Okay, more detail. Henry has been cursed with immortality, but he has an adopted son, Abe. Abe is now in his 70s, with Henry (apparently) in his thirties. So you have a father-son relationship, but also its inverse. Abe is the one worrying about what will happen when he dies. The protective nature of them both, caring so hard for each other...,,and the background, with Abigail and ...just....feels

So, for the 60th anniversary, Big Finish produced a series called "Once and Future," consisting of eight releases. The main premise is that 'something' happened to the Doctor and he suddenly begins cycling through his past regenerations. So one moment he's Colin Baker; the next he's Paul McGann. The whole scenario is eventually revealed to be part of a villain's scheme.

I have no idea when Big Finish came up with this storyline. Some of the scenes were recorded almost 2 years ago, so I think it's independent of RTD's return. Regardless, the audios provided a great explanation for Tennant's return. So I'm ignoring any other theories and the bi-generation. There's no 14; just the de-generated Doctor hanging out with Donna.

brain explodey!

Mysterious Benedict Society

Nicholas Benedict

Nicholas--St. Nicholas, aka Father Christmas/Santa, is also the patron saint of children

Benedict-- Benedictines, monks, an order of life, a way of living in a messed-up world

i just saw a post about trans kids in narnia someone put me out of my misery.

The (BBC) Ghosts finale gave me Husbands of River Songs feelings.

The Return of Russell

When Russell T. Davies stepped down as Doctor Who showrunner, the heir was obvious: Steven Moffat. Moffat had already written six Hugo Award-nominated episodes in the four series of the revived show, as well as having experience as an executive producer on other award-winning shows.

On the other hand, Moffat's successor was far from obvious. The announcement of Chibnall produced baffled shrugs and ambivalence. He'd written several episodes for Torchwood and the main show in the past, but none of his previous offerings stood out.

Chibnall's era was full of chaos and controversy. With only one Doctor and three series, spread over five years, he wrote or co-wrote 21 of the 30 episodes.

I'm not going to rehash all my thoughts on Chibs or Jodi in this post; suffice it to say a significant portion of the fandom was turned off by Chib's stories. I also don't want to go back and look at viewing stats either. I'm an English major; statistics scare me. However, the compiled viewing figures and the reduced episode count have contributed to a lower 'profile' for the show overall.

I'm not privy to bureaucratic politics, but the implications of Russell's return are blindly obvious. The BBC is scared. They know Doctor Who is losing ground with scifi fans; the cash cow is drying up. Who better to turn this ship around than the man who brought it back in the first place?

However, my initial response was "Don't they know what 'new' means?" Russell left on good terms; a small portion of his fans have been begging for his return ever since. While I am not one of them (I started with s5 and am a firm Moffat devotee), I find him to be a capable showrunner, even while I disagree with his politics.

RTD returning is one thing, especially in the lack of other viable options. Bringing back Tennant and Tate, on the other hand....I side-eyed that decision when it was announced. Now that the 60th-anniversary specials have aired, I'm even more ambivalent about the choice.

There's no way of knowing who suggested what element(s) of the sixtieth, especially now that Disney has a finger in the pie (although I've heard that Disney wasn't a player in those specials.) Tennant (and Piper) returned for the 50th, but Day of the Doctor was deliberately and consciously a multi-doctor special, with 11 retaining incumbent status.

Having Whittaker regeneration into Tennant... yeah... a poor choice. I've already posted here about an alternate, Big Finish-inspired take on the reappearance of that face. And of Tennant's companions, Donna is the natural choice for returning (both narratively and in terms of actor availability)

I'll go into more detail about the 60th anniversary specials in another post, but the upside of hiring a known quality is exactly the same as the downside: you know what you're gonna get.

watching TV

I know ads on late-night tv/sub-channels/etc are cheap, which is why you get lots of medical ads and cheap infomercials, but it is funny to trace a train of thought from 'Star Trek' to, say, pneumonia shots.

Ahsoka 1.1 & 1.2

As a side note, my tags for the show will be "sw: Ahsoka" and "ahsoka spoilers." I will also use the "Ahsoka" tag for general references to the character, as well as the character tags for the Rebels characters.

So, onto the actual review:

I've been hesitant about this show from the beginning, mostly because the promotion is so heavily weighted in favor of Ahsoka. I've watched all of The Clone Wars and read some of the tie-in novels as well, but I never really latched onto Ahsoka as much as some of the others. I mean, I don't hate her or think she's overpowered; I just prefer the Ghost crew. I've been waiting for Ezra's return since the season 4 finale. And I don't want Ahsoka to overshadow it.

On a purely practical/effects level, it is /so weird/ to see the familiar characters in live-action. Some shoots are identical to the original--the speeder route outside Lothal's capitol, the communication tower, and that mural.... On the other hand, the characters just feel off. Previous complaints about Ahsoka's appearance in The Mandalorian seem even more relevant here, as Hera's lekku and skin marking look rather too smooth for live-action. Maybe it's just the long hair, but Sabine doesn't look right either (NOTHING against the actors involved) She does look slightly better after the haircut, but I have so much trouble with age for all the leads. It's so hard to tell what age they're supposed to be.

Don't have any feelings one way or another about Houyung, but I would have loved to get even a glimpse of Jacen. I mean, sure, I have Feelings! about how he was included, but now that he exists, he needs to have screen time.

The Ahsoka-training-Sabine element kind of strikes me the wrong way too. I mean, sure, things would have happened between the battle of Lothal and the 'present day,' whatever that actually is. But I don't think Sabine is a good choice for Jedi training and I actually don't WANT her to have Jedi training. I think her style as a Mandalorian is interesting, a contrast from other rebels, and an important part of her heritage. She doesn't /have/ to be a Jedi to be special, or even to be on the right side.

The fight sequences felt wrong too. I mean Ahsoka's fights were okay, but I don't think Sabine got to show enough credit or skill in her fights. Sure, her preferred weapon in Rebels was explosive paint, but she did her fair share of hand-to-hand, and was pretty good at it. When she got grabbed at the tower, she didn't show any evidence of her formal skill or training.

Plotwise.... eh, too early to say. But the emphasis on Thrawn as a potential threat to the New Republic as opposed to the promise of finding an old friend.... and this is part of the reason I'm skeptical about bringing the Ghost crew into the broader universe. I mean, of course, Kanan and Ezra had to be out of the picture for the original timeline, otherwise Kenobi wouldn't be the only remaining Jedi, but now.... you can't retcon Ezra or Kanan into the film, because they would have had an impact, but I don't want to draw attention to that fact. In my imagination, Kanan and Ezra are both still alive, hanging around and playing games in some remote corner of the galaxy.

I guess we'll see

Your thoughts on Maria and Alan Jackson?

Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful. Maria is one of my favorite Bannerman Road kids; I love how her relationship with Sarah is one of the first things that pulls Sarah out of her isolation. She’s so patient with Luke too, even when he’s awkward.

Alan is pretty neat too. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of him after he was clued into what was going on, because he would have been a great addition to the team.

reading the Jane and the dragon webnovel

(find it here) and like....does this count as fanfiction or not? cause it’s the author of a book series that was adapted into an animated show writing a continuation....

Newt in three words

saw this on  @afrenchaugurey’s page and had to try

1. Compassionate. He’s so gentle and kind, not only to his creatures but to people who need help.

2. Confident. Not so much in his dealings with people, but there’s no question that he knows what he’s doing with his creatures. And he’s always open to learning more.

3.Determined. Once he makes up his mind to do something, no one can sway him, no matter what arguments they make.

watching brain of morbius with infotext. Kind of fun, like having a friend telling me fun facts.

Fixed it!

the monster you create

“in the pursuit of great, we failed to do good.” ooh, there’s a good line.

Still not sure what to make of Arcane. 

The visuals are absolutely gorgeous, and the characters interesting, but  there’s something else about it. 

It reminds me of RWBY in some ways--much less hope, but the sisterly vibes and the oversized weapons and the kickass soundtrack. Anybody else have good meta for it.

listening to Big Finish’s tribute to David Warner and Bernard Cribbins

AH! That’s why I associated Warner with Sapphire and Steel--he was Steel in the audios. And he does have the most brilliant voice for it.

Also, for Sapphire and Steel fans who don’t know, Big Finish did a dozen or so audios that are, sadly, no longer available through the website. But the stories are brilliant and I’m very willing to share if asked.

as much as I adore eddie redmayne, i still can’t help wondering what Matt Smith would have done with the role