An update on the future of this little site of ours – if indeed it’s going to have one – will be forthcoming, but for now, let’s carry on with the broadcast discussions, because a few of you seem to enjoy them. And I have a feeling that, despite some people’s disappointment with the way that the arc stuff has gone this year… the finale is going to be FUCKING BRILLIANT.

Christ, swimming in the pollution of the Thames really didn’t agree with David Walliams, did it?

An ep that already seems to have divided people, but I thought it was BLOODY GREAT, so there. Tom MacRae therefore joins Gareth Roberts in the ranks of people who’ve written REALLY CRAP episodes but then managed to later do REALLY GOOD ones. So, well done him.

Yes, yes, we’ve still got a review to catch up on – once any of us can actually put together some coherent thoughts on the all-over-the-placeness of “Let’s Kill Hitler”. In the meantime… it’s the Gatiss episode! It’s got to be better than “The Idiot’s Lantern”, eh?

Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler?
If you think we’re on the run…
We are the boys who will stop your little game!
We are the boys who will make you think again!
‘Cause, who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler
If you think old England’s done?
Mr Brown goes off to town on the 8:21,
But he comes home each evening and he’s ready with his gun.
So who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler
If you think old England’s done?

The editor, this afternoon.

So, Doctor Who is coming back VERY SOON. This Saturday, to be precise. Naturally, this means Unlimited Rice Pudding! will be waking up from its usual series-not-broadcasting slumber, so get ready for all kinds of nonsense and chatter as of next weekend. You have been warned.

See you at 7.10pm on the 27th, yes?

(Oh, and if you fancy doing an episode review this series, get in touch. We might give you the Tom MacRae one or something.)

[The basement of Unlimited Rice Pudding! Towers. A large man, with shoulder-length blond hair, sits tied to a small chair, illuminated by a single light bulb. At the edge of the visible area, a slender figure sits on a box of unused Noise To Signal stationary, toying with a antique cricket bat. Both the bat and the blond man's hair have dashes of crimson smeared across them. The slender figure speaks.]

“Well, let’s ‘review’ the situation, shall we, Mr Capps?”

“Urrrgggggghhhhhhhhh…”

“Before I left the country for a period, I was assured that URP!’s review of A Good Man Goes To War would be posted in ‘two shakes of a lambkin’s tail’. My words, admittedly, but your sentiments. Instead, on my return from a literal and metaphorical holiday, I find no review, despite the episode reaction thread receiving more comments than any other this year.”

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WHO is River Song? WHY is Rory dressed like a Roman again? WHO is Amy’s baby? WHY are the Cybermen involved? WHO is Madame Kovarian? WHERE do the Clerics come into all of this? WHY did the Doctor die in episode one? WHO was the regenerating girl? WILL we even find out the answers to all of these questions tonight? WHAT will the intensely frustrating cliffhanger that will keep us all guessing and on edge until September be? HOW fucking excited are we about this episode?

Okay, here’s the thing. We managed to not have someone tapped in advance to review “The Almost People” – and those who might have been available to do so are simply too busy this week to fit it in. Furthermore, when the episode aired, it became apparent that it was among the most “more of the same” episodes (the last few minutes aside, which we’ll come to) that there’s been. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – I quite liked part one, and I quite liked part two, as well – but it does mean that there’s very little new to say about the ep that wasn’t already covered by Ben’s review of “The Rebel Flesh“.

And besides which, let’s be honest – that closing couple of minutes made it difficult to want to think about the preceding forty, because they made us all entirely obsessed and preoccupied with thinking about “A Good Man Goes To War” instead, didn’t they?

So, the short version is: we won’t be reviewing “The Almost People” (although there’s a vague consensus that it was “pretty good”, depending on whether you liked the first). But feel free to continue yammering about it in the broadcast discussion thread, or if you want to yammer here about your thoughts/theories/speculation regarding the mid-series finale, you can do that as well. And we’ll be back on Saturday, natch.

I’ll tell you what, Doctor Who fans don’t arf like buggering about with the show’s IMDb page. Back in 2005, the week before the first-series finale aired, some cheeky monkey went in and added Norman Lovett to the cast list – an unlikely choice for the role of Davros, which was our first red flag at the time. Now, some six years later, some bugger’s only gone and done something similar for this year’s finale.

It’s obviously bollocks, but I’m going to go ahead and put it below the fold anyway to avoid any potential spoilers. Unless you’re reading this on an RSS reader, of course, in which case RUN FOR IT.

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