[Miapatrick @replies]

@misterf55 on the chance you’re not deliberately trolling (though the insistence on ‘actress’ was a red flag): Doctor Who has always been used as a platform for voicing injustices. As has a lot of science fiction. It’s a very political genre. Now often writers do this by, say, examining colonial issues through people arriving at alien planets, or creating a eugenics obsessed alien race. But this is a time travel show. The Tardis is, as she says, a time ship. The original conception of Doctor Who included educational historical episodes.

[Miapatrick @replies]

Who hasn’t been hijacked. Have you ever thought about what the Daleks and Cybermen represent?

[Miapatrick @replies]

Just had a thought from reading facebook comments about ‘how can there still be racism so far into the future’. And to be fair, much of AG Who has strongly implied that specific racism between different ethnicities of humans could have died out (unless someone is blue…). The idea of a white supremicist from the future is deeply depressing in the context of the episode, and this doesn’t mean it’s unlikely. But do we know he’s human?

What if the ‘kind’ he’s referring to is humanity in general, and he’s not talking about black people ‘getting above themselves’ but the human race. About the human race in general acquiring a sense of the moral high ground, leading to the existence of super prisons and pesky laws against killing 2,000 people. Tops. Even if he is human, could he be talking about social justice, moral laws, and the significance of that moment in time was about the human race becoming better, starting to draw together in the modern world and the influence that had on history.

On the one hand this could seem to dilute the message of the episode. But at the same time, what if the episode isn’t just about people moving towards equal rights, but about the improvement of the human race? Because Rosa Parks changed the universe. And in his eyes, helped good people ‘get above themselves’.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@cedarbranchtardis this is just like the fake memes where someone claims to have made some kind of a program absorb so many episodes of a television series than write something about it, only with troll comments on the series in this case.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@pedant Quite, Martha and Bill stood out a little, Bill possibly less than she really would have, Ryan is in genuine peril. It’s a stark difference. ( A black woman literally just had to change her seat on an airplane because a white man didn’t want to sit next to him. But at least the conversation is about how he ought to have been arrested, rather than that she should have been.)

[Miapatrick @replies]

@pedant important point, really, (and not to downplay the historical racism in this country) in this country the fight was against people and businesses being allowed to discriminate against people of different ethnicity. Historically, legal restrictions I think only applied to people who didn’t belong to the church of England, that referred to professions originally and eventually engagement in politics, and that ended (leaving the head of state to one side) before the 20th century. Obviously I’m talking about within the UK, not the British Empire. Which does make a difference. Martha and Bill had to deal with racism, but in a form that arguments and bluster could make a difference. (really, once again, not letting our racist history off the hook).

[Miapatrick @replies]

@juniperfish, snap! and quite, which is why my initial ‘you what’ about her ‘tread carefully, history is delicate’ comment turned to a little frustration that she hadn’t talked about important points in time. If she’d taken them out of the Tardis knowing when and where they were, knowing this was an important time event, it would have tied together a little better. As it is, we’ve had a few years of companions being told sarcastically not to stand on butterflies, and suddenly they have to watch their step. 13 is being quite traditional, in fact this is almost a scenario you could imagine the other Time Lords approving of interference in. Which is a little disquieting.

@jimthefish interesting, I agree, 12 was much more protective of Bill. It could be because he was male and she was female, and 13 is female and Ryan is male. More probably, Ryan has Graham, he’s got his grandad there, the Doctor isn’t locked into a relationship with a primary, female companion. I think, idly pondering, if it was 12 and Ryan, he’d probably throw a punch.

It is an interesting change from 10 and 13 causally leading black characters into Elizabethan and Victorian times and telling them not to worry (and the snag 13 hit was a genuinely awful person in every way) and 13 in particular going into different times and finding black characters in unexpected, if not historically impossible, places. I have no problem with these stories, but this episode was something else.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@jimthefish good point about the segregation – Capaldi gave Bill a whole speech about keeping calm in the face of racism etc, then punched the racist in the face. What was interesting in this episode was a sense of the white characters facing moments of going along with the racism. Graham in the bar with the bus driver, both of them on the bus. I got a greater sense of discomfort from Graham, but I think that’s natural. It involves Ryan, it relates to his late wife.

But you’re right, I’m not sure I can picture 9, 10, 11, or 12 taking it so quietly. But then again, despite having several episodes taking BAME companions back in time, the only episode I can think of that spent any real time on racism is ‘Human Nature/The Family of Blood’, especially when poor sweet John Smith being unthinkingly racist. The prevarication ‘I don’t recognise anyone of that description’ ‘We’re not hiding anyone who doesn’t have a right to be here’ was clever and uncomfortable. Thinking of Ryans comment when Graham said he wished Grace was there ‘I don’t, she’d start a riot’, I wonder if this would have been a good occasion for the Doctor to have given a quick speech about ‘fixed moments in time’ how this was not a time that should be messed around with. I find myself understanding the Doctor’s motivation, but loving the idea of the fire and wrath of Grace, had she been able to be there.

[Miapatrick @replies]

So, Cranzo, are we seeing him again at another point in time? I’m tempted to think so, mostly because I’d think if The Doctor knew Ryan could have sent him back somewhere it would mean instant death, she’d have made a comment about what he did. But he said ‘as far back as I could’ I think, and she’d probably know when that is.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@rob, I was convinced that Graham would be driving the bus, and The Doctor would have to demand her seat.

[Miapatrick @replies]

I was quite please, with Ryan, to see other indicators of dyspraxia – he’s clearly intelligent, but jumbling facts learned in history at school and getting confused with the Doctor’s introduction of a flow of new words (but also being able to understand how to operate the back in time thingy).

This was a perfect setting for some lovely callbacks to Grace, I like that we only just got to meet her, but can get to know her through the memories of her husband and grandson. I loved Graham insistently using the words ‘grandson’, ‘grandfather’, not, this time, because he’d like and his wife wanted Ryan to use the words, but with absolute protective pride in the relationship.

It did at times feel as though Yaz’s function in this story was to be a person who isn’t white explaining the history of the civil rights movement to Ryan. But I liked her time talking to Rosa (she’s very Rory, Yaz, good at relating to and caring about other people), and the moment of confusion on the bus, wondering where she was going to sit was very good, she seems well informed enough to understand about ‘passing’, and she gave a sense of realising that she practically doesn’t exist in this world (as in, this time and place), feeling slightly cut off from history at a key point in a fight that has great significance for her.

[Miapatrick @replies]

I might be reading too much into it, but I noticed when 13 said it had taken nine tries so far, and Graham said it was fourteen – and this is the fourteenth Doctor, if we include the War Doctor…

[Miapatrick @replies]

resisting the urge to point out how this site and Doctor Who in general differ from an airport, mostly because I respect that you don’t seem to be about to stick around just to bitch about every single episode, I’ll just say to you what I said to myself before this series began:

It’s the nature of Doctor Who to change with the show runner/main actor. If you get a run that you really like, that’s great, and there will be people out there who hate it. But it’s a matter of waiting. In the mean time, you can re watch old versions that you like from the past half century, listen to episodes on the radio with BG Doctors, and Big Finish look really interesting (too expensive for me right now). A version of the Doctor that you don’t like isn’t the end of the show. It’ll probably come around again.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@ichabod ah but if we divorce it from the real world and plant it squarely in the Who world, we’re back to the fact she has two hearts, and people know about aliens and many people know about The Doctor. We’d also have the problem of a BBC program showing such a negative version of the mental health system which would be incredibly irresponsible. The only way I can see it is that she landed at some time in the past when a woman would be likely to be locked up for hysteria, but not modern day. Even then, as you say, they’d often be lock up for someone’s convenience. So maybe as a Doctor- Master story set in the past. With a lot of regeneration confusion on the Doctor’s part. I personally like the fact she fell into the train and got straight to business. Women are written as victims in a lot of films and television, and often when they, at the end, are not victims they start that way. And these are often important stories. But it’s nice to see a female character who is simply strong, turns up and hits the ground running (literally). And who, if not the Doctor, should start that way?

[Miapatrick @replies]

@ichabod I was concerned to read that on the lead up to the Doctor, just for the fact of officially having less focus on the Doctor at the moment the Doctor turns female, and also surprised since a hefty chunk of the complaint about Who recently have been on the focus on the companion. I then thought these people might not complain so much about it this time round because two thirds of the companions are men…

I suppose the fact is, the Doctor has worked through a lot of things. Managed to reach some clarity with his relationship with the Master, and at least part way redeem her. Met, married, and lost his wife (hey, actually in that order! give or take a little jumbling between those points) but actually said goodbye after a 24 year date night, which is more than he was expecting for a long time, and finally managed to say ‘I love you’ (Hello Sweetie) back which wasn’t as nauseous as it now appears as I type it), discovered he didn’t destroy Gallifrey (or even wipe out the Daleks which isn’t actually a good thing, but the Doctor does hate genocide), outsmarted the Time Lords, and despite the fact that his last two companions technically died, left them travelling the universe quite happily.

Of course, there is the matter of the ‘Timeless Child’. But for the moment the Doctor is back to a rebellious Time Lord Who stole/was stolen by a Tardis and went to travel the universe, which the Doctor hasn’t been since 8 regenerated into the War Doctor.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@ichabod the psychiatric ward is an interesting concept, done very well in Buffy, but doesn’t entirely hold up with The Doctor. There would be a physical examination, the two hearts would be noticed. There would have to be a reason, someone at the hospital suppressing the information, in order for her to be incarcerated, and, frankly, someone turning up with a fully developed fantasy world in which they are, notably, a pacifist, gun hating alien, would get a referral to primary care at best.

Also, the confinement you mention was a miracle of technology put together by all the big bads in the universe to confine the Doctor (ah, doesn’t it just show how people, if they just pull together can forget their differences and make something really special).

[Miapatrick @replies]

@shinymcshine I thought the landing was just fine. Grace and Graham (and Carl) trapped on a train, chased by a weird alien thingy, the Doctor crashes through the roof, and despite the fall and her regeneration confusion, gets straight to work. I find her landing in a crisis situation a little more interesting than a build up including careful parking. I’m just going to echo other people here and point to the appropriate forum for fan fiction – which is what this is. That’s not meant as a dismissal, Moffat’s ‘Curse of the Fatal Death’ was, essentially, fan fiction, and look where he ended up.

 

[Miapatrick @replies]

@thane16 re chocolate, your mother has a point, as white  chocolate isn’t chocolate, it contains no coco, but then the same could be said about most milk chocolate…

[Miapatrick @replies]

@thane16: ‘Mum is coming up the stairs. She has a heavy tread’ now, there’s your dramatic tension!

[Miapatrick @replies]

@pedant: to be fair that’s closer than I’d get to her surname without pausing my comment to look it up… but yeah.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@thane16 ummm….

[Miapatrick @replies]

@shinymcshine while that is an excellent story I think the BBC would hesitate to present a story that initially plays out as a young girl suicidal at being dumped then running back after a text because ‘he still loves me’, and I’m not sure I like that interpretation of our Sexy. I mean, she stole a timelord and ran away to explore the universe. I’m also not sure that, in a world which has experienced a few alien invasions over the years, someone suddenly appearing with two hearts (they’d check her pulse before she’d be put in the ambulance) would be shunted into a psych ward. And they’d still do a full examination. For one thing, the mental break could be related in injury. Also this mental crisis destroys the tardis’ ability to see throughout time, and her memory? I’d assume the Tardis always knew the doctor would be a woman, she sees all the time.

I agree she seemed a bit harsh on the kid but this is pretty standard for Who. Remember the Christmas invasion? He tells them to get out, earth is protected, and ruins Harriet Smith’s career when she destroys the departing ship. It’s almost as though the Doctor is trying to groom the human race to be a better version of Time Lords, and gets upset when it appears the human race might just become a just as flawed version of the Time Lords…

[Miapatrick @replies]

@ichabod – don’t know about the characterisation. He’s set up a situation with two male companions linked by someone they both loved who is dead. Possibly my favourite line was when Graham was with Ryan as he woke up and says ‘come on, we’ll sort this out’. How Graham? You’ve just been accidentally teleported into space and stopped up by a spaceship. But he’s being calm, and kind,  and pragmatic and taking care of his wife’s grandson (who has always tried to keep him at a distance). it’s a small thing, but I like it, it feels as though he’s remembered what 13 said about her family, carrying them in her heart, thinking of what they’d say, with an excellent grasp of the first rule of intergalactic travel: don’t panic.

(We can assume he did panic, a bit, when he woke up. But he’s used to waking up feeling extremely ill.)

@pedant – the name thing is a very good point. My school had only recently gone co-eduational when I went there, and many of the male teachers continued using surnames for the boys, and first names for the girls. I think in their hearts it was meant as being more respectful to the girls, but the same teachers were slightly stunned when they were informed that girls would be taking woodwork, and boys home economics. Personally would rather refer to them as Christopher, David, Matt, Peter, Jody simply because I find these easier to spell, but it’s true, she does seem to be ‘Jody’ in a lot of the articles and discussions around the show, and surnames are a status thing (literally, once.)

[Miapatrick @replies]

@ichabod oh I think it’s the right strategy. And character work might be the focus of this version of Who. I think Jaz’s turn might well be next week. When there’s a bigger team, giving everyone equal time ends up a bit like those bands where everyone sings a line in turn. This week, the Doctor was dealing with accidentally abducting and nearly killing her new friends (the only people in the universe she, her incarnation, knows) and trying to find her Tardis. We had the two new characters being fleshed out, I think, just about enough, and some focus on Graham trying to bond with Ryan, that’s probably enough human story for one episode.

It might be more noticeable with a female companion not seeming to do all that much because we’re so used to a primary female companion with male doctor, the two balancing each other out.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@mudlark yes, custard creams just taste generically of… biscuit. I’m not too keen on sweet things that aren’t sour. Apart from Hob Nobs.

re: Tardis interior, I seem to recall when Bill first stepped in there was a similar effect?

[Miapatrick @replies]

@bluesqueakpip – I thought the comment about people putting stuff in him was a reference to the bomb thing last week. But then it was Graham who said it… I like the theory. I’m inclining to Ryan’s dad being her actual son.

@juniperfish – that was the impression I got, but as @cathannabel suggests, the truth could be more interesting, including, does he blame Grace in some way for Ryan’s mother’s death? Though in which case, depending on what he was told about her death, you think he’d be on his way to get his son out of there. But we don’t know what he’s been told.

I think the father will be mostly absent, I kind of hope so because I’m interested in the development of Graham and Ryan’s relationship, and because four main cast members is enough. But there could be interesting interactions in the future – acquiring a step father when you’re basically middle aged can be unsettling. And Graham wants to be a (grand)father figure to Ryan (and I think he’ll succeed).

[Miapatrick @replies]

@nearlysane I must admit at one point I was watching them run and thought ‘now Ryan falls over’ and topple he did. Only because I’m dyspraxic. I’m hoping they go a little further than the coordination issues though.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@kharis isn’t it!

[Miapatrick @replies]

@tardigrade I would put money on Graham’s time in the Tardis being his time in remission and him sacrificing himself in some way, with a speech along the lines of ‘I got (x amount) more years, I got Grace, I got to go on all these wonderful/absolutely appalling adventures’.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@notime: That there is a custard cream. Absolutely useless in my opinion without a cup of tea, I hope there’s a kettle in there somewhere…

[Miapatrick @replies]

@bendubz11 yes, the family thing – when she’s asked if she has family in episode one, she says no, she’s lost them, but she keeps them with her, thinks about what they’d think etc. At the time I thought maybe it was a way of putting all of that to rest, clean slate etc. And then I thought it tied in nicely with Grace’s death. But now…

If this was popping up with Moffat I’d be thinking he and River had a baby, I’d be speculating about the Silence. But although we can clearly take what was said about this series with a pinch of salt, it seems that the focus will be more on BG Who. So I’m defiantly thinking its more likely to be Susan than, say, Jenny. (Even though she is occasionally reminding me of Davidson).

[Miapatrick @replies]

@bilbobaggins – I do like the fact that this first female incarnation of the Doctor absolutely looks like she’d have a daughter who looks like Jenny. (Of course, so did Davidson’s Doctor, for obvious reasons.)

[Miapatrick @replies]

@ardaraith @miapatrick @mudlark @juniperfish: this site being this site, we were always going to find something to theorise about.

So, my main worry is that they might try to incorporate the Spockification of the Doctor attempted in the film (I am 100% happy that 8 is officially one of the Doctors but I prefer it when we politely ignore the half human thing).

Other than that – Susan? ‘An Unearthly Child’, ‘Timeless Child’ did make me think of her, and the call backs to the beginning of Who seem to support this. This doesn’t mean they’re talking about Susan. But it all makes me think this isn’t some special human like Amy, Clara, Astrid, I would really like this to be about the Doctor or another Gallafrayan. And yes, what did happen to Susan when she (surely) outlived her human husband?

I like what RTD and Moffat did with the Doctor’s childhood. RTD: the master looked into the (vortex?) and went mad, the Doctor started running and has been running ever since. Moffat: The Doctor was a sad child who looked like he would never manage to enter the academy. These are both really good for me, showing how the Doctor is different to other Time Lords, but in interesting, relatable ways. I’m not sure I want them, personally, to make him any more special than that.

And – I believe there is a blog post here on this subject – insertion of Gallafrayan’s tends to produce diminishing returns. So in this case I’m hopeful that this will be a smallish arc, a story linking the series but not dominating every episode. If we are getting a crack at an origin story, surely we’ll be seeing a version of The Master?

looking through this comment it’s turning into a list of what I would like this story to be, please, which is verging on the ARSE-y. So I’m going to end with the fact that I like the idea of a secret hidden from the Doctor’s memories, and a big bad that knows more about this than she does. Getting back to Susan, we’ve seen perception filters that make humans think they have a child, is there one that would work on a Time Lord?

[Miapatrick @replies]

@arbutus Katharine Hepburn (sorry, pet peeve, my own first name is Katharine.)

[Miapatrick @replies]

@bluesqueakpip,@pedant: re medipods – I did notice how Graham was waking Ryan up and thought it was interesting that he seemed to have recovered sooner than his grandson. (I’m reading it as that for Graham, Ryan is his grandson, whatever Ryan’s thoughts on the matter). This might just be to emphasise this dynamic, but he’d recovered quickly enough to get his bearings, and it’s interesting that this is the character who thought he might be dying just a few years ago. If this was Moffat, I’d theorise on this. On the other ship it seems as though 13 got up and going at around the same rate.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@craig – now you mention it, SkyHigh as a company name has an arc-y sound to it. And why were there two targets in the Sheffield area so close together in time? And why is earth being used as a hunting ground at all, seeing as it has been defended throughout time by a grumpy, very protective time lord?

(As for the last, given Eleventh Hour and maybe Rose, maybe people tend to try it on with Earth after a Doctor dies…)

[Miapatrick @replies]

@pedant there was something in her reaction to it that caught my attention, I’d almost missed what it was they said. It’ll be interesting to see how this series pans out.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@mudgodson what is it about the character of Graham that makes you see him as the Doctor? I personally liked his attempts to bond with his step-grandson and got a strong sense of him trying to fill, in some way, the space left by the death of his wife, but nothing screamed Doctor to me.

13, on the other hand, was eccentric, authoritative, and ingenious. She’s a little warmer and less overbearing than previous AG doctors, which I felt last week as a concern that this is occurring with the first female doctor. But I think about 6 (I think – Davidson) and remember it’s not unprecedented.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@pedant arc is definitely on. Hint of a Big Bad, and, I didn’t entirely catch what the bandages were saying to the Doctor – Timeless Child? Something she doesn’t remember?

[Miapatrick @replies]

@translatorcircuit, I suppose if we can rationalise a haircut, we could rationalise piercings? Alternatively, she stopped off at Clares on the way to the charity shop.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@everyone, one interesting thing in this episode is that she took them with her by accident. It makes sense, because Graham most probably wouldn’t have been willing to go, the other two possibly would have. I think I remember that in the first ever episode, the human companions didn’t come willingly? Of course 13 didn’t deliberately kidnap them, but there’s some nice echos: three companions, a grandfather and grandchild (sort of, but people do insist that the existence of Susan isn’t evidence of the Doctor’s sexual past), companions who didn’t actually chose to go with The Doctor.

Both Graham and The Doctor are recently widowed, in a sense (The Husbands Of River Song did feel like a natural ending, and Missy actually gave her condolences in the last series.) So I agree with @bluesqueakpip that Grace’s death might well run through the episodes. And also about the accent. A teenager might very well end up changing accents at secondary school, it is a time of intense self consciousness and wanting to fit in.

Oh as to Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, that episode broke my heart (poor Tricey. I just read him as a big slobbery dog. I might have a problem.) Plus it had Rory’s dad.

[Miapatrick @replies]

Hi @missy. Oh lord, don’t get me started on real life URGH! exactly the same reason for my absence.

I have to say, for my part, with all my trepidations, I did enjoy the new episode, and see potential for deep thinking and a fantastic Doctor, but I know you weren’t keen (slight understatement?) on the change in sex. Personally, I don’t think I’ll love this version of Who as much as I did Moffat’s, but I don’t love any of the versions of Who as much as I love Moffat’s. I do have a feeling that, overall, and adjusting for the lack of the Moffat scripts and influence which in my opinion did elevate RTD’s time in charge, Chibnell might be my second favourite New Who show runner. That said, very early days.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@juniperfish I do agree that the change in tone works with the new cycle. And, thinking on, Davidson’s Doctor was quite warm and kind, so was McCann’s. There are other ways the weirdness can manifest. And yes, her way around building thingamjimmies was lovely. Oh, no sonic, I’ll build one. I’ve lost my Tardis, wait, let me cannibalise this alien technology and teleport right over there. It’s made me wonder if New Who Doctors have been a little too dependent on the TARDIS. This doctor literally rolls up her sleeves. I like that.

Re class, Moffat did redeem himself a little with Bill, albeit in a rather ‘I’ll fix this situation, I’ll make the dinner lady into a student’ kind of way from the Doctor.

And Grandparents – good thought. People have suggested in the other place that Grace was a non essential character, introduced for cheep emotional thrills. I think it’s really interesting that the important dead parent (featuring with Rose, Clara, and Bill) was introduced as a living individual, we see the death and the aftermath for the companions. Capaldi as grandfather was up front – the photograph of Susan, Bill introducing him as her grandad. Jody is relatively brand new, but she has still lived that life.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@xad4 – totally, Grahams speech was a beautiful note to fans.

[Miapatrick @replies]

I quite enjoyed the saga of a dyspraxic trying to ride a bike. (I gave up after one skinned knee. rite of passage of childhood my arse).

Jody is definitely the doctor. My only concern is – where the doctor has flaws, it’s usually about not appearing to care – the doctor always does care, doesn’t always manage to show it. And they need their companions sometimes to keep them in check, let them know when they’re being an arse. Jody is a warm, kind, compassionate doctor, and this is good, they always are. But I a: worry that they might be changing that side of the character at the same time as making the doctor female (I’ve never been one for ‘if women ran the world we wouldn’t have all this nonsense) and b: feel that this could damage the dynamic of doctor – companions. So I suppose I’m a little worried by her lack of apparent arrogance. Still, it’s early doors.

I loved the name part of it. She’d forgotten her name. She asked if a character was a doctor ‘shame, I’m looking for a doctor.’ And then she found her ‘I’m the doctor’.

One characteristic that came across strongly is her inventive, improvisational ability to build/throw together a sonic screwdriver (swiss army knife), transportation device, or whatever she needs. My boyfriend maintains that most things can be fixed with bathroom sealant, foil, elastic bands or a combination of the three. He loved the microwave.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@janetteb, I have a similar dread, but of course Moffat isn’t for everyone, and we’ve had a fantastic run. It is the nature of the program to change, the real regeneration is the change in show runner I think. I think Jody will be great though, and it’s nice to see Hooderzfield represented!

I do find the idea that the story arcs were a problem (seen on a lot of DW comment threads, especially facebook) a little strange. So much television is all about the long story nowadays, episodic TV seems to be on the wane.

Spending the day watching the last season in blissful peace (thank you north Wales rally) (and thank you bbc iplayer). It really was a perfect last series for Moffat.

[Miapatrick @replies]

Dear Doctor Who forum.

Is it wrong that when my boyfriend mentioned he might be going up to Manchester Sunday afternoon and staying the night, I was rather pleased?

And when he changed his mind slightly disappointed?

I’ll be no use to him anyway, there will be no talking during Doctor Who, and after I shall be mostly posting on the Other Place, posting on here, getting into arguments in the Other Place, I won’t have had as much fun, nor he as little since the last Game Of Thrones episode aired…

on the other hand, it is a Good Thing, the things I love about Moffart Who the most are the things that made it difficult for him to follow, he has memory problems, and from what I’ve seen there is a good chance that Jody could be his doctor.

But dear god, what if he likes this Who more than I do?

p.s. missed you lot, don’t know why I’ve been away so long.

[Miapatrick @replies]

@toinfinityandbepond: I know, hence the ‘wonderful’ 😉

@lisa, it was a great twist on that story. I didn’t quite like the emotional blackmail element of the film, or the idea of putting this greater value on his life. Theoretically, would someone less special just be left to jump?

In this episode there was an element of Turn Right, what if One didn’t decide to regenerate? Is it a fixed moment in time? But the point was, he had to feel happy about it. In Twelves’s case, all those moments which upset One, the idea of the War Doctor are a long and exhausting history for him, and he’s tired.

@mersey: I imagine her brief for the two words of dialogue was too put as much Yorkshire in as she could. People have speculated whether she’d keep her accent.

[Miapatrick @replies]

So the gin did it’s job last night so I had to watch it again this morning.

A Christmas story about dissuading someone from committing suicide? Wonderful.

I love that there was no evil plan. And the Captains expression when he asked ‘what you mean ‘one’.

And the question of the memories. Regeneration feels like death to the Doctor sometimes, the end of that personality. But they do still go on- and Bill saying ‘I’m standing right in front of you and you don’t know it’s me’, like Twelve talking to Clara when he regenerated.

[Miapatrick @replies]

<p style=”text-align: right;”>@juniperfish- I was right there with you. River was there.</p>

[Author]

Posts