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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

@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]

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]

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.

@steffstaff this is m…[Read more]

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

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]

Excellent!

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

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]

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]

When I read the episode synopsis, I was expecting a Name of the Rose type mystery. We got something that references The Matrix and from what people are saying, The Android Invasion (need to watch that one).

I just hope the Doctor doesn’t bust out any Matrix…[Read more]

@steffstaff Wow, great first comment, welcome!

This episode helps to clarify a lot of things I’ve been thinking since ‘Silence in the Library’ and several other episodes where Moffat keeps bringing us back to this theme.  It’s all very thrilling and tantalizing.   It’s tying in my h…[Read more]

(Grasping at straws) Penelope was the wife of Odysseus…

There must be Bowie somewhere…..

@pedant

I wonder if the Papal role was before or after Brad Pitt in her timestream?

@steffstaff

I didn’t know Sophie Winkleman or what she looked like. Here’s a pic:

We learnt that the Doctor’s killed shedloads of beings but he w…[Read more]

After giving the episode a bit of thought this morning I had an itch to scratch but I’ve now scratched it!
Basically, the concept that we might be…[Read more]

Just to be clear I was using “sprite” in the computer animation sense. Anything that moves and does stuff is a sprite, be is Mario, Messi in FIFA17, Zombies in Half Life 2, spaceships in Elite or orcs, elves and wotnot in World of Warcraft. “Those things you shoot in video games”.

@bendubz11 @steffstaff (welcome back and welcome…[Read more]