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Just a word of warning: Walmart is planing to build an army of cybermen. The evidence is conclusive.

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Clara-Prime’s friend in the graveyard (at the end of this episode) looked very familiar to the Maitland girl but also too young.

I assumed that was the Maitland mother who died and for whom Clara was atonement-nannying.

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Did @GuiltyByStander ever migrate over here? He’s like a very slightly more patient me.

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TARTAN DALEKS! In!

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@phaseshift‘s letter re: Verity is truly inspired. Nail-head interface x 1 bazzillion.

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@jimthefish

afraid I’ve already got a bit shirty on the Guardian comments in the Moffat article

I may have chipped in…

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I like the ultra caution!

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I generally hate this sort of click-bait list but…well, you’ll know when you get there

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OK.

So.

Just watched The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances. Two things:

1. Still the best writer debut out there;

2.

“Look at you, beaming away like you’re Father Christmas!”

“Who says I’m not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?”

Moffatt never throws anything away.

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@timeloop

I also put it all caps, as it should have been,

I wanted non-English (after the banter with @Shazzbot), and when I thought of the style I recalled that in MY generation, the German was by far the most popular. “Atomkraft? Nein danke!”

At it was always “Nuclear power,? No Thanks!” in English. Just checked my 1970s original…

Yet another thing where Wikipedia can’t grasp the concept of a world before Google.

Oh, what the fuck. Any excuse. Very, very few pieces of electronic music stand the test of time as well as the original Doctor Who theme, but there is one that nearly cuts and is German to the core. Enjoy the full 22 mins:

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A little on the tease-y side, but BlogTor Who has just tweeted thusly:

Doctor Who fans will be wanting to follow @dayoftheFishDr. I am assured it will be worth it…

You know who will be insufferable if there is anything in this 🙂 https://twitter.com/dayoftheFishDr

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New trailer 😉

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@craig

Ta!

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From last night’s Holby City (apparently there are many more ‘spots’ to come)

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That has to be the most spiffing birthday present ever!

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Cr and, indeed, ikey.

So not only is he “officially” canon he is now very much actually canon

Was that a “face lift” from I Claudius?

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@timeloop @bluesqueakpip

I was aiming for an excessively literal translation of the idiomatic “Fishy business” but Google knew I was using idiom and kept trying to help me, which was really unhelpful. Also, according to Timeloop, Google can’t spell!

This is the inspiration, for those of us of a certain age. They used to be available in any language, but by far the most popular was the German.

My original avatar (and name obv) was inspired by the number of fish-based handles in the earlier days (@Juniperfish, @branfish, @jimthefish, @haveyoufedthefish etc) and the vaguely cultish feel it it had (“The Fish Clan”) – hence the relgion-spoofing original. But you will also see why the new version had to be literal, rather than idiomatically sensible (hence the desire to ‘confuse’ @timeloop).

Wish I could find the right font. Kerning on a bezier curve is a bitch!

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@bluesqueakpip

Sadly I trashed the original absent-mindedly. The previous one was cobbled together in 10 mins. This one came following the exchange with @Shazzbot courtesy of Google Translate. Google kept trying to help me out with idiom – hopefully I’ve got it literal enough to confuse @timeloop (and give a nice flashback to those who remember the original badges). I think it look suitable homebrew (the very original pre-remembrance-poppy one, of course, was spoofing those fish signs that Christians sometimes put on their cars)

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Have we done this yet? Real physicists doing important stuff (or Those Cornell dudes have WAY too much time on their hands)

Traversable Achronal Retrograde Domains In Spacetime

And this is really cool:

Lay reader’s version

And this is just for LOLs

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Which reminds me, who is delegated with bringing the Powerpoint presentation?

Someone forgot that Chaucer in Powerpoint was supposed to be satire…

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OI! Back onto the sofa you lot! This is supposed to be the off-topic forum!

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I think you Mr Coburn has  no concept of the world of hurt that will come down on him if he gets on the wrong side of the Who fan base.

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Oh a related note to my earlier post, it is surprising how a simple tweak to the lyric changes a mildly bombastic patriotic hymn into a lovely poem to homeland:

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A couple of little bits for Armistice Day:

The Known Soldier (how many had your name?)

The Parapet (would you?)

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@bluesqueakpip

PEDANT ALERT!!!!!! (ahem)

Which ties in with the ‘we’re all just stories in the end’ comment she made during Pandorica.

That was the Doctor (talking to the sleeping Amelia).

River was all about the good fairies.

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@Shazzbot

And all theories about progeny with River … erm, she’s bits of data in The Library’s datacore.

Yes – now she is. But it wasn’t always so and you do not need the DVD mini-sodes to grasp that Doc and River had many off-screen times together. And if River’s arch comment at the the end TNotD meant anything, it was that whatever happened had already happened.

And Amy and Rory manage to breed despite a bunk bed 😉

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@spikeguy86 – it would probably be more accurate to say that the universe was reset – ‘reboot’ as just a hip turn of phrase from the Doc – but a few people were left with a dual set of memories: those who experienced the process of the reset remember it happened (The Doc has, several times, explained that he and his crew are part of events, so remember them – unless, of course, the plot demands that they don’t 😉 ).

Watching S5 in order would certainly help. Even weak Moff era Who generally rewards repeat viewing anyway.

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@craig – I don’t think you can protect against people clicking a link – in the end, you aren’t the keeper of the world.

Trolls trying to ruin it is a much bigger threat than anything on the BBC site.

Also, I think people need to be less anal about the distinction between a spoiler and a teaser.

Moff says nothing goes on the official site without his consent, and he uses them to misdirect as often as not: “We’re giving the Daleks a rest”;”OK Daleks in new episode” ZOMG GOD THERE’S THE NEW GIRL!!!!!

We are supposed to get whipped up into a frenzy about things!

But a simple courtesy to keep speculation in the ep thread and images an tidbits in the spoilers thread should cover it, as a policy issue.

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@wolfweed

If it’s any consolation I posted the Queen Liz pic here, then thought better of it and used my edit window to shift it to the spoilers section. If I’d waited too long I’d have got in the ear too….

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I’ll chuck something else into the mix (btw @timeloop, this may explain my attitude a tad):

In another place I wrote:

The trouble with SciFi fans is that they have a terrible habit of focussing on the Sci at the expense of the Fi, in practical terms meaning an over-obsession with plotting and puzzle solving at the expense of character and theme.

Moffat’s plotting is actually very tight indeed (and anyone who denies this is simply not paying attention). But it is not his primary thing. Like Joss Whedon (most likely because of Whedon) Moffat is al about the emotional narrative and thrust – in writely terms, the theme – and the plot is there is serve this, not the other way round.

Moffat’s theme has been all about the existential loneliness of the Doctor, echoed in so many ways:

“Are you my mummy?”

“Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now! How can you bear it?”

John Smith’s brutal rejection by  Joan;

Only one living person knowing his true name….

And the entire Amy Pond arc (I am truly sad that I won’t get the chance to talk @htpbdet around on this: it speaks to me at a very personal level).

When he lost Amy he wallowed in his loneliness. I think he has come to view it as his Just Punishment.

Don’t look for big plot points about Moments, or Sonics or Keys or Eyes (although I suspect a lot of fan service will be present and correct (for some values of correct)): look for them in the Doctor’s need to atone and a desperate desire to end his loneliness.

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Ahem. Hashtags. It’s Tinkerbell time…

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@jimthefish @scaryb

Of course, there is an interesting ontological question of when bonkers theorising becomes fanfic…

(My own view is that the solution lies entirely in understanding the position of the tongue relative to the cheek.)

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Ah right. So apparently a combination of non-canonical fanwank and fanfic.

(As you may gather, I don’t look at and have no interest in fanfic)

It would take spectacular gymnastics to shoe-horn House into this, given that his MO was clearly explained in-show.

I’m pretty sure @whohar is right on the money with Number 7.

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Trailer, 8pm Sat also confirmed on DWTV Facebook page.

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Ooops =- wrong place

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What is this “The Moment” thing? Where did it come from?

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None of the women are contemporaneous. Hard to make a bigamy charge stick.

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OK @blenkinsopthebrave

Don’t really have a”grand theory” but:-

1. I’ll restate my view that filling out a birth certificate is as likely as a wedding to be a place the Doctor’s real name is recorded. Given River’s knowing comment at the end of TNotD, and the very conspicuous reminders of Susan, I think this floats the possibility that Clara is Susan’s mum (so her dad is a step-dad);

2. Although I lean towards the “Between 8 and 9” theory, if Doctor Hurt is a progenitor then I think he is also progenitor to Roger Delgado’s Master (The Master has been conspicuous by his absence in the run-up);

3. Watch out for a lost shoe;

4.The regeneration limit will be resolved for at least the next 50 years;

5. Given the rumours about more lost eps being found I suspect it may not be coincidental that one featuring “twins” (See 2 above) and another the GI are the ones released. Moffatt does not do coincidence;

6. The trailer will be grossly, wilfully and deliciously misleading.

Oh yeah… BiTD me and @juniperfish batted about the riffs on JM Barrie’s work, especially in S5. The #SaveTheDay hashtag has a real “Tinkerbell” feel to it. I will not be totally shocked by some sort of audience participation.

We have had Folklore, we have had Myth. Now lets have The Legend.

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There’s two shows in that list I haven’t heard of….

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Well, possibly!

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@Bluesquekpip @wolfweed 9pm is the BBC’s absolute prime time slot (and it was always said to be broadcast in the same week as the Anniversary). It;s where BBC2 puts all its top documentaries and drama-docs

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@whohar

Yeah 70 mins is an odd run time. Neither full movie length or even double ep length. Strange.

But just about the right length for advertiser supported broadcasters to fill 90 mins.

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@craig – rather than a  nuclear delete button, who about changing it so stuff gets moved to a naughty step so we can all point and laugh?

@jimthefish Truculent sheep the arse-wipe obnoxious witless troll simpleton formerly known as Alexander? Why would any want to diss him?

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@the artist formerly known as D123456

Aw. Bless.

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@whisht

(“we got what we think was their intent or mindset from the search query so show them ‘this’ and this is more relevant so charge the advertiser more).

I am constantly amazed at how poor Google, Facebook et are at identifying my preferences. The very best algorithm is totally shit. Yet they get very upset when you use plug ins to try to deal with the crap results.

Internet advertising is the biggest scam on the planet while also being the biggest nuisance to users.

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(Incidentally – I don’t think that anything that happens will draw on anything that has not already been seen on-screen)

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