ohjoy

-- On the Head of A Pin -- It's a Terrible Life -- Yellow Fever 35 - Lazarus Rising 25 - The Monster at the End of This Book 23 - In the Beginning 19 - Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester 15 - Monster Movie 14 - It's a Terrible Life 13 - Wishful Thinking 11 - On the Head of a Pin 07 - Yellow Fever 03 - Death Takes a Holiday Sent to Hell with No Hope of an Angel Rescue Criss Angel Is a Douchebag Family Remains Metamorphosis Sex and Violence I Know What You Did Last Summer Heaven and Hell After School Special It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester The Rapture When the Levee Breaks Jump the Shark Lucifer Rising

MTE, miles2go. This coincides with Moffat's constant emphasis on DW as a children's/family show. They used Clara to represent acceptance of the new, older Doctor, and it seems to be continuing with that concept for the time being.

WHOA. You just simultaneously blew my mind and made me (almost) totally okay with the end of this episode. If it's the toy soldier with no gun that's the focal point, and it becomes representative of both Danny Pink and the Doctor, it can do that only via the TARDIS, and a personal counterpart to provide the meaning behind the gift. That person can't be Danny or the Doctor (since they're the ones being impacted for generations), so it HAS to be Clara. That soldier as the focal point is much more subtle and thought-provoking and has a longer-lasting impact (at least on me). Tempted to delete my previous remarks - this idea is so much more on-target.

I think it might be the fact that she hooked herself back up to the "telepathic circuit" out whatever it was that she had her fingers in before when they ended up in Danny's timeline because she was thinking about him, and assumed they'd go back to Danny's timeline even though she was thinking about the Doctor. So yes, the TARDIS did fly there, but the only reason it flew anywhere was because she was trying to fly it. And then she got out of the TARDIS, still assuming she was interacting with young Danny again, then got caught under the bed -- and then, after basically instigating the Doctor's nightmare about something under the bed, didn't just leave. Instead, she sat there, gave him a big speech while stroking his head as she slept, then when she finally got back in the TARDIS she ordered the (very much adult) Doctor to "do as you're told." It's not much that they ended up in the Doctor's childhood, it's Clara's actions that led and kept them there. I'm not necessarily a Clara-hater (although I've never been a huge fan of the character), but it was frustrating to have this creepy, interesting, provoking episode devolve into more of "the Doctor has these thoughts/feelings and took this action LITERALLY because Clara told him to." Yes, I want the Doctor's companion to help be his moral barometer and encourage him to do good even when that doesn't seem to be an option. No, I don't want the Doctor's companion to literally be the one calling the shots.

Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester + Monster Movie -- Yellow Fever -- 35 - Lazarus Rising 25 - The Monster at the End of This Book 25 - In the Beginning 19 - Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester 17 - Wishful Thinking 15 - Monster Movie 16 - It's a Terrible Life 14 - On the Head of a Pin 10 - Yellow Fever 07 - Death Takes a Holiday Sent to Hell with No Hope of an Angel Rescue Criss Angel Is a Douchebag Family Remains Metamorphosis Sex and Violence I Know What You Did Last Summer Heaven and Hell After School Special It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester The Rapture When the Levee Breaks Jump the Shark Lucifer Rising

-- Monster Movie -- It's a Terrible Life + Wishful Thinking 35 - Lazarus Rising 27 - The Monster at the End of This Book 25- In the Beginning 19 - It's a Terrible Life 19- On the Head of a Pin 19 - Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester 19 - Wishful Thinking 17 - Monster Movie 15 - Yellow Fever 11 - Death Takes a Holiday Sent to Hell with No Hope of an Angel Rescue Criss Angel Is a Douchebag Family Remains Metamorphosis Sex and Violence I Know What You Did Last Summer Heaven and Hell After School Special It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester The Rapture When the Levee Breaks Jump the Shark Lucifer Rising

Smackle: I'm confused. Riley: We can put you back. Smackle: Oh, I'm not going back. (Looks at nail polish) I'm not that confused.

Shame I found this game three a half seasons in (since I only watched seven), but I'm still totally up for this. Death Takes a Holiday -- Wishful Thinking ++ Lucifer Rising -- 35 - Lazarus Rising 31 - The Monster at the End of This Book 25- In the Beginning 25 - It's a Terrible Life 21- On the Head of a Pin 19 - Monster Movie 17 - Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester 17 - Yellow Fever 17 - Wishful Thinking 15 - Death Takes a Holiday 05 - Lucifer Rising 01- Jump the Shark Sent to Hell with No Hope of an Angel Rescue Criss Angel Is a Douchebag Family Remains Metamorphosis Sex and Violence I Know What You Did Last Summer Heaven and Hell After School Special It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester The Rapture When the Levee Breaks

I think "Renegade" gets the official credit for turning me on to my slight obsessions with Classic Rock in general (and Styx in particular). I've always been really into harmonies and guitars, and I honestly don't know how I went as long as I did before hearing this song. But the end of "Nightshifter" did it for me. Forever dead. I'm gonna be completely honest: I broke up with the show near the end of Season 7. I just couldn't take the frustration anymore. Slowly got sucked back in by some Season 9 recaps that sparked the tiniest bit of nostalgia in me -- and then for some idiotic reason I decided to tune in for the last 15 minutes of the S9 finale. I knew enough to know essentially what was going on but not to be completely emotionally invested in the outcome. But man oh man even I could recognize the emotional napalm that was "Can't Find My Way Home" playing over the end of that episode. That hurt me, and I'm not supposed to even care anymore. (Who am I kidding? I still care.)

I had the exact same problem as you jah1986. I had watched all of Eleven, and then started over with Nine. I was really enjoying Donna, and then the "the gang's all here" approach to the finale, and then... Grrrrr. I had to quit my marathon for a while, and even when I started back up again I had to skip the first two of Ten's specials (finally got on board again watching "The Waters of Mars," since I had actually seen the end of it already). Still makes me mad just thinking about it.

So I've been trying to keep myself mostly spoiler-free for this new episode, but this little countdown kind of blew that out of the water. (Basically, I break all my rules for Olicity.) At this point the second episode of the season can't get here soon enough -- I need to get this season-opener out of the way so I can settle in for the long haul of the season before Oliver's little smiles everywhere squeeze my heart into a million tiny pieces.

Not to derail the current discussion, but I am finishing up my Season 1 rewatch (I broke down and bought the DVDs off eBay), and this time I decided to pretend that Oliver and Tommy both were aware that Thea was half-sister to both of them. Obviously that doesn't work for that first "Dude, your sister's hot now" comment, but after that, it's surprisingly endearing, and makes me sad that we didn't get any real interaction with the three of them as a pseudo-family unit. The scene right after Roy gets kidnapped by the vigilante-wannabe is especially sweet with that in mind -- she had one brother to take care of her while the other brother took care of the problem -- which I tend to think is exactly the roles they would have played in her life all the time. That dynamic would have been interesting to see.

The part where Dan Starkey discussed whether Strax would rather receive a dog or a cat as a gift was easily the most entertaing part.

From "Deep Breath": Twelve: Clara, what is happening right now in this restaurant to you and me is more important than your egomania. Clara: Nothing is more important than my egomania! Twelve: Right, you actually said that!

Aw, your headcanon is so much more endearing and considerate than mine. I like it. Handles FTW. :-)

I do believe (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that KC said in an interview that she was so excited about that scene and was she believed it represent that she literally could not stop grinning in each take -- that she grinning onscreen because every take they shot had her grinning like that. The result of course is that Laurel looks as though she's not really impacted by her sister leaving town with group assassins, the ringleader of which she recognized as having previously kidnapped her mother. Instead, she's just genuinely excited about the jacket her sister has bequeathed to her.

Questions 1 & 2: The big deal they made in TTOTD was that he needed to patch the outside call box back to the inside. They show him at the beginning of the ep having to answer Clara's call from the outside call box, when he tells Handles to remind him to patch it back through to the console inside. Which never happened (at least not onscreen). So at the end of TTOTD when she hangs up the outside phone, that makes sense. At the end of DB when Eleven is shown talking on the phone while inside, it makes less sense. I can fanwank that he pulled the outside phone inside the TARDIS so he could talk in private, since that's what he did at the beginning of TTOTD when Clara called and he was too busy to properly hear her request for him to be her Christmas boyfriend ("I never thought you were [my boyfriend]" my eye...), but I think it's more likely that when they shot that scene they remembered that he was on the phone but kind of forgot which phone it was. Which is why, much as I love Matt and appreciated the continuity of his phone call appearance, I wish we hadn't actually seen him talking on the phone with her. I guess they had to prove that it was Eleven encouraging her not to abandon him in his regeneration, but since I was slightly distracted by the phone location (and also by trying to figure out if that was still the same wig he was wearing when TTOTD was shot), I probably could have gone on his voice alone. Question 4: I don't think he did plan it specifically. I think he called essentially two or three days later on her phone (given the wibbly wobbly crashing about, plus two nights in Victorian London). I took it as a fortuitous guess rather than any accurate calculation on the part of a Time Lord in the first throws of regeneration. Question 3: I assumed that cell phone was destroyed when the TARDIS crashed in Amelia pond's garden. Seems like all those calls go directly to the TARDIS now.

I had to rewatch the episode to catch some of the quick little moments I missed the first time around, and in doing so I found this little nugget: When the Doctor has come back for Clara in the basement, and he appears to actually have plan for once (before they are once again surrounded by fleshy robots), he tells Clara to "say the word." When she asks what word, he says that "they" (Vastra & Jenny) would never have sent her there without one, at which point she her electronic brooch and they both say "Geronimo" (cuing Vastra & Jenny rippling down from the restaurant). The thing is, the Doctor had just left Clara all alone with half-faced robot man (a seemingly cold and heartless move). And she spent a long, scary while holding her breath until her lungs gave out, and then stalling and crying while the robot man threatened to kill her. But if the electronic brooch and the safe word are any indication, she supposedly could have been rescued by Vastra & Jenny at any point after walking through the restaurant door. But she never took that option. Instead she waited for the Doctor. Guess even if she didn't know him anymore, she hadn't completely lost faith in him either. (And since the Doctor she would not have shown up by herself without Vastra & Jenny attempting to protect her, him leaving her for so long is not nearly as heartless as some might have thought it seemed at the time.) Anyway, I loved everything with Twelve & Clara from the moment he showed up in the restaurant. Can't wait to see more of their interaction.

In "The Time of the Doctor," after Eleven has used his newfound regeneration energy to blast all of the Daleks out of the sky, Clara emerges from wherever she had hunkered down with the townspeople and walks through the aftermath looking for the Doctor. When she gets to the TARDIS, she notices the outside phone is hanging off the hook -- there's a lingering shot of her hand as she hangs it back up. She then goes inside the TARDIS, and when she finally sees Eleven she assumes that he's fine, but he explains that he has already begun regenerating. I believe the phone he made was after he blew up the Daleks but before she emerged and got back to the TARDIS. I seem to remember hearing some rumors back at the beginning of this year that Matt had phoned in for the show (I honestly forgot about until Twelve told Clara to answer her phone), but even if he didn't film it until they shot this episode, I'm pretty sure Moffat had planned for that phone call to happen in this episode when they shot TOTD last year.

I'm just reading along, enjoying your newbie journey through one of my favorite endearing/heartbreaking shows, when all of a sudden: Is melancholy glee a thing? My sister started watching our Newsradio dvds again (we go through them two or three times a year), and just... aw, Mr. James. :-)

I watched it last night. If it wasn't for Gillan and Cho I would not have even made it past the airplane scene (Why must there be visible vomit? WHY???), but it was fairly cute after that, if not incredible. Not a fan of the company boss at all at moment (hey, let's kiss an employee without his permission in front of all of his coworkers and then privately tell him it's "weird" that he doesn't have a significant other) but hopefully he won't be featured too prominently in the future. I'm hoping the show has time to gel as they're shooting subsequent episodes -- it seems like this one has the potential to get better and better as the characters develop. With an extremely difficult time slot and a premise that kind of requires a slow-burn progression, I don't know that it'll last the season. But I do plan to keep up with it while it's around.

I feel like a remake is completely unnecessary (my heart belongs to the previous animation, and even the '90s live action was good campy fun), but his voice is perfect for Shere Khan.

This is essentially what happened to me with The Fountain (although the fugue-inducing ending was longer than 10 minutes I think).

All of the above. I love the four of them as a platonic unit of "besties" (ugh, I apologize) looking out for each as they grow through middle school and into high school. (At least until the band temporarily splits up after Lucas and Maya realize that she is a much better relationship match for him than Riley could ever be.) That's the sequel to BMW I want to see -- a new group of friends growing up and learning to help each other become young people worthy of each other's loyalty and friendship.

I have sort of a love/hate thing for Farkle. I think the kid who plays him is great, I just wish he wasn't required to be !!!!!!!!FARKLE!!!!!!!! all the time. Or hardly any of the time. My favorite Farkle moments are when he's being an actual friend to the girls, or acting like a regular pre-teen boy. His tiny "pleeeaaasssee" when Maya did not want to pretend to be in love with him in front of his dad was way more endearing than most of the stuff he does when he's "on top of the world."