(no subject)

[neadods]

If you read doyle_sb4 you've already seen much of this, but I'm collecting it for those who haven't and so I can find it later. (The "finding it later" is mostly my reason for being a one-woman Daily Who and Torchwood Three this morning.)

Big Finish is having a contest "open to anyone, of any age, who has never had a work of fiction published that they've been paid for." 2,500 words on "How the Doctor Changed My Life," meaning the life of a fictional/historical character. The winner "will work with an editor to get their story to publishable standard. [Note to post-print-era fanficcers: This means they will tell you to change things. Deal.] They will receive the standard author's contract - and rates of pay - for their story, which will be published in one of the Big Finish Short Trips anthologies in 2007." Links to previous stories are provided.

Hmmmm... although other things currently in the pipeline take precedence; I need to see how they end up first.

Also from Doyle, a link to crepe_suzettes' essay on Torchwood. I'm not familiar with "Dad's Army, but I do think she nails it dead to rights with They are misfits and incompetents, and the reason they're Torchwood at all is that the proper Torchwood - one with the large staff and the glitzy office and the proper grasp of security procedures was so consumed by its own arrogance and self-importance that it not merely destroyed itself, but almost the entire world along with it... But no-one will destroy Torchwood Three - as they destroyed Torchwood One - by lining them up and ordering them to march into the conversion machine. When the aliens invade Cardiff and they try to round up Torchwood Three, two of them will be off at the back bonking, one will have slipped out for an illicit ciggie, another will be trying out some useful alien technology on the cat (and later, therefore, return to the fray assisted by one alien-enhanced and Bloody Furious cat) and the last one will have phoned in sick so she can go to the rugby.

You don't defeat the best swordsman in the world by sending in the second-best. You defeat them by sending in the worst swordsman in the world.

Again, hmmmm. Also: BWAhahahaha!

There's a PDF of the knitting pattern for Rose's fingerless mitts at: this site found thanks to alabama_e that I will have to print out at work because ever since I "upgraded" to IE7, it crashes whenever I try to open a .pdf, even after I downloaded the new reader, and even if the reader is already running. Better version, my ass!

Y'all *do* know about the BBC Doctor Who advent calendar by now, don't you? Previous days still active.

And finally, *points happily to new icon swiped yesterday, courtesy gordon_r_d* Rose was a fantastic companion, but so far there's only been one assistant who was woman enough to work with three different doctors in two time periods and hold down a sequel of her own. Sarah Jane is rapidly retconning into my favorite companion EVER (sorry, Leela!)

On the personal side of things, I have finally uploaded all of my favorite Christmas music to iTunes and gotten a mix I'm happy with. It's 10 hours long. *blink* Will be burning to CDs this weekend for use in car; 10 hours of ipod earphones make my ears hurt.

Oh, crap, late for work!

Comments

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

It is cheering, as is the thought that if you let Jack, hardly the world's best manager, recruit, what do you expect? It's surprising he managed to get two or three as devoted to the job as they were. (Although it's a teeny bit worrying that Jack's recruiting style seems to also include "If they're over 26, they're too old for my... purposes".)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Jack's recruiting style seems to also include "If they're over 26, they're too old for my... purposes"

I'm starting to think that's RTD's recruiting style.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. But trying to make sense of it in context is creee-py. :)

(Somewhere I read an analysis of New Who that said, handful of visible exceptions included, it was not a universe that was kind to or valued age. That makes slightly less sense in Torchwood than it did in Doctor "kids show" Who, and I find it more glaring.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I read an analysis of New Who that said, handful of visible exceptions included, it was not a universe that was kind to or valued age.

And yet those exceptions are very visible, and they keep recurring. Furthermore, they're usually the *most* invisible and undervalued demographic, older women. Usually if there's a codger somewhere in this entire ageist society, it's the wise male teacher. If there's an older woman, she's always the wise mother or (after a certain age) the granny with a heart of gold.

In new Who/Torchwood, we get Harriet (who survives the alien attack and makes it to Prime Minister *and* ushers in a new Golden Age before the Doctor gets his knickers in a knot), Mrs. Moore who was quite obviously the brains of the outfit, an aging Victoria who is every inch the monarch and tough as old boots as the job requires, and Sarah Jane, who is not only the one to deliver the big smack upside the head to the Doctor, but who is presented as being damned sexy and competent at an age when most actresses can only get character work.

The only complete ditzes in the whole crew are Jackie and Estelle, and even then, they're presented with saving graces. Jackie serves as the voice of reason, and rises to the occasion more than once. As for Estelle, while they make it clear she's fanciful cannonfodder, they also present her as someone who survived some of England's hardest times and still worthy at her age of great love. I saw no nostalgia in Jack's relationship with her - he loved her because he *loved* her, not that he *had* loved her, if that makes sense.

Considering that so many shows don't even bother to cast anyone over the age of 35, I think New Who/Twood are doing pretty darn well. Especially now with the Adventures coming up, where it's an older career woman who is the mentor figure. It's about TIME a 50+ woman can give advice to the lead without wearing pearls and serving up chocolate chip cookies at the same time!

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I'm going to bow out of our various discussions for a few days, and reply to this (and the other one) later; I'm starting to get a bit stressed out by the tone of your comments, and that's not really the emotional place I like to approach fandom discussions from.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry; while I disagree, I'm not trying to get up in your face, just state why I feel so strongly about my opinion.