It's very rare that one can consider oneself fortunate in the midst of a domestic problem such as a leaky roof but, if one were to have a leaky roof, there are few better places to have a leak than directly above one's shower.
This is precisely what I have.
It has probably been building up steadily over the last few weeks of intermittent heavy rain, but the actual 'breakthrough' of grimy rainwater filtering through the roof and down to my ceiling happened overnight between Sunday and today (erm... yesterday now, looking at the time).
I've been in touch with the Managing Agents, who are going to try to get the roofers to do a patch job, as the actual refit of the roof is still some way off. This probably won't happen as soon as I'd like, as this is exactly the time of year that they'll be busiest. The ground floor shops have refused to pay their part, so the landlord is now planning to stump up for half the cost, and make up the rest in Service Charge... I am conferring with my solicitor on this point, as it seems like (a) the soft option and (b) a little unfair. If the roof were to fail significantly, they'd suffer just as much as the tenants of the flats.
But hey. At least I didn't get the bathroom refitted this year.
In other news, today's magazine - the first of the January issues - went to press a touch before 6pm. Not bad... but it didn't hit its target by a long shot, and was about 8 pages lighter than it could have been, had the Sales team worked as hard on Friday as they did today. Next one for me is Thursday, so I have a bit of breathing space in which to sort out the web ads.
So, not really 'breathing space'.
Oh well.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Sunday, 29 November 2009
On an unrelated note
I've been reading a couple of books on writing recently, starting with Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, and moving onto Ben Bova's The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells. Card's book tends to be theoretical and comparative, while Bova's offers some practical illustrations of its main points in the form of some of his own short stories.
Both have been quite helpful, in that they've given me a lot to think about (on the other hand, just what I need... more to think about...), but I've been quite perturbed by some of the things Bova has written about contemporary sci-fi... Particularly describing the likes of Alien as 'space opera', which he describes, essentially, as all-action, no character development.
Um. Pardon me?
Maybe I'm just getting flashbacks to the time I tried to get some of my friends to sit down and watch Alien at my house, only to end up throwing them out because they did nothing but complain about the lack of characterisation during the scenes where the characters were being introduced, but I really do take exception to that.
If there was no character development, there would have been no survivors. Ellen Riply would have died. She did not begin the story with the ability to beat the Alien. Granted, it took a lot more luck than skill on her part, but she survived, and was changed by her experience - as evidenced by her character in the sequels.
All of the crew of the Nostromo were faced with something of which they had no prior experience, and all of them were changed by it (mostly by dying but, hey). Some gave in to their fear, others rose above it.
There are even a couple obvious of conflicts: When Kane is brought back the the ship having been attacked, Ripley and Dallas are at loggerheads - both with Rules vs Compassion. Dallas wants to being Kane into the ship, into the medical centre. Ripley elects to follow the rules, and leaves Kane, Dallas and Lambert in the airlock, quarantined. Ash goes against that decision, apparently representing the victory of compassion over the rules.
Of course, it later turns out that he has his own agenda... or rather, that he represents The Company's agenda.
Before that, however, Ripley and Dallas are in conflict again, over who goes into the Nostromo's air shafts to seek out the alien - both with Fear vs Duty - and, while one might automatically suspect Dallas' overruling of Ripley, taking her place in the search, as being chivalrous, he's actually just reasserting himself as the Captain... To his own cost.
Even the initial trip down to the planet, to investigate the signal, is a conflict on several levels. The crew is contractually obliged to respond to distress calls and, while the signal is not definitively identified as a distress call, there's enough doubt for them to set down an investigate... And at least one of the crew is hoping to get rich on whatever they find (expressed better in Alan Dean Foster's novelisation than in the finished movie). Their own mission, however, is simply to bring their cargo back to Earth.
So, with such a glaring error in his text, can I really make use of what Ben Bova has to say about writing?
Actually, in the main, I think I can... His examples - his own short stories - almost seem to be written for purpose, rather than having been chosen to illustrate his points. However, the points he makes are useful... as a guideline.
I may look into books on writing other genres... possibly Horror, as that might be useful, too... but it's already after 11pm, and so too late to go trawling Amazon now.
Both have been quite helpful, in that they've given me a lot to think about (on the other hand, just what I need... more to think about...), but I've been quite perturbed by some of the things Bova has written about contemporary sci-fi... Particularly describing the likes of Alien as 'space opera', which he describes, essentially, as all-action, no character development.
Um. Pardon me?
Maybe I'm just getting flashbacks to the time I tried to get some of my friends to sit down and watch Alien at my house, only to end up throwing them out because they did nothing but complain about the lack of characterisation during the scenes where the characters were being introduced, but I really do take exception to that.
If there was no character development, there would have been no survivors. Ellen Riply would have died. She did not begin the story with the ability to beat the Alien. Granted, it took a lot more luck than skill on her part, but she survived, and was changed by her experience - as evidenced by her character in the sequels.
All of the crew of the Nostromo were faced with something of which they had no prior experience, and all of them were changed by it (mostly by dying but, hey). Some gave in to their fear, others rose above it.
There are even a couple obvious of conflicts: When Kane is brought back the the ship having been attacked, Ripley and Dallas are at loggerheads - both with Rules vs Compassion. Dallas wants to being Kane into the ship, into the medical centre. Ripley elects to follow the rules, and leaves Kane, Dallas and Lambert in the airlock, quarantined. Ash goes against that decision, apparently representing the victory of compassion over the rules.
Of course, it later turns out that he has his own agenda... or rather, that he represents The Company's agenda.
Before that, however, Ripley and Dallas are in conflict again, over who goes into the Nostromo's air shafts to seek out the alien - both with Fear vs Duty - and, while one might automatically suspect Dallas' overruling of Ripley, taking her place in the search, as being chivalrous, he's actually just reasserting himself as the Captain... To his own cost.
Even the initial trip down to the planet, to investigate the signal, is a conflict on several levels. The crew is contractually obliged to respond to distress calls and, while the signal is not definitively identified as a distress call, there's enough doubt for them to set down an investigate... And at least one of the crew is hoping to get rich on whatever they find (expressed better in Alan Dean Foster's novelisation than in the finished movie). Their own mission, however, is simply to bring their cargo back to Earth.
So, with such a glaring error in his text, can I really make use of what Ben Bova has to say about writing?
Actually, in the main, I think I can... His examples - his own short stories - almost seem to be written for purpose, rather than having been chosen to illustrate his points. However, the points he makes are useful... as a guideline.
I may look into books on writing other genres... possibly Horror, as that might be useful, too... but it's already after 11pm, and so too late to go trawling Amazon now.
A bit of a bust...
Today probably wasn't the best use of a day I've ever made.
No sketching, no writing, didn't go out (except to restock my fridge, and that was only down the road) because of the heavy, almost constant rain. I had a little nap earlier, but that - strangely - left me with a headache.
I was planning on doing some washing up but, having just watched Terminator Salvation on DVD - just as good the second time around, and I caught a few details I missed in the cinema, partially thanks to the documentaries on the second disc - it's too late to think about doing the dishes... particularly with the blasted headache.
In the all-too-brief breaks in the rain, I did manage a bit of photography - redoing some photos that came out too dark last time, and even squeezing in some new stuff, including the FansProject City Commander armour that turns Classics Ultra Magnus into a true Ultra Magnus... and then added the weapons upgrade that FansProject developed more recently.
Though, to be honest, when I'll be adding that to my collection blog, I have no idea... There's so much backed up waiting to be worked on, and I've had so little time/inclination/reliable computer to actually do the updates, the darned thing is pretty much on a permanent haitus.
Just like the rest of my writing, then.
Even this blog has substantially fewer posts this year than last... I wonder if my interest is dropping off. It would be a bad thing if that's the case. I need to keep writing, one way or another.
Didn't even get round to colour correcting some photos of my old SAM Coupé work to send to the guy who's hoping to run a feature on it.
Or do the hoovering.
Deary me.
And tomorrow is a press day, with an awful lot of magazine to push through in 8 hours. Better get some paracetamol and hit the sack, I think...
No sketching, no writing, didn't go out (except to restock my fridge, and that was only down the road) because of the heavy, almost constant rain. I had a little nap earlier, but that - strangely - left me with a headache.
I was planning on doing some washing up but, having just watched Terminator Salvation on DVD - just as good the second time around, and I caught a few details I missed in the cinema, partially thanks to the documentaries on the second disc - it's too late to think about doing the dishes... particularly with the blasted headache.
In the all-too-brief breaks in the rain, I did manage a bit of photography - redoing some photos that came out too dark last time, and even squeezing in some new stuff, including the FansProject City Commander armour that turns Classics Ultra Magnus into a true Ultra Magnus... and then added the weapons upgrade that FansProject developed more recently.
Though, to be honest, when I'll be adding that to my collection blog, I have no idea... There's so much backed up waiting to be worked on, and I've had so little time/inclination/reliable computer to actually do the updates, the darned thing is pretty much on a permanent haitus.
Just like the rest of my writing, then.
Even this blog has substantially fewer posts this year than last... I wonder if my interest is dropping off. It would be a bad thing if that's the case. I need to keep writing, one way or another.
Didn't even get round to colour correcting some photos of my old SAM Coupé work to send to the guy who's hoping to run a feature on it.
Or do the hoovering.
Deary me.
And tomorrow is a press day, with an awful lot of magazine to push through in 8 hours. Better get some paracetamol and hit the sack, I think...
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Everyone has their vices...
In much the same way as a friend religiously watches any crap disaster movie that's shown over the weekend (though we haven't managed to see 2012 yet), I seem to be gravitating toward the selection of terrible Sci-Fi/Horror movies available on the Freeview channels.
Recently, I started watching one of the Friday 13th movies (running as part of a 3D weekend), but gave up because it was so deathly dull (no pun intended). Last night, I watched Species: The Awakening - a straight-to-video sequel featuring none of the original cast. Ben Cross tried to bring some weight to the proceedings, but the script sadly failed him. The guy who played Malcolm in Enterprise turned up sporting a terrible Australian accent. There was a European blonde actress in the lead role, spending the first half of the movie being all prim and proper, only to be overcome by her horny alien side after a 'life-saving' transplant of human stem cells from an unwilling human donor. Naturally, she came good in the end (again, no pun intended... well, maybe), having a massive bitch-fight with the far sexier, evil brunette hybrid.
Earlier today, I watched Black Sheep, a Kiwi comedy horror about genetically-engineered zombie sheep... and weresheep... It was actually laugh-out-loud funny a couple of times (I cannot adequately express how surprised I was to find myself laughing out loud at anything lately), and a reasonably competent horror movie overall. The special effects were probably more or less on a par with Brit-flick Dog Soldiers, and it just goes to show how sinister sheep really are.
Right now, I'm watching a movie called Heatstroke, in which it seems some aliens are trying to wreck our climate from Hawaii (you know, if I ever turn into an Evil Villain, I'd probably like to have my base of operations in Hawaii, too) but, critically, sowed the seeds of their own failure by accidentally letting slip their plans many years ago... via Television... inducing nightmares in many people throughout the world.
The aliens themselves are some of the worst CGI I've yet seen in any movie - frequently not even tracking properly with their backgrounds, and coming across as skinny a crossbreed of a Predator and a velociraptor, with caustic orange breath. One of the good guys appears to have been posessed by the aliens... Somehow...
Not sure I shouldn't give up on this crap and get an early-ish night... The one thing that's kept me watching so far is the appearance of Wayne Pygrim... last seen under heavy makeup as Scorpius in FarScape.
I popped over to my folks for lunch today, after my monthly trip to the Chiropractor, for lunch and a rummage around in the remaining boxes. My main aim was to try to dig up my SAM Coupé, but it seems to have been consigned to the loft (eeek). They've offered to go looking for it, and drop me a line when it turns up. I just hope it still works...
While I was over there, my mother filled me in on the latest from my sister and her family. The baby is doing very well, but the husband is depressed - in the medical sense, rather than just 'feeling a bit down'. It seems he was quite unprepared for the shift in domestic dynamic following the arrival of the baby and, coupled with work stress and other things, he's really feeling isolated. Not good. His father, meanwhile, is even less mobile these days, following a knee problem that left him with a dose of MRSA. Antibiotics have cleared it up, but he's still not fully back on his feet, and may never be.
Makes me all the more thankful for my continued good health.
In the afternoon, I popped over to Uxbridge to pick up a Secret Santa gift for the work Christmas Party this coming Friday. While there, I also picked up Black Sheep - as mentioned earlier in this very posting - along with the new Star Trek reboot and Terminator Salvation, both of which exceeded my expectations in the cinema.
Not quite sure what I shall do with tomorrow... More laundry at the very least... Hopefully also some sketching and/or writing.
Also worth mentioning that I went to a two-day course in Animation and Design in Adobe Flash during the week, at the London College of Communication. The course itself was not too bad - the software is easier than I expected, even the programming side (not that I expect to be doing anything too impressive). The tutor was a bit scattershot in his approach, and let himself be distracted by some of his students asking about things that would be covered later... and did not endear himself to his class by turning up just over an hour late on the first day because he got the dates wrong. Nevertheless, I learnt everything I need from Flash, and more...
The college, though... Sheesh. You could smell the pretension on some of the students.
Or maybe that was pot.
Recently, I started watching one of the Friday 13th movies (running as part of a 3D weekend), but gave up because it was so deathly dull (no pun intended). Last night, I watched Species: The Awakening - a straight-to-video sequel featuring none of the original cast. Ben Cross tried to bring some weight to the proceedings, but the script sadly failed him. The guy who played Malcolm in Enterprise turned up sporting a terrible Australian accent. There was a European blonde actress in the lead role, spending the first half of the movie being all prim and proper, only to be overcome by her horny alien side after a 'life-saving' transplant of human stem cells from an unwilling human donor. Naturally, she came good in the end (again, no pun intended... well, maybe), having a massive bitch-fight with the far sexier, evil brunette hybrid.
Earlier today, I watched Black Sheep, a Kiwi comedy horror about genetically-engineered zombie sheep... and weresheep... It was actually laugh-out-loud funny a couple of times (I cannot adequately express how surprised I was to find myself laughing out loud at anything lately), and a reasonably competent horror movie overall. The special effects were probably more or less on a par with Brit-flick Dog Soldiers, and it just goes to show how sinister sheep really are.
Right now, I'm watching a movie called Heatstroke, in which it seems some aliens are trying to wreck our climate from Hawaii (you know, if I ever turn into an Evil Villain, I'd probably like to have my base of operations in Hawaii, too) but, critically, sowed the seeds of their own failure by accidentally letting slip their plans many years ago... via Television... inducing nightmares in many people throughout the world.
The aliens themselves are some of the worst CGI I've yet seen in any movie - frequently not even tracking properly with their backgrounds, and coming across as skinny a crossbreed of a Predator and a velociraptor, with caustic orange breath. One of the good guys appears to have been posessed by the aliens... Somehow...
Not sure I shouldn't give up on this crap and get an early-ish night... The one thing that's kept me watching so far is the appearance of Wayne Pygrim... last seen under heavy makeup as Scorpius in FarScape.
I popped over to my folks for lunch today, after my monthly trip to the Chiropractor, for lunch and a rummage around in the remaining boxes. My main aim was to try to dig up my SAM Coupé, but it seems to have been consigned to the loft (eeek). They've offered to go looking for it, and drop me a line when it turns up. I just hope it still works...
While I was over there, my mother filled me in on the latest from my sister and her family. The baby is doing very well, but the husband is depressed - in the medical sense, rather than just 'feeling a bit down'. It seems he was quite unprepared for the shift in domestic dynamic following the arrival of the baby and, coupled with work stress and other things, he's really feeling isolated. Not good. His father, meanwhile, is even less mobile these days, following a knee problem that left him with a dose of MRSA. Antibiotics have cleared it up, but he's still not fully back on his feet, and may never be.
Makes me all the more thankful for my continued good health.
In the afternoon, I popped over to Uxbridge to pick up a Secret Santa gift for the work Christmas Party this coming Friday. While there, I also picked up Black Sheep - as mentioned earlier in this very posting - along with the new Star Trek reboot and Terminator Salvation, both of which exceeded my expectations in the cinema.
Not quite sure what I shall do with tomorrow... More laundry at the very least... Hopefully also some sketching and/or writing.
Also worth mentioning that I went to a two-day course in Animation and Design in Adobe Flash during the week, at the London College of Communication. The course itself was not too bad - the software is easier than I expected, even the programming side (not that I expect to be doing anything too impressive). The tutor was a bit scattershot in his approach, and let himself be distracted by some of his students asking about things that would be covered later... and did not endear himself to his class by turning up just over an hour late on the first day because he got the dates wrong. Nevertheless, I learnt everything I need from Flash, and more...
The college, though... Sheesh. You could smell the pretension on some of the students.
Or maybe that was pot.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Good Grief, It's Dark... Again...
...And today, it's raining.
Heavily.
Nice way to end my week off.
Popped in to Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday, to visit my sister and little niece. Both seem to be doing well. Kate especially - shortly after arriving, I caught a glimpse of the top of her chest and saw what appeared to be the remnants of a huge wound... but when the time came to change the dressing, most of the dried blood came away, leaving quite a tiny line that's well on the way to healing. She's sure to have a nasty scar, but she is healing incredibly well.
She was also - according to my sister - rather more conversational than ever before. Not that a single thing made any sense - she hasn't discovered words yet - but she was particularly vocal after lunch (hers and ours). At one point, she started grizzling, and none of the handy toys or the dummy seemed to fix the problem. Bizarrely, though, my attempts to distract her from whatever bothered her weren't too successful until she discovered my stubbly chin. That sorted the problem right out. Seems she enjoys playing with beards...
I left just after she went to sleep around 5pm - rather later than I'd intended, but it was good to spend a bit of time with both sister and niece, especially since she's likely to be discharged and heading home tomorrow.
Not sure what I'll do with today... it's far too dark (at the moment) to do any photography or sketching... and, while I'd like to do some writing, I'm just not feeling that inspired right now.
Actually, that's not entirely true. Something I'm working on has grown a whole new element that pretty much begs to be explored... but repeatedly, whenever something pops into my head, it's gone before I sit down to write it out.
Heavily.
Nice way to end my week off.
Popped in to Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday, to visit my sister and little niece. Both seem to be doing well. Kate especially - shortly after arriving, I caught a glimpse of the top of her chest and saw what appeared to be the remnants of a huge wound... but when the time came to change the dressing, most of the dried blood came away, leaving quite a tiny line that's well on the way to healing. She's sure to have a nasty scar, but she is healing incredibly well.
She was also - according to my sister - rather more conversational than ever before. Not that a single thing made any sense - she hasn't discovered words yet - but she was particularly vocal after lunch (hers and ours). At one point, she started grizzling, and none of the handy toys or the dummy seemed to fix the problem. Bizarrely, though, my attempts to distract her from whatever bothered her weren't too successful until she discovered my stubbly chin. That sorted the problem right out. Seems she enjoys playing with beards...
I left just after she went to sleep around 5pm - rather later than I'd intended, but it was good to spend a bit of time with both sister and niece, especially since she's likely to be discharged and heading home tomorrow.
Not sure what I'll do with today... it's far too dark (at the moment) to do any photography or sketching... and, while I'd like to do some writing, I'm just not feeling that inspired right now.
Actually, that's not entirely true. Something I'm working on has grown a whole new element that pretty much begs to be explored... but repeatedly, whenever something pops into my head, it's gone before I sit down to write it out.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Good Grief, It's Dark...
Only yesterday, the weather was bright and mostly clear. I really should have used that time to either (a) go out, get some fresh air, do some shopping, do some photography, some sketching... anything to take advantage of the daylight.
Today is DARK. It's been overcast all day, the wind is much higher than yesterday, and it's been raining a little every so often. Today would have been ideal for lazing around watching DVDs and mucking about on the computer. I really must learn to take better advantage of the opportunities presented to me.
That said, one of the first things I did with my time off was make a (small) start on Christmas Presents. I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't be going to the winter Memorabilia this time round, much as I'd like to, but there are options for other kinds of Christmas shopping.
On the other hand, I haven't been doing too well on any other score. I asked by sister for a photo of a baby toy, as it struck me as something that could easily appear more sinister. I have the photo, but haven't been in the 'sketching zone'. Nor have I been in the writing zone, for the most part. Ideas are occurring to me, but they disappear before I have the chance to write them up. I've also misplaced some writing I did a few days ago which, while not critical, is rather annoying.
By the looks of things, I'm about 3/4 through photographing my toy collection, but haven't got even half of it uploaded and ready to blog... And until my new computer arrives - whether it's bought by me or built by my brother-in-law - getting that side of things sorted is too painful a process. And it's still very tempting to just get myself a Mac.
Dark times, indeed...
Today is DARK. It's been overcast all day, the wind is much higher than yesterday, and it's been raining a little every so often. Today would have been ideal for lazing around watching DVDs and mucking about on the computer. I really must learn to take better advantage of the opportunities presented to me.
That said, one of the first things I did with my time off was make a (small) start on Christmas Presents. I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't be going to the winter Memorabilia this time round, much as I'd like to, but there are options for other kinds of Christmas shopping.
On the other hand, I haven't been doing too well on any other score. I asked by sister for a photo of a baby toy, as it struck me as something that could easily appear more sinister. I have the photo, but haven't been in the 'sketching zone'. Nor have I been in the writing zone, for the most part. Ideas are occurring to me, but they disappear before I have the chance to write them up. I've also misplaced some writing I did a few days ago which, while not critical, is rather annoying.
By the looks of things, I'm about 3/4 through photographing my toy collection, but haven't got even half of it uploaded and ready to blog... And until my new computer arrives - whether it's bought by me or built by my brother-in-law - getting that side of things sorted is too painful a process. And it's still very tempting to just get myself a Mac.
Dark times, indeed...
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Monday, 16 November 2009
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 ;)
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 ;)
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