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Oct. 3rd, 2016 01:00 am* "Saturday Night Live: Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton Debate:" http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2016/10/saturday-night-live-donald-trump-vs.html
* "Saturday Night Live: 'Celebrity Family Feud' Political Edition:" http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2016/10/saturday-night-live-celebrity-family.html
* "Saturday Night Live: Actress Round Table:" http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2016/10/saturday-night-live-actress-round-table.html
* "Sunday Sweets: Fall Fling:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2016/10/2/sunday-sweets-fall-fling.html
* Classic Doctor Who Rewatch, Hartnell:
- I had forgotten Daleks were literally the second adventure they had.
- When I was a little kid, Pertwee and Tom Baker were on every week. (Pertwee episodes ran every week night. Tom Bakers were shown as movies on the weekends.) Hartnell was this mysterious figure along with Troughton, as no one was wanting to run old black and white Who episodes even in the '70's. Hartnell looked cool in the stills and I was curious. It was a huge disappointment when I finally got to see him as an adult though I turned out to be quite fond of Troughton. The thing is, I feel bad about not liking Hartnell, knowing the story behind it and his love for the role, but I really, really don't. It's not the unreliability. The Doctor was is and should be unreliable. The Doctor lies; the Doctor is a trickster. The Doctor is, was, and likely always will be an asshole at times (which they took to far with Colin Baker), so that's not it.
I've been trying to put my finger on what rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the way he uses his age to manipulate people. It is transparent and I have trouble seeing why people fall for it. He plays on all these tropes and stereotypes about older people, which is something 2nd Doctor did two, but when Troughton did it was somehow more clear that he wasn't the things he was pretending to be. It's hard to explain and the difference is subtle. With the 2nd Doctor, it was clear the villain being tricked into underestimating him was being hoisted by zir own assumptions. With Hartnell, sometimes it's a trick, but sometimes it looks like he really is partially the ageist stereotype he is using? If that makes sense? I'm not sure that's it, but it feels like it. I feel like a want Hartnell to be the male equivalent of the little old lady who looks like easy pickings, but tricks the burger and ends up subduing him with a frying pan and her knitting, and then settles in for a nice cuppa, but instead he's winy, arrogant, unpleasant, prone to tricking his companions into dangerous situations when explaining and being reasonable would work better.
In retrospect it's maybe that last that's the real problem. I've seen Doctors classic and new series trick companions now and then, including that really cruel thing the 7th doctor does to Ace, but it's usually a "this is the only way to save you/the world/the Universe." The Doctor does some really terrible things, including letting other people to kill for him and committing genocide, but there is with all the later ones a sense that he cares about his companions and is trying not to let bad things happen to them even if sometimes they do (Adric, Donna, the woman on that space Titanic, for example). I just... don't think the 1st Doctor has many fucks to give about people in particular unless he knows them really well. He does care about the macro for sure. He does run around saving people from various major threats like Daleks and Cybermen. He does all the basic Doctor things, really, but he's not likeable, which is interesting really.
I mean, this was pitched as a children's show. They had no idea how wide the audience was going to be or that the show would last more than 50 years. They decided to make the title character of a brand new children's show abrasive and unpleasant. I doubt anyone today would be so brave. The only thing close to it I can think of off hand was them deciding to turn the Muppet show into an Office knock off and that's an established franchise that had been going for decades and it still didn't work and got cancelled.
I want to be clear I'm not saying it's a bad artistic choice, just a strange one. The next time they tried it (with Colin baker) it tanked the ratings and the franchise never really recovered until RTD restarted with Nine. It's kind of amazing it caught on the way it did, especially when you add in the budget being so low that they didn't bother reshooting when someone stuttered a line or accidentally wiggled a cardboard wall.
I suppose people liked Hartnell, way back in the '60's. I know in the '70's and '80's, my dad and I would watch any SF show because there were so few to choose from, and also, my taste is not everyone's. I know normal people adore Curb your enthusiasm, but while I find Larry David's Bernie Sanders impression truly funny, I've not enjoyed him in anything else. I'm absolutely not saying it's wrong to love Hartnell's run, just that it's still not to my taste no matter how hard I try. I'm not fond of 6 (too abrasive) or 7 (too silly, for all Ace is one of my favorite companions ever). (I have no opinion on Capaldi as I bailed out of Who over Moffat's misogyny sucking the fun out of Who and driving me away from a show I've watched since I was literally in diapers. What little I saw of his performance seemed abrasive, but in the watchable for me range). Anyway, I missed a few episodes last time through, but this time I plan to stick all the way through the existing ones.
* "American Horror Story Gets Creepy(er) in Chapter 2 of Roanoke:" http://www.fandomfollowing.com/american-horror-story-roanoke-gets-creepyer-chapter-2/
* TNG Rewatch, Season 5:
- Redemption pt.2. The Tacyon Net seems not a viable plan if you are dealing with three dimensional space. Can't the Romulans just fly over/under/around? I really apreciate how the anti-android prejudice pops up periodically when Data meets new people. It would be much easier to pretend enlightened Starfleet officers would just stop being bigots after a year or two, when in real life it's never that clean. I also love that they don't drop the Enterprise C thread. That momement when Worf realises he'll always be between cultures and can never entirely fit either one. Ouch.
- Darmok. The problem with this is you can't make a whole language out of referents, as you'd need the story to exist first before the referent, even if the story is later forgotten. It's a cool idea, but it's not logical. Is it just me, or is this a sudden transition out of the Klingon Civil war and Anti-Romulan blockade to normal missions?
- Ensign Ro. Enter my beloved Bajorans, and oh, did we love Ensign Ro when this was new. The Guinan and Ro scene fills me with glee.
*****
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
* "Saturday Night Live: 'Celebrity Family Feud' Political Edition:" http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2016/10/saturday-night-live-celebrity-family.html
* "Saturday Night Live: Actress Round Table:" http://www.tastefullyoffensive.com/2016/10/saturday-night-live-actress-round-table.html
* "Sunday Sweets: Fall Fling:" http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2016/10/2/sunday-sweets-fall-fling.html
* Classic Doctor Who Rewatch, Hartnell:
- I had forgotten Daleks were literally the second adventure they had.
- When I was a little kid, Pertwee and Tom Baker were on every week. (Pertwee episodes ran every week night. Tom Bakers were shown as movies on the weekends.) Hartnell was this mysterious figure along with Troughton, as no one was wanting to run old black and white Who episodes even in the '70's. Hartnell looked cool in the stills and I was curious. It was a huge disappointment when I finally got to see him as an adult though I turned out to be quite fond of Troughton. The thing is, I feel bad about not liking Hartnell, knowing the story behind it and his love for the role, but I really, really don't. It's not the unreliability. The Doctor was is and should be unreliable. The Doctor lies; the Doctor is a trickster. The Doctor is, was, and likely always will be an asshole at times (which they took to far with Colin Baker), so that's not it.
I've been trying to put my finger on what rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the way he uses his age to manipulate people. It is transparent and I have trouble seeing why people fall for it. He plays on all these tropes and stereotypes about older people, which is something 2nd Doctor did two, but when Troughton did it was somehow more clear that he wasn't the things he was pretending to be. It's hard to explain and the difference is subtle. With the 2nd Doctor, it was clear the villain being tricked into underestimating him was being hoisted by zir own assumptions. With Hartnell, sometimes it's a trick, but sometimes it looks like he really is partially the ageist stereotype he is using? If that makes sense? I'm not sure that's it, but it feels like it. I feel like a want Hartnell to be the male equivalent of the little old lady who looks like easy pickings, but tricks the burger and ends up subduing him with a frying pan and her knitting, and then settles in for a nice cuppa, but instead he's winy, arrogant, unpleasant, prone to tricking his companions into dangerous situations when explaining and being reasonable would work better.
In retrospect it's maybe that last that's the real problem. I've seen Doctors classic and new series trick companions now and then, including that really cruel thing the 7th doctor does to Ace, but it's usually a "this is the only way to save you/the world/the Universe." The Doctor does some really terrible things, including letting other people to kill for him and committing genocide, but there is with all the later ones a sense that he cares about his companions and is trying not to let bad things happen to them even if sometimes they do (Adric, Donna, the woman on that space Titanic, for example). I just... don't think the 1st Doctor has many fucks to give about people in particular unless he knows them really well. He does care about the macro for sure. He does run around saving people from various major threats like Daleks and Cybermen. He does all the basic Doctor things, really, but he's not likeable, which is interesting really.
I mean, this was pitched as a children's show. They had no idea how wide the audience was going to be or that the show would last more than 50 years. They decided to make the title character of a brand new children's show abrasive and unpleasant. I doubt anyone today would be so brave. The only thing close to it I can think of off hand was them deciding to turn the Muppet show into an Office knock off and that's an established franchise that had been going for decades and it still didn't work and got cancelled.
I want to be clear I'm not saying it's a bad artistic choice, just a strange one. The next time they tried it (with Colin baker) it tanked the ratings and the franchise never really recovered until RTD restarted with Nine. It's kind of amazing it caught on the way it did, especially when you add in the budget being so low that they didn't bother reshooting when someone stuttered a line or accidentally wiggled a cardboard wall.
I suppose people liked Hartnell, way back in the '60's. I know in the '70's and '80's, my dad and I would watch any SF show because there were so few to choose from, and also, my taste is not everyone's. I know normal people adore Curb your enthusiasm, but while I find Larry David's Bernie Sanders impression truly funny, I've not enjoyed him in anything else. I'm absolutely not saying it's wrong to love Hartnell's run, just that it's still not to my taste no matter how hard I try. I'm not fond of 6 (too abrasive) or 7 (too silly, for all Ace is one of my favorite companions ever). (I have no opinion on Capaldi as I bailed out of Who over Moffat's misogyny sucking the fun out of Who and driving me away from a show I've watched since I was literally in diapers. What little I saw of his performance seemed abrasive, but in the watchable for me range). Anyway, I missed a few episodes last time through, but this time I plan to stick all the way through the existing ones.
* "American Horror Story Gets Creepy(er) in Chapter 2 of Roanoke:" http://www.fandomfollowing.com/american-horror-story-roanoke-gets-creepyer-chapter-2/
* TNG Rewatch, Season 5:
- Redemption pt.2. The Tacyon Net seems not a viable plan if you are dealing with three dimensional space. Can't the Romulans just fly over/under/around? I really apreciate how the anti-android prejudice pops up periodically when Data meets new people. It would be much easier to pretend enlightened Starfleet officers would just stop being bigots after a year or two, when in real life it's never that clean. I also love that they don't drop the Enterprise C thread. That momement when Worf realises he'll always be between cultures and can never entirely fit either one. Ouch.
- Darmok. The problem with this is you can't make a whole language out of referents, as you'd need the story to exist first before the referent, even if the story is later forgotten. It's a cool idea, but it's not logical. Is it just me, or is this a sudden transition out of the Klingon Civil war and Anti-Romulan blockade to normal missions?
- Ensign Ro. Enter my beloved Bajorans, and oh, did we love Ensign Ro when this was new. The Guinan and Ro scene fills me with glee.
*****
* "How to help Flint, Michigan:" http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/how-help-flint-michigan
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Donate to help refugees "UN Refugee Agency:" http://donate.unhcr.org/international/general
* Organizations helping with the refugee crisis: http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/128790538169/an-updated-list-of-organizations-to-donate-to-help
* A list of LGBTQA Charities: http://awkward0w1.tumblr.com/post/126399233673
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We desperately need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com