Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
28 May 2024 at 16:42 #75916
Large parts of 73 yards do not bear logical analysis… part of what makes the story so scary. Of course there are issues with scary. The Hamlet test: the ghost ain’t supposed to make you titter; you are permitted to experience fridge logic, but this is my point. Reckon nobody knows…
re 10/14 (is that something to do with cb radio?)…
1. Ruby has never been introduced to him or Donna
2. We don’t actually know if Ruby’s London precedes or follows Donna Starbeast/Giggle London. Doctor Ham may not be here yet.
3. 10/14 still has his own Tardis doesn’t he? I bet Donna may have occasion to say ‘Oi long streak! Nerys says I’m looking peaky; take me somewhere with some rays. And wine.’ So, no, not sure Kate would know where he was.
4. He might be wearing a shimmer. As you do.
5. Finding 10/14 might well be Kate’s back-up plan, but then Witchy-woo spoke to her on the magic talking bone and she went off-grid to become a low carbon footprint spoon-wittler. Cos that seemed to be Mad Jack’s experience.
26 May 2024 at 22:06 #75904Yes I think we may revisit Mad Jack aka ‘big-stick crazy-hat’. My personal candidate for Emperor of Death.
RTD’s big challenge this season would seem to be making all the mad stuff add up. Watch out for red buttons, Artron energy and American Diners
26 May 2024 at 16:48 #75897Marti… yes I should know better. If you ask a lazy question, then immediately lazily qualify it, you maybe shouldn’t ask the dumb question.
The relatively mild criticism of that part of the story (not from me) was levelled, I believe, in context of the TERF wars. Marti and her trauma was considered ‘sprayed on’ to the story. I agree with Juniperfish; Russ couldn’t do much more given the audience and Disney. However, given that Witch Ruby makes people ‘disengage’ from Ruby Ruby, getting 73 yards away from Mad Jack might be a way of keeping him away from her also? Forever. I wonder if THAT idea, a more obvious threat to Ruby from Mad Jack, was discarded at some point?
To have this threat ‘hidden’ in the text is quite keeping with Jack’s proper (Norman) name. This is a man whose dirty little mind regards nuclear weapons as a logical improvement on Derek Small’s foil-wrapped cucumber.
Not sure why Ruby and presumably everyone else had to keep off the grass… at gun point??
And why 73 yards? This is close to the width of the Cardiff City pitch. Perhaps it commemorates the distance Yaya Toure (other brutally destructive/homicidal players are available) could leap studs up?
Otherwise, as Kate (and Google reveal) it is also 66.7 meters, which sounds more than a tad Book of Revelations. I referenced Killer Mummy phasing tech earlier in the discussion. Dunno what 66 seconds is in RELs.Could we finally be about to find out who Gus is/was/will be??
26 May 2024 at 00:47 #75879Roger ap Gwillam. Hrothgar son of Wilhelm. The reknowned spear from the helm of desire.
I think Donna would have something to say about that.
Some people have said ooh Trump! and others Farage (who does raise the hairs on the back of your neck) but the most obvious parallel looks like Kim. That puts us on the map.
Not everyone is liking the (very brief) Marti subplot. Indeed… what was she still doing there in the stadium? Well, she might have many reasons. But it might have worked better if she then precipitated ex PM Mad Jack’s very own personal Me Too hell. There was a lot in this episode already but RTD could have sorted that in 20 seconds.
25 May 2024 at 22:58 #75872Glyngatwg… Glen something…
sub the initial and ultimate g for a… and you have alyn (alien?) gatwa??!
Old Ruby is apparently using BSL.. I saw a transcription somewhere on the web but can I get it back???
25 May 2024 at 22:14 #75870apparently the name of the pub translates as ‘the dead wood.’ The actual pub also featured in Torchwood!
The full Big Bang 73 numerological analysis was outstanding, juniperfish.
I shall now rewatch to check out the name of the village
25 May 2024 at 20:59 #75864Why does no one go to the police? That was when arrived UNIT wasn’t it? Which went well.
I did like the ‘can I pay with my phone?’ moment, when the audience all thought 73 meant 1973
Anyone checked out the name of the Welsh village for Thomasite Llareggyb meaning? I don’t have head for unlikely combination of consonants. And what was the pub called again? I did expect Nardole to turn up claiming he was a solitary reaper or something.
To tell the truth, this was closer to Midnight than say Blink or Fireplace Girl. The mystery lay in the mystery which was a mystery. Is Mad Jack another pantheon dweller and we’ll only see the working parts when the arc is resolved? Might be better if we were left to shiver while scratching our heads. Which shouldn’t really be possible.
25 May 2024 at 11:20 #75860Also… the time energy “factory” in ‘Angels Take Manhattan.’
Nothing wrong with these reminders. Interesting we should both think of (different) Toby Whithouse stories though.
Susan Twist would seem to be a thing. Question is what? Mrs Flood is back.
No. No idea what Russ is up to.
25 May 2024 at 09:27 #75858Wow. It seems churlish to reference previous ideas from Who and elsewhere… but…
‘Turn Left’ obviously…
66.7 meters echoes the 66 seconds to ‘phase matter’ in ‘Mummy’ (thank you Perkins)
The ‘ghosts’ in ‘Beneath the Lake’
Inside #9 ‘The Twelve Days of Christine’?? Will have watch that again.
Ghost Story for Christmas 1977, was it ? ‘The Signalman.’
and the politics… ouch.
Top tier.
21 May 2024 at 20:58 #75820Is there another race… that can regenerate?
What exactly do Mire ‘genetic sticking plasters’ do? When does healing become regeneration? What did it do when combined with the human dna of genius.
I don’t think ‘Splice’, as a name, can possibly be any kind of accident.
Has anyone come any closer to ‘the moon and the President’s Wife’? Of course (since the Invasion of Time) The Doctor IS President. And Dr Moon is the central processor for The Library, in which his wife is preserved/incarcerated.
Or that is a lie and The Loon really did know him when he was s little girl.
Or The Loon lied completely Exxilon City stylee.
Or The Loon is such a loon that truth and lies no longer has a meaning for him/her… er they.
I’m still going with The Loon is Max Capricorn’s tooth. It really does that!
20 May 2024 at 16:40 #75806I’m sure timelord dna is practically perfect in every way; consanguinity being the main issue for us apes.
But of course ‘it’s a kids show!’Anyway, they were woven on a loom according to 10.
20 May 2024 at 11:26 #75800Evil of the Daleks was supposed to be Terry Nation’s last Dalek story before he found an American buyer for the pepperpots.
How meta can you go?
20 May 2024 at 11:26 #75801Evil of the Daleks was supposed to be Terry Nation’s last Dalek story before he found an American buyer for the pepperpots.
How meta can you go?
20 May 2024 at 08:58 #75798It’s happened before. Evil of The Daleks, doc 2, 1967. The Daleks get imbued with ‘the human factor’, start questioning orders and become very childlike.
‘Why?’
’Dizzy Daleks.’
20 May 2024 at 08:53 #75797The child of The Loon? ‘I knew him (the Doctor) when he was a little girl…’
Or grandchild. I have wondered if that was Bill Potts… at some point. The pictures on Capdoc’s desk. Bill’s mum previously appeared (briefly) as a Timelady.
And why plant the Missy’s vault in the basement of THAT university?
But Lucy was clearly unhappy about some of Saxon’s shenanigans on Cloudbase.
Is Ruby human or Timelord? River only became a Timelady because she was exposed in vivo to The Vortex.
Well Rory believed/chose to accept that.
So Ruby might manifest as human but…
20 May 2024 at 08:31 #75794Is RTD going to fix it in the arc? Logically, if Du Plushie world doesn’t accept immigrants, maybe the babies do get shipped to Skaro! The pay off could be the toclafane in Dalek form.
All in the worst possible taste.
20 May 2024 at 00:48 #75788Seriously good. Curiously timely. Can he write? Yes he can.
So, what have we here? The Crash of The Byzantium. Demons Run. Malfunctioning Mummy Tech. Nightmare AI hardware ala Oxygen.
And the snowflake?? The Snowmen someone said?
Hmmm. Not sure about the snowflake. We might have been played a bit there. Like Poirot on the Orient Express. Too many clues.
But, yes, lots of stuff about someone whose name begins with S. Don’t forget Stukey Sue and her three babbies!
Three cradles.
A reference to a highway woman.
Another Shobogan/Timeless Child?
This more rounded episode contrasted curiously with the 2 preceding. You would hope RTD is aware they were lacking and where. Will those stories be filled out or completed in the arc?
17 May 2024 at 09:50 #75742All I said was there was a brief thaw in late Jan. Yes, Jan was apparently record-breakingly cold. Then the snow returned with high winds and blizzards in Feb.
I have been told (many times – I don’t remember) there was lying snow in the south east until march. London does have its own microclimate: lots of chimneys and in 63 very insulation, but then not much central heating either.
It ain’t a big deal. Like the fashion thing… who’s to say Ruby and Doc didn’t set the fashion? They don’t know: a pair of cultural tourists… worth a joke really, Russ.
I think if there’s a problem it’s here. Interesting, really fascinating, ideas, even in Space Babies, not really explored. Maybe Disney era Who will ‘have’ to be like that. Which is obviously not a good thing.
And this is nothing to do with ‘woke’ being shouted at everything. Maybe the same Pictish bard who taught the crows to say ‘caw’ got fools to shout ‘woke!’
15 May 2024 at 19:58 #75724@juniperfish
You need to be careful when bandying the words ‘full circle’ around. What is more scary? Spiders? Marshmen? Or Adric?15 May 2024 at 17:16 #75722Apparently there was a brief thaw on the 25th Jan. Then it got colder again with high winds in Feb but maybe not quite as cold as it had been before.
Clearly Russ hoped no-one would think of that.
Lots of snow in The Tardis of course.
15 May 2024 at 09:42 #75716Radio Times previously confirmed the inspiration is the landmine scene from Genesis.
Moff does the better xmas specials too. Bar VotD
Apparently Russ asked both Moff and Chib to contribute but Chib said ‘no!’ A bit like Withnail from his bedroom when Paul McGann asked him if he wanted a cuppa??
I find 3 a bit hard to take… Inferno perhaps?? That would be cool. AU with a baddass Ruby and Mel in an eyepatch??
But no Primords. Please.
15 May 2024 at 00:18 #75710or… SLC = Salt Lake City. Closest urban centre to Henry Van Statten’s vault. Says someone on tinternet.
Kind of place where an American Diner might rock up if you ask me.
14 May 2024 at 10:25 #75705I hate it when that happens (disappearing posts).
I was quite intrigued by Years and Years… not sure why I missed it. Well, competition for screen time. And early days of the culture war, maybe I felt I didn’t need ‘ideological’ guidance!
I still think Russ could have illustrated the difference effects of the demise of music on the human psyche: no melting pot of ideas; no counter culture; culture = nationalism; grinding obsession with The War. Right up his street really. I find it hard to believe he felt he couldn’t do this with The Mouse on his back.
Maybe that’s a bit picky but this is what sometimes stops Russ going to the next level. Looking forward to Moff’s writing credit on Saturday. That will be the acid test.
14 May 2024 at 00:05 #75701Run the Margaret Lockwood thing past me again? Of course, I have my own theories about Me, aka The Knightmare…
Also, just because the Giggle and Maestro both first manifested in ‘25 doesn’t mean they were particularly active at that point. The Toymaker takes the best part of a century to go to town. Music may not have been particularly tasty for Maestro until swing, bebop and rock n roll was on the menu after WW2. So, music might still have been vital enough to attract the John and Paul at artschool.
The Pantheon don’t seem to be respecters of chronology or sequence. Why should they be? But who knows what else came through in ‘25? Or what they then did? Who will be head honcho of The Empire of Death?
Both these stories were a bit underwritten really. I’m not asking for expo, or the return of Bradley Walsh to state the obvious, but it’s a bit… careless.
13 May 2024 at 20:48 #75696re guff powered spaceships, I still maintain the issue is the initial burn, otherwise you’ll just spin gently. Once you’re there, it’s parabola (oops missed) or ellipse (orbit). A new burn may be required but by then more methane fuel will have been ‘manufactured’.
The problem at DuPlushie World or wherever might be the extradition deal they’ve struck with Skaro!
The bit with Doggo in the airlock was of course a nod to Alien Resurrection. You knew that.
13 May 2024 at 10:47 #75676Chris and The Carrollers?? A preview of the xmas special perchance? And SLC… something. Any ideas?
Tom Baker dressing up was from Robot 1974… which was a pretty poor story. Though it did have a cabal of very useless crypto fascists. Curiously apposite.
12 May 2024 at 17:49 #75650what you to have to remember is there is a pecking order at work here.
At the top… Trans is fraught. Drag is the target. This is the Mailspress feeding zone. Entirely irrational. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH REALITY! I have had people try to talk to me about this over dinner. No Tofu. And could I meet their eye? No. There was nothing there…
I admit Jinkx Monsoon is scary. GREAT! Sounds a bit like real Who to me. Mary Whitehouse would complain. Again GREAT!
Next on the list: refugees. Well, we need these poor souls to do all the shit jobs we don’t fancy. Suella thinks the snowflakes and chavs should run around the land with big knives (for the brassicas natch) but wouldn’t it be even better if they were serfs? Then they couldn’t run away! Or mess up the property market for the Oligarch’s daughters. Which is really important.
Then reproductive rights. I dunno. Anyone from America or Northern Ireland in? Embarrassing isn’t it? Stockpile lemons and clingfilm, that’s my advice. Shoe-horning? Seriously?
Where next? What’s wrong with British food eh? aka ‘that’s a nice bit of fish, doesn’t taste of anything!’ Or ‘I met some English people abroad. They didn’t seem to want to talk to me. I like the songs from the shows. Until it got suspect. Oh and cider.’
Bottom of the list. Who. Try talking about that. It’s a great leveller.
12 May 2024 at 11:09 #75637The post Maestro nuclear winter is an obvious nod to Pyramids of Mars. I’m afraid we’ll not see ITS like again. But that has been true since Jonathan Nathan Turner stepped into Graham William’s shoes. And not all of the golden age was THAT good. In any case we’re talking Nuwho.
What do we have with ‘Chord’ and ‘Babies’? Yes relief that Zchib is gone. Russ tiptoeing around the subsequent damaged continuity. Not a lot of Moffat style razor chat/sci-fi literate/chutzpah/occasional gender cluelessness. Sparkly budget set against almost Chinese cultural diminution of threat.
RTD will delight and offend and won’t be told what not to say, exactly. He will obviously adjust what he shows because it’s not his money. If I thought we might have a whole series of ‘Babies’, I might start thinking, ‘Woman Who Fell to Earth’ or ’Spyfall’ and then ‘not again.’As it is this is more than just about good enough. It looks great. It’s coherent. It doesn’t leave me thinking ‘maybe Denis Waterman (as well as my partner) was right.’ The actors deliver. The politics are, at the very least, acceptable.
It is very much like RTD’s first run. Successfully beaten into compact and uniform shape. But, as was the case then, sometimes something is missing.
‘Babies’: another element was needed. Something to make the babies a little less cute. Then Russ would have less time to be tempted to telegraph stuff. More = quick.
’Chord’: music is difficult. Song fics are very uncool. Not everyone over 25 liked the Beatles.
What if the nuclear war was about the Scruton/Hague/Traditional Religious view of the sixties winning? Not so much Devil’s Chord as Devil’s Decade. Russ was nearly there but the argument was light. Just needed more unpleasant contemporary view: see, that’s what happens when the servants reading Lady Chatterley; can’t have the Minister sharing a girlfriend with an immigrant. The Animals could be animals and Stones, real thugs. Bob interests John: he has the right idea about Indo China, and leaving folks in The South to their own devices.
Because the death of music must be recent, or why did the boys buy their Rickenbackers in the first place? Could the allies have won WW2 without jazz?
Yes, you couldn’t drop many ideas into the script without more expo, which obviously you don’t want. Just make everyone mean little pathe news caricatures. But then there would be precious little time for the dance number, or the music, and that is what’s on the tin. As John said later, ‘who wants to talk about sex?’
It just needed another element. Wouldn’t take much.
But yes Henry Arbinger will be important. Lot’s of foreshadowing going on, isn’t there? A little bit annoying really.
11 May 2024 at 20:36 #75629Can I state my admiration for the number the Beatles were recording when the Doc and Ruby turned up? Clearly an influence on Colon from Indie Club. I won’t post the video again.
I thought the actor who played Ron Nasty looked more like Dirk McQuickly, whereas Dirk’s actor should have been Barry Wom!
Hilarity aside, music is one of the corner stones of culture, and this is improbably powerful stuff. Amazing performance from Jinkx Monsoon. I don’t really watch musical theatre so I can’t say if the last numbers were good or bad but I’m sure Jonathan Nathan Turner would be green. Beats running diwn corridors or reaching for big red buttons.
On the other hand, both my daughter and my partner LOVE musical theatre, and they were duly amazed, maybe not in a good way. I doubt if they’ll be converts.
11 May 2024 at 15:58 #75622the snow reminded me of Lavender Brown making it snow on Ron Weasley. Generally the early RTD snow was bits of spaceship or the contents of ballast tanks.
I didn’t want to be first up and say ‘ai carumba! I think Itchy and Scratchy has lost their edge.’ But I’m afraid we are in a new warm and fluffy age. The back of the sofa is now out of bounds and Z neutrinos are prohibited. It was not Blink. It wasn’t Robots of Death. It wasn’t even Love and Monsters. But it didn’t make me switch off half way through thinking, ‘I’ll come back and watch the rest when I’m drunk’ (aka the Zchib test).
There were ideas present. He def missed a trick by not spotting babies = daleks. But as I say the babies may be meta. ‘I’m gonna tell ya how it’s gonna be. You’re gonna give ya streaming cash to me…’ (don’t lose the sale)
11 May 2024 at 13:50 #75616Chibnall would have made it into a baby soap opera. ‘What’s going on? No, you don’t know what he’s done! I’m divorcing you Eric!’ And it would be a two parter at least.
Saward… the babies drink blood and everyone but Ruby and Doc die in the end. Maybe Ruby too.
Pip and Jane? Well a lot of people want to see The Rani again. She got a mention!
Are any of those scenarios worse? Yes. The Rani especially. And they’d be done abysmally. Whereas bits of ‘Babies’ were just a bit slight and undercooked. Another layer needed. Bit of a waste.
Amy scan? That’s thirteen years ago. Not like Demons rehashing Testimony (which itself rehashed The Tesselector). I’m intrigued. Biggest clue going forward… combine the snowflakes and the butterfly and yes that might drive an arc
11 May 2024 at 13:03 #75612Call me Mr Brightside.
Not saying Babies was better than B+, if that. IMHO.
There was indeed catch up expo. Expo wasn’t wasted on giving away the whole backstory, clumsily and vindictively because, “who’s the showrunner now, Father Steven Moffat?? Next section: people who don’t like Crime Dramas. I got awards for my Crime Drama, did you know that?” That’s NOT Russ speaking btw. And if you hadn’t noticed, I’m a Ted fan.
Anyway, I thought the expo was swept away quickly enough. Was it necessary? Presumably there are people out there who need it.
Is the age bar being set a bit too low. I reserve judgment.
A lot of the baby speak was babyspeak. Kidfic is tooth-rotting. Some people may not want to see it. Perhaps Russ is rubbing our noses in it again. ‘Sorry guys this is the way it has to be.’
Or, yes, you could say that aspect was unimaginative. My reaction on seeing a flight deck full of small emotionally undeveloped people in automated strollers was “ahhh! Daleks!” Give them flame throwers and maybe some unfortunately direct imperatives and The Doctor might well look askance. Then Ruby could tell him off because they’re “cute lil babies…” and all that.
There could have been more misdirection. We knew what Doggo was. We knew what had just slimed Ruby.
As it was, the dialogue would have to be a bit limited. I suspect there was an element of wasted opportunity, here. But we’re not talking about Saward, or Pip and Jane, or Zchib ‘bad’ are we?
I like nods to classic sci-fi and space opera. It beats the show reworking it’s own original ideas which is really a bit lazy.
I would have appreciated The Doctor actually doing some science when he made the space station ‘break wind.’ Plugging his sonic SSD into the nearest console is all very well but I think he really might really need to work on some kind of adjustable blast nozzles and a burn system or all you’d do is change the station’s spin rate. But you wouldn’t have the CGI brown cloud. Toilet humor will get you anywhere!
11 May 2024 at 11:26 #75609Welcome to Checkov’s Fluffy Armory.
It seems churlish to say ‘on the whole I enjoyed it.’ It was GREAT. Maybe some reveals were a little obvious. The scene setting didn’t take long but… there it was…
And NO! Raise your crucifix (other sacred and/or humanistic protective symbols are available) against the spectacle of Whotinuity. Nope. Nothing to worry about.
But what else did Russ stuff in our stockings?
Ray Bradbury ‘The Sound of Thunder’ we knew was coming.
Bang straight in there with the impending Fall of the West. Court-driven pro-life/pro-choice shenanigans meshed nicely with immigration non debate (give us your cheap labour for all those jobs you are never going to pay people enough to do.) What did you do in the culture wars, daddy?
Then Earthsearch via Wall-E.
And Doggo must have its origin’s in Lister’s Vindaloo monster from Red Dwarf.
Lastly, the demise of Clone Ripley’s ‘alienated’ baby in Alien Resurrection.
Kid fic? Tooth-rotting perhaps but no trouble. Check. Next up the much reviled song fic. Russ is on a fanfic roll! Expecting Shipping, Slash, Crack and Major Character Death!
The big scan at the end? Need to recheck that on high res. Last seen when 11 examined Amy’s baby-bump, the result being River, who apparently was human but got exposed to The Vortex when her DNA was still a bit malleable.
Yeah… I’m sure Desmond Morris would have had something to say about detached earlobes and all that! Does that mean Vashtra was covering up for someone? That Rory was a bit gullible? Or maybe he knew and was just a very nice bloke.
8 May 2024 at 23:22 #75576cheers. I suspected the multi doc stories had more regeneration info. But I wasn’t about to trawl through them.
Cartmel may indeed have inspired the Timeless Children, but he’s on record as hating it.
8 May 2024 at 17:26 #75574Last word… Of course Moff apparently thought the ‘Morbius’ faces were Doctor pre 1, and defended that aspect of Timeless Children. Not sure what he thought of the rest. But that doesn’t mean to say 1 didn’t steal sexyidris or wasn’t the first to become The Doctor. That is IF Ruth was the regeneration forced after The War Games!
Would a neural block have stopped 3 onewards from remembering Ruth? Is that why the idea of the neural block was introduced?
8 May 2024 at 15:32 #75573if you’re bored you can say so. It’s fine.
Otherwise… in Name of the Doctor it’s obviously 1 who stole the tardis in it’s ‘death star elevator’ form but that’s Moff’s retcon.
The existence of other Timelords and tardises is introduced in The Time Meddler (season 2) and expanded on with The War Games (season 6) when Timelord, the War Chief (who knows the Doctor and vice versa) offers as yet unnamed Gallifreyan tech to the race of The War Lord. 2 gets the Timelords to put things right and tries to do a runner but fails… he knows they’ll punish him and they exile him to Earth with ‘the secret of the tardis taken from you.’
3 encounters the Master and eventually earns his freedom but, as 4, becomes an occasional Timelord odd job man. In due course he encounters Solon who is trying to construct a body for monomaniac timelord Morbius, killed trying to give his followers immortality via Karn’s elixir of life. 4 challenges the reanimated Morbius to some kind of mind wrestling during which we see the faces of Morbius and all 4 Doctors… And then MORE faces! This was a big deal at the time. But no-one knew if these were the Doctor or Morbyboy.
In the next Season 4 goes to Gallifrey where the Master, who has run out of regenerations is trying to blag some more. This is where the 12 regenerations is identified. 5 also looks as if he will have to sacrifice his 8 remaining lives in Mawdryn Undead but is saved by the Blinovitch limitation bang when the Brigadier meets himself.
The Cartmel penned career of 7 suggests that he is not just another Timelord, but by then 12 regenerations is becoming canon. He’s only half way through his regenerations, no panic.
By the time of 11, what with The War Doctor and 10 regenerating as himself during The Stolen Earth, it appears he’s run out of road. But Clara steps into the mexican standoff at Trenzalore, 11 absorbs some energy from The Crack and wipes out the pepper pots. Again.
There is talk of another cycle of 12 regenerations at some point I think. And we already know Rassilon had been resurrected from somewhere. We don’t really know if Ainley’s incarnation of the Master was capable of regeneration (essentially by then he’s a vampire) or if it really comes before the Movie Master, Yana, Simm or Missy (again supposedly the last incarnation) or where Dhawan’s incarnation stands. Were The Timeless Children the thing that finally drove The Loon C-rrazy? Not that I’m very interested.
Then we get Ruth, the Timeless Nippers and The Division. This must be the least coherent bit of story-telling Zchib has been guilty of. But Ruth’s appearance seems to indicate 1 was NOT first after all because we saw the other regenerations. Didn’t we?
No. A hint of some white hair maybe on Troughton whizzing round at the end of Season 6. Or was something flaring? Season 7 Pertwee falls unconscious from the tardis. They may be wearing similar gear… but really the give away is that the interior of Ruth’s tardis is from 1960’s MFI, not a mezzanine or a flying buttress in sight. What we have here is a basic tardis like 1’s or 2’s. But not necessarily BEFORE 1 or 2.
Except of course Zchib would also seem to be trashing Moff and the Clara Timeline (or Clara Post Diner Holiday) Tardis handover. So I’m probably just trying to explain an act of vandalism, and who the hell is interested in continuity anyway?
Zchib is spelling out the 12 regenerations was always rubbish… at least for The Doctor. You tell me if he’s said anything specific about the faces shown in Brain of Morbius because, admit it, Holmes and Camfield aren’t about to appear on our screens as unknown Doctors.
1 and 2 could very well be on the run from The Division too. Perhaps there was an anti Division Gallifreyan party who intercepted 2 and hid him on earth? As 3. Or Ruth? The War Games Timelords seem nice, just a bit pompous. The War Chief and Morbius, on the other hand look very Divisionesque.
The only clue is the Tardis, which was clearly NOT always a policebox. So why is one buried in Newport?
Someone said insane theories didn’t they? Sorry, I only do logic and history.
7 May 2024 at 14:31 #75569Clara/Ashildr’s tardis did indeed have a duff chameleon circuit. A Type 40 problem? Like Leyland fully detachable door handles? Or it’s the same tardis and sexyidris thought all those shakes and burgers would be bad for her figure.
Last point… everyone assumes Ruth predates 1, just as everyone (now) assumes the faces we saw in Morbius were the Doctor’s and predate 1 too. But at the end of the War Games we don’t really see Troughton morph into Pertwee. There may be a brief hint of Troughton with white hair… not clear cut… perhaps the film transfer process. That was probably the final shot; Troughton rotating in a void… Jun 69. Pertwee was presumably on location in Sept 69 so you’d think he was cast in June or before.
So, Troughton wizzes around and gets dizzy, next thing we know Pertwee staggers out of the tardis, presumably having had his mind wiped. Just because the Timelords had exiled him doesnt mean there wasn’t another regeneration, or a whole series of them in between. What do we know? 3 and Ruth were effectively on exile on earth; what if the sequence is different?
1 had a good reason to disguise the tardis as a police box. He was in London. Not sure Ruth’s motivation to do the same is as convincing. But if you were forcibly stuck on earth (and chameleon arched perhaps?), you might want to bury a police box. Or someone might want to take it away.
You say that’s laboured, I say it’s time travel.
7 May 2024 at 08:57 #75565Could you disguise the inside of a tardis? The Diner had a back room (presumably a kitchen???!) which was the tardis proper. Clara and Ashildr may have gone anywhere (apart from The Time War and Earth circa Chicxulub) and met anyone.
In that a chameleon circuit is supposed to disguise a tardis, why bury it?
Otherwise, could the buried tardis be the one post Doctor 2?? The Timelords said they would exile The Doctor to Earth with ‘the secret of the Tardis taken from you’ (buried?) and that’s certainly where Ruth is. Then The Division gets home from the pub and somehow The Doctor ends up back on earth again with a now thoroughly disabled tardis, just in time to fend off The Autons.
6 May 2024 at 17:35 #75563That sounds interesting…
<p style=”text-align: left;”>The Beatles churning out soulless pap? Russell is obviously paying his own tribute to Colon’s legendary performance on Indie Club</p>
6 May 2024 at 14:01 #75561hmmm, ‘The Raj’… no I’m not prescribing sackcloth and ashes. My impression is that the generation who experienced partition, close at hand or from a distance, often use the word ‘betrayal’. Britain had been revealed as the emperor with no clothes; having created the idea of a political ‘India’ they could do nothing about Jinnah seceding. 2-3 million missing!!
You don’t have to say much. A quick explanatory aside to Ryan would have done the job. “Ere granddad. What’s these peoples’ problem like?” Now that would have given granddad something interesting to say!
The problem with (recent historicals) is not so much with providing ‘balance’ rather if you don’t even try, whatever nifty sci fi you spray over it ends up quite trite. Same issue with Rosa.
I’m not sure I can manage a similar review of series 12. Villa had cracking dialogue and almost got to address ‘Lady Doctor’ issues. I should look at Fugitive again at some point. Yes, it would have been better if Ruth’s tardis had been the lighthouse. Or an American Diner. And I also wanted to know more about Lee.
The Floox. I’m gonna have to watch it sometime.
5 May 2024 at 21:17 #75558Samuel Anderson is a great actor. Obviously he was part of the ‘centenary soldier’ arc. I loved it when Danny identifies the Doctor as an officer. So yes he’s abrasive; he is an antagonist. Not everyone can be warm and fluffy. Rory is in some ways more Doctor-like than the Doctor; its a tribute to Arthur Darvill’s acting that he brought it off.
I’m still scratching my head over the reappearance of the tardis key inimical volcanic landscape in Last Christmas. Were the events of Deep Water intended at some point to be all part of the Crab dream?? Is Danny out there still?
4 May 2024 at 18:42 #75555@dwnerdfrommars @dentarthurdent
George Lucas a Whovian?? I had a friend who was an (American) Professor of Anthropology, a huge sci fi fan, and he confessed he didn’t get Who at all. Denis Waterman was famously dismissive. Perhaps he wanted write the them tune/sing the theme tune ala Little Britain.
The most obvious parallel for Star Wars is Dune. Perhaps the Jedi = the Timelords: boring and a hindrance to the story. I loved The Harkonnens in David Lynch’s version. DW could mine that surely?
There is no problem with whoever Doctor except perhaps 5 (the last crowded tardis era) & 6 where the show’s quality issues were revealed as a JNT/ES problem.
Lady Doctor does have specific challenges. And Zchib resolutely refused to go there. And somehow Whitdoc ended up as a less effective Shona rather than ‘wonderful human being’ Bill, who was herself a rewrite of Shona.
Rory was a good sympathetic companion and Danny an excellent antagonist; Micky was a cypher, Captain Jack hugely annoying. Three can work but the dynamic must be absolutely correct. Zchib also threw characters at Cold Earth and maybe 42?? Disposable characters are disposable I suppose.
4 May 2024 at 10:27 #75550Some might say brave. Others foolish.
I remember meeting a fellow whovian late in 2018 and we eventually, reluctantly turned to the problems of the new season.
The overriding impressions were of slowness and incoherence. We identified the tiptoeing around The Lady Doctor issue (and so the unwelcome return of the crowded Tardis aka The Fam), the new crop of (inexperienced) writers, and Zchib’s own lacklustre scripts.
We didn’t want to criticise Whitdoc; as with Colin Baker, it is difficult to interpret and kick back against bad creative decisions. But, in hindsight, maybe Whitdoc was one more bad decision.
This is my recollection:
Woman Who Fell to Earth: Slow, incoherent, a bit inconsequential really.
Ghost Monument: a bit better but still incoherent. Quite like the murderous scarves myself.
Rosa: Not really sure why they internalised the Emmett Till story with Ryan, and then failed to mention him. Why did the bus strike happen? People got angry, things started to change. But no! It was actually a bunch of Brits on a bus. A worthy attempt I suppose, but a bit worthy.
Arachnids: the Fam slumming it at home. Wince. Inconsequential.
Conundrum: WHAT? WHY? WHAT IS THAT? Could have been creepy. Instead a ridiculous waste of time.
Demons: Better, but then the main device is a rehash of Testimony. Nothing to say about British colonialism?? Really?
Kerblam: Finally something less inconsequential. Now, if the fallout had been the Butlerian Jihad, that might have been half decent. “Hey Fam. I may be responsible for the Bene Gesserit and the Mentats!” Fatally slowed by The Fam, I think (please don’t make me rewatch it)
The Witchfinders: could they really not find a retinue for James? Obviously a bit reminiscent of The Awakening. Missed the chance to make the Pendle Hill joke (etymologically it = hill hill hill) but occasionally amusing nonetheless; Zchib’s oeuvre generally being a laugh free zone.
It Takes You Away: better. Nordic noir scifi. Novel. Perhaps they needed a Wallander style policeman to round it off? The talking frog is weird. Weird being better than Fam.
Battle of Ea Stac Ton and Rehash of the Pepperpot: Sorry. I’d given up by then.
27 April 2024 at 18:21 #75546Spyfall… I confess I have issues with the Bond franchise. This doesn’t help me take the story seriously.
Noor Inayat Khan… doh! I typoed her name! Sorry.
If Zchib, or Moff, want to bring on Nazis for creative reasons, so be it. Better be done well tho. If they can advance the story with recent political or historical figures, that could work. Maybe contentious. Depends who.
My problem with Spyfall isn’t just that Nora’s appearance seems horribly insensitive. As Clara is apt to point out: The Doctor knows.
Had the Doctor said, “Do be careful with that radio transmitter girl,” that would be fine.
If she said, “they will torture you so badly British Intelligence are still in denial even though they know the guards were sadists. And, when cross examined, the only witness to admit anything basically rolls his eyes and sniggers. But no one actually knows because you and all the others will die. SO GET OUT!” that would be better. It would mess up some fixed points in time I’m sure.
13 didn’t actually say, “Oh, you’re a spy, that’s so cool. Bizarrely, I’m in a very bizarre, very incomprehensible story called Spyfall. You couldn’t make it up, could you? Bye!” But she might as well have done.
Didn’t The Loon rock up in a Nazi uniform, the ijit? I suppose switching off his perception filter was a bit like shopping him to the Gestapo. The scene could even be a ‘coded’ admission of the ‘special treatment’ Nora received for being a person of colour but I’m not sure Zchib’s thought processes are that subtle. Anyway. Yes, pretty distasteful.
I can’t say I’m going to rush to check this with a rewatch.
On reflection, Who and Reich are not a good fit.
27 April 2024 at 17:53 #7554526 April 2024 at 09:24 #75537@dentarthurdent @devilishrobby
I really like Love and Monsters. Even Moaning Myrtle’s (hinted) life as a paving slab. But then I happily defend doctor 6.
CB wasn’t a great actor but he was given an impossible brief; Tom in that role (to judge from the occasional shouty moments from a decade before) would have been truly terrifying. And I doubt if you would ever have got him in that costume. The fault was clearly the showrunners: poor concept (JNT) badly executed (ES). But it was CB who got sacked.
The Tsurunga Conundrum was poor. I thought most of the next season was worse but that may have been the cumulative awfulness getting to me.
A truly bad episode can either have no redeeming features whatsoever or be damned by a complete misjudgment.
Spyfall had the Noor Inayay Khan moment. Unforgivable.
Twin Dilemma had the Doctor attacking Peri. I’m afraid to say criticism of that decision has (rightly) gained more traction over time. But the script was a dog. The production useless. The science really quite bad. Type 1a supernovae were a big thing a the time, though that required a binary system with a white dwarf. Dark Star however had put unstable planets in the frame so ES (presumably) went with that. The monsters (even Mestor) weren’t too bad. The show hadn’t obviously run out of money.
Which was definitely the problem with Time Flight. Oh but it had Concorde! Cool! No. Monsters? Bits of foam. The story was abysmal and the script barked. The science was summed up by the statement ‘early Cretaceous I think. A bit chilly.’ I think. I ain’t gonna check.
But worst of all was Anthony Ainley as Kalid. I mean WHAT??? Why? Obviously it was designed as a big reveal. Just ludicrously executed.
Time and the Rani is supposed to be quite bad. I was so upset by Michael Grade that I never watched it.
Non Zchib nu who? Kill the Moon. We’ve had this discussion.
25 April 2024 at 18:02 #75532wow that’s a tricky brief.
My personal fave (?) is the Two Doctors… though it is overlong, with a ridiculously decrepit 2nd Doctor and Jamie, and even more ludicrous Sontarans. Violence (tick).
I haven’t seen Revelation of the Daleks since the first broadcast. That impression was favourable. But it is a Dalek story WITH Davros. Generally reviewed positively.
Vengeance on Varos is mistitled, absurdly violent/exploitative and hilarious, especially given JNT and Saward were trying to meta ‘video nasties.’ The story might have stood up in any season.
The two shockers must be Mindwarp… worth watching just for Peri’s demise… otherwise pretty incomprehensible. And of course, Twin Dilemma is both utterly ridiculous and offensive. An incomplete story by a non sci fi writer, transformed by script editor Saward into a true abomination. But at least it didn’t have Anthony Ainley.
Yes my people, Time Flight WAS worse. Just.
Twin Dilemma is an aberration; don’t judge CB or even the production team on that eye-watering nightmare. The Ultimate Foe is also a nasty rewrite, and Timelash makes you giggle in a bad way. The rest was watchable if sad because this was the season that killed the show. Cartmel could only delay the inevitable.
25 April 2024 at 08:58 #75530@dentarthurdent @winston @dwnerdfrommars
6 (and Nichola Bryant) undoubtedly copped the worst excesses of Nathan Turner and Saward. Not that 5 didn’t also suffer: The Myrka; Turlough going crazy; Anthony Ainley going crazy; the correct way to milk a giant bat…
But Nathan Turner’s sartorial sensibilities were as nothing compared to Saward’s instinct for the gruesome. Mooks in acid baths; you got it! Cyber crushing hand torture? Cool! Menace Peri with sexual threat and cannibalism? Mmmm. Can I have pineapple with that? Oh and can someone chisel this Starship Trooper out of the giant slug trail?
Truly, a production team made in hell!
23 April 2024 at 15:49 #75526Pineapple? Hmmm.
NOT mmmm!
Colin Baker… pretty much the same. Hilarity was there to be had: Varos, 2 Doctors (controversial I know), Revelation, even the weird and not that wonderful Timelash. Also the mindboggling Mindwarp.
You have to remember the welcome contrast between the second Baker and the Davison ‘surrender monkey’ era. Maybe putting two fingers up at Grade and Whitehouse was not a great idea. But some people cheered at the time, me amongst them. Twin Dilemma, however, was a disaster of biblical proportions (though personally I think Time Flight was worse).
None of which was Col’s fault. Can I say Nichola Bryant was easy on the eye? A quality oft mentioned in defence of Tennant you know. But the accent JNT demanded of her was ridiculous. Bonnie Langford, in contrast, made you both squint and cover your ears. Or, if you could, leave the room.
20 April 2024 at 21:22 #75523Revenge of the Cybermen featuring The Vogans. (NOT Vogons).
Not THAT bad; better than Robot, but poor after Ark or Genesis. The Zygons and Planet of Evil are a bit clunky too. The Android Invasion however is better than I remembered.
I am revisiting 4 too.
-
AuthorPosts
