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I'm a bit more bullish about RTD returning, and Bad Wolf taking over production from BBC in-house. As it should (hopefully) allow people to make those decisions, and allow RTD to take responsibility over where the series takes the doctor, and the 14th doctor's character arc. Years and Years was very decent I think, although the sci-fi elements with the futuristic AR hacking were abysmal, which has a deep irony seeming as who was helming the show!

I think Chibnall has tried to turn the clock back in a sense, and go back to the Baker-era where "assistants" (as they were called then) weren't meant to have deep backstories and were just conduits for the doctor's soliloquies so he didn't look like he was talking to himself. I'm not always RTD's biggest fan, but I think he knew when he relaunched the show that a modern take on the doctor had to do a lot more than that.

I've only watched modern Doctor Who sporadically as I've always felt they have a hit rate (for me) of about 1 episode in 3. But I actually managed to watch the entirety of it (from Rose onwards) during lockdown, and for most of it I was much more impressed than I expected to be. It did feel though, that the last two series (11 and 12) were much less satisfying than those that had gone before it. I think Whittaker's take on the doctor was a noble experiment - a laudable attempt to strip the character of that patrician charm where he walks around the place like he owns it, to somebody a bit more relatable who can show a more vulnerable side. But for some reason, it just doesn't come off. She comes over sometimes a bit inconsequential and even gormless. Something the doctor should never be, IMO. The whole man/woman of the people thing was done a lot better by Eccleston, I think.

I always find the comments section interesting in The Guardian, as there it's considered very gauche to say nothing but positive comments about the current incarnation, and reason to me seems to be because the show has become a proxy for the wider cultural war. As a lefty kind of guy, I'd love to say it's all a cracking success, but it just ain't, to the point where I don't truly believe people who say they do enjoy it. There's just so much that isn't working about modern Who, from script to direction to performances. I don't hate it, and each season so far with Chibnall has had sparks of something good about to happen, but they seem to be few and fleeting.

One thing that has always got my goat with modern Who (and this is not just Chibnall-era) is what I call "non-peril scene of peril". This is when the protagonists are in what appears to be a highly dangerous situation, yet treat it as if it's nothing, thus undercutting any sense of danger. The cold opening of the first episode in Flux was a case in point. What's the point? I guess it's to show how "bad-ass" the Doctor and Yaz now are, but surely they'd still look cool if they'd take the situation seriously and still managed to extricate themselves? I watched it my son, who's nearly 18 and hasn't watched since the Matt Smith era, and I felt embarrassed I suggested we watch it. What an awful first impression! The rest was a lot better but mostly amounted to setting a lot of plates spinning. I'll continue to watch and continue to hope it gets a bit better.

Pete Yong, I mean. Sorry, Peter if you're out there 

It's all gone a bit Pete Wong.

[I'll get me coat...]

I even made it pronounceable- Apnia, as in sleep apnea; Mof as in Grand Moff Tarkin; Jop as in Janice Joplin - stick it all together and you have APNIAMOFJOP. Simple

Hallelujah! It's the APNIAMOFJOP*. Although being a digital subscriber pleb, I haven't got mine yet.

But on the subject of APNIAMOFJOPs, does anyone have a favourite APNIAMOFJOP from the many APNIAMOFJOPS there have been throughout the years? When was the first modern-day APNIAMOFJOP? I bet Funt Solo knows. And if I keep writing APNIAMOFJOP can I make APNIAMOFJOP the canonical term for APNIAMOFJOPS?

* Annual Prog Number Is A Multiple of Fifty Jump On Prog

Exactly, you've got option 3: the one on the left.

[The Caves of Steel]

Just finished another Asimov, this time in the Robots series with The Caves of Steel. Very much of its time, but in a good way. A very 50s-based idea of the future that reminds me of the Fallout games (before the nuclear war).

Now rounding off the Expanded Dune trilogy, Legends of Dune with The Battle of Corrin. I know a lot of people hate the Expanded Dune books (books written by Frank Herbert's son Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson), but for me they're a guilty pleasure. They don't really continue the more philosophical aspects of the original books - they're pure space opera, but a fun read, IMO. After this trilogy I'll take a little break from Dune, but when I return I want to read all the "Return from the Scattering"-era books: so a re-read of Frank's novels Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune, and then the Brian/KJA continuations Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune.

But before that, I need to get back to Malazan Book of Fallen and tackle book 3: Memories of Ice.

Ah...not for me. As if we are cattle for taking each year a shot.

There's nothing inherently bovine about an annual vaccine booster, or (being less facetious, and trying to understand how you actually mean it) contrary to human dignity. I've no idea where this kind of thinking springs from. Is it some idea of rugged masculinity? The hardy frontiersman who can live off the land without government aid?

This year-and-a-bit has truly opened my eyes to how other people's internal monologue is just so bloody alien to me.

Another thing is that I can not wait to see how Lee Carter draws Anderson. Hopefully like an "old hag" just to silent the "she looks like a 21-year-old babe" crowd.

Yeah, because that's definitely the only two options available

Ever since the Xbox One launch disaster back in 2013, I've had a disdain for the brand, and their lack of decent exclusives (Forza notwithstanding) throughout the last generation has only entrenched this...and yet I find myself eyeing up the Xbox Series S and imagining me getting into the new Halo over the long, dark winter months.

I have loved the PS4, and will probably get a PS5 at some stage (maybe when a slim version comes along). My son has one and he brings it with him when he stays at weekends, and it's a marvellous bit of kit. But what puts me off a bit (apart from the difficulty in actually getting the sodding thing) is the game price hike. The US has had a $10 increase, but in the UK it's more like £15 which is eye-watering. Is Brexit to blame? Frankly I just can't see myself ever spending £70 on a game, so it will be games on sale, or second hand games at Game or CEX. All of a sudden, a service like GamePass seems very tempting indeed.

3 new thrills? It's a QJOP! (Quasi-Jumping On Prog)

That seems to be a great time for the prog, David! In fact, mid-1998 and prog 1100 seems to be a real turning point. BLAIR-1 had been killed off in prog 1098, marking the sacrificial end of the marketing-hook stories and then by 1104 you've got a great run of Dredd, Slaine, SinDex, Dante and Mazeworld, with an amazing roster of 2000 AD talent, established and new, of Wagner, Ezquerra, Grant, Ranson, Mills, Abnett, Fraser, Robbie Morrison etc. What a time to be a reader!

Just had a google, Boom and that looks interesting. I always enjoyed the concept of big starships that carry millions of people, like the GSVs in the Culture series.

I agree that 99% of the time that publication order is best. I'm slightly deviating from that though with my reading order of Asimov's early Robot and Foundation novels as, although they were published simultaneously, they are at that stage completely separate universes, so can be read separately.

One thing you often see that always puzzles me is when a particular series of novels is re-ordered into an in-universe chronology, and then that becomes the recommended order. I've seen both fans of the novels and the authors themselves do this, and it's nearly always just plain wrong, in my opinion. Even Asimov did this: https://scl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/92757872/97942932.

To my mind, you always want to read a prequel after the original novel. To do so otherwise usually spoils the revelations in the original novel, or the prequel focuses on aspects of the story which only gain importance when you've read the original novel, which may seem strange to fixate on, if you haven't read the original story.

A particularly bad example of this are the Narnia novels, which today are published in a re-ordering based on in-universe chronology, so The Magician's Nephew is first. One of the things explained is how the lamppost came to be where Lucy first met Mr Tumnus, but that means nothing unless you've read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe first, and there's lots of other issues of that nature. They're spoiling kids readings of the books by presenting them in this way. They should change the numbering to the published order (and maybe remove The Last Battle, which is mean and spiteful book, where Lewis' Christian polemic takes a nasty Book of  Revelations turn).

Good stuff, Funt! 👍🏻

Ah, the days of 5 specials a year! If I was Tharg, I'd bring back the 2000 AD annual and, like the Beano annual, make it a resolutely old-school affair, complete with chrome bumper logo, and lots of Rogue Trouper, Strontium Dog, Robo-Hunter etc. I've always admired modern 2000 AD for not trying to recreate the past, but I think a once-a-year nostalgia-fest would be a good exception to the rule, and would serve as a great way to entice old Squaxxes back, with the Regened progs seeking to bring in a new, younger audience. Anyway, very much off-topic now!