Author: Vinnie Bartilucci

Quest of Drawers: How to be a convention sketch collector

  • News
  • October 8, 2012

The New York Comic-Con is just a few days away, and I’m packing up my necessities in my bag, along with my towel, and preparing for the show. Above all else, above my new Nintendo 3DS XL to score more SpotPass friends, above the mobile hotspot so I can post all those awesome cosplay pics,  above it all, is Norbert and my sketchbook. I’m a convention sketch collector.

Norbert at the Green Lantern Convention by Romeo Tanghal

Under the name The International Norbert Conspiracy, I’ve been collecting sketches of my mascot for over twenty years now, and I’m approaching five hundred sketches. The question I get asked the most often (aside from the obvious “What is WRONG with you?”) is “How do you get so many?”

There’s always someone heading to their first convention, and keen on scoring sketches. And they ask the hive mind where to start, who’s the best, how much do they cost, all the standard questions. And since I’ve been meaning to do this for some time now, here’s a run-down of some basic tips to get started.

First, a few basics. There’s a few ground rules you’ll need to keep in mind when you’re trying to get sketches from the happy helpful people at a convention. Even if it looks like OTHERS aren’t following those rules, follow them anyway. Usually, the artist will recognize it, and appreciate it, hopefully lighten their mood, and you may get a better sketch out of it.

BE PATIENT – The larger a con, the longer the lines. People are getting books signed, some others are also getting sketches, and some just want to get a minute or so to talk with someone whose art they like so much. And if they got on the line before you did, they get to go FIRST. And they get to take as long as the want. Usually, the artist will grasp there’s a line, and try to keep such interactions brief; not because he’s rude, but because he wants to make sure he gets to everybody. But if he doesn’t, don’t remind him. Don’t sigh, don’t make a show of looking at your watch, and don’t do that “wind it up” thing with your fingers. You will get there when you get there.

BE POLITE – OK, you’re talking with the artist now. Remember how much you hated that guy who was taking All That Goddamn Time with the artist? That’s YOU now, to the guy behind you, and so on. So even though it seemed like everybody else was taking forever, that does not give you license to do the same, and maybe a little more. If everyone followed that rule, the last person in line would be able to go full-term in a pregnancy by the time they get to the front of the line. If EVERYbody’s just a LITTLE polite, things go faster.

BE REASONABLE – Again, bear in mind there are people behind you. If you ask for a drawing of the entire Justice League, from every iteration, fighting the total population of Topeka, be prepared to hear there’s not enough time to do so. Be prepared to be happy with a headsketch, or a simple figure.

BE PREPARED TO PAY – This is something which has become more commonplace in recent years, for a number of reasons. First off, the vast majority of artists pay their own way to come to the show, and hope to make enough money at their table to cover their expenses, and then some in a perfect world. Hard to deny them that.

In the case of more popular or “Hot” artists, there is more than a small chance that the sketches they’re doing will end up on eBay as early as that night, making the seller quite a pretty penny. There’s nary an artist who hasn’t got a story of doing a piece for someone who swore it was for their kid, who was either sick, couldn’t make the show or some sob story, only to see the art up for auction before the weekend is out. So the prevailing mindset has become similar to that of the sports memorabilia business; “this guy’s probably gonna sell this, so I might as well get my cut”. And again, it’s a hard argument to dispute, as sadly, the odds are in greed’s favor. So in the case of more and more of the bigger artists, free sketches are harder to come by. They’re not impossible (tips to follow), but if you really want a piece by your favorite artist, assume it will cost you some money.

There’s an upside to this as well, If you’re paying, you have a bit more say in what he will draw for you, and you almost certainly will get a more detailed drawing than if you just got a quickie “con-sketch”. Some artists have started taking orders for commissions BEFORE major conventions as well. Check their Facebook, Twitter or other social network feeds and see; don’t be afraid to ask, either. That’s often a win-win situation as well – the artist can see some money before the show, can complete the piece more at hie leisure, and you’ll get it as soon as you walk up to him. Likewise, some will arrange to ship you the piece after the show. If you’re asking for a very intricate piece, don’t rule that out either.

Once you’ve gotten those rules memorized, here’s a few advanced tips…

Check the publishers’ signing schedules. At a big show, the publishers will have a steady stream of creators at their booths, signing and almost always sketching. While the artist is on his own at his table, he’s on the company’s clock at the booth. They’ll certainly be quick little pieces, but if that’s all you’re looking for, that’s perfect.

Get a sketchbook. A sketch on a piece of comic art board is easy to turn over to another person. But a bound sketchbook is a subtle sign that this is a piece you intend to keep. While it may not melt the creator’s heart, at least he won’t be grumbling to himself how much he thinks you’ll get for the drawing.

Bring reference. If you want a piece of Batman or Superman, odds are peple know how to draw them. But if your favorite character is less off the A-list…well, don’t be offended if they don’t remember how many frogs and buttons are on Sonar’s jacket (it’s four). Bring a couple pictures they can use as reference.

Try a theme sketchbook – The more fun you can make your collection, the more interested you’ll get the artist. Ive seem books with just drawings of one character, some with them all doing something in particular, and one wonderful collection of heroes draw in the style of Fisher-Price Little People. Make it something they’ve never drawn before, something that’l; interest them, get the creative juices flowing.

Troll artists’ alley. No, don’t go up and insult everyone, slow down and look at all those up-and-coming creators who are pushing their self-produced books. Say hi to the guys and gals who did one issue of a DC or Marvel title a year or two ago. There’s a lot of talent there and you’ve got no way of knowing who the fickle finger of fandom will touch next. A year later, they might have a line across the floor, and you’ll be kicking yourself for not getting them when you coulda.

Try, try again. Aside from a handful of artists who have simply been too busy to do a sketch, I’ve got a few who have actively refused to draw Norbert. In the first case, the time will come that they WILL have time; if not at this show, then another one. In the second case, unless there’s some specific reason they don’t want to deal with you, like you threw up on their shoes or something, there’s no harm in asking again another time. Maybe they were tired, or in a rotten mood. Give it another shot. If you need to, buy them new shoes.

As with everything at a convention, the goal is to have fun, without in some way ruining someone else’s. A bit of patience and decorum, matched with a good attitude, and you can have a nice time and get a fun new hobby started.

New Who Review: “The Angels Take Manhattan”

The Fall of the Ponds.  The Last Page.  The Great Weeping.  You knew it was coming, The Grand Moff Steven made it clear.  Who died, who lived, and who will have a LOT of explaining to do to the parents.  Spoilers abound, even more than usual, so here we go…

THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN
by Steven Moffat
Directed by Nick Hurran

The episode jumps between 1938 and 2012 Manhattan – in 1938, detective Sam Garner is asked to investigate a mysterious apartment house “where the angels live”, only to meet…himself, years older.  In modern day, The Doctor is visiting Central Park with Amy and Rory, when Rory is sent backwards by a weeping angel, into the arms of his daughter River Song.  How do you fight an enemy that can suddenly make you go decades into the past?  Perhaps the answer in some cases is: you can’t.

The story bears more than a few parallels to the original Angels story, Blink, as it should. In both cases, The Doctor’s actions are linked, even dictated, by a set of notes (here concealed in a book) provided before he begins, but written afterwards by one of the parties involved.

GUEST STAR REPORT

Mike McShane (Grayle), an American actor and comedian, was one of the regulars on the original British version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? He played Friar Tuck in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, the hypnotherapist in Office Space, and (sigh) Professor Keenbean in Richie Rich.  He’s also one of a small numbers of actors who got to play another “Doctor” – he provided the voice for recurring and ubiquitous scientist Cid in Final Fantasy X and its sequel, X-2.

MONSTER REPORT – The Weeping Angels made their first appearance only a few years back, in Steven Moffat’s spectacular and Hugo-winning episode Blink.  They’re described by the Doctor as “The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely”.  Their preferred method of taking their prey is to send them back in time.  They feed on the potential energy of the life the victims were supposed to live in the present.  The victim arrives back in time with no real idea how they got there – some may go mad, some may injure themselves, but many simply adapt and live out the remainder of their days there in the past.  They are functionally indestructible – when they are seen by anyone, they “Quantum-lock”, or transform into stone. They move impossibly fast when they can, hence The Doctor’s advice, “Don’t blink”.  In their second appearance in The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone, the Angels were in a very weakened state, and could not (or chose not to) use their standard attack, sticking to simple acts of violence as they slowly drained power from the crashed spaceship the Byzantium.  Here, they’re at full strength again.  They also have the power to replicate themselves – it’s explained that any image of a Weeping Angel itself becomes a Weeping Angel (likely because of Quantum), in this episode, it’s suggested they can infect or take over other statues, such as ones in a fountain or park, or even big honkin’ ones out in the harbor.

Something I’ve mentioned before: There’s a short story from 1984 called “Bones” by P.C. Hodgell that features a race of creatures called Vhors, skeletal ratlike creatures who, like the Angels, can only move when they’re not being observed. Surely a case of parallel evolution, but a pointed lesson in how there’s only so many truly original ideas, and how it’s all based on how you use the ideas and tropes we’ve been recycling since Og the caveman first set in stone (literally) the tale of a young boy who was destined to bring down a great kingdom run by an evil monarch.

The Statue of Liberty has had more than a few appearances in science fiction.  It was previously animated by Mood Slime and Jackie Wilson in Ghostbusters 2. It was fitted with a honkin’ huge  Neuralyzer in Men In Black 2. And of course it was seen as a twisted broken wreck at the end of Planet of the Apes.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS – Trivia and production details

DARKER AND DARKER – It took me a while to realize the image in the logo this week’s opening credits was the crown of the Statue of Liberty.  Also, note that the color is all but gone from the TARDIS’ trip through the time vortex, and the electrical distortions have increased greatly.  Does it represent the immediate trouble of the trip to 1938, or a continuing change to the vortex?

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION – This episode was filmed in Manhattan, where it was followed around by hundreds of fans who spread the news of filming location via social media, which meant the crowds grew exponentially over the day.  In a recent interview (modesty forbids mentioning the writer), they discussed the excitement of filming in NYC, and the zeal and courtesy of the fans.  And one of the wonderful things about the city is there are plenty of buildings that would not look out of place in 1938, allowing for lots of sites to film.

YOU’RE MUCH TOO NICE TO BE A GRUBBY DETECTIVE ALL YOUR LIFE – There’s a lot of references to detective fiction and film noir in this episode.  Mike McShane plays Mr. Grayle – the Grayle family was featured in Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely, which was adapted twice to film, once as Murder My Sweet, and again under its original title. Detective “Sam Garner” is clearly in the style of classic dicks Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, the latter of which was once played by…James Garner. “Melody Malone”, while also mirroring “Marlowe”, reminds one of Michael J. Malone, hero of Craig Rice’s (a female author – Craig was her middle name, Georgina her first), one adapted to film with the postcard-ready title Having Wonderful Crime.  Mike McShane is clearly playing a character in the Sydney Greenstreet “Fat Man” style.

I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY – I can write off  “The New York Record” as not being allowed to use the masthead of a more…Timesy…paper.  But “Detroit Lions win Superbowl”?  For one thing, does that mean this episode takes place in February?  Or just that the British have no idea when the Superbowl takes place?  Or what teams are worth a damn?

ROLLS ROYCE? – The plaque The Doctor does a quick recce in seems to be from the engine of a Supermarine Spitfire, last seen (flying in space, yet) in Victory of the Daleks. There’s two explanations for that.  One is by  the implication of its jury-rigged appearance that the TARDIS has had many, many post-showroom upgrades with whatever parts could be found, hence its patchwork appearance.  But a concept that was to be mentioned in Neil Gaiman’s story The Doctor’s Wife is that a TARDIS’ Chameleon Circuit affects the interior of the ship as well as the outside.  The Doctor and Idris look out on a junkyard, and once she reminds him of the fact, he realizes he’s not looking at junk, but the disguised remnants of various TARDISes.  So he isn’t building a console from a hairdryer and coat hangers, but from highly technical components that LOOK like a hairdryer and coat hangers.

“Vortex Manipulator – less bulky than a TARDIS…a motorbike through traffic” River’s had the device since the events of The Pandorica Opens, when she bought it off the corpulent blue-skinned trader Dorium.  The Vortex Manipulator is standard equipment for the time agency, and one is almost always on the wrist of the rakishly charming Captain Jack Harkness.  The Doctor describes using it as “slightly addictive”, but odds are River can handle it.

“Once we know it’s coming, it’s written in stone” – The rules for the immutability of time are…rather mutable. The Doctor rather makes a habit of changing things he knows will happen, though in fairness, they don’t always go well, such as the crushed temporal reality of The Wedding of River Song.

“Are you an archaeologist as well as a detective?” Indeed she is – her Doctorate is is Archaeology, mainly so she can go about searching for events related to The Doctor.

“Oh, I know how they work” / “And it’s Professor Song Now” These two quotes allow us to place where this adventure happens in River’s timeline.  It’s after the events of Angels / Stone, and even a bit later in her life after that, as she’s earned her Professorship. She was surprised to hear she would become a Professor in the Angels adventure, but she’d she gained it in her “first/last” adventure, Silence in the Library. So this is interesting, in that it’s the first of her appearances that have happened “out of order”. To date, each of her appearances have been happening in reverse order – the first time we meet her, she’s known The Doctor for years, and it’s her last adventure, as she “dies”.  Each adventure after that, she’s come from a point further back in her time line.  She knew about “the crash of the Byzantium” in Silence in the Library, but during the crash (in Angels/Stone), she didn’t know she’d be a professor. Similarly, she mentions that she’ll see The Doctor again “When The Pandorica Opens“, another event that had yet to occur to him, and so on.  Basically, we’ve been following a specific story arc for River – now that it’s done and her big secret is revealed, it’s okay to pick and choose her time of appearances again.

“Oh I was pardoned ages ago…turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place” More evidence of The Doctor doing all he can to fade away, continuing the job that Oswin started for him in Asylum of the Daleks.  He didn’t show up in Solomon’s database in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship either.  Of course, there’s a faction who suggests that he’s not the one doing it, and that someone else is assisting him, possibly even without his knowledge…

“He’s been moved in space, but not in time” – This is a change from the stated abilities of the Angels – until now, they’ve been only able to displace in time. If they could do both, why didn’t Rory appear in front of Winter Quay when he first arrived, since that was their intended target?  Perhaps they can only do one or the other, so they get their targets back to when they need them, then worry about the where?  There’s also the possibility of a scene missing where he simply escaped from the basement and went looking for help, which would rather make more sense.

“That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy” It’s only paying back a favor – River, conceived in the TARDIS and possessing Time Lord DNA, could regenerate, and has, at least twice.  She gave up all the rest of her regenerations to restore The Doctor to life and health in Let’s Kill Hitler.  Likely that’s not a trick he could perform with any other person, which deftly explains why he’s never done it before.  Unless you count giving the fuel cells of the TARDIS a jump start by giving it about ten years of his life in Rise of the Cybermen.

“I can’t ever take the TARDIS back there, the timelines are too scrambled” – Lucky all the times he’s already been there have already happened, then.  Christmas of 1938 is when the events of The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe take place.  It’s also when they landed in Hitler’s meeting room in Let’s Kill Hitler.

“I will never be able to see you again” I don’t see why.  They spend many decades in Manhattan (presuming they don’t go traveling), and the time distortion is only centered around 1938, so there’s no reason he can’t pop by a year or two later, or even decades later.  Besides, River is already making plans to go see them, to drop off the book she’s now got to go write.

The seeming finality of the separation may be be partly based on the wishes of Karen Gillan.  In the aforementioned interview, she said,  “I’ve always said that when I go, I want it to be for good. Because I want that final scene to have that same impact, maybe ten years on. I want people to be able to revisit it and still have the same emotion. That’s really important for me, so for that reason, I think I’m going to rule out any returns.” However, when I quietly complimented her on her ability to lie, she replied, “I learned it from the best!”

I expect at the very least we’ll see a rasher of fanfic of Amy and Rory’s life in New York, the evils they fought and the lives they saved.  We already know (based on River’s plan) that Amy will be involved in publishing in the years after her re-arrival in this pre-war period and beyond. So clearly they CAN be contacted. One can only assume they’ll use their foreknowledge of history to make a few successful investments to keep themselves off the streets as well.

Let’s do a bit of math.  Amy was born in 1989, so when she met The Doctor (for the second time) in 2008, she was about 19. Last week, she surmises it’s been ten years of her personal timeline, so she’s now 29. 74 years pass between being popped back to 1938 and seeing their gravestone in 2012, where she’s listed as having died at 87. So unless she REALLY lied about her age, she and Rory are not only dead here, but died at least a couple of years, maybe decades back.  Also, it’s not made clear, but it’s implied that Amy and Rory do not necessarily die at the same time – she’s five years older than him, and her name appears under his.

“This is the story of Amelia Pond, and this is how it ends” Back in her first episode, young Amelia Pond is sitting waiting for The Doctor to return – he doesn’t, not to another fourteen years, but she hears the wheezing engines of the TARDIS in the sky, so at least she know she hadn’t dreamt it.  A nice callback to that first episode, and a good end to the story.

BIG BAD REPORT / CLEVER THEORY DEPARTMENT –

tellmeimwrong-267x450-7430785“You think you’ll just come back to life again?” “When DON’T I?” There’s been two recurring themes to Amy and Rory’s life with The Doctor – death (usually of Rory) and waiting.  Amy waited 14 years for The Doctor to return in The Eleventh Hour.  Rory guarded the Pandorica for millennia between that and The Big Bang.  And in The Girl Who Waited, Amy was lost for decades in a parallel timeline, and her opinion of The Doctor…somewhat soured.  Rory’s made a habit of dying, something that’s become a bit of a running joke with both the show and the fans.  So it’s quite fitting that in this episode, both themes are referenced. The Old Rory of 1938 is clearly overjoyed to see his Amy again, quite the difference between her reaction to him in The Girl Who Waited. In both cases, the timelines vanished, with only the memories remaining.

Similarly, Rory dies.  A lot.  Sometimes winked entirely out of existence, sometimes just long enough for be revived after drowning, but it gets to the point where here, he’s betting on his past performance to guarantee future results.

“Does the bulb on top need changing?” “I just changed it” He did too, in Pond Life. But it’s another appearance of a recurring theme that a few folks have mentioned – flickering and dead lightbulbs.  They flickered whenever a Dalek Puppet activated in Asylum of the Daleks, Brian was trying to help with one in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, they flickered and sparked all over the place in A Town Called Mercy,  power went out a couple times in The Power of Three, and they kept going out all over the place in this episode.  Just a common symptom of teleportation or alien power use, or a further suggestion of something else?

NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO – Always a fun and tantalizing question to ask when the next episode isn’t for several months; in this case, Christmas.  We know a few things for sure:

Jenna-Louse Coleman will make her premiere as The Doctor’s new Companion. Though after her surprise appearance as Oswin Oswald in Asylum of the Daleks, all expectations are off.  It has been rumored, based on overheard lines during location shoots, that her character’s name is Clara. Steven Moffat has said in interviews that one of the things interesting about her is where The Doctor meets her. Now, that could mean any number of things – it could refer to the fact that they “met” in Asylum, but I had a Clever Theory of my own back when I heard that.  The most surprising place for The Doctor to meet someone would be in the TARDIS itself.

In this interview on the BBC YouTube channel, a young person asks about why/how Jenna (as Oswin) appears in Asylum.  The Moff’s answer is telling and maddening – “All of that will be explained in the future … that’s the question I want you asking”. So clearly he does have something insidious planned.  He also was adamant that her character was “as yet un-named”, blockading the overheard dialogue.

Richard E. Grant and Tom Ward makes guest appearances in the episode.  Richard Grant has played The Doctor TWICE before – once in the oft-referenced Comic Relief special, and once in the animated episode Scream of the Shalka.

Vastra and Jenny (Neve Macintosh and Catrin Stewart) will be back from A Good Man Goes to War, but so will Strax (Dan Starkey), the Sontaran sentenced to serve as a nurse.  One wonders if this adventure will take place before or after the events of Good Man.

We’ll see you again then.  If you’ve got any requests for Doctor Who articles to keep my busy till then, do let me know.

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New Who Review – “The Power of Three”

The Doctor is very good at saving the world, but very poor at sitting still.  So when he’s stuck waiting a full year for an invasion to start, it gives a new meaning to cabin fever.  The Year of the Slow Invasion, the year The Doctor got involved in Amy and Rory’s life and not the other way around.  A very personal episode (featuring the entire world), rife with spoilers, so sit back, and keep your eye on the box.

(more…)

Is the world ready for a female Doctor (Who)?

As far back as when Tom Baker announced he was leaving the title role of Doctor Who, and at every period of transference since, tabloids would float the “rumor” (a word which here means “collection of words concocted out of thin air”) that the new Doctor might be a woman.  And with it would come the requisite shaking of heads and rending of garments, not to mention the follow-up news articles with headlines that all circled around “Nurse Who?” and the like.  People associated with the show, if ever actually asked, would rarely deny such stories, because as soon as you do that, the publicity train stops, and who wants that?  So we get an infuriating round of winks and “You never know”s and another cycle of articles from people on both sides explaining why either it could or should never happen, or that not only should it happen, but the time is right.

It’s a question that couldn’t be rationally asked about almost any other fictional character.  You can swap stars and characters out of a show – the longer a show goes, the easier it becomes.  M*A*S*H, CSI, the list goes on. You can even re-cast main characters; James Bond has gone through a half-dozen changes already. But to suddenly turn a well-known male character for a female (or vice-versa) would normally be ridiculous.  But in the world of science-fiction, anything can happen.

One of the sublime wonders of The Doctor is his ability to regenerate – to completely change his form, his personality, and most importantly, the actor playing him.  It’s what’s allowed the show to continue for going on fifty years, changing tone and direction with each change of main actor.  And with each change, a growing part of the audience asks the question that Chris Claremont used to ask so often when creating comic characters; “Is there any reason this character can’t be a woman?”

The simple answer is no.  When Matt Smith took the role, as the Doctor did a quick anatomical inventory, he felt his long hair and thought for a moment he’d regenerated into a female.  A couple years later, Neil Gaiman set the concept in stone – he created The Corsair, another renegade Time Lord whom The Doctor knew very well.  He described him as a “A good man… a couple of times a good woman”. So there it is, a Time Lord can change their gender during regeneration. You gonna argue with Neil Gaiman, cause I’m not.

The current Doctor, Matt Smith, while assuring us that’s he’s not going anywhere anytime soon (and quite right too, IMHO) has gone on record that he thinks there’s any number of actresses who would make a fine Doctor.  In an interview with The Mary Sue, he named Charlize Theron specifically.  Late last year, Helen Mirren famously announced that she’d love to play the role as well.

Some people forget that showrunner and Twitter-bailer Steven Moffat has ALREADY brought us a female Doctor.  In his Comic Relief story The Curse of Fatal Death, after burning through a staggering number of regenerations, The Doctor finally stands as Joanna Lumley, co-star of Absolutely Fabulous (and for those of us who care to show their age, Sapphire and Steel and The New Avengers). Yes, it was a comedy adventure, and out of continuity (I assume), but the moon did not fall from the sky when it happened.

So we’ve got the “can” out of the way.  We now advance to the more complicated question…should he? The show has been amazingly good about representing same-sex relationships.  From the beginning of the new series we’ve seen numerous characters in various “non-traditional” pairings, all portrayed as being spectacularly unimportant to the plot.  The underlying message, if one had to spell it out is “There are a lot of the people in the universe, and some of the like men, and some of them like women, and it doesn’t make them any more good or bad as people.”  So surely making the main character a woman would make that message even more powerful – it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, you can still make an amazing difference in the world.

Of the people who argue against such a change, the arguments tend to circle around a small number of talking points.

YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE A STATEMENT Sadly, no matter how good an actress they would find, no matter how good the stories, there would absolutely be a part of the audience who would insist that the only reason the change was done for some socially-motivated reason, likely involving the phrase “Political Correctness.”  It’s the same argument made in comics when a character is brought back as a new gender, ethnicity, lifestyle, etc.  The argument seems to rule out the idea that the new/changed character could possibly be good, based on that ulterior motive.  Any storyline or even dramatic moment that involves something unique about being that type of person is quickly pointed at as “proof” that the character exists solely to further the various agandae of that group, and any other group they can associate them to.

There’s an inherent issue with this argument, in that it suggests an attempt to diversify the types of characters out there must by definition be based on “cramming them down our throats” and not simply an attempt to show that there are more types of people out there, some bumpier than others. It can be tempting to make those characters ciphers for getting a writer’s pet viewpoints across, yes, and when proselytizing takes precedence over entertainment, the show can suffer. But considering how well the show has already brought alternate partnerships in with no massive shift in tone, I suspect this issue would not be a problem.

THAT’S NOT WHO HE IS The character has been a man for almost five decades – he sees himself as male, his friends, the universe in general see him as such.  For him to become female is too large and fundamental change to the character, one that the characters in the narrative world, and certain the ones in the real world, could not accept.  This is more an argument based on tradition than anything else, a general sense of what the character “is”, and an attempt to change that is more than they wish to stand.

It’s rather like “New Coke Syndrome” – when the soda chose to change its recipe, they experienced a pushback from the public far more than they’d expected.  It wasn’t a problem with the taste – indeed the new formula tested better than the original.  It was a basic resistance to a change to something people knew, and simply expected to be there.  People who hadn’t drunk Coke in years were coming out against it.  They realized it wasn’t the soda people were coming out for, but the memory of it, the way it affected their lives.

The people who make this point would likely be as against the idea of making The Doctor an American, or if they chose to change the look of the TARDIS.  It’s BEEN that particular thing for so long, that to suggest it be changed is simply unthinkable.

IT’D CHANGE TOO MUCH Smith very cogently pointed out in the aforementioned interview that a female Doctor would result in a dynamic change in how he (she) interacts with the world.  “It would change the role,” he explains, “because she would be a woman so when you put her in a room full of men, it’s a different scenario than if you put a man in a room full of men, because she’s a different sex.”  This is not, I believe, necessarily a bad thing.  It could very definitely challenge the writers to find ways to combat that mindset with the people she meets, or result in creating a character so strong and forceful that she just takes control of a room so quickly, the question of “who the heck are you?” tends to get forgotten. Indeed, that’s exactly how the character works now.

BOYS DON’T WATCH SHOWS WITH GIRLS IN It’s an old chestnut, but it’s been stated as gospel since time immemorial, and no matter how many examples disprove it (where my bronies at?) it’s seen as an inarguable fact by marketing and programming executives alike. The idea is that young boys (the primary audience of the series) will “only” watch a show with a male lead, in the same way girls “only” watch shows with a girl lead, preferably wearing a tutu, and with a talking lhasa apso as a sidekick.  Of course the problem is, Doctor Who is a show with very strong female characters, sometimes stronger than the male ones, and it doesn’t seem to have affected the audience much at all.

From a narrative and social point of view, there’s very little that seems to be stopping such a move.  Sadly, the real reason we likely won’t see such a change is based simply in money.  Change is risky, and the larger the change, the greater the risk.  Switching to a female lead would be quite risky indeed.  No matter how questionably valid each of the above arguments are, they are all held by some people, and likely Auntie Beeb have a better idea of how many than anyone outside of Television centre ever could.  And they likely have good estimates on what sort of an effect such a change could have on the audience, and until their research shows it’ll have almost no negative effect at al, we’ll not see such a dramatic move made.

Odds are it’ll happen someday, if the show stays on long enough.  And odds are there will be a hue and cry, and everyone will tune in, just to see what happens.  And in a perfect world, they’ll be so impressed that they’ll be back the next week.  And who knows, someday we might be reading articles on whether or not it’ll make sense to to switch back to a male character.

New Who Review: “A Town Called Mercy”

A mysterious creature is on a vendetta to track down the men who wronged him, and there’s only one left, a man he calls…the Doctor?  Quite a start for this western-themed outing, the first for the show since 1966’s The Gunfighters. Spoiler alerts are in full effect, mind the fellows with the guns, and let’s mosey into this town and see what’s going on…

A TOWN CALLED MERCY by Toby Whithouse directed by Saul Metzstein

A western town in 1870 has been barricaded behind a field that prevents food delivery.  The being behind it, known only as The Gunslinger, had demanded the town turn over an alien only referred to as “The Doctor”.  So when The Doctor arrives in the town, the welcome is a bit…cold.  He learns quickly that he is not the one being searched for – another alien came to this town some years ago, and has been their savior and protector from a number of deiseases and natural disasters.  Alas, it turns out he’s being chased for a very good reason – he was a scientist on his home world, one who converted many of his own people into cyborg warriors to win a massive war.  When they were “decommissioned”, one survived, and he is the one placing the town under a one-man siege. The Doctor is in a strange position – can he bring himself to hand over a war criminal to meet his just demise?

An episode quite heavy with drama and portent, one far more about The Doctor’s life and past than the ostensible bad guy of the story.  Once again, we get a look at how The Doctor has grown darker when he doesn’t have any friends about him.  Matt Smith is doing a very good job of playing a man far older than his looks, and carrying a heavy load of acts.

GUEST STAR REPORT

Ben Browder (Isaac) may be known to you.  He played John Crichton on Farscape, Cameron Mitchell on Stargate SG-1, and Sam Brody on Party of Five.  He even got to do another genre western – he played Bat Lash on the Justice League cartoon.

Adrian Scarborough (Kahler Jex) has most recently been seen in the remake of Upstairs Downstairs, and a long list of work in British film and television, but fans of Mark Gatiss’ friends The League of Gentlemen will recognize him as the surgeon turned children’s clown Mister Jolly in in Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s project Psychoville.

Garrick Hagon (Undertaker) is one of less than 30 actors who have appeared in both the original and new series of Doctor Who.  He first appeared in The Mutants back in 1972.  He’s had a long career in both film and TV. And oh, yeah, he played the most famous character to be almost entirely cut out of Star Wars – he was Biggs Darklighter, Luke’s best friend, who said Luke was “never going to get out of here”.  His big scene on Tatooine was cut out, and has yet to be restored – it only exists in a couple photos from an early storybook adaptation of the film near its release. Some footage in the rebel base was restored in a recent special edition, but there’s still a sense of “Who is this guy” to the whole thing.

Toby Whithouse (Writer) is an old hand on the series, having written four episodes for the new series before this (and one for Torchwood), and is also the creator of Being Human, another popular genre series, and one sharing a number of castmembers with Who.

Saul Metzstein (Director) did the previous episode, and will be back with two more episodes in the second half of the season.

THE MONSTER FILES – One could argue that there is a monster in this episode, though not of the most commonly accepted variety.  The Kahler are described by The Doctor as one of the most ingenious races in the galaxy. Considering the work he did improving the lifestyle of the town of Mercy, that certainly appears to be so.  Alas, that ability to build things carries over to engines of war, and when one is in the middle of a war, one becomes short-sighted, not considering the long-term results of one’s choices.

The Gunslinger is a more obvious monster, but one doing things for a more just reason, if a bit personal.   We’ve seen no end of cyborgs on Doctor Who – from the obvious example of the Cybermen, there’s The Captain from The Pirate Planet, the Toclafane, the converted final members of the human race in Last of the Time Lords, and even monsters like the Loch Ness Monster (Terror of the Zygons) and the Peking Homunculus (Talons of Weng-Chiang) qualify.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS – Trivia and production details

UNDER WESTERN SKIIIIES – This episode is steeped in history in a very real way. It was filmed at both “Mini Hollywood” and “Texas Hollywood”, a pair of combination movie sets and tourist attractions in the Andalusia area of Spain.  Mini Hollywood was designed and filmed for Sergio Leone’s classic For a Few Dollars More.  When it was later used for The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, it was bought by the extras and made into a tourist attraction.  The two site have been used for dozens of classic films, including a staggering list of “Spaghetti Westerns”, like the aforementioned Leone films.

This isn’t the first time the show has used standing sets.  The Fires of Pompeii was filmed in Italy on the same sets as HBO’s series Rome.

IT’S WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE – The face mark of the Kahler are unique, and as individual as a fingerprint.  This is similar to the spot patters of the Tenctonese on the short-lived Fox series Alien Nation.

“Has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?” We learned only last week that The Doctor still has a Christmas list.

“I speak horse; his name’s Susan, and he wants you to respect his life choices” Once again, subtly slipping the non-traditional gender roles into the series without making a big thing of it. Even as a gag, it gets across an important point.  Oh, I’m sure some will complain te topic’s not being taken seriously enough, but some people have made never being happy their career.

“You’re a mother, aren’t you?  There’s kindness in your eyes. And sadness.” Jex sees a lot in The Doctor’s eyes later, but he’s not the first to sense Amy’s emotions.  Vincent Van Gogh sensed that Amy had “lost someone”, even though at the time she wasn’t even aware of it.

BIG BAD WOLF REPORT

“I’ve matured – I’m twelve hundred years old now” The Doctor’s age has accelerated greatly in the last couple of seasons.  He jumped from nine to eleven hundred years old in the period he was traveling alone when he came back to see the Ponds in The Impossible Astronaut, and now, in between visits to see them, has aged another hundred.  Assuming he’s not just pulling numbers out of his Stetson, he’s spending a LOT more time alone than we’d ever seen before.  The tenth incarnation traveled alone for quite a bit in between the four specials of the last Tennant season, and he got quite arrogant, almost swaggering in his demeanor.  Last episode we saw him cast judgment on Solomon, and he almost does the same here to Kahler Jex.

“Looking at you is like looking into a mirror, almost” Jex makes The Doctor confront his own choices, the people whose deaths he’s been responsible for, and the ones he’s killed personally.  The episode is about how one atones for those choices, and whether or not that atonement balances things out.  There was a similar comparison at the end of The God Complex when the minotaur draws a similarity between himself and The Doctor.

“See, this is what happens when you travel alone for too long.” When he starts pushing Jex towards the border of the town, you expect it’s because he’s hoping the people of Mercy to stop him, to realize that they need to project their friend, and you realize no, he really is just handing him over to the Gunslinger.

We’ve seen a lot of discussion on the effect The Doctor’s companions have on him, even more so than the other way around.  Donna Noble cogently pointed out that “Sometimes you need someone to stop you”.  The periods we’ve seen him alone in recent seasons have resulted in a much more hard man.  Matt Smith said he’s certainly become a “darker” character of late, and the choices made in the past two episodes are examples of that.

“That’s how it started, Jex turned someone into a weapon.” Which is exactly what Mad Dalek Caan accused The Doctor of doing to his Companions.  And the longer he is without a Companion, well…someone has to be the weapon.  Note that The Doctor is wearing, drawing, and is ready to use a gun, something he abhorred only a short time before.  That’s not a mistake, it’s very deliberate writing.

NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO – Little boxes, on the roadside, little boxes made of…well we don’t quite know. The return of UNIT, and The Power of Three, coming in a week’s time.

Shout! Factory brings ULTRASEVEN to US DVD

  • News
  • September 16, 2012

HenshinJustice.com reports that Shout Factory will release the second series in the legendary Ultraman franchise, Ultraseven on DVD in time for Christmas.

The eponymous hero, from The Land Of Light in the mysterious Nebula M-78, visits Earth and is fascinated by its creatures, especially humans. Taking the visage of a man he saved from a climbing accident, he pledges himself to protecting the world from various aliens and monsters that plague it.  Taking the name “Dan Moroboshi”, he works with the human military force the Ultra Garrison, and unbeknownst to them, fights the monsters hand-to-hand in his giant form.

The series, the first of many sequels to Ultraman, was first broadcast in Japan in 1967.  Ted Turner’s syndication company originally planned to dub the series into English back in 1985, the project was not completed and broadcast until 1994 on their cable channel TNT.  Not all episodes were completed, and while the adaptation was fairly well done and not “camped up” in any way, there were some edits to some episodes for tone and violence. One episode, “Crystallized Corpuscles” was banned entirely, and never broadcast.

At this date, it’s not been specified if the episodes will be the uncut Japanese originals, or if they will feature English subtitles or the TNT dubbed soundtrack.  Watch this proverbial space for more detail.

Amazon has already listed the set (ahead of Shout’s official announcement) as being released December 11th, with a price of $34.98, already nicely discounted from its list price of $49.97.

New Who Review: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

The Doctor attempts to help the Indian Space Agency about a runaway spaceship of Canadian size headed for Earth.  Promising to stop it before it needs to be blown up, he picks up a few friends – Rory and Amy (and Rory’s dad, accidentally) big game hunter John Riddell, and already in his company, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt.  They find the ship is a derelict space ark, originally from Earth, created by the Silurians.  But where are they, and how did a mysterious and heartless trader named Solomon get control of the ship?

Arthur Darvill had it exactly right when he discusses the latest episode of Doctor Who in a promotional video – “It does what it says on the tin”.  The Doctor’s got a gang, Amy has her own companions, Rory’s got his dad, Rory’s dad’s got balls in his pants, the ship’s got a surprising builder, you’ve got your spoiler warnings, and did I mention there are…

DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP
by Chris Chibnall
directed by Saul Metzstein

Doctor Who is no stranger to funny episodes, but in the new series, they usually occupy a different spot in the series.  They’ve most often come near the end of the series, almost as a buffer to the rollicking action and drama of the series’ finale.  But this one is the second of the series, and is certainly one of the more barking mad ones to come along.  It may be a perfect episode for that friend you’ve been trying to get into the series – lost of humor, great adventure, and a good look at what can happen in a DW story; namely, anything.

GUEST STAR REPORT

Rupert Graves (John Riddell) Has been on British screens for over thirty years, but he’s best known to Who-fen as Inspector Lestrade on Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of Sherlock. He appeared in V for Vendetta and a wide array of TV series, from modern to historic.

Mark Williams (Brian Williams) has a lot of quality work in both comedy and genre work under his belt.  He played the patriarch of the Weasley clan in the Harry Potter films, appeared in the recent Gormenghast, and played Cadet Flynn in Rob Grant’s Red Dwarf followup, the why-haven’t-you-seen-it-yet series The Strangerers. In Britain, he’s certainly best known for being a castmember of long-running sketch program The Fast Show.  Up next, he’ll be portraying G. K. Chesterton’s detective Father Brown in a new adaptation for British TV.

David Bradley (Solomon) is another alumnus of the Harry Potter films, in the role of Mr. Filch he’s enjoyed over forty years of acting, mostly on British television, in series of all shape and size.  He voiced one of the Shansheeth in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode The Death of the Doctor. He’s next appearing in a TV adaptation of the Ken Follett novel World Without End.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb (robot voices) Can best be described as being World Famous In Britain.  Stars of the sketch comedy series That Mitchell and Webb Look, they’re also popular on the chat and game show circuit, always able to come up with wit on the fly. As an example of their brand of humor, here’s a classic about a pair of introspective Nazis.
The team are the latest in the trend of big stars making voiceover cameos on Doctor Who.  Last year Michael Sheen voiced House in The Doctor’s Wife, and Imelda Staunton was the voice of the Apulapuchian Kindness Facility in The Girl Who Waited.

Richard Hope (Bleytal) is now one of a growing group of “go-to” actors who have played multiple members of the same alien race for the series.  He’s played two alternate-timeline versions of the Silurian doctor Malokeh (in The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, and The Wedding of River Song), and now plays the scientist of the same race, keeping track of their ark.  He joins Neve McIntosh, who played two Silurians in the aforementioned two-parter, as well as the Victorian adventurer Madam Vastra (who is rumored to be returning Quite Soon Now) and Dan Starkey, who’s played several Sontarans on DW, as well as voiced them in a few audio adventures and the videogame The Gunpowder Plot.

Riann Steele (Nefertiti) got her first screen credit in David Tennant’s version of Hamlet, and has been making appearances in TV shows and films ever since.

Chris Chibnall (writer) made his first appearance connected to Doctor Who back in the original series.  He appeared with a number of other fans on a BBC talk show reviewing the 1986 series (Trial of a Time Lord) and was…not entirely satisfied with it. In the years between, like so many of the current writers, he became a screenwriter, and was brought on board by Russell T. Davies, not at first for Who, but its anagrammatic spinoff, Torchwood.  He was listed as co-producer, but was effectively the head writer of the series.  After a year or two writing for Law and Order U.K. (starring Freema Agyeman) he was brought back on Who, where he wrote 42 and the Silurian two-parter from last series. In addition to this episode, he also scripted the prequel series Pond Life, furthering the backstory of the Ponds’ life when The Doctor isn’t around.

Saul Metzstein (Director) is new to the series, but is coming on with a bang – he’s also doing the next episode, two on the back end of the season, and also directed Pond Life. He’s done a number of documentaries, including The Name of This Film is Dogme95, about the popular “back to basics” style of filmmaking spearheaded by Lars Von Trier and his contemporaries.  In accordance with the rules of the movement, he was not credited for his work on the film.

There were some dinosaurs down in the Silurians‘ cave in their first appearance Doctor Who and the Silurians. The race of Homo Reptilia ruled the earth millions of years ago, but a massive asteroid heading for Earth convinced them they needed to hide underground in hibernation (and, as we now know, built at least one ark) to avoid what would certainly be a world-killing event.  Their numbers were off by just a hair – the asteroid missed, was grabbed by Earth’s gravitational field, and became our moon.  They’ve slept beneath the Earth for millennia, only awaking when accidentally disturbed by humans, who evolved to the dominant lifeform of the planet in their stead.  Along with their close relations the Sea Devils, they’ve fought The Doctor on several occasions on screen, and quite a few more times in the other media.THE MONSTER FILES – For a show about time travel, you’d think The Doctor would have come across dinosaurs every other week, but in fact they’ve barely bee seen at all.  Jon Pertwee fought The Dinosaur Invasion when Operation Golden Age sent time all funky and brought dinosaurs to modern London. The Rani tried twice to use dinosaurs in her plots, in Time and the Rani and The Mark of the Rani.  And there were pterodactyls (that should not be fed) in the parks of London in The Wedding of River Song.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS – Trivia and production details

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION – Everyone’s heart leapt when there were rumors that Doctor Who was returning to film at Southerndown Beach, which was used as Bad Wolf Bay for Rose’s departure.  But it stood in for the engine room in this episode.  It was also the surface of Alfava Metraxis in Time of the Angels / Flesh and Stone.

WHEN WE LAST LEFT OUR FRIENDS… – In an earlier draft of his Doctor Who episode, Neil Gaiman had a sequence that would show the middle  of a previous adventure, effectively interrupted to lead in to the new one, almost interrupting it.  He discusses the scene here. It’s effectively the structure used here with Nefertiti, tho this seems to be much more the end of the other adventure.  But both get across the point that The Doctor has many adventures, large and small, that we don’t get to see. As was touched on in last season’s A Good Man Goes To War, The Doctor has met many people, some who owe him a debt, and some (Winston Churchill, for example) who just call him friend. Both Nefertiti and John Riddell are examples of the latter.

Nefertiti is not the first member of Egyptian royalty to travel in the TARDIS.  Princess Erimemushinteperem (Erimem for short) traveled with the Fifth Doctor in several audio adventures from Big Finish Productions.  After meeting one of the Osirans (seen on screen in The Pyramids of Mars), she accepted the proposal of the newly-crowned king of Peladon and left The Doctor’s company.

SO THAT’S HOW JEFF BROKE HIS LEG – Slow down the playback as the dinosaurs as they tromp towards the screen just before the credits – a crack appears at the last instant, presumably as the glass of the “camera” shatters under the foot of a rampaging ankyosaur.

THE PUNCHLINE IS, “AND THEY WORK FOR SCALE” – As mentioned last week, the Doctor Who logo will be changing each week, covered with  a new “skin” connected to the episode.  This week it’s covered in dinosaur hide.  It’s a cute idea, trying to give the opening a little Simpsons-esque little update each week, but I’m not sure the

show logo is the thing to be changing.  Also, I think it’s a bit too small on the screen – perhaps making it a bit larger might help.

WELCOME…TO JURA—SORRY? – The dinosaur effects in this episode are a seamless mix of physical effects and CGI.  In the case of the triceratops The Doctor and the Williams Boys ride, it’s a mix on the one moveable beast.  The head and torso are a physical prop, moved along by stagehands, while the back feet and tail are CGI.  Solomon’s robots are funny physical effects as well – those nearly ten foot tall suits were worn by members of the show’s team of monster players.

HI HO TRICEY! – There’s been a bit of discussion in the archeological community over whether or not the triceratops actually exists.  There’s a very similar breed, the torosaurus, and there’s a theory that indeed they are the same species; what we know as the triceratops is a young torosaurus, which underwent a bit or a metamorphosis as it grew.  The theory was tabled a couple years ago, but recent studies have come to the agreement that it’s in error. Just as well – I still haven’t gotten over Pluto and the Brontosaurus – I don’t think I could take losing the Triceratops.

“I’ve got it set to temporal news view” Apparently The Doctor’s psychic paper has another function.  It was introduced in the new series as a device able to appear as any form of documentation he needs to get out of any situation, from a ticket to view the end of the Planet Earth, to ID backing up his claim that he represents Q

ueen and Country.  Some people are able to contact him via the paper, wither by being a close friend (AKA River Song) or by having emotions so strong and powerful the reach across space and time (Young George in Night Terrors). Apparently it also has the ability to pick up news of events he may be able to help with, like a four-dimensional police scanner.

“You don’t normally get spiders in space” – Oh, I don’t know about that.  Aside from the dominant life of Metebelis III, AKA Planet of the Spiders, there’s the Racnoss from The Runaway Bride, the Alzarian Spiders from Full Circle, and lots of other examples from the other media.

“Hydro-generators!” We’ve seen a number of “hybrid” power systems in the new series, like the treeborgs on the Byzantium in Flesh and Stone, which converted photosynthesis to electricity, and provided oxygen to boot.

“I will not have flirting companions” Effectively, Amy has take the role of being in charge here, and is the one figuring things out. Rory is helping his father cope with what he’s seeing, and later, fixing him up when he’s hurt.  He also lies. It’s another sign of how far the Ponds have come in their time with The Doctor, and possibly, why they need to move on.

“I don’t respond well to violence” Of all the events of the episode, it’s The Doctor’s decision of what to do with Solomon that has sparked the most debate.  It’s far from the first time he’s killed – he’s ever talked about the blood on my hands.  Indeed, one could argue that he’s killed more by his inaction.  He chose not to destroy the Daleks at their start in Genesis of the Daleks, as he realized that in some cases, races who were at war would unite to fight them, ending wars that could cause more deaths.  But by doing so, he effectively sentenced all who would die at the Daleks to those deaths.  In The Vampires of Venice, he doomed an entire race to extinction, the amphibious Saturnyne, all because their queen didn’t know the name of one of the girls they killed.  His choices seem based mainly on how cruel the being are acting towards others, and how much potential the have of being rehabilitated.  He chose to help Kazran Sardick and not just push him out of the way (with authority) all because he chose not to strike a child.  But even then, he gives Solomon a chance – he warns him that the ship is under attack, and tells him to leave.  Solomon’s fate is based entirely on his own choices.  He is clearly and irretrievably evil, and none of The Doctor’s companions seem distraught with the choice.

“A monkey could do it…oh look, they’re going to” The Silurians referred to the humans as “apes”, as when they were on the surface, that’s all humans were.

“Try not to bump into the Moon, otherwise the races that live there will be livid” at the time of this episode (2367 AD) there are human colonies on the moon, and presuming the Selenites are not part of the show’s continuity (Considering Mark Gatiss recently produced and starred in a remake of First Men In The Moon, I’d make no such assumptions) there have been no indigenous races reported on the moon.  So he may just have been being funny, but surely the humans on the moon would be annoyed by a fender-bender.

“Daisy, Daisy…” rather an obvious one here – Hal 9000’s last words, a repeat of his first, at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also makes the earlier reference to Arthur C. Clarke by Brian a nice callback. But not everybody knows the etymology of that choice of song.  A programming team taught an IBM 7094 to sing back in 1961, and this was the song it sang.

“Can I ask a favor? There’s something I want to see” As The Doctor has said many times, traveling with him changes people; usually for the better, if they survive.  In The Sarah Jane Adventures, she explains that she did a bit of research and found a bunch of people who traveled with The Doctor, all of whom have dedicated their lives to helping others in big ways and small, including, of course, herself.  Brian’s transformation from someone who “hates to travel” is a more personal type of transformation, but one no less dramatic.  Considering all the places he’s been in those postcards, it’s assumed that once again, quite some time will have passed until the next time The Doctor visits the Ponds.

“Siluria!” According to the events of The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, in 1,000 years’ time, the Silurians will emerge from their cryo-chambers and negotiate a peace with the humans of earth. That’s still several centuries away from the events of this adventure.  One wonders how much the flora and fauna of the Silurian Ark will be able to thrive in that time, and whether or not it will make a good world for homo reptilia upon their return?

BIG BAD WOLF REPORT

“Are they the new us?” In School Reunion Rose faced the idea that The Doctor’s Companions come and go, that he has had friends before she came along, and will have some when she leaves.  Amy has known The Doctor literally as long as he’s been in this incarnation, and with Rory, have been traveling with him for most of that time.  The idea that he might stop seeing them and start traveling with other people is clearly something that has crossed their minds.  This carries throughout the episode, and is a theme through much of this semi-season.  His relationship with the Ponds is quite different than other companions – he’s keeping in touch, and even though he’s set them home safe more than once, he’s drawn back to them.  One reason for that is he’s family. He’s married (or will be, or will someday more officially be) to their daughter River Song, and that really needs much more explanation, but wait a couple weeks and I’ll be able to get into get in detail.

“How’s the Job?” It’s a bit of a throwaway line, but Amy has been unable to keep a job, for fear of missing The Doctor.  This whole scene is choked with portent, and is very revealing of the very unique these three have.  It’s been said that Amy and Rory have almost adopted The Doctor;Amy is speaking like a mother who’s afraid to have a life, lest her child need her. She ever expecting a call, asking that she pick him up.

Since we already know that the Ponds will be leaving The Doctor’s company at the end of episode five (tho we of course know in what way, or position), it’s tempting and worrying to hear anything being said about them parting.

“That’s me…worthless” Once again, parts of the universe has forgotten about The Doctor, which was, of course, his plan.  Some are suggesting the capable hands of Oswin Oswald are at it again, but let’s not forget that in the first episode of the new series, The Doctor produced a program that would erase all records of him off the Internet.  No mean feat, to say the least.  He could have easily done the same for this value indexing system…or could do so retroactively at his next opportunity.

NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO – A western, filmed in Spain, with an alien.  THAT’S multiculturalism. A Town Called Mercy, just a week away

New Crusaders Brings Archie Heroes Back

  • News
  • September 5, 2012

With four months of digital success under their belt, Archie Comics brings their superhero stable back to comic shops with the first print issue of New Crusaders, in comic shops this week.  Each issue collecting the four weekly “acts” of the digital release, the comic is a response to the many requests from readers who wanted to see a traditional edition as well.  Archie has done a good job of it, with several special covers and some extra bonuses not seen in the digital release.

Archie Comics superheroes have had a long and varied publishing history. They premiered in 1939, enjoyed a a re-emergence in the 60s, another in the 80s, a couple revivals that never got out of the gate, and two attempted revivals by DC Comics, the woefully underappreciated Impact imprint from the 90s (helmed by our own Mike Gold), and the more recent Red Circle line which started strong with the J. Michael Straczynski books, but never seemed to find its audience.  This time around, Archie has chosen to do the job themselves, and unlike the DC revivals, have made the new series part of the continuity of all their books, starting back in to 40s.  While the book has decades of history and continuity, the book is carefully written to not require knowledge of those stories.  It can easily be picked up as a first issue, with no fear of getting lost.

The members of the superhero team known as the Mighty Crusaders did something never before heard of in the annals of super-herodom; they succeeded.  They beast evil into submission, sent the villains running, and spent the last couple of decades happily retired.  After an explosive tease, the story starts with the Crusaders enjoying a reunion in the peaceful  town of Red Circle, where Mayor Jack (Steel) Sterling is throwing a party for the heroes and their families.  While the heroes reminisce in the Mayoral mansion, their kids are getting to know each other outside.  Lucky for them, because one of their greatest foes, alien overlord the Brain Emperor takes the opportunity to take out his old foes all at once.  Only Joe Higgins, the original Shield, escapes, and manages to get the kids to safety in his home, or more specifically, his secret headquarters below, where he’s maintained vigilance for the return of their enemies.

Ian Flynn, who’s made quite a name for himself piloting both of Archie’s big video game franchises, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, handles the writing for the series, and he’s got a solid grasp of what makes an action comic work.  Even more importantly, as the digital book is coming out six pages at a time, he’s been able to pace the story so that each weekly chapter reads like a complete adventure, yet still flows smoothly in this single-issue format. Artist Ben Bates has a wonderful open style – his characters are drawn simply, his layouts uncluttered, very reminiscent of Impact artist Mike Parobeck; an art that is complex without being overly busy.  There’s lots of easter eggs for older readers; the aforementioned city of “Red Circle” is only the first. In addition to the main adventure, this issue features a reprint of a original Shield story from the 80’s run of the series, written by Marty Greim and art by industry vets Dick Ayres and Rich Buckler.

The print edition of New Crusaders publishes monthly.  The digital edition is available via an iPhone app and for the web and other devices via the Iverse website.  For a 99 cent weekly subscription, readers receive a new six-page chapter each week, as well as access to a growing library of the classic MLJ/Radio/Archie runs of the comics.  For the occasional “Fifth week”, a second series, Lost Crusade, will fill in the blanks of the events between the end of the 80s run of adventures and the new ones.  It’s one of the best digital books being done by a major publisher right now, and both it and the new print edition are well worth a look

For those interested in learning more about the members of the Crusaders, I have a series of histories up on my website:

The Shield

The Comet

The Web

Steel Sterling

 

New Who Review : Asylum of the Daleks

  • News
  • September 3, 2012

A new season, a return of an old enemy, a dramatic change to a relationship, and a very surprising casting choice made the premiere episode of Doctor Who quite the rollicking ride.  Keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times, mind the spoilers, hang tight to your jewelry (especially bracelets), mind the spoilers and here we go…

ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS
By Steven Moffat
Directed by Nick Hurran

The Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams are all captured by Dalek sleeper agents and taken to their main fleet, home of their Parliament.  Rather than Exterminate him, they beg for his help.  Their Asylum, a combination hospital and prison for Daleks so damaged or insane they can no longer be controlled, is in danger of being breached after a lost spaceship crashes on it.  The Doctor. Amy and Rory are sent down to the surface to shut down the planetary force field defense, so the Daleks can destroy it.  At the same time, The Doctor has to save the mysterious Oswin Oswald, who’s staged a single-handed defense against the insane Daleks for nearly a year, as well as fix the relationship of his Companions Amy and Rory.  If he achieves three more impossible things, he can have breakfast.

Steven Moffat’s admitted that the Daleks are his favorite Who foe, and had wanted to “give them a rest” for bit, till the right story came along. Well, mission accomplished.  He does what needs to be done anytime to you bring back an enemy and expand on them a bit, add to their mythos. Here we see a new ruling structure, a horrifying insight to their concept of beauty, and a look at how they treat their failures.  In short, a solid story, with some great dramatic moments.  Another chapter in the greatest romance in time and space, and an introduction to…well, maybe not the character, but certainly the actress who’ll be taking the reins from Karen and Arthur as the next Companion.

THE MONSTER FILES

The Daleks have been so much a part of the history of Doctor Who it’s almost impossible to talk of one without the other.  Introduced in the second adventure, their innovative design seized the imagination of the children of Britain, and has never let go.  Any hopes the series had of being a semi-educational show were blasted off the table when it became clear that the kids wanted scary monsters and super freaks.

Created by Terry Nation, who would go on to create the series Blake’s 7 and The Survivors, he attempted to take his creation to America and pitch  a series here.  The character Sara Kingdom (played by Jean Marsh and seen in The Dalek Master Plan) was to be their primary enemy in the pitched series, which never came to pass.

While the Dalek Puppets are a new addition to their weaponry, they’re scarcely the first attempt to use bipedal, opposable-thumbed minions.  In addition to the endless poor suckers who think they’ll be treated well (or even differently) by the Daleks, they’ve created Robomen slaves of their prisoners, both in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and its out of continuity film adaptation starring Peter Cushing.  Ogrons became a slave race of choice for a while, appearing in Day of the Daleks. Most recently, we saw Professor Bracewell, an android created to aid in The Victory of the Daleks.  Indeed, since we’ve now seen how they can completely replace a human’s body with Dalek components, one could wonder if Edwin Bracewell didn’t have implanted memories, but REAL memories, those from before his conversion.

HUGE SPOILED ALERT!

Jenna-Louise Coleman (Oswin Oswald)  Jenna’s career is only a few years old, similar to that of Karen Gillan, but what she’s got is cherce. Starting off with a brief run on British soap opera Emmerdale (you thought I was going to say EastEnders, didn’t you?), she also had recurring roles on Walterloo Road and  starred with John Goodman on Dancing on the Edge. Most recently she’s starred in the Titanic mini-series, and had a small role in Captain America. She will be heard from again in the very near future.

Anamaria Marinca (Darla / Dalek puppet) is another case of getting the best people for even the smallest roles.  Romanian by birth, she’s won dozens of acting awards for her work, including a BAFTA for the series Sex Traffic.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS – Trivia and production details

CREDITS WHERE CREDITS ARE DUE – Another minor tweak to the opening of the series.  The effect of the TARDIS flying through the Time Vortex is more blurred, and at the same time more colorful.  We see the return of the red and blue, indicating the capsule is traveling forward or backward in time. Also, the logo of the series has changed, and will continue to change in each episode.  Here it’s covered in “Dalek Bumps”, next week it’s reported it’ll have scales like a dinosaur.  The font for the cast and the episode title match now, no longer using the same font as the logo.

SET PIECES – The design of the Dalek ships have a number of subtle points.  The bars in the viewport window match the grille design of a new series Dalek, so it looks like they’re looking out the grille of a giant Dalek.  Also note the trapezoidal doors, designed to accommodate their bodies, and of course, the utter lack of stairs. Note also that all the control panels are all shaped to fit the Dalek “plunger” hand. We’ve seen that it can change shape slightly – likely the globe serves as a haptic interface, a hemispheric iPad screen.

Once again, the classic “heart beat” sound effect appears – used since the Tom Baker years (and found on the “Doctor Who Sound Effects” album), the thumping hum of a Dalek base has been used in every new series Dalek episode.  It appears as Rory accidentally awakens the sleeping inmates of the asylum.

AND NO ONE HEARD AT ALL, NOT EVEN THE CHAIR – The Beeb will re-use props and background pieces when they can.  This week, the chair from Oswin’s little control room is the same one from Jenny’s ship in The Doctor’s Daughter. The Clever Theories have already started rolling.

SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC SAHARA – The sequences on the snowy mountains of the Asylum were originally set to be filed in a set.  But when preparing for a trip to Spain to film sequences for A Town Called Mercy, series producer Marcus Wilson pointed out that the Sierra Nevada mountain range was only a hop skip and jump away, and wouldn’t it make more sense (and possibly save money) to pop up there and film the exterior scenes?  Caroline Skinner agreed, and off they went.

EVERY DALEK EVER – marked as the biggest conglomeration of pepperpots in the history of the series, the episode did not disappoint.  Well…sort of.  For all the hype and hoohah they gave the return of the Special Weapons Dalek (first seen in Remembrance of the Daleks and several novels and other off-TV adventures), it was a glorified cameo – it didn’t fire, and barely moved.  You got a better look at it in the promotional photos.  There were a smattering of old model Daleks – the pirouetting model appeared to be a white Imperial Dalek from Remembrance, and there were a few other “classic” series models.  Can you find them all?

More surprising is which Daleks we saw the most of – the vast majority of models we saw were the “bronze” variety we’ve seen since the start of the new series.  Considering all the pomp and circumstance the New Paradigm Daleks were introduced in Victory of the Daleks, they were barely there at all.  Since they were seen at the center of the parliament, it is most likely that they serve as rulers/generals of the Dalek race, taking the positions once held by Black and Gold Daleks.  The bronze models would continue to serve as the soldiers.

ONE IF BY LAND, TWO IF BY RORY – Minor production error in Rory’s first scene among all the inactive Daleks – the model he pushes about has a headlamp missing in the above and reverse shots; it has both in the shots from behind Rory.

“Skaro – original planet of the Daleks” Introduced in their original adventure, we’ve seen Skaro itself a few times in the series.  The Doctor and his friends traveled back to The Genesis of the Daleks with the help of the Time Lords, with the task of averting their creation.  In the far future, the Emperor Dalek ruled over their empire in The Evil of the Daleks, but at another point, it was a virtually dead planet being excavated by the Movellans in Destiny of the Daleks. It was presumed destroyed by supernova in Remembrance of the Daleks, but Daleks are not unlike cockroaches – they seem to be able to survive everything.

“Out of ten?  Eleven” More than just the obvious Spinal Tap “Goes to eleven” gag, this is another sly reference that this is The Doctor’s eleventh incarnation, and that Matt is the eleventh (in continuity) actor to play him.

“The Predator of the Daleks will be deployed” – Along with the earlier revealed “Oncoming Storm”, The Daleks have graced The Doctor with a title of their own.  As has been pointed out before, names are a recurring theme in the series.  Knowing an enemy’s name reduces their power, and increases your ability to hurt them.

“Are you actually, properly real?” Note a very subtle hint to Oswin’s malleable reality – when The Doctor calls her “Carmen”, a rose appears behind her ear.  It was not there before, and is gone in the next scene.

“RoRRRYYYYYYYYYyyyyyy!” Throughout the episode, there are tells that Amy still very much cares for Rory.  When she awakes, she looks for him, and not The Doctor.  And that piercing scream is the same one she used to call to him in Amy’s Choice.

“Nanogenes” Steven Moffat coined that term in The Empty Child for the micro-robots designed to heal injuries, turn people into gasmask-faced monsters, and in this case, convert people to Dalek Puppets.  Amy is likely (we hope) right that as a Time Lord The Doctor was immune to their effect, and will similarly be able to reprogram a few to repair any temporary changes made to Amy.

“They’re the ones who survived me” The planets mentioned are all from past battles between the Doctor and his lifelong foe:
Spiridon – Planet of the Daleks
Kembal – The Dalek Master Plan
Aridius – The Chase
Vulcan – Power of the Daleks
Exxilon – Death to the Daleks
Of course, if I were to be very picayune, I’d mention that if that were the case, these should all be older design Daleks, when it looks more like they’re all the modern Bronze variety. But do I look like that kind of person?

“They did a full conversion” – Daleks have converted humans to Dalek beings in the past, although in Victory, it was said that they’d done it so many times, the Progenitor system didn’t even recognize the surviving members as true Daleks.  Presumably the automated systems of the Asylum was more interested in enhancing the security system than in the scrupulous worry about purity.

Humans and Daleks don’t usually mix.  Dalek Sec attempted it in Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks with poor results, and the infection of the Human Factor caused a civil war in Evil of the Daleks, which was at the time supposed to be the final Dalek adventure.

BIG BAD WOLF REPORT While Moffat and the Who production office have maintained that there’s no over-arcing plotline this series, there are clearly themes already appearing.  Matt Smith has described this five-episode run as “The Fall of the Ponds”, as it will culminate in their departure at the end of episode five, The Angels Take Manhattan.  The prequel series Pond Life provided a look into the Ponds’s home life when The Doctor wasn’t around, ending with a hint of the breakup we saw here.  The fourth episode, The Power of Three, is supposed to further that story a bit more.

“Life, just life – that thing that goes on when you’re not there” Most tragic is the revelation that because of the traumas from Demon’s Run, Amy can no longer bear children.  That’s clearly a massive blow to Rory, so much so that Amy chooses to push him away, in the hopes he’ll find someone who can give him what he’s always wanted.  There’s a clever theory boiling in my head that might well tie more than a couple threads up, but I’ll hold my tongue for the moment.

“Remember me” Clearly one theme that popped up in this episode is that of memory and remembering.  From The Doctor’s advice that Amy “Make [the Daleks] remember you” to Oswin’s request of the same to The Doctor, after her ensuring that the Daleks wouldn’t remember him, it comes up more than a few times in the episode.

“DOK-TOR-WHO?” Tying back to the end of last series, The Doctor chooses to allow the reports of his death to remain greatly exaggerated, so he may work more into the background, and safe from those who wish to harm him.  It’s backed up in the opening of the episode where Darla believe The Doctor to be dead.  And now that the Daleks have now (at least temporarily) forgotten who he is, he’s able to fade back a bit more.

But the real “Question” is one that’s been bouncing through the entire new series – The Doctor’s Name, his real origins, and why he keeps them so secret.  It’s been said that on the Fields of Trenzalore, that question will be asked, and he’ll be compelled to answer.  When that will happen, and what will happen as a result, we do not know, but Moffat does not lay plot threads higgledy-piggledy.

I DON’T THINK WE’VE BEEN PROPERLY INTRODUCED – Jenna-Louise Coleman’s appearance Oswin Oswald is clearly the biggest surprise this episode had.  Already announced as The Doctor’s new Companion (and scheduled to come on board in that capacity in the Christmas episode) she appears here in what is presumed either a different role, or perhaps even from another point of her life.  Her Companion role’s name had been rumored to be Clara, but as we know, nothing is guaranteed in the world of Who.

Moffat and the rest of the cast and crew have shared massive accolades to both the press and the thousands of fans and bloggers who all kept this reveal utterly secret through four sneak previews of this episode over the past month.

You’re welcome.

NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO – The Doctor is sick of…well, no, he seems quite excited by the idea of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Lestrade finds his division, Ron Weasley’s dad is also Rory’s dad (so…related?) and also Queen Nefertiti. Seven days away…you busy?

 

Everything you wanted to know about the “Pond Life” prequel to new Doctor Who season 7

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It’s all fun and games until someone loses a…well, anyway.

This week, as a run-up to the season premiere of Doctor Who, a mini web-series titled “Pond Life”, intended to share a look at the Ponds’ home life in between visits by The Doctor. It was four episodes of entertaining fun, right up until the moment Steven Moffat and writer Chris Chibnall seized our hearts, turned them sideways, and made a tasty broth from our tears.

Each episode summarizes a month between April and August, leading into the events of the first episode, Asylum of the Daleks. All five episodes of “Pond Life” are available on the BBC YouTube channel, mirrored on numerous websites, and is written into the sullen expressions of Who-fen everywhere. Take a look, then we’ll discuss:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMdBsc5pQ1k[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQZc9DzneUI[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm0dqb7rKpk[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikv0QbubV7Y[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPECCBoCn9o[/youtube]

In April we get the distinct impression that The Doctor has been keeping in touch quite closely with the Ponds via a series of phone messages. He relates a few of his solo adventures, including surfing the Fire Falls of Florial 9 to escape a cohort of his old enemies the Sontarans. He also met “Good little dancer, terrible spy” Mata Hari, and performed backing tracks for one of those hip-hop songs the kids seem to like.

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May is in fact the only time The Doctor and The Ponds directly meet in all five episodes. He bursts into their bedroom, begging them to get dressed, only to realize he’s arrived earlier than he expected, and they’ve no idea what he’s talking about. As flashes of the events to come in the series flash across the screen, he assures them that all is well, the future is “really, really…fine”, and bids them return to sleep.

June and July is a bit of a two-part story – The Doctor has picked up a stray Ood who is still under his conditioning as a servant. Apparently wandering off the TARDIS during a stop at their apartment, and sits waiting in their bathroom for orders. The Doctor assures them the best thing to do is let him follow his conditioning, resulting in the Ponds getting a butler for a brief time.

The Doctor’s popped by to pick the Ood up and return him to Ood-Sphere in between July and the final chapter, assumed to be August, though the date is not specifically mentioned. It’s clearly a bit longer than that, as quite a bit has happened to Amy and Rory. Unaware to The Doctor, Amy and Rory have had a falling out, and we see Rory leaving their home carrying his belongings in a trash bag. And is you look at Amy’s lips, she’s NOT saying “Come back”.

So, quite a bit going on here, lots of fun, some tears and worry – in short, a solid Doctor Who episode.

THE MONSTER FILES –

The Sontarans were introduced in the Jon Pertwee adventures The Time Warrior. A militaristic clone race, they’ve cut swaths across the galaxy, either via simple conquering raids, or as part of their protracted war with their enemy, the Rutans. They were the race behind the invasion of Gallifrey in The Invasion of Time, and almost converted the Earth’s atmosphere to suit them on The Sontaran Stratagem. Christopher Ryan, best known to Americans as Mike “The Cool person” from the punk Britcom classic The Young Ones has appeared twice as two different Sontaran leaders.

The Ood first appeared more recently, in the Tennant adventures The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit. They were portrayed as a servant race, seemingly low in intelligence, communicating via an implanted communication device. In their next appearance Planet of the Ood, it was revealed their situation was far more insidious. Ood are indeed sentient and intelligent, and are born with a second, exterior brain that they use to communicate telepathically to each other, selected people outside their race, and the physical Ood hive mind. This second brain is amputated as part of their “conditioning” process, which severs their link to the hive mind, and effectively lobotomizes them. The Doctor is horrified at the news, and helps to free them from their captivity. Their de facto leader, Ood Sigma, the first conditioned Ood to re-connect to the hive mind, returns to guide The Doctor through his final adventures before his regeneration. An Ood was found on The Junkyard at the End of the Universe in Neil Gaiman’s The Doctor’s Wife, but only because there wasn’t enough in the budget to created the alien Neil had written into the script.

The Ood bear more then a small resemblance to the Hartnell-era aliens The Sensorites, from an adventure of the same name. show runner Russell T. Davies noticed that, and as a tip of the hat, placed their homewold, Ood-Sphere in the same star system as Sense-Sphere, homeworld of the first race.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS – Trivia and production details

ANY LANDING YOU CAN WALK AWAY FROM IS A GOOD ONE – The Helmic Regulator is a recurring issue in the mini-adventure. The Helmic Regulator helps control the precision of the landing of a TARDIS. If not correctly calibrated, the landing point can vary in either space or time.

When Harry Sullivan (accidentally) touched the Helmic Regulator, the TARDIS landed on Nerva Beacon instead of the moon, back in The Ark In Space.

The Doctor made special mention of it again when showing Martha Jones how he prepared the TARDIS for takeoff in Smith and Jones. In the new design (desktop setting) of that console, it resembles a bicycle pump. He was also able to use it, in concert with the thermo-buffer and the zeiton crystals, to prevent a two-Doctor paradox from blowing a hole in the universe the size of Belgium in the mini-adventure Time Crash.

While the Helmic regulator still exists on the new design of the TARDIS, it’s not yet been pointed out specifically on the show.

Interesting fact – the TARDIS console on the set has a user’s manual. The controls on each panel are specifically named, and each has a specific function. Matt Smith was given the manual and had to learn it. He had to learn a precise series of actions to launch or pilot the capsule “properly”. He’s not just making it up.

Doctor Who premieres September 1st on the BBC and BBC America.

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