I just watched this on Netflix (as contrasted with my previous viewings on Canada’s Space Channel). It was wonderful to see it in high definition, and commercial-free. I’d forgotten so much! As Nightmare noted, it was such a joy to see the three Doctors sparring with one another. There was a remarkable contrast yet cohesion between the three…[Read more]

I actually did love this episode, a very poignant sendoff to Tennant’s Doctor. I just came across this interview with Timothy Dalton (and I hope I am posting it in the correct thread; if not, then mod please feel free to move it). In it he discusses his role on Doctor Who, among many, many things.

@Arbutus Bravo! I agree completely.

Once again, I am very slow on the uptake (and I apologize if someone else has already mentioned this): But here we are, starting out with an active volcano. And Pompeii is where the doctor found “the face” he chose for this regeneration. I wonder if the reference was intentional … and if so, why didn’t the writers dwell on it a bit more deeply?…[Read more]

@BadWulf – Interesting point about Dr. Skarosa. It certainly is an intriguing choice of name, but I’m not sure if that was intended by the writers as just a little in-joke, or something more significant. We certainly have no proof that the Cyberman in Dr. Skarosa’s dark water tomb was, indeed Dr. Skarosa … or if such an individual even e…[Read more]

@BadWulf Does anyone else have a problem with novels written in the Present Tense?

For me it really depends on the novel. I agree with @thommck – If the atmosphere an author intends to create is that in which anything can happen, and that events are not following some “already happened” pre-known narrative, then present tense works very w…[Read more]

@ScaryB you are correct, I hadn’t quite thought that through. The issue wasn’t that people who chose cremation wouldn’t have their souls uploaded to the Nethersphere, but rather they couldn’t be downloaded into a Cyberman body. Hence Seb’s question to Danny about cremation. So Osgood and others who got zapped into cremains by Missy could be in the…[Read more]

Something I just noticed, watching this for the fourth time (and yes, I’m a bit slow on the uptake): When Missy uses her device to kill people, what’s left are effectively cremains, when of course cremation was the very thing 3W warned against. Was this to ensure that whomever she killed, like Osgood, couldn’t be uploaded to the Nethersphere, thus…[Read more]

Re: trolls on the Guardian blog, I find IMDb to be much the same. There is the occasional respectful and thoughtful discourse, but I find that, by and large, there are lots of drive-bys, and then there are those persistently negative posters who want nothing more than to proselytize about how awful the show has become under Moffat’s tenure, how no…[Read more]

@FatManInABox: Oops, sorry about that … and thanks for the heads-up!

@Bluesequeakspip: Yes. Strangely, she also sounded incredibly like David Tennant in her very first appearance; Asylum of the Daleks.

Indeed! Thank you for reminding me. Must revisit that one again. One of my favorite episodes, and my favorite Clara – er, Oswin – episodes.

@DrBen That remains my theory about the “three months” thing, that she’s dying.  Bleak to bleaker, I know, but for some reason it feels right.  And it definitely adds resonance to the line “Danny and I will be fine.”

It also makes her “You’re the last person who’s ever going to hear me say that” line to Danny that much clearer.

Oh gosh, now I’m wondering if the “three months” Post-it note wasn’t that Clara was three months pregnant … but that she has three months to live? It’s just the way she says, “There’s something I have to tell you … and it’s not good news, so just listen.” That’s why she tells him she and Danny will be fine, because in death they will be…[Read more]

Did anyone notice that during Clara’s “doctor” impersonation, Jenna Coleman’s delivery seemed eerily close to David Tennant’s?

I agree with @Arbutus. Rewatching this episode, it is difficult to tell the colour of the blast when cyber-Danny shoots the three Cybermen. It looks like a bluish-white bolt, followed by yellowy-red flames as the Cybermen…[Read more]

Oops, I should read posts before posting, myself. I was out of the loop on the Master’s hypnotic abilities, so that answers that about the guards.

Ah, yes, Danny’s sense of duty (and also the brigadier’s). That makes sense to me for why they were able to resist Missy’s commands and do the right thing.

I also agree with those who examine the…[Read more]

@Peargrins and @phMD I agree with your sentiments. I confess that one of my sources of enjoyment of the new-era doctors has been their playfulness and overall lack of dourness (though obviously there are exceptions to that). I did enjoy those more lighthearted romps through alien territory that Nos. 10 and 11 gave us (though No. 9 was a bit more…[Read more]