@steffstaff @missrori– Despite his description of what he was creating as an explosion (and that wouldn’t have been of much use anyway- that may simply have released the pathogen), it was really closer to an ethanol fire- the depiction I think was actually fairly accurate- more of a “whoosh” than an explosive blast- and it would go out basically…[Read more]

@steffstaff, @missrori @thane15: re: regeneration. There is always a sense of the idea he might not regenerate. That he has regenerations left was made explicit (if anyone had missed the episode where he was gifted them) by his comments about the sight restorer.
(and I repeat, this episode would have been a great time to have the sight restorers…[Read more]

@thane15  Hmm, I can’t say I thought the music was subtle, but then the whole episode was a doom-n-gloom buildup, and again I knew it was going to have an unhappy ending, so that affects things.  😉

Actually, I think a big problem with this episode was that it tipped its hand to the real crisis (the lab) way too quickly.  It would have been mo…[Read more]

@steffstaff
Very funny running commentary!

But in its defence, when you think about every episode of Who from 1963 on, they would all look silly with a running commentary; because, well, in a sense they are silly, but in a wonderful way. Just like “Wind in the Willows” or “Wallace and Gromit” are silly in a wonderful way. Whereas a movie like…[Read more]

@steffstaff

36:00 – Broken glasses scientist informs the Doctor that even though she activated the safety protocol that seals the lab and stops deadly toxins escaping into the atmosphere, an air pump will activate in thirty minutes that will… um… let the deadly toxins escape into the atmosphere. Oh and it can’t be turned off.

I was thinkin…[Read more]

@steffstaff I took it to mean that the Broken Glasses meant Erica couldn’t read anything at that point, forcing Douglas to do the reading. However because of the drinking the previous night (as impled by the broken bottle), his sight was partially impaired and caused the misplaced decimal point. With just the one of those things happening there is…[Read more]

@steffstaff I’ve done that. Unfortunately I don’t have control over what is classed as spam, it’s an anti-spam plug-in for the website. I hope that now I’ve “unspammed” you, you shouldn’t have any more problems. But if you do, please let me know.

@steffstaff @miapatrick

The origin and purpose of The Veritas in the simulation is quite interesting.

We’re told the book is thousands of years old and somehow came to be in the possession of The Vatican – locked in their library of heresy that was established by The Naughty Female Pope With The Castanets, shortly after she met the Doctor. D…[Read more]

@steffstaff I’m sorry but for some reason your posts went into spam. I’ve unspammed them now (so hopefully you won’t be spammed again) but it now looks like you posted the same thing several times.

If you would like me to delete any of those posts let me know – I know how frustrating it is when posts go missing, and when they then turn…[Read more]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>@steffstaff– well the book talked of a demon wanting to take over the world by creating a shadow world, so they had the gist.</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>but yeah, though I suppose he was on higher alert. Could he have done something before he got tardis-napped? He was talking to Missy. Possibly the next episode…[Read more]

@steffstaff– true, good point.

still, one thing the monks don’t know is how people would fight them in real life. Everyone who read the book killed their selves. No one tried to fight them- because that would give them information and because, what’s the point?

So they haven’t see anyone do anything after finding out the monks plan do anything…[Read more]

Puro: Thank for that explanation, I’d never heard of a checksum.

@craig:

Nope, I cannot agree. I was fascinated. Apart from Heaven Sent, this is the only episode that I have watched every night since it aired – and probably will  watch again tonight.

@thane15: It took a turn for the worst when Capaldi arrived and Moffat took a different path…[Read more]

@Steffstaff @pedant @bendubz11

What I found anomalous about the Pope Benedict IX as female diversion was the portrait.  The style of the painting bore no resemblance to any depiction which might have dated from the 11th century, but that is not in itself a problem, since there are plenty of representations of historical persons painted long afte…[Read more]

@steffstaff

I think you have to allow for the Moffat Gleeful Imprecision Factor (and the dates are right….-ish).

I recall a scene from a Tom Baker(?) episode where he airily decreed that King John could have crushed  the barons at any time had he wanted. Almost certainly not the case, but a fun historical leg pull.

Question: In real life Pope Benedict IX was a man, right? An actual historical figure. Doctor Who doesn’t usually ret-con real history to such an extent does it? Soooooo…. Was the female Pope only something that had occured in that simulation, due to some minor butterfly-effect type thing somewhere in the simulated history?

@steffstaff this is m…[Read more]

@steffstaff

You may find it instructive to Google the (probably apocryphal) Pope Joan…

Cor, this is a really great thread!

Just caught up yesterday with Oxygen and Extremis back to back. Still feeling befuddled – in a very good way.

@steffstaff Welcome. Great posts. “…during the real invasion, everything the Doctor attempts they’ll have already predicted and have an immediate counter for”

I suppose we’ve seen with the shadow test…[Read more]

@steffstaff  Welcome, and thanks for this: I can only think of one possibility for Earth victory here… And that’s if one of the shadow-doctors during the multiple test-invasions works out he’s in a simulation and chooses to deliberately let the invasion succeed, 

Excellent!

@mudlark  . . . maybe the Doctor’s blindness is not just a challenge fo…[Read more]

@steffstaff

I suppose he just HAD to know! He’s a stubborn old fish is our Doctor!

I’m fine with him wanting to know what’s in the message. It’s just a perverse way he goes about trying to read it. At the end of the episode he “emails” a message to himself that is shown to him via his glasses. Earlier he’s actually trying to read an email– s…[Read more]

@steffstaff and @wolfweed – thanks for the thought on the painting of the pope being Sophie Winkleman.

If it is her then the artist didn’t have long to knock up the artwork (but knowing Who production timescales that isn’t a surprise).

Mind you, if they were aiming for Angelina Jolie @pedant then I’ll throw my CV to them
(I kid, but not…[Read more]