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@pedant  A Scottish band writing music for a French TV show 

“Les Revenants” was so good that there was a US imitation of it (perfectly dreadful — ended up being all about the FBI), and there’s an Australian take on a similar idea called “Glitch” which I think I’ve recommended here before.

@thane15  Puro — Duncan’s Escape: Finding Joy

Ha!  So happy to hear that something came of that off-the-cuff suggestion (by dint of time and hard work by Thane, which is exactly the part about writing that ignoramuses *don’t* get and never will).  Congratulations, and best luck with it!  If I were his teacher, I’d be delighted, so I hope his real teacher appreciates it.

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@mudlark  Wheat and other cereal crops, like all grasses, are wind pollinated and require no intervention on the part of insects or micro robots

Maybe this wheat has been engineered to be artificially pollinated because of some weird quirk in the weather patterns?  Or the vardies just like flying around and have made a job for themselves that lets them do that.

Well, *that’s* pretty bonkers.

@jimthefish  it seems to me that the RTD era doesn’t have that much in the way of rewatch value. It’s like a sugar-hit of excitement on first watch but there’s a low of diminishing returns to rewatches. I’m not sure, for example, that this site would have existed in the RTD era. There just wouldn’t have been that much to dissect in each episode.

I share that opinion, and consequently hope that Chibnall is up to writing enough depth and texture into the show (or encouraging that in his co-writers) to keep us going here.  And I think you’re right about episode length. We have a similar problem in SF in print — for many writers of shorter work, the short story is too short for satisfying character development, and book length is too long for the amount of development they want to put into the plot/idea of the tale.  Awards given by our professional organization include one for “novella” length, which is more or less 18,000 -25,000 words, because we *need* that length to do some concepts justice.  I don’t know whether time slot limitations are all that’s makes some DW feel cramped or rushed at the end — there are also considerations of expense and budget, for an extra 15-10 minutes or so.

@thane15  He said “don’t sentimentalise me” and he was very certain about it. He also said “I muck in”.
And he makes mistakes.

Good spot.  Yes; he’s improvising (one of his go-to talents, which can also lead to loads of trouble down the road).  He’s the guy who knocks things back together and then moves on — declining to get stuck in the role of long-term governor or policy maker.  He’ll throw out the mess you’ve made and cobble up a new arrangement that won’t get people killed — and then he leaves you on your own together, responsible for your own choices, because what’s free will for if not taking responsibility for your own stuff?  He’s a rebel, not an authoritarian; a handyman, not an engineer or architect or military strategist.  And above all he’s not perfect, has excellent reason to know it himself after recent experiences, and wants to make sure Bill knows it, too.

@mudlark  . . . to clarify the sense in which I was using ‘intelligence’. It was probably evident from the context, but if not, I meant conscious, self-aware, sentient as well as capable of reasoning, but as machines – dry brains, not wet brains

English is very confused on this point, IMO.  Humans used to be “The Tool-Making Animal”, but then we saw those crows making wire hooks to pull food out of containers . . . Now we use a number of words fairly interchangeably to mean human-like brain function, but they don’t all mean the same thing: sapience, sentience, intelligence, consciousness, self-awareness, time-binding, others that don’t come to mind right now, all (I think) in opposition to “instinctual” or “automatic”.  We need more clarity about *all* of it.

@bluesqueakpip  . . . Doctor is probably trying to administer his own bit of justice. In a way that also stops the humans committing some vigilante roboticide; humans have a strong sense of fairness. It isn’t fair to punish people for something they can’t remember doing.

I hadn’t thought of that — after all, the humans *need* the robots/Vardies, some basis for cooperation is definitely indicated.

@thane15  [of the Doctor’s fix]  I think he did the right thing and also, I would add that if it is satirical then the helter skelter, s**t, what are we gonna do now” atmosphere was exactly how it would work -in real life.

I’m definitely with you on this, on rent and on the resolutions being not so much “rushed” as “necessarily patched up in a hurry, before there’s an attack from the angry humans, and then a lot of skeletons to be fed to the cabbages.

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@pedant — Well, the combo of that photo with that headline really caught my attention!  Generally in the US we don’t let any dead people, doctors or not, perform any kind of surgery!

It’s a grim matter, though.  I’ve seen several cases reported of immigrant families sending daughters back to their native country in order to get sliced up per hometown and/or religious tradition, if they can’t find a doctor to do it to their child in their new country.  There’s no telling how long it will take to stamp out this repulsive and criminal “custom” in places where it’s been endemic for some time.

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@redlemons  I found the previous episodes with Clara brooding

Yes, they were.

Terrible that I want my soul lifted by a fictional character? Maybe … In the Pilot I finally found him delightful. Now after Smile, I know I will miss him.

Nothing terrible about that!  The Doctor is for everybody over-all (all, that is, TV watchers who love SF/F and DW in particular), just not everybody at the same time.  I’m glad to hear that it has clicked for you now, because you are part of the audience they’re looking for in S10 — so enjoy!

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@thane15  You’re welcome, Puro — I have to say, I appreciate so much having this forum on which to think about these things “out loud”, and in such good company.  That’s made this stretch of DW (Moffat/Capaldi) especially rich for me (and, I think, for others — not just a fascinating series, but excellent conversation around it as well).

And then I have to go look up “Parousia”, and that takes me to a page that pops up first is “something or other biblestudy.co”, and now I’ll be getting stuff from persons of the Evangelical persuasion (pardon me, but Oy, vey).  Well, now I have an inkling of what it means — “presence after absence, but not a return”; the arrival of a king at a place; manifestation of the spiritual in physical form (only?  or ralso just a sense of presence?).  Which includes, on that page, manifestation of Ancient Greek gods (Asclepius is given as an example).  (Have I got your intended meaning, Puro?)

PC can do that.  He did it, literally, as far back as “Crow Road”, playing the protagonist’s “disappeared” uncle Rory.  Malcolm Tucker is idealism deeply betrayed into fierce cynicism (but still in there buried deep — and betrayed again, at the end of TToI).  Maybe it’s the super-power of gifted actors, unevenly distributed and unevenly received — for some, this Doctor connected brilliantly in S8-9; for some others, not (or, not at first, or only now and then, and so on).  Jenna played us, if we were willing to see ourselves in Clara’s strong, ambitious, but conflicted and mercurial nature.  Moffat provided the score.  Not bad.

Hey, “The Leftovers” is back, start of the final season — do you get that show in Oz?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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@countscarlioni    there has been a reference to “promises” and Nardole referred to an “oath.” To whom or what has the Doctor made his promises/promise/oath? The being(s) in the vault (assuming there are beings in there)? To himself? To a Keeper of the Vault?

Yeah!  How nice to have something to grab onto that *isn’t* “The Doctor is dying!”  What promise, and to whom?

Yum.

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@missrori    Perhaps he was thankful for something to keep him “grounded”,

Maybe he has been, and felt that he needed a “resting life”.  And teaching in a university setting is a good way to be around young people and be useful to them without expectations of very close bonds developing to any individual.

So along comes Bill . . . and all bets are off.

I like it.

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@thane15   [of the writing in S8-9]  I think it has held up quite well, personally. It was certainly “dark” (Lordy, is that word overused!) but certainly, whilst I’ve adored The Pilot and Smile, my son, Thane is pining for Series 8 and in particular 9: his sadness is connected to a feeling that it will never reach those particular depths in character ‘accession’ . It was certainly sinister and angst-ridden but being 13 or 14, then, he was spellbound.

So was I — still am.  Maybe lots of people get a version of their own adolescent angst back in their seventies!  As or depth of character, that does seem right for S10, at least.  In a way, S8-9 was quite mercilessly focused on the internal struggles of the two leads, which I think is what took us to those depths, if we willing and able to go there.  I do get a very weird feeling about S10 — that it’s where Capaldi and Moffat *thought* they were going to go from the outset, but — is it both of them being Scots?  <ggg>  Drawn, I mean, toward a dour slant on life — anyway, that’s not what happened, because they both needed to get *that* quite adult Doctor out of their systems, while they still had Coleman to work with.  Now — that’s all put to bed, except for an echo here and there, and we’re seeing more external adventures — lots of plot/explanations, and at least an effort to blow something up, in “Smile”.

I’m not saying the Doctor could or should continue in the darker vein of anxious introspection of the previous seasons; but I am saying that I, too, miss that tone, even though I’m enjoying this lighter, brighter Doctor very much.  Moffat did pave the way for him in the toned-down, accepting Doctor at the end of THoRS.  In this series, I feel as if they’re going where they originally thought they were going with S8.  Some comments I’ve seen suggest that the other way round would have worked better for more fans than the darker 8/9 did.

But I also wonder whether maybe part of Capaldi’s decision to leave at the end of S10 is about missing those darker depths himself, and feeling unable to muster sufficient enthusiasm for never touching those character depths again under a new show runner/writer . . . I think he said (on Graham Norton?) something along the lines of, “How many times can you say, [insert a line like ‘I just reversed the polarity of the neutron stream’] without phoning it in?”  Iconic figures have iconic lines.  Well, that’s a bit bonkers, I’m sure . . .

Drat.  And it probably belongs in the “Smile” discussion?  Anyway, as I pretty much expected, I’m enjoying S10 so far — but nostalgic for the emotional maelstrom of 8 and the doomed trajectory of 9; and very interested in how fans react to the tonal shift in S10.

 

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Got to it today, and “Smile” made me smile; I especially like that contrast, “Wet brain; dry brain”.

I like Bill very much.  CapDoc’s comment, “No one’s ever looked at it like that before” is a summary of why she brings this fresh feeling to the show — she has an eye for practicality and a nice logical style of thinking, so she asks the questions that a smart person would ask about what she sees around her.  The questions are good enough that when he gives a lecture-y answer (or an off-the-wall one), there’s no flavor of male authority figure ‘splainin’ stuff to female bubblehead.  It’s much more like colleague to new colleague.  Good choice!

And I appreciate a further comment on the “promise” he seems to casually break when he takes Bill out in the Tardis; there’s an alarm, he says, that will let him know if something goes wrong wit the vault.  On the other hand, if that’s the case, why hasn’t he gone jaunting off earlier, with Nardole, since he can always zip back to the time before the alarm went off and deal with the situation before it becomes a problem?

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@janetteb   From the cited article:  Similarly the pronunciation of the letter “t” in words like metal is disappearing and is being replaced by glottal stops, in which a stop sound is made by rapidly closing the vocal cords. In this way, the word butter has ended up with a pronunciation like “bu’er”.

Agh!  I hate it, hate it, hate it!  I do *not* understand why this is, but this exact change is also going on in the US, and it sounds awful in a sentence spoken by in America English: “We drove to the moun’ins to buy some bu’er.”  This is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, people — not in New York or San Francisco or D.C. or — on the other hand, I haven’t been to any of those cities recently, so who knows.  Now that I’ve spotted it coming from news announcers on TV, I expect the end is pretty damn nigh.  And I am not a happy camper.  I mean, when “Bill Potts” speaks this way, the rest of what she’s saying works with it.  When the young Latina clerk at the medical supply store does, it sounds ghastly.

I want it to stop.  Too bad . . .

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Hi, @zeyra — welcome to the Sofa (and the rest of the site too, of course)!  We’re always happy to have new voices.  I was never any good at math, and it’s only due to Miss Matske, of hallowed memory, who gave me an undeserved Pass in math (she knew I’d never get into college without a Scholarship and I wouldn’t get that with an average dragged down by a math fail) out of sheer kindness.  Life is so odd, and you don’t have to be The Doctor to notice that.  Ended up writing and teaching, which, fortunately, don’t need to involve a much math.  I wish I had some advice for you about daydreaming in class; if I think of anything, I’ll post it.

 

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@thane15  Puro   Short baton wielding people are arrogant. For good reason.

Love the mental image:  short, baton, trip wire.

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@blenkinsopthebrave  The vault is in the basement, isn’t it?  They went outside the building with the Doctor’s office in it to reach the vault.  Universities in the States sometimes have whole mazes of service tunnels beneath the buildings on their campuses, which maintenance staff use to deal with plumbing, ventilation, heating, and cooling systems.  That’s what it looked like to me.

Someone suggested (somewhere — here?) that the Doctor’s promise was made by him to himself — not to go traveling with a human companion again? — so maybe he’s been using the vault as a kind of anchor to his traveling impulse: have to stay here ’til we get it open and see what’s inside, or ’til it’s time to open it and let whatever it is out . . .

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It’s excellent — thanks so much for the link!  Did Moffat ever do stand-up comedy?  He’s amazing with the quick, clever, and funny retort (often a retort to what he himself just said).  Quick wits — damn it, he will be missed.  Some excellent questions from the audience, as well.

One odd thing, though, and I wonder if anyone else felt this: I swear, sometimes when Pearl was answering a question, she reminded me very strongly of River Song, maybe in part because her voice in the show is higher (presumably signifying younger, more excitable), so when it lowers down into her throat a bit more she sounds very adult indeed.

I like Peter’s remarks about preferring his nostalgia as memories dropped into the creative stew of his experience rather than freeze-dried and stored in a cabinet of frozen files (or, maybe more accurately, smear-able memories over re-watching the version of the story fixed on film).

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@mudlark  @smallgreenplant

[Bird on desk] could conceivably refer to the events of Face the Raven, and a missing second bird, Muninn, representing the memories that the Doctor has lost. Far fetched, but appealing.

Very appealing.  As for munin’s return — that could be an interesting and affecting way to join this softer, warmer Doctor to his earlier, more jagged self with a distanced view of revivified memories: perspective shifts come with time and experience, to someone who remembers.

@janetteb  I’m wondering about the “when are we” too; how much time has passed since the ending in the diner, both in the world, and in the Doctor’s own life (where he’s spent 24 years on Derillium with River, for starters)?

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@mudlark  Doctor in his times has met Leonardo and Van Gogh, so perhaps he met Rembrandt also, and this portrait was the result of the encounter.

You’ve made me realize suddenly that what I *really* want to see on that wall is a portrait by Rembrandt — of the Doctor, *this* Doctor, confronting the viewer as Rembrandt himself does in this portrait!  Painted in the style of Rembrandt, and with the sober, rich glow of a real Rembrandt (yeah, like that’s gonna happen) — somebody needs to do this.

Maybe with circles, too.  Sure, why not.

@thane15  Puro — Bar a few trolls, and a couple of people with reservations, PC’s first Act drew astonishment -for the good, I believe.

Yes!  I “got” PC’s Doctor from “Don’t look in that mirror — it’s furious!”  And went with the ride from there.  I’m glad your research confirms that around here, at least, people were more intrigued than put off by “Deep Breath”, even if they ended up not sure about this Doc yet.

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@jimthefish  I’m very much hoping that SM is planning a Writer’s Tale type book. I feel certain there would be very many interesting stories to hear from his tenure in the big seat.

Oh, I second that — I’d love to see it happen!  But if so, I doubt it would be published for a long time — he has (I hope) a long writing career still ahead of him, and if you’re not in a position to piss off the PTB and tell embarrassing stories because, um, future jobs, it’s more politic to keep your notes in a drawer till if’s safe to take them out of there and let fly.

@kharis  On Paul McGann — I saw The Movie years ago, was unimpressed, but this actor has many vocal fans here, so I’d like to see him get a proper crack at the part now — but, ageism, damn it.  So ridiculous . . . (said the old woman who’s got to do time on the rowing machine at the gym to get some decent breath back!).

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@wolfweed  Thanks for the link.

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@wolfweed  Couldn’t help it — I had to laugh!  The title alone did it.

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@mersey   Thanks for your comments on the Rembrandt — love the line of descent to Fabritious!  So, you’re seeing the portrait as a statement of entirely justified pride in his accomplishments?  I’d see that as, “Here I stand, a fat old guy with paint on my hands, but I know that I am top of my class and that posterity will not forget me!”  That certainly works, and it works as something the Doctor could see himself in, too.  Or maybe he just likes the company — those self-portraits are so damned present.  “You’re not just looking at me; I’m looking at you, too.”

@mudlark  (of Clara) There is still a subliminal memory which can be evoked by certain situations or trigger events.

I’m hoping they won’t hesitate to use that whenever situations offer the chance; it’s a great way to validate the power of that relationship even though he only remembers the outlines of her story with him.  Maybe he’ll get to color them in before the end . . .

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@conchobarre  the odds of it being Kris Marshall have just risen dramatically

Oh, damn.  I don’t like this guy for the part at all.  Oh, well.  Them’s the breaks . . . I’ll watch just to see what Chibnall does, or I’ll try to, anyway.  If it’s Marshall.

@jimthefish  Broadchurch 3 hasn’t inspired me with any more confidence in Chibnall’s show-running, I’m increasingly expecting an approaching age of extremely vanilla Who.

Oh, double damn!  That’s what I’m afraid of, too.  And it’s why I’ve wandered off before . . . But I wouldn’t mind so much.  A pal of mine with a psychic streak mentioned that she sees me writing a new book staring in the Autumn, so this long period of ingathering rather than output may be coming to an end.  As everything does.  Now, who told me that?

@nikminkr  Thanks for the link.  Funny story — sheesh, I’m gonna miss this guy.

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@nerys  @redlemons  I never cared much to re-watching DW — until the Moffat/Capaldi team took over.  That was the point at which I began suggesting to the people who were uncomfortable with or unable to connect with or understand S8-9 that they wait a bit, and then watch again.  That stuff was layered as fine cake (dark; probably bittersweet chocolate).  I don’t think S10 will be as densely layered, judging by Ep 1 — but it will still reward another viewing.  Or six.  I’m sure of it.

@wolfweed  This is the picture but it seems to be altered in the show to make the circles recesses…

Thanks for that — the workman with his tools — and — Round Things?  Wait a minute, there — 

@kharis  Our tarot card progression theme we figured out in episode one of last season (season 9) turned out to be dead on right until the last card “The World” and now I wonder if we haven’t stumbled on another theme arc in the first episode?

Why not?  Not so sure about that last card for S9, though — doesn’t The World symbolize, among other things, broader travels, new realms of experience and education opening up, graduation into the wider world (well, universe, in Clara’s case)?  She goes off to take in all of the universe that she can, without him offering the thrills of risk but also a failed attempt at protection.  He returns to the universe — but it’s a bigger universe, no longer circumscribed by his “duty of care” to her.  They’re each free of the other, in a less fraught universe.

@bluesqueakpip  (re photographs on the desk) Capaldi Doctor has become the man who remembers his family. Maybe being forced to forget Clara made him finally realise how precious those memories are?

Oh, nice!  SmithDoc was the one who said he never forgot anyone; but CapDoc dispenses with the boast and simply makes damn sure he *doesn’t* forget anyone.

@blenkinsopthebrave  P.S. As a retired university professor, I should also add that the grandeur of the Doctor’s office at the university also demonstrates why fiction is far more desirable than reality…

Definitely, but on the other hand . . . if you been the university’s most popular lecturer for fifty years, I expect you might have secured yourself the nicest office available.  Fifty years!  Now, that’s a professor of truly heroic energy and pizazz!

@geoffers  *end moffat apology*    Applause!  Agree completely, and I love emotional pay offs far better than precision watch-making.

. . . the doctor, himself, is in the vault… in his next regenerated (regenerating, if it’s a stasis vault) form, having been trapped there by _______ (insert villain of your choosing).

I love it!  That is so bonkersly perfect!  It’s a golem, waiting to be animated by the current Doctor’s energy — but CapDoc can’t go yet because of “promises to keep”!  He’s keeping his own next self safe/prisoner  — I put this here because it’s not really a spoiler, given that that’s NOT how regeneration works.  But it would be . . . so delicious . . . (still thinking about cake . . . )

 

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@thane15  I am *so* glad to hear that your mum is doing better — have never forgotten her comment here that she’d be, er, tits up in a matter of months, so the doctors said, yet here she is still!  That’s great news.

And in one sense I’m in a similar situation to hers — I’ve bought S10 through iTunes, downloaded it today, and got — only the soundtrack!  So I’ve heard 10-1 as a radio play, with music.  It made a damn good radio play, too, and for the first time I really paid attention to the music right the way through — hoping for hints about the action that I couldn’t see.  Good music!  And the Doctor’s voice has mellowed in a way that goes with a nature more open to caring feelings.  I loved the spring and pace of the episode, found Bill just dandy, but of course knew nothing about MasterSim popping up at the end (til now) or a Rembrandt portrait on the wall.  So much still to look forward too!  I’m calling iTunes in the morning to straighten out the problem, whatever it is, and then I’ll actually see the show, and be caught up.

Oh, hey, the final season of “The Leftovers” just started here; my sister and I were chortling together on the phone after, about what a relief it was to feel ourselves in knowing, capable hands again with this strange tale, willingly just relaxing and “letting the mystery be” (because there’s no other option, short of locating and stealing the script for the final episode).  When it get so you folks, I think you won’t be disappointed — we’re not!

@nerys  This third and final season of Broadchurch gives me much more confidence in Chris Chibnall taking over the reins.

Gods, I hope you’re right!  I don’t think BC 3 has shown up here yet — haven’t been looking for it, since I didn’t like any of the characters (except the bitter woman on the beach with her dog, survivor of an awful life), so maybe it’s come and gone without me noticing.  I’ll look around; always willing to give a story another chance (well, mostly).

And I loved Clara, and was sad to see Jenna Coleman go, but I admit that tonight felt like a breath of fresh air.

You know, part of the unsustainable nature of the CapDoc/Clara relationship was the weirdly claustrophobic feel that the S9 created.  Even apart, as they were for some eps, there was that submerged pull going on — his “duty of care”, her hooked on him giving her something to live for after Danny’s death.  It was brilliant, IMO, but it did have to end, and thank goodness it’s gone now.  They really did liberate each other, and we can see the effect immediately (well, you all saw it; I only heard it, but hope to see it tomorrow).

Also, the sense of awe and wonder pervading this episode. With Clara, I often felt that was missing, 

Yes — in S8 Clara was preoccupied with her Doctor/Danny problem, and in S9, it was more or less two Doctors in the Tardis, and the wild stuff was all in a Doctor’s day’s work, in a way.  Bill’s got an appetite for wonders, I think, and the confidence not to be scared (enough!) of some of them.

@miapatrick  this last season. I love the complicated stories, the mysteries and insane theories they generate.

Me too, and I too feel lighter and brighter with relief from that, in this new story.  As thane posted, mum is always saying that you can’t be ‘dark and macarbre’ all the time. I think you can but really, I guess what she’s saying is that Doctor has evolved; stepped out into the light with a different perspective. He’s emotionally regenerated.

Nicely put: a light from the shadows shall spring.  I swear, if some nitwit (elsewhere, obviously — we don’t knit wits here, you gotta bring your own) — if some nitwit starts whining that they’re really disappointed that S8-9 didn’t live up the the promise of being dark, I’ll have to do some exterminating of my own.  You get a renewed sense of just how dark S8-9 was by the contrasting brightness of this crisp (and soggy) little horror story.

@mudlark  and the Doctor ‘has promises to keep’

Oogh, that’s a line to shiver me timbers — usually, it seems to me, the Doctor trying to keep promises always ends in tears . . . and yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if Moffat had read Joan Vinge — although when the man has time to read books, I can’t imagine, working at the pace he does!

@juniperfish  A mysteriously wrecked ship…. Time-lordy perhaps.

Not wrecked, as such, if I recall correctly.  Wasn’t the Marie Celeste found floating at sea entirely intact, even to a meal on the table, but abandoned?  No crew, no bodies, no notes, but everything in order.  Very creepy indeed.  Are we to assume that the crew didn’t “disappear” — but that the Doctor rescued them with the Tardis?

@phaseshift  . . . Series 8&9 both featuring characters as Orpheus, braving extremes like the Nethersphere and Confession Dial to recover loved ones.

Oh, thanks for that!  I’d missed entirely.  Also Bill and Heather (thanks, @jimthefish).

@mersey  Last year it was Beethoven and breaking wall, this year maybe Rembrand 

Maybe this is more about *seeing* — oneself, as well as others.  Rembrandt’s later self portraits (I’m guessing this is one of those) are famous for the sense they give of the artist staring quite mercilessly at himself — what his life has made of him — no shiny gestures, just sober self-confrontation; and our first story is about seeing your face “wrong” in a mirror of water . . .

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@thane15  and Puro: You’re welcome, always.  And venturesome is better — it dispenses with the whiff of aggressive action that “adventuresome” has, I think.

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@missy  Sounds like some cold hard days . . . My memory has pretty much edited my young childhood out, but I swear that I remember a guy driving horse and cart showing up once in a while to collect worn out things — “We Buy Old Clothes!” he would call out.  We lived in a tenement on the upper West Side, 102nd Street I think, where “tenements” were brownstone row houses with one or two “shotgun” apartments on each floor, front window on the street, kitchen and fire escape in the back on an air shaft.  We had an actual front “stoop” of stone stairs leading up to the front door of the building, and I also remember the ice cart coming by, and the iceman yanking out big blocks of ice with black iron tongs to lug upstairs to those with “ice boxes” rather than “refrigerators”.  Maybe it was all ice boxes then — this was the early forties in Manhattan.

Sometimes I think I must be remembering something I saw in the movies, just because things are so different now.  For starters, many of the old brownstones are renovated “town houses” now; very posh, no poor kids, no rag man, all vanished to make way for Doctors and financiers and stilly little dogs in rain boots when the weather’s bad..

 

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@mudlark  Smuggery over here, too, over The Snow Queen — seems a long time ago, now.

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@thane15  You know what?  You did me a favor, bringing this assignment up.  Writing out some sketches of ideas for you has really energized me in my own blankness — the gears are clicking my brain again, and I’m thinking about stories *I* need to be writing right now.  If I can write out a few prompts for you, what’s to prevent me writing some for me?!  So a big load of “thanks” is going the other way right now, to you, young friend.

 

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Sorry, all — that post should probably be moved over to — where?  Not “music”, I think!

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@thane15  So far it’s 2 hours and that’s all I know. think It can be on any topic and even Sci-fi or a thriller detective story.

Huh.  Well, that’s something, I guess.  Is this writing your story on a tablet of some kind, or a pen and paper exercise? You can punch out a longer, more detailed story on a keyboard than on a paper pad in two hours, and still have a bit of time to go back over it and correct spelling, repeats, wrong words, and so on.

Some choices that I think over when I start writing a story: who’s the protagonist of this story?  That usually means, who is this story about?

Who tells the story?  Who’d be best doing that?  Would the protagonist experience or witness enough of the story to tell it well?  Sherlock Holmes doesn’t narrate his own stories, which is a good thing since he’s a chilly so and so and very full of himself, so he’s much more attractive seen through the eyes of a faithful and admiring friend like Dr. Watson.

If you use a protagonist who’s like yourself, you might consider telling the story in the first person, which means it might open something like this:  “I was sitting with my brother at the [game] semi-finals when I heard this mechanical roar coming from the south, and when I looked over there, I saw a small airplane coming in low toward the stadium, making a terrible racket.  It rocked around in the wind, dipping one wing, coming in low as if trying to land in the playing field.

I grabbed Jerry’s arm and shook it, and screamed in his ear, “Look!  Look over there!”

He said, “What?  I don’t see anything — ”

That’s how a ghost story about a flyer from the First World War might begin; very in your face, sound effects and everything, to yank the reader in by the scruff of his neck.

Or, a true story, told by yourself, if that’s allowed: “We went to the UK with our ——— team, and on the way to the hotel — ”  I recall that you went to England recently, and you were worried about what weather to pack clothes for.  That might be a story right there — a “fish out of water” story, about having to cope with a new, strange place, and what you were expecting vs. what you found.

Or you could use Third Person narration, telling the reader what you saw in the first scene of the story and relating it as if  you were a small, silent drone observing the activities of some spies, or a kid trying to steal a newspaper from a newsstand, or a venturesome girl sneaking into the abandoned house on her block.  (I seem to have aircraft and ghosts on my mind tonight.)  “Ellen sneaked along as quietly as she could in the shadows, keeping the tall hedge between herself and her Aunt at the kitchen window.  She headed for the dark house on the corner, where she’d seen a glimmer of light the night before — ”

Just monkeying around, here, given the little we’ve got.  There might be a family story, about one of your relatives, that you could tell as if you were talking telling it so some friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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@whisht  “I Can’t Wait”  — best “waiting song EVER, because I am terrible at waiting, much as Dirty Old Bastard seems to be — now I am hyper-jazzed for next weekend.

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@thane15  We were given 3 stories to read with 10 questions. Things like: “what is the name of the character?’ or “what street does she live in?” No questions on structure. Mum and I are going ‘spare’.

That sounds — weird.  Not going spare — being given some stories to read, as prep for writing a story for an exam?  Are you supposed to use one of the assigned stories as a jumping off point, your job being to write a bit about what happens to one of the characters, or after those events?  Do you know how long the piece is supposed to be?  I think you’d be justified in asking for some parameters here — limitations, in particular.  I’d like more info, myself, if you can get some.  And you certainly need to know more about what they’re assigning you.

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@missrori  And the finale two-parter has had its titles released: “World Enough and Time” and “The Doctor Falls”.
But does he fall to something, into something, or what? 😉

The Doctor Rises; The Doctor Falls.  No qualifier is required.  I did read somewhere that Moffat said in an interview that the finale was going to be — bloody, or gory, which I presume to mean a bit more gory than Heaven Sent, but still modestly crimson.  I doubt it can be too grisly, not enough to kill our Doctor dead, since Capaldi is supposed to get a full episode send-off with the Xmas special.

Damn, I’ll hate to see him go . . .

 

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@missrori  Yup, we’ve got screenings next Saturday night and the following Wednesday evening, at a theater near me (and one on the other side of the river).  Local Whovians make it a bit of a party, these occasions; and — very soon now — off we go!

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@arbutus  Thanks for the link!  Apparently there was also in interview with the Radio Times that has drawn a good deal of ire — seems they sent a reporter with no notion of who (or Who) she was talking with, and does not watch “Doctor Who”, and her comments on his comments are being read as deeply rude and dismissive.  I haven’t found the RT interview, so I don’t know for sure, but it sounds like a rather nasty, looking-down-the-nose at Science Fiction/Fantasy and everyone connected with it (pretty much business as usual in some quarters).  I’m glad to see a straightforward interview in my home town Times.

 

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@severusoswald  Great!  Always happy to see someone back here again!

@mersey  Makes sense to me.  Except for perfection . . . an episode that seems perfect to me now I might see very differently a year from now, with or without arguments one way or another.  It doesn’t change; I do, and as a growth-oriented person, that’s a good sign to me.  In fact, I appreciate these “cultural yardsticks” that help me to see how I’ve changed, and how others have changed opinions and reactions too.  But sometimes I’m sorry for a loss like that.

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@janetteb  Yes, that’s a good point — they say Bill is the first “openly” gay character, which strictly speaking is different from “first openly bisexual character” (Captain Jack), or first “openly pan-sexual-but-often-ace character” (the Doctor himself; those Zygon fronds); and Clara could hardly be more “open” about her own sexuality than telling a roomful of school kids that she has reason to know that Jane Austen was great kisser.  I guess BBC doesn’t want anybody getting too specific about any of this . . . kids are watching, and many parents get nervous when kids ask uncomfortable questions about sexuality.

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@janetteb  there were plenty of hints that Clara was bi

Indeed.  Little wisps of stuff — and for the Doctor’s tastes being varied as well (that lightning  exchange in HoRS — “Stephen Fry!”  “Cleopatra!”  “Same thing.”  As I recall; plus “I snogged a Zygon, once.  You titillate the fritillaries like this — ” more or less).  Exactly the kind of thing that fetches sneers and rage from the impatient, bit like the French Revolution of 1789: a few steps forward are posited, and the mob boils over and chops your head off for it because it’s not ENOUGH!

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Okay, found the announcement of news that took me completely by surprise when it came up here on another topic — here’s the link:

http://www.thegallifreytimes.co.uk

 

 

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Mersey  The more I discuss Doctor Who the less I like it

That’s sad — I know what you mean, I think, but it doesn’t bother me.  I’m probably inclined to be lenient in my judgement of the show because I’m so used to seeing the gaps in my own and my colleagues’ work between the ideal and realization on the page.  Luckily for us fiction writers, for the most part nobody externalizes our work in a fixed form leveraged downward to appeal to the widest possible audience, as happens with TV and movies.  I write my story, it gets published (I hope), and then every reader is their own “production company and cast” inside his or her own head, where nobody else can see it but also where nobody else sticks their oar in to twitch it this way or that in hopes of creating more appeal for a whole bunch of *other* people.

It’s like reading a novel vs. attending an opera.  One is an author speaking to you; the other is the building and launching of a Clipper ship, complete with crew.  Only with opera, they get to revise it a bit for every performance night to (one hopes) make it better, truer to the intentions of the piece and its Officers of Interpretation — director, conductor, etc.  With film and TV, fixed forms, what you see is what you get, no do-overs, no enhancements later of the brilliant bits that got buried or lost in the shuffle.

But we still get to play with it, and with all the possibilities we see in it, and for that opportunity I’m grateful.  And it’s — a lesson?  IMO, that gap between ideal and realization reflects and reminds of that same gap in our own lives; because that’s how it is — we’re all in this tragi-comedy together.

And I’m glad this forum is so addictive, keeping us together in our musings, delights, and complaints.

@joshamus   What?!  Okay, I’ve missed this bit: Bill is going to be gay?  Brilliant solution to the question of how to re-direct the Doctor’s emotional life After Clara, by swinging your female companion to a different sexual orientation from Clara’s.  Excellent!  As to announcing it, you just did, to me at least — I think that’s just the latest in a series of decisions (about just how to present such a character) that everybody will get to argue over forever.  Trust Moffat to go out with a demonstrative BANG!  “So we’re not allowed to make the Doctor female, and you’re probably going to go right back to pretty, romantic young men after I’m done here, so *here’s* a snook, cocked right in your faces, PTB and pissed-off fans!”

Me, I love the idea, can’t wait to see how bold they are with it and how it’s used.  Wow!  Gotta get back in the loop, here.

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@joshamus   I agree — it’s the fans on such a show that I’d worry about.  If it were actual actors and crew *on* the show, I’d be thrilled to watch.  Rachel Talalay’s essays on her blog about directing episodes in S9 are wonderful and enlightening in so many ways . . . most fans, though, judging by their comments on reddit et al, neither know nor care about all that.  Which I guess is why the fan shows are mostly made up of, well, fans talking about how much they love the show, and which episode x or y occurred in, from what I’ve seen online.

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@joshamus   Welcome, then!  “Aftershow” means actual TV time after the show?  Or something on the internet?  There are brisk comments on sites devoted to popular shows here in the US; waste of time, mostly, people with none of the analytical distance from the thing that makes conversation about any art form interesting.  But, as the man said, tapping his honker, “Who knows?”

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@missy  “In the Loop” made me laugh.  Now it kinda makes me want to cry . . . so innocent, compared to what’s going on now!  Well, so it seems to me, anyway.

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More madness — we live in mad, bad times . . .

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@missrori  Thanks for the review.  Sounds about as expected, unfortunately.  Yesterday’s NYT had a long article on a new musical being planned for Broadway — a musical version of the film “Groundhog Day”.  Well . . . who knows, I guess.  IMO, the best movie ever made about reincarnation.  I don’t give much for its chances on a stage.

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@pedant   No book that I could find, and the TV series was apparently supposed to show up on Amazon several years ago, but never did.  DVDs are available, but not for US players.  Drat.  The obstacle course of life.

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@pedant  Okay, I might just have to wait for Ashes to Ashes to surface someplace accessible to me; thanks!  Is there a book as well, or is it strictly TV?

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@whisht  Wow — I was going to grab a quick nap, but now — nope.  Is okay, I’ve got more damn tax papers to shuffle, and miles to go before I sleep anyway.

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@thane15  I’m glad to hear you have such good taste re crime drama (and “The Leftovers”, which had better not let us down next month!).  But I loved “Life on Mars”, though it didn’t get as quirky as I’d have hoped, given that it’s a time-travel plus “fish out of water” story.  You might like the mystery stories of Reginald Hill, if you don’t already know them.  Try “On Beulah Height”, a gorgeous piece, IMO.  When you have time, of course!

@pedant Where can I find “Ashes to Ashes”?  I didn’t know there was a sequel to “Mars”, but am definitely up for it, if possible.  Agree on AG — wonderful piece of work.

 

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@pedant  with season 3, Broadchurch has very much got its mojo back.

Well, that’s a bit of hope, I suppose.

@thane15  “oh no, not this again….Rory the priest, the woman with the husband who wanders in and out (the couple who’s child was murdered) and then Tennant going: “Millllrrrr”.

On the other hand . . . Yep, that sounds just like my own reaction to S1 of BCurch, and the 1st ep of S2, which I watched enough of to know I didn’t like it (even without the dead fish effect).  Oy.

@craig  I’m more than ready for “American Gods” — loved the book, and this cast looks great!  Awful lot of gore in those trailers, though.  I wish new series weren’t going so crazy for Splash-and-Splat, but I can’t really blame GOT for showing the way into all that; if not them, somebody else would have broken the (bloody) ice.

“The Leftovers” is due back soon, final series — itching to see it, very nervous about how they’re going to wrap it up.

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@missrori  rewards that sometimes seem like “small potatoes” compared to the ones he’d reap if he chose not to be the Doctor (i.e., if he took command of the Cyber-army of the dead and conquered the universe).

What “rewards”, though, would the Doctor have gained by conquering the universe with Missy’s Cyber-Army — rewards that would have had some staying power?  Wiping out some bad guys?  There are always more of those.  So once  you conquer, you’re sort of stuck becoming a tyrant to keep things conquered so they stay the way you want them to be, instead of you having to go back and re-conquer all the time to force people back onto whatever your version of the straight and narrow path is.  The Doctor is a rebel TL, remember.  He’s seen the failures of powerful people in positions of authority, and he’s clearly not comfortable around that, let alone gratified by the prospect of becoming that himself.

And he’s used to finding rewards in fixing a mess rather than “taking over”.  Maybe that’s how you come to see things when you’ve been around a really long time, “passing through, helping out — learning.”

@thane15  Yes.  If you have no challenges, large or small, you develop no strengths, IMO (you end up just like that same bloviating blob, in fact, incompetent at anything demanding because he’s always had “people” — somebody else — to do the hard stuff for him).

You might not want to develop strengths, which can be a pretty painful process, but there are real rewards, I think, in marshaling your own self-discipline and commitment to meet those challenges.  And your strengths then help you fight off other challenges as well, and achieve more than you’d been told you could.  I think you told it very well.  Heartfelt compliments to you and to your mom.

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