Ringthane

I watched one episode and all she did was mimic all the moves of the old one, without adding anything of her own. It was like watching a tribute band - they can mimic the originals, but there's nothing original or new.

For me, it has to be Doctor Who. Also Monty Python's Flying Circus, Dave Allen at Large, The Tomorrow People, and Blake's 7. I never noticed how many of mine are British shows.

I just watched a few episodes a few days ago - it holds up very well for being over 20 years old (even if the equipment looks ancient now). One thing I noticed this time that I never noticed in all the times I've seen the pilot - after the first trauma is done, when Mark and Doug are in the hallway leaning against the walls, and Carol's walking away - somebody forgot to pull up the tape for Anthony Edwards and George Clooney's marks before they shot the scene. The little things you notice...

Well, people are giving just as much credence to the idea that Tarek was throwing a gun around like a drum major at a homecoming game last year, when he was merely wearing it for protection from wild animals, so what do you really expect?

But he wasn't "running around with a gun", according to the reports. He took it with him for protection in an area where many wild animals are known to be. It's not like he was using it as a hammer on one of their flips, or something.

I was just about to mention that - they definitely had blood on their clothes. And not just a spot or two, but enough to be noticeable.

One question I had - the guard that was actually the hit man: it was weird that nobody said anything about him being missing. He did say in the recap "they'll hire anybody here", so I'm assuming that he was a real employee, but even after everything was over, I don't recall anyone saying "hey, are we one guard short?" or anything. I haven't seen all the episodes yet, so I don't know if it does come up, but it was weird that he was never acknowledged by any of the prison staff.

Who was Cole? I don't remember a Cole.

Which one was that? I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

Robert Culp was the villain at least twice - once when he was the PI ("Death Lends a Hand") and once when he was the football team owner ("The Most Crucial Game"). Oh - he was also the villain in the subliminal cuts one ("Double Exposure"). There was also the blond guy who was in the first one ("Murder by the Book" or whatever) and then again when he was a magician (Jack Cassidy). Also he was a publisher in the one where the other guy made all the bombs. Sorry - I'm not good with the names. But I think Culp, the blond guy, Shatner, and somebody else I can't remember were the villains most often.

Shiplap Station?

I think they're not really shocked, they're just acting for the camera. Then somebody who's just flipping (pun intended) through the channels and catches a few seconds of the show will be intrigued enough ("Oh, my, how will these young flippers make it with all these hurdles?") to keep watching, and HGTV has another viewer.

Wait a minute... The cabinet and counter in the bathroom don't match the ones in the kitchen. I feel lied to... I thought that was the thing to do if you wanted top dollar from buyers.

We hope, anyway, She's been acting weird enough that you never know. And Abbi has been looking amazing this season. She always looks great, but this season she's really bringing it. It seems like she's doing her hair a little differently, and it really suits her. And she did look good in the dress too. The one thing that puzzles me is that sometimes she seems like she's taller than Illana, and other times she seems to be either the same height, or slightly shorter. Maybe it's just the shoes she's wearing or something.

I think that was the one where both Ross and Joey were fighting over Kristen.

Yeah, because Doctor Who was really pulling some hot numbers in the UK in the late 80's, right? When the BBC kept JNT on as producer because they couldn't find anyone else to take the job. When the entire production team for several years did nothing but fight with each other over every little thing and put forth as weak an effort as possible because they just didn't like anything the other side did (anyone remember a guy named Eric Saward?). Nope, America's never done anything for Doctor Who except throw a few big cons now and then. Our PBS stations didn't carry the show for years when no one else would touch it. We didn't have anything to do with Doctor Who being as well-known as it is around the world today. We haven't done a thing for the show in the last fifty years except throw a couple of parties. Go ahead, then. Cancel the damn thing. End it forever. I know what the show means to me and how much it's changed and influenced my life, no matter what country provided what ratings, no matter who did more for the thing. It's had what, now? 53 years? That's enough. But to dismiss everything that I and people like me - true fans of this quaint little show that ten years ago was nothing but a joke, an embarrassing addiction for a bunch of lunatics with really long scarves and an affection for phone booths - as just a couple shindigs every now and then... Do you think only UK readers bought the books? Or the videos? Or the DVDs? Or went to grade school with a long scarf their grandmothers knitted for them, knowing people would laugh at them because of how silly they looked and how devoted they were to a TV show you could only watch on PBS, of all places, and that looked like something a high school would spend more on if they put it on as a play? Forget it. It's not worth it. You want Doctor Who to yourselves? You got it. I'm done with this.

I knew about Netflix, but Hulu too? Way to piss off the largest fanbase your show could ever ask for, BBC. The US fandom kept interest in the show going through the wilderness years between 1989 and 2005. There were something like 14 million of us watching the TV movie in 1996. We have some of the largest and most renowned conventions in the world. And this is our reward. I know that article said a BBC rep said that DW wouldn't be on a BBC America streaming service, but something has to be up. It's weird that they're removing it from both Netflix and Hulu at the same time. Usually you only do that when you want the content on your network and nowhere else. And my reasons for hanging on to a Hulu subscription are getting smaller and smaller as the weeks go by. I just don't understand how TV works, I guess. People spend billions and billions and billions on making TV shows, and then turn around and make sure the smallest amount of people possible can legally see the stupid things. And then whine like toddlers when people pirate and ratings suck. (Note: I am not advocating piracy. But if we could see the shows we love easily, we wouldn't have to. Look at radio - it's still going strong. Why? Because you can turn on your car's radio, or find a station online, and hear all the songs you love, without paying a dime, or having to be in the right geographical area, or using a Pioneer brand device instead of a Kenwood one, or what have you.)

Speaking of the lighting, is there some reason why the house hunting and reveal scenes are always lit so yellow? They just look really yellow to me. Almost Deus Ex: Human Revolution yellow.

That was one of the dumbest articles I've read in a long time. And I read Buzzfeed regularly, so that's saying something. I mean, if we're just going to put Tennant and Smith on there, why not every other past Doctor? Tom Baker through Eccleston. I wonder what John Hurt would do if he were offered the role. It would be interesting to see his Doctor really get to live, now that Gallifrey's back. Of course, they wouldn't want to follow up one older actor with another one, but still... And did you notice who was in at least two of those pictures? Yep - Jenna Coleman. Why don't they just admit that what they really want is for Clara to come back?

I don't think they ever said on the show how she came to be part of the group (or outside the show, for that matter). She does seem to be an odd choice, especially when her character changes after the triplets are born. She seems to dislike the rest of them to the point where I don't see why she'd hang out with them, let alone why they'd hang out with her.

Man, talk about a letdown... I saw the thread title and got all excited that Moffat was really leaving. Then I come into the thread and what a disappointment. Everything I've read points to Mark Gatiss as the next showrunner once Moffat finally departs from his gilded throne.

Yep, Gallifrey coming back should have been a moment like Tom Baker's cameo in the 50th anniversary story, or when Smith's Doctor got a new regeneration cycle in his last story. Actually, even that was ignored - there should have been a lot more done with getting a whole new cycle than there has been. Maybe another example would be seeing Twelve with all the other Doctors in the 50th freezing Gallifrey in time. Instead, we got "Gallifrey's back. Where has it been? How'd it come back? Who cares." I remember reading that Moffat couldn't understand why people wanted to see how the Doctor and Clara got out of his timestream after "Night of the Doctor" (or whatever one John Hurt was first in), In his mind, they just walked out, and there wasn't anything to see. Ummm... Huh? Then why was it such a big deal to go into it in the first place? It's like there being a huge present under the tree a month before Christmas, and when you open it, it's a keychain.

Especially when one of the reasons the actress was hired was because JNT wanted the character to scream right when the end credits music started, and Bonnie Langford could hit the exact note when she screamed. To be clear, I don't hate the character of Clara because of Jenna Coleman's performance. It's clear that she did what she could with the material. My problem with Clara is with that material. Moffat seems to have forgotten that the writer's creed is "show, don't tell". He's like an inexperienced chef, throwing ingredients at the wall until something sticks, and then serving that on a plate. The problem seems to be that there's nobody to tell him "Steven, you probably should taste that before you serve it, because it needs work." Moffat's stories under RTD are some of my favorites. It's his track as a producer that I don't like. If you said the title of any RTD story, I could tell you what it was about, who the characters were, what happened, whatever. There are Moffat stories I have no memory of. I had to rewatch "The Crimson Horror" (or Tide or whatever it is) before it registered that I'd seen it before. I watched some of his run over the weekend on BBC America, and the only way I knew what season they were from is because of the companions. That's the mark of a poor producer.

That's a good point. If you just watched any Twelve story by itself, and then watched this story, you'd almost have to wonder why the lead character was so completely different in this one compared to the others. I've seen hints of the lighter side of Twelve in other stories, but this is the first time he's just been able to be free and have fun with what was going on. I just hope people don't look back at Capaldi's run and blame him for the problems with the show, as he's certainly giving his all to the part. Whatever damage has been done to Doctor Who, it rests securely on the head of Steven "We're just making 'Coupling in Space' here, right?" Moffat. (Actually, something just occurred to me: does Clara remind anyone else of a certain character on Coupling? Bossy, disdainful of her male companion, acts like she's superior to the rest of the universe? Is Clara really just Susan in space? And we all know who the character of Susan is based on.)

You mean like Melanie Bush? We never did see (onscreen) how they ended up meeting.