OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLY: nu-Who season 8

I'm not sure if he was supposed to be Chinese..? Britain has a sizable minority of people of Chinese descent (including the guy who plays Chang), and since Missy's base of operations is in London, presumably she simply hired a local guy?

Sorry, I was speaking in shorthand: I didn't mean that he was supposed to be a Chinese national, but that the character has a name of Chinese descent but with some putatively Caucasian phenotypic characteristics. You can understand why I went with shorthand.

Well, the actor has a name of Chinese descent (Leung) too...

I'd understand the outrage if the character was specifically written as Chinese and they still didn't cast an East Asian actor, kind like what happened with the Avatar the Last Airbender movie... But that wasn't the case here, the character could've been of any ethnicity, they could've cast a white guy and named him Dr. Smith, and no one would've noticed.

I'm not being overly serious, just noting that the actor is clearly half-Asian the second time that's happened.

a white guy called Smith wouldn't have had the same "here's another huge clue about Missy's identity, yes you have guessed right" factor

https://wilybadger.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/chang_lee1.jpg

and of course, casting a not-entirely-phenotypically-Chinese actor to play a Chang in London could have gone much worse

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SIjosTqmWXM/Tg8506QFwsI/AAAAAAAAJoA/J--4tzyZdYU/s1600/Talons+of+Weng+Chiang_chang.jpg

^^ Chiang IIRC.

Good episode. I don't really understand Missy's operation - is it a public venture that is widely known, thus suggesting we are slightly in the future? Or does she have a secret Cyberman mausoleum in present day St. Paul's Cathedral?

i hope the latter

AKM is OTM above, re: "That was super fucked up, but that's why it worked."

Clara: mysterious journey from worst to best nu-Who companion, in a single season. Good work there!

Best Cyberman story of nu-Who, too.

Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel is underrated imo. One of the best examples of Who as action movie.

This needs a Danny update I guess

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkun73AYUt1qafmk8o1_500.gif

ok .. a couple of hours ago mk2 (11 yrs) told me he found the whole cremation reveal aspect upsetting.

his mum was cremated a couple of years back, and when that scene played, i cannot deny it, my heart skipped a beat due to an obvious concern.

Or does she have a secret Cyberman mausoleum in present day St. Paul's Cathedral?

seems to be inside her TARDIS - note the roundels on the doors as Capaldi leaves & emerges on St Paul's steps, and the resemblance of the garden in Deep Breath to a console room

although I guess now we figure that bit would have been in the li'l Matrix

seems to be inside her TARDIS

Ah, that makes perfect sense.

^^ Chiang IIRC.

Li H'sen Chang.

PS mark - hope yr kid is okay in the days/weeks to come, re this

D'oh, got mixed up with the episode title. I guess he's slightly Anglicized (if you will) if Chang is supposed to be his surname.

seems to be inside her TARDIS - note the roundels on the doors as Capaldi leaves & emerges on St Paul's steps, and the resemblance of the garden in Deep Breath to a console room

Ah, well spotted--that was puzzling me too.

THe other confusing thing is the Mistress yelling that the last time they met, the Doctor left him/her for dead, which doesn't really fit at all with either of the Master's nu-Who "deaths": is this a pre-John Simm version of the Master (although every other time the two have met, it's been consecutive in their own timelines).

But a great and super-dark episode. Not one I'd be showing to young children, but I loved it. Gomez is great--the Master as psycho Mary Poppins is inspired.

I should add that I was about 90% certain that Missy was the Master, but the reveal was still a wee bit chills-inducing.

Is this them softening us up for a potential female Doctor?

That and Clara being the Doctor in "Flatwhatever."

DOCTOR DONNA

In an episode where Danny kills a child and dead people are burned alive, I did think the protracted torture of Change before he died was a bit much.

THe other confusing thing is the Mistress yelling that the last time they met, the Doctor left him/her for dead, which doesn't really fit at all with either of the Master's nu-Who "deaths": is this a pre-John Simm version of the Master (although every other time the two have met, it's been consecutive in their own timelines).

Well, the Doctor left him with the other Time Lords, who would presumably have executed him... Perhaps, if s/he is in love with the Doctor is some perverted way (as was implied here), he expected the Doctor to come save him, and when that didn't happen, s/he felt the Doctor had "left him to die".

One big implication of the Master's return is, if he was able to escape the time lock on Gallifrey, why not the other Time Lords too? I guess they might still reveal that his resurrection as a woman and return to Earth are a Time Lord plot of some kind.

Seriously, all the people questioning how barking The Master's plot is here need to watch Time-Flight then report back.

So far The Master has escaped from a black hole, been trapped with the cheetah people on a destroyed planet, been executed by the daleks, been sucked into the Eye of Harmony (these last two in the same story, and how unlucky to end up in a black hole twice!), been shot and "refused to regenerate" and was then burned (which Series 6 clearly states makes a Time Lord 100% genuinely dead, no comebacks), and possibly (there's actually no evidence he ends up in the same place as Rassilon) gets sucked into a pocket universe and/or black hole (third time's a charm!). He's also overcome the mythical regeneration threshold at least twice, turned into a magic snake, been a ghost and become a weird glowing skeleton that shoots laser beams. There's enough handwaving there to take off - so I really don't need to know how he turned into Michelle Gomez any more than a throwaway line of dialogue.

There's an encounter between Matt Smith Doctor and the Master in the officially licensed IDW series Prisoners of Time. I know, I know, canon.

I'll admit, all the stuff about "you deserted me" did make me think it was either The Rani (particularly since the plot was biology based) or an insane Romana - which was a very, very strong rumour.

I'm assuming that the little boy time lord Clara visited WAS the doctor? After all, if she's somehow a tool of missy's , then she'd be intertwined with The master's timeline too--and we have seen him as a little boy before

It's also interesting to see where the Misstress's plot goes next... an invasion clearly, but it's not as if the Cybermen came out of St Paul's guns blazing. People seemed unfazed by the whole thing - it was just the Doctor freaking out. So presumably she's going to sell this as the resurrection of loved ones, allowing the Cybermen to safely infiltrate society before turning on the 'kill' switch.

do we really have to redo the end of season 2 of nu-Who

this fukkin ruled btw

UGHH I just found out on Tumblr that not only are people slashing Missy and the Doctor, but they're doing it furry-style. /shudders

that seems... unnecessary

My favorite picture of the Master, with respect to his ability to return from the dead:

http://thepandorasociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/TheDeadlyAssassin.jpg

xp also I hope that helps you with the slash fiction.

Honest, I wasn't looking for slash! Just gifs of Missy... kissing the Doctor...

haha I bought the novelization of The Deadly Assassin solely for the illustration of The Master on the front; I had bailed on the actual televised story in protest at Sarah Jane's departure.

Liz sladen was really tasty in the early 70s. Not bad in the 5 doctors either though the show is

Missy's plan is pretty odd though... I guess the pretext is that Cybermen work better when humans voluntarily choose to get cyberized? Fewer mental breakdowns? As Aldo notes, perhaps one reason the Master/Mistress has never won is because their plots for domination are convoluted and stupid.

The BBC Complaints department have issued a response to complaints about the storyline in Dark Water which involved themes that some viewers found disturbing.

The following text contains plot details from Dark Water.
BBC One logoDoctor Who, BBC One, 01 November 2014

Complaint:

We received complaints from some viewers who were unhappy with a storyline about death and cremation.

BBC Response:

Doctor Who is a family drama with a long tradition of tackling some of the more fundamental questions about life and death. We were mindful of the themes explored in ‘Dark Water' and are confident that they are appropriate in the context of the heightened sci-fi world of the show.

The scene in which a character reveals 3W's unconventional theory about the afterlife was preceded by the same character warning the Doctor and Clara several times that what they were about to hear could be distressing. When the Doctor does hear these claims, he immediately pours scorn on them, dismissing them out of hand as a "con" and a "racket". It transpires that he is correct, and the entire concept is revealed to be a scam perpetrated by Missy.

I guess the pretext is that Cybermen work better when humans voluntarily choose to get cyberized? Fewer mental breakdowns?

The original conception of the Cybermen is that they're really satisfied with their improved bodies and minds and are offering this boon to their Earthian twins.

I'm probably thinking of the audio drama Spare Parts, the details of which escape me but was very good. And adapted for Rise of the Cybermen by RTD, but changed rather a lot?

Is there anywhere I can buy the Doctor's cool back punk sweater?

Everything except the overcoat and shoes seems to be by Paul Smith, so I'd expect that also goes for the sweater. I have a way of finding out for sure at the weekend, so I'll try, but it hinges on whether or not I see a particular friend at the farmer's market.

It's the black one with the white dots/holes/stars(?)

"a ‘press here’ button, which when pressed plays the legendary TARDIS sound effect."

http://www.bbcshop.com/science-fiction/doctor-who-series-8-bbc-shop-exclusive-blu-ray/invt/bbcbd0289

OK want.

The jacket's a Crombie as is the white shirt. He's going for proper mod/original skinhead favourites. Those Doctor Marten brogue boots are beautiful and I love that holey jumper. Also loved his polka dot shirt in Kill The Moon, very swish.

No, the white shirt is bespoke Paul Smith - the designer is a friend of Capaldi's.

Ah, fair enough, my sources were incorrect! Didn't think Crombie didn't shirts... I guess all the shirts are PS? Not that I can afford 'em, but maybe Topman/Asos will do a knock off (I have a polkadot shirt I like very much, but I want bigger dots dammit!)

H&M have a holey jumper : http://www.hm.com/gb/product/59051?article=59051-A