@craig With a title referencing the first ever episode of AG Who,…

OK, I admit that it took me forever to get this. I’m slow sometimes!

@misterf55 JW is a good actress (not actor)

Why not “actor”? “Actress” is in that mob of needlessly gender-specific terms we are burdened with. “Actor” refers to a person who acts, which perfectly describes Jodie Whittaker (along with all the other actors who have played the Doctor).

@thane16 Sadly I don’t think The Civil Rights Movement can e…

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I loved it! For me, this episode hit it out of the park. The Doctor and her companions are melding together and learning why what the Doctor does is so important. It reminded me of so many of the classic Doctor Who episodes where the TARDIS drops them off in unexpected, unplanned places, and then they realize why they are there.

I admit that I…[Read more]

OK, on second viewing (this time via Space’s on-demand stream, which, while it has commercials, has far fewer of them than the cable broadcast channel), this episode held together much better for me. I actually liked the Doctor’s uncertainty and fear that she’d failed her companions. As others have noted, it’s not that she’s never experienced…[Read more]

@missrori … but I do think it would help if BBC America would, at least for the premiere airing, drop the commercials. They are REALLY killing momentum.

We have the same problem with the Space channel in Canada. The ads totally disrupt the flow of an episode. It’s always such a relief to be able to watch these episodes, sans commercials, on…[Read more]

How she paid for all this is another matter. Maybe her new friends supplied the money, or maybe the 12th Doctor was carrying sufficient cash in his coat pocket 🙂

I’m pretty sure that right at the end, as she settled on her outfit, she asked her companions if they had any cash, because she had none.

Sorry to be so late chiming in. I was away in the States, visiting my family (and witnessing what seems to be the usual political mayhem these days). My 91-year-old father is having some health issues, so it was necessary to be away. I didn’t get to watch the season premiere until tonight. My husband and I are in agreement: We like her!

Jodie…[Read more]

@missy Exactly! Why couldn’t I have said that? With me, when emotions take hold, I become almost incoherent. I too liked Christopher Eccleston and those two episodes. I found it very amusing when they used “Are you my Mummy.” in at least two other episodes.

This is something I try to remember when I read posts by others who don’t love what I do. T…[Read more]

I just rewatched this episode tonight and caught so much more than I did when it originally aired. Now I love it! (Yes, I know, I am slow to catch on.)

Question: There’s a waitress who interrupts River and the Doctor at their table. I would swear she looks just like Rosie Jane, the actress who played Bill Potts’ mom, but I don’t see her credited…[Read more]

@karenmarie Yup, I loved Chris Eccleston, too. Thinking back to Steven Moffatt’s first two Doctor Who episodes, I decided to rewatch “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances” … brilliant!

Last night I rewatched “Dark Water” and “A Death in Heaven” (plus “Last Christmas”), and was struck by how young Peter Capaldi looked, compared with how he looked in “Twice Upon a Time” (plus most of Seasons 9 and 10). At the time all we heard about was how old he looked. Of course, after Matt Smith, who wouldn’t? So I sort of accepted that he…[Read more]

@karenmarie Thank you for your compliment! I do enjoy writing.

Like you, I enjoyed the camaraderie between Matt Smith’s Doctor and Karen Gillan’s Amy. They had a delightful rapport, and adding Rory to the mix provided another neat payoff. Instead of turning Amy into another Rose, they neatly dodged that trap by having Amy choose Rory. So the…[Read more]

@tardigrade However, I have to register my discomfort with the First Doctor being portrayed with 1960’s (or earlier) attitudes to gender roles, even with that being played for comedy. I have difficulty in reconciling that with the Doctor’s character as I know it- I’d have preferred that those dated elements were treated just as a by-product of ma…

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@missy I don’t think you are as alone in your opinion as you might think (or maybe the opponents are more vocal). Earlier today I made the mistake of checking out Doctor Who‘s Facebook page. Not pretty.

I’m trying to keep an open mind. As I’ve said many times before, I often find myself resisting the regeneration casting changes … only to feel…[Read more]

@pedant I guess I missed that. I know that Smith and Tennant’s Doctors mentioned they didn’t like to think of that incarnation of themselves, and Hurt’s Doctor mentioned not considering himself worthy of the title. But I thought he came around when they ended up saving Gallifrey (though they also noted that none of them would remember doing it). Thanks!

My favorite part was the poignant Armistice Day scene, …

Uh, I’m not sure why I wrote that, as Armistice Day was a completely different event. This was a Christmas truce or ceasefire. I apologize for my humongous historical gaffe!

OK, I just watched this episode again last night, and loved it once again. For me, it was a nearly perfect celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

But I have one question (and I know I’m not the first to ask about this): Where does the War Doctor fall in the numbering system? I’m thinking he came between Paul McGann’s Doctor No. 8 and…[Read more]

Thanks for that explanation, @missrori! Makes sense to me. I was thinking a bit too literally … as usual!

Thank you for the link to that article, @missrori! So, a question I have after reading that is, was Jenna Coleman asked to return for this Christmas special, and it didn’t work out? The author indicated that Bill Potts got what is essentially Clara Oswald’s ending. I got the impression, after reading other posts, that Pearl Mackie’s casting in…[Read more]

@countscarlioni and @bluesqueakpip Thank you for those detailed explanations! I was never sure how that was handled at the time, if William Hartnell was indeed in his Doctor’s regeneration scene. It’s also quite cool to learn some of the details behind the filming/editing of that, and how it managed to be archived when other early Doctor Who…[Read more]