well, I watched this on iPlayer on a PC with a dodgy connection for my headphones (a TV that’s broken means someone’s making money out of me when sales time comes!).

So I had a few moments of glitching adding to the general disorientation of the ‘point of view’ camera angles and first person shooter feeling.

Even so – I kinda enjoyed it. ;¬)

I…[Read more]

I was thinking, one of the potential ramifications of the Osgood and Zygon relationship if we take it as granted that Zygons can copy her bioprint or memory from other Zygons, is that Osgood is, like Ashildr, a technically immortal character. All it requires is a continuing line of Zygons who are committed to the plans of the originals.

That…[Read more]

@Juniperfish    a complexity at the heart of multiculturalism.    Yes. But not an irreconcilable one. We haven’t really been shown anything (I don’t think) about Zygon culture, but some core values at least must be similar to ours as many Zygons seem to have assimilated happily into Earth society. But we are not always great at remembering that…[Read more]

@pedant

I am beginning to think that Clara’s fate is to be forgotten by the Doctor. Call it the Inverse Donna.

And yet the Doctor remarks on Clara making her way into one’s mind, seemingly in an unforgettable way. So it would certainly seem odd to go this route. Yet it’s not completely implausible, either.

@juniperfish

A glimpse of Hartnell’s fac…

[Read more]

Wow. THAT speech. I think the fly that got in the eye of @juniperfish may have got to me too – in both eyes, multiple times (I name them … the time flies!). Have we ever seen 12 more emotional than he was here? And in fact now I think about it  through most of this episode?

I had been very skeptical about Osgood coming back, as I feared it…[Read more]

@arbutus (I really want to try that Pumpkin Stout) @purofilion @whisht @juniperfish @blenkinsopthebrave

Thanks all for indulging an old idealist. I made the huge mistake earlier of reading a few online reviews. ATL all is pretty complementary. BTL – oh, dear. The Daily Telegraph had comments that made me ask for the mind Bleach.

Anyway, on a…[Read more]

Really enjoyed reading the posts; lots of interesting stuff!

The current state of my bonkers theorizing for what it’s worth, which is likely in the long run to be very little…

1) @ichabod    Yes, 127 missed calls is a lot! And this from Clara who is now desperate to go on adventures in the Tardis. Even taking the Year 7s to Tae Kwon Do su…[Read more]

@Juniperfish

I don’t think it was meant to be ‘adult-subtle’. I think this was fairly and squarely aimed at the kids; as I said on T’Other Place, the battles for this war are often being fought in the playgrounds. Rather than a load of information leaflets, Peter Harness is telling it as a story.

Is Osgood human or Zygon? Both. Is a child…[Read more]

@juniperfish @pedant

Just on the question of subtlety of the script, I just wondered if this is a lot more direct because of the reaction to Kill the Moon?

Some misconstrued that episode as prolife or anti abortion, whereas its clearly pro choice (the choice, and who is empowered to make it being central to the episode).

I wrote something about…[Read more]

@juniperfish

Tarot card-wise I thought Osgood might represent Temperance (the figure in the card pours two liquids together as a sign of mixing opposites to find balance). And Temperance in the Rider Waite is depicted as a hermaphrodite (a hybrid) angel.

I actually really like that a lot, Osgood as Temperance.

Just a few more random thoughts and observations before tomorrow and the next episode.

Firstly, the resemblance between the outfit worn by Ashildr/Me in the background of the selfie, and that of Clara’s mother which sharp-eyed @Kharis spotted.  It probably is just the writers tweaking our tails – as @pedant said, ‘Beware the chain yank’, and the…[Read more]

@pufferfish  human beings who live the normal three score-and-ten are said to use only 10 per cent of the brain’s capacity (possibly 20 per cent, can’t remember exactly) but there are LOADS of stories that suggest immortality unlocks the unused portion (eg. Heroes).

Heroes is fiction, though; and new studies refute the theory of huge unused port…[Read more]

I thought Maisie Williams was pretty good and for my money (bar Dinklage) is the best thing in Game of Thrones. She maybe didn’t quite capture the worldweariness that her character required in the second episode but she was still pretty effective. The episode belonged to Rufus Hound though, I think.

And while lauding @kharis‘s excellent spot, I’m…[Read more]

@winston  After a while you think that the pain is not worth it and you decide “no more pets” I think this is how the Doctor and Me and all immortals must feel once in awhile. Shoud they take the risk and enjoy their companions lives ,however fleeting ,or give up and go it alone.

Yes, it’s a feeling very familiar to pet owners.  Most of us give…[Read more]

Great points and thoughts here as always. Some replies.

@Juniperfish    Yes, it did seem as though the Doctor might have known or guessed what would happen to Ashildr, and I was waiting for Clara to call him out on it. As far as Clara wondering why he wouldn’t give her the chip (especially in light of their earlier conversation), he clearly does…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip The Cloister Bell ringing again caught my attention. Is this going to be part of the entire arc this season?

@Juniperfish, I too liked the Doctor’s wardrobe this time around. It integrates Capaldi’s punk-rock past into that magician’s outfit. Missed the guitar riffs in the theme, though. I guess that was a one-time thing.

One…[Read more]

@jphamlore  In last season’s Time Heist we have seen there is a thriving market in all sorts of tech. So how exactly would the knowledge of this immortality chip be kept secret?

That was definitely done too hastily, but my impression is that this was tech held by the Mire exclusively, and that as they’re such fearsome warriors, nobody had yet da…[Read more]

@juniperfish

Too slow

@Juniperfish

Ha! And thank you for the Orkney Vikings/Norse link. Hmm… Orkney is not much over 200 miles from the coast of Norway. Just saying 🙂 . Maybe the Doctor’s still hanging around the north of Scotland (Caithness last week).

A bonkers thought – maybe Ashilde turns out to be Clara’s mum. That’s why the Doctor has to go with making her…[Read more]

@Juniperfish Sorry, for some reason I missed your post about Clara’s envious look – completely agree