@Bluesqueakpip

It implies a) that the Doctor is as old as God and b) that he’s been Born Again.

It does.

What is interesting is that we speculated the Doctor might be free of his past with a new set of regenerations, but Moff has chosen to continue with the War Doctor’s burden still lying heavy over the Doctor’s hearts. I do wonder if the V…[Read more]

@purofilion Thanks for the perspectives of the twelve year olds in your house – it is interesting to hear how younger viewers perceive Who. And a notable sign of changing times that, whilst Who was a programme aimed at kids from the beginning, the Doctor rarely interacted with children in Old Who.

What has happened to Linda Lee’s reviews? I ha…[Read more]

@Margaret-Blaine

I think someone has already quoted Walt Whitman’s poem on another page, but it rather ties in with @Phaseshift‘s theories about the dead and by association suggests Annabel came back from the dead. My creepy theory is not that some magical hydrangeas sequestered her @pedant but that she was dead in the woods and the magical tree…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip  “I think the one big problem with it was its lack of tension”

I think it was a writing problem to be honest, because each threat was scattered and none of them had enough build up.

So, for instance, we knew the solar flare was coming and that the humans in their idiocy, were trying to burn the trees (their saviours in fact) but…[Read more]

@Phaseshift

And it seems the lost (and perhaps dead), are starting to return. Just in time for an annual event.

I definitely think you’re onto something. Perhaps what Missy was surprised by was that her usual harvesting of people who die in the wake of the Doctor’s adventures did not take place. There was no “reaping”, because no one in…[Read more]

Not my favourite of the scripts so far, even though I am a great lover of trees and generally forgive all sentimentality about them.  Who doesn’t want to be protected by a great tree spirit?

The title was promising, but the awe of Tyger, Tyger was somewhat missing. I would have preferred more shadowy wolves, tigers and panthers for a start, r…[Read more]

Hi @Bluesqueakpip

I’ll go for this version “If he doesn’t personally believe it’s right, he does seem extremely sympathetic to characters who take it to its final conclusion – that you might have to be prepared to destroy your own planet.”

Rather than being sympathetic to utilitarianism, I think RTD is interested in pushing the idea of a “good m…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip

That means the hero of the show is someone who’s done something only God could forgive; and he doesn’t even believe in God

“I agree that RTD didn’t think so. RTD’s moral view (caveat: whatever they are) seems to come across as utilitarian ‘greatest good of greatest number’. Destroying Gallifrey would be forgiveable if the alterna…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

I used to work in an academic department with a faction that just like that…

Lol – oh yes, the slime-ademics – hideous beasties often encountered crawling the corridors of the ivory tower 🙂

@Purofilion So sorry you are in hospital again – solidarity

This Doctor is so bewitching and formidable that I found myself moving forward to listen to him as he approached the screen.

Yes, he is – Capaldi’s performance is wonderful, because it is a fire burning under restraint. He is so skilled that he doesn’t need to be fireworks, he can be the…[Read more]

@DrBen and @Brewski

I like your speculations about Missy being in the Doctor’s head. It was certainly quite marked – the conversation he had with himself in his cabin on the Orient Express in space – almost as if two distinct personalities were present.

If Moff is going for the Valeyard story (which I know some people don’t want, but I’m up for…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip Well done you – and Rome I’ll wager is Gallifrey

@Purofilion Your Ancient Greek teacher sounds quite charming 🙂 Yes, I’m enjoying this season – it feels as if it is swooping down on us in a velvet lined cape.

@Purofilion Thanks for the fish food and shiny new house 🙂 Some morphine wouldn’t go amiss either! Hope you’re on the mend.

“If you want the good news, the rent here’s cheap as Hell” Callimachus

I think it’s a feint and bluff – we’re supposed to wonder if Danny is a wrong ‘un but I reckon he’ll come good at the twelfth hour.

And can I just add – the Doctor was hard on Clara – she saved Rigsy from committing suicide with her hairband and the first thing he did was call his Mum – bless!

@Phaseshift Thanks for posting – a lovely video (oh the 80s hair). I must say I did like this track when it came out – had a weakness for their music – schmaltzy as it is.

@Bluesqueakpip LOL I love the idea of the Master trying to save the Doctor in a twisted sort of condemn-you-to-twelve-more-regenerations way.

Given how heavily the Master-Doctor dynamic was influenced by all the slash fiction out there when Tennant and Simm faced off, that “boyfriend” comment of Missy’s does make me incline to the t…[Read more]

@purofilion So sorry you’ve been in hospital x Sending solidarity from one sickly Who-fan to another!

I enjoyed the Doctor/ Clara dynamic in this episode, as I’ve enjoyed it throughout Twelve’s run thus far. He is proud of her and hard on her and snippy with her and fond of her all at once. As I’ve said before (once or twice) – very…[Read more]

@ScaryB Yes he did call them “the boneless” – I think that was another sonic/ little Doctor joke given that he was pointing it at them at the time.

Graffiti saved the day. And didn’t the shut-down version of the TARDIS look like a miniature Pandorica? 🙂

I liked the shot of the Doctor’s hand scuttling the TARDIS across the railway tracks like a…[Read more]