I was able to take our boys to the…[Read more]

The Filmhouse is screening the first episode of Series 9 nearly 3 weeks ahead of TV broadcast!!! (Or am I wrong in thinking DW-Day is 19 Sep..?)

Set your alarm clocks for 10am, 21 July to get your tickets. (It’s not a big cinema so repeat dial could be…[Read more]

Oh and at the end of the episode he has the old hair again. Thats a production designing fail.

Watching Flatline right now. Saw something very, very weird. Peter Capaldi got a haircut in the middle of shooting the episode. Until 30:28 he has the normal hair and after that he has a new haircut!!!!

Four dimensional alien, musing on their existence thinks, “I need a bit more time.”

I’ll get me coat…

Not as clever as the first two, but:

Three dimensional child, musing on his/her existence, thinks, “I am the centre of the universe!”

Two dimensional woman, musing on her existence thinks, “I’m going round in circles, here.”

Thank you for your kind thoughts. I’ll raise a glass to you. Well, a mug. Well, of tea.

We are, indeed, very lucky in the contributors here and much thanks to @Craig for his hosting of this lovely corner of the Internet. 🙂

I admit to missing the acerbic comments of @PhaseShift…[Read more]

@lisa I love that tardigrade, (water bear) photo. I put prints of it on the boys’ science…[Read more]

Regarding the “it’s not science” brigade, I confess that I can sympathize w…[Read more]

Yes, bling was probably a pretty common destination for the stolen gold; still is, for that matter, although the modern rich g…[Read more]

And Henry Winkler would have been…[Read more]

And why are you having to look so hard for the entire planet you hid?

Because Tom Baker told him to.

Unless … you’ve not actually completed that part of the calculation yet.

I think that’s a given. The Smith Doctor couldn’t have invited the Capaldi Doctor to the party, because he didn’t know there was going to be a future incarnation. Furthermore, the other Doctors all thought they were putting Gallifrey in stasis. But Gal…[Read more]

@Lisa – Further to your books…[Read more]

In terms of Leone, I think we’ve posted before on his stuff and have to agree with Craig on the marvelousness of Once Upon a Time in The West.
[sigh….. Claudia Cardinale… and aching (heart)strings.]

ahem.

also there was mention of “Bite me” and where it came from. Again…[Read more]

@purofilion — I never realised that was Jeremy Renner in Somnambulist until this year. Boy done good. Also for my money a film…[Read more]

They are know for adventurous videos and multiple attempts to get it right. This one is also one take, but took over 50 attempts to get it perfect. I do have to admire…[Read more]

And @Barbaralefty Gods love you too – I suspect you’ll be posting fan fic on A Teaspoon and an Open Mind http://www.whofic.com/ before you know it 🙂

Indeed, in terms of the transfer from fan fiction to text,  Xena had two episodes written by a fan,…[Read more]

I’ve enjoyed reading the contributions on writing as well, but time didn’t permit me to respond fully, so I’ve left it late (I’ll submit my note later). Like @juniperfish I’ll defend fanfic as a concept to the hilt. Especially as Doctor Who (and perhaps fellow sixties Sci-fi franchise Star Trek) owes the concept an awful lot.

He…[Read more]

Russell T. Davis argues that once a text is out there it belongs equally to audiences, who may do with it what they wish (in terms of both interpretation and textual re-working in fan works). I like his attitude:

‘Once a script has been made and transmitted, I h…[Read more]

@Ichabod The Vampire Tapestry looks great! How exciting.

@Pedant and @JimtheFish

I believe twas I, not @Barbaralefty who said, upthread, that one might think of Moff and Gattis’ Sherlock as fan fiction. I stand by that. I disagree @Pedant that something becomes a somehow loftier “adaptation” rather than fan-fic if it is…[Read more]

Couple of things:

@barbaralefty – I wholly disagree that Moffat’s Holmes if fanfic. It is an adaptation and the striking thing about it – especially the first two trilogies – is how very respectful of the source material (while not being constrained by it). See also US TV’s Elementary. Even post-Reichenbach the change was more to…[Read more]

I’d agree with @pedant that there’s a lot of awful out there and that the worst of it is an attempt to…[Read more]

I think it was Jenkins who pointed out in his study of fanfic that fans who write (including My Little Porny — whoops, *slap*, carry on — “ship” pornography) don’t write for the wider audience, but for others on their own wavelength.  And it’s more than just fun, for some.  The “failure” that they want to compensate for with their w…[Read more]

@BarbaraLefty. I have the same concerns…[Read more]

As to what I write, I have a blog which is mostly about travel and always sadly out of date, as the balance between being the primary homemaker and chauffeur/cheerleader for a teenage son, and my own artistic endeavours is a constant challenge for me. As my son would say, the strug…[Read more]

I think it is a wonderful, creative gift economy, where people (mostly women) write stories for free for one another. Sure, there are sexual stories, and some of them are really well done in fact. But by no means all fan fiction is erotic. Yes, the quality of writing varies…[Read more]

I take it you mean in the context of a story, ideas are expressed that might offend someone? I’m not sure that you can avoid it, if you want to express anything valid or interesting. Certainly fiction doesn’t have to be respectful of everyo…[Read more]

Always happy to talk about writing.

Just so long as it doesn’t involve fan fiction 😀

(@Pedant – You’re just a curmudgeon 😉 )…[Read more]

Putting it in context – this was only the 3rd story.  We hardly know the Doctor at all by this stage (or how long the series had to run) and so far he’s hardly been endearing – he kidnapped Ian and Barbara in the first episode, tried to brain a caveman in the…[Read more]