@juniperfish —

Billie as Valeyard — yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what happens. It strikes me that they’ve wanted to the Valeyard story for a while but the essential problem with it is that if you do it in terms of the rough A to B to C Doctor chronology then you essentially have to take the Doctor out of the equation as a character.…[Read more]

Hello, all,

Sorry I’ve not been around but thought I’d pop in for the wrap-up of the series. Overall, I enjoyed it, though wasn’t completely blown away by it. (Didn’t think Lux quite worked personally but the rest of the series was pretty tight imo).

But, let’s face it, what we really want to talk about is the finale so here’s some thoughts in…[Read more]

Just to add to the politics chat. I don’t see a coalition in the offing and think it’s pretty certain that Starmer has got it in the bag. Here in Scotland, I’m not so sure. I’m hoping for an SNP resurgence or for them to at least see off the threat of the buffoons and time-servers in SLAB.

But really, I think the last word should go to 12.

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

Hello all. Sorry I’ve been AWOL the past week or so — the continued craziness of this general election has been keeping me from the truly important matters … like this. That said, I didn’t really have much to say about Rogue, except that I loved it a lot. Nice to have another Captain Jack figure in the mix — particularly one this time who is…[Read more]

Not much to add to all that’s been written above except that I thought it was another cracker and at the very least should be applauded for having a bit more confidence and righteous anger that I don’t think Chibs managed to muster. I was at first a bit dubious about the ep, feeling it was a bit Black Mirror-lite and going for rather easy targets…[Read more]

First of all, sorry to hear about your troubles, @devilishrobby, and glad to hear that you’re on the mend now. Get well soon.

In terms of the episode, a bit late to this party so I’ve really nothing to add the insightful comments above so will just say that this was another absolute corker — RTD’s best Who episode in my opinion. As others have…[Read more]

@mudlark

You’re quite right. My apologies @juniperfish. Surprisingly fast moving thread this one…. and thanks for the Sargent info. It’s almost certain that the 2000ad artists of that period would know the works you refer to and would be more than eager to reference them in their work, I reckon….

oh and cheers, @scaryb for the link to that Moffat/RTD interview. That was really interesting. Could listen to that two rabbit on about Who for hours….

@scaryb

Back to Boom – interesting image from the first scene, which is at the head of this page – a blinded (and blindfolded) soldier stumbling around with a big gun. Very metaphorical. It also reminds me of something but I can’t think what yet… It does put me in mind of the art from 1980s 2000 AD – particularly Ezquerra, Brian Bolland. E…

[Read more]

Well, that was an absolute cracker. Once again, The Moff has come up with the goods. Interesting that some feel it was a piece of second-tier Moff as while it maybe wasn’t in the Blink/Listen/Heaven Sent strata, it was still above the Beast Below/Let’s Kill Hitler tier. Mind you, I’m not one to talk, having been dismissing the recent RTDs as…[Read more]

@juniperfish — that’s really interesting about the Xena episode. I never knew about that at all. Must check it out. I think @mudlark is spot on that OMWF (and presumably the Xena episode) have their songs deeply integrated into the narrative. Not sure The Devil’s Chord manages that — The Twist at the End number could and really should have…[Read more]

well, that was … interesting…

My main take-away from this was that RTD still hasn’t gotten over really, really wanting to be Joss Whedon but still not quite managing it. It’s seemed for years now that a musical episode of Who would always be on the cards and I always wondered how Who would be able to rationalise it and I guess this current…[Read more]

And good point, @juniperfish and @scaryb —

I’d say Daleks are almost certainly NB. Ditto Cybermen. Not to mention Sontarans, Time Lords, Alpha Centauri and so on. I think it’s safe to say that the Whoniverse is and always was pretty genderfluid in its outlook.

And as to the young uns being confused by a ‘man in a dress’ … I suspect centuries…[Read more]

ah, I see @scaryb has got there before me….

hmm, I see we have an incursion from the tedious culture warrior brigade. Just to echo @craig if you want to contribute then make sure it’s an actual contribution and not the usual tired word salad of Clarksonisms. Plus make sure it respects the community etiquette guidelines.

Full thoughts later but just to chip in on the billboard controversy.…[Read more]

hello all. Good to be back.

I didn’t mind this tbh. Pretty much 2nd tier RTD but with him mining quite a lot from the Moffatt era. Elements of Oxygen and Sleep No More and maybe even a hint of The Beast Below and it does look like we might be getting a re-run of Amy’s phantom pregnancy storyline — although that’s maybe what we’re supposed to…[Read more]

Well, I thought that was very good, although again it did feel just in places like RTD was raiding both his own and other showrunners’ greatest hits — not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. The Goblin King impaled on the church spire kinda reminded me of Deep Breath and Ruby Sunday really did remind me of Impossible Girl-era Clara a lot.  And…[Read more]