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]

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]

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

That figure at the console looks very like Harriet Arbinger to me (am I the only one less than impressed by UNIT’s recruitment screening process? Next we’ll find out that Dave Ross and Maurice Aster are also working there.)

And orange cloaks … lots of suggestiveness there. Prydonian chapter of the Academy and wasn’t the…[Read more]

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]

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….

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]

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]

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]

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

a thousand apologies for not being around to answer your query. The answer tends to be that just site admins can add blogs but if you want to DM me with your blog I can upload it on your behalf….

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]

Yes, there is a kind of similarity between Shona and 11 (and I really, really wanted Faye Marsay to stay on as a companion) but it does fit my ‘imprinting’ theory quite nicely — maybe Shona had a […]

FAN COMIC: The Unknown Doctor Issue No 1

Hi I’m honored to be the creator and writer for The Unknown Doctor. A 100% unofficial series. Along with the brilliant artists at D9 Comics.

https://d9comics.com/blogs/online-comics/the-unknown-doctor-issue-1

I hope you enjoy it.

Please feel free to reply

Great post and really interesting to get some of the Marvel background too. Hadn’t realised just how impactful and widely disseminated Star Beast actually was. Certainly I’d say that I’d consider those early Who strips (of which I think this is the best, closely followed by the later Tides of Time) had more of an impact on me than…[Read more]

Glad you’re enjoying the blog.

Baker’s Who often really reflected on questions of power. It was just, very often, rather more implicit than explicit about it.

Yep, I think that’s totally hitting the nail on the head. His era (or at least pre-s18) is about the destructive arrogance of power rather than the social structures of that p…[Read more]

I wonder…[Read more]

I wonder…[Read more]

That’s awful news. I’d have to say that Gibson was my all-time favourite comic artist. Often bordering on caricature but always getting away with it and a really distinctive, uncopyable (believe me, I’ve spent my whole life trying) style. And the fact that he’s responsible for the visualisation of Halo Jones definitely puts him firmly in…[Read more]

https://open.substack.com/pub/cathode/p/doctor-who-and-the-warriors-of-culture?r=e49nm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

First a few general thoughts. NPH was fine enough as the Toymaker though for a lot of the time he just felt like a new iteration of the Master (with Simm’s version coming particularly to mind) rather than the cosmic threat of the Toymaker (certainly he lacked the suave of  Michael…[Read more]

Yep, that positively screams Harry Potter, doesn’t it? Though to be fair, pretty sure Rusty said that the show was going to lean heavily into a fantasy direction going forward. Looks like he wasn’t joking….

It goes live tomorrow and I’ll definitely post a link for anyone who’s interested. But while my subscribers are not many it’s probably only fair that they get first dibs…

A whole other interesting concept we haven’t really discussed yet is the fact that, by human standards, Time Lords are also “race fluid”

That is an interesting point and has loads of implications — primarily to my mind whether there’s an aspect of regeneration that uses a kind of social camouflage or ‘imprinting’, as I think has b…[Read more]

lol, yes, it does have shades of Timeless Child v2 about it….

Russell T. Davies in Doctor Who Magazine: “…there will be controversial events in [The Giggle]. If you watched the commentary on iPlayer, I unroll a whole new Doctor Who mythology for you, based around the events taking place… The commentary will have information that will rock the…

[Read more]

@phaseshift

Interesting convergences you mention there. If entities in this story were proto-Eternals and the Toymaker is definitely one…[Read more]

No problem at all. Tis the season and all that … besides it’s damn cold out there at the moment….

It’s a contentious subject I know but can we please keep it civil? You’ve started an interesting discussion here (imo) and everyone’s entitled to agree and disagree but let’s try to do it in a friendly way? Part of the point of this site’s inception was as a refuge away from the more combative corners of the internet and we should…[Read more]

I remember that discussion with @HTPBDET – I think you called him a ”chin-rubbing arse” (Pertwee’s Doctor, not @HTPBDET for the avoidance of doubt).

Your blog also raises an inte […]

Oh, that’s interesting. I never thought of that and it’s starting to make me think of the episode in a whole different light now.

@mudlark

I was wondering if the various bits and pieces were on there as well as the full stories. Right then, I’ll check out the lone episode of The Celestial Toymaker before the weekend.

ah, mea culpa. Hadn’t realised that it had a full episode intact. Thought it was reduced to just clips and telesnaps. I do have a copy of Lost in Time somewhere but I’m ashamed to say that I’ve still not watched it.

Yes, must admit I like that idea a lot. It’ll be interesting to see the Toymaker back but I do wonder if expectations might be a little high. What with the Gough original only been seen in a few isolated clips and photos I wonder if he might have been built it up in fans’ imaginations. I know he’s a character I’ve built up to epic…[Read more]

I really didn’t know that about Pertwee’s name. What a moniker! I like it — he sounds like he should have been in Mort d’Artur…