random fly-by update

[llywela]

1. I seem to have caught another cold, just in time to go back to work tomorrow. Good job, body!

2. My next door neighbours appear to be renovating their bathroom, a process which apparently mostly involves throwing lots of rubbish out of the bathroom window into the garden below. It's very noisy!

3. I'm liking my new upstairs neighbours, mostly because they are really quiet and I never see them, except for the odd morning here and there when the fella is on an early shift and gets the same bus as me.

4. I watched the Doctor Who Christmas special and didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. I was mostly disappointed not to see the back of you-know-who. Ah well. Maybe we'll get a clean sweep for the season after...

5. I'm very happy to have The Musketeers back on my tellybox for a new season of lighthearted buckle-swashing fun, with new Broadchurch starting this week as well. Should be good!

6. I seem to have done loads of writing over the Christmas break, although current story still has miles to go before it's done. I feel like I'm making headway, though! It would be nice to manage more than one or two a year, but it seems to be all I can manage, at best.

7. Do I really got to go back to work tomorrow?

8. Have been watching the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series on rental from Lovefilm recently, only an episode or two to go. It's been fun! Interesting to compare both with other shows from the same era (such as Doctor Who) and with its own legends, many of which don't actually bear much resemblance to what was on-screen in that first season. Clearly collective memory is as warped for Trek as it is for Who - fans would tell each other what they thought they remembered, and by a process of Chinese whispers the legend was formed. Well, collective opinion even of currently airing shows can be twisted by the Chinese whisper effect among fandom, never mind back when shows couldn't be re-watched easily (or, indeed, at all).

9. Currently re-reading the Harry Potter series for the first time since the books came out - fun!

10. I have run out of things to say so I'll shut up now.

Comments

[justwolf.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about the cold! :/ Ugh, bodies.

I felt the same way about Doctor Who. I didn't HATE it but it felt fairly mediochre.

I rewatch TOS a couple of years ago... it's definitely interesting to compare it to other shows from the same era, and to its later incarnations. It clearly had a much bigger budget than British sci-fi of the same era, but I think Doctor Who often had better scripts. There are definitely some good TOS episodes, but it can be awful. I like Spock almost always, though.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Aye, early Star Trek has a much bigger budget and higher production values than early Doctor Who, but early Doctor Who does a much better job of establishing and developing its principle characters. And early Doctor Who is far more progressive in its treatment of women - the women in Doctor Who are fully fledged protagonists in their own right, whereas women in Star Trek exist purely to support the stories of the men. It makes for an interesting comparison!

I don't think I'll get to continue the comparison into season 2, though, because it's low availability on Lovefilm and tvtorrents has been down for months, I'm not sure it's coming back. Ah well.

[justwolf.livejournal.com]

That's a shame! I think S2 gets a lot better. And then S3 gets a lot worse again.

I remember watching Blake's 7 at the same time as TOS, and I thought it was OLDER because the production valus were so low, rather than actually at least 12 years later. You're completely right about the women though--Doctor Who does establish its women as important characters much earlier and more thoroughly. I've always been amazed by how feminist Blake's 7 is too--clearly something British sci-fi does well.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

It's funny (and a bit annoying) because popular opinion would have everyone believe that women in Doctor Who prior to the reboot were nothing but simpering damsels in distress and the reboot radicalised the show by giving them agency and feminism, yet when you go back and actually watch the classic show, properly, getting to know the characters as individuals, you soon realise that this is not true at all, the female characters were badass right from the start. Then compare early Who with other shows being made at the time and you realise how progressive it really was, in so many ways.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Lol Broadchurch being the OPPOSITE of light-hearted fun...;) I am psyched for it too though (much moreso than The Muskateers tbh--no Capaldi, 80% less interest), but alas it looks like it doesn't come to American TV until March, what a bummer. :/ (Muskateers premieres here the 17).

Boo at your cold! Sucky timing. And ugh I have been working on and off all week (M-W early afternoon, then Friday), not looking forward to going back tomorrow either.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Hehe, The Musketeers is the lighthearted fun, with Broadchurch to balance it out at the other end of the spectrum...

It's a huge shame to lose Capaldi's Richelieu from The Musketeers, but I enjoy everyone else enough not to mind too much. Marc Warren's Rochefort should be good as the new primary antagonist, I usually enjoy his work.

[issy5209.livejournal.com]

Boo for colds at the start of the year.

I agree about Doctor Who, it was OK - I didn't hate it and I didn't sit there thinking what the...? as much as I thought I was going to.

I am so looking forward to Broadchurch, and have just watched the first episode of the Musketeers. I wish all programs would have these writers!
I've also just finished The Fall and The Missing (both gripping) and Intruders, which was weird.

Ha, the original Star Trek!

[(Anonymous)]

I managed to have my cold between Xmas and New Year, which was both good and bad.

Dr Who was "OK, watched it, what next?" We found it very confusing - although I could definitely identify with the dreams within dreams scenarios.
Original Trek is being shown on a freeview channel called CBSAction (which is on channel 70 or 90 depending on which freeview box we're watching) but I don't know if you can get it over your way. Anyway, I've seen a few here and there; I didn't think I'd seen many of Series 2 or 3 but remember more than I thought :)

Carol