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20 September 2015 at 19:03 #43072
@scaryb <waves> The Doctor as Davros IS dark – I like it! But agree with @blenkinsopthebrave – too dark for the kiddies.
Re the titles – a tussle for Clara? Is she the Doctor’s apprentice (the Magician) or the Master/ Missy’s familiar (the Witch). Who will she listen to and which way of doing things will she follow when the chips are down? We still don’t know why Missy introduced Clara to the Doctor after all (as the woman on the phone).
As for Maisie Williams’ appearance – it would be fab is she were being lined up as a new companion, but that would be too much ontop of a Game of Thrones schedule, probably – so maybe in the future.
20 September 2015 at 09:45 #43030Yes, Skaro was inhabited by two peoples, the Thals and the Kaleds. They were involved in a horrific war, and Davros was the chief scientists to the Kaleds. He invented the daleks (a re-working of the Kaled name) to give the Kaleds the advantage (see Genesis of the Daleks). So, if we are back on Skaro, it would be nice to find out what happened to the Thals. Presumably they were totally annihilated or enslaved. It depends what time-zone we are in on Skaro in Davro’s re-turn in The Magician’s Apprentice. Obviously, in the boy Davros flashbacks, the Thals were present (although not named).
Welcome! I can’t find the Maisie Williams trailer on the BBC Who website for another look, so can’t speculate on her relationship to the Doc. I think @craig (the forum creator) has just started a new thread for discussing official BBC spoilers – trailers and the like. So that’s probably the place to discuss them now. Maybe someone can post a link to the trailer in question there?
19 September 2015 at 23:50 #42998Yes – and given the news about the Christmas episode <spoiler klaxon and happy dance> I have no doubt Clara’s parentage will be revisited 🙂
19 September 2015 at 23:08 #42993@bluesqueakpip Heh – love it. Those sneaky Time Lords – if you can’t win the Time War against the Daleks by means of front-line all out fighting, Nightmare Child and all, then tamper with their time-line in order to add a teensy pinch of empathy, and win the war by love-bombing them instead!
19 September 2015 at 23:03 #42992@thekrynoidman Lol – oops!
Also interesting that the Doctor seems content to leave Clara in Missy’s hands – as if he knows she won’t hurt her… hmmn…
19 September 2015 at 22:31 #42988Just also realised that Missy previously sings “Hey, Missy you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind” (Toni Basil’s punk-pop 1980s hit) in Death in Heaven, just before she callously kills Osgood 🙁 Moffat you monster…
19 September 2015 at 22:08 #42984@bluesqueakpip I didn’t notice, but have no doubt that was indeed the escape mechanism…
Just realised that boy-Davros got his inspiration for the Dalek eye-stalk from the hand-mine design (an eye in a limb) – nice touch!
19 September 2015 at 21:51 #42978@doctordoctorwho Clearly, the TARDIS wasn’t actually destroyed… She’s always been dalek fire-proof historically, so I’ve no doubt she popped off just before the explosion on her own initiative to dust off a new sonic for the Doc and get back in the game.
19 September 2015 at 21:18 #42971@phaseshift yes all those intro threads are interesting. The Maldovarium is a Star Wars tribute, from beginning to end, as has been pointed out before, so perhaps <laughs> this is the Who version of “Did Solo or Greedo shoot first?”
The Doctor sending his last will and testament to Missy (and Clara fully expecting it to be for her) was perhaps one of my favorite moments. As was Moff’s tease (via Missy) that perhaps the Doctor has also had a female incarnation along the way.
The Doctor as Magician, tortured by the fact that perhaps Davros is his “apprentice” is a theme worth sucking on. I feel the score calls for a rendition of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” at some point.
Looking forward to the “I’m his nemesis!”, “No, I am!” strop-off between Missy and Davros which is surely on its way.
19 September 2015 at 21:03 #42969Well I know some of you lucky things saw an advance screening of The Magician’s Apprentice up at the Edinburgh Festival. Thanks for keeping us spoiler free all this time!
Heartily agree with @craig that Michele Gomez is fantastic. Missy’s incarnation of the Master is charming and chilling, with just the right serving of psychopathy on the side. Her line to Clara – “See that couple over there? You’re the puppy,” was particularly delish.
The Doc grandstanding at a medieval shindig with an electric guitar and cool shades was very funny, particularly mirrored in Missy and Clara’s faces and their exchange. “He’s never like this!” “Oh, you are new…” – heh.
Narrative-wise, probably because I’m an auld whiskery codger of a fish, I thought this episode suffered somewhat from the “jeopardy problem,” meaning that the stand-off features didn’t really bite. Not for one iota of a second did I worry that Missy, Clara or the TARDIS are properly exterminated. But no doubt this works differently for younger viewers.
The “Would you kill Hitler/ Davros if you had a time machine” problem has been done already in Genesis of the Daleks, and it was a particularly fine story and a high-point for Tom Baker (nice to see him relive it on-screen here). Sooo, despite all the bells and whistles, this was in some respects treading old ground. However, the hand-mines were a super Dali-esque touch, and “the boy Davros” does have a nice ring to it.
And of course, this is a new twist on an old dilemma. We know the Doctor couldn’t destroy the daleks at their origin-point way back during his fourth incarnation, even for the sake of millions, so his apparent readiness to destroy Davros at his origin point, for the sake of one companion, does pose interesting questions. I thought Missy’s speech about needing a Time Lady to harness the power of the TARDIS, followed by a very long dalek pause over Clara was a big hint that Clara may indeed be the daughter of Time Lords herself.
Yes, I’m still holding out for Clara having Time Lord blood. I like @bluesqueakpip ‘s (and no doubt others’) speculations that Clara is the Doctor and Missy’s daughter. That would be a hoot. We shall see…
The real fizz in the bottle of this episode, for me, was definitely the Missy/ Doctor/ Clara chemistry. Clara’s struggle to comprehend the Doctor’s long and complex relationship with Missy, particularly given Missy’s responsibility for Danny’s death, was well-played by Jenna.
If we are revisiting Skaro, I want to know what happened, eventually to the Thals.
29 August 2015 at 12:48 #42130Hello All <plops self on the sofa with some fine sweet-meats and an intergalactic slushie or two to share>
I’ll second your desire for more Gallifrey @janetteb – I like those stuffy old Time Lord collars 🙂
@bluesqueakpip and @purofilion and others, thanks for mentions whilst I’ve been on hiatus. I’ve got a tonne of catching up to do, I see.
Looking forward to new adventures in time and space with you all.
29 August 2015 at 12:35 #42129Aww – thanks @jimthefish and @janetteb – lovely to “see” you both, here and in the “other place”.
I’m back from summer hiatus now and looking fishily forward to TARDIS adventures with everyone!
23 March 2015 at 16:48 #39138<Pours some especially sparkly and be-jewelled glitter on the re-watch sofa for @scaryb> I’ve got some catching up to do! Looking forward to seeing the end of the story. Troughton is great and I want to watch more of him in action now.
I think Capaldi would be great in a thriller-spy style Who story – I’d love it if they filmed one episode in black-and-white for some spurious time travel reason or another – it would look great!
Waves thanks at @craig for putting these episodes up.
9 February 2015 at 08:54 #37910@bluesqueakpip and @janetteb Isn’t it wonderful? So glad this was rediscovered. It’s made me want to watch more Troughton Who – I’ve only seen the odd one, as it was before my time.
@everyone What are your favourite Troughton Who stories, those of you who have seen more of them? @scaryb I know you’ve probably got some, Yeti and all 🙂
8 February 2015 at 16:28 #37898Excellent rubber/ leather guards uniforms and Troughton is suitably scary as the nefarious Salamander.
I enjoy the spy-thriller element a lot and would be very happy to see Capaldi dabble in local politics a bit more.
3 February 2015 at 11:40 #37771@phaseshift Gods love you – what a lovely exposition of fan relationships to Doctor Who.
And @barbaralefty Gods love you too – I suspect you’ll be posting fan fic on A Teaspoon and an Open Mind http://www.whofic.com/ before you know it 🙂
Indeed, in terms of the transfer from fan fiction to text, Xena had two episodes written by a fan, Melissa Good, who was picked up by the producers because of the popularity and quality of her fan fiction. Robert Tappert (producer and also lucky husband of Lucy Lawless) said that what he particularly valued about Melissa was her knowledge of the characters, and in that, the ability to connect with the audience.
I still adore the internet meme of the iceberg for the relationship between text and fan creativity – the text is the most visible, but only the tip, of the iceberg, and then under the water is a vast further cavern of frozen ice – the fan extended world. And the two are intimately connected.
Especially in today’s online-connected world, text and fan world inform one another – it’s a two-way, not a one-way flow. Savvy writers check out Tumblr and Twitter to find out what their fans love (or hate) about the show and often share in-jokes with the dedicated fan-base via their writing in-text. BBC Sherlock S3 explicitly does this by referencing all the fan theories about how Sherlock survived the fall off the roof of St. Barts (Reichenbach) through the character of Anderson and his “The Empty Hearse” theories fan club.
@scaryb – Wow the Isle of Skye looks beautiful – not quite as peaceful once you realise there was a helicopter following to get all those sweeping shots 🙂 I’d love to make it up there. I haven’t got further north than Loch Tay.
30 January 2015 at 13:40 #37686Thanks @scaryb I know the song well 🙂 Seems so sweet and innocent doesn’t it – just right for me 🙂 xx
30 January 2015 at 11:13 #37685@scaryb Brother Juniper – “Renowned jester of the Lord”? I love it!
Thanks for the spit roasting (oh no wait – that came out wrong) and the flagons of divine nectar!
Brother Juniper looks rather like Friar Tuck in the cartoon. I’ve always had a soft spot for Friar Tuck. And he would have approved heartily of roast pig and grog.
Our good health, one and all! xx
24 January 2015 at 21:42 #37586@craig Oooh thanks for posting.
Well, this is just gloriously sixties – the wallpaper design, Astrid’s wonderful thigh boots, the skin tight rubbery uniforms and the received pronunciation. I have a huge soft spot for sixties design, so I’m swooning.
The musical score is pretty great too – listen to that anxiety inducing electronica as the Doctor and companions run from the hover craft on the beach. 2018 must have seemed so far in the future then, and now it is three years away!
Patrick Troughton is a very handsome man in his craggy way and I like his Doctor’s chirpy charm (and indeed flirtation with Ms Astrid) a great deal. It’s well known he based his performance in part on Charlie Chaplin.
Salamander is a sci-fi twist on Stalin, of course, and Troughton creates a menacing dictator with glee.
What great TV – the black and white just makes it more gorgeous. Yummy!
24 January 2015 at 10:23 #37573Well Russell T Davies is back on C4 with his three interlinking shows Cucumber, Banana and Tofu.
SPOILERS
To begin with, you should know that the title refers to different stages of the male erection – so I suppose the fact that the shows are mostly about the search for cock/ anxieties about cock has fair advertising.
Cucumber is about a miserable middle-aged white guy, Henry, having a mid-life sexual crisis, and ogling lots of young guys in the supermarket as a result. Think Kevin Spacey’s character in American Beauty, but gay. In other words, rather unpleasant.
To be honest, I think there is infinitely too much screen time taken up already by the mid-life crises of middle-aged white guys. Flawed, warts and all “complex” guys who do bad things but whom we are encouraged to feel for in all their messy time centre stage. That’s the whole premise of Breaking Bad, right? So, whilst there’s a gay twist on this one, the narrative actually feels depressingly familiar.
Television (written by people of a certain age) likes to reflect on “new media” as if it were a dark art (the entirety of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror) although it’s hardly new any longer, so we are treated to a lot of characters looking excessively at their mobile phones and a Grindr 101 in case viewers haven’t heard of it. I think television needs to get over itself and allow digital connectivity to sink into the fabric of narrative without needing to constantly comment on it.
Basically, I’m fed up with mid-life crisis tales, full stop.
Certainly RTD can still write. I’m invested enough to keep watching, if only to see how the cluster-f***k set up in the first episode will resolve itself (I’m banking on – Henry gets married to his boyfriend Lance and accepts he’s in his late forties). RTD’s commitment to diversity, very apparent in his time as Doctor Who show runner, does continue to shame most other TV writers of his generation. But honestly, this doesn’t feel particularly fresh to me – Cucumber seems to spend a lot of time telling the audience a whole lot of things which are quite commonplace are tremendously shocking,
Banana is more promising. It’s about young Dean, whose black Mancunian family are very accepting of his sexuality, despite his own touchy insistence on their homophobia, and his struggles searching for rent money, friendship and yes, sex. RTD has brought in a whole new cohort of younger LGBT writers for this one, so I’m looking forward rather more to its multi-character narrative and greater diversity.
Sam Wollaston at The Guardian has written a rave review on the other hand (below). Definitely check it out for yourself. It’s better than the last series of Torchwood (lol).
23 January 2015 at 23:29 #37557Creativity — the readers’ as well as the writers’ — wins hands down, because stasis is not a sustainable state. As a writer I can “fix” my story in verbal amber, but time will unfix it, assuming I am lucky enough to write something that actually lasts a while
Exactly – nicely put. I’m always rather appalled by writers who hate the fact their audiences write fan fiction based in their universes – surely it is the highest compliment – that people wish to play in your sandpit!
It is an entirely self-referential argument that tries to allow people to call themselves writers without actually doing the hardest bit of writing
I don’t believe writers in the “canon” should be deemed worthy of respect and fan fiction authors deemed worthy of derision. One may make a distinction between the technical or imaginative quality and skill of one piece of writing over another, without needing to trash the author of the novice piece, their enthusiasm and milieu.
Yes, canon Holmes is not a pacifist, but neither is he a murderer (Moriarty excepted). BBC Sherlock picks up a thread in the Ur text (what Holmes will do for Watson) and exaggerates it, just as BBC Sherlock fan fiction where Watson and Holmes sleep together on the stag night does likewise. The technique is the same, even if the skill of execution and the remuneration differ.
23 January 2015 at 21:08 #37540@barbaralefty – no need to apologise – being opened to an idea is always great!
Russell T. Davis argues that once a text is out there it belongs equally to audiences, who may do with it what they wish (in terms of both interpretation and textual re-working in fan works). I like his attitude:
‘Once a script has been made and transmitted, I honestly believe it belongs equally to those who watch it…I’ve got no more authority over the text than you!… That’s Doctor Who’s greatest legacy –an imagination that goes way beyond the screen, and all the way into your head, where it’s yours, forever’ (Hills Triumph of a Time Lord: Regenerating Doctor Who in the Twenty-First Century, 2010, p. 63).
23 January 2015 at 20:21 #37533Well the pub is lively!
@ichabod The Vampire Tapestry looks great! How exciting.
@pedant and @jimthefish
I believe twas I, not @barbaralefty who said, upthread, that one might think of Moff and Gattis’ Sherlock as fan fiction. I stand by that. I disagree @pedant that something becomes a somehow loftier “adaptation” rather than fan-fic if it is “respectful” of the source material. It could be argued that BBC Sherlock takes some damn liberties – Sherlock shooting someone in cold blood in the head? I don’t think Conan Doyle would have approved – his Sherlock solves his cases with the brilliance of his mind not with a gun.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is, I submit, Stoppard writing Shakespeare fan fiction. Milton’s Paradise Lost is Bible fan fiction.
I dislike it when fan fiction is derided – it takes place in supportive social space, it is creative play, it is a space for people to practice the craft of writing.
22 January 2015 at 21:25 #37487@barbaralefty I am dropping in to defend the honour of fan fiction!
I think it is a wonderful, creative gift economy, where people (mostly women) write stories for free for one another. Sure, there are sexual stories, and some of them are really well done in fact. But by no means all fan fiction is erotic. Yes, the quality of writing varies greatly, but I’ve read some excellent fan fiction. Fan fiction and its writers, readers and editors, functions as a space of play and community and shared passion and I think that’s delightful.
Really when you think about it, the recent BBC Sherlock production is actually a tv version of Arthur Conan Doyle fan fiction (Moffat and Gatiss being huge Sherlock Holmes fans).
@purofilion If you want to discover the world of fan fiction, visit A Teaspoon and an Open Mind which is a Doctor Who fan fiction dedicated space http://www.whofic.com/
22 January 2015 at 17:15 #37470Has anyone else seen BBC 2’s “Winter Watch” to date? Last one is on tonight.
If you are a nature lover, the team are up in the Cairngorms and there is some spectacular bird photography, from feasting owls to flocks of geese by night, not to mention red squirrels, pine martens and otters. Plus, a whole lot of proper snow. Lovely.
21 January 2015 at 19:56 #37458Hi @agirlcalledkill Welcome to our merry space! We hang out here to share jelly babies, jammy dodgers, fish fingers and custard and the like.
Then there are, as you can see, any number of other spaces, from the DJ box (the music thread) to episode discussions. Right now some of our comrades are doing an entire Buffy re-watch, plus there’s a fan creativity space for sharing fan art/ pictures of knitted daleks etc 🙂 Dive in!
19 January 2015 at 20:59 #37435@lisa Oooh are we playing Led Zep – I also love…
I discovered the Allah-Las recently – they are derivative of seventies garage sound and the lyrics of this one are rather retrograde too, but I love that guitar sound (they’re no Led Zep, but retro-pleasant…)
19 January 2015 at 17:41 #37427Ha ha – someone at the Radio Times has been surfing the more curmudgeonly corners of the Who inter-webs and come up with top things that annoy (a certain kind of) Who fan. I fear they have been reading the comments section under @danmartin ‘s blog.
There are actually a whole lot of other things which annoy Who fans in different spaces. The “things that annoy Tumblr Who fans” would be quite different and in fact probably be headlined by “Moffat”.
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-01-19/the-top-15-things-that-annoy-doctor-who-fans
Thank Gallifrey we know there are also a squillion things Dr Who fans love…
18 January 2015 at 09:57 #37374@phaseshift and @bluesqueakpip and all
Yes, definitely worth a watch. Alice XZ’s art is amazing. I first came across it on Tumblr and she has now been licensed by the BBC and her art is available via their shop http://www.bbcshop.com/search?q=Alice+X.Zhang .
It is great that the Moff got out on the tour himself and saw the global fan enthusiasm for the show because I suspect he’d been spending too much time in certain corners of the interwebs and had, at various points, got jaded. Not that critique is a bad thing by any means, it can be a wonderful thing, but creatives deserve to be in touch with their enthusiasts as well as their critics.
17 January 2015 at 19:31 #37354SPOILERS for X-Men Days of Future Past
………………………………………………………….
Marvel’s X-Men movie series has been an uneven beast. This one is enlivened by the time travel element and the young/ old Xavier and Magneto. Some stunning CG and some awful rehashing of other movies (a big rip off re Terminator for instance) are thrown into the mix.
Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine holds the film together well and in fact gets a much better outing in this than in the frankly dull X-Men Origins: Wolverine. His encounter with the lost Jean in the closing scenes was a moment worth waiting for.
James Mcavoy and Michael Fassbender’s chemistry is worthy of Stewart and McKellan’s
Peter Dinklage makes a chilling weapons developer and wears the seventies moustache well.
Halle Berry’s Storm never worked and she is duly given a bit of storm wrangling in the future and about three lines.
But really, this is a tale of Xavier and Magneto’s struggle for the soul of Mystique. Will it be Xavier’s diplomacy and the way of the pen, or Magneto’s war and the way of the sword? Jennifer Lawrence plays her final choice beautifully, because you know how difficult the thing being asked of her is and that she will always be an outsider.
I would have preferred more Charles/ Xavier/ Mystique conversational scenes and fewer fightin’ robots, but then, I come away from most big screen sci-fi feeling the same way.
16 January 2015 at 19:19 #37329Thanks @bluesqueakpip 🙂 I’m watching it now and it’s great to see the enthusiasm in Korea! Global fandom is wonderful.
15 January 2015 at 20:58 #37317@pedant @purofilion Yes 🙂
To join up with another thread – School Reunion is actually a very Buffy episode of Who, not least because – it’s set in a school, Anthony Head is in it as a dodgy bat-creature, and it’s actually all about relationships not monsters.
I love Rose’s bitch-face in this episode, and I love that she and Sarah Jane come to a shared laugh and an understanding at the end.
Girl in the Fireplace didn’t really do it for me. The whole horse riding thing was just too pompous. I prefer the Doctor to be grumbling and eccentric rather than suave. Give me Eleven’s wiggly dance at Amy’s wedding over Ten’s flourishes of smooth any day.
12 January 2015 at 21:08 #37265Apologies if someone has already posted this, but the Radio Times has a poll asking for votes for the best episode of each series of NuWho as we approach the tenth anniversary of the relaunch next year.
You can vote here: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-01-08/what-is-the-best-doctor-who-episode-of-the-modern-era
I chose the following, so it seems I like the two parters!
1. The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances
2. School Reunion
3. Human Nature/ The Family of Blood
4. Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead
5. The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang
6. The Impossible Astronaut/ The Day of the Moon
7. The Day of the Doctor
8. Listen
11 January 2015 at 10:25 #37227Anyone else been wondering what Matt Smith has been up to since he left Who?
Well apparently the Hollywood powers that be are re-making the Terminator franchise, with Arnie still involved (why, Hollywood, why can’t you stop regurgitating things and make something new) – anyway, Smithy has a part…
http://deadline.com/2014/05/matt-smith-terminator-major-role-doctor-who-723039/
10 January 2015 at 15:17 #37203Thanks @craig – I hope you don’t remove the Personal Message option. Most people are smart enough to spot spam and not start sending their e-mail deets to people called Jennylv1 !
9 January 2015 at 20:28 #37146Some lovely musings on Santa @phaseshift 🙂 I really like the idea that Amelia made him real.
Whilst I like the dynamic between Clara and Capaldi, I think Amelia/ Amy and Eleven’s relationship is probably my favourite of the Nu Who Doctor/ companion relationships to date, in retrospect, because of its really twisted magical quality. “He met her as a child and fell in love with her daughter, but for what she was to him there was never quite a name” – ha! That sounds like a pulp sci-fi novel cover blurb doesn’t it 🙂 Long live pulp sci-fi.
8 January 2015 at 22:36 #37110Russell T talks Capaldi
and his new drama Cucumber, Banana, Tofu 🙂
It seems the US didn’t really work out. I’m glad to have him back.
6 January 2015 at 21:54 #37027<Arrives on the sofa for a quick fishy cuppa>
And to note that, apparently Capaldi’s Who has not been nominated in the National Television Awards
His performance is by far the most supple and subtle of the new doctors. Bless his grouchy eyebrows.
4 January 2015 at 08:43 #36918@janetteb So sorry to hear about the animal shelter and kennels xx
How scary for you. Glad the fires are under control now. I hope your town all supports one another.
Take care – solidarity!
31 December 2014 at 21:28 #36752@scaryb – thanks for the live performance – I just love the hair and clothes :=)
A very happy new year to you x
I am in bed taking a rest after dinner. Some friends of mine are here kindly washing up so I can take a cat nap. Then hopefully I will be able to get up and join them round a real fire so we can have ghost short story reading.
31 December 2014 at 20:46 #36749Lovely Buchanan @ScaryB – feels very New Year-ish – great to have you in the DJ box.
I’ve forgotten how to post videos so the vid comes up – remind me?
30 December 2014 at 22:50 #36690A merry almost New Year’s Eve to you comrade glitter-scatterer x
What do you wish for Who in 2015 one and all?
I wish for an Alex Kingston as River encounter with Capaldi’s Doctor, for the sheer finesse of those two acting on screen together.
30 December 2014 at 22:42 #36687@Purofilion @jimthefish @pedant @rob @barnable
Oh the multitudes of academic papers which have been written on the Bufffyverse 🙂
Giles and Buffy’s relationship is lovely – who doesn’t want a Giles.
30 December 2014 at 22:38 #36686@craig @scaryb @whisht @blenkinsopthebrave
Yes, I also received a PM – web fishing of some kind. But this fish shall not be caught! 🙂 <looks for squashed chocolate treats behind the cushions>
29 December 2014 at 23:33 #36632@bluesqueakpip Yes, agree that emotionally Twelve treats Clara as a parent does.
I just hope there is some tie-in. I’m still remembering:
1. Clara coming across the Doctor’s cot in Eleven’s TARDIS
2. River’s enigmatic implication that she and Clara were linked in some way
3. The fact that Clara “blew in on a leaf” just as River’s identity was revealed on an embroidered leaf to her parents Amy and Rory
4. Clara knew that the magic word to get the Doctor to descend from his cloud of despond was “Pond”
@jimbomcmaster – the “Sorry, I deleted you” is sort of deliciously shocking, as Capaldi’s Doc has been on many occasions, because he appears far more callous on the surface than his recent previous incarnations (he’s not a hugger). Nine and Ten were particularly keen on talking about the importance of ordinary people. Of course, Twelve cares underneath. His brusque-ness is a often a self-defence mechanism.
27 December 2014 at 11:09 #36481@geoffers @Purofilion @pedant Thanks for all the replies on “knee fondling Prof”. I just found it distasteful. Moff always likes to poke things with a stick though and inappropriate touching has certainly been a phantom haunting the BBC.
@all I hope we are going to get a bit more of a search for Gallifrey in the next season!
It was indeed great to see the Doc crack a smile driving Santa’s sleigh but I also hope he continues to clash with Clara, it’s one of the things which works about their dynamic.
26 December 2014 at 10:43 #36417Thinking about it – what made all the people taken particularly susceptible to the dream crabs? Were they all people struggling with grief of one kind or another and who were therefore less likely to fight the dream worlds on offer?
We see “sexy” sigh at the end when she returns to her real life and her wheelchair, and we see “dancing girl” upset on the sofa over a break-up (Dave). Clara of course was susceptible because of her grief over Danny and the Doctor, just as the Doctor was re his grief over Gallifrey and Clara.
So Santa helped people through their grief – which I like given that actually Christmas is a very, very hard time of year for many people – those who are alone, or ill or bereaved…
26 December 2014 at 00:02 #36391Face reality or have your brains sucked out like ice-cream seems a bit harsh for a Christmas message, but I suppose “figure out who you want to be with and don’t let your pride stand in the way” is the heart-warming under-belly.
I did enjoy the Doctor looking both squeamish and terribly pleased when Clara hugged him tightly in Santa’s sleigh 🙂
25 December 2014 at 23:58 #36389@phaseshift Merry Chrimbo – I’m just listening to the fourth episode now.
The loucheness of Gaiman and the humour of Pratchett are a great combination.
Agnes Nutter must be a tribute to Alice Nutter.
And, as usual, the angels are always sneakier than the demons 🙂
25 December 2014 at 21:21 #36376Hmmn – well, there were some jarring notes for me – why have the bit at the start where dancing girl tells us and her companions the Professor put his hand on her knee unwanted – unpleasant and unnecessary. And did we really need it spelled out for us in words that the dream crabs were face-hugger tributes?
However, some rough edges to the script notwithstanding, the way the Doctor and Clara found their way back to each other, from the lies they told at their parting, through endless false realities, to finally not lying any longer and admitting they wanted to be together – that was charming.
I enjoyed the bluffing too – that Clara might choose to stay dead, that the Doctor hadn’t found his way back to her for sixty years, that in his dream (i.e. his wish fulfilment) she told him he was her romantic fantasy (“he was impossible”).
Overall a Santa and Rudolph cross-0ver with Alien was a fun idea.
BUT I’m still disappointed Clara hasn’t been revealed to be the Doctor’s grand-daughter/ great great grand-daughter…. yet.
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