Doctor Who? Doctor WTF, More Like...

So, 'The Waters of Mars'. Described by some (involved in the production) as 'possibly the scariest episode ever'.

Good God.

I'm sorry, but even the tamest of Moffat's episodes was scarier that this dull, derivitive dross from Russell T. Supposedly there was some sort of emotional core to the episode... I guess I must have missed it in all the unconvincing vascillations in The Doctor's behaviour. First he wants to get away from a disaster he's all too familiar with, then he wants to rewrite history and save some 'little people' then, fast as a gunshot (oops - Spoiler), he realises how wrong he was to interfere. Seriously, if you're going to pull that sort of personality switch, at least have the decency to do it over a number of episodes. Consider the Pompeii episode as the beginning of this change, keep ramping up the 'last of the Timelords' angst, twist it into 'The Only Lord of Time' egotism, THEN pull this story out of your hat. Set up the fall before delivering it.

Sheesh.

What made it all the more unpalatable (for me) was sitting through the Confidential show which ran after the special. The impression the team gave was that they were utterly proud of their accomplishments, without ever acknowledging its shortcomings. Russell T. and team appear to be suffering from the same delusion they painted onto The Doctor: Whatever we do is good and right, because we are the Doctor Who production team.

I can understand some of the cuts - particularly those that turned Gadget from a complex, WALL-E style robot into the flimsy Meccano mating of a webcam and a Segway. What I couldn't understand is why we had a crew we were barely introduced to (and therefore didn't care about) turning into barely threatening zombies that gushed water from every orafice (in the first draft, at least) in an environment that was neither dark nor claustrophobic enough to facilitate any sense of peril.

It honestly felt like half the script had been cut out to keep to a rigid running time, and the end just didn't make any sense (no spoilers this time).

Sure, it had to lead into the Christmas special but, like the rest of these one-shots, lacked any punch and, in all honesty, did not show any true development in the character of The Doctor. In so many ways, it was just cheap.

In other news, I'm off work this week, and I'm not doing too badly so far - went out today and picked up a Christmas present for a friend. I've also been digging around in my old graphic design work for the SAM Coupé, having been recently contacted by someone who's still active in the scene (in the sense of working on a magazine, an accelerator, an Ethernet interface, internet connectivity... and a Twitter client, amongst other things), and intending to do an anniversary issue of his magazine with a feature on games that were announced, but never happened. This article would include one of mine...

Only, since I wrote back in such detail, he's changed his plans... Now, it may well be that some of my other stuff will feature in the 'Games That Never Happened', and the one he contacted me about first will appear in a feature all its own, in the following issue.

How cool is that?

Guess we'll have to wait and see ;)

First Signs of Improvement?

And so the cycle begins anew... and the first magazine went to press a whopping three hours earlier than last month. It might even have been earlier if (a) the Copy Controller hadn't decided to bunk off on press day and (b) if the Copy Controller had actually done some Copy Control. Granted she'd been helping out on some other magazines before getting to her own, but when she was given help, she made no use of it.

But, still. Three hours earlier. Three hours worth of improvement.

This is partly due to my greater familiarity with the system, partly due to the Salespeople having learned some lessons. Not all of them, naturally - that would be far too much to ask - but some significant lessons.

Also, frankly, a good part of it is that the 'two teams' structure has basically been dropped, so ads are to be picked up by anyone on any team... and, this month, we didn't have the preceding magazine delayed by two days because of a supplement going to press rather suddenly and unexpectedly, having been put back several times over the months.

Of course, it's not all sunshine and clear skies. The company haven't quite decided what to do about web ads - they were supposed to be invoiced last Monday, but this came as a surprise to the Accounts department, and upset both the MD and one of the Commercial Managers. I've been waiting for someone to explain the new 'system' to me for the best part of the last month, and nothing has happened. I suspect (as does my boss) that this is because they're not sure what the system is themselves, and how best to make it work.

Funny, then, that no-one has asked the guy they're paying to do the work.

The 'system', as it stands, appears to be this: There is a 'publication' called 'web', divided into 'editions' which represent the individual websites. Whereas the actual print magazines get invoiced the week after they go to press, web ads are invoiced in bulk, under the heading of the publication called 'web', in the last week of the month. This means that Salespeople can sell for web throughout the month... except those that go to press in the last week of the month. Bear in mind that these same Salespeople should be working on their next magazine for most of the month (I wonder if this is why most sales are made in press week), rather than blundering on with web sales for the magazine just gone, and you start to see the problem. Factor in that they have no effective deadline, and you've got a problem both for web (no time to make the ads) and print (no attention from Sales until web deadline hits).

Now, funnily enough, it transpires that invoicing can be dealt with by edition, rather than by publication... So why has no-one considered the far more logical alternative: Set up an edition called 'web' on all the publications, and set the invoicing date a week after the print editions?

Any takers?

Personally, though, I'm bored of it. I'm bored of Salespeople mis-selling, having no idea of what they've sold, and believing they can strongarm Production into doing whatever they please, at any time of the month.

Getting out of dealing with web ads would be enough for the time being, but that appears to be out of the question for no obvious reason. Getting out of the company altogether seems like the best option overall and, to this end, my boss is helping me out with my CV (when she has time...). I'd like to be out by the New Year, but - short of resigning before I find a new job (not a good idea now I have a mortgage to think of), I don't see that happening. I seem to be hanging onto this job out of morbid curiosity: What will go wrong next? How bad will it be?

Sounds kinda familar, really... It was about this stage that I quit my last job - back when I had the luxury of living under my parents' roof rather than my own.

Tomorrow, I'm hanging out with my family - it's my mother's birthday on Monday, so we're having lunch (in a pub, naturally) while we're all available. Since my sister, her husband and their daughter will be in attendance (or so I believe), it shouldn't be too desperately dull... and it'll give me the opportunity to pick up some more stuff that's currently in storage at the house... but most of my news I've already shared by phone.

I already have my mother's present - got it last year, in fact - and I'm not bothering with a card as I can never find one I like. I also picked up a Christmas present for my niece today, after my monthly visit to the Chiropractor, in Acton Farmers' Market: a handmade jigsaw in the shape of a butterfly - nice, chunky pieces with numbers from one to ten. Kate's probably too young for it right now, but it'll keep...

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News in brief

We've now switched over to the new system at work, and my first Press Day - last Wednesday - lasted till very nearly midnight.

This was for many reasons, but it boiled down to my team being unable to start work on the bulk of the ads for that magazine till Press Day, and the fact that one of my team was on holiday... Then another one took the morning off (and actually hasn't been back to work since, having resigned at the end of the week. Apparently because I've been harassing her.

Needless to say, Human Resources looked at the evidence, and concluded that she's trying to kick up a fuss because I've been trying to clamp down on her absenteeism. She'll be offered the opportunity of returning to work, just not on my team (essentially taking on the 'floater' role)... but it's highly unlikely she'll go for it.

Probably a good thing.

I'm tired, cranky, and more determined than ever to go looking for another job.

In other news, my niece continues to grow healthily... but is having an MRI later in the week to check that everything really is as good as it seems. I had a power failure at home last night (while I was watching Chuck, annoyingly... but I believe it's repeated at the weekend), which cut short an internet chat with my boss. Turned out to be a local fault both at the power station (where a fuse was changed) and somewhere closer to home (where engineers on site restored power gradually from about 10am onward, with my power coming back at about midday). By the time power had been restored, there was no point in me going to work - my boss was letting everyone off at 2pm - so I spent the whole day at home.

There were things I needed to do at work, but I guess they can wait till tomorrow... The most annoying thing is that there was actually no need for me to stay home, since the engineers didn't need to enter my flat.

I kinda needed the rest, though... Somehow I managed to sleep through the hour of 8am-9am, roused only by a phone call from one of my staff, announcing that she was going to be late.

The down side to this unexpected day off is that I don't actually feel like going back to work tomorrow.

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