Meme

[amatara]

Never did a meme before, but this sounded like so much fun I had to give it a go. Started with B5, then couldn't help myself and went on to do ST:TOS also!

Choose your genre show, answer the questions using episode titles from that show--if possible, don't repeat any.

Babylon 5

Are you a male or a female: The Ragged Edge

Describe yourself: The Quality of Mercy

How do you feel: Falling Toward Apotheosis

Describe where you currently live: In the Kingdom of the Blind

If you could go anywhere where would you go: Walkabout

Your favorite form of transportation: Objects in Motion

Your best friend is: Soul Mates

What’s the weather like: The Coming of Shadows

Favourite time of day: Between the Darkness and the Light

If your life was a TV show, it would be called: Intersections in Real Time

What is life to you: The Parliament of Dreams

Your fear: Rumors, Bargains and Lies

What is the best advice you have to give: Lines of Communication

Thought for the Day: And Now For a Word

How I would like to die: No Surrender, No Retreat

My soul’s present condition: A Day in the Strife

My motto: Convictions

Star Trek TOS

Are you a male or a female: What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Describe yourself: The Empath

How do you feel: Obsession

Describe where you currently live: The City on the Edge of Forever

If you could go anywhere where would you go: This Side of Paradise

Your favorite form of transportation: The Ultimate Computer

Your best friend is: By Any Other Name

What’s the weather like: The Savage Curtain

Favourite time of day: The Naked Time *g*

If your life was a TV show, it would be called: The Alternative Factor

What is life to you: Metamorphosis

Your fear: The Enemy Within

What is the best advice you have to give: Errand of Mercy

Thought for the Day: And the Children Shall Lead

How I would like to die: Wink of an Eye

My soul’s present condition: That Which Survives

My motto: Is There in Truth No Beauty?


Other fannish news:

(1) Holiday started this weekend, and will last for the whole of two weeks - yay! For the first time since our student days, we haven't planned to go anywhere, which means I will be spending the next two weeks shortening the laundry list of hobbyish/fannish stuff I've been dragging along for ages.

Things I want to do: finish the New Zealand vid from our honeymoon (now almost a year ago); tweak and order the photos from our last five trips and put them in the album; finish my Timov/Londo fic for matrithon, which is (frighteningly) growing faster in my head than on paper; finish the B5 vid I started on this week (on pure impulse; I never fanvidded before) as my contribution for September's "B5 love month" at babylon5_love; finish another fic, Londo & Vir this time, that I almost finished half a year ago and then semi-forgot about; watch the first seasons of DS9 and Dr. Who and anything else I can get my hands on really; and...

Well, let's say that suddenly two weeks doesn't sound like such a long time after all. *g* But if anyone has a request for anything (fic, meta, you name it), now is probably still a better time than ever!

(2) Just bought the first season of New Who, and watched the first ep ("Rose") on Friday evening. First impression: swell! And very, very British, which for some reason makes me unbelievably happy. Love the Doctor's dry humor; love even more the fact that neither of the two main characters could in any way be considered stereotypically beautiful! A series that doesn't take itself too seriously, and has actors that look like you and me: yeah, I like. Muchly.

(3) Went for a re-watch of "Half-Blood Prince" yesterday, and appreciated it significantly more than the first time. However, I still would've liked some action at the end, between the scene of Dumbledore being killed and the one of the Death Eaters escorting Draco out of Hogwarts. I wanted a fight, darn you, just like in the book; I wanted some of those filthy DEs to get their a** kicked; and most of all, I wanted some kind of emotional payoff to compensate for all that angst and sadness we'd just been put through. Ah well, you can't have it all, I guess.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Good to hear you've enjoyed the New Who pilot. And yes, very British in every way. Incidentally, I probably should familiarize you with something that isn't a spoiler but a basic concept of the show, like "Babylon 5 is a space station" or "Kirk is the captain of the Enterprise", to wit: the Doctor you've just met is the ninth incarnation of the man. His species, when dying, switches bodies. It's called regeneration and one of the reasons why this is the longest running sci fi show ever (since 1962) - they could change their leading man when the actors in question left without losing the character of the Doctor.

(Err, what with the 40 plus years of running, you can probably guess what the companions don't stay around forever, either...)

Also, I'm slightly awed you're ready to try a vid (I wouldn't even know where to begin).

[amatara.livejournal.com]

New Who: yes, I'd gathered from all the Fourth and Eighth and Tenth references that there were plenty of Doctor versions to go around. :) They're up to eleven now, right? Didn't know how it worked technically, but switching bodies when dying makes sense. Do they give more details later in the show? Like how does he get to choose his body etc.?
Incidentally, we just watched "The end of the World", and I'm a little confused now. Let's say I'm not sure if they were aiming for humor, or drama, or both, and the result (I thought) came out as a not-so-great mix of the two. Basically, I thought the humor was a bit overdone and the drama didn't really do much for me - but that could've just been because I don't know the context. Should I just prepare to get used to more of same, and wait till it grows on me? Or does the mix get more subtle later in the season? Or (this is possible too, of course; I have strange taste sometimes) is it just me?

Re vidding: oh, you should try it once. Really! It's fun and intense and emotional and challenging, and very very addictive, at least to someone as easily obsessed as I am. *g* Once I started I just couldn't stop, and as a result I finished the entire vid in three (eight-hour) days. Which is great, but also kind of sucky, as now I have to wait till late September to post it. *gnaws fingernails*
It's actually not that hard, if you get the right software (there's lots of free stuff on the web that works like a dream). Mostly, you need a good enough memory (which I don't doubt you have!) to remember details of the show and which episodes they're in. That was much harder than I'd thought, especially since two-thirds of the vid is an ensemble piece (the other third - naturally - deals with Londo's arc) and it was pure hell sometimes trying to locate a specific scene with, say, Sheridan or Garibaldi. Like "oh, there's a scene somewhere in which a bunch of these cryo-forzen telepaths are wheeled into a room, but in what the blazes episode was it?" With Londo, I didn't have that problem. ;)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Pity you didn't like The End of the World, it's one of my favourite s1 episodes (which is, for example, why I never rewatched the pilot but have rewatched this one at least four times). I thought the mixture of drama and humour was great myself. It does introduce a major, major arc thing for New Who (the fact the Doctor is now the last of the Time Lords - in Old Who, there are plenty around, so this was a major change, and of course the question as to why, and what happened between Eight and Nine, will be touched upon again, it's one of the big season things), and the scene between Jabe and the Doctor where that happens is imo Ecclestone's finest moment. Jabe the Tree Woman is one of my favourite aliens. And I just love the absurdity of such things Tainted Love as the great Earth Classic. This was the episode where I KNEW I wanted to watch the show, whereas with the pilot I was just "well, nice, but I'm not hooked yet". I really love it a lot.

The greatness of Doctor Who, old and new alike, is that it can do so much within its format - mystery, comedy, action/adventure; sometimes it does so seperately, i.e. purely comedic episodes, purely tragic episodes, but more often it's all mixed. Next up is an encounter with Charles Dickens and a ghost story which is mostly played straight, but it's not without funny scenes. (Wouldn't be an homage to Dickens, otherwise.)

Regeneration: you'll find out more, but no, he doesn't get to choose a body. That's just him, btw. Other Time Lords have a bit more control and can aim for something they want. Popular fanon is that reach incarnation of the Doctor reflects and deals with something that happened in the earlier one, to balance it, so some traits are more prominent in one but not in the other, while a quintessential core essence remains.

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Thanks for enlightening me - I didn't know about the Time Lord backstory, or that the fact the Doctor is now the last of his kind was supposed to have been a major dramatic revelation. Probably that's why that particular scene didn't strike such a deep chord with me as it did with you (and others, I'd guess).

I wouldn't go so far as to say I disliked End of the World; I agree it had some great moments ("Tainted Love" being one of them), but for some reason it was very different from what I'd expected. I should say I'm quite difficult when it comes to absurd humor, especially when there's suddenly some truly serious stuff dropped in; when that happens, I often end up not being in the mood for either. The Dickens homage as you describe it - mostly serious, with some humor thrown in - sounds more like my peace of cake. Incidentally, my husband - who loves absurdity in TV shows - thought End of the World was fantastic, and he doesn't know the backstory either.

In any case, I really want to like this show, so I hope it's just a matter of keeping an open mind and letting it grow on me. We'll see how it goes as the season progresses!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

As I'm quite fond of vids, I can't resist showing you two which catch the spirit of the show very well, both ensemble vids:

New Who:



All Who from 1962 onwards till today (well, two years ago, when the vid was made), and I never stop admiring the vidder for being able to make a coherent vid featuring all incarnations of the Doctor and all the Companions:

[amatara.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, those are fantastic, thanks! I think I prefer the first one (New Who) for sheer infectiousness; but the second (Old mixed with New) is great also, down to matching the images to the lyrics.

Btw, we finished "World War Three" by now, starting "Dalek", and I'm slowly but surely getting hooked again!