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@thane16 I agree with @winston‘s and @janetteb‘s assessments of Avenue 5. Overall, I enjoy it, though there are some slapsticky, over-the-top moments. But I find far more to like than to dislike. Hugh Laurie could recite the telephone book and make it entertaining!

Oh, and I love Staged! I wasn’t sure if the second season would measure up to the first, but in my opinion it did. David Tennant and Michael Sheen are so good together!

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@winston My reaction comes from loving it so much the first season, and then feeling disappointed that it didn’t meet my expectations for the second. But I am glad you enjoyed it!

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@blenkinsopthebrave Oh, dear. Well, I was hoping against hope. Having just watched the trailer, it does seem to do quite a bit of fan service. I was not watching the original series when it aired. So it will either work, or it won’t. I’ll just have to wait and see.

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@winston and @janetteb The second season of Avenue 5 is also a bit uneven, yet I find more to like than dislike about it. If you should find Mr. Inbetween and decide to watch it, be forewarned that it has a lot of violence. If that’s not your cuppa, then you might want to pass.

Picard … what can I say? I loved the first season, but was greatly disappointed by the second. It was like watching a completely different series: Same characters, but lacking the narrative deftness of the first season. Why they changed the theme music is completely beyond me. They went from something quite memorable to a sort of overly dramatic mishmash … which, in a way, describes my impressions of the story arc, itself. I’m glad that other people enjoyed it. But for me, as the second season went on, it felt like obligatory viewing, not something I looked forward to.

I gather a third season is in the works, so I am hopeful for something I will enjoy.

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Like so many other folks, I’m feeling sad over the passing of Christine McVie.

Her music had such an earthy warmth. Always relatable, never pretentious, yet brilliantly written. I love her soulful voice and bluesy piano playing. She really grounded the band. When she left for a while, I missed her. Say You Will was a brilliant album, really Buckingham Nicks Redux. But, without Christine McVie’s songs unifying the two extremes of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, the album lacked coherence. I was so happy when she rejoined the band. I don’t think there were any new Fleetwood Mac studio albums, though she did record an album with Lindsey Buckingham that, as I recall, paved the way for her re-entry into Fleetwood Mac.

Such a sad loss for her family, friends, bandmates and all who knew and loved her. At least we will always have her music.

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We’ve been watching Avenue 5, an HBO series, and also Mr. Inbetween, a dark comedy out of Australia. Scott Ryan is remarkable in the lead role. And, for a bit of lighter viewing, we are watching Yes Minister, if you can believe it. Rewatching, actually. My husband was a fan back from before we met, and so after we got together I started watching it with him. I’m pretty sure PBS was carrying it at the time. It’s amazing how much of the satire still holds up today! But it’s also a little sad to realize that all of the actors in the original main cast have passed on.

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@oochillyo Declan Sargent, I think Doctor Who has painted itself into a corner. The first post-gap season did a good job of walking that fine line between introducing new aliens and bringing back the old ones. Then it seemed that we got caught in ever-increasing levels of fan service to make sure that every season had the old favorites … to the point where my husband, who is younger but has been a Doctor Who fan far longer than I, muttered, “Oh, great, another flippin’ Dalek episode!”

On the other hand, I like it when they are creative with the old villains. One of my favorite episodes is “Asylum of the Daleks” because of the imagination they used to present a Dalek in a more sympathetic way.

So I am of two minds. We can see what happened with Chris Chibnall’s attempt to try something new. And how soon we forget that there was criticism of Steven Moffat’s ideas for new aliens, with some complaining that they weren’t menacing enough.

And yet I, too, will often sigh and say, “Oh, great, another flippin’ Dalek episode!”

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@dentarthurdent I agree with you about the Angels episode. At the time, I thought, “OK, now we’re building toward something good!” And then the rest of the Flux arc fell flat.

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@dentarthurdent This remains my favorite episode of the Chibnall era. Just when I thought he couldn’t pull it off, he did. So this was a really nice surprise for me. Now, if you like the Flux, then I’m going to have to rewatch it. For me, it was “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (the impression many of Chibnall’s episodes have left on me).

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@translatorcircuit I think everyone should take care of their appearance. As for the Classic Doctors who appeared in this episode, I think that at least they should have been wearing wigs that looked like their hair when they played The Doctor.

Have you considered how absurd wigs would have looked? Nothing screams “fake” like a wig. Especially, I’m assuming you mean, a wig attempting to duplicate the Doctors’ hairstyles and colors from their respective eras. So actors who are in their 70s were supposed to look like they did 40 years ago? I thought McGann looked wonderful. Just an older (and far wiser) version of the Doctor than the one he played 26 years ago. Even if it was fan service, I was happy to see this series celebrating its older actors looking exactly as they do now.

Also, in my opinion, Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Sophie Aldred (Ace) look like they have taken care of their appearance. They are fit, and happily they are beautiful while looking their age. I am so tired of actresses, in particular, being forced to have work done, while actors don’t face those same pressures. I found it such a relief to see Fielding and Alred looking like women who are 69 and 60, respectively.

@jimthefish Excellent review. I think I have a slightly better impression of the episode than you do (though, admittedly, it took me a second viewing to get there), but I agree with many of your frustrations with Chibnall’s handling of the Doctor. And I agree that Whittaker didn’t quite get her moment … though she worked with what she had and made the most of it.

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OK, these articles answer my two main questions:

What happened to Dan’s house,

and

How the Master escaped Gallifrey.

The Master told Yaz, “I ingested the Cyberium.” I assumed this was in response to the Doctor’s question about how he escaped Gallifrey … but maybe not.

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@devilishrobby I can understand the business side of it. But, from my own fan’s perspective, I’m … well, not a fan.

@dentarthurdent I checked our library system’s Doctor Who collection, which seems to be quite extensive. So I think I will go that route. This seems to work for you; I will just have to be patient. It will be hard to wait and try to avoid the discussions on this forum until I’ve actually seen the episodes.

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In fact, I don’t even see Disney Plus in our cable lineup, only Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD. So I’m not sure it’s possible for me to access this via my already pricey cable subscription. And I certainly don’t want to subscribe to a separate service via my TV. Maybe I’ll wait for the Blu-rays. But I kind of doubt it. This is one of those situations when it may be time to say goodbye. It’s not what I wanted, but if it’s put beyond my means, then this is the inevitable result.

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@bluesqueakpip Thanks, but nothing you have listed interests me. I tried watching Grey’s Anatomy at the outset, thinking it would be along the lines of St. Elsewhere. When I realized it was General Hospital for prime time, I lost interest.

Sadly, I don’t think this is a channel I can substitute for one of my other cable channels, since it’s very likely considered premium content. So I would have to buy it as an extra channel. There has to be more than one show to motivate me to pay that kind of money.

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Oh, this is not good news. So I will not be able to watch new episodes of Doctor Who on Crave in Canada. Sadly, it looks like this starts with the Tennant specials? I really don’t want to subscribe to Disney Plus … especially since my only interest would be to watch Doctor Who. And, I may not. So it could be that the Jodie Whittaker incarnation will be my last one with Doctor Who. What makes me sad about this is that Russell T. Davies is returning as showrunner, and apparently Catherine Tate is returning alongside David Tennant. So this will have to be a serious discussion about how much we really want to see this.

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Questions: I guess this just shows how little I have retained from the current era, but what happened to Dan’s house? He was supposed to be returning home, but then said he’d have to stay at his parents’ place. It looked like there was an empty spot where his house used to be.

Also, the Doctor asked the Master how he escaped Gallifrey. I thought the Master claimed to have destroyed Gallifrey. Yet he was able to scavenge old technology in order to do the forced regeneration. I do remember that the Doctor trapped the Master in a something-or-other (where, as I recall, the Master had first trapped the Doctor). The Master replied to her that he ingested a something-or-other. Was that one and the same thing?

I need to look up a synopsis of this entire 13th Doctor incarnation. It’s not complex on the level of Steven Moffet, but there’s a lot I have forgotten.

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OK, on second viewing, my opinion has improved. Once I got past the sorting of plot detritus, I focused more on the characters. I especially appreciated Jodie’s final portrayal of the Doctor. I think she got about as a good a sendoff as Chibnall could write, and she made the most of it.

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I think I need to watch this again. The last half hour made the whole thing worth it, but I just am not a fan of Sacha Dhawan’s Master. Also, I thought I had read in a post here that John Simm was returning to that role. Maybe it’s in one of the later episodes. At any rate, he never showed up here.

The end wasn’t a total surprise to me (and I wish it had been), because I’d read the news about Tennant returning. So it was just a question of how it was going to be done. It was one of the better moments of the episode. If you’re looking to score, the end is a good place to do it.

But I felt rather underwhelmed by the rest of it. A lot of frenetic activity, but also a lot of exposition which, as the mantra goes, if you’ve got to explain things, then maybe the story isn’t as coherent as it should be. That’s my main frustration with Chibnall’s writing. He seems to feel the need to explain too much. “I think he missed the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing. I was also surprised by the early exit of one current companion, and the later return of another recent one. The timing of both muted the emotional impact of farewell and reunion … at least for me.

And, did we have to have Cybermen … and Daleks … and the Master, all in the same story? I suppose the three-pronged threat, a sort of hit parade of the Doctor’s greatest foes, was meant to heighten our sense of imminent danger, but for me all it did was to clutter up an already convoluted plot.

On the plus side: The many faces of the Doctor was done well, as was the return of two long-ago companions. I especially enjoyed Ace, who doesn’t seem to have missed a step from her youth.

And I enjoyed Jodie Whittaker. I still think she was under-served by her scripts, but I also appreciate all that she did to bring her Doctor to life. Even if her Doctor wasn’t all that she could have been, as written, I think she gave her all to the role.

Like I said, maybe this will improve for me on second viewing. I hope so.

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@winston I’m so sorry about your family and friends who must deal with damage from Fiona. I’m still waiting to hear back from a friend in Kissimmee, Florida, about how his home fared with Ian. Sadly, rising sea temperatures mean there will be more of these damaging storms in the areas that have been hurricane-prone before, and they will be more common in places that used to be more or less protected by cooler North Atlantic temperatures.

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@mudlark and all, I agree with your spot-on analyses of the post-gap era showrunners. It’s telling that, while many episodes from the RTD and Moffat eras are vague in my mind, I can immediately recall and describe my favorites. For Chibnall, there is only one that really stands out to me, and that’s this year’s “Eve of the Daleks” New Year’s episode. By that time, I had so lowered my expectations that I ceased to expect Chibnall to deliver a proper Doctor Who episode. And then he surprised me by giving us one.

One of the things that has been missing, for me, is the Doctor’s deft humor. Chibnall made the Doctor slapsticky, and that just doesn’t work for me. Yes, there were slapstick elements with the previous Doctors, but they didn’t define the character. They all had substance and emotional heft. I believe Jodie Whittaker is a better actor than than what she was given for her character, as written. I just don’t think she had much to work with.

The other problem is that Chibnall hung his hat on this Big Idea of the timeless child. If you’re going to rewrite Doctor Who history, then you’d better do it very, very well. In my opinion, that didn’t happen. It all felt very forced and rushed, with no opportunity for emotional connection with any of the characters. Even the Doctor, who is the character we should care most about! Now, I don’t know if the BBC, Covid and/or a trimmed budget are to blame. But it seems to me that if those things are real factors, then it might be worth reconsidering the Big Idea.

It really is sad that “too clever” is considered an acceptable criticism these days. I guess we can chalk that up to the many “recycled idea” films and TV series that make up the bulk of popular viewing these days. It seems it’s become too risky for a network or film studio to support an original idea, so (with some notable exceptions) we get a lot of reconstituted titles, characters and storylines. I enjoyed Moffat’s stories precisely because I almost never got them on first viewing. But I was engaged enough to want to go back and rewatch, and also have wonderful discussions with everyone here about what it all meant. Bonkerizing is great fun!

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Earlier I mentioned Westworld. Season 4 did indeed air, and I felt it was every bit as good as the first two seasons. Sadly, though, I think most viewers lost interest during Season 3, which left the park in a somewhat muddled storyline. So viewership was way down this season. I hope HBO renews it for a fifth and final season. I would like to see Deloris’s version of the story. But we may not get that chance.

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@dentarthurdent Midnight was one of RTD’s best-written episodes, I think.

I am so glad you corrected me on this! For lo these many years, I have mistakenly thought that “Midnight” was written by Steven Moffat (possibly because I confused it with “Blink”). Bravo to Russell T Davies!

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@winston and all, I apologize for taking so long to check in. It has nothing to do with the hurricane; I just forgot that many people here know I live in one of Canada’s Atlantic provinces.

My husband and I are fine, as is our little town in southwestern Nova Scotia. Fiona tracked farther east than originally expected, so all we got was a lot of rain (which we needed) and a little wind. We’ve had nor’easters that were far more powerful than that. We were afraid of a repeat of Hurricane Dorian, which did a lot of damage here (though not nearly as much property damage as I would have expected). Fortunately for us, we were spared that experience this time around. Life here is very much as it was before the storm. Remarkably, we never lost power here. I think that’s a first for our little neck of the woods.

Sadly, Cape Breton and northeastern Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland were not so fortunate. Also parts of New Brunswick and Quebec’s Magdalen Islands. They have suffered devastating damage. It’s heartbreaking to see the photos and videos.

A high school friend and her partner made the decision several years ago to move from Fort Myers, where we had visited them back in 2009, to Maryland. Needless to say, they are quite relieved they made that decision, though they are worried about friends who are still there and living in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. A university friend just happened to be visiting her brother and his family at their home near Orlando when Ian struck. Fortunately they are all safe and sound, with very little property damage. Another friend, who is a former co-worker, and his wife live in Kissimmee, near Orlando. They evacuated to their son’s home and are waiting to see how badly damaged their apartment is.

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@janetteb I have read mentions of Merlin, also starring Colin Morgan (the actor who played Jethro in “Midnight”). I haven’t seen it, so I can’t comment one way or the other. I love your memories of Northern Ireland, though it saddens me that they are tinged with the threat of violence. It’s heartbreaking what that meant for so many people … including your friend.

@blenkinsopthebrave One of the reasons I love “Midnight” so much is because, for me, it distills the Doctor’s character to his essence and pits him against a foe who is both mysterious and one we can sympathize with. And yet the threat to our Doctor felt very real to me. The episode played out more like a stage play than television. The fantastic ensemble cast knocked it out of the park, IMO. And yes, it really does feel like a Twilight Zone episode.

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We just watched Belfast last night. There have been so many films about The Troubles that I never really expected to see a beautiful family film with that conflict as its backdrop. But that’s what it is. Disturbing, but not as much as I expected it to be. Even though “the other” hatred reared its ugly head time and again, the impact was softened by a respect expressed on both sides.

One of the funniest moments, for me, was when Catholicism was described as the religion of fear … and then the next scene segued to a Protestant minister, sweat pouring down his face, terrorizing congregants with his sermon about two forks in the road, one leading straight to eternal damnation. Of course a child would interpret that literally and wonder, “Which road was the right road?”

I kept being drawn to the actor who played Billy Clanton. I felt certain I recognized him, but from where? I looked him up, and there it was. He also played Jethro in “Midnight,” one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes!

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@winston Sorry to be so late in replying, but I just have to say that my husband and I love Letterkenny! At first, I didn’t understand a word they were saying. It’s all hockey lingo, right? But once I got used to it, I found it hilarious. After we got back from the States in May, we watched a spinoff called Shoresy. Still funny, though a bit different from the mother ship.

I’ve really enjoyed this fourth season of Westworld. I liked last season, but wasn’t as taken by it as I was the first two seasons. I feel like they have returned to form this time around, and I am not ready to see it come to an end for … who knows how long? The time frame between seasons of Westworld tend to be long.

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@thane16 Good to see you back, Puro! I hope you are doing well. I agree with your sentiments, and am looking forward to a return to the RTD era … with hope!

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Thank you, @janetteb and @dentarthurdent! I too was amazed at the number of people who attended my mother’s funeral, not only in the choir, but also in the congregation. I got a nice surprise when I saw a good friend of mine there. I don’t think she knew my mother, but she was there to support me. Pretty wonderful!

My mom’s partner worried ahead of time whether many people would be there. She had been to funerals for 91-year-olds, where only a handful of people turned up. That’s because so many of their friends and family had preceded them in death. That’s sad. But Mom made friends with people of all ages, and it showed.

I do find comfort in the many good memories I have with my mother. It was also quite a remarkable thing to be able to go through Mom’s massive photo collection, along with one of my cousins, before my mother/her aunt died. We were able to find so many great photos from Mom’s childhood and young adulthood that I’d never seen before. The nice thing about that is, when it came time to put together a slideshow of photos for Mom’s memorial service, I didn’t have to put in hours and hours of searching because that work was already done. I knew exactly where to find these photos and scan them. Mom never thought of herself as a beauty … but she was. I love looking through those photos of her!

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@winston I love the connection you shared with you mother through music! We, too, had a strong connection through music. The piece I requested for the postlude was played as the postlude at my sister’s first wedding (and seems to be a popular choice for weddings … though on the surface it may seem like an unusual choice for a memorial service). It’s a demanding piece for organists, “Toccata” from Organ Symphony No. 5 by Charles-Marie Widor.

The church’s music director was born in Cambridge, England, and graduated from Cambridge University. When, during our meeting to plan Mom’s service, he suggested that they often end on a triumphant note, that piece immediately flashed through my mind, and I blurted it out. He didn’t bat an eye, and played it beautifully. It truly was a jubilant ending to the service, played on a Fisk pipe organ that my parents had a hand in getting built and installed at the church there.

My family bonded over music. Some of my clearest memories are of us loving music together. After my sister got married, she moved out west. And then, about a decade later, my sister had returned to the area, but my parents divorced. So, this postlude at my sister’s wedding is the last time I can remember all four of us in our family standing together, united in our love of music. That gives the piece an emotional meaning for me beyond the music, itself.

Other beautiful pieces sung by the choir included “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” by Leo Sowerby and “Gaelic Blessing” by John Rutter. And then there were the hymns. It was hard to pick only three.

A cellist played a piece close to my mother’s heart: “Sicilienne” by Maria Theresia von Paradis. Note the name; the composer was a woman. That was an argument between my parents. My mother pointed out to my father that there were significant female composers all throughout the history of music. My father insisted that if there had been any, we’d know about them. (I loved my father, but he was frustratingly prone to tunnel vision at times. This was one of them. Surely he knew that history is written by the victors?)

I could feel my mother’s spirit singing and dancing through it all. So her memorial service is a lovely memory!

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@winston My sympathies to you on the election result. I read about it and sighed. Not much else one can do.

I spent nearly the entire month of May in Indiana. My mother’s health took a bad turn, and she passed away. Then several of us had a close exposure to Covid via my sister’s husband, who got a mild case of it. My sister then tested positive, but was asymptomatic, and the rest of us tested negative. So, as these things go, we were very fortunate.

My mother’s memorial service was wonderful, with lots of beautiful music, just as she would have wanted it. “A mini-concert with a few words” is how Mom’s partner envisioned it. It did my heart good to walk in the sanctuary, before the start of the service, and see all the chairs and music stands up in the choir loft, where Mom spent so many Sundays singing tenor in the choir. She was much loved, and it showed in the turnout by the choir, and also the music director, who gave their all to honor their friendship with her in music.

I get such comfort from my memories of the service, and also of being there with Mom in the week before she died. It’s something I could not do for my father, because of Covid, so I was especially glad that I could spend this time with my mother before she died. Parts of it were hard, yes. But there were also moments of great beauty, and for that I feel forever grateful.

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@janetteb There were some good episodes in series 11. I liked the set up of the Timeless child story line though I have not watched the final of that, mostly because I was rather upset by the destruction of Gallifrey. I felt that trampled on the lore established my Moffat who restored Gallifrey with RTD’s blessing.

There’s still some part of me that wonders (hopes) that maybe the Master was gaslighting the Doctor over that. Was it ever established that this actually happened? I think it was … but that shows you how poor my memory of these past few seasons is. Nothing stands out in my mind enough to make me remember it. That happened plenty of times during the RTD and Moffat eras, but it’s more the details I lose. I remember the broad strokes. With Chibnall’s era, I barely remember that.

The Chibnall episodes I like most are those set in historical periods, like “Rosa” and “Demons of the Punjab” (which was an especially good Yaz episode from Season 11), and then “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror” from Season 12.

Season 13 seemed to be building up nicely, right on up through the “Village of the Angels” episode. Yes, it was a sort of “greatest hits” package, but I still felt forward momentum, like we were headed toward a true climax. And then the last two episodes dispelled that notion. We got smoke and mirrors, not a satisfying resolution to the mystery I thought was unfolding.

Chibnall has showed enough moments of possibility that I kept hoping, only to be disappointed in the long run. I wish I didn’t feel that way … but I do. So I look forward to RTD’s return!

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@blenkinsopthebrave Very well put. I agree with your analysis of Chibnall’s run. Given the problems Covid created, why not go small, with small casts playing intimate stories set in singular locations? Instead, we got these grand ideas, often with lots of CGI and seemingly wide-ranging locations (many of which were sets), but little in the way of making me care what happened. Lots of telling me, but little showing me why I should care. Your comparison of this with how Moffat wrote Amy’s story in Matt Smith’s first season is revealing. I never stopped caring about what happened with Amy and the Doctor. But sadly, I stopped caring, for the most part, about this Doctor and her “fam” (yeah, not really a fan, either).

That’s not true for all of Chibnall’s episodes. “Eve of the Daleks” is one outstanding exception. Why couldn’t they all have been like that? I don’t think Covid gets all the blame here.

@winston I don’t have the hardware, but I do have the option of Crave.TV in my on-demand streaming service, which has all of the post-gap Doctor Who episodes. Now, if only I can find the time to view them!

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@devilishrobby To be honest I think it would have been better if the baton had been passed back to RTD for Jodies final/regeneration episode because in part I have a feeling that Chibbers has in part been purposely steering the Who franchise to its demise.

Interesting, I never contemplated that it could be deliberate. I’ve always felt he just wasn’t up to the task … and perhaps no one would have been, following in Steven Moffat’s footsteps. Chibnall had this one Big Idea (the Timeless Child) and built an entire season around it, with the aim of rewriting the Doctor’s origin story. While I commend him for at least having the idea, the execution of it (especially having the Master tell the Doctor about it, rather than showing us) robbed it of its emotional intensity. There was no payback for the audience in that revelation.

The Flux was another Big Idea, but at least it offered us a more customary story arc, not one that tried to rewrite Doctor Who history. The sad thing is that last season seemed to be building up rather nicely … only to fall flat in the finale.

Then we got the delightful “Eve of the Daleks” New Year’s Eve special, and I felt hope that at least Jodie’s departure was being handled with care. That episode made me care what happened to the characters. It was tightly written with wit and all the elements I’ve come to expect from Doctor Who. (I wonder if having the episode set in one location made a difference.) Even the fact that it fell back to using the old, reliable Daleks did not detract. They were just menacing enough to create suspense … yet they were funny.

And then we got this episode, which had little offer in the way of convincing character development. Yes, we got the Doctor’s “sorry, Yasmin” speech, but somehow it just didn’t carry the emotional weight I have felt between the Doctor and other companions whose emotions got the better of them.

Reading the synopsis by @craig up top, you’d think “Legend of the Sea Devils” couldn’t miss. Yet it did.

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I should add that not all of the CGI and special effects looked awful. The Sea Devils and the huge sea serpent all looked great. But it was the background scene images, specifically especially those showing the ship in the harbor, that looked so amateurish they took me out of the moment. My husband was walking by and laughed at one. Not a good sign.

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Thank you for the reminder, @craig. I received a couple of spammy messages, but those were easily deleted and have not recurred. Whether that is due to action on your part or inattentiveness from the spammer, I don’t know, but either way it’s resolved.

I also want to echo the sentiments @blenkinsopthebrave posted in the latest episode thread. Craig, I am grateful to you for keeping this site up and running, even with diminished interest. I feel hopeful about the future of Doctor Who, and I love being able to come here and engage in witty, heartfelt, intelligent, insightful discourse about all things Whovian, and also the general state of the world. This site has been a safe haven in what seems to be an increasingly insane and chaotic world. Thank you, Craig!

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I’m with @jimthefish. For me this was an underwhelming episode. It carried the “flash and action, but thin on substance” story style that has plagued much of Chris Chibnall’s run on Doctor Who.

And the CGI? Don’t get me started. I felt like we were back in the Tennant era, which had its share of dodgy special effects.

This was a disappointing relapse after what I felt was a marvelous return to form with “Eve of the Daleks” (which hubby and I plan to rewatch tonight).

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@blenkinsopthebrave You mentioned that Slow Horses is on Apple TV, which we don’t have. I will have to seek it out via some other network (which might be possible in Canada).

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@blenkinsopthebrave I keep hoping things will improve, but it just doesn’t feel like the same series at all. It was telling that I didn’t even recognize the opening theme music. I had to give the old theme another listen to remember what it sounds like. Why they felt they had to replace it with that overly dramatic mishmash is beyond me.

Last year, I measured Picard against the mixed success of Discovery. I liked the first season of Discovery, but then was put off by the Marvel Comics cloning combined with the “we must connect every last friggin’ dot to the original Star Trek series” approach in Season 2. That, along with the forced insistence on making the lead character more appealing by directly relating her to Spock, all felt very hyper-paced and derivative, while failing to bring many (any?) original ideas to the table.

Once they got themselves unchained from their current time stream in Season 3, that’s when I felt Discovery finally came into its own as a series, and I was happy to sit back and enjoy it. My verdict is still out on this season. It’s not coming together for me in the same way. But I’ll see it through to the end before making a final decision.

So you can understand why, in comparison, Season 1 of Picard felt like a breath of fresh air. I appreciated the slower pacing, and I thought it did a wonderful job of bringing new and familiar characters into the story without telling us to care about them, but showing us (through good writing and acting) why we should. Sadly, much of that is missing this season.

Has anyone watched Gomorrah? I should warn you: If you are not into violence, do not watch this series. Think a more authentic Godfather … on steroids … in Italy.

We just watched the last episode … and I’m still processing it. One thing that struck me was the production values. I really haven’t felt that way about a TV series since Miami Vice. For better or worse (and Miami Vice was a very uneven ride, especially after the first season), it did change network television by filming each episode like a movie: Framing shots in artistic ways, creating beautiful interiors and utilizing exterior locations to their maximum effect, incorporating original and recorded music, etc. I found each episode of Gomorrah similarly riveting. The emotional intensity between the characters, combined with exquisite cinematography and set design, created an amazing television series that, unlike Miami Vice, actually got better as it went along.

I have read that Season 4 of Westworld is due out this summer. Again, be forewarned: Violence … on steroids … on an island (well, at least in the first two seasons). I loved the first two seasons and, while I liked the third season, I felt that by reducing the number of episodes, HBO forced the writers to compact the story and push it along too quickly. As a result, I didn’t feel the same connection I felt to the first two seasons. Still, Season 3 of *Westworld* is better than 90 percent of what’s on these days, so … who am I to complain? Hopefully they don’t repeat that in Season 4.

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Has anyone been watching Picard this season and finding it … well, a little off? It feels very different to me … and not in a good way. Season 2 is really lacking the serenity of Season 1, IMO. And what on earth did they do to the opening theme music?

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@winston I too love the fresh scent of line-dried laundry. I stopped using scented products years ago, after reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie. They pointed out that, in trying to rid our lives of artificial chemicals, the easiest place to start is to avoid anything with “parfum” on the label. So that’s what I have done, as much as possible. (Now, when I walk through the cleaners/detergents aisle at our store, the impact of all those chemical scents is overwhelming.)

When using the dryer, I use woolen dryer balls rather than dryer sheets, and my laundry detergent is unscented. So there isn’t much scent to our laundry when it comes out of the dryer, other than the drop of tea tree oil I add. But when they come in off the clothesline? My husband really notices it. My sense of smell is not good, but even I can tell that there is a freshness unlike anything else. Especially since we live along the ocean. I can remember my grandmother, who lived in Homestead, Florida, saying that there was nothing like the smell of laundry right off the line. When my sister, cousins and I stayed there summers, we dreaded the chore of hanging heavy, wet laundry on hot, humid days. But she was right about that amazing scent, and I have carried that memory with me ever since.

When we bought our house in southeastern Ontario, it came equipped with a clothesline, and we used it. That’s when I rediscovered the joy of hanging laundry on the line. When we first moved to southwestern Nova Scotia and didn’t have a clothesline, I really missed it. The place we subsequently moved to has two clotheslines, so I’m doubly happy!

Guerilla tapping, I love it! Happy foraging, and kudos to you both for using what your natural environment provides. I have always been amazed at how much sap it takes to make maple syrup. My husband, who has worked in food manufacturing all his adult life, is very cognizant of that fact … and really of what it takes to make anything. He has helped me to be more appreciative, and not take these things for granted the way I so often did before.

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@devilishrobby I wonder if the new Doctor will be introduced in the 60th anniversary special? Or maybe we’ll get a look at “the eyebrows” … as with our brief intro to Peter Capaldi during the 50th anniversary special. We weren’t fully introduced to the new Doctor, just got a little tease before his official introduction later on. Of course, “The Day of the Doctor” joined forces between Matt Smith’s Doctor, the current one at that time, with his predecessor, David Tennant, and John Hurt’s War Doctor. As you noted, Jodie Whittaker has finished filming, so it sounds like she would not be a part of this special (although I have read that she might return for it). If that’s the case, no continuity there. it may be that, if the special precedes the series, then it will be our introduction to the 14th Doctor.

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@winston Oh my, homemade maple syrup? How wonderful! Do you sell it, or make it only for your own consumption? My husband made blueberry pancakes this morning, and we had Canadian maple syrup, but not made by us. Still, it’s so much better than the table syrup I grew up on. I thought that was maple syrup, until I finally had real maple syrup. I’ve never gone back. When we go to community breakfasts (something we haven’t been able to do for the past two years, but now they are finally starting up again), we always take our own bottle of maple syrup. We have developed a reputation as maple syrup snobs, LOL!

Yes, spring is slowly making itself felt here. We have had some gloriously warm days, only to be dragged back down into chillier temperatures. No snow, though. It’s been warm enough that I’ve had laundry drying on the clothesline a few times so far. We had rain earlier today, but now the sun is trying to break through. So fingers crossed that we get a nice afternoon!

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@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 series we have enjoyed is Digging for Britain. But this features already established archaelogical digs, correct? So I assume that these were not the rushed three-day digs commissioned for Time Team.

We like a similar Canadian TV series called Wild Archaeology, which ran for two seasons on APTN. I wish it had gone on longer. On a related note, I wrote this story back in 2019. I’m amazed the link is still active, as most of the links to my stories are not. My husband tagged along with me as I accompanied these archaeologists on their investigation, and it was fascinating. We always hoped their work would be featured on Wild Archaeology, but it was not to be.

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I would love to see Michael Sheen or Ben Whishaw as the Doctor. Sheen would be a fun wink, since he has partnered up with David Tennant in Good Omens and Staged (and also that voiced role in “The Doctor’s Wife”). But I agree with @devilishrobby that they may go for a younger and/or lesser-known actor to take on the role, someone who does not bring a recognizable screen persona with them.

@janetteb Thank you for sharing that lovely interview with Jodie Whittaker. I appreciate the pressure she must have been under to “take one for the team” … as it were. We’ll never know what that really felt like, for Jodie, in addition to all the usual pressures of playing the Doctor. As an aside, I love the blouse she was photographed in. Looks like it has lobsters in the print?

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@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 think of that? It’s a question I often ask of Doctor Who. That’s a big part of why I visit this forum, to get insight from the many smart people here. I agree with @mudlark that it’s possible the Doctor recognized Clara. My own take on it was that the Doctor didn’t recognize Clara, and she knew that. Hence, her eyes welling up as that realization (IMO) set in. But I love the ambiguity that Moffat gives us, letting those of us in the audience decide that for ourselves.

@janetteb I’m sorry about your awful committee experience. I hope it was a one-off, and the rest of your meetings are productive (as they should be) and not so upsetting.

@catymcinulty Welcome to the group! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

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We made it through this latest nor’easter without incident. The power stayed on, and there was no storm surge along our waterfront. (Fortunately, the wind was blowing from the northeast, driving the waves away from shore, rather than toward it.) We took advantage of a lull in the snow, then ice pellets, then freezing rain, then rain, to get out the snow scoop and shovel our cars out, then clear the part of the lot not plowed out by the snow plow. Amazing how much work that is!

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@dentarthurdent No wheels on the roof rake; just a wide, narrow shovel blade attached to a long, (often) extendable handle. The shovel blade part carves off the snow as you pull it down the roof toward you. If you Google “roof rake,” you should see photos of the contraption. This article from Erie, Pa., shows someone doing it. Our roof rake extended farther than hers, reaching all the way up to the ridge atop our 1.5-storey house.

And no wheels on our snow scoop, either (though some may come equipped with wheels). The scoop has ridges on the bottom and slides quite easily on the snow. You dig the blade into the snow, then push using the handle, and the snow scoop slides along, gathering snow. When the scoop is full, you push it over to where you want to dump the snow, then rinse and repeat till the job is done.

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@dentarthurdent Still. shovelling snow off the roof sounds high-risk, isn’t there a danger that he’ll slip and fall off?

When we lived in Ontario, we used something called a roof rake to pull the snow down off our roof. It’s basically a long, narrow shovel on an extendable handle. You stand on the ground and maneuver the roof rake up onto the roof, then pull down. Much safer that way! Of course, then you have to shovel the mountain of snow that you just pulled down! But it’s better than have it piling up on your roof, potentially causing your roof to collapse.

Another trick is that we use a snow scoop for most of our snow removal, rather than shoveling. It’s still a workout, but it’s much easier to fill up the scoop, then push it to where you want to dump the snow.

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I just watched Eve of the Daleks again this afternoon and enjoyed it even more. Now, this felt like a proper Doctor Who episode! Which is baffling. Clearly Chris Chibnall is capable, so why can’t all of his episodes draw me in like this? It’s an old question, at this stage of the game, and I’m not sure it’s worth debating. Better to celebrate the episodes like this one that give me that old timey wimey thrill!

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We recently finished up all four seasons of Unforgotten. Powerful, powerful stuff. In between waiting for our DVDs we’d put on hold at the library, we also watched two other series, Time (starring Sean Bean) and Mare of Easttown (starring Kate Winslet). All equally powerful, in their own ways. Between that and watching No Time To Die (Daniel Craig’s final Bond film) on Blu-ray, our viewing has been a little on the heavy side. We like dark stories, but now it’s getting to be a bit much. Though Time and Mare of Easttown both deal with the subject of forgiveness, which lends hope to an otherwise dark story. Oh, and then today we watched 1917. Definitely need something lighter now!

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