@dentarthurdent @nerys

Goblin King… NOT the Jagrafess??

Music… it was a thing. Then it went away. It’s as if Russ wasn’t really interested. Contractural obligation? Exhibiting to the Head of Drama the error of his ways? Like it will make a difference.

@nerys @whohar @dentarthurdent

@whohar… that prescience got you at least one other returning classic Who villain… do you have a source or is it rude to ask? btw if you do, and the 2026 special looks precarious, then it IS bad news for bonkerising of all kind.

But you might want to think about Oct 5th. Boom wasn’t broadcast on that date. 3 and 3…[Read more]

@whohar

Ok. I knew about new showrunners choice and the rationale. My response was a bit Carry On.

Though coming straight after Dharwan stepped out in Whitaker’s it was uh… THERE.

Really, 13>14 WAS more loaded than 12>13. Again, does this reflect the unrelenting blandness of 13?

@translatorcircuit

Dharwanmaster got 13’s clothes. The revived 13 got his! 14 in that clobber would have been hilarious, but they went for the long goodbye didn’t. Fairly sure that’s the hand of Chib. RTD wouldn’t have turned that chance of a laugh.

Safe to say, the historical costume thing is a mixed bag. Queen Victoria made a lot of assumptions about Rose on the basis of some rips if I remember. 6 wearing his full regalia in late Georgian Geordieland is quite funny: but he wouldn’t be entirely sane again until Terror of The Vervoids. I’m sure someone should have said something: like ‘wa…[Read more]

The Christmas Invasion

Is THIS really 2nd tier? Well no. This is the start of the tradition. You might say Daleks’ Master Plan had a Christmas themed episode for the day, but it was part of a story not designated a special. And it’s 10’s first romp.

So, this is Independence Day. But the Doctor is having a post regen crisis, which means thing…[Read more]

@nerys @dentarthurdent

The nature of the attack on human culture by an ‘implosion’ of the musical instinct was undersold… Both those two early eps had great potential and maybe in a full season ‘chord’ could have been a two parter… because the idea is worth exploring, maybe with more than one musical number? Would have loved a Sharks vs Jets pas…[Read more]

@whohar @nerys @translatorcircuit

I suppose you have to say Chib and… what would you call it… gender avoidance (?) was a reasoned response to a particular narrative problem. The Doctor is always challenged by regeneration. He’s never the man he’s assumed to be, so SHE might not turn out to be convincingly feminine… uh. This is a case in point i…[Read more]

@translatorcircuit @nerys

@whohar (i think) mentioned that Chib didn’t tell the (other) writers in series 11 that 13 was a female Doctor. Not seen this source myself. Was the female doctor really a secret that long? Also Chib wrote or co-wrote all but 4 eps anyway.

Series 12 of course has the ep with Byron behaving badly: that was NOT a co…[Read more]

@janetteb

I’m investigating why Who struggles to hold on to good creative people. For instance, JNT was famously reluctant to work with Robert Holmes. Chris Boucher wrote Face of Evil, Robots of Death and Fendahl… all ‘A’ imho, but he left Who to edit Blakes 7 and the Beeb wouldn’t let writers do two shows simultaneously.

Looking at David Fis…[Read more]

@nerys @mudlark @janetteb

Here’s an interesting thought… Pyramids of Mars was hinted by Doggo in Space Babies and the desolate world without music… BUT I wonder if there is also a link to Image of The Fendahl, 2 years later?

Evidence…

There are 12 deities in the pantheon; The Fendahl is a Gestalt being with 12 components Fendahleen and ‘the co…[Read more]

@nerys

A lot of strange reactions to this series; gen z-ers really seem to have a down on Dot say, but seem to be more forgiving of these last two eps. On the other hand everyone else execrates them. It is hard to say because social media is so divisive.

I need to rewatch the last two; got as far Legend, gave up, not good…

The new Unit…[Read more]

So Voyage of the Damned says Christmas can take you anywhere. We’re looking at Russ vs Moff in the seasonal time. So I’ve done Next Doctor, and End of Time. One teases the end of 10 and delivers the Cyber King. Ho hum. A Dickensian message didn’t expect it to be very nice.

Then you get John Sim to do his best crazy stuff, but people don’t…[Read more]

@nerys

Do I mind the in fiction quotation of current ills/issues…? Not really. You may think Russ has reaped what he’s sewn, or he might argue he was on a hiding to nothing because the targets and statements aren’t really that different to the first run, it’s just the ratings are lower.

River… she has a damascene conversion in Hitler’s…[Read more]

@nerys

the central ‘2 quarters’ of this run were superb. With more than a hint of an agreeable ‘what the hell?’ More than a notch up on eps 1 & 2 anyway, though thematically they were also getting there.

My favourite is Dot and Bubble: though gen Z do seem to have taken it personally. Rogue is a marmite one and provoked lots of gnashing of teet…[Read more]

The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe.

This has a rep as a 2nd tier show, a year after the much loved Christmas Carol with its Blinovitch denying Timey Wimeyness. But, no companion, no arc… there really shouldn’t be a problem. It’s A Straightforward Christmas Show: a CS Lewis seasonal special derived from Lion W&W AND Magicians Nephew, with…[Read more]

@whohar @nerys @dentarthurdent @janetteb

design by committee? More dictact in my opinion, and contrary to the spirit of the show at that. I’ve probably said too much already.

The question is, with so much (supposed? imagined?) interference, why HAVE the main parties been so diplomatic? Well Andrew Cartmel wasn’t. Moffat has made the odd sal…[Read more]

@janetteb @whohar @dentarthurdent

Final word.

My initial thought re Chib was that the undoubted mess revealed a degree of incompetence and that was it. BUT I was also aware of criticism of Moff, suspicious about incongruities in his story lines (though I suppose that could also be the way Moff rolls); also a little surprised that the Being Human…[Read more]

@nerys @dentarthurdent
TTC… Russ at least was at pains to point out that TTC was as sound an idea as anything in Who. Of course Missy is shown as being heavily invested in Cybermen. In The Doctor Falls, The Doctor makes Gallifreyans ‘upgradeable’. Dunno what the significance of Ashad is. Anyway, that plot line COULD have been a slow burner…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent @translatorcircuit @janetteb

Sea Devil music was of course all by the Radiophonic workshop… KC’s The Devil’s Triangle features in Mind of Evil.

Tsk gonna have to watch that now.