Escape Failure

31 December 2019

I booked a visit to the Doctor Who-themed escape room, Worlds Collide as part of my Who-fan husband's Christmas present. As we were in Stratford to see King John the night before, a visit to Oxford's Westgate Shopping Centre on the way home seemed perfect.

Unfortunately, it did not go well. The experience was one of several at the venue, and it turned out that the two of us were the only ones booked for that time.  Our task was to save the world, as the Doctor was busy.  We failed.

The Doctor Who content was actually pretty minimal.  There was a briefing from the Doctor at the start, and a few familiar looking artefacts, but it was mostly just puzzle-solving to find six thingies which would help us to do something and fix something (no spoilers here). There were no further broadcast messages or clues from the Doctor - just a walkie talkie to contact our gamesmaster for clues.

Husband became very bad-tempered when we got stuck.  It gives you an idea, if I say that later that afternoon we assembled a flat pack console table with more success and a great deal less sulking.

We ended the year watching Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World and The Lie of the Land in order to calm down.

Christmas (not so) special

24 December 2019

For the second year running, there is no Doctor Who Christmas Special.  This must be strange for some, but for those of us who grew up with classic Who and lived through the drought of the 1990s, the idea of a Doctor Who Christmas Special still almost seems something of a novelty. Christmas Specials were for Morecambe and Wise, not our favourite Saturday teatime behind-the-sofa viewing.

However, in 1981 something very like a Christmas Special was aired - not Doctor Who, but a spin-off featuring two favourite sidekicks: K9 and Sarah Jane Smith.

In an attempt to get in a festive mood, I decided to watch K9 and Company on DVD.  I'm sorry to say that it really isn't very good.  In fact, it's terrible.

Let's start with the plot.  Sarah returns from working abroad for Reuters to spend Christmas with her aunt Lavinia (the famous scientist - remember?) at her, er, manor house and market garden in the Cotswolds.  But Lavinia has vanished, apparently on a book tour of the States, leaving Sarah to look after her cousin Brendan, home for the holidays from boarding school, and to open that mysterious crate that arrived a few years ago. The crate turns out to contain a gift from the Doctor.

Naturally, since it is set in the countryside, the plot involves a lot of suspicious villagers and a pagan cult. As the solstice is coming, there are rituals to perform.  The annoying cousin Brendan provides suitable human sacrifice material, leading Sarah to a frantic dash around all the churches within a five mile radius to find him before midnight, only for K9 to point out at the last moment that there is actually a chapel in the manor grounds.

And Aunt Lavinia?  Is indeed on her tour of the US.

 It could have been good, but somehow neither the script nor the editing seem to work. Who really cares about the pH of soil at Christmas?

I think I will stick with The Christmas Invasion  in future.

Judoon... nowhere near the moon

Friday 25 October 2019

To the Natural History Museum after work for 'Lates: Doctor Who - Science in the Fiction.'  The clever hook for the event was combining the art installation Museum of the Moon with the natural inspiration for the Judoon, first seen in the episode Smith and Jones. The website offered a photo opportunity with the TARDIS, screenings of Smith and Jones, science stations and a talk from Millennium FX.

We arrived at the Museum to find a skating rink and Christmas tree outside.  In October. Signage in the Museum was terrible, but we eventually found the Museum of the Moon, and took photos with TARDIS that had been placed underneath it for the event. 

We struggled to find the rest of the event.  Eventually a member of staff  told us the screening of Smith and Jones was in the Attenborough Studio on one side of the museum and the talk with people from Millennium FX, Naturally Monstrous in the Flett Theatre on the other.  We were just too late to be admitted to a screening, so had a cup of tea and snack before joining the queue for the Naturally Monstrous, which was already going down two flights of stairs.  I think the staff were taken aback by number of people queuing. I suspect if they had realised how popular it would be they would have had a booking system rather than first come, first served. We did manage to get in but others were not so lucky.

The speakers were two special effects artists who had worked for Millennium FX to create the Judoon and Silurians together with one of the curators, whose day job involves studying ear wax from killer whales.  The idea was to discuss how the natural world provides inspiration for monster design.  Whilst the Judoon are clearly based on rhinos, there are modifications.  The eyes are in front, rather than at the sides, so that the Doctor can look them squarely in the face, and the jaw moves in a different way. Millennium FX had brought along an animatronic Judoon head, which they operated whilst the interviewer was speaking.  Other monsters are not so clearly based on a single species: the Silurian design was inspired by inspired by bearded dragons and chameleons.

When it came to questions at the end, the Panel were asked which animal they would like to see a monster based on next.  The curator, suggested killer whales would also make good space police (being already black and white, they wouldn't need a uniform.)  The special effects experts suggested it would be good to base a monster on a chimpanzee as 'there hadn't been a monster based on an ape.' From which we can probably deduce that the Ogrons aren't making a comeback any time soon.

Dark Sublime

17 July 2019

This year’s birthday theatre trip was  perfect for a Doctor Who fan of a certain age: Dark Sublime - a play in which Marina Sirtis of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame stars as Marianne, an ageing actress known for her role in a cult British sci-fi series (and also Emmerdale) who strikes up a friendship with a young fan, Oli, played by Kwaku Mills.

The eponymous series occupies a space somewhere between Doctor Who and Blakes Seven.  Sirtis’ character Marianne played Ragana, a scenery-chewing villainess in the mould of Servalan. Her best friend in real life, Kate, is played by Jacqueline King, aka Sylvia Noble.  Their friendship is tested when Kate begins a new relationship with Suzanne, played by Sophie Ward¸ and Marianne seeks companionship from the star-struck Oli (and an assortment of snacks -frazzle or foam banana, anyone?) The plot involves Ragana's search for a 'shadow ruby' whilst being pursued by a motley crew of misfits in a malfunctioning time machine.

Studio 2 at the Trafalgar Studios is a very intimate performance space - from my seat in the front row I felt that I was in Marianne’s living room.  I also had a clear view of the rest of the audience, some members of which could identify with the subject matter even more closely than I could. After the interval, when we became the audience at ‘RubyCon’, a convention organised by Oli, it was strange to see Louise (Leela) Jameson, Katy (Jo Grant) Manning and Annette (Margaret Slitheen) Badland in the audience hooting with laugher.  Writer Michael Dennis portrayed the convention perfectly.  I swear that Oli’s speech about the computer console prop being for selfies only, and not to break things off as it was only a fan-made replica was almost word-for-word one which I heard Andrew Beech give at Panopticon 2003. 

The action is interspersed by flashbacks to scenes from the series, with another Doctor Who connection provided by Mark Gatiss, who somehow found time between his many other commitments to record the Voice of Kosley, the ship’s computer.

All in all it was an affectionate reflection on fame and fandom, with a feel-good happy ending.  What better way to spend a birthday?

Time Lords on Gallifrey are a bit rubbish, really, aren't they

Last weekend my other half decided we should watch The Invasion of Time, the Fourth Doctor's second visit to Gallifrey.

Unlike Sarah Jane who was unceremoniously dumped in Croydon/Aberdeen because non-Gallifreyans weren't allowed, Leela is taken along for the ride. Perhaps the Doctor forgot about the strict immigration laws, after all he had other things on his mind. Those other things make for an intriguing set up.  For the first two episodes of this six-parter the Doctor is acting strangely, to say the least.  I can't remember seeing it on original broadcast but it must have made for a very unsettling fortnight, wondering why the Doctor was acting so out of character.

Eventually it transpires that the Doctor is being watched by the Vardans, who can monitor his thoughts, and he has to frustrate them whilst appearing to play along. The Vardans initially manifest themselves simply as shimmering sheets of tinfoil, so it is a disappointment when, finally secure in their objective, these all-powerful beings finally show their true selves to be humanoids in rather boring uniforms, who are surprisingly easy to defeat.

But just when everything seems to have been sorted out, a twist introduces the final two episodes: the Sontarans, and everything gets a bit weird, with a long chase through the interior of the TARDIS for no apparent reason, until the Doctor and K9 manage to save the day.

What were the Time Lords themselves doing whilst all this was going on? Not a lot. Chancellor Borusa spends the middle of the story shut up in the President's Office and the simpering Castellan throws in his lot with the invaders. Only Commander Andred seems to do anything positive to fight back, for which he is rewarded by getting shot in the arm and marrying Leela (those immigration rules must definitely have changed.)

We need to talk about UNIT

There has been quite a bit of fuss about the call centre scene in Resolution and the 'suspension' of UNIT.  This is being taken as either a political comment on Brexit or one on government spending cuts more generally.

To my mind the Brexit theory doesn't stand up.  UNIT is not, and never has been an EU organisation. Originally, it was an offshoot of the United Nations (the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) with its headquarters in Geneva.  On occasion, the Brigadier would go direct to Geneva when the British government was proving difficult.  In more recent years, whilst the UN connection has gone (it is now the 'Unified' Intelligence Taskforce) we have seen even more of its international side, with Martha working for its US base in The Stolen Earth. The government cuts argument doesn't really work either.  The implication in Resolution seemed to be that UNIT was a British organisation, whose 'international partners' were re-evaluating their financial commitments, not that the British government had cut their financial contribution.  I think we could easily conclude that the organisation has simply tightened security and forgotten to let the Doctor know the new password.

Irrespective of the reasons, I am not sorry to see UNIT being dropped from the series for the time being.  It had become too big and powerful.  An organisation with the resources to fit out an aircraft carrier like the Valiant, or set up Osterhagen stations across the globe, or establish a 'Black Archive' with memory wipe technology and anti-TARDIS shielding has little need of the Doctor. It's a long way from the days when UNIT HQ seemed to be run by a Brigadier, a Captain, and a Sergeant, with some canon-fodder privates, and the nearest they got to sophisticated hardware was when the Brigadier asked Benton to 'lay on a chopper.'

New Year's? Resolution

January the first so time for a Resolution - the first New Year airing of Doctor Who since The End of Time Part II (which did not go well.) 

It started well with the legend of the ancient vanquished enemy, divided into three parts and buried at the ends of the earth (or Sheffield, whichever is further.) All was going well until those pesky archaeologists started digging in the sewers beneath the Sheffield Town Hall. Which brings me to my first quibble.  Those sewers looked amazing.  The council are really missing a trick if they aren’t offering guided tours.  But leaving that aside, the archaeologists made two fundamental errors - leaving an unknown thingy under a UV lamp, and wandering off alone, which provided a classic Doctor Who set up, though it did take them quite a long time to get around to it.

Sadly, things lost their way a bit in the middle of the episode.  We had the brilliant concept of a Dalek mutant hitching a ride like the Old Man of the Sea, but everything stopped for what seemed like ages whilst Ryan and his dad had a chat in a café, and his dad tried to sell a dodgy oven to the café owner.  There could have been a bit more subtlety with the oven. We definitely got the message that it was going to come in useful later. 

Meanwhile, back at the action, the mutant had found a workshop and cued the music, just like in an old-style episode of Top Gear, though the finished casing looked rather better than most of Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May’s efforts at customisation. I really liked that scrapyard Dalek casing. A pity that it was not robust enough to withstand a combination oven.

But this story was not really about the Dalek, but about family, and Ryan’s relationship with his father.  There’s nothing like the possibility of being sucked into space with an angry Dalek mutant to provide a resolution to a family rift.

All in all, a good story which also looked good, but was let down by the pacing of the script.

Who Do's and Don'ts

Since its return in 2005, Doctor Who has provided viewers with an ever-growing list of commands. Quite are few are prohibitions - mostly things that we must not do in order to be safe from monsters, though a bit of personal prejudice might be creeping in at number 5.

1.       Don’t blink - from 2007’s Blink.  If you do, the Weeping Angels will get you.

2.       Don’t step in the shadows from 2008’s - Silence in the Library.  The Vashta Nerada are lurking in the shadows - any shadow.

3.       Don’t breathe - from the Twelfth Doctor’s debut story, Deep Breath.  If you breathe the Half-Faced man will get you.

4.       Don’t look - from the 2014 story Listen.  Perhaps the scariest command of all, don’t turn round to look at the monster you think is behind you.

5.       ‘You must not watch this’ advice concerning the 2015 episode Sleep No More that I wish I had heeded.

6.       Never eat pears - the Twelfth Doctor’s parting advice to Clara in 2015’s Hell Bent.

7.  [Late addition] Don't pop bubblewrap - as we learned when the Thirteenth Doctor visited Kerblam!

It’s not all don’ts though.  There are some things which are positively encouraged:

1.       Smile - your life may depend on it if there are any Emojibots around.

2.       Always take a banana to a party.   Not only are they a good source of potassium, you might invent the banana daiquiri a few centuries early, as the Tenth Doctor did in The Girl in the Fireplace.

Warning: If you are thinking about New Year Resolutions, this is not the list you need.  But don’t forget your banana on New Year’s Eve.

Talking of Frogs....

Watching It Takes You Away made us want to revisit a 'classic' episode which also featured a talking frog: Four to Doomsday.

This was the first Peter Davison story to be filmed, and it shows. It's an odd episode, which would have fitted pretty well into the Hartnell era. There are some similarities with The Ark, although in this case it is the Urbankans who have left their dying planet. Earth has been chosen as their new home.

The TARDIS crew have not really settled down.  Tegan just wants to go home, and is extremely annoying - though she does demonstrate excellent artistic skills.  Nyssa is being a scientific clever clogs, and is annoying.  Adric is just annoying.

Overall the story is pretty poor, but it does provide a use for the Fifth Doctor's cricketing outfit, or at least the cricket ball in his pocket, as long as you can suspend disbelief in the laws of physics.

Stone Me - a talking frog!

24 December 2018

I have been very negligent in blogging about the most recent episodes.  So here, in true i-Player tradition is a catch-up:

Kerblam!

A nice little satire on online shopping and huge corporations.  Sadly not enough Lee Mack, but a good twist at the end.  Make a mental note to add ‘popping bubblewrap’ to the things which Doctor Who forbids.

The Witchfinders

A celebrity historical that is completely stolen by Alan Cumming’s portrayal of James VI and I.  So over the top he is onto the next hill but one.  Also makes good use of the Doctor’s new gender - of course she would be regarded as the Witchfinder’s ‘assistant’ and then ducked as a witch.

It Takes You Away

Unquestionably the best episode of the series.  It starts with an apparently abandoned cottage in Norway, lulling the viewer into thinking it will not be that different in tone from the previous episode, but before long we are in the anti-zone with a Gollum-like creature, before ending up with a sentient universe appearing as a talking frog.  This is the sort of story that Doctor Who can pull off - sheer madness!

The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos

After the previous episode, this seemed a bit underpowered.  Tim Shaw was not really a strong enough villain to merit a comeback in the season finale, and the eponymous battle was not realised on screen.

I can’t wait to see what is in store on New Year’s Day!

Quick Guide to Who Christmas Specials

It's the first year for 14 years that there has not been a Doctor Who Christmas special on 25 December.  To someone who lived through the long Who drought of the 1990s* it still seems slightly incredible that for the new generation Doctor Who is as much a Christmas TV tradition as the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special and the James Bond film were in my childhood.

[*In the 1990s and early 2000s we had only Virgin books and Big Finish audios for new Who. But Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without listening to The Chimes of Midnight at least once.]

So here is my reflection on the specials of the past 14 years in order of brilliance:

1	The Christmas Invasion The debut of the best Doctor ever, in pyjamas, with killer Christmas trees, epic Star Wars style space duel, and ending in time for the Doctor to enjoy a family Christmas dinner.  Perfection!	2005
2	The Unquiet Dead Not strictly a Christmas special, but set at Christmas, with Charles Dickens and ghosts, so it counts.  And it’s brilliant.	2005
3	A Christmas Carol Doctor Who’s take on the classic Dickensian Christmas tale.  With giant space fish and a haunting carol.	2010
4	The Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe This Narnia-like story gets a high place for sheer Christmas schmaltz.  Ideal for family viewing after overdosing on the mince pies.	2011
5	The Runaway Bride The introduction of the fabulous Donna Noble, with Sarah Parish eating the scenery as the Empress of the Racnoss, and the most wonderful chase scene.  Would have scored higher, but the Christmas flavour seems a bit tacked on (probably due to filming in July…)	2006
6	Voyage of the Damned A glossy disaster movie for Christmas, with lovely cameo from Bernard Cribbins.  But why employ Kylie Minogue and get someone else to sing the song?	2007
7	Last Christmas Disconcerting mix between Christmassy and very bleak, marked higher because of the Rudolph’s nose gag.	2014
8	Twice Upon a Time Two (well, three, just) Doctors for the price of one.  Scores highly for David Bradley’s First Doctor and Mark Gatiss’ displaced soldier, but the whole Testimony thing was rather annoying.	2017
9	The Return of Doctor Mysterio A superhero movie - good family entertainment, but not very Who-like.	2016
10	The Next Doctor Good Dickensian Christmas vibe, but scored down for Russell T Davies’ evil tease and the cybershades.  Also the plot was weak.	2008
11	The Husbands of River Song Some very funny moments, but Nardole was annoying and the monsters were too revolting for post-Christmas lunch viewing.	2015
12	The End of Time Lovely performance from Bernard Cribbins (and I want to be June Whitfield) but I am too sad about this being Ten’s swansong to mark any higher. Also, the farewell tour at the end was unnecessary.	2009
13	The Snowmen The Doctor sulking on a cloud, before joining forces with Mary Poppins-lite - really?	2012
14	The Time of the Doctor Sounds of the bottom of the barrel being scraped with a town called Christmas.  The festive bird being cooked in the TARDIS was not the only turkey in this episode.	2013

Settling down now

18 November 2018

 Demons of the Punjab was a return to form.  It was a lovely piece of Sunday evening family entertainment. It's a pity that the eponymous demons turned out to be not so different from Testimony - perhaps they need to get in touch and discuss joint working arrangements?
Phew!

In other news this week, we have learned that the Christmas Special this year is going to be a New Year special.  Frankly I don't mind the loss of a Christmas Special, as it gives me an excuse to watch The Christmas Invasion again. No subsequent special has surpassed this one. The problem is that broadcasting on New Year's day limits my options for a birthday treat for the husband, who will obviously want to watch it live.

Still, maybe there's hope.  We have arranged to meet a friend this evening and will therefore need to watch tonight's episode on catch-up.

Call the Space Midwife

10 November 2018

It's nearly a week since The Tsuranga Conundrum was broadcast. I watched it again today to see whether it was as bad as I originally thought.  It was.


Last Friday I had lunch with my former colleague, who told me he really wasn't enjoying the new series. I tried to convince him that it was better than he thought.  On Sunday evening, I texted him to concede that this particular episode was bad. He hadn't even bothered to watch it.  On the basis that our opinions of the new series were diametrically opposed, he then decided to see it after all.  He can't say I didn't warn him.

For me, nothing about the episode really worked.  It was never made clear what Team TARDIS were looking for on the planet of the dumps in the first place.  Then the whole concept of the Tsurunga seemed weird.  Why would a society that is civilised and caring enough to create automated emergency medical transport vessels include a protocol to self-destruct when remote sensors suggest something is wrong. Wouldn't quarantine be a more usual response?

The plot felt like one of the lesser Star Trek episodes and the tone was all over the place. The P'Ting  seemed like a sort of cross between the cuteness of an Adipose and the menace of thing from Midnight. It also reminded me a bit of Yoda, as Luke Skywalker first encountered him in the Dagobah system. The pacing was also off.  One minute there was an urgent threat as the ship is being devoured by an unstoppable creature, and the next everything stopped for clunky exposition, a lesson on antimatter or an episode of Call the Space Midwife. 

Ronan was not the only one experiencing a comprehension deficiency by the end.

I hope for more from Demons of the Punjab.

Arachnids in the UK

*Spoilers*

Armed with my retro sausage sandwich, I snuggled down on the sofa for a 1970s-style Doctor Who experience, and it didn't disappoint.

Evil businessman, toxic waste down a coal mine, giant creepy-crawlies: this was The Green Death for the 21st century. I'm not a huge spider fan, so this episode was definitely scary.  It may be a while before I can face having a bath again.

There were some echoes of the Russell T Davies era as well.  The suspicion of Yasmin's Mum Najia about her daughter's new 'friend' was very similar to that of Jackie Tyler, Francine Jones and Sylvia Noble. 'Why is it always the mothers?' the Tenth Doctor wondered, after having his face slapped by Francine in The Lazarus Experiment. There was also an Aliens of London/World War Three moment with Chris Noth's evil businessman who seemed extremely like a certain American president. It didn't come quite as close to the bone as the 'massive weapons of destruction line' as it was made clear that he intended to challenge Trump (perhaps the lawyers made them put that bit in) but the reference was hardly subtle.

I have a few niggles though.

I spent quite a lot of time worrying about Yas's dad and his terrible pakoras. He'd gone to all that trouble and the guests had vanished.  How rude! I hope the food wasn't wasted.  

The resolution seemed rushed. The final scene in which 'Team TARDIS' signed up was good, but we never learned who is going to clear up the spider web and carcass, to say nothing of the toxic dump in the mine. What happened to the spider in the flat?

Still, 10/10 for the title.

Doctor Who Day

Sunday 28 October 2018

The clocks have gone back, I have had a lie-in to celebrate my extra hour, it's cold outside and the evenings are getting dark.  It feels like a proper 'Doctor Who' day like we used to have in the 1970s.

So much so, that I watched an episode of Inferno earlier - the news stories about small earthquakes caused by fracking somehow brought it to mind, as did an interview with John Levene in Doctor Who Magazine.

To round off my 1970s Doctor Who experience, I'm making sausage sandwiches for tea, to be consumed whilst watching the Doctor battling with spiders.  I just hope we don't experience that other feature of early 70s TV watching - the power cut!

Settling In

Sunday 21 October 2018

Three episodes in, it's time to reflect on the new series and team.

Firstly, broadcasting on a Sunday is inspired.  I went to see Troilus and Cressida (with Martha's Mum  Adjoa Andoh playing Ulysses brilliantly) last night without having to catch up on Doctor Who on iPlayer.

The series has followed the Russell T Davies template of a trip to the future in episode 2 and a celebrity historical for episode 3 and is eschewing the more complicated timey-wimey plotting of the Moffat era.

The Ghost Monument had a refreshingly straightforward plot: essentially Doctor Who meets a Top Gear Special as the crew gatecrash the final stage of a rally.  No prizes for guessing what the 'Ghost Monument' at the finishing line turns out to be. All they have to do to find the TARDIS is cross an inhospitable planet that is trying to kill them, whilst allowing time for some character development along the way.

Rosa had something of the feel of one of the Hartnell episodes, but was none the worse for that.  The subject was handled sensitively. As last week, the plot was straightforward - all the team had to do was foil the attempts of the villain (a meddling monk equivalent) to change history.  Not quite as easy as you might think, and the question of whether or not there would be enough people on the bus provided a surprising amount of tension.   There was also a nice nod to more recent Who with a reference to the Storm Cage detention facility.

I like this new simplicity.

The Doctor Has Landed

14 October 2018

It's a week now since Jodie Whittaker made her proper debut as the Thirteenth-ish Doctor.  I was ready, with my edible ball bearing cakes, for a teatime treat.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode, though I was sad about Ryan's Nan.  I would have liked to see more of her.  The new style seemed to fit into Sunday evening viewing so well, that at one point I did wonder whether I was still watching The Bodyguard.

I do have a few queries though:

1. The Doctor fell out of her TARDIS in flight, through the roof of a train and was all right afterwards?  The Fourth Doctor regenerated after falling of a radar array which was nowhere near as high.  The Tenth Doctor fell through a roof in The End of Time Part Two and sort of survived for a bit, (at least until Wilf accidentally irradiated him), but at least he looked damaged.  OK - I know she was still in her regeneration cycle, when minor injuries such as losing a hand or being gunned down by the Gestapo aren't fatal, but even so.

2. If Ryan gave 'consent' for the hunting ritual when he touched the shape in the air, how come the quarry had already been lined up with enough time for 'Tim Shaw' to rig up his cheating device?  He came through almost immediately afterwards.

3. Why was Ryan trying to learn to ride a bike on uneven, muddy ground? Wouldn't an empty car park have been easier - and have they never heard of stabilisers?

4. Is it just me, or did the new Doctor's sonic screwdriver look like it might have another function?

Looking forward to finding out how the new crew cope on a different planet.

Deletion

Saturday 6 October 2018

Cyberman

Only one day to go until Jodie Whittaker is properly introduced as the new Doctor.  I have been so busy lately that I haven't really had time to get excited yet, but I'm definitely working up to it now.

I recently blogged about the feminisation of the audience for Doctor Who.  There was another good example of that at work this week.  It was at the start of a meeting of a university committee that approves new degree programmes, and someone mentioned that an obsolete programme was going to be deleted.  'That sounds like something the Cybermen would do' said the chair (another lady of a certain age like myself, who looks absolutely nothing like the traditional image of a Who fan.)  She then went on to mention that an old friend of hers had been in a Cybermen episode. From the description of the character I immediately identified  Mrs Moore from Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel played by Helen Griffin. By this time one or two of our (male) colleagues on the other side of the table were looking bemused, but that did not stop the chair from adding that another friend used to run a shop where they did occasional Who-related signings and once arranged for Tom Baker to phone her at work.

I didn't have the heart to ask whether she was sure it wasn't Jon Culshaw.

Neil, Plaything of Sutekh!

2 September 2018

My husband, the one who got me into all this, is called Neil. This means I can call him 'plaything of Sutekh' if he gets above himself.

Neil has a TARDIS materialisation sound as his ringtone, which can be disconcerting at times. Coincidentally this is also the ringtone a colleague of mine who works in IT support uses for her boss, Neal.

Meanwhile, my hairdresser's partner (the one who built a Dalek) is also called Neil.

Coincidence?

The feminisation of Doctor Who

19 August 2018

No, this isn't another post about a female Doctor. This is about the audience.

When I first accompanied my husband to conventions back in the early 1990s I was very much in the minority as one of the very few women present.   Probably the biggest change in Doctor Who since it returned in 2005 has been the rise of the fangirl.  The gender balance at conventions is now far more even.

I was reminded of this change whilst watching Kill the Moon  just now.  When I watched it originally I was so incensed by the ridiculous storyline and Clara's tantrum at the end, that I missed a throwaway line that really encapsulates this change in the audience.  Clara says that the school secretary hates her 'because she thinks I gave her a packet of Tena Lady in Secret Santa.' If ever a line was designed for my demographic (middle-aged female) that is it.  My other half still doesn't get it.  I suspect the Twelfth Doctor didn't either.

Even now, it seems odd that they managed to get away with a line about incontinence pads in a family show, but it is not the first time that the post-2005 show has had lines aimed at a female audience which would not have been considered appropriate for a family audience in the show's earlier years. There was a  joke about breast implants in Rose, and another in The Doctor's Daughter about turkey-basters.

I can't wait to see where this goes next.