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Dale Smith

@dalesmithonline.com

840 followers 940 following 4.1K posts

Writer of things mostly about #DoctorWho and infrequent conversationalist. Also works with #Drupal / #PHP https://www.dalesmithonline.com I don't have access to DMs.

www.dalesmithonline.com

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · Aug 1

Today is the official publication day of my @blackarchive.co.uk on #DoctorWho The Devil's Chord from @obversebooks.co.uk. Want to know why Ruby kept making it snow, or why there are no Beatles' on the iPlayer version of The Chase? Get yourself a copy at obversebooks.co.uk/product/78-t... now. NOW!

78. The Devil’s Chord – Obverse Books

obversebooks.co.uk

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 8h

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A tangled web of deals stokes AI bubble fears in Silicon Valley

Some are worried that the rapid rise in the value of AI tech companies may be a bubble waiting to burst.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Dale Smith

Translunar Travelers Lounge @translunartl.bsky.social · 9h

Our submissions portal closes tonight at midnight US Eastern Time (UTC:-4:00). If you have a speculative fiction story of 5000 words or under, be sure to submit before then! translunartravelerslounge.com/submissions/

Submissions

Broadly defined, the type of fiction we are looking for is “fun”. [Go to Submissions]

translunartravelerslounge.com

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Reposted by Dale Smith

Alex Will Resurrect That Werewolf Pic 🔸🏳️‍🌈 @alexwilcock.bsky.social · 9h

OTD 2070, 4.30am: A fleet of Cyberman space ships lands on the Moon
Doctor Who and the Cybermen was the first book I ever bought, aged 5, and I still love it.
5 great reasons to read it, if you’re coming to it much later (or, today, 45 years early):
loveandliberty.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/five...

Doctor Who and the Cybermen by Gerry Davis, cover by Chris Achilleos – the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and a Cyberman (cyborg revenant with handled helmet) surrounded by thrilling fizzing energy, the Moon behind them

Audiobook of Doctor Who and the Cybermen by Gerry Davis, read by Anneke Wills with Cybermen voices by Nick Briggs, cover by Chris Achilleos – the Doctor and a Cyberman surrounded by thrilling fizzing energy, the Moon behind them

From the Prologue to Doctor Who and the Cybermen on my phone, a Space Book of the Year 2025:
“Their small fleet of Cyberman space ships landed on the Moon at exactly 4.30 a.m. on October 15th in the year 2070. Nobody at the nearby lunar base or those manning sky-probes at watching stations on the blue planet saw them—so effective were the Cyberman screening devices.
“The huge silver monsters that had once been men had achieved their first objective…”

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 21h

OK, well just thank you then: I'll check them out :)

Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 21h

As I Doctor Who fan, I would never watch something with less than perfect picture (and sound) quality for entertainment. Thank you and goodbye, sir.

Reposted by Dale Smith

Strangers in Space @strangerscast.bsky.social · 21h

I've not got around to it yet either! It's on YouTube though in two halves, the links are on Tom Basden's website:

www.tombasden.com/p/misc.html

watch

THE ONE AND ONLY HERB MCGWYER PLAYS WALLIS ISLAND This is the BAFTA nominated short I made with Tim Key and James Griffiths. PIANO FO...

www.tombasden.com

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 21h

I haven't: I know it exists from the interviews, but didn't go searching. I'm intrigued now.

Reposted by Dale Smith

David Lewis @davidclewis.bsky.social · 23h

Want to see Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? Then you’re a cunt.

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 2d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 23h

I loved Wallis Island. 10/10 would watch again.

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Reposted by Dale Smith

Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra @fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · 1d

Share a cartoon from the past that kids today probably never heard of.

Everyone’s favourite cartoon character Alexei Sayle in Steamboat Fatty (1939).

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Reposted by Dale Smith

Micah @rincewind.run · 1d

it is more important to read books you actually enjoy reading than books that are Literature

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Reposted by Dale Smith

Translunar Travelers Lounge @translunartl.bsky.social · 1d

Translunar Travelers Lounge closes to submissions end of day tomorrow, 15th October at midnight Eastern Time (US) (UTC-4:00). If you want to submit speculative fiction to us, make sure it's before then! Please read the guidelines. translunartravelerslounge.com/submissions/

Submissions

Broadly defined, the type of fiction we are looking for is “fun”. [Go to Submissions]

translunartravelerslounge.com

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

Episode 2 really dipped for me: 1 was fantastic (if hampered by the Key to Time stuff in the TARDIS) and then it felt very padded. I don't mind the juxtaposition of the two stories, but the courtroom felt like treading water until the literal deus ex machina recognised the villain.

Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

No, "no horror" is a misnomer: the actual decree was vague and nebulous but basically "don't do it like they did". And Stones was a story that really wanted to be done like "they" did it.

Reposted by Dale Smith

Giles Sparrow @gswrites.bsky.social · 2d

... and one reason they got Fisher back so soon was because they needed someone to step in after Ted Lewis (of Jack's Return Home/Get Carter fame, no less!) didn't work out. Ironically Lewis's story was called the Doppelgängers, though no summary I can find has ever explained quite why!

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Reposted by Dale Smith

Giles Sparrow @gswrites.bsky.social · 2d

Disagree with you hugely about your verdict but I'm not going to cancel you for it! 😂 Stones is an all time fave for me. Couple of fun facts, tho: it's an evolution of an idea called The Stones of Time that Fisher first pitched in the Hartnell era with a spaceship buried under the Wessex Downs. 1/2

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

I don't mind a tonal shift, but courtroom drama is a bit static for Who, especially when what we're getting to the bottom of is a fact the audience already know and the judges are just being obtuse about discovering for themselves. Yes, more druids, less lawyers.

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Reposted by Dale Smith

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 2d

The death of multi-camera TV: a thread. I know most of you will know the technical parts of this (and may have read it in the other place) but bear with me. 1/ 🧵

A shot from the studio rehearsal of Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan episode 'Volcano', showing several actors ont he TARDIS set, with various video cameras around the scene.

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

Yes, I did like the crow: he seemed very well behaved for the kind of little bugger that could easily derail a whole week of filming. On the evidence of the rest of it, Martha and De Vries would've been fine if they hadn't stood still when the Ogri arrived.

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Reposted by Dale Smith

Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 2d

Um. There’s a woman presenting this too.

ok.co.uk @ok.co.uk · 8d

Rylan Clark is set to delve into the eerie world of witchcraft in his new show, The Witches Of Essex.

Rylan Clark slams 'misogyny' in British witch hunt as he fronts new Sky show

Rylan Clark shares the spotlight with professor Alice Roberts in The Witches Of Essex, where the pair delve into the dark history of witch hunts - and one discovery rattled Rylan.

www.ok.co.uk

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

I can see why the production team brought Fisher back - although their haste does seem a little unseemly: the script is strong and I suspect fulfilling its brief. I'm sure when the source material is Zenda, I'll be less disappointed with him. But I wanted this to be something else. It nearly was.

Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

I know it's bad form to review something badly for not being what you wanted it to be, but there's a version of Stones I can see hidden in there that I would have loved, and half of a my disappointment is that it's been deliberately side-stepped. And then underfunded.

Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

But it does have its moments. The women are uniformly fantastic, and its a rare Who that passes the Bechdel test with such flair. Romana's cliffhanger is silly, but I love the air of "Oh FFS: this again?" she brings to it. Susan Engel is a great is very telegraphed villain.

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

On top of that, you get Leeson making some very odd choices with K9's voice to show he's been damaged, and Tom is just on the cusp of realising he doesn't have to acrtuaklly work because it's not like the BBc will hire a new producer to sack him or anything.

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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 2d

The whole thing feels a bit cheap and shoddy, and the whole thing would've benefited from more location work. The hyperspace ship's model doesn't convince. It's also a bit empty, with a tiny cast but no real sense of claustrophobia so you're left seeing the budget being saved for Kroll.

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