And So, Full Of Christmas Cheer, We Continue...

[patentdragon]

In Today's Episode... we reach the conclusion of "Coming Home", and a tragedy is brewing amidst all the fun and games at The Setting Sin - can it, should it, be stopped...?

Release Notes... There it is, delivered on schedule - but I did rather take a leap of approach to get it done. "Cutting to the chase" certainly describes what I did, and it did come out of a certain degree of desperation. One thought occurs to me: are there too many characters in this? That could have had something to do with bringing about the creative maelstrom I found myself in...

Development News... Now that this rather frustrating story is posted to effective completion, I'm wondering whether TDD-604 needs a "Director's Cut", or some kind of epilogue - preferably the latter. Maybe Mariella needs a nightmare, or Mane-of-Night needs to draft some kind of official report - or at least attempt to do so. I'm taking it easy, these next few days, then I'm going to need to spend a big chunk of January on that Season Six development I had in mind all month.

Today's TV Highlight - Doctor Who: The End Of Time, Part One... Ooookay, that was not entirely what I'd expected. I'd heard that Mr Smith's journal (from Season Three's "Human Nature / The Family Of Blood" two-parter) was going to resurface, and it had sprung to mind that maybe Donna's "Doctor-Donna mindstorm" could fuel the return of The Master (hardly a spoiler, if you've seen any of the numerous trailers), but instead there's a rather formulaic "cult" to bring about a mildly anticlimactic return. John Simm after this puts on a cracking performance, ramping up the insanity to new levels while The Doctor tries to make sense of what he's learned from the Ood. Things simmer nicely, by way of a neat cafe scene, and a glimpse of a much loved and missed character - but then we have mysterious characters carrying out an equally mysterious experiment, and that kinda feels parachuted into the script as well... and don't get me started on *SPOILER* the pair of totally dispensible afterthought aliens *END SPOILER*...

I could bitch on and on - perhaps this is a case of hype over substance - but on the whole, this episode was entertaining, series-relevant, and had a double cliff-hanger that makes you wonder The Time War needed to be a losing affair for both sides, for all the universe's sake. How will The Doctor undo what's been done? How will the story take off when *SPOILER* The returning Time Lords *END SPOILER* are revealed, and what do their plans entail? "To Be Continued" indeed - this time next week! (B-)

And finally... All in all, a good day. Quiet, fairly relaxed, drama-free - no big surprises, pressy-wise. Well stuffed, I should sleep well tonight.