Sorry to hear that you have not been well @Nick. Hope you will soon be all mended. Sorry also to hear about the ankle @blenkinsopthebrave

I have yet to catch up on Quatermass and the Pit. Watched the film years ago and plan to watch the TV series. Have the first episode but not had time to watch it but I really wanted to add my voice to those…[Read more]

@Nick and JimTheFish

the idea that the Army in the Field was actually run by the SM/RSM was quite prevalent in the 1950s already

It was quite prevalent in Victorian times. Or Georgian times. Probably in Roman times…

The sergeant is the detail person. The officer will either (depending on their branch) be the person with the technical education…[Read more]

@Nick @JimTheFish We’re straying away from the topic but I think I would have to agree with the fact that in the UK “we do seem to be moving (back) to a more Victorian like have/have not’s society”.

I started to experience it myself in the 90s when working in the film industry. If you didn’t have a posh accent and couldn’t afford to work for free…[Read more]

SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER...

@Nick @purofilion @barnable

If “Bad Wolf” has become something other than what @Nick has described, then it is because Moffat has retconned it that way, not because it was intended that way initially. This is not out of the question, of course, as we know! However, I’m personally disinclined to assume that something previously established has…[Read more]

@Nick

The problem is, though, that the series may become boring. Not right now, but I thing you’ll agree that after Davies left there’s only one good writer and his name is Moffat. Others are fine for fillers, but it’s only him who moves the series on. And he is a) busy with Sherlock, sequel to Tintin and upcoming other projects; b) not im…[Read more]

@Nick

we collectively need to test each theory (to destruction) via debate.

A valid point. But since this isn’t a university tutorial, you are allowed to say ‘good theory, I agree’. 😀

@Bluesqueakpip  @Nick   @purofilion

I myself would be more inclined to guess that Clara had not been created as such, but manipulated into become what she is. So in a sense, the Clara that we know has been created, not physically, but through the experiences that she has been put through.

That being said, there can be no denying the strong pr…[Read more]

@Nick – Your descendant of Susan suggestion is one I’ve pondered over.  I’m assuming that Susan could have had a daughter in the late 60’s who could have given birth in the early-mid 90’s…. which would put Susan’s granddaughter in her early-mid 20’s by 2014.

There’s something “odd” about Clara as a companion and the importance that seems to b…[Read more]

@Nick – the Doctor wouldn’t necessarily know if he had a child by River. That child would be in danger from a) the Kovarian faction and b) the Great Intelligence. River would, I think, be very keen to keep the child safe by keeping its existence a secret – even from the Doctor.

As to the Moment creating Clara being super-complicated; you did…[Read more]

@Nick

Could you not use the Brain of Morbius “faces” to argue that this is the Doctor’s second set of regeneration cycles and that he’s on his third life ?

You could – which might be the real reason for the cot. The cot shows that Moffat’s not playing an infinite recursion game; the Doctor was once a baby. He was a ‘lonely little boy’ (Girl i…[Read more]

@Nick and @Purofilion – The General describes the Moment as ‘having developed a conscience’.

So its motivation is pretty simple: it’s a weapon of mass destruction that doesn’t want to be used. It’s quite willing to manipulate time in order to not kill 2.74 billion children.

I did at one point think Clara might be a future Doctor (until Peter…[Read more]

@FatManInABox

When this is happening he’s in the TARDIS speaking to The TARDIS, on his own…  So that scene had nothing to do with enemies or River Song…

@Nick that’s a fair point. Being a spritely 649 I’m not sure I know 😉

@Nick  Well, I think that the cracks are probably the same cracks. They just don’t crack all the way through now, having been superglued back together. But they are the places that could crack again, given the right circumstances. Like fixing a broken teacup.

But now that brings up another thought: if they were the places where the universe was…[Read more]

@Nick @purofilion @barnable @blenkinsopthebrave @bluesqueakpip

I’m sure that @Bluesqueakpip is right that the time lords didn’t know until Clara’s return that the Doctor had used up his regenerations. However, they did have some time between that conversation and when they actually got the job done. Viewing it from a storytelling perspective,…[Read more]

@Nick     We may still get some pay-off in season 8 and beyond, which may deliver missing back story (Tasha Lem) or explain the TimeLords perspective of all this, in fact Moffat is clever (I think) at introducing these ideas and leaving them open for later reinterpretation and explanation. That strength is also his great weakness as well in my opi…[Read more]