Activity

@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…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent

‘Duck. Sally Sparrow!’ Well the Doctor’s got Sally’s notes. Which presumably mention Wester Drumlins so The Doctor either had to go or set up a paradox, or he (more likely) he forgot. All Moffat’s first run of stories were super but Blink was genius level. The best thing you can say about Sally and Larry is it was downbeat,…[Read more]

@whohar    I don’t think it matters in the slightest that we don’t know who the ‘current’ Doctor is.   He’s a time traveller, can there even be said to be a ‘current’ Doctor?   As you said, the non-TV material is free to use any incarnation they wish.

Obviously, my viewpoint is totally different to yours.   But then, I was always an asynchro…[Read more]

@pa1l0v3y0u   I agree that some Who eps are plotted with perfect logic.   (I’ve never tried to analyse it episode by episode, I hope there would be a large number that do hold up).   As an example of excellence, Blink – in spite of its complications – fitted exactly.   (Well,  I’ve only found one loose end – when Sally Sparrow uncovers the Doct…[Read more]

@whohar  I agree it is a move borne out of desperation hopefully not a misstep but that is perhaps my eternal optimism at play. fingers crossed it will be well handled if and when Who returns.

cheers

Janette

@dentarthurdent

Whether deliberate choice or subconscious, the fact remains that the Doc’s new regeneration is (possibly, we don’t know for sure) the face of an old companion. And one to whom he had romantic feelings. And it’s not even the same face. It’s an older version. I find it odd, and I really don’t like it. I understand that there are…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent @nerys

I WAS being picky. ‘Eve’ is a worthy effort. Perhaps, if T’floox was itself an improvement but err… confused, Chris was learning, trying to up his game, maybe (in my mind) telling The Corp to back off: the notional post Moff straightjacket was too tight.

But not all Who falls apart upon inspection. And this was ok. Sally…[Read more]

@whohar   @janetteb   I don’t find the doctor’s revival as a Rose lookalike creepy at all.   It might possibly be so if the Doctor had deliberately chosen that appearance.  But do we know how the regeneration process decides on the look of the next iteration?  Does it randomly fish something out of the subject’s subconscious?   The Moment ch…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u     All those are valid points.   I have to admit I was unconvinced by the rapid romance between Sarah and weirdo can’t-ever-keep-a-girlfriend Nick.   I just didn’t poke at it too much.   Like a lot of things in this episode, it all starts to unravel if you start pulling at dangling threads.   (Same could be said of many episodes, o…[Read more]

@janetteb

Agree that Bille Piper would be good in the role. But the Doc taking one of his companion’s faces just seems a little bit…creepy maybe isn’t the right word here but it’s not far off.

Also, the decision to use a previous companion for the last 30 seconds of the current run, really muddies the waters in terms of what’s happening in the…[Read more]

@whohar I doubt Billie Piper would play the Doctor for long. I suspect she is a “filler’ as there is no certainty as to when the next series will be and she stepped in as a favour to RTD and the show, and fans. I do think she could be good and would like to see her run with the role for a couple of episodes then hand on the baton to the next…[Read more]

@dentarthurdent With Chibz’ Doctor, one got the impression it was there simply to make it ‘sound sciencey’ or maybe make up for something that should have been better plotted.

I agree. That’s why, for me, this episode stands out among the Chibnall-penned ones, because the Doctor’s observations were pertinent, not just filler.

@ps1l0v3y0u Also…

[Read more]

@dentarthurdent

Eve of The Daleks

Thank you. You rescued me from 5; I was about to watch Warriors of the Deep, just to snigger at The Myrka. This is MUCH better. It comes with a high rep. The long cold start works. Chib’s dialogue practically sparkles. The set-up intrigues. It has urgency. Everyone… well five people… get zapped again and again…[Read more]

@ps1l0v3y0u     Re Moff:

I like clever writers, whether book or script.   No such thing as ‘too clever’, in my view.

(I’ll qualify that:   I don’t like writers who show off their ‘cleverness’ by deliberately using incomprehensible words or phrases, that’s just egocentrism in my view.   But that’s more likely to happen in text than in a script).…[Read more]

@nerys    I think the Doctor babbled very little in this episode, compared with previous Chibz episodes.   But I came to it after watching RTD/Gatwa’s seasons, so probably the technobabble was more noticeable.

I know there was previous technobabble in Who, but usually it was restrained, used only when necessary for the furtherance of the plot…[Read more]

@blenkinsopthebrave I confess that I didn’t make that connection to Hazran. What did spring to mind when I watched the episode was the connection with role played by Lillian Gish as the woman who protects her orphan charges against Robert Mitchum’s deranged Preacher in the fabulous “”Night of the Hunter”…

[Read more]

@dentarthurdent I probably shouldn’t have said the Doctor didn’t babble at all in this episode. But it felt greatly minimized to me, compared to other episodes. And, let’s face it, it’s not like previous incarnations of the Doctor didn’t babble. But I always felt like there was a flow to it, a stream that I could follow. Oftentimes, Whittaker’s…[Read more]

[A year later:]

Legend of the Sea Devils

Starts off really well. Very atmospheric, very sinister, very Xena. Madam Ching really has some presence. I really like the actress, by the way.

The mood is kinda spoilt by Dan wearing the cartoon comedy pirate clobber. And Mr Carnival-mask Sea Devil. Looks a bit like a dyspeptic mutant Chihuahua with a…[Read more]

Mara Stories.

I suspect the snakes were about to raise their heads… whenever we get underway again.

So, early 1980’s… other people may have different views but the three ‘peaks’ of the Davison era must be ‘Caves’, and Chris Bailey’s Mara Stories. I know Earthshock had impact (see what I did there) but to say it was flawed would be a mumbling un…[Read more]

Moff… I come to praise Moff not bury him.
There were those who thought he was too clever. Clever in the Nuwho is what psychobabble was to Classic.

There were those who missed Tennant. Tennant was the new Tom. Interesting that Hinchcliffe/Holmes are never really praised for ‘making’ Tom. Most of those who say ‘I liked Tennant’ probably wouldn’t…[Read more]