July 01, 2017

The Doctor Stands

The 38th Season* of Doctor Who came to a close on Canada’s 150th Birthday. What did you think to the conclusion of the Cybermen/Master/Missy two-parter? Did you notice the continuity reference to the Doctor Who Magazine 6th Doctor comic strip The Worldshapers from 1986? Or did you spot the fact that this was the first episode of Doctor Who to feature a reference to both Mondas and Telos in the same story since Attack of the Cybermen part two in 1985? And how about that ending and lead-in to the 2017 Christmas special? What did you think about the fate of Bill, Nardole and Missy? Shed a tear for any of them?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

*Series 7 of the new series is being as two seasons - because they effectively were produced and shown as such - while the other extra season was David Tennant’s season of specials in 2009/2010.

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June 25, 2017

There’s a Hole Outside of Your Heart

We might seem like we are late with this entry, and you’ve probably been waiting a long time for it. But in fact we worked on this right away, it’s just that the computer we are using is much closer to a black hole than the computer or phone you are using to read this. So thanks to time dilation, this entry is being posted late. And if you believe that, I’ve got a handy chest-unit I can sell you.

So…...what did you all think of tonight’s episode of Doctor Who, World Enough and Time? This is not to be confused with the Diary of River Song Season Two story World Enough and Time which was released earlier in the year by Big Finish. This episode should also not be confused with the Big Finish audio The Two Masters, even if it does share a certain trait with that story (also released not to long ago, albeit in 2016). Nor is it to be confused with the Big Finish audio Spare Parts, released way back in 2002…..but if you enjoyed tonight’s episode and haven’t heard Spare Parts you really should check it out as it should also be your cup of tea.

No doubt full judgment must be reserved until the conclusion next week’s season finale. Assuming this story even ends there, and we’re not waiting months - like Bill did in this episode - for the Doctor to come back once again.

Only time can tell. Well, time and Steven Moffat.

(3) Comments

June 17, 2017

Take Your Pict

What did you think of tonight’s episode of Doctor Who, The Eaters of Light? For those that don’t know, this is the first episode of the revived series of Doctor Who to be written by someone - Rona Munro - who wrote for the classic series - and in fact, she wrote the very last story of the classic series, Survival. I believe the 28 years between having written episodes of Doctor Who for the television series also must be a record. Was it worth the wait? Did you hear the music? Did you buy that Bill for some reason thinks she knows more about the Romans that someone time-travelling for centuries would? Did you like the episode in spite of that? And how about those last few minutes in the TARDIS?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, before he head on to the season finale….....

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June 10, 2017

The Martian Chronicles

So as you might have guessed by the title of this episode and the photo above, there are indeed female Ice Warriors! A historical footnote - this is the first time in Doctor Who‘s history that any of the major monsters from the classic series have been shown to have two genders (and a female gender at that). And no I’m not counting the female Cybermen in Rise of the Cybermen and Doomsday since they are really turned into Cybermen rather than Cyberwomen (and the less said about the unfinished Cyberwoman in the Torchwood episode of the same name the better - also not counting it since that isn’t in Doctor Who itself).

But never mind technical arguments about obscure continuity facts - what did you think of the latest Mark Gatiss-authored episode of Doctor Who? How about that new Ice Warrior gun effect - a handy tool for packing up your clothes for when you are moving house or going on vacation? What’s going on with Missy? And how cool was it to see a certain character for the first time since h1974? Please let us know in the comments section below.

(3) Comments

June 06, 2017

The Lie of the Land - Including Canada!

Yes, I know I’m late by a few days - apologies for that - but I was busy meeting the 8th Doctor himself in Niagara Falls on the day (and in fact the entire weekend) that this week’s episode of Doctor Who, The Lie of the Land, was broadcast. Which is the reason for the delay in putting up this post. And that’s no lie.

Of course we do want to know what you thought of the episode in the comments section below…...but that’s not all. Did Canadian readers of this blog spot anything special about this episode in particular from a Canadian perspective? The 8th Doctor wasn’t alone being in Niagara Falls on Saturday, as the programme itself also - for about half a second - also was set in Niagara Falls. In the opening montage, there is about a half-second clip of Niagara Falls included in the various footage showing statues of the Monks across the world demonstrating their conquest of the planet. And yes, it was the Canadian side of the Falls! And that wasn’t all - the clip of Niagara Falls was followed by another half-second clip showing the Toronto skyline, complete with the CN Tower!

Why am I so giddy about a second of screen time featuring a couple of famous Canadian landmarks appearing in Doctor Who? Remarkably these half-second clips constitute the first time in the history of Doctor Who that a Canadian location has featured in the programme as a Canadian location and thus the first time ever that any part - even a single second - of any television Doctor Who story has been set in Canada. The T.V. Movie was shot in Vancouver, but the story was set in San Francisco, whereas here Toronto and Niagara are simply Toronto and Niagara. It is also, unless my memory is failing me (if so, I will blame the monks) the first time the new series has had a Canadian reference of any kind (though I recall that both Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures contained Canadian references) and the first time there’s been a Canadian reference since The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 when our geese got name-checked. I believe the last time a Canadian location was mentioned on screen was in 1971’s The Claws of Axos (ending four seasons in a row of at least one reference - ah, the good old days…).

It may seem pathetic or amusing to get so excited over a brief second of a story taking place in Canada, but after 54 years of starvation on this front, I’ll take it!

As for the other 44 minutes and 59 seconds of footage of this episode, what did you think?

(4) Comments

May 27, 2017

Pyramid Power

What did you think of tonight’s episode of Doctor Who The Pyramid at the End of the World? Faultless or Vaultless (or both)? How many of you were expecting to see Sutekh walk out of that Pyramid?  I am guessing the same number that were expecting to see Bad Wolf written in graffiti on the side of the Pyramid.

Granted, we appear to be in the middle of (at least) a three-part story - the second time that Capaldi will have a story roughly the equivalent to an old six-part story from the classic series days. So it may be that you might be reserving full judgment until the whole story plays out, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t give your thoughts on this episode. And if you consent to giving us your comments, all you have to do is enter them in the comments section below, and it doesn’t have to be given out of love. Fear and strategy are okay with us too.

(1) Comments

May 20, 2017

In Extremis

Tell us the truth - did you think Doctor Who was extremely good tonight, or was this sort of thing not really your kind of game? What was less predictable - the Pope turning up in Bill’s apartment, the TARDIS or just turning up in Doctor Who at all? Would the Doctor be more likely to have been familiar with Pac-Man rather than Super-Mario? Do you think we actually know who is in the vault, despite what the episode appears to indicate? And just exactly who were those dudes who asked the Doctor to be an executioner at the start of the episode? Do you think we’ll ever find out?

Provide us with your thoughts in the commentary section. Please note that this blog post is for real - it is not a simulation.

(0) Comments

May 13, 2017

Blinded by the Light

Did tonight’s episode of Doctor Who vault to the top of your list of favourite episodes this season? Or did you find that it did not suit your tastes? Don’t waste your breath - instead type your thoughts on Oxygen in the comments section below.

This week’s guesses as to what is in the vault: (1) Dodo’s grandchild Bobby Jim; (2) The other giant rat from The Talons of Weng-Chiang (one that we never saw on screen, but was always just off camera and which was still left alive in the sewers. It was in fact the rat-wife of the one that the Doctor shot); (3) The Garm. Let us know which of the three you think is the most likely (assuming of course that it’s not one of the guesses from last week’s entry). Just don’t hold your breath expecting any of these guesses to be correct…...

(4) Comments

May 06, 2017

The Little Grey Cells

Was tonight’s episode of Doctor Who more to your taste than Little Mix, or is the kind of episode that you wish to knock? Wood you, er, that is, would you recommend this episode more than you’d recommend living in the house featured in tonight’s episode? Does David Suchet’s appearance in tonight’s episode of Doctor Who make up for the lack of Joan Hickson, Jeremy Brett, John Thaw and Ian Carmichael in past episodes as well as a nice-but-not-as-substantial-as-one-would like appearance by Roy Marsden in Smith and Jones? Do you think it is K9 in the vault playing the piano and eating all that food? If not him, how about Erato, the Creature from the Pit?

Okay, those questions may have got sillier as they went on, but this episode did not. Tell us what you thought of it in the comments section below. And think twice before you step on that next insect with your foot…..

(3) Comments

April 29, 2017

Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day

We are of course interested what you thought of Thin Ice (we are of course referring to tonight’s episode of Doctor Who starring Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie, rather than the Lost Stories Big Finish audio starring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Beth Chalmers a few years ago - not that we have any objection if you want to give us your thoughts on that audio instead). But we’re not just interested in your thoughts on the episode as a whole, we’d like to focus on one particular scene.

The scene in question appears to have ruffled a few feathers (and not the ones being worn on Bill’s head), where the Doctor punches someone in the head after that person was shouting racially abusive comments at Bill. It’s not all that rare for the Doctor to punch someone (Capaldi’s Doctor has already done it before on screen), but normally when the Doctor strikes someone, it’s usually because that person has already been the physical aggressor in some way or they need to be stopped or the Doctor needs to free himself in order to save the lives of others. Which isn’t the case here, as the Doctor is really just striking someone for what they had said - what was said was vile of course, but no-one was in immediate danger or physical harm as a result of the comments. Which doesn’t necessarily make the Doctor’s actions wrong (that depends upon your point of view), but it does make it very unusual. The only other similar example which immediately springs to mind from a previous episode was in the 4th Doctor story The Face of Evil where the Doctor gets revenge on a warrior of the Sevateem who had slapped Leela viciously by flicking a flesh-eating Horda upon the warrior in question, who presumably got eaten alive from it.

Some commentators are complaining that the Doctor’s actions in this scene promote violence as an answer which is against the ethos of the show, while others are quick to point out that the episode reminds us that the Doctor has probably lost count of the number of people/beings/creatures he has killed over the years and thus the ethos of the show is not quite as clear cut as some are making it out to be. It’s a long-time debate in fandom, but one which does not ever seem to be running out of steam.

Before I provide my opinion, what do you think of it? Not just of the scene in question, but of the episode as a whole? Don’t be afraid to give your views - it’s not like by doing so you will be treading on thin ice.

(4) Comments

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