redfiona99

Answers to the 5 things meme:

opera142 wanted ( 5 Ways Christian trumps Edge. )
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( Precision in Everything Author's long-winded explanation/notes )

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Questions that need answers for future fic

1) US university years are divided up into semesters, yes?

and

2) Could anyone suggest a book likely to have been banned from school libraries for sexual content? I'd go with Lady Chatterly but I've been told it has all the eroticism of a dead fish and I need something that packs a punch.

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Doctor Who - Cold Blood

I prefer the use of actors in latex to CGI (let's be honest, I prefer most things to bad CGI, and that's the only kind of CGI that the BBC can afford) but it also has it's own drawbacks, mostly that it will occasionally throw up crazy-making moments of 'I know that actor, just not when he's green', and my brain spends half its time trying to ID the actor instead of watching what's on TV. It was Richard Hope who caused that effect this time, Stephen Moore at least has a distinctive voice (he'll always be the Dad in 'The Queen's Nose' to me.)

On to the actual episode.

( Not as good as I thought it might be )

( Some speculation about the big spoiler from Cold Blood, brought about by typing this up )

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After that, thanks to N and S, I got to watch some old school Who.

( The Ark In Space )

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RL and ( Smear test TMI )

( Spoilers for Small Worlds and Countrycide )

( And also (an edit) )

Then I watched the Pirate Planet and, sorry but no matter what I'll always love Old Skool Who more because, I'm sorry, but you can't tell a decent sci-fi story in 45 minutes, and Who works better as a serial.

That this was written by the esteemed Mr. Adams may also have helped.

My family and I have done well, it's taken almost a week for me to reach seething anger.

I'm calm now. Possibly because 1) Austria won, admittedly another of their late, late shows but still they won 2-0 and 2) the new Doctor Who is so very good. Possibly helped by the way Russell T. Davies (yup the QAF guy and the man who's written the equally brilliant Cassanova series), as a fan, wrote something that had the same lovely balance the X-men movies have, enough to entice the geeks (Autons, he had Autons on his first show) and kept it open enough for a new audience to enjoy. I mean there's a possibility that I would have enjoyed it even more if it was a new series because I wouldn't have had the same worry about it living up to things past then.

Basic summary - Christopher Eccleston, though he might need to settle into it a little more, is a fun doctor, all childish enthusiams and very definitely and very subtly alien. And he's got the Dr. Who temper and lack of patience.
Billie Piper, not as bad as she could have been. Quite liked her in fact.
Storyline - worked.
SFX - better than expected but still with that down-at-home BBC charm (i.e. still more than a few moments of 'oh those effects are bad')

And the best bit, Dr. Who tried to reason with the bad guy. Yes, they've got it right - violence and destruction is always the last resort. Because this is Dr. Who we're talking about who passed up on the chance of totally destroying both his main enemies (the Master and the Daleks) because it would have been wrong. It sounds strange to say this, but Dr. Who has always been a very moral character, very much 'peace is good' and 'violence has to be the last option'.

Even if you're not a fan, take the time to watch 'Genesis of the Daleks' which is a Tom Baker episode dealing with the creation of the Daleks.

( Spoilers beneath )
The rest of the story (it's 6 or 8 45-minute parts) is just as good. And something similar happens in Dr. Who and Minotaur or whatever it's called where he spares the life of the Master.

Oh yeah BTW, no matter what the 5th Doctor fans tell you, there is only one true incarnation of the Master and that's the one in the 3rd Doctor programmes. I think the actor's name is Roger Delgarno and he was being haughty, aloof, genius and charismatic evil while most of the good bad guys today were still in nappies.

Here's to hoping that Michael Grade doesn't find a way of cancelling it again.