Sci-fi Song of the Week

Hmmmm let's see, we need a sci-fi song for the week before Christmas. I wonder if we could possibly find something suitable, possibly involving Fountains of Wayne....

Sci-fi Song Of The Week

I think this is where the whole song of the weel thing started, but after a big Who event, it seems like the only way to go...

Loving that video... similar production values to original Who (and, indeed to the song itself...)

Shall we talk about Doctor Who?

Yes, ok, my planned return toregular-ish blogging stalled, but we're here now, and it seems we might as well at least mention that Doctor Who cliffhanger which is busy dividing opinion across the blogosphere.

I liked it. Well, not the cliffhanger so much, because that was pretty lame and 'oh, well that's alright then, nobody's going to die horrily over the summer'. But the episode, as a whole, was pretty fun. I mean yes, you might ask how the Doctor came to be owed a favour by the Judoon, and why he's best friends with Vastra, the Victurian Silurian, but that would spoil the fun. You could also ask why the para-military church types guys didn't just shoot a squillion holes in the Doctor's two hearts while they had all those guns pointed at him, but, that would just cause the entire story to disappear into a plot hole, and nobody wants that.

But Doctor Who has never taken itself that seriously, and even now, as it seems to be taking a somewhat darker turn, we probably shouldn't start over-analysing it. It was a fun story, with a few flaws, but bucket loads of action, lots of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey nonsense, plenty of bad guys, and a slight cliffhanger. Oh yes, and River Song becomes slightly less of an enigma, so it will be interesting to see where that goes next.

I don't know if I've said this before, but I like a character with a dark side, and I'm looking forward to seeing a little more darkness from Eleven - a little more of the violence that the Doctor always had in him before the Last Great Time War (after which it seems Nine and Ten took to pacifism and a moody kind of darkness in an attempt to redeem themselves for 'destroying' the Daleks and the Time Lords).

Bow ties are definitely cool.

Greg Mitchell, and a strange quote

For those who followed the CSFF Blog Tour for The Strange Man a few weeks back, you might be interested to check out the interview with author Greg Mitchell on the Spirit Blade Underground Podcast last week. At the time of writing it's still queued up on my mp3 player, but apparently it's a 'great conversation about approaching the taboo genre of horror in a Christian publishing market'. So if that (and indeed general discussion of all things speculative from a Christian perspective) sounds like a good way to spend half an hour, hop on over and take a listen.

Oh, and, Doctor Who quote of the week: 'Reverse the jelly baby of the neutron flow!'

Friday Review: Offworld by Robin Parrish

I'm going to make this review really easy now: This story would make a great Doctor Who episode. That should be all you need to know in order to decide whether to read it or not.

The Earth is mysteriously deserted, apart from a handful of good guys, a handful of bad guys, and the mysterious Mae, who has somehow survived whatever cataclysm occurred and may therefore in some way hold the key to all the madness. The good guys and bad guys play cat and mouse across the deserted landscape heading towards a mysterious beacon which, through a heady mix of technobabble and handwavium, has caused every living creature on the planet to take lunch in a parallel universe, or something. Along the way there are comic-book style battle sequences, mind-boggling car crashes, all the suspense you could wish for on a Saturday teatime, and an utterly implausible Big Bad hidden under a sports stadium. See, it's just like Doctor Who, but without the bow tie.

OK, if we're honest, the whole concept is never going to wash with hard sf fans, definitely leaning towards the science-fantasy end of the genre, not too far from Parrish's Dominion Trilogy of superhero novels.

It must also be said that, having plot-holed my way through Fearless and been left bemused by some of the editorial bloopers in Merciless, I was sort of on the lookout for more of the same here. And there were one or two odd sentences that just didn't seem quite right, the odd mixed metaphor here and there, but it didn't bother me as much this time round. It's even possible that if I hadn't been looking for them I would have missed them, but I was. And I didn't.

The other thing I was looking for was the low-key approach to any kind of Christian theme, which was all but non-existent in the Dominion Trilogy. And a similarly low-key approach was taken here too, with, by my reckoning, precisely zero Christians appearing in the entire book. Having said that, there was a message, and when, towards the end, I finally saw it, I have to say I liked it - both the message and the subtle delivery.

So, don't look for the bloopers, just sit down and get ready for a wild and crazy ride. This story would make a great Doctor Who episode.

Linky goodness:
CSFF Blog Tour for Offworld
My review of Relentless by Robin Parrish
My review of Fearless
My review of Merciless

CSFF Blog Tour: Venom & Song

This week, along with the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour, I will be highlighting one of the more bizarre double acts in speculative fiction of recent years, Venom and Song.

The story of how Spiderman's arch-nemesis and that mysterious woman out of Doctor Who were put together is something of a Cinderella meets X-Factor story, Venom having been discovered on a talent show by music mogul Christopher Hopper, while River Song was (allegedly) romantically involved with Hopper's partner in crime-fighting, Wayne Thomas Batman.

It was during a tortuously long corporate meeting discussing how a DC hero and a Marvel bad guy could possibly live together in the same universe, never mind harmony, that River Song entered with the sandwiches and spontaneously broke into a beautiful rendition of Superman's Big Sister, shortly to be joined by Venom for a duet of I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).

The rest, as they say, is history; Batman and Hopper have officially given up the crime-fighting lark while Venom and Song record their debut album Berinfell, which will be out for Christmas with an accompanying single, Christmas With the Spider King.

Probably.

Also on the tour this week:
Angela Brandon Barr Keanan Brand Amy Browning Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Melissa Carswell Jeff Chapman Valerie Comer Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson April Erwin Tori Greene Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Dawn King Leighton Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Chawna Schroeder Tammy Shelnut James Somers Kathleen Smith Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Fred Warren Jason Waguespac Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Jill Williamson

While we're here, let me remind you that the CSFFBT special offer price for Countless as the Stars will be available for just a few more days. Buy now for Christmas!

Fezzes are cool

Bow ties are cool.
Cliffhangers are cool.
Time travel is cool.
Stone daleks - very cool.
River Song is an enigma, and they're quite cool.
Feisty redheads are cool.
Plastic centurion Rory is cool.
Marrying a plastic centurion may not be so cool.
Giving your life to save the universe is way cool.
Being brought back to life by one person's belief is even cooler.
Coming back just in time for a party is practically sub-zero.
The finale of Doctor Who season five was, therefore, very cool.
The whole season, in fact, was pretty cool.
Matt Smith's Doctor is cool. Funny in a geeky Patrick Troughtony way. And that's way cool.

Having time to rewrite this post to fit King Missile's 'Jesus Was Way Cool' is too cool for me. So you can have it as it comes.

Fish Custard

Somewhere on teh intarwebs, someone must have drawn a comparison between the Eleventh Doctor and his first post-regeneration meal. Something like how all the ingredients are great, but please, not all together! Only that doesn't work, because Eleven and Amy Pond seem to work well together. It's a little early to tell, of course, what with the Doctor still cooking and everything, but, well, the first episode with the new Doctor didn't suck.

And that is as far as I'm going to go on the subject at this point; I mean, I can't criticize too much a show with a Hitch-hikers homage and a real Mini in it, and I've read/heard too much of 'the assistant is too sexy' or 'the Doctor isn't sexy enough' to be bothered joining in, even on a more intelligent level. Oh OK, I'll join in a bit: she's alright for a redhead, but seriously, have you people not seen Billie?

Um, anyway..... I'm not too keen on the new opening credits, but that's incidental. If the opening episode is any indication, it seems the new team have got a good balance between scary and funny, and between fish and custard for that matter, and as long as Eleven turns out to be a half decent incarnation and the whole thing doesn't descend into a horrible teen drama in spacetime as the younger cast might suggest (oh dear, I came across prematurely middle-aged there, I do apologise. You know you're getting old when the Doctors are getting younger, etc. etc.)

I'll cast judgement on the new Doctor properly next week, once he's properly cooked. For now there's not much else to say, I'll just hit publish before I have that crisis of confidence that I miscounted and we're on Twelve now, or Ten....

What have they done to Torchwood?

Well, first, they promoted it to BBC1, which may or may not be a bad idea for a mediocre little Doctor Who spin-off that started out on digital TV a couple of years ago.

Second, they cut the series length from 13 episodes to 5, making up one big story (like they used to with Doctor Who - complete with cliffhangers!). It remains to be seen whether the story has the legs for a five-hour mini-series, but so far it's nice to have the cliffhangers back.

The they put the whole thing out on consecutive nights, because of course sci-fi fans don't go out of an evening. Interesting choice, but in these days of Sky+ boxes, largely irrelevant (provided you can avoid reading spoilers on twinternet).

And then, just to top it all off, they went and made it good. I mean, witty one-liners, fast paced action, intrigue, mad plot twists and even madder telehandler-based scenes... this isn't the Torchwood we all know and, um.. go 'meh' about, is it? Admittedly there has been some brief nudity and Ianto's wierdness about being a couple with Jack, but on the whole everybody's libido seems to have been turned down to a more sensible level. In such a world, almost anything can happen... although, I have to admit, the extent of Jack's immortality is beginning to stretch credibility somewhat.

I'm not going to go into more detail than that; there will be plenty of reviews online if you need one. All I'm saying is that on the whole, I was pleasantly surprised. If you'd written Torchwood off as a waste of valuable TV time, it might be time to give it another chance.

Planet of the Dead

OK, so, as a nod towards science fiction, there's just time tonight for a quick look back at the Easter Doctor Who special, Planet of the Dead.

It's gonna be quick, because, well, it wasn't particularly deep. There won't be any big life issues commented on or spiritual truths dug out of this one. Not by me, at least.

That's not to say it wasn't good, because, well, ok, maybe I'm just a bit biased because it's Doctor Who, but it was a fun stuck-on-a-distant-planet-with-the-monster-of-the-week romp. It had Lee Evans as a UNIT scientist with a Doctor Who fetish (although the whole Unit-as-simpering-fanboys thing does run the risk of wearing thin if they overdo it). It had Michelle Ryan playing a sidekick who seemed vaguely familiar. It even had a London bus stuck on the far side of the galaxy, where the good Doctor borrowed a deus ex machina from some giant flies and flew the whole thing through a wormhole. I know, it all just sounds too mad to work, and I don't suppose it would outside of Doctor Who.

And that, simply, is why Doctor Who is the best thing on TV, ever. Well, it is today anyway.

I look like a dog with a caramel toffee

Yes, I am feeling ambivalent about the imminent return of Red Dwarf. Yes, I'm excited; I mean, this is Red Dwarf we're talking about, and we haven't seen a new episode for 10 years, as hard as that is for me to believe. Lister, Kryten and the Cat are back; Rimmer has an 'H' on his head, and Kochanski is nowhere to be seen. All would seem to be good in the Dwarfiverse. Well, except for the absence of Holly, but we'll get along without him (or her), I'm sure.

At the same time though, I live in fear that sombody is going to ruin my fond memories. I mean, this is Red Dwarf we're talking about here. I remember rushing home the night it debuted, just to see if it was any good (comedy sf up to that time pretty much consisted of Hitchhiker's and Spaceballs, as I recall). That was a couple of weeks before I turned 14; the last season aired the year I got married, so Red Dwarf covers a pretty important and character defining part of my life. (That's not to say Dave Lister is any more important than Mrs UKSteve, oh, no!)

But messing with important stuff like that is bad. It's like reinventing a motoring icon and turning it into a ridiculous overweight parody of the original. Please, Dave, don't let that happen to the Dwarf!

And returning to Earth - this is a departure from everything the series was meant to be - one man, stuck at the far side of the galaxy with a senile computer and a hologram of his dead bunkmate...

On the other hand, Series 8 was about as far removed from that as it's possible to get, what with the entire crew coming back, Rimmer not being a hologram, and Holly still having the same IQ as 6000 PE teachers... it can't get much worse than that, surely?

And of course, Doctor Who turned out alright, didn't it? Even (especially?) after the all new Doc quit after one season. And if Red Dwarf goes pear-shaped, at least I know the good Doctor will be waiting on a desert planet with nothing but the Bionic Woman and a London bus for company.

Who knew Easter would turn out to be about sci-fi?

I wasn't going to do this...

...but I feel obliged to start the year with a Doctor Who post. Because what's a blog for if not for inflicted one's ill-informed opinions on the world?

And my ill-informed opinion at the moment is... well, it could go either way. My heart did drop somewhat when I saw the 11th Doc, and I kind of mentally went 'What? What?! WHAAT?!'

But the new team, and Russel T Davros, seemed quite upbeat about him, and Steven Moffatt has been responsible for some of the better Who so far, so... I'm willing to give him a go. I guess being a young whippersnapper he might have plenty of Dalek fighting years in him. As long as it doesn't become a total kids show.

I guess you know you're getting old when the Doctors start looking younger...

What? What?! WHAT?!!

OK, so it wasn't that big a surprise really. Still a bit sad though, 'cos David Tennant totally rocks the TARDIS. Her Babyship will be distraught, mind. She will be four by the time she sees it, so she may be able to understand the concept of regeneration. Although she'll probably just end up expecting her budgie to turn into a hamster when it drops off its perch.

Anyway, the matter in hand: the eleventh Doctor. There probably isn't an actor alive who hasn't been suggested for the role somewhere on the interweb, but why not join in, eh?

It's hard to pick someone who hasn't been in it recently: Anthony Giles Head or that bloke out of Hustle might be fun. Or for that matter, James Marsters does a decent cockney voice, and he was only in Torchwood, which doesn't count. Actually I don't think being in a previous ep should preclude anyone, although I think recasting a previous Master as the Doctor probably stretches that a bit. Which is a shame, because John Simm (did I mention I met him once?) would otherwise be perfect. (Although, imagine him looking in the mirror the first time after regenerating.... 'What? What!? WHAAAAT!!!!?' and then meeting Martha Jones again....)

Or, or: Philip Glenister! 'You great... soft... sissy... girlie... nancy... French... Man United supporting CYBERPOOF!!'

For laughs: Bill Bailey. For deadpan laughs: Jack Dee.

Now I'm not sure if it's possible for a Time Lord to become a Time Lady. I don't know enough about Time Lord physiology, never mind the social and relational difficulties that might ensue (although, with Russel T Davies also going, there is a possibility that any female Doctor may not still fancy Rose Tyler). But if there was a female Doc, it would simply have to be Billie. Dr 10's still unrequited love (insert technobabble here) makes him subconsciously turn himself into the dead spit of Rose.

No, I'm still into the Bill Bailey idea.

Doctor Who: The Donna Noble Years

Readers with photographic memories will recall that I was always, shall we say, dubious about Catherine Tate returning to the TARDIS. At season's end though, I can pretty safely say that it wasn't her fault this year's Doctor Who wasn't as good as some.

So here's a quick recap of the year (may contain spoilers for those in other time zones):

Slimming pills that turn your beer belly into some kind of alien Furby. That's just silly.
Aliens were responsible for 'volcano day' in Pompeii. That's very Doctor Who.
SatNav is evil - not that we needed the Doctor to tell us that.

Best episodes of the season: probably Donna's first alien planet, the Ood-Sphere, where she discovers some pretty unpleasant things about the human race; and Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, by lead writer in waiting Steven Moffat.

And the finale? Well, Doctor-light episode Turn left serves as a sort of prelude to what is to come (and in itself is also a high point of the series), with the Doctor's former companions, Torchwood and UNIT together struggling to save the world without the Doctor's intervention.

Rose (presumably) manages to sprinkle the 'Bad Wolf' message all over alien Chinatown to warn the Doctor, and then he joins Torchwood and UNIT to save the world. The big cross-over with Torchwood and Sarah Jane makes the whole thing a bit crowded, and most of them don't do very much, but this is Donna's destiny. Rose Tyler striding between dimensions with a big gun like soem kind of inter-galactic Billie the Vampire Slayer was always going to be a welcome return, although Mickey and Jackie didn't do a lot other than follow her onto the set. Actually, K-9 would have been a more useful ally, I suspect, but even he had his bit part.

There's a few nods back to 'classic' Who, another blatant Hitch-hiker's moment (replacing aquatic mammals with honey-producing insects doesn't stop it being plagiarism!), and, of course, those supposedly extinct Daleks.

Sure, some of it was silly, but this is Doctor Who - it's entertainment, not hard sf. If you look past the end of term party RTD was obviously throwing for himself, dodge the obvious plot-holes, and just settle down to enjoy the ride, well, what's not to enjoy?

I could draw out plenty of spiritual lessons from it all, but it's entertainment, not Sunday School. Having said that, destiny, or God's plan, or whatever else you want to call it, is something I'm a great believer in. And that, for me, was the Big Theme of the finale, from Donna's alternate history through Dalek Caan's prophecies to the Doctor returning to his usual status as 'lonely god'.

Finale aside, not the best DW season, but still way ahead of anything else on telly. And, as it turned out, I was pretty sorry to see Donna go - not least because of the way she had to go. She deserved better.

Friday Review - British Summertime by Paul Cornell

I loved this book. I think we should get that out of the way so you don't have to sit through loads of tedious review in order to get to the point.

Paul Cornell, for those that don't know, has written several Doctor Who novels, one of which he adapted into the Human Nature/Family of Blood two parter in series 3. British Summertime is not a Doctor Who story - although, arguably it could have been, with it's young Earthbound heroine (with an uncanny sense of chipshopness) swept off her feet by the slightly eccentric Wing Commander Leyton and embroiled in an insanely complicated, entertaining and ultimately very satisfying time travel adventure. With a disembodied head called Jocelyn. And there is so much more to love in the densely-packed plot.

Leyton, to be fair, is more Dan Dare than Doctor Who, and that just tops off a story that's as quintessentially English as the word 'quintessential'. And he comes from the future, but the future of a different Earth, one where Sodom and Gomorrah got let off the hook and the Revelation was never Revealed. Oh yes, there is a wierd religious sub-plot, which could be seen as blasphemous or overtly Christian, depending, I suspect, on the reader's own viewpoint. The stuff with Judas Iscariot was a bit wierd, and to a degree superfluous, but it was just a minor diversion on a cracking ride.

Anyway: Dan Dare, Doctor Who, time travel, an alternate idealised Christian Earth, angels, pop stars, chipshopness, disembodied heads, interstellar war, and some icky bits with a hand drill. Something for everyone (at least, everyone likely to be reading this blog).

Go read it! (Loving that US cover by the way - very Eagle!)

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

In case you didn't get it from yesterday's post, this month's CSFF Blog Tour is focusing on Vanished, a Christian Chiller by Kathryn Mackel. It's about the adventures of a community which disappears under an impenetrable mist. And so, Tuesday Tunes brings you the top ten songs on the theme of disappearing-under-an-impenetrable-mist.

10. The Cure: Lost
It is possible that smiling Bob and the boys are an acquired taste, so you'll either like this or think it's wierd unlistenable nonsense. Ho hum.
9. Marc Bolan & T. Rex: Misty Mist
Because we haven't had any T.Rex on Tuesday Tunes for a while.
8. Lou Reed: Vanishing Act
From his 2003 solo album based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
7. Everything But The Girl: Missing
The song that made EBTG a big dance act.
6. Manic Street Preachers: Everything Must Go
You see what I've done there?
5. Apollo 440: Vanishing Point
Because every top ten needs at least 7 1/2 minutes of quality electronica.
4. Jars of Clay: Disappear
And, wherever possible, a Christian rock moment.
3. Brian Eno: Events in Dense Fog
The father of ambient music doing what he does best.
2. Primal Scream: Vanishing Dub
From Echo Dek, the experimental remix of Vanishing Point, named after the 1971 road movie.
1. U2: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Is this really 21 years old now?

Sci-fi Song of the Week

Sticking with the 'lost' theme, check out Lost in Space by Fountains of Wayne.

Goodbye Captain Jack, hello Doctor Who

First there was the Torchwood finale. I realise this may put me in a minority, but I have to say I've quite enjoyed season 2. There were even episodes I would probably watch again. Sadly the finale wasn't one of them; crammed full of excitement it may have been, but the actual story was pretty forgettable and I'm left with a vague sense that if I watch it again too soon I'll just notice a lot of plotholes.

So having killed Owen off half way throught the series (albeit he didn't stop moving) they should co-opt that nice Doctor Jones on a more permanent basis and try again. Oh, and would somebody please neuter Captain Jack before season three?

Putting all of that in the shade, however, is the return of Doctor Who. I may have been a bit sceptical about Donna Noble to start with, but she seemed less annoying than when she first met the Doctor, and after the rampant hormones of Torchwood it will probably make a nice change for there to be absolutely no romantic tension in Doctor Who. At least, not until Rose, Martha and Sarah Jane turn up.

I've been watching The Bionic Woman lately too, and it occurred to me last night: that Michelle Ryan does the unconvincing-Hollywood-British-accent, um, quite convincingly.

This week, I 'ave been mostly watching...

Primeval, the second series of which ended on Saturday. I was a bit disappointed with the resolution of last season's cliffhanger, but it did introduce the idea that someone able to travel through time can make small changes to the here and now. The full implications of that weren't revealed until this season's finale, so obviously next year I'll just skip to the end.

Actually, to be fair it had improved over the first series. Her out of S-Club managed to keep her clothes on most of the time (although for some reason she sold her Mini. Or maybe it was a parallel universe her, without any taste.) and there was even a story arc, which added a bit of depth to the running around after CGI, which got a bit tiresome last year.

So, it's no Doctor Who, but if the pace picks up season three might be worth watching.

Ashes to Ashes, the Life on Mars spin-off set in the early 80s. Now I liked Gene Hunt, and I liked the 80s, so I had high hopes for this. It has had it's moments - like Zippy and George from out of Rainbow making a cameo appearance - but there's something missing. Apart from there being a bird on the team in place of Sam Tyler, that is. And I don't know whether Gene's gone a bit soft, but he hasn't made me laugh as much as he did in LoM. But mainly, knowing what happened to Sam, the mystery has left the show, and for me that's spoilt it somewhat. The writers have dealt with that issue quite nicely though, so it's still good telly, if no Life on Mars.

Love the Quattro though!

Torchwood. The Doctor Who spin-off set in Cardiff. And may I say, good call to go back on the original plan not to do any cross-overs. The arrival of Martha Jones has mixed things up nicely, and the episodes she has been in have been about the best so far (although, I suspect they could overdo the story arc if it drags on too long).

It's no Doctor Who, but it is (dare I say it?) the Torchwood we were all hoping for. More please!

Have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?

And so begins Season 2 of Torchwood. Hopefully this opening line is a precursor to a Torchwood that doesn't take itself too seriously, and concentrates on entertaining, like big bro Doctor Who.

That said, I am raising no expectations at this stage as to whether it has addressed the shortfalls of series one. I will almost certainly stay tuned, if only because it's on in Heroes' old slot, which, coming after Jericho finishes elsewhere, makes for a good evening's telly.

Anyway, the opening episode: a smidge predictable at times, but, yes, entertaining. I may have chuckled a couple of times. Jack is a bit less angsty having resolved his issues with the Doctor, and a bit more like the Captain Jack we first met. I liked Captain John, but I can't help wondering how long I can watch him before wanting to actually watch Spike. (I don't think there was any intention to hide his Spikey origins; unless the 'sewer chic' comment and his enquiry as to the whereabouts of the blonde were meaningless coincidences.)

Unfortunately, Captain John's soundbite from next week's trailer suggests that one of my gripes with the first series hasn't gone away:

"It's all sex, sex, sex with you people isn't it?"

Then again, maybe they'll just have a laugh about that too.

Dang, I said I wasn't going to do that...

Time Crash

I know there are people reading this that wouldn't have seen Children in Need last week but might like to know about the Doctor Who bonus scene.

I could waste your time by going on about how it sums up everything good about Doctor Who in one eight minute scene, but I think it would be better just to let you watch it for yourselves if you haven't already done so.

As far as I can tell the beeb uploaded it with embedding disabled, so I'm going to do the decent thing and just give you the link.

Oh, and say that if you like it, give some cash to Pudsey or one of his colonial pals. ;)