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20 May 2025 at 14:08 #77560
One of the criticisms of Remembrance is that The Doctor commits genocide when he uses The Hand of Omega to destroy Skaro.
I may have to investigate Paradise Towers again… I only know of Brier’s extreme and non kosher hammery by repute. But by the sound if it there’s something interesting there. Does that explain Anita (Dobson’s) general weirdness? Not the lovely Anita from The Sandringham.
Other theories now in abeyance or in need of reinterpretation … who has a name like Roger ap Gwillem? Is he just the Norman Bastard version of Harold Saxon? Or famous spear crazy hat = Rassilon?
V! V’indicator, V’linx, Villengard, the (norse) wild garden… = The Wild Wood… = Into The Woods?? Which is basically Stephen Sondheim in the Land of Fiction. The Valeyard is certainly known for messing with reality in The Ultimate Foe… the (french) old man.
REG’s face in the scan. We know Clara got involved but what exactly happened to Simeon? The snow and the tears would seem to echo The Snowmen
How could the Beatles and Sutekh BOTH possibly look so disastrously stupid? If Sutekh isn’t actually a god, what kind of pantheon do they want us to believe in?
Harbinger was the first draft of Silver Nemesis; The Cybermen being the Nemesis of The Time Lords.
If 5th October = one or more of the episodes of the Cartmel era/The Mind Robber, does 24th May = The War Games, recently restored? Why go to all this trouble? To make a weapon or an army? Sound like a corporation that might do better to grow bananas?
Space Babies may or may not be Daleklike. But one of them was called Poppy, the spooky kid from Nigeria. The poppies of Hellias.
The golden tooth. Why? No really, WHY? And why should Max Capricorn also have one ‘that really does THAT’? ✨
Lastly… is this good art? Because we’re beginning to sound like a bunch of conspiracy theorists in cyberspace. Well, I am.
19 May 2025 at 15:53 #77549DMC88?? Like it. If for no other reason than the truly risible ‘The Final Frontier’ was 89.
Remembrance of The Daleks is a Oct 5th episode. As I keep pointing out. Two stories later we get ‘Silver Nemesis’, working title ‘The Harbinger!’ RotD also features the Hand of Omega.
Another 5/10 ep was Paradise Towers… big baddy being The Great Architect, who sounds a bit O’Megarish to me. Manuel: “Are you The O’Mega Man?” Chicken headed mook: “Are you trying to be funny?”
Unless the real connection is Anita Dobson channeling Richard Briers in full scenery chewing mode??
19 May 2025 at 09:51 #77543Rani Chandra IS a remarkable… incidence?? It can’t be a coincidence because it’s all out of Russ head.
I suppose either Rani could regenerate as a nipper and get chameleon arced, then sent back to 2009? 1993? If we do ever meet Belinda’s family watch out for fob watches.
I also previously pointed out that it’s odd the Amy’s best friend Mel should be a nipper in the late 90’s, when WE know the same time lady regenerated in 1969 Washington DC. But that would be kerrazy!!
Or… I believe there are other Chandras in Russ’ writing. Must like the name.
18 May 2025 at 14:52 #77534obviously it took a while for the computer industry to get back on its feet post Butlerian jihad
XD
18 May 2025 at 11:25 #77531@dwnerdfrommars @blenkinsopthebrave @whohar @winston
OK. It wasn’t perfect. Very few Who eps are. But it worked and looked great. Personally, I’d prefer references to higher brow sci-fi than Ref Dwarf, but the use of tropes that aren’t subject to fridge logic is quite clever. On the other hand I wonder if people are running scared of the thought of another RTD season end spectacular? OK this could get messy.
The Utopia/Drums/LotTL is not a bad shout. Actually, if not for Dobbydoc ascending as Messiahdoc that was one of RTD’s best. Belinda as the anti Martha perhaps?
I suppose I have come to terms with The Return of The Rani. Is there a plural for Rani? The occasional characters were more than ok, not the pathos of Voyage of the Damned nor yet the bathos of Orphan 55. Rescuing 100,000 people… yeah difficult. And probably time consuming. Similar to 3 people returning all the way from the End of the Universe, a very long time indeed, on a shonky Vortex Manipulator. And no-one dying. Maybe Jack did a few times. Hell, maybe this mavity thing does more than make things come together. Don’t ask me what. And you would expect medical techniques to have advanced. Also, nice to see vocational professionals being put to good use.
Heroes losing their cool is clearly going to be a theme. The Doctor definitely lost his, a bit like 10 before Donna stepped in. Is Susan going to actually reappear or is Susan his conscience? I always thought the woman in End of Time was Susan too.
If a ‘male’ Rani is a Raja what does the etymology tell us? ‘War chief’ does work. Using VR as an experiment to make an army could be Raniesque or even Divisionesque. Can we now ignore the death particle/‘I wrote this in crayon’/demise of the Time Lord farrago?
Also there is a link to the saffron crocus, apparently. NOT a poppy, so maybe that’s a tenuous link. Then there is passion and greed, which could put us back in erm ‘snake’ territory. No, not given up on my theory about the critter from The Well just yet. If you were using VR to build say an army or a weapon… just like The War Games… might someone else, unbidden, be waiting in the wings to benefit?
So, has Floodrani been the one setting up this VR? Or just wondering how to hijack it? Or is she trying to shut it down?
Yes, good season so far. I’m quite looking forward to seeing Conrad again.
17 May 2025 at 22:42 #77520There is 1 ep and 1 ep only, previously first broadcast on May 24th
Just 1The War Games ep 6: the War Chief has a processing machine which controls peoples’ minds. The Doctor tries to steal it.
Obviously a significant if brutally truncated colourised version was recently released.
The Hindu male equivalent of Rani would be Raja… yes, that’s King but would it also translate as ‘War Chief?’ Don’t think he rocked red nail polish tho, even in the colourised version.
Also noted for the first appearance of multiple Time Lords.
17 May 2025 at 22:04 #77519The Red Nails seem to have it. Well, they have the Toy Maker’s gnasher. Still a dubious character invented by a pair of third string writers. Never heard anyone calling for the return of Mestor, have we?
Can I point out that the ‘no-trousers’ thing obviously only applied to The Doctor’s bigeneration…
But again, a hugely enjoyable outing. So much going on. The expelling of the audience into space was chilling. Mavity gets its customary mention. The Hellians were like insufficiently azure Andorans. The Corporation has to be Villengard hasn’t it? Has it acquired Harmony Shoals in a leveraged buy-out?
But Doctor… genocide is triggering, but I ain’t really a sadist bro? Shortly after Kate going amoral, this is clearly significant, like someone is pushing buttons? With profit in view? I wonder, in passing, if Conrad’s rejection of ‘Reality’ is prophetic: does he know The Doctor has been deceived? So why did Raniflood let him out, and where to?
Will leave the Trinity stuff for the spoiler page for now. Just like to raise The Oct 5th conundrum again. 3 eps only…
The Mind Robber.
The Great Architect.
The Hand of Omega.
Now off to check eps from May 24th
17 May 2025 at 18:33 #77514Last thought on The Timeless Children before the forum opens… You would think Susan might know something about The Doctor’s Great Gallifeyan Escape. As you guessed I was hinting, it’sfunny she should turn up with The Rani… So, Tecteun/Awsok? Gat? Goth? Thremix?
17 May 2025 at 17:31 #77506Master? Valeyard? Vindicator. Vlinx. Villengard? The Corporation would have seemed to have had a merger with Harmony Shoals.
Or… the other October 5th eps are…
Paradise Towers… The Great Architect??
Remembrance of the Daleks… The Hand of Omega?
There are some who want the anti being back. Ok. Just don’t give us any scenery chewing but otherwise respected thesps. Or chicken headed mooks. Please.
Also… to what extent are any of the usual suspects pantheonesque? Titans on a good day. So not giving up on the snake tattoo three just yet. Dunno about TC corrections; on my wish list at best.
BUT… Susan is something else… I’ll wait for the page for my full report.
17 May 2025 at 11:30 #77501Ok.
So maybe The Unholy Trinity isn’t The Mara. More O’Mara.
But two time ladies… or two of the same time lady… and some one else…
Well, someone picked up a Gold Tooth. Tsk not The Loon again…
Or there is 14 kicking around in Chiswick. REG in the Rogue scan. And the Vlinx.
Also, why is a certain long absent character, the subject of the last series apparently associated in The Doctor’s mind with another returning fave. Well for some. Still can’t stand her. But it might explain the return of Mel.
There again we know at least one critter from Midnight is out there. Maybe The Nasty Twins do something stupid.
14 May 2025 at 09:35 #77498@whohar
The televised Mara stories were well written and stand out in the extremely uneven seasons 19 and 20. Otherwise you might find them everso rather slight, similar to Image of The Fendahl in that they’re Gestalt entities, ooh nasty but let’s see them doing some bad stuff, shall we?
Bailey based the concept on Buddhism… the Mara manifest a threefold nature: variously greed, hate, delusion; or thirst, aversion and desire; Dukkha, Anatta, Annica.This could fit either the alliterative ‘S’ or ‘M’ triads from Stupid Sutekh’s rinky dink list, but are they actually the same bunch?
The Mara have issues with mirrors, can’t bear to see themselves. So the denouement of The Well rang a bell. Don’t suppose Russ thought the thing from Midnight was particularly Mara-like when he wrote it.
13 May 2025 at 16:59 #77492Ok. Maybe not The Winchester then…
The Unholy Trinity is The Mara.
I tried to be subtle a while back, but there they are, on the Harbinger’s crud list, which by the way has a paucity of colon, semi or otherwise, so any tautology has rather got away from us, hasn’t it? Hmmm?
Anyway there are three of them on record. Dukkha… er, Chico and Zeppo. They’ve been named now! Too late. This is not just me chucking stuff out. Apparently everyone just HAS to run and powder their nose when the name is dropped. So presumably not THAT holy then.
And they were in The Well. Weren’t they? Mirrors. Yeah? Mind Games? No snake tattoos yet, but that would be a bit of a give away.
Me?? Looking forward to it!
Over to you.
13 May 2025 at 16:04 #77490I’m reluctant to comment on the Ruth aspect because this story and indeed the whole season has intrigued so much.
But there seems to be so many plot holes surrounding the Ruth incarnation. Is RTD attempting a rewrite of Chris, or are they singing from the same hymn sheet?
So the image of Ruth was a shock; who actually saw that? Therefore it must be a nod to the viewer. There’s something to discover here.
But what can 15 remember about Ruth? 12’s Testimony was so vast it would shatter every avatar. Ashildr had to create her memories before they were wiped. Was 13’s ‘Matrix experience’ enough?
‘This kind of body’; well that’s before 15 recognised Abby. It would seem to be an inconsistency but then Ruth’s body is significantly different. But there’d obviously more than one story being shoehorned in: Chris or Cartmel 2.0, you decide.
The Barber is the human servant, the storyteller of The Trickster. Abby is The Trickster’s daughter. Is it just me getting Susan vibes? Bearing in mind that was the open question last time. Might have to go to The Winchester with this…
Saga… The Icelandic tradition. Male Icelandic genetic heritage is Norse (and The Doctor can’t stand Vikings); the female genetic markers are Gaelic. Probably Irish. Well we know how that happened. But anyway the women created a unique tradition, like the whole culture. Doesn’t that fit with our zeitgeist? I mean just call me Al and the conman radical?
btw Dionysus was also the Neoplatonic final play against Christianity: wine, feasting, our man gets put on trial. Augustine had a fit. Done that. Got the T shirt.
Question is… was Ruth, OR 1, wiped? This being the reason 13 didn’t remember her? Or was Ruth/3 a bigeneration? Yes we’ve seen the colourised end to The War Games and I got CONFUSED, but actually what does bigeneration mean for the Tardis? Strange that no one’s mentioned this. How many tradisless bigenerated Gallifreyans are out there?
‘Hi! Gallifreyan?’
’Nah. Zygon, me.’
Or does Ruth’s policebox get deposited back on Gallifrey? Then stolen by 12. Commandeered by Ashildr and Clara… and she thinks… insofar as Sexyidris thinks… ‘American Diner? I can rock that.’
Only THEN does Clara hand it back, in Death Star Elevator form, complete with broken chameleon circuit. The navigation circuit statement being… I dunno. Selling a Tardis is very much like making lahhh…
And yet… how would Clara know?? That Sexyidris was the one for The Doctor? It might explain the Tardis. Guvnor. Little Old Lady owner… been rahnd The Universe free times!
11 May 2025 at 22:08 #77473It’s a kid show/not a kid show. Some actors get it and some don’t think it will help their pension at all. Write the theme tune. Sing the theme tune.
Something went wrong in the last series but this one could be as good as RTD1 Series 4. Though the finale that time was a bit pants, I know.
Moff finales, apart from Time of The Doctor, were pretty good. Did he write for kids? I don’t think you should talk down to kids. But the material was strong.
Mary wouldn’t approve.
The Child. Susan? Or Abby. Or Lulubelle? Or The Doctor??
Or… Bill? The actress, who appeared as the still of her mum, also played the part of a Time Lady.
11 May 2025 at 21:46 #77472My advice to is to start drinking heavily… No!!!!
Watch everything after Empire of Death, which was mainly awful. Unless the arc saves it… eventually…I’m not holding my breath.
Story/Engine is a very good, very original story, nothing really to do with the sci fi milieu, but trading on some tasty Studio Ghibli stylee. Nice. We’ve had a lot to say about it so far, mainly how good it is. This could be a great season.
My initial advice is of course inspired by ‘Animal House.’ Which is my problem.
I’m not a fan of The Rani. She was a Pip and Jane Baker creation. Not first rank writers… by some mile. But The Rani’s CV does look quite similar to Tecteun’s. So. Tell me about The Division.
Ruth has made a reappearance.
Join the dots.
11 May 2025 at 15:06 #77469So… either…
Russ is indeed engaging with the mad mysterious and oft disappointing and ludicrous world of Zchib… of which I know nothing… Or…
Tis but a humble plot hole. Actually, I don’t think so. Or…
It’s a kid show. We’re overthinking it.
But there must be an even chance this is getting Divisionesque. Yes?
Question: and, as I say, I know nothing; but if some 0f the iffy guys with bad costumes survived t’floox, without a convenient parallel Universe to b*gger off to, would they then try to rebuild Gallifrey? Maybe starting with The Matrix. Over all time and space. That could be a bit Anansi, a bit Mind Robbery, a little AU meets VR maybe?
10 May 2025 at 23:24 #77463So Ruth is back. Now, what does that mean? The fugitive knew the daughter of… someone. Are ‘the gods’ related somehow to The Division? For a moment I wondered if Abby might be an aspect of Susan…
The thing is I’m not really comfortable with The Pantheon. Sutekh SHOULDN’T be a god, not even a rubbish one. 10 called out the Impossible Planet beast. The Gods of Ragnarok from ‘Greatest Show’ were projections weren’t they? The Eternals seemed godlike but were a little pathetic: just NOT mortal.
That aside, this was an interesting continuation of the saga. Even if it was mainly some lads having a natter down the barbers.
The Anansi engine reminded me of Howl’s Moving Castle. And there I was, expecting the Racknoss!
Obviously there is a close parallel with The Mind Robber set up. The engine room carried a hint of Journey to the Centre of The Tardis but surely that’s not significant.
Lastly, that Belinda could just say ‘he’s removed a third of the engine’ to The Barber was a bit odd. Either her lines have a lot of script edding issues or is Belinda all she seems to be? She apparently knows Mrs Flood.
Then there is the child…
10 May 2025 at 21:20 #77460Conrad:
As someone is going to say soon, ‘hurt people hurt people.’
As Morrissey might have had Anthony say to Cleopatra, ‘some b******ds are bigger than others.’
Who has always revelled in died-in-the-wool, invidious nasties. Some get a chance to save their reputation. Some are punished. Some apparently get away with it. And some, as Stephen Donaldson would have it, believe unswervingly in their own rectitude.
Who is also its own AU where few people recognise The Tardis. Maybe it’s because a different guy (or gal) keeps jumping out of it. But Elton Pope knew where his towel was. And his concrete slab.
8 May 2025 at 08:51 #77440Hadn’t thought about the 50p aspect of the bootstrap. That is very odd. Surely The Doctor wasn’t compelled to do it because he thought it was a fixed point?
Similar or related to the briefcase star seed code in Joy to the World perhaps? Is The Doctor beginning to suspect what is happening? Cos let’s face it we only think we have a clue.
Also, didn’t The Toymaker also have an almost prurient interest in The Doctor’s companions? Unless you think that was just a recap?
7 May 2025 at 23:56 #77438Yes you’re right. I got confused about the 2007 new year; I thought THAT was Ruby and The Doctor too. But Conrad (I meant ‘radical conman’ btw – typo) still seems to have put the events of Robot Revolution in motion with a dig at The Doctor which he decides to make BEFORE Anita Dobson peers in, jangling her keys. Bit weird. Boot strap paradox or flawed VR design?
And, perhaps Conrad’s extensive research may have made him curious about companions, but this might also be an aspect of The Doctor that has particular charge for him? Could this explain Conrad’s overall and over the top gittishness?
Now, thinking of 2006 becoming 2007, did you see what looked like an unfeasibly vast arthropod in the teaser at the end? Do you remember the 2006 Christmas Special?
6 May 2025 at 21:59 #77428The still of Balok, from Star Trek’s The Corbomite Manoeuvre, is on the nose. A puppet as it turned out. The protagonist was in fact a hyper intelligent baby.
The potential use of puppets is worrying for anyone who saw the Bandrill ‘video link’ from 1985’s Time Lash. However, the Bandrills look nothing like Anita Dobson, unlike the Balok puppet.
6 May 2025 at 11:21 #77421I also struggle with Pullman!
I don’t mind Lewis’ theology. It’s there. You’d be mad to ignore it. Just don’t like the philosophy. Lewis was a literary scholar NOT a philosopher.
I think his male chauvinism was so over the top, it’s half hearted: a kind of pipe and slippers in the drawing room pastiche. I’ve expressed my admiration for his portrayal of Jill Pole, but Aravis is fantastic too. He could do it if he wanted to.
The dwarves in the barn are, on the face of it, a predictable post war classist poke… a bit like Tolkien’s Scouring of The Shire. But I get so annoyed by twitty contrarians whose sole goal seems to be to wind you up. And it’s one of those little literary bombs… bits of writing you remember.
6 May 2025 at 08:38 #77418Lewis confession. I’m really not sure about The Last Battle: weird death cult vibes & the problem of Susan. In fact, C S Lewis is often really quite annoying. The man who thought it was cool to indoctrinate kids with The Trilemma.
And then he’ll go and write the damnedest thing, like the Dwarves who wouldn’t be taken in, or That Hideous Strength, in which he got a handy Franco supporting chancer to help him finally nail down his ‘women are either little girls or witches’ thesis for grown ups, and yet create stone cold brilliant sci fi.
More heresy: Eustace and Jill are far better written and more sympathetic characters than any of The Pevensie kids; and The Magician’s Nephew is the best book of the series, though A Horse and his Boy is very underrated.
Has anyone checked out The Chronicles of Narnia = coded medieval cosmology theory?
6 May 2025 at 08:05 #77417Rani = Rain = Flood? Hmmm.
I always thought the Rani had the same job description as Tecteun. Goons in The Division must have had day jobs right? Good cover. Shouldn’t really comment because I try to say away from Chris’s oevre.
People think Mrs F letting Conrad out must be a good thing but we don’t where he’s going or why. Look what happened to AL.
Is Conrad The Master…? A well known phrase or saying: ‘he’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.’I have a confession about The Last Battle. I’ll post it on The Winchester… probably.
5 May 2025 at 15:06 #77405Surely, according to his logic, we should be penalising Hollywood?
Perhaps the elect have had enough of efficient well trained British thesps what with their manageable egos, professional timekeeping and mysterious accents. The villains need to be less sympathetic.
Time for Broadway hoofers to wipe off the lipstick, grab the black hat, forget to shave, hit the spitoon, and kick a mangy dawg.5 May 2025 at 08:48 #77403enjoyable? It was a hefty continuation, or prequel as it turns out, of a season that is shaping up very nicely.
Worrying? Well, it seems like we’ve been warned about this for years. We thought, yeah that’s just stuff on computers, it’s not real. Data? Hrrrppp! What can they do with data? Get real.
It is real.
The other take aways… Lethbridge Stewart losing her cool… my god what if she rocked an eyepatch? A real one, not a Kovarian eye drive.
Also, the online world is driven as much by ego and self importance as data. The portrayal of Conrad has been criticised already; was shooting Lang in character? Was it a dramatic problem? A mistep? Or are there a lot of unduly sensitive people out there? Might we decide some of these bad actors are actually just… bad actors?
Lastly, who remembers The Last Battle? Narnia inside a barn. The nasty plebby dwarves (sorry can I put those next to each other in relation to CS Lewis?) anyway, they get chucked inside the barn and… they think they’re in a barn! Sorry if I’ve lost people.
I think it’s looking good. But will it make sense of the nonsense of… some of last year?
4 May 2025 at 00:05 #77388Well… I looked at Kerblam and Praexus on McTighe’s CV and I did have my doubts. Then the first half didn’t fill me with confidence. But yes it was a set up. A rather good one. Just goes to show, it was indeed Chris who done ‘it’; ‘it’ being whatever it is we don’t want.
Takeaways:
Conrad (a radical connan?) is the guy who gave The Doctor Belinda’s name before the start of Robot Revolution. What does that mean? Belinda is a plant? But he also knows about other companions. Is someone feeding him information? Hopefully not Victor Kennedy’s brother.
The V’linx turns up Rosie as well as Lang on his scan. What were the search parameters again? As you know I’ve got it in for the unexplained weird tech thing.
UNIT still has those damn recruitment problems.
All everybody thinks everybody else wants is a tax cut. Sovereignty? Tax Cut. Tariffs? Tax Cut. Public services? Tax Cut. Society? Tax Cut. Well observed.
Russ greatest hits volume 2: track 1, Love and Monsters, track 2 The Long Game.
Mrs Flood is apparently the Governor, but she must also be the Guv’nor. Yes, she has the keys but to where?
We still don’t get to meet Alien Life Form Garnett.
2 May 2025 at 10:53 #77372The early seasons of the X files featured more monsters of the week, with just a few ‘arc’ stories. Cigarette Smoking Man and the alien invasion got quite tiresome very quickly.
Monsters are, more often than not, cardboard cut outs. Some are derivative. Tim Shaw was basically the love child of Predator and Jem’Hadar. Ought to have been creepy, sadly not.
I did like the X files’ Mr Tooms and his sporadic Vitamin B12 cravings. Now HE creeped me out.
We still haven’t got a handle on Russ’ take on Chris’ ‘arc’… I remember The Toymaker, having introduced Donna to Amy, Clara and Bill in puppet form, almost dismissing t’floox. Dast ist nicht augezeichnet.
Is the RTD2 arc there to reintroduce the audience to The Doctor’s history, perhaps by way of some kind of Fictionland? Still up in the air, though October the fifth from Boom MUST be relevant. Or are we just being given a trail of breadcrumbs? Is that good art? Or telly?
Time Lords are only interesting when they go rogue. Daleks can be quite dull too; I liked the Cult of Skaro and the Rusty/Clara as dalek theme. Bill goes Cyber had whumph, but was rushed, with just hints like Bill mopping the floor and Razor’s try ups hinting at the real design.
The other recurring theme is Infamy, Infamy, The Universe gorrit in fer Me (The Doctor): a bit self regarding. The Doctor, ooh he is so big! is just the flipside of boring bureaucratic Gallifrey. But it is I’m afraid is where we’re going this time.
On the other hand a VR threat may ‘looks’ like a game and yet be very dangerous and relevant. This Season has got off to a good start.
My feeling is WHO tends to ‘snatch’ at arcs, they’re nailed up like scruffy hoarding and go ‘cosmic’ too quickly.
30 April 2025 at 11:15 #77369Surely Stupid Sutekh was too stupid to actually be Sutekh? A case of Artificial Unintelligence.
Gallifrey was hidden CLOSE to end of The Universe because of Infamy… apparently The Universe had it in for them. I have days like that. But it wasn’t the ACTUAL end, presumably because the heating bill was too high and you couldn’t get Uber Eats.
The Doctor went close to (three different bits of) The End of Time. Yana’s world (an accident) Orson’s world (a mad endeavour) and Gallifrey, the hidden track (to get Clara’s heart going again). Gallifrey presumably died some time after The Doctor stole his second type 40 (unless it was actually the first one but earlier on) to get there. Ashildr presumably got there after Death by Particle, having outlived The Universe. Must be overuse of the Vortex Manipulator makes your face go like Boe’s.
Can The Doctor go back to pre Death Particle Gallifrey? Yess. He might not want to (God, I hate this place!) And he’s really not very popular there. Also, got to be careful about crossing his own Timeline. Not sure BLE applies to card carrying ‘Time Species’ or we wouldn’t then have all the fun and games with 2, 3, 5 Doctors, The Day of The Doctor, or Twice Upon a Time.
Gallifrey of The Deadly Assassin, Invasion of Time, Arc of Infinity and even Hell Bent, is a bit shonky. You really want it back? I need to finish Chris and The Division. Bet you they didn’t have stupid collars.
But still… urghh.
29 April 2025 at 18:39 #77363@whohar @blenkinsopthebrave @janetteb
If Mrs Flood turns up with a gold tooth, then she is Missy Master. I surrender. Thing is, last time I saw it, gnasher in question was last seen in Max Capricorn’s gob while he plummeted into the Titanic’s Storm Drive with Kylie. Explain.
Safe to say, Moff was pro Gallifrey; RTD and Duff Chris were anti. Is the big red world coming back? Don’t look good. Unless TCC has really been relegated to the Land of Fiction – and imagine the fall out from that – Gallifrey should be safely death particled into submission.
Death by Death Particle! I can hear the teeth grinding in Russ’ head. Death by Crayon.
The Monk was a blithering idiot. Rather have The War Chief, if he wasn’t actually a pre Magister Master. Or the Rani… if she isn’t Tecteun.
But IF it was only Gallifrey that bought it, we must be looking at a Time Lord who couldn’t be scragged.
Aside from The Doctor…
The Master is a tooth, apparently.
Omega is ‘safe’ and ‘mad’ in antimatter land with all his happy chicken headed mooks.
Romana may or may not have been embroiled in The Time War, but I should think the Master’s pre T’floox entropy flim flam might easily have mucked up all those handy charged vacuum embodiments, leaving her marooned in E space with all the yummy lion people long time. What Time Ladies get up to on holiday.
River is in a VR already. With Doctor Moon, Dot and Bubbly tech and nasty woodlicey Vashta Nerada maybe?
But… what exactly happened to The Division? I dunno. Don’t want to look, mummy.
I know no one wants to go there, but you would think The Division should be harder to flush away than Star Trek’s Section 31, surely?
28 April 2025 at 19:04 #77359Well observed.
… also is this the reason why she was quite so forthright about dna sampling? Though why shouldn’t she? It’s a contrast to Rog of the William’s bunch for instance.
Alternatively, for those who may have ah kinda been following my erm… song and dance over the critter from Midnight, one germanic etymology for ‘Belinda’ is bright serpent.
27 April 2025 at 19:22 #77352The Snowmen: the intelligent snow became tears when that iteration of Clara died. You had the snow. Now you get the wet stuff.
Midnight: no we don’t know that this IS the same critter. Though The Doctor said that before it was ‘having fun.’ Times change. You asked about the ‘Mercury Fall’… I’m not sure it would form a mirror, but that’s Russ’ logic.
There is a monster/species which can’t bear mirrors and also delights in having fun with trapped people, unguarded minds, wind chimes, animated tattoos. And they’re on the Harbinger’s list. I’ve previously named names. One may have gone down with Shaya. That leaves another two.
I just hope there were no ‘eye-booger’ monsters on the Harbinger’s list.
27 April 2025 at 19:08 #77351The 50’s generally in nuwho:
Remembrance of The Daleks (strictly 1963 but see below), The Idiot’s Lantern, Rosa, The Devil’s Chord (on the basis of the quote about the sixties really starting with the release of Please Please Me): it’s NOT a big sample.
Yes I think RTD may be attracted by preppy/mod stylings… he may think it appeals to a specific and much younger demographic. More importantly it gives a snap shot of the reality of the traditions that preceded ‘The Devil’s Decade,’ long cursed by fogeys and reactionaries. The people who harp on about diversity.
Season 2 was quite uneven so I’m not keen to revisit Maureen Lipman screaming ‘hungry!’ The costumes ought to be similar. I wouldn’t be surprised if Russ’ greatest hits – and in this case a b side – was being revisited. It’s happening all over.
Otherwise… 2025 – 1952 =73
73!
27 April 2025 at 00:46 #77340Good old fashioned Base Under Siege, complete with arsy squaddie who knows best. Yes, a hint of Aliens. Also the drop over Vulcan from Star Trek reboot. And more than a bit of Under The Lake and Waters of Mars. Companion gets shot through the chest and survives. Somehow. Just as well Shaya didn’t have a Varron T disrupter.
But yes, it’s planet Midnight.
Mind you, you know what else can’t stand mirrors? Yes, you do! Which one do you reckon? Dukkha, Anatta or Annica?
They’re on a little list.
Looks like Mrs Flood is going all Susan Triad on us.
Terrific. A B+ and 2 A’s so far.
26 April 2025 at 17:24 #77331noted
26 April 2025 at 11:10 #77329Well continuity porn is a big risk for RTD. That’s where you tend to both lose potential new fans and p*ss off established ones. I’m talking about Resurrection of the Daleks, or Attack of the Cybermen. Not a good look.
There again we, as fans, are trying to make sense of something that might only be dependent on what side of bed Russ gets out of bed in the morning.
Is there really something like a Cartmel 2.0? Can we say RTD and his fellow WHO enthusiasts, including Andew Cartmel, developed this during the interregnum? Obvious canon and continuity were already throwing up problems in the first run.
Alternatively, the show runners are just making things up. Well they obviously do, with reference to canon and continuity. In the past there was also the writers ‘ownership’, of certain characters and monsters. Even in Nu Who, only Whithouse wrote Tivolians. Maybe that’s a good thing.
But a plan would help you navigate stuff. And a plan would need to be quite secret. The unspoken problem with Cartmel 1.0 was everything was all pretty up front… almost like he was preparing for the end.
Was Chibnall writing according to ‘a plan’? Or under corporate instruction? Or both? Did he get the job because his pitch was ‘I can deliver a kid friendly essentially sexless Woman Doctor and also get a streaming partner on board.’ That’s a tough ask. But it would mean he would have to interpret a hypothetical plan quite differently to the relative freedom that RTD enjoyed.
Chris was Unit free wasn’t he? I think the V’linx is important. I think to have a Spare Doctor (14) knocking around is also important. Or why are either of them there? So, I think Chris’ ‘peculiar’ arc should survive ‘unmindrobbed’ – if indeed we have a fictionalising VR at work. After all, Chris may have been interpreting ‘The Plan’ his own way, maybe with some Corporate instruction.
So. When? Must be pre mavity, therefor pre edge of The Universe. Then is the salt thing misdirection?Clara was in the Doctor’s timeline but so was the GI. 10 was flawed: genocidal, vindictive and vain. So is the face of 14 the sign of weakness; is he ‘morally’ vulnerable to the GI? Because otherwise the whole arc is down to a spilt cup of coffee. Bambleweeny sub meson brains and brownian motion generators aside, I’m not having that. Interestingly, the GI that Simeon encounters develops by copying, like The Not Things, like machine learning and AI.
The Master lies? Yeah that was my reaction, a vindictive way of chucking Chris’ offensive exposition back at him. But, if not a complete lie TTC might still be a partial truth or a distortion.
Vindictive rage is an odd motivation for the ‘O Master’, though Saxon was certainly no fan of Rassilon. But in what order, with respect to his own timeline, does Omaster appear? We haven’t seen the Tissue Compression Eliminator since Tremas. Is Omaster lying, or is this an early incarnation? Is it the discovery of the real origin of The Time Lords that sends him over the edge, only adding to the damage done by the Untempered Schism. After all, Delgado Master appeared to be only slightly sociopathic with a peculiar sense of humour.
25 April 2025 at 21:09 #77326Re The Mindrobber connection… I thought perhaps I might move the discussion here from The Lux forum.
When might have this arc… and it is obviously an arc… become less rooted in reality… and what significance might regeneration or bigeneration have for it?
Clearly ‘is you uncle alright?’ doesn’t answer any questions. Having a spare… indeed a recuperating Time Lord knocking around poses questions. Like, what’s Tennant’s diary like?
Mavity. Our first hint that something was amiss. Logically, what can Mavity have to do with Reality? And Mavity would appear to predate the bigeneration. My use of ‘appear’ is not meant to mean I don’t think it actually did NOT, but once you mess with reality, how would you know? ie what kind of a solution IS this? And to what kind of problem?
That is… RTD can’t say this but… Chris was cccrrrazy! Not in a good way. What we need to do is get crazier still, to sort it out! My problem. I gave up on Chris; he was TOO crazy. What I may have to do is watch say 2 post Timeless Children eps per each current series ep to get a handle on what RTD thinks he’s up against. Assuming he’s not effectively trashed it all. That might explain a lot.
Regenerations…
I’ve had my doubts about 2 becomes 3, for all the duff retconning of The War Games remake.
Ruth rocks up with police box apparently from before Clara’s Death Star Elevator type 40.
What, why and wherefor is The Watcher?
5 becomes 6 was disastrous on so many levels.
8 takes a dose of something bad to become Gaius Caligula; the metacrisis regen; the Trenzalore regen…
Now, what after all was so significant about THAT planet, the Kovarian Chapter had to get quite so fundamental… and Moff prove so unable to resolve the arc he supposedly created? What do we KNOW happened? Magic stuff comes through and The Doctor regenerates.
That is… have all our show runners been wrestling with a Cartmel 2.0 template tied to the haphazard evolution of canon before The Break… The Time War… T’floox??? Does it account for The Valeyard? If such a thing existed it might be supposed to keep them true to canon but maybe doesn’t always work that way. Russ and Moff could do the three legged race, but Chris was hopping for Graybridge.
The Master. What internal clues in the Master’s timeline positively indicate succession? Both he and The Doctor are time travellers; can’t they meet in any order? Hot Smoked Master becomes Tremas Master. Yana becomes Saxon. But the rest? Missy was pretty reluctant to admit anything to Saxon. Why is Arshad only partially converted? Why does Missy rock up with a massive army of Cybermen having previously told Clara she laughed at death rays and in fact used them to charge up her vortex manipulator? She’s marooned on Skaro, where 7 once collected his/her executed remains. And WHY turn The Master into a golden gnasher? Who else do we know has one??
24 April 2025 at 19:04 #77322My theory about the Brontosaurus, was it was thin at one end, thick in the middle and thin at the other… a bit like the last series.
Otherwise…
Mrs Flood is PROBABLY River post New York girl, pre Mel from Leadworth. Some Time Travel ensues.
How is she (and Susan Triad) everywhere? VR built to reflect The Doctor’s life.
Why? The bigeneration. Something’s gone wrong with 14… watch The Ultimate Foe, if you can face it. Or, if you’re RTD, bring the other Mel back! There had to be some reason.
How? What is The V’linx? Never explained. Why accept it? Well, has the thing ever been questioned? THATs like something out of a dreeeam…
Why give a bit of average tech a name like V’indicator, before shoving it back in The Tardis? It’s a hint, isn’t it?
I’m thinking Villengard, Norse for ‘the Wild Garden.’ I’m thinking Valeyard, French for ‘Old Man.’ I’m thinking both.
The Guardians were a biggest load of sci fi sewage since before The Ultimate Foe. Please NO! Who appoints monochrome (pale or dark) Universal Tutolatory Spirits, especially ones who wear dead vultures on their bonce? No. But, while we’re at it, can we also NOT have The Rani nor Sabalom Glitz? Please?
Sil? Hey. Cool. Marsh Minnow?
21 April 2025 at 21:34 #77313apparently the original vinyl release of DSotM included 2 posters. One was an infrared photo of the great pyramids of Giza.
I’m not sure what the ‘space pyramid’ inspiration may have been. Was it Von Daniken, and both the Floyd poster and Doctor Who went with that general idea? Or was one triangular structure as good as any other to Thorgerson? I imagine Pink Floyd would rather have ditched any space rock baggage at the time.
Is there a Bradbury connection? Or the lingering influence of War of the Worlds/the canals of Mars? We expected to find something, and we did! Evidence of liquid water, sedimentary rocks… there is the impression that Viking’s initial readings were ‘sat on.’
Also the developing ad hoc legendarium, of which DW and PoM was a part, have an influence on Stargate?
21 April 2025 at 15:26 #77311Zing! The secret ingredient.
RTD1 had it; series 2 was a little flat… though it did give us the outrageous Love and Monsters.
Moff has the upper hand on story telling, though not script edding. More duff eps. Less quality control. But mostly top notch in all the right categories.
The production values of Classic Who ARE different. So, having Robert Holmes as your script editor is like being injected with something that nowadays could get you kicked out of the USA. When people inevitably laud Uncle Tom, they mean the run from Ark in Space through to The Sunmakers. 75% gold. Very few absolute stinker, but some stuff really doesn’t work. But it’s not JUST Holmes’ & William’s brilliance. Chris Boucher! 3 great stories, 1 of them up there with Blink. We are not worthy.
I don’t mean Douglas Adams wasn’t also fitfully brilliant but after ‘77 showmakers promised much (eg Christopher Bidmead and his Campaign for Real Sci Fi) and never really delivered. Then budding light entertainment man JNT decided the show was a wheeze. A promotion to Blankety Blank was surely round the corner.
Although series 5 was subject to brutal corporation wiping, seasons 5-8 obviously offered strong material too. And some clunkers. The show recedes and revives regularly.
re Sarah’s markmanship in PoM, she does it! Sutekh sucks it up with telekinesis.
20 April 2025 at 17:25 #77305Yeah! The tone, concept and execution of this ep were all good.
20 April 2025 at 13:49 #77303I could be very wrong on a number of details but I THINK the Montgomery bus policy wasn’t a matter of law per se but actually the bus company’s own rules. Diners may have had their own rules.
Clearly this representation of Miami is very conscious of Cuba… which rings true and was also a bit weird. Bastista kidnapping people? Is this going to be a theme in the arc? I think Belinda may be assumed to be hispanic rather than first nation.
I thought this was better on balance than Rosa, where I wonder if Malorie Blackman’s original script might have been different. Rosa Parks WAS politicised and she did have a problem with that particular bus driver, but she was also very upset about Emmet Till’s death. They kind of covered that aspect with Ryan’s confrontation scene and ok, show don’t tell, but really?
And apparently it was Graham what done it. Well done Graham!19 April 2025 at 21:47 #77294That was very enjoyable. Take aways…
This is definitely in The Mind Robberverse. I was a bit annoyed by the ‘don’t make me laff!’ ‘Why? Oh it’s the giggle!’ After which some letters fall off Rock’s credits on the OUTSIDE the cinema revealing… but it is the Doctor, who’s INSIDE, who says ‘hey it’s only the chuffing Harbinger!’ Well, if it is a sort of dream, then that kinda thing does go down eh? I’m surprised no one was naked on the bus. Baldrick, you’ve turned into an Alsatian, stop it! Probably explains the ersatz Beatles and Stupid Sutekh too.
Ooops look like something may really have happened to The Earth!
2025 – 1952 = 73!!
The V’indicator could be a nod to the V’linx???
A quite outrageous attempt to upstage Gatwa even more than Davison was at the end of Caves of Androzani.
Would Mrs Lowenstein, 1952, Miami, really address The Doctor as ‘sir?’ But nice nod to Trump’s ai ‘arrest’ fake photos with the NYPD uniform.
And the meta fan appearance! That might be a bit too much for some people.
Best bit? ‘I’m Velma.’
19 April 2025 at 17:40 #77284Was Susan a companion? Really? Just a Clara style e Missian lapdog? Wasn’t she the Original Time Lady?
Otherwise, this time around Varada Sethu is channeling Nichola Bryant circa Caves of Androzani. Sorry, I did look.
Not sure who Anita was dressed as…
Hold on… just twigged, there was an Anita in Joy to the World and we all loved her. Is Mrs Flood the facilitator… the MANAGER… of the whole cockamamy AI romp?? Or are there just so many lady names?
Scoot’s little hands remind me of the Robot Oven from ‘Grand Day Out.’
No ‘Lux’ page yet??? Get yet calculators out…
18 April 2025 at 09:08 #77278@blenkinsopthebrave
I will check the rest of The Mind Robber, having watched it about 10 years back, but had a peek at episode 4… first broadcast Oct 5th 1968.Key elements: fictional characters, Gulliver – first sci fi protagonist?; The Karkus – comic strip cartoon, Medusa – nice design; the ‘Master’ (pre Delgado) a human writer of pot-boilers from 1926 who serves ‘an intelligence.’ Also some really rubbish robots.
Facts that precede writing is history. Writing that creates pseudo history is fiction.
Post truth.
To pose the (possibly) obvious question… is the Doctor’s own history being fictionalised?
17 April 2025 at 22:59 #77275The Mind Robber… Wasn’t Fraser Hines stricken with Chicken Pox?
Just as well it was such a warped out weirdo story really. And Cold Turkey was sliding down the charts. And Mick had put the Stones’ Rock n Roll Circus on ice. And Roy Wood had managed to grow a tache.
17 April 2025 at 15:31 #77273Mrs Flood is the Vlinx? Nooo…
The Vlinx is the hardware running a Matrix or Data Slice on behalf the Valeyard, CEO of Villengard, and probably an incarnation of Dr Simeon, who was presumably also responsible for The Land of Fiction after he took time off from possessing Buddhists and Squaddies, and creating giant android hamsters aka The Yetis.
Mrs Flood, I still think, is a matrix style projection of pre-Melody River Song… why she’s presenting as Romana1, Clara, Rory… maybe ALL the companions I dunno. Do I really want to see her channeling Zoe, Leela or Peri?? This could be last taboo for Russ, couldn’t it?
17 April 2025 at 11:38 #77267Ok. I’m willing to stick my neck out on The Mindrobber link on the basis of October 5th from Boom. But the comic book robots do echo TMR’s weird clockwork soldiers. October 5th was episode 4 I think, have to rewatch it.
Otherwise the costume montage for Mrs Flood is quite startling.
And I’m still expecting a Vlinx reveal.
16 April 2025 at 21:44 #77263@bobbyfatv2 @cookgroom @whohar
also, the similarities of Mrs Flood’s dress sense to Romana 1 and Clara shown on the link does echo a recent debate about whether we saw the remains of the Blackpool or Eiffel Tower at the end of Robot Revolution. Although the Eiffel Tower actually links to Romana 2 of course.
On the other hand this debate is shaping up like last year. I feel like a puppy continually charging at some closed patio doors.
16 April 2025 at 21:10 #77262Yes v interesting! The Mind Robber was one of the only 3 DW serials broadcast on Oct 5th… the date quoted by 15 in Boom. The other 2 serials were Paradise Towers and Remembrance of the Daleks.
And the penultimate story of this season is ‘Wish World’?
Still wondering about Valeyard, Villengard and the Vlinx though.
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