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I’ve just spent a couple of hours winding down and watching some festive TV that my PVR has dutifully recorded. I just thought I’d mention a couple of non-Who highlights for me.
It was quite funny to see Dan Starkey unmasked on University Challenge, representing his old college of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. They won! And he didn’t even have to use automated laser monkeys, scalpel mines and acid grenades. Well done him. 🙂
Just before Who was shown, a James May Toy Stories special was shown. May is, I think by common consensus, the least objectionable one in Top Gear (even Stewart Lee says so, which I think makes it official). His progs that look at toys and reintroduce them to their rightful place have been a delight. I thought this years challenge of reintroducing the “Action” to Action Man was one that would defeat him. Because I grew up in the 70s and Action Man was rubbish even then.
But no – I thought it was all quite charming, and there was something magical seeing a soldier doll (with realistic “eagle eyes”) taking the plunge from the border of space. And who knew that that rubbish parachute they supplied him with actually worked if you could lob it out of a plane at thirty thousand feet?
Still – let’s remember those brave plastic boys who didn’t quite make it.
Also loved the Charlie Brooker Screenwipe shown last night. Nice touch to finish on a song, with the Blockheads teaming up to review the year in “Reasons to be fearful – 2014”. Also nice to see in the limited selection of “Reasons to be cheerful 2015” – “Peter Capaldi back as Doctor Who”. Come on – Brooker obviously wants to write an episode.
I’ll have something warm and well-mulled please! I fully intended to be back last night to engage in a bit more conversation, but the weather, rather unseasonably, went all festive. As I was out, this was a bit depressing because we get a couple of snowflakes and the words “travel chaos” hove into view.
Anyway, for them that likes it (and I know @janetteb likes a bit of snow at Christmas), here was the view from Phaseshift Mount, this morning:
Continued Seasons greetings to all!
@purofilion
On Christmas choices I have quite a lot, some of which have been mentioned already.
You may not have been around when I wrote about The Avengers: Too many Christmas Trees for a group watch, but its still here. Christmas doesn’t really start for me until I watch it.
Like @jimthefish I also have a Bones episode, but mine tends to be the Season 1 Man in a Fallout Shelter. I also watch Die Hard on occasion, but in terms of action flicks I also have a soft spot for The Last Kiss Goodnight, with Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson. It’s also set at Christmas with lots of explosions. Jackson is his usual hilarious self in it.
Back to TV and ITV did a funny mounting of Tim Firth’s Flint Street Nativity. Basically adult stars playing eight year olds and the trials and tribulations of mounting a Nativity Play. It’s well cast with people like Josie Lawrence, Dervla Kirwan, Jane Horrocks, Mark Addy, etc. The standout for me though is Frank Skinner who gives an ace turn as a TV game show obsessed boy, living in a world of his own, and playing Herod in the play.
I’ve also got a copy of Bernard and the Genie which gets an annual airing. Alan Cumming as Bernard whose life has just turned to crap before he discovers a Genie (Lenny Henry) in a lamp. It’s by Richard Curtis so is quite sentimental in places, but it’s still a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it’s never been released on DVD because the rights were purchased by an American Studio and it’s been in development hell ever since. Lots of names have been associated with it over the years, including Jim Carey. I just wish they’d get on with it. It’s bound to be shit, but at least the original could be released.
I don’t know if you’ve seen any of Mark Gatiss s first major collaboration The League of Gentlemen and the monstrous denizens of Roysten Vasey, but they did a very good Christmas Special in the style of the old Portmantau horror movies. That always gets a play, as does the live show they did one Christmas The League of Gentlemen are behind you. I went to see it performed in Scarborough and loved it.
On that front, I always try to watch one of the Hammer or Amicus Horror anthologies, because when I was a kid they always used to be shown at Christmas. This year I think I may go for Asylum with Robert Powell and Herbert Lom
It’s not set at Christmas, but the snow and general feel suits it, so it’s the time of year for me to watch Groundhog Day. Again. Bill Murray’s finest hour and a bit, I think.
As well as those, there are a fair few specials and movies already mentioned I dip into as the mood takes me. Seasonal editions of X-Files, Millenium, A Town called Eureka and so on.
Hi All,
Last year I threw a blog together about Doctor Who Christmas presents, and I haven’t had time this year. So, if anything has caught your eye on the gift front for the ardent Doctor Who fan, let us know over there. If we have an interest I can republish it.
BUT ALSO. Genuine question, as I’m sure this probably happens to everyone. You’re perusing stuff to get gifts for people you either like, or barely tolerate but-are-obliged-to-buy-for. You suddenly happen upon something exciting. Something incredible. Something YOU want, but with the forlorn recognition that no-one else will have the imagination to know this is the perfect gift for you. The reason for this is pure conservatism on their part of course. You could be the “wrong” age, the “wrong” gender, or in a couple of cases the “wrong” species (I have a friend who became obsessed with sourcing a throw she thought would be perfect for her bedroom. People were bemused that it was marketed, in fact, as a dog blanket.)
The reason I ask is that I came across some cheap robot fish in a shop. Yes – it’s incredible. In the late 80s, Red Dwarf’s Dave Lister had Robot Goldfish called Lennon and McCartney which ended up being a critical part of the timey wimey-ness of the episide Future Echoes.
Dave repairs McCartney. Or was it Lennon?I liked the idea of Robot Goldfish at the time, perhaps because I never got the hang of keeping the damn things alive when I was a child and I won them at fun-fairs. Apparently I fed them one grain too many, which seemed like absolute madness. It’s pretty obvious that other people saw Red Dwarf and thought – this is a great idea, it just has to happen!!
So having seen these enticing LED colourful fish, with their own fishtank, I’ve become convinced that my life will somehow become more enriched with them in it. I could stare at them….. and then possibly stare at them some more. I wouldn’t have to worry about the dangerous feeding rituals (go away with one grain short – they die. Feed them one grain too many – they die).
So I’m teetering on investing a crisp twenty on two to name Lennon and McCartney, to put next to my Red Dwarf collection and keep my Hand Puppet Mr. Flibble company. This makes complete sense to me, but I am overtired.
So – the question. What inappropriate gift (in a conventional sense) do you desire, know no-one will buy you, and you’re prepared to DIY?
I must admit, I quite like the idea of renaming the Pub each time. Why stick with one pub when you can have a pub crawl through genre fiction? Instead of saying “on one of the previous threads I linked to ….” You can say well, “back in the Rose and Crown, etc. “
So genre themed pubs. I like The Leaky Cauldron. You get a better class of weirdo in it. Like this obvious Monkey Boy Wizard reading a Brief History of Time.
Or as possible alternatives:
Perhaps in honour that Nick Frost is in the Chrimble special we should decamp to The Winchester to sit out the inevitable Zombie apocalypse?
More directly related to Doctor Who, we could relocate to The Cloven Hoof, where you are always assured of a warm welcome. Especially if you happen to be accused of being a witch.
We could head North of the border to Bonnie Scotland to take a tipple in the delightfully named (as I think @juniperfish will agree) The Fox Goes Free. Then realise that due to an extreme Timey-wimey Spacey-wacey event, it’s now located in Sussex, rather than by Loch Ness.
The more mundanely named Fleur-de-Lys is the scene of Tom Baker finally giving in to the temptation that the crew put him under and consume two pints on screen. It was Ginger Beer, mind. He says.
The World’s End. Not the Simon Pegg version, but Neil Gaiman’s vision from a decade earlier. The ultimate hostelry to sit out reality storms and tell tall tales.
The Mended Drum.
The more Trollish element may lower the tone, but the drink flows freely. Just remember the difference between a Monkey and an Ape, and bring your own cutlery (Axe, Sword, etc.)
And the evidence that the Discworld – World and Mirror of Worlds, deserves to be mirrored itself sometimes 😀
More recommendations if any occur, and a popular consensus for a next venue if possible.
The Directors cut on the DVD is a single 90 minute production (and is highly recommended for those with the DVD), so we’re going with the Episodic “as broadcast” version on Disc 1.
Lovely intro by @craig.
As well as Janet Henfrey, eagle eyed viewers may spot someone else who went on to appear in the new show. Anne Reid who appeared in Smith and Jones as the straw slurping Plasmavore plays Judsons Nurse.
Now – there may be an in-joke in casting here.
I mentioned the pantheon of Masters in my previous post. Time for me to answer the question literally no-one has been asking. Where does Michelle Gomez fit into my personal rankings of Masters? Yes – I can’t see the end of the series without another one of my personal lists. Any thoughts welcomed.
7. #5 Eric Roberts (8th Doctor Movie)
Eric’s performance has been said to be “Cartoon terrible”. This isn’t my opinion, it’s actually Eric himself. You really do have to admire the man for self awareness. Honestly – I’ve seen him in a few things and don’t think he’s a bad actor, but the Director said he wanted it “big”, he’d heard the old show could be a bit camp and pitched it at pure panto, as imagined by someone who had only heard of panto vaguely. Sometimes I watch and laugh along with it. Most times I just think “Oh, dear”.
How the ?u%& did he do that?
Apparently he could survive Dalek extermination. His remains were delivered to the Doctor by the Daleks (unusually accommodating of them), only to emerge in snake form and take over people. No – me neither. Terrance Dicks gamely tried to write a loose semblance of a narrative over these events in the novel The Eight Doctors. Bit of a lost cause that one Terrance.
6. #7 John Simm (Utopia, Last of the Time Lords, End of Time)
Love Simm as an actor. Genuinely engaging in virtually everything I’ve seen him in. I don’t think his Master worked, and I think it was a fundamental error in writing. Again – why ask a good character actor to amp it up and play an infant on a sugar-rush?
Don’t get me wrong, there are some good scenes, and moments of calm lunacy which I do get (the scene as he taps out his drumbeat, staring into space after murdering the cabinet is fantastic). It really is just the scenes directly opposed to the Doctor. When you imagine the ghost of Anthony Ainley saying “Tone it down a notch, love”, you know there is something wrong. I heard that far two many times. I’m afraid the ghost of Heath Ledger’s Joker loom’s large in this one.
How the ?u%& did he do that?
OK – You will yourself to Death to circumnavigate regeneration. Your body is cremated (“Don’t cremate me”) and here you come, back from the dead. Summoned in a Black Magic ceremony by a ring and the blood of your ex. By a group of butch prison wardens who looked like they’ve been imported from Prisoner C-Block H. No – me neither.
And people complain about a moon-egg!!
5. #4 Anthony Ainley (Fourth to Seventh Doctors)
Where do you start with Ainley? I’ll start with a quote from @jimthefish where he questioned “why the hell would the Master want to regenerate as the same character!!”. Just because it made me laugh. Because with the variability of the Doctors appearance, the Masters first visibly human “rejuvenation” (because it wasn’t regeneration) with Black hair, groomed goatee must show a lack of imagination?
Ainley put in some variable performance as the Master in a variable period of the shows history. He’s the writers and Directors bitch, let’s be honest. Other Masters had the benefit of playing against one director to a strict code enforced by a single script editor/Lead writer. He didn’t.
“You want camp – I can do camp. You want character work? OK – let’s talk.”
Watch him in Mark of the Rani (which I find appalling) and he’s written as a melodrama loving buffoon. Watch him in The Five Doctora, Logopolis, Castrovalva and Survival and I think you can see the better aspects of his work.
How the ?u%& did he do that?
Where the hell do you start? Ainley was the Master (chortle) of the sudden return from certain death. Trapped in a collapsing temporal incursion? No problem. Beamed without a TARDIS to an alien world to be the plaything of an alien race? See you next week. The man would baffle Houdini in the miraculous escape routines.
4. #2 Peter Pratt (Deadly assassin) #3 Geoffrey Beevers (Keeper of Traken)
A lot of our knowledge of regeneration and its limits came from this period as the Master regenerates beyond thirteen and the results are horrific. Twisted and distorted, only hatred and bitterness give him the will to continue, and seek to extend his life by whatever means.
I think Pratt and Beevers both do a good job, hampered somewhat by the prosthetics of the time. I’ve often wondered if JK Rowling (who was a bit of a Doctor Who fan when young) saw Deadly Assassin and it ingrained subconsciously on her. Compare the Master of this period and the position of Voldermort in the early books and there are some similarities, with them jointly sharing dialogue about living a half life, having gone further than any other, etc.
The one thing that they suffer from is a lack of obvious charm and being so serious. But against the fourth Doctor, perhaps that was the point?
How the ?u%& did he do that?
Well – get into that state is the obvious question. And survive in it. Other than that he had a miraculous escape from a chasm in Deadly Assassin but was clearly shown leaving Gallifrey.
3. #6 Derek Jacobi (Utopia)
Gosh – what a coup. Jacobi has dabbled in the world of the Whoniverse in audio, but it was a delight to have that reveal on TV, and see the cosy charm of Yana gave way to the hollow, bitter, megalomaniac who’d quite happily kill the lovely alien who’d been helping him. Because he didn’t like her. It’s all too brief, but I’d love, somehow, to see him again. He’s pretty masterful. Clearly the Doctor can never know that Yana is the Master, but that wouldn’t stop me swallowing a bucketful of technobabble to see Jacobi, as the Master, face of against John Hurt’s War Doctor. Clash of the Titans. We’ll never see it.
How the ?u%& did he do that?
Pretty clear, all in all. Remains from the movie resurrected by the Time Lords (as is their gift), ran, and hid himself in a way the Doctor had already revealed! Huzzah!!
2. #8 Michelle Gomez (Series 8)
As insane as the Simm Master, but somehow much more terrifying. I think a lot of this comes down to a simple equation. I think Simm was an actor pretending to be insane. I’m pretty sure that Michelle Gomez, is, at some fundamental level, insane. She’s brilliant at the scenes she’s given, turning from playful to nasty on the turn of a coin. Effortlessly odd, a preening ego playing games. A stalker of a Time Lord. Someone who desperately wants to prove a point.
I think, of all the scenes I’ve seen the Master in, her countdown to death for Osgood will live the longest in memory. It’s a work of manic genius on her part, and narrative playfulness on the writers that would have Alfred Hitchcock applauding. You know its coming. You know it can’t happen. You know it’s coming though. Bugger. She’s dead. No care, no remorse. Her “last temptation of The Doctor” plan is audacious and, for me, far more in tune of the Doctor/Master “I need to prove that I’m right” dynamic we’ve seen previously.
How the ?u%& did she do that?
After reading the preceding entries, do we really feel that Missy was casually caught out by a Cyberman blaster? I think not. Hope she didn’t have to regenerate. Gomez was superb and I want additional airtime. I hope they have confidence to add layers to the character.
1. #1 Roger Delgado (Pertwee Years)
The original, and I still think the best. I think each Master has to be ranked alongside their Doctor for full effect. Delgado was what Pertwee actually needed. He was marvellous against Delgado – a true double act. I think there were hints at that double act in this encounter between Capaldi – Gomez.
The 50th Anniversary year of 2013 also saw the 40th Anniversary of his untimely death. I wrote a tribute at the time, which I hope you may enjoy reading.
I think he would have been delighted as Gomez as a replacement though. She’s very different, but I’ve always thought that the Master should understand the Doctor at a base level. I think Gomez (and her script) conveyed that feeling that she understood her old friend only too well. And she was trying to welcome him to her own team. To prove that childhood point.
How the ?u%& did he do that?
It’s pretty all much good. You could question how he escaped a time loop designed to trap Axos while he was still in it, but the Doctor has been shown to break through timeloops himself by will. A Groundhog Day idea on Doctor Who would really be short lived:-D
I braved a second watch, and I feel this is a magnificent end to a series which I look forward to binge watching at the earliest opportunity. Just for things I’ve missed, which will probably be a lot, as I’ll explain.
I think it’s a sign of confidence and bravery to do something different with a show. You may lose a few people on the way but, to be honest, that would be a danger if you continued to tread the same paths again and again. I think SM operates on the approach that the biggest danger for Who is complacency.
I was struck when I watched this back to back with Dark Water that the iconography on the poppy (which is the symbol for remembrance in the UK) occurs largely in the first episode. You get Danny wandering about a memorial laden with poppies as he gets a phone call from Clara. You then get the scene where Clara tries to contact the Doctor and he’s, well, somewhere. An alien planet resembling an amphitheatre and garnlanded with huge organic pseudopoppies. Perhaps a place the Doctor goes on his own to remember? I think the iconography of the poppy probably pops up more through the series. Someone I know who is a lot more conversant about fashion and stuff pointed out that the blouse Clara was wearing that we mulled as “eyes” was actually a poppy print.
It’s still painful to watch someone like Osgood die. So young, and so full of potential. Unfortunately though, this is an incursion of real life into Who. Osgood was tech staff in a military operation. Occasionally they die as well. I’ve lost count of the amount of casualties that UNIT has suffered over the years. In that peculiar way, they blend into one. I think on this weekend it’s sobering to remind people that these things do happen. For it to work, it had to be someone the audience cared about. I think Ingrid Oliver deserves a lot of credit for making Osgood so likeable that it did hurt. That scene, in itself, also cemented Missy in the pantheon of Masters as completely cruel. It’s a move guaranteed to hurt the Doctor. As she says later. “Anymore friends of yours to kill? They’re so moreish”.
On a philosophical note … why was it so important that the person themself press the Delete button? Why wasn’t that something Seb (or Missy) could just do themselves?
I think this question, and @besd1 comment
“If …. then ….” subroutine into the conversion process, as in IF subject has deleted emotions THEN restore to body”? Clearly neither Danny or the Brigadier had done so.
Are linked. Fundamentally – I think it’s been shown that cyber conversion can be resisted over the years. In Tomb of the Cybermen, the giant Toberman resists his partial conversion after the death of his employer. He’s devoted to her, and you could argue that it’s love, or a sense of duty that re-awakens him. Yvonne Hartmen resisted, killing Cybermen after conversion “I did my duty for Queen and Country”. Conversion can be forced, but it’s interesting to note that even with his emotion inhibitor engaged, converted Danny resists. I think that placing the dead in a hopeless situation, where they’d surrender themselves was part of the plan. But for some people their sense of duty – and their love, gave them the power to fight back. And if any character in Who was motivated by a sense of duty, it was the Brig. It’s also interesting to note that Kate’s relationship with her father (she came from spin-off media) wasn’t always the easiest. She makes a passing comment to that effect in Power of Three.
No – I think this was a powerful end to a series. It’s downbeat and one I think you could only pull off if you know you have a Christmas special relatively close. As Santa said “You can’t leave it like that”.
@juniperfish @janetteb @and well- just about everyone.
THE END IS NEAR….
(Sob) I shall whip my slaves until they agree to play those minature violins I purchased for them. We have a number of weeks between now and Christmas, and Doctor 12 re-appears.
Yes – it seems so short, and if parting is such sweet sorrow
BUT IT HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR.
Time for the first Scottish Doctor, and his companion, Ace. A time to dwell on growing up, the meaning of belief and faith (@lisa) and the unseen potential at the close of the BG Years. Did Andrew Cartmel have the answers decades before RTD? Only you can tell us.
The Curse of Fenric approaches. Our choice for the Seventh Doctor – Replayed over four weeks, and make the wait for a Christmas special much more bearable.
JOIN US.
@burrunjor
Also count me in the segment who don’t agree with you. I’d also point out that as much as I respect RTDs view, I don’t always agree with him. He said in an interview I once posted that the Doctor could never be an older actor again. One season of the show would kill him. Peter Capaldi still lives.
I think there are challenges to doing it but it is by no means out of the question. The difficulty with the discussion is actually a lot of projection from interested parties, some gender politics and some clichés that may diminish if it was done, and done well. I feel the same every time I read the thoughts of Mathilda Gregory, who has weighed in on the G with another click-baity opinion –
Its tiresomely triumphal and I always ask if she really wants this for the right reasons. I’d ask you if the reason you don’t want it is for the right reasons as well. You seem to have a limited grasp of the potential for relationships.
Then I read something like @pedant s suggestion for Gina Bellman, and for me that’s a genuinely exciting proposition. As Sophie Deveraux in leverage she played a conwoman. A habitual liar, who subsumed herself in roles, was easily distracted by shiny things, was more than a little bat’s arse, playful and delivered the full gamut of emotions from joy to pathos. Bellman filled Sophie with warmth to counterpoint Sophie’s less attractive traits. She’d be a pretty good choice.
In terms of relationships, the show could take a risk – a bit like Donna (as you seem to be a fan of his, and trust his judgement), not every companion has to be the younger model to engage both old and young generations. Imagine a partnership between The Doctor and Canton Delaware III. Are you really telling me that the majority of fandom wouldn’t be intrigued enough to tune into that relationship? That hordes of screaming fanboys will descend on the BBC offices with placards demanding the rematerialisation of the Doctors willy?
Canton with a Bellman Doctor. Now – neither of those actors may be interested in the idea, but the thought for me would make it appointment television if they did. I’d watch this show in a heartbeat.And that’s how it should be – getting a genuine vision for the show by someone who fundamentally has a plan. If you don’t like it, you can tune out. It’s not against the law. Like the posters who came back this series having missed Matt Smith because they thought he was too young. In your case, it appears the proposition of too female is the issue.
Moffat isn’t going to do it himself. PC will be his final Doctor as showrunner I’m sure. What interested him, I’m think, was codifying the potential in the Whoniverse for others to explore. I think he made the right decision to take this opportunity to “age up” the Doctor on this occasion. When casting the Doctor, age shouldn’t be an issue. Gender shouldn’t be an issue.
The right storyteller, with a genuine vision of the right actor of either sex, of whatever age, working in tandem to make the show a continued success. That should be the issue.It is everyone’s right to throw their toys out of the pram at an idea, rather than waiting for the reality. And evaluating it. But it does make me assume you have very healthy knees, with all that jerking you put them through.
