Oh yes! Who else gave a drunken cheer at “reverse the polarity of the neutron flow”?

@juniperfish

I’m looking at the new series Big Finish stuff and wondering how much damage my bank balance can take. River Song AND the War Doctor. Bugger!

I must admit though that the testosterone line made me laugh. I couldn’t help but think of the typical warrior race, like the Klingons and think, well, yeah.

Funny that Who made a warrior…[Read more]

Just on names (a strand of theory that has never let me down, except you know, always)

Ashildr

Derived from Old Norse áss “god” combined with Old Norse hildr “battle”.

God of battle = Minister of War?

I actually thought it was enjoyable enough though. I particularly thought the baby translation stuff worked well, echoing the dinosaur translation in Deep Breath, which the episode then referenced.

I don’t know what it was but watching the Doctor address the parade reminded me of this from Red Dwarf. I kept expecting the Doctor to demand Heidi…[Read more]

Hmmmmm – so potentially the hybrid cometh. Early. On the other hand an obvious misdirection by Moffat, because it can’t be that simple can it.

I’ll agree with @miapatrick. A really peculiar episode that, on the surface light and frothy, a bit of a romp. Underneath though a huge amount to talk about. Consider that in the last episode the Doctor…[Read more]

@whisht @scaryb @jimthefish @denvaldron

Yes, great comments. I’d particularly point to Jim’s point that 80s who lost some currency because those touchstone references became too distant.

When you look at the first appearance by the Daleks, they not only refer to the war Holmes, Dicks and Nation lived through, but the ultimate war to come. A…[Read more]

@purofilion

“fired by the BBC” Colin Baker. Really! Why? This wasn’t some regeneration thing….was it? Something else?

For more information on that one have a link to a discussion on the Faces strand on the sixth doctor. With a note of caution that this is the era of the show I had most problems with. To say the least.

@jphamlore

I’m more trying to understand the stories of the Fourth Doctor and how time works. Back then both the Doctor and the Time Lords in Genesis of the Daleks seemed to think he could change the Daleks past, perhaps even wipe them out, and the Doctor and the Jagaroth in City of Death seemed to think it was possible the Jagaroth could save h…

[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip @arbutus +all

Thanks for the bigup @bluesqueakpip, but I think you’ve summarised my feelings with

but I don’t think the dominant culture of the Time Lords is portrayed as a good one, or one that is likely to produce good individuals.

When we met our first female Time Lord in Invasion of Time she’s passively watching a war fleet o…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Just on the Borg thing, I’d agree that people get hung up on the cyborg comparison with the Cybermen.

I do think that there is a precursor to the Borg in Who though.

Consider, the Borg infect you with nanobots, which invade and change the body to become one of them. In doing so the network or hive mind gains access to your…[Read more]

Great to see you @rob and I agree with what you (and @whisht) say here. I think that’s a huge point that the relative success of the monsters first outing usually touches on some wider fear or issue.

@denvaldron

The reason that I mentioned the Sontarans specifically is that I watched the Bred for war boxset of all four Sontaran BG stories…[Read more]

Tracks for Before the Flood? Well, we’re back in the 80s in the episode, and I’m an old goth so I’m going to go to The Sisters of Mercy’s Floodland album and Flood II. It is possibly one of my favourite albums of the late 80s as Andrew ‘I can make my shopping list sound scary’ Eldritch produces something strangely…[Read more]

@juniperfish

Yes, the dialogue about the Time Lords was intruiging, especially as the last time Whithouse wrote an exchange like this in School Reunion it went:

Finch: And what of the Time Lords? I always thought of you as such a pompous race. Ancient, dusty senators so frightened of change and… chaos. And of course, they’re all but extinct. Onl…[Read more]

@doctordoctorwho

Don’t worry, I made it up! I guess the mention of hybrids in the first two parter made me think of it because the Producers said before the series that they wanted to play with the two parter format a little. I think it’s an extension of what Moffat did with Pandorica OpensBig Bang and Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, which…[Read more]

Oh yes – that scene with Cass being pursued by the ghost, and the vibrations alerting her was brilliantly creepy. Nice use of O’Donnell’s fate being used to give one couple a happy ending while emphasising that Clara is not in a happy place.

I thought that was damn good, and with The Witch’s Familiar a second part of a two partner that did things its own way rather than what you might conventionally expect. The precredits and outro were brilliantly fourth wall breaking.

I genuinely didn’t recognize Paul Kaye as Prentis last week, and really enjoyed his performance. The line inviting…[Read more]

@whisht @purofilion

Dame Shirley is mentioned. In a who episode. We discuss the past to unlock the potential future?

Well, it’s all a little bit of history repeating…..

@thekrynoidman

Great track. Bowie produced some incredible material in the 70s and early 80s. I’m one of those people who thought he became a little less interesting as he retreated from characters in music and took up acting (which appeared to fill that need thereafter).

I don’t think we heard back from you on the showing of Tommy you were…[Read more]

@denvaldron

I’m struggling with this a little, because you seem to ne taking what makes a monster, and then mixing it with some hugely subjective stuff about legacy. How about we concentrate on first or early appearances?

Because if a monster reappeared, it was a success. What made it the success? What is our first impression of the Sontarans, say?

@bluesqueakpip @juniperfish @craig

Anyone else fancy some art criticism?

I don’t know much about art criticism, but I know I’m a bit geeky. So here goes:

The figures in the boat are yellow, red and blue. In Trek, Blue is the science/medicine colour across the board. In the original series yellow was command, red was disposable (hence ‘red shirt’…[Read more]