Well, I’m jumping back in after another working week filled to the brim!

@Arbutus and @ichabod

I appreciate your writerly perspectives very much and celebrate you both for being able to allow the next layer of creatives; actors and readers, to add their layers to the creative cake without needing to drag everyone, screaming and kicking, back t…[Read more]

@Puroandson

<laughs> fear not, I am not about to “talk shop” and expound upon Derrida, I promise.

I was simply assailed by the critical itch (as happens from time to time) to point out to our friend @pedant that a) relying on the script as the definitive meaning in a television text misses the fact that the script is only one part of the…[Read more]

@puroandson @bluesqueakpip

Well, I am very fond of Barthes’ “La Morte de L’Auteur” (the death of the author) and it’s a perspective especially applicable to television, as the title was a pun on Malory’s Morte d’Arthur which, Barthes convincingly argues, is likely a multi-authored text, transitioning over time. So, to pin its “ultimate” truths…[Read more]

@Morpho

I’m looking forward to a female Doctor.

Hear hear, me too! Any ideal casting choices?

Tilda Swinton!

@pedant

In the case of Who, one person is producer and writer of key episodes and is known to take a close hand in editing and “take” selection (as did RTD: see the three versions of Tennant’s “I don’t want to go” for the best known Who…

[Read more]

@mudlark

Oh, I missed @pedant ‘s link to the script upstream, but, absolutely, an author’s perspective on their work is a very interesting perspective, but it’s never the b all and end all of interpretation. Television texts are multi-authored texts in any event – the script-writer, the director, the actors, the set-dressing folks and…[Read more]

@Ichabod

Well, on a rewatch, I inclined to the Doctor-has-it-all-figured-out version. Watching the lovely acting tics of Capaldi, such as the slow way he raises his eyes to Clara’s face in the diner – it all leaves room for still waters running deep and yet deeper.  I don’t think this reading has to make his grief in the TARDIS at the end of…[Read more]

@Pedant

Thanks – re the Graun posts. I think @Arbutus was kind enough to mention them up-thread as well, and request a re-post here. I was just spit-balling about Moff’s take on time and emotion.

You’re right, he did kill Danny Pink. Although, given that we met Danny’s ancestor at the end of time, and he had the toy solider from Clara’s TARDIS…[Read more]

Yikes, well I’ve only been able to skim read – it’s been busy at work and there’s a lot to catch up on. You have been busy, people!

@Morpho In terms of who the hybrid is – I agree the hybrid is the Doctor/ bound to Clara, but also a bootstrap paradox (hence the point of telling us about such paradoxes earlier in the series).

Basically, the Time…[Read more]

@Pedant

No – I heard that too – Clara’s TARDIS is definitely stuck as a diner.

And I’m still wondering if she might have been his blood family, which would fit with the circular theme presaged by all the snakes – not only does the Doctor return to Gallifrey only to steal a TARDIS and run away again, but last time it was with Susan his…[Read more]

Well, Moff really doesn’t like the Grim Reaper, does he?

I actually loved that Ashildr finally got to travel in a TARDIS with her own functionally immortal companion (as long as they take the long way round). And wow what a punishment that is, courtesy of the Doctor. Because Clara is always heading for the quantum shade on Trap Street, but, as…[Read more]

@Whisht

Oh, never fear, I believe I may have ranted about the tarot a bit in BBC Approved Spoilers 🙂 and had a bit of a chat with @Phaseshift and @Kharis and others in there on the subject, where we mused on the cyclical nature of the tarot journey, which fits in rather nicely with all the snake (ouroboros) imagery.

Yes, Heaven Sent could be…[Read more]

@Serahni

Glad I could help! Google has a reverse image search function which is really handy so you can put images into it and it will search for the origin:

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en

@ozitenor Welcome back and good luck with the tour!

I think the reason the Doctor interprets the word “home” as meaning the…[Read more]

@Serahni  I love the pic, and I’m a fan of fan art, but (unless you are the artist yourself of course) I think we should attribute fan art, in the same way we attribute other art, so the author’s hard work is not lost in the maw of the internet.

The piece you’ve posted is by http://mmmmmppppfffff.tumblr.com/

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

Reading back over the above post…. duh… the Valeyard IS a hybrid – as an amalgamation of the darker sides of all the previous incarnations of the Doctor – so actually, perhaps the Valeyard is the hybrid.

@JanetteB

I like the idea that the Doctor is half human and half Time Lord too. But, I’m pretty sure that’s a misdirect and he’s not the hybrid in question.

I hope the fires are safely out in your neck of the woods now? How scary for you all.

@puroandson

Yes, I’ve been hoping for ages that the Doctor’s “wicked” incarnation the Valeyard…[Read more]

Just having another thought about “the Veil”. @Phaseshift suggested it’s another incarnation of the tarot Death card.

I thought that the glass wall is actually the timelock (the veil) between the bubble universe Gallifrey is in and “this” universe.

But what if “the Veil” is also a play on “the Valeyard”?

“I am in twelve” is what the Doctor…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

OK @Craig thanks – I will nip over to BBC approved spoilers for more cogitation.

@pedant lol:-) Yes, I’ve no doubt the Who production team nick all their best ideas from us!