Retroactive Moments that make you go "ohh!"

It could be, but you'd have to actually want to be misunderstanding the intention.

Alien Bodies was definitely one novel he had on his mind for chunks of his tenure from the Doctor discovering where he died to River's death-defying leap from the Empire State Building into the TARDIS. It definitely happens, reading the Eighth Doctor DWM comics really does make Russell T. Davies's own inspirations just gleam on television (The Final Chapter and The Flood, in particular). I have a sneaking suspicion that Seasons 10-12 of the classic series bled over into Davies time on the show (e.g. The homage to the Cybernauts in Rise of the Cybermen), whereas Moffat was more attuned to Season 18-20, the Adams/Bidmead era (i.e. surrounded by almost fantastical trappings with less of an emphasis on character drama and more on broad concepts).

I feel that doesn't really matter to Miles, seeing as he is less than enamored of Alien Bodies. He has, apparently, blamed himself for everything purportedly wrong with the Moffat era.

Anyhow, I don't see how Miles could sue Moffat. Yes, Moffat was a huge fan of Alien Bodies, and yes, it is a definite influence on Moffat, but nothing Moffat has borrowed is particularly unique to it. Learning the circumstances of your own death and seeing your own tomb? Both of those are extremely obvious occupational hazards of time travel. Heck, the latter was played with in Revelation of the Daleks. And Battlefield did the whole "running into echoes of your future"-shtick (and given Miles' admiration for Aaronovitch, it's a probable inspiration for Alien Bodies.)

Which reminds me: The Ancestor Cell's giant bone edifice, tied intricately to the Doctor's destiny, appearing above Gallifrey on the eve of the War was originally Miles' idea, although the particulars were different. He was less than happy with Cole and Angelhides' appropriation of it.

Though to be fair to Mr. Cole, it was originally pitched to him as part of a huge PDA arc showing Gallifrey at various stages of the War, so it's possible that he forgot about it and then remembered it without realizing where it came from. If nothing else, it seems awfully stupid of him to so blatantly nick it, especially when he paid precious little heed to the rest of Miles' vision (especially the identities of Grandfather Paradox and the Enemy.)


That's probably the best instance of the Doctor angsting over his mortality (something Alien Bodies isn't interested in, for obvious reasons) that I can think of. Briggs plays it magnificently.

"First the dead walk, and now they swim! I'll leave before it does the hornpipe!"

It's a real shame that the BF Minuet in Hell went so pear-shaped. Alan Lear would have been a wonderful addition to the writers' stable.
And he died in 2008, so his talent, alas, will go all too-underappreciated.


It also has the advantage of context. There wasn't a whole story-arc devoted to the Doctor's supposed death in 1996, as there was in 2011. Similarly, with no Ninth Doctor in site, the Doctor's life after his Eighth body seemed distant and unreachable, whereas televised Doctors regenerate about every three years.

And while I enjoyed Name, Moffat is really much better suited to small-scale pieces like Blink or Listen. He has himself admitted that he could not have done what RTD did, and I do wish he weren't straitjacketed into the same role. Mind, it could have gone worse. Moffat is at least a competent writer, even at the worst of times (basic competency in writing is, I allege, an underappreciated skill.)

Miles, on the other hand, has an alchemical touch. It's as if he can't help but transmute whatever he touches into something better. He's the rare sort of writer who can bend genres to his whims.


That one's easy, actually. We saw a version of her helping the Doctor and Susan escape. It's not too much of a stretch to think that her actions were discovered by the Timelords. This treason might well lead, I think, to her ability to regenerate being suspended. Then, when she died, her consciousness was placed, as is Timelord custom, in the Matrix.

So who did Miles originally plan to be GrandFather Paradox? (I know who he originally planned to be the Enemy btw ). Wasn't there something about a Black Hole or Star thing that was never picked up on as well?

After watching Planet of the Spiders, I understood why the Doctor's appearance changed in The Tenth Planet.

The Doctor met Sarah Jane in his Fifth incarnation. And in school reunion, he mentioned he had regenerated 6 times since they last met. Not taking that encounter into consideration as she had no recollection of it, as was probably the original intent? Or one of the few people he trusts enough to be subconsciously honest with about his shamed incarnation?

PM please.
As much fun as it has been to speculate these last 20 odd years, I'd like to know his intention.

Hmm, okay.