I have enjoyed reading everyone’s posts. Thank you so much, as always, for shedding light on so many subtleties I missed the first time around.

Earlier I mentioned that I saw a resemblance between Hazran and The Woman in “Hell Bent” (it could just be the presence of a barn in both episodes). Looking at photos now, they don’t look much alike, but…[Read more]

@donnawho I felt that this Doctor wasn’t rebelling so much against dying; he knows he isn’t dying. But it’s more about changing … yet again. He doesn’t want to wear another face. He doesn’t want to change, he wants to stay as he is. And that certainly reverberates on a personal level. Many of us don’t want to change, but must. It’s reality. It…[Read more]

@ichabod Big pictures, little words. That’s what I need.

@countscarlioni Thank you for that video! I think I will have to play it in slow-motion. My poor little mind still doesn’t quite get it. But I’m glad it helped my husband, and I do think it looks like an amazing movie.

@thane15 Puro, I’m with you once again. It’s like I almost get it … then realize I don’t. Shades of algebra coming back to haunt me.

My husband tells me that the film, Insignificance, gives the clearest explanation (via Marilyn Monroe, no less) of Einstein’s theory of relativity that he’s ever heard. So I think I must put it on my watchlist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insignificance_(film)

@tardigrade Yes, that’s how my husband explained it to me. He’s a science guy, I am not (neither science nor guy), and so my understanding of this in the abstract is limited. Thanks for correcting me!

@geoffers Thank you for that explanation. My husband had to explain the black hole/time perception thing to me two different ways before I (sort of) got it on his second explanation. Abstract ideas and I have never got along very well.

@lisa I too am intrigued by the Master’s presence here, along with his future (?) regeneration as Missy. As you say, he seems to be “stuck” here and needing an escape hatch. Is that via the Doctor, and also Bill? Or are they the barriers to his freedom, and part of the reason he and the Doctor are at such an impasse? Interesting question. I guess…[Read more]

@tardigrade I’ve lost track of who said it now, but I’ve got to agree that the initial scene with Missy was the weakest part. Much as I enjoy Michelle Gomez’s portrayal of Missy, this felt like she was channeling Captain Jack Sparrow, or was straight-up drunk (the distinction is slight). So a little too over the top for me, even allowing for Missy…

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@thane15 Oh yeah, I get you!

I really must watch this episode again to fully absorb it. (Have I mentioned that I loathe the commercial interruptions on the Space Channel? Yes, I have. And I do.)

One thing that struck me is that Bill’s fate is very much what I’d imagined for Clara, before we discovered what her true destiny was to be. I thought…[Read more]

@pedant Very good. Thank you for the reminder!

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

Interesting bit about the Doctor translating. I knew the TARDIS did a sort of auto-translation, so that everyone, whether human or alien (or humans of different languages or eras), understands one another. But how does that explain what happened last week on Mars, when the TARDIS was largely absent? How were Iraxxa and Friday able to understand…[Read more]

In Canada, I am watching 19-2, a Canadian series (originally produced and aired in French, then developed separately in English). Stellar series, and not just because it’s Canadian. Season 1: superb window into the world of law-enforcement stress. Season 2, Episode 1, is one of the best (and most harrowing) things I’ve ever seen. Season 3 started…[Read more]

Wow! Amen to that, @pedant!

Initially I was not sold on Capaldi’s Doctor, but I decided to be patient, and over time he has won me over. Especially compelling for me was “Heaven Sent,” in which he delivered a tour de force performance.

@blenkinsopthebrave I agree with you about the self-doubt. And maybe that’s why, for some, he isn’t their Doctor. Certainly Eccleston,…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave If you look at attempts to do those sorts of story construction elsewhere on TV, I would single out three examples: Babylon 5, The X-Files, and (the new) Battlestar Galactica. I have a real soft spot for Babylon 5, partially because of the way it married its long sci-fi arc with its referencing of fascist militarism and its…

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@ichabod Thank you for that additional explanation. It was something that stood out to me … and then, of course, the poor fellow got turned into a beach ball. As you say, his presence is a stretch (well, given their locale, the presence of all of them is a stretch), but not beyond the realm of possibility.

@thane15 Sadly, I kept my hopes up … only to have them dashed.

@blenkinsopthebrave Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I missed that article. Very enlightening! (Though I’m betting they were quoting Gatiss, not Davies, at the end of the article, since Gatiss is the only one quoted throughout.)

Thanks to @wolfweed for posting this;…[Read more]

As usual, I had to watch this episode twice before reflecting on it here. One thing that stood out to me was how visually convincing the Empress was with her very sharp teeth. Often such makeup/prosthetic/special effects artifacts look “put on” … but hers didn’t. I completely believed her as the creature she was.

I apologize in advance for my…[Read more]