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
Steven Moffat
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
Doctor Who: the boy friend code
Steven Moffat has gone on about how The Caretaker is a return to the ideas of The Lodger, because The Doctor. Whatevs. This episode had more likenesses with Vampires of Venice, Amy's Choice, The Big Bang and A Good Man Goes to War with Amy and Rory and with Rose and Mickey with Rose, Father's Day … Continue reading Doctor Who: the boy friend code
Doctor Who: Chalk and Talk
This looping story line thing that is evidenced by Listen, is definitely a thing. Jenna Louise Coleman called it the Moffat Loop and she should know. And over at iO9 there is a succinct summation, putting it all down to The Doctor basically inventing a monster and letting the logic of that play out through loop after … Continue reading Doctor Who: Chalk and Talk
Doctor Who & Hamlet: Are we who we say we are?
If you've yet to watch the 2014 Doctor Who episodes, then you probably should. Or you can enjoy this song Who Are You by The Who, which posits important questions thematically linked to Doctor Who and this post. Like: Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?). I really wanna know (Who are you? … Continue reading Doctor Who & Hamlet: Are we who we say we are?
Doctor Who: Inner Spaces
If you haven't seen Into the Dalek, then, to misquote the Spice Girls, stop right now, thank you very much. This blog post is about what it means to have a human touch. Some good hard SF concepts and special effects in Into The Dalek, in addition to some nice insights into Clara's world and how … Continue reading Doctor Who: Inner Spaces
Anti-Advice for Writers
If you are writing or thinking about writing, or reading about thinking about starting to write you will, with little trouble, come across a terrifyingly huge amount of advice. It comes in the form of: books, blogs, well-meaning friends, videos, hash-tagged conversations, mime performances, professional organisations and their magazines, software, spam invitations to pay for … Continue reading Anti-Advice for Writers
Going Back to Baker Street
'Ere 221B Dragons and Those Who May Spoil Them...mmmkay? Reflexivity When I write something there is me writing it #ObviousStatementisObvious. Yet if there is any art to writing, it is about removing the (obvious) evidence of me. But there is another art, or perhaps a balance, to leaving such evidence in the writing. Sometimes it's … Continue reading Going Back to Baker Street
Knitting and unpicking the Day of the Doctor
Rules and World Building If you write a story you're creating a world, or a part of a world. It could be as close to 'real life' (whatever that is) as possible or it can be completely made up or it could sit somewhere in between. But it will obey rules. The world you invent … Continue reading Knitting and unpicking the Day of the Doctor
Going Always – Writing and Doctor Who
So there has been plenty of time to think...in what seems to be a long running thing to write about writing and Doctor Who, because good TV, or even bad TV, takes a lot of effort to write. And regardless of what we write, we should bother to take note, especially in regards to dialogue, … Continue reading Going Always – Writing and Doctor Who