Stuff….

I was all set to hate Matt Smith because he was a smirking 20-something, but he won me over in his very first episode. I mean, it’s okay he is leaving, because nothing lasts forever, and at least he stuck it out for 4 years. I am a little concerned that the new Doctor will be something very unusual. A female doctor would change the dynamic so much that I’m not sure it could recover – presumably she would have a male companion, but obviously it wouldn’t work. The grandfather/avuncular behavior of the Doctor vs. companions is of long standing, and a grandmother/auntie as the Doc is so different it would be a different show.

For instance, one dynamic is that the Doctor is oft-scatterbrained or cripplingly naive, and needs the sensible companion to keep him on the level. But it is impossible to imagine this working the same with a female Doctor. Would they let a younger male companion boss around a lady Doctor, or dare portray her as “silly”?

For the 50th anniversary special they are going to have John Hurt play some forgotten Doctor. He would have made for an interesting Doctor but is probably too old and wrinkly for the modern audience.

I don’t know if it’ll be big news here, but along with Edith Bunker and Jean Stapleton, SF legend Jack Vance died at the age of 96 just last week too.

I’m guessing this is because the Doctor has always been played by a white guy??? Crazy the lengths some people will go to to find something offensive in any friggin’ thing.

From Deadline Hollywood:

BBC Defends Its ‘Doctor Who’ Against Accusations Of Racism

A new book calls out the BBC’s sci-fi series Doctor Who
as “thunderingly racist,” but the UK pubcaster begs to differ. The Beeb has hit back at the accusations claimed by a group of academics in Doctor Who And Race, and fans have rushed to dismiss the criticisms as “groundless” and “ridiculous.” The BBC noted the 2006 casting of Freema Agyeman as the
Time Lord’s first black assistant and Noel Clarke playing Mickey Smith for five years. The pubcaster’s reply came as critics alleged the Doctor’s apparent dismissive attitude toward black companions, his contempt for “primitive” people, and his passion for cricket as proof of a reactionary “whiteness”.

In all fairness I went to the book’s website and the editor said that he is a fan of the show and that his quotes were taken out of context and that the book on the whole is supposed to be positive. Since there are 23 authors presenting 23 essays there’s bound to be at least one post-Foucaultian, post-colonialist, post structuralist, post-modern stick in the mud somewhere in the mix. Also as the book covers the entire 50 years of the show so there is bound to be stuff in the older programs that would not be considered not PC these days.

As long as the topic is “Stuff”-
is anybody else watching the latest season of Arrested Development? I haven’t finished it yet, but it is starting to grow on me.

Heinlein’s juveniles are still good reads, even for an adult. I’d say everything up to Starship Troopers or Moon is a Harsh Mistress is still strong, but the stuff after that is not.

Yeah, I love his juveniles, and recently reread ‘Starship Troopers’- great novel. But yeah his last few were hard going, ‘Joab: A Comedy of Justice’ had some brilliant ideas but the darn thing was so preachy and badly written to be one of the worst novels I’ve ever read.

The Valeyard got a brief mention in the last series final, and one of the major theories resulting from the reveal at the end of that episode involves him. Also, the regeneration limit was at least temporarily dealt with during series 6, if it hadn’t been at some point already (eg, the Time War).

I liked Unbreakable and will give Shyamalan some points for Signs and The Village. I despised The Last Airbender, though, and it doesn’t sound like he’s learned much from his mistakes.

To be fair, he didn’t write this thing; all he did was direct. Pretty much every other fault can be laid at Will Smith’s feet. The fact that he keeps trying to make a star out of his son (who apparently can’t act) isn’t really M. Night’s fault.

I liked Jaden fine in the Karate Kid remake. He has star potential, but not if he keeps making M. Night films.

No. But it would almost be worth it to watch the return of (SPOILER ALERT) Joel and the bots.

Well, the only point I remember is now when someone mentions that they ‘grok’ something I know what they’re talking about….
I started it in high school, probably about the time of Ken’s first reading, and it was one of the few books I didn’t force myself to finish. Got about two-thirds of the way though and returned it to the library.

(SPOILER)

Yeah- that bit was a wonderful surprise to me, and really worked within the context of the episode.

Pretty good way of looking at it- I just might steal that turn of phrase and use it some day.

I did like the Jubal Harshaw character when I read it way back when, and can see how he can come across as a pretty impressive guiding light to a teenaged reader.

Monster bait?

Couldn’t handle going to see the Karate Kid remake. But, all I could do was groan when I saw that Smith had his son in a movie again. Just has that “boss’ kid at the office” feel.

Believe it or not, it’s surprisingly faithful to the original Karate Kid. They didn’t fall into the trap that most remakes do of throwing out everything that made the first film good. And Chan’s one fight scene is great. That said, it’s still not on par with the original.