meddow

I have been so busy lately. I'm hoping to have a weekend in which I can catch up on things and write a bit of fic, maybe do a picspam. The problem with being busy is that it leads to be tired which lead to me doing not much of anything.

Anyway, things that I've been meaning to post about all week:

1. I realised that Vincent and the Doctor is Amy's Companion tries to change history to save a life/lives, just like the Aztecs (Barbara), Father's Day (Rose) and Fires of Pompeii (Donna), except that it was a different take on it as the Doctor for once was in on it (probably knowing they'd have no success) so there was no great debate.

In a bit of drive by episode love, I have to say, as much as I love Vincent and the Aztecs (I quite like Father's Day too), Pompeii I still rate as my favourite, namely because I saw an exhibit on Pompeii earlier this year which included the plaster casts they made of people smothered by ash, and it's harrowing. Plus, Donna is utterly awesome to the point of making the naysayers finally shut up, Catherine Tate shows off why she is one of the best (if not the best) actresses to have played a Companion, and there's bonus Peter Capaldi.

But also, and leading into another thing I'm going to talk about it, my personal fanon is that it's one of the major reasons why Children of Earth happened, as in, in my fanon is that I don't think it's a coincidence that the father of the Frobisher family which did not survive CoE is the spitting image of the father of the family that survived Fires

2. I'm a bit hesitant about the new series of Torchwood that's been announced, for a number of reasons. I loved Children of Earth and was quite happy with it being a series finale, but also with the new series being set partially in America, I suspect that's lessened the chances of having Lois, Alice and Johnson join the team, or that we'll get a day in the life of Bridget Spears episode (okay, there was probably little chance of that happening ever, but it would be awesome - maybe I'll just have to write fic).

3. World Cup! World Cup! World Cup! I'm really into it this year because New Zealand's in it for the first time since the 1982. Oh, I so badly want us to score a goal.

When the All Whites are inevitably knocked out, I'm going to have to go a find some random arbitrary thing with which to use to pick a team to support. Last time I rooted for whichever team came from the country IMO had the best food. I ended up supporting Italy quite a bit.

4. Forth and finally and because I can, ( more Thick of It BAFTA pics, cos I love this cast and also because there's bonus Freema Agyeman and Jane Lynch )

ETA: Gah. My photobucket account which is entirely used for fandom purposes somehow knows of my facebook page, which is all about RL, or at least my photobucket account is prompting me to 'like' it. 1. How does it know who I am on facebook? 2. Make it stop! I keep my fandom stuff and my life stuff very separate so not cool, internet. Not cool at all.

I wanted to do a big 2009 picspam, but could not decide on a format. Then and idea struck me: since I'm forever lamenting entertainment awards' inability to make the right decision, why not do my picspam in an award sort of format, with the awards categories themselves completely made up and arbitrary so I could just picspam things I liked this year and could find photos of. Good idea, yes?

With no further ado...



( Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica, Being Human, Torchwood and The Thick of It )

Hollywood's complete inability to come up with an original idea is only second to the writing of female characters in romcoms when it comes to making me despair about the current state of big-budget entertainment, and rebooting Battlestar Galactica again, so soon after it was just successfully rebooted, just proves how ridiculous it's getting. First of all, why? The 2003 reboot only provided six years of acclaimed television, lasted longer than the original series and spawned a spin-off. Was is not successful enough? Secondly, there is no way comparisons would not be drawn. And I understand it, if they return to the original material (I haven't actually watched the original series), there would be no Roslin or Six (or any of the other skin-job model Cylons for that matter), Baltar would be properly evil rather than, well, Baltar, and Starbuck, Boomer and Admiral Cain would all suddenly be men. Weird.

I watched The Edge of Darkness recently, a political thriller about nuclear weapons from the BBC, which aired originally in 1985. It is bloody good. Basically, it's about a cop who witnesses his daughter's murder which causes him to investigate and in turn become involved in a conspiracy involving governments, environmental protesters, secret agents and some wonderful larger-than-life characters. It gets a bit nuts, but just when I think its skirting the edge of credibility, I remind myself that the French government sent secret agents half way around the world to blow up anti-nuclear protest ship in Auckland Harbour the very same year it aired, and so things really were a bit crazy back in the 1980s.

While normally when I watch old TV, I kind of have to adjust my mindset to take into account the low budgets, sub-par effects and the plodding pace, going on twenty-five years after it originally aired it holds up. It seems the BBC actually spent money on it, and the direction and pacing holds up by today's standards. And thinking about its impact, I think it's clear Ashes to Ashes in particular borrows heavily from it, and the daughter hanging about the main character after her death makes me wonder if it was the first time the ghost trope was used on television. These days, its hard to think of television shows that don't have characters talking to dead people.

I also re-watched Children of Earth, and if any one character gets to come back, can it please be Johnson? I've decided she's my favourite of the new crop, as not only is she incredibly competent and morally ambiguous but for a purpose, but they also bothered to give her a degree of compassion, a quality writers don't usually bother with in secondary characters of that nature. Plus, I want Alice back, but that might be because Johnson/Alice is my Torchwood OTP, as messed up as it would be. Oh, and I want Lois as the new Ianto and creepy dude as the new Tosh, because they'd get left behind in the hub while the rest go on missions, and watching Lois constantly one-uping creepy dude to keep him in line could make for great entertainment.

Movie Rec: I saw In the Loop yesterday and it's the best film I've watched at the movies all year, and also the funniest movie I've watched in longer than that. It's a political satire about a British cabinet minister who after a bit of a gaff about a potential war in the Middle East, finds himself in Washington being used as a puppet by both the anti-war and pro-war portions of the US Government. It's got some of the most glorious and creative insults, threats and curses in cinema history (oh, how I would like to see what the airline version of the film would be like - probably a five minute film of various characters looking at each other). Best character has to be Malcolm Tucker, who is both the villain and the guy you find yourself rooting for just because he has some to the best lines and is the most competent of the bunch, and if you weren't already thinking Peter Capaldi is brilliant after Torchwood, you will be after this.

Plus, it also adds a lot of weight to my current theory that the best things dealing with Iraq are the things in which the word 'Iraq' is never used.

And speaking of Torchwood actors, I was reading that John Barrowman might not be around for series four as he may be on Desperate Housewives, and all I could think of was how this would be brilliant.

I said it in my review of Day Five, but now that the immediate reaction's worn off, I stand by not wanting to see Jack Harkness again. First of all, I think pop culture needs a cull of emo immortals because the 'Everyone I know dies while I stay eternally young, pretty and healthy' thing has been done to death and I am absolutely utterly and truly sick of it.

Secondly, I don't think Barrowman's got the acting chops to really do the devastation to Jack at the end of Day Five justice in a long term sort of capacity. He does a great intergalactic playboy and he did really well for Barrowman in CoE, but I often cringed when it came Jack's big emotional moments through series one and two of Torchwood.

But mostly, I'm just sick of TW!Jack. Doctor Who!Jack was wonderful. I loved him with Nine and adored his appearances with Ten, but he's well and truly dead. I don't think a post-Day 5 Jack could show up on DW unless the write the character so OC the Torchwood watching audiences would throw things. TW!Jack always seemed to me to be a different character because they were trying to peg the fun, action-sidekick into the dark and brooding leader role and managed to mess up what I liked about the character doing it, creating this character I hated because he wasn't the character I loved.

Anyway, the character had gone, his leaving was upsetting, but also it felt right. I hope they don't bring him back. Plus, there's Gwen, Johnson and - if they want to keep it in the family - Alice, who could all act as replacements.

Wow.

( Spoilers )

I'm going to go curl up into a ball now.

I have decided Gwen and Rhys are the second coming of Zoe and Wash off Firefly. Ianto's family is awsome. For the first time since Cyberwoman I find myself liking Ianto just for the presence of his family.

I think in Frobisher RTD's perfected his skill of writing incredibly sympathetic yet slightly morally dubious civil servants. Now I desperately fear for his life.

Hurray for PC Andy! I still want a Rhys and PC Andyspin-off in which they fight slight rubbish aliens.

Also, I agree entirely with the many people on my flist who have pointed out that the structure feels like an old school Who serial, which makes it all the better.

I've never been so in love with Torchwood. Who knew watching the first season Torchwood had this in it?

Arc of Infinity

I'd been looking forward to watching this serial for a while, since it's the only time Five and Nyssa are together without Tegan, and thanks to Big Finish, the two of them alone are one of my favourite TARDIS teams. I was not disappointed, since I really enjoyed this serial – I watched it in two days. I didn’t know it was partially filmed in Amsterdam before watching it (but how could I not know now after the gratuitous 'look, we're on location, in AMSTERDAM!' chase scene). Also besides The Five Doctors (which I don't think counts because I was too busy squeeing at all the Doctors and companions), this was my first major exposure to Gallifrey and all is political machinations.

( Read more... )

( Torchwood – Lost Souls )

Speaking of audios, how excited am I that Catherine Tate's doing an audiobook, The Forever Trap. After David Tennant's Donna voice in Pest Control, which was endearingly bad, I can't wait to hear Catherine Tate's Tenth Doctor voice.

And finally ( On those casting rumours )

I've just been watching The American President. I haven't watched it in a while and it is my absolute favourite romcom.

"I didn’t send 466 to the floor to win you back."
"And I didn't come back because you sent 466 to the floor."

I am such a dork.

Anyway. There is a need for me to post today. Today is the one year anniversary of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which means it is the one year anniversary of the death of James Norrington, which means it is the beginning of the trend of every single favourite character of mine always having to die.

Seriously: ( Spoilers for Harry Potter, Heroes, Rome, Ashes to Ashes and House )

Will the needless slaying of adored characters please end.

I haven’t watched Torchwood yet (though already spoiled, I read about it last week – I swear I wasn’t even looking for spoilers, I really did just stumble upon them this time). I was putting it off, and then ended up watching When Harry Met Sally with the flatmates (DVD player has crapped out, so whenever we want to watch something these days we have to crowd around my laptop).

It’s kind of a pain, I know it’s going to be a downer, so I’m reluctant to watch it and since even though I do like it more now than I once did, I’m still just not that into Torchwood and usually watch it out of some kind of obligation to the mother-show, I don’t have that drive to watch it as soon as possible that I have with Doctor Who.

Eh. I’ll get around to watching it eventually.

Anyway, new Doctor Who soon. I have it all planed out and should all thing go to plan there shall be a mini marathon happening in my flat, of The Runaway Bride followed by Voyage of the Damned and then onto Partners in Crime. Thankfully, I have converted all the flatmates to Doctor Who, even though I remain the only one who likes Donna (or Angry Red-Head as one of my flatmates has dubbed her). I may be the only one watching The Runaway Bride.

I never posted my thoughts on those last few episodes of Torchwood I watched did I? Well it was a while ago so I can’t remember particularly what I thought other than that Martha is awesome (I wouldn’t be opposed to her joining the show full time) and that there seem to me to be lots of nods to the Alien franchise in Reset and Dead Man Walking.

What I do remember though was my flatmate’s reaction to the series since I lent those episodes her to watch, and of course, she was over the moon at the prospect of lots and lots of Captain Jack.

Anyway, I wandered into the room in some while later, and she looked like a kid who had just dropped her ice-cream cone on the floor. She apparently, in her words, prefers Jack as an anarchist to Jack as a manager.

So SJA remains the preferred Who spin-off in my flat.