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@Shazzbot

Real!Amy wasn’t ‘controlling’ Flesh!Amy, merely supplying its consciousness (while unconscious). She was much more advance tech than the Almost People. This was made pretty clear in-show, when the doc glooped fake Amy revB);

When Flesh!Amy RevA discovered the photos she was glooped, leaving behind the Little Red Talky Thing (which was not part of the original duplication);

Doc/River/Rory then rescued a new Flash!Amy, RevB. The Doctor suspected this and heading of to Almost People to do some research;

It is pretty clear that the Doc suspected something was amiss at the picnic (actually he knew something was amiss because he had planned his death by then – it was Tesa-doc, not real doc).

Moffatt does not waste time on long-winded explanations – if the Doc says it was before Utah, that is it unless Moff changes his mind for “cool idea” reasons.

Wibbly spacey timey wacey

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@Shazzbot @janetteb

Yes, there’s something a bit rum about one who does not appreciate Glen Miller. Off to the re-education camp fro you @janetteb ! Even his B-sides were epic and influential:

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@Shazzbot

Pah. Knew you’d come crawling back, begging forgiven-

 

Oh, fuck it I nearly kept a straight face.

 

Delighted to see that cool-headedness has asserted itself all round!

I missed an entire Monday morning of troll slaughter. *sobs*

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You might like this:

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @replies]

@htpbdet

She

Knows

She

Wants

To.

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LindaLee has spoken. I know what to think now:

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This is what you call a calm and reasoned response:

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@craig – gah . Sorry to learn that. Hopefully things will blow over and Shazzer will soon be back like she knows she wants to, m’kay?

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B-b-b-ut that’s no reason for hara-kiri!

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WHO KILLED @SHAZZBOT ?!?!?!

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@chickenelly – it becomes even clearer that Plan A has been know for ages.

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@Shazzbot

Well, I don’t know. Obviously you must now be considered suspect.

Keep and eye on her, peeps. Wouldn’t want an accidental execution.

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@wolfweed – that’s that the Criminal Minds people were talking about, though.

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Sorry meant ot add this:

@phaseshift – But some fans seem to think that Americans enjoying Doctor Who is wrong.

Indeed. I think this phenomenon is a special case of ARSE.

 

Excuse the spamathon!

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@PhaseShift

It is worth noting the BBC America is doing some interesting stuff of its own. Check out Orphan Black if you have not yet come across it.

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Two things:

1. Cut the reveal show a modicum of slack – it was obviously Plan Z put together in 10 mins to keep control of the news flow (presumably, as noted above, because of another feared leak). Blame the leakers, since it is now clearer than ever that:

2). The shock regeneration was plan A;

3) I am now more convinced than ever that Capaldi has been lined up all along;

4) And BY FAR most important: Capaldi’s most urgent priority is to make us all forget that Malcolm Tucker ever existed (but he is top drawer and I think he will do that in his very first scene).

OK, I realise that technically that’s 4 things, but here’s a bonus..

5) Please. Who cited a Wiki edit upthread? Stand in the corner for a bit!

And as a treat, here is another fabulously talented Capaldi, the late Jim (no relation as far as I know):

 

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It occurs to me that Eddie Izzard would be a splendid leg pull of those who want a woman Doctor…

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OK we’ve had our fun. Can we get on with the execution now?

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@htpbdet

He wanted a surprise regeneration – we know that. Is there a way for him to have his cake and eat it too? Because if there is, I feel sure he will take it.

This. Most definitely, this.

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@arkleseizure

Sorry to be the dissenting voice here but, in the context of what has been in the news for the past week or so, this:

There are so many strong female parts, and so many in the offing, that why hijack Doctor Who?

strays dangerously close to the offensive – not intentionally so, I am certain, but it does.

What are the “so many in the offing” what would be “hijacked”?

The good that it might do would be to show that a woman can be cast as the lead character in one of the BBC’s most valuable properties, that a woman can be a flawed, fractured hero, that a woman can hold the future of the universe in the palm of her hand and be trusted, and potentially that a woman doesn’t have to be more of a man than the men to set an example.

It would be a creative decision and it might or might not work. But nothing will have been hijacked.

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@thekaled – it is obvious to all that you are just another on-topic troll (has a time been set for the execution yet?), but let’s  imagine for a moment you aren’t.

It is obvious to anyone with a functional attention span that the original plan was for a shock regeneration at the end of the Christmas special. That is, what you avow to want is what was planned.

Sadly, a total and utter cock by the name of Ian Levine – a cancer on the arsehole of Who fandom for many a year – got wind that Smith was leaving and, in an act of supreme self-aggrandisement, spewed it all over Twitter, forcing the BBC’s hand.

What we are seeing is, very much, plan B since it prevents the identity of NuDoc being leaked and gives the BBC back a modicum of control. This is what happens when trolls get their way.

Happily, I see that @jimthefish has translated your post from Trollish to Truthish, but I’ve had a fun day twatting trolls and I wanted to join the fun.

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That seems pretty consistent with past figures (save late Tennant), but with the mix of overnight/catch up changing radically (for obvious reasons)

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Don’t believe a word of the F word thing. Too ludicrous to be true. And the Gallifrey thing smacks of pure fanwankery.

Also not convinced by the “this is the end” talk. Who is a very valuable property.

But could easily see a shift to a “Silent Witness” type format of short seasons of 4 hour (two part) stories. Formats sometimes befit from being shaken up.

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So, anyway, @craig, are you going to update the WP software or are you too twitchy about breaking something?

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Best use of tasteless analogy ever!

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Og God. Nobody mention slash….

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The placing of Spuffy (or Bangel or whatever) above all others considerations when assessing to the quality of the show.

Shippers think the whole point of a show is to get there preferred ‘ship shagging.

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@htpbdet @nick @bluesqueakpip

The whole point of Spuffy/ Bangel (or Spangel for that matter) is that SHIPPING IS EVIL. It is a cancer on fan discourse. Shippers are the Tea Party of fandom – and they actively drive normal fans away (if it wasn’t so damned sincere it would be indistinguishable from trolling).

The official SMG fan site banned all shipping discussion.

Anyhoo, as you were 🙂

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SM’s is probably more of an intellectual journey (and I fully expect his to tie together all of the individual season arcs in the two remaining episodes) where as from the way you describe RTD;s version with 10 its obviously much more of an emotional justification

This I don’t agree with – Moffat is dealing with different emotions – but not different from those in Empty Child/ DD and TGITF – his themes are loneliness and abandonment and there is nothing “intellectual” about them.

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@nick

That’s what makes Rose special in my opinion. However, equally my impression is that RTS over egged it into a romantic love between 10 and Rose and we ended up with the smug series 2 with its “look at us aren’t we wonderful” arrogance

This, I think.

I suspect sometimes writers pay too much heed to internet fan feedback and wonder if RTD got sucked in here (a bit like how Joss Whedon kept tweaking scripts in S7 to appeal to Spuffy shippers (you could hear the clunky gear changes sometimes) – and then in the commentary for Chosen inadvertently revealing that Gellar and Marsters had a much stronger grasp of the relationship than he did).

Writers are taught of “slaughter their babies” and for all the wonder that RTD achieved in reviving Who (a let’s not forget that!) he had visible difficulty letting Rose go. Fortunately Moffat invented Captain Jack as a corrective that emphasised the Doc’s alien-ness.

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There you go – feel free to edit/ categorise etc

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@shazzbot – sure – how do I do that?

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Given our predilection for brutal public executions, some of you might find this of interest.

OK, my predilection.

 

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Blimey @shazzbot, selfies are getting hardcore these days!

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On the subject of books, may I take a moment to recommend to you the Space Captain Smith series by my chum Toby Frost?

There is a small possibility I may have (re)designed the website and its sub-site Smithipedia.

The titular first book is a little uneven, but very amusing and subsequent books are a hoot in which just about anything you have ever come across is sent up. The new book, A Game of Battleships is out in August and there is a launch party and signing at Forbidden Planet in London on 8 August.

And, while recommending, you will surely enjoy these, by other chums:

Mrs Darcy vs The Aliens by Jonathan Pinnock. Also his short story collection Dot Dash is outstanding;

Jacey’s Kingdom by Dave Weaver. Those of a Kindle-ey bent will also enjoy his short story collections Ha Bloody Ha and Girl in a Shoebox.

And for your non-genre needs, Julie Mayhew is the most naturally gifted writer I have ever met and her debut novel Red Ink a thing of wonder, despite being mis-categorised as YA. Yes, it’s about  15 year old girl. Do not let that put you off.

 

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@Shazzbot

‘don’t even think about it, I’ve had a wretched day and you are this close to unleashing my inner Armed American Menopausal Maniac’

POTD

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@Shazzbot – hehe. I’d rather they stayed away and value the hyper-vigilance of this place (I always assume the battle axe was the preferred method).

Mind you, the last few days have at least caused the rest of the world to realise that trolling is A Thing.

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@Bluesqueakpip – I concur. I think Freema was very badly served by a hideous “rebound girl” theme that converted Martha from an ambitious medical student in a busy hospital to a lovelorn teenager far too readily.

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@trinity36kao – Hmmm. First post really obvious on-topic trolling.

This’ll end well 🙂

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A cautionary tale for whoever is the next Doctor

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Shameless tarting, but if you weren’t at the Olympic Stadium over the past couple of days, allow me to take you as close to the action as possible without actually having Jess Ennis’s magnificent arse disappearing up the track in front of you…

The London Anniversary Games

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Dammit it, I’m always late for the public executions!

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I suspect it is like much interaction on the internet: it is hard to distinguish between what is genuine and what is noisy. I really think this is what Pinborough is getting at: assume good faith. But deal with transgressors.

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Further tyo my nerd post, upthread. Sarah Pinborough provides a perfectly reasonable bit of context in defence of the gentlemen nerds (according to her Twitter feed she was accused of blaming tghe victim!)

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This might amuse or enrage (and is fairly on-topic by my standards)

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@Shazzbot

I think your explanations fit the script/story of GitF better, but there is also solid historical fact for Reinette speaking so much about ‘reason’.

Reinette was quite the sponsor of the arts and sciences (although sciences weren’t called that for another 50 years or so – to her it would have been philosophy).

 

PS @Shazzbot too – you’ve nailed the distinction and relationship between plot and theme.

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@brynwe

The whole point is that the robots/ ‘droids were obsessively following the letter of their programming  – knowledge + programming != to intelligence (the ‘Hal’ problem).  More to the point, being left alone they went bonkers. Being alone is not a good thing – a point Reinette makes very clearly when exploring the Doc’s head.

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In the light of recent-ish events:

The most dangerous cocktail in the world

(Tangential Who link: I recall the shocked reaction at a certain scene in The Rebel Flesh – no, not that one, the earlier more visceral one)

Even more tangential, Sarah Pinborough would write a v interesting Who. But it would have to be put out after the watershed.

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my not liking Jessica Raine

Heretic!

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @replies]

If you do one thing you do before you die, go see Bruce Springsteen work a crowd.

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