valoise | Entries tagged with doctor who

Every year I travel to LA for Gallifrey One, a fantastic fan-run Doctor Who convention, but now that I live in Connecticut I wanted to try the Long Island Who convention. There are several ways to get to the convention site, but I decided to drive to Bridgeport, take the ferry across the sound to Port Jefferson, NY with a short drive to the hotel. Most relaxing way to travel, I haven't taken a car ferry since I lived in Seattle over 20 years ago. Definitely recommend it.

As for the convention itself, it was more fun than I'd anticipated. At a new convention, where I don't know the venue or have any friends there, I usually have some social anxiety but it wasn't too bad this time. In the 5 minutes it took to walk in the hotel, check in, get my room key and find the elevator I'd already passed Katy Manning and Paul McGann. As a small convention (I think around 500 people) the guest list was small and so were the meeting rooms. Katy Manning and Frazer Hines were charming, frequent guests at US DW cons but their panels didn't feel stale & they were seemed really happy to be there. Paul McGann and Sacha Dhawan were the highlights, though. At one point Paul took a deep dive into his love of silent film, a passion I share.

There were some great fan-run panels on British TV in 2023, collecting screen used props, and several other topics. I think the main downside was the size of the convention space, which seemed cramped. If they could negotiate the use of at least one other meeting room it would help things flow a bit better. I may add this to my list of annual conventions, but as it's an August con, there may be conflicts with my long-standing attendance at WorldCons.

In my rewatch I've reached 11th Doctor's first season and I'm reminded how my low expectations for Matt Smith were crushed under his unexpectedly great performance. He looked like a gangly kid in his mid-20s and I was convinced that he wouldn't be able to bring depth to the role. In The Eleventh Hour, although I loved his somewhat goofy portrayal the moment he stepped through the images of all his past selves to declare to the Atraxi, "I am the Doctor", I was sold.

In Victory of the Daleks, the cold rage he brought to the Daleks realistically portrayed a being drawing upon the long, long battle with an enemy he wanted so deeply to defeat.

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And that pre-credits scene from The Time of Angels solidified my love both for River Song and the Doctor/River Song relationship.

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I've always liked River Song but it's been a long time since I watched Silence in the Library and Forests of the Dead, the episodes that introduced the character. In fact, I know I never went back and rewatched her episodes after The Husbands of River Song.

During my current rewatch I'm now in Series 4 and River has just made her way on screen and into my heart once again. There's so much foreshadowing here and a kind of deep sadness that makes so much more sense when you know how her story will unfold. There is one bit of dialog, just before she dies, that is almost a plot summary for The Husband's of River Song.

RIVER: Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you cried.
COMPUTER: Autodestuct in one minute.
RIVER: You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue.

Steven Moffat wrote those words in early 2008 during the Russell T. Davies era. In 2015 when Moffat was showrunner he took those lines and wove them into The Husbands of River Song.

My Doctor Who rewatch has reached the episode Smith & Jones and it just occurred to me that the plasmavore Mrs Finnegan wpuld be the easiest cosplay ever for an older woman like me. All I’d need would be a white rose-print nightgown, a blue bathrobe, and a handy bendy straw.

My 60th anniversary DW rewatch has finally come to the modern era, and I'm surprised at how much pleasure I got from those first few minutes of Rose. It's been a long time since I watched all of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. I'd forgotten how much I loved his portrayal.

And this brings me to episode, Dalek. I've never been a particular fan of the Daleks, they've overused in both the classic and modern eras. But this episode is so character driven. Nine and Rose both have great moments. Heck, even the Dalek has some character development here. This all made me look up the writer, Rob Shearman. I knew he'd written for Big Finish but had no idea that he had such a career as a playwright.

I'm turing a big corner on my 60th Anniversary Doctor Who rewatch. There are only 3 episodes left in classic Who and this is a good time to really look back on the journey. I'm glad I didn't do the math before I started. From The Unearthly Child in 1963 to Battlefield in 1989 there are 697 episodes divided into 159 stories. That's a LOT of television. On Sunday I'll be moving on to the 1996 movie then plunging on to Rose and the modern era on Monday. Initially, I thought I might look back on the my favorite stories for the first 26 seasons, but I thought I'd collapse that into favorite stories for the first seven Doctors.

First Doctor
There are several stories that I enjoy but if I had to name favorites this time through It's been a year since I watched these, but I think these are the ones I enjoyed the most this time around.
The Aztecs
The Chase (except for the weird haunted house episode)

Second Doctor
So many missing stories but, like the First Doctor, there are some good reconstructions and also some recent animation versions, including the one that I'd pick as my fave for this rewatch: the Abominable Snowman. The animation fills in the story in a way recons can never do and they can draw the Tibetan characters as actual Tibetans and not British actors in yellow face.

Third Doctor
Picking favorites is really hard for this era, Jon Pertwee is one of my favorite Doctors. The four episodes I liked the best were:
Spearhead from Space
Inferno
The Sea Devils
The Green Death

Fourth Doctor
Tom Baker is so iconic and had so many seasons. I think The Face of Evil was the first Doctor Who I ever saw. But this time around I found new vid inspiration in the entire Key to Time series of stories. One story from that season is in my short list of rewatch favorites.
Horror of Fang Rock
The Ribos Opeartion

Fifth Doctor
Although I do like Peter Davison as an actor and convention guest, I usually find this era a bit boring. I do enjoy the crowded TARDIS aspect, especially once Turlough joins the cast. And we do get a return of the Brigadier in my favorite story, as well.
Mawdryn Undead

Sixth Doctor
Here's where I make a confession, I really dislike the Sixth Doctor. I feel a bit sorry for Colin Baker, he got dealt some crappy episodes and generally did the best he could with them. The Trial of a Timelord season seemed a bit better this time around, so I guess I'll pick:
Trial of a Timelord: The Mysterious Planet

Seventh Doctor
Starting with his second season, I think Sylvester McCoy really brought something great back to Doctor Who, and I absolutely love Ace.
My two favorite stories were both written by Ben Aaronivitch.
Remembrance of the Daleks
Battlefield

Although there are lots of currently running shows I try to keep up with in real time, I always have of rewatches going on. Except for Doctor Who, this usually involves three or so episodes a week for each show.

Doctor Who
In June 2021 it was pointed out that there was time to rewatch every episode, one each day, before the 60th anniversary in November 2023. There are so many classic stories that I love an it was fun to see them again. For stories with missing episodes, there are reconstructions, either on YouTube or Dailymotion. I always get a bit bored with some of the 5th Doctor and actively dislike many of the 6th Doctor's. Colin Baker is a joy at cons, but he was not well served by the writers, directors, or budget given DW during his era. I'm currently on The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, just one more season of the 7th Doctor to go. I do genuinely love Ace and two of her stories, Remembrance of the Daleks and Battlefield are among my favorites. Then it's on to the movie and the modern era of Who.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9
I love this series more than any other trek. Some day I want to do a vid focusing on the father/son relationship between Sisko and Jake. I finished this rewatch a couple of weeks ago and it still holds up as by favorite ST, even love it more than some of the modern stuff that I do enjoy. Like much of Doctor Who, this show is really my happy place.

Fringe
I had never rewatched any episodes of this show. Until last year I didn't have any streaming service that included it, but now that I've got HMO Max it was an easy choice, One thing that surprised me was how little I remembered about the last two seasons. Probably the thing I felt was strongest throughout were the performances of the four main lead actors.

Having finished two shows this month I decided to pick up two more: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (starting with season 2) and 12 Monkeys (because other family members are also doing a rewatch)

Although I've been a lifelong sff fan, when I first started participating with fandom in the 1990s it was due to fanfic. I devoured X-files fanfic and took the plunge into writing, as well. Since then, I've drifted away from X-Files into other fandoms and from fanfic to vidding. But recently I came across A Captain and a Madman, a novel-length Eleventh Doctor/Star Wars crossover by RazielLordofSquirrels that sucked me right in.

The story embraces various time travel stories through TOS, TNG, Voyager and Enterprise, giving the titular Madman a chance to interact with Picard, Kirk, Janeway, and Archer. I loved every bit of it. One cautionary note, although it was recently posted, with the author's permission, AO3, the story was originally posted on fanfiction.net before the 2013 50th Anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor and diverges from DW cannon.

Fanworks was back this year, first as an online minicon in the Spring and then an in-person con in Chicago this weekend. For the online con I submitted a premiere vid, When We're Detectives. It's a celebration of the wonderful team of Mabel, Charles, and Oliver.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/37645768

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I really had absolutely no plans for vidding Doctor Who. Then Sacha Dhawan's delightful face came on the screen. I'm blaming this on the Master - he compelled me to make it!

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Equinox Exchange reveals were posted yesterday and the wonderful

elipie made this fun Legends of Tomrrow vid for me.
Tubthumping

I was assigned to make a vid for

such_heights, which I have to admit was a little intimidating. I've not a particularly prolific vidder and I was tasked to make something for one of my fav vid creators. I knew I was going to be making a vid about the fun and adventure of traveling in the TARDIS. Taking my cue from the Dear Equinox Letter, I decided to put the focus on Eleven and the Ponds, who actually among my favorites, too. This song by American Authors has exactly the energy I wanted.

What We Live For

"What We Live For" (Watch on YouTube)

I should be fleshing out my Equinox Exchange letter, but I'll post my VVC premieres vid instead. I've been mulling over vidding to this song by Professor Elemental for years, noting potential sources, and planning what I'd like to do with it. The hardest part, for me, was the passage about Alfred in the Bat Cave. Stumbling across Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants solved that problem. Many, many cups of tea were drunk in planning and executing this vid.

In case anyone is interested, here are the sources used in order of their first appearance. There are probably thousands of other shows and movies that could have appeared in the vid, but I needed to make room for Doctor Who. In fact, I probably could have just used the Doctors and their companions, but I knew I wanted to squeeze in Shaun of the Dead, the ST:TNG, and Highlander, etc.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
My Little Pony
Downton Abbey
Star Trek: The Next Generation
A Hard Day’s Night
Doctor Who (13th Doctor)
The IT Crowd
Sherlock
Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants
Withal and I
Black Books
Doctor Who (2nd Doctor)
Doctor Who (10th Doctor)
Shaun of the Dead
Elementary
Highlander (TV series)
Doctor Who (3rd Doctor)
The BFG
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Doctor Who: A Tardis Tea Party
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Farmer’s Wife
Blackadder
The Sword in the Stone
Fawlty Towers
Father Ted
The Five(ish) Doctor Reboot
Professor Elemental (web page)

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I loved my assignment, which was to make a vid for jetpack_monkey for the classic movie, The Third Man. The director, Carol Reed, uses great lighting and off-kilter camera angles to great effect in this noir nod to post-war Vienna, a city suffering from the aftermath of WWII. I first saw this in Vienna in the summer of 1993 a movie theater that continues to show the film regularly. The hardest part for me was finding the right music. I knew I wanted an instrumental piece that built the tension in just the right way and had some way to highlight the big reveal of Orson Welles' character about half-way through. Faceoff by Kevin MacLeod was great, although I wish it have been a bit longer.

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I decided to make a treat for odessie, a vid for The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. I got the chance to ask Peter Davison about how it was made at a little DW con in Wichita last fall and spurred me on to the search for just the right song. Frank Sinatra to the rescue with Pick Yourself Up.

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Festivids go live is today and, of course, the first thing I did was watch this lovely vid made just for me. Chopped is one of my favorite shows but I had no hopes I would actually get a vid for it. This wonderful vid captures the tension, the struggle to get it right, the weird ingredients that are thrown at the contestants and the wonderful judges. It's everything I hoped for and more.

Here It Goes Again

I'll try to watch most all the vids during the week and will post a list of those I loved best soon. I've got to get back to my major Doctor Who marathon. I want to get through the rest of Classic Who before I leave for Gallifrey One on Feb. 11 and I just found out that both Hulu and Netflix are pulling the show from their line up. I'm not sure if that means both the classic and modern shows, but I've just started season 26 so I think I can finish it off this weekend.

Crossposts: http://valoise.livejournal.com/59360.html

I've got a complete rough draft of my Premieres vid for VVC and I'm not sure if I want to let it sit for awhile and then look at it with fresh eyes for final editing or get a beta to give a quick look and some suggestions.

In the meantime, while driving around last weekend I heard a piece of music and, BAM, it hits me that I need to vid DW. Just one episode, Deep Breath, so it shouldn't take too long, but I've never vidded the Doctor. I have, however, been watching lots and lots and lots of DW vids to put together a vid show for a con next October, so I guess I've got Who-brain right now.