Doctor Who

[Sprite Machine]

That was creepy/spooky as hell (yay!), but the pacing was incredibly strange. Probably not helped by the fact that there was basically NO PLOT.

It was memorable, I'll give it that. But, erm, I've never had that ankle-grabbing dream. Has anyone?

[Hexx]

I've always had divan beds, so no.

[Dimahoo]

Has it been noted theres some Teacher connection here. Have you noticed how the new Doctor keeping writing on boards, and obv. Clara is a Teacher as well.

[Rev]

One thing: If you know there is something there that can possibly hurt you (or at least "know") why would you talk gibberish out loud? It didn't explain that, did it? What good does speaking aloud do? In the original theory, at least.

[Nick R]

I thought the original premise was just "people only talk to themselves because they subconsciously know they're not alone." Conscious knowledge of whether your hidden companion will hurt you or not had nothing to do with it.

[Rev]

But if I knew someone was there, I wouldn't talk like that.

Also, I thought it said it was a defence mechanism. If it didn't then fair enough...

[Lag]

Remaining perfectly hidden is the defence mechanism.

[Bluejam]

Turning to 'Classic' Who, just found out that the writer Jane Baker (Pip's other half) died last week. Their commentary on Trial of the Timelord is pretty good. Also, gives a insight of the turmoil that the series faced at the time. Some of their stores were, um, okish but sad to read still.

Also, regarding Missing Epidodes, Who Fandom is showing its worse side at the moment on Twitter.

Philip Morris (@archives1963) is a guy who apparently spends a lot of time trying to find lost episodes. He hates all things with the new series. Bit of a twat.

vs

Ian Levine (@IanLevine), fat bloke, loves Classic Who, released / co wrote some shitty record in the 80's about saving Who. Also says he was involved in Attack of the Cybermen. Bit of a Twat as well.

I *think* the whole issue is that Morris is apparently hoarding episodes that he's found but wont release them and Levine is calling him out on it. The whole row is a bit confusing to be honest. Morris has 'left' social media because of it.

But worth a look at for the lulz (if a bit embarassing for all concerned)

[And]

I've struggled to like this series so far, watched the latest ep last night and was delighted, totally brilliant, best one in ages. Creepy dr who episodes are the best.

And now I also have justification for keeping loads of crap under the bed, I'd know straight away if anyone was lurking there as there'd be a big pile of suitcases and shoeboxes on the floor.

[Gregory Wolfe]

Anyone got any thoughts on soldiers Danny Pink and Journey Blue?

[womblingfree]

So Orson was Clara's (great?) grandson?

[womblingfree]

Much as I fancy Jenna-Louise Coleman I'll be glad to see the back of Clara. She feels a bit of a fifth wheel in the new Doctors World.

Also, thing under the bed? Thing knocking at the door? That was real scary monster stuff, not imaginary childhood dreams. So WTF was with the ending? I mean, I got the ending, it just didn't seem to answer the questions posed by the rest of the plot.

"Sontarans warping the fabric of time!" (Im paraphrasing) seemed more likely. Hoping this will be a recurring plot development mystery. I love those.

[Harsin]

So Orson was Clara's (great?) grandson?

I think another one of his ancestors was the main guy from The Strain, that's the last time I saw a wig quite that bad.

[womblingfree]

I think another one of his ancestors was the main guy from The Strain, that's the last time I saw a wig quite that bad.

Please god I hope we don't get Jenna-Louise Coleman in latex great-granny make-up.

[Flub]

"Sontarans warping the fabric of time!" (Im paraphrasing) seemed more likely. Hoping this will be a recurring plot development mystery. I love those.

That's a line from when the Doc first regenerated into Tom Baker

[Rev]

Anyone got any thoughts on soldiers Danny Pink and Journey Blue?

[Nick R]

Rear Windblue.

[HarMGM]

[SeanR]

Doctor Poo

©Viz

[RFT]

Has it been noted theres some Teacher connection here. Have you noticed how the new Doctor keeping writing on boards, and obv. Clara is a Teacher as well.

Moffat is working up to the Doctor Who / Chalk crossover episode he's been dreaming of since the 90s.

[Made of Ghosts]

Given it a second watch to make up my mind. There really isn't a plot, is there? It's basically three very effective but almost completely unrelated scenes. The last man on earth stuff in particular was fantastic. Fear of the unknown, proper vintage Who. You could quite easily have built the whole episode around that. There was no need for Danny as a child, Clara's great grandson, John Hurt's barn AND the Doctor as a child. It doesn't hide the fact that the story has no substance and doesn't make sense.

Also, the line "he'll never make a Time Lord" - I thought Time Lord was a race, not a rank?

[CactuarBill]

The race is Gallifreyans right? Dont they have to look at that time vortex thing (can't remember the name) to become time lords?

[earlymodernsteve]

Enjoyed the series so far, but found the premise behind this week's episode odd, considering we have had both the Weeping Angels and the Silence presented as ultimate evolutions in hiding before now. It was a great episode still.

[WibbleWorldGiddy]

I'm not sure if it's been posted before, but I've just discovered the brilliant Dr Puppet channel on YouTube. There are already several episodes and various making-of videos.

Episode 1 - The Red X

Episode 2 - The Conjunction of Eleven

Episode 3 - The Doctor in the Garden

Episode 4 - Smoke and Mirrors

Welcome to the 12th Doctor

A Timelord Christmas

How the Doctor Puppet Saved Christmas

[Meh]

Daleks: shite.

Robin Hood: made no sense shite.

No real enemy but maybe there was fuck knows: really watchable.

It's all because it was the first episode where it didn't feel like the Doctor wasn't some bloke pretending to be the Doctor, really. No matter how shite Smith's episodes got, he totally sold himself as the man for the job, and FINALLY I didn't spend an episode thinking, "I wish Matt Smith was still around."

Also, Clara gets hotter with every fucking episode. So glad they decided to make her a liiitttle bit less smug.

[CarloOos]

The weirdness so far I'd attribute to Capaldi still having to deal with the occasional wacky Smith/Tennant 'Doctorism' through gritted teeth, he's absolutely nailing it until he's tasked to be kooky. We've seen this happen before, hopefully the writing will settle into the performance as the series progresses.

[kensei]

Neat episode, the last man bit was brillant.

Hated the back reference to Day of Doctor though. Ugh. Demystifies the Doctor a bit.

[Reidles]

Anyone seen this?

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/sep/17/doctor-who-late-time-saturday-night

I'm not necessarily saying I subscribe to the idea - in fact, I can actually see some fairly sensible reasons for moving it this late - but it all feels a little Michael Grade. Pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that he moved it to a terrible timeslot after it's hiatus in the 80s.

Like ITV did, with Bullseye, but that worked out fine.

[HarMGM]

The difference between this and Micheal Grade moving the old series is that Grade scheduled Doctor Who across Coronation Street which was incredibly popular at the time and crushed Who as a result with ratings dropping to around 3,5 million viewers.. With this the BBC are giving Who the lead in from the biggest show on television which added 1 million viewers to the audience of Who the last time it went on after Strictly with 'A Town Called Mercy". Not only that, but now Doctor Who doesn't have to face off X-Factor.

[Garwoofoo]

From that same article: "Doctor Who will now be head to head with The X Factor."

It just feels like they're showing it at the wrong time of year, to be honest. There's no natural slot for it on a Saturday night. How much this matters in this age of PVRs and iPlayer, I'm not sure.