Divorced from the gravity of the unexplored repercussions of CoE, I'm squeefully glad we got to see Captain Jack! I miss him, broken bastard that he is.

Of course, we're all reading into a tiny blip of a story that may or may not ever get told, and in a lot of ways, it's terribly unfair to a franchise that's been remarkably progressive with both non-heterosexual characters and characters of color.

This may well be true. I suppose I have higher expectations of them because they've done so well in the past, which may mean I'm seeing issues where there are none.

ETA:

I'm squeefully glad we got to see Captain Jack!

Oh yeah, that was so great! And what a great setting for him that bar was.

There were a couple of South Asian-looking members of the Silver Cloak (I'm trolling for Tennant desktop pics).

This may well be true. I suppose I have higher expectations of them because they've done so well in the past, which may mean I'm seeing issues where there are none.

If you'll forgive me saying, I think this may be the case. If nothing else, the two of them have a HUGE shared experience, through the Doctor and their travels (never mind helping save the world), that essentially makes them part of a small set of people each other can probably relate to. Never mind the aforementioned action-ish types both have evolved into, and the likewise aformentioned hotness.

If nothing else, it's a story I'd love to see told at some point, although I doubt it will be.

Oh yeah, that was so great! And what a great setting for him that bar was.

I really dug on the Star Wars cantina of lost Dr. Who aliens. And while I agree (a bit) about the CoE reprecussions, it was hardly the time or place. The Doctor wasn't really about recriminations at that moment. He was about saying goodbye, and admitting that there are people he loved.

And that's really been the hallmark of this Doctor: the capacity to love. Which is why I so dearly loved the open admission that Donna was his best friend, and the callback to "Human Nature" and "Family of Blood."

I thought Chipo Chung from "Turn Left" (and "Utopia" under pounds of prosthetics) might be Southeast Asian, but it turns out she's from Tanzania.

My only qualm about pairing up Martha and Mickey is wondering what the hell happened to that doctor she was engaged to.

Yeah, I don't object to Mickey and Martha per se, but what about her awesome boyfriend?

For me, End of Time was a huge mess, plotwise, but successfully hit most of my emotional buttons. I think my favorite moment was seeing Jessica Stevenson as the great-granddaughter of Joan.

Random question - has The Doctor ever died/transformed alone before? Isn't there usually a companion or two around when it happens (Paul McGann being another possible exception here). I never saw the eps where Three and Four went, but I did see Five's departure, and he wasn't alone. And, of course, Nine was with Rose. I never saw any eps with the earlier or later original series Doctors.

Back on the subject of characters of Southeast Asian descent, I have to admit that I've not seen the current season of the "Sarah Jane Adventures," but the character description of Rani Chandra on Wikipedia does make her out to be both nonstereotypical and a progressive role model, which is great for a show aimed at a younger audience:

The Chandras moved from Danemouth on the south coast, where her best friend was an orphan named Samuel Lloyd. Her father is the new head teacher of the school where she, Luke and Clyde are pupils; her mother owns Bloomin' Lovely floral shop. An aspiring journalist, Rani soon joins Sarah Jane's investigative gang.

Does anyone know if they're airing the SJA over here? I detest aheming, and prefer to watch it in a regular fashion. Maybe it's on Netflix?

Sylvester McCoy was in a drawer in a morgue when he transformed into Paul McGann. The transition from 8 to 9 was offscreen, but he was presumably alone.

Does anyone know if they're airing the SJA over here?

They've aired several eps on BBCA.