Mr. Simpatico

My favorite generation was Three into Four. I think it was a moment filled with true pathos with the Doctor dying serenely close to two people he (particularly in his third incarnation) cared deeply about (the Brig and Sara Jane). A great close for Pertwee's heroic doctor and he and Tom Baker shared enough features that the regeneration didn't seem too shocking. Especially compared with Four into Five with the Doctor surrounded by three brand-new companions and that whole mess with the Watcher (that hasn't been brought up since, really?) and Baker turning into a mummy/snowman before morphing into Davison. I felt sorry for McCoy too. I always thought if his Doctor had to go out it should have been the result of his some plan of his going wrong or something. Not shot down in the street and then operated on to death by doctors. Not his Doctor. The best death goes to Davison and the most dramatic changeover to 6. I just wish they had bothered in the next serial instead of giving us the horrible (worst Who serial ever) "Twin Dilemma" they explained that it was a regeneration gone wrong (which was hinted at and which most fans believed) thank to the aftereffects of spectrox toxin. Such a storyline would also have given Peri, the botany student, something to talk about for once. Worst regeneration is from 6 to 7. It's not just that Colin Baker refused to do film the scene (which I understand given the way he was treated and fired) or McCoy in the blond curly wig but the whole idea that the Sixth Doctor was killed by of all things hitting his head on the Tardis. It was a final insult to the character and to Baker and enough of a laughingstock way to die that Moffat mocked it (via Strax) when describing the various Doctors.

My favorite Doctor has to be my first - the Eighth Doctor with McGann. I still wish that had gone to series as bad as it was. And my favorite companion is one not seen on TV but Lucie Miller (Sheridan Smith) who was the 8th's audio companion in Big Finish (I've never met anyone who knew who Lucie was who didn't like her). In NuWho I have to go with Matt Smith as the favorite Doctor. He really seemed to be an old guy in a young man's body from the start. And favorite NuWho companion is a tie between Wilf (who's just awesome, as is Bernard Cribbens, and I wish we saw him travelling with the Doctor like Two/Jamie) and Donna (mostly because she was a breath of fresh air - someone who was up for adventures and didn't fancy the Doctor, very old school). Classic Who - My favorite classic companion is Sarah Jane. I thought Lis Sladen was beautiful and smart (and she continued to be so into her 60s) and Sarah Jane just had her head together at all times. Which is not the norm for classic Who companions and it always seemed that all the Doctors she came into contact with - 3,4, 10, 11 just adored her despite their shifts in personality. In terms of Tardis teams, I haven't seen enough of Troughton and his team (though I have a soft spot for Jamie and Zoe just based on "The Mind Robber" and "The War Games") but I really liked Five/Peter Davison and Nyssa/Sara Sutton. I think Five and Nyssa, both being outcasts and aliens (for different reasons) had the kind of chemistry that should have been explored (it would have been interesting to see a Team Tardis with no actual Earthlings aboard) and I know Davison himself felt his run would have been better had it been just him and Nyssa. Though I like Tegan too, mouth on legs and all. I don't think she REALLY would have stayed as long as she did if she didn't enjoy it.

I agree. I have a theory that guys like Moffat, Gattis and Davies (with the latter two actually writing their own novels in the Virgin Adventures book line featuring the Seventh Doctor) who came of age as adult Whovians during the 7th Doctor actually believe in parts of the so-called "Cartmel Masterplan" where the Doctor is not just some rogue Time Lord who stole a Tardis and has been travelling time and space but a being on the level of Rassilon and Omega in terms of importance in Gallifrey/Time Lord society and thus why in NuWho the Doctor has become basically the most important/feared/lionized character in all the universe instead of just a time traveller. So I would not be surprised if we do see the exploration given to his background (though not all of it) start coming to the front.

During one of the 50th Anniversary specials on the BBC (the one on the 5th Doctor) either Sara Sutton or Janet Fielding remarked that Adric and Turlough were part of the crew because the BBC didn't want viewers thinking that the young Doctor was travelling alone with two young female companions and getting up to "orgies" (it was said very tongue and cheek) but it was accurate as to the reason there were three companions during most of his run (which Davison said was one too many). Davison was told pretty clearly to be as asexual as possible. Turlogh/Five would have been the last male/male only Doctor companion set-up and we didn't even see that since Tegan left in one story and Peri was introduced in the very next one. I actually think Capaldi's older Doctor is easily a great opportunity for another long-term male companion ala Jamie. Someone who is not there as a romantic foil for a female companion (as Danny Pink seems to be for Clara and as Rory originally was for Amy). I'm thinking since Capaldi seems closer to Hartnell's grouch than any other companion than someone like Steven Taylor (from the future) would fit the bill. Someone who would question the Doctor on his actions and a different set of morality (this also fits Turlough but they never went anywhere with that). Despite digging in the past for everything else (including in this episode in his childhood on Gallifrey), NuWho doesn't even want to acknowledge even Susan's existence (outside of a picture on the wall on "Day of the Doctor"), let alone his prior family (which have from his own mouth as Hartnell and Troughton did exist). This despite Susan being the first companion, the only person known to have blood ties to the Doctor, the one he said he would return to (and never did in 13 regenerations if you don't count Big Finish) and Carole Anne Ford still being around and working. Even the Moffat-written "Night of the Doctor" webisode with 8/McGann had him acknowledging by name all of his audio companions - save one - Susan. I've never quite understood why Davies and Moffat never wanted to return there or even mention her name vis-a-vis Gallifrey and the Time War. Perhaps acknowledging Susan (and thus her parents and thus the Doctor's previous wife) would take away from the "specialness" of Rose and River Song?

Not very good. Capaldi is still mesmerizing (I love the intensity he has in even throw away lines) and the most important reason to watch but it seems like the story ran out of gas (or the writer just forgot the point) half-way through. So the “shadow” in the bedspread in young Rupert's room was one of his fellow kids, I guess? I dunno. The show gave up. But hey, let's focus more on how Clara Oswald apparently planted lines in young William Harntell's (I assume it was he) head that he will then repeat in the 1960s. Oh, and meet her possible descendant, giving her an excuse to be with Danny (and eventually leave the show) even though we don't even know if they have anything in common. It did bother me. From the minute she heard the word Pink she should have left that boy alone and when she figured it was the Young Doctor she should have left THAT boy alone. The fact that she's basically influencing what seems to be the two most important men in her life at the moment into becoming the men that they are by implanting thoughts in them as kids creepy. I like Jenna Coleman. I like the actor playing Danny Pink. I could see them having chemistry together. But the show gives us none of that. In two episodes we go from a meet-cute at work, a disasterous first date (which Clara basically has to do a redo on twice) and we go from that to snogging. Because apparently she finds out that Orson maybe-possibly is her descendant with Danny (although we don't know for sure)? This is how romances are developed? It's like the show wants us to see these two as a couple but doesn't want us to actually see how that happens (they could easily establish Danny/Clara dating off-screen when she's not with the Doctor) so we get Insta-couple! Thanks to destiny or some such. That's how it used to be. Davies (the man who created 10 and the obession with Rose) even made a point of it in the Sara Jane Adventures with 11, Jo Grant and Sara Jane. Jo is telling the Doctor how she waited for a message from him that never came and he tells her about her life since she left him. She marvels that he kept track of her after all and he just says “No, I never look back. I can't”. It was only 10 (and I guess it was perfectly in character for him) who checked on all his former companions before he died but before then he never bothered. Sara Jane just looks on with a knowing look. Moffat's Doctor by contrast will pick up, leave and return to pick up companions as if it was a matter of course. Why didn't the Doctor treat Susan (who he promised to return to and never did), or Jamie or Jo or Sara-Jane or Tegan or Peri (who's fate is still amorphous in canon) or Ace (who I would wager meant a lot more to the 7th Doctor than 12 and Clara Oswald) the way he treats Moffat's companions? It's Moffat's insistence that HIS companions are the most important ones that the Doctor ever had particularly in giving him a wife in River (ignoring the fact that the Doctor started the show as an elderly gent with a granddaughter so probably already had a wife previous) and now the Impossible Girl who has literally directed the Doctor in every incarnation and since he was boy does a disservice to the companions who have shared his life previously and then moved on (or died – poor Katarina who thought the Doctor was her God and died saving his life has not been brought up since Hartnell). I'd love to see River Song (so secure in her belief that she was so special to the Doctor) return and come face to face with 12 and notice he views her differently now but with Moffat it would probably be the same old tired quasi-romantic schtick and not take into account the new Doctor's personality. It all boils down to Davies and now Moffat's (ramped up to eleven) theory that the Companion, being the audience surrogate, is the most important character in the show and should be the focus. Something that wasn't true until from the time Ian and Barbara left to NuWho started. Which is setting the show up for a fall because after Clara has altered the course of the Doctor's existence since the beginning how can the next companion be even MORE special?

I think Davies wanted us to think Nine regenerated from Eight (and one of the first episodes of NuWho I think has a "photo" of Nine in Eight's outfit). The War Doctor was invented because Moffat couldn't get Ecclestone to come back for the 50th. I know most Whovians (myself included) always thought it was Eight who ended the Time War and they just should have had McGann play the "War Doctor" but listening to Moffat talk about how he doesn't think Eight could commit genocide (even if the Big Finish audios are clearly making McGann's Doctor darker as the Time War approaches) I'm now inclined to agree with him. And yes, as much as we talk about how Colin Baker was shafted - at least he got two full seasons. McGann clearly had a handle on the Doctor Who role from the get-go but had a TV movies (in which he was only in just over an hour). I do worry that the Fox version of it would have been terrible but I think given the big ratings in the UK, the BBC should have just transferred the show with McGann to the UK, bought out Fox's share of the ownership of the Doctor (although do they own him? - it hasn't stopped the BBC from making a mint in merchandising of books, comics. etc off the 8th Doctor for 20 years) and made a new series for a British-orientated audience with McGann. "The Night of the Doctor" was glorious (even if only because it made 8's Big Finish companions TV canon) and showed McGann could STILL easily play the Doctor in live-action today and given they had him regenerate at his current age there would none of the "they look too old" naysaying of the other living ex-Doctors. I could easily see say "Dark Eyes" or 8's adventures with Lucie Miller (and Susan! that other character Moffat seems to have forgotten that the Doctor said he would "return" to) being made into live-action. Moffat says he doesn't think the audience would understand if there were 2 different Doctors running around with their own series (neglecting Torchwood and the Sara Jane Adventures canons were also confusing with the main show) but I think that's a cop out. Audiences aren't that dumb - they know the difference between 8 and 12.

The TV movie was my first exposure to Dr. Who as a kid and even though it ran only once I never forgot it. If you watch it now you can see too many people had their hands in it. Fox, BBC, Universal and Philip Segal, the British-born Hollywood producer was a Who fan and fought years to get it back on the air. It was he who insisted that Sylvester McCoy come for a regeneration scene (something McCoy says now was a mistake and they should have started with McGann and saved the regeneration - via flashback or something - for a later date). The BBC apparently wanted Tom Baker to make the transistion - which made no sense. And the hiring of a name American actor for The Master was because Fox demanded it (as was the whole half-human thing) and Universal (who produced it) kept wanting to get rid of it and Segal was desperately trying to get another studio/network interested even at the last minute. But you can see parts of it that was inspired and even superior to NuWho. McGann (who was always Segal's first choice) was inspired casting, the steampunk TARDIS interior still has never looked better, the cinematography and direction was a huge step up from the BBC and even the "companions" (if you can call them that), Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso could have easily continued on if it had gone to series (and indeed both actors still do Who stuff like Big Finish). A wasted opportunity, mostly because they tried to fashion it to what they THOUGHT what an American audience would want (and Fox put it in a horrible timeslot) and it didn't do well (in the US at least, big ratings elsewhere). Speaking of Ace, ironically it was suggested she be brought back along with McCoy for the TV-movie and the BBC just said no. Sophie Allred has even commented she doesn't think (still) that the BBC liked Ace at all. Big Finish has done wonders with a lot of the former companions. That at least is the influence of NuWho, which has put the spotlight on them rather than the Doctor. When a Doctor tries to kill his companion within the first serial of his run and they never really confront that it happened (by the following season its like it never happened) you can never really get past it. I still don't get how JNT and the writers thought that was a good idea. Bonnie Langford is a professional actress (all her life) and she was given one of the most interesting introductions in all of Who. It should have gone somewhere. She met the Doctor before he met her. They first saw each other out of order (in other words Moffat copied it for River Song without all the obsession/"romance" stuff with the Doctor). Of course with Colin Baker's firing they never could show Mel's origin story. And by the time her first full season with McCoy came around, we're supposed to assume the Doctor's relationship with her is well established. Then by mid-season (in a season with only 4 serials) Langford wanted to leave and so "Delta and the Bannermen" (with Ray) and "Dragonfire" (with Ace) were basically auditions for OTHER actresses to replace her as companion. So I don't think Mel stood a chance even given the poor writing.

Colin Baker is a good actor. You can tell he's trying to do his best with crappy material and he was the first real superfan of Who who was made the Doctor so his heart was into it. I don't think the show has made a wrong turn in casting the Doctor in Fifty Years, even, as time as shown, McGann in 1996. If you read the history of the TV movie, some of those potential choices would never have worked as well. Though Christopher Lloyd or F. Murray Abraham as the Master over Eric Roberts would have been perfect. Well there you go. JNT knew the BBC was out to get the show (there was a reason it LOOKED cheap even in comparison to other BBC shows) and his idea that the Sixth Doctor would slowly morph from jerky and obnoxious to caring and soft was ridiculous as Michael Grade and the BBC was never going to give them the time to do it. And the scripts were BAD, Vengeance on Varos was probably as good as it got during the Baker era and yet for half that series the Doctor and Peri weren’t even around. It was a good idea to have Six be the exact opposite of Five (which is why they should have gone for C. Baker’s idea of a dark suit in comparison to Five’s light cricket outfit) as each regeneration tries to make up for what the previous one was lacking. Five was too human and reserved and…nice. Six was none of those things. But they went about it totally wrong. Peri’s not that bad. Nicola Bryant is actually a better actress than they let her show (or at least she has become one). She’s played younger Peri and older Peri with different Doctors in the Big Finish audios and they really give her something to do. I was listening to the Big Finish commentary for the audio version of “The Nightmare Fair” which was supposed to be in the aborted 23rd season (and feature the Celestial Toymaker) and the audio’s director was worried N.Bryant might not like it because the script (based on the original 1986 script) has Peri being reactive to events and basically being as useless as she was in the TV show instead of proactive as she is in the recent audios. It just goes to show that the companions really did act that way because of the script (which is Janet Fielding/Tegan's major complaint). Outside of Ace (and possibly Sara Jane), I can't think of a single companion from 3-7 who was given a major developed character arc of their own, they tended to be written out and in based on expediency - which is a shame.

I don't think Clara is a Mary Sue (she is not presented as super perfect in-universe) but manic pixie dream girl definitely fits. I was getting that vibes in her interactions with 11 (where she got him out of his post-Pond funk by becoming the Impossible GIrl) and last week with Danny Pink (shell-shocked former soldier gets asked out within minutes of this gorgeous co-worker, he refuses, berates himself about and she follows listening to him and asks him out again) and for 12 I guess she's supposed to be his conscience. What's weird is that Moffat's previous companions (Amy and Rory) were never presented as perfect and you could understand 11's attachment to them but Clara, the girl who has lived dozens of lives, saved and seen the doctor in ALL his incarnations (even the Brig couldn't say that) and was responsible for Gallifrey giving him a new set of regenerations - how can even the Doctor compete or argue with her? This whole episode was basically - "Clara is right about everything". I wonder if Moffat is trying to do what JNT tried to do with Colin Baker's Sixth. Make him deliberately overly arrogant and off-putting to the audience and SLOWLY show him change. Of course the BBC never gave C. Baker any time to do that so he ended his run unliked by most but the current regime at the BBC realizes Doctor Who is their cash cow and will probably give Moffat all the time he wants. Personally I'd love to see 12 show some charm and a softer side as well (and Capaldi has done it well- handling both sides - in numerous other roles). This episode was a bit better than the previous two. Gattis seems a superior "one and done" kind of writer than Moffat. I liked the idea of it though the execution was dodgy. Some of the Doctor's behavior just didn't ring true. Yes, I can see him being cynical about a legendary figure like RH being real but they took it way over the top to where he was just obnoxious about it. Also the Doctor KNOWS he is a legend in some parts of the galaxy already. This was brought up quite a a bit during 11's run. The idea that the Doctor (especially one who now knows he didn't destroy Gallifrey) still wonders whether he qualifies as a hero is strange. As far back as Pertwee the Doctor had no problem with taking on that mantle. I didn't even notice it till I googled why they didn't use Flynn or Richard Greene. Now that Easter Egg was well done!

I don't think JNT wanted to ruin his own product - especially considering Colin Baker was his idea but I can't see how any producer could let something like "The Twin Dilemma" air - especially when its the new Doctor's first full story after a popular Doctor has just left and you know it will be the LAST story (and thus what will remain in viewer's minds) for an entire season/hiatus. It's not just the costume (though that hurt and was another JNT idea - I agree with Eric Saward, the script editor, that it was hard to take Baker's Doctor seriously wearing that) but it was decision to have him vocally trash Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor AND try to kill/choke his companion (it was never explained why exactly Peri continued to travel with him after that). Throw in two twin actors who couldn't act AT ALL as the reason for the plot and you really do have the worst Doctor story ever. C. Baker was screwed from the beginning.

Big Finish also has a SoundCloud page where they've posted trailers and clips from the audios (and if you scroll down far enough - they've posted a few free full-length audios ). That should give a good taste to see if you'd like it. I only own a few (cause of money) but I love the Eight Doctor Adventures and the Sixth Doctor Adventures because Paul McGann and Colin Baker both got the shaft during their tenure as Doctor (McGann didn't even get that) and yet here they are given better stories than present day Who. Six is given a lot of good companions (including of course Frobisher, the talking penguin) in addition to Peri and Mel and develops away from the obnoxious Doctor of his TV tenure. McGann (who has a voice made for audio) has some of the best Who stories written today with Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew, granddaughter Susan Foreman (as played again by Carole Ann Ford), Susan's son (played by Paul McGann's son, Jake) and Molly O'Sullivan (the current audio companion). Moffat acknowledged Eight's Big Finish companions in "Night of the Doctor", I just wish he would employ some of the BF storytelling (which is much more subtle and character driven) in his own.

I was waiting for SOMEONE to reference it (if not Clara who doesn't seem to remember - then definitely the Doctor) considering it was a huge episode that introduced Oswin/Clara as a DALEK, that had the Daleks memories of the Doctor wiped and it was written by Moffat himself but nothing....Doesn't stop them from just reguritating the same old, same old though. The Doctor has been told before that he has the hatred of the Daleks and that he would make a good Dalek. It shouldn't come as a shock to him - especially since Twelve seems self-aware he is darker than his previous selves (hey, maybe Twelve is the Valeyard!). I liked Mr. Pink in the little we saw him. I thought his meet-cute with Clara was cringe-inducing though (and her standing there and listening to him while he berates himself for turning her down and then asking him out again was something out of a bad rom-com). I really am dubious if Moffat can do romance (the only really successful couple I can remember him is Mary/John from Sherlock and we never saw them actually meet). I get the feeling that not only is Mr. Pink related somehow to Journey Blue (this is Moffat who doesn't know how to be subtle) but that he's a way to ease Clara from the show at some point. I think they ruined Clara when they made the decision that she was the most "special companion ever" who has met/saved every incarnation of the Doctor and has lived countless lives and then decided..."nah, never mind" and just made her an ordinary Coal Hill teacher who is snarky. Either run with the idea that she's so special in the Doctor's life and let her be an ordinary girl from the start. Of course I think it was a mistake to go with this "modern" version of Clara to begin with - both Oswin the Dalek and Clara the Victorian Governess would have made for a much more interesting companion and the face they were so interesting means its not Jenna Coleman's fault Clara has become so blah but the writers. He seems a bit of Three (who despite his arrogance was probably the Doctor as his most "hero" mode) and One (who pretty much could care less and had no problem slugging humans or kidnapping them or hightailing it out of situations). It is interesting he is so "dark" and brooding considering that Matt Smith's 11 could be very dark sometimes (and Tennant amped it up high before he left) and yet this is the Doctor reborn with a new set of regenerations AND the first regeneration since the War Doctor to start as the the Doctor with knowledge he didn't commit genocide and that Gallifrey is still out there. He should be just a wee bit more happier.

I think part of Trenzalore and Eleven getting so old was Moffat trying to correct the Doctor's age. For some reason Davies had 9 say he was only 900 or so and so did Ten stay around the 900 number. Well McCoy's Doctor said he was explicitly 953 and in the expanded universe both Seven and Eight (given both doctors were off the air so had long "runs" in other media) were said to have long, long lives. At the same time the War Doctor started off as a young John Hurt and ended up as a old John Hurt and seemingly died of old age (something only shared with the First Doctor). Its very confusing. Having Eleven live so long, future Doctors can just say he's over 2000 (which is what Capaldi said this episode) and let others do the math. Or at least I hope that's what Moffat was going for and not "My Doctor is the bestest so lived the longest ever!".

I liked Capaldi. I think BBC under any regime has been pretty good at picking Doctors. Considering Moffat wanted an "older" Doctor when he was casting for Eleven I wonder if Capaldi's Doctor would have been what we would have seen if Matt Smith hadn't been hired. The writing was a bit of a let-down. No post-regeneration story has been that good IMO so I wasn't expecting much (the only one I can really remember seeing and liking was Jon Pertwee's first appearance - but even there we're not sure how long it was before he became Three). Writers seem to want to the Doctor to become nuttier and nuttier with every regeneration (although the "War Doctor"/Young John Hurt seemed perfectly sane in the one second we got of him in Night of the Doctor). I agree. Moffat wants to be one of the great Who writers (think Robert Holmes or even Davies) but he has all the subtlety of a brick. "I'm not your boyfriend", "he's old", "we're married". Again and again. Tell us things we don't already know. Even the kid viewers of the show don't have to be told this stuff more than once. I had a problem with this too. Despite telling Vastra she doesn't judge based on age, Clara just took look one look and said "Ewww, old and grey". It takes a literal last minute phone call from the former Doctor to get her to accept him. And she clearly did fancy him. A LOT. It was about as blatant (and remembering we're talking Stephen "No Subtlety" Moffat here) as its been with any Doctor/Companion outside of Rose (and more than Martha, who stayed and then left Ten because of her feelings). And despite knowing of his regenerations (even asking Gallifrey to make it happen) the minute he sees he's not young anymore (forget the face) she's ready to move on. If it wasn't for the fact that she's supposed to be our audience surrogate and we're supposed to empathise with HER (oh noes the Doctor old! - we need Matt Smith to tell us its going to be OK) it would be an interesting character flaw. I agree she showed more individual character than she ever has (outside of Oswin the Dalek or Clara the Victorian Governess who I will always insist would have been much more interesting companions than the "Impossible Girl" cipher we got). I like Jenny and Strax. But I'm getting a little tired of Vastra as currently written. She's smug, superior, arrogant and always seemingly right. She's like the Doctor without his flaws. She is in effect written as the kind of character classic Who (and non-Moffat writers) would point out as a suspicious or not a character the audience should like. I also wish the BBC would give Moffat his own Victorian spin-off so he didn't have to keep shoehorning the group into different stories. How long have they supposedly known the Doctor anyway to be so cool with his regeneration? Didn't they first appear in "A Good Man Goes to War"? Would they even know the Doctor with any other face? The new titles and new Tardis were a nice touch though, as was Capaldi's name-dropping Amy, the scarf he used to wear as 4 and the round things that used to cover classic Tardis walls.

Outside of Marco (who's dead) and Annie (who split) all the remaining top 10 members of the 104th Training Corps (the ones who get instant choice for the cushy life of the MPs) became part of the Scout regiment. I've always wondered - does that mean the Military Police got the second 10-20 candidates? And all other survivors became part of the Garrison corps? It's never entirely clear.

This is a good point. D&D seem to be making the Freys (who are collectively loathed more than any other family in the books) as Ser Dontos for some reason. Gone for seasons at a time without any warning only to come back into the story randomly. I don't think any Frey even appeared at all this season (nor did the Blackfish). It's not just Lady Stoneheart its that we've seen weeks/months go by in this season Westeros time without the Red Wedding and its aftermath having ramifications for the characters or politics of Kings' Landing. In the books all the smallfolk, as well as the members of the Faith are talking about the RW and believing the Freys should pay. I don't even remember if we had the Brotherhood's activities against the Freys mentioned (we certainly did not see any of them). The RW proved to be a major miscalculation on Tywin's part. Short-term gain but long-term disaaster for the Freys (more of whom die post-RW than before it), Boltons and Lannisters. Yet the show doesn't even hint at such an outcome.

My biggest takeaway from the finale is that for the second season in a row Game of Thrones had a chance to end it with a big giant "Holy Shit, it's Lady Stoneheart!" moment (and at this point that is as much a spoiler for the fandom as Rosebud being a sled) and D&D still didn't do it. Even though they know pretty much everyone knows its coming (are they going to save it from some random scene in episode 5 next season?) That's not even going into eliminating Tysha's real story, or the offing of Jojen (still alive in the books, no?) or making Stannis most triumphal moment in the books take all of two minutes of screen time and you get one giant clusterf!ck of a season finale. Also could the producers/writers (who are the same) make their mancrush on Tyrion be any less obvious? At least George RR Martin (who admits Tyrion is his favorite character) gives the character shades of grey here and there. Here you have a situation where in the books Tyrion straight up murders/strangles Shae to one where he not only does after a struggle with her but had her (out of something of the Golden Age of Hollywood Production code) attack first thus justifying what he's done. We still are never given a clue as to what Shae's true characters was. In the books, we can see that she's just a courtesan and that Tyrion has been imagining things that aren't there but the show has given us her attachment to Sansa and Tyrion when no one else is looking, no sign of the deals Cersei offered her in the books and not even an explanation (even Book!Shae tried to explain herself before Tyrion killed her). Has the show given up all pretence of following the book in the basest of plot points at all at this point?

Thank Your Lucky Stars is a guilty pleasure (though I know we're supposed to suspend belief about Joan Leslie and Dennis Morgan as nobodies when they were starring in other films with the same actors in the same year). My favorite part is Ida Lupino and Olivia De Havilland (really hamming it up) in "The Dreamer" jive song with George Tobias. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwf5FSuE1Xs This must have been done when they were filming "Devotion" (about the Brontes). I read somewhere that it was originally supposed to be Bogart instead of Tobias since Edward Everett Horton's introduction presented them as three of the screen's greatest "dramatic" actors (something nobody would have confused Tobias with). Also Ann Sheridan is just lovely and has a dandy singing voice. I think this may have been Olivia's last appearance at WB before her successful lawsuit and Ann Sheridan also went on a year long suspension during this time as well. So the studio tried to make the most of them.

I do get the sense that D&D aren't as impressed by Daario as GRRM is. He doesn't even get a sex scene and we then cut to Dany who is NOT obsessed with him after their night together. I wonder how this plays into the entitlement issues Daario feels in the books because the Queen is his paramour. I'm missing Oberyn already and the fight hasn't happened yet. Sansa and LF was incredibly creepy. I cannot not see Sophie Turner as the little girl she was when she started the show (and she's still a teenager and Aiden Gillen is still old enough to be her father). I have to think that's the impression the show wants us to have. I did appreciate the mention of Lollys without the insulting gang rape attached. And how they got Bronn out of it by staying true to his character (what a welcome change) - he's out for money and to save his own neck. The new Mountain looks much younger than his "younger" brother Rory McCann. I understand its a difficult role to cast but still...

I have no idea of the extent that any of this stuff will make it into the books but so far this episode we've been spoiled that: Sansa will definitely be a player. This was not the meek Stockholm Syndrome Alayne who slapped Robin or who agreed (seemingly) with Baelish about hurting those who hurt those you love. I'm convinced now that the "controversial" thing GRRM said she'll do in WoW is to kill someone (or have them killed). Unless its sex with Baelish, in which case, ugh. Shireen's importance. This would seem obvious since it was clear in Season 2 that they wanted to cut her out (with all that Stannis has no heir stuff with Melisandre) but later changed their minds. It has to be the Greyscale (or maybe her Targ Dragon's Blood). Brienne is heading to where Sansa is and knows Arya is alive, yet has of ADWD neither is true.

I don't think it would be terribly hard to introduce the Jeyne Poole subplot even at this late date. Basically she's someone who a) grew up on Winterfell and knew the Starks and Theon and b) who the Boltons are trying to pass off as "Arya" to the world to give them some legitimacy and c) this rouses the anger of the North and of Jon when he hears about it and d) it gives Theon a chance to redeem himself by saving herself from Ramsay. Given the number of non-canon characters the show has introduced (Ros?), Jeyne Poole (might as well keep the name since they didn't use Jeyne Westerling) is not a difficult sell to viewers.

The quote from Ann was about herself. MGM never gave her a starring lead even in a b-picture despite the fact that before signing with them she had headlined several Columbia b-picture musicals.

I remember reading a quote from Ann Miller that basically said that MGM never gave her a lead and always put her as second banana in every film she made for them and so she never got a break-out "star" role. It would have been interesting how Yolanda would would be regarded today if Miller had been the female lead instead of Bremer (and if LB had taken some of the lesser demanding secondary roles that were given to AM). I think anytime you see Marion in any of those historical dramas Hearst had her star in, you can definitely see her being "Susan Alexandered" since she is clearly out of her comedic element. The most obvious one I saw on TCM was "Hearts Divided" from 1936 where she played the historical Betsey Patterson and Dick Powell (!) as Jerome Bonaparte and Claude Rains as Napoleon. It's not a comedy, it's not a musical! It's straight drama with a major change in history (the real Jerome dumped a pregnant Betsey on his brother's orders, married a German princess and never saw his first wife again - but you would never know that by watching this movie!). It's dreadful and a far, far cry from Marion's winning turns in "Show People" or "The Patsy". I remember reading once some critic saying that if anything Hearst did more harm than good to Marion's career and she could have been an bigger star without him.

I like the changes too. It seems most people assume that Rickon was created because Bran will obviously never be Lord of Winterfell or that Sansa will eventually rule then North (this seems to be a favorite fancanon) because Bran will become a tree.Yet, it seems obvious the Bran has a lot of story potential beyond becoming the next three-eyed crow. He has the same name of the legendary Stark, Brandon the Builder (who's name has come up a lot in the books), which can't be an accident, his story kicks off the action of the entire series, he has warg/greenseer abiltiies beyond any other character, he could easily become one of the dragon riders by warging into one of Dany's dragons, he can see into the past and can contact his siblings in their dreams, he is the de jure King in the North and Lord of Winterfell at this point, his is a story of a boy who wanted to become a knight, is crippled, shows himself to be a humane lord beyond his age (Joffrey and Bran are purposefully opposite mirrors of each other IMO) and beyond his handicap. He has so much potential and yet GRRM basically has him stuck in the middle of nowhere doing nothing. So if the show does anything to improve his storyline I see they go all for it and make whatever changes will move the story along. Bran, Jojen, Meera (and Hodor) are too interesting to waste.

So I finally found where the TCM on TWOP thread went! I love Gene Tierney (such a sad life story) and like Dana Andrews, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price and Clifton Webb. And the Laura theme song but its not a movie that stands up to too many re-viewings because the plot holes (the gun was placed where?). I also thought Andrews's detective character, Mark McPhererson, is pretty much a creep, a stalker with a crush ("falling" for Laura without knowing her, basically bullying Laura to give up even defending Vincent Price within hours, giving her the third degree at the station just so she can admit its over between her and Shelby for his own satisfaction) and I dread to think what their future relationship would be like. In my mind Laura, given the character we've seen from her in the movie, dumps Mark quickly after the action of the movie when he gets too possessive. In the same way, Gilda, makes no sense and yet we watch it for Rita and Glenn Ford. Yet when we examine the characters none of them are particularly likable and its hard to actually see them staying together happily after the movie is over. I'm pretty sure this Desire Me, 1947 with Greer Garson, which pretty much destroyed her career as MGM's #1 "English" actress (especially with Deborah Kerr in the wings). I think it's the only MGM film of the Golden Age where there is no credited director since, according to the TCM article on the film, both George Cukor (who was fired/quit) and Mervyn LeRoy (who took over) didn't want their names on it. I thought so too. But maybe that's because Cagney (both the character he was playing and Cagney himself) were such good actors? Its tough to find any leading lady he didn't have chemistry with. And I wonder if Ruby Keeler would have a better reputation nowadays if she wasn't always paired with Dick Powell (who got better as he got older but in the 30s was still in his lightweight stage) and had a charismatic actor like Cagney to work against.