# Doctor Who Series 9 discussion (spoilers as it airs)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 19, 2015, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754 "2015-09-19T11:40:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 17

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**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/321 "2015-10-27T16:28:29Z")

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Missed the edit window: the best scene was the interrupted robbery at the beginning. I would’ve loved to have seen Tom Baker do that scene.

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**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/322 "2015-10-27T19:07:50Z")

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> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#):
>
> And I’m glad I wasn’t the only person to catch the anachronism of being offered a cocktail in the 17th century. (Although, nitpick - the first recorded use of _cocktail_ is in the 18th century, in New York, so only 100 years too early.)

Anachronism or were the TARDIS translation circuits working really well?

I did think it was a remarkably diverse village watching the hanging.

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**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/323 "2015-10-27T19:28:50Z")

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> [@emarkp](#):
>
> Anachronism or were the TARDIS translation circuits working really well?
> 
> I did think it was a remarkably diverse village watching the hanging.

[MedievalPoC](http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/search/1600s) would like a word with you 😉

In other news,[K9 movie, wtf](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/27/k9-timequake-doctor-who-bob-baker)?

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**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/324 "2015-10-27T19:49:51Z")

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> [@emarkp](#):
>
> Anachronism or were the TARDIS translation circuits working really well?

She just didn’t want to say [brown bastard.](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brown_bastard)

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**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/325 "2015-10-27T20:18:58Z")

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> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#):
>
> [MedievalPoC](http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/search/1600s) would like a word with you 😉

Perhaps, but she’s a crazy person, and it doesn’t apply to the episode. If you want to argue the point, take it to another thread.

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**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/326 "2015-10-27T20:31:04Z")

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> [@emarkp](#):
>
> Perhaps, but she’s a crazy person, and it doesn’t apply to the episode. If you want to argue the point, take it to another thread.

I’m not seeing that at all; it looks quite interesting; this isn’t the “European royalty was actually black” woo history. And it’s perfectly true that 17th Century London _did_ have an appreciable black population, [, to the extent that 50 years earlier there had been a royal edict complaining about them.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18459269&postcount=41)

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**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/327 "2015-10-27T20:31:26Z")

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> [@emarkp](#):
>
> Perhaps, but she’s a crazy person, and it doesn’t apply to the episode. If you want to argue the point, take it to another thread.

I’m sorry to hear you’re not sure enough of your view of a whites only England to stand by your convictions. Perhaps you shouldn’t raise have raised it at all, if you’re unable to defend your point.

To keep things relevant and in-thread, 1599 England was nice and diverse too according to Doctor Who, as [Shakespeare](http://www.chakoteya.net/doctorwho/29-2.htm)showed us with his complete lack of shock at seeing a hot black girl 🙂

_SHAKESPEARE: Who are you exactly? More’s the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?  
MARTHA: What did you say?  
SHAKESPEARE: Oops. Isn’t that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?_

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**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/328 "2015-10-27T21:11:39Z")

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> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#):
>
> I’m sorry to hear you’re not sure enough of your view of a whites only England to stand by your convictions.

That wasn’t what I said, but thanks for putting words in my mouth. I didn’t want to derail the thread completely, which is why I suggested another thread. I’d be happy to dive into that particular issue in gruesome detail…in another thread.

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**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/329 "2015-10-27T21:26:09Z")

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Yes - please start another thread to discuss it. Please keep this thread Who-centric.

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**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/330 "2015-10-27T21:52:49Z")

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Okay, [thread started to avoid hijack](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18809404)about whether 23% is more ‘diverse’ than one would expect.

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**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/331 "2015-10-27T23:49:52Z")

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> [@anyrose](#):
>
> On Gallifrey, a Time Lord does not find him/her self in life threatening situations as often as the Doctor does. And if centuries go by between regenerations, it may seem like forever.
> 
> eta - In Troughton’s time, the idea of only twelve regenerations hadn’t yet become canon

This is a bit out of my own head, but I’ve always thought that Time Lord aging was not merely about the passage of time but also physical hardship. If the Doctor spent a century in a little house in the country drinking tea and reading books, he’d hardly look a day older. OTOH, given the kind of life he usually leads, he starts to be “wearing a bit thin” as he’s said on a couple of occasions.

I think there are a couple of long stretches where he didn’t have a human companion that he spent decades or a century just cruising along e.g. the Fourth Doctor and Romana between “The Armageddon Factor” and “The Leisure Hive”. Or the Sixth Doctor after “Trial of a Time Lord”. There are others.

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**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/332 "2015-10-28T00:17:08Z")

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> [@CaptMurdock](#):
>
> This is a bit out of my own head, but I’ve always thought that Time Lord aging was not merely about the passage of time but also physical hardship. If the Doctor spent a century in a little house in the country drinking tea and reading books, he’d hardly look a day older. OTOH, given the kind of life he usually leads, he starts to be “wearing a bit thin” as he’s said on a couple of occasions.
> 
> I think there are a couple of long stretches where he didn’t have a human companion that he spent decades or a century just cruising along e.g. the Fourth Doctor and Romana between “The Armageddon Factor” and “The Leisure Hive”. Or the Sixth Doctor after “Trial of a Time Lord”. There are others.

Well, we saw Matt Smith aging after several centuries fighting off the hordes on Trenzalore: that seemed to age him about 50 years in human terms.

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**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/333 "2015-10-28T16:59:17Z")

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I enjoyed the last two episodes but I think they could have done more interesting things with Ashildr. Instead, as has been pointed out, she was used mostly to make the Doctor reflect on himself. Which is fine.

Hopefully when Maisie has some free time from GoT Ashildr can pop back in now and again.  
EDIT: OMG! Just saw a thing that Moffet announced over the weekend that Ashildr will be back later in the season. Yea!

This article mentions it but it also has spoilers so read at your own peril.

> **[Maisie Williams Set for Third Appearance on Doctor Who](https://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/626443-maisie-williams-set-for-third-appearance-on-doctor-who)**
>
> Actress Maisie Williams will return to BBC's Doctor Who for a third time this season in the episode titled "Face the Raven," which airs November 21.

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**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/334 "2015-11-01T02:01:53Z")

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New Mexico film production tax credits strike again!

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/335 "2015-11-01T02:34:20Z")

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> [@leahcim](#):
>
> New Mexico film production tax credits strike again!

I can’t tell if they really filmed there or not. It’s possible they filmed in Spain instead.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/336 "2015-11-01T03:16:59Z")

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> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> I can’t tell if they really filmed there or not. It’s possible they filmed in Spain instead.

Eureka! After some sleuthing and searching across Google Maps, I have found it. They filmed in the Canary Islands, in a town called Tiscamanita.

Police Station [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@28.3523218,-14.036536,3a,75y,347.91h,94.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAB8zxdONEoX3X_-3YmwVhQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656). The bins full of dead are [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@28.3520596,-14.0361195,3a,75y,308.39h,82.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjOMOcp2Cm1mC5n9RMRW5QQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656). Where she enters the town is [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@28.3519248,-14.0355893,3a,75y,18.54h,90.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIXfuzbDO4Up5HjXPvjfK8A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/337 "2015-11-01T08:39:42Z")

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A Third Doctor story written slightly larger, basically. I liked it, but the international segments wobbled a bit, though: there’s a lot to be said for staging your “aliens impersonate and convert locals” story in just a small Sussex village, if not for the classical unities than at least for the American accents. Perhaps a little heavy on the War on Terror parallels, too, but hard to avoid in story line like that.

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**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/338 "2015-11-01T13:12:43Z")

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> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> Eureka! After some sleuthing and searching across Google Maps, I have found it. They filmed in the Canary Islands, in a town called Tiscamanita.

Well that is disappointing. As soon as the Zygon said “Truth or Consequences” I was excited about them going to NM.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/339 "2015-11-01T21:11:41Z")

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Wow. Those UNIT personnel sure are stupid, aren’t they?

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**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-series-9-discussion-spoilers-as-it-airs/731754/340 "2015-11-01T21:30:55Z")

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> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Wow. Those UNIT personnel sure are stupid, aren’t they?

Yes. Terrible, terrible writing there.

This series has been much better and that was the poorest by a long, long way. Heavy handed allegory, terrible writing for the UNIT. people and an utterly telegraphed ‘twist’. Whoever wrote it should be ashamed of themselves.

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