State of the Long Weekend

[nonelvis]

I had hoped to get some work done on a client website today, but since their VPN is down, I am stuck. Given that their site is due on Friday, I expect the next four days to be total chaos.

On the other hand, maybe this is just a sign from above that I should be slacking anyway, what with today being a holiday. It will also give me time to stop hyperventilating about the latest DW news, which manages to be wonderful, exciting, and annoyingly vague, all at the same time.

It's been a calm and pleasant weekend otherwise. I've gotten lots of cooking done (grilled buffalo burgers, homemade potato salad, and grilled summer squash on Saturday; tequila shrimp, garlicky yuca, and cabbage/carrot/jalapeño slaw last night; salads with many CSA veggies planned for tonight). I've also edited a friend's fic and spent some time working on another one of my own -- I think I need to just give up on saying "this is the last one," because every time I do that, my brain says, "Nope, here's another character you haven't tried writing, give that one a shot." And I read Warren Ellis' novel Crooked Little Vein, which I recommend unreservedly if you like Ellis' comic books, or if you enjoy wickedly funny, brutal, and vulgar prose. Here's an excerpt from the first chapter, which now holds second place on my list of "best first chapters I've ever read" (Snow Crash is still #1):

"What I am is unlucky," I snarled. "You know I got an adultery case last year? You know what the husband turned out to be doing at night? He had formed a sex cult that broke into an ostrich farm at midnight three times a week. You know what it's like, finding eight middle-aged guys having tantric sex with ostriches?"

The chief of staff made a sympathetic noise he'd probably learned off a talk show. "I'm not even sure I can imagine how to do that."

"I had that image in my head for two months. I couldn't have sex. My girlfriend came to bed one night in a feather boa and I started crying. She left me for a woman named Bob who designs strap-ons shaped like dolphin penises."

I laughed, I was horrified, I couldn't stop turning pages, I was squicked completely during one chapter, and then I laughed some more. I have William Gibson's Spook Country next on the to-be-read list, and though I know I'm going to enjoy it, I expect it will be a very, very different literary experience.

Edited to add: I can't believe I spent all this time praising Warren Ellis and forgot to use my new Nextwave icon.

Comments

[platypus]

The news is freaking me out a bit. Would they really to go such an extreme as to delay the fifth season to accommodate Tennant if they *weren't* keeping him on for another full year? There'd be no point in dribbling out three specials and regenerating him at the end of them, would there?

[nonelvis]

The press release is so deliberately vague about Series 5 casting that there are only really two possibilities:

1) They already know he'll be regenerating at the end of one of the specials, but can't let that slip now.

2) He's already signed on for Series 5, but they can't let that slip now, either.

I suppose there is also an outside chance of 3), he isn't signed on yet for Series 5 and they're in negotiations, but I think that's a real outside chance. Rusty keeps saying, "Oh, we're only commissioned a year in advance, I have no idea what might happen next," but he's proven over and over he's a baldfaced liar. Combine that with the fact that Tennant's schedule is obviously planned out way far in the future, and I have to think that the BBC knows damned well who's playing the Doctor in Series 5, and sadly, I'm not convinced it's Tennant.

On the other hand -- and man, apparently I have a lot to say about this -- DT loves his work, probably more than anyone else who's had the role. Resting the show gives him time to pursue other projects, hey, maybe even see his girlfriend in Los Angeles before her show gets cancelled, and also gives the Beeb enough time to figure out how to produce the show in HD.

I am hoping for 90-minute specials. Preferably with nudity.

[otherwise-nyc.livejournal.com]

Yay nudity!

Oh wait, you made that part up.

[nonelvis]

The BBC keeps thinking Doctor Who is a family show. Perhaps they are unfamiliar with those "internet" and "fandom" thingies, or totally oblivious to the UNBELIEVABLE HOTNESS of the show's lead actor.

[platypus]

All I'm asking is that he occasionally be stripped to the waist and tortured. Come on, they did it for Eccleston.

[nonelvis]

I can live with your scenario as long as also they bring back the TonguePr0n. It is morally wrong to give the Doctor the Magic Tongue of Licking Analysis and not allow him to use it onscreen. Frequently. While wearing the specs.

Not that I have any opinions about this.

[platypus]

The change in production schedule just seems like such a major move that they must have a very good reason for it. I'd really expected most of the production team and Tennant to take off after S4; if they're going easy for a year, it seems like it's being done to give all of them a break, which sort of implies that they'll return afterward. If there's going to be a new Doctor and a new producer for S5, why not just throw in the towel at the end of S4 proper? But whatever's going to happen, I'm sure it's planned. It's too big a shift for them not to have it completely worked out.

[nonelvis]

You know, upon re-reading the press release, I have also noticed that RTD's name is conspicuously absent from the Series 5 announcement. Now, one of the only things Rusty has said recently that I actually believe is that he won't be involved in casting a new Doctor. This could mean that someone else (say, Moffat) has been tapped for S5 and will handle the casting; it could also mean that Tennant is sticking around for S5, even if Rusty isn't.

The other thing I'm wondering about is if they know this far in advance that there's a regeneration, have they already cast someone else? Wouldn't that be an awfully long time for some actor, his agent, and any related blabbermouths to keep a secret? This could be evidence that we get to keep Tennant through S5, if only so that the BBC press office doesn't have to drive itself crazy trying to plug leaks.

As they say on Outpost Gallifrey, I'll be over here in the straw-clutching corner.

[iainpj.livejournal.com]

You know, my guess would be that they know that Tennant isn't going to be there, but that they're not even going to try to start casting until after the specials. It would, as you say, be a very long time to keep a secret. (That said, given Who history, it's possible that whoever they want to cast has already been on the show as a guest star, but they're unavailable for a normal season start, so they're holding the new season until they are available.)

They're also, I note, completely silent about the doctor's assistants for the specials. I wouldn't expect Catherine Tate to be back, but they also say nothing about Agyeman. I wonder if, after this season, they'll maybe shift her permanently to Torchwood (where she'd be a better fit, really), or if she's completely done after season 4.

[nonelvis]

As you might guess, the Rosefen have already jumped to the conclusion that the specials could be about a reunion, which would certainly be one legitimate explanation as to why a new companion hasn't been mentioned. Not that I have any objection to some closure for that storyline (memo to Rusty: leaving the girl crying on the beach is not a "good ending for her"); I just have grave doubts that we'll ever see it onscreen.

I wouldn't mind seeing Freema join the Torchwood cast permanently either, though I don't know if that's in the cards. You do know that the scriptwriters had to cut out all swearing from Martha's lines so that the kiddies who might watch TW for her won't be exposed to any naughtiness?

[iainpj.livejournal.com]

Given that the doctor had to drain a supernova just to talk to Rose, somehow, I can't see them so quickly thinking, "Oh, well, let's just do something and get her back, then." (Though I have wondered how she'd work in a universe where she had no analogue, and how Pete explained her and the fairly drastic changes in Jackie. "It was the Cybermen. They zapped Jackie's brain, and miraculously gave us a full grown daughter!")

As for Martha, no, I hadn't heard about sanitizing her lines. So she's got no scenes at all with Owen, I'd think, then, considering he cusses quite a bit. In that case, I'd imagine that she won't be back there after season 4, either, unless they want to do a LOT of cleanup generally. (What I want to know is what they're doing with the actual stories. For example, Owen comedy rapist and the orgasm monster would seem a bit much to aim at all ages. Although, that said, judging from the Doctor Who comics, the British are considerably less protective of their kids when it comes to media than we are.)

[nonelvis]

(Though I have wondered how she'd work in a universe where she had no analogue, and how Pete explained her and the fairly drastic changes in Jackie. "It was the Cybermen. They zapped Jackie's brain, and miraculously gave us a full grown daughter!")

Clearly you haven't been reading much post-"Doomsday" fic ;-) One common explanation is "Jackie was never fully cyberized, so we were able to recover her -- but none of your relatives, sorry -- um, and did we mention we had a daughter we gave up for adoption years ago?"

So she's got no scenes at all with Owen, I'd think, then, considering he cusses quite a bit.

Actually, what I've heard is that she clashes directly with Owen. I don't actively hate Owen, but I'm still looking forward to Martha kicking his ass, literally and/or figuratively.

[otherwise-nyc.livejournal.com]

That Warren Ellis novel sounds like a really fun romp. I may have to read that.

In between the eleventy-million other things I have to read!

[nonelvis]

Heh. You would love it. It's a short book and a very fast read, plus one of the protagonists is a sexy, tattooed, dark-haired, polyamorous, kinky PhD student.

[mmancuso.livejournal.com]

NOW you have my attention. It seems I'm checking this book thing out, after all. :)

[nonelvis]

A female PhD student, my dear. Sorry ;-)

[mmancuso.livejournal.com]

Oh. Not Billy Zane? I see.... how much is the book *used* then?

[nonelvis]

Amazon has it used from $12.97. New, in hardback (it was just released, after all), they're selling it for $14.93.

Or you could borrow it from me for free ;-)