[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @replies]

@chickenelly @bluesqueakpip There’s another trail – it is on the BBC site now and contains an apparent megaspoiler – which leads me to assume that it isn’t (Moff has said nothing goes up without his approval)

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Did you all see the preview of the series finale which just played on BBC2?  *shakes fist* Well I might as well give up speculating since it just told you who Clara was…

I would be very wary of jumping to that conclusion.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @replies]

Or @craig even..

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@Craing Take your pick 😀

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006q2x0/features/characters

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@Shazzbot – the sign that says “Pull” refers to the phone cubby hole, not the door. Sexy, it seems, did not have a full grasp of her anatomy.

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@Shazzbot – that’d be a favicon…

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Moff has made it very – and repeatedly – clear that nothing goes into a BBC public realm without his approval and that, therefore, anything on the web, Radio Times etc should never be considered spoilers (Consider the emphasis given, in the run up to AGMGTW to images of Jenny – who turned out to be a minor character in the ep and came back through popular demand rather than original intent).

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@craig Well, that’s as good an excuse as any 🙂

@HaveYouFedTheFish – You married my sister?!?!?

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Pedantic point, re etiquette:

Ad Hominem is not the same as personal abuse. It is perfectly possible to launch an ad hom (and therefore fallacious) argument without being abusive.

“You are a puss-filled bubo with all the charm of a hungover bison” is crude abuse.

“You only say that because of your well-known support for puss-filled bubos with all the charm of a hungover bison” is an ad hom.

(Don’t’ get me started on “begging the question”)

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Ah, it’s new! Top work.

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @replies]

Not to be confused with Ducks Ex Machina

 

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Well to be – ahem – pedantic a Chekhov’s Duck is s Checkhov’s Gun that looks exactly like a Chekhov’s Gun, and also walks and talks like one.

So I believe you are describing the Chekhov’s Duck Ploy – deploying a Chekhov’s Gun with the intent of misdirection. Basically “LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!!!!”

The whole idea of the The Chosen One is a Chekhov’s Duck – in the end it was Buffy giving up the “One” bit that won the day.

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Maybe it’s not the words of his name that are important, but the feelings he had as he was given them, in his cot, at his naming ceremony?

Hmm. It occurs to me that the only time the Doc could give his name might not be at a wedding, but at the signing of a birth certificate…

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@blenkinsopthebrave

him being the lonely boy.For the moment I have forgotten where

The Girl in the Fireplace. (By S Moffat!)

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@haveyoufedthefish

@Bluesqueakpip

Well it hasn’t been positioned in this season as a Chekhov’s duck, and I suspect it was dropped in simply as a continuity reminder for the slow of learning (rather than mere fan porn like al lot of the classic series call-backs).

If I were running sweep on a ‘gun’, I’d look at TBoSJ and the idea of reverting to a previous form (including childhood). And I reckon that will require a trip to Totter’s Lane – or maybe the road to it .

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If it looks like an heirloom, is treated like an heirloom and is handed on with some show to the next geeration, then it is safe to say that it is an heirloom.

The reason it seems obvious is because it is – awaiting verification is simply futile – falsification is the thing and I don’t expect there to be any.

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@Bluesqueakpip Hmm. I thought it was fairly obvious that it was a family cot and that young Melody was only intended be the the latest  user, not the second.

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@badwulf – I think the Doc was heading to London see Vastra and Co to get their reaction to Clara – but the Tardis took him to where the Gang were heading (except, of course, they were heading there because they believed him in trouble, but the the Tardis does know everything all the time (per The Doctor’s Wife).

Was intrigued by the blasé reaction of the kids (although at may be a meta point re the plots being accessible to 8 year olds, per Moff). Duh! Of course you’re a time traveller!

 

 

 

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I think all this discussion returns us to the S5 and 6 debates from the Gruaniad WAY back in the day.

Folklore (S5), Myths (S6) and Legends (S7)

Season 5 was a perfectly structured fairy tale, complete with wishing Tinkerbell back to life;

Season 6 was how the Doctor came to mean different things to different people and the trouble this could cause;

Season 7 are the camping tales of the wandering minstrel-shogun-Quatermass, the friends we have lost along the way and awaiting the final chapter of this instalment.

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Re further up the page: it is pretty clear from LKH that the Tardis taught River to fly the Tardis (a lesson from the best)…

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So what was the piece of paper/ parchment that fell onto the console right at the end?

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@Whisht – some of us are old enough to remember that first time round.

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@galactus @PhaseShift

Indeed – I originally registered with something like my Grauniad handle, but then realised that is was essential to make a stand against the piscean hegemony.

 

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Lest anyone hasn’t mentioned it, re 11s.

Clara may be heathen enough to consider whisky the 11th worst thing ever, but she also thought chapter 11 was by far the best…

I think it is just a running writers’ joke.

 

(And the book of LA Conf is fantastic, but must be read in conjunction with the rest of the Dudley Smith Trio. If you want unreadably bad Ellroy, try The Cold 6000)

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Hmmm. Jessica Raine.

Sorry. Mind wandered.

So a grandaughter(^n) reaches back through time with a cry for help to her grandfolk(^n). And Doc and Clara are there.

I thought the way the Doctor put his arm around Clara near the end- and the self conscious way he took it way – was quite interesting. Unexpectedly familiar.

(Oh, liked it. A lot).

 

 

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The Dish is, indeed], awesome. The sequenced when they are listening to the final approach is stunningly well made.

The only error (as opposed to fictionalisation) was referring to the Saturn V Rocket, pronouncing thr letter. Any self-respecting 10 year old at the time (*cough*) knew it was a Saturn V as in FIVE.

And Parkes really did have a two line contract…

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Apropos of stuff, a cautionary tale that there is a time and a place for everything, including bonkers theorising.

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@HTPBET

did she ever specify she was human though?

Yes. “I fought the Daleks and I am [cut to exterior, in Dalek voice] human”

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Woo hoo!

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Just a passing thought, but there is a spare no-longer-Time-Lord-Tennant-a-like in a parallel universe with rose.

That would strike me as the obvious way to include Tennant and Piper.

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God, I’d forgotten they made McCoy wink.

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From black and white to the present day (ish)

 

How the hell do you embed on this site?
Interesting how the original holds up SO much better than a lot of the 80s version.

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@wolfweed

I think if Clara twists her ankle, the internet will explode!

Bah! Humbug! I called that ages ago. “Watch out for the missing shoe” I said. Did anyone listen? Ha! Harrumph! 😉

@juniperfish Narrative symmetry (which  this certainly was) does not necessarily imply causative symmetry. I could equally have been a callback to Warner encouraging her to sing to ease tension. I think it was more thematic (as was the resemblance, but only resemblance, of Warner to Doc 1).

They are having huge fun throwing out fan service, while the explanation is almost certainly much more obvious that we are supposing.

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@HTBetc

but, on the other hand, why would 2013 Clara know a 1981 song?

She specifically stated she knew it from karaoke. The 80s have been trendy several times, for some reason. Not entirely convince Hungry Like A Wolf lends itself to karaoke, mind!

I will be mighty pissed off if Clara turns pout to be a baddy. Am still leaning towards Susan’s mum, with Susan as a fallback position.

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A couple of second-view musings:

Easily the best Gatiss episode to date.

I though the sequence after Clara got knocked out was very…strange. I suspect we may just have been being thrust very firmly into her point-of-view. But maybe something more meta going on;

She just does “stuff”. Wibbly Wobbley Timey Wimey Stuff?

She looks very nice in a military uniform. Sorry mind wandered;

Thought the Ice Warrior face reveal was awesome;

Setting it on a Soviet sub, and treating the crew as human, was inspired (and coincidentally apposite in this of all weeks!).

I’ll bet they have shot some scenes with Warner for later use.

Jessica Raine next week (swoon).

 

 

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I really rather enjoyed that. Proper old school Who, but with (I suspect) a couple of deep laid clues slipped in.

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Hi Craig. It might be worth putting a small note on the front page – I thought you had had a code injection or something!

There are some worthless scum out there, aren’t there?

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 And I wonder if part of the reset is going to be that we lose the Sonic.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

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Oh blimey. I agree with Geoffrey…er…SBOBET …er….@HTPBDET  

Apologies if the world just paused on its axis. (except Moffat didn’t write the episode, so he wasn’t referencing people like us.)

(If there is a sweepstake, I’m claiming “Clara is the doctors mum (or foster mum, maybe), even though she doesn’t know it yet”. Also, watch out for a spare shoe.)

Also, (also) River still has not learned the Doctor’s real name.

 

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@Pufferfish

‘Oh my stars’ will also be familiar to anyone brought up on Bewitched repeats.

Repeats?!?!?!?!

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@juniperfish : .

I was not a “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” fan

Pah! Call your self a shipper?

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I love that the current one suggests deeper corridors leading off

META-SPOILER *******this may be significant later one****END

Incidentally – anything to be made of Clara’s “Looks different” about her home when she looks out the TARDIS when they get back to earth?

Possibly that it suddenly looks somehow smaller.

Who does Clara remind him of I wonder?

Snowman Clara, surely? He was bluffing a little.

Now then: I believe this is the first NuWho without other humans in it as threats/ threatees (which used to be an absolutely rule from the BBC).

PS Great post @feralcat

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @replies]

Nice touch that he gives her the ring back at the end (her mother’s?).

Yes hut who was expecting it to be a Tardis key (in direct comparison to Snowman Clara)?

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Well that was interesting.

Explicit reference to Susan…

Tardis maybe doesn’t like Clara…

VERY strong motherhood theme.

Who might a chap’s…er….runaway chum….dislike most?

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Assortment of random catchi-upiness:

It think Artie/ RT is more likely another did at Twitter than a nod to the Radio Times (but suspect it is just a coynkidink)

I reckon the leaf has just told Doc that the kid on the swings was Clara, probably nothing more.

No thoughts on DELSA, except the stamp’s field colour seems to be Tardis Blue.

“Run you clever boy…” etc could, of course, have been the Doc’s mum’s instructions….

[IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan @replies]

*Nods*

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@Bluesqueakpip The Algebraist is one I couldn’t read – you could tell when Banks was in the hands of a weak editor, and that one really slipped through the “Er, Iain mate, less of the self-indulgence please” net (The Business, in a different way, suffer a similar issue). One the other hand, at least he aimed high and missed, rather than not aiming high at all.

But Consider Phlebus, The Player of Games, Against A Dark Background and Inversion (not universally popular but I think very clever) more than outweigh the weak ones.

I wrote this today.

 

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Very sad news about Iain (M) Banks today: http://www.orbitbooks.net/2013/04/03/a-personal-statement-from-iain-banks/

If you are unfamiliar with his work, then check it out especial Look To Windward – read it, note the dedication, note the publication date and marvel at the insight: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1841490598

For his non-SF I recommend Complicity. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complicity-Abacus-Paperback-Iain-Banks/dp/0349105715

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The blessed Jessica is going to be in Who?

*faints*

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Pardon the redundant apostrophe.

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