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Post by paulpogue on Jan 11, 2009 15:38:51 GMT -8
Good lord, are there fanboys carping that he doesn't look ENOUGH like Tennant? One of my few worries about this guy is that we're going straight to another pale, lanky, young Doctor with crazy floppy hair. By the way, one of his other recent roles was as a one-night stand for Billie Piper in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl." I have to imagine that whoever cast him either had no idea about this or knew all about it and did it for the lulz. (We ARE talking Moffat here.) It took about twenty minutes after the announcement for the "Eleventh Doctor does the deed with Rose!" vids of the scene to hit YouTube  . |
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Post by K-Box on Jan 11, 2009 15:39:58 GMT -8
Rumors of Eleven's possible companion give me hope, for reasons that should surprise no one who knows me:
Dr Who sidekick may be a Kiwi
The latest Doctor Who, Matt Smith, will have a new assistant when he steps into the Tardis next year and she could very well have a Kiwi accent.Rumours of who it will be began after the shock announcement that virtual unknown Matt, 26, will take over as Time Lord from David Tennant early in 2010. Gina Bellman, 42, from New Zealand, who has appeared in Jekyll and Coupling, is a favourite for the coveted role. Other names being tossed about include former EastEnders star Michelle Ryan and Carey Mulligan who played Sally Sparrow in a previous Doctor Who episode.
HELL YEAH COUGAR COMPANION!!!And it looks like a former one-off character might have a chance to become a companion, as well. |
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Post by K-Box on Jan 11, 2009 15:43:51 GMT -8
Good lord, are there fan boysGIRLS carping that he doesn't look ENOUGH like Tennant? Fixed your sentence for you. By the way, one of his other recent roles was as a one-night stand for Billie Piper in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl." I have to imagine that whoever cast him either had no idea about this or knew all about it and did it for the lulz. (We ARE talking Moffat here.) It took about twenty minutes after the announcement for the "Eleventh Doctor does the deed with Rose!" vids of the scene to hit YouTube . Yeah, see, that's nothing. The fact that THIS already exists is what makes me more afraid of the batchippers now than ever: community.livejournal.com/eleven_rose/ |
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Post by jessebaker on Jan 12, 2009 23:09:30 GMT -8
Recent conversation on AIM with Rich Johnston about "Doctor Who: The Forgotten":
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Post by jessebaker on Jan 12, 2009 23:19:15 GMT -8
As for one-shot characters who should have been used as companions? I keep thinking they missed the boat the chick who used to be in charge of Torchwood before she got turned into a Cyberman. She had that nice combination of being in awe of the Doctor and being an insufferable know-it-all as far as her belief that Torchwood was right to horde alien technology and the British Empire Jingoism junk.
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Post by K-Box on Jan 12, 2009 23:55:59 GMT -8
As for one-shot characters who should have been used as companions? I keep thinking they missed the boat the chick who used to be in charge of Torchwood before she got turned into a Cyberman. She had that nice combination of being in awe of the Doctor and being an insufferable know-it-all as far as her belief that Torchwood was right to horde alien technology and the British Empire Jingoism junk. Yvonne Hartman was her name. And while I wouldn't choose her for a companion, she really did deserve to be a recurring antagonist, not in the least because she had such awesome chemistry with Ten. |
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Post by paulpogue on Jan 13, 2009 9:12:25 GMT -8
As for one-shot characters who should have been used as companions? I keep thinking they missed the boat the chick who used to be in charge of Torchwood before she got turned into a Cyberman. She had that nice combination of being in awe of the Doctor and being an insufferable know-it-all as far as her belief that Torchwood was right to horde alien technology and the British Empire Jingoism junk. Yvonne Hartman was her name. And while I wouldn't choose her for a companion, she really did deserve to be a recurring antagonist, not in the least because she had such awesome chemistry with Ten. They made the same mistake with Mercy Hartigan -- not uncoincidentally, another incredibly hot MILF whose bitchiness only made her more attractive. The single biggest flaw in the entire new series has to be their utter inability to create any truly compelling new recurring villains. Every time they create someone who begins to border on being awesome, they kill them off. |
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Post by K-Box on Jan 17, 2009 16:09:48 GMT -8
CROSSOVER POST!
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Post by K-Box on Jan 25, 2009 18:11:43 GMT -8
Classic Who rewind review: "The Sea Devils"
Our local PBS station aired all six episodes of this serial during a pledge drive last weekend. I hadn't seen it in years, and as much as Tom Baker has always ranked as my number one most favorite Doctor, it made me realize how astonishingly good the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who was, not in the least because the series was able to completely jettison its entire original premise - the time-and-space-traveling free agent became an almost entirely Earth-and-contemporary-era-bound agent of the government - and still be a great show.
Here's what stood out most to me:
It says a lot about the quality of these seasons that they could get away with basically flat-out stating, "Yeah, the premise of this serial is almost exactly the same as one that aired just two seasons ago," right down to making the Sea Devils the aquatic cousins of the Silurians, both of whom were reawakened after millions of years of self-induced hibernation, and eager to reclaim the Earth from humanity. Of course, adding the Master to the mix did a lot to distinguish this serial from the previous one.
Speaking of which, it's no wonder that fans fondly refer to these seasons of the show as the "UNIT Family" years, considering that the cast's affection for one another in real life arguably detracted slightly from the portrayals of their characters. That being said, it's so entertaining to watch the actors obviously having fun with each other that it feels mean-spirited to object to their somewhat out-of-character onscreen behavior. Yes, we get that the Doctor and the Master were once very good friends, as the Third Doctor states outright to Jo Grant in this serial, so there's always going to be that touch of a lingering friendship between them, but it makes far less sense for Jo and the Master to be so friendly toward each other, especially considering what he's done to her in his previous serials. I mean, granted, the Roger Delgado Master was practically a gentleman to Jo, compared to what his later incarnations did to the Doctor's other companions, but still, the guy literally messed with her mind. But again, it's so neat to see how much Delgado, Pertwee and Katy Manning genuinely enjoyed each other's company that I'm more than willing to hand-wave this one.
Which leads me to the Doctor/Master relationship. Three and Delgado!Master are such a bromance that it's not even debatable. Even when they're fighting to the death, on some level, they never stop playing it as a game, complete with unspoken but mutually understood and agreed-upon rules that, even during their most heated combat, they both abide by faithfully. Rather than making their conflict seem small or petty, it actually elevates both characters, because the stakes are enormous, with the fate of the human race literally hanging in the balance, and yet, these two guys are so far above and beyond everyone else that they treat it like a pair of schoolboys engaged in a war of pranks. The Master wants to wipe out humanity for no other reason than to ruin the Doctor's day, and the Doctor hands the Master's sword back to him during their duel, just so he can prolong their match. It's interesting that Delgado!Master was deliberately characterized, in both his fencing and his invention-designing abilities, as being subtly but distinctly less capable than Three. It's also funny that, when Three and Delgado!Master forget that they're not supposed to be enemies, they feel free to shoot the breeze so casually. It's like watching the wolf and the sheepdog from the old Looney Tunes cartoons, who would pound the stuffing out of each other during their "work shifts," but then interact pleasantly when they were "off the clock" for the day.
One of the ironies of Three's era is that his assigned status as a room-and-board-paid employee of The Man, rather than making the Doctor seem subservient to authority, instead underscores how rebellious he is by nature. Three never met an officer or a bureaucrat whom he wasn't willing to tell off without hesitation, and his conduct in "The Sea Devils" proves to be no exception. And while the naval base commander ultimately comes across as an honorable and courageous man who's doing his duty, the visiting government official who orders the attack on the Sea Devils' base is made out to be a small-minded, self-centered, cowardly glutton. Indeed, given the Cold War period in which this serial was produced, I was impressed by the motivation ascribed to the Master's partner in crime - Colonel Blanchard, the governor of the island prison to which the Master is confined - because rather than being out for himself, Blanchard is a patriot who only cares about protecting his country from "enemy agents." In the context of that era's politics, it's hard to see this as something other than a mildly subversive comment on the road to Hell being paved with good intentions.
It takes a special kind of performer to get away with playing a character who's equal parts patrician and liberal, but in spite of his campy acting, or maybe even because of it, Pertwee always nailed it. As averse as Three was to the authority of others, he brought more than enough of an air of authority of his own to every scene he was in, to the point that, as a kid, I never questioned why so many other characters were so quick to listen to the old guy who wore cloaks, velvet jackets and frilly shirts, even when he started talking about having personally experienced historic events that would have precluded his having any sort of human lifespan. It's perhaps no surprise that Wikipedia cites Three's most frequently uttered catchphrase as, "Now listen to me." Looking back on it, when I would play Doctor Who as a kid, my makeshift costume was meant to resemble that of the Fourth Doctor, complete with a relatively long, multicolored scarf, but I realize now that my personality in the role was much more reminiscent of Three's decisive man of action, which I suppose makes sense, because between the Sonic Screwdriver, Bessie and the "Whomobile," and the Venusian Aikido, Three was basically just Batman with a dry British wit.
Another ironic quality of Pertwee-as-Three was that, even though he clearly sought to maintain a chastely paternal relationship with his female companions, their interactions simmered with sexuality. Even as a kid, Liz Shaw's amiably antagonistic bantering with Three reminded me of nothing so much as the bickering between Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd on Moonlighting, and Jo's explicit Electra complex over Three made her a sort of proto-Rose Tyler. "The Sea Devils" highlights Jo at her Action Girl best, and I can't help but think that her scene of silently mouthing words through the window at Three was what directly inspired the similar scene between Donna Noble and the Tenth Doctor in "Partners in Crime," since it was this same serial that Russell T. Davies was referencing when he had the John Simm Master watching the Teletubbies in "The Sound of Drums" (in "The Sea Devils," Delgado!Master is watching the Clangers, to which he also reacts as though they were an actual species).
On-location filming! No quarries for Three, and while there were more than a few corridors, most of them were on an actual sea fort. Indeed, the majority of filming clearly took place either in, on or around actual naval facilities, which gives this serial an effective sense of atmosphere, even though there were a few points in some of the episodes where it felt like the series producers had said to themselves, "Dammit, we FILMED all this footage, so by God, we're gonna USE it!"
All in all, though, a great installment of classic Doctor Who, and an excellent example of why Three has always been one of my favorite Doctors.
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Post by K-Box on Jan 25, 2009 18:20:01 GMT -8
... On the minus side, my above-posted review earned me some scorn over on the who_anon meme, but then again, at this point, I could probably post a grocery list on the comms, and it'd still spark off an anon thread about how I'm an OMG OEDIPAL MISOGYNIST!!!111oneoneone On the plus side, though, my thanks go out to the folks who have nominated two of my fanfics - MILF-Hunting and Sarah Jane’s Adventures with Pheromone Pollen - for the Children of Time Awards. I doubt I'll win in either category, since I'm up against some very good stories - as one would expect, with names like persiflage_1 and radiantbaby in the running - but it's fun just to have my silly stories recognized. |
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Post by K-Box on Jan 25, 2009 18:22:42 GMT -8
Who's the bigger Mary Sue, Rose Tyler from Doctor Who, or Isabella Swan from Twilight?   myonlylight brings us the Rose vs. Bella Mary Sue-off! Go check it out, and then cast your vote for which one you think should be named Queen of the Mary Sues. |
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Post by paulpogue on Jan 25, 2009 18:57:43 GMT -8
Rose is an astonishingly Mary Sue-ish Mary Sue, but Bella gets the win on general frakkin' principle. Rose is a Mary Sue inserted into a pre-existing universe that is, in and of itself, one of the goddamn coolest continuities ever conceived by nerddom. Bella is part of a brand-new world that is IN AND OF ITSELF a gigantic wish-fulfillment fantasy of every girl who ever wanted to have adventures with fairies and unicorns and vampires, but was a little leery of the vampires because vampires are so icky. So we get much-less-icky vampires. (And then, of course, with the pregnancy business, it gets icky on levels that make Buffy/Spike seem like a stable relationship.) But you get the idea.
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Post by Patty on Jan 31, 2009 11:57:08 GMT -8
Classic Who rewind review: "The Sea Devils"Our local PBS station aired all six episodes of this serial during a pledge drive last weekend. Who's your local station? I'm just thrilled if ANY station in this beknighted country is showing ClassiWho. |
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Post by Patty on Jan 31, 2009 12:02:10 GMT -8
... On the minus side, my above-posted review earned me some scorn over on the who_anon meme, but then again, at this point, I could probably post a grocery list on the comms, and it'd still spark off an anon thread about how I'm an OMG OEDIPAL MISOGYNIST!!!111oneoneone On the plus side, though, my thanks go out to the folks who have nominated two of my fanfics - MILF-Hunting and Sarah Jane’s Adventures with Pheromone Pollen - for the Children of Time Awards. I doubt I'll win in either category, since I'm up against some very good stories - as one would expect, with names like persiflage_1 and radiantbaby in the running - but it's fun just to have my silly stories recognized. I'm pleased that you're doing these analyses here, because I know I fell down on the job of doing my "The Doctor By Numbers". We just killed Jon last night and birthed Tom a few minutes later. I *cannot* watch the end of "Planet of the Spiders" anymore and just go to sleep.... I have to watch "Robot" immediately after, otherwise I get haunted by the speculation brought up in Virgin books that Jon was dying in the vortex for ten years before he made it back to UNIT HQ. Hard to dream sweet dreams with that nightmare scenario in your head. |
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Post by K-Box on Jan 31, 2009 16:23:58 GMT -8
Rose is an astonishingly Mary Sue-ish Mary Sue, but Bella gets the win on general frakkin' principle. Rose is a Mary Sue inserted into a pre-existing universe that is, in and of itself, one of the goddamn coolest continuities ever conceived by nerddom. Bella is part of a brand-new world that is IN AND OF ITSELF a gigantic wish-fulfillment fantasy of every girl who ever wanted to have adventures with fairies and unicorns and vampires, but was a little leery of the vampires because vampires are so icky. So we get much-less-icky vampires. (And then, of course, with the pregnancy business, it gets icky on levels that make Buffy/Spike seem like a stable relationship.) But you get the idea. But, just for the sake of argument, doesn't this imply that the Twilight "universe" as a WHOLE is a META-Mary Sue, within the meta-universe of the vampire subgenre overall? After all, the Twilight universe's reimagining of vampires is, when compared to the vampires of any other fictional universe, just as much a Mary Sue on the CONCEPTUAL level as all those original character students of Hogwarts in fanfic are Mary Sues on the CHARACTER level, because Twilight basically transforms the vampiric condition from a compelling curse with rich dramatic potential into a deus ex machina device for turning people into weirdly idealized versions of themselves that they secretly fap or schlick to, without any of the negative consequences that should necessarily be associated with such a condition. |
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