#john simm’s likeness is apparently really hard to get down

[n3arell-art]

He can hear the sound of the drums, the never ending drums

[unwillingadventurer]

5 Shows

tagged by @missholson. Thank you <3

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. Tag 10 (or however many) people.

So hard to pick 5. :D

1. Raffles, 2. Doctor Who, 3.Only When I Laugh 4. Life on Mars 5. Callan

Who is your favourite character in 2? Ian Chesterton (closely followed by Barbara) but we just love Ian so much. Love how brave he is, how adaptable and clever he is. But also with that humourous side and the chemistry he has with mostly Barbara but also the Doctor, Vicki and Susan.

Who is your least favourite character in 1? Definitely none of the leads haha. We weren’t overly struck by the TV Teddy Garland, he just wasn’t how we pictured him from the book. Can’t say there’s anyone we actively dislike though. Some really good side characters.

What is your favourite episode of 4? So tough. We’re pretty fond of the one where Sam is ‘high’ or deep in coma depending on how you look at it, and the others have to solve the crime and he watches them on the screen. Also the last ever episode was just amazing. Honestly love every episode.

What is your favourite season of 5? Anything from the black and white days really. Unfortunately there’s more missing from those but we feel they had more atmosphere that the colour never captured for us. Plus series 3 has no Tony Valentine lol.

Who is your favourite couple in 3? The only romantic couples really are Norman and whatever girl he’s fallen in love with that week lol. So no one on this occasion. They’re more of a trio of friends and its not about couples so much.

Who is your favourite couple in 2? Ian and Barbara of course. They work together perfectly.

What is your favourite episode of 1? ahhh, probably The Chest of Silver or the Spoils of Sacrilege. They’re probably the two we watch most. The Chest of Silver is just great for Bunny, and also Raffles in the chest and the blue sweater and telephone and bedroom scene ahh. Spoils is just a whole episode of adorable Raffles and Bunny ending with the pleasure of your company scene.

What is your favourite episode of 5? Heir Apparent. It just is all we want from an episode with just so much Callan and Meres together which we feel they could definitely have done more of as they have such a great dynamic. There’s a lot of good humour and action in it.

What is your favourite season of 2? Season 2. Season 1 has the great beginning but season 2 has so many good episodes in it like the Romans, Crusade, Dalek Invasion, Time Meddler, and has all our fave companions, Ian, Babs, Steven and Vicki but also Susan’s goodbye. Plus the Doctor is just great in this season.

How long have you watched 1? We first saw it in about 2011 or 2012 and then didn’t watch it again for a few years and then in 2018 we watched it again and read the books and then fell back in love with it.

How did you become interested in 3? Through liking old TV and Christopher Strauli. It was a sitcom we never heard of and then our parents told us that we’d like it as it had James Bolam and Chris and was just a funny show that had been a bit forgotten. It’s honestly as great as some of the other better known sitcoms. 

Who is your favourite actor in 4? Ooh, probably John Simm. They’re all great but he really has to carry that show and is in like 99% of scenes. He doesn’t get the humour the others get so has a lot to get across. He definitely made us cry.

Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5? Don’t make us choose between Doctor Who and Raffles. if its just Doctor Who overall then Raffles wins but if its the One era then we can’t choose, both mean so much. Callan is great but not to the same obsession.

Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3? We’ve seen all the eps of all these things. Raffles doesn’t have many eps and Only When I Laugh is only like 30 eps or something.

If you could be anyone from 4, who would you like to be? Wouldn’t want to be in Sam’s situation lol. Kind of liberating to be Gene and say what you think without any worries. Annie possibly.

Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work? Only When I Laugh would be better with Ashes to Ashes as both the 80′s. It’d have to be Only When I Laugh set in the 70′s and Sam is investigating something or it could be 2006, the ‘only when i laugh’ guys are in hospital again and Sam is in a coma there.

Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple? ha can’t think of anyone. Raffles and Bunny are the only pair for us.

Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5? They’re completely different. Only When I Laugh is generally episodic about three guys in hospital so the stories are fun but very self contained and simple, sometimes like plays. Callan is a spy drama so more complex and layered so can’t choose.

Which has better theme music, 2 or 4? Doctor Who hands down. One of the best themes out there. But Life on Mars has a great soundtrack of 70′s songs. We have the CD and love it. The theme is ok but can’t compete with Doctor Who.

Tagging @wolfiejimi @the-prince-of-professors @ilwinsgarden @ludojudoposts @demigodofhoolemere @nilo2207 @tremendousdetectivetheorist @missanthropicprinciple @lizchristina and anyone else who wants to do it :)

[the-desolated-quill]

Death In Heaven - Doctor Who blog (Fuck You Moffat)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Remember when I said The Name Of The Doctor was the worst series finale in New Who. Turns out I was wrong. This is the worst series finale in New Who. And I do hope Moffat isn’t interpreting this as a challenge, trying to come up with finales worse than the previous year’s. How about writing some good shit for once in your career?

Dark Water was an incredibly bad episode, but Death In Heaven takes it to new, insulting extremes. It’s utter bollocks from start to finish. It’s a mountain of bullshit so rock hard, not even diamond tipped drills could penetrate it. It’s an entire hurricane of piss. It’s... It’s... I didn’t like it.

Having fucked up the Daleks back in the previous series, it seems Moffat is now determined to ruin the second most popular monsters in the show the Cybermen, and he succeeds with flying colours. Is there anything the Cybermen can’t do now? They can fly, they can convert the dead, they can create clouds of Cyber-pollen, and apparently every atom of a Cyber body contains a program to upgrade the human race. At this stage the Cybermen have become so over-powered that they’ve just become utterly boring, evading anything the Doctor throws at them by pulling another random superpower out of their arses.

Also, like I said in my previous review, why are they converting the dead? Why not convert the living like they usually do? And why, once they’ve been converted, do they just stand around doing bugger all? It’s a bit hard to find Cybermen threatening when they pose no fucking threat whatsoever.

And then, as if you couldn’t undermine the Cybermen anymore than he already has, Moffat decides to go in for the kill with Danny Pink. I’m sorry, but Danny the droopy Cyberman has got to be one of the most pathetic sights I’ve ever seen. He wants to erase his emotions because of Clara (which seems like an overreaction to me) and asks Clara to do it for him even though there’s no reason why he can’t just do it himself. It must be out of spite. That’s the only reason I can think of. Oh, but Moffat still wants us to think that Danny and Clara are the perfect couple as opposed to a highly dysfunctional and toxic pairing that would seem more at home on The Jeremy Kyle Show than Doctor Who. 

Also, even in Cyber form, Danny can’t resist chastising the Doctor even though he’s actually trying to help the ungrateful bastard. In fact there’s a lot of Doctor-blaming going on in this episode and I really don’t get why because, as far as I can see, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. At this stage I wanted nothing more than for Danny to fuck off and die, and I thankfully got my wish, except it had to take the form of a stupid, heroic self sacrifice. This isn’t the first time the Cybermen have been defeated by the power of love, and it’s always been really stupid every time, but this has got to be the most nonsensical. Danny’s love for Clara reverses the Cyber conditioning? Are you seriously telling me that Danny is the only person in the entire world who has loved someone enough to want to save the world? And if that’s not bad enough, Danny gets not one, but TWO stupid self sacrifices when it’s revealed the Master’s teleport randomly only has enough power for one trip (bit fucking convenient) and so he chooses to save that kid that died in that war zone. A series worth of buildup for this cliched pile of shit? Cheers Moffat!

Since I’ve mentioned the Master (I categorically refuse to call her Missy), let’s talk about her. I didn’t think it was possible to be more annoying than John Simm, but Michelle Gomez somehow managed to pull it off. I utterly detested her in this. I’ve never really liked the Master anyway, but I swear the character never used to be this fucking childish. She’s weird, obnoxious and goofy for no other reason other than she’s ker-RAYzay. (seriously, is that the only way Moffat knows how to write villains? She’s basically Andrew Scott’s shitty version of Moriaty in a dress). What’s worse is that the only way to make her come across as even remotely threatening is by making the characters around her act like fucking morons. UNIT have met the Master before. They know how dangerous she is. Why do the soldiers guarding her not react when she very visibly activates her bracelet, breaks out of her restraints and puts on her lipstick? Why does Osgood, who has apparently read all the dossiers about the Master, get so close to her to listen to her whisper and not scarper when the Master threatens to kill her?

Also, what is the Master’s plan exactly? Why Cybermen? Considering these Cybermen have pretty much nothing in common with actual Cybermen, I can only assume they’re there for rubbish fanservice and that Moffat is too fucking lazy to come up with his own ideas.

Apparently the Master wants to give the Doctor his own army to prove the two aren’t so different. It appears Moffat is going for a Killing Joke vibe, but it doesn’t work because while Batman and the Joker are two sides of the same coin, the Doctor and the Master are so diametrically opposed that this whole plot point becomes fucking laughable. It has the same whiff of bullshit that Journey’s End had with Davros chastising the Doctor for ‘taking ordinary people and fashioning them into weapons.’ Like I said about that episode, there’s a world of difference between turning people into weapons and encouraging people to defend themselves. The Doctor is very much the latter, so spare me the ‘we’re not so different, you and I’ crap. Is the Doctor better than the Master? ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY!

Yes, once again, it turns out this episode is all about the Doctor. That’s all this bastard series has been about. Characters talking relentlessly about whether the Doctor is a good man or not. It’s utterly tedious to sit through because we all already know the bloody answer. Hopefully the Doctor’s speech about how he’s just an idiot in a box with a screwdriver will finally put it to rest. Not that I’m praising the speech mind. Peter Capaldi does his best, but it’s badly written and stupidly over the top, plus it’s hard to really feel the emotional weight of this speech when all it does is state the fucking obvious. The Doctor isn’t a soldier or a hero. He’s just some guy. Yeah. We know. What, have you only just worked that out Moffat? Why are you boring us to death with shit everyone and their mums already fucking know? Can we move on?

If there’s one thing I hate more than Moffat trying to spin the bleeding obvious as surprising revelations, it’s the bullshit lies and fake outs. Why are the Doctor and Clara lying to each other at the end? What purpose does it serve? (Also trust Moffat for coming up with a pretentious bullshit reason why hugs are bad. It couldn’t possibly be as simple as this Doctor just doesn’t like hugs). What was the point of Clara pretending to be the Doctor to trick the Cybermen? That never goes anywhere. Oh no! Danny is going to be Cyberfied... oh wait. He’s okay. Oh no, Kate Stewart has fallen out of the aeroplane... oh wait, she’s fine. OMG, the Doctor is actually going to kill the Master... oh wait, that wasn’t an orange light. It was a blue light, which means she’s teleported, so she’s probably okay. Wow, the Doctor is finally going to find Gallifrey... oh wait. No. The Master was lying.

Like I said in my previous review, keep wrong-footing the audience and eventually we’ll get sick of the bullshit and stop trusting what we see. I mean look at Osgood’s death. That should have been shocking, but not only is she a one dimensional character that I don’t give even a sub-atomic particle of shit about and is clearly too stupid to live, the fact is none of Moffat’s characters ever actually stay dead, do they? Rory. River Song. Strax. Jenny. Clara. Nobody really dies in the Moffat era, so why bother getting upset about Osgood? She’s probably going to come back in the next series.

But the thing that angered me the most about Death In Heaven is the utter contempt and disrespect Moffat shows to classic series fans. And don’t pretend you don’t know what scene I’m referring to.

Cybermen are converting the dead. The Brigadier is dead. Moffat is an insecure, egocentric hack who desperately wants to stand out from the Who rabble. Take a random guess what happens.

I’ve seen bad Doctor Who episodes before. I’ve been pissed off by Doctor Who before. But never before has an episode filled me with such utter rage. Not even Kill The Moon managed that, and you all know how much I despised that load of garbage. I didn’t take the idea of the Brigadier being a Cyberman particularly well, and I’m not exactly proud to say this, but my reaction was quite extreme. I basically had a full blown screaming fit. I was so angry and so upset by this. I couldn’t believe Moffat would do something so fucking crass and so fucking disrespectful. Yes it’s just a TV show, but the Brigadier was one of my favourite characters in Classic Who and indeed one of the most beloved characters in the entire show. And when a talentless, arrogant smartarse like Moffat comes along and tramples all over those happy, nostalgic memories, I think you have every right to take it personally. This has got to be the most insulting thing Moffat has ever done, and if I wasn’t committed to reviewing the rest of these episodes, I think I can safely say I wouldn’t be watching this show anymore after that.

Death In Heaven is a fucking terrible finale to what has been a fucking terrible series. Yes some episodes had decent elements in them, but it’s largely been awful. Series 8′s only saving grace has been Peter Capaldi, who has done an amazing job in the role despite the material he’s had to work with.

Moffat, go flush your head down the fucking toilet.

[kissofgallifrey]

Montreal Comic Con: Allons-y!

Allons-y!

Quite a fitting name for the panel, considering everything there is in French!

So before the panel there was a cute introduction video, and this guy played the I Am The Doctor, and then an orchestra (OVMF, if you care) played a couple more Doctor Who tunes, and after a very long time of waiting and some bad puns from the moderators (seriously), we finally got to the reason we all came there. 

Alex was the first to come onstage. Then Freema came, and last came David. He raised his arms (photo, thanks to the folks at DavidTennantOnTwitter), like he always does when he comes onstage in conventions, and stood there as we all cheered. Then he went to the couch, sat down next to Freema, leaned against her, raised his legs and lay down with his head against her! We all burst out laughing. He was all grinning, and it was really adorable.

Then he sat up and they started the panel. At first the moderators asked a couple of questions, just to 'get the usual ones out of the way', and then finally they started answering the audience's questions.

First thing the moderators asked was who's their favourite Doctor. Alex said all of them, because they're all the same man - the Doctor. David sort of nodded along to that. When his turn came, he said he's legally obliged to say the Fifth Doctor. Guess we all know why 😉

Since Freema and David were sitting on the same couch, when Freema's turn came, David leaned towards her, grinning and all (photo) and went, 'Yes, Freema, who’s your favourite Doctor?' Which made us (and them) laugh. Freema said that of course Ten is her favourite.

The next question was what their favourite episode is. David said what he always does: he doesn't have a favourite episode, he likes them all the same. He said, "It does feel a bit like choosing between your children and you can't do that." (His tone was a bit 'believe me on that'/parenting advice, which made it extremely funny.) Freema and Alex both agreed with him they can't choose favourites. Freema said she really loved The Shakespeare Code, because it was fun to make, and Alex said she loved Vincent and the Doctor, because of the storyline and how the Doctor brings Van Gogh to the future in the end to show him his importance. 

Next question from the moderators: who their favourite villain is. They kept gesturing towards the Daleks on the stage, hinting them to pick the Daleks, at which point Alex just said, "Well, I killed one of these, so..." She then proceeded to say that 'My favourite villain was... I forgot. Wait... No, I forgot.' Which, of course, means the Silence (which she later said in French)!

David said he loves the Daleks. He said unlike most monsters, the Daleks are fully built - what we see onscreen is what they see when they're filming, and they hear Nicholas Briggs' voice saying the Daleks' lines through their earpiece. He said it's very different to acting in front of a green screen or opposite a man with 'falling bits of foam and prosthetics'. He also said he loved the Master (as played by John Simm). 

David's mention of the prosthetics got Freema and Alex to talk about the men behind the monsters. Alex said it would be interesting to have them (there were two - Paul, who was there on David's time, and Rory, who took over afterwards) in a convention, talking about the work they do. They both spoke about how amazing they were, wearing their costumes and prosthetics for long hours, growing really hot, doing a lot of hard work but never complaining. You could hear the amazement in their voices.

Last question from the moderators was whether they've tested a dish that's apparently coming from Montreal or something ( poutine (chips, gravy & cheese curds) - thanks to nancyorford on twitter). That led to David exclaiming, 'Why didn't anybody bring us that?!' and talking about the word 'curds' (he's such a kid sometimes) and how awful it sounds. Then some kid from the audience called out, "It's delicious!" and David said, "I know!" The look on his face and the tone of his voice were so funny! He added later, "It's delicious, but it's not a nice word."

Then, finally, the moderators let people ask questions. (I think they thought they were funny... they weren't. But David, Freema and Alex made even their ramblings fun.)

The first person was a woman who asked about Will in The Escape Artist. She asked David whether he played him as a protagonist or an antagonist. He was at loss for words at first, then managed to ask, "You an English teacher?"

He then thought a bit and said he didn't think about it, and it's not something you do when you're playing a character, that's for the people viewing the show to decide. "You don't go through life thinking 'I'm an antagonist'," He explained.

The moderators then directed the question to Freema and Alex as well, whether they've ever approached a character as a protagonist or antagonist. Alex said you never make that sort of choices when you play a character - it only limits you when you make decisions as to how to play it. She spoke about the production of McBeth she did, and said that they decided to approach them as people, looking at the mistakes they've made and how they paid for it, and the intention was that in the end, the audience will end up thinking about what they'd have done in their place; to see them as humans, not villains. "We're all humans and we all make mistakes, we all have faults," She explained. "You're just human."

The next question was about Einstein and Eddington. The guy asked what David thinks about Einstein, to which David (who was slightly baffled by the question) said, "We've an English teacher and a physics teacher". David didn't really know what to say to that - he stuttered a moment or two, making everyone laugh, and then said that he thinks there needs to be a Doctor Who episode where the Doctor meets Einstein (which was received with cheering). David said he didn't specifically study Einstein as he didn't play him (his part was Eddington), and talked a bit about the film, the history of Einstein and Eddington and Eddington's work to prove Einstein's theories ("At a Time in Britain when German scientists were not flavour of the month"). 

The second part of the guy's question was asking David how he stays motivated as an actor. David said that acting can be miserable when it's not going well, but you chase the highs. He said he's been lucky to get some great opportunities. "In terms of your own psychology, I say, talk it out. Talk it out to yourself... Talk to yourself if that helps. You don't get a lot of great advice back, necessarily..."

The moderators once again asked Freema and Alex to answer the same question. Freema spoke about the percentages and how small the odds are to make a living as an actor, and said she wasn't planning to become an actress, but she did a play when she was a teenager and 'something just clicked'. She said acting allows you to learn about people, to grow, to learn about yourself and lose your own inhibitions and to make other people feel something and connect to the story and the characters you're presenting. She said you just need to have something else to focus on, because if you just keep staring at the phone waiting for the call, it feels like it's not going anywhere. You gotta keep busy.

Alex said that she started young, so she had this naivety young people often have, not thinking there's a possibility their dream won't come true. She also said she didn't dream big - she'd have been fine just doing regional theatre (during her panel she said she dreamed about working for the Royal Shakespeare Company - that was her goal as an actress). She said she knew a lot of people who started out acting but gave up because at some point they realised they were unhappy, and that's the point, really, to find something that makes you happy - facing the truth and accepting it if something isn't working, and finding something else to do that makes you happy.

The next question was whether Freema and Alex watched Jessica Jones (to which Alex immediately replied, "Why would we see Jessica Jones?" Which had us laughing). The guy then asked how David decided to play Kilgrave. David looked at him and went, "How I decided to play Kilgrave? These questions are hard!"

At this point Alex cut him off and said, "He's really like that! You think he's nice, he's an absolute lunatic, maniac!"

David tried to understand what exactly he means, and the guy explained he was asking how he'd made Kilgrave into such a creepy character. David said that he thinks that if you had the ability to make everyone do that you want, it would corrupt you. "You know, 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely', goes the phrase," He said. Kilgrave isn't an antagonist on purpose - he just expect things to go his way, and the thing about Jessica is that she can resist him, and the moment she does, he has to have her, because everything else he can have without a problem. "The only thing he really wants is the thing he can't have. So you just sort of extrapolate from that. It's just... I don't know, you just read the script and do it!"

One of the moderators then asked if he finds it good to approach a character as a villain or as if the character doesn't know, and David immediately said, "Nobody knows they're villain. Donald Trump thinks he's a great guy!" (To a lot of cheering)

"Doctor Who fans are never gonna be for Donald Trump!" He said, "The two fandoms are mutually exclusive." (To which a moderator said, "Both should be fictional", which is kinda true.)

The next question was about the Doctor's Daughter. The woman said she thought maybe David had some info about what happened to her since he's married to Georgia. David immediately said, "Why is that my responsibility? I don't run the show! Address your questions to Chris Chibnall. I'm..." He stuttered a bit, "I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

Somebody said something about it being left for fanfiction writers, and David immediately said, "Fanfiction, there's a dark corner of the universe." He continued to explain, "I don't mean all fanfiction - some of it is very lovely, very creative, very wonderful, it's the rude stuff!" Alex said she saw it, and he leaned towards Freema (who apparently didn't see it) and started telling her about a time he was at Graham Norton's and Graham gave him a bunch of fanfics they've found online, where, to quote him, "They imagined the Doctor, and Martha, and River and all the other characters having lives that they don't necessarily enjoy on the television. In really graphic detail!" He said that the weirdest thing about it was that because they're the physical aspect of these characters, people are actually describing their physical appearance - "and people who you know very well, but not in that way!" Even though the way he said it was hilarious, he sounded genuinely appalled by it - and I can understand, considering it is about him and his friends and cast mates. "Does anyone here write that stuff?" He asked, turning back to the audience. "Stop it!"

Alex continued to say that with the role the console of the Tardis (apparently) has, every time she's there and she's touching the knobs and buttons she's reminded of the images she's been sent, and she just wants to take a disinfectant spray and wipe the whole console.

The next person asked how it felt to redo Broadchurch in the US as Gracepoint (and whether he would do an American version of the Doctor if he could). He said that it's been a big hit in the U.K. and it went well on BBC America but only a small percentage watched it, so Fox came up with the idea to do it again. He said that while that sort of thing worked in the past, he thinks nowadays it doesn't really work anymore, because a show that succeeds in one place finds its way all over the world, everything is international now. He said that that's only clear on hindsight, though, and at the time they just wanted to tell the story to a new audience, so they just changed everything, to fit the population they were doing it for. He was asked to do it, and he thought it'd be fun, so he agreed. 

The woman who asked that asked if it was odd to do the same story again, and David said that yes and no, because "if you do a play, you tell the same story eight times a week", so it wasn't really that odd to tell the story once more. It was a bit of an acting challenge. "At least you know the scripts are gonna be great," He said, to more laughter. He said it wasn't exactly the same story, but most people have actually given up on the show before the changes appeared, so they wouldn't know.

One of the moderators asked him how he did his American accent, whether he was coached, and David said he was, but it was kinda there already, because he (and everyone) grew up watching lots of American shows and movies, so it was all in there somewhere. The audience started cheering David to do the accent then, and David gave everyone one look and said, "No". (Cue more laughter)

The next question was what has been their funniest moment on set. Alex said the funniest for her was the first time River encounters Eleven (The Time of the Angels). She was flown on a wire into the Tardis, and she flew straight into Matt's arms... and kneed him in the groin. She was laughing so hard and she thought he was laughing, too, but for obvious reasons he wasn't. On another episode she had to smack him, and that had to do that on multiple takes - which, again, she found very funny, but Matt didn't really.

Freema said she remembers filming an episode - possibly The Shakespeare Code, because she remembers David saying 'witchcraft' - and they just couldn't stop laughing. They'd been filming for hours, it was four in the morning, and whatever they did, they couldn't stop laughing. They tried filming the saying of the word tons of times but couldn't get through it. She said that's how it was on Doctor Who - sometimes it was something specific that was funny, but sometimes it was just the time and how long they've been working.

David said that when he had the prosthetics as an old man (The Last of the Time Lords), they were filming Freema's face as the Doctor whispered to her, and his face was buried in her hair, and he repeatedly tried to come up with the most disgusting things to say to her. 'Do an old man a favour' and things like that. He really enjoyed it. "Quite a dirty old man," He said. 

Following that, Alex remembered when she was the one to whisper to David, and his face was on camera (Forest of the Dead). She was supposedly whispering the Doctor's name, and she whispered to him, 'Shinyqua' or something like that.

They all had a bit of a laugh over these memories (and we did, too), and then David said that sometimes, with Doctor Who, the weirdest things would just make them burst out laughing and that would be it. He remembered, when they did The Idiot's Lantern (he remembered the episode's name, just saying!), there was the moment when Rose was brought in without her face. It was a chilly moment, but when they were doing it, Billie's face was just covered with just crosses for the CGI team to later take her face off. He said they took the sack off her head, and he saw her standing there, with her hair a mess, crosses all over her face and Billie all laughing, and he'd have to act all moved and angry. "That was one of the longest afternoons," He said, all grinning and laughing. (By the way, some of this footage is available in the series 2 bloopers. You can just see David repeatedly trying to film that scene and repeatedly bursting out laughing every time.)

Apparently during Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead they brought in a deck of cards. When it was mentioned David immediately went, "Yeah, that was your episode!" as he looked at Alex, and Alex immediately replied, "My episode? I thought that's all you ever do!"

"It was like, 'oh, do we have to go and act? We're in the middle of a card game.' That's all you ever did!" She teased him. 

"You joined in! Stop it!" He protested, making us all laugh.

She continued to say that when they filmed they did this pop bands game, where someone says the name of a band, and then someone else says a name beginning with the last letter of the last name said, and so on. David had no idea what she was talking about, so one of the moderators helped her make an example. David, of course, got the hang immediately, gave the name of a band and went, 'Now we've started, let's go all across the room!'

Still, David insisted that he doesn't remember that, he only remembers the cards. Freema immediately said, "We never played that!" and David immediately explained that they were stuck in one location for two weeks for that episode, something which never happens on Doctor Who, with all the constant changes. They were away from Cardiff, stuck in the same place... "It was sort of like we were... on camp," He concluded.

Alex agreed and added that when they filmed those episodes they went to pub quiz nights. And as it turns out, David even won one night!

The next question was which race they met had the most interesting story in their opinion and why. David said that it's a good question, and he thinks that his answer is the Ood. He said they were sort of the villains the first time we met them, but they weren't really, and then we found out their history and society and how they're born with their brains in their hands, so this was an interesting society and backstory.

Freema said what David said actually reminded her of the pig-men (Daleks in Manhattan & Evolution of the Daleks), and how they also started as the villains but they weren't actually the villains, they were just taken and forced into that situation. "It was real, social commentary," She said, "And I think that's what Doctor Who does so exquisitely well."

Freema's answer was quite amazing, so there was a moment of 'see you topping that' before Alex spoke. Then she said, "You have not yet seen the worlds and species I have seen, so I won't tell you, cos that would be a spoiler."

The next person had a different question for each of them. The question for Freema was what her favourite scene was to film. She said it must have been the scene where Martha was cloned, because she's never really done any stunts before, only watched David doing everything, so she was quite excited about it. She said she'd watched Paul do it, and then just did the same thing. She submerged herself, then waited for the tap on the container (their cue for 'action', as hearing was impossible), and then came up. Thing is, she had her eyes closed and she thought she was out before she actually was, so when she took a breath... it all went up her nose. She said that if we watch the scene, her throat is all locked because she's trying not to cough - she knew if she does they'd have to do it again and she really didn't want to. So she was just waiting for the 'cut' before letting it all out. 

For David, the question was if he could live any scene of a previous Doctor, which would it be. David asked if he can pick something from a future Doctor, and after we all called out 'yes!' he said that the thing he was really jealous of was when Matt got to hang off the Tardis in Trafalgar Square. He said that before shooting Matt told him he's going to do it, and David told him it's not really going to happen, but Matt insisted that it will. And then, it actually happened and he was hanging from the Tardis, in the middle of London. He was really jealous of that.

The question for Alex was about The Wedding of River Song. The question was whether Alex was as confused about the timelines as most fans were (Alex actually talked about that the day before during her panel, by the way). Alex said she wasn't confused about the timelines, but she got confused later when Moffat came up to her later and said that technically, she didn't marry the Doctor, she married the Teselecta. She went, 'No, I'm married to the Doctor, I'm the Doctor's wife!' She then admitted that she's not entirely sure whether he's really her husband or not, to which some fans called out 'yes!' from the audience. Alex admitted it's confusing, and what you do is you just act it, and hope Moffat knows what he's talking about (I wouldn't go that far, but...). 

The next question was what they prefer - playing the hero or the villain. David said it depends on the script; you don't really approach a character deciding it's a villain or a hero. It depends on the characters. He said he's been really lucky to get to play great heroes and great villains, and everything in between. "What's interesting is the shades of grey, really," He said, "I think that's where the characters come to life." For him, it was interesting when the Doctor turned quite dark, or when Kilgrave's story was told and his vulnerability and history came to light. "You try not to categorise any character too much, so they can live as real life as you can give them, I suppose," He concluded. "Which is a bit of a way of not really answering your question, but that's all you're gonna get, thanks." (Cue more laughter.)

Alex and Freema both agreed with David. They said it's about the script, about the character, about whether or not you manage to connect to the character you're reading for. It's an instinct, some inner thing that there's no way to describe, really, but it makes the connection to the character. Freema said that when she got the role in Doctor Who, she did a bit of research on David, and the first thing she saw him in was actually Secret Smile, and that was a pure villain. Even David agreed that Brendan was clearly a villain, whichever way you look at it. Freema also added that when they talk about a connection, it doesn't necessarily mean identifying with the character - you need to find some sort of a connection to tell that character's story, but that doesn't necessarily mean you identify with it (people just tend to assume it does).

Alex told us that a little after she gave birth to her daughter, she was asked to read for the role of the headmistress of a school who abused children, and even though the part was interesting, she just couldn't do it. She couldn't find a way to do it, just being a mother. Some roles just don't feel right, and you have to know the differences between the ones you can and the ones you can't do.

And that was it. Far too short, but absolutely amazing. The panel was over - much to our dismay - and they stood onstage for a coupe of minutes as we all stood and cheered, and that was it.

If you want to see my photos from the panel, check out this link: https://kissofgallifrey.tumblr.com/post/162801283620/my-david-tennant-photos-from-montreal-comic-con

[junker-town]

Why in the world do Odell Beckham Jr. trade rumors keep popping up?

Every NFL team would love to have a receiver as talented as Beckham. So would the Giants want to trade him away?

In August 2018, Odell Beckham Jr. signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the New York Giants that appeared to put trade rumors to rest for good.

“We feel good about having him on our team for the next five years,” Giants owner John Mara told reporters.

Beckham responded with a bounce-back season with 1,052 receiving yards, despite missing four games. He even threw two touchdowns for an offense that struggled to be anything more than average with Eli Manning at the helm.

But it didn’t even take a year for trade rumors to bubble back up.

It’s not surprising that Beckham is a player many teams would want to acquire. The 26-year-old receiver already has 5,476 career receiving yards and 44 touchdowns in just 59 career games. His 92.8 yards per game is the second best average all-time behind only Julio Jones.

That’s also exactly why it’s so puzzling that trade rumors follow the receiver so persistently. Why would the Giants want to get rid of one of the league’s most elite, young talents?

What are the latest Beckham trade rumors?

Feb. 20, 2019: Glazer said he wasn’t backing down on his earlier prediction, even though “a lot has to materialize for it to take place.”

Feb. 18, 2019: Bleacher Report’s Chris Simms said the Patriots pushed hard for a trade for Beckham in 2018. NBC’s Mike Florio responded to that by saying the 49ers have been — and continue to be — interested in trading for the receiver.

Feb. 13, 2019: Jay Glazer wrote on The Athletic that his bold prediction of the offseason is that Beckham will be traded.

Oct. 28, 2018: Jay Glazer said on Fox that several teams called the Giants ahead of the trade deadline with “some decent offers,” but were rebuffed.

Oct. 7, 2018: The receiver sat down with rapper Lil Wayne and ESPN’s Josina Anderson for an interview and gave some surprisingly honest and candid answers. That reignited a rift between the player and team, and just like that trade rumors were back.

Why won’t the Beckham trade rumors go away?

Shortly after the end of the 2018 season, Giants general manager Dave Gettleman tried to dump some water on the trade rumor embers before they turned into a fire.

Gettleman on @obj: “We didn’t sign him to trade him.” #NYG

— Kimberly Jones (@KimJonesSports) January 2, 2019

Apparently that didn’t work.

With the possibility of a Beckham trade continuing to make headlines in February, the receiver has posted a few tweets that appear to show his frustration with the rumblings.

They don���t even kno what they did. The shift/ transformation, Is comin... thank u for motivating me yet again.

— Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) February 20, 2019

ONE DAY. Everything will all make sense in the end. I promise u. Story’s unfolding, it’s all a part of the journey. #JustWait

— Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) February 20, 2019

A comment on Instagram was even more pointed:

FRRR giants media putting their best player in trade scenarios cause they refuse to let go of their worst player @obj pic.twitter.com/i9ExE5Ko4A

— Carly (@carlymersky) February 20, 2019

But the trade rumors are — at least to some degree — a self-inflicted wound for Beckham. A year ago, they popped up right around the time a video made the internet rounds that showed the receiver with an aspiring French model, a pizza, and a couple of things that resembled illegal substances.

“I guess my response to that is I’m tired of answering questions about Odell’s behavior,” Mara told reporters in March 2018. “He knows what’s expected of him, and now it’s up to him.”

Beckham has never been arrested and his only suspension was a one-game ban following a knock-down, drag-out battle with Josh Norman in 2015. While his colorful and larger-than-life persona has been a pain in the ass for the Giants at times, it hasn’t kept him out of action.

But the Giants wanted to see personal growth before they committed long-term to the receiver.

“The only question was, was it going to be this year, or were we going to give him another year to prove himself,” Mara said in August after Beckham was extended. “But as I said, he came in with the right attitude. His energy level has been off the roof. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do.

“I think he’s matured quite a bit. … I think he’s ready to go on and be the type of player and citizen that we expect him to be, and I think he will be.”

Then came the interview with Lil Wayne. Beckham questioned Manning’s abilities, and suggested the Giants were holding the receiver back.

“I don’t feel like I’m being given the opportunity to be the very best that I can, to bring that every single day — and that’s really all I want to do, to bring that every single day,” Beckham said. “Since I’ve been here I’ve put up numbers, records have been broken and all those good things, not to say mean nothing to me, but I know they could have been double, or triple whatever they are now. That’s the part that bothers me.”

The reaction was swift.

Pat Shurmur was "livid" with Odell Beckham after the first part of his interview came out on Friday, according to Fox's @JayGlazer , and made Beckham apologize to the team. ... Shurmur's public reaction did not indicate any anger at all. Wonder if that'll change post-game today.

— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoSNY) October 7, 2018

On top of the ill-advised interview, 2018 was another injury-shortened season for Beckham. A fractured ankle cost him 12 games in 2017, and a quad injury kept him out for the last four games of the year in 2018.

Five seasons into his career, he’s missed 20 games due to injury and one because of a suspension.

That combination of drama and unavailability makes the idea of cashing in a talented headache for draft capital and cap space intriguing.

You still shouldn’t expect a Beckham trade to happen

A day after Glazer predicted a trade will happen this offseason, odds were released that showed the Giants are still the likeliest team to have Beckham on the roster in 2019 — although it wasn’t very lopsided:

Odds for what team @obj will be on for Week 1 of the 2019 NFL regular season (BetOnline): Giants -110 49ers +400 Raiders +700 Dolphins +800 Steelers +900 Cardinals +1000 Jets +1200 Patriots +2500 Bills +2500 Cowboys +2500 Browns +2500 Bears +2500 https://t.co/0HwGeSfJv8

— OddsShark (@OddsShark) February 14, 2019

Then at the NFL Combine, Gettleman reiterated his same talking point from earlier in the offseason:

Gentleman: “we didn’t sign Odell to trade him. That’s all I need to say about that.”

— Judy Battista (@judybattista) February 27, 2019

The biggest obstacles for a trade getting done are:

Beckham’s contract

Trade compensation

The receiver is due to count $21 million against the Giants’ salary cap in 2019, but they would only save $5 million of that space by trading him this spring. If the Giants wait until after June 1 to trade Beckham, the team could recoup $17 million of that cap space and carry only $4 million in dead money. But that’d mean missing out on trading Beckham for 2019 draft picks and the big savings wouldn’t be that useful months after free agency.

Bottom line: If the Giants decide to trade Beckham for a pick (or picks) in the 2019 NFL Draft, the team is going to carry $16 million in dead money in 2019 and $12 million in 2020. That’s a whole lot of money going to a player who isn’t even on the roster.

Can the Giants even get enough for Beckham to make that much dead money worthwhile? A year ago, Brandin Cooks was traded for a first-round pick, presumably setting the price tag for Beckham — an even more productive receiver — higher than that.

Antonio Brown is currently on the trading block and a player at Beckham’s level, but it’d be surprising if the Steelers got anything more than a second-round pick for the 30-year-old, pricy receiver.

A team would probably need to come with a significant trade package to pry Beckham from the Giants. Given his contract, his injury history, and a persona that may scare away a team or two — you probably shouldn’t count on a trade getting done.