@craig (le sigh). Well, hopefully this won’t overshadow Capaldi’s finale.  Of course his announcement didn’t overshadow Smith’s finale, but at the same time he got the 50th special and such to keep him paramount in the final months…otherwise I’ll have to work harder to keep the spirit alive!  😉

@mirime and @missy I also support Bill’s happy ending!  Besides, it was shot through with bittersweetness, since she doesn’t know the Doctor’s okay and vice versa.

@mirime So you’re going to be reading the Twelfth Doctor novels?  They are good, especially this year’s batch.  🙂

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@janetteb  Frankly your idea sounds like much more fun, I would go ahead and try it!  😀

@janetteb  Pretty cool idea.  IIRC, the Big Finish audios did something like that in the fourth and last season of the New Eighth Doctor Adventures line, with that Doctor reuniting with an older Susan and later taking on her son Alex as a companion.  It…didn’t end well, alas, in “To the Death”, that line’s finale.

@blenkinsopthebrave Well put, I think.  And a very sweet moment it is.  🙂

@nick wrote:

Is the Doctor therefore saying that he is going to this act of self sacrifice without being able to give himself even the reward that comes from the knowledge that he is saving the level 507 survivors, bitter sweet though that must be ?

It sure sounds like it to me, about as “pure” a sacrifice in extremis as he can make.  At the very…[Read more]

@jimthefish It could have been both the beating and the Cybermen zapping him on the roof that started wearing him down, and then the blast to the hearts serving as a “finishing move.”  This could be because he knew he couldn’t regenerate after the hospital because dealing with that would make things harder for everyone else.  After he gets b…[Read more]

@janetteb Yeah, what was up with the TARDIS can only be one of those riddles for the ages.  Part of the mystique….  😉

@jimthefish I agree that the Valeyard probably will never be revisited on screen and instead remain left to Big Finish to play with.  The contemporary series has done interesting things with the Doctor’s darker aspects as it is, so the Valeyard would be redundant.  And yes @tardigrade, we have to acknowledge the War Doctor!  🙂

@nick Yeah, there was definitely a Disney-esque feel to Bill and Heather’s reunion — and from there the Doctor coming back around, however reluctantly.  I do wish the former had had more setup, but on the whole I think it worked, and so did the Doctor’s revival.

It’s funny to see that happen with Twelve specifically because in my fanfic “What…[Read more]

@wolfweed A shame about the tech difficulties in Scotland.  Here in the U.S. BBC America got in online backlash trouble for scheduling the episode a half hour earlier than usual so as not to preempt Orphan Black which meant some people missed the opening third.

@blenkinsopthebrave  Nothing wrong with being a hopeless romantic.  I happen to be one myself, always trying to tamp down my idealism.  Nice to see a story that says it’s better not to.  😉

@ollie14  The Doctor did almost die for good thanks to blowing up the floor.  Bill and Heather take him back to the TARDIS so his final resting place can b…[Read more]

@nick  What does feel epic enough indeed?  All things considered, I think one of the best things about the ending of this episode is that Christmas might go in an epic direction, or something smaller and more personal…we just have to wait and see.

Oh — while I was annoyed by BBC America’s ad breaks and Comcast continuing to cut off recordings before the show actually ends (had to DVR “Orphan Black” to catch the full ending), it was sweet to show that deleted scene from “The Pilot”.

My heart is so full right now I wish I had another!  😀

I was one of those who figured Heather would be the means of saving Bill, and it was beautiful how it was handled.  And the sweet sorrow that the Doctor doesn’t know…there was such tenderness in his interactions with Cyber!Bill.  I wonder…Maybe he has a perception filter too, for th…[Read more]

@janetteb. I never got the idea of hate watching either.  I think it was coined to refer to fascinatingly bad shows.  First one I remember that referred to as that was “Smash”, an NBC musical drama from about 5 years ago.

@ichabod Yeah, I wouldn’t want to give up green growing things either.  We used to have a lot of trees around our house, bu…[Read more]

@thane15  Oh, I understand what you mean.  That’s what I meant when I said “Face the Raven” worked for me emotionally; in terms of working emotionally and thematically as the climax of Clara’s story/character arc, it did its job well, even if the details as to how the shade worked weren’t as clear as they might have been.  And the season did a go…[Read more]

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@bluesqueakpip That’s a pretty thoughtful comparison and I think you’re on to something.  It really frustrated me that there wasn’t a more fleshed-out explanation as to why the Doctor was helpless in “Face the Raven” (why he couldn’t stop the shade, or revive Clara given he’d shared regeneration energy with Davros and figured out how to save…[Read more]