Posts Tagged ‘Doctor Who’
The Boy Who Kicked Pigs – Tom Baker
The front cover describes this book as ‘A grotesque masterpiece’, I agree about the grotesque part. The story is about Robert Caligari who enjoyed kicking pigs and ended up causing some serious trouble and then gets his comeuppance.
I found it interesting not due to it’s writing style or it’s content but for other reasons. It’s written by Tom Baker who played the fourth Doctor Who (he was always my favourite until David Tennant came along and now I can’t make up my mind) and for some of the illustrations. There are quite a lot of illustrations and the ones with horses are quite realistic. This seems to be written for children in a Lemony Snicket style and I wasn’t too impressed by his writing.
The part of the story that stands out is the part where the conflagration is being reported. Robert causes a very bad accident and we see the reporters in a very bad light. They gush about the accident in the same voices they would have gushed about any traffic problems. It’s very tongue in cheek, it’s the only part I enjoyed.
Can I recommend it? If you like Lemony Snicket you’ll probably enjoy it. If you’re a big Doctor Who fan you’ll want to read it for completeness. I currently have it for sale here
Vale: Elisabeth Sladen
Elisabeth Sladen played Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who, K-9 and Company and also had her own show, The Sarah Jane Adventures. She passed away on 19th April 2011 after suffering from cancer, she was 63. She will be very much missed.
I always had a problem with Sarah Jane. She seemed to be a bit of a carpet, always going and getting into trouble and needing the Doctor to get her out. When they brought out The Sarah Jane Adventures I was ambivalent about seeing it but when I finally took the plunge I was enchanted. The story goes that Elisabeth Sladen was nobbled with her acting as Sarah Jane and was not able to play her as she wanted, but was allowed to change her for The Sarah Jane Adventures (SJA). In SJA, Sladen is just perfect. She has the right mixture of fear when facing problems, nous when it comes to extricating herself and her young companions and empathy for others. She’s no longer, the screaming female who needs to be extricated by The Doctor but has grown up and matured.
Sladen has done many other acting roles, on both stage and screen but will be most remembered for Sarah Jane. As Sarah Jane she worked with both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker and was also asked to reprise her role when Peter Davison took on the role. She declined but did take on her role in K-9 and Company.
My condolences go to Sladen’s family for their loss. She will be very much missed by so many people.
Doctor Who
Doctor Who, is it science fiction, fantasy and does it matter?
I was reading a slightly aged article today written by Sir Terry Pratchett about Doctor Who and why he keeps watching. Doctor Who is one of those love-em or hate-em programmes, I haven’t found anyone who is in-between. The original series until they were revived with Christopher Ecclestone had very dodgy sets and incredibly cheap special effects, one of the episodes had monsters covered with bubble wrap that had been sprayed green, you can’t get much cheaper than that. The science was always there and you knew a lot of it was possible, but in the current series the science is very much out there in the realms of the totally impossible, that assumes that it’s actually based on real science and not just made up.
Pratchett talks about the laws of narrative and that if there’s an axe in the room in an obvious place then it will be used at some point. He also talks about deus ex machina and how the Doctor really has become a god from the machine. Now I’m not entirely happy with that as one of the appeals of Doctor Who is that he was always very much human and he generally pointed out he wasn’t human by mentioning his two hearts. Now, his behaviour is very much alien and very bizarre. He doesn’t listen, at all, in Tom Baker’s day you knew he was listening and then pretending it was his idea, but at least he was listening. Now, these companions are just there to be talked at and that irks me, most especially as I still believe Karen Gillan would make a fantastic Doctor Who, she has so much potential just waiting to be tapped and she’s being kept sitting around with her mouth covered so she can be a sounding board.
I did start off with an actual goal in mind with this article, but that was several hours ago and I’ve managed to watch another episode since then. I’m beginning to not want to watch Doctor Who any more. It’s crossed the border and is mostly in the realms of fantasy, the science is rather scarce, the fantasy is rather dubious and the new Doctor just doesn’t excite me. The writing has ventured beyond the border of fandom and has stopped being the Doctor that I knew and loved, it seems to be more about the special effects and less about the story and the characters. I do understand that the Doctor has always been a little different but I think they’ve taken that interpretation way too far.
Next week I’ll be asking myself if I really want to watch this episode. That’s always a challenge as my computer gives me a decent view of the TV so even if I’m not watching it I’ll still be able to watch it…if you see what I mean. I have three other people in the house who will watch it.
Triocon 2010 – Melbourne
Some of you will know that Triocon is on this weekend and some of you will know the fun and excitement to be had there. For those that don’t here is a basic rundown on some of the fun; I’ve had some coaching from DD who attended Doctor Who Downunder last year, also run by First Contact Conventions.
Seating is allocated depending on what you pay for. VIP tickets are placed in the first two rows and receive other extras.
Tickets are issued at the door.
Last year for the Doctor Who convention attended by Peter Davison and Mark Strickson they had a replica TARDIS. Peter Davison mentioned it was too big. When the stage was clear it was possible to walk up there and take photos of the TARDIS, DD didn’t take a camera, some kind person took photos of her stepping into the TARDIS and hasn’t managed to send her the photos so somewhere in Melbourne there are photos of her launching herself on her next adventure.
Clips will be played, discussions happen, a question and answer session and videos played during lunch. There will be time for autographs and photos both will cost extra on the day. Last year DD paid for a photo with Peter Davison so we now have a good idea of his height.
There will be an auction and I do warn you about this. Some choice memorabilia will be available. If there are any badges, I request you bid on them for me.
In the foyer there will be stalls from various associated shops and shops; they will be more than happy to deal with you.
If you heckle with too many factoids you will receive the label of ‘nerd’. Some people wear this label with pride.
If you see this in time and there is space you’ll be able to attend and have enormous amount of fun. If you don’t, then just keep an eye on First Contact Conventions for other fabulous conventions. The next one listed is Star Trek in August.
Doctor Who and being blogged
I’m sure you want to know what Doctor Who and me being blogged have to do with each other. Actually, to be honest, nothing at all. I only have a few words to say about both things and I’m going to talk about both of them today to make a longer blog.
A few days ago I mentioned a Doctor Who meeting my eldest was organising. It was great fun. For the initiated we watched An Unearthly Child episodes 1-4 (with jelly babies in hand) which just happen to be the first four episodes of Doctor Who. It was fabulous seeing William Hartnell again. I don’t think I’ve seen him for a very long time. Lovely to go back and see what it used to be like and to compare William Hartnell with David Tennant. Anyway, she is planning more meetings so if you’re in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne and you don’t mind being threatened by miniature Daleks you might want to watch this space. You could also join the Doctor Who Club of Victoria.
I really don’t like bragging and I admit to being really uncomfortable about writing this and about the blog, but I put my hand up to be interviewed a few weeks ago in a fit of confidence and today I received notification that my entry had been published. Melissa Norfolk is a lovely lady who gave a presentation at the recent Business Mums Conference. Her presentation was on websites and she gave me such confidence about my own website I finally felt able to add the extra pages I’d been considering. She’s written a book called Starting an Online Business for Dummies and I really recommend it for anyone just starting out. I also recommend you visit her blog in a few days after my entry has hidden itself a bit, might make me feel a little less self conscious about it.
“But it’s a good book!”…. in awful condition
One of the continuing problems for secondhand book sellers is when people want to sell you books.
There’s the people who bring loads of books in any kind of condition; good, bad or just awful, and expect you to pay retail prices for them. They just miss seeing that you still have to pay for expenses and storage and don’t forget that you actually want to make a profit. I’m actually not sure what they’re thinking at that point, but it isn’t about the book seller making a profit. I sometimes bargain with them for the books I want for me, but generally suggest they sell them on eBay or Oztion themselves as it’s not worth my while to pay the prices they’re asking.
Then there are the people who insist on trying to tell you their books are fabulous. They might be in fabulous condition as if they haven’t been read, but are a-dime-a-dozen and not worth paying anything at all. They might be fabulous titles but are in such dreadful condition that they only place for them is the recycling bin. The Book Shop Blog makes this last point very nicely hence the title of this blog.
There are two things that hurt me the most when people offer me books. One is when they’re great books and I just don’t have the cash due to being in a poor cash flow situation and the other is when I have to turn them down due to having no space. It’s just one of the problems I face due to working from home. I might blog about working from home another time after the Doctor Who meeting at our place on Saturday.
Thank you to the MSFC for a fabulous Minicon!!!
The MSFC (Melbourne Science Fiction Club) ran a fabulous Minicon last Saturday. If you run or are a member of a science fiction club in Melbourne then you should have been there. If you’re not a member of a science fiction club and want to consider joining one you should have been there and if you’re just interested in science fiction then you should have been there. Basically, it was a must attend event for all interested in science fiction.
I was there selling books. I had a table full of Science Fiction and Fantasy magaines, Fantastic Stories, If Science Fiction and some Analogue magazines. On my right was a man selling off some of his Star Wars collection, on my left was the Doctor Who Fan Club of Victoria. We also had SpacedOut, the Australian Science Fiction Foundation, Austrek, Scienceworks, Andromeda Spaceways In Flight Magazine, Slow Glass books and maybe Star Walking, but I don’t recall seeing them.
I’ll expand on these clubs at a later date and try and get a representative to come along and talk about their club as well.
I had a fabulous time. I was in the perfect position to see and hear the Guest of Honour, Kim Westwood, the author of The Daughters of Moab. She read parts of her book and also answered questions. I think she asked more questions than she answered. I’ll be adding this book to my reading list and you’ll see a review in due course.
I’m not excited by Trivia Quizes and tend not to join in. I was able to watch from my table and listen to people answering the questions very loudly and very wrongly in order to put off their opponents. The answer ’42′ came up many times. There was much laughter and hilarity. I was very surprised to find I could answer many more questions than usual. I’m sure that’s due to my knowledge and not the simplicity of the questions. It was great fun.
The MSFC run one of these every year. Situated in a church hall in Brunswick the cost is low and the fun level is high. Put it in your calendar for next year to check out their website before April so you don’t miss it. Better yet, join the MSFC so you know exactly what is happening. Here’s the url for you: http://msfc.sf.org.au