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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 7, 2015 4:15:19 GMT
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Post by Tony Ingram on Nov 7, 2015 17:44:53 GMT
His final quip at the end of that piece gave me a chuckle! Glad they're both still along for the ride in 2016! You have to feel sorry for the poor sod. He turns the show into an international phenomenon, and he's still being accused of slowly killing it. Very, very slowly killing it. At this rate, he'll still be slowly killing it in another ten years!
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 22, 2015 10:34:46 GMT
After the timeless and unhappily extra-timely brilliance of The Zygon Inversion, I thought Sleep No More was a bit less than stellar. I'm glad it was self contained, and though there were some interesting angles I wasn't convinced they were sufficiently developed. On the matter of Face The Raven however, I think it was very well done. The trailer for it seemed a bit low-key, sort of Neverwhere with space aliens. But nope, a good foretaste of where Series 9 is ending up. And as nice as it's surely been for Jenna C to stick out another year, I think the oomph she's been given in scripting has very definitely made it worthwhile for her as an actor. Off the back of the end of ep 10, I don't know how things sit for Clara but to me it looks like finally we've been given something that's been missing for a very long time, which many solid co-stars of eras past had hoped for and been denied. Unless I've missed my guess, this hasn't been played for a lark and the very particular way events were written were done so to specifically produce a scenario that tracks with the heroic sendoff her well-remembered colleague from the Maths Department earned. I don't think this is another dose of Donna Noble's or Peri's farewell. The appearance of Rigsy in the closing credits, yeah that was an effective, poignant touch that will track well with Clara's fans. Danger and risk is going to be foremost in the Doctor's mind from hereon out. Why trust someone else's limited span to his lifestyle? He's going to be very wary of bundling new people in to fill Clara's slot in his TARDIS, I'm sure. Especially if they want to go, like Osgood might have before she got her hands full saving the world at home. He may be forced, tricked or begged to put other people aboard, but I'm doubtful he'll just pretend nothing ever happened to his chum and that long-term open ended berths are probably a ways off being up for grabs again. And that opens new stories and dynamics, even if we will see a few old familiar faces along the way as we have in this year. Matt's Doctor needed time alone before he first ran into that nice young lady in The Snowmen. I expect the year ahead, the companion roster will largely be a rotating one. Variety is good - and just maybe we'll get some contenders who aren't humans from 21st century England, once again! I'd bet on it, in fact. So where to now? I'm hard pressed to guess but I've wondered all this run if the Doctor is going to be up against himself this year. I'm still pretty sold on it. From day one, Capaldi's Doctor has never been wholly convinced of himself, and indeed, brought unease and uncertainty from those who knew and trusted him for ages. Even though he's seemed freer and more happily confident this year, there's been hints of who he was in Series 8. Maybe the bloke who darted off in the TARDIS at the end of Deep Breath isn't the one who came back. Maybe the Doctor who left went onwards to see what he turned out to be like, and decided he wasn't impressed. Call it post-regenerative mania. Or an unsuspected malign, manipulative influence. He decides to pre-emptively meddle, to stop what he fears he's become, or what he'll do - and make things disastrous in the process. Missy brought Clara and the Doctor together - just to keep him safe? Or was there more to it? Perhaps she persuaded or tricked a woozy and wobbly new Doctor in order to get the personality she thinks best typifies her old friend back. And maybe she got this notion after the Dalek two-parter this year, seeing how the Doctor's accidental (and then purposeful) involvement in Davros's past altered the status quo. For some time now, we've been told to accept the Doctor can be a scary dangerous bad guy if the mood strikes him. We even had a forced regeneration in a goblet that was made into a warrior, at the point of death, to fight and end the Time War. Yet what did we actually see that version do that was so bad, other than fail at being evil a lot? Maybe in this season's finale, that will change - and that distinction between who the Doctor could but never allows himself to be (much to Missy's disappointment I'm sure) and the bloke he is is what will serve as the challenge this run. Beat him, what happens then? Don't, what happens then? Tricky! Capaldi's Doctor has been sorely provoked in the ep just ended. And he's really on his own. Whatever torments he's going to be put through, it might just prove to whomever's watching and is responsible for his plight, that actually he's been mistaken about this Doctor and that the time to act to put things right has come. Or if he's unlucky, he might not even get that straw. Maybe we'll see Hurt's version as a younger man. Maybe we'll see Capaldi in short hair mode. For all I know, maybe we'll see a Doctor who hadn't left Gallifrey yet. I just think that's what the challenge is going to be this year. Moreover, the matter of the Doctor's confession dial has yet to be resolved. What did he commit to such a record? Perhaps they are all the things he didn't do which his other self did. Clara told the Doctor toward the end of Face The Raven to heal himself, and to be brave. That advice brought to mind Night Of The Doctor and Listen. Both seem pertinent to what's coming. It remains to be seen whether her friend can heed her advice, but I'm sure Rachel Talalay will give us a heck of a show as we see what happens next!
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 22, 2015 10:47:01 GMT
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Post by Tony Ingram on Nov 22, 2015 12:45:15 GMT
How would ratings being higher in the US help? The BBC is not a commercial organisation, so overseas sales are always going to be a lesser consideration than whether the British taxpayers who actually fund it at home are watching or not.
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 22, 2015 13:07:35 GMT
How would ratings being higher in the US help? The BBC is not a commercial organisation, so overseas sales are always going to be a lesser consideration than whether the British taxpayers who actually fund it at home are watching or not. Honestly Tony, I thought I was fairly clear. I'm not having a grouse at the ratings the Beeb is getting for Who in America - I'm sure it's doing pretty well, all things considered! Rather, the Doctor's meeting Davros as a boy in Series 9's opening two parter to me seem directly related on a conceptual level to the speculative time travel musings articulated in the second link regarding the willingness to murder a famous villain at an early age, expressed by one of the current contenders for President in that country. Maybe if he'd seen the eps, watched what the Doctor experienced and chose and why, Florida's former governor might have reconsidered his view! I mean, as the current Time Lord says, and with a conviction that plays equally well on both sides of the screen: DOCTOR: Do you know what thinking is? It's just a fancy word for changing your mind.
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Post by Tony Ingram on Nov 22, 2015 14:35:09 GMT
Ah, I see. I didn't click on the link. I rarely take an interest in what's happening across the pond. It never seems to make much sense to me.
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 29, 2015 2:59:36 GMT
Well, Heaven Sent has aired. What did we think? Good, bad, indifferent? Why? (Imagine Clara wrote that on a blackboard if it helps! ) I saw the teaser at the end of last week, and I saw the one the Beeb aired a little thereafter. It looked odd and mysterious. For mine, the ep was work of unmitigated genius. Rachel Talalay again deserves all the applause she got last year, and then some. Peter Capaldi should have left any remaining doubters now firmly convinced that he was absolutely the right choice. A one hander, extra length, and yet - what a range, what deft flexing of his skills as an actor. It was brave to structure such an important ep like this, and to lay it all on him. But by (the Tribe of) Gum, he pulled it off with aplomb. Whatever hopefully far distant day he leaves the part for someone new to inhabit, he'll be remembered fondly and his greatest episodes stand as testament to what Doctor Who can be at its best, and is for. Moffat unduly cops more stick than anyone has any right to, given his track record. Weary but wry bemusement he showed in a recent RT interview is probably about the only way he could remain at his post without going bonkers. I defy anyone who thinks they can do better than what he does, write us the proof and share it. I don't know anyone half as capable working in telly today that could make Doctor Who excel on the levels and in the increasingly better and more ingenious ways that look so obvious, so effortless. Every time you think he's surely got the last few remaining gasps out of the old motor, he performs stupefying feats that defy comprehension. At the beginning of Series 9, I was impressed by the opening two parter and marvelling about what would make him put that at the start. Sure, it's one heck of a hook for an audience - even those poor new viewers who've missed out up until now - but how do you make the finale bigger and better? Now I'm looking at the teaser for next week and can't conceive how he can plot the year ahead. Surely the Christmas special will be a bit of a relaxing romp, to cleanse the palate. But where next for the Doctor and the show, I can't guess. It looks like he's done it all, and each time he proves there's still life, surprises and power untapped! Every year, Moffat seems to get better. Maybe the Doctor's prison is a tell to how he thinks about the job he does so well. He loves the show, it challenges and delights him, but like Omega he's in a bit of a bind. To keep it at such a high order, you require a rare blend of talents, skills, experience, enthusiasm and tolerance for working within the twinned limitations and benefits the BBC has. Not easy!! Recalling The Choice by Yeats, surely like the leads and supporting cast and crew, sustained effort on such a scale takes a toll on the guy who's in charge of so much and is constantly tasked with outdoing himself and making everyone look better for it. One hopes the Beeb can see that and are willing to entertain options as and when they're needed. Preventative maintenance for such star performers is not only prudent, it's just. I'd rather a short season every few years, just out of courtesy, to keep the quality high. Of course, some don't see it like this and think they are owed excellence without any thought as to how it gets on their telly or what the cost is to those who make it happen for them, and will be only too eager to throw tomatoes if it doesn't meet a predetermined, often impossibly unfair arbitrary standard that most often than not the show already exceeds beyond their willingness to acknowledge or appreciate... As to the specifics of Heaven Sent, it seemed a little bit like Myst crossed with Number 6 in an Escheresque gothic rocket plus this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_the_LawBy contrast, 2010's tortuous predicament of the puzzling Pandorica looked like an easy chair on a breezy back porch! Whatever used to be in the desk drawer in Terrance and Bob's time, it's been replaced with something a little more potent! Terrific work by everybody, utterly mesmerising. Terrific to see the General back next week, too. Roll on Hell Bent!!
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Post by Tony Ingram on Nov 29, 2015 8:24:09 GMT
I doubt if any previous Doctor, or very many actors at all, could have pulled off what Capaldi did here, carrying an entire episode by himself and keeping the audience gripped throughout. Now that is skill.
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 29, 2015 8:38:15 GMT
Presumably the scrawled BIRD in the dirt wasn't a reference to Clara's demise, but the phoenix? Given the Doctor's predicament and connection to the conflict that served as the backdrop to the 2005 revival, it brought to mind this bit of Bradbury, for me: I don't know where things are going next week, but I get the sense a lot that's been central to how we think about the character of the Doctor and the mythology that's grown over the last decade are going to get a shakeup. Who knows if the hybrid is a possible future he ran from, a fib he was told to keep him safe, or a sly reconnection with the questionable line in the telemovie from '96? Either way, whatever happens here will surely put paid, one way or another, to the Time War as we knew it. And finally, there's no more dancing around the pool. It's been alluded to in this series with an intensity that only works if you prove it and it seems we are finally going to get our Scottish Doctor very angry in the one place he was heartbroken to be unwillingly exiled from after saving, at least partly, from himself. I wonder if Missy will swoon or quake at the sight of her old friend no longer the good man for a change? www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-11-29/steven-moffat-the-doctor-returns-to-gallifrey-like-clint-eastwood--a-mad-bad-dangerous-bastardCan't wait to see what happens next!
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 29, 2015 8:59:59 GMT
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 29, 2015 10:07:31 GMT
Just a ponder to kick around here amongst friends for differing views: As I recall, the Doctor said he was about a light year out from Earth. And to get through the wall, took what, 4.5 billion years? Gallifrey was - at least as best I recall, in Pertwee's run - 29,000 light years from Earth. But in Tom's run, Spandrell talks about Sol 3 in Mutter's Spiral as if it weren't the home galaxy. Maybe they moved it? In any case, presumably the location of Gallifrey is still in a pocket universe, not where it was. Then again, Missy is footloose and fancy free so maybe it has settled down somewhere after breaking free of the last-minute save from Day Of The Doctor. Whether they created the castle, they got helpers to do it for them or the Doctor does next week, I don't know. I'm wondering if the time it took for the Doctor to punch his way through to reach Gallifrey is significant. Could it be somehow the case that the Time Lords are a far distant offshoot of Earth folks? I recall that they've been around for yonks, a long and impressive civilisation, with a few bad eggs here and there, but I'm unsure I can recall a solid fact as to when their planetary history begins. Perhaps the idea of the hybrid has something to do with the Doctor being a sort of throwback, to the humans he's been fascinated by ever since he started appearing on our screens? And not just him. Why were the Daleks curious about the "human factor" in Evil? Why did the War Lord and chums focus on kidnapping human soldiers? Why didn't Rassilon TimeScoop humans for the Death Zone? Maybe there's a reason here that's important. Maybe they're all part of the same species, just evolved over vast gulfs of time? Maybe Clara's appearance in The Name Of The Doctor on Gallifrey on that fateful day he left has something to do with all this, too. It may also explain how she was able to pilot the TARDIS to the Doctor's childhood in Listen. If that's so, perhaps the Doctor doesn't quite fit in with those of his home world as he's more like the long dead progenitors of antiquity, though these too aren't exactly a good match for him though they are quite his favourite species. He doesn't fit in perfectly well in either place, yet he's part of both. So he keeps on the move. You can't always get what you want but sometimes, you get what you need! And further pertaining to this, I recall an exchange from Pyramids Of Mars which might take on a different meaning... SARAH: Just how powerful is Sutekh, Doctor? DOCTOR: He's all-powerful. If he ever gets free, there isn't a lifeform in the galaxy that could stand against him. SARAH: What, not even your lot, the Time Lords? DOCTOR: Not even our lot.
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 30, 2015 0:15:13 GMT
Maybe it’s just pareidolia but darned if that teleport doesn’t look a bit like an 80s Cybergun! What bits did we like from Heaven Sent? I was especially struck by the cogs evoking the title sequence, much like the vortex in The Deadly Assassin used in the Matrix. Yet still hadn’t considered the Time Lords were behind it. And that ending, where we see the confession dial in a whole new light? As Smith’s Doctor might say, that was Christmas for me right there. Everything afterward, including the teaser, just gravy! Whilst I was not surprised the Doctor was killed, the idea that he’d be doing it to himself, for billions of years, was far and above my ability to guess. So, I guess this makes Capaldi’s model the longest running Doctor even if he quits right now! In a way, we’ve had a near infinite multi-Doctor story over the space of nearly an hour, where they’ve all been him. The Fractal Doctors?! And any doubting that an older Doctor works has been knocked up just a few notches by Moffat doubling down on that in ways even The Time Of The Doctor didn’t come near. The crawling up the steps to be the Mawdryn-like hand at the start of the ep, over and over, just amazing. Where things are going next is a puzzle. I’m reminded a little of Waters Of Mars, except this time the interesting bit of character deviation is at the start. Unlike The Invasion Of Time, I’m not really convinced this is a feint to draw out villains hidden in the shadows. Of course, on the other hand, there’s got to be various factions at play on Gallifrey. Could everybody think this splendid chap is worthy of such maltreatment? Perhaps there are those who want the planet to be persuaded to fear him enough to do something that will give them the chance to seize control, whether it’s to do with this hybrid thing or not. Last time, in the 50th special, the Doctor stopped himself from making a terrible mistake. In getting back home during Heaven Sent, he killed himself a lot - and now clearly wants to see some kind of justice for the torment he was put through, and for what happened to Clara. Without someone to give him balance, I think he’ll probably go a bit off the rails - thus giving his real enemies the opening they’ve been waiting for, to turn his people against him. I’m thinking that like in Day Of The Doctor, the only person likely to stop him will be himself. Perhaps that army the Doctor refused in Death In Heaven will finally be taken up - the Daleks we saw changing in The Witch’s Familiar. But whom will they serve? So, if we get Capaldi at the end of Deep Breath (before Clara got back to Vastra’s) heading into his own personal future, to stop himself at any cost, including his own life, I shan’t be surprised. For all he knows, there’s a chance to save Clara if that's partly the motivation provided to get him to do this dangerous thing. He hasn’t lived through what his older self has, and it might be that sacrifice, even if he fails in the doing of it, is what changes his older self’s mind, and sees him return to take his place, minus the memories of his unhappy return home but the same ongoing uncertainties about whether he is indeed a good man. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the exchange we saw on Karn between the Doctor and Ohila at the start of Series 9 will refer to a revised chronology that has yet to play out.
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 30, 2015 0:42:41 GMT
Given the ageing rocker vibe Capaldi's Doctor embodies (to say nothing of the man himself) and his form for playing snatches of timeless guitar classics, I'd love to hear a bit of Pink Floyd in the finale. It won't happen, but somewhere somebody is already making a clip for YouTube. For mine, this one sums him up perfectly, particularly given where he's come from and where he's heading next week: www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/shine-crazy-diamond-1-wish.html
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Post by Paul McDermott on Nov 30, 2015 2:24:35 GMT
I'm also going to take a punt that those dusty monsters we saw in the coming attractions will be left over from the Games of Rassilon in the Death Zone. Whether they'll be pressed into service for or against the Doctor, it'll be fun to find out!
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