Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

[icon_uk]

In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like.

Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.

It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.

The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.

In the search for non contentious news (because there's a lot of the alternative flying around) I did find this amazing story about a bucket. but not just ANY old bucket!

Sesame Street will be continuing on Netflix after PBS had it's funding cut

Despite being the nominally "silly" episode about a pastiche of the Eurovision Song Contest, Doctor Who had not one, but TWO major plot reveals, one of which was confirming a long-standing rumour about Mrs Flood, and the other was (for this spoiler-free viewer) breath-taking to see, and a pointed (and honestly rather disturbing) reminder that even this "Post-therapy" incarnation of the Doctor does not cope well with loss. A reminder of ROT13 for spoilers on this one please!

Comments

[numeronone]

I mean, there was that time in 11's second-and-a-half series where he was about to shoot someone with a revolver and Amy stopped him. And then later just let Solomon the Dinosaur-napper explode in a doomed ship or something.

Not to mention murdering himself, Rory and Amy twice in a row on the hunch that it was all a dream, that anti-Silence lynch mob thing...

But hey, NuWho has been pretty universally dark. I still occasionally arrest people's thought process by pointing out that until we got to Moffat, every Xmas Special involved the Doctor being materially involved in a massacre.

[scorntx]

Or that time in his second episode he was planning to lobotomise an innocent space whale that had been subjected to several centuries of torture.

(Was drawing a blank on 11's tenure because it's been a while since I've watched any of it.)

[numeronone]

Yeahhh, I have recently seen a nicely incisive essay on tumblr about that episode. It comes so close to making a point about colonialism in the vein of "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas", only to conclude "actually we'll just keep things this way because the space whale doesn't really mind! Case closed!".

Rather reminds me of Edmund Burke scorning the French revolutionaries for not being grateful that their country was successful enough to support a thriving monarchy...

[icon_uk]

My issue with this episode was that, though his methods were utterly appalling and had to be stopped, Kid still had a valid underlying point, and the episode ended with the nameless Corporation not being punished in any way, unless one genuinely thinks that a protest song on their Eurovision-analog (which they sponsor and can likely edit as required) is going to make lasting societal impact, which.. I mean, I try to be optimistic, but...

This ending felt closer to Kerblam! than anything, and that's not a great episode to compare an ending to.