I am a weak, weak fangirl

[sholio]

So we watched the first two episodes of Dr. Who ...

It's fun! I love how they've captured so much of the feeling of the old show -- the theme music, the Doctor's cheerfully psychotic grins, the utter goofiness of the plots -- but with updated f/x and really snappy writing. As opposed to the sort of unintential hilarity of the old series, this one's got its tongue firmly implanted in cheek. Homicidal mannequins! Ferris Wheels of Doom! The reset button that just happens to be located at the end of a catwalk with spinny fans of death! (Was I the only one who thought of Galaxy Quest during that scene? "We shouldn't have to DO this! It makes NO LOGICAL SENSE! Why is it HERE?") And of course, there's classic Dr. Who Blind Spot Syndrome. (Dr. Who characters are phenomenally easy to sneak up on. My husband and I used to observe with the older series, that you could have a marching band and maracas and still walk up behind someone and clunk them over the head as long as you stayed out of their direct line of sight.)

But what makes it all work is an underlying sense of, well, reality, in the midst of all the goofiness. Rose's working-class life; calling her mom from the end of the world; the tears in the Doctor's eyes when the tree lady (waah! *mourns tree lady*) started talking about his homeworld. There's a feeling of wonder and hope about the series that really reminds me of the classic SF that I used to read as a teenager -- an old-school sort of melancholy beauty and hopefulness.

(Oh, and the second episode was just GORGEOUS! I just want to stare at the lovely shots of Rose bathed in golden light watching the end of the world. They must have blown the BBC special effects budget for a year. *g* I anticipate a couple of upcoming moneysaver episodes in which they travel to planets that look suspiciously like London...)

And since when can a human body withstand temperatures that can incinerate wood? Or are Time Lords that much more resilient than human beings? Okay, now I'm really over-thinking this...

Comments

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

*laughs* You too? Why a I not surprised! ^_^ (have you read any of the original official novels? my first exposure to fanfic, really!)
The heyday of my Trekkie days were mostly pre-internet, but yep - TOS and TNG both! My mother was a Trekkie back in the day, and one of my first h/c memories is the family catching an ep on reruns and my mom wanting to watch because it was an ep she remembered as a favorite. I remember watching it and understanding exactly why she liked it - the ep in question being "Amok Time" which really, you can't beat, when it comes to the K/S/M friendshipping! (well, except perhaps "The Empath" which isn't so much an episode as a fanfic that got filmed by mistake XD)

[sholio]

EMPATH! *swoons* I wonder, who did the h/c fanficcers have to bribe in order to get that script produced?

My love for TOS goes back to a VERY early age -- in fact, some of my very first introductions to h/c were the little scenarios that my sister and I would spin for the characters, back when we were in grade school. I remember adoring the episode where Spock and McCoy got sent back in time to the ice age, at the age of about seven or so, and not really understanding WHY ... just knowing that Spock swearing he wouldn't leave McCoy alone in the storm sent happy little shivers through me.

It's always been Spock and McCoy that really do it for me -- I think I mostly appreciate Kirk as an adjunct to that relationship. Because ... just ... Kirk, not really my thing. Whereas Spock and McCoy both still make me weak-kneed, together or separately. But it's nearly impossible to find fic that focuses just on the two of them, without Kirk being there (not that I mind him; it's just that he's not specifically what I read for).

[sholio]

Oh, and yes, I have read some of the novels, although fanfic just does such a better job of scratching that itch -- I haven't read tie-in novels in some time, except for a couple for SGA just recently. But, yes, back in my pre-Internet, pre-fanfic days (i.e. the Dark Ages), we used to have some TOS novels and I loved them, especially the one I still remember in which Spock fell off a cliff and went into a coma...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

XDDDD you, get outa my head! I am about 99% positive that the Spock-falling-off-a-cliff was the very first ST novel I ever read ^^ My local library had a bunch of them, when I moved up into the adult SF section they were one of the first things I found.

The very first tie-in novels - not the series out now but the first run that's long out of print - were penned by fanficcers, from what I know. In particular there was a short story collection that was, as far as I can tell, culled from zines. That book was some of the first 'pure' h/c I ever read. Reading it now, the stories are pretty poorly written by the best fic standards, but I can remember reading this one story and being blown away by the h/c, having never read its like in such concentrated form. (Except maybe the last book of LotR...)

[sholio]

I am about 99% positive that the Spock-falling-off-a-cliff was the very first ST novel I ever read ^^

LOL! Why does that not surprise me...

Written by fanficcers, really? Hee! Even today, I know of a couple of fanficcers who've moved into writing official tie-in books, and I think most of the "official" SGA books are fan-written, which is why I tried a few -- but I still like the unofficial fic best.