Thought there was no more Doctor Who til Christmas? There is a lil bit. The Children in Need Special. This particular one is more of a preview for the Christmas Special than a short stand alone. The only thing it proves is that it's obvious Clara Oswald isn't quite gone. And that Father Christmas is real. … Continue reading Ain’t no Xmas like a Doctor Who Xmas
Writing
Doctor Who: Relative Heroes
With Death in Heaven and Interstellar I've been thinking about relativity and time, cycles, and returns, and death and how these are represented in narrative. Then I remembered Buddhism. Ouroboros To be Buddhist is to be awake to reality. It occurs to me that to be in suspended animation sleep to cross space is like … Continue reading Doctor Who: Relative Heroes
Doctor Who: Role Play
Upon watching the 2014 finale of Doctor Who I've never been so happy to have Nick Frost appear. He was the ray of weird that lifted Death in Heaven from being one of helluva Halloweeen-ish downer episode to something a tiny bit hopeful. Character assassin If previous series were about fairy tales, this series was solid SF ideas and … Continue reading Doctor Who: Role Play
Be the Hero?
The new Hobbit trailer is out, partly because of this, and because of The Hobbit fan competition, and Halloween and 'cons' I've been thinking about the fan phenomenon. As The Doctor explained to Charles Dickens it’s about fanaticism. I was going to say such devotion is usually motivated out of a deep appreciation or love, … Continue reading Be the Hero?
Doctor Who: Master of our fate?
Soldier Man Some characters are too good to live. In Tess of the D'Ubervilles, Thomas Hardy created a character he loved, and mourned that the story he created killed his Tess. Hardy, though, didn't change the ending. He let it stand. Tess died and he didn't diminish her sacrifice with her ghost in some saccharine sequel. … Continue reading Doctor Who: Master of our fate?
Doctor Who: Clara vs The Doctor
Flatline - Clara's Choice Seems some people are upset with Clara, mainly for not wanting the kids saved in Flatline. I think she spoke as a someone who has seen a bit of the universe and seen how lonely and dangerous it is for survivors. I also think she spoke as someone who has lost … Continue reading Doctor Who: Clara vs The Doctor
Doctor Who: Wood for the Trees
From the previews I thought this would go down a spooky girl fairy tale path, influenced by William Blake (Tyger Tyger!). Easy to assume with the kid in the red coat running around through the woods, and with the wolves, and the deliberate spoken references to Hansel and Gretel. This current series does like making … Continue reading Doctor Who: Wood for the Trees
Shameless Self Promotion (Hashtag Writing)
A post subtitled: where else to find writing by me. Apart from my thoughtful posts about SF TV and other important issues here, my most recent writing was published at Sparks of Consciousness blog here. It is a mock pretentious literary analysis speculative fiction essay/story experimental thing called : writer of nil repute. … Continue reading Shameless Self Promotion (Hashtag Writing)
Doctor Who: Depth Perception
Arcs of Triumph? From a writer's point of view The Doctor is a hero that unlike many others, is never 'complete' to quote the repair droids of the MS Madame Pompadour. As we have seen, even as he faces death his story isn't done, because his timeline extends through all of time and space in … Continue reading Doctor Who: Depth Perception
Notational Interludes
After my post about art I could write about how I'm also a frustrated musician, inspired by my mother, who was the epitome of a folksy mcfolk musician, playing, as she did sporadically, the piano accordion, recorder, xylophone and glockenspiel, mostly by ear. On the other side of my family my knitting Nan focused her powers on … Continue reading Notational Interludes
Writing Bec 