Damn it Torchwood, exploiting my soft spot for characters who are civil servants and using it to keep me on tenterhooks.

I do have a huge soft spot for civil servants though. I was actually way more upset about what happened to Yvonne Hartman in Doomsday than I was about anything to do with the forcible ending of Ten and Rose's co-dependence. Of all the things Laura Roslin did in BSG, which included election fraud, ordering a genocide and baby stealing, one of the few things I can't get over were those few times she was mean to Tory (even after what Tory did in The Ties that Bind) and in fact what happened to Tory is my biggest Daybreak gripe, and I was totally a Percy Weasley apologist in Harry Potter fandom.

And then if you tally up my favourite characters in various fandoms, a hell of a lot of them work for the government in some kind of fashion: Nymphadora Tonks and aforementioned Percy Weasley, James Norrington and Weatherby Swann in PotC, nearly every character that has ever worked or been affiliated with UNIT in DW along with Yvonne Hartman and now John Frobisher, Billy, Gaeta and Tory in BSG, and, although technically elected officials, in my mind I lump them in with the above lot: Harriet Jones, Harvey Dent and Laura Roslin. There is most definitely a trend.

I blame The West Wing, it being my major fandom through my wilderness teenage years and nearly every character being a noble and put-upon civil servant.

As for the episode, I could have done with out the slime and certainly the slime sound effects. Reminded me of Aliens of London Saying that, oh I would laugh so very hard if the 456 turn out to be the Slitheen. And then I would throw things.

I have decided Gwen and Rhys are the second coming of Zoe and Wash off Firefly. Ianto's family is awsome. For the first time since Cyberwoman I find myself liking Ianto just for the presence of his family.

I think in Frobisher RTD's perfected his skill of writing incredibly sympathetic yet slightly morally dubious civil servants. Now I desperately fear for his life.

Hurray for PC Andy! I still want a Rhys and PC Andyspin-off in which they fight slight rubbish aliens.

Also, I agree entirely with the many people on my flist who have pointed out that the structure feels like an old school Who serial, which makes it all the better.

I've never been so in love with Torchwood. Who knew watching the first season Torchwood had this in it?

I have watched the first episode of Torchwood's Children of Earth and it's good. It's really good. There were plot twists I didn't see coming and creepy kids and all sorts. I hope it stays as good for all five episodes. Yay for the presence of Peter Capaldi and Paul Copley (a.k.a Matthews of Hornblower) and I want to know more about the character of Alice Carter. Shame about the lack of Martha and Mickey, but at least the former got a mention. My major complaint is the thus far lack of PC Andy and not enough Rhys.

I've been watching even more Star Trek, and also my flatmate's stance on Kirk's led to a bit of an obsession on my part of comparing and contrasting the different captains to see if I subjectively come up with an objective decision about which one was the best, and I've come to the conclusion based on what I've watched that yes, if you want the Earth saved, you really want Kirk since that is what he is very, very good at. However, if you want a planet, an alliance or the values of the Federation saved, you want Picard. If you want the actual Federation saved (values be damned), you want Sisko. And if you want someone to save you, you want Janeway. And, erm....Archer's good if you want a speech about human values or a cure for insomnia, I suppose. (I have watched four episodes of Enterprise now and still find him dull and lacking in personality).

But I've come to the realization that I really just do not like TOS. I figured I didn't like the episodes as a kid because of the 1960s-ness, but I can quite happily watch 60s Doctor Who and the terrible special effects and general 60s-ness off it don't bother me too much at all, whereas TOS is a struggle still. Maybe if TOS was in black and white, or had Daleks, or Barbara, then I might find it enjoyable, i.e. black and white makes all manner of bad sfx forgivable, a half decent unredeemable villains and an awesome female lead would got far to win my affections (I know TOS did let its female characters occasionally do something useful, but the instances are so few and far between I find it disheartening).

And speaking of bad old Star Trek, I watched the TNG pilot, Encounter at Farpoint and it is just so very very bad. Terrible sets, terrible acting, terrible direction, terrible plot. Screw assigning blame to what killed the franchise, it's a miracle the franchise survived early TNG. Did remind me that what I was very young, my favourite Trek character was Tasha Yar (coz that worked out for me).

Star Trek IV is THE GREATEST CRACK EVER. It was always my favourite as a little kid, coz of the whales, but I didn't remember just how brilliantly cracky it was. For example, I completely forgot about the scene where Kirk and whole bunch of tourists, plus Kirk's marine biologist love interest are watching the whales in the tank and then randomly Spock floats into view, attempting a mind meld with the whale. I mean…just…WIN

(For those wondering which one I'm talking about, it’s the one where they travel back in time to 1980s San Francisco in order to steal two humpback whales to bring to the future and, you know, save the Earth.)

Meanwhile, Trek I wins for unintentional hilarity and 'mah girlfriend is a robot' issues (that seems to crop up a lot in what I've been watching lately), Trek III although not being a very good movie has wonderful character moments and Spock!McCoy really needs to happen in the rebooted universe at some stage, and Trek II is just a great movie.

Also, I want Carol Marcus and Saavik to show up in the next Trek movie. Okay, Saavik's probably dead or not going to be born due to Vulcan going 'splody, but the franchise could certainly use a few more female characters and I liked both of them a lot.

Finally, in something not Trek-related, this makes me wish that there was BSG: The Animated Series.

I've finished watching the Borg Collection, and all the Trek watching has served to remind me that while Picard to me may be the epitome of what a Starfleet Captain should be like, Janeway is easily my favourite of the six. If there's any opportunity to run around a Borg cube with a really big gun on an insane and seemingly suicidal mission, she'll take it, which makes her enormously fun. Plus, the first episode of Voyager I ever watched was the end of Year of Hell Part Two, in which she pulled a Kirk Snr and solo piloted a beaten-to-hell Voyager on a kamikaze ram, and first impressions count.

I have a confession to make, I actually really like Voyager. Yes, its premise, which is the most interesting of all the Trek series, is completely wasted and you really have to mourn for what could have been, and it's not as intelligent as TNG. But I really like most of the characters, and the crew does form the most adorable little family, and I've decided Voyager takes far too much flack for the Borg's villain decay. Really, it’s TNG's and Enterprises's fault. It was, after all, TNG that introduced the concept of the Borg Queen, as well as that a person can be de-Borged and that a Borg can regain its individuality once separated from the collective. Voyager just ran with those things, and I can't say I blame them for it. Janeway interacting with the Borg Queen makes for a far more interesting scene than Janeway interacting with a CGI shot of computers and a disembodied voice. Plus, I love the whole arch-nemesis thing they had going on. And Seven of Nine is one of the most interesting characters in the franchise.

And then came along Enterprise episode Regeneration. In which Archer and co. beat the Borg when really, they should have had their asses handed to them. And it wasn't even a double episode. Apparently, the Enterprise crew can defeat Borg from the future knowing absolutely nothing about them, in 42 minutes. What!?

( In which I discuss the actual episodes I watched )

Next up, I've decided to watch the Trek movies since I haven't watched them in years and apparently confused them all in my head (since I though the one with V'ger thing was V, when apparently it's I), so rented I through III. So Shatner it is. Yay?

To answer my craving for Trek, I rented the Borg Fan Collective DVD set, which is all Borg, all the time, and which works out to be 1 episode of Enterprise, 5 of Next Gen and 7 of Voyager. This suits me well, but not my currently Trek crazy flatmate, who has taken the stance that 'if there's no Kirk, it's not proper Star Trek'. Considering her stance a month ago was that 'if there's no Shatner, it's not proper Star Trek' and I had to drag her to XI which she loved, I think she just needs to actually watch the spin-offs to develop an appreciation for them.

Anyway, I went for the Borg set because the Borg give me the creeps in the same way the Cybermen do on Doctor Who, the difference being that while Cybermen episodes tend not to utilise the Cybermen's creepiness and the inherent horror of their creation and existence and instead tends to make them lumbering and silly, Star Trek actually uses the Borg right and makes them terrifying. Or at least it did in Next Gen, I haven't gotten around to watching the Enterprise or Voyager episodes yet.

Plus I really wanted to watch The Best of Both Worlds, which I've only ever seen once when I did I was a kid, but has stuck with me all these years. I remember Picard being turned into a Borg completely flooring me, and also there being an epic space battle in which the Enterprise separated, which I at the time thought was the most awesome thing ever. Unsurprisingly, the space battle isn't nearly as epic as it was in my memories, and the special effects at the time let it down. But still, it holds up as a great pair of episodes.

Of the other episodes I watched so far of which I have no memories of watching as a kid, Q Who? was the Borg at their creepy best and just goes to show that sometimes the bad guys completely ignoring the good guys can be really effective at setting up just how dangerous they are. And Picard at his most Picard-esq. Also I, Borg was really well done and I even got a bit teary at the end.

Anyway, when I'm done with that I might rent the Captain's Log box set, because it's got Chain of Command – 'There are four lights!' being another cherished Trek-related childhood memory of mine.

I think I'm doing it wrong with Star Trek. Instead of being into the reboot, I'm all nostagic for the 80s and 90s spin-offs at the moment. So question for all those Star Trek fans out there, is there any good fic crossing over the reboot with TNG, DS9 and Voyager (original or author rebooted to be in line with the new AU canon)? I really want to the new crew meet the Picard, Sisko and Janeway (mostly Picard and Janeway, coz I never really watched DS9).

I was rummaging through unfinished fanfic on my computer and I found this short post-Journey's End DoctorDonna fic which I wrote in December/January and must have chickened out of posting.

Mosaic
Author: Meddow
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Word Count: ~380
Characters: The DoctorDonna, Donna Noble
Summary: "She spends her nights trapped in the memories of two lives – both of them locked away."

( Mosaic )

Being another unknown, there's really much to say about the new companion other than I really like her hair and I hope her character's going to be Scottish rather than another Londoner. It struck me on seeing a photo of her just how young Team TARDIS 2010 is going to be.

Speaking of Doctor Who, I was always a bit 'meh' about the idea of a Doctor Who movie, but when I was watching Star Trek XI recently I was thinking to myself about how cool it would be to watch other beloved sci-fi TV shows on the big screen with movie grade special effects, so I’m all for it now. Can I put a vote in for Ten and Donna team up there. Tennant being the iconic Doctor of the new series would have to be involved, and I've had my fill of one-off companions at the moment – I prefer it when I can create some attachment to the character - so I'd definitely be for bringing back Donna and/or a post-crush Martha. A multi-Doctor story with Nine and Eleven. Even better if they can get One through Eight in there somewhere somehow. And I'd imagine it'd be a Dalek story. Because, really, they would be the villain in a big screen version of the show.

Also, awesome news that Ten's going to be in an SJA story, and in a major role too, not a cameo.

I finished watching Law & Order UK and really hope there's a second series. I thought the main prosecutor guy was a bit dull, but other than that it was excellent. Best thing about it is that it reminded me why I have a huge great big crush on Jamie Bamber, because I really didn't find him all that attractive in BSG. While I did have my moments of Apollo love, I usually found him dull at best and down right annoying at worst. Anyway, L&O UK has got me re-watching Hornblower at the moment for poor doomed Kennedy.

Finally, I checked out the pilot of The Middleman and I love it. Major bonus points for Wendy mentioning she reads Astro City. So I'll watch the rest of that series when I have a chance.

I'm kind of into numbered lists at the moment:

1. I hate is when one silly little thing ruins my entire day, but somebody ate the curry I'd been saving for lunch. It was korma with chicken, spinach, green beans and mushrooms and it was gorgeous, even if I do say so myself because I made it. I discovered somebody had eaten it five hours ago, and I am still not over being annoyed about it.

2. Thanks to the parental units making a trip through duty free, I have feijoa vodka. I love feijoa vodka

3. I’m always falling for television shows in which the characters burst into song, and Glee is no exception. I watched the pilot and it's love. If you can, watch it. It's not quite as oddball as Blackpool or Flight of the Conchords, but it so very adorable. It is officially the show I am most excited about come the fall schedule.

4. You've got to check out these two Star Trek picspams, sparkly_stuff's I'm on a Ship, coz it's freaking hilarious, and liviapenn's gender swapped recast. Catherine Tate as Scotty, ya'll. If only wishing made it so.

5. Finally, after he moaned through the first three seasons when we were watching them, we've actually managed to convert my flatmate's boyfriend to BSG. Bwah ha ha ha ha </evil>.

6. I have become thoroughly convinced that Utopia/Sound of Drums (+ The Christmas Invasion & The Last of the Time Lords, I suppose) is RTD blatantly paying homage to elements of BSG. And now I've thought it, I cannot un-think it and the parallels they are so very there, down to a diegetically used song with a Hendrix connection.

7. It's weird, but I have the biggest movie cravings for westerns at the moment. Probably because I watched Dances with Wolves for the first time ever and it was so pretty, the landscape has a bit of a romantic appeal for me right now.

1. I redesigned my lj. I'm kind of proud of it because for the first time, I myself did the header and modifications to the colour scheme myself (from a layout from the_fulcrum). I went to a bit of a BSG theme. Next up is to redesign my profile.

2. Speaking of BSG, I signed up for the bsg_bigbang. Twenty-thousand words by October. I learnt my lesson from the tardis_bigbang last year – no time travel plots with twists that do my head in when writing it. Instead it's going to be a nice linear more character driven New Caprica story.

3. Lame video store that did not have any Star Trek movies besides the franchise-killing Nemesis bought itself Star Treks I through V. I'm going to check them out one of these days.

4. In the mean time, I watched Blade Runner for like the first time ever and not only did I understand how much Red Dwarf: Back to Earth was a spoof (I knew it was a bit of a spoof, but I didn't realise the extent), but also, I get the deal with the pigeon in the BSG final now. It was very educational. Kind of like when I watched The Untouchables and finally understood why there was a baby in pram in every single movie made in the 1990s.

5. I'm stoked Jack Davenport's pilot got picked up as a series. Shame Katee Sackhoff's didn't. I know it was basically Law & Order: Cold Case in a market already oversaturated with procedurals, but I for one would have watched it for Katee Sackhoff.

6. I don't think the season finale of House was as good at the episodes leading up to it. And I'm so used to season finales of House having some massive twist, I kind of guessed it a minute into the episode – which possibly ruined it for me. Still, I hope Amber sticks around for at least the first couple of episode of next season.

7. The latest episode of Ashes to Ashes, however, I think was one the best yet so far. I'm loving the mystery at the heart of it.

I dragged flatmate to go see Star Trek. Even though our tastes in sci-fi tend to be the same, it did take considerable negotiation to get her to the one. I am another for whom Star Trek is part of my childhood, although I've always been more Next Gen than TOS – namely because I cannot remember a time when I didn't loathe James T Kirk. Anyway, so I went there with nostalgia and Kirk-hating, and flatmate went in there all cynical about the movie. We both thought it was brilliant.

( Damn it, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a…. )

Anyway, flatmate in particular walked out and voted TOS as the next series we should watch once we finish Battlestar Galactica. So mission most certainly accomplished most definitely with the bringing the franchise back to life and opening up to new fans.

Right now it feels like I'm the only person in the whole world who hasn't seen the new Star Trek movie. Seems like half the posts on my flist right now are of people raving on about how good it is. I wanna go see it, but I'm waiting until cheap ticket day Tuesday.

So I'm going to talk about a completely different movie. Last night I watched my favourite romcom in the whole wide world – The American President. I own it, and I've seen it so many times now over the years that Martin Sheen playing the Chief of Staff and not the President in an Aaron Sorkin scripted work no longer weirds me out. Anyway, outside of West Wing fans, there's really not enough love of the movie out there, so I'm going to pimp it out a bit.

Basic premise: She's an environmental lobbyist. He's the President of the United States. He's trying to pass a crime bill and run for reelection, she's trying to get emission standards improved to help stop global warming (this movie was released in 1995, btw). They fall in love. Drama and comedy ensue (e.g. the
slow down plan.) There's also over worked White House staffers who are clearly prototypes of Leo McGarry, CJ Cregg and Sam Seaborn, the questioning of the virtue of a proportional response, and a one-dimensional evil Republican villain.

The movie wins for me because I love fictional politics (I am a RL politics junkie, but I find the stakes are too high to make it enjoyable, so I love fictional politics more), I love romcoms that are actually smart, have intelligent females at the heart of it with proper jobs and ambitions, and rely on snappy dialogue rather than tired slapstick, I love Aaron Sorkin's work and I really really love when high political offices and love stories mix (I have no idea why, I just do). Alas, romances for Prime Ministers and Presidents are is not a common. There's what – The American President, Love Actually, Battlestar Galactica and sort of The West Wing (which went through the ups and downs of Jed and Abby's marriage, which is a love story, but not really a romance)? I can't think of the top of my head think of any others.

It is a bit of sad commentary on American politics in that that the issues of emission standards and gun control at the fore of the discussion in the movie are still hotly debated topics fourteen years later. But now Obama's in power, it's not as depressing.

Anyway, I'm all happy and on a Sorkin bent because I found out that after seven years of waiting, Sports Night is being released DVD in my region. Yay!

Watching Battlestar the second time with my flatmate is tonnes of fun. She's not been spoiled at all, so I'm living vicariously through her shock at various revelations. Plus its fun how much she agrees with me about things, such as how Billy was the most eligible bachelor in the fleet (we'd both marry him in a heartbeat). Although her starting to sing My Heart Will Go On every time the Adama theme plays in background (the theme with the bagpipes that actually does sound a lot like the beginning of My Heart...) is kind of wearing on my nerves.

Anyway, we're up to Lay Down Your Burdens Part One. Should be fun to see her reaction to part two's ending. And, yay, the New Caprica arc, with is just absolutely fantastic and heartbreaking when I watched it the first time, hopefully it hold up the second time, because those four episodes + the season two finale are currently in my mind examples of the pinnacle of television (along with In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Noel and Two Cathedrals from The West Wing, and Human Nature/Family of Blood, Blink and Midnight and a whole heap of Rome).

Meanwhile, I've been watching season two of Ashes to Ashes. I wasn't initially really all that sold on the changes in it since season one ( spoilers )

Anyway, the writers have turned me around and I'm sold. Plus points for Hot Dad off SJA showing up in episode two.

I've been trying my hand at icon making again, and I'm definitely getting better. Colouring, I think, is still an issue. Anyway...

01 Being Human
02-05 Battlestar Galactica
06-14 Doctor Who
15-17 Tipping the Velvet



( This way… )

I'm on Dreamwidth here.

I'm sticking around on LJ, but I will probably cross post once I take the time to figure out how.

Even though I hate most procedurals (with the exceptions of House, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes), I've decided to check out the first episode of Law & Order UK because, I miss BSG so much I'd watch any member of the cast in anything, even procedurals so I'll very likely check out Lost and Found when it comes out for Katee Sackhoff, and Mary McDonnell's episodes of The Closer when they air, and kind of want to watch Dollhouse even though I don't like the premise just because Tahmoh Penikett is in it as an FBI agent (there is a definite trend there: star in BSG and become a TV cop)

Plus I can't help but think of as 'Apollo and Martha fight crime!' Although, if I had to pick a random character from Doctor Who and BSG to team up together an fight crime, I'd probably pick Jack Harkness and Gaius Baltar, or Donna Noble and Saul Tigh, or Ten and Laura Roslin, or Nine and Starbuck, or the Master and Head!Six, because all those team ups would be dysfunctional in completely entertaining ways.

But I digress. Surprisingly, I really liked it despite figuring out things a long time before the characters and will probably catch the rest of the series.

Also, I've been really enjoying House lately. I've been a bit 'meh' about the show through most of season five, but lately I've gotten hooked again. This may have everything to do with bringing back a certain character I adore, and Chase and Cameron finally getting actual lines and even scenes and plotlines. Hell, Thirteen and Foreman seem to have become 60% less annoying, leaving Cuddy the only character bugging me. I really hope the show keeps Amber around next season. She wouldn't be the first character on a TV show to exist solely in another character's head.

Four a couple of days I got completely addicted to the BBC's 2005 adaptation of Bleak House. Epic love! Repression! Spontaneous combustion! Seething criticism of the inefficiency of the Court of Chancellery! I could recommend it for Gillian Anderson's fantastic Lady Deadlock alone, and Denis Lawson also stands out as his Jarndyce is just a bit heartbreaking, and also because it may well be one of the highest concentration of Doctor Who actors a BBC costume drama has managed to achieve.

Those particular reasons to watch aside, all together its one of the best costume drama's I've watched in ages. And having it in the form of half-hour episodes rather than hour-long episodes works incredibly well.

I'm really going to have to watch Little Dorrit now.

Although, I'm now kind of booked up. I introduced flatmate to BSG two days ago when she finally after a month of me nagging her agreed to watch the miniseries and we ended up watching the majority of season one yesterday. So yes, a short while after being done with BSG, I'm right back there. No complains from me though since I love it, plus it's fun watching it with someone who hasn't been spoiled and doesn't know where the show's going, who's a Cylon and who's not or the deal with Earth. I find the next best thing to watching an new episode of something is watching it with someone who hasn't seen it. However, her boyfriend and our other flatmate spent yesterday not-so-obliquely telling us how lazy we were sitting on the couch watching TV all day, ruining the fun a bit.

Finished the first season of Flight of the Conchords, which is one of the most funny and original television shows out there today. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a show about the Flight of the Conchords - New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody duo - trying to make it in big New York. Anyway, it's party dead-pan comedy, part musical. It's absolutely hilarious, I can't believe its take me so long to rent and watch the first series, and it's undone the damage of countless dimly-lit police procedurals over the years and made me want to live in New York.

I could ramble about how brilliant it is, but the best thing to recommend it is the show it self so watch this.

Plus love how it adds to recent trend of the deification of David Bowie with the Bowie episode (in David Bowie appears in Bret's dreams to give him self-esteem advice). If there's anything that telly has taught me anything about religion in the past few years, it is that god is a bunch of rock stars active circa the late 60s and early 70s (David Bowie notably in Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix in Battlestar Galactica, and arguably, the Rolling Stones in House).

Also watched Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, which wasn't as funny as I remember the series being back in the day, but I liked it anyway and it did have moments of hilarity, and it was so good seeing those characters again.

Since I've got Battlestar Galactica on the brain, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two show's premises: the remains of humanity travelling to Earth with iconic made up swear-words. I think the world needs a Red Dwarf/Battlestar Galactica crossover right now. Kritten would get locked up as a Cylon and strike up a friendship with Caprica Six, Rimmer will got into sycophantic overload in the presence of Adama and Roslin and moan about how he can't get ahead because he's not an Adama to everyone that will listen and not in anyway to do with the fact he's got smeg-for-brains, Cat would despair at the fleet's lack of tuna and fashion sense and everyone in the fleet would freak out when they realise that their promised land is populated by Dave Lister. And of course it would all end with Roslin having all four of them airlocked and everyone pretending the incident never happened.