There really hasn't been any statement like that from the BBC. I think I know what you're referring to — that supposed response to that one viewer complaint, right? — but I really don't think that thing (which may or may not have ever actually happened) reflects any official stance from the BBC.

That felt more like a "Logopolis" shoutout, especially since there was another reference to it ("I know you've fallen" at the start of the episode. But yeah, there's some "Caves" in there as well.

In fairness, it did kinda go in for a more rigorously researched kind of technobabble back when Christopher H. Bidmead was showrunner around S18 and S19, but yeah, pretty much.

I'm definitely not ruling out a Reece Shearsmith cameo.

I like that plan too. Please just continue to engage with both me and the AV Club across all media platforms, thanks.

I dunno, this feels more like spinning off, honestly.

Thanks so much! And hope you enjoy the weird and wonderful world of classic Who.

True, but I don't want to cramp my successor's style. It'll be their show, and I don't want to intrude.

Laser screwdriver! Who would have sonic?

Yeah, I talked about this on the latest Debating Doctor Who. Moffat definitely has his recurring tropes, is the most generous thing I can say. (And I'm inclined to be generous tonight, fwiw.)

Thanks! As I say, I'd definitely encourage everyone to read both sets of reviews going forward. It's why I'm definitely trying to see this as more positive than negative, even if I will miss interacting with all you lovely commenters.

I'm intrigued to see how well Big Finish pulls off its War Master series, as proving the Master works as a protagonist would make such a series incrementally more likely.

Presumably they did some location shooting next week, so Simm's presence was set to leak one way or the other?

Oh, I meant whether this story can be reconciled with the BF audio "Spare Parts," which also presents the genesis of the Mondasian Cybermen. But I can see why that was ambiguously written. But no, it's "Spare Parts" that's the best Cybermen story.

Ya, if you want to tell me the Telosian Cybermen (i.e. the redesigned versions of the Troughton era) look a bit naff, then I'm not going to argue that. The Davison-era Cybermen also haven't aged amazingly well. But the Mondasian Cybermen are a bit of design *genius*, from the look to the voice, and I'll argue to the…

I think Davies nailed the Jacobi Master because that's basically just a "quintessential" Master — it's all a variation on what Delgado was doing, which was also basically the brief for Ainley. Simm's is the first Master since Delgado who was specifically engineered as a mirror of a specific Doctor, and I think asking…

Plus he screamed at Five to die right before his regeneration in The Caves of Androzani, he might well have figured in Three's end if not for Roger Delgado's real-life death, and he was in Colin Baker's final episode as Six, even if it wasn't a regeneration.

The 10th Doctor says he locked the TARDIS controls so the Master could only move between c. 2008 Earth and a trillion years in the future, so it'd be weird (but I guess not utterly impossible) for it to take place then. Better all round I think to have this be set after his escape from Gallifrey. After all we know the…

Yeah, I think I was hoping for something more like "Burroughs via Alan Moore," as I'm only really familiar with/interested in the more bonkers caricatures of the originals.

Good points all! And I wish I had as much fun with this episode as you did. Like I said elsewhere, I was very willing to roll with this one and have fun with it as a romp, but it just didn't connect with me sufficiently on that level. Writing all those things out like that sounds terrific, but in practice it just…