@blenkinsopthebrave

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@phaseshift and @blenkinsopthebrave

I too would love to see a blog on this subject. It does make me wonder what other analogies we can make. Would RTD be Verity Lambert, for being the midwife of Nu-Who? Does that make Moffat Barry Letts or Philip Hinchcliffe?

Was also wondering if this is the most comprehensive trouncing the forum has ever…[Read more]

@phaseshift

Yep, it’s the Who references that stuck out a mile for me too. This veered rather a lot to be being a remake of The Mysterious Planet with a bit of The Leisure Hive thrown in. For someone so famed for dissing Colin Baker-era Who, Chibs seems to be doing a bang-up job of emulating it….

@juniperfish

I suspect you’re right that this is a kneejerk reaction to the criticism of s11. And to be fair, Moffat went through the same process too. s6 was criticised for being too complex (ha!) and lo and behold we get the ‘movie of the week’ format for a while. I suspect that’s just part of the ongoing process.

Personally, I’m glad to see…[Read more]

@whisht

Great post. Don’t worry the pain will pass.

Probably.

@craig

Yeah, that did cross my mind as an objection to it…

@juniperfish

Of course, now she is faced with a mirror of her Time War past – as her long-standing fremeny, The Master,  appears to be responsible for Gallifrey’s destruction, again.

I’m not massively keen on Gallifrey’s re-destruction personally. It all depends how it plays out, of course, and as you say, we may see some sort of reset by the end…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip

My pet theory about Yaz is that she’s being set up to become disenchanted with the Doctor and switch sides to become the Master’s companion.

@missrori

Interesting points re. Morality and the Doctor and I think we can say that Doc’s morality and system of ethics sometimes doesn’t resemble ours and is sometimes contradictory to what we’ve seen in the past (largely to do with individual writers). You could credibly argue, however, that the Doctor’s entire character arc from An Unearthly…[Read more]

@phaseshift

That’s a fair point re. Dinosaurs and I think you could be right. That was certainly a theme in s7 up to and including the 50th anniversary

@juniperfish and @missrori

Yes, let’s take the question of the Doc’s morality over to the Orphan thread. I’ve certainly got some thoughts on @missrori‘s interesting post above

@everyone

I’d be…[Read more]

@juniperfish and @phaseshift

Well, well, this is quite like old times, isn’t it? Hello to you both (and everyone else). Hope you’ve been well and had a good festive season.

Big yes to Dracula. The first couple of episodes are among the best that Moffatt and Gattiss have done. The third ep was a bit weaker but I appreciate why they made the move…[Read more]

@pedant @mudlark et al

Cheers for that, @pedant. I plan to dive into Chernobyl soonest. Time is at a premium at the moment as I try to wrangle this damn thesis into shape for final submission. But I’m looking forward to it. (Hope you’re taking care yourself btw)…

btw, if anyone is looking for something a bit timey-wimey over the summer then…[Read more]

@mudlark @cathannabel @janetteb et al

I’d heartily add to the Years and Years recommendations. It is very RTD-esque but none the worst for it. It’s also a long overdue BBC foray into drama dealing with contemporary issues rather than desperately trying to avoid them in costume and/or crime drama.

@pedant

I’m very much looking forward to…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Yep, sorry about that. The etheric beam locators must be on the blink….

Just a bit of drive-by bad news. Paul Darrow, best known as the mighty Avon in Blake’s 7, has passed away. He’ll also be remembered as Captain Hawkins in the Silurians and (more notoriously) as Tekker in Timelash. The man was a legend and will be sorely missed.

OK, here’s a cool thing for Christmas. Neil Gaiman talking about new apocalyptic poetry and its inspiration on him and with added Peter Capaldi reading The Magic Wood by Henry Treece. (Available for the next 29 days only).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06w8xl5