She was recently in an overblown show on Netflix called The Diplomat,  in which the 2nd-4th seasons were full of plot holes & static factual inconsistencies…. but she was terrific! 😬😬

@janetteB @dentarthurdent yes! Mr Puro wat…[Read more]

cheers

Janette

@janetteb I want to know that those seven words are too.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who couldn’t work that out.

@ps1l0v3y0u ‘Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow’?

Works for me!

I see where you’re coming from. But I was never a fan of Asimov’s writing -it felt like work & lacked, for me, the beauty of other quieter authors from Atwood, to Antonia Byatt or Mantel. In fact, surprisingly, I never read sci-fi or fantasy. My first & possibly only fantasy came from Who, though I recently read the recent Silo ser…[Read more]

Sounds exciting, PS: Whilst I hadn’t followed this particular link back to the tender process I very much enjoyed your italicised comments. Absolute risk is expected but not too much!
And not too much Dr Who lore either ….And it can be a little expensive but it mustn’t ever look cheap….

Your mention of Salvor Hardin had me…[Read more]

Excellent work sir/madam.

It’s a pretty loose tender really, so it can be interpreted in many ways, which I guess is the Beeb saying “we don’t really know what we want apart from a new Doc and (at least) one Companion”

I just hope it is a fresh team that wins it with some great ideas. Who are looking for willing writers (helloooo,…[Read more]

I remember a good friend across the street pulling out some Dylan & Cold Chisel (Cheap Wine, Forever Now), the latter which I’d never heard before (my parents were notorious haters of rock) & playing t…[Read more]

The reason I mentioned ‘improv’ was sparked by ‘On the Turning Away’. That has four sung verses, followed by nine guitar solo ‘verses’ (not sure what to call them, I expect there’s a word for them). Except that sometimes there’s eleven in the solo, or even thirteen. (There are plenty of videos on…[Read more]

In fact I’ve noticed there are many different versions of tracks on the Net, some official, some bootleg from various…[Read more]

I also remember how she heard & felt, temporarily, the Ood’s song of captivity which the Doctor heard at all…[Read more]

I think a comic-con panel had Billie Piper. A fan asked the question …..the only question that can ever be asked! “Are you the doctor?” And Piper said “I’m not the Doctor I’m Rose Tyler on hiatus.”

As the Doctor was male, he couldn’t let go of the Dr/Donna crisis

Which is weird if you think about it. Imagine it had been written the other way around.

Also the Doc had just been female and this “ability” to shrug this off had never been explored.

The messaging is fine, but the delivery was woeful. There seemed to be a l…[Read more]

And fair enough one could say it’s “people, dude, relax, it’ll work.” And that’s great but if that’s how Rose’s journey progressed following this episode, it’s a problem- a small one perhaps, but the development was thin as a nail.

As the Doctor was male, he couldn’t let go of the Dr/Donna crisis, but Donna could pass the meta crisis energy to her non-binary daughter so this burden was split & Donna avoided inevitable le…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

It’s an interesting discussion.

On the etymology of woke: IIRC it came out of the Civil rights movement in the US (pre-Covid) with the phrase “Stay woke” meaning stay awake i.e. be alert to what’s going on around you. It was taken on by liberals and it started to appear in the le…[Read more]

yes, Moffat loved the humour & it’s what made it entertaining to me- thus rewatchable. I rewatched Listen and the Under the Lake 2-parter with 12’s “cards” that Clara organised.

RTD did humour too. Once. And even though message-heavy Dr Who existed in the 60s it was clever, sardonic, mature,…[Read more]

But suppose RTD and the Beeb had parted ways halfway through, I guess someone else could have found a continuation of the Mrs Flood storyline.   But as for all the other storylines – first it woul…[Read more]

Well, I just watched the final double episode, and the Doctor seemed a lot more human and like his normal self in that one.

How ‘monster’ could an arc be?   Mrs Flood has been lurking for – how many seasons?

The ‘science’ in that was so – metaphysical – I don’t think I can nitpick anything.   I’m not sure how the Bone Creatures who…[Read more]

in the social messaging of Chibbers I thought it was overtly political – except I understand that’s both essential (plays & stories were always this) & part of Who’s rich history but something about the execution of their messages was clunky or unsubtle….

That’s one episode I rewatch because it’s funny, it takes one out of oneself but the ending, where the clone-grown humans are  released & well, brin…[Read more]

I’ll do a recap. @whohar @dentarthurdent @ps1l0v3y0u

I enjoyed Listen, particularly how Clara & the Doc can play against each other & poke fun? In my 20s I couldn’t accept my figure or my face.

I wondered as to how RTD with his “that’s alright” from the Toymaker seemed a gentle dig at Moffat? Though RTD brought b…[Read more]

I think @ps1l0v3y0u meant that women could sometimes be written as “another bloke” as opposed to a well thought out female character. If I’m wrong please chip in.

I’m not sure what that means. Well, if they got drunk with the other – girls, cracked juvenile bad-taste jokes, and went out on the pull on Saturday night, I guess t…[Read more]

Was this tendency because the Doctor was (then) male, and the companions, as ever, were female

I mean, yes I think so. The companion does tend to riff off the lead and, with Moff’s previous writing, we know he likes to explore the sexual politics of the traditional male-female relationship.

I liked RTDs take:…[Read more]

There are so many rules or concepts associated with writing for any character that I don’t know how anybody does it without facing criticism. But I was impressed with Am…[Read more]

Some people were annoyed that Moff’s companions were obvious bloke adjuncts. They have a point. I’ sure Bill ‘molested by a puddle’ also had some people frothing. 

Not sure what ‘bloke adjuncts’ means.   They were normal heterosexual people (like, the 90%) who naturally had boyfriends (or, in the case of Bill, girl-puddl…[Read more]

@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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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).

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]

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]

And it appears the Dalek syste…[Read more]

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]