Hence my deep and abiding love for the wibbly wobbly timey whiney! Have not seen Part 2 yet, but I am looking forward to a nice Doctor Who escape later today.

Jessica, I recall that Gallifrey used to have something in effect (the Transduction Barrier?) that prevented Time Lords from visiting it prior to their last visit, which generally kept their interactions with each other linear, if not with even passage of years. Of course, with the Doctor and the Master zig-zagging through time frequently they probably cross each other's timelines a lot.

avoiding Who spoilers...

CW has already renewed almost its entire slate, including Roswell, which hasn't aired its S2 yet.

[link]

Meanwhile, if you would like to know more about Roswell? Ask me about Roswell.

I never got into Roswell but I'm glad to see some of the continuing shows. But I'm a bit ... confused? ... about remakes of Walker: Texas Ranger and Kung Fu. Maybe because a broadcast channel (Charge!) is running about four hours of the original Walker series every evening.

I loved the new Roswell! It was my favorite of all the new things. I thing the brand new stuff in general is way better than any of the reunions. The only reunion I really enjoyed was Deadwood, but I don't know that it was as good as the original seasons.

And now, have watched the new eps of Who. Really irritated that I spoiled myself by looking up the adorable secret agent on IMDB halfway through the first ep.

I enjoyed these two eps a lot. Dewan was fabulous and the way they revealed the relationships between the various antagonists and that who was REALLY in charge kept changing. Looking forward to how what happened to Gallifrey will play out this season.

I kinda don't care about Gallifrey? I mean, it was presumably gone back when we met 9, and I didn't really come to grips with it really being tucked away in a pocket universe or whatever when 12 got back to it (although that whole thing was pretty great) so now I don't have much in the way of reaction. Which doesn't seem right.

Finally seen part 2! I rather liked it, it was fun. The Doctor actually had an impact on this one Wouldn't fault the choice of historical figures (though farewelling a woman you know will die the next year in a concentration camp with "Good luck!" is maybe not the right note). After episode one, I had two main concerns. The Master was too much of a retread, and they didn't really lean into the James Bond theme enough. I do feel, if not entirely good about these issues, at least somewhat better.

I liked the Master better this week. Not so much in the early ep, when he was mostly a walking anger management ad, but as he was put more on the back foot he became more interesting. Iespecially liked how he broke the news about Gallifrey to the Doctor (both times) - for someone who started with insisting the Doctor have the good grace to stay dead when he kills her, there was something rather intimate in his "there are things you need to know" messages.

Oh! Also, a little character note. The Master is obviously a supremely arrogant character; from his very first story, one key manner in which this manifests is that he never really thinks his alliances through. (His first adventure is Terror of the Autons, where he helps the Nestene Consciousness invade Earth. Just as they're about to do so (via radio telescope), the Doctor persuades him that once in control the Nestene will just kill him off too, and he immediately switches sides.) He's misapprehended, been betrayed by and/or been unable to control his allies over and over again (I count five times just in Delgado's eight adventures). I liked seeing this aspect of his character getting some play again.

That reminds me, the aliens. Having now learned more about them, I actually think they should have been the Vardans. These villains are a bit obscure. They appeared in the Fourth Doctor adventure, The Invasion of Time. In it, the Doctor agrees to act as the Vardans' agent to facilitate their invasion of Gallifrey. Tom Baker clearly has a good time playing evil for two episodes, but sadly that's about all that the adventure has going for it. It's one of the worst of Tom Baker's tenure. To make it a six-parter, they stretched it out with a couple of utterly dull filler eps of the Sontarans invading too. And it's Leela's last ep and her send-off is terrible and she deserved so much better (she falls in love with Random Guy, apparently completely off-screen because there was no sign of it in anything televised.)

Anyway, the point about the Vardans (aside from their appearance, which once they materialise is hilariously boring) is that they were telepathic and could both monitor and travel along communication signals. That would fit pretty nicely with this adventure's theme, not to mention their own appearance, mode of travel and home dimension.

On the theme, that improved too. I mean it felt even less like a spy adventure, but they did throw in ludicrous Bond-like gadgets and an actual historical spy. More importantly, Barton's Big Villain speech did actually lean into the surveillance and privacy conflict that his company seemed built for. It's not a greatly profound statement - Rise of the Cybermen was making much the same point 14 years ago - but points for style.

So this one racked up some decent entertainment. And next week's ep was written by Ed Hime, who did my favourite ep from last year, so touch wood, this season could just be pretty decent. (In particular, the fact that this is Chibnall's last writing credit until the finale gives me some optimism.) I'll do a write-up about my concerns in a while.

I remembered the Doctor and Leela on Gallifrey running into some Time Lords who had abandoned the city and were living in more or less barbarity (back to the earth sort of, without the crunchy granola implications) and she found them more compatible than the city people.