I haven’t finished reading this, but it’s excellent.

And boy, does Keir Starmer ever come off as…extremely Starmerish.

The stations being shut down are all either news or sports.

New information has been added since this went live:

The Prime Minister’s Office said the Trudeau-era process that largely excluded partisans needs to end.

“This decision recognizes the valuable contributions made by Canadians who have chosen to serve in elected office or in other partisan roles, including knowledge of the governing and legislative processes, which will contribute to a stronger, more effective Senate,” the PMO said in a news release.

To that end, the PMO said the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, which has been used to sort through applications from would-be senators with an eye to those who are “independent and non-partisan,” will be reconstituted.

“Guided by constitutional requirements and merit-based criteria, the board will identify highly qualified candidates with diverse experience and perspectives, and make recommendations to the prime minister,” the PMO said.

“Canadians are invited to apply to serve in the Senate through an application process that will open in the coming weeks.”

“Partisan” is an understandably dirty word, but I think the biggest strength of the Trudeau reforms is the lack of a party whip - I hope the Senate retains its relative independence.

The title looks fine on the Lemmy side of things, even from another instance.

In theory…no. Pipelines are federal jurisdiction, so they can do what they want.

I can’t imagine Moe would be opposed to it. Kinew is, but the reason is his disagreement with the other provinces about their approach to reconciliation. If that issue is resolved to his satisfaction, I could see him going along with it.

But even more than the west coast pipeline, I think this project is a non-starter.

It’s funny, I kept mentally comparing this one to “The Beast Below”, which is a similarly madcap re-introduction episode…but I fucking love “The Beast Below”. I guess it comes down to execution.

The face of Boe

I neglected to mention him. Cool concept, great…puppet? Prop? But it bums me out that the Jack Harkness connection never really gets explored, and thanks to John Barrowman, never will.

the Duke of Manhattan

Definitely memorable. I actually paused to see whether the actor had played another character - I was thinking of Dorian - but nope.

Chip

A goofy, thankless role, played to perfection by an overqualified performer.

Is there reason to believe this is the worse option?

There have been a few. Some of them haven’t found anything, and some have.

There is no consensus about whether to excavate and potentially disturb the burial sites.

They’ve shown at least a willingness to slow down and reevaluate things, if there’s enough outcry.

Low bar, but it’s better than a pure “move fast and break things” attitude.

I was surprised too, but it apparently spanned December 25, 2025 - April 15, 2006.

“New Earth” is…fine, I suppose?

It delves into familiar territory for Davies - he seems to have an affinity for the banality of evil, with societies taking a theoretically-well-intentioned turn into darkness. Unfortunately, I think it’s handled better in episodes like “Turn Left” or even Torchwood’s “Miracle Day” (which I remember enjoying the one and only time I watched it, which I know is a very unpopular opinion).

For all the talk about DW being a low-budget show at heart, the makeup and production design were frequently top-notch, even back then. It’s really the VFX end of things that lagged behind the rest of the industry. The cat people in particular look great in this one.

Cassandra’s back! Uh…yay? Probably not who I would have picked as a returning series one antagonist, but here she is, talking out of her ass. I don’t think she’s used particularly well here - her motivation to uncover the secrets of the hospital is unclear (maybe I missed something), and her human supremacy goes largely unacknowledged in favour of some basic classism.

And of course, much of the fun of the episode involves Cassandra possessing Rose and the Doctor. Piper and Tennant do fine with this individually, but they do not seem to be playing the same character to me. Overall, Tennant’s seems to be more authentically Cassandra, but even he is upstaged by Sean Gallagher at the end, when Chip is possessed.

I don’t really know how to feel about the final scene where Cassandra dies in her own arms. I know it’s meant to be touching, but she’s also a vain murderer, so there’s an upper limit to how much I care about any of this.

The test subjects in the hospital vaccilate between intelligent and mindless zombies as the plot requires, and the resolution of spraying disinfectant all over them is pretty convenient, even for this show.

A pretty middling episode all in all, and I don’t think it’s a great introduction to this new incarnation of the Doctor for anyone who missed “The Christmas Invasion” some four months earlier.

Consider me inspired - from this point forward, I collect the blood of my coworkers.

Y’know, just in case.

Yes, I’m fully aware of how much heavy lifting “should be” was doing - that’s why it was there.

so taxpayers again

It’s a Crown corporation, so taxpayer funding should be minimal, but it seems there are mechanisms for them to receive loans from the Ministry of Finance, which is a shame.

If due diligence is actually done, I would still predict that this thing fizzles out in a few years without actually getting built.

Then why pay attention to any of it?

The idea is also for it to be privately-funded, which would make it even DOA-er.

Unless OP knows something we don’t?

The Sycorax are quite terrifying

Such a good design, I’d like to see more of them.

I actually rooted for Harriet all the way up to her call with Torchwood.

It’s a really great portrayal, and TBH I think the episode does a decent job of laying out her motivations, right down to her rather weak apology at the end.

Maybe it’s just the third that’s on the roof at the moment.

I believe so.

I’m really not a Doctor/Rose shipper, but I am a big fan of the Tenth Doctor as a swashbuckling romantic, so I’m here for the flirting. I just never had any investment in things going beyond that.

I know this is more relevant to the upcoming Queen Victoria episode, but I think the themes of a Doctor and (especially) companion getting carried away with things were more aptly explored with Twelve and Clara.

Okay, I’m back.

Of all the times I’ve seen this episode, I’m not sure I really noticed that you can actually see the TARDIS blurp into existence mid-air when it first arrives in London. Neat, and not really what I expected.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Daniel Llewellyn (RIP) is a pretty memorable character for me. Shame what happened to him.

On the other hand, even though it’s quite memorable, I keep forgetting that “everybody going to the roof” is the plot of this episode. Not sure why.

The “pilot fish” are a ridiculous idea, and clearly just an excuse to have killer Santas and a buzzsaw Christmas tree. I’m not mad about it, but it’s a good reminder that RTD has always had an affinity for deep silliness.

Daniel Llewellyn decided to include blood in the Guinevere One “care package,” but…he didn’t use his own? Where did he get the blood?

The Torchwood buzzword is stronger than “Bad Wolf” right out of the gate, because we actually get a sense of what it means.

And on that note, much ink has been spilled over what the Doctor does to Harriet Jones, Prime Minister. There’s always been some truthiness to the suggestion that there’s some sexism in play, but…recent history has reminded us just how easy it is to topple a government over health concerns, if factors line up just right.

The alternate universe where it was set up and marketed differently would be interesting to see.