Starting stats: 12.1, Robot
Doctor: Four
Companions: Sarah Jane, Brigadier-General Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, Harry Sullivan (barely)
The first thing I must say about Robot is that it's certainly the best-paced Classic episode I've yet seen (out of, y'know, two and a half, including itself.) Better plotted than Ark in Space, but not as quotable, I fear. Which leaves me a bit lost, as I'm not Jacob and I still don't know how I want to write these things. But ah well.
The regeneration sequence was a bit of a non-event--just a bleeding of one face into the other, no muss no fuss. I kind of like the modern Golden Light of Goooooold way of doing it better, I think. The Brig just mumbled "well, here we go again" and that was that. (I LOVE the Brig, by the way. His mustache is magnificent and his sense of humor is so wry and dry and... Iiiiiiii love it. [parentheses within parentheses to groan about how not-clever I am with the rhyming.] Anyway. He reminds me a lot of Martha, sometimes-- or, I suppose, Martha is an awful lot like the Brig. And not just for the UNITyness. They've just a way about them.)
Four sits up, babbling nonsense, and he's clutching Sarah Jane's arm so hard she's probably bruising under his grip. Sarah's plenty empowered and all, but every time I see her, I react the same way I did when I first saw Amy Acker as Fred on Angel-- which is to say, I repeatedly gasp, "but she's so small! look at how LITTLE she is!" every time she comes on screen. I don't mean it to be mean-- in fact, it's terribly endearing. But the point is, she really is just a slip of a thing, and the Doctor mustn't be so rough with her.
Oh my god the special effects are amazing. It's relatively easy, this time around, to get pulled into the story and kind of gloss over how awful the things you're actually seeing look, but if you pause it and come back to it? Oh my god, that robot. It's terribly impressive considering their budget and time period, but... oh, show. (They actually pull a Nosferatu with the cheapy-ass robot claw, too. I realize it's a classic suspense/horror technique, but... faaail.) (Oh, and THEN it steals a plain manila envelope stamped, in big letters, "TOP SECRET." Oh, show.)
Brig: "You realize, Miss Smith, that all of this is top secret?"
Sarah: [amused] "Then why are you telling me?"
Brig: "Well, be-bec--because there's no one else I can tell."
They're SO CUTE.
LOL FOUR. His face when he sees the TARDIS for the first time. A++++, I wish I had a screencap. And he snuck away from the Med Bay when he wasn't supposed to, of course, so he's in a dressing gown. Striped, obviously, as that's the way the Doctor prefers his jim-jams.
[Lis Sladen, in the commentary: "Very good lurking, there, Tom! Solid lurking."]
Harry Sullivan (a navy doctor, which they discuss more in Ark in Space) comes in to, y'know, apprehend the runaway and remind him he's supposed to be healing and all, and then the Doctor uses his still-canon extra regeneration energy to karate-chop through a (clearly balsa wood) brick and then SKIP ROPE, WITH HARRY. I cannot describe this scene with mere words. Just know that it is awesome. The two of them, face to face, maybe three inches apart, hopping to the time of the Doctor doing some creepy-as-fuck children's rhyme. Amazing. Oh, show.
And then, knowing Harry will only get in his way, the Doctor stuffs him in a closet. (Sarah finds him later. She walks into the empty lab, hears a vague muffled plea for help, says "Cupboard!" and finds him straight away. Doesn't even stop to think. Love that girl.)
[picking a new outfit: viking attire]
Doctor: "Do you think I might attract attention?"
Brig: "Just possibly."
(love. him.)
There's plot stuff and sneaking about stuff and blah, Sarah uses her reporter cred to get a visitor's pass to some sekrit military base... science... thing. "HEYA WHAT'S IN HERE?" she basically asks, barging right into a door that, I swear to god, is marked "Positively No Admittance." Oh, SHOW. While in the garage/lab where the phlebotinum was made, she notices a musty smell (and later, an oil spill) right off. She's such a good companion. (Also later off, she brushes the oil with her hand and gives it a sniff, and I have been watching too much Ten because I was terrified, for a moment, that she would lick it.)
Also also (I'm rubbish at linear thinking, apparently, so do try and keep up) later, she has to sneak back into the Lab. Her visitor's pass is about to expire, so she drives up to the gate guard all "I've forgotten my notebook-- I still have ten minutes left on my pass, can I pop in and get it?" and when he turns his back to phone a superior, she ABANDONS HER CAR, then HOPS A FENCE and RUNS ACROSS SEVERAL LARGE LAWNS to her destination. In a skirt suit and terribly absurd boots. LOVE THIS GIRL.
And then, just when I thought she couldn't get more awesome, she channels Rose. The crux of this story is a robot (big surprise) but it's a surprisingly adorable one, which doesn't want to hurt people can gets all conflicted and wobbles when confused. (Like a pokemon.) And Sarah's all "How can you be sure it doesn't have feelings?" and then asks the robot if it's alright, and pets it. And it's all very Dalek and god I love companions. They are the best.
[the Absent-Minded Professor is babbling about solar energy and pollution]
Doctor: "I know; humans. They can't see that what's under their noses is over their heads!"
[A-M P babbles on; Sarah Jane, in the background, laughs appreciatively at the Doctor's joke and then, realizing her faux-pas and seeing the Brig's poker face, half-heartedly tries to turn it into a cough, still smiling]
There's a wonderful moment, later in, when the Brig, the Doctor, and Sarah sit around in the Doctor's lab talking through the clues together. Not only do Sarah and the Doctor totally have an "Are you deducting?" moment, but I just... I love what an odd yet efficient little team they make. It's one thing to SAY Sarah's an investigative journalist; it's quite another to give her the mind of one. (In the commentary, the producer says "We very deliberately didn't make Sarah Jane an assistant--we made her an investigative journalist so she could, you know, start things on her own." To which Terrence Dicks replied "Yes-- assistants are for tying to train tracks!" and oh, that was so close to being inspired. But then Lis Sladen laughs and says "I never got that one-- it was the one I wanted!" which only further proves how awesome she is.)
But anyway. Sarah goes home to get some sleep (and change into an UTTERLY RIDICULOUS outfit, involving a scarf tied around her head for no reason) leaving the Doctor and the Brig to flail around and be useless in her absence:
Brig: "Doctor, what are we going to do? Or shall we just leave it all to Miss Smith?"
And later, when the Doctor types a note [a) on a typewriter and b) with super-speed] and tapes it to the TARDIS, explaining where he's run off to and what he's doing, he addresses it to Sarah Jane, and not the Brigadier. Even though he's parked in the UNIT lab and he has every reason to think the Brig would find it first.
"Please do not resist" says the polite, morally conflicted Robot. It's starting to become clear that he's adopted a King Kong style crush on Sarah Jane. Later, he will get hit with a ray gun and grow many stories high, and then he picks her up and carries her around. Well, a terrible doll of her. The SFX at that point at quite appalling.
[A-M P and Sarah want to sneak into a Sekrit Meeting of Bad Guys]
Soldier: "But the Brigadier would go spare-- so would the Doctor!"
Sarah: "Well, one's away and the other's asleep!"
Soldier: "Then I'll go wake the Doctor and see what he says--"
Sarah: "--DON'T YOU DARE. He had a nasty knock on the head and he needs to rest."
Soldier: "Well in that case miss, it's just not on. I'm sorry."
Sarah: "Oh, I--" [pause, then: epiphany] "MISter Benton,* are we members of UNIT?"
Soldier: "Well, no, of course not."
Sarah: "Are we under arrest?"
Soldier: [seeing where she's going with this; defeated] "No, miss."
Sarah: [beams the smile of Triumphant Feminine Wiles] "Well then, what we do and where we go is none of your business, is it? Come along, professor!"
Soldier: "Now, wai-"
Sarah: "No, you just go and [something british that I absolutely cannot interpret but is quite clearly a double entendre so I laughed] your rifle or something."
(... yeah, it kind of got away from me at the end, there. Moving on!)
WOOHOO Four drives Bessie! And it's awesome.
"James Bond" Sarah hisses derisively at a caught undercover Harry (having just been caught herself.)
Four uses the sonic screwdriver for the first time. Lots of things explode. It's fun.
[mutually trying to untie each other's handcuff bindings]
Harry: "How're we doing, Miss Smith?"
Sarah: "Ooookay?" [it's all in Lis's delivery, really.]
Robot kills A-M P and then laments, loudly, in his robot voice: "ohhhhh! I have killed the one who created me!" and then he drops to his knees before collapsing completely in a pathetic heap. [my hand-written notes for this section read: 'LOL LOL LOL LOL FOREVER']
[upon noticing Sarah Jane is missing]
Soldier: "Well we thou-- we thought she'd gone home."
Doctor: "Gone HOME?!" [I adore Baker's delivery on this. one part "are you fucking crazy?", one part "lol, have you met this girl?" and one part "because now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there's no power on this EARTH that can stop me."]
(It is at this point that the Lis Sladen stand-in dolly does its Fay Wray impression.)
After it all, Sarah feels pretty down about the death of the robot:
Doctor: "Sarah? Sarah...? ... Would you like a jelly baby?"
It's the first time he ever offers. (Of course it's to her.) Initially, she refuses.
[on the robot]
Sarah: "It was so human."
Doctor: "It was a *wonderful* creature. Capable of great good... and great evil. ... yes, I think you could say it was human."
Then he paces and babbles and offers her a trip in the TARDIS instead, and my god, nothing ever really changes, does it? He whines about staying, and the paperwork UNIT would make him do, and he says "I won't I won't I WON'T!" and goes to karate chop another brick... only to practically break his hand. (Sarah Jane does her best not to laugh at him, bless her.)
Sarah: "Doctor, you're being childish."
Doctor: "Well of course I am! There's no point in being grown up if you can't act childish sometimes." [pauses, lets his hat cast a bashful shadow over his eyes as he looks away, offers the white bag again] "Are you coming?" (he won't look at her.)
[She breaks into a wide grin and eagerly pops a jelly baby into her mouth, as if he'll rescind the offer if she doesn't eat it fast enough. He grins at her, and she laughs at him, and it is quite possibly the cutest thing you'll ever see. Rusty owes a hell of a lot to this relationship, I'm starting to learn.]
And then, of course, Harry wanders in. Bah! He offers Harry a jelly baby, and he takes two.
Doctor: "We're taking a trip!"
Harry: "Wot, in that old police box?"
Doctor: [snatches back the other jelly baby, offended] "YES in that old police box!"
He doesn't, unfortunately, say "it's bigger on the inside" but we do hear his incredulous "I say," and Sarah giggles.
God I love this show. Even when it's bad, it's good. And Sarah/Four is SOCUTE.
Ending stats:
Jelly baby offers: 3
Displays of unrestrained physical affection: 0 (closest facsimile: when Four comes back to his right mind, he shakes the Brig's hand and then Sarah's. Then he gets distracted, but keeps holding Sarah's hand in both of his own as he talks. Cute, but not a hug.)
Speeches by the Doctor about how awesome humans are: 1ish.
* totally reminded me of Roses's "MISter Jefferson, SIRRR" from Satan Pit, but I didn't have a handy way to link to that. So, you get a footnote!
Showing posts with label Doctor Who. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doctor Who. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Interlude: Billie Piper and Pokemon
[4:13:30 AM] Marlena: god, I love Doctor Who
[4:13:44 AM] Leah: what's that?
[4:14:44 AM] Marlena: oh, nothing. some show about England and aliens.
[4:15:14 AM] Leah: oooh. do they fart?
[4:15:21 AM] Leah: not interested unless they fart.
[4:16:36 AM] Marlena: duuuuuh. and that awesome pop star, Billie Piper, is the musical guest at the end.
[4:17:04 AM] Leah: ...
[4:17:41 AM] Leah: do you think her real name is, like... Wilhemina?
[4:17:48 AM] Marlena: ...
[4:18:04 AM] Leah: just. cuz. "Billie."
[4:18:12 AM] Leah: I dunno. she named her kid Winston.
[4:18:14 AM] Leah: it's possible.
[4:18:24 AM] Leah: (baby Winstonnnnnnnnnnnnnn)
[4:18:38 AM] Marlena: sayeth Wikipedia: "Billie Piper (born Lianne Paul Piper;[1] 22 September 1982, in Swindon, Wiltshire) is an English singer and actress."
[4:18:50 AM] Leah: Lianne Paul?!
[4:19:10 AM] Leah: lolwuuuuuut
[4:19:16 AM] Marlena: "Piper was offered a record deal at the age of fifteen, and in 1998 became the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart with "Because We Want To", released under the stage mononym "Billie"."
[4:19:30 AM] Leah: *dies*
[4:19:37 AM] Leah: what I don't even
[4:20:07 AM] Marlena: I love Billie Piper's life. Everything about it. So good. I almost don't want to read her autobiography.
[4:20:25 AM] Leah: somehow, I have the feeling that the mystery will remain
[4:20:34 AM] Leah: it'll just get deeper and more intense
[4:20:58 AM] Leah: I just.
[4:21:01 AM] Marlena: HAHAHAAHA WHAT
[4:21:10 AM] Leah: how does a song like "Because We Want To" DEBUT AT NUMBER ONE?
[4:21:15 AM] Marlena: "She recorded a song for Pokémon: The First Movie titled "Makin' My Way (Any Way That I Can)".[7]"
[4:21:23 AM] Leah: I mean, I'm sure that in '98 our singles weren't much better
[4:21:25 AM] Leah: but
[4:21:25 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:26 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:27 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:28 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:28 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:29 AM] Marlena: I KNOW
[4:21:30 AM] Marlena: RIGHT
[4:21:55 AM] Leah: IS THAT THE ONE WHERE MEWTWO TURNS ASH TO STONE AND PIKACHU CRIES?
[4:22:02 AM] Leah: BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN THAT MOVIE
[4:22:04 AM] Leah: MANY TIMES
[4:22:40 AM] Marlena: I THINK SO
[4:22:45 AM] Leah: OH MY GOD
[4:23:01 AM] Marlena: YES. IT IS.
[4:23:11 AM] Leah: I can't remember the song, but the litl'un in me KNOWS I KNOW IT.
[4:23:29 AM] Leah: WE NEED TO WATCH THE POKEMON MOVIE, MARLENA
[4:23:34 AM] Marlena: YES.
[4:23:40 AM] Marlena: OBVIOUSLY WE DO
[4:23:46 AM] Leah: and... never tell twitter about this
[4:13:44 AM] Leah: what's that?
[4:14:44 AM] Marlena: oh, nothing. some show about England and aliens.
[4:15:14 AM] Leah: oooh. do they fart?
[4:15:21 AM] Leah: not interested unless they fart.
[4:16:36 AM] Marlena: duuuuuh. and that awesome pop star, Billie Piper, is the musical guest at the end.
[4:17:04 AM] Leah: ...
[4:17:41 AM] Leah: do you think her real name is, like... Wilhemina?
[4:17:48 AM] Marlena: ...
[4:18:04 AM] Leah: just. cuz. "Billie."
[4:18:12 AM] Leah: I dunno. she named her kid Winston.
[4:18:14 AM] Leah: it's possible.
[4:18:24 AM] Leah: (baby Winstonnnnnnnnnnnnnn)
[4:18:38 AM] Marlena: sayeth Wikipedia: "Billie Piper (born Lianne Paul Piper;[1] 22 September 1982, in Swindon, Wiltshire) is an English singer and actress."
[4:18:50 AM] Leah: Lianne Paul?!
[4:19:10 AM] Leah: lolwuuuuuut
[4:19:16 AM] Marlena: "Piper was offered a record deal at the age of fifteen, and in 1998 became the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart with "Because We Want To", released under the stage mononym "Billie"."
[4:19:30 AM] Leah: *dies*
[4:19:37 AM] Leah: what I don't even
[4:20:07 AM] Marlena: I love Billie Piper's life. Everything about it. So good. I almost don't want to read her autobiography.
[4:20:25 AM] Leah: somehow, I have the feeling that the mystery will remain
[4:20:34 AM] Leah: it'll just get deeper and more intense
[4:20:58 AM] Leah: I just.
[4:21:01 AM] Marlena: HAHAHAAHA WHAT
[4:21:10 AM] Leah: how does a song like "Because We Want To" DEBUT AT NUMBER ONE?
[4:21:15 AM] Marlena: "She recorded a song for Pokémon: The First Movie titled "Makin' My Way (Any Way That I Can)".[7]"
[4:21:23 AM] Leah: I mean, I'm sure that in '98 our singles weren't much better
[4:21:25 AM] Leah: but
[4:21:25 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:26 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:27 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:28 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:28 AM] Leah: WHAT
[4:21:29 AM] Marlena: I KNOW
[4:21:30 AM] Marlena: RIGHT
[4:21:55 AM] Leah: IS THAT THE ONE WHERE MEWTWO TURNS ASH TO STONE AND PIKACHU CRIES?
[4:22:02 AM] Leah: BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN THAT MOVIE
[4:22:04 AM] Leah: MANY TIMES
[4:22:40 AM] Marlena: I THINK SO
[4:22:45 AM] Leah: OH MY GOD
[4:23:01 AM] Marlena: YES. IT IS.
[4:23:11 AM] Leah: I can't remember the song, but the litl'un in me KNOWS I KNOW IT.
[4:23:29 AM] Leah: WE NEED TO WATCH THE POKEMON MOVIE, MARLENA
[4:23:34 AM] Marlena: YES.
[4:23:40 AM] Marlena: OBVIOUSLY WE DO
[4:23:46 AM] Leah: and... never tell twitter about this
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Interlude: Loving Puppies
[3:19:32 PM] Leah: *clings to Angel*
[3:19:35 PM] Leah: I STILL LOVE YOU.
[3:19:48 PM] Leah: THIS DOCTOR WHO THING. IT'LL PASS. IT'S JUST A PHASE. YOU'RE MY PUPPY.
[3:19:58 PM] Leah: (lies.)
[3:20:10 PM] Marlena: why can't they *both* be your puppies?
[3:20:19 PM] Leah: oh! they can!
[3:20:21 PM] Leah: I meant the phase thing.
[3:20:31 PM] Marlena: man. you better not have more than one kid.
In other news, I may end up rooming with Steph from UTO next year, in a Ziv suite. I'll have more info tomorrow.
[3:19:35 PM] Leah: I STILL LOVE YOU.
[3:19:48 PM] Leah: THIS DOCTOR WHO THING. IT'LL PASS. IT'S JUST A PHASE. YOU'RE MY PUPPY.
[3:19:58 PM] Leah: (lies.)
[3:20:10 PM] Marlena: why can't they *both* be your puppies?
[3:20:19 PM] Leah: oh! they can!
[3:20:21 PM] Leah: I meant the phase thing.
[3:20:31 PM] Marlena: man. you better not have more than one kid.
In other news, I may end up rooming with Steph from UTO next year, in a Ziv suite. I'll have more info tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A Short Stories short story.
Something interesting happened when I was walking out of Short Stories today. We're on the brink of starting this project where we (split into groups too large to be productive, imho, but that's a blog for another day) take a short story published before 1860-- and only ever in one addition-- and "re-publish" it (possibly reworked, or with footnotes, or a foreword, or whatever). Because of the nature of the assignment (the source text can only have been published once before, and in the 19th century) we're using stuff from the Archives and Special Collections sections of the library.
Items in Archives and Special Collections include a Shakespeare First Folio and an Oscar (which I've held! with gloves.)
Anyway. So after class today, Professor Plotz pulled me aside and asked me an interesting question. Apparently, at one of the sessions in A&SC, a girl found a bunch of dried flower petals in the book she was looking at, and after the meeting, she went back to the library and asked if she could keep them. She had "medium-length brown hair," and so Plotz asked me if it was me.
It wasn't. But I'm kind of really touched that he thought it was something I'd do. We agreed it was really sweet and cute.
In other Brandeis news, my play is going really well! Housing, however, is a nightmare. The problem is that while I have a lot of friends here at school, none of them are in my year. And while juniors and seniors can room together-- which is why I wasn't worried about this before, because I thought I'd be rooming with Talia-- Talia and Becca and their friend Marissa want to live in the Foster Mods, and juniors can't live in the Mods. And I don't know if my lottery number is good enough to get me into one of the (I think) 12 singles in Ziv, which means there's a fair chance I could be living in Grad-- which is off campus, across the commuter rail tracks and past a business park. Those of you who have visited me at school know how fucking far of a walk that is.
I really don't want to live in Grad. But the alternative is crossing my fingers and hoping Talia and Becca don't get the room they want, so I can benefit from their misfortune and we can get a suite in Ziv together, but that's a terrible thing to think. So. I just... I don't know.
Over on livejournal, I've posted a picspam about Journey's End.
Also, I've decided to change my sidebar quote. The old one:
"Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"
Items in Archives and Special Collections include a Shakespeare First Folio and an Oscar (which I've held! with gloves.)
Anyway. So after class today, Professor Plotz pulled me aside and asked me an interesting question. Apparently, at one of the sessions in A&SC, a girl found a bunch of dried flower petals in the book she was looking at, and after the meeting, she went back to the library and asked if she could keep them. She had "medium-length brown hair," and so Plotz asked me if it was me.
It wasn't. But I'm kind of really touched that he thought it was something I'd do. We agreed it was really sweet and cute.
In other Brandeis news, my play is going really well! Housing, however, is a nightmare. The problem is that while I have a lot of friends here at school, none of them are in my year. And while juniors and seniors can room together-- which is why I wasn't worried about this before, because I thought I'd be rooming with Talia-- Talia and Becca and their friend Marissa want to live in the Foster Mods, and juniors can't live in the Mods. And I don't know if my lottery number is good enough to get me into one of the (I think) 12 singles in Ziv, which means there's a fair chance I could be living in Grad-- which is off campus, across the commuter rail tracks and past a business park. Those of you who have visited me at school know how fucking far of a walk that is.
I really don't want to live in Grad. But the alternative is crossing my fingers and hoping Talia and Becca don't get the room they want, so I can benefit from their misfortune and we can get a suite in Ziv together, but that's a terrible thing to think. So. I just... I don't know.
Over on livejournal, I've posted a picspam about Journey's End.
Also, I've decided to change my sidebar quote. The old one:
"Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"
Monday, March 8, 2010
Doctor/Rose squee linkage
So I've started to get involved over at LiveJournal, of all places, thanks to my uncontainable adoration of Doctor/Rose.
To keep Sounds cleaner and to better service what I intend to use lj for, I'll be posting on both blogs. Unless you're as obsessed as me, don't bother clicking the linkydoo.
Anyway. A shippy thought about New Earth.
To keep Sounds cleaner and to better service what I intend to use lj for, I'll be posting on both blogs. Unless you're as obsessed as me, don't bother clicking the linkydoo.
Anyway. A shippy thought about New Earth.
Friday, March 5, 2010
1.1.1 "An Unearthly Child" Reaction Post
Amy informed me that the whole first season of Doctor Who was on youtube. Naturally, I couldn't leave that well enough alone, so I thought I'd start at the beginning...
Starting Stats: 1.1.1, An Unearthly Child
Doctor: One
Companions: Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright
So... whoa. I'm watching the first ever episode of Doctor Who.
I love that we meet the companions first, before we meet the Doctor—or rather, I love how RTD kept up that tradition in Rose. Human connection! Fantastic.
"Susan Foreman—she your problem too?" Oh, of course she'd be a troublemaker. But I won't say that's my girl just yet.
Ian: "That's your problem, eh? Whether to hand over your class to her, or—"
Barbara: "No, not quite."
I already really like Ian.
Barbara: "I asked if I could work with her at her home, and she said that would be absolutely impossible, as her grandfather didn't like strangers."
Ian: "He's a doctor, isn't he? That's a bit of a lame excuse."
Awwh, come on, Doctor! PARTY IN THE TARDIS! It could be fun!
Hee. The address they gave the school is a junkyard.
Ian: "Hmm. That's a bit of a mystery. Well, there must be a simple answer."
Barbara: "What?"
Ian: "Well, we'll... ah, have to find out for ourselves, won't we?"
Barbara: [biting back a smile] "Thank you for the 'we.'"
I LOVE COMPANIONS.
... AHAHAHAHAHA THAT'S SUSAN? She's not at all how I imagined her. Hair done up in a beehive, listening to that newfangled rock and roll music. I thought she'd be all petite sweetness and light, like Sarah Jane. But she's clearly got a bit of a bite to her. Love that.
[Barbara lends Susan a book]
Susan: "Thank you very much! I'll return it tomorrow."
Barbara: "Oh, that's not necessary—til you've finished it."
Susan: "I'll have finished it."
And now Susan is... hand-drawing a Rorschach blot? I don't even know.
Hee! Barbara—or rather, Jacqueline Hill—flubbed a line but they kept it in. It's so cute and low-budget!
... okay, now I'm starting to get annoyed. They're just listing all the ways Susan's freaky and smart and... well. It's making her come off all freaky. xD Get to the point, show! And let me love her!
[watching her enter an empty warehouse]
Ian: "She is fifteen, you know. She could be meeting a boy. Did that ever occur to you?"
Barbara: "I almost wish she were. It would be so normal."
(Teehee Jimmy Stone. And now back to your regularly scheduled Classic episode).
They've found the TARDIS!
Ian: "Feel it! Do you feel that?"
Barbara: "It's a... faint vibration."
Ian: "It's alive!"
Well that's an interesting conclusion to jump to, Ian. Nice to know you earned that degree in science.
And there's the Doctor! In a funny hat and a funny scarf. Ohhhh, Doctor.
Okay, One's a grumpy curmudgeon. Which I knew, but... come on, Doctor, where's your sense of wonder?
And ohhhhhh, welcome to the TARDIS. Go on. Go on, then. Say it. Someone say it.
Barbara: "Is this really where you live, Susan?"
Susan: "Wh—yes."
Doctor: "And what is wrong with it?"
Ian: "It... it was just a box—"
Come on. One of you has to say it.
IS NO ONE GOING TO SAY IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE?
Susan: "The TARDIS can go anywhere."
Barbara: "I don't know what you mean, Susan."
Susan: "Oh, I made up tardis from the initials-- Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I thought you'd both realize when you came inside and saw the different dimensions from outside!"
Close enough. (Also: Susan named it? Awwwwwwh.)
Susan: "Why won't you believe us?"
Barbara: "We just want you to tell us the truth."
Doctor: "You have heard the truth! We are not of this race. We are not of this Earth. We are wanderers in the four dimensions of space and time, cut off from our own planet and our own people by eons and universes and a power beyond the reach of your most advanced sciences."
I like the "I can feel the Earth turnin'" speech better, methinks.
... oh, shoot. Is he going to KIDNAP Ian and Barbara? Is that how this goes down? Susan's begging for him to let them go. This is not okay.
"I was born in the 49th century," says Susan. Good to know!
Oh, come on. Really? The Doctor just laughed an evil laugh. Oh, show.
This is... really upsetting, actually. The Doctor zapped Ian, and Susan's all upset and crying, and it's all... argh. This is not what I signed up for. Where are the speeches about how awesome humans are? Where's the sense of adventure? One is so not My Doctor.
There are three more parts to Unearthly Child, but I honestly don't think I can get through them right now. Eesh. I guess I'll just have to take One in very small doses.
I need some dancing Bernard Cribbins to cheer myself up.
That's better.
Starting Stats: 1.1.1, An Unearthly Child
Doctor: One
Companions: Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright
So... whoa. I'm watching the first ever episode of Doctor Who.
I love that we meet the companions first, before we meet the Doctor—or rather, I love how RTD kept up that tradition in Rose. Human connection! Fantastic.
"Susan Foreman—she your problem too?" Oh, of course she'd be a troublemaker. But I won't say that's my girl just yet.
Ian: "That's your problem, eh? Whether to hand over your class to her, or—"
Barbara: "No, not quite."
I already really like Ian.
Barbara: "I asked if I could work with her at her home, and she said that would be absolutely impossible, as her grandfather didn't like strangers."
Ian: "He's a doctor, isn't he? That's a bit of a lame excuse."
Awwh, come on, Doctor! PARTY IN THE TARDIS! It could be fun!
Hee. The address they gave the school is a junkyard.
Ian: "Hmm. That's a bit of a mystery. Well, there must be a simple answer."
Barbara: "What?"
Ian: "Well, we'll... ah, have to find out for ourselves, won't we?"
Barbara: [biting back a smile] "Thank you for the 'we.'"
I LOVE COMPANIONS.
... AHAHAHAHAHA THAT'S SUSAN? She's not at all how I imagined her. Hair done up in a beehive, listening to that newfangled rock and roll music. I thought she'd be all petite sweetness and light, like Sarah Jane. But she's clearly got a bit of a bite to her. Love that.
[Barbara lends Susan a book]
Susan: "Thank you very much! I'll return it tomorrow."
Barbara: "Oh, that's not necessary—til you've finished it."
Susan: "I'll have finished it."
And now Susan is... hand-drawing a Rorschach blot? I don't even know.
Hee! Barbara—or rather, Jacqueline Hill—flubbed a line but they kept it in. It's so cute and low-budget!
... okay, now I'm starting to get annoyed. They're just listing all the ways Susan's freaky and smart and... well. It's making her come off all freaky. xD Get to the point, show! And let me love her!
[watching her enter an empty warehouse]
Ian: "She is fifteen, you know. She could be meeting a boy. Did that ever occur to you?"
Barbara: "I almost wish she were. It would be so normal."
(Teehee Jimmy Stone. And now back to your regularly scheduled Classic episode).
They've found the TARDIS!
Ian: "Feel it! Do you feel that?"
Barbara: "It's a... faint vibration."
Ian: "It's alive!"
Well that's an interesting conclusion to jump to, Ian. Nice to know you earned that degree in science.
And there's the Doctor! In a funny hat and a funny scarf. Ohhhh, Doctor.
Okay, One's a grumpy curmudgeon. Which I knew, but... come on, Doctor, where's your sense of wonder?
And ohhhhhh, welcome to the TARDIS. Go on. Go on, then. Say it. Someone say it.
Barbara: "Is this really where you live, Susan?"
Susan: "Wh—yes."
Doctor: "And what is wrong with it?"
Ian: "It... it was just a box—"
Come on. One of you has to say it.
IS NO ONE GOING TO SAY IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE?
Susan: "The TARDIS can go anywhere."
Barbara: "I don't know what you mean, Susan."
Susan: "Oh, I made up tardis from the initials-- Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I thought you'd both realize when you came inside and saw the different dimensions from outside!"
Close enough. (Also: Susan named it? Awwwwwwh.)
Susan: "Why won't you believe us?"
Barbara: "We just want you to tell us the truth."
Doctor: "You have heard the truth! We are not of this race. We are not of this Earth. We are wanderers in the four dimensions of space and time, cut off from our own planet and our own people by eons and universes and a power beyond the reach of your most advanced sciences."
I like the "I can feel the Earth turnin'" speech better, methinks.
... oh, shoot. Is he going to KIDNAP Ian and Barbara? Is that how this goes down? Susan's begging for him to let them go. This is not okay.
"I was born in the 49th century," says Susan. Good to know!
Oh, come on. Really? The Doctor just laughed an evil laugh. Oh, show.
This is... really upsetting, actually. The Doctor zapped Ian, and Susan's all upset and crying, and it's all... argh. This is not what I signed up for. Where are the speeches about how awesome humans are? Where's the sense of adventure? One is so not My Doctor.
There are three more parts to Unearthly Child, but I honestly don't think I can get through them right now. Eesh. I guess I'll just have to take One in very small doses.
I need some dancing Bernard Cribbins to cheer myself up.
That's better.
12.2 "The Ark in Space" Reaction Post
So because I'm totally obsessed, I'm going back and watching Classic Who on Netflix, to widen my knowledge. I could go in order, but that would require a whole lot of effort, because One and Two stories are terribly hard to find... so Netflix instant play it is. (And to be honest, I'm a hell of a lot more interested in Four anyway.)
Anyway. I'm documenting my watching experience here mostly because I just like talking about stuff, but partly so that I can eventually go back and put all my thoughts in order, re-arranging all of these posts to the way they should be, so that I can get a proper sense of narrative arc.
This is going to be a running commentary, as I'm writing down my thoughts while I watch. It'll be some quotation-collection, some character analysis, and some MST3K-style sarcasm, I'd assume. But I'm not Jacob, so don't expect, y'know, mentions of the other side of grace, or any kind of coherency. I assume it will be disjointed at best.
A warning: this has spoilers (duh) for the episode in question, as well as New Who.
Another warning: I'm doing this—going back and watching the old series—not because I really love cheesy contrived plots and bad special effects, but because I'm terribly interested in the Doctor's past, and because I freaking love Companions. They are my favorite type of people. So this "recap" (if you could call it that) is going to be very Sarah Jane-centric, because that's where my focus was.
Starting stats: 12.2, The Ark In Space
Doctor: Four
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
(This is, perhaps, a bit of an awkward place to start. It’s the second "episode" in Four's first season; I maybe should have began when he did. Too late now. In any case, it makes certain things much clearer: for example (and by that I mean "the only thing I care about stemming from that statement is"), the Doctor's relationship with Sarah Jane would obviously be, if not strained, then a bit uncertain. Which makes me feel better.)
We open on a long shot of a space station, which is quite obviously a miniature on a string in front of black felt with holes poked through it. I will never complain about the CGI in End of the World again.
Doctor: "Not a lot of oxygen… still. Nothing to worry about." [starts playing with a yo-yo]
Sarah Jane: "Suffocation is nothing to worry about?"
Awwwh. He was using the yo-yo to test for gravity.
Doctor: "We're obviously on some kind of satellite; now isn't that interesting?"
Sarah Jane: [has done this before] "Not very."
Doctor: [delighted] "Well I think it is!"
(I already adore them.)
*a door opens*
"Hey, Doctor--"
"Hold on."
"But, Doctor--"
"In a MINUTE, Sarah."
*Sarah wanders through door while the Doctor is distracted*
Three guesses what happens next, first two don't count.
Aaaaaaand now she's suffocating. Well done. (And he called Rose jeopardy-friendly?)
Doctor: "Where is she?"
Harry: "In the TARDIS?"
Doctor: "Couldn't be; I've got the key."
Oh, Doctor. You've got to share your keys. Keys are trust and keys are affection. And keys are also a way home. Let her in.
Moving swiftly onward.
… Well, on the bright side, they've found her. The downside is that now they're all trapped and suffocating. Oh, show.
And now, something I loved. Four is amused. He smirks and says: "heeeeee." It was so very Tennant. Or, I suppose, the other way around. But I love continuity like that.
[3/4/2010 5:31:37 PM] Leah: so Sarah Jane is kind of whammied right now—in a trance—and the Mysterious Voice was just like "greetings, lower being!" and she waved. and it's SUPER CUTE.
[3/4/2010 5:31:41 PM] Leah: *snuggles classic who*
[3/4/2010 5:33:31 PM] Leah: meanwhile, the Doctor is crawling around under a plastic box.
[3/4/2010 5:35:38 PM] Marlena: of course he is
Doctor: "Don't you realize what this is? I—aren't you feeling better?"
Harry: "No, I'm not."
Doctor: "Well pull yourself together, man, this is FASCINATING!"
Awwwwh, Harry is starting to ask Excellent Questions! And the Doctor is proud of him! ...almost. ("Your mind's beginning to work!" he says. "All my influence, of course, you mustn't take any credit.")
[upon finding Sarah Jane "dead" for all intents and purposes]
Doctor: "Sarah—oh, Sarah Jane..." [stands completely frozen]
Doctorrrrrrrrr.
By this point, Sarah Jane is most definitely my favorite part of the show. Lis Sladen is reallysupercute. (Though she kind of has to be, in order to balance all the wtf and the cheese). Admittedly she's kind of all over the place, but in a rational, "do I contradict myself? Well then I contradict myself. I contain multitudes" human, sense-makey way. Scared of a giant bug one moment (and who wouldn’t be?), poking about and showing it to other people the next.
Also, yeeeeeeah, Sarah's definitely totally in love with the Doctor. *pets her* And I give her lots of credit for putting up with him; he was so much more rude back then.
...Oh my god is that bubblewrap? It is. The villains of this piece are rapidly-mutating insects (Wirrn) that… can turn humans into members of their species? Or perhaps just need to lay their eggs inside living flesh? They're a bit inconsistent on that front. Anyway, slime and membrane is depicted via dark-green bubblewrap. Oh, show.
[Random Engineers gape as the Doctor spews technobabble]
Sarah Jane: "He… he talks to himself, sometimes, because there's no one else who understands what he's talking about."
[Harry has been ordered to stay behind. The Doctor exits.]
Sarah whispers: "Good luck!" and scoots, but then, from off camera:
Doctor: "and Sarah? You stay behind!"
She huffs.
Unrelated note: I love Tom Baker's hair. The swoops and swirls of those curls… wonderful. I also highly approve of his eyes. He's not a looker in the conventional sense, certainly, but he's not without his bit of pretty.
Wow. The ray gun/particle gun effects are particularly awful. I could do better on iMovie. (But not, to their credit, MS Paint.)
Awwwwwh Sarah saved the Doctor! Several times. She also has quite a set of pipes on her. She's got Rose's devotion but only a fraction of her cheek—she lets him intimidate her. But... the way she always looks to the Doctor, the way she always finds his eyes... her hyperawareness and silent support may not be as adorable as the hand-holding, but the essence remains. (Unrelated: she must weigh, like, two pounds, because both Four and Harry are able to pick her up like it's nothing.)
There's a moment where the Doctor has to go off by himself, and Sarah Jane stays behind. But Lis Sladen does a very clever thing—she takes one step forward, as if her instinct is to follow, before pulling back. It's a tiny moment, but it gives Sarah a little bit more spunk. I doubt it was in the script.
(Heeeee. But then after the cliffhanger before Part 4, he's saved by a shot from Vira's gun. Sarah made her follow him. That's my girl.)
Harry Sullivan, by the way, is sweet but unmemorable. And also a bit of a chauvinist.
Harry: "Something must have happened to them."
Random Engineer: "And if we go out there, it will happen to us."
Harry: "Well I want to investigate!"
Hee. Okay, two points, Harry. I love companions.
"Anyone for a jelly baby?" It took almost an hour and twenty minutes for the first offer! Good job, Doctor.
AHAHAHA and then Sarah Jane figured out the mystery. Again with the "Doctor—but Doctor, LISTEN—" stuff, which could get old fast, but I like that she's clever and I like that he has to be reminded. It makes me think of The Idiot's Lantern—how Rose saw the solution to the problem (the TV aerials) straight away, and mentioned it to the Doctor, and he wasn't paying attention. Of course, then she had her face stolen and he guilt tripped like crazy, but it's a nice bit of character continuity. And the fix Sarah suggests—rerouting the separate power supply of a shuttle into a fried system—was used again by the Captain in The Satan Pit. Oh, show.
However, while in Satan Pit the process was as easy as a flip of a few switches, in Classic Who it's all analog—the cables need to be connected by hand, through cramped ducts. But how? Well of course:
Sarah Jane: "Why don't I take the cable through, I’m about that wide." Oh, that's my girl.
"That's hardly a job for you, Sarah—" shut up, chauvinist Harry.
Angle on the Doctor, eyes widening in a bit of surprise and no small amount of pride: "Good girl, Sarah."
Harry: "How're you doing, old girl?"
Sarah Jane: "How do you THINK I'm doing, twit?"
(See, some of Sarah's lines—she said "vamoose" earlier—well. She could choose to be a lot harder than she's coming off. It all feels like good-natured ribbing, which I like.)
The piping is miserable, by the way. It’s a good thing Lis is teeny tiny. I wouldn’t be able to slip through.
Sarah Jane: "I don't think I can go on much longer—I keep getting stuck."
Harry: [to the Random Engineers] "That's the thing about old Sarah. Terrific sense of humor."
[Sarah rolls her eyes]
She hears the Doctor at the other end, gets stuck. Whimpers. And then Four does something I expected, but wished he wouldn't:
"Stop whining, useless girl!"
"Oh, Doctor!"
"'Oh Doctor,' is that all you can say for yourself? Stupid, foolish girl. We should never have relied on you, I knew you'd let us down. That's the trouble with girls like you: you think you're tough, but when you're really up against it you've no guts at all. Hundreds of lives at stake, and you lie there blobbing."
"You—wait—till—I—get—out!"
He's grinning now, moves to help her out as she emerges. She flails. "I CAN MANAGE I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP."
(He's never loved her more.) "Yes you do. Yes you do. Yes you do." Smiling widely, he wraps her arms around his shoulders and yanks her down.
"You've done marvelously, I'm very proud of you."
"What?!" [realizing] "Conned again. You're a brute."
"Brute? Don't be ungrateful, I was only encouraging you. Come on."
(And here's where they should have hugged, but didn't.)
I get why he does it. Nine might've, too. But I wish he weren't so abrasive.
"Your resistance is useless!" Oh, villains. Oh, Britain. Oh, show.
Sarah Jane: "I dunno if it's my imagination, but it's getting a bit stuffy in here."
Doctor: [dismissively] "It's your imagination."
Sarah Jane: [muttering] "You'd say that anyway."
[And then there's a whole business with getting the Wirrn onto the shuttle and setting it off, and it requires the Doctor and a Random Engineer to be in the blast zone:]
Doctor: "No point in both of us being killed. Get back inside!"
Random Engineer: "You'd get in trouble with the Space Technician's Union, Doctor. That's my job!" [knocks out the Doctor, puts him in safety lock, finishes flipping switches]
Awwwh, human beings.
Vira: "They must have both died instantly..."
[Sarah just shakes her head.]
Harry: "Now come on, Sarah, he'd have wanted you to be brave."
[She tries not to cry; a helpless twitch of the mouth that’s trying to be a smile.]
And then the Doctor stumbles in. It's all very Satan Pit.
"Doctor, you're safe—" she goes to him, ecstatic, clutches at his arms, but... still no hug. Why no hug? This very same situation made for the most adorable hug in series two of New Who, observe:
But here... nothing. And it's not about shipping, not at all. It's about intimacy. (DAMN I promised I wasn't going to do that.) I know Four and Sarah are still kind of new to each other, so I hope this situation improves over time. I miss the physical affection. Without it, the Doctor seems that much more alien.
Doctor: [hands Sarah a key] "Fetch me a coat from the TARDIS, will you?"
She beams.
(That's more like it.)
[Three to beam down ala Trek, all in adorable coats and hats:]
Doctor: "I don't remember inviting you two."
Sarah Jane: "Ah... no. You didn't. But here we are." [beams at him. As we recall from Rise of the Cybermen, the Doctor is helpless against feminine wiles in the form of adorable smirks]
Oh, show.
All in all, this makes me very curious about Sarah Jane Adventures, and also makes me rethink some of the things that happened between her and Ten in School Reunion. I think I'll have to watch it again, after I've seen a bit more Classic.
Ending stats:
Jelly baby offers: 2 (and a third reference by Harry)
Displays of unrestrained physical affection: 0
Speeches by the Doctor about how awesome humans are: 2.5
Anyway. I'm documenting my watching experience here mostly because I just like talking about stuff, but partly so that I can eventually go back and put all my thoughts in order, re-arranging all of these posts to the way they should be, so that I can get a proper sense of narrative arc.
This is going to be a running commentary, as I'm writing down my thoughts while I watch. It'll be some quotation-collection, some character analysis, and some MST3K-style sarcasm, I'd assume. But I'm not Jacob, so don't expect, y'know, mentions of the other side of grace, or any kind of coherency. I assume it will be disjointed at best.
A warning: this has spoilers (duh) for the episode in question, as well as New Who.
Another warning: I'm doing this—going back and watching the old series—not because I really love cheesy contrived plots and bad special effects, but because I'm terribly interested in the Doctor's past, and because I freaking love Companions. They are my favorite type of people. So this "recap" (if you could call it that) is going to be very Sarah Jane-centric, because that's where my focus was.
Starting stats: 12.2, The Ark In Space
Doctor: Four
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
(This is, perhaps, a bit of an awkward place to start. It’s the second "episode" in Four's first season; I maybe should have began when he did. Too late now. In any case, it makes certain things much clearer: for example (and by that I mean "the only thing I care about stemming from that statement is"), the Doctor's relationship with Sarah Jane would obviously be, if not strained, then a bit uncertain. Which makes me feel better.)
We open on a long shot of a space station, which is quite obviously a miniature on a string in front of black felt with holes poked through it. I will never complain about the CGI in End of the World again.
Doctor: "Not a lot of oxygen… still. Nothing to worry about." [starts playing with a yo-yo]
Sarah Jane: "Suffocation is nothing to worry about?"
Awwwh. He was using the yo-yo to test for gravity.
Doctor: "We're obviously on some kind of satellite; now isn't that interesting?"
Sarah Jane: [has done this before] "Not very."
Doctor: [delighted] "Well I think it is!"
(I already adore them.)
*a door opens*
"Hey, Doctor--"
"Hold on."
"But, Doctor--"
"In a MINUTE, Sarah."
*Sarah wanders through door while the Doctor is distracted*
Three guesses what happens next, first two don't count.
Aaaaaaand now she's suffocating. Well done. (And he called Rose jeopardy-friendly?)
Doctor: "Where is she?"
Harry: "In the TARDIS?"
Doctor: "Couldn't be; I've got the key."
Oh, Doctor. You've got to share your keys. Keys are trust and keys are affection. And keys are also a way home. Let her in.
Moving swiftly onward.
… Well, on the bright side, they've found her. The downside is that now they're all trapped and suffocating. Oh, show.
And now, something I loved. Four is amused. He smirks and says: "heeeeee." It was so very Tennant. Or, I suppose, the other way around. But I love continuity like that.
[3/4/2010 5:31:37 PM] Leah: so Sarah Jane is kind of whammied right now—in a trance—and the Mysterious Voice was just like "greetings, lower being!" and she waved. and it's SUPER CUTE.
[3/4/2010 5:31:41 PM] Leah: *snuggles classic who*
[3/4/2010 5:33:31 PM] Leah: meanwhile, the Doctor is crawling around under a plastic box.
[3/4/2010 5:35:38 PM] Marlena: of course he is
Doctor: "Don't you realize what this is? I—aren't you feeling better?"
Harry: "No, I'm not."
Doctor: "Well pull yourself together, man, this is FASCINATING!"
Awwwwh, Harry is starting to ask Excellent Questions! And the Doctor is proud of him! ...almost. ("Your mind's beginning to work!" he says. "All my influence, of course, you mustn't take any credit.")
[upon finding Sarah Jane "dead" for all intents and purposes]
Doctor: "Sarah—oh, Sarah Jane..." [stands completely frozen]
Doctorrrrrrrrr.
By this point, Sarah Jane is most definitely my favorite part of the show. Lis Sladen is reallysupercute. (Though she kind of has to be, in order to balance all the wtf and the cheese). Admittedly she's kind of all over the place, but in a rational, "do I contradict myself? Well then I contradict myself. I contain multitudes" human, sense-makey way. Scared of a giant bug one moment (and who wouldn’t be?), poking about and showing it to other people the next.
Also, yeeeeeeah, Sarah's definitely totally in love with the Doctor. *pets her* And I give her lots of credit for putting up with him; he was so much more rude back then.
...Oh my god is that bubblewrap? It is. The villains of this piece are rapidly-mutating insects (Wirrn) that… can turn humans into members of their species? Or perhaps just need to lay their eggs inside living flesh? They're a bit inconsistent on that front. Anyway, slime and membrane is depicted via dark-green bubblewrap. Oh, show.
[Random Engineers gape as the Doctor spews technobabble]
Sarah Jane: "He… he talks to himself, sometimes, because there's no one else who understands what he's talking about."
[Harry has been ordered to stay behind. The Doctor exits.]
Sarah whispers: "Good luck!" and scoots, but then, from off camera:
Doctor: "and Sarah? You stay behind!"
She huffs.
Unrelated note: I love Tom Baker's hair. The swoops and swirls of those curls… wonderful. I also highly approve of his eyes. He's not a looker in the conventional sense, certainly, but he's not without his bit of pretty.
Wow. The ray gun/particle gun effects are particularly awful. I could do better on iMovie. (But not, to their credit, MS Paint.)
Awwwwwh Sarah saved the Doctor! Several times. She also has quite a set of pipes on her. She's got Rose's devotion but only a fraction of her cheek—she lets him intimidate her. But... the way she always looks to the Doctor, the way she always finds his eyes... her hyperawareness and silent support may not be as adorable as the hand-holding, but the essence remains. (Unrelated: she must weigh, like, two pounds, because both Four and Harry are able to pick her up like it's nothing.)
There's a moment where the Doctor has to go off by himself, and Sarah Jane stays behind. But Lis Sladen does a very clever thing—she takes one step forward, as if her instinct is to follow, before pulling back. It's a tiny moment, but it gives Sarah a little bit more spunk. I doubt it was in the script.
(Heeeee. But then after the cliffhanger before Part 4, he's saved by a shot from Vira's gun. Sarah made her follow him. That's my girl.)
Harry Sullivan, by the way, is sweet but unmemorable. And also a bit of a chauvinist.
Harry: "Something must have happened to them."
Random Engineer: "And if we go out there, it will happen to us."
Harry: "Well I want to investigate!"
Hee. Okay, two points, Harry. I love companions.
"Anyone for a jelly baby?" It took almost an hour and twenty minutes for the first offer! Good job, Doctor.
AHAHAHA and then Sarah Jane figured out the mystery. Again with the "Doctor—but Doctor, LISTEN—" stuff, which could get old fast, but I like that she's clever and I like that he has to be reminded. It makes me think of The Idiot's Lantern—how Rose saw the solution to the problem (the TV aerials) straight away, and mentioned it to the Doctor, and he wasn't paying attention. Of course, then she had her face stolen and he guilt tripped like crazy, but it's a nice bit of character continuity. And the fix Sarah suggests—rerouting the separate power supply of a shuttle into a fried system—was used again by the Captain in The Satan Pit. Oh, show.
However, while in Satan Pit the process was as easy as a flip of a few switches, in Classic Who it's all analog—the cables need to be connected by hand, through cramped ducts. But how? Well of course:
Sarah Jane: "Why don't I take the cable through, I’m about that wide." Oh, that's my girl.
"That's hardly a job for you, Sarah—" shut up, chauvinist Harry.
Angle on the Doctor, eyes widening in a bit of surprise and no small amount of pride: "Good girl, Sarah."
Harry: "How're you doing, old girl?"
Sarah Jane: "How do you THINK I'm doing, twit?"
(See, some of Sarah's lines—she said "vamoose" earlier—well. She could choose to be a lot harder than she's coming off. It all feels like good-natured ribbing, which I like.)
The piping is miserable, by the way. It’s a good thing Lis is teeny tiny. I wouldn’t be able to slip through.
Sarah Jane: "I don't think I can go on much longer—I keep getting stuck."
Harry: [to the Random Engineers] "That's the thing about old Sarah. Terrific sense of humor."
[Sarah rolls her eyes]
She hears the Doctor at the other end, gets stuck. Whimpers. And then Four does something I expected, but wished he wouldn't:
"Stop whining, useless girl!"
"Oh, Doctor!"
"'Oh Doctor,' is that all you can say for yourself? Stupid, foolish girl. We should never have relied on you, I knew you'd let us down. That's the trouble with girls like you: you think you're tough, but when you're really up against it you've no guts at all. Hundreds of lives at stake, and you lie there blobbing."
"You—wait—till—I—get—out!"
He's grinning now, moves to help her out as she emerges. She flails. "I CAN MANAGE I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP."
(He's never loved her more.) "Yes you do. Yes you do. Yes you do." Smiling widely, he wraps her arms around his shoulders and yanks her down.
"You've done marvelously, I'm very proud of you."
"What?!" [realizing] "Conned again. You're a brute."
"Brute? Don't be ungrateful, I was only encouraging you. Come on."
(And here's where they should have hugged, but didn't.)
I get why he does it. Nine might've, too. But I wish he weren't so abrasive.
"Your resistance is useless!" Oh, villains. Oh, Britain. Oh, show.
Sarah Jane: "I dunno if it's my imagination, but it's getting a bit stuffy in here."
Doctor: [dismissively] "It's your imagination."
Sarah Jane: [muttering] "You'd say that anyway."
[And then there's a whole business with getting the Wirrn onto the shuttle and setting it off, and it requires the Doctor and a Random Engineer to be in the blast zone:]
Doctor: "No point in both of us being killed. Get back inside!"
Random Engineer: "You'd get in trouble with the Space Technician's Union, Doctor. That's my job!" [knocks out the Doctor, puts him in safety lock, finishes flipping switches]
Awwwh, human beings.
Vira: "They must have both died instantly..."
[Sarah just shakes her head.]
Harry: "Now come on, Sarah, he'd have wanted you to be brave."
[She tries not to cry; a helpless twitch of the mouth that’s trying to be a smile.]
And then the Doctor stumbles in. It's all very Satan Pit.
"Doctor, you're safe—" she goes to him, ecstatic, clutches at his arms, but... still no hug. Why no hug? This very same situation made for the most adorable hug in series two of New Who, observe:
But here... nothing. And it's not about shipping, not at all. It's about intimacy. (DAMN I promised I wasn't going to do that.) I know Four and Sarah are still kind of new to each other, so I hope this situation improves over time. I miss the physical affection. Without it, the Doctor seems that much more alien.
Doctor: [hands Sarah a key] "Fetch me a coat from the TARDIS, will you?"
She beams.
(That's more like it.)
[Three to beam down ala Trek, all in adorable coats and hats:]
Doctor: "I don't remember inviting you two."
Sarah Jane: "Ah... no. You didn't. But here we are." [beams at him. As we recall from Rise of the Cybermen, the Doctor is helpless against feminine wiles in the form of adorable smirks]
Oh, show.
All in all, this makes me very curious about Sarah Jane Adventures, and also makes me rethink some of the things that happened between her and Ten in School Reunion. I think I'll have to watch it again, after I've seen a bit more Classic.
Ending stats:
Jelly baby offers: 2 (and a third reference by Harry)
Displays of unrestrained physical affection: 0
Speeches by the Doctor about how awesome humans are: 2.5
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Interlude: OH WAIT, LOOK, IT'S DANCING BERNARD CRIBBINS
[1:27:54 AM] Leah: speaking of YA
[1:28:06 AM] Leah: have you ever read anything by Jim Hines?
[1:28:20 AM] Marlena: I don't think so? Should I?
[1:28:27 AM] Leah: I dunno.
[1:28:43 AM] Leah: but one of the DW lj people linked to his blog
[1:28:51 AM] Leah: and so, our world being so terribly small
[1:28:55 AM] Leah: I figured I'd ask
[1:29:21 AM] Marlena: hmm. nope. never heard of him.
[1:29:31 AM] Leah: http://jimhines.livejournal.com/490897.html
[1:29:35 AM] Leah: that was the entry she linked to
[1:30:53 AM] Marlena: oooooh. so, maybe I *should* read his books.
[1:31:04 AM] Leah: you want to read All The Books.
[1:31:09 AM] Leah: so you'd find him eventually.
[1:31:15 AM] Marlena: *resists urge to look him up on the library website...resists..resists...*
[1:31:19 AM] Leah: NO DON'T DO IT
[1:31:21 AM] Leah: um
[1:31:22 AM] Leah: um
[1:31:27 AM] Leah: *distracts with shiny thing*
[1:31:47 AM] Leah: OH WAIT
[1:31:48 AM] Leah: LOOK
[1:31:49 AM] Leah:
[1:31:54 AM] Leah: IT'S DANCING BERNARD CRIBBINS
[1:31:58 AM] Marlena: HAHAHA
[1:32:01 AM] Marlena: that works
[1:32:15 AM] Leah: I still don't understand *why* he's dancing
[1:32:18 AM] Leah: but I love it
[1:32:54 AM] Leah: (I think "OH WAIT, LOOK, IT'S DANCING BERNARD CRIBBINS" should be our new response to everything.)
[1:33:09 AM] Marlena: (Motion passed.)
...
[1:56:40 AM] Leah: we need to watch Psych, too.
[1:56:52 AM] Marlena: do we?
[1:57:00 AM] Marlena: I know less than nothing about Psych.
[1:57:33 AM] Leah: it stars two very hot guys and has a running gag about pineapples.
[1:57:45 AM] Marlena: sold.
[1:28:06 AM] Leah: have you ever read anything by Jim Hines?
[1:28:20 AM] Marlena: I don't think so? Should I?
[1:28:27 AM] Leah: I dunno.
[1:28:43 AM] Leah: but one of the DW lj people linked to his blog
[1:28:51 AM] Leah: and so, our world being so terribly small
[1:28:55 AM] Leah: I figured I'd ask
[1:29:21 AM] Marlena: hmm. nope. never heard of him.
[1:29:31 AM] Leah: http://jimhines.livejournal.com/490897.html
[1:29:35 AM] Leah: that was the entry she linked to
[1:30:53 AM] Marlena: oooooh. so, maybe I *should* read his books.
[1:31:04 AM] Leah: you want to read All The Books.
[1:31:09 AM] Leah: so you'd find him eventually.
[1:31:15 AM] Marlena: *resists urge to look him up on the library website...resists..resists...*
[1:31:19 AM] Leah: NO DON'T DO IT
[1:31:21 AM] Leah: um
[1:31:22 AM] Leah: um
[1:31:27 AM] Leah: *distracts with shiny thing*
[1:31:47 AM] Leah: OH WAIT
[1:31:48 AM] Leah: LOOK
[1:31:49 AM] Leah:
[1:31:54 AM] Leah: IT'S DANCING BERNARD CRIBBINS
[1:31:58 AM] Marlena: HAHAHA
[1:32:01 AM] Marlena: that works
[1:32:15 AM] Leah: I still don't understand *why* he's dancing
[1:32:18 AM] Leah: but I love it
[1:32:54 AM] Leah: (I think "OH WAIT, LOOK, IT'S DANCING BERNARD CRIBBINS" should be our new response to everything.)
[1:33:09 AM] Marlena: (Motion passed.)
...
[1:56:40 AM] Leah: we need to watch Psych, too.
[1:56:52 AM] Marlena: do we?
[1:57:00 AM] Marlena: I know less than nothing about Psych.
[1:57:33 AM] Leah: it stars two very hot guys and has a running gag about pineapples.
[1:57:45 AM] Marlena: sold.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Interlude: Slankets and Doctor Who
[12:08:40 AM] Leah: slankets are awesome.
[12:08:50 AM] Leah: how did we survive without them?
[12:10:00 AM] Marlena: I actually don't use my slanket that often. I mean, when I do, it's my Favorite Thing Ever. But I'm not cold that often.
[12:10:31 AM] Marlena: ...that was too many that oftens
[12:11:02 AM] Leah: I bet the Doctor took Rose into the future and got her a slanket and it blew her little 2005 mind.
[12:11:21 AM] Marlena: right. totally.
[12:11:42 AM] Marlena: because what's the destruction of your planet and species as you know it when there are BLANKETS with ARMS?
[12:11:58 AM] Leah: watching the earth die in the year five billion? nothing. defeating the Gelth with Charles Dickens? meh.
[12:12:07 AM] Leah: A BLANKET WITH FUCKIN' SLEEVES, MAN.
[12:12:09 AM] Leah: SLEEVES.
[12:12:12 AM] Leah: ON YOUR BLANKET.
[12:08:50 AM] Leah: how did we survive without them?
[12:10:00 AM] Marlena: I actually don't use my slanket that often. I mean, when I do, it's my Favorite Thing Ever. But I'm not cold that often.
[12:10:31 AM] Marlena: ...that was too many that oftens
[12:11:02 AM] Leah: I bet the Doctor took Rose into the future and got her a slanket and it blew her little 2005 mind.
[12:11:21 AM] Marlena: right. totally.
[12:11:42 AM] Marlena: because what's the destruction of your planet and species as you know it when there are BLANKETS with ARMS?
[12:11:58 AM] Leah: watching the earth die in the year five billion? nothing. defeating the Gelth with Charles Dickens? meh.
[12:12:07 AM] Leah: A BLANKET WITH FUCKIN' SLEEVES, MAN.
[12:12:09 AM] Leah: SLEEVES.
[12:12:12 AM] Leah: ON YOUR BLANKET.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Amimetobios
First of all, briefly: Marlena and I just watched The Shakespeare Code, and yeah, I love Martha Jones. I shouldn't have worried.
Second of all, and still speaking of Shakespeare: That podcast we were hoping for? It's UP AND RUNNING. You can use this link here to get to its iTunes page, or just search for it yourself. It's called Amimetobios, which... well. Take it away, Professor Flesch:
So. I found out that we got the room we were hoping for for the play after all-- at least for the performances-- and I'm feeling much better about life in general. I'll feel BEST after auditions on Monday, but... well. When we get there.
Tonight I went to this letter-writing party that the financial aid department has, where kids who got scholarships write thank yous to the specific people in charge of the specific endowments that each student received. (Wow, that's some sentence.) ANYway. Writing about what I'm doing at school, and following my bliss, and how Brandeis has turned me into such a passionate person... I should count my blessings more often. Have I mentioned that I love it here? Because I really, truly do.
After that, I went to BORG, where we were writing our own Apples to Apples game. Some highlights:
“And bioluminescent—oh. Lakes.”
“What did you think it said?”
“…latkes.”
“Next time we play a game that requires teams, shotty Bioluminescent Latkes.”
“Sorry, I’m thinking.”
“Well, stop that.”
“Yeah, the Hive Mind should be thinking for you.”
“For unappreciated, I can’t decide between the Riders of Rohan and Bananas.”
“Spelling out loud uses two different brain parts that oughtn’t be used together.”
“What, Speaking and Thinking?”
“So for addictive, we have: Spice, Spice, Spice, Melange, human children, power, and… cinnamon buns.”
Second of all, and still speaking of Shakespeare: That podcast we were hoping for? It's UP AND RUNNING. You can use this link here to get to its iTunes page, or just search for it yourself. It's called Amimetobios, which... well. Take it away, Professor Flesch:
("Amimetobios" is from Plutarch's Life of Antony, Shakespeare's source for Antony and Cleopatra: it's a Greek word describing their "peerlessness:" no [a-, as in asexual or ahistorical] life [bios] like [mimeto] theirs. It has nothing to do with anime. Well, almost nothing.)Okay then!
So. I found out that we got the room we were hoping for for the play after all-- at least for the performances-- and I'm feeling much better about life in general. I'll feel BEST after auditions on Monday, but... well. When we get there.
Tonight I went to this letter-writing party that the financial aid department has, where kids who got scholarships write thank yous to the specific people in charge of the specific endowments that each student received. (Wow, that's some sentence.) ANYway. Writing about what I'm doing at school, and following my bliss, and how Brandeis has turned me into such a passionate person... I should count my blessings more often. Have I mentioned that I love it here? Because I really, truly do.
After that, I went to BORG, where we were writing our own Apples to Apples game. Some highlights:
“And bioluminescent—oh. Lakes.”
“What did you think it said?”
“…latkes.”
“Next time we play a game that requires teams, shotty Bioluminescent Latkes.”
“Sorry, I’m thinking.”
“Well, stop that.”
“Yeah, the Hive Mind should be thinking for you.”
“For unappreciated, I can’t decide between the Riders of Rohan and Bananas.”
“Spelling out loud uses two different brain parts that oughtn’t be used together.”
“What, Speaking and Thinking?”
“So for addictive, we have: Spice, Spice, Spice, Melange, human children, power, and… cinnamon buns.”
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Eep!
I know I know I know. I said this was going to be a daily blog, and now I'm starting to get lazy about the skipping of the days. I know. And I'm sorry.
I have been busy, my friends. Due to the courses I'm taking, I have a huge amount of reading to do for homework. UTO has been holding auditions, and tonight's the first night of BORG with the newbies, and, like, there's still the massive looming monster that is the play I'm supposed to be directing. Which is terrifying. All of this would be a handful on its own, but I'm also watching Doctor Who with Marlena, and as most of you know... once you start daydreaming about the TARDIS, it's incredibly hard to stop.
Anyway. I have a little two-hour window here to blog and get shit done before I run off to club administration stuff for the rest of the evening. So I guess I'll tell you an anecdote.
The other day, Kosta told us the story of how he met Rudolf Peierls, also known as one of the Manhattan Project physicists, and the guy who discovered that plutonium is even more susceptible to splitting than uranium. "It was in the 1970s, when I was just a Little Tsipis" Kosta said (which I love, because it reminded me of how Maureen Johnson refers to her past self as "a little mj") "and there was a conference about nuclear energy in the Balkans. Everyone who was anyone was there. Everybody important, and also Little Tsipis. I was freshly married, and so of course I brought my wife. Oh, she was a sexy thing! One of the nights of the conference, there was a dinner party. And my wife, well, she always wants to be noticed. So she came outside wearing this little skirt, probably as big as a, uh, like a napkin. And we hear a grouchy old man voice shout 'Go put something else on-- you're going to catch your death!' ... and that's the one time I met award-winning scientist Rudy Peierls."
I love Kosta.
And, oh. Because this is Sounds Passing Through Sudden Rightnesses, after all, I'll leave you with this excerpt from my Film textbook:
... I'm sorry. That went to a place. It won't happen again.
Bye kids!
I have been busy, my friends. Due to the courses I'm taking, I have a huge amount of reading to do for homework. UTO has been holding auditions, and tonight's the first night of BORG with the newbies, and, like, there's still the massive looming monster that is the play I'm supposed to be directing. Which is terrifying. All of this would be a handful on its own, but I'm also watching Doctor Who with Marlena, and as most of you know... once you start daydreaming about the TARDIS, it's incredibly hard to stop.
Anyway. I have a little two-hour window here to blog and get shit done before I run off to club administration stuff for the rest of the evening. So I guess I'll tell you an anecdote.
The other day, Kosta told us the story of how he met Rudolf Peierls, also known as one of the Manhattan Project physicists, and the guy who discovered that plutonium is even more susceptible to splitting than uranium. "It was in the 1970s, when I was just a Little Tsipis" Kosta said (which I love, because it reminded me of how Maureen Johnson refers to her past self as "a little mj") "and there was a conference about nuclear energy in the Balkans. Everyone who was anyone was there. Everybody important, and also Little Tsipis. I was freshly married, and so of course I brought my wife. Oh, she was a sexy thing! One of the nights of the conference, there was a dinner party. And my wife, well, she always wants to be noticed. So she came outside wearing this little skirt, probably as big as a, uh, like a napkin. And we hear a grouchy old man voice shout 'Go put something else on-- you're going to catch your death!' ... and that's the one time I met award-winning scientist Rudy Peierls."
I love Kosta.
And, oh. Because this is Sounds Passing Through Sudden Rightnesses, after all, I'll leave you with this excerpt from my Film textbook:
"The experience that art offers us can be intensely involving. We say that movies drew us in or immerse us. We get absorbed in a book or lost in a song. When we can't finish a novel, we say, "I couldn't get into it," and we say that music we don't like "doesn't speak to me," as if it were a sluggish conversational partner.Take that, indie snobs who slather ideas to film like that makes it a movie. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Jim Jarmusch. Stop hiding behind that tree, Richard Linklater. I see you. THREE-ACT STRUCTURE RULES.
All these ways of talking suggest that artworks involve us by engaging our senses, feelings, and mind in a process. That process sharpens our interest, tightens our involvement, urges us forward. How does this happen? Because the artist has created a pattern. Artworks arouse and gratify our human craving for form. Artists design their works-- they give them form-- so that we can have a structured experience.
For this reason, form is of central importance in any artwork, regardless of its medium. The idea of artistic form has occupied the thinking of philosophers, artists and critics for centuries. We can't do justice to it here."
... I'm sorry. That went to a place. It won't happen again.
Bye kids!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Love, Today
To catch you up: I spent most of the weekend in bed, being sick. It's getting rather tiresome.
Last night I stayed up until an ungodly hour trying to help Marlena delete a virus from her computer, which wasn't very helpful for anyone because I had to get up early for UTO. We had our first rehearsal, and then sang at the Activities Fair, and then aggressively recruited for an hour and a half. Then, after a brief break, we went dorm-storming for the midyears. I haven't even THOUGHT about my homework, which is bountiful.
But I've been keeping myself entertained.
If you've never read them but love Doctor Who, PLEASE look at the Television Without Pity recaps. I mean, first of all, TWoP is a wonderful website full of very clever people-- Strega's Angel recaps are smart and stinging, highly critical but also very accurate... and they're the reason I call Angel's team the Ministers of Grace, which is fantastic. (Everyone needs more Hamlet references.) And hey, I still to this day think of Melinda Clarke as Lady Heather because of Joanna's work on The O.C. But the Doctor Who recaps-- done by a guy named Jacob-- are just... I do not have the words.
"Indescribably wonderful," I'll go with.
It's like taking a college course in Doctor Who-- or at least, the first two seasons. Things get sparse for three and four (but that suits me fine, because a) I haven't watched them yet and b) I'm a Rose fan) but from what I've read so far... wow. The close readings are so analytical on every level... it transforms a show that I dismissed as merely "cute and clever" into something far more cerebral, far more valuable. Jacob goes off on philosophy, on Campbell's Hero's Journey, on Milton, on grace. This guy is SMART, and he makes me see the series in a whole new light. Excellent, thought-provoking reading. If you like Doctor Who, or are an English major-- or, like me, are both-- this is can't-miss. Or if Doctor Who isn't your thing but you're a television buff, search the site. See if it has your favorite. I guarantee you'll learn something new.
For now: I have so, so much homework. I try not to think about it, but I'm going to have a SHIT TON of reading this semester... and until I get the script photocopied out of my Hitchhiker's radio play book and into a workable format, my hands are totally tied-- as well as the hands of my potential cast and crew. I've bitten off a lot for the spring; here's hoping I can chew it all.
[Edit: reading the series 1 finale recap, and Jacob just went literary alchemy on my ass. OH MY GOD HE'S THE JOHN GRANGER OF DOCTOR WHO. SO HAPPY.]
Last night I stayed up until an ungodly hour trying to help Marlena delete a virus from her computer, which wasn't very helpful for anyone because I had to get up early for UTO. We had our first rehearsal, and then sang at the Activities Fair, and then aggressively recruited for an hour and a half. Then, after a brief break, we went dorm-storming for the midyears. I haven't even THOUGHT about my homework, which is bountiful.
But I've been keeping myself entertained.
If you've never read them but love Doctor Who, PLEASE look at the Television Without Pity recaps. I mean, first of all, TWoP is a wonderful website full of very clever people-- Strega's Angel recaps are smart and stinging, highly critical but also very accurate... and they're the reason I call Angel's team the Ministers of Grace, which is fantastic. (Everyone needs more Hamlet references.) And hey, I still to this day think of Melinda Clarke as Lady Heather because of Joanna's work on The O.C. But the Doctor Who recaps-- done by a guy named Jacob-- are just... I do not have the words.
"Indescribably wonderful," I'll go with.
It's like taking a college course in Doctor Who-- or at least, the first two seasons. Things get sparse for three and four (but that suits me fine, because a) I haven't watched them yet and b) I'm a Rose fan) but from what I've read so far... wow. The close readings are so analytical on every level... it transforms a show that I dismissed as merely "cute and clever" into something far more cerebral, far more valuable. Jacob goes off on philosophy, on Campbell's Hero's Journey, on Milton, on grace. This guy is SMART, and he makes me see the series in a whole new light. Excellent, thought-provoking reading. If you like Doctor Who, or are an English major-- or, like me, are both-- this is can't-miss. Or if Doctor Who isn't your thing but you're a television buff, search the site. See if it has your favorite. I guarantee you'll learn something new.
For now: I have so, so much homework. I try not to think about it, but I'm going to have a SHIT TON of reading this semester... and until I get the script photocopied out of my Hitchhiker's radio play book and into a workable format, my hands are totally tied-- as well as the hands of my potential cast and crew. I've bitten off a lot for the spring; here's hoping I can chew it all.
[Edit: reading the series 1 finale recap, and Jacob just went literary alchemy on my ass. OH MY GOD HE'S THE JOHN GRANGER OF DOCTOR WHO. SO HAPPY.]
Thursday, January 21, 2010
An Uncommon Hobby
If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that every once in a while I post these little cartoons; model sheets for things that I like. Outside of people I met through doing this, I've never heard of anyone with this odd little hobby-- so I was thinking I would explain it to you.
Around probably 2002 I found a wonderful website called Superbuddies, a forum where people talked about nerdy things in general and comic books in particular. Around this time, the animated series X-Men: Evolution was getting very popular. What a lot of the artists on Superbuddies did-- and what I then learned to do-- was take the model sheets of the characters, and "frankenstein" them. That is, mix and match parts, take things here and there from screenshots, to create new art from the old. It's not quite photoshopping and it's certainly not freehand art, but it does require a certain amount of skill. For the past near decade, it's a skill I've been honing, on and off.
Often, the mark that I really like something is that I'll end up creating art for it. Superbuddies is a really great community, and they were my only online friends for most of my teenage years. However, once I found the Harry Potter fandom on youtube, I kind of drifted away from 'buddies, which I still feel guilty about. Not to mention, my interest in art waned as I focused more and more on my writing. However, I'll sometimes still get the itch to make something-- especially if I know I have the "right parts," coming from a huge collection of cartoon art I've amassed over the years on my hard drive.
To make a long story much shorter, that's how come you've been staring at what is hopefully recognizable as an animated Rose Tyler while you've been reading that.
While working on her, I listened to the album Subcontrario (In Stereo) by my sister's friend Trevor Giuliani probably twelve times on repeat. If you're looking for new music in your life, here's a taste of his:
In about an hour, I'll be off for dinner with the UTO girls and our secret santa gift exchange. And I promise a slightly less media-heavy blog post tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Witty Blog Title Goes Here
Hokay! To start off with, I’m going to talk about Bridget Milhokovich so Hayley will stop calling me a bitch. (As with yesterday, beware spoilers.)
First of all, a thing you should know about me: I tend to like the same sorts of characters, as everyone does. For reasons that are completely beyond me, though, my favorites tend to be either spunky little sisters (Phoebe Caulfield, Ginny Weasley) or vulnerable popular girls (Cordelia Chase, Quinn Fabrey). Hayley and I share a mutual, rare but deep love of Parvati Patil, for example. So it surprised exactly no one when I said that Bridget was my favorite character in the Jessica Darling series.
But it also has nothing to do with my personal preferences and everything to do with the masterful way Megan McCafferty wrote the books. I’ve read each exactly once—I’m hardly as good an authority as Hayley or Marlena, so bear with me if you don’t agree or if I get something wrong. But you know? I don’t think I am. Wrong, I mean.
Jessica, as a person, is… well, very interested in people. She very rarely likes them, but she’s highly observant, if highly opinionated. As narrators go, she’s not always the most reliable… but somehow, McCafferty’s hand bleeds through in really surprising and wonderful ways. Jessica will often fail to imagine others complexly… but even though Jessica refuses to see it, we as readers get the sense LONG before she does that Bridget is a worthwhile individual. We start paying attention to her, Jessica’s brief mentions and off-handed remarks, and we see things Jessica doesn’t. And it works for everyone else in the story, too. Do you think it’s an accident that Hope’s name is hope? Come on, now. Hope is the epitome of idealized friendship, far more of an idea than a person. And by showing us these things by using Jessica’s voice, McCafferty establishes her books as some of the most nuanced and rewarding reads I’ve ever had.
Anyway. Today is 01/20/2010, and a hearty congratulations to Bridget and Percy.
On to other stuff! How was my German Cinema class, you ask? Well. We spent a good half hour playing a Get To Know Ya game, which was all kinds of fascinating, I can’t even tell you. … well, no. To be fair, there was one pretty awesome moment. One of the things we had to say was our favorite movie, and a girl in the far corner finished her little speech not with her favorite but by declaring “And my LEAST favorite movie is Avatar. Bring it on.”
I love this girl, and want to be her friend.
We spent the second half of class watching, Black Rider, a 1993 short film about, well, a black dude ridin’ a bus. In Berlin. Next to a racist old lady. We talked about the Nazi-era undertones (a silent crowd, no one speaking up against xenophobic comments, the prejudices of the old versus the tolerance of the young, blah blah blah). It was pretty interesting, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the class.
Because Adam was curious, here’s the list of films we’re going to see:
*returns to computer hours later*
Hello! I just went to my first BORG meeting of the year. We played Werewolf, which is my least favorite game, and people asked me when auditions for the play will be, to which I had to reply that I don’t know, because the play isn’t cut and I don’t have audition materials or a casting list or a room. Oops! Here’s what you missed:
“Man, now every time someone says ‘doctor’ I look up. It’s a problem.”
“Oh, have you been inDoctorinated?”
- Me and Matt
“So either Shannon is the werewolf, or she’s being very sneaky and has a devious plan.”
“It’s okay. We’ll be lynching her next round anyway; possibly for fun.”
- Katie and Mac
“By the way, guys, we’re gonna have the Dune discussion on February 10th.”
“Can we call it the Dunescussion?”
- Me and Matt
“See, I like Doctor Who because it’s the only world where Mal would make a better Companion than Inara.”
- Me
(Provided we remain entertaining, I may post BORG best-ofs every week. We’ll see!)
First of all, a thing you should know about me: I tend to like the same sorts of characters, as everyone does. For reasons that are completely beyond me, though, my favorites tend to be either spunky little sisters (Phoebe Caulfield, Ginny Weasley) or vulnerable popular girls (Cordelia Chase, Quinn Fabrey). Hayley and I share a mutual, rare but deep love of Parvati Patil, for example. So it surprised exactly no one when I said that Bridget was my favorite character in the Jessica Darling series.
But it also has nothing to do with my personal preferences and everything to do with the masterful way Megan McCafferty wrote the books. I’ve read each exactly once—I’m hardly as good an authority as Hayley or Marlena, so bear with me if you don’t agree or if I get something wrong. But you know? I don’t think I am. Wrong, I mean.
Jessica, as a person, is… well, very interested in people. She very rarely likes them, but she’s highly observant, if highly opinionated. As narrators go, she’s not always the most reliable… but somehow, McCafferty’s hand bleeds through in really surprising and wonderful ways. Jessica will often fail to imagine others complexly… but even though Jessica refuses to see it, we as readers get the sense LONG before she does that Bridget is a worthwhile individual. We start paying attention to her, Jessica’s brief mentions and off-handed remarks, and we see things Jessica doesn’t. And it works for everyone else in the story, too. Do you think it’s an accident that Hope’s name is hope? Come on, now. Hope is the epitome of idealized friendship, far more of an idea than a person. And by showing us these things by using Jessica’s voice, McCafferty establishes her books as some of the most nuanced and rewarding reads I’ve ever had.
Anyway. Today is 01/20/2010, and a hearty congratulations to Bridget and Percy.
On to other stuff! How was my German Cinema class, you ask? Well. We spent a good half hour playing a Get To Know Ya game, which was all kinds of fascinating, I can’t even tell you. … well, no. To be fair, there was one pretty awesome moment. One of the things we had to say was our favorite movie, and a girl in the far corner finished her little speech not with her favorite but by declaring “And my LEAST favorite movie is Avatar. Bring it on.”
I love this girl, and want to be her friend.
We spent the second half of class watching, Black Rider, a 1993 short film about, well, a black dude ridin’ a bus. In Berlin. Next to a racist old lady. We talked about the Nazi-era undertones (a silent crowd, no one speaking up against xenophobic comments, the prejudices of the old versus the tolerance of the young, blah blah blah). It was pretty interesting, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the class.
Because Adam was curious, here’s the list of films we’re going to see:
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
- Pandora's Box
- The Blue Angel
- Maedchen in uniform (Girls in Uniform)
- The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
- Aimee und Jaguar
- The Marriage of Maria Braun
- The Murderers Are Among Us
*returns to computer hours later*
Hello! I just went to my first BORG meeting of the year. We played Werewolf, which is my least favorite game, and people asked me when auditions for the play will be, to which I had to reply that I don’t know, because the play isn’t cut and I don’t have audition materials or a casting list or a room. Oops! Here’s what you missed:
“Man, now every time someone says ‘doctor’ I look up. It’s a problem.”
“Oh, have you been inDoctorinated?”
- Me and Matt
“So either Shannon is the werewolf, or she’s being very sneaky and has a devious plan.”
“It’s okay. We’ll be lynching her next round anyway; possibly for fun.”
- Katie and Mac
“By the way, guys, we’re gonna have the Dune discussion on February 10th.”
“Can we call it the Dunescussion?”
- Me and Matt
“See, I like Doctor Who because it’s the only world where Mal would make a better Companion than Inara.”
- Me
(Provided we remain entertaining, I may post BORG best-ofs every week. We’ll see!)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Well this is odd.
Hello, readers!
Tonight I'm coming to you from a guest location-- my mother's desktop. I've relinquished my laptop for the evening, to be defragged and backed up before I go back to school tomorrow. Shana's gonna drive me, and then Monday I suss out where all of my classes are (I have to try and find my way around the new science building, eek!) and then Tuesday I start classes. Exciting! And a little scary.
(I still don't have an ending for my play. I should probably work on that, huh?)
So, what's new in my life, you ask? Well. Aside from a sinful amount of Doctor Who (which is absolutely adorable in every way), I had a nice hour-long conversation with Hayley. Which is always a good time. Aaaaaand. Um. I ate some cheesecake? It was good.
I don't want to talk terribly much about Doctor Who, because a) I'm only just at the start of season 2, and I don't want to contradict myself or be proven wrong or say anything I'll end up regretting, and b) I don't want to spoil anyone, and by Anyone I mean Marlena (Hi, Marlena!) but there is one thing I want to note. I really appreciate all of the hugging. And not just between Rose and the Doctor. It's everyone. Which is, to borrow a phrase, fantastic. I dunno what it is, but now I feel like American television is, like... afraid of non-intimate physical contact. Which is ridiculous and counter-intuitive and inane. Friends hug. They high-five, and get giddy over stupid things, and... even though it depicts a world of fantasy, filled with aliens, it's a profoundly human experience, watching Doctor Who. And I love that about it.
Tonight I'm coming to you from a guest location-- my mother's desktop. I've relinquished my laptop for the evening, to be defragged and backed up before I go back to school tomorrow. Shana's gonna drive me, and then Monday I suss out where all of my classes are (I have to try and find my way around the new science building, eek!) and then Tuesday I start classes. Exciting! And a little scary.
(I still don't have an ending for my play. I should probably work on that, huh?)
So, what's new in my life, you ask? Well. Aside from a sinful amount of Doctor Who (which is absolutely adorable in every way), I had a nice hour-long conversation with Hayley. Which is always a good time. Aaaaaand. Um. I ate some cheesecake? It was good.
I don't want to talk terribly much about Doctor Who, because a) I'm only just at the start of season 2, and I don't want to contradict myself or be proven wrong or say anything I'll end up regretting, and b) I don't want to spoil anyone, and by Anyone I mean Marlena (Hi, Marlena!) but there is one thing I want to note. I really appreciate all of the hugging. And not just between Rose and the Doctor. It's everyone. Which is, to borrow a phrase, fantastic. I dunno what it is, but now I feel like American television is, like... afraid of non-intimate physical contact. Which is ridiculous and counter-intuitive and inane. Friends hug. They high-five, and get giddy over stupid things, and... even though it depicts a world of fantasy, filled with aliens, it's a profoundly human experience, watching Doctor Who. And I love that about it.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sorry!
So Dollhouse was crazyinsane and I've just started watching Doctor Who (series one, with Nine) so... yeah, sorry, no post today. Because my brain is exploding. You understand, don't you?
I already love them. So much.
- The Doctor: [opening Rose's phone] Tell you what. With a bit of jiggery pokery-
- Rose: Is that a technical term, "jiggery pokery"?
- The Doctor: Yeah, I got a first in jiggery pokery, what about you?
- Rose: [playing along] Nah, I failed Hullabaloo.
I already love them. So much.
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