strange and random happenstance

As I have said before, from my first reading of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation I got a clear image in my mind of Miles. I admit it was an impression that was the wrong end of the stick once I got to know him better in The Masque of the Black Tulip. He was tall and gangly and a little bookish in my mind, a non-threatening beta to Richard's alpha male. At least I got the tall right. So for awhile my mind has been throwing up possible actors, I know, I hate to recast, but I think the time has come. Originally I was thinking of Tom Hopper, because of his connection with the actor I have cast for The Purple Gentian, Bradley James, but then I had a brainwave. I'll be interested to hear what you think...

Name: James Norton (which is also oddly the name of someone I went to high school with)

"Dream" Character Casting for the Lauren Willig Miniseries: Miles Dorrington

First Impression: So, he was in one of the lamest Doctor Who episodes ever. I've basically blocked all of "Cold War" out, so I have to take this screencap's proof he was in it. I mean seriously, you bring back the Ice Warriors and make it into The Hunt for Red October but lamer but at least mercifully shorter. Oh, and they refer to the TARDIS as male, when the TARDIS has and always will be a she!

Why they'd be the perfect actor for the Lauren Willig Miniseries: He has that stoic British charm that just won't quit. But more importantly, look at that floppy lock of hair! If we could just get his opinion on ginger biscuits...

Lasting Impression: Oliver Ashford in Belle. Seriously, if you have not seen this movie do so now. James plays the young man interested in Dido's hand. While he is overshadowed by Tom Felton as his creepy and racist brother, there is a sweetness to him that makes you think, well, he's not that bad a guy. Plus those tight trousers and knee breeches stretching and straining as he sits in a chair, hold me back. So yes, the knee breeches made him memorable.

What else you've seen them in: James Norton is an actor who has been popping up all over the place for the past five years. I was shocked by how much I'd actually seen him in without realizing it. He has a great way of being understated but lovable, which will do him well with his new starring role in Grantchester, based on the books by James Runcie. He's made appearances in everything from period comedic pieces like Blandings to the gritty Happy Valley. But it's his sweet, quiet roles that I'm a sucker for, most importantly Henry Alveston who won the heart of Georgiana Darcy in Death Comes to Pemberley. How they made that horrid book into an awesome miniseries still boggles the mind!

Can't believe it's them: Again, I state for the record, Doctor Who, but that's because of my own doing.

Wish they hadn't: Cheerful Weather for the Wedding because it is the dullest most boring movie I have ever watched in my entire life. In fairness I think House of Mirth might have been worse but I walked out on that movie when the flying death squad monkeys failed to appear and kill everyone with lasers (yes, this was an event I created and prayed for). But Cheerful Weather for the Wedding made me want to smack my head into my television. How could so many great actors make such a dull movie? One will never know. Oh, and that is Miles hanging out with Amy in this picture.

Bio: He grew up in Yorkshire which makes me wonder, with those cheekbones, how he never ended up as a sexy servant at Downton. Anyway, he was interested in acting at a young age but went to Cambridge to study theology which lead to him going to Nepal and studying Buddhism (at least I'm assuming that's why he went there, one does seem to lead to the other). On his return to England he enrolled in RADA and got his break in a very small role at the end of An Education... which would actually be where I probably saw him first but have totally forgotten, almost like Doctor Who, though not on purpose because I liked that movie. He started to pick up small parts in period pieces, but his breakthrough roles in the aforementioned Death Comes to Pemberley and Happy Valley led to him getting the starring role in Grantchester, which made him an insta-star after the premiere. What I'm really looking forward to though is his turn as Duncan Grant in the new drama about the Bloomsbury set, Life in Squares. Oh, and lots more Grantchester! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:01 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Belle, Blandings, Bradley James, Death Comes to Pemberley, Doctor Who, Grantchester, Happy Valley, James Norton, James Runcie, Miles Dorrington, TARDIS, The Masque of the Black Tulip, Tom Hopper

If you are a true Whovian you should have random Who ephemera strewn about your house. A sonic screwdriver in a drawer, a scarf in with your winter weather gear that is like the one Tom Baker wore... a Dalek on the windowsill, you get the idea. By creating this Doctor Who themed Christmas Tree you now have an excuse to pile all these together to add to the overall theme and give the tree and your Christmas a little something extra.

Thinking about tree skirts, well, sure you could go that extra mile and buy some Doctor Who fabric online and run up a skirt... or, if you have awesome friends like mine who knit you a 4th Doctor scarf one year for your birthday, you can artfully drape it around the base of the tree. If you sadly do not have awesome friends, do not worry, the pattern is an easy one and can be found on multiple sites all over the internet.

But, if you are a person like me with an extreme attention to detail, who wants integration between tree skirt and tree, there's an easy thing to do. Make a mini garland with the same yarn as the 4th Doctor's scarf! What I did was pick up the recommended yarn and just knitted an I-cord (ie, an idiot cord because it's that easy to make). Instead of having to count stitches, because I had the scarf, every so often I'd hold it up to the scarf to see if I needed to switch colors. This way I got some color into my predominately blue/white/silver tree and united the style from tree skirt to garland. It also gave the 4th Doctor a bit of a nod on the tree itself, like I did with 10 and 11.

Here's me just playing with the garland, but as you can see, it's like a mini-Tom Baker scarf.

As for those sonic screwdrivers you have laying around... artfully arrange them on the tree skirt! Psst... the top one is a real screwdriver!

And those old skool toys? Have K-9 thwarting a Dalek under the bows of the tree. Pretty spiffy Dalek eh? He's one of the Millennium Daleks from 1999, sadly he recently had an accident and his eye stalk no longer moves.

Also, don't forget those adorable little Adipose! They don't want to be left out with their adorable little fang. This one seems to be strongly in favor of the 10th Doctor...

And for this coming Christmas... I was recently at my local comic book shop and look what I found! TARDIS Christmas lights! This Christmas is going to be even more Doctor Who awesome then last Christmas! Also, I say Christmas... but really, this tree could conceivably stay up all year... or at least, like I did this year, till Easter, when the new season began. Truly, I wasn't lazy, it was all for Matt Smith. And now for the final unveiling!

And here is the final tree!

Mr. Smith... your close up! (You too Eccleston and Tennant.)

The tree at night!

And a close up at night. Whew! I hope you have had as much fun as I have had making this tree. Have a very Whovian holiday season one and all!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 1 comments  

Labels: Adipose, Christopher Eccleston, Daleks, David Tennant, Doctor Who, I-Cord, K-9, Knitting, Matt Smith, Sonic Screwdriver, TARDIS, The 10th Doctor, The 4th Doctor, Themed Christmas Tree, Tom Baker, Whovian

The first question to ask when picking a tree for your Doctor Who Christmas is which color? In my mind you have two choices. One is TARDIS blue, the other is white. I wanted, no needed, TARDIS blue. Oddly enough it wasn't too hard to find a tree of this color, and a small one at that, for a nice table top tree. Seriously, I think Amazon does have everything you could possibly need. At $100, this was the big ticket item, everything else I bought didn't even equal this, which was very nice on my wallet. Also, this tree had some interesting fiber optic capabilities... which, well, they were odd when turned on and the tree would strobe green and red and blue, but when off, the little fiber optics caught the light really well and made it shine that much more.

The next question I asked myself is what does Doctor Who and the TARDIS represent to me. So I thought, blue box shooting through outer space to see the stars. Stars would therefore become a theme. So as for tree illumination, I wanted something faceted that would twinkle like the stars as Wilf looked through his telescope. I picked these LED lights up at target for a song.

After tree and lights, the next item on a tree is always the garlands. Because I had gone with the blue verses the white tree, then the garlands would have to be the white accents of the TARDIS, whereas if I had gone with a white tree I would have needed TARDIS blue garlands (which oddly I already own, but refer to them as my Cookie Monster garlands... which makes me realise that Cookie Monster is the same color as the TARDIS!) This white garland I found at Target for $3.50.

Next, there's the stars. I loved this garland I found and target, because not only was it a cheap $2.00, but because the stars seemed to be alive in a spinning vortex of silver. Like the TARDIS racing through the space time continuum in the opening credits.

I mean, seriously, look how cool this is!

And because one garland of stars is NEVER enough, I picked these up at Target for another $3.00. In fact, the majority of this tree's decorations were found at target for rock bottom prices.

This is how the tree looked once the garlands and lights were on. As you can see, it's very much the TARDIS in tree form.

After the foundations were laid (because really, lights and garlands are like a Christmas trees foundation garments) then the fun really starts! So, almost all trees have nice circular glass ornaments. They're silver and pretty and make it shine. But, to a Whovian, they have something else to recommend them. Do they happen to look a bit like the bumps on a Dalek? YES THEY DO! So pretty silver, spacey, and reminiscent of Daleks, sign me up for one box at $6.00!

Then, when I was ambling around Jo-Ann Fabrics, I found blue balls (no inappropriate jokes please)! The reason I had to get these (and really, you have to really really want something at Jo-Ann's because seriously, the check-out takes forever) is because these are perfect TARDIS blue, just like the tree, only with glitter!

As for the final touches. I decided to go with my two favorite Doctors, ie, David Tennant and Matt Smith. As the Christmas wrapping paper and bows are right next to the ornaments, I was wandering around and looked up and saw this box of red bows for $1.00. And what did I say aloud, rather embarrassingly, "I wear bow ties now, bow ties are cool." So instead of adorning presents, they adorned branches on my tree!

Still looking for cheap items I thought of one thing that reminded me of David Tennant that indeed turned out to be cheap. 3-D glasses! On Amazon you can get a 10 pack for only $2.00! I mean, that's insanely cheap!

As for the tree topper... well, it had to be a star didn't it? A nice big silvery one. Ideally it would have been a TARDIS, but, I didn't think the top of the tree could hold the weight. So instead I settled for this topper which was only $3.00 at Target. So let's look to see how the tree is progressing... TARDIS blue, check, time and space through starry vortex, check, hint of Dalek, check, nods to 10 and 11, check, all at a reasonable price ($138.50), check! But where's a Doctor when you need one?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 3-D Glasses, Bow Ties, Christmas, Daleks, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Matt Smith, Stars, TARDIS, Target, The 10th Doctor, The 11th Doctor, Themed Christmas Tree, Wilf

Enter Wildthyme by Paul Magrs
Published by: Snowbooks
Publication Date: April 1st, 2011
Format: Paperback, 330 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Iris Wildthyme has been hanging out in Darlington posing as a writer for their annual festival there. Getting herself on the guests list was cover for her investigation to help the annoying and sometimes pedantic secret organization MIAOW. Darlington is a hub for intergalactic travellers, which none of the town's residents seem to notice. There was a meteor shower that wasn't a meteor shower a week or so ago and a very dangerous artifact has fallen to Earth and has hopefully not ended up in the wrong hands. The hands it has landed in are Simon's. Simon is just moving back to town to take over the running of The Exchange, a bookshop that was his refuge when he stilled lived there. Despite his friend Kelly being the best employee ever, for some reason Simon was left The Exchange... and a mysterious glass object, one he quickly looses to the annoying poet Anthony Marvelle and his creepy poodle when they nick it from The Exchange.

Meeting Iris boozing it up at a party, Simon and Iris become fast friends and Simon confesses his lose while Iris confesses her secret, she is an adventuress in space and time with her double-decker bus that is outside. For some reason Simon believes everything she says and is soon aboard the celestial omnibus with Iris, a rather gruff and opinionated stuffed Panda, a sentient vending machine called Barbara, and a mission to thwart Anthony Marvelle. But not before a few more gin and tonics and nice little dinner and perhaps a lie down. Oh, life aboard the bus is never boring, that's for sure.

When I was little I always daydreamed about living on modes of transit. I'm not really sure why, except maybe that I always wanted to travel but at the same time wanted to stay at home, and living on boats or buses, well, then you got both. Or I could have inherited my grandfather's love of RVs and come retirement I'll be going around America in a Winnebago and even being a part of their monthly newsletter... For the longest time though my daydream was of a boat, a nice cosy little pirate ship all my own, and yes, it HAD to be a pirate ship. When I was older and saw The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert I revised my thoughts to a bus. Yes, a bus would be perfect. Now Iris's bus... well, that's a whole other dimension of awesome. Not only is it quintessentially British and has two floors, but it can travel through the maelstrom and take me to France during the height of the Belle Époque for dinner. I feel that Iris's home and my daydreams has made me a kindred spirit with her. She's made me revisit cosy daydreams of years gone by. Even if Paul's writing style wasn't already of the cosy, warm embrace with a cup of spicy tea on the side variety, well, that bus would have warmed my soul. As it is Enter Wildthyme was a loving embrace of a book that you just want to snuggle into.

There's something just wonderful in the interconnectedness of Paul's books. Being a fan of Brenda and Effie, I loved seeing little winks and nods to them. Paul's books are all of the same universe, but it's a fluid universe where things are like but not exact. So while we have pinking sheers that cut the fabric of time and space, which are like those in Brenda and Effie's adventures, can we actually say they are the same? In Paul's universe it really doesn't matter. They could be, they might be, but then again, who knows. It's that fluidity and that nudge and a wink that makes his books so much fun. We have Jessie working at the galactic Hotel Miramar... ah, but could this Jessie be like the Jessie who worked not at the Miramar in Whitby but for Mrs. Claus? The Jessie who had the sad fate of turning into a womanzie? Or perhaps this is a parallel Jessie, a Jessie with a better fate. Every little connection, every little joke just made me giggle and sigh with contentment. If I could find a way to move into these books where after a day of fighting evil and possibly a good old punch up I could settle down in a warm chair and just relax and chat with my fellow friends, now that would be the life. Having a stuffed Panda as a sidekick would just add to the awesome.

Ah, but I do have to address something now that will tie this in with the whole Doctor Who theme I've got going on the blog here. This book is part of the expanded Whoverse. Iris has shown up in four Doctor Who novels, spending time with the 3rd and the 8th Doctor, while in audio... well, she has been very prolific, and is ironically voiced by Katy Manning, Jo Grant from the 3rd Doctor's tenure (and it might be just me, but Anthony Marvelle reminds me of the 3rd Doctor, Jon Pertwee himself). So the Who credentials are solid, but how Whovian is Enter Wildthyme? I would say very, but not in a way you would think, it is more subversive. Iris operates by her own rules and her own methods that are almost diametrically opposite to what one of The Doctors would do. Sure, she has a TARDIS, sure she travels through space and time, but well, her TARDIS is smaller on the inside, he origins, they're a mystery. Sure The Doctor knows her, but is that because she is one of his kind of just one of his ilk. She sets more store in fun and gin and flashy clothes and getting a sing-song going then saving the world. Sure, she will get around to it, but after a nice meal and a party with friends. I've often wondered over the years, don't the companions get tired and hungry? Their lives are all action and adventure, which can be fun, but you do need to unwind. Iris is like the cathartic Doctor, doing all the things you've wanted to, letting your hair down and enjoying the ride. And boy, did I enjoy the ride.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Brenda and Effie, Doctor Who, Enter Wildthyme, Iris Wildthyme, Jo Grant, Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Paul Magrs, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, TARDIS, The 3rd Doctor, The Celestial Omnibus, The Exchange

Only Human by Gareth Roberts
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: 2005
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

The Doctor was planning on taking Rose and Jack to Kegron Pluva to see the maddest ecosystem out there when the TARDIS gets an alert that someone is using some very dangerous time travel technology outside of London of all places. Pleasure diverted by an investigation isn't anything new, and who knows, this could be more fun! A Neanderthal, Das, has shown up in modern day Bromley. When the three of them finally come in contact with him, he has quite a story to tell about a weird tree and then ending up in a nightclub, like you do. They decide to take him back to his own time but find out that the dangerous technology that has brought him forward far into the future has made it impossible for him to ever go back. Das would literally be destroyed. He is stuck forever in Bromley in the 21st century.

Leaving Jack behind to help their new charge adjust, Rose and The Doctor travel back to Das's time to see what exactly happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again. What they find is beyond weird. Aside from just the prehistoric world with Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, there is a secret underground base of people from the far future, way beyond when Rose comes from. Led by Chantal, these subservient people believe they are there to record and observe, or at least make Chantal happy by doing this. Their number one goal is to make Chantal happy. But Chantal has ulterior motives. Behind a big grey door there is a secret she is keeping, the real reason she wanted to go back in time.

Ok, so, I think I can admit to you all that I think I'm starting to burn out a bit with this whole Doctor Who way of life I'm currently living. Right now I'm watching all the first episodes and last episodes of all The Doctors leading up to the fiftieth anniversary, currently on "The War Games" with Patrick Troughton, as well as reading the books in my spare time. I've reached a stage of numbness that unless it's really good or really bad I just go, "meh, that was fine, next." So, while I did enjoy Only Human, it neither offended me nor was a brilliant piece of work, so, I liked it, but still blame it for getting the song "Only Human" stuck in my head, which seriously is a bit of a break from "What does the Fox Say," so I guess, go "Only Human?" Also, I do really like Gareth Roberts, some of his episodes of the new series are the best out there because he actually understands how to write for the product line and for the show. He knows how to properly do an homage and how to properly write for the characters as well as create auxilery characters we actually like and care about. So if I wasn't so jaded at this point, maybe I'd be really cheering this book on, but at least I can see that it's likable.

What really stuck with me was the Douglas Adams factor. Previously, in the Fourth Doctor's book, the author clearly didn't get the homage/rip off delineation. Roberts nails it right on. In the second Hitchhiker's book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the indigenous hominids are destroyed by, basically, inept hairdressers from the future, and humans descend from them. With The Doctor and Rose exploring this prehistoric era, Roberts keeps subtly nudging you with this idea that these idiots from the future could in fact destroy not only the Neanderthals, which humans did anyway without any help from the future, but perhaps also our original ancestors, Homo sapiens. Yet he takes this kernel of an idea and expands it, he makes it not only the idea that holds the whole book together, but it also is able to bring up the destructive nature of humans and the sad fact of extinction. Message and moral through an entertaining medium, plus Rose Tyler doing nails for prehistoric Homo sapiens. Though I did find The Doctor at times a little too down on humans, Roberts was able to show many sides of an argument in an entertaining manner and I think Adams would have approved.

Then there's an aspect of science fiction that I love that Only Human employs. The future that is old yet new. Like watching an old film and seeing how they pictured what the future would be like, there's a fascination, a nostalgia that captures you. The idea of this whole society hidden underground, having arrived from the far future, knowing the complete map of the human brain, but being unable to have any kind of technology that wasn't analogue, fantastic! I loved this little wooden shanty town with it's pneumatic tubes and typewriters. This world reminded me of Brazil, in my mind one of the best science fiction dystopian movies ever created, I'm talking about the director's cut here. I even picture the people as kind of stylized that way, with the 40s clothes, like Bladerunner. In fact, annoying lady who wrote the Eighth Doctor's book, this is how you get a Bladerunner feel without being a plagiarist. It captured this amazing vibe, I felt like I was in this anachronistic world, part Brazil part Deadwood part Nextian, and just loving it, though I wouldn't love being a minion of Chantal's!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bladerunner, Brazil, Captain Jack, Doctor Who, Douglas Adams, Gareth Roberts, Jasper Fforde, Neanderthal, Nextian, Only Human, Rose, TARDIS, The 10th Doctor, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Thursday Next

Earthworld by Jacqueline Rayner
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: April 5th, 2001
Format: Paperback, 224 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

The Doctor is off on another adventure with Fitz. Anji, a survivor of their last adventure is looking for a lift home, little does she know that more "adventure" is in store. They appear to land on a prehistoric planet, but everything is off. Soon they realize it's a theme park designed to be like "ancient earth," ie, Anji and Fitz's lovely 20th century. Though anachronisms abound in absurd and disturbing ways. All they really want to do is get back to the TARDIS, but with The Doctor's memory problems... well... will they be able to get out? Separated from each other they soon hear of the deaths that have been plaguing the park. The security team seems to think that it links back to a teenage terrorist organization, oddly named ANJI, but once they all meet the president's three teenage daughters, everyone is pretty sure they're the homicidal maniacs playing their own game within the park. Can a foggy Doctor, one loyal companion, and one inadvertent companion save the day? Or will they become the triplet's newest victims?

I've seriously thought this over and come to the conclusion that all Doctor Who books could only be read by fans of the show. Anyone who would pick up a random Doctor Who book would be at sea, unable to know what was going on. Even if you're just a fan of the current rebooted series, you know a bit about the history, about the past regenerations, you have some basis, some reason for going into a bookstore and picking up this book. I think reading about the eighth Doctor must be like the uninitiated reading just a general Doctor Who book. I had to actually do extensive research online just to figure out who these new companions were and what was going on with The Doctor. In an interesting inverse in proportions, The Doctor with only one appearance in film is the one that everyone writes about. Of course, this does make sense. He doesn't really have a fixed mythology, or character like those set in celluloid. Therefore it feels like a bit of a free for all for authors. Here's someone they can leave their stamp on. They could mold this Doctor into their Doctor.

This lack of restraint has led to some very odd things. Lots of amnesiatic problems, latching onto a fact from the tv movie, weird companions that are simulacra of the real companions that are long gone, hundreds of years where The Doctor was doing nothing, something? Gallifrey is gone? I was just so out of my depth at references and asides that I couldn't really enjoy anything. A good author will help you to understand what exactly is going on, especially if that author was in charge of the eighth Doctor's range of books... but from this outing, I have to say, Jacqueline Rayner isn't a good author. I felt no connection to anyone in the book. How can I like The Doctor if I don't know who he is, I mean, HE doesn't even know who he is!?! As for the companions. Fitz... well, him and The Doctor have tons of past history, you'd think he'd be good to help us understand what was going on? But no, he'll just reference tons of adventures that you have no idea about and will therefore make you want to join the triplets in killing him. As for Anji... well, let's put a pin in that rant for a second why don't we. Yet I will say, Anji should have been our entry into this adventure, being the new kid of the block, but, well, it failed miserably.

Getting to the actual story, well, I have to quote Patrick Stewart on Extras, "I've seen it all." There was so much unoriginality in this story it was mind boggling. I don't mean to always go, hey in this episode of Red Dwarf you're ripping off... but, well, she did rip off Red Dwarf a lot... and it was funny and fresh in Red Dwarf. A book should not make me want to go and watch Red Dwarf instead of reading it right? The way Fitz comes to terms with being "not the original" because he can play wicked guitar, because in the original Fitz's mind he could... well, that's the end of the Red Dwarf episode "Psirens!" As for Earthworld itself, yeah, not that original, and I know Red Dwarf didn't create the idea with the episode "Meltdown"... but all the Elvis stuff... Red Dwarf again. The medieval stuff I kind of liked, and in fact, that's what brought it up a full star, because in those instances there was a unique story with just The Doctor helping this "kingdom." It was contained, it was simple, it didn't rely on me having these vast pools of knowledge from other sources. If this little section had been the book, sigh, what a good book it would have been. But instead I will just be left quoting Patrick Stewart.

Though all this pales to Anji and what she represents. Anji the new companion, having just gotten into the TARDIS to get a lift home after her boyfriend was killed in the previous adventure... an adventure that might have made a better selection for this fiftieth anniversary perhaps, I don't know. But also, you don't ever ask for a lift from The Doctor, you won't be home for awhile, but then, Anji has issues... Anji's internal monologue is just so misogynistic and sets women's lib back years I was SHOCKED that this book was written by a woman. All Anji does is think about herself in a couple with the dear dead Dave, think about her shoes (of course she's wearing high heels), think about how she was wanted by all the other men at her office, yet she was faithful to Dave, and then, in her final "email" to Dave she actually says: "What's a step up from a man? (XY chromosome that is, none of this 'mankind' stuff, women are definitely a step down officially.) " EXCUSE ME!?! If the previous hundred some pages hadn't been a slap in the face for any smart independent woman, you have to state it as clear as possible. We are less? Well, obviously you are. You have some issues. Also the fact that Fitz is having inappropriate thoughts about teenagers, really young teenagers... I think someone needs some therapy. Perhaps it's me for actually finishing this book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 20th Century, Anji, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Book Challenge, Earthworld, Elvis, Extras, Fitz, Gallifrey, Jacqueline Rayner, Patrick Stewart, Red Dwarf, TARDIS, The 8th Doctor, Womens Rights

Fear of the Dark by Trevor Baxendale
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: January 6th, 2003
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

The Doctor and his companions, Tegan and Nyssa, are aboard the TARDIS when a malign influence infiltrates Nyssa's dreams. The fact that there is something that could breech the protections of the TARDIS worries The Doctor and he decides they must track this evil to its source. Arriving on the small moon of the benighted Akoshemon, the travelers stumble upon a mining operation masquerading as an archaeological dig. Stoker and her men are hoping to get a jump on the mining Consortium that is pushing honest pirates out of work. Thanks to a hot tip this planet could be Stoker's biggest payday ever, making her and her team millionaires if the Lexium deposits turn out to be as wealthy as supposed. Yet one of her team, Vega Jaal, who comes from a sensitive race of miners, feels that something dangerous is lurking in the depths of the moon and that they should abandon their mission. Nyssa and The Doctor also feel the danger, but there appears to be no way to convince Stoker of the danger.

Then the first death happens. Then they find the door. There is a subterranean lab that appears to have been used for studying suspended animation. But the next two deaths force one of Stoker's team, Bunny, to go behind her back and issue a distress beacon. Of course the only chance of rescue they have is from the Consortium, the very last people Stoker wants to see. They could override her claim on the Lexium find. Yet when they do arrive, it's the Captain that has a bigger effect on Stoker. It's her lost love, Lawrence. As the death toll mounts and the dangers increase, there appears to be a darkness, "the" darkness, that is manipulating events and people to it's own end. Could the destruction that reigned down on Akoshemon happen to the rest of the universe if The Doctor doesn't succeed?

Fear of the Dark is dark in name and dark in nature. This book is so dark that if you're looking for a good time with The Doctor, well, stay well clear. Now this isn't a criticism of the book, far from it, the story and the emotions that play throughout are interesting, terrifying, gut wrenching, and tearful. This book is packed with an emotional punch. Yet like how Houdini died (he didn't have time to prepare for the blows) if you aren't prepared for the depths this book will take you to, well, it will be a rough ride. It mines the depths of human despair, suffering, and loss. I kid you not that death upon death is in your future if you pick this book up. The fact that Baxendale made you care for each character before then killing them shows what a good job he did, that sadistic bastard. At one point I was hopeful that someone other then our core three whose fates weren't in Baxendale's hands would survive... but no. There is no hope. There is no chance of survival. The Doctor's success might save the entire galaxy... but not those he meets on this desolate moon. No chance. No chance at all. Why, you might be asking am I telling you this? Because it was the false hope being ripped out from under me that undid me the most, emotionally. You need to prepare yourself for this book. So you are now hopefully prepared.

As for the 5th Doctor... I've always had such a warm spot for him, and Baxendale captures him and his companions perfectly. What's even more perfect is that this is after Adric's death. Yes Adric, I do hate you so, I'm smiling as I think about your death. Blue star my ass. Ok, back to The Doctor and his companions that are still living... for some reason I must have blocked out Time-Flight (which I'm sure my friend Paul would complement me on) because I didn't realize that Tegan was away from the TARDIS for a year before rejoining The Doctor and Nyssa. Which does play into the story kind of significantly. Which makes me wonder, yet again, who would read these books but die hard fans? I mean, yes, the story does a nice job of kind of explaining what was going on with Tegan and what happened, but even I was a little confused. Now someone who'd never seen any of this series? Well, they'd be lost. But on the plus side, they wouldn't be hearing Tegan's voice in their head during her dialogue in the book, which isn't as annoying by the way as hearing Peri's voice in your head, just fyi. While I'm still dwelling on The Doctor I would like to also compliment Baxendale on creating a book that has not just captured THIS Doctor, but a basic Doctor core. I could just as easily see this story staring 11 and the Ponds.

As for things I really liked, well, Baxendale takes us straight into the action. There is no lenghty set-up. We see The Doctor working among Stoker's team and get flashbacks to how they all met much later on. I can't tell you how refreshing this was. Usually it's tons of time going about explaining that it's just "Doctor" and that he just dropped by and everyone is suspicious until they finally see he's there to help. Instead, bam, he's there, he's helping, he's trusted. Short track to success, switch things up. Two big thumbs up. Of course, the fact that each of the three sections of the book could have used severe editing and seriously, they typos were appalling... plus the depressive nature of the book, well, it did cost the book a star. But way to bring your "A" game Baxendale. And now... for the monster. The writers of Lost should have taken note, this is how you make an unsubstantial monster terrifying. Seriously, The Dark would have that smoke monster pissing himself. Of course, no monster is perfect and his little substantial minion kind of took away a bit of the mystique of this malign nothingness... but no book is perfect, but this is a huge step up from the previous book. Faith restored in this series... onto 6 and Peri...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Doctor Who Book Challenge, Fear of the Dark, Lost, Mining, Nyssa, Peri, TARDIS, Tegan, The 11th Doctor, The 5th Doctor, The 6th Doctor, The Dark, The Doctor, Time-Flight, Trevor Baxendale

Ten Little Aliens by Stephen Cole
Published by: BBC Books
Publication Date: August 22nd, 2002
Format: Paperback, 305 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Ten soldiers are sent to an asteroid. With their commander Haunt they are to participate in this final training exercise with the hopes of becoming part of the elite squad in humanities war against the Schirr. As soon as they get to their location things start to go wrong and one of their own goes missing. There is weird vegetation throughout the asteroid that has bioluminescence, as well as flea like bugs that are drawn to it. Chambers throughout have odd pillars and carvings with elaborate glass dangling from the center like free standing stained glass windows or chandeliers. When they stumble into what appears to be the nerve center of this odd asteroid they are in for another shock. Besides finding the leaders of the Schirr rebellion, DeCaster and the ten strong, apparently dead, they also come across an odd blue box. The Doctor is there with Ben, having already misplaced Polly. They are locked out of the TARDIS and are now face to face with soldiers who were not expecting to find anyone living out in this remote sector of space dangerously close to the Morphiean Empire.

Catastrophe soon strikes and the asteroid turns out to be a spaceship on course for the center of the Morpheian Empire, which would start a second war if humans were found breaching their boundaries. The asteroid also seems to be turning against the invaders. There are more disappearances, cave-ins, a few of the party start mutating, but most disturbing of all, the Schirr bodies start disappearing. It feels like they are being toyed with and The Doctor just needs to get his mind around what exactly is going on so that he can stop it before they all die or mutate into something entirely different. But The Doctor is an old man, can he keep up until he and his party can retreat to the safety of the TARDIS?

While I did enjoy Ten Little Aliens, there's a part of me, a rather big part, that says, while I enjoyed it, there was almost too much that annoyed me to actually recommend it to anyone. The book has a very Michael Crichton meets Battlestar Galactica vibe that takes awhile to actually get into and then, once you're fully immersed, does some seriously stupid things that alienate you, confuse you, and then just leave you happy the book has ended. The one thing I have to say is that thankfully the title of the book was deliberately a nod to Agatha Christie, which if it hadn't, would have seriously pissed me off and mystified me. But if you read the introduction, I don't quite get how Stephen Cole wrote this to be like a Christie mystery, but in space... just naming your chapters after Christie books and then having the bodies disappear versus pile up in a reverse of And Then There Were None... well, that's not really enough to categorize it as Christie related. And as for the "unreliable narrator," to quote Inigo Montoya "I do not think it means what you think it means." You need a first person narrator who has been concealing something from us, like in Christie's Endless Night, who turns out to be the villain. Someone we thought was good who turns out not to... well, that's just a plot twist used by almost everyone in fiction. If you want to see Doctor Who do Christie right, just watch the 10th's and Donna's episode "The Wasp and the Unicorn" and skip this author's delusions.

As for the worldbuilding... well... yeah, some things really hit the mark and some were so far off the mark there is no chance we even know where it landed. Characters. There are to many. Ten super soldiers, three from the Tardis, another ten Schirr, two killer robots, and countless other creatures... too much to handle, and this from someone who just read Stephen King's Under the Dome. I gave everyone nicknames, like pilot, geek, scary guy, cyborg, and moved on. Also, besides there being too many characters, they were all unlikable, each and every one. But how could I dislike The Doctor? Because he was irrelevant, a non-entity. He was almost unnecessary and old. He didn't need to be in this book at all, which mystified me, because, excuse me, Doctor Who book! As for the politics of this future world of Schirr and Morphieans... I really have no f'ing clue as to what's going on. The war/politics/genocide/creatures without bodies/dead creatures, was so badly explained that I am still a little mystified ever after The Doctor tried to break it down for me at the end. As for the environment of the asteroid, that was spot on, thumbs up. You did a good job of worldbuilding in the sense of the physical world. I could totally believe myself in dark tunnels with creepy plants and bugs, right on. I just wish Stephen Cole had taken this attention to detail with say, everything else in the book. As for the bad guys... well, these Morphieans constructs, whatever that means, basically, the big baby angels, the putti that liked to pull you to pieces... um, they could give the Weeping Angels a run for the money. Seriously scary. But then again, in the end, overshadowed by the book's failings.

But let me get to what destroyed this book, one full star just knocked right off. The "neural net." This is some kind of network that is a band you wear that connects all the soldiers together, to monitor each other and record their experiences for training purposes, or after The Doctor tinkers with it, so that everyone has access to everyone else's brain. The concept is understandable, but the execution is crap. Everyone starts referring to themselves as "we" so you have no real distinction between the vast overly abundant cast, and it makes everyone sound pompous. Though the nail in the coffin is the almost fifty pages wherein, not only are we stuck in the "neural net" of we's, but it's done as a "choose your own adventure!" Say what? You thought, as a writer, it would be fun? Really, justify this to me because it was just HORRID and pissed me off. Not only that, the writing suffered with bad prompts at the end of sections going: "I wonder what the Doctor is doing" or "Go see what Frog is up to" excuse me? I am not a seven year old who lives and breaths by these books. I never liked them then and I don't like them now. I hate that this book resorted to gimmickry and I am glad I'm done with it. Oh, and don't go on and on about the cover to the old edition in your intro, it makes you seem bitter that they gave it a cooler cover. I'm out, I've disconnected myself from the neural net, laters.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, Choose Your Own Adventure, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Book Challenge, Endless Night, Stephen Cole, TARDIS, Ten Little Aliens, The 10th Doctor, The 1st Doctor

I seriously don't know why or how I knew Doctor Who was returning. At this time I didn't really use the internet for much, other then to do homework (see, I can't escape school now that it's sucked me back in, and in fact this fall is the first time since 2006 I haven't had classes) and to play online games with my friends. But there, in the back of my mind, I knew that there was a new series and that, well, obviously, I had to see it. The one thing I did know, from my various British addictions, was you could be sure, whenever the show showed up in the US, it would be a long time since it had aired in England. In fact it was almost a full year from the airing of "Rose" on the BBC till it aired on Sci-Fi (or Syfy as it now ludicrously is). As it turns out, I didn't have to wait that long...

In the spring of 2005 I was done with college (round one) and at a bit of a loose end, thinking maybe grad school, maybe not. My friend Sara had gone to graduate school in Halifax, Nova Scotia at NSCAD. She was graduating that spring and having a big gallery show/thesis/dissertation combo event with mashed potatoes on the side (seriously, there were mashed potatoes at the opening). Her whole family and a few of her close friends, me included, decided to descend on Halifax. Cold and wet and bleak and full of children wielding led pipes... the drug capital of Canada... needless to say, I didn't go out much. After most everyone else had returned to their respective homes, I stayed in Canada for another two weeks or so. I spent most of my time in Sara's little cramped apartment. She had one roommate, Kenny, and no spare space. The kitchen was minuscule, the bedrooms were tiny, the bathroom was somewhat large, but the hallway was non-existent as it kind of merged with the stairwell and the ceiling in this stairwell was mildly psychedelic, as the landlord had plastered the ceiling with these swoopy wave patterns. It was white, but there was like glitter mixed in. This ceiling fascinated me, because all I could think of was who would spend that much time on a ceiling? It would have actually fit in quite well with a few of the TARDIS interiors over the years.

Her roommate Kenny was also doing his performance/thesis/dissertation, so he was gone much of the time. He was gone and in return for keeping the tiny kitchen clean (not that hard) I had full access to his tv. I was instantly addicted to Canadian television, mainly because it's like all the big shows are on one station and some of it is in French. There was no flipping back and forth between ABC and CBS and Fox, it was all there on one channel. And while watching that one channel of an evening they said something that really caught my eye... on April 5th, a mere ten days after "Rose" aired in the UK, the CBBC was showing the first episode of the new Doctor Who! Even though Kenny had basically given me carte blanche over his television, I made sure to ask him as soon as I saw the ad that I would have the tv that Tuesday night. He said there was no problem and my heart leaped.

Here I was, far from home and my cat, in another country, but I was going to watch Doctor Who! Not just any Doctor Who, the newly rebooted series! I remember the Sunday night before there was a horrid cold front that moved in. Sara and I were driving back from PEI and it was so windy the car was struggling the whole way back to Halifax. And then the wind that night. It howled and howled. I started putting on more and more clothes in an attempt to keep warm. The next day the whole apartment was frigid, because of the fact the landlord turned down the heat during the day. The cold continued into Tuesday, but I didn't care, I had a fire in me to keep me warm, I had The Doctor. I remember it was still a little light outside the window as I sat down on the edge of the orange plaid blanket that covered Kenny's bed. I was instantly hooked as soon as Christopher Eccleston said "Run!" I mean, the first episode sure had it's flaws, but, well, that was to be expected. Mickey was the main flaw, but then, well, Rose left him in the dust didn't she? When the episode ended and I realized that come the next Tuesday I would be in New York again and not able to watch "The End of the World" I was beyond depressed. When Christopher Eccleston's face lit up in that wide smile surrounded by the London Eye, well, I knew I couldn't wait till this show came stateside.

I still think how naive I was to the ways of the internet. I didn't know about downloads or torrenting. I knew about Amazon UK, and so, I pre-ordered the DVDs, which came out in batches of three episodes every so often and then took about a month to get to me. So over the course of 2005 I slowly watched all the series. Each episode making me more and more a Whovian. In fact, that Christmas when they aired David Tennant's first episode simultaneously in Canada and England, I told Sara all I wanted for Christmas was for her to tape that episode, she did and I was ever so grateful, it was like being back in Canada again!

Step two was to get others addicted. When I went back to New York in Fall 2005 to look at a grad school, I bought tons of Doctor Who tie-in books at Forbidden Planet. When I was back again in Spring 2006, well, then the inculcation of my friend Miss Jessica began. We had returned to her apartment after a long night seeing Alan Cumming in The Three Penny Opera, and then several hours outside to meet him (which we did!) Then there was the train ride back to Queens, so it was long after midnight when I popped in disc one and said, "just one episode." Soon it was episode two and we were singing along with the 9th to "Tainted Love." Over the years, whenever me and Miss Jessica get together, well, there is always Doctor Who involved somehow. When she came to visit me shortly after David Tennant became The Doctor, a certain line from "New Earth" was used repeatedly while bowling. "Ooh. Curves. Oh Baby! It's like living inside a bouncy castle!" (Say while caressing a bowling ball, or other round parts of your anatomy. Oi! Not so dirty, we were at a bowling alley! They allow small children in bowling alleys and they get the cool bumpers).

Since then, the addiction has only gotten more rooted and with my increasing knowledge of technology, my addiction is fed on a regular and timely basis. Though I will admit to not watching the end of Rose's time on Doctor Who till I read some spoilers... I was really worried they were going to kill her and I knew I couldn't take that (and right there is where I lose my friend Moxie's sympathies, Rose hater that she is). Ever since that fateful Tuesday evening in Canada, I have become a Whovian in every sense of the word. And you know what? I wouldn't change a thing! Meeting new people, falling in love with new Doctors and companions, having recurring jokes with friends. Every single second of it has been awesome. Though if Moffat makes me cry again this Christmas as much as I did during the Michael Gambon Christmas special... I may go slam his hand in a car door so he knows the pain he has caused me.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alan Cumming, BBC, Canada, Christmas, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Michael Gambon, New Earth, New York, Nova Scotia, Rose, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, The 10th Doctor, The 9th Doctor

I love Steven Moffat. He takes part one in this huge, epic, Russell T. Davies holiday spectacular direction where every villain ever is on hand and then he brings it in and makes the final part just about the core characters. No Daleks, no Cybermen, just River, Rory, Amy and The Doctor. We get some nice wibbly wobbly timey whimy with a Fez no less and the most epic display of love ever. Rory watched over Amy for thousands of years!!! He's just perfect. Plus, we get both Amys together and penguins of the Sahara (really, just watch Confidential to see how funny those museum displays are, because otherwise it will pass you by.) But underneath all that, The Doctor weaves in his story like a fairy tale into the dreams of young Amy to secure his return and to fill her house full of empty rooms. Plus, next season we have a Mr. and Mrs. travelling aboard the TARDIS! I hope Arthur Darvill gets a bump up to regular, as in his name in a nice swirly time vortex, it's the least he should get after waiting all those years... but does Rory know about that if he was actually a robot at the time? Ah, questions, questions, and we still have the silence to contend with. Also we must not forget, The Doctor has some shopping to do, he after all wants another Fez.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Amy Pond, Cybermen, Daleks, Doctor Who, Fez, River Song, Rory, Russell T. Davies, Sahara, Steven Moffat, TARDIS

In the "diversion" episode before the final, like such memorable episodes as Blink and Turn Left, we get an episode that is not your usual fare. Amy is trapped in a half materialized TARDIS while The Doctor poses as a lodger to get close to the weird things that are going in the area, ie, the weird things that are messing with the TARDIS.  Plus we get the fabulous guest star, James Corden of Gavin and Stacey fame. We have your basic lovebirds who can't commit side story all the while The Doctor is showing his oddities more then ever. Because, have we ever really scene The Doctor in a more "normal" setting? He has his own room! He showers! Plus there's the cooking, the cleaning, the football and the reference of the Archbishop of Canterbury! While yes, the love story is beyond sweet and it's their love that saves the Earth, it's The Doctor that makes this episode shine, especially when he thinks that learning to cook in the 17th century was probably recent enough!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Blink, Doctor Who, Gavin and Stacey, James Corden, TARDIS, The Doctor, The Lodger, Turn Left

Yes, I know it's Jane Austen month, but Doctor Who stops for no man... er woman, and also now I really wish there was a Jane Austen episode of Doctor Who, get on that Seven Moffat! This was a daring episode of Doctor Who, if just for the risk of having a very waddling and very pregnant companion, and another with a pony tail to rival any of the great 80s Metal bands. But the truth lies in that this episode is not as it seems, which would make sense with a villain capable of manipulating dreams, but it is the twist in the end that makes it sheer brilliance and makes you want to watch the whole episode all over again instantly. On the surface this appears to be just an elaborate excuse to make Amy choose between the two men in her life. Should she choose The Doctor, all flash and swagger and adventure, or Rory, the perfect lifemate. If the pregnancy reality were reality, you could see how Amy would be bored and how Rory would be happy. Then again, if the TARDIS is the reality then they're all about to die... so which to choose? The fact that Amy chooses the TARDIS in the end, not because of The Doctor, but because she can't live in a world without Rory is heartbreaking and perfect. The Doctor might show her the universe, but it's Rory who she wants by her side forever.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amy Pond, Doctor Who, Dream Lord, Rory, Steven Moffat, TARDIS, Tawdry Quirk Shop, The Doctor

Fuck the Daleks! I'm so damn sick of them, sure this time Mark Gatiss got to write about them, and sure, we've got Winston Churchill and the war, but, not another freakin' Dalek episode! Plus, did anyone else keep thinking that they basically just wanted to do a World War II version of Star Wars while watching this? I love Mark Gatiss' enthusiasm, but still, this is the first meh episode for me, in fact Mark Gatiss and Confidential were far better than the episode itself. Bill Paterson and his amazing acting saved this for me, but that's about it. So of course, it makes sense to have the Daleks show up in World War II, they have so much in common with the Nazis that the Nazis were probably their inspiration. And Mark Gatiss has an amazing grasp at capturing other time periods, even if the "wishes were kisses" line was a little too hackneyed for me. I liked that the Doctor is called in by Winston, who is not only an old friend, but openly covets the TARDIS and will do anything to win the war, anything... even if it's the new "ironsides" aka, Daleks in disguise to trick the Doctor into helping them re-jump start the new Dalek evolution. Servile Daleks are funny, but then we're all back to colored Daleks and they escape, I'm sure to return again and again and again and again... at least Mark Gatiss didn't give me any false hope that they were gone forever... so that's one plus. But overall this episode felt too contained, too small in scope. Here we have the greatest war the world has ever faced combined with the Daleks and the Doctor who together had the greatest war time has ever faced and we get these small, confined sets that were claustrophobic and lacking in the scope of these great historical events. I did like the rage the Doctor displayed and the way Amy totally embodies all that is good in humanity. But could we do all this with a new villain? Or a less used old villain? All I kept thinking was, damn, they should just go get Captain Jack and end this in five minutes. One sweet twist, Amy's never seen the Daleks... which is impossible right? And the crack... is time fracturing? Is the Doctor in the correct timeline? Very interesting! Personally I can't wait for next week though... River Song AND the Weeping Angels! Heaven! Or hell... if you think about the nightmares it will probably induce...

Also I bet you can guess my opinion of the game trailer they showed seeing as I've made my opinion of the Daleks so well known. Looks clunky, looks like way too many Daleks, looks like a pass. And I'm usually the one defending my movies and tv shows being turned into video games! Shocker!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Amy Pond, Bill Paterson, Captain Jack, Daleks, Doctor Who, Ironsides, Mark Gatiss, Nazis, River Song, TARDIS, The 11th Doctor, The Weeping Angels, Video Game, Winston Churchill, World War II