@mudlark Thank you for your cautionary tale about Time Team. My husband and I have watched the series and, not being archaeologists, we wouldn’t have taken into consideration the points that you make. The flip side is that series like this encourage me to be more aware of local history and the steps needed to preserve its artifacts. One other…[Read more]

@Mudlark I’m an engineer, but I’d come to the same conclusions as you about Time Team (though in my case it was guesswork, rather than actual knowledge). Which is why I generally prefer well-written fiction to ‘reality’ TV, at least the fiction is honest about being non-factual. The most blatant ‘reality’ example is those absurd ‘survival’-type…[Read more]

@winston Your description of “snow on the ground” brings back memories of our garden in Stockholm emerging from the deep carpet of snow, the first crocuses blooming and then all the shoots breaking through the soil. IT was all very magical to us who are used to gardens that are green and wild all year around.

@mudlark There were photos of the…[Read more]

@janetteb   We are good in the Winston house although we are both distressed over Ukraine and a smidge of real life. I have tried to distract myself with other things but it is impossible.

Our government is dropping mask mandates on Monday and frankly I find that worrying. We have decided to continue on the way we have been going, like masks a…[Read more]

@nerys yes, good to see you! We’re all pretty much experiencing major or minor flooding in Brisbane at the mo. I always complain when we don’t have rain but then moan after 3 days -but it’s been more than a week of solid rain but I’m lucky -we’re on a hill.

I think it was made abundantly clear the doctor couldn’t recog Clara. the symmetry co…[Read more]

@thane16 Good to see you back here in these parts! I’m glad you enjoyed the New Year’s special. It hit all the right notes, for me. I could ask, “Now, why weren’t we given more of that with this Doctor?” (And I did.) But I’m also grateful that we got what we got.

@dentarthurdent Re: the Doctor not asking the waitress for her name, why didn’t I…[Read more]

@mudlark    Yes, I think I noticed Clara’s theme in the background of that scene.   Besides, the Doctor knows that theme – he mentions that it’s called ‘Clara’ in the diner in Hell Bent.

Did you ever read Doug Adams’ ‘Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency’ – there’s a Cambridge don called Reg, Professor Chronotis, who has a time machine (in…[Read more]

@mudlark thank you. Have talked to some of the other committee members regarding what happened and feeling much better. I have been on this committee since it began as have most of the other committee members so it is getting that cosy family feel and meetings are generally enjoyable. The problem person probably won’t be back and the rest of us…[Read more]

@Mudlark
‘meeting (n) An organisational aberration in which twelve people take an hour to fail to agree on something which could have been decided by any one of them in five minutes’. I was an engineer all my working life, didn’t want ‘promotion’ for the same reason as you, until they farmed out the design work to consultants and I became perforce…[Read more]

so, I had a “s**t” night. A committee meeting that left at least two people in tears, one of them being me, the other my daughter in law to be, and my son, who is the Chairperson, trying to console us both. So, I asked the s/o to put on one of my favourite Dr Who episodes, Hell Bent because of this discussion.

He has just walked into the diner.…[Read more]

@Mudlark    I retired my $18 ZTE phone six months ago, for an Android smartphone. I’ve been using Linux for 20 years, and Android is famously based on Linux – but, I found that didn’t help much. The *nix base is well hidden by layers of applications.
I think that’s inevitable, what works best on a server/desktop doesn’t work too well on a sm…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent. @mudlark Hallooo!

I too rewatched Who in the past few months & love those episodes with Clara.

I think the Dr uses his sonic for emergency ATM withdrawals (Tennant in Tate’s bride episode)  but could use his psychic Paper to obtain necessaries? I think he doesn’t ‘know’ Clara at all by the Diner Incident- maybe Clara’s…[Read more]

@Mudlark It seems to me that your conclusions are entirely credible and correct (insofar as any interpretation can be ‘correct’). The Moff tends to put so many levels into a scene (but also to leave things unsaid) that it’s a fertile ground for theorising – and also highly rewarding to watch several times. And yes, re-watching (with the knowledge…[Read more]

I just posted a rather long blurb on the Hell Bent thread. (Again). Watching that magnificent episode seems to impel me that way. I particularly love the scenes in the diner.

I’ve just been reading the discussion thread – fascinating – and as @Mudlark said in 2015:
“… on some level he [the Doc] has clearly not forgotten, as is evident in the…[Read more]

@miapatrick and @scaryb

Yes, I think we’re looking at a reset canon going forward and the Doc as cosmic adoptee too and I’m fairly happy with both ideas. RE. RuthDoc, yep, I think we’re definitely going to see her again. It occurs to me that the holy grail of unexpected reveals for Chibs will be a surprise regeneration and I wouldn’t be surprised…[Read more]

@mudlark this is interesting because to me Moffart’s conclusion, assuming it was a conclusion and not just a breathtakingly effective bluff of the hybrid prophesy didn’t quite work for mewas one of his least satisfying conclusions. As you say, the existence of Me made it ambigious – but only because she was a human who had been changed, and we…[Read more]

@Mudlark

That was a fascinating insight into pre-electronic life.

Of course young kids don’t really notice the lack of facilities like plumbing and refrigerators, that’s ‘someone else’s problem’.

Probably the most primitive place I lived was in 1953, after our family had gone to Perth, West Australia for three years, couldn’t handle the heat,…[Read more]

@mudlark   @miapatrick    I do apologise so much for swapping your names!    It was entirely inadvertent and a stupid mistake to make.    I’d go back and fix it with an edit but I’m out of time for that.

Please (both of you) accept my apology.   I wish I could promise never to do it again but I’m afraid I do make silly mistakes from time to time…[Read more]

Great posts, everyone… and YAY! to bonkers theorising being back.

@Juniperfish (big furry wave to you) – totally agree with your take on Tecteun (interesting to get her side of it which pretty much corroborates what the Master described to the Doctor, only “justified”), and like @Mudlark I wondered about her adopted child seeming to have so…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent @mudlark, @miapatrick and @winston

Mudlark’s analagy of hitting one’s head on a wall summs up Uni well. It is fun but also massively stressful however once we finish we long to return. I have always thought that one day I would go back and now I am running out of excuses for putting it off. Earlier this year it was suggested that…[Read more]