Doctor Who
Jan. 1st, 2008 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eI have never been a fan of Doctor Who. I never really understood the attraction it held for a surprising number of my friends. I have been reading science fiction (and science) since I was in primary school, but the kind of story I always enjoyed the most was one where the writer played with ideas to alter our perception so that we saw old things in new ways. The other kind of SF I enjoy is where stories convey an important message.
I haven't watched a lot of Dr Who, so I can't speak with any great expertise, but the old series of Dr Who seemed to be about reinforcing prejudices (e.g. ugly = bad), cult of personality (superior stranger comes and saves us), and a simple storyline (inscrutable, melodramatic, psychopathic, bad guys come to destroy or enslave).
Friends brought the third season on DVD and I watched it over the last few days and was pleasantly surprised at the level of improvement. It is still very much about hero worship and inscrutable, psychopathic, bad guys out to destroy, but there are now extra levels to the stories. My favorite so far is "Blink" -- a brilliant, twisting, turning piece of horror. It hardly features the Doctor at all and is mostly about a very well-written young girl (played very believably by Carey Mulligan) and her relationships with those around her as she struggles to understand a dangerous puzzle. Another surprisingly good episode (well, until the bad guys showed up) was the double episode "Human Nature/Family of Blood" in which the Doctor becomes a normal human and gives David Tennant a chance to show that he is capable of some excellent acting when he isn't bound to the overblown Doctor character. In Gridlock there isn't a conventional bad guy, some of the makeup is just beautiful, and the justification for the dangerous situation is simple, but elegant. "42" was a nice concept for a story too. Some of the supporting cast were very good, particularly Michelle Collins who played McDonnall superbly.
So, I'll be on the look out for the earlier episodes of the new series Doctor Who. I'm particularly interested in stories written by Steven Moffat, the guy who wrote "Blink". He also wrote the two-part "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" (season 1) and "The Girl in the Fireplace" (season 2).
I haven't watched a lot of Dr Who, so I can't speak with any great expertise, but the old series of Dr Who seemed to be about reinforcing prejudices (e.g. ugly = bad), cult of personality (superior stranger comes and saves us), and a simple storyline (inscrutable, melodramatic, psychopathic, bad guys come to destroy or enslave).
Friends brought the third season on DVD and I watched it over the last few days and was pleasantly surprised at the level of improvement. It is still very much about hero worship and inscrutable, psychopathic, bad guys out to destroy, but there are now extra levels to the stories. My favorite so far is "Blink" -- a brilliant, twisting, turning piece of horror. It hardly features the Doctor at all and is mostly about a very well-written young girl (played very believably by Carey Mulligan) and her relationships with those around her as she struggles to understand a dangerous puzzle. Another surprisingly good episode (well, until the bad guys showed up) was the double episode "Human Nature/Family of Blood" in which the Doctor becomes a normal human and gives David Tennant a chance to show that he is capable of some excellent acting when he isn't bound to the overblown Doctor character. In Gridlock there isn't a conventional bad guy, some of the makeup is just beautiful, and the justification for the dangerous situation is simple, but elegant. "42" was a nice concept for a story too. Some of the supporting cast were very good, particularly Michelle Collins who played McDonnall superbly.
So, I'll be on the look out for the earlier episodes of the new series Doctor Who. I'm particularly interested in stories written by Steven Moffat, the guy who wrote "Blink". He also wrote the two-part "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" (season 1) and "The Girl in the Fireplace" (season 2).
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Re: Let me join you
Date: 2008-01-20 10:40 pm (UTC)Isn't it interesting that such a line would have shock value -- more so in USA than here in Australia, I suspect. "As dead as Jesus" is quite literally true, so why would it elicit any more than a nod? It tells a lot about the current problems in our society.
I was listening to a brilliant talk by Sam Harris again recently:
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail785.html
In which he discusses the fact that we can openly say that it's stupid to believe in the Ancient Greek gods, but it has somehow become impolite to say that about the icons of current religions, even though the lack of reason for belief in either is exactly the same.
My favorite example is where he talks about a hypothetical person believing a diamond the size of a refrigerator is buried in his back yard. They go out into the back yard with the family each sunday and dig in joyous anticipation. The clincher is when he points out how absurd it is when the person says digging for the diamond gives his life meaning, and that he wouldn't want to live in a universe where there wasn't a giant diamond buried in his back yard.
I like the statement, spoken to a religious person, that I'm an atheist, just like they are -- I just disbelieve in one more god than they do.
I'm glad that you like Selena City.
I must finish the last 2 chapters. Eeek!
I'm heading over to New Zealand next week to see my old girlfriend for a few weeks. Maybe I can get some writing done there.
When I'm finished writing, of course then I have to set about rewriting it. Bleagh! Don't know if I'll get that done soon. Hoping to start up a business with my sister this year.