The Weekend In Review
Jun. 19th, 2005 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kingandyDefinitely a good weekend.
Friday evening was spent mostly assembling my new computer table - it's bigger than the old one but has more usable shelves so I'll probably have more room in the end. My chair needs to be further over, though, so I've less space to pile clothes on the floor (this being my only actual clothing storage space).
Also watched House of Flying Daggers. The flying daggers themselves (the items, not the secret society) were quite nifty but most of the fight scenes were a bit silly and the plot itself was overly convoluted in the sense that some earlier scenes didn't quite make sense in the light of later revelations. (That said, I did sleep through some of the later segments.) But still, reasonably pretty.
Saturday spent far too much money on club gear before proceeding to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zheers' house to watch Doctor Who. An excellent episode, cracking end to the series, suffers slightly from the Magic Plot Device ending but otherwise most enjoyable. Personally I prefer the TARDIS to be used as a plot device in the strictest sense, purely a device for getting the characters into the story, rather than a magical device for saving the day. But as deus ex machinas go, at least it wasn't entirely pulled out of the ass (the catch-all "translate you into whatever you need to be" effect being previously established in Boom Town), and the granting of onmipotence powers was clearly shown to have fatal consequences for mere mortals, so I don't think we need to worry about it being used overly often.
(I recall reading how Isaac Asimov hated writing serial SF books, in particular the Foundation series, as in each book he had to come up with a reason why the plot device used at the end of the last one wouldn't work again. In this case they've carefully nipped that problem in the bud...)
The regeneration took me entirely by surprise, what with the news of the 10th Doctor's casting coming relatively recently.icklejo was of the opinion that they probably brought him and Ecclestone in for pickups following the latter's resignation, but thinking back to the furore following the BBC's premature announcement of such, I have this vague suspicion that this was the plan all along; I recall there having to be apology, and I wondered why Ecclestone would have been so keen to keep it under wraps. The thought that maybe he only ever signed on to do one series, and the team wanted to keep the regeneration as a surprise, is a nice one. Of course it's likely that this is nothing more than a nice thought, but a nice thought it remains.
Right, when's that first series box set out? Hmm, November 21 ... wonder if I can get them to release it a week earlier so I can have it for my birthday. (Gah, I was going to complain that they'd just put all the disks in a single box rather than do a special space-saving edition, but it turns out it is a special box ... it's just hideously bulky by design. Oh well.)
After that, off to the Wendy House, purveyors of fineLucida Handwriting logos entertainment. Much fun was had by all and I'm certain pictures will be forthcoming. Thence back to Lee's house for more entertainment, all of which was most enjoyable. Bed was taken at about 5am.
Today was therefore spent sleeping the fitful sleep of the dehydrated, and later watching many movies on DVD. I have now completed my reverse-Smith-cycle by watching Clerks, and now may with some trepidation look forward to watching Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back at some future date (I started with Dogma and worked back).
Ta ta for now
Friday evening was spent mostly assembling my new computer table - it's bigger than the old one but has more usable shelves so I'll probably have more room in the end. My chair needs to be further over, though, so I've less space to pile clothes on the floor (this being my only actual clothing storage space).
Also watched House of Flying Daggers. The flying daggers themselves (the items, not the secret society) were quite nifty but most of the fight scenes were a bit silly and the plot itself was overly convoluted in the sense that some earlier scenes didn't quite make sense in the light of later revelations. (That said, I did sleep through some of the later segments.) But still, reasonably pretty.
Saturday spent far too much money on club gear before proceeding to
zheers' house to watch Doctor Who. An excellent episode, cracking end to the series, suffers slightly from the Magic Plot Device ending but otherwise most enjoyable. Personally I prefer the TARDIS to be used as a plot device in the strictest sense, purely a device for getting the characters into the story, rather than a magical device for saving the day. But as deus ex machinas go, at least it wasn't entirely pulled out of the ass (the catch-all "translate you into whatever you need to be" effect being previously established in Boom Town), and the granting of onmipotence powers was clearly shown to have fatal consequences for mere mortals, so I don't think we need to worry about it being used overly often.(I recall reading how Isaac Asimov hated writing serial SF books, in particular the Foundation series, as in each book he had to come up with a reason why the plot device used at the end of the last one wouldn't work again. In this case they've carefully nipped that problem in the bud...)
The regeneration took me entirely by surprise, what with the news of the 10th Doctor's casting coming relatively recently.
icklejo was of the opinion that they probably brought him and Ecclestone in for pickups following the latter's resignation, but thinking back to the furore following the BBC's premature announcement of such, I have this vague suspicion that this was the plan all along; I recall there having to be apology, and I wondered why Ecclestone would have been so keen to keep it under wraps. The thought that maybe he only ever signed on to do one series, and the team wanted to keep the regeneration as a surprise, is a nice one. Of course it's likely that this is nothing more than a nice thought, but a nice thought it remains.Right, when's that first series box set out? Hmm, November 21 ... wonder if I can get them to release it a week earlier so I can have it for my birthday. (Gah, I was going to complain that they'd just put all the disks in a single box rather than do a special space-saving edition, but it turns out it is a special box ... it's just hideously bulky by design. Oh well.)
After that, off to the Wendy House, purveyors of fine
Today was therefore spent sleeping the fitful sleep of the dehydrated, and later watching many movies on DVD. I have now completed my reverse-Smith-cycle by watching Clerks, and now may with some trepidation look forward to watching Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back at some future date (I started with Dogma and worked back).
Ta ta for now
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 10:53 am (UTC)They may well have reversed the polarity all the time in the originals, but the whole Delta Wave thing just grated. It just feels too cheesy. I'll reserve my judgement on the series until I've seen the whole lot though.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 11:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-20 11:12 am (UTC)Something RTD pointed out in this week's Confidential - the Time Lords started it. From the Dalek point of view, right at the moment of their inception, who was there? Time Lords, trying to wipe them out before they were even born. Gallifrey made the first move.