@dentarthurdent    @thane16

@ps1l0v3y0u

Ah, the infamous Bechdel test, aka the Bechdel–Wallace Test, was developed in the 80s, named for Alison Bechdel and Liz Wallace.

It’s pretty broad and, yes, limited in its usefulness. I believe it was originally developed to bring a focus on the roles of women in film, with their being quite the numbe…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u The Bechdel Test sounds like barely relevant hokum to me. ‘At least two named women characters who talk to each other about something other than a man’?

Well, ‘Alien’ would fail that and the hero was a woman, ffs! So would ‘Hell Bent’ (I don’t think Clara and Ashildr talked to each other about anything other than the Doctor, although…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u @whohar @janetteb

Until about 8 years ago I was ignorant of the Bechdel Test myself. I actually thought Moff’s female characters were well rounded (not just …ahem….well rounded…) progressing from confused & helpless to “being the Doctor.”

Over the years one notices how companions evolve. In the 2000s the Doctor saved his beloved com…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent

Cor, yes! MI5’s ziggurat: a perfect description of it. I wonder who employed the architect to build THAT?  Oh yes! El Trumpo presenting the prize. What a delicious moment.

Yes, the fan service was evident, wasn’t it? I think even Mrs Flood’s status was confused with her monologue to Ms Cherry in Season 1 (almost like AD or CE org…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

yes I think they did undermine Moffat a little. And McGann was wonderful in the minisode.

Do you think the BBC didn’t much like Moffat or were tired of his stories or expectations?

I actually enjoyed Foundation- not so much season 1 or 3 but definitely season 2 and quite a bit of season 3. The books are so dense with characters t…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u    I agree Small Gods was satire.   I usually like that.  I just found Vorbis too close to reality for comfort.

All the other books are satire too, of course.   And I’m certainly not saying Small Gods was bad, I’d sooner read it than, say, anything by a less talented writer  (which is most of them).

@ps1l0v3y0u

You don’t need patience, or any commitment, to read the Discworld books.   Any more than you need a commitment to watch an isolated episode of Doctor Who.   The ‘recommended reading lists’ give the impression, possibly inadvertently, that each ‘series’ is one continuing story.  This is just not the case.   Although many of the charac…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent, @ps1l0v3y0u and @whohar

I am reading the T.P books from the beginning. Half way through now. Death is one of the best characters but htey are all gold. I think if I have a preference, and it is only by a smidgen, it would be for the witches. Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and of course the fabulous Greebo.

The tv adaptation of…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u   I guess Clara the Dalek only required Jenna’s presence when she was actually visible inside the Dalek.   The rest of the scene would have used a stand-in Dalek.   So with that, and one other Clara-lite episode which Moff mentioned but i don’t recall, I guess that amounted to one Clara episode saved.

And it appears the Dalek syste…[Read more]

@whohar

I think ‘Fifth Elephant’ may well have been derived from ‘5th Element’. It’s very common in literature and drama, I think it’s perfectly legitimate and a nice nod to the original work.
There are plenty of examples in Doctor Who. ‘Spyfall’ obviously comes from ‘Skyfall’ (James Bond). ‘Empress of Mars’ is very obviously a tribute to Edgar…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent

@janetteb

@ps1l0v3y0u

Also too much YouTube for me; it burns through my writing time so I really should stop…

Some interesting suggestions here. Big thumbs up for the 5th Element. I’ve watched it several times and always enjoy it. Incidentally there’s a Discworld book called The Fifth Elephant but that may be coincidence.

Re…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u I really enjoyed The Other Bennet Sister too. there were some jarring modern lines and sensibilities and costumes were hit and miss but overall it was a delight.

I have only watched one series of Slow Horses as yet. The remainder is on my “too watch” list. I am not sure I will get around to Silo. too much to catch up on. I have the…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u    @janetteb   I didn’t know Wells was so personally  interesting.   We had to do some Wells novel in English at school, so of course we were scornful of the old-fashioned language.   It wasn’t The Time Machine or War of the Worlds, and I was never sure if the latter was written by H G or Orson anyway  🙂       In my early sci-fi…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u I do like arcs but they have not always “landed” well. I am perhaps thinking mostly of the two most recent series. RTD’s promise to make it “bigger and better” always made me groan. In trying to outdo himself he often “overdid” the drama, ramped it up to the point of silliness. There were too many universe ending threats. Moffat did…[Read more]

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u

Bravado. Yes. Creative Differences. Also yes.

The BBC are going to go out to competitive temder for the new series, so my read is that there was definitely some tension about the show. Maybe the external discussion also affected the decision.

The BBC went out to tender for the CBeebies version of DW last year. It’s…[Read more]

@janetteb   Um, yes.   I might have found Lux more alarming if he wasn’t so intensely irritating.   Don’t know how you’d find ‘Cool World’, the main character was seductive Holli Wood, voiced by Kim Basinger, so much more appealing (in my view) eben if she was a ruthless femme fatale.   I think sometimes the success of concepts like ‘cartoo…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u     Just noting as I watch The Well –

So, how did Belinda and the Doc know to dress in Stormtrooper uniform? Did the ‘patriots’ win in the 2020’s? Is all the future a militaristic hell?

The exploration of the base is a bit reminiscent of Aliens (or indeed a dozen other sci-fi’s. I guess there’s only a very limited number of ways to…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u   I did watch Robot Revolution, and typed a short screed about it.  But when I went to post it, most of the points were very similar to the one I posted a year ago, so I thought I’d spare the bandwidth.

Lux.   Yes, there wasn’t a lot of content in it.   Basically just “all cartoons wish to be people”.   I’m not sure if that’s a common…[Read more]

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u

Then someone spectaculated that the special had already been filmed in secret.

I’ve heard the same rumour. It would be hilarious if true.

But yeah, too much noise, not enough actual information because:

Cash needs clicks, and clicks need content. And the content doesn’t even have to be that good.

@janetteb @ps1l0v3y0u

so same old, same old?

I guess. Alot of the Who fan channels are protesting a bit too much, so there are a few logic fails on their parts about why it is not true. We’ll find out when we find out.

But…I did discover that previous Christmas specials weren’t filmed until the September, so there’s a bit of a bigger open…[Read more]