@juniperfish @pedant

Just on the question of subtlety of the script, I just wondered if this is a lot more direct because of the reaction to Kill the Moon?

Some misconstrued that episode as prolife or anti abortion, whereas its clearly pro choice (the choice, and who is empowered to make it being central to the episode).

I wrote something about…[Read more]

@juniperfish

Tarot card-wise I thought Osgood might represent Temperance (the figure in the card pours two liquids together as a sign of mixing opposites to find balance). And Temperance in the Rider Waite is depicted as a hermaphrodite (a hybrid) angel.

I actually really like that a lot, Osgood as Temperance.

Well, I didn’t expect my rant in the pub about my desire for political subtext to be followed by that.

Upto this point it’s been subtle, but this is definitely where they throw out the sub and scream TEXT in your face. The enemy within. Filthy outsiders coming here and taking our benefits (laughed a lot at that line). A radicalised youth…[Read more]

For fans of stout, can I really recommend the wonderfully named ‘Nordic Noir’ which Weatherspoons are currently selling as part of their beer featival. Wonderful stuff. Kicks the arse of Guiness.

It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the halfway point in this series already. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? Time for a half time pub rant.

Since it came back Doctor Who has worked on a lot of levels with sub and metatexts galore. They’ve got stronger and more subtle over the years, and we’re about to get a two parter by Peter ‘Kill the…[Read more]

Just to mention a film that immediately came to mind with the Highwayman theme of The Woman who lived.

Plunkett and Macleane. It’s pretty divisive I think because it lapses into anachronistic dialogue and music on occasion. I find it really enjoyable though and it has a lot of people in it who have been in Doctor…[Read more]

You know, the mischievous side of me looks at the picture of Ashildr dressed in a similar way to Clara’s mum (excellent spot by @kharis) thinks of the bootstrap paradox, and wants to suggest Clara gets physically changed, has to swap clothes and ends up stranded back in time, where she stops a man being run over by a car, resolving her unwarranted…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip @purofilion

Let off, only because you’ve posted sense above and beyond….etc.

@denvaldron

Is that why the audience seems to be going away? The ratings this season have been between 2/3 and 1/2 of previous seasons. I don’t think this is explained by changes in television

I invite you to make whatever point you have on ratings in a blog, setting forward whatsoever point you wish to make. Simply because it’s not the f…[Read more]

@plainolddave

There’s. One. Dr. Who. SERIES

I agree. There is one serial called Doctor Who. It’s split into Seasons for its first twenty odd years and then series after that.
You seem to have such a problem with this concept, and, you know, everyday reality, that you have become a poster of interest. Especially because every post contains a f…[Read more]

You know, as Sam was laughing and joking before his death I was mentally writing a comment along the lines of “I bet that’s not the first time Rufus Hound has died on stage”, when what happens? The Doctor nicked the line, the bugger!

Tonally a lot different from the first part, which I guess was the intention of getting Catherine Treganna to…[Read more]

As ZZ Top got a name check in The Girl Who Died, and did a cameo in Back to the Future 3 (along with the theme song, Doubleback) a song from them.

No matter how much alien tech they contained, the sonic sunglasses are surely a boon to the cosplayer because they look like…

@fatmaninabox

Loving the theory that Back to the Future 3 Clara was a Claricle.

Is Keith Lemon still actually employed by ITV? The world is a mad, bad place.

Just a note on the eels. If, in the UK, or the US, or Australia, a thriving Colony of electric eels was discovered in a River, what would they be called from an environmental perspective?

Invasive species. Invasive species are plants, animals, or pathogens that are non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction…[Read more]

@Bluesqueakpip

Great Scot! The Fox is a great possibility.

Apparently it’s Back to the Future day, as this is the day in the future that Marty McFly visited in the second film. The Guardian are running a live blog of all the keeerrazzy things happening around the world.

I think I’ll jump on my hoverboard to travel tonight. It’ll make a change.…[Read more]

I think one of the interesting things here is that most of us at some level feel that the Doctor interfering in the balance of life and death is a bad choice that will somehow rebound upon him. There is a big mirror here though, because Clara effectively did the same thing for the Doctor. Pleading with the Time Lords for more life without his…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip

I think Gallifrey is already one of the entrants in the ‘a spaceman did it and ran away’ theory of human evolution, though I can’t quite recall which story.

Off hand, I can’t think of a story that suggested that, but it was stated in Underworld that they did go through a phase in ancient times of playing God with a race calle…[Read more]

@arbutus

I wonder if this monster/villain conversation is deserving of a place on its own blog? I’m having a hard time keeping track of it and it is a fascinating discussion!

Because the forum systems and blog systems are slightly different, my understanding is that we can’t transfer comments between the two. I think if the general consensus f…[Read more]

I really struggled with ideas for this week. Beer helped, because this is a fun romp, and I could tie up this and next week with musical comedy courtesy of the rather excellent Horrible Histories.

So first we have an exploration of the Vikings..literally!

And, after a short sketch on Newgate, we go…[Read more]

I can’t believe I glossed over the Ghosts idea for the last couple of weeks @whisht and @scaryb

Love this track. And I’ll give some serious drinking thinking time to the monsters idea @whisht.