Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

No Justins, No Peace

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

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Reader Interactions

177Comments

  2. 2.

    S. Holland

    Loved loved loved it!!! Absolutely perfect!!!! Loved the storyline to get all 3 in…great fun!!!

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    It’s a bit of a cheat to say the other Doctors won’t remember (because timey-wimey), but it worked for me.

    And since Tom Baker was my original Doctor, I loved his little cameo.

    See? No spoilers.

  4. 4.

    Belafon

    All the Doctors!!

    I generally just enjoy the stories, but having all of the Doctors on the screens near the end almost made me break down.

    And for people who go “I stopped liking it after the old stuff ended,” sucks to be you.

  5. 5.

    Litlebritdiftrnt

    I absolutely loved it. I have to admit that seeing David Tennant in the role once again was my most fervent wish. When he got into the Tardis and said “I don’t want to go” had me blubbering all over again. On BBC America they are now airing Tennant’s final episodes which will no doubt have me also in tears. I loved all of the interactions between the three doctors, especially Matt and David.

  8. 8.

    NicoleW

    Just had to delurk to say that while it took me a bit to get into it, I loved it by the end. Tom Baker was my very first Doctor, so seeing him at the end got me all choked up. And hooray for the split-second shot of Peter Capaldi, too.

  9. 9.

    Johannes

    Magnificent. I pumped my fist in the air when Hartnell appeared, and the Curator was a lovely touch. Not to mention Capaldi.

  10. 10.

    Litlebritdiftrnt

    @Belafon:

    I am watching Tennant’s last two episodes and the first one Tennant comes out of the Tardis wearing a Lei and apologizes for being late having stopped off to do various things including “got married, Good Queen Bess and her nickname well let me tell you” fascinating that Moffatt includes Tennant marrying Queen Elizabeth in Day of the Doctor. I love the way how, as a writer, he manages to weave all the stories together.

  13. 13.

    Emma

    Every time — EVERY TIME — I promise myself I’m not going to fall for it, and EVERY FREAKING TIME I end up laughing and crying and applauding.

    And Jack’s wrist strap.

    And “oh for God’s sake”!

    And the Curator!

  15. 15.

    Joseph Nobles

    Favorite moment was Clara walking though the cell door.

    Hang on, does this mean the Doctor’s daughter is the true Duchess of Windsor?

  18. 18.

    hildebrand

    A tremendous show. Great ending. Wonderful stuff all around. Lovely interaction between the three – loved Hurt busting the chops of the other two for their various antics.

  20. 20.

    KG

    @Emma: a vortex manipulator, bequeathed to us by Capt. Jack Harkness upon his death, well, one of them.

    Also loved the line about not letting allies know they have it, “could you imagine Americans with the ability to rewrite history? You’ve seen their movies.”

  21. 21.

    Emma

    @MomSense: @KG: So many, many good lines.

    And the whole body-mirroring thing with Tennant and Smith.

    And the Brig’s daughter!

    Jeez. I’ve turned into an utter fangirl.

  23. 23.

    Ang.

    I’m a little sad that Tennant didn’t get to interact with Billie Piper, and very sad that Smith didn’t get to either. But otherwise, OMG! But Tennant and Smith together were brilliant.

    Starting out with the original opener! And Trotter’s Lane! And the split second of Capaldi! GAH!

    And Baker’s cameo had me in tears. Absolute perfection.

  32. 32.

    MomSense

    @Violet:

    Not great but much better than before.

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    Turns out my Dad was a fan of the original Who and I didn’t know it. He’s having surgery next month so I’m going to take some time off from work so we can have a marathon Who watching recuperating party.

  36. 36.

    Bart

    It was OK, but it was weak sauce that they removed the dark period from the Doctor’s timeline, especially considering that this was the same solution applied to Donna Noble. And they completely forgot about the alien-UNIT stand-off…

  37. 37.

    cckids

    @Belafon:

    And for people who go “I stopped liking it after the old stuff ended,” sucks to be you.

    This. I get having your favorite Doctor, but . . how do you just not like the newer stuff?

    My fave is #9 :)

  38. 38.

    lol

    @Bart:

    The Zygon stuff wasn’t really the point – the Doctors set them up to resolve their difference peacefully so we assume that happens. What’s important is the War Doctor saw his future was in good hands.

  39. 39.

    Fergie

    Loved loved loved every part of it. I saw it in a theater with a whole crowd of “my people” lol. Yes yes yes to all comments.
    Fergie

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Bart:

    Well, sort of removed — as far as every Doctor but the Matt Smith Doctor is concerned, he really DID destroy his entire planet and everyone on it. Only the Matt Smith Doctor and subsequent Doctors will know/remember it.

    If you spent 1200 (or whatever) years regretting a horrible thing that you did, does it really instantly fix everything to find out much later that you may be able to reverse it? The reversal is not going to change the previous 1200 years when you believed you had done it.

  41. 41.

    Cain

    I’ve never watched Doctor Who. I don’t even know what the hell it’s about. What is this vs all the other shows?

  42. 42.

    scav

    @cckids: And contrary-wise, wobbly sets sans CGI utterly don’t matter. The Tardis exploding in The Mind Robber was entirely a moment for me — and not for the bit most pick up on. Other chunks of that episode rank very high on my overall list and it was a cheapy in the age of low budgets.

  43. 43.

    Ken

    Loved it, especially the cameo (Baker was my first Doctor). But I feel a little sorry for the people at the Doctor Who wiki, who have a heck of a lot of re-numbering to do.

    Also loved last night’s “Adventures in Time and Space.”

    Though I will admit to one peeve – the publicity kept talking about “50 years of Doctor Who”. Technically correct, but by the same logic we could have 50 years of “My Mother the Car” if we can organize a series revival in a couple of years.

  45. 45.

    PurpleGirl

    @Emma:

    Jeez. I’ve turned into an utter fangirl.

    Is there something wrong with that?

    I watch kitten cams and cat shows on Animal Planet. Without even having a cat, I’ve become a CCL (Crazy Cat Lady) and I love it.

    In general, has everyone played the game on Google? It’s a great Google Doodle.

  47. 47.

    scav

    @KG: There’s a continuity in other media and attention that also counts. (Whether it counts enough is left to personal fist-fights.) When was that Red Nose Multiple Doctor thing that Moffett made produced? Who as a continuous phenomenon exists, there is the multi-generational thing going, esp in UK.

  48. 48.

    lol

    @KG:

    Seven had some 50 plus novels (The New Adventures) in the early 90s, one of which was adapted into a couple episodes for Ten. Eight had another 50 odd novels (Eighth Doctor Adventures) after the TV movie and there’s 80 or so novels (Missing Adventures, Past Doctor Adventures) spread amongst the rest. A few of the writers of the novels are writing for the show, notably Russell T Davies and Paul Cornell.

    And that’s not even getting into the audios – mostly the Eighth but there’s done a bunch for Fourth through Seventh. Colin Baker Sixth Doctor has legitimately come into his own thanks to the audios. Really shows that it wasn’t his fault the stories were so dire.

  49. 49.

    Emma

    @lol: BBC Radio Four Extra has been running the radio plays from the 60s and 70s all past week. And they had the guy who played Ian Chesterton reading the first novel, which of course, was about the Daleks.

    The Doctor has always been around, one way or another.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    All, right, I admit it, my real peeve is the lost episodes. The rest is displacement.

    I have a sudden intuition that we’ve just seen the origin of a new topic for endless flame wars – is the Eleventh Doctor Tennant, or Smith? Ditto for Ninth, Tenth, Twelfth…

  52. 52.

    Litlebritdiftrnt

    I was born in 1960 in England, I grew up hiding behind the sofa sort of watching this show, through semi-closed fingers. The Daleks terrified me. I will never forget me and my sis tuning in every week to be terrified at the latest monster. The retrospectives have been wonderful for me because I remember the shows in real time. As a grown up the episodes look so clunky and amateurish to me now but as a kid growing up in the UK this was the stuff of legend. When they brought the series back in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston it was a revelation. I was transfixed and I have to admit I have been transfixed ever since. I am the sort of person who salivates for every new episode and latches on to everything Whovian. Recently as I was over at the Superior Courthouse I noticed that one of the Bailiffs had a TARDIS model in his little security hut, I asked him about it and he told me that his son works in CA in a special effects department that works on Who, he sent him the TARDIS, I was so psyched you cannot imagine.

  53. 53.

    Ash Can

    That was a whole damn big load of fun. Tom Baker was perfect, the glimpse of Capaldi (calling himself “thirteen!”) was delightfully done, and there was a lot more comedy in it than I thought there would be. A romp indeed!

    ETA: And kudos to Sarah PT for putting this thread up!

  60. 60.

    Dee Loralei

    @Renie: tell your son, well done! I tweeted it.

    God, I loved this episode, it was all that I love about the Whoverse. I’m only a wee bit sad that Eccleston didn’t have a bigger part and River Song wasn’t there at all, maybe she finally died? I was also a bit sorry David Tennant and Matt Smith didn’t get to interact with Billie Piper. But oh my God was John Hurt brilliant! I even enjoyed the show last night about the making of the original series, just wish they had gone into the writer’s room, especially so we could see how they explained the Daleks and the Cybermen and of course, regeneration.

    I had to watch Bob Stoops become the winningest Coach in OU history first, but then watched Dr Who.

    And ya know what? I’m gonna watch the replay tonight. Or the Re-Tardis, as NotMax said above.

  62. 62.

    KG

    @Dee Loralei: given that the Christmas special is supposed to be the next regeneration, I suspect that episode will start with 11 (or is he now 12?) giving River his sonic…

  64. 64.

    lamh36

    I’ve only ever watched the Tennant years. Of Dr Who and I’ll admit to not completely watching EVERY episode. So I’m completely lost when it comes to these “compilation” episodes.

    But I do thank Dr Who for turning me on to Torchwood and Capt Jack. Now Torchwood I hhave seen every ep, even the short US cable series

  67. 67.

    jenn

    Hey, this is utterly off-topic, but I just saw Ruemara’s Post of Despair about her final camera giving up the ghost. I was just looking at my old camera last night, that I adored so much I haven’t been able to get rid of, and only replaced because I thought I’d lost it – I’d have to check to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid like leave the batteries in it (yes, that is the voice of experience), but assuming I wasn’t stupid, I’d be happy to send it to her – I’ll pop back later today to see if she’s around, but if she comes back, could folks pass the offer along to her? Thanks! (Disclaimer: it’s not a professional grade camera, but it can be rigged up with a teleconverter/filters, etc.)

  68. 68.

    ruemara

    Haven’t seen it yet but the local Whovians were certainly excited at the theater. It sounds like a grand time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see it later.

  73. 73.

    scav

    @scav: Forgot a bit so will do it properly as I finished watching Try here, I omitted the tv in the above, mea maxima!

    Also getting intermittent errors here too, but it worked twice for me

  77. 77.

    KG

    @Time Travelin: there’ve been mixed reports. Basically, the one thing they all agree on was he had a one year deal and they didn’t know if the show would work again (having seen an adventure in space and time, that’s a bit funny).

  78. 78.

    droog

    The best line was definitely delivered by The Queen.

    “…at the time so did the zygon”.

    Because it’s badass and EDUKATIONAL.

  79. 79.

    Yatsuno

    Coming in, saying hi dear to Sister Sarah cause luvvers her, then ducking back out. Not on for three more hours yet.

  80. 80.

    A Humble Lurker

    @Time Travelin:
    I loved Tennant, but to this day I wish 9 had gotten more time. Loved how different he was from Tennant and Smith, both of which I had seen a little of before I started watching the reboot in earnest.

  81. 81.

    lamh36

    Since I’m NOT a Who-phile, I basically don’t know much of any history going on. So I’m watching as a novice. Knowing how much people love the series, I’m a keep my “review” to myself.

  84. 84.

    Barney

    On the BBC’s spare channel (BBC Three), they showed a post-episode party (lots of old assistants, fans etc.) – live. And they tried to do a transatlantic linkup with One Direction somewhere in the USA – I have no idea why. It was the most hilariously botched linkup I’ve ever seen. There was a delay of about 5 seconds, with the audio from the UK clearly audible again after that 5 seconds – and then again after another 5 seconds, along with the attempt to answer that, by which time the UK were trying to tell them there was a delay problem, so that clashed with the next repeat of what they originally said, and the first reply repeated – until, after about a minute, you were hearing about 6 different things at once.

    For a programme about time travel, the irony was superb. They gave up, with most people who didn’t have to try to get it working laughing.

  85. 85.

    jnfr

    We’re both sitting around watching it again now.

    Yeah, some plotline fuzziness but nothing that I minded much. Mostly it held together well structurally, and the emotional impact was fantastic. Plus: whole new plotlines ahead with major change-up of how we see the entire world of the Doctor.

    I loved it.

  89. 89.

    MomSense

    In the scene where Ten and Eleven pull out their sonic screwdrivers–Tennant says “compensating?” about the larger screwdriver. Missed that the first time–very cute.

    I loved Tennant and hated to see him leave the show but Smith won me over. Really couldn’t choose one over the other.

  90. 90.

    Time Travelin

    @MomSense: Very happy with Smith. But Tennant is still my favorite. I loved how he repeated his final line near the end, “I don’t wanna go”.

  91. 91.

    Higgs Boson's Mate (Crystal Set)

    No TV so I didn’t see the show. I’d been a fan of the series off and on since Tom Baker. David Tennant was my favorite Dr. Who. He seemed to be enjoying himself so much. I stopped watching shortly after he left. Not a knock on his successor, I just missed Tennant’s zest for being Dr. Who.

  94. 94.

    Mike in NC

    @Baud:

    OT PSA: A deal of some sort reached with Iran. Prez talking at 10:15 eastern.

    If Iranians don’t give up their nukes, they’ll all be forced to watch Dr. Who and Duck Dynasty.

  98. 98.

    Culture of Truth

    I thought it was a terrific episode. (and I can be harsh). Think Tennant is a better actor and doctor.

    With this Iran deal Obama is just trolling the very concerned media.

  99. 99.

    The Sheriff's A Ni-

    I’ll repeat what I said elsewhere: It wasn’t perfect, but it was magnificent. I’ll be in a theater on Monday to watch again on the big screen.

  101. 101.

    max

    With this Iran deal Obama is just trolling the very concerned media.

    And may possibly cause Bibi to have a heart attack and die.

    max
    [‘That would be…awful. Yes. Awful. Just awful.’]

  102. 102.

    ruemara

    I did it, I fixed it. I cleaned every contact and pulled everything out and used some funky reboot I found on a DIY site. I don’t know if a “fuck you, Universe” or if-well, it’s probably mandatory, since the car’s speedometer is now not working and I can’t tell how fast I’m going and that I have no idea how to fix & the universe loves destroying me by inches, but dammit, I fixed it and I can film the rest of project again. And, I’m just in time for Day of the Doctor, so good cheer all around. By the by, can speedometers be replaced?

  103. 103.

    Caladan

    I’m curious as to how #4 got old? Do time lords revisit old incarnations at the end of their natural lives? He said maybe you’ll revisit a few in the future, but just the favorites.

  105. 105.

    Baud

    @scav:

    Lookup to important to MSNBC to preempt. I’m forced to watch Blitzer.

    Good thing I don’t have nuclear weapons right now.

  106. 106.

    Belafon

    @Culture of Truth: I think David was a good Pierce Brosnan style Doctor – rarely makes major mistakes – and Matt is a better Daniel Craig style doctor – more prone to anger and not having everything go his way. I never did think David did angry very well.

  107. 107.

    PaulW

    I loved the fact that this all happened at the same time the U.S. is brokering a deal with Iran. I like to think that the negotiators were all watching the episode and crying their eyes out saying “Oh, if the Doctor can save everybody, maybe we can too!”

  108. 108.

    Joseph Nobles

    @Caladan: I’m not sure he was officially the Fourth there. That whole “I’m you” speech just sounded like Moffat saying, dammit, we’re putting Tom Baker in this thing and continuity can go hang. And I quite agree.

  110. 110.

    David Koch

    @Baud:

    OT PSA: A deal of some sort reached with Iran. Prez talking at 10:15 eastern.

    This is Obama’s secret bombing of Cambodia Paula Jones!

  111. 111.

    PaulW

    @Caladan:

    It was established in the “Time Crash” mini-episode, with Five and Ten saving the TARDIS from a massive Belgium-sized explosion, that the incarnations of the Doctor do age relative to the appearance they last had before regeneration. Something to do with the current Doctor’s temporal perception. It’s a lazy way to explain how the actors get so old (dear God, Davison’s hair is thinning out like you wouldn’t believe).

  114. 114.

    David Koch

    “Iranian people’s vote for #moderation & constructive engagement + tireless efforts by negotiating teams are to open new horizons” ~ Hassan Rouhani

  116. 116.

    Geoduck

    @scav: The Five Doctor(ish) Reboot was quite amusing. I particularly liked the “Dalek Operators Quarterly” prop-gag.

    And I enjoyed the actual episode too. My only real regret is that Eccleston didn’t suck it up and do a cameo. (I think having four of them bouncing around as main characters would have been a bit much.)

  117. 117.

    scav

    @PaulW: Davidson’s hair works well with his rumpled Last Detective style — possibly less Tardis friendly to some. The whole bit of Doctors aging does go a bit necessarily timey-wimey though. Paul’s Doctor in the Night of the Doctor was all on his lonesome. [ETA and aged, rather nicely] Good to see him back too, although with him, it is so utterly the voice I’ve latched onto of course. They captured his lines in the dialog though.

  119. 119.

    David Koch

    I just bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate #Iran deal. A victory for peace & security. It is a momentous night. ~ Joe Cirincione, President of Ploughshares Fund.

  120. 120.

    David Koch

    US negotiators tried to add Alex Rodriguez to deal with #Iran for a weapon to be named later, but Teheran nixed it.

  121. 121.

    Baud

    Jonathan Chait ‏@jonathanchait 3m

    Under terms of the agreement, Iran will turn over its nuclear capability to Harry Reid.

  123. 123.

    jenn

    @ruemara: Oh, no problem. I know (or at least think I know) you’re ultimately looking for professional grade equipment, which this isn’t, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to make the offer to carry you over the interim :).

    Happy Who-watching!

  124. 124.

    ? Martin

    Wow, this looks like quite a good deal: [cnn]

    –The Iran nuclear deal halts progress of Iran’s nuclear program, provides for intrusive inspections and neutralizes Iran’s stockpile of 20% enriched uranium, a senior official in U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration said.
    –The Iran nuclear deal reached early Sunday does not recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium, a senior Obama administration official said.

    I’m guessing that the US will drop a significant portion of our sanctions.

    Bibi must be pissed beyond all measure.

  125. 125.

    David Koch

    “My brother called me from #Tehran, so excited, said he hasn’t slept all night like many others…Said will they really lift sanctions?” ~ Omid Memarian (Daily Beast)

  126. 126.

    scav

    @Baud: Six world powers and Iran are all conspiring to paper over a rocky tech launch. Interesting times. Why didn’t Apple call in this kind of support for its maps?!

  131. 131.

    ruemara

    @Baud: That should be get him laughed off the internet and out of office.

    @jenn: I was actually going to ask for your email, just in case this was the nail in the coffin, so to speak, for the cam. But I was afraid your camera would explode in the box just at the mere mention of heading to me.

  132. 132.

    David Koch

    This will cause the price of oil to plunge, a spike in the stock market, with prices at the pump dropping.

  133. 133.

    Comrade Mary

    Looking for discussions of Iran on Twitter, I was surprised to find that Morgan Fairchild has a very busy account with lots of retweets on political issues. A little more research and I found that not only did she switch from Clinton to Obama in 2008, but she used to date John Kerry.

    The More You Know …

    Also: Obama live here.

  134. 134.

    David Koch

    so what’s left on the President’s agenda?

    I think closing GITMO and an executive order on immigration and he’s done everything he ran on.

    It would be nice if he could get immigration w/ a pathway to citizenship through Congress, but Boehner is too afraid of losing his job.

  135. 135.

    Gin & Tonic

    Hey, didn’t there used to be a guy by the name of Cole who’d post here, write about politics and stuff? Keep threads from getting so stale?

  139. 139.

    catclub

    @David Koch: I suspect that oil is not yet released from sanctions – just my guess.

    Ruemara – if your car has a tachometer, you can figure out how fast you are going using that. I know that 3200rpm
    is about 70mph on my car – in highest gear.

  141. 141.

    Comrade Mary

    Chuck Todd saying that there is bipartisan support in Congress for more sanctions, not fewer, and that Obama should expect a bill that he HAS to veto.

    Then he wiped the drool off his chin.

    EDIT: Hey, they’ve got Ann Curry doing real news again.

  142. 142.

    David Koch

    @catclub: that’s true, but whenever tensions are either eased or heighten, the market and prices a still react. even when underlying petroleum supplies are unaffected.

  144. 144.

    Gravenstone

    Back to Who for a moment, David Tennant with a pony tail is such an odd sight.

    And I wonder if Cornyn actually authored that insipid joke of a tweet, or if it was merely some staffer assigned to churn out gibberish?

  146. 146.

    Mike E

    Fuck Choad puts his marker down on an Obama veto of some future bipartisan resolution that will double down on Iran sanctions.

    I’m gonna announce the date of the Rapture tomorrow.

  149. 149.

    Mike in NC

    @Comrade Mary:

    Chuck Todd saying that there is bipartisan support in Congress for more sanctions, not fewer, and that Obama should expect a bill that he HAS to veto. Then he wiped the drool off his chin.

    Not to be gross, but that probably wasn’t drool.

    ETA 145: ruemara

  151. 151.

    max

    @ruemara: By the by, can speedometers be replaced?

    Yes. How you go about that depends on the car. (And I’m specifically referring to the gauge itself – the sensor setup depends on the car, although that can be replaced as well.)

    max
    [‘Old car goes one way, new car, entirely another.’]

  154. 154.

    Hill Dweller

    @efgoldman:

    Right. Because Harry Reid, having pretty much rescued Obama’s presidency from TeaHadi oblivion, is going to let a bill like that pass the senate.

    Harry Reid didn’t have the votes to repeal the filibuster. He asked the President to do some convincing/arm-twisting, which he did. Voila.

    Nevertheless, I take your point. Reid isn’t going to bring it to the floor.

    As an aside, the twitter machine is telling me Sen. Cornyn said the Iran agreement is Obama’s attempt to distract from Obamacare.

  157. 157.

    ruemara

    @Comrade Mary: Pardon. I’m hopped up on glee and tea. It’s quite rare and I might be giddy.

    In my defense, the friend I went to see was very happy with her gift of persimmons and homemade dorayaki, so she promptly held them to her chest and pronounced that she loved her new boobs. I’ve suffered a bawd influence.

  158. 158.

    Turgid Jacobian

    @Belafon: You are a very different person from me. Anything Matt can do David can do better. David can do anything better than Matt…

  161. 161.

    Fort Geek

    @ruemara:

    By the by, can speedometers be replaced?

    Depending on the car, you might have a broken speedometer cable or a bad speedometer sensor, either of which are a lot easier/cheaper than replacing the speedo.
    Might be able to help diagnose the problem via email: fortgeek (at) cox (dot) net

  163. 163.

    Yatsuno

    So yeah, it was fecking brilliant. And Eccleson was sort of in it by proxy so he should have gotten over himself and just did the damn thing.

    When I got to the Tom Baker cameo, all I could think was Sarah Jane should have been here. Then I thought cancer sucks.

  165. 165.

    Walker

    @Caladan:

    That was not #4. That was a later incarnation of the Doctor “revisiting a familiar face” (his words exactly). We have seen that, in some circumstances, Time Lords can control the outcome of their regeneration. Romana does this after the Key to Time season.

  166. 166.

    Matt McIrvin

    Stressful jobs can wear you down, but I kind of wonder what Eccleston got out of leaving early. He was in the second Thor movie theoretically as the main bad guy, but his part was tragically underwritten. He seems to be getting typecast in cheesy sci-fi/action roles anyway.

  167. 167.

    Draylon Hogg

    @Caladan: Explained in 2007 Children in Need mini episode Time Crash where Tennant’s Doctor meets Peter Davison’s 5th Doctor that the timey wimey temporal paradox of meeting a future self hundreds of years older causes the younger Doctor to appear aged for the time they are together.

  168. 168.

    Draylon Hogg

    @Matt McIrvin: Apparently Eccleston had major issues with the production during his time as the Doctor and didn’t like the way junior staff were treated and the culture around the show. He’s an excellent actor with a great deal of integrity and really committed to his art. Also, he allegedly resented the BBC putting out a press release announcing his departure that said he didn’t want to be typecast when he’d said no such thing.

  170. 170.

    donnah

    @Litlebritdiftrnt:

    Me, too! I loved it, mostly because I adore David Tennant. Allonzie! I gulped when he said he didn’t want to go, too. Even though he’s been in other shows since Doctor Who, he’s still THE Doctor for me.

    I was sad that Rose was an interface and she didn’t get to see the Doctor again.

    This show was a lovely gift, and I’ll watch it again and again.

  171. 171.

    DavidTC

    Was I the only one confused by Day of the Doctor?

    Not the plot, which was clever and interesting, although I would have liked to see more of the time war to establish just how screwed everything was. The problem wasn’t that the time war was happening, the problem was that the time war was literally destroying all of history. They mentioned that a little, but it would have been nice to see some of the effects of that. We didn’t see any time travel in the war at all!

    Also, it would have been nice to involve Paul McGann a bit more. I know they had him for filming, he did that webispode thing with the regeneration, so I don’t quite follow why they didn’t use him somewhere. (Have him collect the other Doctors or something.) Actually, I’m unclear as to why they didn’t put that regeneration in the episode, also. Show the effects of the time war, show the 8th doctor uninvolved for too long, show him regenerate into the War Doctor…and then skip forwards years and show that even he can’t ‘win’ the war and the only solution he has is to destroy both participants so there’s actually a universe left.

    From what I understand, that’s the actual ‘history’…but I only know that because I watched the webispodes, and the every episode of the show. I’m not sure you could get it from just the episode itself.

    Anyway, my point of confusion was…uh, how did the Doctor and Clara get out of his personal timeline? Wasn’t that supposed to be some big thing?

  172. 172.

    nomnomnom

    @PaulW: Yeah, that’s not what was going on with Tom Baker’s appearance at all.

    It’s pretty explicit and it’s all in the dialogue and how Baker plays it–Baker, as the Curator, is a (far) future Doc who resurrected his 4th incarnation, an old favorite (“I never forget a face;” “I know you don’t;” “You might find yourself revisiting some old favorites;” “Maybe I’m you, or maybe you’re me.”) It’s not just physical, as Baker plays it EXACTLY as he played the 4th Doc. It’s not a mystery, or all that ambiguous really. Moffat isn’t going to expect the audience to recall Time Crash as an explanation.

  174. 174.

    Draylon Hogg

    @nomnomnom: I disagree but if that works for you, great. It was full of nods to fandom such as Coal Hill school, Kamelion to mention just two.

  177. 177.

    hartly

    Assuming anyone is still reading this thread, I’m gonna get flamed, and I probably deserve it, but…

    Admittedly I didn’t see the 50th Anniversary (I stopped watching Dr Who midway through Matt Smith’s first season), but from what I’ve been reading about it, it sounds as though the show just gave itself a massively self-satisfied blowjob. Frankly it’s been blowing itself ever since David Tennant inexplicably became a star. In the 80’s fans complained about John Nathan-Turner’s pointlessly mining the series’ history, but Moffatt is like JN-T on steroids

    Dr Who now has that creepy Star Trek thing going where the fans seem less interested in the actual stories and more interested in the show’s cultural impact. Thus we get tons of people – including lots of fans of the original series, who should know better – repeating that Craig Ferguson rubbish about the show championing romanticism and logic over cynicism and brutality, or however he puts it. Let’s face it, it’s getting to the point where Saturday Night Live could use Doctor Who in a version of the infamous William Shatner disses the Trekkers sketch.

    Dr Who started out as a show about a far from perfect or all-powerful alien scientist exploring the universe and narrowly escaping threats to his life, freedom, or sanity. That’s an extremely open formula you can work with practically forever, but it’s lost it’s way. It’s turned into a glitzy and smug soap opera about a perfect and invulnerable Jesus figure who just loves us humans to pieces and wants to hang out with us and help us with our personal problems. And it’s now presenting said Jesus figure as a role model to the world, rather than as an interesting but morally flawed and physically vulnerable hero we should be enjoying rather than emulating. By encouraging it to think of itself as a cultural phenomenon the world can’t live without, modern fans are just helping the show make a vapid spectacle of itself. Sure, you can point to its popularity as proof of its quality if you want, but then by that logic Walker Texas Ranger, The Brady Bunch, and The Love Boat were all quality shows.

    And now for the flaming…

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