@lisa and @RobertDaller brought up the idea that Missy was the Woman in the Shop, and after this latest glimpse of Missy and her ‘My Clara …I have chosen well‘, I agree that it looks as if we are being pointed in that direction!  Certainly Missy or someone acting as her agent would fit the part, according to what we know so far.  In fact I …[Read more]

So many great comments, big and small.

@Bluesqueakpip    So Clara passes the baton; from Smith to Capaldi. He takes the Sonic, and he defeats the monsters.   Nicely put. The Doctor finally, definitely embraces the inner hero that he has been denying all series. A wonderful and (to me) unexpected payoff at the climax of this episode.

Nerd of the…[Read more]

@Purofilion and @Juniperfish – I’ve just been nominated as nerd of the week on the Graun (in the nicest possible way) for spotting that 2M65 (on the train) might be a reference to the second episode of Story M in BG Who.

Story: The Romans. Episode title: All Roads Lead To Rome. 😉

@Juniperfish

So has Missy planted Clara on the TARDIS

Somebody has certainly planted Clara on the TARDIS. She was too bloody perfect in Series 7; always exactly what the Doctor needed.

Incidentally, did you notice that the ‘Clara. My Clara’ is an echo of the Smith Doctor in his own time-stream? So – Valeyard?

I still quite like the ‘female…[Read more]

You know – since Steve Moffat took over Doctor Who this is only the second officially Doctor lite episode they’ve done?

I think that this facr could be lost is down to both the script and the performances by Jenna and Peter. A confection that knocked thoughts of what was arbitrarily a similar story to the horrid Fear Her into a cocked hat. The…[Read more]

Agree with @Juniperfish (and thanks again to @phaseshift and everyone for contributing to the soapy discussion)

It’s noticeable that a lot of people who use “soap opera” as a criticism for DW also tend to be the ones who throw “deus ex machina” and “sloppy, lazy writing” into the mix without expanding on why they think that. Or complain they…[Read more]

Regarding Clara, I agree with @Juniperfish and others who like Clara better now. As @janetteB says, there are times when I want to give her a swift whack upside the head when I think she’s behaving stupidly, but that is eons better than the uberconfident, impossible girl of series seven. I felt last year that I always liked her best as the C…[Read more]

@Spider
Apologies! You are totally correct.  No theft intended – just too tired…
So, good news – you win the informal competition.  Your prize details are just downloading now into my system – hang on – ah, here we go: Free tickets for 2 on the Journey of a Lifetime, it says here, See the Wonders of the Known Universe on the Orient Express, in S…[Read more]

@wordmuse — let me once again dispute with you (it’s nothing personal, I’m just enjoying the conversation, and it beats packing boxes)…

With regards to Clara lying, there might not be a cosmic over-arching need for her to do so but it’s clear that she thinks there is and it’s just getting her in deeper and deeper. It started off being played…[Read more]

Thanks @Thommck for the link to the props photos. Beautiful attention to detail as ever. Did you notice that the guns have “GUS” stamped on them? Couldn’t make out if  it’s on any of the other tech.

@Juniperfish @Jimthefish

Sorry fishy friends but I have to disagree. Tennant on his day was magnificent! <stamps foot> Then again, so was Smithy,…[Read more]

@juniperfish — agree totally. He hit the ball out the park almost from the off. To be fair, so did Smithy but I think Capaldi has the edge because he’s playing a much more tricky Doc. I’ve been blown away by him. Agree re. Tennant also. A strong start but he did seem to run out of steam by the end of his run….

Not so mello after all, what a shame …

Anyway, I have my bucket of exclamtion/question marks at the ready so hear we go.

Despite the later showing we got to watch this one live! What a fun episode. We had the lights off and my 10y/o was clinging on to me from the start 🙂 It was almost Scooby Doo!

@Oblique: “Mummy on the Orient Express, the…

[Read more]

@Juniperfish

I’m really torn on this. In some ways I agree. I think we live in a age where I think the collective storytelling – the myths and legends, are often overlooked for more current pleasures. In some ways I think if the links were intentional they could be stronger. BBC4 used to strand programmes after DW Confidential (back in the Day…[Read more]

@Juniperfish Yes I very much prefer Clara this season too. In the first four episodes this season she became my favourite companion, I think for the same reasons that some people have complained about the show actually being too much about her now.

I felt she had more scenes of her own that I was actually interested in because of what she was…[Read more]

@JimboMcMaster

As I’ve posted before, Clara has been lying her socks off to both Danny and the Doctor throughout this series. At the end of this episode she tells Danny (on the phone) – “mission accomplished” (implying she has told the Doctor that was the “lst hurrah” and she’s done with timetravel.  She then tells the Doctor that it’s OK,…[Read more]

Really enjoyed this one. Makes up for the dubious handwavey technobabble of last week. As Arthur C Clarke said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”, so if you want the science to appear far in advance of what we have today then it should be presented as magic. Attempting to explain the trick (midichlorians,…[Read more]

@Juniperfish – Interesting thoughts about all the reversing. Two ways of looking at it have crossed my mind .  First thought was that it reminded me of another science fiction programme from the 60s – Captain Scarlet. Didn’t he have some sort of ‘reverse metabolism’ that allowed him to regenerate?  Also a link to colours – Scarlet to Pink.  …[Read more]

@Juniperfish   The ‘mummy’ and other elements may be evocative of ancient Egypt and Egyptian mythology, but I am duty bound to point out that the symbols on the scroll which conjures the Foretold are cuneiform writing or facsimiles thereof, so Sumerian/Babylonian/Assyrian – make of that what you will 🙂

@Juniperfish

I only mentioned it to set you off! 😀 I know you’re far more knowledgeable on that pantheon than I am and was surprised you hadn’t taken the opportunity. How I loved the Osiris parallels you pointed out throughout the last series. Please continue because I can’t get enough.

@Phaseshift  You know perfectly well Egyptology is @Juniperfish bait ! 🙂

We’ve talked about Clara as Isis before, because she puts the Doctor back together when she jumps into his time stream (and remember she was also wearing that winged brooch in the rings of Akhaten), the way Isis put the scattered body parts of Osiris back together. Osi…[Read more]