With any ongoing narrative, it's easy to think about each episode or series, or producer era in terms of like or dislike. I hate Moffat, some declare, others loved Amy and Rory. OK. These declarations are personal judgements, informed by individual preferences, biases and understandings, hence debating them is endless and circular. People don't change … Continue reading Doctor Who: R&R
Star Trek
Bec in Wonderland
I took in ACMI's Wonderland exhibit. It had inklings of a classic Sherlock Holmes-like escape room vibe, but that receded. What replaced it was a journey. There were rooms featuring original illustrations, footage from the oldest filmed versions of Alice in Wonderland. There were rooms for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ephemera, as well as for magic … Continue reading Bec in Wonderland
A review awakens
Fans will see Star Wars: The Force Awakens without my say so, and so will anyone else vaguely familiar with the franchise. But these are my thoughts anyway. It was respectful of the source material, it was an homage to what went before, with plenty of deliberate shout outs. The plot, the pacing, the dialogue … Continue reading A review awakens
Doctor Who: Eye Spy
I wonder if writer Mark Gatiss has a thing about sleep, what with this episode Sleep No More, but also Night Terrors with monsters in the dark and things that haunt us. And also, both have frames. Night Terrors had a cupboard containing the terror inside a flat, while Sleep No More has a story-teller … Continue reading Doctor Who: Eye Spy
Doctor Who: Identity Stakes
Some writing groups I'm in often return to ideas about anthropomorphism and what it means for writers. Almost all aliens we see are humans with traits removed or magnified. Vulcans of Star Trek: basically human + heightened rationality. Daleks: remove empathy + hate & shove in metal box. Cybers: remove emotion and personal identifiers + … Continue reading Doctor Who: Identity Stakes
Stories: bigger on the inside
Analyse this? I came across a fairly thorough psychological interpretation of Harry Potter via FB recently. The page linking to it had a lot of comments - people were either upset as it had 'ruined' the books or they were angry that someone had 'bothered'. Whatever the complaint, there was so much entitlement, or ownership. I … Continue reading Stories: bigger on the inside
Running up that hill
The problems of the world are really big. They're awful and all-encompassing and involve all of us. I sign petitions, donate when I can, stay informed and try to not make choices that I dunno, badden things up. (I'm inventing phrases now, because creative). Nothing much changes. Or if it does, it is slowly by … Continue reading Running up that hill