Friday Night Who UK: 1st July 2011

In my last post, I spent quite a lot of time talking about Doctor Who, and why I thought it was such a good show. It turned into something of an essay, and ended up a lot longer than I'd meant it to be. Right at the end, I mentioned a couple of things that I didn't have time to talk about, and one of them was Friday Night Who.

Friday Night Who UK is a weekly fan gathering that me and my friend Mark set up recently, and it's great fun. The idea is simple; every week, on Friday night, we watch an episode of Doctor Who simultaneously. We synchronise at the start, so we're both at the same point in the episode at any given time. Then, while we're watching the episode, we go on twitter, and tweet out about the episode. It really is fantastic fun - we have hilarious conversations about each story, and it's a great way to get a weekly dose of Who. We welcome anybody who wants to join in; we usually start at 7pm-ish, UK time, on Friday night, (about 1pm across the pond), and send out a 'start now!' message via twitter. It'd be great to have some more people join the conversation.

If you want to participate in this weeks Friday Night Who UK, then be sure to follow me at @KingOrokos on twitter, and also my friend Mark at @VortexTravel. Also, look out for the #FridayNightWhoUK Hashtag, and the hashtag for whatever episode we're watching. This week, we're watching the Peter Davison story The King's Demons, so you'll be looking for #TheKingsDemons as well.

Remember that: Follow @KingOrokos and @VortexTravel, and use the #FridayNightWhoUK hashtag, every Friday night at 7pm UK time. This week, use the #TheKingsDemons hashtag and watch along with us!

Oh, and if you're wondering why we call it Friday Night Who UK, instead of just Friday Night Who, it's because the 'proper' Friday Night Who gathering is an American creation, done by the Travelling the Vortex podcast. This isn't really the time to talk about them, but for now I'll just say that they're an amazing Doctor Who podcast, and very much worth listening to.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to join us this Friday Night!

Doctor Who, and Why I Love It

I haven't been blogging very long, only a couple of days, but already I've brought up Doctor Who in one of my posts - I reviewed the novel Touched by an Angel, a Doctor Who story, on Monday, and in that post I mentioned I was a big Whovian. So I just thought that I'd make a blog entry talking about what Doctor Who is, how I got into watching it and why I love it so much.

What is Doctor Who?

DW is a British Science Fiction TV show that, at it's heart, is about a mad man with a box. The 'mad man' is the Doctor; a highly intelligent and quite brilliant man. The 'box' is his TARDIS, a machine that can travel anywhere and anywhen in time and space. That's the core concept of DW; the Doctor, travelling through time and space in his blue box, having adventures and solving problems as he goes. But obviously there's a bit more to it than that.

First off, the Doctor may look human, but actually he's an alien - one of a highly advanced race known as the Time Lords. The Time Lords were the first species to discover time travel, and because of that they made it their duty to protect time, and never, ever interfere with the course of history. The Doctor disagreed with this Time Lord policy of non-interference, and so he stole his TARDIS and ran away. The TARDIS, of course, is Time Lord technology; one of millions that the Time Lords had in their possession. Even the Doctor's, a museum piece in comparison to newer models, is able to travel through the entirety of space-time. At first the Time Lords hunted the Doctor for his 'crimes' of theft and interference in time, sought to put him on trial; then they reached an agreement with him, and left him alone. But now the Time Lords are gone - killed in the Time War, a massive battle that spanned whole civilisations - and only the Doctor, and his lone TARDIS, are left.

Secondly, whilst Time Lords look human, there are a few key differences. For example, Time Lords such as the Doctor have two hearts. But the main difference between humans and Time Lords is the Time Lord ability to 'regenerate'. When a Time Lord is close to death, they can regenerate every single cell in their body, a way of healing themselves and starting afresh. This process of regeneration completely changes a Time Lord's appearance, but leaves their consciousness and memories intact. Of course, in real life terms this means a new actor can come in and play the Doctor, the same character but with a different face. To date, the role has been occupied by:

1. William Hartnell (1963-1966)
2. Patrick Troughton (1967-1969)
3. Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)
4. Tom Baker (1975-1981)
5. Peter Davison (1982-1984)
6. Colin Baker (1985-1986)
7. Slyvester McCoy (1987-1989)
8. Paul McGann (1996)
9. Christopher Eccleston (2005)
10. David Tennant (2006-2009)
11. Matt Smith (2010-)

Each 'Doctor' is the fundamentally the same person, but with a new body and a new personality. The Doctor also often picks up friends who travel with him on his journey's; these characters, known as 'companions', join the Doctor on his adventures on the show, and can be anyone, from anywhere in time and space.

If you've never watched or heard of the show before now, then Doctor Who probably sounds like the maddest, stupidest idea for a TV show you could imagine. But it's been going since 1963, had 11 different central actors, 6 different spin-offs and 32 different series, and it's the biggest, most successful Scifi show ever. So how did I get in to watching it?

How I started watching Doctor Who

I first heard of the show back in 2006, when a friend of mine who already watched it recommended it to me. It sounded cool, so that Saturday night I turned on my TV and tuned in to School Reunion. In this particular episode, the Doctor - who at the time was in his 10th incarnation, played by David Tennant - investigates alien activity surrounding a modern day comprehensive school, and bumps into his old friend and former companion Sarah-Jane Smith. I was ten at the time, and I had basically no idea what was going on, but I loved it. The monsters were cool, the characters funny, and the Doctor's farewell to Sarah-Jane was so sad, even though I had no idea who SJ was. I followed the series loosely from that point on, catching episodes when I had the chance, but it was only after Doomsday (the incredible series finale) that I decided I needed to get more information about this strange, fantastic show.

By the time Christmas 06 rolled around, I had read up a lot of info on DW. I knew about 'regeneration', and I knew that Tennant was far from the first actor to inhabit the role of the Doctor. I knew that 'Series 2', the series I had just watched, starring Tennant, was not actually the show's second series. In fact, it was really 'series 28'; after an original 26 series run, from 1963 to 1989, the show had been cancelled. A one-off movie had been commissioned in 1996, and then in 2005, the show was revived. It was 'Series 2' of the show's revived run, that was all. All of these things, I had learned, mostly from wikipedia. Over the next few years I would watch the show attentively, adoring Tennant's run as the 10th Doctor. I bought series 1 (actually series 27) on DVD and watched through Eccleston's run as the 9th Doctor. I loved New Who, as the revived show was called, and couldn't get enough of it.

It was in 2009 that Classic Who, the older series, brought itself to prominence for me. I knew quite a bit about the show's original run, but I had mostly stuck to New Who until then. But with the announcement of a 'hiatus' year, with no full series, I decided to try and get into watching some of the show's older episodes, to familiarise myself with it's roots. And, of course, I loved it. Since then, my love of all forms of DW has just gotten bigger, and I've continued watching right through the end of Tennant's era and the start of the 11th Doctor's, Matt Smith. Right now, in 2011, I'm waiting for the second half of series 6 (actually series 32) to air, starring Smith alongside Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, as companions Amy and Rory.

So I've talked about the show, and how I got into it, so that just leaves one more question: why is Doctor Who so brilliant?

Why I Love Doctor Who

I love Doctor Who because it can tell any story it wants to. It can be comedy, drama, romance, horror, adventure, space opera, mystery. The show thrives on innovation and reinvention, and with every new director, writer, producer, actor, the show gains new themes and directions, new ideas and stories. Compare the emotional, character-driven stories of the Eccleston/Tennant eras with the fairytale, almost gothic feel of the Smith era. The show can adapt to any story, any idea, and this versatility means that in nearly 50 years, it still has stories to tell.

This has turned into one hell of a long blog post, and I really don't have time to talk about my fanseries, Doctor Who Re-Incarnated, or the Doctor Who fan gathering of Friday Night Who, or even the Doctor Who podcasts I listen to. Those will have to come another time, I'm afraid. For now, though, I'm glad I've told you all about Doctor Who, and why I watch it. Bye for now!

PS: I'm still reading The Coming Of The Terraphiles, but I promise I'll have a review up as soon as I'm done.

Touched By An Angel

I finished reading Touched By An Angel last night. It's a Doctor Who book (if I haven't mentioned it before, I'm a huge huge HUGE Doctor Who fan), and I enjoyed it.

It's one of the New Series Adventure books, or NSA for short. The NSAs are stories starring the 'current' Doctor and his companions - so the most recent ones star the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory. Touched By An Angel is one of the newest in the line, as it only came out a few days ago. I bought it in WHSmith on Saturday whilst I was out shopping. The basic premise (sorry, this isn't going to make sense to any non-Doctor Who fans) is that Mark Whitaker - an ordinary guy, who lost his wife in a car accident eight years ago - receives a letter, posted eight years ago, in his own handwriting, with the message 'YOU CAN SAVE HER' inside. Shortly after, Mark gets zapped back through time to 1994, where he must wait nine years so he can save his wife in 2003. The Doctor, Amy and Rory, meanwhile, are in charge of making sure Mark doesn't mess up time or alter history while he's stuck in the past.

The villains in the book are the Weeping Angels, which is odd as the NSAs tend to feature new monsters, not returning enemies, but I suppose it can't hurt to bring back the Angels, and they fit the story well. They're the ones responsible for zapping Mark back through time, and the eventual reason for them doing so is an excellent reveal. In fact, the book is full of excellent reveals; the Angels, and what they're up to, are brilliantly plotted throughout, so you never guess what their plan is before the proper time.

I don't really want to get into a full review, but I will say that it's probably the best 11th Doctor book I've read. The writing is all great; the Doctor gets a lot to do and is very well rounded in the balance between comedy and seriousness, and there are some fantastic scenes for Rory as well. The writer, Johnathan Morris, pulls off the timey-wimeyness of the story with aplomb, altering history, creating paradoxes and moving people through time with ease. The story holds together well on first read, though I don't know if rereading will unmask any plot holes, and the Angels - who, due to their 'living statue' persona's, are very much a visual enemy - work surprisingly well in novel format, though this is partly due to them not being the central focus for much of the novel. The best part of the book is Mark, who is a really likable character and very fun to read, which makes the climax of his journey in the story even more moving. You really can sympathise with Mark and his actions within the book.

Touched By An Angel wasn't the only book I bought on Saturday; I also got The Coming Of The Terraphiles, by Micheal Moorcock. It's another Doctor Who book, but not one from the NSA range, and I'll give you a full review once I've read it. That's all for now.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I just finished reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

I had been aware of the book for some time. I'd seen adverts for it on the sides of buses, and I knew that there was a film adaptation that had been made in Sweden. But it had never really appealed to me; from the title, and the front cover, it just didn't seem like the kind of book I'd be interested in.

Then a friend brought it up whilst we were talking about books, and said it was fantastic and I needed to read it. I was a little sceptical, but I said okay. I did a bit of background research, and the book was described as a 'crime thriller', and was apparently written by Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson, who died shortly after handing in the manuscripts to his publishers. That, in itself, was interesting enough to make me want to read the book. A man dies suddenly and unexpectedly, shortly after handing in the manuscripts for three novels to his publisher, and then the novels go on to be best-sellers? You could probably write a crime thriller about that.

So I read it. The basic premise is that Henrik Vanger, an elderly, wealthy businessman, is obsessed with the disappearance of his young relative Harriet, some forty years ago; in a last ditch attempt to solve the case, he hires fianancial journalist Mikael Blomkvist to hunt through the old investigation reports and try and solve the mystery. Lisbeth Salander - a social outcast and private investigator - is soon drawn into the case after Blomkvist hires her as a research assistant.

Review-Type Thing

The big thing that I noticed as I was reading the book is how slowly it kicks off - the real plot concerning Harriet is only introduced around the 100 page mark, with the preceding chapters all dealing with Blomkvist's fall from grace at the hands of Wennerstrom (A powerful Swedish businessman); whilst this opening plot does become relevant later in the book, and provides motivation for Blomkvist, as you're reading you can't help but think 'Hurry up!' It's not just here that the book drags, though - despite being labelled a 'thriller', very little in the way of action occurs until around 350 pages in. Up until that point, the story mostly consists of Blomkvist wandering around having conversations with the various members of the Vanger family, whose names and backgrounds are infodumped on the reader in a big speech from Henrik. Even Salander, who's meant to be the main character, only shows up very late in the game, spending the first half of the novel wrapped up in a sub-plot that has nothing to do with the Harriet mystery.

Of course, this is the first in a series of three novels, so I can't expect every plot strand to be tied up; the subplot involving Bjurman, Salander's guardian, may well come to prominence in book 2. Similarly, the character of Borg (who appears only for a couple of paragraphs, once at the beginning and once near the end) may have a more palpable role in the sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire. I don't want to sound like I disliked the book, because overall I did enjoy reading it. For all it's pacing problems, the mystery of Harriet Vanger is one that intrigued me, and kept me reading to the end so I could find out what happened. The dialogue between the characters in the book is also very well written, and Blomkvist is an excellent hero. It's odd, how Salander is treated as the book's main protoganist by the advertising and the cover, because throughout the book Blomkvist is very much our main point of reference. Again, maybe Salander becomes are more central hero in the sequels. I don't know.

The writing of the book is serviceable, and there's certainly nothing bad about it, but it lacks flair or style. I doubt that, if you picked up another book by Larsson, without knowing he had written it, you wouldn't be able to tell that it was one of his. The descriptive sections are the worst, though of course the book is translated from Swedish, so I wonder if some of the author's flair was lost in conversion. The dialogue fares, better, with most of the characters talking believably and entertainingly.

So yeah, overall I thought the characters and plot were interesting, but the writing is only ok and the pace is too slow. I enjoyed it enough to want to read the second one, anyway.

End of review! Whoopedy doo.

Ooh Look, A Blog

Another one! Right, so I have a blog now. It isn't my first, but terrible things have tended to happen to blogs I've made previously. Usually I forget I have a blog, or just can't be bothered to update. Will this one be any different? Will it become consigned to the google archives of history? Will it lie, forgotten, to gather dust on some high bookshelf at the back end of the superinformation highway? Will the sentence after this one involve the word 'time'? Only time will tell.

Apart from that last question, of course, the answer to that one is yes.

Witty ending!