fell asleep with stains

It's clear how out of my Dreamwidth habit I've been that I don't have a single Doctor Who icon. Where we gettin icons these days, lads? Are we making them ourselves?

At Phoebe's encouragement, I've ranked my favorite Doctor Who television stories. I also made a Modern Doctor Who Television Story Sorter to ease the process, although of course that actually made it take five hours because I ranked 148 stories instead of just my favorites. (Note: I failed at this; around 85 there are a lot of ties, and I'm not committed to the order of anything past 20 (nor to the order of the top 20 for that matter).)

Here they are in reverse order like a proper listicle, with why I like each one. But first, honorable mentions:

Honorable Mentions
These aren't the direct runners-up; those are at the bottom. These are just ones I want to talk mention.

• Utopia (3x11): This is technically part of the same story as "The Sound of Drums" and "The Last of the Time Lords," but it's easily my favorite of the three. The tension—both emotional and anticipatory—throughout this episode is some of the best in the show.
• Midnight (4x10): This episode has an odd place in my rankings because I do have a lot of respect for it, but I personally can't fully enjoy it.
• The Husbands of River Song (Xmas 2015): One of my comfort episodes. Hilarious. Could easily have gone in the Top 20. Made me a Doctor/River, finally.
• The Pilot (10x01) & Thin Ice (10x03): No Bill episodes made it into my Top 20 RIP. Series 10 is actually one of my favorites but it just doesn't reach the same heights as even some of the weaker series. These are my favorite Bill episodes.
• Twice Upon a Time (Xmas 2017): The Doctor's regeneration is one of my most rewatched scenes.

Top 20
20. A Christmas Carol (Xmas 2010)

In this adaptation of the Dickens story, Amy and Rory are on a ship that is on the verge of a disaster that would kill everybody on board. The only person who can save them is the wealthy Kazran Sardick, who controls the cloud layer of the planet nearby and would be able to allow them to safely land. When the Doctor entreats him to open the cloud layer to save the ship, he refuses. Thus, the Doctor travels to Kazran's boyhood and changes his life in an attempt to make him a better person.

This episode is such a complete and well-crafted time travel story that also unveils emotional stakes and complications as it goes on. It's a time travel story, but it's also about love, pain, abuse, loneliness, mortality, and grief.

( Read more... )

I like analyzing writing techniques. It seems to me that the best way to learn about the importance of things like theme and structure are to examine their use in the stories you admire and to figure out how they do or do not contribute to the meaning of the work or to the audience's experience. Today, I looked at uses of common thematic model in television. It was more for my own study than anything else, but I know some of you enjoy this type of metatextual discussion, and I'd like to hear other people's analyses if anyone has any. Spoilers for Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The model: The theme of the work is tied to the basic concept of the protagonist. Both the plot and the protagonist's development are influenced by the theme, and the motivations of the primary antagonist run counter to the theme.

( Example 1: Angel )

( Example 2: Buffy the Vampire Slayer )

( Example 3: RTD Era Doctor Who )

( Example 4: Avatar: The Last Airbender )

Books and Book-Like Things
Shadow Magic. By Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. I started this in March and finished it a few weeks ago. I was Not Impressed. Although I loved the prequel, Havemercy, I found this one drab in comparison. I didn't particularly like any of the four narrators, and although Caius Greylace teetered on the edge of interestingness, his unusual personality felt forced. Another of the novel's shortcomings was how little action was in it. That is to be expected about a novel that takes place in the aftermath of war, when the tense relationships are all diplomacy and court intrigue and running away because your brother is plotting to have you killed, which was not as exciting as it sounds, but I feel like nothing significant happened in the novel. They ate rice and dumplings. Some insults were exchanged. There was some commotion in a theater and an attempted assassination. I hope the third book, Dragon Soul, will be more thrilling than this one.

Harry Potter Books One, Three, Four, and Five. By J. K. Rowling. This is my third time reading through most of the series, and like the first time, I am in love with Remus Lupin. (The second time, I was most interested in Sirius, our resident Peter Pan.) This readthrough had be gushing love out my pores for all knowledgeable and competent characters, though, in particular Severus Snape, Ginny Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, and Harry Freakin' Potter. (I think I am too used to Hermione being knowledgeable and competent, and Harry is too used to Hermione being knowledgeable and competent, for me to be especially impressed.) I had tears, tears, many tears at the end of Order of the Phoenix. I didn't even mind Harry's constant state of capslock, such was my sympathy for him. I am starting to get annoyed by the overuse of ellipses; some days, it seems like every single page has at least two paragraphs that end in ellipses and at least five that contain them. The story is remarkably well-organized, structured, and plotted, though, so I forgive all flaws in the prose.

Shoebox Project AAAAAAH. AAAAAAAAH. AUGH. SO MANY TEARS BUT SO MUCH JOY. ♥

Television
Doctor Who. I'm five or six episodes into the first season, and I am pretty impressed. I rather like the Doctor, and I think the plant lady in the second episode may be one of my favorite one-shot characters, despite my inability to remember her name. (I like people with shiny skin. The Oracles from Angel are also on my list.) The show does seem a bit overdramatic, though. Even taking into account that the Doctor is a time traveller, does the fate of the world need to be threatened in every single episode?

LOST. I've taken a hiatus in favor of watching Doctor Who, but I think I like LOST more. I had just finished episode 13. Episode 15 is written by one of my favorite TV writers, Drew Goddard, so I will definitely be returning to the show eventually.