Activity

@whohar   I was aware that in devoting a couple of column inches to the Bechtel test I was maybe giving it far more significance than it (IMO) merited.   But that’s one of those can’t-win things.

I do like strong female characters who don’t just stand on a chair and scream when they see a mouse.   (Though I did have a female acquaintance last…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent    @thane16

@ps1l0v3y0u

Ah, the infamous Bechdel test, aka the Bechdel–Wallace Test, was developed in the 80s, named for Alison Bechdel and Liz Wallace.

It’s pretty broad and, yes, limited in its usefulness. I believe it was originally developed to bring a focus on the roles of women in film, with their being quite the numbe…[Read more]

@classiccar

Welcome, just post a question on a forum and someone will respond if they have an answer.

Suggest The Winchester may be a more appropriate forum, but it doesn’t matter too much.

Have you watched the tape?

My first thought was the 1996 Doctor Who Movie which had McCoy and McGann in it.

And I found Jim McManus on…[Read more]

Hello, I have just signed into this site but I can’t work out how to ask a question so please forgive me but I am trying to find out information on a Vhs tape I have, it is labelled Sylvester McCoy The Movie presented by Jim McManus but there does not seem to be anything on google about it.

@dentarthurdent (I’ve just found out that there was a second woman in Alien, the navigator. I’d forgotten that. They had a row about whether to let the crew back in. Who were male. So it still fails the test.)

A bit off-topic: I rewatched The Birds for the umpteenth time over the weekend. It’s a timeless classic, and I never tire of it (ev…[Read more]

@thane16 @dentarthurdent

The Test. I did kind of say Moff didn’t really care. Do I? Well, it’s there now. You would think it might be successfully extolled at some point. And yet examples are few. To the extent that Dan ended up giving Yaz the talk… I mean… ah???

But Moff (and Jamie Matthieson) did lock Clara and Maisie in the baggage car of…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u The Bechdel Test sounds like barely relevant hokum to me. ‘At least two named women characters who talk to each other about something other than a man’?

Well, ‘Alien’ would fail that and the hero was a woman, ffs! So would ‘Hell Bent’ (I don’t think Clara and Ashildr talked to each other about anything other than the Doctor, although…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u @whohar @janetteb

Until 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 com…[Read more]

@thane16

Moff: you know where my sympathies lie. But there are those who cannot stand him, consider him ‘unwho’. He clearly wasn’t bothered what side of the Bechdel Test he landed. I am inclined to think an awareness of the principle of the Test should be enough. In the words of Arcade Fire: ‘I guess we’ll just have to adjust.’

BUT the plots did…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent

Cor, 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 org…[Read more]

@thane16

Hi!

I went off on one a bit. How could RTD speak so convincingly about the special that wasn’t? The BBC authorise the press releases don’t they?

But, what with the dire ratings, it was hard to see how there wouldn’t be a problem at some point. Murky business.

The furore over Billie Piper was really quite distressing. She’s an actor.…[Read more]

@syzygy I do agree about UNIT’s new mega-HQ. Makes MI6’s Ziggurat look like a garden shed. It also has (in my opinion) a really dominating and intimidating appearance, more like CyberHQ than UNIT.    (As an aside, do Cybermen drive Cybertrucks?)

And I, like you, was also disappointed in the companions, or rather the treatement of them. I re…[Read more]

@thane16 (and son)

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?

He’s basically lied to the fans and admitted it. Not sure why he felt the need to do that but it’s not a good look. I’m assuming the pressure behind the sce…[Read more]

@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…[Read more]

@thane16

I think that “The War Between The Land and The Sea” was basically a waste of time and money! I read that Disney+ wanted a more tightly defined series which enabled them to predict how popular each episode might be, but the war referred to in the title ended in the series, so no more episodes could be made.

I felt really sick about all…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u

yes 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 t…[Read more]

Hey 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 lad…[Read more]

Rather more interesting (because more exclusively Who-related) and briefer than that one I linked to before,  Youtube just served me up an episode of the Whoniverse show  (which seems to be a little bit less kitsch than the fan show they used to add in as extras on Moff-era DVDs).    But anyway, it is the Moff, answering some reasonably int…[Read more]

@whohar Thank you for the update. I did worry that they might be the people that decided on the infamous i-daleks.

cheers

Janette