So, for the years since Doctor Who portrayed the Doctor carrying the Olympic torch, people have been petitioning for it to come true in the real 2012 games. I thought, "Nah, this will never happen."

But it is. On Saturday, the Doctor will carry the torch, except it's not the Doctor people have been specifically requesting for the past seven years. It's Matt Smith.

Ever had one of those moments where you really were craving chocolate ice cream, and someone thinks they're doing something nice for you by getting you ice cream, but they get you strawberry instead? It kind of feels like that. Really great, but not quite what I wanted.

I'm happy that Doctor Who is getting recognized as something important enough to the country to be represented in the Olympics, and yet...it's not what people petitioned for. It's a great thing, and yet it kind of defeats the purpose of the request, which was to replicate this:

What??

You mean there's not a single, solitary fan commentary out there for The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit? I mean, I know it's a two-parter and those are harder to do, but come on. Not one? Not even a commentary of one of the epiosdes?

I am disappoint.

Coming Soon: Other Stuff

In an effort to consolidate similar topics into one blog instead of having them spread all over everywhere, I'm going to start talking about other television shows here as well.

Ohhh...ahhhh...

Trust and Partnership: A Doctor/River Revelation

I just realized something: I'm not really a Doctor/River shipper. Not in the "OMG it's true love!" sense, at least. Oh, their flirtations are fun, and they have hints of sweet moments here and there, but as a loving, romantic, long-term relationship I don't feel it.

I can hear the Doctor/River fans now. "Oh it's just because she's not Rose." I can't tell you how many times I've heard that utter bollocks. Just hush that part of your mind and hear me out.

Thoughts on the Moffat Era, Especially Series 6

It’s not that he took out all the emotion. I’m just thinking out loud here now, but I think it’s perhaps that he made the emotion…not mean that much. Everything comes and goes so quickly.

For example, in A Good Man Goes to War, Amy’s baby is snatched away. Very emotional, yes, but…then it just kind of goes away and the Doctor runs off giggling. Emotional moments don’t have consequences anymore. The characters feel something for a fleeting moment, and then they’re back to normal. It makes that emotion seem less genuine to me.

iFail

Yes, that was an overused way of saying that I am terrible at updating this damn thing.

Now, this isn't an excuse, but I think the problem is that I've spread myself so thin. I only have so many opinions and thoughts running through my head, and by the time I've gone through all of my social networking pages (Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, etc...mainly Tumblr) and worked on both my own fanfiction and proofreading someone else's fic, what's left to say here?

I'm planning on remedying that, even if it's only consolidating some of my more lucid thoughts from other places here. Besides, in the time I haven't been posting, I've been banned from GallifreyBase. (I'm still baffled at that one. The reason given was that I somehow "gave an order to a staff member". Last I checked, sentences that begin with "please" are called requests, not orders. So very bizarre. I'm glad I never gave them any of my money to treat me in such a baffling manner. I've actually found myself happier since I've been away from that toxic environment anyway. Not completely happy, but happier than I was. I've found myself no longer on the business end of a lot of sexism, that's for sure. Silver linings and all that. I'll stop babbling.) So, I'm not spending (or wasting, as the case seems to be) my energy there anymore.

I almost had to laugh when I read my last entry, written before Series 6 began. Oh, how wrong I was. I ended up liking Series 6 even less than Series 5. More on that in the next blog post.

Well Hello, Stranger!

My apologies. It's been way too long since I rambled here. I guess I have spent way too much of my energy for my ramblings on Gallifrey Base, rather than here! I mean good grief, David was still the Doctor when I was last blogging. Shame on me.

Don't take this as an indictment against Matt. I liked him as an actor well before he was the Doctor, and I still like him and his Doctor now. Series 5 wasn't my favorite of the New Who series, but it wasn't my least favorite either. It just really felt like Moffat and Co. were finding their feet, and some of the old RTD visceralness (Viscerality? I don't know. What a fine writer I am, eh?) was missing. It was all very...clever. That is, with the exception of Vincent and the Doctor, which did a wonderful job of dragging the viewer through the gauntlet of emotions.

Kicking the Muse into Submission

The other day, we found out that David Tennant had wrapped for the final time on Doctor Who. This opened up a torrent of emotion and inspiration within me, and I decided to make a video. I have one planned once the final episodes aired, so this is a mini-tribute, if you will.

I got this idea from the end of the Casanova mini-series, starring David Tennant, when Edith tells him (the older Casanova, played by the legend that is Peter O'Toole) that the person he loved most was his younger self (played by Tennant): "That man. That stupid, daft man and all his adventures." The line really made me think of Ten. The video here is supposed to be mostly Ten's happy, quirky moments, with a tinge of sad endings.

And yes, I know I missed clips from Runaway Bride and Voyage of the Damned. I completely forgot to add them to my list.

Still, here it is. Nothing fancy, just a simple video to say thank you to David Tennant.

The song is the theme to Forrest Gump.

Planet of the Dead (aka: Stormy's getting off her ass and finally writing a review)

I have been a complete lazy git lately. Well, that and I have had zero inspiration to write, or vid, or...pretty much anything creative. I think I probably overdid myself. There was a point there where I was working on the fanfic every night and when I wasn't writing, I was playing around in Sony Vegas trying to get another vid going.



So yeah, complete creative overload ends in a big popping noise, then a fizz, and then smoke comes out of my ears.

Anyway, Planet of the Dead. That's what I logged in to write about. There will be spoilers, of course. This is a review after all.

Just a random, completely unrelated comment...

I have joined Twitter. God help me.

Fan Commentaries

This is more of a request than anything, but if I start ranting, bear with me.

I'm looking to find fan-made audio commentaries for New Who. Specifically, I'm looking for people who've done fan commentaries of *all* the episodes, not just a handful here or there. I'm also looking for fan commentaries from people who don't spend 90% of the episode moaning about how bad the episode is. I'd like to hear some witty commentary that actually sounds like these fans are actually enjoying themselves, because really...I've tried a few and it's hard to try to watch a scene I enjoy while listening to people rant and rave about how completely crappy the scene is. It drives me nuts, because I spend most of the time just yelling, "Okay, I get it! You think New Who is crap! Now shut up, turn the video off and go put in Caves of Androzani or something!" It's also grating when they talk like they have no clue of the subtleties of what's going on, when if they'd just pay attention, rather than complaining, they might actually get it.

I don't know, I think I may have been spoiled by the commentaries that are on the Red Dwarf DVDs. I got so used to listening to the actors sitting around together, having a good time and if they did have criticisms, they were made in such a way that sounded more teasing and goofy than just pure nastiness.

Or maybe I just have to invite some friends over and make my own. I don't know.

We've Become Spoiled

One thing I love about having a blog is that I can turn the hose on my fellow raging fans now and then and spray them down without getting bitten in return. Sure, very few people actually read it, but at least it makes me feel better when I rant about the amazing boneheadedness of my fellow Who fans. I'd say that we, as a group, are probably the worst when it comes to shooting ourselves in the foot, but then that would exclude my fellow MMORPG players out there. And if you don't believe they're worse, pull the plug on their game's server for...30 minutes. Watch them go nuts and start calling for heads to roll. We Who fans can't even hold a candle to that level of insanity.

A Good Thing to Remember

Littleradge is a guy who has a vlog on YouTube, who also happens to look a crapton like David Tennant. Amusingly enough, he's also Scottish.

Anyway, he has an important message that all of you should hear, and has asked that it be spread around the internet so more people know about this.



This goes for ALL celebrities, not just David. If someone approaches you online and introduces themselves as some celebrity or other, DO NOT get suckered in. 99.99999% of the time, it's NOT them. Especially if they offer to have you meet them somewhere. It's not them. It's very, very likely to be a sicko.

The Eleventh Doctor

I wish I had a TARDIS of my own, to go back to the time when Peter Davison was announced as the man to replace Tom Baker as the Doctor. I was only four at the time, so I don't remember the reactions myself, but I can almost guarantee that the wailing and moaning we're seeing from some people right now about Matt Smith taking over from David Tennant is almost a mirror image of the cries that came from people when they found out Peter Davison was taking over. Back then, he was the youngest actor to play the role at a mere 30 years old. And I bet even back then they were screaming that he was too young.

Comments on The Next Doctor (spoilery)

This is one of those times when I was so absolutely wrong, but what really happened was so good that I wasn't all that bothered about being wrong. Well, except for the fact that David Morrissey's character ended up not being the Doctor at all, but that's just because I think he'd make a fantastic Doctor. Still, who he actually was was very special in his own way, so it wasn't a huge let down.

Thoughts On The Newest Xmas Trailer

Combom was kind enough to post a YouTube link to the latest Xmas trailer for us poor pathetic people not in the UK.

An Intriguing New Picture

For all of you who love clues, here's an interesting picture that's recently come out to tease us before The Next Doctor airs. Many people have had a theory that maybe David Morrissey's Doctor is actually a Time Lord (and might actually truly be a future Doctor), who's turned himself human with a chameleon arch, and (like the Doctor in Human Nature/Family of Blood) his dreams inspired him to go around as the Doctor.

Tidings of Comfort and...What the??

So, another Children in Need telethon has come and we got our yearly Doctory goodness. I hope you folks in the UK donated lots of money. It really does look like a very, very good cause.

Anyway, this year we were graced with the first two minutes of this year's Christmas Special, The Next Doctor. It was good to see our poor old Ten looking chipper. He does really love Christmas, doesn't he, despite all the crap that happens? Though, of course, things have to go tits up, don't they? This year we get Cybermen terrorizing Victorian England. If that wasn't going to be complicated enough, the Doctor also has to deal with a cocky guy who claims to be him.

The Oncoming Loss

So, the dust has settled and everyone knows now; David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who. At the end of the 2009 specials, the Tenth Doctor will be no more.

Being the big ol' girl that I am, (how convenient, since I am a girl) I blubbered like a baby the night I found out. Not constantly, mind you, but every now and then I'd see something that would set me off. The first being while I was watching David make his announcement at the NTAs. Despite the shock, I kept it together...until David's voice broke with emotion and it was all over for me. The floodgates opened and I was a blubbery mess. Then, deciding to go back and watch all I could of series 2 again, I was watching The Christmas Invasion, and when Ten leaned into Jackie and said:

"It's all waiting out there, Jackie. It's brand new to me. All those planets, creatures and horizons, I haven't seem them yet! Not with these eyes..."

I was gone again.

Long Time, No Post

Yeah, I know, it's been a while since I posted anything, but really...as this isn't a news blog, per se, I haven't had much to talk about. I'm not much for rumors. Well, I am, but more on the speculation side and not on the reporting side. I suppose I could post about what rumors I find completely laughable. That might be interesting.

It's been a long, long few months without Doctor Who. I've been trying to keep that part of my life busy with fanfics and fanvids, but ideas have been slow in coming.

So Close and Yet So Far

From the itinerary of the San Diego Comic-Con:

12:00-1:00 Doctor Who— Writer Russell T Davies (Doctor Who), executive producer Julie Gardner (Torchwood), and writer Steven Moffat (Doctor Who) discuss their creative process and experience working on the BBC’s Doctor Who—Britain’s most successful sci-fi franchise—with exclusive clips and a Q&A session. Ballroom 20

1:00-2:00 Torchwood— Writer Russell T Davies (Doctor Who), executive producer Julie Gardner (Torchwood), writer Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), and actors John Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd, Naoko Mori and Burn Gorman discuss their creative process and experience on working on BBC America’s highest-rated show ever—Torchwood— followed by a Q&A session. Ballroom 20

So, the one time in likely a long while that anyone from the new Doctor Who will be anywhere near me, and I can't go. First of all, registration is closed. Secondly, it's an 8-hour drive from here and I don't have the cash to pay for airfare and car rental and hotel and tickets to get in and food and knick knacks.

Well, if you're going, do me a favor and tell RTD and Steven Moffat that a wannabe writer in Northern California sends her admiration and wishes she could worship them in person, but will have to continue to do so from afar. *le sigh*

When Eight regenerated into Nine possibly explained

So, here's my theory, based on things Brown Suit Doctor said about Blue Suit Doctor, and the ways he compared him to his Ninth incarnation:

The original Doctor explains to his other self that he was "born in battle - full of blood and anger and revenge," then looks to Rose and explains that, "That's me. When we first met."

This makes me think that it means that the event that caused Eight to die and regenerate into Nine was during the Time War, either before he did what he had to do to end it, or as a result of whatever he did to burn up both the Daleks and Gallifrey. That would explain why he said that the person he was when he and Rose first met (ie, Nine at the beginning of his incarnation. If you remember he hadn't even seen himself in a mirror yet before he entered Rose's flat) was like the new Doctor.

Well, it made sense in my head.

Think, people!

Okay, the question has been asked over and over again:

"Why didn't the Doctor stay in the parallel world with Rose?"

The answer is simple and not nearly as psychologically convoluted as people are making it out to be. And the answer is: He couldn't. He literally could not stay there. They only had a few minutes to get Rose back to her world and leave again before the walls between realities closed up again forever, AND he had to get Donna back home. He had to get Donna back to her home, so she could live her life after he wiped her memory.

Exactly how was he going to manage to do all that while fulfilling his fantasy of being with Rose again? It would have been a horribly selfish move to leave Donna's head burning up from the inside out while he went gallivanting around with Rose. He also couldn't wipe her mind and leave her all on her own in the parallel world either because she'd be left with nobody and no memories of what happened to her, and it's not like the Doctor could stay around her, because the memories would come back and she'd burn.

So, really, the answer is simple. He didn't because he couldn't. He has a greater responsibility to others than to his manly urges.

Wow...

I am without words. Well, except for these three statements.

1. Boy was I wrong in my theory, and yet...not wrong. While Donna didn't die literally, who she had become did die. I'm going to miss you so much, Donna.
   
2. RTD is a horrible, naughty cheater and tease. He gave me the "I love you" I was looking for, and managed to do it without letting us actually hear it. Thankfully, I could tell from the movement of his jaw and cheek that it was exactly what he was saying, and it was confirmed by Julie Gardner that the Doctor whispered "I love you" in Rose's ear.
3. I think I will remember the moment with all the Doctor's loved ones around the TARIS console, flying Earth home for the rest of my life.

Oh, and to cheat, here's one more. I can guarantee that you'll see a huge wave of Blue Suit Doctor and Rose fanfics, but that's nothing new. Fanfic writers have been writing stories of the Doctor and Rose reuniting and having a life together ever since they split two years ago. I'm afraid that, as a wannabe writer myself, I just can't resist the siren call of writing how the other Doctor and Rose manage a life together with him with a normal lifespan and the inability to regenerate and Rose having to fix this Doctor like she did the original one. It's just too good a situation to resist writing about. I almost feel like RTD was giving this to fanfic writers. Well, then, thanks Russell!

*twitch*

You know I love spoilers. And so, you also probably know that the BBC not revealing so much as a blip of spoilerific goodness is TORTURE! AUGH! We're being given tiny little crumbs of info, though, so I suppose it's better than nothing. However, it's far, far less than what we've been given before. No Fear Forcast, a nearly useless script exerpt in the jigsaw puzzle, and only a 30 second trailer. Understandable, yes. Still torture? Ohhh, you betcha.

So far, this is all we know:

• The TARDIS will be on fire again, with exploding roundels and poor Donna stuck in the middle of it.
• Jackie, Mickey, Sarah Jane and whoever else will get captured by the Daleks and taken to one of their ships.
• Martha will use the Project Indigo device again (according to the script exerpt).
• One of the companions will die, but we've known that. Actually, that's not new info at all, scratch that.
  
• Oh, and Davros will rant. Yeah, no surprise there.

That's...about all we got so far. I'll check in with all the Doctor Who info people when I wake up. It's already 4:30 am. I should be in bed, but this torture is effecting my sleep, since I keep digging and digging for info.

Holy hell...

*has another small gloat for calling the fact that Harriet Jones was not only not the red Dalek, but also not in league with the Daleks at all*

Okay, with that out of the way, I have to say...oh my FREAKIN' God! This episode absolutely proves my theory that finding out who the bad guy is, or whatever rumor you hear about who or what is in it, totally does not diminish a show. The "spoilers" we get aren't real spoilers at all because they don't spoil the actual important part of the episode. It's the how and why that never seems to get leaked because it doesn't seem important which ends up being the most important of all.

Time for a Nice Big Gloat

Okay, if you hate spoilers, run now.

On the subject of spoilers...

Spoilers...I love 'em.

Now, I know many people absolutely hate them with a passion. I have friends that won't even let me say if something they haven't seen is good or not. "Oh, Midnight was gr--" "DON'T TELL ME!" Well, good grief. I was just going to say it was great. Sue me. That is one of the reasons why I started this blog, even though I haven't gotten to it yet. I'd like to actually be able to talk about episodes people might not have seen yet without being yelled at for even saying if an episode is good or not.

How Time Does Fly

I can't believe series four of Doctor Who is almost over. It makes me rather sad, because once it's over, all that anticipation that I've been feasting on these last few months will be gone. Sure, I could anticipate the Christmas special, but that might drive me mad, as it's six months from now.

Speculation about these last three episodes of the series has been running rampant, ranging from fairly rational to completely bizarre. Please tell me it's not true that Harriet Jones is inside the red Dalek. C'mon. Sure, the Doctor ruined her career, but I seriously doubt that she'd go so far as to join forces with an alien race that will not only try to destroy her beloved Britain, but the entire planet.

Lets start this off with a rant...

Normally I ignore the nasty comments from fans of the old series who absolutely hate the new series with a passion. However, this is my blog and I'm going to vent my spleen on the subject right here, right now.

If, gentle reader, you are one of those people who hates the New Who with a passion because it's not the Classic Who, and has had the bad taste to spend your online time trashing every detail of New Who, let me just give you a little tip to lower your blood pressure:

1. Step away from the computer
2. Pull out your Classic Who video tapes
3. Watch Classic Who, and forget New Who even exists

No, really, it gets tiring to watch someone complain about something they can easily just change the channel on, or just plain turn off altogether. Why people choose to go to websites and blogs about Doctor Who and specifically go to sections for the new series to bitch and moan, when there are perfectly good places to just discuss Classic Who, is beyond me. The only thing I can think of to explain it is that they're not really against New Who at all. They just like being trolls.

It's simply not fair to those of us who like New Who to have to wade through post after post of constant complaints and insults towards something we enjoy. If you don't enjoy it, don't participate in discussions about it.

And vice versa, by the way. If you're a New Who lover who thinks the Classic Who was lame for whatever reason, either find a constructive way to express that opinion, or stay out of Classic Who discussions. You are neither wanted nor needed there.

I guess common courtesy is about as "common" as common sense, eh?