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A Sense of History

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Review of The Sensorites (#7)
DVD Release Date:  14 Feb 12
Original Air Date:  20 Jun – 01 Aug 1964
Doctor/Companion:  One, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Susan Foreman
Stars:  William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford
Preceding Story:  The Aztecs (One, Ian, Barbara, Susan)
Succeeding Story:  The Reign of Terror (One, Ian, Barbara, Susan)

No one seems to have much love for The Sensorites. If I’ve heard it mentioned at all, it’s usually with some degree of distaste. Frankly, I don’t understand that reaction, since to me, Sensorites doesn’t seem any less palatable that most of One’s stories, and better than a few others (like the regrettable Web Planet).

There are actually some pretty classic literary themes here: cultural misunderstanding, political intrigues, and the TARDIS crew caught in the middle, as usual. Despite a rather… unusual creature design (oh, those floppy feet), the concept of the Sensorites themselves is fairly intriguing. I don’t remember many races across science fiction that use both telepathy and verbal communication, for example.

As the story gets rolling, I’m immediately reminded of how much I bloody love Barbara (totally with Sue here). Her absence in episodes 4 and 5 may be part of why the story seemed to drag somewhat through the middle. The plot itself has some interesting ideas woven in, but to a modern audience, anyway, it doesn’t seem terribly sophisticated. The “big surprise finish” in episode 6 (“A Desperate Venture”) is not so surprising, the rather obvious clues having been dropped for several episodes.

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Gallifrey One’s Network 23: Lessons Learned

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This having been my first year to attend Gallifrey One (or, for that matter any con of any kind), it was a learning experience as much as a chance to rub shoulders with some whovian Names. Since there are still bunches of people out there who’ve never been (despite this year’s record attendance of 3183), I thought I’d pass along a few of the things I’d learned, in hopes that others might benefit. Or at least that I can come back and remind myself of them before I go next year…

  1. Plan far enough ahead that you can book a room at the Marriott itself. While the place I got was convenient enough (a 4-5 block walk, or about 5 minutes) and had free (if weak) breakfast – something I’m not sure the Marriott offers – it was an extra little hassle. I envied the con members who could just pop up to their rooms at the end of the day, stash most of their things in their rooms and just carry the basics, or not worry about still having to walk stably for several blocks at night after Lobbycon. And speaking of Lobbycon…
  2. Arrive early enough to enjoy Lobbycon on Thursday night. Although I in no way regret my Thursday this year – I got to see three distinct sets of friends, all of whom I’d last seen years earlier – it would have been nice to be able to socialize with other con members in that unique way.
  3. Stay till Monday morning. Note to self: redeyes suck; don’t do that again. Regardless of the fact that things officially end after the Closing Ceremonies around 7pm (unless you’re lucky enough to be able to go to the Volunteers’ Reception), there is still Lobbycon happening Sunday night. And really, who wants Gally to end? Stretching it out a few extra hours and not worrying about a flight till the next morning would be a nice way to finish off.
  4. Use a decent camera that’s good with long-distance shots. Although it’s possible to get super-good seats for many of the panels, let’s face it – not everyone gets the best spot, and sometimes you’re just going to be far away. If you have a simple point’n’shoot camera, it’s not going to get sharp, well-lit photos of all those folks up on stage in the ballroom. Find something that will.
    Also: don’t lose the camera you do have. ~sigh~

There are also a few things that I definitely want to do again or try out next time:

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Gallifrey One’s Network 23: Day Three

I’m so tired I can’t see straight.

Despite that fact, I can’t seem to stop grinning like a fool as I think back on my weekend. I do believe I’ve got myself a new annual tradition. Minus, of course, the timing on that return flight…

My pre-program time started with a bit more ribbon trading. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover how popular my “I ♥♥ Eight” ribbons were. Someone from the Fan Room (where the TARDIS console was on display; I’m so disappointed I can’t remember exactly who it was) came up to me and asked me for some of those ribbons for folks there who were asking. I only had about six left, but gladly handed them over. I’m almost positive I saw Nick Briggs wearing one later. Either he got it from that source or traded a fan for it, because I sadly never got to meet Nick to give him one myself (and thus, he doesn’t really know where it came from ~sigh~)!

Having collected all but my William Russell autograph on Saturday, I could devote Sunday to the programs. I chose to camp out in the ballroom all day. When you start early, you can get a really good seat in between panels, and keep ootching your way closer to front and center (without making yourself overly conspicuous, in case you need to duck out for more coffee or a bathroom break). By this time, you’ve probably found yourself a new con buddy to save your seat while you’re away, which is awesome. It’s how I slipped away for that last autograph.

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Gallifrey One’s Network 23: Day Two

I didn’t see much of Con Buddy on Saturday.

I think it had to do with our different approaches to getting photos and autographs. He’d done a lot of that on Friday, and had a stronger interest in the programming being offered Saturday. Not that this stuff didn’t interest me – there’s stuff I’m pretty sad I missed – but my priorities were different.

So I spent most of my day standing in lines. I started with some autographs. I got them from Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook, Maureen O’Brien, and Richard Franklin. I also stopped by to give Caitlin Blackwood one of each of my ribbons, since I’d heard she was collecting them, and get a picture of her with her mum. Of course, I’ve since lost my camera… (Here’s hoping it’s at the lost and found this morning.)

Con Buddy actually beat me into the next line by about five people. I got to chat with a lovely woman who was there in her wheelchair with her service dog Wiggles (who was wearing a K-9 vest signed by John Leeson) before going in to have my picture taken with the TARDIS console from The Movie. Then I headed strraight to the next room to stand in line to have my picture taken with Paul McGann. (I ended up looking a bit manic. While a bit irritating, I suppose it’s not completely surprising.) Right behind me in line were a lovely young couple with whom I’d struck up a conversation over lunch on Friday. It almost felt like chatting with old friends.

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Gallifrey One’s Network 23: Day One

I’m in heaven.

Let me back up for a moment. Thursday was a long one. It was full of alternating chunks of travel, waiting, and socialization. Plane ride. Wait at airport. Drive with friend. Eat brunch. Bus ride. Wait at station. Train ride. Visit/light snack with friends. Wait at coffee shop. Visit/dinner/overnight with friends.

Friday was all sorts of different. My friend with whom I’d stayed the night drove me to the Marriott, the con’s hotel, in plenty of time to pick up my badge and take care of some other business before the first of the programming. At first it was a bit uncomfortable, because I’d not managed to find my con-going friend (hereafter Con Buddy) yet, and as a n00b, really didn’t have any idea what to expect, or where to find anything of interest. The first stop was thus “Gallifrey 101,” the panel for con neophytes.

Here we got our first taste of a theme that continued throughout the day (and, I imagine, will continue throughout the con): there are a LOT of us here this year! The room in which Gallifrey 101 was held was standing room only, and there were very few, if any, con members in that room who didn’t raise their hands when asked if we were first-timers. It’s growing.

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I’m Off to Gally!

Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Gally (for those who aren’t in the loop, that’s the Gallifrey One 2012 Doctor Who convention in LA), and I’m getting a bit giddy. Partly I’m excited to meet some of these actors (and the photo ops! ~squee!~), partly I’m nervous about being on a panel. Yes, I know – I signed up for it! But as the reality draws nearer, I’m starting to wonder if I can actually pull it off. Will I freeze in front of an audience?

Logically, I’d have to say “no.” After all, if I can get up in front of a class of college students and blather on about astronomy for an hour or two once or twice a week for a whole term, then surely I can sit in front of a few hundred(?) folks with five other people to back me up and blather about my avocational obsession for an hour just once. Surely.

I think I’m more nervous about making a fool of myself in front of various celebrities. Yes, these people are used to being swarmed by rabid fans, so nothing I say or do will be all that remarkable. Then again, that’s a separate problem – who wants to be one of the crowd? Obviously, there’s not a lot I can do about that; it’s not like I have the best cosplay costume ever (read: none) to make me memorable. But deep down, I think every fan wishes he or she was the one that stood out, the one that so-and-so fondly remembers from this-or-that con. I can’t help it.

To take my mind off of the unpleasant realities of anonymity, I plan to post updates from the con here at the blog. (Eventually, there will be a new section under which I’ll post those and other such “unclassifiable” entries such as this one. It’ll be cool. Really. Also, your suggestions on what to call this new section are welcome. So far, I’m considering News, Reports, or Out and About, but none of those really grab me…) I doubt I’ll be able to post very often, but there should be something up before next week’s usual posts (reviews of The Sensorites and The Caves of Androzani:SE). At the very least, I’ll be posting pictures of me with Paul McGann and with William Russell in the IAN shirt.

So. Will the Neowhovian be able to navigate Gally without undue trauma? Stay tuned…

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The Neowhovian Experience

I am extremely pleased to announce the launch of The Neowhovian Experience 2011, the official compilation of the blog – now available as an ebook on Kindle from Amazon!

Along with all the posts from 2011 – Confessions, Nu-Views, and Reviews of both new episodes and DVDs – it includes my reviews of the Doctors' respective eras (from my marathon viewing) and three brand new reviews exclusive to the book (Victory of the Daleks from Series Five and the January 2011 DVD releases, The Dominators and Meglos). There will eventually be a print version (as well as other ebook versions) available, too, just cuz.

The price for all this is just $1.99. Given the size of the download, that's the lowest price Amazon will let me charge. Why buy it when you can get (most of) it online for free? Well, maybe you want to have it on your Kindle when you don't have Internet access. Maybe you want to be able to go to the table of contents and find everything more easily. Maybe you don't have time to read the blog posts as they come up, and you want to be able to read them whenever. Maybe you just want to show your support for me and what I do here. Or – oh yeah – maybe it's those exclusive extras. Whatever your reason, two bucks isn't a whole lot to invest. I hope you'll consider it.

 

 

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Dashing and Debonair

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Review of the Eighth Doctor’s era

1996
The Movie

Given that my first DVD review for the blog was of The Movie, a lot of what I have to say about this particular story has already been said. However, here it is my intention to focus less on the plot and more on the characterization of the Doctor and the production context of the piece, to be consistent with my other commentaries on the various Doctors’ eras.

First off, I love that even though it was primarily an American production, those involved did everything possible to maintain continuity with the pre-Hiatus series. In no particular order, these ties include the Seal of Rassilon throughout the TARDIS (as seen during the eras of Four, Five, and Seven, at least); the use of jelly babies (Four); the Doctor reading Wells’ The Time Machine (he met Wells as Six); the pseudonym John Smith (Two, Three); the appearance of a long, striped scarf while Eight is finding clothes (Four); a classic first reaction to the TARDIS’ dimensional transcendence (everyone); the need to give the TARDIS console a bit of a konk to make it behave (many Doctors); and, most importantly, the regeneration from Seven (which actually doesn’t come until ~20 minutes in).

Sure, there are plenty of things that don’t quite sit right. But that’s going to happen when there are so many fingers in the pie, and some of those fingers are trying to stir up a more “American” flavor (a “car” chase? in Who? hmmm…). I could point out plot inconsistencies (like why would there be a tour of the operating arena at 10pm?), but that’s kind of below the belt. All eras of Who have that; you just have to ignore it.

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Sly and Enigmatic

Review of the Seventh Doctor’s era

1987 – 1989
Time and the Rani
Paradise Towers
Delta and the Bannermen
Dragonfire		 Remembrance of the Daleks
The Happiness Patrol
Silver Nemesis
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy		 Battlefield
Ghost Light
The Curse of Fenric
Survival

For fans who liked the way Series Six wrapped up and the hints of where the show is going next (all that business with The First Question), Seven ought to be right up your alley. Part of the production team’s new vision during Seven’s tenure was to bring back a bit of the character’s innate mystery and make the show a little darker and more engaging thereby.

It really starts up during the 25th anniversary season’s opening story, Remembrance of the Daleks. Some of the Doctor’s word choices are suggestive of his presence in the time of Rassilon and Omega (possibly as The Other: “…and didn’t we have trouble with the prototpye”). In the following story (Silver Nemesis), he again elaborates on Gallifreyan history, mentioning Rassilon and Omega in the same breath once more. More tellingly, though, antagonist Lady Peinforte has learned the Doctor’s secret, taunting Ace with, “Doctor Who? Have you never wondered where he came from? Who he is?” before talking of the Old Time and the Time of Chaos on Gallifrey. Seven seems apprehensive until the moment passes, his secret safe. In yet a later story, he’s asked if he has any family. His quiet “I don’t know” makes the certainty of the upcoming Last Great Time War almost seem like a relief.

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Will You Help Make It Happen?

I’m not sure how many folks who read this blog also read Adventures with the Wife in Space, though I imagine there are quite a few (and many more who read Wife in Space than Neowhovian). I just started reading it myself, and have found it great fun – it’s someone else’s (much more elaborate and structured) take on what I do in the Nu-Views with the Ladies.

One of the brilliant things to come out of Sue’s (that’s the eponymous “wife”) reactions to the earliest stories is something I’ve noted myself – at its beginning, Doctor Who‘s main protagonist was, in fact, Ian. They’ve even got a T-shirt about it at their shop.

Why am I bringing that up here? Well, it’s because the actor who played Ian (William Russell) is one of the guests at Gally in February (you may remember I’m going). At one point, Neil (that’s the Wife in Space blogger) said he wanted to get Sue there so she could have her picture taken with Mr. Russell while wearing the “They should have called the show IAN” T-shirt. Neil and Sue won’t be at Gally – but I will!

Would you like to see a photo of actor and shirt together? I would! In fact, I’d love to be the one wearing the shirt in said photo! However, since I don’t have a lot of spare cash, I thought perhaps I could ask my readers to pitch in. All I’m looking for here is $50 or so, to cover the cost of the T-shirt and the photo op with Mr. Russell. If I get that support, I’ll buy the shirt, get the photo, and make sure it makes it to both the front page here and to Wife in Space (for them to do with as they see fit).

So if you think that would be cool, too, please pitch in. Any amount is great. Once I reach $50 I’ll take out the link below – no need to be greedy. Thanks for your support, and for helping to make the silly dream of a nerd (or two or three) come true!

Thank you for all your support!
UPDATE: You can see the resulting photo in my post of 25 Feb 2012 here.

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