'What does Mizz mean?' she wondered.
I'm so tired of job applications. I just filled out a ~personality assessment~ that made no sense. Why are you asking me whether I'm more of a team player or more happy to work in fast-paced environments? Those two choices are not only not mutually exclusive they basically have nothing to do with each other. After about ten questions like that it starts to feel like "when did you stop beating your wife".
I've officially started reading the Past Doctor Adventures and am two books in. I haven't figured out how I want to blog about them, yet -- after every book seems excessive because I don't think I'll have that much to say, but there don't seem to be natural stopping points like with, say, the Target novelizations. (No, I haven't gotten the new Target novelizations yet. Still waiting for my preordered copies.) For now I suppose I'll figure it out as I go.
I'm going to be completely honest here: I didn't love The Devil Goblins Of Neptune. I didn't even particularly like it. I was amused by the "this is Doctor Who for GROWNUPS" tone, with the bulk of the plot basically kicking off with Mike Yates getting drunk and trying to have sex with the wrong woman, and somebody getting drunk/high/naked on every other page, but the plot was not to my taste. Particularly, ah, everything to do with the Waro. They're born evil! No, they're not, they choose to be evil! Well, no, they're born evil, I guess, but they could choose to be something else, so... And the whole needlessly complex UNIT conspiracy/CIA plot got really frustrating.
That said, there was one moment I found really lovely and earned the book a full extra star from me, which was this extremely sweet scene between Three and Liz:
'Are you thinking of home?' asked Liz.
The Doctor gave a short, cynical laugh. 'Home?' he asked. 'I may never see my home again.' He pointed towards the small cluster of stars that formed Sagittarius. 'She's somewhere out there. Gallifrey. In the constellation of Kasterborous.'
'You never told me the name of your planet before,' noted Liz, fascinated at this new information.
'You never asked,' replied the Doctor. 'It's close to the galactic core.'
'That's thousands of light years away,' Liz said, aware that she was dealing with staggering concepts of time and space.
'About thirty thousand, give or take a parsec,' confirmed the Doctor.
'You said the constellation was Kasterborous,' she asked. 'Is that another name for Sagittarius?'
Again the Doctor chuckled, and Liz thought for a moment that he was treating her like a child, sugar coating the more difficult concepts. But his answer surprised her.
'Constellation means something rather different where I come from - although the notion becomes somewhat redeemed by science in the far future of this planet. It's not a concept fixed by actual location, of course. It has elements of time and relativity involved. When I call an arbitrary cluster of stars a constellation, I do it in the knowledge that in a million years some of those stars will be long gone, and others will have been created in their place. I'm sorry to have to explain it in such pompous terms.'
'No,' said Liz, fascinated. 'I think I understand.'
A perfect moment for these two characters. ♥
And then, on the other hand, I LOVED The Murder Game. It nailed the feeling of Two's era with the base-under-siege storyline, cleverly merged with an Agatha Cristie-esque locked-room murder mystery, done up in mystery party game set dressing. So much fun, and the characterization for the Doctor, Polly, and (particularly) Ben was fantastic. Not to mention so shippy for Ben/Polly. Like. SO shippy. Not only do they both spend an inordinate amount of time telling themselves "I don't have romantic feelings, s/he's just my best friend, it's totally normal to feel like this about your best friend, ...right?", Polly gets very jealous of Ben's one-off romantic interest (who, er, backstabs him and then dies) and when the Doctor convinces the space station's AI Thomas to give report on the inhabitants and Thomas tartly reveals that he's deduced that the three of them are time travelers, Ben gets very hung up on the phrase "their descendants". What does that collective noun imply exactly???
It's so cute.
I have simple needs.
It's just a very charming book. Like Devil Goblins, it's certainly aware that it's Doctor Who For Grownups (it opens with Ben hungover and reflecting that he shouldn't have drunk so much last night, and there's a lot of sexual tension with him and Terri, his love interest of the episode book) but not quite so self-conscious about it. The ultimate villains, the Selachians, are quite well done, especially the pathos they're given in their backstory and when Ben sees one out of armor. The running theme of people not being who they say they are is delightful, and the reveals never feel out of place. The attention given to Ben's character arc and backstory, though, is really the star of the book and what makes me love it.
(This is not to say that Polly is ignored! Some Polly moments I loved: when she detours from chasing the murderer to change out of her ridiculous impractical dress-and-heels costume to get into jeans and flats because why wouldn't you before resuming the chase; when, while imprisoned by the Selachians and told that she'll be expected to work for them, she confidently claims that she's got secretarial experience and conveniently leaves out that it's two centuries out of date; when shortly after that she teaches herself how to use the Selachians' computer system, jumps on a conference call with Terran Security Forces, and announces that she's been kidnapped. I love her.)
An excerpt:
It was over now, and he was... home?
Where was he, exactly?
Not wrapped in cotton wool, although he had been right about the colour. His protective cocoon opened up around him and he was mildly surprised to find himself in a white room. He could see every detail, though he still lay with his eyes closed. He recognised the meticulously ordered ranks of glass bottles on the dressing table and the neatly hung clothes in the wardrobe. The distinctive wall pattern of grey circles nagged at him with its familiarity, and yet it still took him a while to realise that he was in his own bedroom in the TARDIS.
He wasn't used to seeing it in this context: his dreams had always been of his home and his ship before.
And then it occurred to him that this time was no different. Images of home. His ship. And his initial surprise soon gave way to a warm glow of belonging. He embraced this unique occurrence and reimmersed himself contentedly in welcome sleep, which was dreamless now.
It was some considerable time before he was aware of his
surroundings again.
Ben ♥
So 50% success rate so far, which is not bad! We'll see how it goes going forward...
I've officially started reading the Past Doctor Adventures and am two books in. I haven't figured out how I want to blog about them, yet -- after every book seems excessive because I don't think I'll have that much to say, but there don't seem to be natural stopping points like with, say, the Target novelizations. (No, I haven't gotten the new Target novelizations yet. Still waiting for my preordered copies.) For now I suppose I'll figure it out as I go.
I'm going to be completely honest here: I didn't love The Devil Goblins Of Neptune. I didn't even particularly like it. I was amused by the "this is Doctor Who for GROWNUPS" tone, with the bulk of the plot basically kicking off with Mike Yates getting drunk and trying to have sex with the wrong woman, and somebody getting drunk/high/naked on every other page, but the plot was not to my taste. Particularly, ah, everything to do with the Waro. They're born evil! No, they're not, they choose to be evil! Well, no, they're born evil, I guess, but they could choose to be something else, so... And the whole needlessly complex UNIT conspiracy/CIA plot got really frustrating.
That said, there was one moment I found really lovely and earned the book a full extra star from me, which was this extremely sweet scene between Three and Liz:
'Are you thinking of home?' asked Liz.
The Doctor gave a short, cynical laugh. 'Home?' he asked. 'I may never see my home again.' He pointed towards the small cluster of stars that formed Sagittarius. 'She's somewhere out there. Gallifrey. In the constellation of Kasterborous.'
'You never told me the name of your planet before,' noted Liz, fascinated at this new information.
'You never asked,' replied the Doctor. 'It's close to the galactic core.'
'That's thousands of light years away,' Liz said, aware that she was dealing with staggering concepts of time and space.
'About thirty thousand, give or take a parsec,' confirmed the Doctor.
'You said the constellation was Kasterborous,' she asked. 'Is that another name for Sagittarius?'
Again the Doctor chuckled, and Liz thought for a moment that he was treating her like a child, sugar coating the more difficult concepts. But his answer surprised her.
'Constellation means something rather different where I come from - although the notion becomes somewhat redeemed by science in the far future of this planet. It's not a concept fixed by actual location, of course. It has elements of time and relativity involved. When I call an arbitrary cluster of stars a constellation, I do it in the knowledge that in a million years some of those stars will be long gone, and others will have been created in their place. I'm sorry to have to explain it in such pompous terms.'
'No,' said Liz, fascinated. 'I think I understand.'
A perfect moment for these two characters. ♥
And then, on the other hand, I LOVED The Murder Game. It nailed the feeling of Two's era with the base-under-siege storyline, cleverly merged with an Agatha Cristie-esque locked-room murder mystery, done up in mystery party game set dressing. So much fun, and the characterization for the Doctor, Polly, and (particularly) Ben was fantastic. Not to mention so shippy for Ben/Polly. Like. SO shippy. Not only do they both spend an inordinate amount of time telling themselves "I don't have romantic feelings, s/he's just my best friend, it's totally normal to feel like this about your best friend, ...right?", Polly gets very jealous of Ben's one-off romantic interest (who, er, backstabs him and then dies) and when the Doctor convinces the space station's AI Thomas to give report on the inhabitants and Thomas tartly reveals that he's deduced that the three of them are time travelers, Ben gets very hung up on the phrase "their descendants". What does that collective noun imply exactly???
It's so cute.
I have simple needs.
It's just a very charming book. Like Devil Goblins, it's certainly aware that it's Doctor Who For Grownups (it opens with Ben hungover and reflecting that he shouldn't have drunk so much last night, and there's a lot of sexual tension with him and Terri, his love interest of the episode book) but not quite so self-conscious about it. The ultimate villains, the Selachians, are quite well done, especially the pathos they're given in their backstory and when Ben sees one out of armor. The running theme of people not being who they say they are is delightful, and the reveals never feel out of place. The attention given to Ben's character arc and backstory, though, is really the star of the book and what makes me love it.
(This is not to say that Polly is ignored! Some Polly moments I loved: when she detours from chasing the murderer to change out of her ridiculous impractical dress-and-heels costume to get into jeans and flats because why wouldn't you before resuming the chase; when, while imprisoned by the Selachians and told that she'll be expected to work for them, she confidently claims that she's got secretarial experience and conveniently leaves out that it's two centuries out of date; when shortly after that she teaches herself how to use the Selachians' computer system, jumps on a conference call with Terran Security Forces, and announces that she's been kidnapped. I love her.)
An excerpt:
It was over now, and he was... home?
Where was he, exactly?
Not wrapped in cotton wool, although he had been right about the colour. His protective cocoon opened up around him and he was mildly surprised to find himself in a white room. He could see every detail, though he still lay with his eyes closed. He recognised the meticulously ordered ranks of glass bottles on the dressing table and the neatly hung clothes in the wardrobe. The distinctive wall pattern of grey circles nagged at him with its familiarity, and yet it still took him a while to realise that he was in his own bedroom in the TARDIS.
He wasn't used to seeing it in this context: his dreams had always been of his home and his ship before.
And then it occurred to him that this time was no different. Images of home. His ship. And his initial surprise soon gave way to a warm glow of belonging. He embraced this unique occurrence and reimmersed himself contentedly in welcome sleep, which was dreamless now.
It was some considerable time before he was aware of his
surroundings again.
Ben ♥
So 50% success rate so far, which is not bad! We'll see how it goes going forward...