Religion and Ethics Forum
General Category => Literature, Music, Art & Entertainment => Topic started by: Steve H on April 30, 2024, 11:46:03 AM
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The new series, with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson, is available on iPlayer from midnight on Friday, earlier than I thought, so we need a thread for it. (If we've already got one, it's dropped at least two pages back, and I'm not searching all the way back to the oldest topic.)
In the meantime: who's your favourite Doctor and companion, in the original adventures, since the revival, and ever? Mine: 4 (Tom Baker), 12 (Peter Capaldi), and 4; Ace i(Sophie Aldred), Donna (Catherine Tate), and Donna. (I like uppity, bolshie female companions - there's a noticeable change in the f.c.s over the course of the original series; the early ones were there to scream a lot and get rescued by the chaps, but by the hiatus they were much more feisty.)
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The new series, with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson, is available on iPlayer from midnight on Friday, earlier than I thought, so we need a thread for it. (If we've already got one, it's dropped at least two pages back, and I'm not searching all the way back to the oldest topic.)
Good idea but it's midnight Friday 10th and just the first 2 episodes, I think, which will then be on BBC1 on the Saturday before Eurovision.
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Oh bum - I thought it was this coming Friday.
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As to favourite Doctors - Troughton, and Smith. Favourite companions, Barbara, Jamie, Sarah Jane, Donna.
Gatwa's Doctor looks way too cool for my liking. And the politics is wearing.
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Ffs!
https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/rtd-sonic-screwdriver-gun-101283.htm
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Well, he's sort-of got a point, and it's not as daft as 12's sonic sunglasses.
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Well, he's sort-of got a point, and it's not as daft as 12's sonic sunglasses.
I'd be happy if he'd said we're getting rid of it because it's become a lazy plot device that I and too many other writers have used to get out of bad writing, but no kids are shooting each other with 'sonic screwdrivers'.
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My favourite doctor has always been Troughton followed closely by Smith. Companions Sarah Jane and Donna.
The quote doesn't seem to be a quote so not sure if it's true.
I'd rather they do away with the blasted thing altogether. It is an overused, lazy deux ex machina.
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My favourite doctor has always been Troughton followed closely by Smith. Companions Sarah Jane and Donna.
The quote doesn't seem to be a quote so not sure if it's true.
I'd rather they do away with the blasted thing altogether. It is an overused, lazy deux ex machina.
Agree, it's still not a quote but it's taken from this.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/its-about-time-ncuti-gatwa-on-becoming-the-new-face-of-doctor-who/ar-AA1nRvdi
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Rankings of the various doctors:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/may/03/the-greatest-doctor-who-ranked
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Rankings of the various doctors:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/may/03/the-greatest-doctor-who-ranked
I like Tennant but... There are some good stories, including my favourite of New Who, also some very crap ones. His time is flawed by the sexualisation of the Doctor, and him being a bit too cool, while also the finales in the main being too deus ex machina, and very little to do with the Doctor - most of those are RTD's flaws though.
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The ultimate deus-ex-machina is the Tardis, which is central to the whole series (or serieses). The whole thing is lightly-scified fairy stories.
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The ultimate deus-ex-machina is the Tardis, which is central to the whole series (or serieses). The whole thing is lightly-scified fairy stories.
That's a plot device rather a suddenly introduced resolution to the plot. Is Who hard science fiction? No. But that doesn't mean the Tardis as used in the end of first series of New Who is doing the same thing as it is as a plot device.
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Prepare to have your socks blown off apparently
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/doctor-who-season-1
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Prepare to have your socks blown off apparently
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/doctor-who-season-1
I wish they wouldn't build programmes up like this. It leads to false hopes.
If they just let it find its own way, I'd personally enjoy it a lot more. All this sort of talk does is force me to look for all the plot holes and lazy writing which would probably pass me by or I'd let it go if I hadn't been led on to have high expectations.
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I wish they wouldn't build programmes up like this. It leads to false hopes.
If they just let it find its own way, I'd personally enjoy it a lot more. All this sort of talk does is force me to look for all the plot holes and lazy writing which would probably pass me by or I'd let it go if I hadn't been led on to have high expectations.
I'm less bothered by this than the politicisation stuff and it's not just the BBC they are selling for now. RTD does go for bog finishes so having to top them seems built in.
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Jinkx Monsoon on playing Maestro
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-68983502
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Wrong link!
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Wrong link!
Ta! Updated, and also here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-68983502
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Well, he's sort-of got a point, and it's not as daft as 12's sonic sunglasses.
Really? Who cares?
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Some reviews are in:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/article/2024/may/06/doctor-who-first-look-review-ncuti-gatwa-will-make-this-show-far-more-fun-than-its-been-for-years
https://variety.com/2024/tv/reviews/doctor-who-disney-plus-review-ncuti-gatwa-1235991471/
It's largely positive so far.
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I'll see whether I agree tomorrow morning.
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Just watched the space babies one. Not one of the all-time great stories, but not bad. However, the Doctor said he was the last Time Lord, Gallifrey and the other Time Lords having been destroyed. I rather thought that turned out to be untrue, Gallifrey having been hidden in a fold in spacetime (or something).
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Just watched the space babies one. Not one of the all-time great stories, but not bad. However, the Doctor said he was the last Time Lord, Gallifrey and the other Time Lords having been destroyed. I rather thought that turned out to be untrue, Gallifrey having been hidden in a fold in spacetime (or something).
It got destroyed again in the 2nd Jodie Whittaker series by the Master, who was then destroyed or maybe not.
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It got destroyed again in the 2nd Jodie Whittaker series by the Master, who was then destroyed or maybe not.
I've given up trying to keep track of what has happened to the Time Lords. I do feel it is a shame that an interesting option, in terms of developing the lore of Who has been shut down by getting rid of them. Although, this is Dr Who so a return is not impossible.
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My favourite doctor has always been Troughton followed closely by Smith. Companions Sarah Jane and Donna.
They should bring the second Doctor back - he could be played by Sam Troughton, grandson of Patrick.
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They should bring the second Doctor back - he could be played by Sam Troughton, grandson of Patrick.
There are a couple of Big Finish audios with Michael Troughton
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who:_The_Second_Doctor_Adventures
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Just watched the space babies one. Not one of the all-time great stories, but not bad. However, the Doctor said he was the last Time Lord, Gallifrey and the other Time Lords having been destroyed. I rather thought that turned out to be untrue, Gallifrey having been hidden in a fold in spacetime (or something).
It's not the most boring Doctor Who I've ever seen but it may be the worst.
Not rushing to watch the next one.
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It's not the most boring Doctor Who I've ever seen but it may be the worst.
Not rushing to watch the next one.
Poor wasn't it.
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Poor wasn't it.
If it had been a 10 minute Children in Need skit, it would have been passable.
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Just watched The Devil's Chord. It was worse. The next episode is a Steven Moffat written one, and is meant to be, and looks like a more sci fi based one.
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The introduction to the Pinnacle Books Doctor Who series in the US written by the great Harlan Ellison in 1979 appeared on my timeliness from some years ago today so I thought I would share it.
They could not have been more offended, confused, enraged and
startled....There was a moment of stunned silence...and then an eruption
of angry voices from all over the fifteen-hundred-person audience.
The
kids in their Luke Skywalker pajamas (cobbled up from older brother's
castoff karate *gi*) and the retarded adults spot-welded into their
Darth Vader freight-masks howled with fury. But I stood my ground, there
on the lecture platform at the World Science Fiction Convention, and I
repeated the heretical words that had sent them into animal hysterics:
"_Star Wars_ is adolescent nonsense; _Close Encounters_ is
obscurist drivel; _Star Trek_ can turn your brains into puree of bat
guano; and the greatest science fiction series of all time is _Doctor
Who_! And I'll take you all on, one-by-one or all in a bunch to back it
up!"
Auditorium monitors moved in, truncheons ready to club down anyone
foolish enough to try jumping the lecture platform, and finally there
was relative silence. And I head scattered voices screaming from the
back of the room,"Who?" And I said, "Yes. Who!"
(It was like that old Abbott and Costello routine: Who's on first?
No, Who's on third; What's on first.)
After a while we got it all sorted out and they understood that
when I said Who I didn't mean *whom*, I meant Who....Doctor Who...the
most famous science fiction character on British television. The
renegade Time Lord, the far traveler through Time and Space, the sword
of justice from the planet Gallifrey, the scourge of villians and
monsters the galaxy over. The one and only, the incomparable, the
bemusing and bewildering Doctor Who, the humanistic defender of Good and
Truth, whose exploits put to shame those of Kimball Kinnison, Captain
Future and pantywaist nerds like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.
My hero! Doctor Who!
For the American reading (and television-viewing) audience (and in
this sole, isolated case I hope they're one and the same) _Doctor Who_
is a new factor in the equation of fantastic literature. Since 1963 the
Doctor and his exploits have been a consistent element of British
culture. But we're only now being treated to the wonderful universes of
Who here in the States. For those of us who were exposed to both the TV
series on BBC and the long series of _Doctor Who_ novels published in
Great Britian, the time of solitary proselytizing is at an end. All we
need to do now is thrust a Who novel into the hands of the
unknowlegable, or drag the unwary to a TV set and turn it on as the good
Doctor goes through his paces. That's all it takes. Try this book and
you'll understand.
I envy you your first exposure to this amazing conceit. And I wish
you the same delight I felt when Michael Moorcock, the finest fantasist
in the English-speaking world, sat me down in front of his set in
London, turned on the telly, and said, "Now be quiet and just watch."
That was in 1975. And I've been hooked on "Doctor Who" ever since.
Understand: I despise television (having written it for sixteen years)
and I spend much of my time urging people to bash in their picture tubes
with Louisville Sluggers, to free themselves of the monster of coaxial
cable. And so, you must perceive that I speak of something utterly
extraordinary and marvelous when I suggest you watch the "Doctor Who"
series in whatever syndicated slot your local station has scheduled it.
You must recognize that I risk all credibility for furture exhortations
by telling you *this* TV viewing will not harm you...will, in fact,
delight and uplift you, stretch your imagination, tickle your
risibilities, flense your intellect of all lesser visual sf
affectations, improve your disposition and clean up your zits. What I'm
saying here, case you're a *yotz* who needs things codified simply and
directly, is that "Doctor Who" is the apex, the pinnacle, the tops, the
Louvre Museum, the tops, the Colisuem, and other etcetera.
Now to give you a few basic facts about the Doctor, to brighten
your path through this nifty series of lunatic novels.
He is a Time Lord: one of that immensely wise and powerful
super-race of alien beings who, for centuries unnumbered, have watched
and studied all of Time and Space with intellects (as H.G. Wells put it)
vast and cool and unsympathetic. Their philosophy was never to interfere
in the affairs of alien races, merely to watch and wait.
But one of their number, known only as the Doctor, found such
inaction anathema. As he studied the interplay of great forces in the
cosmos, the endless wars and invasions, the entropic conflict between
Good and Evil, the rights and lives of a thousand alien life-forms
debased and brutalized, the wrongs left unrighted...he was overcome by
the compulsion *to act*! He was a renegade, a misfit in the name of
justice.
And so he stole a TARDIS and fled.
Ah, yes. The TARDIS. That most marvelous device for spanning the
Time-lines and traversing all of known/unknown Space. The name is an
acronym for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Marvelous! An amazing
machine that can change shape to fit in with any locale in which it
materializes. But the TARDIS stolen from his fellow Time Lords by the
Doctor was in for repairs. And so it was frozen in the shape of its
first appearance: a British police call box. Those of you who have been
to England may have seen such call boxes. (There are very few of them
currently, because the London "bobbies" now have two-way radio in their
patrol cars; but before the advent of that communications system the
tall, dark blue street call box--something like our old fashioned wooden
phone booth--was a familiar sight in the streets of London. If a police
officer needed assistance he could call in directly from such a box, and
if the station house wanted to get in touch with a copper they could
turn on the big blue light atop the box and its flashing would attract a
"bobby.")
Further wonder: the outward size of the TARDIS does not reveal its
relative size *inside*. The size of a phone booth outwardly, it is
enormous within, holding many sections filled with the Doctor's
super-scientific equipment.
Unfortunately, the stolen TARDIS needed more repairs than just the
fixing of its shape-changing capabilities. Its steering mechanisim was
also wonky, and so the Doctor could never be certain that the
coordinates he set for time and place of materializing would be correct.
He might set a course for the planet Karn...and wind up in Victorian
London. He migh wish to relax at an intergalactic pleasure resort...and
pop into existence in Antarctica. He might lay a course for the deadly
gold mines of Voga...and appear in Renaissance Italy.
It makes for a chancy existence, but the Doctor takes it all
unflinchingly. As do his attractive female traveling companions, whose
liasons with the Doctor are never sufficiently explicated for those of
us with a nasty, suspicious turn of mind.
The Doctor *looks* human and, apart from his quirky way of
thinking, even *acts* human most of the time. But he is a Time Lord, not
a mere mortal. He has two hearts, a stable body temperature of 60
[degrees], and--not to stun you too much--he's approximately 750 years
old. Or at least he was that age when the first of he 43 _Doctor Who_
novels was written. God (or Time Lords) only know how old he is now!
Only slightly less popular than the good Doctor himself are his
arch-foes and the distressing alien monsters he battles through the
pages of these wild books and in phosphor-dot reality on your TV
screens. They seem endless in their variety: the Vardans, the Oracle,
Fendahl, the virus swarm of the Purpose, The Master, the Tong of the
Black Scorpion, the evil brain of Morbius, the mysterious energy force
known as the Mandragora Helix, the android clone Kraals, the Zygons, the
Cybermen, the Ice Warriors, the Autons, the spore beast called the
Krynoid and--most deadly and menacing of them all--the robot threat of
the Daleks.
Created by mad Davros, the great Kaled scientist, the
pepper-pot-shaped Daleks made such an impression in England when they
were first introduced into the series that they became a cultural
artifact almost immediately. Movies have been made about them, toys have
been manufactured of Daleks, coloring books, Dalek candies, soaps,
slippers, Easter eggs and even special Dalek fireworks. They rival the
Doctor for the attention of a fascinated audience and they have been
brought back again and again during the fourteen years the series has
perpetuated itself on BBC television; and their shiveringly pleasurable
manifestations have not been confined just to England and America.
Doctor Who and the Daleks have millions of rabid fans in over thirty
countries around the world.
Like the three ficitional characters *every* nation knows--Sherlock
Holmes, Tarzan and Superman--Doctor Who seems to have a universal
appeal.
Let me conclude this paean of praise with these thoughts: hating
_Star Wars_ and "Star Trek" is not a difficult chore for me. I recoil
from that sophomoric species of creation that excuses its simplistic
cliche structure and homage to the transitory (as does does _Star Wars_)
as violently as I do from that which sententiously purports to be deep
and intellectual when it is, in fact, superficial self-conscious twaddle
(as does "Star Trek"). This not to say that I am an ivory tower
intellect whose doubledome can only support Proust or Descartes. When I
was a little kid, and was reading everything I could lay hands on, I
read the classics with joy, but enjoyed equally those works I've come to
think of as "elegant trash": the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, The
Shadow, Doc Savage, Conan, comic books and Uncle Wiggly. They taught me
a great deal of what I know about courage and truth and ethic in the
world.
To that list I add _Doctor Who_. His adventures are sunk to the
hips in humanisim, decency, solid adventures and simple good reading.
They are not classics, make no mistake. They can never touch the
illuminative level of Dickens or Mark Twain or Kafka. But they are solid
entertainment based on an understanding of Good and Evil in the world.
They say to us, "You, too, can be Doctor Who. You, like the Doctor, can
stand up for that which is bright and bold and true. You can shape the
world, if you'll only go and try."
And they do it in the form of *all* great literature...the cracking
good, well-plotted adventure yarn. They are direct lineal heirs to the
adventures of Rider Haggard and Talbot Mundy, of H.G. Wells and Jules
Verne, of Mary Shelley and Ray Bradbury. They are worth your time.
And if you give yourself up to the Doctor's winsome ways, he will
take substance and reality in your imagination. For that reason, for the
inestimable goodness and delight in every _Doctor Who_ adventure, for
the benefits he proffers, I lend my name and my urging to read and watch
him.
I don't think you'll do less than thank me for shoving you down
with this book in your hands and telling you...here's Who. Meet the
Doctor.
The pleasure is all mine. And all yours, kiddo.
Harlan Ellison
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Just watched The Devil's Chord. It was worse.
This reviewer thought it was good, as did I. What did you dislike about it?
https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/doctor-who-devils-chord-review-most-fun-3050260?ico=related_stories
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This reviewer thought it was good, as did I. What did you dislike about it?
https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/doctor-who-devils-chord-review-most-fun-3050260?ico=related_stories
That it's an immediate rerun of The Giggle, that the use of 'gods' makes logic in the story meaningless, that there's no logic to the Beatles making an album if no one likes music, that the end section isn't a breaking of the 4th wall but a complete removal of it so there is no such thing as jeopardy, that the Doctor is written inconsistently, that the Devil's Chord was never lost, that the FX is for some children's series that had nothing to do with Sci fi.
For starters...
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Space Babies was a little infantile in its approach I feel. The Devil's Chord had issues( NS has outlined more than I spotted!) but I did enjoy it a lot more than the first one and I suspect it ties into the series' arc.
The problem is, I fear, RTD as a writer. Not as the showrunner (awful Americanism).
It would have been much better if they'd drafted in other writers for more episodes rather than use RTD's scripts. This is only based on the first two and what I have read about upcoming episodes.
Moffat's "Boom" sounds as if it is considerably better. It airs next Saturday.
What is evident to me is that Gatwa is much better than the material allows and he is being badly served thus far.
To me, RTD is not a natural sci-fi writer. His efforts as far as Who is concerned should be limited to the aforementioned role of showrunner. His series Years and Years (sort of dystopian near future sci-fi) suffered from significant issues script-wise. He is on much safer ground and is very much better with near-contemporary drama like QAF, ITs a Sin, Nolly, etc .
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Interesting review of The Devil's Chord
https://www.engadget.com/doctor-who-the-devils-chord-review-is-this-madness-010056449.html
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Interesting review of The Devil's Chord
https://www.engadget.com/doctor-who-the-devils-chord-review-is-this-madness-010056449.html
Oh my Lord, that is a lot to unpack.
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Space Babies was a little infantile in its approach I feel. The Devil's Chord had issues( NS has outlined more than I spotted!) but I did enjoy it a lot more than the first one and I suspect it ties into the series' arc.
The problem is, I fear, RTD as a writer. Not as the showrunner (awful Americanism).
It would have been much better if they'd drafted in other writers for more episodes rather than use RTD's scripts. This is only based on the first two and what I have read about upcoming episodes.
Moffat's "Boom" sounds as if it is considerably better. It airs next Saturday.
What is evident to me is that Gatwa is much better than the material allows and he is being badly served thus far.
To me, RTD is not a natural sci-fi writer. His efforts as far as Who is concerned should be limited to the aforementioned role of showrunner. His series Years and Years (sort of dystopian near future sci-fi) suffered from significant issues script-wise. He is on much safer ground and is very much better with near-contemporary drama like QAF, ITs a Sin, Nolly, etc .
I think RTD's best script for Who is Midnight. It's interesting because one of its strengths is that it doesn't seek to explain the entity. It's left as a mystery, and what you have is a story that could in much of it be played out with no Sci fi element at all. The first episode of this series of Inside No 9 played out very similarly till the twist, which was one of the reasons I felt the twist didn't work.
I don't think RTD cares much about internal logic, and I fear all the plot arc in the specials and the first two episodes has been about removing the need for internal logic.
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I saw a comment elsewhere that Maestro was played like a villain in the Adam West Batman series, and that whole idea chimes. It feels like RTD is making this into that series of Batman with added message. As Aruntraveller has highlighted it will be interesting to see what the Moffatt episode is like.
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Having just watched Space Babies. I reiterate that perhaps the time for a latter day Michael Grade, has come.
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Having just watched Space Babies. I reiterate that perhaps the time for a latter day Michael Grade, has come.
SPACE BABIES!
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Having just watched Space Babies. I reiterate that perhaps the time for a latter day Michael Grade, has come.
I iterate that perhaps the time for you to stop spouting bollocks that you imagine to be witty has come. One fairly duff episode doesn't mean that DW has had its day.
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I iterate that perhaps the time for you to stop spouting bollocks that you imagine to be witty has come. One fairly duff episode doesn't mean that DW has had its day.
Pretty much all of the specials, Christmas episode, and the two episodes so far have been dire, and ruined a lot of Who - to take an example the butterfly joke which was just a look at my wad piece with its idea of the Butterfly Compensator ruins Father's Day as an episode.
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It's difficult to judge the viewing figures of the two episodes on that were shown on Saturday, as they were the first ti be placed on iPlayer before being in terrestrial. Both of them I watched on iPlayer rather than when they were shown.
Space Babies got 2.6M, The Devil's Chord 2.4. The lowest ever is for the Sea Devils special under Chibnall which got 2.2.
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Boom review. Not quite sure what a 'victim of cuts' is meant to imply.
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-season-14-episode-3-boom-steven-moffat-review/
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Boom review. Not quite sure what a 'victim of cuts' is meant to imply.
I took it to mean the editing process. I may well be wrong!
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I took it to mean the editing process. I may well be wrong!
That's certainly one of my thoughts but then that's surely bad writing as well. The length of an episode isn't a secret
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Much speculation online that the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan, may be about to make a reappearance. The song at the end was called "There's always a twist at the end", and an actress fortuitously called Susan Twist (possibly a moniker she's adopted temporarily) has had a number of small parts, including the tea lady who is relieved of her trolly by Ruby.
I've long thought that it would be interesting if she was brought back, perhaps as a fully-fledged time lady (or lord, since they can change sex).
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They should bring the second Doctor back - he could be played by Sam Troughton, grandson of Patrick.
Or Reece Shearsmith, who played Troughton as the second Doctor in 'An Adventure in Space and Time'.
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Much speculation online that the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan, may be about to make a reappearance. The song at the end was called "There's always a twist at the end", and an actress fortuitously called Susan Twist (possibly a moniker she's adopted temporarily) has had a number of small parts, including the tea lady who is relieved of her trolly by Ruby.
I've long thought that it would be interesting if she was brought back, perhaps as a fully-fledged time lady (or lord, since they can change sex).
Seems to be her name given previous credits. I suspect that RTD is using it.
https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0878610/?ref_=m_ttfcd_cl5
Also see earlier post with review on The Devil's Chord for some thoughts on this
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Or Reece Shearsmith, who played Troughton as the second Doctor in 'An Adventure in Space and Time'.
Possibly Harry Melling, Troughton's grandson, who was Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films would be a good bit of casting.
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I iterate that perhaps the time for you to stop spouting bollocks that you imagine to be witty has come. One fairly duff episode doesn't mean that DW has had its day.
Carrying on trying to be funny when you're not IS comedic...
In fact most careers in comedy are built on it...
I refer you to previous posts concerning atheist comedians and Milton Jones, illness, agents and pre-recovery performance.
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Interview with Steven Moffat about Boom
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/steven-moffat-doctor-who-boom-interview/
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Article on Dr Who and inclusivity (what the Mail-reading trolls sneeringly call "wokeness"). It might also have mentioned increasing awareness of disability - the new TARDIS is obviously accessible, and the new recurring character Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley) uses a wheelchair. There's another new recurring character due to appear soon who has a form of dwarfism.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/sorry-straight-white-men-doctor-who-was-never-made-just-for-you/ar-BB1mhLBa
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.
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Watched Boom, conscious not to leave any spoilers, sweeties. Thought it easily best of series so far. Quite flabby writing at the end, more fortune cookie than anything meaningful. Bit preachy. Good performance from Gatwa, and good interplay with Gibson. Interesting character introduction .
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Just discovered that Ncuti is pronounced "Shooti"
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Just discovered that Ncuti is pronounced "Shooti"
Unless you hear it, it's not an obvious guess.
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Dull and preachy.
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Having had a little time to think about it, while it remains the best of the series, all of the problems, with it seem to revolve around:
SPOILER ALERT
Why would a loving father take their child to a war zone?
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Watched Boom, conscious not to leave any spoilers, sweeties. Thought it easily best of series so far. Quite flabby writing at the end, more fortune cookie than anything meaningful. Bit preachy. Good performance from Gatwa, and good interplay with Gibson. Interesting character introduction.
Agreed, and given the background of more explicit American involvement and American market-targetting, definitely some phrases and elements aimed at (and against) sections of the American populace, I thought.
O.
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A bit of shameless name-dropping for you here. I belong to a FB group called "Dr Who Family". I mainly just read other people's theories on there but I did post after I watched "The Devils Chord". This was my post:
I only watched The Devils Chord yesterday evening so I'm still absorbing it. I must admit at the end I was a little bit WTF have I just seen, but there is so much going on underneath the surface that I can't dismiss it. Remember there's always a twist at the end. Looking forward to seeing Moffat's episode.
Imagine my surprise when the below "like" appeared:
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A bit of shameless name-dropping for you here. I belong to a FB group called "Dr Who Family". I mainly just read other people's theories on there but I did post after I watched "The Devils Chord". This was my post:
I only watched The Devils Chord yesterday evening so I'm still absorbing it. I must admit at the end I was a little bit WTF have I just seen, but there is so much going on underneath the surface that I can't dismiss it. Remember there's always a twist at the end. Looking forward to seeing Moffat's episode.
Imagine my surprise when the below "like" appeared:
He's such a huge fan of the show.
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A bit of shameless name-dropping for you here. I belong to a FB group called "Dr Who Family". I mainly just read other people's theories on there but I did post after I watched "The Devils Chord". This was my post:
I only watched The Devils Chord yesterday evening so I'm still absorbing it. I must admit at the end I was a little bit WTF have I just seen, but there is so much going on underneath the surface that I can't dismiss it. Remember there's always a twist at the end. Looking forward to seeing Moffat's episode.
Imagine my surprise when the below "like" appeared:
:o
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Liking the look and sound of 73 Yards, this week's episode, with Siān Phillips.
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Just watched '73 yards' - the best yet. In fact, each one so far has been better than the last.
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Just watched '73 yards' - the best yet. In fact, each one so far has been better than the last.
I mainly agree with that. I thought the first two were dreadful but for slightly different reasons. Last week's was better but flawed because of the huge plot holes. This week was well done, if an episode of Inside No 9 crossed with Years and Years, and enjoyable, and an allowable huge plot hole.
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Just watched '73 yards' - the best yet. In fact, each one so far has been better than the last.
Which doesn't say a lot. Don't think this episode's story made sense. A key feature was people running away and shunning Ruby when they had spoken to her older self - but why?
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Which doesn't say a lot. Don't think this episode's story made sense. A key feature was people running away and shunning Ruby when they had spoken to her older self - but why?
That's the allowable plot hole in this for me as long as it and indeed the Doctor's disappearance get explained later. It's obvious that there's a lot of resolution needed, and I suspect some of it may carry on to the second series.
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Which doesn't say a lot. Don't think this episode's story made sense. A key feature was people running away and shunning Ruby when they had spoken to her older self - but why?
Good question, which will no doubt be answered, Who-style, in a later episode.
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If it is answered later then fair enough but as it stands it means I can't say I liked the episode.
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Does anyone else think that the early scene in the pub was a deliberate reference to the opening scene of 'An American Werewolf in London', or am I reading too much into it?
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Does anyone else think that the early scene in the pub was a deliberate reference to the opening scene of 'An American Werewolf in London', or am I reading too much into it?
Definitely was.
When watching the people running away after the ghost Ruby spoke to them, I kept on thinking of this but not sure that was deliberate
https://youtu.be/Qklvh5Cp_Bs?si=IluCiclMHvJq86T6
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If it is answered later then fair enough but as it stands it means I can't say I liked the episode.
Apparently RTD has said it won't be revealed and the audience can fill in what it thinks. Which if he is being truthful makes the episode a lot worse.
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Apparently RTD has said it won't be revealed and the audience can fill in what it thinks. Which if he is being truthful makes the episode a lot worse.
That's ridiculous. Where has he said that?
Edit: I see on Doctor Who unleashed Davies says he won't be explaining what was said and why people ran away.
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That's ridiculous. Where has he said that?
Edit: I see on Doctor Who unleashed Davies says he won't be explaining what was said and why people ran away.
He could be 'misdirecting' but I fear not. A lot of the unexplained stuff I can live with but this ruins the idea of Ruby's family, and UNIT as set up so far.
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He could be 'misdirecting' but I fear not. A lot of the unexplained stuff I can live with but this ruins the idea of Ruby's family, and UNIT as set up so far.
Bear in mind that it's in an alternative timeline, which is wiped out at the end, when Ruby returns to her 18-year-old self on the clifftop, and the Doctor reappears.
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Bear in mind that it's in an alternative timeline, which is wiped out at the end, when Ruby returns to her 18-year-old self on the clifftop, and the Doctor reappears.
And? Still makes it a useless piece of story telling that makes her mother and UNIT look bad and undermines their general portrayal. Not to mention that it is bootstrap paradox that again is crap storytelling.
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I caught up with this (73 yards) last night.
I enjoyed it notwithstanding the incomprehensible ending, even as a bootstrap paradox it felt incredibly clumsy to me at the finish.
Even Star Trek managed these paradoxes with considerably more elan and (a sort of) internal consistency across the many iterations of the franchise.
Up to the last 5 minutes, I was sold on it being a great episode - as it is I still enjoyed it - but only 7/10.
RTD's refusal to say what was said suggests that he is being lazy and hasn't thought it through. I may be wrong and he may yet have a reveal, but it doesn't sound like it.
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I caught up with this (73 yards) last night.
I enjoyed it notwithstanding the incomprehensible ending, even as a bootstrap paradox it felt incredibly clumsy to me at the finish.
Even Star Trek managed these paradoxes with considerably more elan and (a sort of) internal consistency across the many iterations of the franchise.
Up to the last 5 minutes, I was sold on it being a great episode - as it is I still enjoyed it - but only 7/10.
RTD's refusal to say what was said suggests that he is being lazy and hasn't thought it through. I may be wrong and he may yet have a reveal, but it doesn't sound like it.
Thought this was interesting on bootstrap paradoxes on Doctor Who
https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Bootstrap_paradox
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Just watched Dot and Bubble. Thought it was pretty good, with some real monsters at last, though I'm sure NS will enlighten us as too why it was really rubbish.
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I have just watched Dot & Bubble too. I thought it was good, and I didn't see the twist coming at the end. I wasn't so keen on the Doctors overreaction to the twist though.
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That's ridiculous. Where has he said that?
Edit: I see on Doctor Who unleashed Davies says he won't be explaining what was said and why people ran away.
I think she told them Doctor Who would be produced until at least 2050.
Ap Williams intends to use nuclear weapons to put the world out of that misery.
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I think she told them Doctor Who would be produced until at least 2050.
Ap Williams intends to use nuclear weapons to put the world out of that misery.
If you don't like 'Dr Who', why do you post on this thread?
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If you don't like 'Dr Who', why do you post on this thread?
I do like it, but that doesn't mean that some of it hasn't or isn't crap.
Old Doctor Who went on too long in my view and though my jury is still out on JNT and Douglas Adams' involvement. Not only then do I watch what they are calling the Disney Doctor Who but I am enjoying the Hartnell reruns. I saw many of the Troughton episodes and Pertwees so will skip on to the many Baker, Baker, Davison and McCoy episodes I never bothered with.
Can recommend the Nick Scovell Doctor Who on YouTube.
American programmes, I think never do more than a few seasons anyway.
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I have just watched Dot & Bubble too. I thought it was good, and I didn't see the twist coming at the end. I wasn't so keen on the Doctors overreaction to the twist though.
Liked it up till the end as well, though again that was a mess in so many ways. How did the others get out? How did they bring stuff, or know how to operate a boat? Why did they just allow the Doctor to talk to them at all irl? Obviously just to do the twist but again lazy writing. Good idea, generally well done, let down by shoehorning in point.
Nice to see an old fashioned crap monster, and no fantasy.
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To clarify my comment - the Doctors' response didn't seem in keeping with a character that has been around for how long and seen so much? I'd have thought a saddened resignation would have been more appropriate, but top marks to Gatwa for pulling off what was (presumably) required of him by the director and/or writer.
The other thing annoying me was that the mother planet was completely wiped out. Why didn't the Dr try to sort that?
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To clarify my comment - the Doctors' response didn't seem in keeping with a character that has been around for how long and seen so much? I'd have thought a saddened resignation would have been more appropriate, but top marks to Gatwa for pulling off what was (presumably) required of him by the director and/or writer.
The other thing annoying me was that the mother planet was completely wiped out. Why didn't the Dr try to sort that?
Agree he acted it fine but it's what the writing is asking for. The biregeneration was to help the Doctor as in Tennant and others 'move on' from their trauma but more importantly for RTD it was to allow him to write the Doctor as a young, sexualised man who isn't alien.
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Digital Spy on Dot and Bubble.
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a60958562/doctor-who-dot-and-bubble-problem/
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Just watched 'Rogue'. Not bad, though I don't think a black man would have been accepted into polite society in 1813, when slave-owning was still legal in the British Empire.
Did I imagine it, or did I read somewhere that RTD has decided to scrap all the traditional baddies such a Daleks and Cybermen, and start again with a new set?
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Just watched 'Rogue'. Not bad, though I don't think a black man would have been accepted into polite society in 1813, when slave-owning was still legal in the British Empire.
Did I imagine it, or did I read somewhere that RTD has decided to scrap all the traditional baddies such a Daleks and Cybermen, and start again with a new set?
He's giving them a rest, which I think makes sense. If the UNIT spinoff is happening it's due to involve the sea Devil's.
I think the Bridgerton idea and that we're in more of a fantasy world allows the acceptance of the Doctor here.
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Leaving aside the sexualisation of the Doctor which is a long running bugbear that was probably the best of the series. Bit underdeveloped in terms of plot but not the gaping plotholes in some of the others, and not Space Babies.
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Leaving aside the sexualisation of the Doctor which is a long running bugbear that was probably the best of the series. Bit underdeveloped in terms of plot but not the gaping plotholes in some of the others, and not Space Babies.
And yet, after a good night's sleep, if I wasn't doing reviews for YouTube podcast for the next couple of episodes, I think that would have been my last New Who watch, the Doctor as lovesick teenager is just so Bridgerton
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Bout of insomnia so watched Legend Of Ruby Sunday. Susan Twist and the ineffable Gabriel Woolf do a great job but that was fucking awful.
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Well, I quite liked it, and look forward to next week's continuation, but where the hell is Shirley Bingham?
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Well, I quite liked it, and look forward to next week's continuation, but where the hell is Shirley Bingham?
If you cast as tokenism then story doesn't matter?
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If you cast as tokenism then story doesn't matter?
Glossy look but a lot of time spent on building the tension. Thought it was the best of the series but didn't really see anything of the Doctor doing what the Doctor usually does.
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Glossy look but a lot of time spent on building the tension. Thought it was the best of the series but didn't really see anything of the Doctor doing what the Doctor usually does.
The acting, writing for the first half hour was unwatchable.
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The acting, writing for the first half hour was unwatchable.
I thought it started ok but then the middle seemed like a lot of filler until the climax. Some of the acting was OTT. Really don't see Ncuti as the Doctor - or the way he is being written rather.
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Puzzles:
Why does Kate give the Doctor an angry look after the death of the soldier, as they are looking at his body?
The Doctor at one point says that, though he has a granddaughter, he has no children. I suppose that is possible, given time travel, but he has got a daughter, albeit not produced in the usual way, as we discovered in 'The Doctor's Daughter', during 10's tenure.
Since when is Ruby a Mancunian? She's from London, surely.
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Puzzles:
Why does Kate give the Doctor an angry look after the death of the soldier, as they are looking at his body?
The Doctor at one point says that, though he has a granddaughter, he has no children. I suppose that is possible, given time travel, but he has got a daughter, albeit not produced in the usual way, as we discovered in 'The Doctor's Daughter', during 10's tenure.
Since when is Ruby a Mancunian? She's from London, surely.
The look was because the Doctor had over ruled her order to the guard wasn't it? She had told him not to move and the Doctor said he should - hence why later he felt guilty about the death when talking to Mel.
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The look was because the Doctor had over ruled her order to the guard wasn't it? She had told him not to move and the Doctor said he should - hence why later he felt guilty about the death when talking to Mel.
Oh, right. I'm hopeless at following plots.
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Happy birthday 13 - 42 today.
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I wondered what Susan's ridiculous little Mayesque dance as she walked on stage was about. According to something on MSN, it was indeed a deliberate parody of May at the 2018 Tory conference.
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Puzzles:
Why does Kate give the Doctor an angry look after the death of the soldier, as they are looking at his body?
The Doctor at one point says that, though he has a granddaughter, he has no children. I suppose that is possible, given time travel, but he has got a daughter, albeit not produced in the usual way, as we discovered in 'The Doctor's Daughter', during 10's tenure.
Since when is Ruby a Mancunian? She's from London, surely.
She moved with Carla Sunday to look after Cherry Sunday.
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BBC showing a Tales of the Tardis with an edited version of the Pyramids of Mars tomorrow.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0020crw
Though you could just watch the original
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00vf241/doctor-who-19631996-season-13-pyramids-of-mars-part-1?seriesId=p00pyrpv
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Interesting finale, with a touch of John Donne - "Death, thou shalt die". I thought Ruby was in it for at least one more series, though. Mrs Flood remains an enigma.
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Well, come on - let's have some comments! Is Mrs Flood Clara? She dresses similarly, and called the Doctor a "clever boy".
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Well, come on - let's have some comments! Is Mrs Flood Clara? She dresses similarly, and called the Doctor a "clever boy".
Haven't watched it yet. Don't see how it could be given how Clara was left.
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Utterly shite. Done with it. No logic, no thought, no reason.
There is no fucking spoon.
ETA - Mrs Flood, more Rani than Clara.
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From that there Facebook:
Okay, let's talk about this. A theory that's been coming up again and again is about the Mysterious Mrs Flood: The theory as I'm sure a lot of you know is:
Mrs Flood is Clara.
Let me explain why I think this might be SORT OF TRUE.
The "sort of" part is key because a lot of people who argue it can't be Clara seem to have forgotten the most important detail about Clara. What I believe to have been her "Main" plot
Clara splintered herself along the Doctor's Timeline.
Now, the question is, does that Splinter go past Matt Smith into Peter Capaldi and beyond? I believe so, even if the writer at the time didn't mention it, Clara has the perfect plot armor to return "sort of"
"Run you Clever Boy and Remember me"
"He did it, that Clever boy, that Clever, Clever boy!"
The form of Clara's famous quote has now got more people's attention.
Here are my top reasons I think Clara COULD BE BACK other than the timeline part
1. Clara broke the 4th wall (kinda) Now, the way I'm which Clara did it, one could say that Rose did too, and that's true. But I'll mention it anyway. In "The Name of the Doctor" Clara Narrates her own story.
And, in a minisode she does it too in which she's specifically talking about the Doctor, just as Mrs. Flood does recently.
2. The Universe may still recognize her as a Time Lady and, there may have been more than one Splinter including one that made it off Galifrey.
Again, it's a small detail but the devil is in the details especially in Doctor Who.
In "The Day of the Doctor" we see Clara ride into the Tardis on her motorbike and without missing a beat Matt Smiths Doctor mentions a draft. Clara snaps her fingers and controls the Tardis to close her doors. A power previously thought to be exclusive to a Timelord and His/Her Tardis.
Later, Clara does this again when she suspects something is up with Capaldi's 13.
3. Time balances, it MUST. my last point goes with my first in a bit more detail. Could Clara's splinters continue past Matt?
I believe they would have to. Remember the original RTD era "Father's Day" time sent wraiths in order to rebalance what Rose tipped over. (This is where it gets dicy though)
After Clara's plea is answered by the time locked Timelords, the Doctor was likely not the only one to get a new "Cycle" the splintered off Clara's would have to as well to complete their purpose which means Clara's splinters completely die, when the Doctor dies.
But, Sutekh killed Mrs. Flood, just like everyone else. Here's the thing though, Clara's story makes her the ULTIMATE paradox. One so powerful that the only way the universe can keep in balance is to keep the paradox in tact, by keeping the Doctor alive, somehow the splinters must also, ultimately survive.
But, one thing still bothers me about this, IF Mrs Flood is a Branched Clara, why is she so threatening, well what if she knows something, what if she knows something about Cherry Sunday? Or, could she just have been wrong? Did he preceve a false threat? After all, even a Time Lord is not infallible. But why did she basically threaten God?
That, I really can't say, maybe the phrase was a red herring, maybe somehow a branch of Clara became part of the Pantheon. Maybe, the Doctor will have to save her sanity ultimately.
We will just have to wait and see.... I guess now we are "The Ones Who Wait".
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Wee advert for my friend Brendan's YouTube channel, on which I appear occasionally. His show last night on the finale was great, including the Whopets.
https://youtube.com/@thesensesphere?si=IIC8Uzzpys_7ceYh
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And in the end, I'm done. Awful series, written badly, and I'm sad. It's bad to have a pointy thing but it's OK for a child to have a segway that is armed? Just fuck off.
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Our son, who has Downs Syndrome, is a HUGE fan of Dr Who. He would love to be the next Dr Who. ;D
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Our son, who has Downs Syndrome, is a HUGE fan of Dr Who. He would love to be the next Dr Who. ;D
What did he think of the last series?
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What did he think of the last series?
He just loves watching the programme, I doubt he is able to make any judgements about any of the characters.
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Couple of Tom Baker stories removed from iPlayer because of rights issues
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-tom-baker-stories-removed-iplayer-newsupdate/
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I notice that on 23rd December (Dr Who day apparently) BBCIPlayer are making War Games, the final Patrick Troughton Doctors story available and now in colour or at least colourised.
Details here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/classic-doctor-who-the-war-games-colourisation
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I notice that on 23rd December (Dr Who day apparently) BBCIPlayer are making War Games, the final Patrick Troughton Doctors story available and now in colour or at least colourised.
Details here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/classic-doctor-who-the-war-games-colourisation
Doctor Who day is 23rd November. RTD is announcing it on the 61st anniversary of the showing of An Unearthly Child.
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It's going to be a cut down 'feature length' version at 90 minutes. Now the War Games is 10 episodes so I think given no repeated bits at start and end thar will mean about 30 minutes list, though there are also some added scenes. To be honest, there is a far amount of padding in the episodes so I can see it working.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-classic-story-revived-34173623
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It's going to be a cut down 'feature length' version at 90 minutes. Now the War Games is 10 episodes so I think given no repeated bits at start and end thar will mean about 30 minutes list, though there are also some added scenes. To be honest, there is a far amount of padding in the episodes so I can see it working.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-classic-story-revived-34173623
Actually that's bollocks. It's losing, after adjustments, for titles, and reruns of the last minute or so, about 120 minutes. While it was padded, I'm not sure that's going to work.
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Actually that's bollocks. It's losing, after adjustments, for titles, and reruns of the last minute or so, about 120 minutes. While it was padded, I'm not sure that's going to work.
If the whole series is on I player in black and white and we've got felt pens then I think we're set.
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If the whole series is on I player in black and white and we've got felt pens then I think we're set.
I'm in Dr III now, Pertwee is in colour (c)1972