Early: So is it still her room when it's empty? Does the room, the thing, have purpose? Or do we -- what's the word? Simon: I really can't help you. Early: The plan is to take your sister. Get the reward, which is substantial. 'Imbue.' That's the word.

'Objects In Space'


Boxed Set, Vol. VI: I am not a number, I am a free thread!

A topic for the discussion of Doctor Who, Arrow, and The Flash. Beware possible invasions of iZombie, Sleepy Hollow, or pretty much any other "genre" (read: sci fi, superhero, or fantasy) show that captures our fancy. Expect adult content and discussion of the Big Gay Sex.

Marvel superheroes are discussed over at the MCU thread.

Whitefont all unaired in the U.S. ep discussion, identifying it as such, and including the show and ep title in blackfont.

Blackfont is allowed after the show has aired on the east coast.

This is NOT a general TV discussion thread.


Beverly - Jan 30, 2020 3:40:06 pm PST #1511 of 2020
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.

I enjoyed S1 of Magicians, but there was just no coming back for me from S1 finale. I've continued to hear good things about it, though.


billytea - Jan 31, 2020 3:17:34 am PST #1512 of 2020
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

So, Fugitive of the Judoon. Given the title, the quantity of "fan-trolling continuity porn" (as one writer put it) wasn't a massive surprise. The handling was hit or miss; invoking the Chameleon Archwas pretty neat; on the other hand, Barrowman played Captain Jack with all the subtlety of the moral of Orphan 55. (The story was pretty much irrelevant, of course.)

Anyway, the big question for me is, where does Doc Martin fit into the timeline? I've seen alternate timeline put up as a possibility, but in that case, there's no real mystery as to why Thirteen doesn't remember her, so I'm assuming that's not it.

The main piece of evidence is DM's TARDIS design. The console is the design used by the First and Second Doctors. Obviously you could slot in Doc Martin before the First Doctor. There's very little we really know about their past. It would be a bit strange though, specifically having the Doctor working for some kind of military group. I don't see a straight line from Doc Martin to William Hartnell's character.

Alternatively, there's this peculiar fan theory that's been rattling around since at least the 90s, I think - Season 6B. Season 6 was Patrick Troughton's final season. It ended with The War Games, which ends with him captured by the Time Lords (their first appearance since the show began), to be forcibly regenerated and exiled to Earth (and thus begins Season 7). Simple enough; but there were some discrepancies. In The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors, the Second Doctor is carrying the Time Lords' water. In The Five Doctors, he knows the Time Lords wiped his companions' memories. In The Two Doctors, he and Jamie are visibly older. (Apparently "it's fifteen years since they were series regulars and the actors are human" isn't sufficient.)

Solution! In between his trial and sentencing, and regenerating into the Third Doctor, the Time Lords' Celestial Intervention Agency (yes, seriously, the CIA - it's canon, it gets mentioned in the Fourth Doctor adventure The Deadly Assassin) co-opt him to act as their agent for a spell (with his companions returned to him). Neat! And utterly daft, but fans can come up with all sorts of things.

Until the BBC published the novel, "World Game". In which the whole Season 6B malarkey plays out, in a book with the BBC logo on it. And it written by Terrance Dicks. Dicks, the show's longest-running script editor. He was script editor and co-author of The War Games. He commissioned The three Doctors. He wrote The Five Doctors. He novelised 64 televised adventures, wrote thirteen original novels. He is no fringe player, and he was heavily involved at the time.

So here we have a theory for Doc Martin - she's Season 6C. Eventually the Doctor skips out from his CIA tether, regenerates, uses the Chameleon Arch and hides out in Gloucester. Simple! It's not perfect; she seemed not to recognise the sonic screwdriver, but it first appeared in the Second Doctor adventure Fury from the Deep. But it does have the great merit of being just as bonkers as introducing Doc Martin in the first place.


DXMachina - Jan 31, 2020 7:25:24 am PST #1513 of 2020
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

Anybody lose a ring?

I'm thinking a prayer to Saint Elrond would not go amiss.


Matt the Bruins fan - Jan 31, 2020 7:51:11 am PST #1514 of 2020
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand

on the other hand, Barrowman played Captain Jack with all the subtlety of the moral of Orphan 55.

So, in character then? Jack Harkness is the master of the single entendre.


billytea - Jan 31, 2020 3:45:40 pm PST #1515 of 2020
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.

So, in character then? Jack Harkness is the master of the single entendre.

I am going to say no. In The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, he had an actual character to go along with the constant innuendo. (It was possible for him to have scenes such as when he's waiting for his ship to explode, or realising he was the cause of all this, where he doesn't look like he's fixing to hump the scenery.) This Captain Jack is more like late season Married with Children, when all the characters were stripped down to their (assumed) most crowd-pleasing trait, ramped up to eleven.

Weirdly, in Torchwood he wasn't even particularly entendre-riffic. Having to be leader really did a number on him.


Tom Scola - Feb 01, 2020 3:47:47 am PST #1516 of 2020
Mr. Scola’s wardrobe by Botany 500

The CW has picked up Rob Thomas's Lost Boys pilot.


Dana - Feb 05, 2020 2:43:44 pm PST #1517 of 2020
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

I didn't notice if Supergirl has one, but I'm not sure about the new credit sequences for Flash and Legends.


Dana - Feb 05, 2020 4:19:06 pm PST #1518 of 2020
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

And interesting, I see that Flash is taking the post-Crisis opportunity to return to Mirror Master.


sj - Feb 05, 2020 4:35:10 pm PST #1519 of 2020
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

Dana, I guess the fact that there was another version of that character on Earth 2 whose powers worked this way had been mentioned previously.


Dana - Feb 05, 2020 5:17:52 pm PST #1520 of 2020
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."

I'm glad they're addressing the ramifications of the crisis, but it's one of those things where you can't look at it too closely, or the logic completely falls apart.