I'm back! and Doctor Who
Well, I've got the new computer up and running, finally. Wow, what a difference! I can surf the web, play games, write and play music at the same time... and everything doesn't come to a halt when mail arrives.
Tomorrow, I'll start catching up on my flist. Plus, I've got some writing to do. It's been way too long since the last chapter of SG: A was posted.
In the meantime, the Doctor Who episode tonight, "Love and Monsters," was the worst I've ever seen. Yes, worse than "Underworld." Yes, worse than "The Horns of Nimon." Yes, worse than "The Twin Dilemma." However bad those episodes were, the Doctor was in them. This time around, we barely saw him. Instead, we got the (boring) life story of a regular guy whose life touched the Doctor's along the edges. We got lots of Rose's mother Jackie, and the girl who played Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. (It took half the episode for me to figure out where I'd heard that high-pitched voice before.) And to make matters worse, it was written by Russell T. Davies, who is a fan as well as a producer, and knows better.
For some reason, nearly every series feels the need to try at least one episode without the main character(s). SG-1 actually did it twice: "Avenger 2.0," and "Citizen Joe." In both cases, we were given a focus character who had very little to do with our favorite team, and that's exactly what happened here, too. Maybe this kind of thing is supposed to give us a different perspective; maybe the writers get lazy; maybe the actors want a week off. The point is, it never works.
When we watch a series, it's because we like the characters and want to see their adventures. Fanfic is written because we love them so much we want to see even more. Why, then, would we sit still for an hour about people we don't know and don't care about, just because it says Doctor Who or Stargate SG-1 on the title?
The other thing that bothered me about this particular episode is that these new characters were so lame. A complete stranger invades your happy little club meeting, starts handing out assignments, practically turns it into the British equivalent of the CIA, and no one tells him to bugger off? They don't decide to meet somewhere else next week, where he can't find them? And if they really are as linguini-spined (and stupid) as they seem, why are we supposed to be watching this again?
What I love about the Doctor isn't necessarily that he's heroic. (Jarod from The Pretender was very much an anti-hero, and I loved him to pieces.) It's that he's entertaining. As one of the many documentaries that have been made about the program said, he "bends reality and stretches the imagination." There certainly wasn't any bending or stretching going on in my living room this evening.
Unless, of course, it was me trying to stay awake.
Tomorrow, I'll start catching up on my flist. Plus, I've got some writing to do. It's been way too long since the last chapter of SG: A was posted.
In the meantime, the Doctor Who episode tonight, "Love and Monsters," was the worst I've ever seen. Yes, worse than "Underworld." Yes, worse than "The Horns of Nimon." Yes, worse than "The Twin Dilemma." However bad those episodes were, the Doctor was in them. This time around, we barely saw him. Instead, we got the (boring) life story of a regular guy whose life touched the Doctor's along the edges. We got lots of Rose's mother Jackie, and the girl who played Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. (It took half the episode for me to figure out where I'd heard that high-pitched voice before.) And to make matters worse, it was written by Russell T. Davies, who is a fan as well as a producer, and knows better.
For some reason, nearly every series feels the need to try at least one episode without the main character(s). SG-1 actually did it twice: "Avenger 2.0," and "Citizen Joe." In both cases, we were given a focus character who had very little to do with our favorite team, and that's exactly what happened here, too. Maybe this kind of thing is supposed to give us a different perspective; maybe the writers get lazy; maybe the actors want a week off. The point is, it never works.
When we watch a series, it's because we like the characters and want to see their adventures. Fanfic is written because we love them so much we want to see even more. Why, then, would we sit still for an hour about people we don't know and don't care about, just because it says Doctor Who or Stargate SG-1 on the title?
The other thing that bothered me about this particular episode is that these new characters were so lame. A complete stranger invades your happy little club meeting, starts handing out assignments, practically turns it into the British equivalent of the CIA, and no one tells him to bugger off? They don't decide to meet somewhere else next week, where he can't find them? And if they really are as linguini-spined (and stupid) as they seem, why are we supposed to be watching this again?
What I love about the Doctor isn't necessarily that he's heroic. (Jarod from The Pretender was very much an anti-hero, and I loved him to pieces.) It's that he's entertaining. As one of the many documentaries that have been made about the program said, he "bends reality and stretches the imagination." There certainly wasn't any bending or stretching going on in my living room this evening.
Unless, of course, it was me trying to stay awake.