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28 October 2025 at 09:37 #78254
Just started this… the fateful figures ‘1hr 28 mins’ flashed up. Ooh, I know I said late Chib was a bit of an improvement but that’s a tall order. About 1/2 hr in at the mo.
Also reviewing the work of the mighty Chris Boucher. It is much easier.
28 October 2025 at 09:16 #78253Does the apparent negativity from Shearman, Purves, Gibson & Ford indicate something’s about to be announced…? I suspect so.
If Carol Ann Ford is harking back to unseen clips from Reality War, and Gibson grousing about spoilers, while Shearman and Purves make… uncharacteristically unclassy comment, is this actually the trolls being baited?So yes… I’ll be a bit disappointed if we don’t hear something shortly.
27 October 2025 at 14:26 #78247Sorry, the 40th anniversary of UF, and 50th anniversary of DA, is NEXT year of course. Maybe we’re gonna be inundated with rumour and bitchin for the whole of the coming year.
Though 29th Nov and 6th Dec are Sundays. If they did feel up to springing a pre xmas short season.
Ruby Sunday anyone?
27 October 2025 at 13:17 #78246I forgot about Shrewsbury… that’s off the beaten track. The rest are in ‘far-back brokerland’: all well attended provincial theatres. I only mentioned Woking to further possible Dorks vs Wokes humour. Though Woking also has a nice theatre.
But they are real shows. So yes, lots of coincidences happening. Now it’s the National Association of Anti Been Fulminators being played.
My guess is an announcement on Oct 30th, Nov 6th, 13th or 20th (50th anniversary of Deadly Assassin… I just watched it, matrix based), Nov 23rd (the big anniversary), the 29th or Dec 6th (40th anniversary of Ultimate Foe… also matrix based)
Chew on that!
26 October 2025 at 22:01 #78244@dentarthurdent @blenkinsopthebrave @whohar @janetteb
The Christmas Carol tour of southern Britain is real! Both Bakers & Peter ‘kid show’ Purves. But I’m sure none of them object to plugging their show…
But both the Shearman and Ford stories… and Millie Gibson too? Is this all actually the ultimate tease?
Bear with me… some bonkers theorising: two more two season RTD batches coming. One ends on the 65th anniversary of the show: 23rd is a Thursday, been done before. The next will end on December 6th 2031… a Saturday… the anniversary of The Ultimate Foe.
Timelords on Trial?
26 October 2025 at 18:20 #78243re Dorking… the place name is ancient and distinctive, indicating the Anglo Saxon settlement of Dork’s people which, as I have explained to my daughter on Wimbledon Station, should not be confused with the place of Woke’s people, or you will find yourself on the wrong train.
26 October 2025 at 17:57 #78242@blenkinsopthebrave @whohar @dentarthurdent @janetteb
Welcome back!
This is one of several links to the story
https://cultbox.co.uk/general/carole-ann-ford-describes-unused-doctor-who-finale-scene
all these seem to come with their own interpretations.
I just note there seems to be a lot of activity. Presaging an announcement perhaps?
24 October 2025 at 07:54 #78239@dentarthurdent @whohar @janetteb
The Star (UK) has been trashing credulity whilst exhibiting female anatomy since 1978.
Paul McGann had a go at Tennant as well recently.
I suppose we need the War Between Land And Sea before we can really judge what’s happening. Is there a delay there… any news?
23 October 2025 at 20:53 #78236@dentarthurdent @janetteb @janetteb
I think we’re in agreement! But this WAS in The Radio Times… which may be nominally independent of The BBC but I haven’t really absorbed that erm fact (ie I don’t believe it).
The Daily Star is an actual… comic! Um… Red Top. I thought of looking up ridiculous headlines created by them (celebrities eating hamsters, Dorniers on the Moon, that kind of thing) but it turned out that was another bunch of lying hacks. The only thing you might know is the lettuce vs Liz Truss feature.
Unfortunately, we don’t know where The Corp will be in five years time, let alone ten. I’m afraid DW has been sceduled for offloading if not demolition since 2014 and The Corp are finding it a torturous process.
People who can only name Baker T or Tennant, or haven’t watched the show since Leela followed on from the football results, are annoying. I wonder how many of them there really are.
23 October 2025 at 08:09 #78234On the face of it, it’s SO ridiculous, you might think it’s noise or a wind up.
Then you remember: Greenland, ‘Dictator’ Zelensky, Gaza Vegas On Med… Piers Morgan on BBC Breakfast explaining why everyone who disagrees with him is s fascist. Cheers Piers, the scales have well and truly fallen from my eyes.
22 October 2025 at 18:02 #78230So now Peter Purves is at it!
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-peter-purves-modern-series-newsupdate/
Is this the narrative? Is someone seeding the narrative? First a guy who wrote one (rather good) canon story and moonlighted on some other bits and pieces, now a companion from the distant past who ‘no longer watches the show.’ How long has that been, Peter?
Is it that there’s no such thing as bad publicity? Is someone dressing ‘the gammon’ to keep controversy going? Or is this briefing against the show?18 October 2025 at 20:58 #78228Would like to know how Star Beast was chosen as an intro to the Mouse era… but, we’ll probably never know. It entertained enormously, almost effortlessly, in a manner Chib could only ever dream. What I shall do is watch the transition from Chib back to Russ together I think…
1. there must have been some Russ input into Chib’s swansong. Was there a clue there all along. Not just what one day must be Max’s tooth.
2. Also the new arc was in gestation… The Boss is still out there in… Reality War was it? So, the arc STARTS with 14… in PotDoctor. Get my drift?
Also this late Chib stuff is actually not anywhere as mortifying as series 11&12. Not remotely any good, but even the maligned t’floox had a… demented sense of purpose. I’m not sure the old chain of commands apply any more but, in Classic terms, what Chib and his frankly inexperienced writers probably needed was very very strong script editor. The Lord God Robert Holmes ruffled some hack feathers. Do they still exist?
So, I shall look at this… and the first Ruby Sunday ep as part of my pre Xmas binge. And try to join the dots.
But first I look at superior writers. Done Bailey; ignore the realisation of the monsters, he is VERY good. Boucher next, then the rest of Fisher and late Holmes… in the new year; even The Two Doctors and The Shii… sorry… Mysterious Planet.
17 October 2025 at 08:28 #78226continuity… may well alienate more new fans than it attracts. But it is a 60+ year show; 50 years active. It’s more of a question of what you do with it: Cartmel wanted it to be less ‘roll out a classic monster’ and more about The Doctor himself: man of mystery revealed, not mad man in a box, that phrase itself being Moff’s deflection of the question.
I don’t buy the ‘14 + 16 are accidents caused by Gatwa being noncommittal superstar’ theory. If they have said something like that it’s because ‘they’ don’t want to reveal… whatever it is.
So, a bunch of hacks have been chucked off the gravy train for a few months. More interested in when and what The Corp is actually doing… cos continuity is a big problem for them too: ‘but we don’t want you to DO that! When did it ever make sense anyway?’
The holy grail of lost shows must be Fury from the Deep or Evil of The Daleks. Fingers crossed.
16 October 2025 at 15:57 #78223Hope I’ve done this right:
Shearman wants to write more books/audio/big finish?? Cos he didn’t get another gig on the actual show.
Does someone actually know something?? Has Billie said anything?
It’s Billie vs David again. Everyone kind of knows what that means.
Or the show dies! I say again is this what one hit wonder Shearman is chewing? Moff says it was a total shock. So how did Ecclestone know? He knew. Moff knows.
Just a question of when. I say again. Is Russ banking footage? Just in case.
16 October 2025 at 13:56 #78222@dentarthurdent
Yes, Inferno, Caves of Androzani, Fires of Pompei… magma has Who-form.Perhaps it’s doctor evil/panicked hero hyperbole. You only need a certain amount of flooding/volcanic activity to wipe us out, but never knowingly undersell it.
16 October 2025 at 09:24 #78219@whohar @dentarthurdent @janetteb
Time paradoxes and how to avoid them.
Timelords are time sensitive… Girl who Died… ‘ripples not tidal waves.’ Obviously no one is going for the abandoned arc/plot seeding theory… but the implication is, this IS a tidal wave and The Doctor knows it. Therefor he’s there because the Tardis done it. Malfunctioning man in malfunctioning blue box. Talk to Jamie.
Also The Doctor CAN observe history and then change it… see Pyramids of Mars. Also, ‘we change history all the time.’ Not all history changes generate paradox. Timo wimo.
But what about Let’s Kill Hitler? The Tesselector is essentially Bad Testimony. Are you going to extract my memories? No just torture you; you were going to die anyway. That’s not an evil plan at all. Or maybe a bit. But, does that mean River (and Rory) actually SAVED Hitler in ‘38? Maybe someone else was due to assassinate him on the same day. In other words, between them and Hitler’s cupboard, they caused at least THAT version of WWII. Not saying it wasn’t too late for some kind of mechanised bust up.
Blinovitch… used once only (?) in a story written in a hurry by Grimwade I think, and prior to Cartmel, so he maybe had more scope for invention. Bit duff.
The Trial of a Timlord is rife with paradox: in Vervoids, The Doctor is charged with a genocide he hasn’t yet committed.
Father’s Day: not my favourite ep, but Russ must have been happy. The Doctor tests crossing timelines essentially. Also Big Bang: I’m sure The Doctor in the Fez got very paradoxy (don’t ask me what exactly) but then it was a collapsing Universe. Well, it’s all going to have to come down anyway.
Sound of Drums: the Tardis BECOMES a paradox machine. Also why exactly was Yana doing what he did at the end of all things (again)? Russ JUST about got away with that.
The Tardis Done it… ‘I took you where you needed to be’ or the timelines are out of sync or something like that.
So either Sally only caught up with The Doctor in time for him to go to Wester Drumlins without having read the file. After that he CAN’T interfere because he hasn’t got a Tardis.
Or The Doctor realises he HAS to do it… to avoid a paradox? Or so that we have dvds??? Perhaps he reads the file, smacks his head, and says ‘that’s why the Tardis plays dvds rather than firesticks a streaming service!’ The dodgy implication being is he’s happy to risk Martha; he can’t be sure they’ll both end up 69. Maybe he could rescue her once he gets the Tardis back. Knowing what I know about his relationship with Martha, I’m not sure.
Or The Tardis done it? Presumably so we have dvds. The cloister bell doesn’t sound for someone like Martha.
15 October 2025 at 12:29 #78214fantasy science. Yes, it’s part of the show but they flaunt the worst possible examples so often you have to wonder if we’re being baited.
Flooding the entire Earth didn’t ought to be possible. Perhaps The Chief Sea Devil meant he would flood low lying continental margins. That might well cause the collapse of human civilisation. Couldn’t The Doctor babble about that?
Otherwise, the known mechanisms of sea level rise would be:
global warming and melting ice caps
the early phase of continental breakup. (I think) abyssal plains containing water get subducted while new constructive margins displace water.
new water transported to the earth by comets.
geomagnetism? It happens. The real problem might be solar radiation. Perhaps THATS what Sea Devil wants… to fry everything on land to a crisp?
It’s all fantastic. The energy needed to raise sea levels rapidly would be immense, marmalise the surface of the earth and turn the ocean toxic. But this is certainly interesting stuff, like the little ice age, or Carrington events, or Moon formation theories. We have science thank you; no space bats needed here.
15 October 2025 at 12:21 #78213fantasy science. They flaunt it so often you have to wonder if we’re being baited.
Flooding the entire Earth didn’t ought to be possible. Perhaps The Sea Devils meant he would flood low lying continental margins. That might well cause the collapse of human civilisation. Couldn’t The Doctor babble about that?
Otherwise, the known mechanisms of sea level rise would be:
global warming and melting ice caps
the early phase of continental breakup. (I think) abyssal plains containing water get subducted while new constructive margins displace water.
new water transported to the earth by comets.
geomagnetism? It happens. The problem might be solar radiation. Perhaps THATS what Sea Devil wants… to fry everything on land to a crisp.
It’s all fantastic. The energy needed to raise sea levels rapidly would be immense and marmalise the surface of the earth. But it’s interesting stuff, like the little ice age, or Carrington events, or Moon formation theories. We have science; no space bats needed here thank you.
14 October 2025 at 22:50 #78209Legend of The Sea Devils
LotSD is not Eve but it’s not most of the dross from series 11 & 12 neither. Which probably means it’s there with T’floox, neither boring us to death nor making very much sense.
There is a jewel which the Sea Devils need, so they can wipe out the land crawlers, somehow. And they get it during some running around and exposition with added time travel. Then there’s a peculiar little sequence reminiscent of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, bottom of the sea, in which the Doctor seems to flirt like mad and Yaz doesn’t believe her.
The problem is not that this happens, but that it happens in the middle of the action. Dan and a kid are menaced by a Pirate Queen while a submarine version of a sand worm makes like Drogon complete with gnashers but no flames. But you never see much of it in case someone thinks hmm ‘Myrka.’ Now if this was series 11 & 12, the Chucklegenerations would go meh meh meh and I would probably switch off. But that wouldn’t be fair on this particular story, though I think no more of this story than much of series 11 &12. What I mean is, its not fair on the romance either; as baity as it might seem, that might yet be quite affecting.
But no, the Doctor has psychobabble to babble. And DOES she! 10 could sarky cockerny slouch, and 11 rapid fogey, 12 turned on Tucker minus Jefferty before closing the trap. Whitcoc just patter patter patters. She needs more mardy bum. Chib obviously decided that was too 12, not really The Doctor, not what The Mail could take from a woman.
That aside, this is where the bad science comes home. The head Sea Devil is going to flood the earth, but flipping the magnetic poles won’t do that. Unfortunately the theme established earlier was magnetism, sorry didn’t I say? Now, if they’d created the Siberian or Deccan traps, a volcanic province to roast the earth with maybe a phase of rapid seafloor spreading, that might be reasonably effective. And poison the oceans, too. See, this is Kill the Moon/Forest of the Night territory, fantasy science riffing on important stuff. Another epic miss.
Never mind, everyone then gets a bit shivvy, including Dan, who rocks the glowing blue plague scimitar and then blames his mum. But all is resolved, I think. Except Dan realises he is def the gooseberry and puts out an emergency call to Scouseland even as The Doctor, opening her heart to Yaz, virtually breaks into Bob Dylan’s One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later).
But the postscript IS affecting. Because The Doctor mentions her wife, but it’s obvious she’s thinking of Bill and Clara, girls SHE could not save, though they were saved, but not for HER. The Doctor’s pain is genuinely pathetic. Actually very good acting.
Meanwhile, I am sat in Larry Nightingale’s video shop, staring at the screen shouting not ‘go to the police!’ but ‘give her a snog!’
14 October 2025 at 17:39 #78208An Android Princess became Romana 2.
Lots of reoccurring thesps in less prominent but varied roles…
The War Lord and Solon
Poule and Mawdryn
David Troughton got in a few times.
As for 12’s face… it’s specifically to do with Ashildr, who he recognises, and acts so weirdly around that Clara calls him out. And in the middle of a ridiculous set of coincidences too! Not least being that there’s no way he should know he has to save Ashildr… he certainly didn’t want to be around Vikings.
Perhaps the Time Lords tipped him off when they supposedly gave him a new set of regenerations, which turned out to be a red herring, so what was it came through the crack of doom? Apart from Dalek destroying glowy stuff.
14 October 2025 at 17:14 #78207Flustered hormonal Sally got a telephone call from older Billy, right after she left younger Billy safely next to the Tardis in the police pound, and some angels. I think.
Not sure how the angels then, and only then, moved the Tardis back to Wester Drumlins. Or why. I think Sally had the key. As we now know (but didn’t then) angels are multi skilled.
As I say, painting and decorating: easy.
14 October 2025 at 08:30 #78204That sequence is good. I would insert…
Gatwa’s decision to leave was because of an unhappy combination of streaming partner demands and show runner hubris. Also lack of time for writing because in-show development had been trashed by the previous showrunner’s wilful vandalism, which was forced the BBC’s need to take control of show content, in turn caused by a combination of criticism of The Corporation AND the prior showrunner’s hubris.
Placeholder or not, Gatwa stays or not, BP was probably inevitable once the bigeneration was introduced.
13 October 2025 at 23:04 #78201second thoughts…
The sun shut off can only happen BECAUSE The Doctor is separated from The Tardis.
So. Either The Doctor didn’t read the file. Maybe it happened straight after the Lizard and long bow thing. Or… The Doctor had to risk the shut off to prevent the paradox. Or… the Tardis stitched him up for the same reason. That’s got to be worth a tinkle of The Cloister Bell.
On the other hand ‘Duck! Sally Sparrow’ is just boring old painting and decorating.
13 October 2025 at 21:05 #78199‘Mind as the monster.’
Better than a man in a rubber suit. Or actors with facial prosthetics, my problem with Stat Trek, though The Founders were well realised. And now quite scary. ‘Solids’ are chaotic and dangerous. Democracy is chaotic and dangerous (to whom?)
So, the reason why The Mara were so good. Badly realised in the early 80’s. I wouldn’t like Russ to break them. Sutekh was originally a mind monster, and so was the Fendahleen. Perhaps too The Fury from the Deep. Others?
The other mind monsters are of course human. Caves of Androzani has both Morgus and Jek but I struggle to think of many effectively rendered human Who villains. Luke Rattigan from (Sontaran stratagem) and Van Statten (Dalek) are earily prophetic it would seem. But before them I can’t think of many incredibly wealthy death wishers accept Harrison Chase from the Seeds of Doom.
But who else wouldn’t you dismiss as an idiot lacking real motivation. You might say Stahlman from Inferno (now) echoes Farage or Rees Mogg (let’s all poison our ground water) but therein is the issue with the story: his behaviour is so irrational he HAS to become a Primord. Otherwise, the target of Classic Who is more normally bureaucracy or blundering overpromotion.
Even the Master as psychopath, rather than simply devoted to The Doctor’s demise, seems problematic for some fans and John Sim gets the blame. I loved the performance. A great mind monster you would think but then was Taren Capel (Robots of Death)?
13 October 2025 at 20:28 #78198I am teasing.
‘Reusing’ faces, maybe it’s a phase Time Lords go through. 12 postulated there was a reason. Doesn’t really retcon for 6. 14 seems to indicate there is something wrong with that regeneration and 10: the metacrisis ‘human’ doc, a bit feisty, fond of the face in the mirror… though there’s always room for a small girl with a red balloon. The face that Rose loved.
So, assuming the show does come back, does that mean we know where it’s going. If I were Russ I’d be banking some footage of key people.
13 October 2025 at 20:13 #78197Blink, The Doctor’s timeline.
Sally Sparrow gives The Doctor the Wester Drumlin file.
He either doesn’t read the file,
Or he does read it but goes to Wester Drumlins anyway to avoid a time paradox,
Or does, but goes there because the sun might (probably) get shut off,
Or does or doesn’t but The Tardis takes him and Martha there anyway, though he’s unaware, to avoid a time paradox, a sun shut off and maybe kick-start the digital media industry.
But, in any case, he doesn’t leave the file behind in the Tardis either, otherwise the sun (probably) gets shut off.
He gets scragged by an angel at Wester Drumlins and ends up in 69. Fortunately so does Martha, and by the same Angel, not the one who later got Kathy, who goes to 1920.
Then Billy Shipman also gets scragged by the 69 angel. He meets The Doctor and they develop digital recording media which will be compatible with Tardis console, and use Sally’s notes to film their ‘interview’ with Sally.
They don’t travel to find one of the other iterations of The Doctor in 1969, so that they avoid a time paradox, help Sally, and keep the sun going etc.
The Doctor tells Billy he has to stay behind in 69 to avoid a time paradox, but we suspect The Doctor also gave him digital media patents to make him rather richer than a policeman but, more importantly, so he’ll put Easter eggs on the dvds from Larry’s list of Sally’s films, probably in around 2000.
So, The Doctor and Martha retrieve The Tardis and carefully investigate disappearances at Wester Drumlins. Using what they learn, they go to some time in the past which seems to be pre angel, and become painters and decorators, leaving the message which prevents the angels from braining Sally, so the sun (probably) doesn’t get turned off and we used dvds for a while, after VHS but before streaming came along.
Simple (?)
13 October 2025 at 09:15 #78191@dentarthurdent @whohar @janetteb
RTD2: we seem to be mid arc. Lots unresolved. The Disney money flushed away. The Susan tease…
Would Russ rather have Gatwa still in harness? Yes, the adjustment to Reality War seemed rushed. But Russ effectively shrugged his shoulders at Ecclestone’s departure. And even the most generous Gatwa fans must admit his tenure was… uneven. Some sparkly gems, some tumbleweed moments.
I have still no objection to Billie whatsoever. I don’t really understand the furore… beyond understandable questions about direction, The Disney brief, and the quite unsatisfactory season ends (though Reality war was poignant). It’s unfair to say the least to dump all that on Billie Piper. And oh she’s older! Tut, the shelf life of the female tv personality…
So, Billie may or may not be a rushed replacement. Almost certainly not. Ecclestone’s own statement re her appearance may not be a rec so much as a nod. He knew. She was on the way sooner or later, the arc mapped out long since, not least because 14 is still slumming it in Chiswick, the implications of the bigeneration not yet resolved.
And you know my thoughts about all things V including Virtual Reality.
13 October 2025 at 08:32 #78189‘Duck. Sally Sparrow!’ Well the Doctor’s got Sally’s notes. Which presumably mention Wester Drumlins so The Doctor either had to go or set up a paradox, or he (more likely) he forgot. All Moffat’s first run of stories were super but Blink was genius level. The best thing you can say about Sally and Larry is it was downbeat, that she was another casualty of The Doctor, a rejected companion (whereas Martha was the unwillingly platonic companion) or that the relationship was somehow in memoriam of Kathy. And, of course, a return to ‘Sparrow and Nightingale.’ But this was a naked man she met wandering about Kathy’s… and I’m surprised Moff didn’t have more fun with the fact that Sally didn’t know Larry was Kathy’s brother. Probably wouldn’t work. We don’t know if Sally and Larry are happy (no don’t do it Carey) but actually it was a faux happy ending.
So maybe Sarah (not Laura) and Nick is faux happy too. Because using a Self Store as a trophy room is quite nasty. And it does seem a bit desperate. And something else is needed to resolve something so mean (if it was intentional) but this a feature of Chib… he can be quite cruel. Unless it’s signalling the Thasmin queer baiting to come? (it is) Maybe an after after sequence with useless Jeff?
But it was good. It would have held up under another show runner. Chib is probably better at stand alones than arcs. 42 was based on the concept of 24 of course. Sentient suns is a reference to Masters of The Vortex. More EE doc Smith please. It was competent chase with peril, not in a hurry to rewatch. Power of Three was about as good as Chib got… the Shakri was like dry run for The Ravagers unless he sprang fully formed with the mighty cerebral cortex of Berkoff.
Anyway, far better than the Silurian two parter which could have been done in one ep (though the realisation of the lizards was far better than the Sea Devils… just started that one). And as for the Dinosaur epic miss…
12 October 2025 at 11:33 #78184I WAS being picky. ‘Eve’ is a worthy effort. Perhaps, if T’floox was itself an improvement but err… confused, Chris was learning, trying to up his game, maybe (in my mind) telling The Corp to back off: the notional post Moff straightjacket was too tight.
But not all Who falls apart upon inspection. And this was ok. Sally Sparrow and the geek from Blink were an unlikely couple too. Why can’t unlikely people get together and have unsatisfactory relationships which we mercifully don’t then witness? Getting zapped eight times in fifty minutes might well make you less fussy about with whom you jump into a taxi. My point is more that the set-up almost deserved something more, because the cold start was as good writing as we’ve had from Chib.
So I get the ‘moral’: chuck the duff job, bin the junk, new year, new start, live. And Yaz/Doc therefor is also teased, with the Tardis as a taxi. And Dan the gooseberry. You see, Moff and RTD could throw Xmas shapes and everyone knew where they were. Chib had been bumped onto hangover day.
It’s my tastes that demand something more downbeat for Sarah and Nick, and I’m sure Aisling and Adjani would have relished something more… ‘twisty.’ Don’t ask me what.
But Eve is stage 1 of its own 3 part mini series. Chib doesn’t want to peak too soon and keen to present his dalek kill fest thought experiment in sharp relief rather than blur it with a more nuanced resolution. That makes Eve a competent Chib story like 42 or Power of Three, slightly off kilter but not worthy of a foot through the screen.
11 October 2025 at 09:50 #78178Eve of The Daleks
Thank you. You rescued me from 5; I was about to watch Warriors of the Deep, just to snigger at The Myrka. This is MUCH better. It comes with a high rep. The long cold start works. Chib’s dialogue practically sparkles. The set-up intrigues. It has urgency. Everyone… well five people… get zapped again and again. And in the end, when the loop closes, they will all be dead, permanently. Oooh Peril.
Written in a hurry due to lockdown production problems which also explains the cast of not very many. Less is more.
Overall, this IS about as good as the very best bits of T’floox, or Villa of The Bad Boys, maybe some parts of other eps, but not MUCH. It seems to me the sense, built around contracting time loops, is lost half way through.
Now you might say I’m not being fair; always running Chib down. What’s wrong now? The fam is under control, the daleks reduced to their primary function, people running down corridors. And the end of the Universe is not on the menu. Whoopie! Should be fine.
Well yes, Dan and Yaz almost function like real people, if it wasn’t that Yaz is reduced to an existence dependent on The Doctor, every seven minutes or so. Or six… five… yeah. Moff got crucified for that didn’t he? Then Dan gets misty eyed about the belle epoque and stops to give Yaz the talk. That’s right, everything stops. The running. The zapping. Problem is, this is a red flag for the rapidly decreasing time available to the doomed as we rush towards the end. I know it’s a metaphor for lives on hold, for the love lorn and Yaz, and it does come with some kind of in-narrative explanation. I could always rewind and put text on, and take notes. But I’m not going to.
Also eight zaps and the Doctor didn’t start to regenerate once.
Oh and there’s STILL northern stuff happenin all over: calm down calm down, whippets, parkin, Blackpool, ee that black pudding’s black.
As for Chib’s love lives of random people, it’s bearable for about a page: the set up, it’s agreeably weird. Oooh. What are you going to do with all this then Chris? Oh. That. You know, for all Chib’s digs at awkward singletons: hoarding, duff new years eves, naggy parents, I can’t help but think Sarah’s initial instincts about Nick were not entirely wrong. Well, I suppose inventing a new character that’s supposed to walk and talk for a whole hour but no more must be tough… but it’s not something Moff ever had that much of a problem with.
The daleks… when Chib first put pen to paper this time, top of the page must have been, ‘what about five people zapped to death what? Forty times between them in an hour?’ THAT is the hook. It’s new ground. Reductio ad absurdum. Actually it’s horrible. And repetitive, and wearing. More is not more. What point is Chris really trying to make? Or is he at all?
Jeff is apparently slang for someone arrogant and manipulative. So it can’t be that.10 October 2025 at 11:04 #78172Mara Stories.
I suspect the snakes were about to raise their heads… whenever we get underway again.
So, early 1980’s… other people may have different views but the three ‘peaks’ of the Davison era must be ‘Caves’, and Chris Bailey’s Mara Stories. I know Earthshock had impact (see what I did there) but to say it was flawed would be a mumbling understatement.
There again, flawed and Who go together, even in the age of Nuwho. 1970’s: The Robots of Death rests on the premise that a lunatic wants to kill people using Robots. 2007: The Doctor has to set up a video call with a 38 year delay in Blink and it’s not preposterous at all. Don’t spoil the fun.
Opinion: Earthshock is NOT fun because the dialogue is ridiculous and the various parts of the story never really join up. Caves IS fun because the dialogue zings, the direction is brilliant and little touches like John Normington’s strange asides to camera somehow… work. The trapped Peri subplot is appallingly exploitative but it IS of it’s time, I suppose. The Magmabeast… is it worse than Mestor or The Myrka or The Tractators?
Therein lies the big problem with both Mara stories. The snake is BAD. This was the early 80’s; Michael Grade would soon have to decide if Buck Rogers or Dennis Watts would be the future. Who apparently demanded monsters even when, like Magmabeast or Primord, they weren’t necessary.
Beyond that, this is a matter of suspending belief… when credence and storytelling itself is the issue. The monster IS the mind. Any mind. It can manifest in innocence. It can be conquered and then recover itself through arrogance, indolence and complacence.
Kinda is revered and Snakedance, in comparison, rather denigrated… by the critics: the fans love both. I can’t see the difference. What is that about?
If you want to knock either, go ahead. This is the birth of woke, I suppose. Colonialism bad. Elites bad. Militarism bad. Scientific method bad… depending on your perspective. Spiritual enlightenment… that gets about as good as you can get.
Now, this not really Who of the past or the future.This could cut Mary off at the knees and garner a tumbleweed moment at a Tory Party Conference. Do fans really want to hear The Doctor called an idiot, or have him locked up for hours on end, or see a companion (Nyssa) sidelined for entire episode presumably because 5 rescued her from being an android and no-one told the script-writers…? Apparently they did, because it gets a thumbs up well on the way to the scale of Blink. Well done Jonathan! Not sure how you did it. Eric then. Thank you for not going violently doolally, unless it was actually intended to be a sunday school picnic until Tegan started chewing on her strawberry lace and the snake vomited various flavours of Angel Delight in soft focus.
Also, Simon Rouse and Richard Todd are brilliant in Kinda, bearing in mind the parts would be completely impossible to play straight. Martin Clunes in Snakedance is a revelation. He not simply sold teenage ennui effortlessly but made it more sexy than Nyssa’s new kit or Tegan’s really rather fetching shorts. Not that I ever took my eye off the ball.
But Chris Bailey throws everything at both stories and the actors respond. There’s so much there that you might think ‘oh it’s too much, how the hell could the count them out and count them back establishment’ cope. But everyone, with a remote interest in the show, approved. If Russ tried that today you should expect a tirade.
Just good writing, good acting, be careful with the effects.
10 October 2025 at 10:17 #78171Moff… I come to praise Moff not bury him.
There were those who thought he was too clever. Clever in the Nuwho is what psychobabble was to Classic.There were those who missed Tennant. Tennant was the new Tom. Interesting that Hinchcliffe/Holmes are never really praised for ‘making’ Tom. Most of those who say ‘I liked Tennant’ probably wouldn’t know who Stephen Moffat was.
There were the ‘big friendly red button’ and ‘no body dies’ issues.
There was the ‘writing for women’ thing. I can’t say Moff’ and Amy was worse than the way RTD wrote Martha. And Donna was only ‘rescued’ from cliche by Tate’s comic talent. Of course, Amy brings Rory with her. THAT is the point. Surely?
River IS more psychopath than woman. That’s an odd statement and it’s an odd statement by the writer. BUT great writing? I don’t think anyone blinked.
Clara is very odd. A guardian angel? At this point I can understand some people getting fidgety. In hindsight. For a long time she was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. So much so, you do think ‘why write that?’ I say meta. Others go straight for the ‘offensive’ button. And Moff DOES raise the older man question with 12. And he is there in the sacred cattle byre wielding a meat cleaver: kissograms, child abduction, religion, WW1, Bechdel Test…
Good writing? You bet. Did he garner lots of praise as well? Certainly.
Is he writing about aspects of himself? This is the real accusation. It’s a sci-fi show. Ideas. Where do you get them? You can only have so many bases under siege. You can make daleks levitate and then what? But people who go on and on about emotional depth are soap addicts. Cos where people get emotional. They just think they can call themselves critics.
If there wasn’t other stuff happening at the Corp, it might not matter. But there’s always stuff happening at The Corp. If the alternative had worked, I wouldn’t be writing this. But Whittaker came with Chibnall and vice versa. Maybe a Lady12 could have been Fay Marsay. Or… Freema? Or Orla Brady??!
10 October 2025 at 09:02 #78169Yes bring in Billie as the Doctor. If Maxil can become 6, Caecilius becomes 12, & 10 becomes 2 other versions of himself, why not? I can no more understand the voices saying ‘no. Not happened yet. Can’t be real. La la lala la!’
As to… WHY? I assume Rose represents something to the Doctor… and you might as well call it love. And 6 represented a pompous functionary, 12 was the potential to act, & 10 was vanity and arrogance.
Or Rose is just the show eating itself. Bottom of barrel – scraper; scraper… bottom of barrel. Just putting it out there.
I will add a postscript re the Moff debate ‘On the Sofa.’ After all, Moff only ever wrote The Moment for Billie.
8 October 2025 at 10:54 #78160‘Moff the marked man’… yes I have alluded, heavily. Will try to keep this short.
In respect to romance in Who, Moff couldn’t do anything RTD didn’t really want, so Russ must have been happy with the tone. And he had previously worked with the idea of ‘Rose the perfect companion’ himself. So, forget ‘The Doctor is Gay Man who women like’ schtick. This WAS teased in the past and we knew where it was going to end.
However, Moff gave us MUCH more: potential polyamory in The Doctor Dances, the green eyed god in ‘The Girl in The Fireplace,’ and the Time Traveller’s Wife in ‘Silence in the Library.’ Some people harrumphed but, the ratings were stellar and everyone looked forward eagerly to the next marvelous Moff outing.
The problem with Moff, as a friend said to me, is that he was the best writer under RTD and the best writer under Moff. He’s spread more thinly; the average will come down. And he hadn’t got Tennant. The red tops, who like nothing more than to point out the obvious, point this out. But there are questions raised about romance and kid’s programs, and teasing romance, and how female companions are written. So, Moff does what RTD shied away from and creates the perfect companion, or he gets The Silence to do it… a Psychopath! And Amy becomes his mother in law. She even says that.
This seems to fail the Bechdel test. Epically. There’s not many women on Moff’s rota of writers, and the Corp is peering nervously at storm clouds: Saville, Hall, Harris. They must know the salaries issue is round the corner.
The first real critical moans start in series seven. Was the Paternoster Gang angling at a spin-off? If so, they ain’t buying it. And WHAT is Strax doing there? Really?? ‘Nightmare in Silver’ is slaughtered by the critics, a bit unfairly I thought, but Moff apparently needs to tighten his grip. The Doctor now has a Snogging Booth and seems to be love bombing Clara. But it’s alright really… cos he’s going to turn into an older man!
Please don’t get me wrong, I think this is ALL great. The Trenzalor arc turned out a bit meh, but otherwise, what is wrong with the critics? The thing is, I am but one small unit in a vast society; some people didn’t think ‘great’ at all. There was a particular objection raised to Clara admiring her own rear view in ‘Listen’! Oh. And this is the series with The Soldier narrative. Moff marks the centenary of The Great War with Cybermen resurrected, flying into the sky and blowing up. I expected outrage… I detected some wincey fixed grins. ‘I am not you boyfriend’ says 12, but Clara still goes behind Danny’s back and gets breathless in a pod chair with Rigsy. Before that, Moff and Mathieson deliver the ultimate digitus impudicus to Bechdel with Maisie and Clara on The Orient Express.
I suspect by the time that was broadcast, Moff was told to wind it in. But, for Moff, the writing is the meta is the things you can’t REALLY have seen, can you? The Doctor recognises a Viking girl and Clara offers to fight him for her. Then he starts talking baby again. Oooh. Did we REALLY see that? Moff predicts Who up to 2020. So, there IS something like Cartmel 2.0 out there. Maybe he was told he couldn’t do the very things we saw/didn’t see/weren’t meant to see/were Meta, but they might yet become the plan. The soufflé isn’t the soufflé, it’s the recipe.
There is a mention of new funding, a streaming deal maybe? We get Husbands of River Song and Doctor Mysterio. But Moff doesn’t get the gig. Maybe he was always going to hand over the baton anyway. How long can you do that job? But it’s more Fin de siècle than the 2009 specials. Whithouse and Gatis get to point pistols at each other in Twice Upon a Time. Series ten, after a fantastic start, seemed rather rushed. Bill becomes a Cyberman, which is jaw-dropping. But also, is this Meta for ‘what does the Corp want from a companion?’ Yes Steven, it’s not you, it’s us. We need a deal, and a Lady Doctor, and she must be squeaky clean.
7 October 2025 at 12:39 #78158Rose is a good shout. Billie’s reappearance still seems to mystify the internet ‘World of Gammon.’ So, what’s it all about, eh?
I think Micky the bin is a good place to start. RTD has a sense of humour, something that continues with Cassandra desiccating, Slitheen flatus issues, and Adam need a hole in the head, like a… hole in head. RTD2 should be seen in the same vein. Better than a hole in the head.
Billie being a ‘singer’? Surely it’s more the case of Billie breaking out of her career straightjacket? Good move! I can’t honestly think anyone was seriously sniffy about that. Still, playing opposite major theatrical, film and tv talent. I thought Ecclestone was great and the welcome contrast to all the sniggers. Wouldn’t it have been great if he lasted longer or appeared in 60th anniversary special? But he didn’t like the set-up, which may have included the humour, and by now most people suspect he disliked some cast behaviour.
The romance? Well, The Doctor Danced before you realised it. Previous romance?
Katatina looked on The Doctor as a God, something that disturbed the writers so much they immediately killed her off.
Jamie was keen on Victoria but no-one was keen on Jamie.
Zoe had fun grabbing hold of the TARDIS console.
Jo liked Mike and Cliff. Sarah Jane threatened to spit in Harry’s eye.
4/Leela was quite heavily teased. And she did indeed shack up with a Gallifreyan… Rodan or Andred or someone like that.
Romana was a time lady… I wondered when they were going to wheel on a Loom… and Romana 2 and 4 became the fourth wall breaking REAL thing. She indulged his schoolgirl fantasies and everything!
Davison was keen on Nyssa the character. Unfortunately that meant Sarah Sutton was deprived of dialogue and action for AGES. In Snakedance, Nyssa DEFINITELY flirts with 5 and then gets very shirty with him. No good Nyssa. You can wander around Terminus in your underwear for three whole eps and then threaten to work with plague victims, there really is nothing there.
Until 6 and Peri. My theory is there’s no way they could survive their mutual antagonism unless something was going on. Let’s face it the rest of creation is NOT saying no. Or did this have something to do with Eric Saward?
Mel was Ace, and Ace and 7 was actually quite creepy. Be honest.
So 9/10 and Rose is really nothing new. And this is RTD, NOT Moff. Apart from The Doctor Dances.
But Moff became a marked man.
7 October 2025 at 11:45 #78157Series 18 concluded
The Great Entropy Expedition ends with ‘Keeper of Traken’, a story about an ideal society which seems to exist through the force of sheer niceness, and ‘Logopolis’ wherein it is revealed that The Universe is actually kaput and only held together with chewing gum, gaffer tape and Maths. Only then does The Master, no longer Hot Smoked but wearing the skin of Nyssa’s dad, decide to shake the Universe up at, of all places, Jodrell Bank; well, a model of it, just to see if it will give in.
Now, I can’t say I like either of these eps. I saw Keeper first time round and the fantasy stylings struck me as quite dull. At least the writer gave Sarah Sutton some proper lines and Adric promised to be not quite so useless. Logopolis is barking and yet not nearly as enjoyable as The Leisure Hive. Even now, does anyone know what Chris Bidmead was doing with this? Apart from killing off Tom Baker?
But these two were preceded by Warriors’ Gate, which I missed first time round, and comes with a fair rep. It had a difficult gestation with arguments between the showrunners and both writer and director. But it looks, if not stunning, then still very striking.
So, we have arrogant Leonine time-sensitives who Walz off with Romana and K9 after they’ve stuck two furry fingers up at a feeble crew of gitty humans reminiscent of the crew of The Nostromo. And they all live in a yellow submarine… sorry in pocket Universe, like the inside of a ping pong ball. And it’s in an even worse state than our one even after The Master got his mitts on it.
Otherwise, what the hell is happening? I suspect the Lion people (who do remind you of Ashildr’s friend in Woman Who Lived) deliberately shipped the rubbish humans up in the plughole at the end of Universe knowing THEY can get out easy, but the morons can’t because, as K9 keeps reminding us, the Universe is collapsing.
So the cats escape to Valhalla where cat lady Romana decides to feast with them for all eternity. You would have thought that should be Adric, but Lalla would really much rather dodge that vaunted desk job on Gallifrey. At least Adric get’s to deliver the apt and immortal line ‘I feel so useless!’
Then Tardis dematerialises for N Space though it’s not really explained how. The mechanics had supposedly been quite fraught until then. Lost in the rewrite maybe?
The ep is a curiosity, walking the walk well for early 80’s Who, but can’t actually talk. The whole season is a mixed bag, treading water until Tom was gone, without a nailed on classic like City of Death/Ribos Operation/Fang Rock etc. However, each of the next three series did manage one pearl each, even with JNT in full sail; Barry Letts was actually still executive producer for season 18. Having said that, production decisions and poor quality control really began to take their toll after 1981; the Davison seasons also contain at least two utter clunkers each. I won’t be reviewing those!
1 October 2025 at 13:12 #78154Further on with Series 18: State of Decay
Entropy
A fairly large pocket universe discovered by impossible coordinates.
A smaller one, collapsing.
Hard science at beginning and end.
A supered companion lost and a decidedly un super one gained
Bracketed by hardish (for Who) stories by Fisher and Bidmead; forming a sandwich for some extremely runny Camembert… sorry, fantasy.
Meglos. Do I want to see Tom Baker in cactus form again. No.
Full Circle. Do I want to hear Lalla Ward screaming at rather duff giant spiders. Not really. Alzeria is vaguely reminiscent of the Land That Time Forgot, or perhaps a deconstruction of the spaceship on the hostile planet trope. Which could be clever but I’m not sure anyone got it. I’m not sure I did at the time. And just when you thought you’d seen the last of Adric…
State of Decay. Not seen this before. I was temporarily in a household which objected to Who. It happens.
This story has a mixed reputation. No one is very keen. Some people compare it to The Horror of Hinchcliffe/Holmes but actually that itself could be quite varied. In my opinion, even the detractors are being extraordinarily kind.
It’s a spaceship on a hostile planet story, the hostility coming from a vampire beneath the spaceship which looks like a castle. Double take. WHATT??? THAT’S a SPACESHIP??!!! I would never have guessed. The vampire is the last one of its kind, defeated by The Time Lords at the dawn of time, well before The Jaggeroth, The Carrionites or The Racknoss. There were billions of years to spare in the olden times. Room to spread out and behave irresponsibly, bwahahah: a bit like driving in the 1930’s. Question is, this must be preCambrian at least, so why the folk memory of vampires? Passed on buy molluscs and fungi presumably? What’s with the bats?? And the Vampires are ridiculous. Entropy gets a kind of look in via Grimm’s sound law, so Commander Sharkey becomes Vampire King Zargos. Sigh.
They BIG problem with State of Decay is episode 3. By then, it’s SO obvious what happened/what was going to happen/but no, The Doctor is required to spend most of the ep having a slumber party with K9 gossing about stuff he should know already, but checking the fine print with The Tardis Library, cos you would, wouldn’t you?
Let’s face it, this is stuff that Tom clearly doesn’t want to engage with. There he is, looking at the prospect of the next scene with Matt and Lalla, hair kinda giving up, thinking ‘it’s just me! I might as well be on my own…’
It’s almost worthy of Chib really, though not quite as dire as Underworld. Has no-one realise Underworld was so bad?
Having said that this is the low point, things actually look up after this though the general trend is downhill. But Chris does his best: and no one had yet imagined what the likes of Eric Saward might do to the show.
28 September 2025 at 11:09 #78153The Leisure Hive
I thought I’d indulge myself a bit before diving back into the Chib endgame. The temptation is to luxuriate in Hinchcliff/Holmes but really what does that tell you? Holmes could write dialogue and Mary Whitehouse got unreasonably annoyed. Instead I thought I’d examine the evidence behind my reaction to The Chibnall era, and look at 4’s last series, #18, the start of The Jonathan Nathan Turner’s tenure.
So, Douglas Adams had departed for The Restaurant at The End of The Universe, and Chris Bidmead became script editor, declaring a desire to go back to sci fi basics, and coming across rather like Graham Chapman imploring the rest of the Python crew not to be silly. At the time I thought bring it on. The reality was quite different.
Rather than Manichaean tutelary beings (don’t you just hate those), Chris makes entropy and collapse the season’s theme; this was to be the end of the Baker era. So, no jokes made at the expense of legless daleks or detachable Movellan power packs but actually there’s not really that much science. If Nation and Adams had thought about it, they could have gone for the triple crown in Destiny of The Daleks, and made some very relevant comment about the problem of evolving a biological wheel. Chris’s contribution seems to amount to ‘you better watch out cos I’m sure the chaos is gonna get you, yeah.’ Most of the series actually dabbles unashamedly with fantasy stylings.
The big changes are down to Nathan Turner: question marks on Baker’s collar and a new scarf); new gaudy screechy titles; Adric the Jammy Dodger; K9 blows up repeatedly before it’s finally written out; ugly new synthesised incidental music; and a pitch at the Australian market in the erm body of Janet Fielding. And the ‘Death in Venice’ long panning shot at the start of Leisure Hive was JNT’s idea. Bye Tom. We’re off on holiday!
The Leisure Hive rarely gets a mention and there’s a good reason for that: it is barking mad. David Fisher drops tachyons on us but, quite honestly, this is a Gilbert and Sullivan non stop psychobabble fest. Oh well. Quite a lot of fun though.
So, someone is trying to sabotage the Argolin Leisure Hive, the sole economic activity left to a race defeated and sterilised in a nuclear war. As a metaphor for (pre Thatcherite) post industrial Britain, that’s pretty damn brilliant. Turns out criminal elements of the Argolin’s arch enemies, the Foamasi (not quite an anagram of Mafioso) want to bankrupt the Hive so they can pick it up on the cheap. We get odd glimpses of reptilian claws and eyes, and a human ‘skin’ found hanging in the wardrobe: all unintentionally hilarious.
Then there’s the Argolin’s heads, which resemble ice cream cones crowned with bejewelled top knots. When all the sprinkles have fallen out, the ice cream dies. I assume this is another reference to holidays but then, strictly speaking, Argolins should melt shouldn’t they? Or get attacked by gulls.
Turns out that the Tachyon generator is a front for an attempt by a genetically engineered crypto fascist to clone an army of himself.
Well, this is actually a tasty and powerful mix, sadly a little incoherent, but you have to admire the ambition.
When I first saw The Leisure Hive, on the back of seeing the rerun of City of Death and reading Bidmead’s sci fi manifesto, I wasn’t convinced exactly but I thought I’d give the series a chance. Unfortunately, next up was Meglos and Full Circle. Then I was denied access to a television for a few months. I’ve only just seen State of Decay for the first time. It’s pretty bad.
David Fisher seems to be quite a good writer: I need to check out his work on series 16 and Creature from The Pit.
Did he not want to work with JNT, who did seem to upset a lot of people in a very short space of time? It has also been pointed out that JNT was uncomfortable with established writers. Remind you of anyone?
27 September 2025 at 09:59 #78151earlier companions in opposition to The Doctor.
Not seen the movie for some time; and no plans to soon. So, I’ll start with…
Ace… *not really critical but kind of antagonistic. However, if anything, The Doctor is critical of Ace, as the first ‘supered’ companion. Ok Romana and Susan were technically Time Ladies but hardly supered at all.
Mel… do I have to? Propensity to force feed carrot juice does not equate to criticality.
Peri… ** yes. But can you blame her? The unfortunate outcome of many insane production decisions.
Turlough… *more simply antagonistic and unsympathetic. I suppose you might say the Universe was in a permanent critical position to 5.
Nyssa… not at all. Poor little endling adopted by 5. Literally. But no one ran with the idea, unless there was a brief nod in the change in costume in Snakedance and Mawdryn Undead. 5 ignores her. Equates to negative *
Tegan… *** heck yeah! Too much though. Then she got possessed by The Mara… I always thought that was very undersold by the writers… did JNT lose his nerve? But this was The Fam mark 1; you really don’t want to expend too much mental energy. She finally ran away in abject terror. Can only have been The Mara who dragged her back to The Tardis.
Adric… * toddlers can be critical
Romana… * #1 obvs. Permanently. But non human. Romana #2… interesting in that Baker started off very uncritical and then quite… and then they were married. Did that impact the writing… well Tom was apparently pushing his weight around by then. Romana’s ace card was the psychobabble chorus with 4. Inverse of exposition. The writers couldn’t keep it up.
Leela… * mutual criticality/incompatibility. Trouble was she was so damn useful. ‘Leela! Shank this reprobate good and proper.’ Finally shacked with Andred. Or was she really interested in Rodan?
Sarah Jane… ** could be extremely critical but only when well written. Given ludicrous final story.
Unit mob… not really companions, not even Harry.
Jo… nah
Liz… **oh yeah! But again, underwritten/undersold. What a waste.
Earlier, the production values and show development means the question is very different. And there are many companions I don’t really know. And a lot is missing too.
Zoe, Susan no.
Victoria driven by fear * and Steven, perhaps? He was a handful as I remember.
Jamie, Ian and Barbara** developed in occasional opposition to Doctors 1 & 2 as the titular character developed.
Interesting exercise.
27 September 2025 at 09:48 #78150Claudius. I can think of 4 or 5 quite horrible moments, done in such a matter of fact, unshlocky manner that the memory even now is really unsettling. But the ‘principal’ Caligula episode did have one scene, which received so many complaints, the offending seconds were cut immediately by the beeb themselves. And it was never restored. Quite possibly destroyed immediately. I’m not particularly outraged.
27 September 2025 at 07:52 #78148Finn finn Phineas Finn. Oh yes.
And I Claudius! I still remember the continuity announcer’s warning before the fall of Sejanus: ‘scenes of bl**dy mayhem!’ I think Jean Luc Picard always looked rather different to British audiences. And Caligula had barely got a look in by that point!27 September 2025 at 00:07 #78145Yes. Exposition, Comic Relief and Critique… could be a useful analytical tool. So, going back in time… criticality indicated by *
Belinda… ** really just a functional companion, being transported from a>b. But revealing of ‘The Doctor Question’ and so a little critical. Not really worked that part of the arc out though.
Ruby… really not critical at all, was she?
Dan… got to look at the last of 13’s specials before I judge. On the face of it mainly scouse.
Yaz… * critical in terms of the incipient relationship with 13.
Chucklegramps and Kid… sigh. Can you have a negative *?
Bill… ** started out very critical and that’s echoed again in Twice Upon, but the second half of that season, before the terrifying finale, was poorly written for Bill.
Nardole… was an alien (technically) and comic relief. Faux critical.
Clara… *** lots of opposition and angst. The most unhuman human companion really.
River… not sure if she’s critical or not. Essentially an alien.
Rory… ** critical at a lower level. Also Doctor proof (see God Complex)
Amy… really only faux critical. Unnaturally forgiving really. Cutie to woobie and back again.
Donna… **** has been called a mouthy cow. Bring it on!
Martha… *** varies but ultimately the spurned companion. Does she quit or has she outgrown him?
Jack… is he a companion? Or beefcake to The Universe? Unless you’re Rory, male criticality doesn’t seem to compute.
Rose… well this interesting. * She is critical but she’s clearly the romantic object and human. In that respect more like Yaz than Martha say.
Is that useful? Might look a classic Who too.
26 September 2025 at 09:17 #7813823 September 2025 at 11:35 #78126the animated arms are a bit distracting.
I think they should have cut to the remaining actual footage of Oak and Quill’s gas attack (kindly preserved by the Australian censors.) It is still absolutely terrifying.
Your library system sounds impressive!
22 September 2025 at 22:40 #78124So… Fury from The Deep… the last hour and a bit.
To be frank, and obviously this is animated, the second half didn’t have anywhere near the creep factor of the first. The sonic attack courtesy of Victoria was a long time coming and… just as Moff would have it, no one dies! Nothing for Mary Whitehouse to worry about at all really. But it have been a four parter. And there was some nonsense about mind triumphing over matter…
Production values were different. Victoria’s farewell was affecting. The idea that she was too terrified to continue is an ironic flip to all the gutsy Liz Shaws, Sarah Janes, and Leelas who were given rubbish send offs by writers who just want screamers. In Liz’s case no send off at all! Well not everyone can have a gruesome Peri/Bill demise. Imagine! Married to Brian Blessed! Or watching Harold Saxon preparing a fry up.
The animated helicopter ride does make you wonder what that would have been like in live action. Yes, I think of 12 and the mechanical horse.
Future echoes… not simply base under siege… Inferno, Seeds of Doom, Robots of Death… Waters of Mars, Oxygen, and The Well. My feeling is previous ‘siege’ stories were more monster based whereas these stories deal with primordial. Unfortunately, with Inferno, they tried to make the primordial literally into monsters. I shall never forget the look on Benton’s face…
8 September 2025 at 10:02 #78111It’s a bind.
On the one hand, why does The Corp insist on trying to ‘set the tone’ for the program? Why CAN’T Who be unashamedly kidult? Because it’s a scratching post for antiwoke, pro-bechdel, anti-exploitative, ‘loadarubbish/don’t understand’, don’t frighten the horses & is this where our license fee goes brigades. Most of the criticism sounds pretty unintelligent to the fan. But the program is made for a larger audience than the fans. What we need to do fight the ‘scratchers.’
There again, setting the tone is definitely part of The Corps job. And the job of whoever partners the funding of the show. Glitzy effects: the realisation of Wild Blue Yonder/The Giggle/Finetime/Lux/Story & Engine/Intergalactic Song Contest… was money well spent; Empire of Death and the Omega Zombie, less so. As long as we don’t get 12 on the back of a mechanical horse again.
The Camp Thing, I think, was a combination of Russ’ natural position, a way of ditching Chib pseudopuritanism, and his pitch to The Corp/Disney… this the way it will look. Shiny. Glitter.
I don’t mind it. The problem was the arcs, in terms of length and the VR thing, but in particular, RTD’s bette noir, the season ends.Like to hear more about these writers.
7 September 2025 at 18:26 #78107Not really sure if this should be here or on The Winchester. But there is no dedicated Second Doctor forum. And, with all the frightful C21st stuff happening out of the corner of our eye, I thought the faithful could do with something to help remove invaders from The Activity List.
So… Fury From The Deep 1968… the first burgeoning of The Base Under Seige. All lost bar audio recordings, the Tardis landing in the sea , reused in The War Games before it could lost, and Mr Oakes and Mr Quill, expurgated by Australian censors before broadcast (don’t frighten the roos!)
I’ve watched half so far, but for the reasons above, I thought I’d post now.
I’m grateful for the animation because it’s such an important episode… some people may not realise but the immediate impact was huge. This is the ep with the seaweed. I remember the foam, screaming, and older (mainly female) siblings being genuinely terrified. For another ten years, genuinely scary stories like Inferno, Terror of the Autons, and Ark in Space were compared with this.
You can find the original footage of Oakes and Quill can be found on the net and must be one of the main reasons for its reputation. You might conclude that’s be because intention is to horrify and it works. Mrs Harris is the victim, though nervous Vicky Waterfield also gets famously screamy.
Is it exploitative? Yeah! Or is this like Sarah Silverman channeling ‘something’ when Wreck it Ralph destroys Venelope’s Car? That is also VERY disturbing. And dramatically sound. Many more like this and Mary Whitehouse would have been twitchy five years early.
Mrs Harris also walks into the North Sea. And submerging. Oz was apparently ok with that scene!
The animation can he a bit duff. And production values were different even when you only have dislogue. But this rolls along at a pace, except for the suspense, which hangs around like wet kelp underfoot.
3 September 2025 at 14:18 #78105The Flux is upon us. Sontarans, Daleks and Cyberbods
2 September 2025 at 16:46 #78101@ dentarthurdent
Smith and Hurt are obviously first rank, though we didn’t know that about Smith in those days. Tennant seems slightly dazed to able to do his usual stuff and bask in thespie love. Billie more than holds her own. Assuming we get another series, that’s gotta be a good sign!
The Moment is DEFINITELY in The Tower, or was it The National Gallery? Cos Hurt had his ‘about time I grew up’ moment.
Nit picks. I probably DIDN’T connect ‘job’, ‘office’, and Zygon Kate. Not absolutely sure there ISN’T a plot hole or some fridge logic there, but you CAN get away with this when you don’t have to explain everything to Chucklegramps.
What? Is that me?
It’s official. Good ep.
New fav ep just suggested itself: The Pilot.
2 September 2025 at 16:19 #78100@dentarthurdent @whohar
VAR have confirmed… he never got it, at all. Ever -
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