See the Fangrrl Squee

Right. I've finished up with The Boy That Time Forgot by Paul Magrs. My opinion is behind the cut.

( Big, fat, spoilers )

I've got a fair bit of fannishness going on at the moment, albeit of the at-home/online variety. Brace yerselves, luvs.

***

I've an invitation to collaborate on a monthly Prisoner podcast. As it happens, it's at the "Hey, let's do a Prisoner podcast!" stage of production, so there's, er, room to develop ideas.

There are so many excellent guides out there - online and on paper - that doing something new could be a bit of a challenge. I don't see much point in doing any episode-review type content, as I think it's fair to assume that anyone who downloads the 'cast is going to have a certain familiarity with the show - and opinons, ditto.

Myself and the two other fellas are going to brainstorm for a bit, but I'm not above asking the denizens of the 'net what they'd like to see.

I'm sure that, at the very least, there will be reviews/discussion of the more-recently-released novels and guides - such as Andrew Cartmel's Miss Freedom and Fall Out: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide To The Prisoner by Fiona Moore & Alan Stevens, and whatever news happens to be floating around - although I'm sure we've all heard about the Ian McKellan casting.

Poking around the 'net, I've identified a couple of websites that might be worth befriending/arranging a bit of mutual support with. Hm. Hm...

Anyway, as I said, I'm not above asking y'all for what you'd like to see - and what you think is tired old hat, for that matter.

***

Readers of my regular journal might have seen my recent posts asking for suggestions re: RPG systems for a one-shot game featuring a handful o'motifs. I might as well admit that I'm kicking around an idea for a Sapphire and Steel tabletop game. It would definitely a one-shot-at-a-convention sort of thing, though, as such a thing wouild be completely unsustainable as a long-term campaign and players at conventions are generally willing to take more risks and/or try something new.

It, too, as at the "Wouldn't it be neat, if..." stage of development. As I do more reading and jot down ideas, I'll no-doubt discuss it on the gaming filter of my regular journal. If it comes together, I'll no-doubt be running it at ConQuest/PacifiCon in September 2009.

***

I've been listening to a fair whack of BF's Doctor Who audios, of late, and belatedly stumbled across the BF podcasts.

(I really must work on this being-the-last-to-find-out habit of mine. Bad fan! No biscuit!)

They're clever little lads at Big Finish, and no mistake. The "Top 5" lists are marketing research and promotional gimmick in one tidy package - I admit, it's worked to its intended purpose in my case, as I've just added a couple of the older DW stories on my to-purchase list... Meanwhile, the same clever chaps are allowing 'casters to use BF's trailers in their podcasts. Free advertising for them, and a slickly produced nubbin for the 'casters. Win-win - which is a bit of a rarity in many promotion schemes, I've noticed. Kudos to all involved and no, I'm not being sarcastic. Most marketing campaigns drive me mad - it's why I'll give up my DVR when they pry it out of my cold, dead hands - and so to see it done with a bit of tact and with a bit of give-and-take with the target audience, I'm pleasantly surprised.

***

I've just realized that if I'm going to manage Chicago (I hope so!) I need to start thinking about any costuming projects, now. Aside from Ms. Evangelista's mourning garb in The Forest of the Dead - which would be a bitch to take on a plane, as it would take up most of one suitcase by itself - I'm rather short on inspiration at the moment. Given that I'm flat, stony broke, though, it's probably for the best. *grumble* I'm sure I'll think of something, three weeks out from the convention, as I usually do...

The BFA Cuddlesome came with Doctor Who Magazine #393, a couple of months ago. I'd ripped it to iTunes and promptly forgot to listen to it. Yay for pleasant surprises on the hard drive!

Eleven minutes into it and the author - Nigel Fairs - cheerfully throws in a local joke which betrays his origins.

The Doctor: "It's not something you'd expect (catches himself) in Brighton"
Angela: (tartly) "Hove."

Naturally, I had to go looking up the author's biography at that point. Sure enough, the lad's from my old hometown, Brighton.

( Non-fannish tangent )

PS - FWIW, I'm with Turvey, as messed up as he was, on this one...

¹ - The city of Brighton and Hove, I might add. I wonder how many backs that put up. albion_fan? Can you shed any light on that?

Prompted by a a comment made elsewhere, it occurs to me to do a quick update to my BFA Doctor Who reccs list.

Rather than editing that post - and because I'm in a bit of a tizzy, today - I'm just going to mention the stories released over the past year that I think are worth listening to:

( Cut for politeness' sake - minor spoilers )

Lock up your daughters, darlings. I've been listening to The Natural History of Fear, again. Yes, again.

Is it a bit much when a BFA turns up on one's most frequently played list on the iPod?

(For comparison's sake, that means I've listened to it at least, erm, eight times... Should I worry?)

On a completely unrelated note - honestly! - I just bought the 40th anniversary box-set of The Prisoner from Amazon...

Oh.

My.

God.

I did not just hear the Eighth Doctor say "You might think that, I couldn't possibly comment" in the third track of Max Warp, did I?

Yes, I bloody did. Jesus Motherf*cking Christ!

*ahem*

I'm fine. Really. Stellar, in fact. Please excuse me for a moment...

*fans self*

(this post brought to you by yet another of fangrrl's mad fandoms, namely House of Cards. I used to make my Vampire players watch it once a year to see how the game should be played.)

I'd forgotten how much I love slightly-crazy/disassociated seventh Doctor. He's rife with fabulousness, in that way that sorta-broken characters are appealing to us occasionally-overwrought fangirls. (Trust me, that makes sense to that particular demographic. Both of us.)

Frozen Time is another Nicholas Briggs story that I've rather enjoyed. Methinks I need to pay more attention to the chap as a writer.

And, on another note entirely, the pre-Gallifrey squee has reached a new level. Hee!

I just started listening to the Excelis series (Excelis Dawns by Paul Magrs) and, oh dear, it's hilarious.

I say oh dear because I wasn't quite expecting comedy, you see, and, at first, I thought "Oh god, am I not listening to this properly?" but, nope, I don't think it's me.

(I just hope it's all intentional, y'know? Nothing more crushing than discovering you've inadvertantly written a comedy, I'm guessing)

I have since realized, upon closer reading of the back cover, that it couldn't be a serious tale, not with Iris Wildthyme in it, but I wasn't quite prepared for the sheer manic giggling it provoked whilst I rode the train the other day. It's practically a panto - and I'm only about 15 minutes into the thing.

Right then, now that my thresholds recalibrated. I'm sure I'll enjoy the rest.

The story has a bonus in that it's letting me give Iris another chance. Leavened with the presence of other strong characters, I think I might find her a bit more palatable than I have previously. I love her to bits in the EDAs, mind you, so I'm generally inclined to enjoy the character. But Iris At Large was a bit...much.

I'm off to the big bad city and will be listening to the rest of the audio on the way. ;)

Right then. I've listened to the third story in the new B7 audios - Liberator and the latest Doctor Who offering from BFA, 100

( Liberator - some spoilers )

***

( 100 - again, spoilers )

Did I just listen to James Purefoy chew on the scenery for two hours?

Um, yeah, I did.

Honestly? The story suffered because, er, I've read enough history to know that the writer was taking a few more liberties than one might expect but, er, okay, that's why this is entertainment and not documentary. That, I can accept.

So, within the realm of taking liberties with history, the story itself was okay. I liked the idea of tackling the historical Dracula, but the Doctor et al's excuses as for why they stuck around beyond the instant they realized their situation ("Er, we came here to learn about this place and time...") just didn't hold water and came across as very much a case of "Oh shit, we need to keep the story going...". Granted, that's been an excuse in a lot of DW stories, but they're not usually as thin as this one...

Furthermore:

Peri was just about as annoying as I've heard her in my experience (making wisecracks and whining about being patronized for being a woman who can look after herself, dammit, whilst simultaneously whining that ohmigod, we need to find The Doctor to get out of this) and I've never warmed up to Erimem. I don't care if she and Peri are supposed to be ain't-it-ironic foils to each other, I don't like her and, hell, Peri is only tolerable at the best of times.

So, yeah, despite my lifelong soft-spot for the Fifth Doctor, and my desperate love of James Purefoy (doing the aforementioned scenery-chewing as Dracula) this story was very much middle of the road for me. Not the worst, but definitely not the best, either. Sigh. On top of the severe disappointment that was The Wishing Beast, I'm feeling a bit demoralized.

Dear god, I'm waiting for the next two releases and the exit of C'rizz and Charlie. Is it too much to hope that Charlie dies a terribly stupid, pointless death? Given the title of her final story - The Girl Who Never Was - I guess not. Ah well...