Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 100

The First Face This Face Saw

[crossposted at Doctor Her]

I know that most of us are thinking REALLY HARD about The Angels Take Manhattan right now, but I wanted to step back for a moment and talk instead about a thought that emerged from the previous episode, The Power of Three.

“The first face this face saw,” the Eleventh Doctor said to Amy, explaining why it is that he has been so very emotionally attached to her, and by extension, Rory, over the last several hundred years. Much like “I always took you where you needed to be” from The Doctor’s Wife, this one line throws the whole history of Doctor Who into a new light.

I’ve always subscribed to the idea that the Ninth Doctor was freshly regenerated in “Rose,” and that he went off to have a bunch of adventures in that instant before he and the TARDIS came back for her and he upped his offer: “Did I mention it also travels in time?” Not only is this a nice thought because it means he got to have a bunch of adventures on his own, but it allows him to appear at various points through history in his leather jacket, thereby catching the attention of Clive.

But Rose could well have been the first face that his Ninth face saw. At least, the first non-Auton, non-dead face. The first person he talked to, the first person he told to “Run.” Extending this thought further, this could be why he came back for her at the end of the episode, once he thought of something new to tempt her with. And maybe even that “run” was the first word he said, also imprinting itself upon the destiny of his incarnation of the Doctor.

Yes, I’m arguing that the Doctors set their own themes in the first moments of life. Bear with me.

I know that many fans are annoyed by the perceived “specialness” of Rose, while others love her best and most above all others. Well, she is special. Because she may well be the only person whom the Doctor saw first in two incarnations. With the Ninth, it’s arguable, but it’s definite with the Tenth. He regenerated in the TARDIS, and the first face his face saw was Rose, crying and angry and bouncing emotions off the walls. Rose, who loved him.

Yep, this explains a lot about the Tenth Doctor.

But does the theory hold up into the Classic series? I had a long walk this morning, which always does ferocious things to my brain, and I’m here to tell you that maybe it DOES.

Some are drawing a longer bow than others, I’ll admit. The first face the Eighth Doctor saw was that of a morgue technician screaming at him for being alive. But the surgeon who killed him, Grace Holloway, certainly can have had an effect on who he was as a Doctor. Did he see her through the anaesthesia? Does his grogginess explain the weird hallucination about being half human?

The Seventh Doctor is a way better example. The first face his face saw was his old enemy the Rani, pretending to be his companion Mel. No wonder he spent his whole incarnation as a sneaky, suspicious and manipulative dark version of himself! Apart from the whole spoon-playing phase which was obviously caused by the strobing effect from Mel’s psychelic apricot striped outfit.

The Sixth Doctor tried to kill the first face his face saw, the argumentative Peri, and his incarnation was certainly characterised by bickering and violence.

The Fifth Doctor saw three young people he barely knew: Adric, Nyssa and Tegan, and spent the rest of his regenerative crisis freaking out and impersonating his former selves. I have no idea what effect this had on his personality. But it does explain why he and/or the TARDIS failed so utterly to return Tegan to her workplace over and over again, despite her stated wishes.

The first faces the Fourth Doctor saw were Sarah Jane Smith and the Brig. Interesting then that he set out to distance himself quickly from UNIT and his previous life on earth. A born contrarian? Still, there’s no denying that he remained more closely attached to them both than almost any other companions of the classic era. He sent Sarah a K9, after all, and he always came back for Alistair Gordon.

The first face that the Third Doctor’s face saw was a random squaddie who shot him. He then spent five years living with and working for the military, despite the fact that this was dramatically against anything established for the character previously.

And finally, the Second Doctor. His very first regeneration, and the first people he saw were Ben and Polly. There was nothing particularly special about them, though it is worth noting that he spent his entire incarnation with companion pairs of a boy and a girl, except for the one time that Jamie stowed away.

The first faces that the first regenerated Doctor saw were human, though. And in fact, apart from Nyssa, Adric and the Rani, every first face his faces have seen have been human. No wonder he’s so attached to us all, to the humans who live on Earth. The First Doctor despised humans, and if he had any control over the TARDIS, would not have chosen to land on Earth nearly as often as he did. But the later Doctors… every one of them called Earth his home away from home.

And there we are, proof that I think about this stuff way too much.

[spoilers in the comments for the Angels Take Manhattan, btw]

Friday Links is not Married to a Crawley Sister

Downton Abbey is back! And slightly less nutso than season 2! I don’t have a link for this, I just wanted to say it.

Great discussion on publishers and how they all do things completely differently, from Justine Larbalestier and Diana Peterfreund.

The Royal Society is holding an edit-a-thon for Wikipedia to improve its information on female scientists. Link includes a bonus comic by Kate Beaton which explains exactly the problem of how female scientists have been treated historically.

Dan Slott writes a crazy long tweetrant about why trashing celebrities online is totally fine, but using their Twitter handle to push those comments in their face is just plain mean. And this is why we can’t have nice things. Worth reading in its entirety.

Excerpts from a speech by Geena Davis on the gender inequalities in TV/movies and the effect that this can have on real girls and women: “What our culture is saying with the lack of strong female leads and hypersexualization of female characters in shows for children is that girls and women are less valuable than boys and men. We’re training yet another generation not to notice gender imbalance.”

A new webcomic from Faith Erin Hicks, the writer/artist behind Friends with Boys. “Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong” is a teen story of robot competitions, school council and cheerleaders, and the first 20 pages are up now. The whole book will be posted online one page at a time, leading up to the print publication.

Geek Feminism looks at pipeline guilt, the pressure that many women feel to stay in non-traditional career paths so as not to contribute to the attrition rates of women in science etc.

Karen Gillan says goodbye to Doctor Who.

Reddit users mocking the image of a Sikh woman with facial hair are “righteously schooled” when the woman behind the photograph is terribly nice to them and explains her philosophy/religion. And then the guy who posted the pic apologises. Yes, really. ON THE INTERNET.

Speaking of trolls and apologies, this heartrending story of a man who was targeted online and how he discovered the real story behind the “troll” who had done such psychological damage to himself and his family.

Charlie Jane wonders if science fiction can bring back the epistolary novel. Some great ideas there though I can’t help thinking that actually epic fantasy is the genre that is most likely to attract long letter writers…

The Mary Sue presents Diane Krump, the first female jockey in the 60′s, and her awesome story. Especially the bit where she becomes the bionic woman.

Galactic Suburbia #69

New episode is up! You can download it from iTunes or our website.

In which we admire our Hugo pins, discuss the narrative around bestseller authors like JK Rowling, and take on the idea of what a Best Of anthology actually means.

News

HUGO PINS

Trifle Club

The Casual Vacancy released – are you going to read it?

Giveaway from ages ago – copy of Showtime goes to Terry Frost for Joshua York from George R R Martin’s Fevre Dream

New Giveaway for Kaaron Warren’s Through Splintered Walls. Tweet, comment, email or Facebook us about your favourite Australian ghost story OR your favourite female vampire.

Paul Kincaid in the LA Review of Books suggests that SF is tired. Reviewer, heal thyself? He also talks on this subject at the Coode Street Podcast.

Aurealis Awards reminder: submit your books and stories now.

What Culture Have we Consumed?

Alisa: Soft Apocalypse, Will McIntosh, SportsNight (& Newsroom)

Tansy: Sea Hearts, Margo Lanagan; Marvel Heralds; Outer Alliance Episode 24 Changing the Conversation with Julia Rios, Nnedi Okorafor, Jim C Hines & Sofia Samatar.

Alex: Battleship; The Forever War, Joe Haldemann; City of Illusions, Ursula le Guin; The Shapes of their Hearts, Melissa Scott; Nova, Samuel Delaney

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

Too Many Pirate Captains

A friend of mine likes to point out to her children when they are having idyllic childhoods. Picnics by the river, cuddling piles of squealing kids on a trampoline, gingerbread daleks at Christmas. IDYLLIC CHILDHOOD. Of course, they never do stop and appreciate the moment for what it is – but maybe, maybe pointing it out to them will freeze a photograph style image in their head that they can pull out as an adult.

It also gives us a chance to let the usual layers of maternal guilt slide away for a few minutes and appreciate that, sure, we do so many things wrong, and so many other things just to get by, and there’s no such thing as perfect parents or perfect children, but right this second, we’re doing a good job and they are good kids, and these are the bits we want to remember when they’re glued to Playstation 2020s and grunting unintelligibly at us.

There are many days of their childhood that are so far from idyllic, with the TV blaring and the kids wanting (or actively trying) to kill each other, the days when the lack of a cup of tea can be the difference between making it to 6 o clock or everybody falling in a heap.



“Look, idyllic childhood moment, over there! You go run after it while Mummy has a sit down and breathes into this brown paper bag.”

The girls and I had an idyllic childhood morning yesterday, and I wanted to get it down in pixels so I can remember it next time they are driving me up the wall.

My honey was away overnight for work, so it was just the three of us, and miraculously they woke up in good moods. Clothes were put on, breakfast was eaten, and no dramas. Raeli practiced her piano, and made her own sandwiches for school for the first time (usually Daddy’s job). Jem cuted.

Somehow, between the house and the car, we became pirates. Raeli announced that she was the Captain and Jem was Little Miss Smee. Heading off demarkation disputes at the pass, I announced that I was the Admiral and therefore outranked everybody. Raeli was a *little* dubious as to whether pirates had admirals but I outranked her and so she didn’t get to argue.

Three pirates piled into the car, apparently now named the good ship Bessie, and with atrocious but deeply committed pirate accents, we hoisted the mainsail, swabbed the decks, sailed off across the ocean to reach a certain treasure island. And yes, the ocean had convenient white markings down the middle of it, but the Captain made an excellent navigator, and we got there in great spirit, and not even late for school.

(one of the many piratical conversations in the car came from little Jem, who asked earnestly if we could be GIRL pirates, and I assured her that we could. Possibly she’s a touch young for the impromptu lecture about Grace O’Malley and Anne Bonney, but Raeli seemed to appreciate it)

Unfortunately we were having so much fun that the Admiral failed to notice that the Captain had left her schoolbag in the car, and had to send them ahead so I could run back and get it.

I figured the game was over by the time I reached the classroom with the bag, and reacquired Jem from her big sister, but on the walk together back from the car, a little voice piped up, asking when we were going to dig for treasure.

It was a lovely day and I was in such a good mood from my unexpectedly well behaved children that we stopped to pick daisies, or as we called it, “Treasure.”

“Can I be the Captain now?” asked that same little voice as we headed back to the car. I melted, just a bit, and agreed that she could. Poor little thing, the curse of a younger sister. She’s never going to get to be Captain when Raeli is around. But for a few minutes that morning, until she got bored and forgot about it, Jem was the Baby Pirate Captain Smee, and we sailed the seven seas together.

I was still the Admiral, obviously.

Chicks Unravel Time!

After a long wait, the Mad Norwegian book Chicks Unravel Time is now squarely on the horizon! Due for release in November 13th, this collection edited by Deb Stanish and L.L. Myles features an essay by a female writer featuring each season of Doctor Who, starting from 1963. The entire table of contents is now available on their website.

And yes, I’m in it! My essay, “The Ultimate Sixth” is about the Trial of a Time Lord season, and looks at the strengths and failings of how the Sixth Doctor was handled in the tv series. I also dig into the complicated issues surrounding the horrible death/horribler marriage of Peri, and the strange introduction of her replacement companion, the much maligned Mel.

There are all kinds of goodies in this book that I can’t wait to read, including Diana Gabaldon talking about the Second Doctor and Jamie, “Robots, Orientalism and Yellowface: Minorities in the Fourteenth Season of Doctor Who,” by Aliette de Bodard and “David Tennant’s Bum,” by Laura Mead (AKA Laura Sigma of the Ood Cast). So many great and interesting writers each tackling a pet topic about Doctor Who.

What surprised me most about the table of contents is that the essays are not in chronological order, which I was totally expecting. But then, that’s Doctor Who for you – a tangle of space and time, ready to be unravelled!

You can pre-order the book at the Mad Norwegian site, or can take advantage of the “Geek Girls Chronicles” special offer at the moment which includes a 4 pack of the books in the Chicks Dig series so far: Chicks Dig Time Lords, Whedonistas, Chicks Dig Comics and the new title Chicks Unravel Time at 40% off the cover price.

Ships in November. So excited!

Watching New Who: Tansy’s Season Three Report Card

You can find David’s report card and Tehani’s report card for this season on their websites.

The Doctor: David Tennant

This season was good for Ten in many ways – the new companion helped to freshen things up, and of course this is his second year in the show, which makes him the veteran. So sad that Eccleston wasn’t willing to give it another year, as I think the Doctor is a part that needs to grow over several years, and we certainly see that happening with Tennant.

The regular moping over Rose was irritating and I think over-done, and it didn’t help that some of the series’ worst episodes, The Lazarus Experiment and the Daleks in Manhattan two parter, were clumped together in the first half. But oh, the second half of this season shows David Tennant’s Doctor at his absolute best, and provides some of the best New Who of all time.

Human Nature/Family of Blood shows us just how much Tennant has been acting as the Doctor, and Blink contributes greatly to his iconic portrayal of the Doctor, in only a few short scenes. Then there’s the tense reunion with Jack in Utopia, which reminds us that the Doctor is not as cuddly and selfless as we sometimes imagine he is, and the magnificent scenes with the Master in The Sound of Drums. Sigh. The greatest crime of the season finale is that the “Dobby Doctor” twist takes the Doctor entirely out of the action for so much of the story, robbing us of more fabulous scenes between Ten and the utterly bonkers Master.

Martha Jones: Freema Agyeman

A great character who was hamstrung by her treatment in the scripts – Martha’s crush on the Doctor taken to uncomfortable extremes, and her attachment to her not-as-likeable-as-Jackie family. Martha is at her best when she is slagging the Doctor off, calling him on his bullshit and being independent. Agyeman’s performance is great too, but the scripts kept piling on these annoying restrictions that made her look weaker than she should have been. This is doubly unfortunate because it’s the first ‘main’ companion in history of the show who is a woman of colour, which makes all the little ‘oh you’re not Rose’ jabs from both the script AND the fandom feel particularly problematic.

She’s not Rose. She’s Martha. And Martha is GREAT. Shut up and let her get on with being great!

I wish the writers (especially RTD himself whose episodes are I think the worst examples) had been a little more trusting in the audience’s ability to accept a character other than Rose as the companion, and also that they had allowed Martha to get over her crush on the Doctor within the season instead of still being hung up on him in the last moments.

I am delighted that the season finale, which let the Doctor’s character down somewhat, gave Martha the chance to shine as an independent character, and I enjoy the fact that the trend of the new show is to allow the companions to be awesome even (especially) when the Doctor isn’t around. Apart from the finale, Martha had her best material in her first three episodes, and in Human Nature/Family of Blood. I also recently rewatched 42, a story I tend to forget all about, and was delighted at her character in that episode.

So yeah, for all my negativity about some of the scripts and choices, I think Martha herself was a great addition, and just what the Doctor (and the audience) needed. I would have her back on the show any time!

Captain Jack Harkness: John Barrowman

Oh, Jack. I do love him. And while I enjoy Torchwood Jack a lot, I like him best in the TARDIS. I had been waiting so very long at this point for the show to address the oddity that the Doctor had deliberately abandoned Jack on the space station back in Season 1. I spent the whole of the first season of Torchwood waiting for those little occasional references to the Doctor, and the final moments of the last episode, in which Jack hears the TARDIS and takes off with the bag he’s had ready to go at a moment’s notice… oh, I was so happy!

Jack’s reunion with the Doctor was darker and more complex than I had imagined, and his chemistry with Martha was great. I enjoy Martha and Jack’s friendship so much, and it’s awesome that they got to explore that further in Torchwood Season 2. I do love me a TARDIS team, and as with Nine-Rose-Jack, I don’t feel that Ten-Martha-Jack were around nearly long enough.

The Master: John Simm

I’m a big fan of the Master character from way back and I adore this bizarre, batshit weird indie rock (not quite punk rock) version of the character. John Simm lights up the screen in every scene he is in and I love the way that he and Tennant bounce off each other in emotionally charged scenes. The downside of course is the massive cheat that comes with turning the Doctor into a weird little old man in The Last of the Time Lords. But oh, the phone scene, and the Master dancing with his broken wife, and his madcap schemes that actually work! Brilliant stuff.

There are a few problems of course, largely from the writing rather than the performance. The idea that the Master has had this drum beat in his head his whole life (as a lead up to the spectacular Voodoo Child musical joke) is fascinating, but doesn’t entirely fit with, well, the previous versions of the character. And it is deeply disappointing that time is unwound at the end. But oh, he makes himself Prime Minister of England! That is TOTALLY something I could see Roger Delgado’s Master doing.

The final scene in which the Master chooses not to regenerate, to avoid being trapped in the TARDIS with the Doctor as his jailer forever (ohhh would that not have been the best season of TV?) is incredibly powerful. I think there’s even a look on Martha’s face as she realises she has been thrown over for the Master which is subtle and wonderful and a million times better than the way her “jealousy” about Rose was handled. Such good stuff. I’d have him back.

Martha’s family: Adjoa Andoh (mother Francine), Trevor Laird (father Clive), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (sister Tish), and Reggie Yates (brother Leo).

I like that they experimented a different family dynamic with Martha rather than directly trying to mimic the Jackie-Rose-Mickey dynamic, and that they extended the idea of the relationship with the companion also involving their family, but I did struggle a bit with my dislike of Martha’s mother. I think if she had been more likeable and less prickly to start with then her apparent betrayal of Martha could have been conveyed in a more interesting way. Also it was odd that they introduced brother Leo and then did nothing with him as a character.

Tish and her many jobs was my favourite – she gave Martha a really nice dimension, and I think the fact that Martha was an older sister and the ‘sorter outer’ of the family was essential to her character. I did like the bit where Francine tries to convince Martha that she and Clive have got back together, and it makes her suspicious. Also the way that the Master used Martha’s family against her in the last couple of episodes was chilling – shades of Nyssa and Traken!

On the whole the sprawling family, and the few episodes we got to see them in did mean that no single character got the time and attention that Rose’s people did back in the day. I think this big family idea would have worked better if Martha had been a companion for two seasons – and you may note COUGH SPOILERS that the companion family next season will only feature two key members.

What is your favourite episode of this season?

“Blink” – maybe not the most imaginative answer, and it’s not a brilliant showcase either for the Doctor or Martha, but I love it as a piece of television so much, Sally Sparrow is a marvellous character, and it feels like it sums up what Doctor Who is, while also bringing something new to the table.

Least favourite episode?

The Lazarus Experiment, which is creepy, awkward and dreadful.



Favourite guest performance?

John Simm as the Master, absolutely. He blows everyone else off the screen. But I want to also give props to Jessica Hynes as Joan Redfern, and the now-so-famous Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow.

Describe this season in one word! Mercurial

Grade: B

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Watching New Who – in conversation with David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely

David is coming to New Who for the first time, having loved Classic Who as a kid. Tehani is a recent convert, and ploughed through Seasons 1 to 6 (so far) in just a few weeks after becoming addicted thanks to Matt Smith – she’s rewatching to keep up with David! Tansy is the expert in the team, with a history in Doctor Who fandom that goes WAY back, and a passion for Doctor Who that inspires us all (plus a seven-year-old daughter who is finding her own Doctors for the first time). We’re going to work our way through New Who, using season openers and closers, and Hugo shortlisted episodes, as our blogging points. Just for fun! We have already talked about:



“Rose”, S01E01

“Dalek”, S01E06

“Father’s Day, S01E08

“The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances”, S01E09/10

“Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways”, S01E12/13

Season One Report Card – David, Tansy, Tehani

“The Christmas Invasion,” 2005 Christmas special

“New Earth”, S02E01

“School Reunion,” S02E03

“The Girl in the Fireplace”, S02E04

“Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel”, S02E05/06

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, S02E12/13

Season Two Report Cards: David, Tehani, Tansy

“The Runaway Bride”, 2006 Christmas Special

“Smith and Jones”, S03E01

The Shakespeare Code & Gridlock, S0302-03

Human Nature/The Family of Blood S0308-09

Blink S0310

Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Timelords S0311-13

“Voyage of the Damned,” 2007 Christmas Special

Not if you were the last… oh, you are.

I appear on a new podcast! You can hear me joining Ian Mond and Jonathan Strahan on Episode 2 of the “pre-season” of the Last Short Story podcast to discuss new dystopian/post-apocalyptic YA anthology After, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

Well, to be more precise, we talk about our six favourite stories from that anthology, because more than six seems to be the limit for LSS discussion.

I always enjoy a chance to chat about fiction with my friends, and I think Jonathan and Mondy are on to a winner with the idea of the Last Short Story project (which has been floundering a bit in recent years) transitioning into podcast form. It won’t be the same people every month (except when it is, of course), but I am excited about getting a chance to talk short fiction every now and then with smart people who have read the same things I have.

We discuss each story in great depth, so be aware that spoilers abound!

The stories we look at in After are:

“The Segment,” Genevieve Valentine

“Valedictorian,” N.K. Jemisin

“Blood Drive,” Jeffrey Ford

“The Easthound,” Nalo Hopkinson

“Fake Plastic Trees,” Caitlin R. Kiernan

“The Marker,” Cecil Castellucci

And I was really interested how easily we picked those six as the ones we most wanted to talk about, as a group! I plan to be back with the LSS podcast next month because they let me pick the story source, so we’ll be looking at The Future is Japanese, edited by Nick Mamatas & Masumi Washington.

Where the Wonder Women Are: #23 Misty Knight (and Colleen Wing)

Misty Knight came as a total surprise to me. I’d never heard a peep about her, not in any of my varied comic reading. But she turned up in an old Chris Claremont X-Men comic from the early 80’s I was reading very recently, and I was intrigued enough to do some research.

Mercedes “Misty” Knight started out as a Marvel Comics heroine 1975, and her characterisation and storylines owed a lot to the blaxploitation and kung fu trends of the time. She has been a cop, a private investigator and a bail bondswoman, and is bionically enhanced as well as being highly trained in martial arts. She also, it has to be said, rocks a magnificent Afro.

For a long time Misty has appeared as a supporting character: she wasJean Grey of the X-Men’s roommate, for one thing, and was Iron Fist’s love interest in the Power Man/Iron Fist title of the 70′s (Power Man being perhaps more widely known these days by his civilian name Luke Cage). Her relationship with Iron Fist (Danny Rand) has continued on and off into the present day, but she often appeared in comics featuring he or Luke in her professional capacity rather than (or at least, as well as) a romantic one.

Formerly a New York cop, Misty lost her right arm when preventing a bomb blast, and received a bionic replacement by Tony Stark. This gave her all kinds of super strength and abilities, and she used them to fight and solve crimes in a private capacity, having turned down the police force’s offer of a desk job.

She is best known for her friendship with Colleen Wing, a Japanese-American samurai warrior detective. They formed professional partnership with the “Nightwing Restorations Ltd.” Detective agency. The duo were also referred to as “Daughters of the Dragon.”Once she and Colleen became freelance detectives and crime fighters, they made regular appearances in support of Heroes for Hire (the team run by Luke Cage/Power Man) in the late 70’s and appeared occasionally in the Marvel Universe over the next 25 years or so before a major comeback in the mid 00’s.

In 2005, The Daughters of the Dragon appeared in a mini-series written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, and then in the revamped Heroes For Hire series in 2006. The modern take on the characters has them more often working as bail bondswomen, specialising in going after those with superhuman abilities who have broken their court dates. (Why on EARTH were they not regular characters in the She-Hulk series which was centred around superhuman law? Never mind S.H.I.E.L.D, Joss Whedon, there’s your epic TV series concept right there)

This tendency to support law and order meant that Misty and Colleen joined the pro-registration side of the Civil War (in which all the Marvel heroes took to the streets in violent opposition for or against a secret identity registration act) and supported Tony Stark, Spider-Man and Reed Richards in pursuing and arresting their former colleagues. It all ended in disaster and emotional fallout, of course, as civil wars tend to do, and led them to question the ethical issues in being heroes “for hire” instead of just heroes.

Most recently, Misty herself took the lead in the Heroes For Hire agency, setting herself up as “Control,” and while this turned into a sinister plot involving the Puppetmaster, she fought and overcame his psychic influences, continuing the agency on her own terms.

I love the concept of a bionic detective, let alone a black female bionic detective who is partnered with a Japanese female samurai detective. Everything I’ve read of these two women (which I’ll admit includes very little of the modern stuff) leaves me with an impression of fun, kickass characters with the potential for action-packed adventures.

As with most female characters in comics (not to mention non-white characters) there’s a bunch of problematic aspects to unpack in how they are often brought to the page, not least of which being the artwork. I have no idea whether the racial aspects of Misty and Colleen’s characters have been considered controvertial or problematic in how they have been portrayed over the years, and I am probably not the person to examine that, but it did distress me how hard it was to find images that didn’t make these women look like porn stars. (As always, I have not used the worst examples to illustrate my post) Funnily enough, both Misty and Colleen seem to have been far more respectfully dressed and drawn in the 70’s than in the last decade, which makes me sigh at comics. Oh, comics.

But the concept, omg! Two non-white female martial arts experts who are best friends, solving crimes and punching bad guys AND ONE OF THEM HAS A BIONIC ARM. I will be hunting down the Gray & Palmiotti mini-series to read, because I love the way they write female characters, but I would love to see Misty Knight and Colleen Wing given far more profile in the future than they currently have in the Marvel Universe.

And, if possible, that they be allowed to wear something other than lycra and body paint while kicking ass and taking names.

Where the Wonder Women Are:

0: Introduction

1: Black Canary

2: Rogue

3: Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman

4: Black Widow

5: Wonder Girl

6: Captain Marvel

7: Vixen

8: Abigail Brand

9. Jubilee

10. Batwoman

11. Catwoman

12. Huntress

13. Robin

14. Batgirl

15. Jean Grey

16. Ice

17. Emma Frost

18. Fire

19. Lady Sif

20. Supergirl

21. The Wasp

22. Gypsy

Friday Links Dances Her Cares Away (Down at Fraggle Rock)

Genevieve Valentine talks about the fallout that has occurred after she reported her harassment at Readercon – the positive and negative outcomes. Very important reading!

Justine Larbalestier talks about the problematic meme (in real life and fiction) of girls who hate all other girls, and women who hate women. The comments are really interesting because of how many women feel the need to defend their dislike of their own gender, and add a depth to the whole discussion because, of course, it’s more complicated than it seems on the surface.

Cheryl Morgan responds to the new Outer Alliance podcast (which I haven’t got to yet but I am keen to listen to) about changing the conversation when it comes to making conventions more diverse and welcoming.

A new review series at Tor.com – Mari Ness is looking at the Edward Eager Magic books, which I adore and am looking forward to sharing with my daughter. Starting with Half Magic, a children’s classic.

Stephen McGann, one of the actors in Call the Midwife, wrote an interesting article about some of the behind the scenes work on the show, especially the midwifery advisor and the ethical issues inherent in portraying the history of childbirth.

An exciting new Big Finish project has been announced – a full cast rendition of Treasure Island with Tom Baker as Long John Silver! This three disc production is available for pre-order now at $13.99 (digital download) and $23.17 (CD, all pre-orders signed by Tom Baker) – those are Australian prices which is what the page shows me, but you can go directly to the site yourself to check out the prices in your own currency. They had me at “Tom Baker as Long John Silver” – what other great literary adaptions would you match his voice to? I can think of a few!

Bluemilk talks about feminist writer Jessica Valenti, and how the fact that she is asked about “losing her baby weight” when promoting her new book about having kids is part of the problem with the narrative of motherhood in the media.

A good news story to come out of the blogoverse – after Native Appropriations (along with many other critics) wrote an open later of complaint to the “Powwow Party” put on by fashion label Paul Frank Industries, the company responded positively, not only apologising for the unfortunate cultural images and appropriation they had participated in, but making real efforts to change their attitude going forward.

Tor.com looks at Simon Baz, the new Muslim Green Lantern – a step forward in diverse representation among superheroes, or just another problematic portrayal of Muslims in the media? Or maybe it can be both?

Sean the Blogonaut interviews Tor Roxburgh, a new Australian fantasy author, for Galactic Chat.

Real female soldiers to wear armour inspired by Xena: Warrior Princess – that is to say, practical and revolutionary in that it fits their actual bodies.

Airships, A.I. and Alastair Gordon You Know Who (Charley Pollard I)

I’m relistening to the Charley Pollard audio plays from Big Finish! Charley was the first original companion that they created to travel with the Eighth Doctor when Paul McGann agreed to reprise his role from the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie.

Played by the bubbly and plum-voiced India Fisher, Charley is a self-styled Edwardian adventuress, a jolly hockey sticks sort of girl who disguised herself as a boy in order to work passage on a doomed airship heading for Singapore. By saving her life, the Doctor created a paradox that would unravel over several years, and threaten the entire “web of time.”

So, let’s talk about Charley. In many ways, she is the perfect Doctor Who companion. She’s up for adventure, she’s flexible and adapts well to the TARDIS lifestyle (like Jamie McCrimmon she is a historical character who takes every science fictional concept well in stride, usually with some sort of clever metaphor, teleportation being “like the wireless telegraph” and so on), she’s brave and funny and she has no compunction about using sarcasm or mockery to puncture the Doctor’s ego when he gets too big for his boots.

She’s his best friend. They’re always his best friend, of course, the really good companions. But Charley is rather marvellous, and India Fisher’s chemistry with Paul McGann made for some meaty stories over a very long period of time.

Chronologically, as the human flies, Charley is also the first of the Doctor’s companions who fell in love with him, or at least who got to explore the ramifications of falling in love with him in open narrative (i.e. Romana doesn’t count because it was all subtext, ditto for all the other Classic Who ships, yes EVEN the Brigadier, and anyone who mentions Sarah Jane gets a bucket of water chucked over them).

Charlotte Pollard gets to talk to the Doctor about Love, after a long and complex friendship has developed between them, and unlike Martha Jones (who was still not even a glint in the eye of Russell T Davies at this point) she doesn’t tell him she loves him as a parting gesture. She stays, they work through it together despite his avoidance tactics, and she continues to be his companion and fellow adventurer for a long, long time.

She loves the Doctor in a romantic way, but that never defines her as a character.

But never mind all that mushy stuff – it’s not even relevant to the first couple of years of Charley and Eight! Here is the first set of my reviews, upon relistening to their first year together.

“SEASON ONE” [2001]



The seasons are loose groupings of stories recorded in batches but don’t always conform to as obvious a collection as a TV season, especially later on when the stories are alternated with those of other Doctors and companions in what Big Finish refers to as “The Main Range.” The numbers show the story’s place in that main Doctor Who range.

Most plays in this range are approx. 2 hours long, with a full cast and four episodes.

16. Storm Warning

Written by: Alan Barnes

Starring: Paul McGann (the Eighth Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard)

Interesting Guest Star Alert: Gareth Thomas (Lord Tamworth)

For years, this was one of the only Big Finish plays I had ever bought, and I loved it to bits (though the price back then of shipping out CDs to Australia made the habit too expensive for the student that I was). It’s a fun introduction to the Doctor and his plucky new companion, involving airships, derring do and aliens, of course. Shows how good Big Finish were right from the start, though their quality, writing and everything else have come so very far since this one.

And oh, Charley. If you don’t fall in love with her in this episode you might as well skip her all together. Everything you need to know about her is right here, from day one (though there are of course more layers to come).

Plus, Ramsay the Vortisaur. That is, a flying creature that lives in the time vortex. Oh, hell yes. Big ideas, the kind that you couldn’t have thought of putting on TV back in 2001, that’s exactly what Big Finish’s Doctor Who range is all about. Vortisaurs!

17. Sentients of Orion

Written by: Nicholas Briggs

Starring: Paul McGann (the Eighth Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard)

Part of me doesn’t want to spoil the first plot twist of this one despite the story being over a decade old, so let’s just say… it’s an exploration of humanity’s relationship with their own rebellious AI communities (think modern Battlestar Galactica, many years before modern Battlestar Galactica) and this war collides with a classic Doctor Who enemy who is very appropriate for that story. I think you know what I’m saying here, wink wink.

It’s also a really good space opera story with intense characterisation, grit and grubbiness. And spaceships. And banter. All the best things.

18. The Stones of Venice

Written by: Paul Magrs

Starring: Paul McGann (the Eighth Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard)

Interesting Guest Star Alert: Michael Sheard (Count Orsino)

I struggle with this one. It’s an elaborate, batshit weird fantasy and utterly Weird in that inimitable Paul Magrs style, but both on first discovery and on the relisten I struggled with the idea that this is supposed to be a futuristic Venice because, well, it isn’t. It isn’t credible. It’s the kind of bizarre, sprawling Baron Munchauseny future world that someone living in 16th century Venice might possibly have invented, and as such has a great deal of charm and depth, but it’s not a future that appears to have passed through the twentieth century, let alone the twenty first, on its way to a mythical future of amphibian gondoliers, mad Counts, immortal love and gratuitous Shakespeare references.

So, the suspension of disbelief. I’m pretty awesome at doing this usually, especially when it comes to Doctor Who, but this one was a step too far and it REALLY didn’t help that one of the characters is called Eleanor Lavish, the same name as a character from E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View. In the words of Boxcutters, I don’t buy it.

On the other hand, if you look past the futuristic Venice (on the verge of sinking) that makes no sense, and think of it instead as a frothy alien fantasy from another world, it’s a grand melodrama with lots of good bits and some very enthusiastic performances. Though, um. Almost everything that Charley does or says in this, when she is swept up in the role of a long-dead Countess to support the rebel gondoliers as the city sinks… basically makes no sense. So there’s that.

MOVING ON NOW PLEASE.

19. Minuet in Hell

Written by: Alan W. Lear and Gary Russell

Starring: Paul McGann (the Eighth Doctor), India Fisher (Charley Pollard)

Interesting Guest Star Alert: Nicholas Courtney as THE FREAKING BRIGADIER

This is more like it. Not only does this story tick the essential box of having the Eighth Doctor meet his old friend the Brigadier (and in a noticeably different way to the Big Finish meeting between the Sixth Doctor and the Brig which had occurred only a year earlier) but it’s also a complex story that plays up the audio format to the nth degree.

We begin in the middle of the story. The Doctor is in an asylum and can’t remember who he is. Charley wakes up in a different cell, also struggling with her memory, and is hustled off with a bunch of “fallen women” to get into skimpy costumes and entertain the gentlemen of a modern iteration of the Hellfire Club. (sadly she doesn’t run across Emma Frost or Jean Grey there in an unexpected X-Men crossover) The Brigadier is attempts to master email while making secret investigations into a certain club. There’s a possessed preacher, a spunky girl detective, and a whole bunch of alien shenanigans.

And a man who doesn’t sound at all like our Doctor suddenly seems to have all his memories, while the man who DOES sound like our Doctor is about to be given electric shock therapy…

The story plays beautifully with the problem of the Brigadier not being able the the Doctor, and gives Charley a marvellous adventure of her own with a splendid girl chum. I liked it a lot, but even better on the second listen where the fake American accents felt a lot less fake. Familiarity, not always about breeding contempt!

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On the whole this was a strong season to introduce not only Charley Pollard but also The Big Finish Eighth Doctor for the very first time. In many ways, these two represent the beginning of the modern era of Who, the balance of classic traditions with modern storytelling styles, and Charley is a companion who is actually quite different to anyone we’ve had in the role before or since. Like Rose, she often leads the stories and we get a lot more inside her head than the Doctor’s (as is only right and proper). And it’s so lovely to see the McGann Doctor develop, away from the problematic and messy TV movie that was previously his only stab at the role.

There’s so much more crunchy material to come for this Doctor! Mary Shelley and Lucie Miller, the return of Susan with her son, Romana and Gallifrey and Morbius and the Meddling Monk and oh, so very much. It all started here.

Despite my reservations about the third story (which may not bother other listeners nearly as much as me), I think it’s a good first series and one worth tracking down in its entirety (though for the sake of honesty I would suggest that you wouldn’t miss a LOT of character development by skipping the Venice one). They can be downloaded directly from the Big Finish website for slightly cheaper than arranging for CDs to be posted if that’s an issue for anyone – each story of this era runs to about $14.50 unless there’s a sale on.

I’ll be reviewing “season two” shortly!