ruuger wanted me to talk about anything Peter Capaldi related. Now, the first thing I've ever watched him in was the tv version of Neverwhere - he was playing the angel Islington, and with the appropriate creepiness, too - but I can't say this made me sit up and notice. And his bit part as Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii wasn't, either. But then Torchwood: Children of Earth happened. And he was so fantastic in it, that I thought: wow. Wow. Who is this actor?

( Playing a civil servant - no, the other one )

The Other Days

Look, you may know him as Malcolm Tucker, but I still haven't watched In the Thick of It and thus I primarily think of him as Frobisher from Torchwood: Children of Earth. In which he was so stunning, outstanding and moving that I refuse to believe this wasn't the role that got him his third gig in the Whoverse. (The first one being a Roman in Fires of Pompeii.)

Come to think of it, I first saw him as the Angel Islington in Neverwhere, which was also a good performance, but really, Frobisher all the way. Though I have no doubt his Twelve will overturn that.

As you may have gathered by these chaotic ramblings, the next Doctor shall be Peter Capaldi.

Obligatory bigger picture remark: yes, it still sucks they didn't cast a poc and/or woman for a change. But: not only is Peter Capaldi a superb actor, but he's NOT A YOUNG MAN, and I'm really really glad we're taking a break from the youngsters now. Bring back the middle-aged looking Doctors, I say.

(Also: this means Idris Elba still has a shot when Capaldi's run is over.)

Aha! Let's see who comes to mind.

( spoilers for Alias, I Claudius, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Damages (first four seasons) )

Being Human: two quite different yet both eloquent meta posts:

Being Human, Season 3

Vampires and their cryptic bullshit

Both posts, though their interpretation of some characters wildly differ, say yes to s3 and its arc. It occured to me that one of the objections I've heard elsewhere was that "this isn't the show we were promised in the pilot", which immediately reminded me of one of the calmer Children of Earth criticisms (i.e. that CoE Torchwood was not "the show we were promised" in that it was quite different from the TW of Cyberwoman yore). It's a fair point to raise though I would say the difference between pilot Being Human and the first season is already pointed, and not simply because of the recasting of several roles. Still, I can see that if you basically signed on for a very charming supernatural sitcom, which is what you get in the pilot, then what the show turns into is most definitely not what you "were promised". I'm with abigail_n in one of the posts linked above, though, that with s3 the show has reached the story it was meant to tell. Of course, I feel that way about Children of Earth as well, so...

It's not that I think "dark" always equals good, by the way, on the contrary. For example, I'd say that parts of BSG's third and most definitely its fourth season drift too much into self indulgent angst for angst's sake territory, as does much of Farscape's fourth season (but not the concluding Peacekeeper Wars mini). But in the cases of season 3 of Being Human, Torchwood: Children of Earth or, for that matter, Angel's season 4 I felt the respective shows had each managed to follow a relentless narrative arc to its logical conclusion, to explore their characters more deeply and cast of (much) of the attributes that I was not on board with before - to tell a story only they could in this particular way.

What it comes down to, I guess, is that I don't mind not getting what "we were promised" if what we do get is something that appeals to me more. For that matter, season one DS9 while having potential is still quite different from later season DS9, and you could make a case that the "promise" of that first season show is most definitely not what it turns into later on. Take one of the goals established in the pilot: Sisko is explicitly told that one of the reasons for the Federation presence on DS9 is to woo Bajor into joining the Federation and to prepare the planet for this. One of the most crucial turning points in s5 is when they're all but set to do this in the season 5 episode Rapture and Sisko interrupts it, advising, declaring Bajor must not join the Federation. There is a larger plot reason for this and it pays off, but by the time the show wraps up in s7 Bajor still isn't a Federation member. Which is one of the things that makes DS9 uniquely DS9 - the way the whole joining the Federation and the Federation itself is problematized*, much of the narrative arcs given to non-Fed regular characters like Kira or Odo. My point is, the show DS9 developed into is narratively much richer and more interesting to me than the one arguably promised in the pilot, and if the pilot promise had been stuck to, it would have been a lesser DS9.

Sometimes you start a story in one direction, and you discover potential leading the story in quite different directions. It doesn't always mean the ensueing narrative is worth the departure. But it can be, and when it does, I am your devoted reader/listener/viewer.


* I have to add here that contrary to popular cliché DS9 was not the first Trek show to feature darker sides of the Federation, but TNG did this only sporadically and embedded in many more "bright side" episodes - Measure of a Man or The Drum Head were hardly setting the tones of their respective seasons. Still, they do exist, years before DS9, and that's why I always resent generalizations about pre-DS9 Trek that pretend they don't.

These last days I've been rewatching Torchwood: Childen of Earth, and oh, it really is as good as I remember. Bloody brilliant, as Gwen Cooper would say. RTD, John Fay, James Moran, Euros Lyn and all the actors created something great there, and those five hours alone would make me appreciate everyone involved if they had never done anything else in their entire career.

Now I've never been shy about my Children of Earth love, and already wrote my extensive meta on the female characters in particular shortly after it was broadcast, but I feel like indulging in another round of praise. So, in more general terms, four reasons why I loved that five part miniseries so much:

( All spoilery in nature, and passionately felt )

List the five scariest scenes ever.

With the usual caveat of "scary to me, imo, fear is subjective, etc., might change my mind later when not so exhausted by a day at the book fair". But. Here are my current choices, in no particular order of scariness, hidden behind lj cuts so that you, gentle viewer, can be scared as well if you managed to miss the sources in question so far.

1) Hush (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) : the scene where ( spoilery events happen. ) BTVS is rarely scary in the traditional sense, that's not the point, but that was a moment of pure horror which will stay with me.

2) Blink (from Doctor Who): Moffat always brings it, and several times throughout this episode, but never more so than in the grand climax when ( spoilery stuff ensues. ) Well done, Mr. New Showrunner. The final gag/punchline with the montage and the voice-over isn't half-bad, either. :)

3) Torchwood: Children of Earth: that COBRA meeting. (If you've watched CoE, you know what I mean, if you've yet to watch it, you'll figure out immediately which one as well.) Never mind the 456, good macguffins though they were, but the true monsters of CoE weren't the aliens. What made this particular scene so intense, so unforgettable and so incredibly scary is that this particular viewer along with apparantly a lot of others thought: Yes. That's how it would go. That's exactly how they would talk, and what they would do. Well done, Mr. Old Showrunner.

4) The Haunting (the original black and white version, of course!): one film where nothing violent on screen happens and which still reliably scares the crap out of me. The scariest scene for me always was when ( spoilery events happen ). Brrrrr.

5) Astonishing X-Men, Torn arc: in another Whedonian entry, we have that panel where Kitty Pryde proves scarier than all the Hellfire Club ever could. How so, you ask? ( Here's a spoilery explanation ). I'd call AXM a lot of things, but not scary: this particular moment during Torn, however, is pure horror.

*****

On another note, two more recs:


Torchwood/Lost:

Four Days in the Desert. Post-Children of Earth, Gwen encounters the Smoke Monster. Spoilers for s6 of Lost and CoE, top Gwen characterisation, and, due to Smokey's, err, versatility, attempted mind-messing on a grand scale.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Two vid portraits, one of Derek (something for you, queenofthorns !), and one of John, superbly crafted by chaila43, are here.

Random observation, apropos watching Mad Men, season 2: my Don Draper dislike has grown even stronger and may actually reach Bill Adama proportions. Though with Don I'm half way sure this was not unintentional on the writers' part (until, that is, I come across another quote raving about the "old fashioned masculinity" of Jon Hamm). BTW, this does not mean I think Don and Adama resemble each other. They're quite different characters, united only in transforming me into a bristling, hissing and spitting cat whenever they are on screen. And in being the lead of their respective shows, of course.

Multifandom recs:

Doctor Who/The Sarah Jane Adventures:

Wedding Night: you know, I usually don't ship Any Doctor/Companions romantically. (Loving the respective relationships as friendships is another matter.) Former companions are another matter, partly because I just feel more comfortable when they're on their own turf, so to speak, setting out the conditions, as opposed to being in the TARDIS and by definition dependent on him for transport and destination... and partly because in one particular case, I just can't resist the chemistry. By which I mean Sarah Jane Smith and the Tenth Doctor. (Sarah Jane and Three or Four are another matter. Enjoy watching them together, enjoy reading them together as friends, do not want romance.) This particular vignette is an epilogue to The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, and at the same time affectionate, angry, sad and funny, much like Sarah Jane feels.


Torchwood/Doctor Who:

Aliens of London: another exception to a general rule, in this case that I usually don't rec WIPs. (Mostly because some are never finished, and I know I find this frustrating as a reader, so I tend to wait with the recs until the WIP is completed by its author.) But I just found a work in progress that was irresistable to me on several counts: 1.) It's post-Children of Earth and stars Alice Carter, who's working with Johnson, 2.) it co-stars the Doctor (pre-End of Time in his personal timeline, but after it in Alice's, and as you can imagine, a certain question asked by Gwen in CoE is a central issue), and 3) Gwen Cooper has a great supporting role. All like catnip to me, and I can't wait for it to continue. Meanwhile, read the three chapters already posted.

Merlin:

Gwen meta! I was hoping there would be some during Halfamoon time, and lo and behold, there is.

Title: Christmas Tales

Fandom: Torchwood

Disclaimer: Characters and situations owned by the BBC.

Rating: PG 13

Spoiler: For Children of Earth and the background of one character from DW's The Waters of Mars

Characters: Bridget Spears, John Frobisher, Alice Carter, Lucia Moretti, Clement MacDonald, Lois Habiba, Gwen Cooper, Johnson, Adelaide Brooke

Summary: Five Christmas experiences before and after Children of Earth.


( Aims to be like the show that inspired it: dark, with a dash of hope )

Title: Clean-up Operations

Disclaimer: Characters and situations owned by the BBC.

Spoilers: for all of Children of Earth.

Characters: Johnson, Alice Carter, Decker.

Summary: In the aftermath of Day Five, Johnson has a confrontation with Alice.

Rating: PG 13

Thanks to: kathyh, for beta-reading.


( And the Children of Earth muses keep talking... )

The women of Torchwood: Children of Earth, that is. Because this miniseries has given us such a rich variety of female characters, of all ages, of such different dispositions, all with their firm place in the narrative, interacting with each other, and best of all, ( spoilery spoil ) that now that I have the dvds in my greedy hands and did some rewatching I want to write an entry celebrating them all.

( Women of Earth )