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5 May 2025 at 21:22 #77408
Another good article about this: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2025/may/05/hollywood-trump-tariffs-international
Of course, movies shot in the US aren’t required to head for an Atlanta parking lot, use green-screens for exteriors, or to shoot Albany for Manhattan. There are, indeed, plenty of opportunities for visually spectacular location shoots in the United States. But shooting in other countries isn’t (always) just a matter of (only) saving money. After all, the last couple of Mission: Impossible and James Bond movies shot all over the world, and were mind-bogglingly expensive. These movies follow the rich tradition of giving audiences a look at landscapes and cities that they may not be able to visit themselves – at least not all of them, and certainly not in the span of two or three hours. Part of the reason that movies like No Time to Die or Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning feel more “real” than the average streaming action picture (which also, after all, tend to feature spies, action, big stars and so forth) is that they take place in a physical world that’s both recognizable and, to people around the world, exotic in its reach and diversity.
5 May 2025 at 21:11 #77407@ps1l0v3y0u Apparently this is aimed squarely at the Canadian film-making industry, which certainly is no powerhouse compared to Hollywood. But tax incentives here make it appealing to use Canadian locations as stand-ins for American ones, so apparently less and less is being filmed in Los Angeles and other traditional filming locations in California. My response to that would be, “Why not improve your American incentives?” But no.
5 May 2025 at 14:10 #77404I wonder if the BBC saw this coming: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/05/fears-trump-foreign-film-tariffs-wipe-out-uk-movie-industry
4 May 2025 at 14:33 #77396@dentarthurdent I think his posting of that image of himself as the pope was done deliberately, to drive anyone who opposes him out of our minds. And, of course, he is succeeding. He cares about nothing more than further bloating his own wealth and power, and destroying those he sees as enemies. So when we protest something he’s done, he’s happy because he has accomplished exactly what he set out to do.
@winston I so agree with you about Canada’s PC party. If they were truly progressive conservatives, then I would be supportive. But no, they have turned into uppercase Conservatives, parroting much of the hatred and division they admire from south of the border.
I really wish that the Liberals had secured a majority government, but unless recounts of the close races change outcomes in the Liberals’ favor, Liberals will form a minority government, with the PCs as a powerful opposition. “Opposition” being the operative word, because that’s all they’ve been doing for the last five or so years. Canadians expect our government to get things done, now more than ever. But if the politicians dig their heels in along party lines, then we’ll be stuck … at a time when being stuck is the last thing we need.
My only hope lies in the fact that, despite protests to the contrary, Mark Carney is a very different Liberal from Justin Trudeau. Trudeau was more idealistic, while Carney is pragmatic. Given what Canada is up against, I think a pragmatist is who we need right now.
30 April 2025 at 01:55 #77365OK, just to clarify my earlier clarification: We did just finish the second season of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. I was misled by the “Season 1, Episode …” descriptions we were seeing on our DVR. I think the reason they did that is because the first season of Wolf Hall was simply that. The Mirror and the Light is a continuation, but under a different name.
So, now I have to see if I can figure out how to watch Season 1!
12 April 2025 at 18:55 #77224Just to clarify one of my earlier posts: We are currently watching the first season of Wolf Hall on PBS’s “Masterpiece” program. I thought that since others were talking about the second season, that must be the one we are watching. We’re recording it on our DVR, and I see now that the episode descriptions say Season 1, Episode (whichever one we’re on). Sorry about that!
Hello @scaryb and welcome back!
11 April 2025 at 16:12 #77212@winston Because of where we lived, we didn’t experience that sound of trees crashing down, which you endured. But I knew people who did, and they described it much as you did.
The sad thing is that even trees that appear undamaged, or not so badly damaged, may eventually die. That was what we experienced from the 1998 ice storm. It took several years for the damage to take its toll. But I was also amazed at how, over time, the forests bounced back. I remember driving to Ottawa and becoming accustomed to that awful “stripped” look of the trees along the highway. Then, at some point, I realized that the trees looked normal. I don’t know if it’s because younger, healthy trees obscured them, or they lost their stripped branches. However it happened, I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of relief.
10 April 2025 at 13:55 #77208@winston I am so very sorry about your garden, and the trees. I’m glad that your family and your property were spared, but I understand how it feels when a natural disaster causes such devastation. The wildfires we had here in 2023 destroyed so many trees. My heart aches still to drive by them now and see a seemingly endless stretch of charred trunks. And that’s just what I can see from the highway or road. There’s far more damage than meets the eye.
I will never forget the ice storm of January 1998. We were living in southeastern Ontario at the time. It was shocking to see the damage to trees. It was as if a giant hand had reached down and stripped each tree so that the branches pointed downward. The weight of the ice did that. Quebec’s massive hydro towers that were pulled down, again by the sheer weight of the ice, was something I never expected to see.
But, as natural disasters go, we did OK. We were without power for four and a half days, which meant that we had only limited heat and spent most of the time shivering under blankets. And, because we were on a well, we didn’t have running water. But we had a roof over our heads, food, a camp stove, and unlike many others, we had plenty of batteries and candles, so light was not an issue. Still, not an experience I wish to repeat.
6 April 2025 at 14:44 #77199@thane16 We’re currently watching Wolf Hall … and I don’t think we realized there was a previous first season. Oh well, it’s fine because we’ve watched so many films and documentaries on Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell that we know the story without necessarily knowing this story.
12 March 2025 at 13:44 #77183@thane16 I’m so glad that you and your family are OK. Thank you for letting us know.
@blenkinsopthebrave @winston “Elbows up” is the rallying cry now. But it’s so sad what got us here. It’s hard not to have vertigo or whiplash, with all the constant seesawing.
8 March 2025 at 12:28 #771763 March 2025 at 12:44 #77172OK, that looks good! Still waiting for my library to get Ncuti Gatwa’s first season, but I don’t think it spoils anything to see this trailer for his second.
23 February 2025 at 16:12 #77165@janetteb This looks like the cast I saw in the third installment of the 60th anniversary specials.
@whohar @dentarthurdent I agree that knowing who the Sun’s owner is is key to understanding the article’s slant. I do hope the end is not near. After all, I just got back on board with the specials. But, we live in uncertain times.
20 February 2025 at 12:00 #77161@winston How lovely! We have bird feeders, but no creek nearby to produce such amazing sightings.
Here, we do not have the amount of snow that you do, though this is the first winter since 2015 that the harbour has frozen over, and we have snow cover. Typically, if we get any snow at all, we go through rapid freeze/thaw cycles and it melts quickly. Too quickly, which becomes problematic for our groundwater supply, especially in droughts. But this has been a very different winter.
Anyway, I normally like to take scenic drives to birding spots, but this winter I haven’t done that much because of the weather. And the wind! We’ve had several sustained windy periods, some of which have caused (thankfully brief) power outages. The good thing is that days are getting longer. It’s wonderful to see sunrise at a little after 7 a.m. and sunset at almost 6 p.m.!
18 February 2025 at 17:11 #77158@janetteb Something we do for comfort viewing is the WildEarth SafariLIVE safaris from South Africa (also available on YouTube). WildEarth is among the free channels on our LG TV. I’ve been watching since 2014. Once hubby found it on our TV, he started watching, too. Their live segments are comprised simply of the naturalists and their camera crew driving around, seeing what they can see. It’s not scripted, and there’s no soundtrack (other than the ambient sounds of nature and wildlife). I find it very calming.
17 February 2025 at 13:33 #77156@janetteb I’m trying not to doomscroll too much these days. Difficult. I too am reading a fair bit. I’m currently on Kate Atkinson’s latest Jackson Brodie installment, Death at the Sign of the Rook. It’s a good diversion.
We also seek solace in movies, and watched a lovely one last night. Minari (2021 film about a Korean family who moves to Arkansas in 1983): A poignant story about what it means to be family. The husband has started a farm that’s beset with problems. His wife wants to move the family back to California, where they can pay off their debt. But he resists, stubbornly wanting to finish what he started. There are also two children (the son has a serious heart condition), plus the wife’s aging mother, to consider.
Just when you think you know where this movie is going, it takes a different turn … then turns once more. Minari symbolizes resilience, a theme that resonates throughout the entire film.
16 February 2025 at 13:33 #77152@blenkinsopthebrave It’s interesting that, not so long ago, television was blamed for all of society’s ills. Now it’s cellphones. But I think RTD had a good point about returning to that earlier concern. Of course, it’s a bit odd when a TV show laments the damage done by television.
I wonder if the reason RTD does so well with Tennant’s Doctor and Donna is because he knows them so well. Whereas he’s just not there yet with Gatwa’s Doctor.
16 February 2025 at 13:22 #77151@ps1l0v3y0u Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about seeing into someone else’s living room (the fellow on his couch). So these would be terraced houses, correct? I forgot about that detail and was confused as to why, during their escape, they could see into other people’s houses. Because they’re connected, duh!
15 February 2025 at 16:22 #77148@ps1l0v3y0u You’re right about the sonic screwdriver at Donna’s house. I had forgotten about that. It did, what? Create a kind of force field, blocking off the Wrarth Warriors but allowing the Doctor, Donna’s family and the Meep to escape?
Like you, I didn’t find the episode amazing. Many of RTD’s stories ran on timey-wimey machinations rather than logic, and this was one of them. Maybe it was nostalgia that carried the day. There was just enough of the old magic and whimsy to make me feel delighted by it all over again.
13 February 2025 at 14:10 #77146@winston @dentarthurdent I used to watch “The Day of the Doctor” fairly regularly when Crave still carried Doctor Who in Canada. Alas, it is no more. However, I’ll bet my library has it, so I will check it out.
It was so much fun watching the three Doctors haggle with one another (himself), and then finally come together for a solution. Rose/The Moment gave a wonderful, if fleeting, emotional resonance to the scenes in the barn. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but this was the first time I felt that Clara really clicked with Matt Smith’s Doctor … even more so, I thought, with David Tennant’s Doctor. And getting all the Doctors back together (including a sneak peek of the forthcoming one’s eyebrows) was a joy to behold!
The scene at the end with “the curator” gets me every time.
12 February 2025 at 15:44 #77143@dentarthurdent I agree with you that “Wild Blue Yonder” was the best of the three. Yet I am glad to have them all. I understand what you mean about the Disney-esque elements. I tried to overlook them. The Flux was kept to a bare minimum, so I was OK with it. Kind of like tying up loose ends, I suppose.
@winston I love your “fuzziest socks” analogy. So comfortable, and such an easy fit. As I think I mentioned before, it was as if no time at all had passed between the Doctor and Donna. Their friendship still carried such a warmth and humor, an understanding based on their shared experiences.
And I agree with you about the 50th Anniversary Special. I doubt that any other special will have the “bigger than the sum of its parts” resonance that “The Day of the Doctor” did … and still does.
11 February 2025 at 11:00 #77138@winston That’s true about the working Tardis! Though No. 14 didn’t seems so inclined to use it, did he? Still, as others have noted, the 14th Doctor is on call if needed.
There was an echo of the Whittaker Doctor in the need to search for and create a family with his companions (though I don’t think that story was told particularly well in the Chibnall era). But here it was more convincing, that, by having a family of his own, the Doctor could heal from past traumas inflicted on him.
It was fascinating to see the Celestial Toymaker’s attempts to taunt the Doctor, in front of Donna, with the marionettes of past companions and how their time with the Doctor came to an end. And yet, as much as the Toymaker tried to undermine the Doctor’s rebuttals (“Well, that’s alright, then!”), we know that what the Doctor says is true. All is not lost.
As you say, pure escapism … very much needed these days. Now I must wait for the 15th Doctor episodes to land in my library!
11 February 2025 at 00:08 #77136“The Giggle” was a satisfying, if, for me, an overly drawn-out, conclusion to this three-parter. It was wonderful to see Wilf again at the beginning, as well as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart later on.
Did anyone else see a startling resemblance between Neil Patrick Harris’ Celestial Toymaker and Matt Smith’s Doctor? Occasionally I had to do a double-take to remind myself of which character I was watching.
The beginning of the episode, with the puppets and Doctor and Donna lost in the corridors, was genuinely creepy. It’s the first time in quite some time that I’ve felt that in a Doctor Who episode.
For me, the highlight of this concluding episode was that the Doctor got both of his wishes. The meta-crisis Doctor ended up with Rose and her family, and this Doctor ended up with Donna and her family. Best of both worlds … literally.
The bi-generation was a rather interesting way of setting up the new Doctor. But somehow that part felt very drawn-out to me. It was a different way of introducing the new Doctor, I will give them that. And I certainly liked Ncuti Gatwa. I will look forward to seeing more of him! But I guess I’m used to regenerations being fleeting events, so it was hard to wrap my head around those extended scenes of the two Doctors together.
Ah, such reverberations with what’s happening now. If only there were a solution like eradicating a giggle to make the world sane again.
10 February 2025 at 20:44 #77135The Newton intro was fun … and I guess it got us to the point where, thanks to time travel, mavity replaced gravity (except that there was that odd slip-up the Doctor did on the ship, saying gravity first, then correcting himself with mavity).
Anyway, this was the first seriously thrilling Doctor Who episode for me in a while. I enjoyed the fact that it was the Doctor and Donna … and the Doctor and Donna redux. Very scaled down. The tension was in each trying to figure out who the real ones were in time for the Tardis to come back and collect them. I thought Tennant and Tate were utterly convincing in their roles.
I always liked Donna for her humanity and her humanness. I thought that was why the Doctor was drawn to her. Donna was very much something that he is not, and he needed that.
It’s interesting to me that RTD decided to incorporate the Flux. He could’ve disregarded Chibnall’s change to the Doctor’s timeline, but instead decided to keep it. As long as it doesn’t become too overarching a device, I’m OK with it.
On to the third DVD!
10 February 2025 at 19:33 #77134OK, so the 60th Anniversary Specials finally arrived at my library, and I have enjoyed my first outing with Doctor Who in quite some time. It was so wonderful to see Tennant Doc and Donna reunited, with all their old chemistry intact. It was as if they’d never been apart. I felt engaged by this episode in a way that, for whatever reason, I didn’t feel during most of the 13th Doctor’s run. It was a bit like Old Home Day.
I loved when the Doctor whipped out his psychic paper outside Shaun’s taxi, bragged about being Grand Master of the Knowledge, only to face Shaun’s correction that it said “Grand Mistress of the Knowledge.” His “Oh, catch up!” rebuttal felt so right. (It was also a nice nod to Whittaker’s Doc.) And, they’re back!
The Meep was, in the beginning, quite reminiscent of ET, right down to hiding in amongst the toys in Rose’s shed. The Meep was cute … until he wasn’t. I wasn’t expecting that!
But most of all, I was happy that Russell T. Davies finally rectified what I always felt was a terrible wrong done to Donna. She got her memory back of all the wonderful things she’d done with The Doctor. And it didn’t kill her! I really wasn’t expecting that. The solution coming through her daughter, Rose, was a bit of timey-wimey whimsy, but I rolled with it.
On to the next DVD!
8 February 2025 at 20:55 #77133@winston Scary times, indeed. When current affairs mirror our most frightening fiction, it’s hard to remain calm. Where is Doctor Who when we need him?
23 January 2025 at 15:33 #77125@thane16 Good to hear from you! Your hospitalization sounds serious. I hope that you are on the mend. I have not seen Severance or The Crown. The latter requires a time commitment I’m not willing to make. I don’t think I have heard of the former. Might have to do some searching around to see what it’s about.
21 January 2025 at 19:55 #77121@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u Entrance of the Gladiators seems like rather appropriate background music these days. Yes, I am avoiding the news … not completely, but as much as I can. I’m doing a lot of novel reading and watching, if not cheery material, then at least that which I find more believable than what real life is dishing out. So those Doctor Who DVDs can’t arrive soon enough.
19 January 2025 at 15:33 #77118Hooray, I see the 60th Anniversary Specials listed as “on order” at our library! I just put a hold on the DVDs.
9 January 2025 at 21:11 #77098@winston I think your call is the correct one. But even as buffoonery, it’s just bizarre. And he hasn’t even been sworn in yet. I hate to think how it’s going to be after he is … and without the people who were there before, putting up guardrails.
@dentarthurdent We’re about a three-hour drive from the Bay of Fundy. We go out to Brier Island pretty much every summer to go whale-watching. We love it there. It’s not that far away, yet it feels like we’ve really gotten away from it all whenever we go.
This is Crow’s Neck Beach (also referred to as Crow Neck Beach). In the summer, you’d swear you were in the Caribbean. The water is a gorgeous shade of turquoise blue, sometimes more aqua. The beaches are white sand. It’s only when you dip your toe in the water that you know you are definitely not in the Caribbean. Because it’s located so far southwest, and the area is sparsely populated, it just doesn’t get that much foot traffic … which is fine with me. I think the wildlife appreciate it, too.
8 January 2025 at 15:15 #77095@winston Trump seems to think he made a new joke with that old “51st state” saw.
(Continuing from my off-topic reply on the “Joy to the World” episode, so as not to derail that thread.)
On the bright side: If Canada were to become the 51st state, that would solve my annual U.S. tax reporting issues. I kid. But as a point of information: Did you know that the United States is one of only two countries in the world whose federal tax system is based on citizenship, not residence? Most people don’t know that. In fact, I didn’t find it out until I’d lived in Canada for 14 years. It was not a happy discovery.
People say, “OK, so just fill out the tax return.” They don’t realize what that means. For people living outside the U.S., the tax reporting requirements are far more onerous than they would be for that person in the same financial situation, but living in the U.S. Many expats have revoked their U.S. citizenship for that very reason. I’m not there yet. But it’s the time of year when, faced with that dreaded pile of paperwork, I wish for an easy way out.
Having said that, it’s ludicrous and repugnant to me that Trump is braying on about this. But I guess that’s what autocrats do. In no way do I want any of it to become a reality. There are many reasons why I am happy living in Canada.
I’m reminded of: “May you live in interesting times.” We do … getting more interesting all the time.
8 January 2025 at 14:55 #77094@winston Trump seems to think he made a new joke with that old “51st state” saw.
(I will take the rest of this to the off-topic forum, so as not to derail this thread.)
5 January 2025 at 14:22 #77086@dentarthurdent We too benefit from the Gulf Stream. However, “warm” is relative … and the water is never warm enough for me to consider swimming in it. However, thanks to the Gulf Stream, we rarely get the frigid temperatures and deep snowfall that routinely hit New Brunswick and the northern U.S. East Coast. After watching the winter storm reports for New Brunswick, I have to remind myself that, as lovely as parts of it are, I don’t want to live there.
@winston Your beach on Vancouver Island sounds wonderful! I may have made the beach I found sound like a secret beach. It’s not. It’s actually quite popular, and a number of people were there at the same time I was on Boxing Day. It’s just that it was hitherto unknown to me.
I prefer the more secluded beaches where, most days, I’m the only person out there, or at most only one of a few. There are some secret ones here that I have been told about, but have yet to visit. One of my favorites that I do visit routinely is Crow’s Neck Beach, on the southernmost tip of mainland Nova Scotia. In the summertime, there’s an Arctic tern rookery, along with piping plovers and other shorebirds, so I enjoy watching them and experiencing the peace and quiet of the place.
3 January 2025 at 16:12 #77082@dentarthurdent I think BBC has gotten wise to folks using a VPN. I have NordVPN on my phone and turn it on whenever I’m using Wi-Fi at an unsecured location. So I tried using it with iPlayer, and they blocked me, making note of the fact that I was using VPN. Such is life.
You are correct, the Atlantic Ocean is not currently swimming temperature. In fact, I pretty much never swim in it, regardless of the season. Because we’re along the North Atlantic, the ocean temperatures are just too cool for me, even in the summer. I’m fine with cooling my feet in the surf (in the summer), enjoying the scenery, smelling the scent of the air and logging whatever birds and other wildlife I see. That’s the beach experience I have come to enjoy.
Speaking of cooling my feet in the surf: My husband and I took a Boxing Day walk at one of our local beaches. I was standing there, shooting video, and a wave sloshed right over the top of my boots. (I had just been telling my husband about my previous experiences with this happening … and then it happened again.) When they say, “Fill your boots,” I think they mean something completely different!
2 January 2025 at 18:55 #77080Happy New Year to all the good folks here! I celebrated New Year’s Eve by exploring a new beach, thanks to a friend who introduced me to it. I know most of the beaches west of where we live, but am less familiar with the beaches east of us. So this was a lovely discovery to end 2024.
I’m still waiting on the latest season(s) of Doctor Who to materialize at my public library. The month-long Canada Post strike did nothing to help, I’m sure. But while Doctor Who showed up in regular installments right on up through Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, there seems to be a bottleneck with the Tennant Doc specials and Gatwa Doc season that followed. I’m not sure if it’s linked with the change to Disney+. I’ve contacted the library, and the answer I received indicated that these DVDs and Blu-rays are not available via their usual source. At any rate, I’m still waiting!
18 November 2024 at 16:12 #77012Well, that was fun!
28 October 2024 at 16:45 #76961@winston Your navigational skills are still needed. Google Maps and GPS don’t always get you there … as we discovered when trying to locate my cousin’s home in the mountains of New Mexico. My husband, whose navigational skills are vastly better than mine, could tell we were going in the wrong direction, and so he turned around. But even after that, my cousin had to walk out and meet us, because we couldn’t quite figure out where her driveway was (based on what the GPS was telling us).
26 October 2024 at 18:55 #76954@dentarthurdent Wow, what an experience! You described everything so clearly. I’m glad that you were mostly uninjured, and also that once the rental agency knew where the car ended up, you were rebooked and on your way in fairly short order. Kudos also to the concierge at the swanky hotel who, on second try, found you a cheaper room. That must have been a huge relief!
25 October 2024 at 15:55 #76950@dentarthurdent OK, you buried your lede. You must tell us the story of the Opel’s predecessor! I hope that you came out of that one unscratched … even if the car didn’t.
18 October 2024 at 17:11 #76942Nothing to report, other than that husband and I recently returned from a nearly two-week trip to Minnesota and New Mexico to see cousins of mine and take in a bit of vacation. The American Southwest is a beautiful place to visit … but I wouldn’t want to live there. Too arid and hot. (I was amazed at how happy I was to see fall colors and bodies of water upon our return home!)
8 September 2024 at 14:10 #76894@winston It was fun to have Jeff and his shady dealings remain a mystery to us, while being such a source of frustration for Sarah. Though, in the end, Jeff’s illegal weaponry did help to save the day.
That’s part of what made this such a fun episode (fun, yet the threat felt real). The humor and whimsy are not forced, a rarity in the Chibnall era. The Doctor doesn’t babble … a frequent problem with the way Whittaker’s Doctor was written. Also, as the story progresses, the characters gel believably into a team, which leads to their success. I also appreciate that time is such a fundamental part of this story. Highly appropriate for a Time Lord!
4 September 2024 at 15:00 #76889@dentarthurdent The Weeping Angels episode was the best, I agree. That’s what made me think we were headed toward something special. And then … splat.
I liked Dan, but I also felt that he was shoehorned in. I never quite warmed up to him because he, like the other companions, felt more like caricatures than fleshed-out characters. It was something I had not yet experienced on Doctor Who. Between that and Whittaker’s Doctor being so chatty, with the chatter never seeming to lead anywhere, it left me feeling disappointed. Especially because there were times when things seemed to be pulling together, only to have it all unravel in the next episode.
31 August 2024 at 13:45 #76885@winston My recollection with this season is that I thought they were heading in the right direction … and then blew it with the ham-fisted finale. Maybe I’m due for a rewatch!
15 August 2024 at 23:55 #76863@dentarthurdent I do love Last Christmas – sarcastic dwarves. Santa pointing out how unlikely he is. Dreams within dreams. Unlike you I absolutely loved Hell Bent, particularly the diner scene where you’re not sure which of them actually knows, until the last moment – Moffat does those multi-layer scenes so well.
It’s not that I don’t like “Hell Bent” … but somehow I didn’t feel the catharsis I was expecting, given that it was Clara’s last episode, so it was a bit disappointing in that way. I liked it more on subsequent viewings, but it still didn’t quite come together for me the way it did for you and others.
14 August 2024 at 18:11 #76856@ps1l0v3y0u the challenge are to find the best episodes NOT written by Moffat.
Ah, OK, thanks for clarifying! Often I am slow on the uptake.
That really is a challenge for me, because obviously those Moffat episodes are my favorites. The only ones I can think of are:
“Smith and Jones” – March 2007 season opener introducing the Doctor’s new companion, Martha, written by Russell T. Davies (Our Doctor Who viewing had been interrupted because, as I recall, the channel we were watching it on kept switching its time slot, so we never knew when it was on. We watched this episode on the plane while flying to Denmark. We liked it so much that we vowed to search for Doctor Who‘s time slot when we returned.)
“The Fires of Pompeii” – April 2008, second episode of Season 4, written by James Moran (This is when I began to warm up to Donna, because she shows genuine shock when she realizes that the Doctor can’t save anyone … though, after she pleads with him, he relents and saves Caecilius and his family.)
“Vincent and the Doctor” – June 2010, 10th episode of Season 5, written by Richard Curtis (This may have been the first episode I watched featuring Matt Smith’s Doctor and his companion, Amy. I so loved David Tennant that I had resisted watching this new Doctor for quite some time. But once I started, I was hooked.)
“The Power of Three” – September 2012, fourth episode of Season 7, written by Chris Chibnall (one of the few episodes of his that I genuinely like)
There’s a nearly 10-year gap, because I simply can’t find any non-Moffat-penned episodes in the interim that rise above the rest.
“Eve of the Daleks” – January 2022 New Year’s special, written by Chris Chibnall (surprisingly, given his writing overall for the 13th Doctor)
P.S. I’m reminded that another favorite episode is “Last Christmas” … but, of course, it’s a Christmas special, and it was written by Moffat. And I loved “Heaven Sent” (also written by Moffat), but not so much the “Hell Bent” conclusion. Oh, and “The Angels Take Manhattan” … yeah, Moffat again.
13 August 2024 at 21:33 #76851I feel like this series of posts may have been somehow redirected from The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances thread?
@dentarthurdent Season 4 – I’d say, Midnight, very narrowly edging out Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. (I think this is the ONLY season where the best ep was not by Moff).
Season 7 – Asylum of the Daleks (Moff again, as was The Snowmen and The Name of the Doctor, and does The Day of the Doctor count as part of this season?).
You just named my other favorites: Midnight, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, Asylum of the Daleks and The Day of the Doctor 50th anniversary special, along with the two-parter The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances mentioned up top. If I have only those episodes to watch, I am a happy camper!
12 August 2024 at 16:01 #76845Looks like we have finally reached a North American release date for the 60th anniversary DVDs and Blu-rays: July 30th. Hooray! I will keep a lookout at my library, where they have been regularly updating the Doctor Who collection.
Surely the new season will be soon to follow … I hope!
12 August 2024 at 15:55 #76844@winston Somehow when I watch Doctor Who I miss loads of stuff and that is why I like it here. This is where I find out what I missed from the more attentive Whovians and wonder how I didn’t “get it “.
I am exactly the same. As I noted a long time ago in this thread, these two episodes are among my all-time favorites, and I think they really are what made me a Doctor Who fan. There was the eerie menace of the first part (but punctuated with that inimitable wit), followed by the Doctor’s unbridled elation in the second part. His joyful reaction made me feel such hope.
Being able to talk about that here with fellow Whovians, and also to tease out so many of the clues and storylines that often eluded me (especially in the Moffat era), are what I find so rewarding about this forum.
7 August 2024 at 12:44 #76826@craig Just a heads-up: Looks like a couple of spammy posts in The Winchester.
29 July 2024 at 14:55 #76815@winston @dentarthurdent Thank you for your kind replies. Yes, my in-laws appear to be safe from this wildfire, which thankfully did not spread in their direction and is still 25 kilometres away from them. It is now classified as “being held” (meaning that given the current resources and anticipated weather, the wildfire is not expected to grow beyond pre-determined boundaries).
It’s so sad to think about Jasper, the community, and also the national park. I was somewhat relieved to learn that the entire town wasn’t leveled (which I had feared). But it’s still devastating for those whose homes and businesses were destroyed. And then there’s all the destruction to the larger home for the wildlife. Heartbreaking.
@ps1l0v3y0u Responding to your comment from On the Sofa 11:
The pictures of Jasper are horrific. When the UK had its record breaking day (40 degrees) 2 years ago about a 1/4 of a village called Wennington went up in flames. Tiny place. The fire started in an over-heated compost heap. Many years before I would cycle down the high street on the way to work… just a row of Victorian cottages and a 4 square medieval church. But it was the first rural place outside London. Familiar. Very much of a shock. Homes visibly destroyed. Horses running in panic. Nothing to what a Mediterranean country faces most years.
The reality of climate change is dwarfs the relevant debates and political manoeuvrings around what ought to be possible.
This conjures up horrific images, and a far more horrific reality for the people who lived through it. What you describe is very much what we here on the South Shore of Nova Scotia experienced last summer. When we moved here, I never imagined that we would face drought, much less wildfire, in such a moderate climate. And yet it has happened. In 2016, our drought was so severe that many wells (most of which had never run dry before) dried up. Most small communities in Nova Scotia have no municipal water supply, so people rely on their well water. It was surreal. We’re surrounded by ocean, but many people had no water in their homes to drink or cook and clean with.
Last summer’s wildfire was almost unimaginable. Because our groundwater supply was still diminished by the 2016 drought, we were already behind. Add in a hot, dry spring and human stupidity, and you’ve got the recipe for wildfire. We were saved by rainfall that started about a week after the wildfires erupted, and then didn’t let up. So we were fortunate in that way. It could have gone so differently. Firefighters here told me that if the rains hadn’t come, they couldn’t have stopped the fire. Most of Nova Scotia’s interior is forest, so they guess that without the rain, the wildfire would have burned across the province to the Bay of Fundy on the other side. It’s a terrifying thought, not only for the humans but for all the animals.
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