I think it was very much a ‘it hit me at the right age’ thing combined with various events going on in my life at that time too, but I never found Maria to be lacking in personality. I loved her so much <3 now as an adult I can see why we’re saying this but I still disagree - she’s a kid going through some stuff and it makes her irrational and rash.
But I do also love and adore Rani too. I just love SJA!!
I like Maria just fine. I just find it a tad convenient that her dad just happens to be the best hacker in the world 
I understand he is also considered to be quite the DILF but there are people on this forum better disposed to comment on that…
Oh he’s absolutely a DILF
I might be a lesbian but I can still absolutely confirm that Alan Jackson is a dilf
The Hand of Fear, featuring my favorite Four and SJ outfits.
Love Alan Jackson, totally a DILF.
And don’t get me wrong, still like Maria! I just definitely felt like Rani came out of the gate with a more defined personality from the jump personally
Watching The Androids of Tara on telly with grandma who doesn’t understand a word of English and keep asking where’s this series from (‘oh, gran, from England!’) and keep forgetting it due to dementia. I’m happy she’s enjoying it anyways.
Half through Doctor Who (The TV Movie).
A film that get’s better with rewatches. I guess because some of the more strange decisions are already known giving my brain opportunity to latch on other, really well crafted aspects.
One thing that get’s me every time and I seem to forget every time anew:
It’s not the bullet that kill the seventh doctor. Actually he is already healing when Dr. Grace Holloway - after ignoring the x-rays and his pleas not to kill him - kills him. In some ways, it’s probably a realistic turn of events, but also: Why?!? Why put that in the script and not some variation where it is not Grace who kills him? That just resonates in a completely negative way with me.
On the other hand, the decision to have the Seventh Doctor die for nearly the duration of the first third of the movie didn’t hurt as much as it did when I saw the movie for the very first time. It was a strange decision and probably would have been better to start with the Eighth Doctor (the memory loss could have been an effect of getting shot and the treatment thereafter, no dying and no big rewrite necessary) or just make the whole movie about the Seventh Doctor and let him regenerate in the grand finale (with a second movie already filmed with Paul McGann). But I got used to the way they did it instead.
Great regeneration scene. Still, as someone who was raised in the Catholic faith, I do wonder if some people have problems with the very Jesus-like visuals (and mentioning the Second Coming). Personally, I’ve got no problem with it but also noticed the scene would still have been brilliant without leaning so strongly into it. Well, probably not the strangest decision in the movie.
Everything else: not bad/well crafted. For example, I actually do enjoy The Master storyline so far.
Looking forward to watching the rest of the movie and some of the 5 hours of bonus material they packed onto the Blu-ray later today.
The best thing on the Blu-ray is definitely ‘The Night of the Doctor.’ It shows what the movie hints at: Paul McGann would have been a brilliant ongoing onscreen Doctor.
Grace’s character turned out to be a big letdown. No fault of Daphne Lee Ashbrook, I think. Just a bad script, I guess. Dr. Grace Holloway is an accomplished cardiologist, probably highly intelligent and used to keeping a cool head in life-and-death situations. Most of the script for her character just does not reflect that. Some things would have worked if done slightly differently, e.g., if she hadn’t already checked with a blood sample that the Doctor is not human, her complete refusal to believe him being an alien would have worked better. But as the script goes, she had already accepted that. I still would have understood her having trouble believing the full truth—blood sample or not, Time Lord is an extra thing. But her suddenly being absolutely convinced of the Doctor being a human escaped from the psych ward? Nah, the parts of her storyline just did not fit together.
Otherwise the rest of the movie was good fun. The motivations of Chang Lee as well es the Master in the context of the story plausible.
I still give it a 4 out of 5 as a whole.
Glad the work day is over and watching DareDevil Season 2 Episode 6 Regrets Only. Kind of seems like everybody had a bad day at the workplace with annoying callers today sadly.
(Finished at 6, but watching DareDevil now, and before that I rewatched Orphan 55).
Finished my rewatch of “The Curse of Fenric” last night. Still love that story! The surround sound really works in the chambers under the church. Oh, and whilst on the church… the seige of St Judes is possibly one of the best and most spectacular action scenes in DW since the HAVOC days. Tip Tipping did a marvellous job, the setting was fantastic and there was a real sense of tension. Then, in the final episode, some more great action at the Army base. Given the budget and limitations they faced at the time, they really gave it everything! Just brilliant stuff!
Watched the first two episodes of The Deadly Assassin (it’s a rubbish assassin who isn’t deadly if you ask me).
Gallifreyan lore and politics a-plenty.
It is fantastic!
“I deny this reality!”
Shame I need sleep or I would have kept going 
I love that story.
So sad that Tip Tipping died and in such tragic circumstances - his stunt work on Doctor Who was always excellent.
Funnily enough, I was talking to my son about Tip Tipping, Dursley McLinden and the tragic loss of both of them yesterday.
Yes, Fenric is great. I’m also looking forward to seeing the spruced up “Remembrance” released with the Season 25 Collection set in October.
Watched Hand of Fear. Pretty ok, but Sarah Jane’s goodbye hit especially. If there’s one thing 70’s Who was good at from what I’ve seen (obviously excluding poor Liz) it’s making companion exits resonate.
It’s funny how often classic companions are written off as 2D and mere eye candy. I find that there is a surprising amount of depth at times, some beautifully rounded characters and, as you say, some lovely (and deeply meaningful) departures.
And some surprisingly contemporary (for 1976) commentary on the Jeremy Thorpe scandal, as well as Harold Wilson (and the Lavender List). Holmes was so insightful. It’s easy to comment on the quality of production and grittier tone during the Hinchcliffe/Holmes as reasons for their undoubted success, but a lot of it has to do with subtleties in Holmes’s writing (and script editing) that seem inconsequential to us today but were hugely relevant and contemporary at the time.
I just finished watching Warrior’s Gate, which is coincidentally also a companion exit serial. I did believe that the exit was emotionally touching.
Currently watching Flux. For reasons I don’t remember, the wife missed two of the episodes when it originally aired. Like it wasn’t confusing enough already, right? Trying to give her a chance to see the whole shebang.
