Glad I'm not the only one unsettled by that...

I voted "Set up refugee camps for people who are starving, and only send food and resources to the camps."

Unfortunately, in somewhere like sub-Saharan Africa, that means zero population due to desertification. You might argue that that's how it was meant to be, but I think that's a little harsh.

Well, Idris/Sexy/the TARDIS did say she has more than 30 controls rooms in her memory banks, so Gaiman's written it into the canon that the Doctor could get up to 31 regenerations if he wanted. Maybe it's more of a guideline than a rule?

Fair enough - looking forward to reading it. And Mr_Academic and Little Dragon - I'll defer to your wisdom too.

I was kinda surprised to see no mention of McCaffery's Dragonrider's of Pern series. Beyond them colonising another world, it's pretty much Dungeons and Dragons, isn't it?

Hope you don't mind me piggy-backing onto your question with one of my own but:

I think there are aspects of his (non sci-fi) work Complicity that could provide circumstantial evidence that might support this...

Do you go to my local in Glasgow? I'm sure I've heard that from the end of the bar...

One of the many, MANY, good things about dating a Dane (yes, she probably will read this - why do you ask?) is walking through Copenhagen and catching a glimpse of Kingdom Hospital in the distance

I did - and that's why it's odd - the Pandorica was a trap for the Doctor that, without a little bit of timey-wimey jiggery-pokery would have resulted in the destruction of EVERYTHING, not just the Doctor. Looking at it that way, his death is not quite such a big deal for her to refuse to spoil.

The one thing that stands out on that is that River gives the Doctor a "Sneak Preview" - seems an odd thing for her to do when she won't even tell the Doctor he's going to die at her(?) hands. Mind you, she hadn't been about to do that before. Or something...

I'm noticing a few people here (and elsewhere) are complaining that the plot felt a bit rushed and that there were gaps along the way. Now, going on the past season, I'm inclined to think that this is a conscious attempt by Moffat to tell an entire story arc right from the get-go using every method at his disposal -…

Wasn't Captain Jack a Moffat creation? Or, at least, a collaboration? He first appeared in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, after all.

D'Argo: The bad news is that you're married, and must endure as a statue for 80 cycles in a strange world.

The first image makes me think of Feersum Endjin and the gigantic castle that defines most of a country riven by civil war.

Yup. Bisley helps, though.

Nope it doesn't - it looks like the actual visor of the helmet underneath the gold-plated one which stops glare from the sun.

I stumbled upon Primo Levi's work more or less by accident, but I'd implore you to read it - think David Mitchell but steeped in the author's real life and, oddly for a book set partly within the worst days of the holocaust, hope.

Add Oryx and Crake/After the Flood to the mix.