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25 July 2026 at 17:55 #78804
@ps1l0v3y0u. Lol! No, but mine really are….
in the social messaging of Chibbers I thought it was overtly political – except I understand that’s both essential (plays & stories were always this) & part of Who’s rich history but something about the execution of their messages was clunky or unsubtle….
25 July 2026 at 16:02 #78802apologies for the weirdness of the post above! I wasn’t going to edit the post again for fear of loss.
25 July 2026 at 12:18 #78801@dentarthurdent @ps1l0v3y0u absolutely, I always ask anyone on the forum those same questions- to the ether & beyond!
<p style=”text-align: left;”>I felt the same about Chibbers characters there. Certainly my street had a lot of young ladies thrilled with a female Doc & it was good to see many costumes recreated from the show over those next few years.I actually enjoyed Hungry Earth tho the Doctor’s repeated “be better be better” was a tad robotic. 42 Hours (??) with Martha & Ten was a great episode too. So yes, something was off about the Chib era.
I did love Time of the Doctor though. It was chaotic, for sure, but entertaining. I always thought as you did with the Chibbers Tardis that the Fam were too diffuse (great concept). Yet, we had Amy, Rory, River, then the occasionally trio of Jenny, Strax & Vastra all with great stories behind them- so it can be done. ✅</p>
24 July 2026 at 13:12 #78794@dentarthurdent Oooh I loved Cassandra! That whole configuration with Cassandra, the Doctor/Tennant playing her as well Piper’s brilliant mimicking worked a treat. The “bouncy castle” line is ace!
That’s one episode I rewatch because it’s funny, it takes one out of oneself but the ending, where the clone-grown humans are released & well, brings tears.
I can handle praying mantis’ reasonably well but our large tuckeroo is occasionally infested with reddish black bugs called stink bugs & when they “ooze” out of various branches, I immediately shut windows & doors & call a tree surgeon who sprays them & then carries away any still living insects.
@whohar @ps1l0v3y0u I think about Chibbers Who a lot, actually. What were 3-4 issues you had with this iteration or series. Was it an unsubtle political or socio-political issue? I recall early Who in the 60s was all about political & economic themes. Perhaps it was different in other ways.
24 July 2026 at 12:56 #78793yes, apologies: I saw, in my post, that I’d misspelled your name so added that in separately. Prior to this, though, I saw more mistakes so used the edit function which then happily decided to delete the entire thing! I know people will often compose a response in their Documents & then copy it into a post. I used to do this but forgot!
Puro.
24 July 2026 at 12:52 #78792Oh boy! My post vanished!
I’ll do a recap. @whohar @dentarthurdent @ps1l0v3y0u
I enjoyed Listen, particularly how Clara & the Doc can play against each other & poke fun? In my 20s I couldn’t accept my figure or my face.
I wondered as to how RTD with his “that’s alright” from the Toymaker seemed a gentle dig at Moffat? Though RTD brought back rose and returned Donna’s memory back to her in full.
The Family of Blood continued with Martha’s theme of love for the Doctor. And I recall Moffat on one of his DVD audio commentaries saying he doesn’t understand why, when the Doctor is so attractive, that the girls aren’t lining up to kiss him. 🙄
Yet it wasn’t just Moffat but RTD who wrote love interests into many of these episodes, including Nurse Redfern falling in love with John Smith. I’d personally love it if the doctor and the companions weren’t mutually attracted. Mind you, they did this with The Fam in the tardis. Was the tardis simply too small to capture the personal stories of those companions?
On another point, I was pondering the nature of the doctors enemies whether the Silence or the Weeping Angels (both work when one isn’t observing them- in fact, the enemy under the blanket is like this in Listen, too), both convincing with simple & pedestrian visual effects, particularly when you consider how speedily the Great Dog of death & the Withering Skeleton from the underworld were finished off.
Also, on that writing we can see in The Time of Angels etc how long it takes to formulate a plan to understand them so it feels well paced compared with some of RTD’s more recent episodes & the inevitable conquering of the main villains. Probably down to episode & season length? I actually liked how the longer 2 parter RTD-run episodes developed too: The Satan Pit was a terrific thriller. Those Oods!
Puro
24 July 2026 at 12:27 #78789@oops that’s @dentarthurdent above.
23 July 2026 at 16:28 #78782@dentarthurdent I think @ps1l0v3y0u meant that women could sometimes be written as “another bloke” as opposed to a well thought out female character. If I’m wrong please chip in.
There are so many rules or concepts associated with writing for any character that I don’t know how anybody does it without facing criticism. But I was impressed with Amy, Clara, Bill & Jaz.
(I can handle mice, but by heaven, if there’s a cockroach I yell for help . These days I’ve moved on a little by throwing a plastic container over the top to trap the thing temporarily).
@whohar thank you for this information. I’d not heard that it was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s essay. Sad to say I haven’t read A Room of One’s Own since high school.
On screwball, did you see Bringing Up Baby in ‘39 with Katharine Hepburn?
@classiccar welcome to the site!
Puro.
22 July 2026 at 00:51 #78773do you think Hell Hent was contradicted by The Timeless Child? (I saw the former about 10x & the latter once or twice!).
You mentioned incoherence so one of my issues was Chibbers panicked breathing thru it all? In the Tennant ep where Martha’s kidnapped, the quiet direction had the Doc sitting opposite Martha listening to his grief over Gallifrey, as he explained Gallifrey & Kasterborous & the night sky. A beautifully framed scene.
Chibbers always had massive edits, constantly moving cameras clocking onto Whittaker without letting the atmosphere breathe even for a few seconds. It made me a little nauseous! 🤮
Either way one can’t deny Chibbers’ love of the show & his characters (however many companions there were). But he wasn’t subtle!
Puro.
22 July 2026 at 00:36 #78772Until about 8 years ago I was ignorant of the Bechdel Test myself. I actually thought Moff’s female characters were well rounded (not just …ahem….well rounded…) progressing from confused & helpless to “being the Doctor.”
Over the years one notices how companions evolve. In the 2000s the Doctor saved his beloved companions, as they in turn shouted, “where are you? Help us! The Doctor WILL come, he’ll deliver us…”
They then became a stronger moral compass & with Clara you had her IN the Doctor (Flatline), or in the Dalek 😉 but by Chibbers we had WhitDoc’s Fam, & in particular, Yaz taking off alone to solve a difficult puzzle.
But with RTD again we backtracked: though Ruby was independent, she was painted as a kind & gentle, sweet (get my drift?) lady who seemed a realistically depicted person —in RTD’s mind (all smiley, generous or oversimplified) without the necessary moral conundrum & anti-passivity that a Doctor-companion relationship needed to sustain an arc.
Mind you there’s a lot of talk about the companion’s cosmic mystery with both showrunners but under Moff they were volatile, fierce debaters, & occasionally ethically challenged….. The Doctor & companion grew, thanks to each other. And again, this can be put down to Gatwa, concerned as to the length of his tenure, or maybe Disney’s luke-warm attitude to extending the series beyond 8 episodes.
I should add I wasn’t worried about Ruby’s anti-cosmic energy (even though her supernatural qualities were overtly demonstrated through each episode) as I liked her being “ordinary” -as indeed we all are. Looking back I did feel a tad cheated considering the music alone hinted at some innate power.
Puro.
21 July 2026 at 01:37 #78770Cor, yes! MI5’s ziggurat: a perfect description of it. I wonder who employed the architect to build THAT? Oh yes! El Trumpo presenting the prize. What a delicious moment.
Yes, the fan service was evident, wasn’t it? I think even Mrs Flood’s status was confused with her monologue to Ms Cherry in Season 1 (almost like AD or CE organisation) speaking of “there’s a storm coming. Beware!” I thought some of this didn’t quite match up in Season 2?
also there’s a small scene in the rather appalling Eurovision episode (sorry if people loved it!) where Doctor has a secret message from Susan but it’s never explored? Waaaa!!
And I loved Wild Blue Yonder too. Great chemistry & the FX worked which was also down to the calm direction & photography with a Doctor we know can do massive damage if necessary & with a full & complete backstory in an actor so very experienced in authenticity. It’s also filled with humour & explosive moments.
oh, don’t worry, @PS, I do the same! But I had no idea about the dismantling of Moffat’s legacy considering his work remains well loved & his themes & Doctors, scary but subtle. He understood just how the system is the controlling weapon (much like how Odysseus is at the mercy of impersonal gods), how characters work inside those constraints where institutions are the true antagonists.
Chibnall tried to show how economic & political structures govern us all but many episodes were so consumed with what was wrong in society that they singularly missed gravitational pull & momentum in favour of narrative convenience.
i absolutely agree @whohar that the pressure on RTD was great. I can’t imagine him enjoying having to write Gatwa in less episodes over a shortened series where social media is onto everything before you finish a syllable. He had different pressures back in 03/04.
Puro.
19 July 2026 at 20:45 #78766@translatorcircuit So we never missed much with The Land & Sea, then? 😉
and as others said, you definitely should write some Who. And I agree about the FX. I remember mum saying on this very Forum how she loved the show when she was 8 for its cardboard monsters, its B&W film & the endless dirty corridors relying on tension, & feelings of “this isn’t right” which made it all the more suspenseful.
The actors had such gravitas & were almost always serious (except for Tom Baker who smiled but not all the time) & cautious people who drew us in with a look or gesture.
None of the family enjoyed the big FX this time with UNIT’s enormous & expensive building & worse, hyping up characters like Donna’s daughter & 4 others, including an ‘80s companion, with almost all of them doing very little.
That could be due to a season of 8 episodes instead of the 12-14 we usually had. And only occasionally was there a Doctor-lite episode. The result is everything feeling rushed. I would’ve liked to have the villain’s arc more complex instead of the Doctor shooting one of them or somehow undoing their existence by …..magically using a spoon as a wand to undo death.
Others had the impression the season of Gods meant the Doctor was in a fantasy underworld from which he & the companion would soon awake. But now we’ll never know. 🙁
Puro’s son.
19 July 2026 at 19:26 #78764yes I think they did undermine Moffat a little. And McGann was wonderful in the minisode.
Do you think the BBC didn’t much like Moffat or were tired of his stories or expectations?
I actually enjoyed Foundation- not so much season 1 or 3 but definitely season 2 and quite a bit of season 3. The books are so dense with characters talking & deciding things with little action so showrunners needed to include action & momentum and create a role for 3 famous (?) actors as the genetic dynasty to modernise it & also to make Hari Seldon more real.
neither of us have read much Asimov. I think mum taught some of his work at school & to be honest there was some criticism of his writing style.
Son of Puro….
19 July 2026 at 19:04 #78763Hey to all!! @whohar @ps…. @translatorcircuit @janetteb @nerys @winston @dentarthurdent @blenkinsopthebrave
oh boy, yes, the latest info on all things Who made me feel a tad off? I found out that the so called Special wasn’t really much of a special at all: whilst in a hotel room, doom scrolling on YouTube on a site run by a young British lady who styles herself “Who Culture,” I believe.
And I don’t understand how RTD could speak so fluently (or should I say in his usual slightly rambling, breathy way) about a Christmas Special that hadn’t been made at all? Perhaps it was written, or some scenes had been filmed? But I get the sense it didn’t get that far, which makes me wonder why on earth you’d have Billie Piper pop back for 5 seconds.
It seems, then, that regeneration doesn’t have as much significance any more though you could interpret her appearance as glitchy matrix or Bad Wolf.
I also wonder how Aus/NZ will locate The War Between the Land & Sea… I read some good things about it & also some less than stellar including a meme where …..>
SPOILER SPOILER……Russel Tovey’s character does a Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind vanishing act, leaving his family to go “naughty naughty” with a fish! End spoiler.
I’ll read some more of your lovely posts. Hoping you’re all well & keeping up the fight for some more Who -even that from Chibbers! Puro and son xx
23 April 2026 at 09:12 #78627I have also been reminded by a friend to watch the ospreys at the Dyfi Centre. Fabulous to reflect on
Much love to all, Puro and Son</p>
23 April 2026 at 09:09 #78626Just reporting in, everybody!
@winston -2 months late to wish your family all the best with the wonderful new addition!
Much love to you.@blenkinsopthebrave good to see you about these pages, also.
15 February 2026 at 03:54 #78536@dentarthurdent I too saw a bit of Farscape. Forum members here suggested it, actually.
I’m sympathetic about the grouting & other volunteer assistance for your family because I totally get that. You did well. It sounded excruciatingly difficult though. And they left you to finish it all!
My brother was never one for renovations or tiling until they bought a true dump of a home in Sydney &, unable to afford contractors, my brother borrowed library books over 22 years (all the while working & looking after children) & turned their home into something magical.
Me? I can’t even locate my backside…. In fact, last night, at the screening of “Wuthering Heights” my hubby & I (I blame him of course) couldn’t remember where we parked the car. It took 45 mins running up & down like emus (in 90% humidity & all dressed up) to finally find the vehicle. I was so excited I did a handstand. & I forgot I was wearing a skirt.
So, ranting is good!! Like @winston I was watching your weather too. Up north we have terrible flooding-even in Alice Springs which, meteorologically speaking, is nuts.
@winston cross country skiing looks great! Water skiing is more my level but I used to ice skate. I was as graceless as a baboon, though. In fact, Date Number 2 with hubby was at a local ice rink & naturally he had to show off skating backwards…. 🙄😬
Puro xx
14 February 2026 at 03:08 #7853314 February 2026 at 03:02 #78532Halloo all ! Speaking of aliens ….. 🙂 I only recently re-discovered Galaxy Quest? And reminded me that Alan Rickman died just over 10 years ago-14/1/16 😔
@janetteb @blenkinsopthebrave @whohar scaryB & others….. Aussies have competed very well in the first few days of the Winter Olympics. I grew up in Sydney, for a little while, so rolling down into snow country & watching the fearlessness & athleticism of these competitors was staggering. I only tried a half-board & mainly sat on my bum! 🤣
Puro (still sitting on my derrière ).
@dentarthurdent I think the imitation of aliens as humans works well; mostly -it’s a shock reveal which puzzles…. For awhile.And isn’t the Doctor also impersonating humans? But he certainly has a fascination for us & a very protective streak as opposed to [some of] the villains so I get your point.
18 January 2026 at 23:21 #78503@whohar what music do you like?
@nerys I’m with you on the avant garde of Copland’s music -it’s hard going!are you interested in the music of South Africa, at all? I was thinking of Michael Mosoeu Moerane of the Bafokeng who wrote some fabulous choral pieces: his study of counterpoint, orchestration & open score dictation led him to create tonally distinct, polyphonic works, some in the sacred tradition.
But a lot of his music, idiomatic, & in the vernacular, was lost until about 8 years ago. As was the case with many African classical-style composers of the region.
Puro 🤗
16 January 2026 at 04:45 #78501@ps1l0v3y0u By george she did it!!
16 January 2026 at 04:43 #78500Ooops that was @whohar too. And @ps1l0v3y0u @janetteb glad you’re spared, this time. The heat wave is impressively awful though.
I remember in the 80s with weeks of heat at C37+ & school letting us out at 11:45 with arvos at friend’s pools or a cheeky sneak into the back of cool movie theatres.
The kettle story is a great one. I had similar experiences in Hungary & the then Czechoslovakia with a few electrical issues & toilet paper violations …. 😀
@mudlark I’m so sorry about your friend. It sounds like you had a great relationship which began in such a funny way, as these often do.
I’ve had so many kettles blacking out our house that I’ve since boycotted the damn things (they are so expensive) & now use a tiny pot on stove which boils delightfully without all the nasty mineral ‘bits’ (how scientifically descriptive of me!) which appear in the bottom of the kettle & ruin tea.
Unfortunately my only visit to Winchester & accompanying sites was a half day (during which Thane complained of being hungry every 60 seconds). @mudlark were you part of the Winchester Excavation Committee?
Rear Window is a fabulous film. What did you think of Oppenheimer? I have a love-hate relationship with it.
I’m relieved your thrombo (can we just call it that?) hasn’t deteriorated further. I recall, when you gave me tips on soil movement & plant nutrition, that much of your gardening work had to be completed very slowly or else your back would chronically play up. The Wiki description also mentioned platelet sequestration…. had to look that up too!
Puro.
16 January 2026 at 04:06 #78498@ whohar @nerys @PS oh yes! Sibelius’ style was something I came to appreciate much later in life. @PS I first read that post without my glasses & read “prism of the Frog.” Ok, there, better research THAT one, as I’ve never heard of The Frog. I thought it’s probably a libretto by Aristophanes with music by Schoenberg because that’s EXACTLY what he’d do 😀
The issue with Copeland’s programme music was me wanting to love it but noticing how his parallel 5ths -which you would’ve heard repeatedly too (taboo in voice leading harmony requiring independent melodic lines) led me to shout out involuntarily “nooooo he’s breakin’ the rules!!!” 😩
But those choices created such a feeling of the unconfined American Mid-West (the looming prairie space, along with Whitman’s & Sandberg’s accompanying poetry) that I haven’t heard often except thru maybe Charles Ives; Bela Fleck & The Flecktones.
@winston @mudlark I’m with you, Winston on Crumblitude. What a great word.— Which doesn’t apply to either of you!
15 January 2026 at 00:03 #78494absolutely! Copland’s work was gorgeous. I think I was 10 or 11 & thought ELP composed Fanfare for the Common Man & Hoedown.
🤣 PDQ Bach (Peter Schickele) wrote Fanfare for the Common Cold. He died in 2024. It’s a fun 2 mins satire for a brass quintet. On YouTube too. @whisht we need you …… !
14 January 2026 at 14:32 #78492@PS @whohar
ooh yes, I’m a Brahms fan. And I also like him because he understood the significance of technique (you mentioned this too, Whohar & its application to written structures) & that the pre-Romantic tradition of tight, organised, quite rules-driven composition needed to be understood before moving into an area where breaking rules could deliver something [else] magical.
In my heart I’m a classicist -Beethoven is ingenious, his structure, unearthly harmonies combined with his preferred scales & keys were connected to assured & perfect musical communication.
Critics at the time, & later, saw Beethoven’s music -whilst still classical in form -had effected a geological upheaval, with musical contours lying at strange angles underneath the surface of an entirely new & different landscape.
Brahms found that fascinating.
But yes, Wagner was no fan of Brahms & whilst the latter seemed to dislike Wagner, Brahms privately enjoyed Wagner’s esotericism. And if anyone was psychotic it was definitely Wagner. 😀
Absolutely PS, Goodall disliked Serialism as did the entire listening public. But he doesn’t dismiss all of the 20th century composers, just Boulez & Schoenberg.
And Schoenberg was a student of Beethoven in his own way. if I listen to Schoenberg, now, I get headaches!
@mudlark I’m so thrilled that finally you’ll see the publication of the papers associated with the archeological digs. I’ll write a longer response tomorrow.
Good night all!
Puro.13 January 2026 at 09:57 #78488I realised I hadn’t read your post properly. 😞
I hope your leg isn’t ailing you too much? Falls are an awful part of life.Where we live, many paths have had roots & tree trunks encroaching on them & so daily walks are best, but if it’s hot, then evening walks are the only option. & then …..crash.
I like Russel Tovey too. First time I saw him was in one of the finales of Tennant’s Doctor? And then in an episode of Sherlock.
@mudlark happy new year to you, also. I hope your health is good? In our new year celebration, & for some reason, in addition to Diehard movies, we watched Clint Eastwood’s A Fistful of Dollars. Whoo! That was …..loud. 😬 I hadn’t seen this in 15 or more years.
@janetteb are you at risk of the bushfires (again)? or is it the terrible heat I recall from Adelaide summers? even here, we’ve had A/C on during the night, otherwise it’s ice buckets over head before bed & that leads to the dreaded …..chill.
Puro.
13 January 2026 at 08:51 #78487@whohar (I’ve DMed you too).
honestly, one of the best books on the Romantic style of music (ie 19th century) & its relationship with the social & political climate of its time, is Leon Plantinga’s [Yale] Romantic Music: A History of Musical Style… the chapter on Brahms is revealing. It can be borrowed.
The other is Jan Swafford, Brahms, A Biography. It’s a great read, & not dry. Also, Malcolm (or Calum) MacDonald, Brahms.
But as I mentioned, the Wiki article is pretty good & summarises his compositions; styles, “enemies” or frenemies 🙂 & his relationships with musicians or artists.
Kindest, Puro.
12 January 2026 at 06:55 #78485one of my dear professors, Bebbington, loved Brahms, though himself, a student of Wagner & his conducting, recalled how Wagner
enthusiastsfanatics interfered with the premiere of Brahms’ 3rd. Brahms, eternally calm, wrote hidden allusions to Wagner in some of his works.It’s rarely played, & like a lot of his work, sometimes metrically ambiguous & antiquarian. The 3rd mvt’s famous; lots of gritty strings but winds, brass, tacet.
And it looks like we might be missing timpani…. 😳 I’ll get back to you.
Puro
12 January 2026 at 05:45 #7848411 January 2026 at 21:44 #78482@whohar hallooo!!
The MSO’s Hamer Hall (Melbourne) has a collection of Brahms work over the second portion of its season.prior to that, part of Ballarat’s ‘Symphony’ is having a rehearsal session with walk-in audience -shortly, which is where I step in as a favour for another conductor. It’s student based, for now & small. It could be called a master class but that’s being bombastic!
And as to the MSO, above, that’s much later & dependent on other criteria including health etc. -mine and the listed conductor.
@nerys -indeed I did. But mostly I was terrible! My breathing method caused me to be sharp. My minor was singing, though, & I had more fun with it. Yes blood donation can cause all sorts of problems physically. That would’ve been awful.
I knew a very tall gentleman with a massive chest space who continually donated blood & showed up an hour later for rehearsals. He was a bassoonist!! 🤣 Or perhaps he was from Krypton….
11 January 2026 at 03:46 #78479@nerys oh oboe! Never was I more embarrassed when I auditioned for uni, played 16 bars of ‘When Johnny comes Marching home, Hoorah…” & promptly fainted. Not my finest, but panel placed loo rolls under my head to avoid too much pain 🙂
@psIOv3yOu
whichever way you look musicians are cult figures of their time & rock jumps on the societal hills & valleys & so it’s provisional.
And music can’t be known by any 1 mind (Stravinsky taken out of context who saw expression isn’t just a property of music so that there’s not always a correlation between a composers’s feelings & notation). Though Rog likes to think it! An intelligent guy determined to express his suprapersonal ideas.
& to your point, after the late 60s, power shifts from producers to consumers; seeing what’s popular: once making decisions they now followed impulses. & the press was often hijacked to consumer interest & for new Floyd this was spaciness.
10 January 2026 at 02:04 #78476Oops spelled your name wrong ! 😑
10 January 2026 at 02:02 #78475@ps1I0v3you
Floyd’s interesting…. After awhile they lost their dreaminess, becoming doleful tragedians; with huge cutting movements of electronic, uniform mass. Their much earlier wry, and ungovernable, music, left. And yet we all went with them…..
10 January 2026 at 01:35 #78474@dentarthurdent I remember when a neighbour showed me this album & I said, wait for it….“it’s nothing like the white album, is it?” Later, I asked “who are Dink Floyd?”
He buried his hands in his head at that point. Fortunately he took it upon himself to educate me (as so many men tried to do!).
I got better!
@nerys the “when you’re small you do it all” is absolutely what I recall, too. The clarinet is fabulous: I tried it but the oboe was more my thing, for a little while…..
Mozart’s clarinet concerto in A. K. 622 is delicious and roomy.We’re performing Brahms 3: 1st mvt is playful & requires delicate, pulled-back strings & an empathetic conductor who doesn’t smash out the coda? So I’m looking forward. ❤️
Puro
8 January 2026 at 23:53 #78469@devilishrobby I really hope your health improves -it sounds very scary indeed. I also hope you have some music to focus on during the tough wait time for the pacemaker & defibrillator .❤️❤️
@winston I almost always fail my NY resolutions so I’m trying to call them something else! Our local pool offers very cheap entry fees for us oldies so that’s a win. We can walk there, swim some laps and return (followed by a stint under the hose).
@dentarthurdent Dark Side of the Moon is very cool!!
Puro
8 January 2026 at 23:43 #78468I must concur with @winston – Stay devilish!
Hoping for a great year for all in ‘26 with as much Who as possible.
@janetteb have you had any access to the War Between Land and Sea (what an overblown title)? Have any of our UK or possibly U.S. & Canadian members seen the series/season?
I’ve heard Russel Tovey’s brilliant.Our new year kicked off as it often does with a dose of thrill, including Die Hard 3 (film’s great but McTiernan as director got himself into hot water about 10 years later).
Another genre on the list is horror. We saw Weapons and also Frankenstein, directed in lush fashion by Guillermo del Toro, with our Aus actor, Jacob Elordi playing the monster.
And I’ll be doing some conducting during late January in Victoria which is exciting. There’ll be some Brahms -hard going, but rather fun!
shout out to @craig for keeping this site merry & kind. I’ve re-learned of late that it’s the most important thing. Friendships only exist because of it; disputes are best settled with it, and no music can be made without it…
Cheers, Puro and Thane.
27 December 2025 at 04:23 #78446@winston sounds like you had an amazing Christmas with your 3 children! And also a grandchild and a great- grandchild. I know Covid seems long ago but I don’t think we take for granted those family gatherings in the way we once did (or, at least, I did).
@nerys in my Christmas cracker (I make them myself) one of the Fun Facts I included was “how much does a cloud weigh?”
That discussion was long! Apparently an average cumulus can weigh 500 000 kg or 100 elephants. 🤣
27 December 2025 at 04:09 #78445Oops! @winston @scaryb @juniperfish
27 December 2025 at 04:09 #78444Just dashing in by late Tardis (“takes you not where you want to go but where you need to be” -a tad paraphrased).
Hoping you all had a merry Christmas, relaxing in firesides, standing in snow or having informal Christmases’ by the beach or sleeping on cooler porches (not Porsches) where constant temps at 29 degrees Celsius at midnight felt like The Fires of Pompeii. 🥵🥵
aaand calling out to all including @blenkinsopthebrave @cathannabel, @arbutus @mudlark as well as others @janetteb (how is summer going?) @nerys @dentarthurdent @ psIl0v3y0u and to our many newcomers!
affectionately, Old Puro and Fam. 🎄❤️
13 October 2025 at 08:58 #78190@dentarthurdent and @psiloveyou…. (Oops)
I think that description of “the mind is the monster, any mind” is a great interpretation. I’m reminded of “not every ….statue but ANY statue.”
I also think “too clever” was a bitter throwaway at Moffat & I recall many mothers in the 70s yelling: “don’t be so clever” which may’ve meant arguing either very well, or not at all; possibly being too shy or insufficiently shy; or talking or even writing too much. No one on the bad end of the yelling could figure it out! 🙂
Emotional depth was key to RTD & Moffat. I too loved those scenes with 12 & Clara & as you say, Arthur, the poignancy worked either way. Her acting throughout that period beat the crap out of so many of 1960s/1970s/80s companions (to me), but that’s partly because of the nature of seasonal Who scripts & script expectations…..?
Oooh, yes, Okinado would’ve been perfect. Perhaps not the fairy- floss-pastel optimism of Whitaker?
Certainly, we should agree that Soaps are worthy of a lot of criticism- but not too much because Soaps are very, very difficult to write well. Was it Moffat who originally wrote for a variety of soaps in the 90s writer’s rooms w/o credit? & there are many soaps seemingly as long as the life of a Tardis.
8 June 2025 at 11:44 #77872@miapatrick good to hear from you! Hope you’re well.
I like that idea: Rose as Tardis. People have speculated that there’s something in the way she says “hello.” She’s thrilled and intrigued rather than freaked out. Nor is she in any pain- as we’ve seen in most regens? I was just rewatching 11th Hour and that particular regen had a lot of yelling!
8 June 2025 at 05:20 #77869I think the scene of Amy & the Doctor on the hill was because at the end of that episode Rory was excised from memory due to the crack in time.
The Doctor keeps the engagement ring hidden from Amy. Her meeting with Vincent, in the next episode, shows her sadness as I think Vincent says she seems happy & yet still cries. 2 episodes later & Rory reappears as an auton.
Most definitely Moffat had a hand in polishing up & reviewing all the episodes in his seasons.
8 June 2025 at 04:00 #77867@blenkinsopthebrave @whohar @winston @psi
agreed. Those are top notch episodes. The Eleventh Hour was an hour long, wasn’t it? I think most of those series increased runtimes from 44 mins to 52. And there was still 13 eps per year.
RTD initially had an Easter special (as well as the Christmas ones) travelling to Dubai to film Planet of the Dead? I actually loved that Gareth Roberts story, an absolute hoot & Lady Sousa was just the right blend of cheeky & class.
7 June 2025 at 08:17 #77863Ps: yes, I liked the Chibnall Hungry Earth BUT it’s weird listening to this where the Doctor says, maybe 6x “be better. Be better than this.” It’s sadly one note. And some of the characters are 2 dimensional. But the kid? And his dad? They were colourful & humorous characters. It’s one Chib set of eps I’ll happily rewatch.
7 June 2025 at 08:15 #77862PSI
yes, people are terrified around Moffat. The odious expression “too clever” was bandied around a lot. Also, in interviews he’s hardly sufficiently “apologetic or humble” -whatever the heck that means! His era with Smith & Capaldi and Sherlock was top tier telly. I’m pretty sure it taught our son to think…
7 June 2025 at 08:11 #77861I wonder to what extent it’s now about new sources of funding; a lighter show for youngsters; Disney’s expectations & the bottom line: not to mention the contract Gatwa negotiated so he wasn’t doing 13- 14 episodes per year? I think this explains a lot.
7 June 2025 at 08:09 #77859@whohar without doubt Season 5 was a beautiful fairytale & resonated so perfectly. I periodically rewatch The Eleventh Hour: that mysterious opening scene with the warm light emanating from the Tardis is unforgettable. And the 2 young Amy’s -the hidden room in the corner of one’s eye & the enormous house with only one inhabitant.
Puro
2 June 2025 at 15:15 #77813@devilishrobby I think you’re onto something with Anita’s boss (is it Anita at the Time hotel?) and The Meep’s boss being 2 different people? Anita’s is benevolent whilst The Meep’s not, I assume. I really hoped the Boss angle would be sorted by now! I thought it would be Omega.
Is there a Christmas special? Or is it all some years away now….
2 June 2025 at 12:46 #77811@mikenjenn72 interesting…. But I don’t think they will or can bring back Mickey/Ricky any time soon…
2 June 2025 at 06:07 #77806@janetteb “why?”
that’s a great question & an interesting set of ideas, Janette. I felt the same.
For me, the brilliant colourising of the set & cinematography didn’t leave me with a feeling of disquiet? Had this world of doubt, created by Conrad’s Wish, used a different tone where everything was still 2025 but without the ‘50s particular colour & mood as pictured here, I might’ve felt differently?
I’d have preferred a darker palette mixed with a mysterious score -less vibrant with a leitmotif generating alarm & dread – with several slightly “off” scenes & consequences related to the ‘slip?’
I also disliked the quips- which is all the dialogue of the last 2 seasons. Nothing has time to breathe, to investigate & probe? I think @whohar and @ps1I0v3y0u mentioned this too?
I recall Tennant’s Gridlock. Martha makes him sit & he paints a picture, whilst surrounded by the gloom of New Earth. He speaks of the beautiful Gallifrey, with red skies & rolling hills. As the hymn starts, there’s a pause of nearly 20 seconds before the Doctor admits he lied “because I liked it. I could pretend they were still alive. Underneath the burnt orange sky. I’m not just a TL. I’m the last.”
After Martha asks another question, the Doctor pauses again: “The second sun would rise in the south & the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, & when they caught the light every morning, they looked like a forest on fire.”
We don’t get that breath & time anymore.
And with 8 episodes, not 14; with 44 mins & not Moffat’s 52, we’ve no choice but to move on & also have an overly bright, optimistic Doctor.As @jimthefish said, the ambiguous & emotional doctors of the early 2000s & 2010s needed to evolve, but I profess that it’s difficult for me!
Also they didn’t address how the Doctor tortured Kid in the Interstellar Song Contest, breaking away from his promise, “never be cruel; never be cowardly. Remember, hate is always foolish. Love is always wise.” Not to mention this Doctor’s weeping. Russ said he didn’t ask Gatwa to do this: “I’d never tell an actor as fine as this not to cry!” But I would’ve liked more resolution.
Puro.
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