On The Sofa (8)

[Craig @craig Emperor]

@pedant I remember watching that when it first aired and convulsing in laughter. And let’s not forget this great tribute. She was a true British icon and will be sadly missed. I saw a post on Twitter that just said “Five Years, four candles and two soups. What a terrible year.”

[Anonymous @]

@winston I agree!

what a terrible, terrible loss.

Quite right -a real old fashioned talent I would say -sing, dance, think and write. And play.

[Missy @missy]

So sad. thank you for the video pedant.

Cheers

Missy

[Anonymous @]

Hi
I am new here and my favourite doctor is the tenth doctor David Tennant
RUCBARM

[DalekTor @dalektor]

@rycbarm

Hello! I’m pretty new here too, I’ve only been here for about a month and a half.

Ten’s in third place for me. He’s a good Doctor, but he angsts too much for me. Do you like Eleven?

Also, what’s your opinion on Daleks?

[Missy @missy]

I definitly prefer Peter Capaldi.

Cheers,

Missy

[Anonymous @]

 
@dalektor

Hi

I like the Eleventh to they are both cool and also the Daleks

RYCBARM

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@missy

I thought I’d bring the conversation over to the sofa!

I was talking about my classic doctor who collection but I have also been getting some other classic tv series such as Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner which I haven’t finished watching yet as well as the bbc’s classic adaptations of M R James’ Ghost Stories! Also watched a few old universal monster movies recently such as Dracula and Frankenstein.

What have you got as I realise these at pretty obscure and not many people would have known of the ghost stories for example?

[Bluesqueakpip @bluesqueakpip]

@craig et al

I was on the Putney to Westminster part of the Thames path today, and passed Battersea Power Station (now being turned into the kind of flats owned as an ‘investment’, rather than as a ‘home’).

So – either we could discuss the New Companion Trailer into the ground for the next six months, or:

The Dalek Invasion of Earth? Anyone fancy it? Bill Hartnell, Daleks coming out of the Thames, Ian, Barbara and Susan?

🙂

[DalekTor @dalektor]

@bluesqueakpip

Haven’t seen that one yet. I’ll have to watch it sometime!

@missy

Capaldi is vying for second with Sylvester McCoy for me.

@rycbarm

What’s your favorite Dalek episode?

[Anonymous @]

@dalektor

Hi

My favorite dalek episode is “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s Ends”

RYCBARM

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@bluesqueakpip

The Dalek Invasion of Earth was one of the first William Hartnell stories I saw though i can’t remember for sure?

If there was a competition for the most iconic episodes of dr who of all time this one has to be up there, there’s just so many great moments from the dalek in the Thames to Westminster bridge and then topped of by that magical speech from Hartnell at the end, very special!

It has some faults for me and isn’t the best dalek story but I do love it very much!

@dalektor

I highly recommend it! Along with the first dalek story for some examples of early dalek stories (not that there’s many left thanks to the junking policies of the BBC back in the day)

[Missy @missy]

@thedentistofdavros

Ah! I see. My classic collection is of the Classics. Dickens, ShaKespeare, Austen and Bronte.

MR James? Of course I’ve heard of him.
Provest at Kings College Cambridge, who used to read ghost stories he’d written to the boys at night. Christopher Lee (Dracula) was one of the boys.
I’ve got a CD with 6 of his stories, read by Derek Jacobi.
However,the on which makes me go cold, is ‘The treasure of Abbot Thomas”

Cheers,

Missy

[ichabod @ichabod]

@missy  Thanks for the info on M.R. James!  I’d no idea . . . Loved his stories, but I haven’t come across the one you  name — must go find!

ichi

[Missy @missy]

@ichabod

It was through CL that I find out about him. I’d already heard a few of his stories, but didn’t know he’d been Provest at Cambridge. he used to scare the pants off the boys, as they sat round the fire in the almost dark listening. *shudder*
It’s possbile, that you could go to YouTube and listen to the one mentioned – I’ll have a butchers.

Cheers,

Missy

[Missy @missy]

@ichabod Here it is. enjoy.

Cheers,

Missy

p.s. If it doesn’t work just go to YT and type in the title adding audio book.
There’s a film too.

[Missy @missy]

Damn it’s in Latin! But changes to English – whew!

Cheers,

Missy

[DalekTor @dalektor]

I have a philosophical question.

Is a Dalek still a Dalek if it’s not a squid in a lumpy pepperpot anymore?

[Anonymous @]

*dalektor

In the first half of the original series, the daleks gradually evolved into purely robotic life forms, so yes! 🙂 Not sure why this evolution was later jettisoned. Maybe it wasn’t, and those purely mechanical daleks are still the latest generation we’ve seen.

[Anonymous @]

@dalektor Oops I spelled @ *.

[Anonymous @]

Then I forgot there was an edit function but no delete.

I’ll get my coat.

[DalekTor @dalektor]

@morpho

Well, a pure robot wouldn’t really be able to hate, would it? It would just be algorithms. Also, maybe the whole robot idea was just unpopular, so the BBC retconned it out?

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@missy

The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is one of the best I’ve seen and read of his and to go with your CD collection I strongly recommend you find the BFI release called A Ghost Story For Christmas which was an annual series of ghost stories adapted for television by the BBC (also includes The Signalman by Charles Dickens!) they really are very good!

@dalektor @morpho

I believe the Daleks became robotic due to the Doctor’s meddling in Genesis of the Daleks which had an impact on the timeline of the Daleks (I think it was never stated on screen though)

[DalekTor @dalektor]

@thedentistofdavros

I still think that it got retconned out, since the Daleks that we see are squids in pepperpots. Take Caan, for example:

 

[Missy @missy]

@thedentistofdavros

Superb isn’t it? Thank you for the top, I shall investigate.

I too enjoyed Charles Dicken’s The Signalman– and have it on disc.

Cheers,

Missy

[Anonymous @]

@dalektor
“Take Caan, for example:”

Yes, please do, as I certainly don’t want him. 😉

[ichabod @ichabod]

Thanks for the story — very flavorful and of its time, reminds me of a phase when I read Machen and Lovecraft and Coppard, and of course James.  Lovely, shivery days . . .

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@dalektor

Oh yes the new series Daleks are definitely little angry blobs because in the classic series there was a civil war between renegade Daleks vs Davros and the Imperial Daleks which ended up wiping out all the Daleks after that Davros must have reinvented them (or something!)

[Mudlark @mudlark]

@thedentistofdavros   @missy  @ichabod

Ah, the ghost stories of M R James – so deliciously, skin-crawlingly creepy!  I imagine that the original readings by candle light or firelight must have been the cause of many disturbed nights among the listeners.

I, too, have fond memories of the Christmas ghost stories on TV. The one I recall most vividly is ‘Lost Hearts’, though they were all done well. and I wish that the tradition had been continued longer. There was a second adaptation of ‘Oh whistle and I’ll Come to You’ shown Christmas 2010 and, more recently, there was the adaption of The Tractate Middoth’ by Mark Gatiss which aired on Christmas Day 2013, but there are so many more stories they could use.

If anybody here remembers the early 1970’s TV show ‘Doomwatch’,  I have just bought the boxed set of the surviving episodes which has only recently been issued. I missed many of the episodes when it was originally shown, because it coincided with one of the periods when I did not always have access to a television set, and I am looking forward to spending some of my idle hours of convalescence in binge-watching it and filling in some of the gaps.  The reviews I have read suggest that it still has impact, despite the wobbly sets and ‘cardboard’ effects typical of that era, not least because the issues addressed are still relevant.

[Anonymous @]

@thedentistofdavros
“Oh yes the new series Daleks are definitely little angry blobs because in the classic series there was a civil war between renegade Daleks vs Davros and the Imperial Daleks which ended up wiping out all the Daleks after that Davros must have reinvented them (or something!)

Good story! I like it! 🙂

Come to think of it, however, I think Big Finish may have put out all kinds of follow up stories to account for that, but I have forgotten the details for the moment, probably because it has been quite a while since I have listened to any.

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@mudlark

Lost Hearts did probably have the most striking imagery in the whole series of the two children with there hearts pumping in there chests and it all being visible to us!

Mark Gatiss I think did a great job of reviving the series and I hope he does more which I think he will if he gets the time because I know that he’s a big fan of James’s writings!

I’ve definitely heard of Doomwatch but I haven’t seen any of it, I may investigate soon!

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@stitchintime

It is a good story and well worth a rewatch (remembrance of the Daleks)

I haven’t taken big finish into account but I’m sure someone else could advise us if there’s anything to add!

[Missy @missy]

@mudlark

No I haven’t heard of Doomwatch, but we in Australia by then, and of course no BBC plays and stories.

This is really going back a bit, but does anyone remember “The Man in Black?” Valentine Dyall read them.

Cheers,

Missy

[Anthony @desaminton]

Hello all! Can you help me, please?

I can’t find where is this gif from (look down below), want to see video of it.

[DalekTor @dalektor]

@desamintion

I don’t know where it’s from, but I can see why you want to find the video. The gif is really funny.

[Anonymous @]

Hey, guys! Don’t know if any of you have seen the amazing fan videos on YouTube by TheGaroStudios, but if you haven’t, I highly recommend giving them a try. The editor does an amazing job, using clips from every season of new who and occasionally some classic too. One of my personal favorites is Doctor Who | The Lonely God.

[Missy @missy]

@theconsultingdoctor

Thank you m’dear.

Cheers,

Missy

[ichabod @ichabod]

Somebody mentioned fanfic, and some of it being pretty damn good — not here, I think, but it’s late, so I’ll just plop this down here and hope for the best: one of good pieces I came across a while ago is here

https://antennapedia.tumblr.com/post/110393078253/you-were-the-one-i-wanted-most-to-stay-but-time

Very short, but by someone interested in how time might function for a TL.  The initial assumption here seems to be an alternative time line in which 12 and Clara stayed together instead of separating after DiH; the subject is one of my enduring interests — entropy.  I find the writing good and the thinking interesting, and it’s a piece that comes to mind when people start trash-talking fanfic in toto and I feel my hackles stirring into defensive mode.

Other work of this same fanfic writer, below the primary offering, could easily take you to territory not to your taste — it does me if I follow — but it does give an idea of some of the range of DW fanfic.  If you hate “shipping”, best stay away from entries, below, that are heavily into it (you can usually tell right off the bat).

@theconsultingdoctor  Thanks for TheGaroStudios tip.  Gotta go find Hurt and “Whistle” — is it on Youtube?

[ichabod @ichabod]

Oh, yikes — okay, that was a surprise!  So not to worry about the other fanfic items on the original page I found this on.  I *still* don’t know how to do anything on the internet . . . oh, well, never mind.

[Anonymous @]

@ichabod

Sorry to get back to you so late. Yes, the videos are on youtube on TheGaroStudios channel.

The fan fiction you posted sounds interesting. I’ll check it out after I catch up with some other posts.

[Missy @missy]

@theconsultingdoctor

Thank you for the info, I shall go and have a shufti.

Cheers,

Missy

[Anonymous @]

Just a general Doctor Who question from a friend: has the Doctor’s sonic ever been used as an actual screwdriver?

[TheDentistOfDavros @thedentistofdavros]

@theconsultingdoctor

In Patrick Troughton’s Fury from the Deep the Sonic screwdriver was used for the first ever time to unscrew some screws! Not sure if it’s been used like that again?

[Anonymous @]

@thedentistofdavros

Thanks!

[Anonymous @]

@ichabod

That fanfic was beautiful. I happened to just watch a really sad Sherlock fan video, and I’m even more sad now.

[ichabod @ichabod]

@theconsultingdoctor  Yes, I think it’s a particularly successful example of the sub-sub-sub genre of fan fiction, and stands as a quiet rebuke to the common charge that fan fic is rubbish even at its best.  Of course a lot of it *is* rubbish, if literary quality and consistency with the original characters is your standard.  Even even the junkiest of it, though, serves *someone’s* needs, if only the author’s, so to that person, at least, the story is important and successful.  I think judgment of these things depends on whether or not you care to add depth and breadth to your assessment (much like moral judgments being more and more subjective the more time-dimension you add to your perspective).

At any rate, as a sometime teacher of fiction writing, I’m always delighted to find a gem in a heap of general mediocrity (although having the imagination to publicly put your mind into the mind of someone else’s character by writing a fan fic is, to me, already putting yourself beyond the majority that neither cares nor dares to accept that vulnerability).

At any rate, I go mooching around in fanfic from time to time, usually disappointed, but always hopeful.

 

[ichabod @ichabod]

Oh, yes — link to the Sad Sherlock?  Sad works for me.  Usually.

[Anonymous @]

@ichabod

I write some Sherlock and Doctor Who fanfics myself occasionally when I’m not working on original stories. Sometimes I just come up with a story that needs to be written. I’ve never put my work online, but it can be a fun break from the regular stuff. I only started writing fan fiction this year, but now I’m pretty into it. Sherlock is a character I find easiest to write with for some reason. I guess I’m just most familiar with him (seen every episode 6 times each).

I don’t know how to put the link, but the Sherlock video I was watching was called Untitled by Moriartea on youtube. The video is post-reichenbach about a (made up for the video) post on John’s blog. It is a beautiful story of the effects of that post.

[Anonymous @]

@ichabod

Also, tell me what you think of the video if you watch it.

[ichabod @ichabod]

@theconsultingdoctor   I watched it twice, once with the sound turned off so that I could pay attention to the words and the images (too many layers of input for me), and found it affecting, yes.  My goodness, I can certainly see why the tumblr people insist that there’s a love story going on there — it’s certainly framed that way visually in the shots and sequences chosen to support that interpretation.  If that was all I’d seen, I’d be arguing for that meaning, too.

I liked it, but I can’t say truthfully that it left me sad.  I enjoy “Sherlock”, but haven’t hooked into it the way I have with DW; but then, I seldom do get that wrapped up in TV drama — I don’t give bleep about anybody much in Game of Thrones, for example, even though I think the actors are mostly excellent and the writing is — efficient.  Well, that’s me . . .

Funny how that works.  I’m reading Liz Hand’s new book, “Hard Light”, with a punk heroine tangled in modern developments of an early and serious immersion in the punk sub-culture, and she (and most of the characters) are people who put me in a blank state of wondering why on earth anyone would do such painful and destructive things to themselves and to everyone around them including the ones they supposedly “love” — but Liz is brilliant, and I’m hooked on the story, which (as with the first two books of this heroine’s sago) grounded in seriously dark and mysterious supernatural-type things deeply rooted in the past.

Maybe “Sherlock” just annoys me because he keeps on about being a “high-functioning psychopath” when he’s clearly nothing of the sort.  Mycroft, now . . . maybe . . . !

[Author]

Posts