Found the corporate sponsorship a bit jarring, but other than that I enjoyed the episode. I love Carter & Henry together!

Speaking for the don't-have-season-3-yet-spoilerwhores (whose duly elected representative I am), I've got to agree that Jo/Fargo charmed me as much as it made me giggle. Mind you, I enjoyed Jo/Taggart quite a lot too, actually - they were really rather well matched in some ways. I thought it was rather endearing in its improbability.

Also, Henry is made of awesome. And yes, the Henry-Carter dynamic is one of my favourite things about the show.

A rave review for DT as Hamlet. Which is nice.

Patrick Stewart is good too. In other news, water is wet.

God.

That production is the only reason I regret not going back home for the summer. Damn it.

That production is the only reason I regret not going back home for the summer.

Don't be too sad. I hear that, unless you're a member of the RSC, it's virtually impossible to get tickets. Even joining now might not help; they have a special note on their website:

We have experienced extremely high demand for tickets and, as such, most performances have limited availability. Joining as an RSC Member does not guarantee you tickets for Hamlet.

I had a momentary Jo/Henry thing too - but yes, Carter/Henry sunset moment - so sweet.

Also - I liked the Zane/Jo thing with the big gun - see, he does get her!

And didn't you notice that the nuclear explosion was PURPLE? I don't think it was just a nuclear explostion. There was more to it.

I'm guessing that has something to do with how The Artifact got there in the first place.

So I'm mainlining Doctor Who season 4, and I just watched Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead.

Jesus, that was good. I have to say, I am LOVING Stephen Moffat's writing. He gives great dialogue (which, alas, is not something one can say of all the Who writers - at times the lines are lacklustre and at other times they stray into bombast, which is a shame - really, I could do with a little less of this "He's like fire" crap about the Doctor. Although thus far there has been a lot less Jesusification, which is good - still, I far prefer it when they manage to SHOW us that the Doctor is fabulous, rather than having characters assure us/other people that this is the case. "Look me up" - that was much more effective than "He's like fire.")...anyway, yes - great dialogue, interesting and rounded supporting characters, clever structure, lashings of edge-of-the-seat excitement and OMG fabulous concepts. (And I should add how much I love things like having characters called 'Other Dave' and 'Proper Dave', with explanations. Thank you, Mr Moffat! God bless you, and all who sail in you!)

I loved the hell out of this two-parter. Now having spoiled myself to death already, I was aware of River Song - but I got the impression that there was some uncertainty whether she was supposed to be the Doctor's wife, girlfriend, companion, daughter or what?

People - SHE IS HIS WIFE. Blatantly. Blatantly blatantly blatantly this is a riff on the rather lovely 2003 novel The Time Traveller's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. The use of the diary; the language she uses when she's trying to figure out where he is in his personal timeline (and gradually realises it's his first time meeting her); the whole business of how strange it is to know him and not know him, and how THIS Doctor isn't really finished yet, isn't really HER Doctor yet; the fact that he describes himself as "a time traveller" within seconds of River Song's arrival; the lunchbox; the way she talks about him breezing in and out of her life so that their timestreams are disjointed (whereas most characters who've got a history with the Doctor have travelled with him for a fixed period); the fact that the first time (for him) that they meet is in a library; the fact that even after one of them dies, there is still a strange sort of lingering rather than real closure ...really, there is no doubt in my mind that she's supposed to be his future wife, with all these echoes of the book. (And, really, if one is going to be making literary references anywhere, surely a story set entirely in a library would be the place to do it!)

Now, whether or not canon will unfold in such a way that they get the chance to give us any continuity for this is a whole other matter - I'm thinking it's pretty damned unlikely. But Moffat's just too damned good a writer for all this to be inadvertent, so afaic - wife. Definitely.

And whilst I'm at it, I should also add: Colin Salmon! Still hot! (Although I do slightly miss his hair. Still - pretty, and what a wonderful voice that man has.) And I do love that in this episode the CGI - indeed, all the sets & effects - didn't let the script or the acting down at all. The whole look of the episode was just gorgeous, whether interiors or exteriors - and I loved the little details, like Cal sitting on her sofa with a wall papered with a tree pattern behind her. Great stuff. The whole skeleton-in-a-space-suit thing was wonderfully creepy. Also? God, poor Donna. It killed me that she missed Lee by a hair's breadth - smashing little touch, that. Very good writing.

ioDoctorWhon, I was also very taken with Jenny in The Doctor's Daughter, felt that The Planet of the Ood was a very good idea fairly well executed, was happy to see Martha again & enjoyed her interactions with Donna (and Freema made me cry for a bloody fish man, for fuck's sakes in The Doctor's Daughter - mad props to her, she really sold that little moment, in spite of the silly costumes. I felt so bad for Martha just then). (continued...)

( continues...) What else? Oh, bless Bernard Cribbins! Bless him! Wilf is adorability on a stick.

Meanwhile, Donna continues to be far and away my favourite ever companion, with the possible exception of Captain Jack.

really, I could do with a little less of this "He's like fire" crap about the Doctor.

I love the "He's like fire" crap!

"Look me up" - that was much more effective than "He's like fire."

I love that too, though.