@ixion – just FYI, some people don’t watch the trailers and count them as spoilers, so if you want to discuss the one at the end of this there’s a blog specifically to do so. Not having a go at all, just wanted to make you aware.

@craig @phaseshift and other lords of the administration, perhaps you could edit the last post for people who don’t…[Read more]

@Margaret-Blaine

I think someone has already quoted Walt Whitman’s poem on another page, but it rather ties in with @Phaseshift‘s theories about the dead and by association suggests Annabel came back from the dead. My creepy theory is not that some magical hydrangeas sequestered her @pedant but that she was dead in the woods and the magical tree…[Read more]

@Phaseshift

And it seems the lost (and perhaps dead), are starting to return. Just in time for an annual event.

I definitely think you’re onto something. Perhaps what Missy was surprised by was that her usual harvesting of people who die in the wake of the Doctor’s adventures did not take place. There was no “reaping”, because no one in…[Read more]

@PhaseShift I can’t particularly fault the message of this one. Trees are about the most useful thing on the planet.

Agreed – it made the story much more palatable than “risk the entire human race on the off chance a spacebaby is harmless”.

As far as the science goes – it’s exaggerated, but the points are very, very real. Deforestation direct…

[Read more]

@PhaseShift That’s an interesting theory about Missy, I don’t think that’s what the big reveal about her is going to be though.

@thommck

Very sorry about that. Yes @JimtheFish, @Phaseshift, @FatManinaBox go ahead and get rid of the final paragraph my post #33916, before the ‘PS’ (but please leave the rest of the post, it took ages to think/write out!). My apologies again @thommck, I hope I didn’t ruin things too much for you. I reminded myself not to refer to the ‘…[Read more]

No problem @ScaryB, I managed to gloss over the post when I saw Flatline mentioned.

However, on re-reading @JimboMcMaster‘s post #33916 is a lot worse for spoilers.

Hopefully a mod can sonic that one a bit too (@JimtheFish, @Phaseshift, @FatManinaBox )

Mega apologies @Thommck

(I forgot which thread I was on)

😳 😳 😳

Maybe a passing Time Lord (@Phaseshift, @JimtheFish, @FatManinaBox ? ) could mod the offending last paragraph (post #33925) out of existence, for future readers.

<goes and sits on the naughty step>

@FatmaninaBox Love your idea that the equations are the calculations for moving Gallifrey in Day of the Doctor. (All the others have the sonic working on it in the background – 12 goes for the blackboard 🙂 )

@Barnable (are you back to Barnable, I get so confused!! 😉 ) That really was a note to myself, but kudos to you for ‘fessing up if you…[Read more]

@ScaryB – thank you.

Ah, yes. I do sometimes paraphrase. 😳

I didn’t want to say Who nerd supreme because – to be honest – I thought that sounded like I was about to set out my fiendishly complex plan for taking over the entire universe. You know, the one with the over dramatic speech about ‘now, Doctor, I have you in my power!’

Besides, @P…[Read more]

@phaseshift That’s incredible about Battlestar Galactica at the UN. Thanks for the link!

So I think I’ve got to admit I’m wrong (again) 🙂

@lisa – thanks for the references. It’s really fascinating. So many aspects of the “monomyth” that ring true for recent (and past) episodes.

x

@Phaseshift Thanks for posting – a lovely video (oh the 80s hair). I must say I did like this track when it came out – had a weakness for their music – schmaltzy as it is.

Great episode and, yes, @everyone, that was the killer line. The ending kind of throws my Missy is a future-Clara idea out the window. Must cogitate further on that.

And, yes, @bluesqueakpip, I think this is the episode where the 12th incarnation decides to take on the mantle of The Doctor. Loved that whole scene.

And agree with @phaseshift, we…[Read more]

Agree with @Juniperfish (and thanks again to @phaseshift and everyone for contributing to the soapy discussion)

It’s noticeable that a lot of people who use “soap opera” as a criticism for DW also tend to be the ones who throw “deus ex machina” and “sloppy, lazy writing” into the mix without expanding on why they think that. Or complain they…[Read more]

Nice discussion @Phaseshift and @JimtheFish and @Blenkinsopthebrave about the nature of soap as a genre and in its defence.

To that I would add that there is often an un-thought out response which labels “soap” as a derisory form when there is a gendered cultural history to that. Soap was created as drama aimed at women (paid for by soap m…[Read more]

@wordmuse — as @scaryb says, you don’t need to worry RE. ratings. The show is doing as brilliantly now in terms of audience than ever. And as SM has pointed out, the show is now a global brand. It’s kind of pointless to just focus on UK overnights (which don’t take account of things like time-shifted viewing, iPlayer etc). The final viewing…[Read more]

@phaseshift

Absolutely love your post about soap opera. A bit like you, my mum has always followed the soaps.
I grew up with telly as a background noise (when we got unexpected visitors, my folks would turn the volume down – but the the telly stayed on 🙂 )

At their very best, I think that soaps open up debates – within families and between…[Read more]

@Pedant

What a great link, thanks for posting. And completely agree with @Blenkinsopthebrave – there’s some great TV in there (and don’t you dare knock Dixon of Dock Green!! (though I jumped ship when I discovered Z Cars)).  Sadly I was mostly packed off to bed before TW3.  Though I remember seeing some of them so I must have sneaked back up a…[Read more]