@nekrosys

Hmm, didn’t follow that link, did you? Hope I didn’t inadvertently trigger you.

@idiotsavon

Yes, I’m afraid the animosity between Slab and the SNP (which seems kind of one-sided actually) is incredibly vicious and unlikely to go anywhere soon.

@craig

Yes, sorry about that. I was actually quite dismayed to find that I’m not half as Scottish as I always previously assumed.

@blenkinsopthebrave

Ooh, that Macra Terror analogy is a good one. I think the point about the more fraught political climate is accurate. Geek culture is far more front and centre in society now than it was in the 60s and so is far more likely to get dragged in to culture wars these days (is nothing sacred when Russian bots and the alt right…[Read more]

OK, I’ve been deliberately staying the hell away from Brexit (one of the advantages of no longer being a hack is that I don’t have to engage with this stuff every day).

@craig

That’s a pretty fair assessment and I pretty much stand with you on this. (Although I am one of those annoying gits who also has Irish citizenship so will avoid most of…[Read more]

@craig @pedant

Yeah, it’s mostly troll and run at the moment, or people who get the message that there’s not much sympathy to be had for them here. We haven’t had a really persistent problem for years now I don’t think.

And that’s probably now jinxed it.

@craig @pedant et al

I don’t really mind the on-topic trolls as there’s enough intelligent and articulate voices to put them in their place. And as @craig says, it’s only to be expected this year and it really hasn’t been half as bad as I was expecting. The only thing I’ve really modded was one comment that was to my view pretty damn misogynist.…[Read more]

@craig @blenkinsopthebrave @pedant

I’m not going to dignify him with a link but if you truly want to see the Whoflake idiocy at its absolute nadir then pop over to YouTube and type in ‘bowlestrek’. But I warn you, it’s not pretty.

Jeez, what’s with all the ‘won’t someone please think of the poor, endangered under-represented straight, white males’ chest clasping?

@lionheart564

Racism isn’t a white only thing

No, it certainly isn’t. But if you’re setting an episode in Alabama in 1955, chances are its white racism that you’re going to have to engage with. Quite apart from anything else, that’s the particular brand of racism that’s causing the most toxicity in the world today, so it’s a pretty good place to start.

@hobbyco

Am I the only one who is noticing that in every episode so far, the “baddy” is white and male (unless they are a “monster

So, it’s a white male except when it isn’t, is that what you’re saying? And out of four episodes, two had white male antagonists. That’s a pretty even split, don’t you think?

it would be great to see a female “badd…

[Read more]

@kevinwho

Think it was said last week that Who was always kind of preachy. You don’t have to go far to find any of the Doctors giving a big speech — and it’s in fact often one of the more enduring memories of each incarnation and the clip you’ll usually see recycled most often.

On another note though, wasn’t the time vortex effect in this…[Read more]

@craig

I didn’t know that and that pleases me greatly. They worked really well together in ALS.

Things tend not to gel for me until the second watch but on first impressions I really didn’t love this. In fact, I found myself even checking the video playback bar a couple of times to see how much of it I had left. My main complaint, I think, is that it seemed built on just too many coincidences to bring the everyone together into that hotel.…[Read more]

@juniperfish

I absolutely agree. I think that’s totally what Blackman was going for and managed it brilliantly. Here was my own take on the video:

I totally understand your sentiments but I do have a couple of reservations. On the Obama thing, I wasn’t crazy about the little coda either but I think it was there because the episode as a whole had…

[Read more]

Offered without comment but another take on Rosa…

@lisa

Feel free to wrangle the Brexit issue as much as you like but it’s just best to restrict it to the pub. (Maybe start with some examples of how the EU has actually robbed the UK parliament of any kind of meaningful control? 🙂 )

@missy

Come on, the St John’s sign had been absent for most of the series post-early Hartnell. And the sign was white on black through Pertwee, Baker, Davison and beyond…

This is a couple of years old but I’ve just discovered it and its bloody great. (And a little fix for anybody missing PC).

@kevinwho

Yes, there is a danger in othering racists — we all surely know someone who holds views like this and the challenge is to change their mind through reason and engagement otherwise they just go and away and fester.

I’m going to reserve judgement on Krasko until the end of the series though. At this point, I suspect we may be seeing him…[Read more]

@craig

No worries. That was the only one that I thought should go. The others provided useful context for the continuing idiocy of some people and the sheer timeliness and relevance of the story.

@bluesqueakpip

Yeah, I saw that and thought you were dead right about it….