@missy And think of all he’s gone through since he had to lose his memories of Clara to make up for his mistakes — he’s effectively homeless since there’s no indication he’s returned to Gallifrey, is still hurting over having to let River Song go to her fate, stuck with the duty of watching over Missy and not being able to make off-Earth trips…[Read more]

Big Finish has just announced a clutch of War Master audios starring Derek Jacobi; Volume One arrives in December.

@lisa I agree that this fussing over the Doctor’s state of mind is important yet may be missing a forest for the trees. Can Missy be good, and for how long?  That’s the most pressing question. The finale would be tragic enough if she cannot be… 😉

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

(sigh)  I expected the grisly news of the fire to be the top story on our American morning news shows yesterday, but instead it turned out to be something closer to home — the assassination attempt on Republican congressmen at a baseball practice.  No one but the shooter is dead as of yet, but there were some bad wounds.  It’s pretty much do…[Read more]

The idea of a Doctor Who season built on just one storyline seems awfully risky because it could be extremely limiting in terms of what could be done from episode to episode.  Would there be only one or two major antagonists faced again and again?  How to justify a wide variety of monsters, settings, and secondary/tertiary characters?  If th…[Read more]

@ichabod , @missy

@ichabod wrote:

And I agree with @missy that he’s been playing fast and loose with that big brain of his (talk about recklessness!).  Maybe he’ll choose to regenerate because he faces the fact that he can’t depend on his self definition any more — too many mistakes lately?

I think he is “wearing thin” and his recent exploits…[Read more]

Chris Chibnall and collaborators talk a bit about their new direction for Who.  No spoilers, but at this point it’s expected to air in the autumn of 2018.  One idea being floated is one giant storyline running through a season, ala Broadchurch.  Who thinks that might work?  🙂

Radio Times article

Also, I can think of a few reasons its mai…[Read more]

@nick Oh — about the Moff and the long game…good question!

Well, originally Clara’s story was to wrap up with “Death in Heaven”, but because Jenna Coleman decided to stay it was extended first with “Last Christmas” and then Series 9.  Given how much Clara’s story had to evolve, it’s remarkable that it hangs together at all and ties well into…[Read more]

@nick  I do think it wasn’t fair that the Doctor couldn’t properly grieve his loss once he was free of the dial, thanks to the mind wipe.  Granted, it would have been challenging to find the kind of emotional support he would need for that…Ohila and the Time Lords would have been no help.  The so-called little people of Gallifrey couldn’t beg…[Read more]

@thane15  Ah, just saw your latest post.  Yes, each companion is special in their own way, and Clara happened to have a particularly important role in all of his lives up to that point, just by being the Impossible Girl.  And then she convinced him that Gallifrey didn’t have to fall, allowing him to undo his greatest regret and crime.  And then…[Read more]

@thane15  I think the idea of the Doctor being “cowardly” in “Hell Bent” is in the sense that he wasn’t brave enough to accept Clara’s death and facing the universe without her (“Look how far I went for fear of losing you”), but you’re right that it’s more selfish than cowardly.  When she finally got through to him that he wasn’t respecting her f…[Read more]

@nick wrote:

He had the chance to say a final goodbye and find the beginnings of an emotional closure (an overused word) to companion Clara. But he fails that test and runs from the best answer, which would be to stop and return Clara to her grave.

I myself thought the story would have had a better ending had they just gone back to Gallifrey, but…[Read more]

@ichabod on the Doctor and healing:

Probably nobody, fully, until he heals himself — by regenerating; turning the page on 12.

Hmm, I am not so sure about that.  The idea that no one can help him to heal sounds like what everyone was chiding me about thinking before — the idea that no one truly loves the Doctor.  But River said he was loved by so…[Read more]

@ichabod  I think you’re on to something about the Doctor simply being more prone to alien-ness this year; the Moff mentioned that was going to be the case.  Given what we know of his circumstances now, it’s not surprising, and you’re right that we’ve seen it before.  That’s why I’m not seeing his behavior as especially unusual.  🙂

Also, a fri…[Read more]

@ichabod Thank you.  I’m doing a lot of feeling about as to where it’s all going, some of it from the official spoilers, some from clues in earlier episodes.  I see something more optimistic — yet tragic — for it than most, I suppose.  But that’s for another thread…

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

@pedant  Excellent point.  This particular Doctor’s been unusually broken by his experiences, he couldn’t find people on his home world who could understand what he’s been through, and even a mind wipe can’t take all the hurt away.  He had a reprieve with River, and was strong enough to let her go after 24 happy years together…but it still hu…[Read more]

By the by, another reason I don’t think the Doctor will completely bottom out in “The Doctor Falls” (and remember that many finale titles don’t tell the whole story) is because if there isn’t some spark of hope at the end, no one would want to see the Christmas special!  😉

@nick I suggested the It’s a Wonderful Life idea, actually.  But I don’t think a complete moral failure for Twelve is in the cards; it would largely rehash “Hell Bent”.  I think, rather, he’ll make some good choices, some bad, and things will go badly for him <i>in spite of </i>his best efforts and he’ll wonder if it’s worth being the Doctor at al…[Read more]