@nightingale and @phaseshift

Yes, it’s a good piece but as you say could have done with a bit of editing. Whenever I see a lot of repetition, I don’t necessarily get suspicious but think that they should definitely call for an editor. I do agree with both you and their central point that Moffat was all about subverting the expectations of what…[Read more]

As a final coda to my burbling ramblings above, this is a long but pretty good read, I think:

https://them0vieblog.com/2020/03/06/the-unlikely-validation-of-steven-moffats-doctor-who-by-chris-chibnall/

@miapatrick

Just finished The Good Place. It was all kinds of perfect.

And now I’m feeling rather … emotional.

@blenkinsopthebrave

Agree about the lack of TV writers like Chabon in the UK, but Chabon is probably pretty unique as a TV show runner in the US, come to think of it

That’s very true. I’m glad that he’s finally got to get involved in genre film and TV as it’s clearly been a long-standing interest — his book of essays on among other things Howard…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Yes, the Piper analogy is really cool (and didn’t occur to me at all till you mentioned it). I guess it’s meant to contrast with the coldness of the Borg cube and the Romulan tech. Nice to see Riker and Deanna again too. (And was sad to say goodbye to Hugh again so soon. Couldn’t they have kept him around for a while…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip

Yes, on Chibs these are largely not new arguments and we should probably agree to disagree.

If this reaches the stage of discussing semiotics, your local vicar should be able to suggest some suitable deliverance ministries.

Yes, they’re coming for me now. Taking their time about it though. And I must admit that I probably did some…[Read more]

@missrori

Yes, I think it’ll be well into s13 before we see any of this stuff returned to. I fully expect we’ll be seeing RuthDoc back in some form or another.

@badwolfalice

Yeah, there is already what amounts to a DWEU, I suppose. But I wonder if we are about to get something that keeps that extant but has another branch that can be explored…[Read more]

@nightingale

Still building it…. You can’t rush these things, you know….

@nightingale

Welcome! Enjoy the sofa!!

@bluesqueakpip

I hope so too – but I think, when articulating criticisms, there is a responsibility to assess whether there’s a genuine fault in the work, or whether the critic just doesn’t like this writer’s style

Well, I would hope so too but I haven’t seen anyone not do that on this site. Not for years now. Writing, like all art, is subject…[Read more]

Well, first of all, I think it’s important to say that it’s totally cool if Pip enjoyed the story, just as it’s totally cool if others did not. Personally, I don’t think Phase said anything remotely on the level of bowelstreak, nerdrotic, Noel Tardis and all those idiots. There’s little in his argument that wouldn’t have been considered…[Read more]

Well, lots to unpack here. It’s almost like old times…

@bluesqueakpip

Really? Sherlock is currently over a hundred and thirty years old and Doctor Who has a much more flexible structure than good old Sherlock

Allow me to clarify slightly. I’m not saying that the cultural text of Doctor Who won’t be around in 2063. It most definitely will. I…[Read more]

@whisht

Yeah, I think this will be retconned at some point. You can almost hear the tapping keyboards in the bedrooms of future showrunners even as we speak.

re. the running away from Ko Sharma — yep, it was pretty un-Doctorly, but 13 has by now made a habit of fairly regular un-Doctorly behaviour, so I’m pretty much letting it go now. What’s…[Read more]

@miapatrick

I’m almost done. About halfway through s4… I shall miss it….

Well, at least Chibnall produced a finale this time. Not a great one — for a Gallifrey-centric, lore-heavy finale I’ll still take Hell Bent any day over this. But all in all, I found it pretty enjoyable. First off, I don’t massively have a problem with the Timeless Child reveal. Maybe all the discussion online slightly removed its wow factor cos…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

RE. Dracula. Yeah, I don’t think the third episode really lived up to the predecessors but I have to admit that I really liked the Demeter episode and might even consider it the strongest of the lot.

RE. Picard. Yes, I’m really enjoying it too. And can we just take a moment to appreciate that it’s being co-written by Michael…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

@bluesqueakpip

That’s really fascinating. (Though annoyingly you’ve now furnished me with a long list of books that I really want to read …) I’m also interested in the gap between 1880-odd and 1982. Was there really nothing SF-ey published in Ireland for a 100 years? Admittedly, it’s a 100 years in Ireland that are pretty packed with incident,…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

That’s really interesting. Thanks for sharing. So, the 1950s then. So, it’s just a nostalgia trip then rather than something more politically charged (although t’interwebs tell me that the 1950s was a time of intense IRA activity with a sustained border attack campaign, so maybe it is going to play into it, after all.…[Read more]