Emmylou's Fiction

Writer's Block: Getting Closer Than Perhaps Expected

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:39:35 GMT

Have you ever crushed on your closest friend?
Did you keep it secret, were there problems or did it blossom into something more?

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Err...kind of.

Pretty much all my closest friends hav beenf emale, but for a short period my closest friend (living nearby) was a guy. It was when I was 15, and I quite liked him. Looking back, I think he liked me too (I recall him giving me a necklace, which seems a bit obvious now) but I was in a bad place emotionally and either couldn't or wouldn't read the signs...

It's not a happy ending. I dropped out of school and lost contact with him. Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace searches are useless because he had the most common name ever.

One. Word. Only.

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:34:22 GMT

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

No.
Explanations.

1. Where is your cell phone? Bag.

2. Your significant other? Uninterested.

3. Your hair? Flat.

4. Your mother? Sofa.

5. Your father? Home.

6. Your favorite thing? Doctor...

7. Your dream last night? Gladiators.

8. Your favorite drink? Coke.

9. Your dream/goal? Novelist.

10. The room you're in? Cluttered.

11. Your ex? Nonexisitant.

12. Your fear? Snakes.

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Richer.

14. Where were you last night? Asleep.

15. What you're not? Employed.

16. Muffins? Can't.

17. One of your wish list items? Ashes.

18. Where you grew up? Suffolk.

19. The last thing you did? Caspian.

20. What are you wearing? Clothes.

21. Your TV? Mocking.

22. Your pets? Outside.

23. Your computer? Slow.

24. Your life? Unsettled.

25. Your mood? Angry.

26. Missing someone? Bit.

27 Your car? Scratched!

28. Something you're not wearing? Shoes.

29 Favorite Store? Lush.

30. Your summer? Nice.

31. Like someone? YES!

32. Your favorite color? Blue.

33. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday.

34. Last time you cried? Forgot.

35. Who will/would re-post this? No clue. Ha-ha! I broke that rule and you can't stop me!!!

Who Review - The Stolen Earth

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:26:01 GMT

As the credits appeared, I said 'fuck!'

It's at testiment to the episode that my mother (whose harshest swearword is 'suffering icecakes') niether looked shocked or told me off.

For long time readers, you'll know that my mother has seen every episode of Doctor Who. Ever. And that this series our usual unanimous opinions about episodes were split (with her loving the Ood ep and hating Pompeii, and me being quite vice versa). Today, we were unanimous once more - agreeing that it was the most heartstopping cliffhanger the show has yet to produce.

"It's just like the old days!" she sobbed, "Just like when Tom Baker's Doctor died! That was an agonising week to wait!"

I'll spare you the rest of the conversation (her giving me a breakdown of her opinon of every Doctor after that) except to say that she liked Peter Davidson but Colin Baker couldn't Doctor his way out of a paper bag.

After the shock had worn off, conversation immedietly turned to the BIG question. Is he or isn't he?

We have (gingerly) decided on no [for the moment]. Based on the following evidence and/or theories.

1. Jackie and Mickey are due next week and why would they be in a group picture with Ten if they weren't in the same episodes with the actor? It would have been better to keep their prescence a secret too.
2. I don't trust the media to keep a secret that big without it being leaked.
3. I saw a filming shot of a Christmas episode with a victorian scene, which seems a seriously elaborate set-up for the benefit of one newspaper if he's not coming back.
4. My theories - my money is on it being something to do with the hand. There was a truly pointless close-up of it about 5 seconds in. I'm guessing he'll regenerate, but it's prescence will give him the exact same DNA or something, so he'll still be the same. If so, can we get used to calling him Eleven?
5. Second theory - Jack snogs him. What? He's done it before to give someone life.
6. It seems a big unfair to cart off David Tennant halfway through a two parter episode in which he barely appears for more than ten minutes and to top it off, get's hit randomly.

So I'm hanging on to above!

I'm not saying I never want this Doctor to go. I know it eventually will happen but I was prepared for next year. NEXT YEAR. I kow I'll probably like the new Doctor when he comes, but I really want the old one for at least a few more episodes! Preferably the specials and season 5.

Now, onto the episode.

It was heart-stopping in my opinion, but not perfect. I sat cuddling the cushion (my default position for finales because I'm so nervous) and squeaked and wailed in all the right places.

At the same time though it wasn't perfect. Just a little too choppy in my opinion - no one had time to do any real acting because there was so much information to get across, done so quickly at times that I had to tell myself I'd go back and rewatch!

And yes, my little heart beat wildly at the running non-hug. If it had happened it would have been a hug for the ages wouldn't it? (Assuming she dropped the gun before impact)

At the same time though, it's like I've accepted that the ship is over. I'm hoping to be wrong, that DT will reappear from that glow, that they will get their long-awaited little moment. But I'm not as sure that they will as I was.

Random Thoughts:
Anyone else wonder when the milkman is getting his own spin-off?
Anyone else grin when they realised it was Saturday when the milkman said it? (Happens very rarely in TV land)
Loved the Shadow Proclamation and the billion namechecks and references present throughout.
Anyone else not really CARE about Davros? Seriously? I thought the Dalek presence alone was quite good and well done and not as boring as it was in a few previous episodes...but at the same time there was so much going on to worry about I was like 'take a ticket and get in line buddy'.
Did like the downplaying of Rose and her jealously of Martha. Quite amusing actually, if sad.
Who laughed when they realised that the opening credits just weren't going to be long enough for all the names?
What is this teeth thing everyone was going on about last week? Rose was fine and this phantom lisp people are accusing her of isn't there.
Had several million other thoughts, but can't remember any right now.

Eighteen Years - Chapter Five (Finally)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:29:29 GMT

Title: Eighteen Years

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Torchwood belongs to the BBC and was created by Russell T Davies. Fox Mulder belongs to 1013 Productions and Fox.

Ships: Owen/Tosh.

Spoilers: Mentions of To the Last Man.

Summary: Owen and Tosh receive messages from older versions of themselves who were accidentally sent back to 1990. The problem is that one of them wants their younger counterpart to prevent the accident that sent them back, and the other wants them to create it.

A/N: You thought I’d given up, didn’t you? Admit it! Normally you’d be justified – I’m terrible for getting paranoid that I can’t write and giving up. Up until yesterday I was um-ing and ah-ing, but I decided that the ending I had planned was to good to forget. The good news is that although the emotional ending of series two perhaps dents some of the mystery, this story won’t actually be too AU. Just imagine in being set early season two (and pretend that Fragments didn’t happen as it Jossed some of the early TW stuff from last chapter).

Previous Chapters: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four

The tiles in the morgue spread out in a circular pattern, expanding outwards across the floor, rising up to the domed ceiling and then gathering around the vent in the centre. The tiles were white and should have gleamed, but no bulb could ever make more than a dent in the gloom.

Normally they stripped the bodies, covered them with a sheet, and then they were left for Owen to slice and dice. But Owen wasn’t here, and as old and unrecognisable as this woman seemed, this was Tosh.

So Gwen had taken on the upsetting job of having to remove Tosh’s clothing and lay her out on the metal tray in the centre of the room. Uncomfortable at the idea of the modest Tosh lying in the open with just a thin sheet to cover her; Gwen found her a paper gown and placed the sheet over that so that only her face, neck, and arms were visible.

“Anything?”

Jack leaned over the metal railings above, Ianto joined him. It made Gwen think of cats circling a fish-bowl rim to get at the stricken fish below. Gwen glared up at them, ready to remind them that Tosh was a person, a friend- one of them- who deserved a lot more that Torchwood’s procedures would allow.

“I’m no expert,” she said shortly. “But it looks like she was run over.”

Jack looked grave. “They swerved- it was an accident.”

“Was this before or after you crashed into them and sent them eighteen years into the past?” she snapped.

“Before,” said Jack tightly. “And don’t look at me like that. I had to do it to prevent a paradox on a massive scale. Are two lives really worth a whole universe?”

Gwen’s eye narrowed is disbelief. “God Jack – it’s like you’re reading from a script! Doesn’t matter who it is or what the circumstances – you just want to shoehorn them so they fit your precious rules!”

“There was no other way!”

“You didn’t look for one!” she yelled. “You didn’t even tell us!”

“We didn’t get to say goodbye,” said Ianto. He was looking down at Tosh with red eyes, and Gwen gave him a sympathetic grimace.

“I wanted so much for it to be a trick,” she swallowed. “But I checked her whole body – her fingerprints match, same height, same build, same birthmark. I even thought about clones-”

“I’ve seen people aged by technology,” said Jack, “aged by years and years. But technology can’t fake stretch-marks and scars…they’re evidence that she really lived those years. She had a good life.”

“She’s got blisters from her shoes.” Her voice wavered. “And – and a tiny scar from surgery, and all those little things you would never think of.”

Ianto looked far-away. “We were just doing paperwork here all afternoon…and in that time Tosh lived and aged and died.”

Jack reached across and rubbed his shoulder sympathetically.

“I wasn’t even working really,” said Gwen suddenly, “I was on eBay looking for an iPod for Rhys. I was worried Tosh would check my computer history and tell Jack…”

“Nah, she wasn’t like that,” Jack grinned. “She would have given you a lecture on wanting something as technologically limiting as an iPod though…”

They shared a small, fond laugh.

“I suppose Owen’s out there somewhere too,” sighed Ianto. “Do you think they stayed in contact?”

“They shouldn’t have been ‘out there’ at all,” said Jack. “That’s what’s weird – you know procedure for Temporal Refugees from the near future.”

“I don’t,” said Gwen sharply.

Jack and Ianto suddenly looked uncomfortable. They shared a wary glance.

“I take it from that, I’m not going to like it. I thought we just tried to introduce them to society?”

“With the ones from the past, yeah,” said Jack. “But there’re too many risks with ones from the future.”

“With ones from the distant future we wipe their memories and build whole new lives,” explained Ianto. “But with ones from the near future there’re too many triggers that might bring back the memories.”

“What do you do then? Freeze them until they’re due to wake up?” asked Gwen sarcastically.

The two men looked down at her grimly.

“You don’t really freeze them?” she gaped. “You freeze them? These are people Jack!”

“You didn’t complain about Tommy-” Jack began.

“I thought it was weird! And at least there was a good reason for it. These people are being stored all because of an accident in time!” Her protests were magnified as they bounced off the tiles. “So what are we going to do now - go thaw Owen out?” she snapped.

Jack looked down thoughtfully. “Tosh and Owen aren’t stupid – and they know the rules, I’m guessing they must have convinced me to let them go.”

“Oh please Jack, you wouldn’t go against a Torchwood procedure if E.T himself asked for phone call. They must have known you’d try it and they must have escaped.”

“We’ve got another problem,” said Ianto. “Those eggs from this morning? Tosh took them with her. If you’d picked them up with them in 1990, they’d still be in storage.”

“If they’d been anywhere near them at the time, I would have checked ‘em out and stored ‘em,” said Jack. “And at the moment? Not my biggest problem.”

“What are we gonna do with the body?” asked Gwen, who knew the answer and was ready to fight Jack on Tosh’s behalf.

“Usual procedure. Storage.”

Gwen was ready for it. “Oh no, Jack! You can’t! There’s no need – as far as anyone has to know, it was a hit and run. What if she has a partner? Friends?”

Jack sighed. “Fine, check it out. If she’s got family, they can have her back when we’re done.”

Gwen smiled at this small battle won for Tosh, and reached for the phone found on the body. She’d stored it in a plastic bag as evidence, but her best chance of finding information was to go through it.

It was a jumped-up ultra-modern phone that looked like it could have transformed into a micro-sports-car at a push of the right button. Tosh must have spent so long living in what would have felt like the technical dark ages, that she had bought the most futuristic phone on the market, Gwen thought sadly.

By pure chance, as she picked it up it came to life and started ringing.

Jack was down the stairs in seconds and at Gwen’s side as she ripped the phone out of the bag. Unfortunately it was so ultra modern that it was not entirely obvious how to open or answer it. Jack snatched it from Gwen and answered it as easily as if it were his own.

“Hi? Yeah? No this isn’t…who is this? Now’s not a very...yeah…I’ll tell her. Thanks.”

“It wasn’t a cold call was it?” Ianto called down to them. “How depressing would that be – the only people who care about you when you’re missing want you to upgrade.”

Jack stared at Tosh’s body as if reprimanding it for not being more forward with information.

“That was St. Alastair’s High School,” he said. “Tosh’s son is missing.”

---

When Owen came to, all he could see were chalk-white tiles and a vent high above him. Jack had once told him that before a refurbishment in 1920, this area had been an incinerator and for the first time he fully appreciated how fit for purpose the room could have been.

He tried to lift his head, and couldn’t. All he could do was work out what he could from his sense.

Well he was in Torchwood for a start. The morgue- but he wasn’t dead. They usually put unconscious suspects in there or used it when there was more than one patient. That meant that Jack had tracked them down pretty quickly after they crashed, eighteen years before they were hit, into a post box in Bannimore Street.

He’d also been drugged, if his inability to tense his muscles was anything to go by. And a cold plastic tube had been inserted up his nose. Liquids were drained out of him and fed into him through needles pinching at his inner arms and the top of his hands, and around him machines bleeped as they took readings from pads stuck onto to his chest.

Jack had been right, when he said that Owen knew procedure. He knew that a flick of those switches near him would set the clicking and bleeping and pumping machines in motion as they stopped monitoring and set about controlling his breathing, temperature, and life signs. Before he knew it, it would be goodnight 1990, hello freezer.

“What’s your name?” ordered the seemingly disembodied voice of Jack.

Ah, Owen knew that old chestnut. Jack was standing directly behind Owen’s head – the only place where Owen couldn’t see him from his current position.

“Fox Mulder,” he said sarcastically.

“Why does your ID call you Owen Harper then?”

Thank god he’d left the new fake IDs in the boot- that might have been awkward to explain.

“Why did you ask me a question you already knew the answer to?”

“How did you come to be here?”

“I shouldn’t have to explain the biology to you of all people Jack. As for how I came to be in Torchwood, I’m guessing you drugged me and Tosh and drove us here. Where is Tosh?”

“Tell me how you know me.”

Owen’s mind was working fast. He had to win Jack over, and do it quick. Jack wanted to get information from him so that he could figure out when to set the clock to wake Owen up. But that couldn’t happen without royally screwing up the timeline – he and Tosh were meant to be out in the world.

He needed Jack to understand him, respect him, and admit that in some cases Torchwood procedures were wrong. And he needed him to do it in the next few minutes. Owen didn’t think he’d managed it in all the time he’d known Jack.

And this Jack was even less reasonable than the Jack Owen knew. This Jack didn’t have Gwen to remind him that he should care about people, or Tosh to reason with him, or even Ianto to love him. He definitely didn’t have the resolution Jack had managed to scrape together to plaster over his many issues.

Why hadn’t Tosh woken up first? She’d have won him over.

“Look mate-”

“I’m not your ‘mate’.”

Okay, that approach wasn’t going to work. He had to give Jack something he wanted and show they were on the same side, but if he told him too much, Jack freeze them, finish his filing, and be ordering dinner in less than half an hour.

“My name is Owen Harper. I work for Torchwood – for you.”

“When?”

“Look – I’ll tell you. But I need to know something first.”

“What?”

“My wife, Toshiko, is she okay?”

Be honest and professional, and then blatantly lie. Why hadn’t he thought of it before?

“Toshiko Sato?”

“You bring any other Toshikos in today?”

That was met with the sort of ill-humoured silence only a military person could produce.

“Never mind. We both work for Torchwood. For you. I’d tell you to check your records, but I’m not on ‘em yet.”

“What year?”

“Nice try,” Owen smirked – just about the only thing he could do, “no deal. I want to see my wife. She works for you too.”

Jack’s voice was threatening. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t toss you both in deep freeze permanently? Why should I trust you?”

Owen would have shrugged if he could. “You probably can’t trust me. But you can trust her. And if you want some kind of proof…I know you in the future, and I’m from far enough ahead to know that right now you shouldn’t be old enough to be a Private, much less a Captain…and even though I can’t see you I’m betting that you don’t look a day younger than my Jack.”

Silence, once again.

“I’ll let you see her,” he was informed. “Then you’ll both be interviewed.”

---

A/N: If anyone is a) still reading, b) still cares, or c) actually liked it, I would love to know. Me actually being determined enough to finish the fic should be worth a teensy review

I took a bit of liberty with some description of the morgue, but I thought it worked even if it may not be exactly how it is on TV. Hope the characterisation and writing.

Writer's Block: Facets of a Hero

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:16:29 GMT

What makes a hero?

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I was thinking about this the other day froma writing perspective. I came to the conclusion that a hero is any character (or person) who it willing to sacrifice their life for someone else's or for the greater good. I can't think of many sucessful heros who don't fit the model or haven't done it/have been going to.

Would that make a villian a character (or person) who is willing to sacrifice someone else's life for their own purposes?

Writer's Block: The Bad Habit

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:02:37 GMT

Talk about a habit that you just cannot break.

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How about ten million?

I have have loads, I'll make an effort, and yet I still monumentally fail to give them up for longer than a few weeks.

Biting my nails - I gave it up for a YEAR and had long nails but they were really soft and broke and then they were short again and the biting crept back *scowl*

Cracking my neck. Everyone hates it. I had a colleaugue that groaned with revulsion at it, but it's really uncomfortable if I don't.

Actually, now I have to think of them, those are the only two that really crop up as a real habit. I don't (and never have) smoke, I drink very little, I've never taken drugs...

Woo! I'm less habit-riddled than I thought!

Writer's Block: Comebacks

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:21:05 GMT

Know any great comebacks?

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My all time favourite comebacks are from Fraiser - Roz and Niles are great at them.

Niles: Dad, Roz, what are you doing here?
Roz [sarcastically taking Martin's hand]: We're on a date. I'm gonna be your new Mom.
Niles: Well I'll be the son of a bitch.

[Martin and Fraiser are trying to get a stuck Chunky bar out of a vending machine, Fraiser has put his arm inside and Martin's banging the glass]
Roz: What's going on?
Martin: We've got a stuck Chunky!
Roz [with a look at Fraiser]: Well why did Chunky put his arm in there?

Speaking of another sort of comeback, Sky One is counting down the 50 Greatest Celebrity and TV Comebacks this Sunday. The information box says 'Who or what will be number one?'

Real subtle guys.

£50 says a certain Timelord will be taking the top spot.

Who Review - TURN LEFT

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:34:39 GMT

Well, I'm blown away. This is being typed BEFORE I see the squeeing/wailing/screeching on other threads.

It seems that the better this season has become, the worse my own personal luck has. All the episodes I've longed and waited for have been marred by something unfortunate happening to me in person to dampen my enjoyment. With Silence in the Library, I'd hurt my back. Tonight, I was struck down by stomach ache.

However, nothing, not even appendixcitus (and who doesn't hysterically consider that they might have it at the first stomach twinge) could have stopped my squeeing at the beginning, gaping throughout, and hugging myself with glee at the end.

I'm going to start with the last five minutes, because they were possibly the most exciting of any episode ever.

Finally the Doctor knows, even if it does mean the end of the world. And wasn't his face just a picture? My little shipper heart just beat wildly...

Obviously, I wanted Doctor/Rose moments galore, but I always knew it wasn't going to happen this week. The waiting is part of the fun, after all, and the last five minutes were payoff. Not to mention the total change of subject on the 'were you and he...?' question and Rose's adoption of his 'I'm so sorry' trademark. Not to mention the hair quote - I laughed out loud.

I'm sure this will shock you, but I'm going to talk about Donna now. I'm sure you all know how little time I normally devote to her *grin*

Well, talk about a revelation. She won ME over, and I'm already a signed up, flag waving, Donna Noble groupie.

I was always a sucker for a 'what might have been' plot and the revelation that Donna Noble was the key to everything had me grinning like a loon. I want her to stay, but my money is on her being, oh I don't know, the Anthromorphic Personification of Time (look up Thief of Time of Wikipedia - Discworld novel about what happened when a human fell in love with Time and they had a son...Terry Pratchett is god).

In essence, without Donna Noble, life sucks. I couldn't agree more.

Donna Watch:
I think the episode rather had it covered.
Her chemistry with Rose was just amazing, for a start. She got all the good lines (Vera Duckworth being a good one, and so many others.)
Absolute favourite moment is her getting fired. Every line was a gem and we've all wanted to do that rant. Her kicking the draw shut was just the icing on the cake.
It finally clicked how important Donna really was with the Doctor's theorising towards the end. How did I miss that?

Rose Watch:
Well she's back, and I can stop putting every unaccounted for blink, bit of graffitti, picture, hat, or mysterious person down as 'something to do with Rose'.
BAD WOLF...how good it was to hear those words! Who was sure it was going to be 'Rose Tyler'?
Didn't like the outfit at first, but it grew on me.
I was worried she'd be different, but really she'd not. More experienced - but only as a natural follow on to how she was starting to be in season 2. And even this more experienced self has the Doctor stamped all over her.
Bring on her FINALLY meeting him!

Random Thoughts
Loved the gritty war-camp feel to the evacuation, etc. But I think the work camp thing was taking it just a step too far.
Speaking of, how great was their housemate? Great character. Hope we get to see him in the real world.
Great acting all around.
Loved that all those people who whined 'Why didn't the Adipose go to America?' got shown.
How awful life would be without the Doctor. Thank god he's alive. Not that he's real. I knew that. *shifty eyes*
Who's breath didn't freeze at the 'deaths' of Martha and Sarah-Jane (and the QUEEN!)?
Can think of a million other things but need to watch again first!
Oh - great acting from Donna's mum and grandad. The mum, especially, shone.

Things I Liked:
I think the entire review covers it.

Things I Didn't:
See work camps above.
The bug...looked fake...much better when we didn't see it. And why were they calling it a spider? It was clearly a beetle.

Next Week:
WOW WOW WOW. Worrying lack of Doctor/Rose interaction but they're probably taunting us.
Gwen and Ianto - I had been dissapointed not to see them in the promo pic, but can breathe easy now (or as easy as one can before the finale).
*Not thinking about how there's no Doctor Who to look forward to next year* *denial*

Time for some Emmy rants...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:59:43 GMT

1. Dear John Simm, why are you doing voiceovers for everything? You're the voice of the co-operative bank for crying out loud (an advert that preaches the banks good morals and plays Liza Minnelli's Money Makes the World Go Round). Considering that you've last been seen kicking arse in Life on Mars and playing The Master in Doctor Who, you don't leap out as either a moral spokesman or a Cabaret fan. Yes your soft northern tones probably appeal to some key demographic, but still.

2. Dear David Tennent - what advert have you been doing voiceovers for? I distinctly heard your voice, but was in the kitchen and ever since I haven't seen the ad.

Advert voiceovers interest me, obviously.

3. Dear Dole Pineapple, why is it impossible to open any tin, packet, or tub without being drenched in pineapple juice? And why didn't you bother to label the SIX tins I brought that were in syrup instead of juice? Who the hell needs syrup with pineapple?

Transcript from 50 Ways to Leave Your TV Lover

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:57:00 GMT

Transcript from 50 Ways to Leave Your TV Lover

FERN BRITTON (PRESENTER): Now at number one is a pair of star-crossed lovers if ever their was one, as Rose and the Doctor are torn apart through time and space.

[Clip of them with their faces pressed against their opposite walls]

CLAYTON HICKMAN (DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE): Being sucked into a parallel universe and being seperated for all eternity is kind of at least a ten on the one to ten scale of how to leave your lover. It's not something we'd all want to do but it's pretty much the ultimate heartbreak.

FERN BRITTON (Over clip showing Rose falling): In one of Doctor Who's most dramatic plotlines, Rose has to pull a switch that will send the Daleks to an alternate universe...there's only one problem...

[Clip of her falling]

DAVID SCHNEIDER (ACTOR AND COMEDIAN): Ah, Doctor Who and Rose, I don't think enough time has passed for me to talk about that without becoming a wreck. In fact, [laughs] tragically, that's true and I might have to be quiet now...

[Clip of Rose banging on the wall and screaming 'bring him back']

FERN BRITTON (VO): In fact, this level of emotion was fairly new for Doctor Who as it was part of it's reinvention by RTD.

ANTHONY HEAD (MR. FINCH): I think in that way Russell was very clever - he allowed there to be some chemistry. In the new series he's allowed it to bubble under to give it a-a new tension.

JOHN SIMM (THE MASTER): I sit down and watch it with my little boy, we can't wait for it, it's just brilliant, we talk about it later...yeah it's just brilliantly reinvented.

[Clip of Rose crying and him walking away]

CLAYTON HICKMAN: It's kind of a tender emotional journey for Rose - she gets to know this man, gets to love this man, gets to love the life he leads - and then just as they're getting close, just as they're basically becoming almost lovers, he's taken away from her.

[Clip on the beach]

CLAYTON HICKMAN: You really get to see their chemistry on screen, so when they're torn apart it's just heartbreaking, because the pair of them are just so good together.

[I love you/quiet right too clip]

And for those who have access, it's repeated on Sky Two at 10pm tonight.

Who Review - Midnight

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:53:46 GMT

What has Russell T Davies started?

This episode will have thrown any watcher back to the period of their lives when their favourite game was repeating every word said to them. Oh go on, own up, we all did it. My problem was that my parents had clearly made a pact to keep at it until I gave up, so I got sick of the game long before they did.

I suspect that many other parents didn't have the force of will to put up with it for long and therefore I can only imagine many of them groaning as they watched on Saturday. We've forked out for the DW bedcovers, they think, the Judoon mask, the Ood Globe, we're on a waiting list for a Cuddly Adipose, we've even endured weeks of 'Sontar-ha!', 'Don't Blink', 'Are you my Mummy?', and we're still getting over the double whammy of 'Hey who turned out the lights?/Donna Noble has left the library, Donna Noble has been saved'. Now we're being forced to put up with this?

Well, that's parenthood.

Russell T Davies must be feeling just a bit smug right now though. Because while his writing has been critisized in the past, he pulled it out of the bag this time.

I usually like a RTD (or Rusty as I gleefully have heard him called) episode. Even Voyage of the Damned. I was confident that I liked all of his episodes in fact, right until I remembered that he'd penned my least favourite episode ever (Tooth and Claw) and my other least liked (Fear Her). But nine times out of ten, he's spot on for me, and he proved so this episode.

The fact it aired on the day he get's his OBE can't have gone down too badly either.

So, onto the actual review. Why did I love the episode?

Reason One: There is no plot I like more that six or seven random people being trapped together and getting to know each other. It always interests me - I liked it in Speed, and I liked it in this. was there anyone out there, besides me, who didn't secretley hope that nothing would go wrong and they'd all just talk for the next 40 mins?

Reason Two: Lack of Donna. I KNOW! Normally an episode without Donna is a wasted episode. Even now I look back at season three and think 'I wish Donna had been in it'. The only reason I wouldn't want Donna in season 1 & 2 is because my love of Doctor/Rose is slightly higher. Going into this episode, the lack of Donna concerned me, and more annoyingly, I missed most of the first section with her in it because the cat needed letting in. But as I watched, I came to realise that this episode really showed us a new side to the Doctor that we would never see with a companion with him, DT got to show some real acting skills off without having to share the screen with another regular. Besides, next week is Donna heavy, so I can look forward to that.

Reason Three: Rose! Not once, not twice, but three times! Granted, two of those were mentions by the Doctor, in passing. But let's face it - he hasn't made so many (or any) voluntary mentions since the Shakespeare Code. I would have been more excited about the TV spotting if I hadn't been expecting it from the Digital Spy spoilers. Must stop reading them...

Random Thoughts:
For the first time ever, I recognised NONE on the supporting cast and didn't torture myself with 'where have I seen them?'
Great acting all around - goes without saying.
Rose Tyler Martha Jones Donna Noble TARDIS - trying saying that three times fast - or one time fast. It's not as easy as they made it look.
Poor Lesley Sharp - not only did she have to learn her own lines, but five other peoples' as well.
Speaking of Lesley sharp - is there a thing in her contract saying to has to be posessed by something? She's been doing it on Medium (or whatever it was called) and now this...
No TARDIS. My mum proved her DW knowledge (she's watched every single episode since the very first one aired when she was 13) by telling me that she hadn't seen an episode without a TARDIS since the mid seventies. The fact file confirmed this - 1975.

Doctor Watch (Donna Watch has been temporarily suspended, another shuttle will be along next week):
The Doctor's really in the holiday mood isn't he? Letting loose by taking his tie off.
We've found out why he need companions - to hide behind.
My god it was scary as he was being dragged away...
And who didn't feel like they'd been punched in the gut when he asked the hostess's name?

Things I Liked:
Most of the episode...
The TARDIS going somewhere with the intention of having a holiday.
The acting.

Things I Didn't:
The hostess's sacrifice - as good as it was, it seemed a bit forced.
Trailer for next week...Donna can't die!!!!
Trailer for next week...looks scary.
Trailer for next week...Rose seems to have changed A LOT.

Well 'm off now. Remember - Doctor and Rose are on 50 Ways to Leave Your TV Lover tonight!

Where oh where have all the good ideas gone?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:32:07 GMT

Okay, recently, my writing has gone to hell in a handbasket. I feel uninspired and that the writing I do is apalling.

Got to get going again, so I am forcing myself to finish two of my most recent outstanding fics:

Misdirection (Ashes to Ashes)
Eighteen Years (Torchwood)

No matter how traumatising it is to even read them back, I'm going to keep on going.

Wish me luck!

At long last...

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:29:26 GMT

It's a long known truth that I royally suck at making music videos. That is, if by 'royally suck', you mean 'wouldn't know where to start'.

So I've got used to listening to a song, thinking 'that would make a great whatever video' but a youtube check proves that no one has done it yet.

Suds in the Bucket was a longtime video fantasy that was never made...until a youtube search today found one!

The song really fits! And thanks to whoever did make it!

...Now all I need is for Sky One to show the full length trailer for 50 Ways to Leave Your TV Lover (the full length one has Doctor/Rose)

Writer's Block: Banished to Space.

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:58:45 GMT

If you were exiled to outer space, where would you be sent and what would you bring along?

View other answers

To the TARDIS, of course!

Seriously? Anywhere that's not too 'spacey'. I don't really like Sci-Fi because of Space-stuff (excepting the Doctor) so somewhere like earth! I'd bring along my books and clothes (dunno if my tech would work) and I'd want a space-ship!

WHO REVIEW (Two episodes late, I know!)

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 10:15:25 GMT

Emmy is not happy...

(Spoilers for last night's ep)

I'm happy about the episode, I mean, because it was a stonker.

But I'm not happy about this Donna treatment. She gets ignored for an episode and then looses the love of her life by sheer accident!

We've only got three episodes of her left (sob) and I demand you start treating this woman better until you snuff her or whatever you evil producers have planned. From now on when I think of the dreaded finale, I'm thinking of her ending up with Mr. Hot Stammerer.

Donna herself was on fine form - getting a very interesting storyline all of her own. You can tell she's played a lot of wives and mothers (and is one) before because she looked so natural playing Mothering!Donna.

The rest of the episode I could gush about, but with all Moffat episodes, the fun was in having it all click together. I actually punched the air when I realised that Doctor Moon was the virus checking moon, although to be honest I'd long ago worked out the girl was the controller and that saved meant, well, saved.

River Song grew on me this episode as well, especially when she worked out she was meant to die (or not, as it happens). Yes, she was far less annoying, more rounded, and as such I actually grew to like her a little.

That said, the name thing annoyed me a little. Partly because I always want it to be one of those things that no-one knows. I truly believe that if we ever found out the name, the show would die, so having it bandied about (even unheard by us) is annoying. That said, why did she apologise like it was going to cause him pain? And finding out she'd said his name also spoiled the little fantasy that it was something to do with ROSE. You'll have figured by now that every unnacounted for word, movement, blink, or bit of music goes down in my mind as 'something to do with ROSE'.

I think we can all rest safe that River Song won't be coming back as a full time companion though - it would kind of take the drama away because we always know that the Doctor survives in some form or other, and so the danger is aways to the companion. If she came back, we'd KNOW what happens to her already, so neither of them would be in any real danger which would make putting them in the midst of scary CGI effects pretty redundant.

You'll find most of my critisism for this episode isn't about the actual plot, acting, or anything to do with the epsode - it's all about the hints or lack of hints for the future.

In fact, my main dissapointment this week came from the trailer for next week....where THE HELL was Rose? They're just taunting us, aren't they? She'll be in it for about 5 seconds at the end...

Random Thoughts:
Gotta love a monster who uses no CGI at all (Moffat seems to like them - since the child itself didn't need CGI in his first 2 parter, the clockwork monsters didn't, and the Weeping Angels just used a lot of plaster).
Loived it when they all survived at the end...I was gutted when that black woman got killed.
Spoilers! I suppose running into a future friend is the time-travel equivilent of clicking on the wrong link...
Scariest moment: When the Doctor was speaking to Other Dave and then he turned around and Dave was dead too..."Hey, who turned out the lights?" and "Doctor, we've got to go NOW". I did guess it had happened after he kept saying it in the same tone though.
Going down through the floor. Has to be the cheesiest get-out moment ever.
Who else seriously wanted that white dress Prof. Song wore at the end?
For that matter, who was epecting a 'computer' Doctor that she'd invented to step into the kid's bedroom?
If she had, would the BBC have sued her for theft of a character's image?

Donna Watch:
Mummy!Donna
Wife!Donna
PYJAMAS!Donna
Alright!Donna
Three episodes left to go, hence upset!Emmy

Things I Liked:
The plot, the writing, the usual Moffat goodness.
The return of Miss. Evangelista - who saw that coming? I knew it was her as soon as I heard the voice.
Everyone lives!
The moment between the Doctor and the girl in the suit.
The Doctor 'waking the computer up' with all the toys and papers flying around the girls room. Amused me immensley.
Thw twist of the REASON for the little girl in the computer.
The image of the devestated Doctor handcuffed to the wall. So many icon possibilities there. ;)
One episode until Rose.

Things I Didn't
Lack of Rose mentions.
Name thing (see above)
Three episodes until END.

Well, even if Rose is barely in it, at least we'll have the woman from Medium next week...

EDIT: Actually there are four episodes to go (Hurray!) so Rose won't be back until the one after (Aw!) and next week is a DonnaLite ep (Boooo!). Had my facts wrong before. *blush*

WARNING

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 08:48:02 GMT

Tee Hee. So true...off to cycling class now (not feeling up to it as had night out last night though!)

See you on the other side (of Doctor Who).

The First Sign of Becoming an Old Maid

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:20:37 GMT

I've always had a sneaking suspicion that I'm doomed to become an old maid. It happens to everyone of course, the dread of being old and alone with no children to comfort one and surrounded by cats/eaten by alsation [delete as appropriate].

I seem to be practically designed for spinsterhood, having an affection for cats, having (at the age of twenty) had zero relationships, and an old-fashioned view of life that ages me before my time. I couldn't be more perfect if I had warts and nostril-hair (I have neither - just to rest your fears).

This dread if usually cancelled out by fantasies of marriage, children, etc, but none hold true (although I'd certainly look into having children by other means if this lack of love persists into my 30s).

What's brought me back down to earth? Pure rotton luck.

I went out for an innocent spot of Aqua Aerobics and who should be there? The mother of my best friend from the ages of 4-15 who I lost contact with after no less that four moves of mine and one of hers.

She (my friend) is getting MARRIED and has been in a relationship for a year.

Not that I'd want that really - I'm far to set in my ways to settle down so early - but the years I thought I had before the biological clock started ticking and the wedding bells started chiming seem to have frighteningly shortened in the space of a conversation!