Some things are fixed, some things are in flux
The latest Who made me happy for the second time in a row, hitting all the right notes. Not only was the script intelligent, irreverent, and snappy, I didn’t have to sit through any groaningly silly pseudoscience. Plus, we got a quick shout-out to a First Doctor story – now there’s research!
And Donna’s honestly winning me over: anyone who can give her captors a tongue-lashing while tied to a sacrificial altar is worthy company for the Doctor. And she once again shows him, in the climactic scenes, exactly why he’s taken her aboard. I wanted to cheer for both of them.
Next week we get the return of the evil (misunderstood?) Ood from Series 2. I can’t honestly say I’m thrilled… but then, I couldn’t say I was eager to see the Ferengi on their second appearance, so I’ll give the writers a chance. Perhaps I’ll get three for three.
Parthenogenesis is an Athenian Prog Rock band
Back on the fandom front, I finished watching the Series 4 premiere of Doctor Who last night. I have to say I was enormously pleased. I have learned to stop worrying about the comic-book science of the new show, and was able to focus on the acting and writing, which satisfied me fine.
David Tennant’s mentioned that his favorite Doctor was the Fifth, and his version shares a certain tendency to be swept along helplessly by events. It’s no coincidence that his catch phrase is “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.” as he observes another loss he could not prevent. The Tenth Doctor rose above that in this story, and I hope he’ll continue to do so in this year’s plots.
The Doctor’s at his best when he’s facing down a villain and stating, sociably, “I’d advise you not to be fooled by your first impressions of me. You’re hurting innocent sentients here, and I’m going to ask you nicely, once, to stop.” Tennant nailed that note this episode. spoilers approaching
Sluggy Doctor
I’m amused that, in my opinion, that caricature doesn’t look much like Tennant, yet I knew immediately who it was supposed to be before reading the dialogue 🙂
Birthday presents
Got some cool stuff from Starr for my birthday… a refractor telescope, a black tee with a handcuff graphic (“I can’t believe I’m buying you another black t-shirt”) and… this!
Can you guess what it is (besides an afghan, of course)?
A VTSFFC Party, Day One
It turns out that a 5-hour drive in a Mini Cooper is a lot more comfortable than you’d think. In the front seat, anyway.
Dwight introduced me to a bunch of very good music. I’m going to have to look up some more material by the Dresden Dolls and the Supreme Beings of Leisure. The company was excellent and the scenery compelling (and the leaves haven’t even turned yet!)
We arrived in Blacksburg, picked up shrewlet, and wandered into Invisifest around 4, into a panel that tltrent was hosting. I was knocked over by my welcome; my VTSFFC family is one excellent bunch of folk, who really know how to make a guy feel like he’s where he belongs. I caught up with rattrap, nius, rainbowsaber, mephox, anterus, southernsinger, rubinpdf, Cathy, Ben, Jamie, and many other people. Around six, we had to shut down the panel, but we dragged most of the crowd to Macado’s, where Pat and I geeked out over Whovian matters while we waited for our food.
There was a brief attempt at handing Technicon 25 over to me, which I discuss a little more over in my lifestyle filter (if you want to be added to that and haven’t been, leave a comment here to that effect). Suffice it to say that their idea would have made for a quite memorable TCon, and that I turned down the kind offer. Rapidly. Possibly in nanoseconds 🙂
We went back to the ‘Fest for Keith’s White Plectrum concert, which was a small, laughter-filled performance. Keith paid me high compliments by telling the story of how “Red Pill” was written. For those who asked, the throwaway line which inspired “When They Shut Down The Fusion Plant (We’ll Pack Our Bags And Glow)” is found in Music From the Heart of Space, a Starfleet: Batron Eleven fanfic which includes elements of Doctor Who, Robotech: Macross, and Megazone 23. Despite that mashup, I’m still rather proud of the tale, which will always live on in some small manner thanks to Jerry’s twisted creative mind.
We had to leave shortly afterwards. I wish I’d had the energy to stay all night and party, but I have a wedding to attend tomorrow!
No point in being grownup if you can’t sometimes be childish
Monday night Starr was working on her laptop, so I wanted to put something on the TV that she didn’t have to watch. I ended up putting on the 20th anniversary DVD of “The Five Doctors“. Starr got sucked into it anyway, and at the end stated firmly that there was something about style and feel of the Who of the 80’s that she rather appreciated.
I don’t want to just sit and bash the new show – it’s not my position at all. I am quite the fan of the Ninth Doctor, and the recently-aired (here) episode “Blink” is one of the franchise’s finest. But I get what she’s saying, and I’ve been trying to pin down what it is that I miss. Is it a certain innocence about the older show? The rampant charisma of Tom Baker? The shinier, more futuristic TARDIS interior of the period? Or should I chalk the whole feeling up to nostalgia on my part? I’m not sure.
For those who abstain from BitTorrenting, I greatly look forward to opinions on the end-of-season three-parter. After that, I look foward to series four next year. At least I’ll be caught up this time!
There’s a cold that’s been going around. For the past three days, I’ve been ill. Tonight… I’m VERY ill.
The Sound of the Universe
I have all of Doctor Who season 3 on my Mac. I have most of it on the DVR. So it was about time for me to get around to finishing season 2.
The last four episodes restored my interest in the Tenth Doctor, and I’m looking forward now to seeing “Runaway Bride”. While I had nits to pick, these scripts really engaged me again, and I honestly think that this season’s two-part finale is stronger than season 1’s.
But I have to say that I’m pretty divided about episode ten. The episode was clearly about science-fiction fandom, and I understood all too clearly the points it was making from that angle. But the last bits with the guest lead and his grilfriend were wrong in so many ways… and I mean that seriously, not in that rueful fun manner.
Flapdoodle!
This meme claims that the incarnation of the Doctor I’m most like is the Fourth. I can see that… goofy demeanor, odd choice of dress, encyclopedic knowledge of arcane subjects.
More interesting to me are the runners-up. The Third was the Bondian action-hero gadget-freak (yes on two, no on one), the Ninth was the charismatic but traumatized survivor, and the First was the cranky, eccentric, elderly genius on the run from his people. (Cranky and eccentric, perhaps.)
My poorest matches are the Tenth and Sixth, which I’m fine with. I haven’t quite warmed to the Tenth yet – he seems a bit flighty and unfocused; while the Sixth, bluntly, was an asshole.
Ringtones
I’ve discovered, to my surprise, that I generally prefer MIDI ringtones to MP3 ringtones. Perhaps it has a little to do with the tiny speaker they’re coming from, and in part because a MIDI just sounds more like a phone-ring sound to me.
My current favorites: katamari.mid – DoctorWho2006.mid – dune.mid
I like technology that beeps.
