castles .)
Cheers
Janette
23 July 2015 at 03:58 #41368@ichabod thanks for that link. I saw that discussion a couple of nights ago, when I was half awake, and thought of your comment earlier. In fact I thought it might have been the comment that you mentioned earlier. I was not overly cognizant at the time. It is interesting that his comment about knowing the future is in reference to the statement made by Eccles Doc about having all of space and time in his head. I interpret that as his having seen time from beginning to end and having knowledge of past and future at the universal level. I don’t think he knows everything that happens. Ie he does not necessarily know the outcome of a day’s events though he knows where the world it likely to be in a hundred years time. The future in some stories at least is mutable as well. In Pyramids of Mars he shows Sarah Jane what happens if they don’t defeat Sutekh.
Such is the maze that is Doctor Who. I think from reading that interview that Capaldi is playing the Doctor as knowing and willfully forgetting in order to survive the burden of that knowledge. That is why is often forgets important things. I also suspect that what is forgotten is not lost, just filed away very securely. “information retrievable.” The Doctor’s brain is a huge, and not always very efficient bureaucracy.
Cheers
Janette
22 July 2015 at 14:04 #41352Sounds exciting. I look forward to hearing all about it, (sans spoilers of course).
Cheers
Janette
19 July 2015 at 12:35 #41285I had forgotten Aubrey Morris was in “Hitchhiker’s”. I remember him primarily from B.5. Not the best episode but he put in an excellent performance. He was in Catweazle too. I am surprised he was never in Dr Who.
Cheers
Janette
18 July 2015 at 06:36 #41264Finally got to catch up with this. I do recall watching this “back in the day” but on re watching realised that I do not remember anything but the ending. Quite possibly I only watched the final episode as by ’82 I was not watching regularly.
The story as it begins to develop is enjoyable in the predictable “base under siege” model. Group of humans under attack, Doctor lands in the middle of the action and gets the blame. The androids are “proper scary” and the build up of tension in the episode is well done.
I know that it has been said over and over but I can’t help but echo just how much Davidson’s Doctor was let down by the crap assistants. I think one of the main problems with the companions at this time was that they were not allowed to develop as characters. The argument between the Doctor and Adric that provides the reason for the landing in the caves is utterly unconvincing, poorly scripted and directed. It felt contrived for story reasons. But not to dwell on the negatives, overall I enjoyed the episode as did the boys who watched with me.
cheers
Janette
17 July 2015 at 08:07 #41254@Purofilion Ah good old Derrida. I wanted to do a masters thesis on Derrida. No-one at the Uni would agree to supervise. (For which I am now extremely grateful. I would have drunk far too much red I suspect had I followed that line of interest.)
Interesting discussion in the light of a conversation I was involved in this afternoon regarding the relationship between faith and culture. I was looking forward to following the discussion. Excellent points made by @bluesqueakpip, @jimthefish and Puro.
Cheers
Janette
15 July 2015 at 03:18 #41202Welcome @katieofthecakes. It sounds like you have an excellent family. (A little like mine. We raised our sons on Dr Who too though back in the 90s that was problematical as none of their kindy contemporaries knew what “exterminate” meant.”)
Cheers
Janette
11 July 2015 at 06:10 #41107Have just seen the trailer and that ending with Maisie Williams… I immediately thought Susan. I suspect that Maisie is not going to be playing just any old incidental character. She is a big name in Geekdom and they will want to use her for a significant character. She would be a perfect “fit” for Susan, a once only character certain to make a big impression because of the background of the actor. There is also that role echoing that MOffat seems to incline to, she is the wayward daughter in GoT. Here the wayward granddaughter??
Trailers are inevitably just smoke and mirrors generally designed to look good without revealing anything at all of plot or outcome so probably shouldn’t read anything at all into but is fun to speculate while twiddling one’s toes waiting until September!! That months away…
Cheers
Janette
22 June 2015 at 15:26 #40767@bluesqueakpip I have been busy recommending your posts over on the Guardian. Just watched the last episode and has taken an hour or two to re adjust back to reality. Unfortunately we have a very long wait until the final ep as we are heading of O.S. tomorrow.
@ichabod. Shame about the adds. It must really break the immersive effect. It is a series well worth buying the DVD or Blu-Ray of.
Cheers
Janette
20 June 2015 at 14:00 #40744@whisht My eldest and youngest are watching Fringe as I type. I am resisting to temptation to go in and join them. I do like having a good supply of things to watch.
A friend of mine does a podcast on Sci Fi. Recently she interviewed Matt Smith. She has talked to Anna Torv of Fringe I think.
Cheers
Janette
20 June 2015 at 05:03 #40741@arbutus I know myself well enough not to assume there won’t be any mistakes in my writing however I think it is a case of reading that is dictated by the brain rather than the eye when self correcting. With our own work we see what we expect not what is there.
Rosemary is perfectly at home where I live. In fact it is almost the only plant that grows well here. (Other than bougainvillea and weeds such as Morning Glory.) I have a hedge of Rosemary out the front and down the drive of which the neighbours often avail themselves. (with our blessing of course.)
Cheers
Janette
19 June 2015 at 14:49 #40734@fatmaninabox I have been volunteering for twenty years now in varying capacities. Just yesterday I was offered paid work but, and there is a very big but, it depends upon me passing a proof reading test. I am certain that you have all noticed that proof reading is not one of my strong points. I did find a lot of errors in the text provided and have fingers crossed because if I pass the test it will be the first paid work I have done in twenty years and might just save me from doing the dreaded “Dip Ed”. (I have resigned myself to the inevitability of teaching.)
@arbutus I hope that your basil flourishes and provides you with plenty of pesto. My basil died of early this winter. My thyme also died. I think the bush was one I brought here with me, twenty years ago so sad to loose it.
Cheers
Janette
19 June 2015 at 04:45 #40716@Purofilion Will have to look for The killing season. Thanks for the heads up.
Cheers
Janette
19 June 2015 at 04:42 #4071519 June 2015 at 04:41 #40714@pedant my reaction to that story would mirror @jimthefish‘s if I had any aunts to get giddy.
Cheers
Janette
18 June 2015 at 14:53 #40701@bluesqueakpip sounds like fan fic story there, the life of Amy and Rory in 1930s America. I imagine that they both encountered difficulties in adjusting and finding their way especially given that the U.S would have still been recovering from the Depression. (I’m not sure of the year in which the story was set. Clearly I am overdue for a re watch.)
Cheers
Janette
18 June 2015 at 04:13 #40699@marmar and @thepapalmainframe. Rory was a nurse. The only promotion he receives is to be made a “permanent” as opposed to “on call”. I have never heard of a nurse being promoted to a doctor. I think a trip back to Uni, lots of study and exams would be required for that. I think the less illustrious position of nurse best fits Rory’s character. He is a carer with no interest or desire for social status or authority. Not to say that Martha was a Doctor for those reasons. Martha is a doctor because she is smart and needing to show it, or RTD is needing to show it. Martha is intended to be the opposite of Rose, wealthier family, well educated, aspirational, with a career. Perhaps the reason her character was less successful than either Rose or Donna was because as such she did not evoke the audience’s sympathy. Also perhaps why she was at her best in the Human Nature two parter where she is put into a discriminatory situation. I think it was the only time Freema was really given something to work with. She really shines in those two episodes.
I suspect that RTD made Martha a doctor for different reasons to those of SM in making Rory a nurse. It does work well however in the overall scheme of things.
Cheers
Janette
17 June 2015 at 13:25 #40697@stormageddon Now that would not encourage one to venture into the shop. btw nice to hear from you.
Cheers
Janette
16 June 2015 at 02:24 #40673@Purofilion I was fortunate in that my best friend at school was a fan before I started watching Dr Who. That was when I was in Year 10. I was late to the party as the saying goes. Dr Who was one of the first common interests that my partner and I shared. It is still one of the few TV series that we both like. In fact is one of of the few things that we as a family watch together, hence the parties to celebrate new series starting. It is always so much nicer to be able to share one’s interests. I mostly watch things by myself and have no body to discuss them with so I understand your situation re’ Dr Who.
If you do ever make it down here there will be fish fingers and custard too.
Cheers
Janette
15 June 2015 at 08:25 #40662@missy. IT is still a nice gift. We have a couple of very small model Tardis around. One is a USB hub that doesn’t work. We have a few other members fortunate enough to have seen every episode since the beginning, some who only recently discovered it and everything in between.
Cheers
Janette
15 June 2015 at 06:00 #40660@purofilion. You will be most welcome. (I hope you don’t dislike dogs and cats though.)
My sons are “spoilerphobes” and so I really enjoy reading the Guardian Game of Thrones episode blog before they get to watch it. I of course don’t give anything away but is fun to tease them about it. We are currently watching JS&MN with them and have to be so careful not to give away any of the upcoming developments, as per the book. So @gamergirlavatar, that was revenge indeed for a “spoilerphobe”. (Which incidentally I am not. I am more the “read the back page first” type.)
Cheers
Janette
14 June 2015 at 10:24 #40648@missy. by first episode I assume you mean the first episode in 1963? You have a very handy “other half”. Three feet tall is probably a good size as it wouldn’t take up too much room as an actual size Tardis would.
Cheers
Janette
12 June 2015 at 04:51 #40599@ichabod Congrats to your granddaughter. I am deeply envious. I wanted to do costume design. When I told school careers office they laughed at me and told me to aim for something “real” like nursing or secretarial work, as befitting a public school kid. (Oz public means government not private) I gave up on my dream career and opted for something practical, teaching, and was told that there was a glut of teachers and I wouldn’t get a look in so I gave up on the career idea altogether and decided to stick with my secret plan, to be a writer.
Sorry for going off topic.. Back to Who
@gamergirlavatar thank you for keeping us up to date on Torchwood news. I was not a fan of the TV series, It was I thought a promising concept spoiled by RTD’s misunderstanding of what “adult” meant. Needless sex does not make a series “adult”. Good ideas and complex stories are what is required. I hope the new material will remedy that as I liked the characters and the setting. It must have Gwen though.
cheers
Janette
9 June 2015 at 14:45 #40580I have not seen Mapp and Lucia yet. Will probably watch it when I no longer have to share the TV with a teenager in the mornings. (When I mostly watch TV.) Thank you for the reminder @Purofilion. It is another one of those series that I have but have forgotten about. I have not come across the books.
As for JS&MN. It just gets better and better. Only three more episodes to go and evil plots are afoot. (I think the order of events is somewhat changed from the book but has been many years since I read it.)
Cheers
Janette
5 June 2015 at 06:41 #405123 June 2015 at 05:37 #40490@bluesqueakpip Some excellent points made there. Personally I don’t think the Doctor’s “abandonment” of Clara was reprehensible. It simply was the right thing to do in the circumstance. It was up to the humans to make the decision which affected the fate of their world. The decision is not his to make. We, the viewers, are accustomed to seeing the Doctor make all the decisions, being the arbitrator of what is right and wrong. Here he has to step back and lets others decide because it is their world at stake.
I think you were spot on in saying that viewers objected to the fantasy element but in reality all Dr Who is fantasy dressed up a science. Most Sci fi is as well. I am glad that every so often we are given a story that goes outside of the comfort zone. Some will fail, some will work, such as The Doctor’s Wife, (which incidentally I still have yet to warm to.) Many will divide viewers, as KtM does. I hope that there will be more such stories in the next series and every series.
Cheers
Janette
30 May 2015 at 16:10 #40419@phaseshift. Thank you for that summary. You have explained perfectly just why I never warmed to Star Trek in any of its incarnations.
@jimthefish I’ll second that nomination for a re-watch of The Crow Road. (I haven’t been keeping up with the Capaldi retrospective but will certainly enjoy that.) And hope you enjoy JS&MN when you get round to it.
Cheers
Janette
29 May 2015 at 15:53 #40411@Purofilion I think, (hope) it will be shown on ABC free to air. I am cheating but I share you objections to pay TV. We pay for ABC in our taxes and that is how it should be. I suspect the DVD set of JS&MN will end up under the Christmas tree this year though. One of the few that is really worth the added expense.
@ichabod It will be shown on Saturday June 13th at 10.00 pm on BBC America. (According to the Bloomsbury fB page.)
Cheers
Janette
29 May 2015 at 05:07 #40408@Purofilion JS&MN is a story that defies easy description. It is somewhere between fantasy, alternate history, period drama with a fantastical twist. It draws upon ancient British fairy lore. Think not the prettified fairies of Spenser and Shakespeare. These are proper fairies, dark, disturbing and often menacing, not out of malice but because they simply have different imperatives to mortals. I did my main project in Honours Drama on how Shakespeare took the mythology of fairies and subverted it into something very different so the subject matter of the novel immediately caught my attention back in 2006. The book is one of my favourites, of the “if you were on a desert island” category of favourite.
I am loving the TV series. Our teenage sons who have not read the book and wondered why I keep harping on about it, are impressed. After episode two one announced that it is better than Game of Thrones. High praise indeed.
@bluesqueakpip You have summarised it very well, as expected. I agree with @whisht though that they are attempting to show that the Gentleman is not malign just operating to a different set of imperatives. I also at first thought him to be of an evil inclination in the book. Interesting to see how the character develops over the course of the series.
Cheers
Janette
28 May 2015 at 15:29 #40404@purofilion and Dr Horrible’s Sing A Long Blog. It is only about forty minutes and quite a gem..
Cheers
Janette
28 May 2015 at 05:19 #40400Though not a fan of much of the Whedon output I do love the little one off, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUvPfZqEftI (I hope that works. Last links I posted wafted off into the ether.)
The story behind the making of this is interesting too. It was put together during the Hollywood writers’ strike when the studios were essentially empty and everyone was twiddling their thumbs as they lazed by their pools. The Whedons called on their friends and produced this on a shoe string budget and released it online. I think you will enjoy it @Purofilion I am not sure when Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell will be sown on ABC. I am certain it will be rather soon.
cheers
Janette
27 May 2015 at 14:03 #40387@Purofilion Do give B.5 a try. Don’t let @jimthefish put you off. We can’t all be “Babbies”. 🙂 The first series is very wobbly,with some feeble scrips and some dodgy acting and season two has its weak episodes but once it really gets going it is immersive. The boys and I occasionally re watch favourite episodes. If you do decide to watch it I can give you some recommends on which eps to avoid in series one as there are only about four or five which are arc related.
Another series well worth watching is Fringe. (Was just discussing that tonight actually.) It has a surprising number of Aussie actors in it. And I am still hoping that John Noble will do a guest role in Dr Who one day.
Lastly currently screening in the Uk is what is shaping up to be a fabulous series, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I heartily recommend it. (I suspect @bluesqueakpip is watching it and was rather looking forward to hearing her views on it.)
Cheers
Janette
26 May 2015 at 03:55 #40366@Purofilion Hope you will be be better soon. Taking the DVD player into hospital is a great idea.
Cheers
Janette
24 May 2015 at 10:40 #40310@arbutus so Morning Glory grows in all climates. It is more evil than I realised!! I had not encountered it until I moved here and let it go when we first moved in because the flowers were colourful and it covered the galv’ fences of which I have a near pathological hatred. When we returned from Sweden it had reached the back door. I waged war on it over that winter and thought I had won but every summer it attempts to take over again. It is going mad right now and flaunting itself at me whenever i look out of the window.
cheers
Janette.
24 May 2015 at 05:31 #40307@lisa Could I please read out your description at this weeks writing group? Our homework prompt was “chain link fence” which confused all; of us as it is clearly not an Australian term. After some research was done we discovered that it referred to what we know of as “wire mesh fencing.” Your description of your garden is lovely and I was quite envious. My garden is a disaster at the moment. I lost a tree over summer and another rose bush. We are heading into a hot and dry phase, (El NIno) which means next summer is going to be far more challenging. Somehow the heat does not seem to have an adverse affect upon the weeds though especially this horror. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_nil Which would take over the entire property if I was not eternally vigilant.
When we were in Sweden we had deer running along the street and occasionally roaming into the garden. Our bedroom window looked out over a few garden fences to the forest. A moose ran across the road in front of the car one morning on the way to school and there were red squirrels in the gardens. The suburbs of Stockholm were cut through by ribbons of forest so the wildlife was literally on our doorstep. People would cross country ski to work and the boys could toboggan on a hill at the end of the street.
The house we lived in had only just became a rental and the owners were clearly keen gardeners. When the snows melted the earth burst with life. Through spring we had a display of crocuses then tulips, snowdrops and other stunning flowers never to be seen in Oz. In summer we found there were raspberries and lingonberries growing in the back garden. It was quite a shock to return to S.A. mid drought after a year there.
Cheers
Janette
23 May 2015 at 16:17 #4028122 May 2015 at 15:05 #40267@fatmaninabox that is so beautiful. I am envious. That lawn is so lush and fascinating variety of trees. A fine example of “nature and artifice in perfect harmony”.
cheers
Janette
20 May 2015 at 13:27 #40241@Purofilion. Just re watched “Turn Left” the other day and was thinking about just how wonderful Bernard Cribbins is. Donna’s character was well supported by excellent family characters. Her mother was not necessarily likeable but she was a well rounded, interesting character. Unfortunately Martha was let down by an uninteresting family. Her character would have worked better as a lone person or with just the sister and brother whose roles were not intrusive but helped give her an emotional grounding and investment in the fate of earth.
I think the real reason that former companions are not continually referenced is that the writers like to create their own narrative arcs with companions and to evoke former companions is to take something of another artist’s creative vision. Moffat did so in the 50th, which was understandable, but he did so with RTD’s blessing and input and Rose was not Rose but Bad Wolf, so not really a product of RTD’s writing, more a by product.
To translate that to Real Life, the Doctor does not forget his former companions, he stores away the memories. Doing so as @ichabod points out would be the only way to emotionally survive a 1,000 year + life journey. He has often intimated that forming relationships with short lived humans is too painful for him. I think that is why he always keeps the brakes on, or mostly. TennantDoc appeared to have forgotten that survival rule. Cap’Doc is I think acutely aware of it.
Cheers
Janettte
19 May 2015 at 12:17 #40219I am not entirely sure that each regeneration is an entirely new person as it were. CapDoc tells Clara “I’m still me,” or words to that effect when she receives the phone call from SmithyDoc. To use some outdated Freudian terms, the Id does not change, just aspects of the ego. The greatest change is in appearance there are some changes to the outer manifestation of the personality but the inner consciousness remains the same. It is difficult to extrapolate too much from that however as in the same episode he appears to have difficulty remembering the experiences of previous incarnations. We also have that lovely line in the 50th Special, “What you do in the privacy of your own regeneration is your business”, but I don’t think that was overly serious.
I think, hope even, that there are some mysteries about regeneration that we will never fully understand. A little ambiguity is handy for script writing purposes too. I am certain that Moffat doesn’t want too much to be set in stone. Canon as @jimthefish has pointed out, can be a creative millstone around the neck.
Going way way back to last week’s rewatch of the Deadly Assassin it was apparent in that episode that Time Lords could recognise each other despite changing appearances. The reporter recognises the Doctor and comments upon his changed face. It would appear that the War Council recognised the various faces of the Doctor but then they might just have seen them or at least most of them, in the records.
Time Lord attachments are an interesting question. Until the Day of the Doctor it was implied that the citizens of Gallifrey were a bunch of crusty old men wearing baroque robes, with the not so notable exception of the rebels whom Leela encounters. The ability to regenerate creates a lot of issues and the scenes from Gallifrey throw up a lot of questions about how that is dealt with by the society. Does adults ever regenerate as children? Love must transcend regeneration if children can regenerate. It is clear that the young are raised in family situations. If a child regenerates it will still need the unconditional love of the parent/s.
Longevity would certainly test a relationship and I am certain many would not survive that however I would dispute the assumption that no relationships could last 150 years. My aunt and uncle were married for well over sixty years and very much in love until death separated them. I really think they would happily have been together for 150 years. They were fairly exceptional though and it would certainly prove the exception rather than the rule.
It is hardly surprising that MixMaster is obsessing about the Doctor. As well as being the only other of his/her kind he had been his/her foil for so long. Given that he/her has always believed him/herself to be the superior of the two the possessiveness is a natural extension of that obsession. If she set up Clara to lure the Doctor to her “netherworld” then, given that that plan failed, I would agree that Clara is now in severe danger.
And August is tooo far away….
Cheers
Janette
19 May 2015 at 11:42 #40215Congrat’s @fatmaninabox I hope the creepy crawlies don’t turn into Creepy Crawlies of Unusual Size. 🙂
Cheers
Janette
18 May 2015 at 12:16 #40168@scaryb Nice to hear from you. Real life is indeed a dark, evil place to be, here too.
Cheers
Janette
18 May 2015 at 08:37 #40161Just re reading my post and I see why you missed my point in that paragraph. I was going to list all the things that were good about BG Who but being in a rush decided that they were well understood and did not require listing so my apologies. I think you have done that for me now @denvaldron.
Cheers
Janette
18 May 2015 at 08:33 #40160@DenValdon I wasn’t bagging the old series. I love old Who every bit as much as the new stuff. I was just saying, it wasn’t perfect and I can see the flaws, when there are flaws without lessening my respect for the series overall. I think you are over reacting a little. I was certainly not intending to “knock” the old series. I was just responding to the “rose tinted glasses” brigade and pointing out that those imperfections did not lesson our love for the series because its strengths far outweighed the negatives. (Perhaps I should have take more time about what I wrote to ensure it wasn’t misread.)
I don’t compare new and old Who. They two different limbs of one wonderful tree, oak I think. I would have to agree to disagree regarding series 8 however which I thought had some very fine stories. Different episodes work better for different viewers. For instance in the thread discussing The Deadly Assassin some of the other commentators loved the action sequence. I watched it when I was fifteen and it was perhaps on of the only episodes of Dr Who at that time that I didn’t really enjoy endlessly re-watching. (In Oz we had repeats all through winter after the ABC ran out of new stories. It was shown four nights a week so we saw a lot of repeats.) I liked the Moon/Egg story despite the dodgy science because I saw it as being about a moral dilemma. I was less keen on the Forest episode but it had some good moments. Other episodes that I did not warm to on first watch like Time Heist, I have since grown to love.
Cheers
Janette
18 May 2015 at 05:13 #40157@arbutus and @purofilion excellent points made by both of you. I can only add one minor thing to your excellent arguments.
@burronjur It really annoys when when persons unfamiliar to the forum make gender assumptions about the people posting here. If you don’t know the gender of the person you are addressing then do not assume. Also please do not discuss information about the upcoming series in a thread about the past series. There are threads for that so that those who prefer to avoid spoilers, even the official ones, can do so. Personally I love spoilers, I always read the back page of a book first but I respect the wishes of others.
To insist that anything from BG Who as cannon is an act of willful blindness. I loved old Who but would have been the first to admit that there was no story consistency. The acting was often awful and there were some very dodgy scripts. The special effects were occasionally laughable and the “baddies” were comedic. It was and is one of my favourite TV series for all that for many reasons. (I don’t have time to list them all.)
As to the relationship between the Master/Mistress and the Doctor. They have the bond of shared memories. They are now two survivors of a lost world. Imagine being alone in the universe, the earth a burnt husk floating dead in space, and you meet another human, someone you knew from childhood, a reminder of your past, your home, a little remnant of all that is lost. The Doctor and Master have always shared that bond, even before Gallifrey was destroyed. In AG Who that is has come to mean so much more.
I have the impression that the Master chose to become the Mistress in order to be able to bait the Doctor. She could almost be River Song’s evil twin.
As to the return of Osgood, I have been aware of it for some time. I agree with Arbutus that death should be final and remain dubious as to whether it is a good idea but I suspect Moffat will not simply revive her to placate the fans who screamed about her death. There will be a trick to it, MOffat style of course.
I am not certain that we have seen the last of River Song, given that her time line loops through the Doctor’s and we saw her die in our first encounter with her. I feel that there are still some issues left to resolve also I always thought she had encountered more than two “incarnations”. Maybe this Doctor finds her in childhood and overseas her education prior to Let’s Kill Hitler. There are many possibilities and an encounter with R.S could go in more than one direction.
Cheers
Janette
13 May 2015 at 07:03 #40110I agree with much of what you way @jimthefish. The matrix scenes not only drag but are too “earthy”. One doesn’t get the sense that this is the mind world of an alien. The final episode in contrast to episode is almost breathless. I felt as though a little more time could have been given to events post Matrix and less time to within the Matrix.
I also agree with “Jim the fish” re’ the master. I don’t think monster/master is convincing as the final act of Rodger Delgado’s master though I do like his Tardis. That is suggestive of the old master’s flair. I suspect the real aim of the story was to revive the master and prepare the way for a newly regenerated version.
This story does seem to labour under the assumption that there are no female Time Lords or Time Ladies. The time lords as depicted here do rather remind me of a bunch masons with their fatuous rituals. The concept was definitely leaning towards depicting Gallifrey as a moribund ancient society, living in the relics of a glorious past that has made them immensely powerful though they have no real understanding of how or why. Unfortunately this concept is not developed further which leads to my main moan about “Gallifrey” as it is depicted in Who.
Unlike Jim I think having the Doctor at least occasionally visit Gallifrey is interesting. I would like to learn more about the culture and history but it has to be consistent. There is some rough consistency to the Dalek/Skaro backstory. I don’t think having entire stories set on Gallifrey is wise however as it is important that Gallifrey retain some sense of mystery.
I think Tom Baker was at his best at about this time. He has had time to fit into the role and mould it to his own idiosyncratic personality. His wish to be without a companion reflects this and though I too much prefer there to be a companion I think he manages very well without.
(After watching this yesterday this morning I had to continue on and start watching “Face of Evil” which, for all its silly moments is a fine story.)
Cheers
Janette
12 May 2015 at 06:24 #40086@ichabod It will premiere on BBC America on Saturday June the 13th. It starts screening in the UK this Sunday. I really loved the book but I think I was fortunate to be bedridden when I read it. I know a lot of people find the first part to be bit of a slog. When you are busy, I find, a book has to be really engaging from the off set. I have that problem with Wolf Hall. I have never been able to “get a grip” on it but I am certain that if I had the time I would really enjoy it.
The trailers for the series look fantastic so fingers crossed. It is a category defying book so will be interesting to see how it fares with viewers.
cheers
Janette
11 May 2015 at 14:20 #40075I’ll back down and slink away then on that one. Must put a downer on election night parties though, (if and when there is reason to celebrate) if everyone has work the next day. 🙂 But I suppose it’s only Friday. Not much work done on a Friday. (or so I’m told.)
cheers
Janette
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