Welcome @trillianwho — that is a pretty neat theory, that the Doctor literally can’t say his name for some reason.

@thedentistofdavros — The people mentioned in “The Invasion of Time” are called Shobogans — apparently regarded as hoodlums by the Time Lords.  I agree that with what we’ve been given in the televised canon over the years, it w…[Read more]

Yeah — I agree about how powerful a character the Doctor is.  My favorites, Four and Twelve, are so compelling that I can tolerate flawed scripts, secondary characters, etc….even if I nitpick them later!  😉

I actually became interested in Who with the 1996 TV movie.  It’s not great Who, but the Eighth Doctor was an intriguing character, an…[Read more]

Hey @trillianwho!

I confess that Clara was a hit-and-miss companion for me.  I haven’t seen any of her episodes with Eleven, mind, but I’ve seen most of her work with Twelve.  On the one hand, she did have an interesting character arc as she became something of a distaff counterpart to the Doctor, something few companions in the old or new s…[Read more]

Hi!  Looking over these comments — I agree that the character/story arc of Series 8 is strong and thoughtfully drawn conceptually (Danny and his concern for Clara, the Doctor and his identity crisis, etc.); it was just bumpy in its execution at times.  Also, glad to hear you’re feeling better @ichabod .

@puroandson The negativity surrounding a lot of reviews, etc. of Series 8 initially scared me off from it, and when I finally saw it I was heartbroken to have not given it a chance sooner!  I think it’s terribly underrated, in fact.  It does have rough spots — a little more script polishing might have worked wonders — but the story arc of the D…[Read more]

@missy I’ll protect you!  I wasn’t a big fan of Danny either; Series 8 just didn’t need to give over sooooo much time to a romantic subplot.  Clara adjusting to the new Doctor, and the Doctor having his identity crisis of sorts, could have been enough.  Still, it was tolerable.  (I think Samuel Anderson was put to better use in some of the aud…[Read more]

Hey @ichabod, since you asked…

Each autistic person’s condition manifests itself in a unique stew of “unconventional” behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses.  But there are certain basic behaviors that seem particularly common across a cross-section of them….

The Twelfth Doctor isn’t good with names, or remembering faces.  He’s prone to g…[Read more]

Of the Series 8 episodes I’ve seen, I did think “The Caretaker” was slightly bogged down by the fussing over Clara’s changing personality in the late going (I just couldn’t get into the Clara-Danny thread of the season’s story arc, though it was tolerable and certainly had a purpose), and it has one of those plot structures I generally can’t st…[Read more]

The Sixth Doctor encountered a young H.G. Wells in “Timelash” in Season 22, with the revelation of his identity the story’s “punchline” (up to the ending, he was just known as Herbert).  Of course, that’s not one of the better-regarded classic serials or even Sixth Doctor serials…so maybe a new series episode could bring in the older Wells?  …[Read more]

Thanks for the emotional support everyone!  😉

@puroandson  Oh yes, the reviewer I’m describing is still passionate about the show, but the Zygon 2-parter and a few other stray episodes aside — ones like “Time Heist” and “Sleep No More” that, tellingly, don’t have much impact on story arcs — she’s pretty harsh on it (she’s really not a fan of h…[Read more]

@missy One of the Big Finish audios tackled Boudica, “The Wrath of the Iceni”.  It was a good, if dark, Fourth Doctor/Leela adventure (Leela initially decides to leave the Doctor to fight alongside her!).  As with most all Fourth Doctor audios, it’s only an hour long, so it could be adapted into the TV show without having to drop much of the pl…[Read more]

Looking above at the comments about people who complain the show’s not what it used to be…

I confess to being a bit of a sinner in that regard. I sampled all of the classic Doctors when I got into the show in the ’90s, and lots of expanded universe stuff.  I found the Fourth Doctor to be my favorite and focused on his era (as a young, hungry…[Read more]

Yeah, I think that by the time he regenerates, or perhaps when he regenerates, the whole business about memory and Clara will be settled, done and dusted.  After all, Ten said goodbye to his companions and other associates, and Eleven had a vision of Amy.  Twelve will likely find final closure regarding Clara when he comes to his de…[Read more]

@roshin I think it would be nice to have a fanworks corner at the official website.  Actually, the official Tumblr for the show already features a lot of that.  (http://doctorwho.tumblr.com)  It’s run by BBC America and alongside basic show news and updates, it basically combs the whole of Tumblr for the best fan art, cosplay pictures, etc., upd…[Read more]

Well, Matt Smith has debunked the “degeneration” rumors, so there’s that.

Elsewhere, Titan Comics dropped the ball on Supremacy of the Cybermen — Part Two was supposed to arrive today, but they’ve missed the deadline.  Now, last year they botched their first multi-Doctor story Four Doctors by publishing the final issue two weeks late when it was…[Read more]

Ooooooo, that speech!  Much as I love Doctor Who, and as moving as so many of Twelve’s episodes have been that’s the one scene that well and truly reduced me to tears when I first saw it.  I should watch it every day, but I don’t.  😉

(Also, Bonnie the Zygon was my personal favorite of the Series 9 villains, not counting ones who were previ…[Read more]

@missy  As I noted above, Twelve <i>has</i> met Charlotte Bronte in the comics, in “Unearthly Things”.  That story could easily be fleshed out into a one-off episode, the way some of the audio dramas and novels have wound up being adapted, if often loosely, into the series.  But without Clara as the companion, it wouldn’t be the same — Ch…[Read more]

About the whole issue of the graffiti still being on the TARDIS — I was asking at TVTropes why the Doctor’s mind wipe wouldn’t be more or less moot once he was back in it, because surely he had pictures, mementos, etc. of Clara in there that would jog his memory — and the TARDIS itself would remember her.  Someone suggested that she must have “…[Read more]

@missy  Yeah, those are all fan-favorites really!  I think it would be neat if the promised “guest companion” in this year’s Christmas show turned out to be a historical figure.  Trouble is, I can’t think of one that is perfect for the Christmas theme, since they already used Charles Dickens and I don’t think the prospect of the Doctor visi…[Read more]

@missy  It’s okay if you don’t like comics!  I didn’t get into them until my late 20s, and even then, I have no interest in the titles most comic book shops stock — i.e. the standard superhero titles.  Barnes and Noble actually has a far superior variety available, albeit in collected hardbacks and paperbacks (which makes it fascinating that th…[Read more]