Proselytising about the Doctor
Let me tell you about missionaries. No, this is not one of those types of jokes but I really want to talk about missionaries. Now we all know (those of us who have sat through innumerable history classes) that missionaries of various hues went around the world (and are still doing so) spreading the good word (well, many good words). Heathens often resisted (they knew no better, the poor folks) but were ultimately brought into the fold and realised the error of their past ways. Often, they even became missionaries themselves and went about spreading more good words (and diseases and death but this is a fairly happy blog so we won't talk about those kinds of things). As a beneficiary (if one may call it that) of a school operated by Jesuit missionaries, I have always had a soft spot for missionaries. Call me misguided but I rather like it that they wander around and try get the natives to get with the plan (whether it's Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or Islam or even just playing soccer or cricket). I reckon we all try to do that to various extents and, hey, why not, eh? Often, money or praise is involved in having done well--personally, at my school, we'd get merit points for writing well in English (I'd recommend money instead though).Money was not involved in my own missionary efforts but, after watching E get excited about the Doctor today, I feel rather like an old-time (or maybe a new age?) missionary must have felt when he realised the heathens had finally seen the light. A bit smug, a bit proud and also rather bemused at the enthusiasm shown but, ultimately, definitely well-pleased. After all, this is the same woman who, a few weeks ago, was refusing to watch the Doctor. Now, I just got the entire season off her (though I am resisting watching further episodes until after I have submitted my dissertation proposal) and sat around with her and some other friends, watching three episodes* in a row, while eating Chinese food and watermelon (yes, they do go well together).
After my counselling role in my new job and my recent efforts with the youngsters at TUWSNBN, I feel as though I've done a good job and can rest on my laurels. After all, I've also managed to convert LilSis2 (yes, they get numbers to distinguish them now) who used to hate the old episodes when she was a kid. Rather like E, really.
On a non-Doctor note, today's TS was on Foucault (though have yous noticed the similarities between him and him, especially around the ears and the slightly startled looks?). We didn't actually get to discuss much of F, especially the fun bits about racism (which we did get into and then got distracted by other things, as usual) and the use of biopower or even whether one can have a scientific (in the common sense) science.
Getting back to the Doctor, we (meaning E and I) did decide that we should maybe have a Doctor Who and theory panel at SmallRegionalMeeting conference later this year. The only problem with this plan is that (as I told E), I won't be around if I don't get a job/funding for next semester. You lot, dear PTSD readers, will be hearing of my travails back home, where fun things are happening every day. Assuming the yak herders let me use their wireless, that is.
Let's hope E's back to blog soon. There's only so much I can do to hold your interests or else I might have to put up that fried lettuce recipe.
* They were rather fun episodes all of them. I quite like how the new series uses bits from the past ones and then tweaks them or adds to them or even completely messes them up. As I told E, I used to confuse the Daleks with the Star Wars robot as a kid so I've never managed to absorb the evilness of the Daleks and it was good seeing them back (and the UNIT too, of course). I was never as invested in the series so none of the changes bothered me much but, from what I gather from people who have watched them for longer than I have (my dad, for example), some of the changes are not too popular. I think I'd get along with the writers though--they seem to realise how much fun it is to push peoples' buttons!
posted by Priya @ 1:19 AM
14 Comments:
Hooray for button pushing! Know I've got a stick around here somewhere...And once you've seen the later stuff--let's just say those are some prety damn big sticks they're using.
I disagree about the resemblance. I don't think they look anything alike. And I think you're all blind if you can't see the appeal of Eccleston over at least the first three Doctors. And the last two.
And I've figured out which one it was that made me avoid the show like the plague. Still can't stand to watch his stuff, even though it probably makes me a bad fan.
Still on the fence about the ones in the middle. I've been rewatching some of the old episodes, and usually I'd rather just read the transcript. There's a serious lack of banter in most of it, isn't there? And since the banter is a big part of what draws me to the show, well, I think it's safe to say that I've picked an actor who will always be the Doctor for me.
Even if the whole dancing thing makes me a bit twitchy for some reason.
Damn it. They really need to get a spellchecker for blogger. Well, I'm not retyping it all to fix it.
Heh. Am at Uni, studiously avoiding the temptation of the rest of the series, waiting at home for me.
I still say there're continuities--heaps of them. And, there was some banter in the earlier ones though I (as is usual with my TV-watching habits) have watched them off and on and in random order and can't provide empirical examples right now :-)
Oh, it's not that there wasn't *any* banter. Just that it was all very plot driven, wasn't it? As a children's show should be.
It's sort of the reverse of my bitching about West Wing--the old Doctor Who fans are upset bc they liked the kind of stuff John Wells does, and I'm excited bc it's like they got Aaron Sorkin in to doctor up the scripts. Take good storylines, add lots of banter, quick dialogue, subtext, an angsty hero, and voila.
I'm a bit torn about my earlier dislike, though. Having a hard time reconciling the fact that I said I disliked it so much with the fact that I watched so many of them. I'm a bit of a puzzle, even to me.
Like me and Farscape though I didn't dislike Farscape--I just didn't think it was as brilliant as folks around me kept saying it was (and the main guy, unilke the Doctor, bugged me while I liked the recurring bad guy--the Pirate-like one--much more)
Btw, I did watch most of the old Doctors as a kid/early teenager (hence the Dalek/R2D2 confusion) and, really, didn't bother to analyse the blasted thing--I just watched it (and got horribly confused, especially with the Davision version where he used to be James Herriot and Who--two totally different doctors :-)
I should really read over my comments before publishing them--read "unlike" for unilke and "Davison" for Davision. Sorry!
Television shows without obsession and geeky analysis just aren't that much fun for me. If the characters don't get inside my head and make me want to figure them out, if the show itself doesn't catch my interest enough to argue about stupid little details of plot and timing, then what's the point?
For me, that's the entertaining point. That's probably why there's so much overlap in the shows that I love, and the reason that I either love a show and want to know everything about it, or don't care enough to watch. Never was good at the in-between stuff.
I see the resemblance, if small.
Still not into the good Dr. LOL though he is entertaining at times...AND he is better looking than last who's but not cute in my book...not my typle lets leave it there.
I give up. Well, not really. But for the moment, I'm out of ideas to convince you two without forcing you to sit and watch the last three episodes of the season.
lol you are too funny....just not my type of guy
Tennant on the other hand can take me to the TARDIS any time...and I wouldn't even need second chances (or opportunities).
Trying to remember PTSD is a PG-13 blog and probably unsuited to my new-Doctor raves.
PG-13? When did we decide that? Doesn't sound like the sort of decision we'd make.
Anything goes then--just not the "c" word (which, having been socialised into learning English outside the USA, I find it hard to recognise as a taboo)
Yeah, um, okay. But if you get your ass kicked for using it, I'm just going to laugh.
Post a Comment
<< Home