@puroandson  Puro Solo,  the little reference to Clara’s tune when River begs the Doctor to find a loophole and he says “sometimes things end”,

Okay, that answers my major question: this is CapDoc *post-Clara*, having traveled back in time to a Christmas season between Angels Take Manhattan and Silence in the Library.  This is the echo we need…[Read more]

@pedant @mersey @blenkinsopthebrave

We have one store in Vancouver that sells all kinds of homemade Ukrainian goodies. My mother lives in Alberta, and she can get all kinds of things there, where they have a greater number of Ukrainians both buying and selling. I used to make perogies (we actually call them “pedehey”, as my family is Ukrainian),…[Read more]

@mersey

A friend of mine, who owns a couple of restaurants in the Canadian prairies, called pierogi “Poland’s gift to international cuisine”.

And @pedant, in my part of rural Ontario, there is a central European foodstore that specialises in pierogi. When my brother-in-law (who is from Vienna) visited the shop he felt he had arrived in heaven.

@Mersey and @puroandson

Yeah, I was a fir tree elf in a school play – but like you, that was when I was much younger than Son of Puro. 🙂

@mersey  And the Zygon Inversion is not the answer for my fear, grief, anger or helplessness. So I think I was correct in my opinion about this episode. It LOOKS TO ME shallow, naive or silly. But thankfully my opinion is not a rule and it can change.

Thinking about your post, above, for which my thanks.  The conversation here does tend toward t…[Read more]

@Mersey (and also @pedant, @puroandson and @Arbutus)

As pedant says, the Zygon Inversion is really a metaphor – and part of its metaphor is that the long, deadly war is described in a speech instead of being lived through.

For me, it resonated very strongly with Northern Ireland. Part of the peace is forgiving those who killed loved ones. More…[Read more]

@Mersey

 And now, imagine that one of the Paris attacker, the brain of the group escapes, changes his mind and says: From now on I’ll be a peaceful and loving person. And people say to him: We forgive you. Go and enjoy your life

But that is precisely what happened in South Africa, and in doing so probably averted a civil war that would almost cer…[Read more]

@lisa @Mersey @Bluesqueakpip @pedant

Personally, I view the Zygon two-parter as at least a bit allegorical. For one thing, the process was simplified as each side was represented by the will of a single individual. So the Doctor’s speech could move Kate to lay aside her weapon. In reality, reaching agreement is much more complex because multiple…[Read more]

@Mersey

 After “the Paris tantrum” the conclusion of the Zygon Inversion looks to me shallow, naive and silly.

Well, no.

All conflict in the modern era ends at the negotiating table, even if only to agree the terms of surrender (and let’s be clear, Bonnie surrendered. The only thing she got was forgiveness.)

And like it or not, what is happ…[Read more]

@mersey

No, not shallow, or naive, or silly. Simply that where we are, in the Paris tantrums, is at the end of the Zygon Invasion – with the massacre of all those UNIT soldiers and the near-massacre of a very large number of Londoners.

And at the end of the Zygon Invasion, our Zygon terrorists see no need to talk. They think they’re going to…[Read more]

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

@Mersey I also love Pictures at an Exhibition. I find most classical music difficult because I  associate it with childhood so it depresses me but that does not apply to most of the Russian composers. I had a soft spot for 1812 because I fell in love with War and Peace. Hard to be depressed by Vivaldi too not matter how often it was played on…[Read more]

@Mersey

Thank you.  I often feel hesitant about posts such as these, which have a tendency to stray way off topic, so it always good to know that there are people how have found them interesting.

@mersey

Theu knew him well but not intimately. They should know that Doctor never gives up.

Oh- I think they were counting on that. A major point of the dial was to keep him occupied for geological ages, and by giving him something to rail against, they could guarantee that. I don’t think he “beat” the confession dial- he simply did exactly what…[Read more]

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

BBC APPROVED SPOILERS...

@jimthefish  Thanks for that interestng interview. I would never find those things on my own.

@fatmaninabox   Very cute little clip that I got some giggles from. Thanks for the link. Hope we get a Peter Jackson episode in the future.

@mersey   Thanks for that interview. Lots of info behind the making of the 50th.

@jimthefish That is indeed a “splendid” interview. I however was rather disturbed by the blurb for part two which includes those dire words, “his plans to leave Doctor Who.” I hope those are long term plans.

@fatmaninabox I just watched the Jackson vid’. It does indeed looks as though discussions are under way for a Jackson directed episode. It…[Read more]

@mersey – you may be the first person to ever say that that Clara ain’t no oil painting.

;¬)

@ozitenor – blimey! What a post! I for one would love to hear more (but you’ve set your own bar high!).

@arbutus – at the risk of sounding gushing, your comment to Bluesqueakpip is just ace. Honestly. And Blue’s reasoning and general squeakness as…[Read more]

@Mersey   When the Doctor said ‘Who’s been playing about with the stars?’  it wasn’t the first time that he had cycled through the whole experience, from his emerging from the transporter to the Veil catching up with him at the wall, he just didn’t realise it immediately As with the rooms of the castle, his experience was reset to the begin…[Read more]