@craig – Yeah, deeply annoying.

Good idea about the e-mail. I’ve no problem with issuing my own to many regulars, but a public facing blank e-mail address would be good to put on the blog. I’d rather volunteer than the thought of anybody desperately fiddling when they should be enjoying the convention they’ve paid good money for though.

I could…[Read more]

Well if the Sixth Doctor was the charmless Doctor, I think you could make a case for Ten having siphoned it off somehow. Because if there was a way to bottle charm David Tennant would be a richer man than he is even now. Somehow, the announcement of his casting just made me shrug “Yep”. He’d just been in the Russell T Davies Casanova, and it se…[Read more]

A bit late this month, but as it’s 50 days till the 50th, and this one is certain to re-appear, does anyone have any thoughts on this chap – One David Tennant?

Happy “it’s 50 days to the 50th Anniversary” Day. I hope you are all celebrating (it is a Friday, after all).

@shazzbot – yeah, sorry about that. Been so busy through the week recently, I actually forgot it was the end of the month on Monday. Silly me. Soon be rectified.

@Craig – on covering the 50th Anniversary, the celebration of Marriage that…[Read more]

@JimTheFish @Bluesqueakpip

I must admit, I thought Atlantis a bit stilted in places, but there was enough to make me want to tune in. I had similar feelings when Merlin first started and ended up enjoying it as a romp. It helps to have people like Mark Addy in a comic role (very like his squire in A Knights Tale). Nice to see Alexander Siddig,…[Read more]

I do hope we have people who are familiar with this hashtag thingy who can keep me appraised of developments. Something to do with “twitter” isn’t it?

#oldandconfusedmalevolententity

@bluesqueakpip @ScaryB @JimTheFish

It’s interesting that more footage has been filmed for the trailer. No real spoilers here (because I have no details) other than there are prequel bits supposedly being filmed which they probably did when the gang got back together for the Christmas special filming.

I guess they wanted a narrative framing for…[Read more]

Also forgot to mention an ace performance from Karen Gillan here as she unleashes a lot of anguish on Kovarian. She really knocks that one out of the park.

@bluesqueakpip

I’d forgotten how much sheer fun this episode was.

Yep, it’s absolutely mad, which is why I really like it. I’ve said it before, but you really never know what the hell is coming in a series finale since SM took over, and that brings a bit of joy to proceedings. The sights of the alternative Universe are breathtaking, and the cameo…[Read more]

stevethewhistle @bluesqueakpip

Ahhh – those were the days. I was at University when COSHH first came in and remember the outrage from an organics Professor when informed he couldn’t brew beverages in the lab AND had a number of his favourite carcinogenic chemicals withdrawn from use.

I remember him saying (or more accurately shouting) “Safety, SA…[Read more]

Yes, it is nicely paced this episode. The Doctor trying to do a bunk in this period of exile was actually repeated a few times, with Pertwee largely unrepentant (just a little embarrassed it hadn’t worked). I always quite liked the fact that, in the future, the Doctor wins his freedom and then can’t seem to leave until he regenerates. He just tak…[Read more]

@shazzbot

Is it “worthy” to point out that Hartnell was the only Doctor to have someone (the rather more high profile Peter Cushing) playing another interpretation of his character in films at the time? He may simply have felt that the concept was strong enough to carry on in whatever form, and he had first hand experience that no-one is irreplaceable.

Oh – and this also made me smile on the Huffington Post,

Pat Higgins on Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary Show Should Ignore the Fans

The Gs gone a bit Doctor Who heavy this weekend I see.

Jenny Colgan on Who love.
And the written interviews separated into 60s-70s, 80s-90s and 2005 onwards.

Also a written interview with Charlie Higson on his 9th Doctor Book.

2011 was a really bad year for the memory of Hitler. If you’ve enjoyed the sight of Rory punching Hitler and stuffing him in a cupboard, you may be delighted by what happened to him in Misfits, again in 2011 in this 30 second clip.

In order to prevent a time change that has granted Hitler early access to micro-electronics (a mobile phone) super p…[Read more]

@shazzbot

I agree with @bluesqueakpip in that I don’t find it condescending. Kids can be quite sophisticated and very direct. Perhaps because they don’t try to second guess what is being shown to them, actively looking for holes, etc.

The other thing about kids is that we raise them on fairytales with some fairly Grimm content. Young pri…[Read more]

Whenever I see the fate of McDermott, the Monty Python line “oh no! Not the comfy chair!!” leaps to mind. I suppose fan consciousness always locks the Autons as animated shop window mannequins, but I admire Holmes for trying different sort of approaches for plastic initiated death in this story. When you consider how prevalent plastic has bec…[Read more]

Evening all – unexpected visitors is what it says on my note for being late. Watched this earlier today, and will get round to Terror tomorrow I think.

It’s odd, but this and Bells of St. John (both occurring after a mid-series break) left me a bit bemused on first watch. Lots of good points, but slightly off-kilter. With Bells a second wat…[Read more]