Doctor Who Review - The Rings of Akhatan

An episode of a few neat little bits, but an overall sense of ho-hum, another character piece...

What was to like? As always, Matt Smith brings the weight of ages and childlike wonder to his portrayal of the Doc, usually all at the same time. Space moped thing was fun (although, with an anti-grav bike in the previous episode we have a danger of repetition – hopefully there won’t be more bike riding shenanigans coming up). Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara continues to be almost impossibly pretty, but is yet to turn into the sassy, confident girl of her first two outings. But it is coming, she’s a good assistant, her heart is most definitely in the adventure.

It was good to see it was Clara’s regular, human experience bearing the enormous sense of wonder and possibility that defeated the...uh...thing at the end. While Matt Smith delivers his declaration of the Doctor’s awesomeness with great oomph, it is, again, something we are seeing a bit too much of. Yes Doc, we know you’ve been everywhere and done everything.

And this brings me to the “what’s not to like?”

Defeating the “thing” (we’ll get to that) by just talking to it. Is that it? Seriously, does the Doctor not need to reverse the polarity flow? Is there nothing technical that he can do? Does he not need to outwit the villain? At least last week, the Doctor did show how smart he is by blind-siding the villainess. Nothing so clever and subtle here.

Maybe we’ll let this go – I suppose this is an example of what makes Clara a good assistant, as it was she that provided the “real” experience to overwhelm the thing.

Ok, The thing – a big red, planet thing was the villain of the piece. For most of the episode they had us getting worked about a big mummified, scary monster that was waking up and trying to break out of its cage – which then turned out to be just a stepping stone. There was, as usual, some faceless goons stomping about for the sake of it, but otherwise, just a big churning, planet thing. Ho hum.

Fortunately, Clara was just so human and tragic and tearjerking and caring and everything (although the Tardis doesn’t like her..) – oh, was this just another sodding character piece?

This is the problem with these character driven story arcs – ultimately it’s all about what/ who Clara is, the individual stories just lose their impact beneath the weight of the BIG story – similar to that big crack in time/ space and what it had to do with Amy (and frankly, I still don’t know. Apparently the Silence is coming. Did it come? Are we still waiting?).

Bring on Episode 3 (or is it episode 8, or 9 if we count the Xmas Special...) – Ice Warriors, a big, fat nasty villain/ hardcore monster.

And on with out Fanfic flash fic:

Consequences of Time - Episode 2

Cold. Couldn’t the Tardis land somewhere nice? As a flurry of snow landed on his tongue, he could tell it wasn’t just water ice. A hint of something, but what?

A truck, with wheels taller than the Tardis, thundered out of the snow and squealed to a halt. Two big, armoured figures jumped down and grabbed the Doctor’s arms. “Get in,” screeched a voice.

He was hurled into the truck. The interior was crammed with scared people. The hatch was shut and the truck roared off.

“Anyone know where we’re going?” asked the Doctor.

A man wailed “To Frozen Death.”

 

Doctor Who - The Bells of St John Review

Who returns - and as such, I'm going to try to record my review on this blog each week, with a stab at a wee bit of Fan fiction in the form of a Who story told in by Drabble episodes(100 words, exactly) each week. In theory, there's eight episodes of the series, so we should get 800 words of Who story.

On with the review: The Bells of St John

At long last, Series 7 continues. I was not a fan of splitting up Series 6 (to be honest, I was not a fan of Series 6 overall) – knowing the split was coming turned the first bunch of episodes into just a series of fill-ins, with little larger story arc hints, which would reach a big cliff-hanger at the end of them. If the second half had been more impressive then maybe the approach could be forgiven. Unfortunately, the rest of the series was largely forgettable. In fact, sitting here writing, there’s no stand-out episode that I can think of. I can think of plenty of stuff that annoyed me - another haunted house story, another story where people are snatched from the real world, another bunch of “monsters” that lurch around being scary with their one scary line repeated over and again and so on. The Cyberman story was very poor and the finale made even less sense than the previous series. And the ensuing Xmas special (The Doctor, the Wife and the Wardrobe) was the weakest yet.

And so we come to Series 7, part 2. Thankfully the first part of this series was way, way better. The incredible “Asylum of the Daleks” was the best Dalek story since...”Genesis of the Daleks” (THERE, I’ve said it!), and the best NuWho since “Time of the Angels” back in series 5. Amy and Rory, who so totally outstayed their welcome, are finally gone. The Xmas episode (“The Snowmen”) was possibly the best Xmas Special of them all. So here we are with new companion Clara (despite being killed, again, in the Xmas Special) keyed up for her “proper” debut. Everything is going fine.

Except, “The Bells of St John” is a somewhat seen-it-all-before adventure. People being snatched from reality; a repeated line ("I don’t know where I am.."); a cold-hearted woman in charge of shady organization behind it all; unexpressive robot/ monster goons lurching around, which also crossed-over into the spooky kid area. These are all Moffat-isms which have been around since “The Empty Child” – and it’s all getting a bit tired to me.

Clara, so flirty and smart and hot in Asylum and at Xmas, is nowhere near as exciting this time round. I’ll let this go, even in the space of this episode she was transformed from computer illiterate to genius so the version we caught up with in “Asylum” could be where she is headed. We could be in for quite a journey.

There were things to like – the Doc’s anti-grav bike riding up the side of the Shard; his cunning switch with the “spoonhead” that impersonated him, in fact Matt Smith in general keeps even the poorer episodes watchable.

It was great to see the Great Intelligence turning up again, and turning Celia Imrie (always great to watch) back into a child was genuinely chilling and showed what a ruthless villain he is.

I’ll call this episode solid, but not good. If Clara can return to the form she had in her previous two outings, then one hopes for better things to come. And please, can we give the mind-control, spooky line, boring monster stuff a rest now?

OK, Drabble time - we need to give this adventure a name.. so, in keeping with the fact that it is made up as we go along we'll call it:

Consequences of Time - Episode 1

The Tardis had landed. The Doctor tried to ignore it but the still time rotor and no sense of motion through the vortex reminded him that they were going nowhere.

It was hardly the first time that the Tardis had taken charge but he was determined to enjoy a decent bout of melancholia without saving someone, some people, some planet or some universe.

He huffed in a chair, threw a pebble into the swimming pool, played Angry Birds on the scanner.

Eventually, he gave up and stomped outside. “This had better be good, old girl” he said as he left.

 

Long time - no blog....

Long time no blog – fortunately Cassie Hart (go read her superb blog now) wondered where I’d been so I’ve hit the keyboard again.

The usual worthwhile distractions (work/ family/ exercise) and the usual worthless distractions (TV/ Internet) have kept me from blogging – I will also claim that some actual writing has even been getting in the way. We’ll get to that, but first, my rundown of what media I’ve been sucking up recently-ish:

I’ve been experiencing...

Morrissey at Wellington Town Hall – yes, the Miserable One himself graced the coolest little capital in the world (says Lonely Planet). A cracking gig in a reasonably small venue – having seen him at the cavernous Albert Hall and massive Glastonbury Festival this gig was a far more intimate affair.

And being this intimate, I was able to witness every ounce of anguish that poured from the Moz’s sweating brow. As he wailed “and you go home, and you cry and you want to die” it was every bit as powerful as the lyric he laid down nearly 30 years ago. The shirt was torn off, the followers were touched, a painful departure from stage was made. In an interview the Great man stated that “it’s never a performance”. If that’s true, it must be mighty painful being Morrissey. However, I’m certain I saw a smile crack his face at one point (probably when he told an audience member that she couldn’t be his eighth friend). Heaven knows, not so miserable now.

Which brings me to....

I’ve been reading....

Morrissey and Marr: The severed alliance – THE biography of The Smiths. Their backgrounds, their childhoods, their teens, their coming together, their four or so fiery years in the spotlight and eventual break-up. Does this book explain the, surely, traumatic event(s) that marked Morrissey out as the patron saint of the outsider and the loner? Do we understand how he came to be filled with such outraged angst? To be honest, no. This makes it no less a fascinating read, but my conclusion is that he’s simply a miserable, full-of-himself sod. However, he is also an enormously talented and charismatic sod.

I’ve been watching....

Doctor Who Xmas special – In which we return to the wonderful Osman from Asylum of the Daleks, called Clara now and inexplicably (so far) living in Victorian London. A huge improvement on last years miserable Xmas special, a great intro to the new assistant who has instantly erased the long overstayed Amy and Rory from my mind. Geronimo, as the Doc might say.

The Campaign – an almost very good Will Ferrell send-up of US politics, pitching two congressional candidates at each, with both stooping as low as possible in the hunt for votes. It suffers from what many US movies suffer from – it wimps out at the end. Imagine if Brian got rescued at the end of Life of Brian to give the film a more fuzzy feel? That’s what happens here. They were almost on the point of greatness, skewering the warped values of US elections but can’t bring themselves to go all the way – let the warm fuzzies come in and spoil the ride. To be honest, a quick glance at Fox News shows that the actual US political process is so twisted it should be impossible to satirize, but this film ALMOST went there...

Looper – not half as clever as it thinks it is. Washed out, grainy graphics and odd CGI facial enhancement does not disguise some enormously contrived circumstances.

Argo – a very well made film, but essentially, it all comes down to whether or not our heroes can walk through passport control. What if the focus were reversed? This could be a story about the desperate hunt by the security forces to capture a bunch of devious foreign spies? I don’t know, in this day and age it’s hard to be on America’s side about anything.

Django Unchained – at first, I quite liked it but then got thinking...no, sorry, Tarantino is in danger of becoming a one-trick pony. Lots of stylish, slick and darkly witty dialogue, lots of characters on the edge of fury and violence, lots of opportunities for actors to prove just how good they are – and way too much bloodthirsty, unnecessary violence. I wouldn’t mind so much if Tarantino had something to say, but there’s nothing here beyond telling us that the slave trade meant wicked people did wicked things. I know that without having to put up with the protracted screams of a man being ripped apart by savage dogs.

Hitchcock – two brilliant actors (Hopkins and Mirren) play fascinating characters in a portrait of the great Director and his equally great (but much unsung) wife – while making the slasher movie of slasher movies, Psycho. And it’s got Scarlett Johansson.

I’ve been writing...

I’ve finally got sat back at the PC and continued Ken’s miserable journey to “The Camp”. I’ve also been fleshing out back story and a few plotlines for my possible space opera/ alien invasion saga. I had a sudden bolt out of the blue last night when I realized that revenge is always such a great motive – I need some of that in the story. Simply finding stuff is never enough.

This blog’s drabble – Tarantino in 100 words:

I seeing you, sitting there, being all charming, enjoying my fine wine and my fine women and being just the finest gentleman there is on God’s clean Earth. But you know what else I seeing? I seeing a dirty sombitch who’s wanting to take my money and my bitches and stab my honest soul right through my honest heart. Ain’t that the f**kin truth? Ain’t it? BANG BANG BANG, AAAGH, AAAGH AAAAAGH F***IN SOMBITCH AAAGH BANG BANG GLUG, PLOP, GLOOP BANG. (Pause) Now that’s how we do it down south. Elroy? Get your sh*t. (Cool record plays, roll end credits)

So Hard it could crack an egg

I’ve been writing…

 

My first draft of my “Regenerations” story is complete – and frankly it needs some serious work. The ending is awful, it’s there because something had to be – I sort of knew what had to happen in the end but wrote myself into a contrived confrontation. Still, it’s seven thousand odd words actually written down, which is better than nothing – though I’m not sure what it’s rambling about. Hopefully a week or so away from it may give a fresh perspective and help me figure out just what these people are doing. Rampaging Moas, errant teens, strange, super-powered girls? What the hell is going on? And I’m the writer.

 

As a kind of back-up, I’ve returned to an earlier story that could well fit the bill for the Regenerations book – a story I was convinced was definitely complete. A new look at it does reveal the need for a little more oomph and a bit of restructuring. I’ve been using my “technique” that I used for “The Royal Wedding from Hell” – which uses the Lester Dent Masterplot concept of looking at your story in 4 parts – which I think of as:

 

Intro – where we meet the characters and situation, and problems

Build-up – where we throw more problems in their way and reveal what’s going on

Blow-up – where the poor buggers get even more crap thrown their way and we reveal what’s REALLY going on

Finale – where everything gets sorted out

 

It’s not overly dissimilar to structure ideas explained superbly by Larry Brooks – his latest blogpost lays it out very well (he refers to the 4 parts as Setup, Response, Attack, Resolution). And I heard of Larry via Debbie Howell, interviewed in my previous blog as part of SpecFicNZ blog week.

 

So having done the “pantser” bit with both stories – in other words just getting some bl**dy words down which, at least, give me characters, places and some kind of idea – I can move on to the rebuilding bit, where we turn all that raw material into a coherent and (hopefully) engaging story.

 

In addition to all that, I’ve started plodding along with a novel – “The Camp” – I have a rough structure of 4 parts laid out, but am feeling my way forward, finding out what makes my main man tick to start with. 5000ish words so far, only about 45000 or so to go.

 

I’ve been watching…

 

Dr Who – the latest 5 episodes (Season 7, part 1) were an improvement on last season (“Asylum of the Daleks” was the best episode since Time of the Angels/ Flesh and Stone from a couple of seasons ago) – but, when you know that the Ponds are leaving at the end of episode 5, then the other 4 episodes have an air of just being there to fill up time waiting for the important one. Thankfully, Amy and Rory are gone now, as far as I’m concerned they royally overstayed their welcome, the new girl seems interesting (at least from her intro in Asylum of the Daleks) so we wait for Xmas and the other 8 episodes to come along. And it’s the big 50^th anniversary next year so who knows what excitement is planned?

 

The fun and jollies of the US Election - like most of the rest of the world, I feel relieved that our man Obama won. Romney, himself, doesn't seem like an idiot (unlike say, George W Bush, Sarah Palin or Rick Santorum) BUT, he has to swallow the rest of the party line to keep the support of all the other red-neck loons that make up his party. I've got more to say on the warped ideology of the American right, but it will take another blog for that.

 

With the weird atmosphere of untruth that surrounded the US election, I found myself re-reading 1984 - I read when I was about 18. It was superb then, but with the wisdom that comes with age, it is simply staggering today. I will bring these threads together in my next blog.

 

Okay, and now, this month’s drabble is more of a sort of prose poem – compiled from the subject lines of the spam I get about various pills and, uh, “enlargement” products. Do they form some kind of art work? I’ll let you judge. If anyone wants me to forward one of the spams, please shout. I offer no guarantees about their products….

“So hard it could crack an egg.

Saucy young college hotties.

Germany gets first strike with extra inch

Vids from Yacht party

Your love tool is set to thrill

Butts that look awesome

Girls at $200 a pop

What really happened on the Tonight show?"

 

So - has anyone else written several thousand words of story, get to the end and decide that it really makes no sense at all?

What did everyone else think of the latest part-series of Dr Who? Are you glad the Ponds have gone?

And can anyone see art in spam? Probably not.

 

Now - go and buy "The Royal Wedding from Hell"

Spec Fic NZ Blogging Week - Final Episode

Phew, this is sneaked in at the last minute but we made it. 7 days, 7 drabbles, 1 story. Ladies and Gents, I give you the finale:

"Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy - Episode 7"

Grunt was knackered. Another food riot supressed, another few hundred dead. He stumbled in to see Panathea.

Grunt sat. "It was never this bad before."

"Before what?"

"Before they had  hope," he replied. "Too many people hoping for too much."

Pan looked out upon her city. Grunt was right. The numbers didn't add up. But she was the Bunyip Girl, here to bring the age of plenty.

Plenty was relative, however. If you can't increase supply, then reduce demand.

"Is that it?" she asked, "Am I prophesised to kill half the population?"

Grunt shook his head. Prophecies were just crap.

And there we are. The fun part about making it up as you go along is that you really don't know where it's going to go - and I really didn't think it would end up like this. Far bleaker than I was expecting, but then, maybe just beating the bad guys can't be the end - it really just gives something to start with. Beating the bad guys is the easy bit.

So Good Luck Pan, I hope you don't have to kill half your people but I leave it in your hands.

If you enioyed this - go check out the other blogs at SpecFicNZ .

And when you're done - go to Smashwords and buy my awesome ebook:
"The Royal Wedding from Hell"

As Mrs Doyle would say "Oh go on, go on, go on then...."

SpecFic NZ Blogging week Episode 6

Okay, maybe not posted every day...but, I WILL do the final episode by the end of today. So, on with the show:

"Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy - Episode 6"

The Big Kahuna dangled high above the city.

"Where's the food, Kahuna?" said Pan, "People starve, a bag of rice costs a week's wages. Release the food. Let us live."

"There's no more food, there's too many bloody people," he screamed, "the few eat, the rest barely survive. If it was fair, everyone would starve."

Pan looked down to her gang. They couldn't hear the conversation. The city sprawled out around them. Taking charge of it was a big ask of a street gang. But she was the girl of Prophecy.

Pan cut the rope and the Kahuna went down.

So what will Panathea do now?????

Find out later!!!!

Spec Fic NZ Blogging week episode 5

I'm really enjoying Spec Fic Blogging week this year. The genius who got us all to interview each other should be rewarded - it's great to read about the different Spec Fic writers, what they're up to and how they do it.

For example, here's a great interview with Paul Mannering, who was good enough to publish my story in "Tales from the Bell Club".

And this link takes you to the Spec Fic website with all of the great postings.

And on with the show:

Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy - Episode 5

"You killed my parents, and pretended to kill me," said Panathea to the battered form of Inspector Grunt.

"There was some prophecy," said Grunt, "I assume you know about that."

Panathea sat back. The record had said she would bring down the Big Kahuna and usher in a new age of plenty.

"I'll help you get the Kahuna," said Grunt, "I can use my security clearance, get you close, you can take him out."

Panathea looked to the gang. The Roos seemed keen. The Wallabies were angry. Tangi the Moa was determined.

"Betray us," said Pan, "and you will die."

Hmm, 200 words to wrap this up.....