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Dale Smith

@dalesmithonline.com
1K followers 1.1K following 6.8K posts

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

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Reposted by Dale Smith
Tenebrous Press @tenebrouspress.bsky.social · 5h
It's October🎃 which means, SUBMISSIONS ARE OPEN FOR BRAVE NEW WEIRD Vol. 5! **This is our yearly Best-Of Weird Fiction anthology, only eligible REPRINTS will be considered** Get the full submissions details here, and check out the full cover reveal! tinyurl.com/4474xej6
THE CALL OF THE WEIRD
All October, Tenebrous Press is accepting submissions for the Fifth Volume of our Weird Fiction Award anthology, BRAVE NEW WEIRD. 
This is a reprint anthology. Only works published between 10/31/25-10/31/26 will be considered.
Full details at www.tenebrouspress.comCover art by Matt Blairstone.
Beneath a swirling tile mosaic sea filled with fish and squid, two mountain giants surround a rural village who are burning a wicker man in their honor. 
One of the giants eats the worshippers, while the other digs what they're throwin' down.
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Neil Perryman @neilperryman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
New podcast episode out now.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 7h
Any time somebody mentions two things that may have contrasting pros and cons, I have to stop myself from doing the whole Harry Hill bit.
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Iain Clark @iainjclarkart.com · 10h
For the friend who has everything.
BENEDICT CUMBERSTITCH

CROSS STITCH

Mr Cumberbatch in 15 GREAT PATTERNS

UNOFFICIAL

Colleen Carrington
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Dream Theory Media [Subs Closed] @dreamtheorymedia.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We are excited to announce "Hex Ronin: The Tear in the Night-Black Sky", a novella written by @dalesmithonline.com and cover art by @admancomics.bsky.social, coming in March 2027! It will release in eBook and physical formats. Cover and blurb in the link! www.dreamtheory.media/hex-ronin-vo...
dreamtheory.media
"Hex Ronin Vol. 1: The Tear in the Night-Black Sky" by Dale Smith, coming March 2027
Today we announce our first foray into physical and eBook publishing with the novella Hex Ronin Volume 1: The Tear in the Night-Black Sky, coming March 23, 2027! Written by Dale Smith (Doctor Who, Ir...
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 11h
Bluesky seems to have a lot of love for it :)
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 13h
Judge politicians by what they do, not what they say. Or indeed what they don't do, like "condemn far-right hate groups attacking migrants".
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Sarah Jackson @sarahijackson.bsky.social · 14h
Yes to all of this! I was also surprised at how effective the scene where Brian discovers that Charles has come to life was - the dark farmhouse briefly felt quite gothic and creepy! A fitting homage to Frankenstein
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 14h
I loved how matter-of-fact it was about it the film was. Yeah, he came to life, why not? Zero effort to try and convince you it might happen, because it wouldn't have helped what it was doing. That's confidence.
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Mike Sterling, A Comical Fellow @mikester.bsky.social · 16h
oh an AI Doctor Who fan-film where Tennant's 14th Doctor *doesn't* regenerate into a Black queer Doctor, huh, go figure
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I think about this interview with the distinguished philosopher Conan O'Brien a lot. I actually think this is a healthy way to live your life! www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/a...
Is this how you want to go out, with a show that gets smaller and smaller until it’s gone?

Maybe that’s O.K. I think you have more of a problem with that than I do. [Laughs.] At this point in my career, I could go out with a grand, 21-gun salute, and climb into a rocket and the entire Supreme Court walks out and they jointly press a button, I’m shot up into the air and there’s an explosion and it’s orange and it spells, “Good night and God love.” In this culture? Two years later, it’s going to be, who’s Conan? This is going to sound grim, but eventually, all our graves go unattended.

You’re right, that does sound grim.

Sorry. Calvin Coolidge was a pretty popular president. I’ve been to his grave in Vermont. It has the presidential seal on it. Nobody was there. And by the way, I’m the only late-night host that has been to Calvin Coolidge’s grave. I think that’s what separates me from the other hosts.

I had a great conversation with Albert Brooks once. When I met him for the first time, I was kind of stammering. I said, you make movies, they live on forever. I just do these late-night shows, they get lost, they’re never seen again and who cares? And he looked at me and he said, [Albert Brooks voice] “What are you talking about? None of it matters.” None of it matters? “No, that’s the secret. In 1940, people said Clark Gable is the face of the 20th Century. Who [expletive] thinks about Clark Gable? It doesn’t matter. You’ll be forgotten. I’ll be forgotten. We’ll all be forgotten.” It’s so funny because you’d think that would depress me. I was walking on air after that.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15h
Tell them I sent you. They'll treat you right.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15h
But ultimately it's just a very, very sweet 80 mins where you fall in love with a plastic head on a massive cardboard box and a man who learns that being different doesn't mean you have to protect yourself in isolation. It's currently on Channel 4 www.channel4.com/programmes/b... so give it a go.
channel4.com
Brian and Charles
(2022) Heartwarming comedy. A lonely inventor creates an AI robot friend.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15h
There's a theme of parenthood running through it: the journey from holy shit I'm the only thing keeping this whole person alive to the eventual need to let go. Of acceptance and friendship, of the value in the odd, and accepting who you are and who those around you are.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15h
Oh but it's heartwarming and affecting and sweet and yes bloody whimsical. It's right in my personal sweet spot, so much so that I can not shout oh my God you've got Louise Brealey USE HER MORE and instead just melt. Charles just has so much personality, which is a testament to the power of cinema.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15h
There's a bully, and Louise Brealey being almost criminally wasted in the role of the reward girlfriend who's only job is to help the hero become a better person. One of the main characters has a shop mannequin's head and has only one facial expression to bring to proceedings.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 15h
Watched #BrianAndCharles - a film described by no less than Ebert as whimsical. OK, so he was saying he didn't like it, but he was still bang on the money. It's sweet and odd, and plays out pretty much as you'd expect when the village oddball builds himself a friend out of a washing machine.
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Stephen Graham @stephengraham.bsky.social · 16h
Mind-boggling, indeed.
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Jeff Goddard @jeffgoddard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I found some glossy photographic printer paper at work and decided to try it out and, well, damn. I don't like to really toot my own horn, but I'm so chuffed, I've never had full size (A4) prints of my stuff before and I'm so happy with how they look 😍
Picture shows five prints of Doctor Who digital edits. 
Top, l-r: 13th Doctor blended with a cyberman. 13th Doctor and a wheel in space cyberman.
Bottom l-r: picture inspired by I, Davros,  1st and 13th Doctors in the tardis, 1st Doctor surrounded by Daleks.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
I concur!
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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Magical creatures don’t exist, eh? Roughly 400 million years ago, before the birth of trees, there were giant mystery cones called “Prototaxites,” which grew nearly 30 feet tall. We literally have no idea what they were. Plant: no Mushroom: no Animal: no Tell me this isn’t a little bit magic
Sunset with giant mystery cones Prototaxites https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/prototaxites-fossil-explained-why-this-prehistoric-colossus-still-baffles-scientists-1773173
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
Oh well will you look at that? Can't wait for you all to be able to read this one, and something I really hope brings a lot of good thing to the lovely people at Dream Theory Media.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
You're telling me there's going to be like 9 people on the crew one day, aren't you?
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
Absolutely this. I have two careers, both decimated by AI and both filled with people saying "I know, but look: this can actually be helpful to those of us who know what we're doing". The people you're selling to don't want a middle man to "craft" a prompt for them.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
Obviously it's all in the delivery, but "pretty good" has the ring of being dragged unwillingly from the bit of the brain marked "technically still praise but not really endorsement".
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
It definitely has the feel of somebody getting an edict that the BBC needs to be supportive of AI, doesn't it?
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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I’ve seen the pitch document for The Day Today and it’s about a paragraph long. I paraphrase but: “This show worked brilliantly on the radio and we know what we’re doing.” A world in which that is a viable pitch document is something that we surrendered without a fight, which is so sad.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
It is so far a lovely show, and this is a good continuation. An action adventure boy's own SF but with a sense of an ongoing story and actual progression. That kind of thing can evaporate quickly into monster of the week: let's see if it does, and if we ever get 7 (or 8) people on the Liberator.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
(The scene finding the guns is great: spends its entire length establishing that each of the crew can touch one gun and one gun only, and ends with Blake handing his to Jenna to put back because she's a girl and he's got lines to say.)
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
He gets the drop on Blake - point blank range holding one of those lovely, odd laser batons at him - and just shrugs and lets Blake take charge of the ship. Is alone with Jenna and could easily kill her and convince Zen to ditch Blake but seemingly doesn't even consider it.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
It may just be unintentional, but it's difficult not to see Avon as a quite complex character: nakedly self-interested, trying to build himself a pile of money to hide under and absolutely not wanting to get involved in Blake's ideology. But never killed anyone and seemingly unable to make himself.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
And for the bleakness, Nation's sketching in of character leaves behind an undertone of essential optimism. The prisoners still pretty work together - including Phoebe's dad, David Ryall - and even Avon's self-interest doesn't extend to doing what he wants after Jenna says no.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
The resolution is telegraphed a mile off - Chekhov's Beaming Someone Into Empty Space coming up entirely unnaturally in conversation. The crew manage to correctly guess the function of an alien spaceship by randomly pressing buttons without killing themselves. Still not a jot.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
This has my favourite Nation joke I think in his entire oeuvre: Pam Salem orders the new arrival to "Worship your god. Kneel!" and leaves the audience to make the punchline in their own heads - "Sorry, god's name is Neil?" And they say Nation left comedy behind for SF.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
This is proper Nation work here - rattles along with pace and excitement so that you barely notice while you're in it that it doesn't really hang together: the architecture, the perfectly formed tablets, the complete lack of atheists ... I mean, really? Doesn't matter a jot, of course.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
We visit Cygnus Alpha in #Blakes7 and we're so very nearly at the end of the extended pilot - by my count we've got Blake's 6 if you include Blake himself, which I'm not sure you should but how will we ever reach 7 if we don't? Toos and Ycranos run a hokey religion that needs followers.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 30/09/2026
Did he invent the organ?
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Time for this classic again.
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Chris Luxford @luxfordc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I remember electoral reform being in the 1997 Labour manifesto, they then got a massive Parliamentary majority and promptly forgot about it.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026
If they won't pay taxes, why would we want them to stay?
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grovehaunter @grovewalker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
photo of werner herzog with a speech bubble added so that it looks like he is saying the quoted post
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Claudia: lesbian space merc @lesbianspacemerc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Meme of Professor Farnsworth from Futurama, proclaiming good news with his hands in the air. The caption says, "Good news, everyone! I've invented lesbians."
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026
This is true, if subscriptions to use microwave ovens were currently being given away for free to force vendor lock in with companies run by some of the worst people in the world. And cost so much to run it's hard to see where the profit will come from, but if there isn't one the economy goes ping!
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026
Imagine if we worked out how much it cost to stay alive and just gave that to everyone. All start from the same baseline and see where we go from there.
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Mags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
There is one welfare payment that does not demand that level of evidence. Source: www.gov.uk/government/s...
DWP’s graph showing 13.3 million people receive the state pension, far more than the numbers claiming universal credit.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026
Look, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say they know it's not a key-holder. Same as those other companies know they're not "back massagers".
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tinybaby @tiny.baby · 29/09/2026
i must warn you: my penis could be too big. the pleasure it gives might tear society apart. our scientists just aren't sure yet
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Áine ☽𖤐☾ @whoa-magic.lol · 29/09/2026
This is what happens to hackers. This is what should happen to the C-Suites of AI corporations when their products hack. Prison.
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026
It is just fantastic - I absolutely can't recommend it enough, and am convinced that if you haven't already listened to it you will love it. Why not find out for yourself at www.patreon.com/c/brokenveil... ?
patreon.com
Get more from Broken Veil on Patreon
Browse Broken Veil's collections on Patreon. Become a member for just £3/month. Broken Veil is a found-narrative podcast by Will Maclean and Joel…
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Dale Smith @dalesmithonline.com · 29/09/2026
Finished S2 of #BrokenVeil yesterday and am still a little shaken. It's a beautifully crafted modern folk horror - the kind of thing that would appeal to people who loved Small Prophets but wished it was a bit creepier. It's about borders and ambiguity, from the narrators being real people down.
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