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
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
Interesting Interstellar
This will be a quick-ish review. Or just some thoughts really about Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. If you want to see it I recommend finding a big screen. The score is good too. My first thought is this is how the crew of Prometheus should have behaved. Like professionals and experts. The cast was good. Especially the … Continue reading Interesting Interstellar
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: 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
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
Doctor Who: Strangers on a Train
After the wrongness of Kill the Moon, Mummy on the Orient Express is back on track (ah, I make me laugh), but a bit odd. It's like every episode Clara or The Doctor have to work each other out, even though they have all their combined history: for instance, Clara only now realises he lies. It is … Continue reading Doctor Who: Strangers on a Train
Doctor Who: Goddesses, Captains & Parables
In space no one hears the countdown If Earth is Mostly Harmless, then Space is Mainly Lethal. Lack of air. Un-earth-like physics. People on the edge. In Doctor Who, space is dangerous because of 'grey area' moral dilemmas and countdowns. Seriously, they had an episode called 42 with a living Sun and 42 minutes until a … Continue reading Doctor Who: Goddesses, Captains & Parables
Doctor Who and Childish Things
“This hobble of being alive is rather serious, don’t you think so?” ― Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles This post is in response to Helen Razer's article in Crikey, which if I read it right, lamented too many adults - including critics - take too much from TV and books for children and warns … Continue reading Doctor Who and Childish Things
Writing Bec 