oh look, a random update...

[newmoonstar]

I'm a bit behind schedule on all my fannish projects at the moment. Stage managing a show is time consuming, and it'll only get worse the closer to opening night we get. I'm slightly worrying that I'll only have one of my cosplays done before Chicago TARDIS, and also that I won't have anything at all done for who_at_50. I started a fic, but it veered off into very silly crackfic, and now I don't think the muse of comedy is really with me anymore. *sigh* At least I picked the last day of November for my posting date!

In other news, I went to see the National Tour of Wicked: The Musical, which was absolutely fantastic! I had wanted to go on my birthday or Halloween, but there was one front row center seat left the night before Halloween, so I took it! It was very sweet, and funnier than I expected, and of course it's a gorgeous production. Sitting so close you get to see all the details in the sets and costumes, which are just incredible. You miss some of the pretty staging from that angle, but when the fog effects roll out onto you, and Glinda's bubbles land in your hair, you feel like you're right in the middle of that world. And best of all, you get to see the actor's faces and get drawn into the characters journeys, which is the most important thing to me. The cast I saw was wonderful, and the actresses playing Elphaba (Mary Kate Morrissey) & Glinda (Carrie St. Louis) were perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. (Although a friend of mine got to go backstage for a tour and danced with Fiyero- I admit to being slightly jealous!)

Classic Who watching continues- very glad to get to Sarah Jane's eps at last, though my enjoyment of 'The Time Warrior' was a little overshadowed by the fact that I watched it while I was really sick. But yay for Sarah Jane! Though it's a bit strange to see her so young after first meeting her older- it's like this timey-wimey time travel stuff is real!

I was feeling much better by the time I watched 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs', but that one I just plain disliked. Even though everyone talks about how bad the dinosaurs look in it, I didn't mind the cheesy dinosaurs one bit. They were really cute & unintentionally funny, and the cheesy fake monsters are part of the fun of Doctor Who. But the ridiculously convoluted plot, with it's overtones of right-wing hysteria over the evils of environmentalism (lol wut?) were just so absurd I couldn't take it. And the worst of it was what they did to Yates. It just didn't ring true at all.

There has to be way more set-up for, and some sort of logic behind, a character switching sides & turning against everything he'd stood for for the previous three years. There'd been nothing in Mike's character in any of his stories to suggest he would be predisposed to believe in utopian nonsense, let alone that he'd suddenly go completely crazy & be willing to murder millions of people, including his friends. That was just beyond the pale, and very lazy writing to boot. I could have forgiven it if he'd come to his senses at the end, but having him turn a gun on the Doctor & the Brig & Benton was completely outrageous & going entirely too far. And it's too bad too, since there was lots of great stuff with the Doctor & Sarah Jane getting to know each other in this one, and UNIT stories are usually my favorites. I'll just have to pretend 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs' didn't happen in order to get through the rest of the season- and I'm already pretending that Three isn't going to leave at the end! Good golly, what a web of denial I'm weaving just to get through Classic Who with my heart still intact... but I can't stop watching. Doctor Who owns my soul.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

I'll try not to spoiler you if you don't already know, but re. Mike - that isn't the end of his story and I think you'll be happier when you have got to the end of this season. (Also, the behind the scenes thinking was that it was a consequence of what happened to him in The Green Death, except, thyis being CLassic Who, we're meant to join up the only partially visible dots for ourselves). But it does make a little more sense than was bothering you - and it will get picked up again, so just enjoy Benton punching a General and the lovely SJS and the rest of the season! ;-)

Good luck with all your projects. And comedy is hard. If you've not been well, the comic muse may just have switched off for the duration & hopefully will return soon!

[newmoonstar]

I've been trying to avoid Classic Who spoilers as much as possible (which is very difficult in this fandom!) but back when I started I bought a guidebook so that I'd know the order of the episodes and which companion came in where- so I'm aware that Mike is in 'Planet of the Spiders'. I'm relieved to hear that his storyline will be addressed though, because all the guidebook says is that he's part of a group who psychically contact a bunch of evil alien spiders, so that didn't instill me with much hope for him! (And if they were thinking 'The Green Death' set him up for 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs', um... not so much. Sorry Barry & Terrance, but that's a bit of a leap from point a to b there, & we're average viewers, not kangaroos! :p )

But Sarah Jane is of course great, and though I'm sad to see the UNIT era drawing to an end, I'm enjoying seeing her adventures with the Doctor at last. The first ep of Invasion of Dinosaurs that was just them in deserted London was all really good stuff, and the mugshot scene was just priceless. :D

And yes, it's definitely true that the comedy muse always flees when one is ill- so hopefully it'll only be temporary. *bites nails as deadlines approach*

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I echo lost_spook, Mike's story will be a bit more fleshed out. But yeah, Classic Who, however much I adore it, doesn't Always do well in the character developing department.

Though Three is my number one Classic Doctor, I still think Sarah Jane work better with Four. So perhaps you won't be too heartbroken.

I watched the Classics Before New Who, but I can tell you that when Sarah´Jane showed up in School Reunion I sat and screamed to the cats that she was back. I was absolutely delighted with it. Still am. :)

[newmoonstar]

Yeah, sometimes Doctor Who can be a bit perfunctory in it's handling of what should be important character developments, to say the least! But I'm glad if Mike will get a little more in 'Planet of the Spiders', if I can bring myself to watch it- giant spiders and the Doctor getting killed are pretty much my least favorite things ever. Even knowing he regenerates, it's still sad to say goodbye to a Doctor.

My mother used to watch Classic Who back when it was new, and Four & Sarah Jane were her first TARDIS team and her favorite, so I remember how excited she was when Sarah Jane came back in New Who- I heard all about Sarah Jane before I'd even seen her. (She almost named me Sarah Jane, apparently, but she thought it would be too popular a name- so she chose Nyssa instead, LOL)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sometimes Doctor Who can be a bit perfunctory in it's handling of what should be important character developments, to say the least!

Indeed! On the other hand- plenty of scope for good fanfic about it. :)

Even knowing he regenerates, it's still sad to say goodbye to a Doctor.

It is. i always get oddlt snffly...

(She almost named me Sarah Jane, apparently, but she thought it would be too popular a name- so she chose Nyssa instead, LOL)

You are named Nyssa? That's Lovely!

[newmoonstar]

That is the beauty of Doctor Who fandom- if the show doesn't explore something enough, the fans will remedy it with fic sooner or later!

I really like being named Nyssa now that I watch Classic Who- she's one of my favorite companions & it's so great to have such a heroic namesake! But when I was a kid I didn't like it, because almost no one in America watched Doctor Who, so everyone just thought it was really weird.To this day the only people who can spell it or pronounce it correctly are Doctor Who fans, so I usually use my middle name for most things instead. But it's fun now when I go to Doctor Who conventions & people are surprised to meet someone in real life named after a companion. And Sarah Sutton signed an autograph for me saying 'To Nyssa - From Nyssa'! Heehee! :D

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

That is the beauty of Doctor Who fandom- if the show doesn't explore something enough, the fans will remedy it with fic sooner or later!

Yes, and though I can't say I love the Classics more than New, the Classics do a lot more for my imagination. :)

I really like being named Nyssa now that I watch Classic Who- she's one of my favorite companions & it's so great to have such a heroic namesake! But when I was a kid I didn't like it

My sister has a very uncommon name and she hated that growing up as well. As an adult she's very pleased. :)

And Sarah Sutton signed an autograph for me saying 'To Nyssa - From Nyssa'! Heehee! :D

That sounds awesome! Nyssa is one of my favourite companion's as well. :)