The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret

Thanks to the fabulous ed_fortune, I was finally able to watch 2006's Doctor Who concert in its entirety; during the course of which I was accused of geekery.

In the midst of the performance of Rose's theme - I was distractedly cartooning and humming along to the music - I realised that they had pulled a fast one. "That is not Rose," said I, "That is The Impossible Planet." (Not, of course, the bit with the cello that thinks it's a viola; the later part that is more strings-based and does, in fairness, contain elements of Rose's theme.)

It was at this point that the accusation was made.

So, on listening intently to the Doctor Who Season 3 soundtrack I spotted something very disturbing.

( CUT for wild speculation )

Naturally, Doctor Who fandom being what it is, I'm sure I'm not the first...

EDITED TO ADD: In tangentially related news, here is The Mill's Showreel as of Season 3, which I thought was quite nice. CONTAINS SQUID.

Passing through Leeds station on Saturday after a delightful dinner-and-a-movie with diegoliger, the following headline caught my eye on the Sky News laser display board:

Third Doctor Charged Over Terror Plot

I had to forcibly remove images of Jon Pertwee from my brain.

Opinions are funny things, aren't they?

I am of the opinion that Human Nature/Family of Blood was some of the finest Who to emerge in recent years (surpassed only by every episode written by Steven Moffatt). A respected friend and avid Who fan of my acquaintance^[1], however, is of the opinion that, well, basically and fundamentally, it wasn't a Doctor Who story and if he wanted to watch a period romance between a schoolteacher and compassionately proper school matron, well, that's what he would have done.

(I eagerly await his views on Blink, which has a similar amount of Doctor in it, though vastly less Tennant.)

(Did I mention that I thought Joan was the role for whom Jessica Stephenson was invented? She fit her like a glove, really she did.)

By the same token, I've no doubt that many corners of Who fandom will take issue with this week's Utopia, though it is in essence a story one-third told. ( Cut for spoilers )

Also this weekend, I went to see the new Fantastic Four movie. I was of the opinion that it was a great improvement on the first, a perfectly presentable action adventure movie with more than a little tongue in cheek. The script was reasonably tight, the effects were solid and convincing and ( Minor spoilers ) In my opinion it was a well-balanced blend of the source material and the necessary big-screen updates (though Johnny's topless scene was gratuitous and unnecessary and far too brief) - all the best parts of the earlier movie with none of the wretched science (unless you count talk of "cosmic rays" as physics) ( Slightly larger spoilers )

Many of those with whom I saw it, however, were of the opinion that the film held no redeeming features at all. Which is odd, since in the past we have broadly agreed on the relative merits of various motion pictures. Certainly we universally agreed on the utter, utter hideous abomination that is the new entryway to The Orient at the Trafford Centre - a mockery of taste in brown marble and faux gold and what must surely be the most gross offence to the word "staircase" since records began. Mammon must be pleased indeed.

It is the conclusion of this rambling editorial that It Just Goes To Show.

ASIDE: For more on what I did at the weekend, see here.

[1] Redundant? If he's my friend, of course he's of my acquaintance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zw2H1zvyc8

All together now: AAAAWWWWWWWWWWW

Oh, a few quick notes re this week's Doctor Who ...

( Read more... )
Still, it was all good fun and I quite liked the musical number. Loved those wings...

[1] Or "Using human cellular matter and protein chains as raw material from which to grow new Daleks"

A couple of clips from this week's Doctor Who (AVOID if you dislike spoilers):

First contact

Saucer of milk, table six

Today I have mostly helped anne_l_davies move a crapload of her stuff over to her new house. It is a lovely house, somewhat reminiscent of a dollshouse in that it is wider than it is deep, most of the rooms go the length of the house and the staircase is in the middle. If it was detached and in the middle of a field it would quite possibly be a dream house. Apart from all the filth. But that aside, it's lovely.

My plan for the day was to maybe do a little shopping and then proceed to the Paggawake in town; this was not to be as I was awoken at 11am^[1] and told that my muscle was required.

Yes, dear reader, at this I laughed sharply also.

Anyway, we were still lifting heavy objects an hour and a half after Paggawake began, at which point we proceeded home for Doctor Who, and after watching that and the DW Confidential followup programme I rang kardrath to find that Paggawake was now dispersing. Apparently they had all been waiting for me and could no longer stand to be in the same room without my august presence. This last is conjecture.

So it's 11pm on a Saturday and I find myself alone at home (Anne and paulgregory having gone to buy a bed for the house, take the bed to the house and sleep in the bed in the house). I am considering getting the tram up to zheers' house for the Rocky Horror afterparty at midnight.

(I do not do Rocky Horror on the principle that it is boil-in-the-bag perversion for sexually repressed accountants and first-year drama students with too many posters of Betty Blue, The Blues Brothers, Big Blue and Blue Velvet on their blue bloody walls, which is a quote that I am determined to memorise.)

ps, Doctor Who was nicely made and well-acted, but a bit cheesy and certain of the plot points felt a bit like fanfic. The trouble with having a near-Doctorless Doctor Who story is that popping in at the end really isn't the way he works ... striding up and down in front of the TARDIS feels a bit weak and, at the same time, cliche. Nice idea, shame about the execution. Still, much of the rest of the episode was excellent (I particularly liked the opening sequence), and in some respects the main chracter's "self-insert" tendencies could easily be because it is, after all, his own retelling of events after the fact. Naturally you'd make yourself the hero...

[1] Actually I was already awake but lying in bed like a sloth. Though, that said, I could not say for certain that sloths have beds.