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As per The Winchester discussion, I did give this a whirl, and… it is still fantastic!

Three fantastic Doctors. And Billie.

Little nit picks: like the memory thing in the black archive. Does that mean Clara was briefly unsure if she was a Zygon or not? And, if the Earth was ‘ripe’ in 2013, and the Zygons had already broken into the black archive, why flash the VM base code around so arrogantly (unless they’re just arrogant)? And Clara needed a way out? And how did the Zygons know, or Clara, or The Doctor? Except Clara had told him she was in The Tower,  during the witch/well discussion?? And improbably he remembered. Did I get that right? Timo Wimo might be over-plotting.

Did anyone else notice, in the first 15 mins, the set/up, 11’s eyes and brows intercut with Wardoc AND… 4/Curator??

But it is brilliant. The quibbles are minor. Contrast to T’floox, where (IMHO) all was quibbling confusion and we struggled to find any there were hints of brilliance. Perhaps the disposal of The Fam allowed a little bit of light. But you can’t retcon The Fugitive Doc. How is that supposed to work, Chris?

That’s all to come. I wonder if the fiftieth anniversary special was the point at which Who became interesting to third parties as Russ had always intended. Stakes had been raised. Moff was now too idiosyncratic and The Corp out of its depth. Two series later ‘Husbands’ and ‘Mysterio’ were shamelessly touting for the main action.

 

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@dentarthurdent

I shall have to rewatch Day of The Doctor. No great hardship.

Highlights… 10 in Elizabethan England, The Moment, Jenna Coleman settling into the role… and Bill’s mum running for cover (same actress)! If only they’d persuaded Timothy Dalton and Lee Evans to return.  Actually, not a problem: it’s practically perfect.

Oddly, I’ve not read many Who novelisation’s. I have got Fury From The Deep, because the show itself is lost. And it was the most mythically sofa-hidingly and terrifying one of the lot. ‘Oh my god do you remember the one with the seaweed?’

So, I’ll watch the animated recreation of FftD after DotD. Then the 2 Mara stories, cos they’re out there somewhere. Then Caves of Androzani (3 Davison eps??) and Blink.

That will build me up for Eve of the Daleks.

Then I’m into pre xmas viewing. Looks like I’ll have to line my own fave up for the day.

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@translatorcircuit

I know that Mandela did not die in prison and that he became president of South Africa. These are strange times. There may be people out there, right now, who can’t accept that truth. I know Harry Enfield’s Mandela sketches are now considered unbrosdcastable. A lot has changed in 15 years. They actually mocked celebrity endorsement, but their creator doesn’t consider the point worth disputing.

Obama and Clinton taking selfies? Was this before or after Barak told Trump ‘I’m something you never be… POTUS’. Hmm was that really a good move? Maybe the liberal elite did appear that entitled and arrogant, depending on your specs, at the time.

A stitch in time is an old saw, oft abused by literary idiots. It’s not in Chrissies Transcripts, and I’m happy that Wrack always said ‘time stands still.’ It’s The Doctor’s miraculous survival in Eternity that taxes me, like Timelash. Weak scripting. But no Myrka.

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@whoizzy

We’re only going to meet Mickey again in another universe.

Another Tardis…? But NOT Clara (or presumably Ashildr)? Actually I suspect The American Diner might be the same Tardis: see Name of The Doctor.

I note from Flux that the Sontarans seem to have got over the Briode Nebuliser/Kartz Reimer issue. Perhaps Strax could cook up a steam-punk KR machine for Vashtra and Jenny.

Could someone nick The Master’s Tardis? Mind you Lucy got exploded and other associates tended to end up in burger buns, or turned into action figures.

Davros is a clever chappie; I know he loves his children but don’t you think he would work out that he should avoid The Genesis of the Daleks at all costs? So, somehow, a Kaled ends up wandering the universe with a genetically impure sidekick. But NOT Davros.

But if there was a special series along these lines, can it NOT be ‘special’ like Flux? Please. I’m getting worried about the impending Sea Devil thing.

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@devilishrobby @blenkinsopthebrave @janetteb @nerys @translatorcircuit

So, your reading of “with or without Disney’s involvement” is that The Mouse is still interested, whereas we all thought he’s skipped away? But why go if he’s interested? They want a better deal. Yeah, that could be out of Trump’s playbook.

But do we know they are still negotiating? Anybody heard anything? This could be just a form of words, saying we’ll work with Disney or another streamer, but only WITH them… ie the show remains free to air for license payers. Or we do it on our own. And it’s free to air. For now.

Obviously, lots of noises being made on that score but no immediate solution forthcoming.

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The Vanquishers

Right… Who are these Vanquishers? The Doctor, split into 3? Her motley crew? The Sontarans, who stitch up the other two mook armies? Or The Uglies, with their pseudo religious devotion to Time?

Or is it meant to be ironic because, whenever it was in December ‘21, absolutely everybody may not die, but the death toll must be rather more than nobody. More than under your typical Moff effort. Not saying this is itself necessarily an issue, but how do you play this? What is the message, Chris? War is stupid and people are stupid and people who do it should be sent to bed early? Do we care anymore? You see, I’m afraid this is a bigger mess than Apocalypse or O,UT.

Not saying there aren’t hints of something more interesting. Chris, as predicted, makes a good point about crisis and bad players. Then he casts his net wide: bad players includes Racial Supremacists, Religious Bigots and Spooks. Sounds great… what then does that make The Grand Serpent?

An oddity. Nonetheless, Chris’ imagination (and not just here) is often quite a scary place, with mass hostage taking, remote assassination, and asymmetric warfare. He’s making a big play about Real Politik and Post Truth and this ought to be really quite good. T’floox, for all its faults, IS better then the previous two series. Unfortunately, the results are only marginally better.

And the detail…

The Uglies and their deity seem like an oblique rehash of The Guardians and The Eternals. This just ISN’T interesting. At all. If they’d been more specifically Shakri-esque, I might have been intrigued.

As it is, the physics is dopey. Well of course, but this is dopey like the seventh dwarf.

And what was Tecteun’s plan again? She’s supposed to be ready to destroy the world to save an idea. This could be a metaphor for a multinational or security organisation or a collapsing civilisation. In fact it’s almost the famous trope: ‘woobie, destroyer of worlds’ which really should be fun. But having gone for it and seccesfully trashed at least some of the Universe, Tecteun then tries to bargain with The Doctor. She even offers to save The Earth. Sentimentality? Or manipulation?

Otherwise, why Diane? No really? Why? At least Bel and Vinder expand the narrative. Diane spends 5 eps stuck in a passenger form. Dunno why. Claire, another enigma, and good ol Jericho are terribly heroic. They suffer, but do they understand?? Do we?

Next… I’m going to say it. Is Prentis the Mara? In which case does he personify mass psychosis, as opposed to other mundane modern monsters?

And the Doctor spilt in three is like O,UT all over. There are some references to her fancying herself ala 11 with bow tie and Fez whether he’s at River’s birthday twice over or not. Jodie doesn’t seem that happy to sell this idea. In fact, we know multiple Doctors don’t work. Doctor lite might be better: tough to write I admit, but Chris seems to think he’s quite clever. Dunno why. This ep owes lots to Logopolis, The Stolen Earth, Pandorica and Name of The Doctor; none are exactly quicksilver but this is really quite dumb.

Karvanista takes news of genocide like Thatcher has just shut down his coal mine.

Oh. And Sontarans and chocolate. Really?

It’s a sorry mess, isn’t it? Have I said that already? OK, a bit better than the rest. Gawd elp us.

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@nerys @dentarthurdent

Forget dates. I just wonder why some random date is sometimes quoted by the writer. Yes, Village was broadcast on that date but Chibnall didn’t have to be so precise. Is it a nod to the discerning fan?

Of more importance is The Master’s timeline. 3 and Delgado, unless it was 5 and Ainley, may have talked about remaining ‘relative to each other within the causal nexus’. Seriously, are they continually interacting? And do we think The Master is actually that bothered?

More precisely…

Saxon was sure he would become Missy. Missy was evasive.

Missy boasted she could use a death ray to charge up a vortex manipulator/teleporter.

Missy was surrounded by Daleks on Skaro. Someone got zorched on Skaro and 7 took the remains to New York.

Spydoctor has Tremas Doctor’s Tissue Compression Eliminator. Or vice versa.

Max Capricorn had gold tooth like The Toymsker’s. And the tooth really did THAT ✨. Maybe that’s a bit silly.

We see mainly The Doctor in what seems to be a logical narrative sequence because the narrative is about The Doctor and we need to grasp it. Ignore T’floox for the moment.

In any case, as two time travellers, who only occasionally interact, does this logically have much bearing on The Master’s Timeline?

Another thought. The Doctor asks Cuddly Tecteun if what Spymaster said was true.

Significant pause… no? Wasn’t there? A moment of doubt or calculation. Tecteun says, ‘yes.’

1. Does she know what Spymaster said? If so, how?

2. Did she tell Spymaster what to tell The Doctor? And was he a dutiful and accurate mouthpiece?

3. Were the two of them actually in the destruction of Gallifrey together?

4. Is T’floox actually about destroying The Master?

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Survivors of T’floox

So, The Angels have powers we never imagined. And they’re cruel and vindictive. And work for Division. OK. Could be.

However, will someone explain Tecteun’s motivation in destroying the universe and then removing The Doctor in case she stopped the destruction? Except she then offered to take The Doctor with her and save the Earth… or was it just to be saved because Prentis is one of her stooges who is going to let the ravening hoards have it? The ultimate revenge?? See what I do to your toy, Doctor?

And why is Tecteun called Awsok, bearing in mind I’m not sure we heard anyone ever call her that? And Prentis, for some reason, has the same name as the Tivolian stooge from Under The Lake. Surely shome mishtake?

Also, how exactly did The Uglies get released? Was it T’floox did it? Or do they somehow aid T’floox and were let out on purpose only to get sucked down the plug hole at the end?

Cos that part didn’t really work out. Hmm. Disappointing end for Cuddly Lady. Suspiciously so. There are other candidates for The Doctor’s Mother and I think The Doctor knows it. Therefor The Doctor may think the restoration of her memories would be a mind control technique.

We’ll meet Cuddly Lady again. As soon as we get Who back (sigh). That doesn’t mean this story isn’t being undersold.

Maybe it’s all gonna come out. Bel and Vinder are members of The Division too, aren’t they? They know too much about Passengers and Vinder was Prentis’ sidekick. I don’t mean The Tivolian.

Williamson has finally been revealed. Personally, if Chib had to base the end of The Universe on Liverpool, couldn’t it be to do with Eric’s in 1979? Or The Liver Birds (the sitcom)? Or Husskison getting run over?

The messing about in The Belle Epoque was almost droll… I nearly watched it all in one go. But also quite annoying. Contrast with Doctor lite action like Left Turn or 73 yards. Not sure why they’re bothering with all the Indiana Jones stuff anyway. Jericho has deteriorated from an tortured but heroic character into a spare wheel, there to squeak should anyone wonder what Yaz and Dan might do together when they got bored.

And what happened to Claire?

I hope my questions get answered in part six. Not very optimistic though. The thing is, there is something engaging here. Once Chib can control his instinct (or instruction) to be tedious, the story tends to the epic. But is this newfound epic nature,  his or Cartmel 2.0: the overarching plan, hinted at by Moff in 2015, whereby The Doctor’s backstory is explored and extended?

And can just say, having given the pack a chance… The Lupari are rubbish. They’re only there so The Earth doesn’t get Roger Dean’d in The Halloween Apocalypse. Bad dogs.

I’m sure there must have been a better way to tell this story but Chib’s not to know that.

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@nerys @dentarthurdent

Village of The Angels: The Afterthought.

Do you remember my date theories? Significant dates of eps. Dates mentioned in eps. For November 21st (Village of the Angels) there are two other eps.

1. Dalek Invasion Earth: Could this have been a flux event? If so then that’s definitely a retcon. That is plans start with Andrew Cartmel and he was six at the time. But it’s also the last appearance of Susan. Clearly significant in the era of RTD2

2. Face The Raven: The Doctor gets extracted, but this time by The Timelords. Or did he? Could The Division have had a hand? If so… and it’s a big if, is this ANOTHER retcon? Or Cartmel 2.0? Got to control continuity. There MUST be a plan.

The latter might add extra weight to Russ and Moff’s loyal defence of The Timeless Children. This was NOT simply Chib’s fault; it’s the way he tells em.

Now, that whole story series 8 & 9… how did this Confession Dial malarkey start? Well, yes, it’s a story but how do people, Moff whoever, make stuff up? And know it will make sense. This is straight after Missy suddenly appears with rather more Cybermen than you can shake a stick at? Why exactly did she think The Doctor needed an army? Against who?

Also how exactly could Danny extract the dead Afghan Kid from the Data Slice? What was Clara supposed to do with him? It’s like something out of a dreeeam. Not just that: where did Orson Pink spring from? With a testimonial from The Tardis no less!

And what else can be done with a Data Slice? Does a Data Slice generate AI? (You bet) Why does the same volcanic landscape appear both in Dark Water and Last Christmas?

Why does Missy make a great play about recharging a VM from a death ray? She says The Doctor thought it up but we only get to see her do it.

Then we see her get zapped by Saxon who, dying and incapable, heads down into a hold full of Cybermen.

Missy gets cornered on Skaro. The Movie<span class=”Apple-converted-space”> </span>Master is executed on Skaro.

Why is there a lone, semi-converted Cyberman at The Villa? Maybe conversation failures are deleted before we get to see them. Maybe there was a reason Ashad didn’t work… like an incompatible substrate… or someone mucked up the parameters. Wonder Who?

Then there’s Claire’s DoB… 13th May: The Mutants?? Rise of The Cybermen (oh yes) and Oxygen.

13.05.85 would have been right after the fateful season 22, when season 23 had to be rewritten. Make of that what you will.

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@janetteb @ dentarthurdent

thank you. Village is obviously streets ahead of the rest. Not perfect but I could virtually watch it in one go: always a good sign. The previous 2 were poor but not as disastrous as most of series 11 or 12. Most of that is down to ‘the chuckles’ I’m afraid.

Chib is a mystery wrapped in an enigma submerged in disinterest. I may have to introduce some related bonkerising on Sofa 11. Yes, I have theories!!

Chib was not just an accident waiting to happen. This happening is to do with The BBC. I don’t rate Chib but these are not necessarily the three series Chib wanted to make.

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The Village of The Angels

Toward the end of O,UT, The Doctor says to Dan ‘you have no idea what you’re dealing with. I do.’

Phew, THAT’s a relief!

Mind you, in Village, she also says ‘I’m many things but I’m not ridiculous.’ And… I’m not so sure.

There are moments when you wonder if Chib fully realises what he’s written. That is it’s not a million miles away from The Brigadier’s dad saying, ‘yes, one imagine those words attached to some meaning or other.’ Well, a few hundred miles then.

Here I am, fourth time in a row, dead-panning the snark. Is this the behaviour of a rational being?

However, Village comes with recs. It hits ground running. This is good for Chib. Mind you The Angels come with problems. They once were all cthonic, elemental and curiously unlethal but damn inconvenient. Next thing you know they’re snapping people’s necks and talking trash with The Doctor. They finally set up an elaborate time factory in 30’s New York to torture Pond, and Mr Pond. This is fine. Less I’m afraid IS more, the sequel was never going to be as amazing as Blink but all that happened on Moff’s watch. Gotta be careful with other children’s toys, Chris!

There are also echoes of ‘Hide’ by Neil Cross: psychic experiments and shrinking universes. Good ep! It now strikes me that Akhaten, also by Cross and rather less groovy, was nonetheless not dissimilar.

Please note: Village was co-written by Maxine Alderton who did Villa of The Bad Boys. Maxine seems to make a difference: dialogue snappy; characters, good and bad, are engaging; The Doctor, relatively unridiculous. Yaz and Dan get good lines and respond well. As an indirect criticism of Chib, this is nothing new. Got to wonder why Maxine isn’t writing for RDT2. Can we have her, Moff, Whithouse, Matthieson and maybe Pete McTighe?

Not everything works: the final chase down the tunnel; what happened to the people in 1901?; Belsen gets tossed out in typical Chib fashion (that is he might get away with it but he’s got form); and the stuff going on with Ugly Git minor and tamagotchi woman rather lets the gas out. Still, this is possibly the best Chib era ep to date. Some others might have got there if not for Chucklegramps and Kid.

The question is, once Steptoe and Son had been parked, why did it take four eps to produce a proper story?

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Once, Upon Time (T’floox 3)

Did someone say title of T’floox 2 is a bit ‘This of That’? At least it didn’t alliterate metonymically.

I don’t want to say I like T’floox 2 because it has so many problems: Gung ho Dan; slaggin The Wirral, ‘calm down calm down’; Logan’s guiltily satisfying and violent revenge is somehow not sold at all; the ugly twins going deadpan snark with Passenger spinning the decks, what a hip-hop group they would make…

Don’t get distracted. ‘War’ was almost acceptable. I mean it’s main virtue is that this moves more quickly than the handful of OKish stories from series 11. Bar Byron’s Italian shenanigans, it’s better than anything in sorry series 12.

Onwards… titles… O,UT… is that the hint of a subscript Chris? We gotta get O,UT of this place?

O,UT intrigues… it kind of nods to Twice Upon a Time, even as Chris’ Division backstory renders ‘1 meets 12’ meaningless. It seems to reference Moff era timey wimey reality implosions like Big Bang and Wedding of Song or ‘wrong’ worlds like Forest of the Dead or Turn Left. You get the feeling this could be the Big One, the lynchpin of the whole sorry mess. Then you learn that ‘Time’ which The Doctor was Upon, Once, is actually just a planet… uh?

So… anyway, Time has gone weird and everything happens all at once. The Doctor raids The Temple of Atropos and comes across like poor strange ijit boy Brendan from Ascension, or like something out of a dreeeam… The triangle priest lamps speak like Berkoff the Shakri. This DOES seem like what Chris really wanted to write all along. The two tedious series prior, led to this: a mind-bending series of interlocking revelations. And perhaps he decided it should be more organic, subtle (no, don’t laugh) without the symbiotic Tardis, the ‘old girl’ taking The Doctor where she needed to go. Not so much lots of little things happening and revealed as something big, as SUDDENLY! Nothing happens…

Until it does.

Maybe story arcs ARE the problem. Fans learn the tells and it becomes a bit annoying. Could arcs, like Cartmel 2.0 be on The Corps crud list? Don’t get fancy, just wheel out a monster.

But Who can’t just be about a madman (or woman) in a box, with or without a ‘Fam’. Chris needs an alternative: the Doctor WITH a job, and not with UNIT: new territory, experimental and bold. Hmmm. But Chris… will anyone know what’s going on?

Also Chris’ assessment of his own abilities might be a bit inflated.

Nonetheless, we get to see his special moves. Too much. It starts promising, then gets messy, though not that hard to follow really, if anything it’s over explained, 3 times over cos we now seem to be Fam quorate. Oh for 11, popping here and there with VM, Fez and mop. ‘Come along, Pond!’

Yes, can we figure it out on our own? I dunno.

The major villains get wheeled out but they’re just mook wallpaper, it’s the dayglo blue stuff that’s really lethal.

The psychobabble is off the scale. Or is someone going to tell me this bit, which I strongly suspect may have been Written in Crayon, could be related to developments in theoretical physics. No? No, I didn’t think so.

But we do get to see Jo working nine to five. Not sure you could write that hostage situation now. The old gits are younger and philosophically opposed to the presumably emerging Gallifreyan civilisation. So are they murderous or misunderstood? The (lack of) noses doesn’t help, and they’re getting through Passengers like Spinal Tap with drummers. The Mouri are presumably spectral Sisters of Karn. Mad Regency bloke turns up again. No idea who Bel is (yet) but she has a tamagotchi!

That the mooks should be trying to carve up a universe falling apart might be an even more powerful story… imagine Pepperpots, Cyberium and Potatoheads going post truth and justifying their totalitarian deckchair rearrangement to the masses. I would have led with that Chris, then drilled down for T’floox.

The closest he gets is Vinder’s dubious promotion; every time someone unveils a character like The Grand Serpent, I ‘Kinda’ feel like ‘Dancing.’ But this seems to be ‘Dot’ Cottan, ‘The Caddy’ from Line of Duty. Ohhh.

Nonetheless, Vinder’s dilemma really resonates and very nearly saves the ep: certainly better than Yaz revisiting the last two unfortunate years and picking up a Weeping Angel on the way. Dan searches for Diane to prove he’s not made of cardboard. Though, I must say, John Bishop is not just streets ahead of Bradley Walsh, he seems to be the real deal.

Then cuddly lady turns up and admits she did it, but it was The Doctor’s fault! What the hell cuddly lady??!!

Well, it’s not the disaster that was reported. Potentially a good story but it actually owes a lot to The Stolen Earth, Big Bang and The Silence; and the whole arc should be told differently.

I haven’t really got 3 more eps to go, have I?

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@dentarthurdent

the beta text or whatever it is means I pasted my spiel and then edited it, did something it didn’t like and then navigated away. Strangely, it sounds like Whovian space-time coordinates. I wonder if that where they first originated?

Sorry to go on at such length. I am being unfair because all Who writers have and will continue to be guilty of the same quirks and lazy tropes as Chib, just less frequently and egregiously. WiC. Though, as I say, The Corp also bears responsibility.

The Flux is kind of preferable to what we were initially served up after Moff because the Fam have been decimated and the nonsense appears, on the face of it, less random.

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The War of The Sontarans.

‘I don’t understand it and I hate not understanding!’ sez The Doctor at the end of Halloween Apocalypse. Welcome to the world of The Chibnall Who Critic, Doctor.

That is unfair. I was unfair last time, I suppose. Why not just say, ‘I don’t like Chib’s writing’?

OK, I don’t like Chib’s writing. In addition to which I suspect The Corp also had a fair old go at the institution of Who. Well, what else is it there for? Obviously NOT controlling arrogant and overpaid misbehaving stars. But, RTD & Moff both being very slightly suggestive in front of kiddie winks is NOT to be countenanced!

Anyway T’floox seems to be Davros’ Reality Bomb with added timey wimey. Looks suspiciously ununiversal me, don’t you think? This happens. The Daleks tested The RB on the cast of Goodness Gracious Me and Eastenders. Tremas’ Entropy Scam happened on a scanner. The Pandorica and Trenzalore put some lights out. Universal Obliteration might be a tad underwhelming from the inside.

Also, if T’floox is so pant-wettingly lethal, how can Lupari ships be designed to resist it with a fancy manoeuvre they don’t know? Maybe T’floox ain’t got enough Z neutrinos. Screwfix ran out or something. And why should a species be bonded to humans? Apart from the dumb joke potential. And amazingly they also have something to do with The Division, who we’ve never heard of before because of a Mind Wipe?

There is Narrative and there is WiC. He’s making it up as he goes along. In Crayon.

Miss! I don’t like Chris’ writing.

On the face of it, The War of The Sontaras might be a bit fun. Not a cast of thousands. Understandable in 2021. Gatiss managed to make Godsacre and Catchlove living breathing caricature but Logan just looks like a thin line from the side.

Mary Seacole, much favoured by the GCSE syllabus and Horrible Histories could be given a more interesting intro than ‘oh! You must be Mary Seacole.’ Or, why not give that line to Yaz or Dan?? Do they know nothing? Rose knew stuff and she was a chav. Martha saved the lives of fish people. Donna wowed The Doctor with TV Trope jokes.

Y & D conveniently dematerialise. Williamson turns up and spouts gruff Regency gnomic stuff. And stomps off again.

Nontheless, I thought this iteration of the potato heads could be quite cool, in that Moff made Strax far too cuddly. On the other hand he was also an alternative. Strax can take his place in<span class=”Apple-converted-space”>  </span>human society and so reveal what it really is.

It’s like the Cybermen’s denial of<span class=”Apple-converted-space”>  </span>humanity or Daleks subverting the philosophy of humanism. Sontarans, left to their own devices, relentlessly pursue the most pointless and reviled human activity. So, what do they get out of T’floox? Unless that’s the point. Crisis will be exploited by war. And The Sontarans have replaced The Russians, because we know what they’re like, don’t we children? Yes, in 1850, mostly serfs. While The Chinese are reeling from asymmetric European narcotic attack.

What if you’d made it The American Civil War, Chris? Hey? Or WW1? Or Suez? Or Vietnam? Oh, but you’re not very good at this are you?

And there’s a Temple, too. It’s all a bit Elemental, a tad Guardianish. Watch out for low flying vultures. And The Doctor is pursuing Pooch because apparently he’s the only Division operative she knows. Does she assume the rest of her old mates are dead? Understandable: them death particles sound proper lethal. Alternatively, does she suspect there are other Time Lords still out there? See, we’ve been here before, haven’t we? Doesn’t The Doctor ever doubt what she’s told?

The Time Lords: a species so cr*p they had to be genocided twice. I’m not sure this can be adequately discussed in fiction, let alone sci fi. But The Doctor WILL apparently believe ANYTHING.

Question: is The Doctor… IDK… brain damaged? Just too many regens, wipes and Chameleon Arches? Or is this simply the lot of Time Lords? They know time is gonna scramble them sooner or later, which is why most stay home to become irritating bureaucrats. Or is this the next Cartmel phase, The Doctor is NOT the messiah but a genuine basket case, and Chib couldn’t or wasn’t allowed to bring this off?

But there is next to no Fam still. And only FEELS like a Timeless Children 1 hour special: you watch 25 minutes, switch off to breathe, and then you’ll only have to do it once more. There will be an end. Maybe next time someone will tell me what’s going on.

And I’ve done it again: tried to be fair to Chib, but the best I can say is one deluded man alone could not make this many poor production and writing decisions. The show IS in crisis and it’s NOT Chib’s fault. He’s just the mug left sitting in the cellar full of gunpowder with a box of matches.

For Chib, the villain is the Streamers with their nonsensical reboots (oh did anyone notice? Don’t matter, there will be another one along in a minute). Maybe he decided they should be meta’d as… The Flux!

For RTD2 it’s Continuity: the day destroys the night, the night divides the day… break on through…

Yeah, Russ, good luck with that.

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@dentarthurdent

Was this, purely hypothetical, acceleration enforced by Covid or by The Corp (because Chib was being politely shown the door, wasn’t he); or designed, because the previous two series were such dogs; or simply symptoms of narrative insanity?

All I can observe is something changed. And then Chib and Whitdoc were both gone.

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@dentarthurdent

I mentioned Diane but it was Claire being tragically meaningful of course.

There was an attempt to speed up story development. Is that the reduced number of eps or Chib trying out some Blink/Big Bang Moff style timey wimey? Or just a slimmed down Fam?

 

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Halloween Apocalypse

As promised/threatened.

I’d given up by this point: not really watched Who properly since Fugitive, having lost patience with The Battle of Stupid and Pratfall. So I missed Revolution… apparently Granddad went. And Our Kid. Whoopee!

Thesis: you COULD have Granddad on his own. IMHO rather dull. Or you COULD have Kid, that might be the best way to make the character meaningful. Though you’d still need to write for him. You might be justified in having both together but only for one season, and if one finally killed the other. Not fussed which one.

But, what you definitely CANNOT have is chucklegramps AND chucklekid, AND Yaz. Nonetheless, it took two series to flush them away. Even once you’ve finally done that, you really have to improve the writing.

And this does have a feeling of a reset. And I am aware that Covid forced a truncated series 13. The thing is, I suspect by this point Chib had more or less given up the ghost; squaring the contradictory demands of The Corp had become too difficult.

So, what do we get? Apparently we’re halfway through one story. OK. Moff did that a lot. But this is a bit desperate. The Doctor and Yaz are off to see not a man about a dog, but an actual dog. Cue to laugh like a dog. But hold on, Yaz is also revealed as a functionary! Never mind exposition and comic relief, were the Fam only ever three cardboard cutouts: people Whitdoc could babble nonsense at? There, I’ve said it.

So Yaz is, literally, hanging around with The Doctor. And there’s something a bit weird here to tell the truth. Right, we know The Doctor is stewing over The Division and Fugitive Doctor and the end of The Time Gits, but to have her say ‘aren’t you glad the chuckle family have wandered off’ is a bit off. By quite a long way. It’s as if Chib is forcing them to have a spat because that’s the only way he can imply that the Woman, who used to be a Man, might quite like another woman. Mr Cholmondly-Warner thus reveals their utter female irrationality. It’s like Miss Marple has discovered something deep disturbing in rural England. What stuff did Chib used to write…? Oh yeah.

Now, I’m guessing this move is in fact contrary to Corporate Instruction. But, hey, doesn’t matter because nothing is ever going to come of it. Nonetheless, it’s neither subtle nor funny, and Chib knows this because the next glove puppet to appear is a Scouser: a Real One, but the way Chib writes em, John Bishop might as well be built of uPVC.

Well, if Russ can rib the Welsh in 73 Yards, then surely Chib can have some gentle fun with Merseyside? I certainly don’t want three pugilists in shell suits growing Jimmy Case taches and calling ‘calm down, calm down.’ I LIKE John Bishop; there are bits of him vs Rolf the implausible dog alien that very nearly make me smile. But is Rolf a Yorkie or a Patterdale? Then John has a ‘you are Leeds’ Stone Roses rock Elland Road moment with Yaz. See, I recognise this stuff. But is it funny? Chib is the man who wasted the talents of a robotic Mitchell and Webb double act. I suspect Stephen Berkoff gurned and extemporised his own deadly mumbles for Power of Three because no one present had the courage to tell him ‘no.’

Then there’s the psychic thing. Last seen in The Deadly Assassin with further hints in The Two Doctors… because there were two Doctors, I suppose. Nonetheless, you could call that form. I reckon it’s either lazy writing or a duff Marvel Move as recommended by The Corp. But what is there to like about ugly monsters from beyond the dawn of time? Apart from the trope? Oooh. The dawn of time must have been an ugly camp catwalk. Also, in the words of Borat, why are you selling me old sh*t?

This is the bit that was Written in Crayon. Chib needs his Crayon Box to construct an arc, something he has studiously avoided until the first hints in Fugitive. Yes, I’m ignoring the ridiculous villain who habitually stuck victims’ teeth in his own mug.

Or, is this actually Cartmel 2.0, as per Moff’s reported sketch c2015? Was Chibnall not bothered to flesh it out with proper grown up development? Not saying the same problem was never encountered during Moff’s tenure; the Silence arc was never properly resolved IMHO. But I’m quite certain RTD1 never seriously indulged.

But Written in Crayon, or WiC as I shall henceforth refer to it, appears to be a specific reaction to Marvel and Gradean gripes about Who not being proper SciFi. Gatiss is wrong; it’s not the Old Fans, it’s the New Streamers. To Chib’s desperate mind, did the latter become all meta and bring forth T’floox???

Then there is the small matter of coherence. The previous season hadn’t exactly helped me wrestle with TTC so it would be a leap of faith to think even a full series 13 would sell the idea to me.

I’m reliably informed that Mr Williamson’s subterranean shenanigans wasn’t some real estate scam. Some laughably tragic woman called Diane is presumably doing a far far better thing than turning down a dog of a Who script. And the ugly git from beyond the dawn of time has a slightly less ugly sister who has been slumming it on Earth with bad attitude. Sigh. Chib’s Who is still not an easy watch.

And you know, as soon as planets start dissolving (don’t you hate it when that happens?), that it presages a reality bomb/end of time/all the stars going out moment.

Meh. This defines boredom. Just get a life Doctor: go and save someone worth saving.

Confession. Still not got to the end. I’ll post any errata on War of The Sontarans.

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@dentarthurdent @whohar

‘Macho’… even pre Chib Nuwho had Timelord Invictus, Good Man C*cks It Up Good and Proper, Epic Sulks, Confession Dials and Other Idiocies.

I’ve no quarrel with the ‘tone’ of RTD2, more the execution, which again may be down to the story. But will we ever know? Will a big break demolish the precious continuity? Can the beancounters finally ditch Cartmel 2.0 and get the nice safe show they always wanted?

The tetchiness of 15 and Kate I reckon is down to the Remembrance element of the October 5th connection. 7 had a damn good go at committing Genocide. Will that now be resolved?

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@whohar @dentarthurdent

The ending… it did seem like a bolt on. To the extent that, though there was supposedly a ‘reason’ to regenerate I just know, if I check it out, I’ll think it was nonsense.

It’s a pity because the rest of the series built up quite a head of steam, even if the ratings were in the basement. The worst regeneration story since McCoy had to don Baker’s coat of many colours and the curly wig. And I know everyone was desperate to be nice about Jodie Whittaker but… WHAT? Compare that to the gravitas of Karen Gillen (also in a wig) descending the stairs to talk to her Raggedy Man.

Oh for Saxon going doolally and stuffing pulled grease spot flipper in his brioche bun, or for Dalek/Cyberman dead pan snarly face offs, or even Davros technobabbling the reality bomb. Does the abstract threat of VR nullify the glorious nuttiness of an all out RTD season ender??

 

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@translatorcircuit

WOW! It really IS for pre-schoolers! Urghhh. I DO apologise. I GENUINELY thought that was a mistake/joke.

Embarrassing. Kids Show! Official.

So, the Venn Diagram HAS become THAT small. I don’t like it, and some noise might just help, but this COULD be the end. Though to be fair HE mentioned US, I mean us, the weirdos. In the minuscule Venn Bit. Whoever Tom Fussell is.

Expect the anti-woke brigade to proclaim a victory. Loudly. Annoyingly.

btw any tax system, not based on regular income/business/large individual expenditure, really is unenforceable. The only people who ever pay are those with some money who HAVE to. No point making it ‘fair’, if you can’t make ‘fair’ people pay. There’s no point in making people, who can’t pay, pay because they’ve nothing with which to pay. Unless you chip them at birth, so they’re always in debt. Ah. That’s The Sunmakers, isn’t it?

Best bet is a tax on streaming services, but not even Mark Carney can get that past Trump and his crawling, arrogant tech mates. Or The Usurians.

It’s The End of The World as We Know It and I haven’t felt that happy about things for a while (if you hadn’t guessed)

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@dentarthurdent

for the record, can I just say I have Nothing to do with Deep Thought… more like Roosta or maybe Zarniwoop.

Seriously, can someone string up the non sci fi focus groups and actually do research and writing?

Russ season enders? MHO:

Good (but not that good);Bad Wolf plus, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday; Utopia plus

Indifferent; Stolen Earth+, End of Time, The Giggle,  Reality War.

Bad; The Umpire of Dearth

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@translatorcircuit

I think you mean CBBC not Cbeebies. If DW IS indeed being pitched at pre-schoolers then, yes, the end has come.

And perhaps… the end has come. Can you square the iconoclastic demands of the frothing anti-woke brigade with trimming critiques of beancounters and filmschool script neuterers who would much rather be talking about a soap? DW has ended up as a very small Venn diagram indeed; therefore a rapidly shrinking audience. Possibly all that is left is continuity.

I’m not sure it is just DW. I have said before that I’m fussy about scifi, but the televised genre seems to be in some trouble.

Severence is cool. Silo is slightly meh/downright dodgy. One day someone will strap me down subjected to Clockwork Orange stylee eyeball clamps to make me watch Foundation. I’ve managed 10 minutes so far: sententious exposition, infantilisation, the inability to drop a bridge on key characters, and some bright spark obviously had the blinding insight that Cleon is an anagram of clone. Duhhh oh yeh!

Ok I didn’t get all of that from the first 10 minutes. I was looking for reasons to stick with it because I like early Azimov. Obviously my mind is too highly trained.

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@dentarthurdent

You may not have registered certain recent UK government climb-downs; Trump does tend to drown everything else out but the ableist/disableist debate is extraordinarily relevant to the UK. Certainly not merely ideological. Spot on Russ. That wad the best bit.

Not only is Dobson channeling Briers, Conrad is an echo of Pex from Paradise Towers. I think there is also a theme about Architects, see The Reality War. Nearly dropped a spoiler there.

15 married to Belinda. Well this is Conrad’s firmly traditional and het view of the world. But also 15 wondering where Susan came from. Was the discovery of Susan, presumably on Gallifrey, specifically the reason that 1 left?

To tell you the truth, I need to watch this ep, indeed both series again, now being aware of how (I think) Russ’ construction lines were calculated.

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@dentarthurdent
Key take-aways…

NOT that someone thinks Omega is coming through, why you would want that? But:

Poppy was in Space Babies… maybe she’s Russ’ fav child actress.

Poppy Honey is farmed on Hellias by Harmony Shoal.

It’s The Ranii’s VR, with Conrad utilising Male Supremacist Fantasy to keep it ticking… a bit like the ‘minor master’ from The Mindrobber.

IMHO Anita Dobson is still hamming it up left right and centre ala Richard Briars in Paradise Towers.

Key faces were missing from the Rani VR Unit. Sue Triad, Rose and The Vlinx?

The teaser shows a stasis cube labelled zeta alpha theta iota. I got quite silly over that. But it was fun.

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@dentarthurdent

I really liked ISC. It could have been a nondescript Chibesque Fam outing but this was done with a certain panache.

The blown into space section was of course problematic, though it looked a million dollars. Mavity is apparently at hand so maybe none of it was real…?

The glitter gun was surely a tribute to the McCoy opening credits.

Torturing Kid followed on from Kate losing her cool. Something going on, there. Remembrance (broadcast Oct 5th) was the destruction of Skaro. Delta waves are of course from Parting of the Ways. Hi Rose.

May 24th 2008 Silence in the Library was pushed back a week because of Eurovision. That leaves The War Games as the only previous May 24th ep.

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@dentarthurdent

List compiled in haste. I missed out The Mindrobber. And included Voyage of the Damned twice. Though it is fantastic. Yes, I like Russell having camp fun; it explains Love and Monsters.

Really, for 5&6 it is so tough to pick worthy eps but. Apart from the Mara stories and Androzani, very few were remotely acceptable. And then there is the dross.

But then the last 2 Tom Baker series were pretty ropey. And so was the first McCoy series. I gave up on Paradise Towers. 7 incredibly poor years. The peak was the Leela run up to and including The Sunmakers. Though the previous 2 years were almost as consistently good. And so Baker’s reputation rumbles on. However, you really MUST watch Ark in Space to Sunmakers.

Makes you realise why Nuwho series 3-10 made such an impression. You could nominate another 15 eps for that run.

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@janetteb

‘does it hold up?’ Sounds like time for a list! top 5 each Doctor anyone?

1 & 2 is difficult because so much is wiped and the production values are quite other…

1. Unearthly Child, The Daleks, Marinus… because it’s both complete and quite other, the Time Meddler, and whatever is left of Dalek Master Plan and 10th Planet.

2. The Evil of The Daleks, The Web of Fear, Fury From The Deep (reconstructed), Seeds of Doom, The War Games (too long but the recent hatchet job was a disgrace)

3. Spearhead from Space, Inferno, Terror of The Autons, Carnival of Monsters, The Time Warrior. Sorry, no Silurians. Getting the correct geological eon is not that hard.

4. The bar is high. Ark in Space, Pyramids of Mars, Genesis of the Daleks is too long but has to be there, Robots of Death and City of Death. And you know what? I really like the Leisure Hive.

5. The bar is lower. So… Four til Doomsday (huh? Did I say Revel Horwood could be a show runner? It’s a joke, a joke) Kinda, Snakedance, Frontios I suppose… Caves of Androzani. No, I don’t like Earthshock. What part of it is supposed to make sense?

6. Urghh. It’s nonsense but… Attack of the Cyberman I suppose for sheer chutzpah and invention. Then Vengeance on Varos, The Two Doctors, Revelation of the Daleks, Mindwarp.

7. I don’t know much about 7. Remembrance, Greatest Show, Ghostlight (on reputation), Fenric, Survival because the Doctor saves Ace.

8, War Doctor, 9 (see what I did there?): Day of The Doctor, Rose, Dalek, Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Badwolf/Parting of the Ways.

10. Could be the Moff Show: the bar is stellar; ha ha, Love and Monsters! Blink; flawed in many, many ways but… Utopia/Drums/Last of the Time Lords, Voyage of the Damned, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, Voyage of the Damned.

11.This is practically impossible. Amy’s Choice, Vincent, The Doctor’s Wife, God Complex, Hide. Eleventh Hour should be there but it’s Moff. We know Moff can do it.

12. Mission Impossible 2: Listen, Flatline, Heaven Sent, Oxygen, World Enough/Doctor Falls.

13. The bar is notional: Rosa, Kerblam, Villa… I understand there were other things that might not drive you to chew off your own leg. Yeah them.

14/15: Wild Blue Yonder, Boom, Dot and Bubble, The Well… & Story and Engine I suppose… only because it’s somehow more explicable than 73 Yards.

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@dentarthurdent
Yes, Who runs on meta: the Trial of Timelord; the Time War; perhaps t’floox was about linear tv’s competition from streaming?

The Sunmakers riffs on Holme’s tax arrangements, The Two Doctors on his discovery of vegetarianism. The Carnival of Monsters must be Who itself (and the mandarins who never understood the show). On the other hand The Twin Dilemma observes the delights of Anthony Stevens’ gastropod infested garden just before his typewriter literally exploded!

Meta on its own is not the answer. You do need the story. You need the problems thrown up by continuity. I’m afraid the mandarins, as well as the crits who never ‘got’ the show, still don’t understand why it can’t be a nice safe soap. Lots of dull stories happening all at once. No hifalutin.

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The key to understanding Midnight and The Well is the attack on identity: you’re talking over me: you’re not looking at me.

I have my own theory about where Russ is taking this. Let’s hope he gets the opportunity to see it through.

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@dentarthurdent

Is there a real philologist in the room? I’m sure they’d tell me I’m talking rubbish. I think Finnish is the closest thing to a genuine agglutinative European if not Indo-European language.

In Boom, 15 is told it’s Oct 5th. For no reason. The show wasn’t broadcast on Oct 5th. So I checked out previous stories broadcast on that date: Mindrobber, Towers and Remembrance. There are obvious parallels. I suspect a case of Russ constructing an arc under time pressure. Worth looking at the discussion ‘On the Sofa.’

Other interesting dates: May 24th… Russ had to skip  a week to accommodate a significant music program. Only ep shown on that date was The War Games, recently abridged and colourised. The Ep that got bumped to a week later was Silence in the Library.

And March 11th… double release of ‘Babies’ and ‘Devil’s Chord’… that equates to 2 Cybermen serials and PotS (ho hum) although that was a replacement for the abandoned’ Final Game.

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@translatorcircuit

Planet of the Spiders is serviceable but not Robert Holmes playing with tropes because he’s the MAN and he CAN.
Yes, Chris Bailey = The Mara. I’m a huge devotee of the Mara stories, yet so sad we only ever saw hints of a full BAMF Mara Empire. But then you really don’t want a rerun of Stupid Sutekh.

Anyway the Mara are on Harriet’s list. They don’t like mirrors and they loved mind games. To judge from Tegan’s issues, I’d worry about Belinda. And Poppy. But I’d love a reworking of the Dukkha meets Tegan in featureless mental wilderness. Want to be creeped out just like that.

I hope we get RTD back. You may be worried about the last series and the future, but 16/21 hit rate isn’t too bad. I think Russ will realise he needs some good writers and concentrate on script edding.

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@dentarthurdent

re German… almost an agglutinative langauge (ie you can almost shake and go any idea you like, but not quite).

Richard Briars was The Chief Caretaker/Great Architect in Paradise Towers. This is the era of casting the likes of Beryl Reid and Ken Dodd. A comic thesp giant whose stock was falling in the 80s perhaps. But it’s not just my opinion that Briars’ turn in Paradise was quite risible, possibly the inspiration for Dobson as Mrs Flood. That is Paradise, Remembrance and Mind Robber are all Oct 5th eps… see script for Boom.

yes, the central five is Lux>Interstellar. Nothing as cosmic as Dot & Bubble tho.

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@translatorcircuit

Yes. You don’t like Midnight or The Well.

Who resounds with superficial resemblances and echoes. But some ideas may be deliberately referenced. Paranoia is facilitated by people talking over you or continuing looking over your shoulder. It’s powerful stuff.

Where Midnight and The Well wins out is we are shown neither a man in a rubber suit nor a shonky arthropod on someone’s back. Turn Left is actually one of my favourites but then the bug was ostensibly borrowed from one of Russ’ kiddie spin-offs. The Spiders in PotS were laughable and the story was knocked together in a rush; the planned Master story was stymied by Delgado’s untimely death. Curiously PotS is a March 11th story so accords with my significant date theory… but never mind.

Personally, I think you’re looking in the wrong direction. If Russ’ Who does survive and, yes, the show may be under fire, expect Chris Bailey to get a credit, alongside Barry Lets and Pip and Jane Baker.
Clearly The Well is no more of a problem than The Woke. However, rushed writing and the decision to base whole arcs on VR may well be.

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@dentarthurdent

My last bid, thanks to google translate is

düsterbegründerfreude

= darklyjustifiedjoy

Conrad’s actor was brilliant. I’m sure most thesps relish dark scenery chewing. And they’re not all Richard Briars.

The central 5 of this series were as good as the ‘filling’ from the previous one.

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@dentarthurdent

not saying righteous glee is an old or new combo… and it’s not really a neologism. But the thing definitely exists.

Justified Poetic Appreciation maybe?

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@dentarthurdent

I suggest righteous glee

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Surely the worst case scenario?

Valid point about there being no cheap ‘in house’ option though. If a third party doesn’t like width, it won’t happen.

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@dentarthurdent

This was probably my favourite thus far, regardless of my will to spot continuity.

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@dentarthurdent @whohar

quotes. Yes Chrissie’s transcripts.

I think we were all gaping at the gasmask people and missed the dialogue. What a story.

 

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@whohar

OK this is all the metaphor/simile and innuendo from the script of Child/Dances/Boom Town. I think it all survived, but I’ll have to check.

JACK: Excellent bottom.
ALGY: I say, old man, there’s a time and a place. Look, you should really be off.
JACK: Sorry, old man. I’ve got to go meet a girl. But you’ve got an excellent bottom too.

JACK: Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer.
(He hands her his ID card.)
ROSE: Liar. This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me.
JACK: How do you know?
ROSE: Two things. One, I have a friend who uses this all the time.
JACK: Ah.
ROSE: And two, you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you’re single and you work out.
JACK: Tricky thing, psychic paper.
ROSE: Yeah. Can’t let your mind wander when you’re handing it over.
(She gives it back.)
JACK: Oh, you sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free.
ROSE: What?
JACK: Actually, the word you use is available.

JACK: Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?
DOCTOR: I’ve got a sonic, er. Oh, never mind.
JACK: What?
DOCTOR: It’s sonic, okay? Let’s leave it at that.
JACK: Disrupter? Cannon? What?
DOCTOR: It’s sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!
JACK: A sonic what?!
DOCTOR: Screwdriver!

JACK: Who has a sonic screwdriver?
DOCTOR: I do.
ROSE: Lights.
JACK: Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooo, this could be a little more sonic?
DOCTOR: What, you’ve never been bored?

ROSE: Okay, so he’s vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?
DOCTOR: I’m making an effort not to be insulted.
ROSE: I mean, men.
DOCTOR: Okay, thanks, that really helped.

ROSE: He saved my life. Bloke-wise, that’s up there with flossing. I trust him because he’s like you. Except with dating and dancing. What?
DOCTOR: You just assume I’m
ROSE: What?
DOCTOR: You just assume that I don’t dance.
ROSE: What, are you telling me you do dance?
DOCTOR: Nine hundred years old, me. I’ve been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I’ve danced.
ROSE: You?
DOCTOR: Problem?
ROSE: Doesn’t the universe implode or something if you dance?
DOCTOR: Well, I’ve got the moves but I wouldn’t want to boast.

JACK: As soon as I get the nav-com back online. Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing.
DOCTOR: We were talking about dancing.
JACK: It didn’t look like talking.
ROSE: It didn’t feel like dancing.

JACK: There it is. Hey, they’ve got Algy on duty. It must be important.
DOCTOR: We’ve got to get past him.
ROSE: Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?
JACK: I don’t think that’d be such a good idea.
ROSE: Don’t worry, I can handle it.
JACK: I’ve got to know Algy quite well since I’ve been in town. Trust me, you’re not his type. I’ll distract him. Don’t wait up.
DOCTOR: Relax, he’s a 51st century guy. He’s just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing.
ROSE: How flexible?
DOCTOR: Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy.
ROSE: Meaning?
DOCTOR: So many species, so little time.
ROSE: What, that’s what we do when we get out there? That’s our mission? We seek new life, and… and
DOCTOR: Dance.

DOCTOR: Welcome to the Tardis.
JACK: Much bigger on the inside.
DOCTOR: You’d better be.
ROSE: I think what the Doctor’s trying to say is you may cut in.
DOCTOR: Rose! I’ve just remembered!
ROSE: What?
(The music changes from waltz to swing – Glenn Miller’s In The Mood.)
DOCTOR: I can dance! I can dance!
ROSE: Actually, Doctor, I thought Jack might like this dance.
DOCTOR: I’m sure he would, Rose. I’m absolutely certain. But who with?

JACK: Who the hell are you?
MICKEY: What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?

JACK: Don’t tell me. This must be Mickey.
DOCTOR: Here comes trouble! How’re you doing, Ricky boy?
MICKEY: It’s Mickey!
ROSE: Don’t listen to him, he’s winding you up.
MICKEY: You look fantastic.
(Rose and Mickey hug. The Doctor is up a ladder mending something.)
JACK: Aw, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?
DOCTOR: Buy me a drink first.
JACK: You’re such hard work.

MICKEY: Sounds like you’re staying, then. So, what’re you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell’s Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don’t mind you hanging out with big-ears up there…
DOCTOR: Oi!
MICKEY: Look in the mirror. But this guy, I don’t know, he’s kind of…
JACK: Handsome?
MICKEY: More like cheesy.
JACK: Early 21st century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?
MICKEY: It’s bad.
JACK: But bad means good, isn’t that right?
DOCTOR: Are you saying I’m not handsome?

Also… The Girl Who Died… Clara offers to fight 12 for Ashildr.

Inclusivity? Sec, Rusty, Strax, Handles, Bill… hmm. Now try that with a Weeping Angel.

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@whohar

9? Have you READ the Empty Child/Doctor Dances script? Jack: “Much bigger on the inside!” 9: “You’d better be.” Battle of the bears. And Micky quickly sussed out what was occurring.

10? The Doctor admitted in End of Time he didn’t just leave Liz 1 at the altar.

11 & River? Two times on one of her birthdays (but no Stevie Wonder) + all that too much pleading and quoting Sexy Fish Vampires in Good Man goes to War.

12 & River? (though no-one needs to see the final shot from Husbands again)

13. She didn’t like Byron but who can blame her? Should have called a cop.

14… exactly how does he spend his time in Chiswick?

15 has Rogue. How is Rogue going to feel when Billie rocks up. What will Anita think of Billie?

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@dentarthurdent

‘kid show pleading’ is a fraud really. These people know kids like a thrill. They really just don’t get sci-fi and would rather it was a soap. You could say this goes back to Sidney Newman.

Pre gap romance? Briefly hinted 5/Nyssa flirting during Mawdryn Undead, but she was about to leave. And of course 4/Romana 2! Dear viewer, I married him!

I think Who Historicals could be more adventurous in structure. The fixed point canard is clearly quite wibbley wobbly. Also, like many non historical stories, you really don’t need a monster… it was the monsters that mar good stories like Inferno or Androzani.

Nice trainspotting though, literally! My personal problem is brainless dabbling in popular science: Adric curating the Chicxulub is one thing; The Earth’s unusual satellite being a space bat egg, or magic forests cancelling out Carrington Events is something else.

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@translatorcircuit

The gap is the gap is the gap. But the reboot really started with Cartmel. Only Grade still said ‘no thanks.’

Pre Cartmel Who ain’t some holy relic: they all made it up on the hoof, and after fifteen years it began to show. Given good writers it sparked along nicely. But good writers like strong meat: Holmes, Davis, Moff and Matthieson all got it in the neck from the ‘kid show pleaders.’ It’s an intractable problem for the corporation: the show is guaranteed to offend someone, probably right wing. But not if you’re a cheeky chap like like Moff.

On the one hand Who is unflushable. On the other you only have to avoid multiple companions, big chunks of exposition and VR. And yet the show-runners still go puppy charging all three of those patio doors.

@ dentarthurdent

Joy to the World was good, if baffling.

Love and Monsters? If it’s perverse it must be Russ.

Another great RTD story, effectively from the same era, is of course Dot and Bubble

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@whohar @janetteb

I’m 4 eps in series on 1. The ratings are stellar, especially for the ‘repetitive’ series 2. I really do prefer Severance though… so far.

Apparently they were working on a film treatment for Wool but then streaming came along. There are obvious and maybe superficial echoes of Doctor Strangelove, THX 1138, Boy and His Dog, Logans Run, 10 Cloverfield Lane… maybe the people like the retelling of something from the collective unconscious.

Got to say, Moff may have got there first with World Enough and Time.

As ep 1 came to a close… and I did at least get to the end of the first ep and beyond, unlike Foundation… I was struck by an odd thought. If you DID want to make, if not exactly a full on ‘QAnon’ sci-fi dystopia, then one rocking a few alt-right tropes, this could be it.

Birth control, climate change conspiracy, (possibly) fake news, post industrial rust belt decay in the basement, with urban monoculture swamp at the top. And a good ol plucky underdog home town sheriff from Down Thar, if only to argue the virtues of Tofu-munching with her resentful top-side factotum.

So, if someone does find an issue with the pizza in the cafeteria at the top, I may have to give up.

Or is it just the zeitgeist?

Hmmm. Joint Apple/AMC production. Not saying Dolan isn’t more suspect than any of the other tech billionaire MAGA converts. Oh. Yeah, maybe I am.

But series 1 looks great. Fantastic cast. Just got a feeling I could get annoyed.

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Anyone seen Silo?

I’m in two minds…

Anyone?

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@dentarthurdent @winston

Historicals… we’ve had this discussion before. I can’t  think of many reasons why Historicals can’t be fone, or done better.

Unless:

1. They’re considered dull.

2. The writers aren’t up to it.

3. The script edding ain’t up to it.

Not saying it hasn’t ever gone wrong, but really what’s so scary, unless it’s boredom, writing and edding?

It’s an open goal. Missed. Serially.

Question… are The Corp running scared??

The Gammon is out there. They can be touchy.

The Village Green Preservation Society.

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@dentarthurdent @whohar @nerys @translatorcircuit @janetteb

Midnight… you can call it a bottle episode or whatever. It was well done. Love a bit of paranoia. The only problem might be the stewardess’ sacrifice.  Hope the blue ray’s work @dentarthurdent !

RTD best ep? Turn Left and Love and Monsters (ha ha), the Dalek/Cyberman face-off in Doomsday, if only that. Quite liked the Utopia season ender too, just NOT Doctor/Dobby/Messiah.

Maybe good news re the streamers but they will want a pound of flesh. Similarities to the end of The Cartmel era… there’s no Michael Grade with a dagger. The BBC seem to be conflicted re Who: it’s unflushable, if you know what I mean. But BBC funding issues are a game changer. I ask again could T’floox have been both the streaming challenge meta’d AND a trial run of a Who final wrap: literally the end of The Whoniverse??

The virtues of Classic?? Some is truly virtuous and ground breaking. Some is very bad. The production values were other.

Cyberman… Keys of Marinus has been retconned as a Cyberman story, and it sounds intriguingly other, but it’s just so slooow…

The Holmes/Hinchcliffe era was scarred by Robot, Revenge of The Cybermen, Planet of Evil, Hand of Fear, and Invisible Enemy, none of them disasterous but thrown into sharp relief by the glory of the rest of those 3 seasons (although there was a bit of repetition). There again, even JNT, pre Cartmel, could curate the Mara stories, Androzani and Varos.

Is it better to endure the boring, badly written and worse produced (and who thought that those days would return – looking at you Chib) or take a short break? Not a 16 year break. That was Grade done that.

The loss of the xmas episode is tough though.

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@nerys @whohar @translatorcircuit @dentarthurdent

I wouldn’t say Midnight was over-rated, more that the whole of series 4, including the obligatory classic monster 2 parter, was pretty stellar. Gripping, unusual, great acting, top in any other season. Harsh to say there’s too much fuss made about it.

Interesting that Moffat announced he was moving toward more stand alone eps for the second half of series 7. Superficially similar to some aspects of Chib’s approach for series 11+12, which sounds like your preference, @translatorcircuit, before t’floox wiped out all rationality.

I wonder if ‘stand alone’ was a Corporation instruction to avoid hifalutin arcs, continuity and Cartmel?

Midnight seemed like a standalone until The Well, which I suspect makes the Midnight Monster a classic critter… mirrors, mind games, dreams, snakes…

 

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@translatorcircuit

so. It’s the blessed algorithms. Bring on the Butlerian Jihad.

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@translatorcircuit

A Who/Strictly crossover is/was a joke. With a nod toward the musical outings in Ruby Road and Devil’s Chord. That died a death, didn’t it? A bit weird.

Strictly’s ratings are massive. ‘Creatively’ it peaked 10 years ago. I have fond memories of it as a family show: watching it with my kid on a Saturday night. It’s getting tired now.

Not sure what The Corp will do; they have big funding issues, caused both by streaming competition and alt right venom. There are malign players working the situation who would LOVE to come away with the scalp of Who.

I am a big fan of non Space Opera sci fi. And Who too, which SHOULD be squidgy sci fi beyond Opera. I’m afraid some people will never get it.

Not heard of any of these European shows. I’m told to watch Foundation (Apple tv) but I revere early Azimov and it really looked like it had be been knocked together by some sad D&Ders with a huge CGI budget. I’m fussy.

Severence may resonate more with those who surfed the labour market before New Corporate W@nk and zero hours contracts. Best thing I’ve seen in years. Come to think, I’m really taken by the idea of a slow burn claustrophobic Who reboot, but it won’t happen. It’s difficult to reboot Who.

I’m afraid we see different virtues in Who. Personally I like dialogue and ideas. But you really do need brutally severe script edding too; the show has so much history, you can no longer make up big plot departures. Interestingly, none of these elements were Chib’s A game. What was his A game? I’ll leave that argument there.

On the other hand there is a widespread allergy to continuity ‘porn’, and this is understandable. Unless you’re a fan, you won’t want to watch what they will obviously think is a decrepit home movie of The Tenth Planet or an incomprehensible edit of The War Games.

I’m not sure where the show goes from here. RTD’s instinct to make things ‘difficult’ is probably correct. Bland Who would be a waste of time. I haven’t seen the Big Finish oevre but it must be a bit ersatz isn’t it?

The time may NOT be now.

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