50th Anniversary Fanwork-a-thon-a-thon, Round Six: Six
50th Anniversary Fanwork-a-thon-a-thon, Round Six: Six
(Secondary prompt: The Time Lords)
We've barely scratched the surface yet of Round Five, but there's no time to lose. That 50th Anniversary is bearing down on us like a greased Myrka in a narrow corridor so we'd better move on and get preparing for the next leg of our 'thon-of-'thons. In fact, we are moving on, as the man himself would say (smirking straight to camera) whether you like it or not. ;)
(Remember, though, if you're still working on entries for prior legs - please, please still post your works to the comm whenever they are finished - the way I see it, it's quite literally a case of the more the merrier)
And with an opening line like that, it was probably a given that the next in our procession of Doctors wasn't necessarily going to be easy to get on with. Few could have suspected, however, what was to come - extreme regeneration trauma, extremely nasty attempted companion-murder (because, you know, it's a kids' show!) and, perhaps most horrifying of all, apart from the (imho!) generally pretty ropy initial couple of stories, the Coat... After that shaky start, though, June's Doctor went on to have a brief but not entirely fruitless television career, before, many would argue, finding redemption in the realms of audio. Throughout, he was a man of principle and intellect, a lover of words and on occasion James Bondian quips, a striker of poses and a non-glad-sufferer of fools. He certainly has an ego (but he's not the only Doctor to have one of those!) and a tendency to overdramatise things (ditto!), and at times it does seem that he and his companions tend to argue, mainly, but underneath it all, we have increasingly come to suspect, beat twin hearts of gold. Not that he'd like you to know that, probably. You know who we're talking about. It's:
SIX??!! is this month's study. The penultimate (and very nearly, if the lore is correct, the last) of the old series Doctors, and one whose reputation among fans seems only to have grown and grown over the years. It's as if, after his troubled television run, when arguably the worst monster he faced was BBC politics, he became in our minds the plucky Doctor Who Could. And it's not an entirely unreasonable point of view. Colin Baker, a gifted and intelligent actor who'd clearly put a lot of thought and preparation into his portrayal of the Doctor, never really got a fair crack of the whip back in the 80s, so we can really only be grateful that the later audio adventures have given him the chance to shine and be the Doctor he would have grown into back then, had he only been given more time. Plus, in audio form you can't see the Coat. ;D And as always, the Doctor needs good companions to back him up. Once they got over the strangulation thing (I mean, really, BBC??) Six and Peri had, to my mind, a pleasingly sparky, screwball comedy sort of relationship. Yes, I like the bickering! :D And of course, there have been others in the various spinoff media. Probably the standout fan favourite among Six's companions is the audios' Evelyn, who if you listen to Steven Moffat is the sort of companion you would never see on the television version. Which is a shame, and another reason to be glad for the audios.
If you've already been involved in previous rounds, you know what comes next. If not, my new friends, here's the drill: All forms of fannish endeavour are welcome - that goes for fanfic, fanart, fanvids, fanmixes, icons, podfic, and absolutely any other medium in which you want to express your creativity and celebrate your love for that which is Who. Think of Six, think of the Coat, think of what else makes him the Doctor he is. Think of the companions, the enemies, the other features of his era. Think of Peri, think of Evelyn, think, why didn't Six ever get to meet the Brig onscreen?? Think of the Rani, think of the Master still hanging around. Think of Sil! And think of the Valeyard and his courtroom theatrics and think...brrr... And think of Gallifreyan Buccaneers and their hilarious comic-operatic stylings while you're at it.
As ever, something that evokes the idea of the oncoming 50th Anniversary would be especially welcome, but maybe the best way to do that is by creating the most categorically Six-like Six fanwork you possibly can?
And I know some of you may very well be working on things for sixathon, which coincidentally I believe is also due to start posting things in June. If anybody wanted to crosspost those things over here too to contribute to our own month of Six, I certainly wouldn't say no!
And once again, we have a secondary theme for those of you who like to explore other possibilities. And for June 2013, that will be...
The Time Lords. It seems appropriate, considering that they put him on trial for his existence and everything, to make the month of Six the month where we consider the Doctor's people. From their first appearance as enigmatic godlike figures in The War Games, through their transformation into a collection of ivory-tower academics and scheming politicians in the post-Deadly Assassin stories of the 70s and 80s, into the hints and snippets of the new series and then the horrifying revelations of The End of Time, the Time Lords have for all but the first six years or so of Who's existence cast a long shadow over the programme's fictional universe. Even now that the Doctor is the last of them - as far as we know - they never seem to be far from his mind. Understandable, considering what he did. And apart from the idea of the Time Lords and Gallifrey, we have the individuals, the good, the bad, the backstabbing. From Rassilon himself, to the Meddling Monk, from Cardinal, later President Borusa and his political peers to the Rani and her interesting approach to scientific ethics. What about the Corsair - what did s/he get up to on her/his travels? And perhaps above all, the ones who interacted the most with the Doctor in the life of the programme and perhaps left the greatest marks upon him - the Lady Romanadvoratrelundar for one (or two?), and who could forget the Master (all of him)? We might be talking Academy days and Doctorly origins - we might just be talking some serious Doctor/Romana or Doctor/Master shipping. Either way, I really dig Time Lords. If you did them as much as I do, maybe they will provide the inspiration for your no-doubt excellent fanworks this month.
Whatever you end up doing, my friends, I'm looking forward to it already!
I hope that somewhere in all of the above you will each find something to get your creative juices flowing. If so, please express your wish to participate in the comments to this post. I would love it if you could name a date too (list provided below) as it helps spread the contributions out over the whole month, but it is not an absolute requirement for those of you who prefer to play it by ear.
The Days
June 2013
1
2
3
4 - ghost2
5
6
7
8
9 - ponygirl72
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26 - clocketpatch
27
28 - akashasheiress
29 - demonicsymphony
30 - femme_slash_fan
Members who would have expressed interest in participating but would prefer not to be tied to a specific date include: garpu, merryghoul, lyricwrites
Oh, I suppose it's probably worthwhile familiarising yourselves with what I like to call the rules:
- Please feel free to post your fanworks directly to the community, or link to your own Livejournal/Dreamwidth account or any external archive or site you use for hosting your stuff.
- There are no minimum length requirements, but please put any large images or, in the case of fanfic, anything over 1000 words, under a cut or the other side of a link.
- There are no rating restrictions, but again please cut and provide warnings for anything over PG-13, or which might be considered triggering. Use your common sense.
- Character-bashing is in the eye of the beholder, but there are ways of critiquing or lampooning something you don't necessarily like about the show without resorting to straight-up hatchet-work that is going to cause angst on the comm. Common sense, again.
- Disclaimers may or may not actually work from a legal standpoint, but they help me sleep at night.
- Most importantly, HAVE FUN!
Anyway, that's all I have to say. The rest I leave in your hands. :)
(Secondary prompt: The Time Lords)
We've barely scratched the surface yet of Round Five, but there's no time to lose. That 50th Anniversary is bearing down on us like a greased Myrka in a narrow corridor so we'd better move on and get preparing for the next leg of our 'thon-of-'thons. In fact, we are moving on, as the man himself would say (smirking straight to camera) whether you like it or not. ;)
(Remember, though, if you're still working on entries for prior legs - please, please still post your works to the comm whenever they are finished - the way I see it, it's quite literally a case of the more the merrier)
And with an opening line like that, it was probably a given that the next in our procession of Doctors wasn't necessarily going to be easy to get on with. Few could have suspected, however, what was to come - extreme regeneration trauma, extremely nasty attempted companion-murder (because, you know, it's a kids' show!) and, perhaps most horrifying of all, apart from the (imho!) generally pretty ropy initial couple of stories, the Coat... After that shaky start, though, June's Doctor went on to have a brief but not entirely fruitless television career, before, many would argue, finding redemption in the realms of audio. Throughout, he was a man of principle and intellect, a lover of words and on occasion James Bondian quips, a striker of poses and a non-glad-sufferer of fools. He certainly has an ego (but he's not the only Doctor to have one of those!) and a tendency to overdramatise things (ditto!), and at times it does seem that he and his companions tend to argue, mainly, but underneath it all, we have increasingly come to suspect, beat twin hearts of gold. Not that he'd like you to know that, probably. You know who we're talking about. It's:
SIX??!! is this month's study. The penultimate (and very nearly, if the lore is correct, the last) of the old series Doctors, and one whose reputation among fans seems only to have grown and grown over the years. It's as if, after his troubled television run, when arguably the worst monster he faced was BBC politics, he became in our minds the plucky Doctor Who Could. And it's not an entirely unreasonable point of view. Colin Baker, a gifted and intelligent actor who'd clearly put a lot of thought and preparation into his portrayal of the Doctor, never really got a fair crack of the whip back in the 80s, so we can really only be grateful that the later audio adventures have given him the chance to shine and be the Doctor he would have grown into back then, had he only been given more time. Plus, in audio form you can't see the Coat. ;D And as always, the Doctor needs good companions to back him up. Once they got over the strangulation thing (I mean, really, BBC??) Six and Peri had, to my mind, a pleasingly sparky, screwball comedy sort of relationship. Yes, I like the bickering! :D And of course, there have been others in the various spinoff media. Probably the standout fan favourite among Six's companions is the audios' Evelyn, who if you listen to Steven Moffat is the sort of companion you would never see on the television version. Which is a shame, and another reason to be glad for the audios.
If you've already been involved in previous rounds, you know what comes next. If not, my new friends, here's the drill: All forms of fannish endeavour are welcome - that goes for fanfic, fanart, fanvids, fanmixes, icons, podfic, and absolutely any other medium in which you want to express your creativity and celebrate your love for that which is Who. Think of Six, think of the Coat, think of what else makes him the Doctor he is. Think of the companions, the enemies, the other features of his era. Think of Peri, think of Evelyn, think, why didn't Six ever get to meet the Brig onscreen?? Think of the Rani, think of the Master still hanging around. Think of Sil! And think of the Valeyard and his courtroom theatrics and think...brrr... And think of Gallifreyan Buccaneers and their hilarious comic-operatic stylings while you're at it.
As ever, something that evokes the idea of the oncoming 50th Anniversary would be especially welcome, but maybe the best way to do that is by creating the most categorically Six-like Six fanwork you possibly can?
And I know some of you may very well be working on things for sixathon, which coincidentally I believe is also due to start posting things in June. If anybody wanted to crosspost those things over here too to contribute to our own month of Six, I certainly wouldn't say no!
And once again, we have a secondary theme for those of you who like to explore other possibilities. And for June 2013, that will be...
The Time Lords. It seems appropriate, considering that they put him on trial for his existence and everything, to make the month of Six the month where we consider the Doctor's people. From their first appearance as enigmatic godlike figures in The War Games, through their transformation into a collection of ivory-tower academics and scheming politicians in the post-Deadly Assassin stories of the 70s and 80s, into the hints and snippets of the new series and then the horrifying revelations of The End of Time, the Time Lords have for all but the first six years or so of Who's existence cast a long shadow over the programme's fictional universe. Even now that the Doctor is the last of them - as far as we know - they never seem to be far from his mind. Understandable, considering what he did. And apart from the idea of the Time Lords and Gallifrey, we have the individuals, the good, the bad, the backstabbing. From Rassilon himself, to the Meddling Monk, from Cardinal, later President Borusa and his political peers to the Rani and her interesting approach to scientific ethics. What about the Corsair - what did s/he get up to on her/his travels? And perhaps above all, the ones who interacted the most with the Doctor in the life of the programme and perhaps left the greatest marks upon him - the Lady Romanadvoratrelundar for one (or two?), and who could forget the Master (all of him)? We might be talking Academy days and Doctorly origins - we might just be talking some serious Doctor/Romana or Doctor/Master shipping. Either way, I really dig Time Lords. If you did them as much as I do, maybe they will provide the inspiration for your no-doubt excellent fanworks this month.
Whatever you end up doing, my friends, I'm looking forward to it already!
I hope that somewhere in all of the above you will each find something to get your creative juices flowing. If so, please express your wish to participate in the comments to this post. I would love it if you could name a date too (list provided below) as it helps spread the contributions out over the whole month, but it is not an absolute requirement for those of you who prefer to play it by ear.
The Days
June 2013
1
2
3
4 - ghost2
5
6
7
8
9 - ponygirl72
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26 - clocketpatch
27
28 - akashasheiress
29 - demonicsymphony
30 - femme_slash_fan
Members who would have expressed interest in participating but would prefer not to be tied to a specific date include: garpu, merryghoul, lyricwrites
Oh, I suppose it's probably worthwhile familiarising yourselves with what I like to call the rules:
- Please feel free to post your fanworks directly to the community, or link to your own Livejournal/Dreamwidth account or any external archive or site you use for hosting your stuff.
- There are no minimum length requirements, but please put any large images or, in the case of fanfic, anything over 1000 words, under a cut or the other side of a link.
- There are no rating restrictions, but again please cut and provide warnings for anything over PG-13, or which might be considered triggering. Use your common sense.
- Character-bashing is in the eye of the beholder, but there are ways of critiquing or lampooning something you don't necessarily like about the show without resorting to straight-up hatchet-work that is going to cause angst on the comm. Common sense, again.
- Disclaimers may or may not actually work from a legal standpoint, but they help me sleep at night.
- Most importantly, HAVE FUN!
Anyway, that's all I have to say. The rest I leave in your hands. :)