Doctor Who

I didn't like Rose in series one but I didn't have such a blinding dislike of her either.

My non-like of Rose just kind of blended into everything else that made series one just kind of lackluster in a finding footing sort of way.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Probably not.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

So he thinks Miles's critical opinions of Doctor Who are all correct based off of blog posts. As opposed to the published book series of critical opinions of Doctor Who.

According to one of the comments on the fifty years posts, the author alternates having interesting opinions about classic Who with complaining about Nu Who.

I have a sad.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

UNIT dating strikes again.

I still really like this thing about Amy and River and Clara and positivity. (Hint, emeriin, Laura, this is for you.)

@unnoun I like it too! It's been saved in my drafts for passive-aggressive reblogging at the right time.

I liked it too. I love Tumblr posts that kick stupid ideas and false observations squarely in the face.

Fear is a superpower.

And into the elevator shaft.

EDIT: Seriously, the "vaguely similar in general" equals "exactly the same" line of argument is annoying. Nice when it gets called out

edited 16th Sep '14 6:58:04 PM by Malchus

Yeah, that avatar's a 'Shop of my real face.

I made the mistake of clicking a reblog on that 'all the same post.'

Among other things

The etc includes journalism and writing.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

Warring States is now, apparently, my default starting place.

...I mean, I started with Alien Bodies, so.

I kinda hope that gets re-released at some point. Soonish.

And Human Nature, and Damaged Goods. I mean, just from a historical, archiving standpoint.

Human Nature got adapted into an episode. Damaged Goods is by the guy who brought the show back. Alien Bodies introduced the concept of a Time War as a story arc plot device thing, and it was Moffat's favorite EDA, and it has a lot in common with the Series 5 and 7 finales.

...I'm pretty sure Davies really liked The Scarlett Empress. So.

A part of me really feels like I should give Iris and Benny a lot more love than I do.

I really adore The Rings Of Akhaten though.

EDIT: ...Okay, I need to sleep now.

Goodnight guys.

edited 16th Sep '14 7:06:36 PM by unnoun

I think Akhaten is really underrated.

I mean, I know art is subjective and thus terms like "underrated" and "overrated" are essentially meaningless, but still.

G'night!

edited 16th Sep '14 7:12:26 PM by Zarek

"We're home, Chewie."

I like Rings.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers

I keep misreading "Akhaten" as "Akenhaten".

Yeah, until the episode aired, I thought it was an Ancient Egypt story.

Be it not said that Moffat does not recognize and learn from his mistakes. Or at least, admit that there was a problem and it's better now.

Fresh-eyed movie blog

Kinda hoping that was deliberate, frankly. Especially because the 50th anniversary itself lampshaded the damn thing.

Worked for me! Kinda.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

As did the Doctor's toy store application from earlier.

"We're home, Chewie."

It's been lampshaded loads of times by this point, but there's something funny to me about Kate pointing out the discrepancy while inadvertently creating a new one.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

"What is salt and a shock?" <— You missed the protein and the ginger beer. And yes I'm only bringing this up because I've had that tab open to long to forget about it.

Best thing about Idiot's Lantern is Rose investigating the tv weirdness.

If some people are complaining that the series is too much about Clara and others that it's too much about the Doctor, the balance must be somewhere near right. Same for people calling her useless and a Mary Sue.

Yes, I like the body positivity thing. Thanks unnoun!

He's the Doctor. He could be anywhere in time and space.

The Fades.

I wish it was Faction Paradox instead. This is a problem I'm having with rather a lot of British sci-fi/drama that isn't Doctor Who. Like Primeval. Or Invasion. Or Torchwood.

Hey, Wack'd, you should get Something Fangirly/Ace Ball Bat/whatever she calls herself online now to do a guest post on that.

...Or, I mean, I could do a guest post about how much I despise it, but that would require me watching it again, and my students need me relatively sane. And not homicidal.

Anyway.

I suppose Miles has a point. The evil of banality.

edited 17th Sep '14 4:01:23 AM by unnoun

I could help you out on the Supernatural loathing post unnoun. So could the best account ever.

Okay, I'm totally in favor of calling out the writers of Supernatural for being super freakin' dumb, but that is low.

"We're home, Chewie."

I mean, I should probably ask Phil first. And SF hasn't read the site except for my guest article, so I dunno if she'd know what writing for it entails.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

I've watched Series 2 (skipping "Love and Monsters" and "Fear Her" on the advice of you guys and others) now, as well as part of Series 3 and all the current Capaldi episodes. Thoughts so far:

1) This is a lot of fun.

2) Of course the Doctor's companions are going to fall in love with him when he looks like David Tennant. How could you not?

3) The second half of Series 2 seemed to have a theme that humans are recklessly curious, to the point of digging/creating a portal to Hell given the slightest reason (in two separate two-part episodes!).

4) I think it's healthier for the Doctor to have a companion who can recognize that he has faults and call him on them, and stand up to him generally (she was completely right about him being on the rebound). Martha's better in this regard than Rose, who seemed to hero-worship the Doctor in addition to loving him. (On that note, I feel like it says something not-too-positive about the Doctor that the companion he fell in love with was one who hero-worshipped him.) Martha's also more proactive, which I like. Clara's also great, and she benefits from seeming to have more of a deliberate purpose as a companion - she's there as a stabilizing influence and moral guide, and she knows it - and from having a life outside of the TARDIS.

I don't dislike Rose. Her characterization makes sense - as she didn't have much of a life before, then she's going to feel more amazed by the adventures and more tied to the Doctor than someone who had a life that was going somewhere - and it's nice to have a show with a lower-class heroine like her, but I like Martha and Clara better.

5) Donna was hilarious and fantastic in "The Runaway Bride" and I can't wait to see more of her in Series 4.

6) As of "Daleks Take Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks", the Daleks have undergone Villain Decay. The shouldn't be standing around giving villainous monologues, they should just be exterminating. Despite some offhand comments about low batteries, it's not clear how they went from "we could destroy half a million Cybermen with one Dalek" to "there's only four of us left, clearly we need to change everything".

7) Regarding the current series: I'm pacifist-leaning and have dated and talked with military guys, and they don't respond in the way Dan does; the ones I've spoken to believe in what they do, not just the well-building, but the killing-bad-guys-to-protect-others, and they're willing to go into an extensive debate on it. Dan feels like a military guy written from a quasi-pacifist's point of view.

edited 17th Sep '14 10:43:33 AM by WarriorEowyn

That's a good point on Danny, but I still like his irritation with Clara's jokes. I'm pretty heavy leaning on the pacifist side, but the series can get one-sided with the anti-military stuff, and I feel like his calling out her condescending is a nice way to even things out.

edited 17th Sep '14 10:49:53 AM by emeriin

Not all military people are the same. I've talked to plenty who absolutely hated what they had to do, and would never ever go back to it. Danny falls somewhere in the middle, I think.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."