“It all started out as a mild curiosity in the junkyard, and now it’s turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure…”
And so, on the 23rd of November, the TV show that has been such a huge part of my life – and of so many of my friends – turned 60. Now, I’ll grant you, ‘60’ seems somewhat less momentous than ‘50’ (despite being a bigger number), but the celebration of what’s now one of the BBC’s tentpole brands was far from diminished.
Continue reading “Happy 60th birthday Doctor Who!”“Letting go of the Doctor is so, SO hard. Isn’t it?”
(SPOILER WARNING!)
It’s been a strange Christmas for me, with my life changing so much so quickly. In the circumstances, a story about letting go and embracing change was hugely appropriate, and strangely cheering. Twice Upon a Time felt like it should have been momentous – not only were we saying goodbye to Peter Capaldi’s superb Twelfth Doctor, but also to showrunner Steven Moffat. In the event, I didn’t think it quite lived up to that; though if I’m honest, neither did David Tennant / Russell T Davies farewell The End of Time. Continue reading “Doctor Who: 2017 Christmas Special – Twice Upon a Time”
The William Hartnell Years
OK, here we go with Part One of my attempt to analyse the sexism in every Doctor Who story ever, using the Bechdel Test – and my wits. For a reminder of the rules, check the Intro here. A quick reminder of the Test:
1. It has to have two named female characters
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man.
Here goes…
“CS Lewis meets HG Wells meets Father Christmas. That’s the Doctor.”
Well that was rather wonderful, wasn’t it? I’ve never previously thought of Mark Gatiss as a writer of moving character drama; sly wit, certainly, dry irony yes. OK, so he’s written a few Doctor Who episodes, but the best of those (The Crimson Horror) was determinedly tongue-in-cheek, much like his work on The League of Gentlemen.
Simon’s Incoherent Blog 