Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 85

She’s Responsible For Your Death! [Xena Rewatch 4.12-4.15]

4.12 If the Shoe Fits

You can tell this one is a comedy, because the camp factor is dialled up to 150% which with Xena seems somewhat unnecessary. There’s also an extra layer of Extreme Comedy Sound Effects. While it’s less scatological than In Sickness and in Health, If The Shoe Fits does continue the running joke about Gabrielle and Xena misusing each other’s belongings. In this case, Xena steals Gabrielle’s “favourite top” to tie up a warlord in the absence of rope, and um. That top, which Gabrielle has been wearing for more than a year? I LIKED THAT TOP. Proving that she has no other clothes, she wears a sack for the rest of the episode. But there’s a new costume change coming on the horizon…

Oh, and Aphrodite is officially Miss Piggy now. “Moi?” But I’m okay with that.

This is a Cute Kid Melodrama, revolving around storytelling tropes and especially the Cinderella fairy tale and its ramifications for real life stepmothers. As each member of the party tells their version of the story, it is re-enacted with different casting and style choices to reflect their own biases and the way they see the world. All of which is actually pretty clever, but makes for a crazy saccharine story revolving around a blonde moppet in ringlets, and the parents who love her more than fairy tales have led her to believe.

The AU aspect of the story gives the show an excuse to have fun with Ted Raimi who always makes a Xena comedy more fun (cos he’s so busy prat-falling that Xena has to be the straight woman, though Lucy Lawless also gets some fun roleplaying in this one). The ballroom scene from Joxer’s version of the story (with a male Cinderella and Gabrielle as the Princess) is the closest thing we get to a musical this season, and sums up most of Joxer’s psychological issues concerning his unrequited love for Gabrielle.

This is one of the few stories from this season I was happy to share with my eight-year-old (though I could do without the Gabrielle-beats-up-Joxer “humour”) so I shouldn’t complain too much about the cutesy. But it also has something genuine to say about the representation of women in fairy tales.

“All fairy tales have a purpose and even when Joxer tells them, there’s a message in them.”

“Yeah, run.”

4.13 Paradise Found

Ohhh, creepy Aidan and the sinister yoga retreat.

I can’t believe that in my brain I wrote off this season as ‘that one where they went to India and were all boring about spiritual fulfilment’ when in fact they got boring about spiritual fulfilment LONG before they got to India.

For those interested in the subtext becoming actual text, this story features about six separate bathing and/or massage scenes between Gabrielle and Xena as they Discuss Their Relationship. These are the best bits.

While this one did bore me to tears (and was far too reminiscent of that Futurama episode where Leela gets engaged to Ted Bundy and starts acting not like herself), I recognise its contribution to the overall theme of this season, in which Gabrielle grows up and starts looking for a path of her own instead of modelling herself after Xena.

There’s also a small nod to Gabrielle’s continuing grief over the situation with Hope, and her feelings that she failed as a mother. I am glad that they have not forgotten this major trauma in her life.

And then, right when I started talking myself into taking this episode seriously, Xena turned into a crazy dark evil bunny monster.

You kind of had to be there. Or, you know, not. SKIP AHEAD, PEOPLE, THIS SEASON SUCKS.

“I sometimes talk about your darkness like it’s some kind of disease, but without it we wouldn’t be here.” Gabrielle.

4.14 – Devi

They’re in India! Finally!

There were a lot of complaints directed at the Xena production team for using Indian mythology in an inappropriate way (i.e. the same wildly creative approach they applied to all mythology, which is problematic when the mythology in question is tied to a modern day religion and culture). However, from a purely narrative point of view these episodes represented a hugely important shift for the series. After tormenting herself for half a season of not knowing what the hell she wanted out of life, this is the point at which Gabrielle finally gets things sorted. She comes away from India with a far greater sense of identity and her future – a future with Xena instead of the pulling away she has been doing for so long.

Of course, before getting to that point, she had to be possessed by an Indian healing demon. Because, reasons?

As with Ancient Chin, the barbarian Steppes and, let’s face it, Ancient Greece, the designers do a great job of creating a sense of another culture even if that culture is not a lot like the actual historical version. It looks gorgeous on screen and it certainly feels like Xena and Gabrielle are a long way from home.

A costume change is as good as a holiday…

It’s nice to see Renee O’Connor getting to have fun for once (it’s usually Lucy Lawless who gets the chance to ham it up) and she plays Evil with such relish – this is what we have been missing since they bumped off Hope! There’s a simply glorious fight in which the possessed Gabrielle fights and takes down Xena in a magical kickboxing sequence including licking, and nails.

Eli is an interesting new character – a seedy street magician who longs for a higher calling. I always loathed him when I first watched the India episodes (in the wrong order) – I found him unbearably smug and pious. I’m not promising anything about his future, but he’s quite a bit of fun in this episode – set up as the red herring possible bad guy (or at least minor con artist), he makes a surprisingly good companion for Xena.

While consistently putting major female characters front and centre, the show has always had a good line in hapless but interesting beta male supporting characters, and this time around I liked Eli almost as much as I like Joxer and Autolycus.

I really hope he doesn’t get all smug and pious later on…

“I can’t do an exorcism!”

4.15 Between the Lines

This one starts with a shopping scene! Xena and Gabrielle have glammed themselves up India-style, with Xena actually pinning her fringe up off her face and Gabrielle embracing the saffron shades. They then pass a funeral at which the dead man’s wife is about to be thrown on the flames, and Xena commits an act of, well shall we say cultural insensitivity?

Unexpectedly, this isn’t a story about Xena’s assumption that she can be above the laws when they’re stupid. The woman they saved, Naema, turns out to be a powerful magician (who uses the word karma a lot to remind us that she is an Indian magician). Naema senses danger to one of Xena’s future lives and sends her into that body without so much of a by-your-leave.

Xena finds herself wandering around in the body of an elderly black woman known as the Mother of Peace (thankfully not Lucy Lawless blacked up), and discovers that the warrior witch who is her greatest enemy in this future lifetime is good old Alti The Heavily Mascara’d.

Gabrielle gets herself sent into that time too, ending up with great humorous possibilities in the body of a young warrior prince who tends to lounge around shirtless. (It’s funny because we’re only shown glimpses of what this self looks like, then we just get Xena and Gabrielle playing the parts).

We haven’t had a glimpse of reincarnated Xena and Gabs for some time, so it’s quite a fun and interesting story despite the fact that I still really get annoyed by Alti.

Also, Gabrielle in a turban, which is always enjoyable.

After an episode which is at least 50% battles, there’s a lovely and emotionally resonant scene in which Gabrielle paints Xena’s back with the mehndi (sacred henna-painting on skin) taught to her by Naema. It enables them to perform magic and return to the time period they left. Unfortunately, they bring Alti with them…

The Alti-Xena fight scene is fantastic, with Alti using memories of Xena’s past as literal weapons with which to beat her up. When Gabrielle runs to her partner’s defence, Alti grabs her and gives her the same vision that has been taunting Xena all season – their death by crucifixion.

To save Gabrielle from Alti, Xena has to use her charm to slice off her hair, thereby bringing that prophecy a little closer, as Gabs had short hair in the vision…

Naema conquers Alti through the mehndi, with the assistance of both Xena and Gabrielle, and the two of them are left to continue their life together – moving forward, with no more lies between them.

It’s all gonna be okay. For reals. Eventually.

CHAKRAM STATISTICS:

People who want romance with Xena: 13

People Xena allows to romance her: 7

Xena dead lovers: 4

Gabrielle dead boyfriends: 2/7

“Adorable” children: 39

Babies: 7

Babies tossed humorously in the air during fight scenes: 6

Xena doppelgangers: 4

Xena sings a mourning song: 6

Gabrielle sprained ankles: 2

Xena dies: 3

Gabrielle dies: 4

Characters brought back from the dead (incl. ghosts and visits to the Underworld): 51

Ares loses his powers and goes all to pieces about it: 2

Xena or Gabrielle earns money: 2

Xena or Gabrielle spends money (or claims to have money to spend): 8

Out of the Pantheon: Morpheus, Ares, Hera, the Titans, Hades, Celesta, Charon, the Fates, Bacchus, Aphrodite, Cupid, Poseidon, the Furies, Discord,

The Celebrity Red Carpet of the Ancient World: Pandora, Prometheus, Hercules, Iolaus, Sisyphus, Helen of Troy, Paris, Deiphobus, Menelaus, Euripides, Homer, Autolycus, Meleager, Oracle of Delphi, David, Goliath, Orpheus, Julius Caesar, Brutus, Ulysses, Penelope, Cecrops, Boadicea, Cleopatra, Crassus, Pompey

Previous Xena Rewatch Posts:

Warlord is a Lady Tonight

I Don’t Work For Money

Amazon Wanna Take A Ride?

Go To Tartarus!

Swashbuckle and Shams

Death In A Chainmail Bikini

Full Moon It Must Be Xena

How Do You Mortals Get From Day to Day?

The Future is Archaeologists

Divide and Conquer

My Sword is Always Ready to Pleasure You

Hide the Hestian Virgins!

Lunatic with Lethal Combat Skills

Coping with Your First Kill

Sweet Hestia, I’m In a Den of Filth

The Bitter and Sweet of It

Because Caesar Was Taken

Armageddon When??

Rolling Around Like Weasels

You Killed Me?

My Fungus Is Spreading

Virtue is Its Own Reward

Mr Stinky, I Presume

Tegan’s First Flight [WHO-50—1981]

Logopolis is one of my all time favourites. I used to watch it over and over as a child. Yes, really. The most melancholy, gloomy Doctor Who story of all time. I adored it.

Rewatching it recently with my family I was struck by the first episode in particular – how familiar all its beats were to me despite it being so unlike almost any other Doctor Who story ever.

There are three stories going in parallel. Firstly, the dark, irritable Fourth Doctor teaching Adric about block transfer computation (or alien maths as I explained it to my eight year old, don’t judge me!) and deciding to Move On With His Life After Romana. Never mind that Romana left him a whole serial ago, this is the story where we see the Doctor dealing with his loss, gazing mournfully into her room and muttering about how he always meant to fix the chameleon circuit with her (not to mention that when he needs to jettison a room, he chooses hers APPARENTLY AT RANDOM YEAH RIGHT).

The second storyline is conveyed through a mysterious Other TARDIS that looks just like the Doctor’s (except for a darker interior) which creates a recursive loop: the TARDISES become a series of near-endless nesting dolls. There’s maniacal laughter involved.

The third storyline is about Tegan, a proto air stewardess heading for her first day of work and bickering amicably with her Aunt over the battered sports car that can’t quite get her to the airport. There’s something very authentically familial about the relationship about Tegan and Auntie Vanessa – the one-upwomanship between them, scoring snark points back and forth. It’s a glimpse of mundanity that is so rare in this era of Who – the first time we’ve seen a family context for a companion that wasn’t on another planet since, well. Jamie and Victoria, actually.

This first episode also shows Tegan’s value as a potential companion – even when she’s not an expert in something, she throws herself at it full throttle, determined to fix the problem herself rather than ask anyone for help. In particular, she scoffs at her Aunt’s wistful wish for a knight errant as they are stranded on the side of a motorway.

Unfortunately, what happens over the next several episodes is so utterly disorientating and traumatic that Tegan has to spend most of her years in the TARDIS in something of a PTSD haze.

One of the more entertaining elements of watching Logopolis now, as with many classic stories, is the new perspective brought to the show by Neil Gaiman’s game-changing The Doctor’s Wife. We don’t just suspect that the TARDIS has her own personality any more, we know it.

So when the Doctor comes up with the ludicrous idea of flushing the Master out of his TARDIS by materialising underwater (in the freaking Thames, so not clean water), despite the fact that the Master would be completely protected inside his own TARDIS shell, Sexy puts a spanner in the works by ensuring that she lands on a boat instead of the bottom of a very stinky river. Really the sweetest thing about this plot twist is that the Doctor knows when he has been told off, and does not make a second attempt.

I love this story to bits. It’s one of my all time favourite Tom Baker stories, and ties with Planet of the Spiders for best send off (sorry all, I don’t love Caves of Androzani, it depresses me). The new, young companions emphasise how old, cynical and tired this Doctor is, and how much more he has in common with the ancient Logopolitans.

This is also Anthony Ainley’s first real chance to get his teeth into the role of the Master and it’s one of his best stories – from the wicked laugh and the TARDIS inside out antics to the sabotage and miniaturisation of apparently random victims throughout the story. He is having such a good time it’s quite infectious.

Bringing Nyssa back to see for herself the horrific thing that the Master has done to her father (stealing his body and therefore the actor who plays him in the shock ending of The Keeper of Traken) was a brilliant move, even if it did make the TARDIS a little crowded. Her relationship with this new, cold version of her father develops quickly in this story, resulting in her hypnotic attempt on the Doctor’s life… Nyssa was never more interesting than in her first three stories, and it’s so sad that later script writers struggled with giving her further plots once the climax of “my father’s body was stolen by an intergalactic criminal and oh look someone destroyed my solar system between episodes” has played out.

The Doctor’s betrayal, in dumping his companions and teaming up with the Master to save the universe, makes for a fascinating scene. Tom Baker was the most beloved Doctor for so long, but he’s simply wonderful on the rare occasion that he’s not trying to be liked, and his bitter little speech about never choosing the company he keeps is a great moment for him.

Of course the Master betrays him, that was never even a question.

All this and we also got to explore the inner TARDIS in perhaps the most satisfying way we ever have since Edge of Destruction – not only getting to play in the gorgeous Cloister Room set (where on earth did they get that from, and why did we never see it again?) but seeing the TARDIS transformed from a place of cozy domesticity to a chilling, threatening environment, not only when the Doctor and Adric explore the TARDISES inside each other, but also with poor old Tegan slipping and sliding along the corridors, trapped in the weird place she has wandered into.

I appreciate Tegan more and more, the older I get. I especially like that she realises the TARDIS is a ship, and therefore her first demand on meeting the Doctor and Adric is to demand to be taken to the pilot.

Castrovalva would come at the beginning of the following season, in which Peter Davison’s Doctor made his befuddled and vulnerable entrance, and the Master had way too much fun kidnapping and flirting with Adric, leaving Tegan and Nyssa to save the TARDIS and then the Doctor pretty much on their own. I love Castrovalva on its own behalf, but it’s worth noting how much it book ends with Logopolis, so that while they belong to separate years, seasons and even eras of the show, they work very much as parts of the same story. Castrovalva also gives us the wonder of endless TARDIS corridors, and the Doctor’s home shifting between a safe place and a terrifying environment that’s out to get you. Though of course, it is a very different Doctor.

Still, Logopolis wins, because Cloister Room.

ELSEWHERE ON 1981:

Designer June Hudson talks with Tom Baker about the style choices made in his final season: the all red suit, entropy and monochrome. [DWM]

Warrior’s Gate [The Angriest]

Warrior’s Gate 4 [The Chronic Hysteresis]

The Last Survivor of Traken [Marlow Inc]



Keeper of Traken 4 [The Chronic Hysteresis]

Logopolis [Wife in Space]

K9 and Company [Wife in Space]

PREVIOUSLY:

One Small Step and Sassy Crime

New books, new books! A Trifle Dead is now less than a fortnight away, which is squeeful and terrifying. You can read an interview with me over at Angela Slatter’s blog about the new novel and much of my other current writing etc: AKA Livia Day.

She also invents a name for the sub-genre that Livia Day is officially writing in – Sassy Crime!

If anyone else wants to interview me for their podcast, blog, etc. this is a VERY good fortnight to be asking. NEW BOOK MONTH, PEOPLE!

In the mean time I had a lovely if brief catching up with Dirk Flinthart this weekend when we appeared on a writing panel together at AI Con, and he handed over my (early) author copy of this other lovely new book which will be officially launched at Conflux in April:

Tehani Wessely of Fablecroft has done it again with this gorgeous anthology and oh I ended up sweating buckets over the story I wrote for her in this one! The theme, ‘small steps that lead to big things’ made my head explode and I started and failed to finish about half a dozen stories before one in particular managed to take over my brain long enough to become a piece I could trust to the page. Strangely it ended up being another story I have sold to Tehani which is all about books, libraries and the future and/or magic of reading. Not sure why this would be on my mind at all right now she said stroking her Kindle.

Check out this awesome Table of Contents:

And for a teaser about what kind of story I wrote, here’s a snippet:

You can pre-order One Small Step from Fablecroft.

Friday Links Ships Logan and Veronica Forever

Pope, what pope? There were two pieces of news past my Twitter feed yesterday: Google is cruelly taking Google Reader away from those of us who RELY ON IT AS OUR LIFEBLOOD, and Veronica Mars made a Kickstarter record by hitting its $2 Million target in 12 hours or so which means we get a movie. A MOVIE. A tenth anniversary Veronica Mars movie. So… emotions, all over the place!

(Also OMG run don’t walk to watch the fundraising vid it’s hilarious. NO SMOULDERING.)

In other news, this review of the new Tomb Raider game made me very, very happy. It’s long but worth reading for what it has to say about the role of the female protagonist in violent action games, and what THIS game is doing absolutely right.

What has changed for women in (literary) publishing since Virago Books was established 40 years ago?

David McDonald’s Writers Wednesday posts are usually worth checking out, but I particularly wanted to draw attention to this piece looking at fantasy writer Jane Routley, and her hard yards as an Australian author published in the US, and the journey that has brought her to the recent reissues of her original books. Which BTW I loved when I first found them back in the 90′s!

Grant at The Angriest blogged about the 1970′s radio series of Asimov’s Foundation books which I totally listened to when I was a kid! And now I kind of want to again.



Sean the Blogonaut posts about grimdark fantasy and particularly the weird idea that the rape of women adds realism to fiction, but mysteriously that realism doesn’t equate to any male characters being raped.

Is anyone else excited that Willow is coming out to Blu-Ray? Considering I’ve never been able to find it on DVD, I am!

Australians, if you (like me) missed Josh Thomas’s new comedy series Please Like Me then all the episodes so far (four) are up on iView for catchupability. I mainlined the first three on Wednesday night and really enjoyed it – I hate to use the word quirky, but there’s an offbeat realism to the show that I like a lot, and the characters feel far more real than sitcom people usually do. There is Much Gayness, a really adorable male friendship, a truly brilliant cast, and a whole lot of genuine narrative exploration of how mental illness (in this case extreme clinical depression and at least one suicide attempt) can affect a whole family. Sure, it’s emotionally gutting at times, but it’s also really awkward and inconvenient! Aunty Peg made me cry in Episode 3. I also really like that the comedy pulls back from being about really hardcore embarrassment, which tends to make me cringe. Though admittedly the characters are generally in a constant state of mild embarrassment… worth checking out!

Who Wore It Best? Doctor Who Recycled Fashions

I’ve always been kind of fascinated by the history of costume design at the BBC – especially, let’s face it, where Doctor Who is concerned. In particular, the question of where borrowed costumes came from. Which is why when I knew Deb from Verity! would have an opportunity to interview June Hudson at the recent Gallifrey One convention, I begged her to ask for me – how exactly did that work? Was there a magic BBC wardrobe somewhere that all the old costumes went to die, until being recycled in new productions?

You have to listen to next week’s Verity! Extra to find out her answer… I am hoping for lots of good costumey gossip! In the mean time, the new Verity! episode has Erika, Deb, Lynne and Liz discussing The Curse of Fenric with great glee, gusto, distaste, and gasps of “YOU’RE WRONG!” Great stuff.

A little while back, while doing some research on June Hudson who was a costume designer for Blake’s 7 as well as Doctor Who, I found out two major reveals that blew my mind: Romana I’s frosted white fur hooded cloak from The Ribos Operation (Doctor Who) was also worn by Servalan in Project: Avalon. Also, Servalan’s black feathered number was later worn by Stellar’s mother in Dragonfire – notably in a scene where Ace poured a strawberry milkshake over her.

This little double anecdote of recycled Doctor Who fashion goodness has always pleased me, but then very recently I discovered an even more joyous source of such tidbits: an entire website devoted to costumes spotted in more than one production!

In which I learned:

Madame De Pompadour’s golden gown in the garden party scene of Doctor Who: The Girl in the Fireplace was originally made for Lady Cranleigh in Doctor Who: Black Orchid. In between those two productions, it was worn by Annie Lennox in her music video “Walking on Broken Glass.” The dress recently went up for auction.

Another of Reinette’s frocks has been worn across several period dramas, and more recently appeared in Horrible Histories AND Super Sizers. A third of Reinette’s dresses was originally made for Helen Mirren in The Madness of King George.

I can’t believe it never occurred to me to ask how they got hold of so many astounding frocks for Reinette, especially considering some of them were only seen for a few minutes on screen.

The Elizabethan ‘whisk’ collar worn by Angela Pleasance as Queen Liz I in Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code (2007) in which she turned up for five minutes to shout “Off With His Head!” at a bemused David Tennant, was custom-made for Anne Marie Duff’s Elizabeth I in “The Virgin Queen” (2005). It also later turned up on Rupert Everett while he was in drag for St Trinian’s.

Meanwhile Judi Dench’s Elizabeth I collar from Shakespeare in Love was worn by Helen McCrory as Signora Calvierri in Doctor Who: Vampires in Venice, and in a further relationship between those productions, doublet worn by Signora Calvierri’s sulky Francesco was first worn by Colin Firth in Shakespeare in Love.

Remember the truly hideous yellow and pink historical gown worn by Peri in The Mark of the Rani (1985)? The one that almost made you wish they’d put her back in a leotard again because it was so hard on the eyes? Well, it was re-used twenty four years later, worn by Mrs Elton in Emma – a character infamous for her vulgarity.

Oh, and a gown Clara will be wearing some time during this new half season of Doctor Who was once worn by June in the most recent adaptation of my beloved Forsyte Saga.

So far, no evidence that Leela’s leathers have yet turned up in Downton Abbey. Which is a crying shame!

Agathon #10: The Seven Dials Mystery [1929]

Kathryn and I started out with a challenge to read every book written by Agatha Christie, in order of publication – we’re blogging as we go along. We spoil all the things!

TANSY:

How much do I love Bundle in this story? She’s quite my favourite kind of character in old-fashioned novels: the relentlessly sensible young lady with a sense of humour and an adventurous spirit. I actually loved most of the characters, and would happily have read book after book featuring Bundle’s bumbling gang of chums and reprobates as they solve! Crimes! Together!

I’m rather in love with Superintendent Battle too, and was convinced until right at the end that he and Bundle were destined for each other. I was quite cross that her line about how it was a good thing he was married came AFTER she had got engaged to Bill, as I could have done with it much earlier so as not to get my hopes up.

Also, house parties. I think all novels should have house parties in them.

Plotwise, I was slightly in dread of another Agatha take on secret societies after

Shada Lost and Found [WHO-50—1980]

Shada is the best known and more deeply beloved of any Doctor Who story that no one has ever actually watched.

Intended to screen as the final story of Season 17 (which had begun with the introduction of Lalla Ward as Romana II in Destiny of the Daleks), Shada’s production was cancelled partway through filming because of a strike at the BBC.

Perhaps under other circumstances it might have been forgotten, a footnote in the show’s history. But there were many elements which came together to form a kind of mythology about how magical this story was, and what a terrible loss it was to Doctor Who fans, that it continues to enjoy a kind of semi-canonical status.

Season 17 is a mixed bag. It was the final run of producer Graham Williams, before he passed the job to John Nathan Turner, the producer who would continue for the remainder of ‘classic’ Who’s life on air. Some of the least-appreciated stories of Tom Baker’s tenure are in this season, and yet it also contains City of Death, a witty romantic comedy time travel romp, often cited as the Best Doctor Who Ever by a large number of fans (along with the rather less cheerful Genesis of the Daleks and Caves of Androzani).

The mythological status of Shada almost certainly owes much to the success of City of Death, not least because both were written by the legendary Douglas Adams, who was also script editor for Doctor Who in his early career. The warm, flirtatious banter of the Doctor and Romana that so livened up their time in Paris can also be seen the in these Cambridge location scenes. None of which are hurt by Lalla Ward’s most stunning outfit of all time, and one of the best hats ever seen in a Doctor Who story.

Hmm. Now I want to make a list of all the best hats. Romana I’s Tara hat, obviously. And almost everything Patrick Troughton ever put on his head. And the straw boater from The Leisure Hive. A future blog post, perhaps…

Perhaps the most important reason why such a mythology built up around this story is that two of those Cambridge location scenes were saved from the unused footage, and formed part of the 20th Anniversary story The Five Doctors, in 1983. When Tom Baker declined to take part in the special, those bits (of he and Romana punting down the Thames, and her later calling him into the TARDIS) were cleverly used to show the Fourth Doctor getting trapped in time, and thus unable to help his other selves.

For many fans like me as a child, this was the first glimpse of the famous ‘lost story’ Shada, though at the same time it rendered Shada completely non-canonical. After all, the Doctor and Romana can’t have had that lazy, banterific conversation about Cambridge dons in a punt twice, can they?

But in 1992, John Nathan-Turner (then the former producer of Doctor Who) made an attempt to complete the lost story, and make it available to viewers. Special effects shots were commissioned, as well as linking narration from Tom Baker, for a VHS release.

Watching Shada on VHS, though, was something of a frustrating experience. Gleams of brilliance, to be sure, with the sparkling Douglas Adams dialogue and the chemistry of Tom and Lalla, not to mention an excellent supporting cast. But while all of the location shooting had been completed, only the first block of studio work was, which means you start out with episodes that are mostly complete (and rather wonderful) and by the end of the six parter, the whole thing runs mostly on fumes and empty tin cans. Despite Tom Baker’s rrrrrather wonderful voice.

For me as a first time viewer, far too aware of the show’s history, I was mostly keen to see where those bits from The Five Doctors fit in, and not all that interested in the rest of it. My little ‘it must all make sense’ canon hungry brain was also ever so slightly broken by the fact that most of the plot, especially all the Professor Chronotis bits, were, well. FAMILIAR.

Douglas Adams is famous for his sharp, witty comic writing, and for his cavalier attitude towards deadlines. He was also very quick to re-use his own material, though fans tend not to slam him as badly for this as they do Terry Nation, possibly because he didn’t repeat himself very often within Doctor Who. In 1987, Adams had published Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, which borrowed heavily from his Shada script. Well, why not? It wasn’t like Shada was going to ever be seen by anyone… or so he had believed.

In 2003, Shada lived again in yet another form, as a BBC Webcast. Images and simple flash “animation” were paired with a new audio track, featuring Lalla Ward as Romana, John Leeson as K9 (who had actually been voiced by David Brierly during most of Season 17) and Paul McGann as the Doctor.

Hang on, what?

Yep, you heard me.

Tom Baker once again had turned down the offer to reprise his role, and so the original script was tweaked slightly. In this version, Romana was much older and the President of Gallifrey (as she was in several tie in books as well as the Big Finish Audio range), and the Doctor in his Eighth Incarnation popped by to remind her about that mission they had missed out on the first time around.

This clever twist – whereby being taken out of time in the The Five Doctors meant that there was a paradox about their Shada adventure still to be resolved – rather nicely made it clear that Doctor Who canon could now stretch to include both Shada and The Five Doctors. The dynamic between McGann and Ward was also very enjoyable, and the whole thing can be heard as a Big Finish audio play if you don’t fancy looking at pictures while you listen to your Doctor Who.

More recently, in 2012, Shada took on yet another lease of life. Gareth Roberts, who has not only written for the new series of Doctor Who and the Sarah Jane Adventures, but was renowned back in the day for his ability to capture the voices of the Fourth Doctor and Romana II in the Missing Adventures book range, was commissioned to write a novelisation of the Lost Story To End All Lost Stories.

The stories scripted by Douglas Adams (The Pirate Planet and City of Death as well as Shada) had never been novelised, mostly because he did not wish anyone else to adapt his stories, and the BBC paid so little for this work that he couldn’t justify doing it himself after the success of The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A Douglas Adams novel, after all, was worth quite a LOT of money.

In any case, the Gareth Roberts version has been highly acclaimed, and greatly enjoyed by many since its recent release. Even more welcomed by fans was Lalla Ward’s reading of the unabridged work as an audiobook, complete with the voice of John Leeson as K9 and full professional sound design.

Finally (we must suppose this is finally!) Shada has had a new DVD release this year in The Legacy Collection, paired with the documentary 30 Years in the TARDIS, and brimming with special features. I haven’t seen it yet, but I will admit that after the VHS experience, I am more tempted by the audiobook of the novelisation than I am of trying to watch it as a ‘TV story’ again.

But, extras. Including, as it happens, the Paul McGann webcast. I’m also keen to see the documentary stuff about the making (and not making) of Shada, and The Lambert Tapes, along with other goodies.

Then of course there’s the Other Shada, the version I have heard snippets about but only second or third hand – the one produced by notorious super-fan Ian Levine, who apparently commissioned most of the original cast to re-voice an animated-to-completion version of this least lost of all lost stories. While those who have seen this endeavour privately have spread the word that it’s very good, it was never going to be part of a BBC official release, for fairly obvious rights reasons (not least of which are that no permissions were given to make it in the first place).

Apparently there are many subtleties and extra complexities to this particular bit of the story’s history that I can’t possibly understand without having waded through many, many conversations on the forums of Gallifrey Base. I’m kind of okay with that. Instead, I point you at this Starburst article.

And now I’m going to go listen to the entirely canonical Paul McGann and Lalla Ward version again.

ELSEWHERE ON 1980:



Doctor Who The Legacy Collection [Gary Gillatt]

Original Costume Design for Mena and the Argolina in The Leisure Hive [June Hudson Design Archive]

Meglos Episode 3 [Chronic Hysteresis]

The Young Alzarian Who Sacrificed Much [Marlow Inc]

Full Circle [Wife in Space]



State of Decay Episode 1 [Chronic Hysteresis]

PREVIOUSLY:

Damsel’d = now a verb!

It’s finally here! Thanks Charles Tan for passing on the link. Anita Sarkeesian ran a Kickstarter last year to fund her web series Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games, and now Episode 1 has been released.

This one, Damsel in Distress Part 1, looks at classic platformer and console games, and the use of female characters as the object to be rescued. It’s a great piece which why the vid is the perfect medium for this kind of critical work – the excerpts from the games serve to illustrate the points that Anita is making very effectively.

I especially enjoy the way that ‘damsel’ evolves as a term in the video, to the point of being a verb. A character does not become a damsel, she is ‘damselled’ (or maybe damsel’d?) by the games themselves.

Looking forward to more of these with great enthusiasm – my gaming experience is pretty patchy and I’m enjoying the history of gaming that I’m gleaning from this, along with the feminist analysis and media critique.

Friday Links Looks Like a Lady Who Has Dressed Herself

Happy International Women’s Day!

So, one of those things you might not know about me, internet, is that back in the day when I spent part of my first ever professional book sale cheque on a Playstation 1 (that’s how long I’ve been in the writing biz!) the games I played most obsessively were: Spyro the Dragon, anything with ‘Discworld’ in the title, and Tomb Raider. We are so overdue for a new Discworld game it’s not funny, and the adorableness of Spyro has been utterly destroyed by the cynical and macho ‘Skylanders’ reboot. But Lara Croft as Tomb Raider is about to make her comeback…

And this time, she’s written by a woman. Rhianna Pratchett, heir to the Discworld IP and one of the most prominent female writers in the game industry, has been doing a bunch of media about her role as head writer on this new Tomb Raider prequel. It’s rare to hear a writer included so openly in the PR about a new game, especially when that writer is a woman, and Rhianna has some really interesting things to say about the creative choices made for this game, especially in a piece she wrote herself for the Telegraph (though she was quick to point out on Facebook that the awful title of the piece was NOT chosen by her). Don’t read the comments of this one, they will ruin your day.

Red Sonja cover by HELL YEAH Fiona Staples

Meanwhile, Gail Simone has been signed up to write for Red Sonja which immediately makes me interested in the character in a way I never have been before. A female warrior mostly portrayed as a male fantasy, now in the hands of a smart writer who does smart characterisation? BRING IT. Oh, and as an added bonus, while the regular artist is male, the covers will be handled by all female artists including HELL YEAH FIONA STAPLES, our own Aussie Nicola Scott, Jenny Frisson, Stephania Buscema and Colleen Doran.

Back to the book industry! The big dramatic discussion of the week was the terrible boilerplate contract offered by Random House Hydra, one of several new digital imprints of the Big Publisher. Scalzi and the SFWA Writer Beware blog had much to say about this contract, and its most problematic aspects – if a publisher is not paying advances AND charging the author for set up costs, then exactly what investment are they bringing to the table? A recent update on Writer Beware includes the response of Random House.

Bitch Magazine asked why 70 percent of the most popular podcasts are hosted by men, and I Love Lard responded by gathering a list of podcasts which are hosted by women. Go check out the list if you are craving something new to listen to! And if your favourite female-hosted podcast isn’t on there, ILL will happily add your recommendations. I love it when something positive comes out of an issue that makes me cranky.

Epic Fantasy has also been much discussed – particularly with Foz Meadows piece on Grittiness and Grimdark Fantasy (I love that term so much), and then Kate Elliott’s piece What Is Your Consensual Sex and Love Doing in my Epic Fantasy? The discussion in the comments of that one is wonderful, inspiring and very worthwhile. I have learned to check back on Kate’s posts several days later because her vocal readership are awesome.

The new (March) Apex Magazine is really good! I particularly like the feature article I Married a Fake Geek Girl: A Defense of Casual Fandom which is a must-read and one to bookmark for reference, but I also enjoyed much of the fiction, which has a higher quirkyweird factor than I find in other publications.

This one is depressing but constructive: a Tumblr set up for women to share their stories of everyday harassment, whether it’s street harassment, workplace or social harassment. It can be a gruelling read but it’s an important resource because the fact is, if you’ve never experienced or witnessed this kind of harassment in your life, it’s hard to take in how prevalent it is in our supposedly post-sexist society.

Blue Milk, who has written some amazing think pieces this year, looks at The Cost of Mockery in Australian Politics, particularly as this regards our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the gendered abuse hurled at her by the media (and populace) on a regular basis, above and beyond the usual Aussie mockery of public figures.

Then there’s the VIDA count which shows yet again that the books reviewed in the most prominent publications of review are ridiculously weighted towards the work by men, regardless of merit. Sad, sad pie charts make me sad.

NOW so I don’t leave you all in a blubbering mess of cynicism and gloom, some cheering up links!

Guys Reading Gals, a new Aussie blog established to address the bizarre social practice whereby many men exclusively or predominantly read books by men, often unintentionally. Blokes who want to change this about yourselves, you are awesome!

I was also highly entertained this week by a piece from a former ghostwriter of the Sweet Valley High series, talking about the process and how she balanced her life as a ghostwriter of girlie romance with her dissertation on Serious Books, before becoming a professor of literature. Almost the best bit of the whole piece, which focuses on her fear at the time of being outed as a purveyor of trash, is the comment that points out she went from being a successful, relevant and highly-read writer to being a useless professor who just teaches about writing instead of doing it. It made me giggle, okay? I did appreciate her discussions on the addictive nature of audience, though.

And finally if you’re not cheered up enough yet to go about your day with a spring in your step, check out this SPECTACULAR HOGWARTS MODEL THAT THIS LADY MADE OUT OF LEGO!

Oh, and all this talk about Lara Croft and Red Sonja made me want to rewatch Bernice Summerfield in action:

Baby Give Me One More Ribbon!

A delightful package in the post today. Doctor Who convention Gallifrey One is legendary for its ribbon exchanges between fans, and I was completely squeeful when Erika and Deb of Verity! told me that they had organised a Verity ribbon for this year’s convention.

It says “Brilliantly Opinionated.”

“Make sure you save one for me,” I seem to remember saying, or something along those lines.

WELL.

What they did, those splendid women, along with our fellow podcasters Liz and Katrina, and Katrina’s fellow podcaster Nicholas (AKA THE RIBBON MULE) is they collected as many Gallifrey ribbons as they could, just for me. I was so excited that I kept the parcel un-opened until I had picked Raeli up from home (getting her in the right frame of mind first by playing her the section of the Ood Cast album Dirty Little Geeks in which Laura Sigma sings about going to Gallifrey and COLLECTING RIBBONS BABY, GIVE ME ONE MORE RIBBON UH-HUH).

When we got home, we both tore into the package with glee to find all manner of delicious treasures. Being eight, she got into the physics of the ribbon attachment and we immediately constructed ourselves an extremely long Fourth Doctor Scarf of Gallifrey ribbons. Raeli was then allowed to make off with the repeats, which she did joyfully, possibly to make kilts for her teddy bears. When Jem got home this was a bit of a problem because she of course wanted a kilt too! I had saved the extra Verity ribbons (“brilliantly opinionated!) and she made them into a dolls house sheet.

Meanwhile, Raeli posed with hat, as the Fourth Doctor himself. It was her own idea, because she is my awesome daughter. It was almost as lovely a moment as the other night when little Jem discovered she could get an echo if she shouted directly into the fan in the living room, and promptly started croaking ‘I am a Dal-ek!’

For some extra Verity goodness, check out the new Extra Episode in which Deb, Erika, Liz and I talk about the wonders of the Eighth Doctor in non-TV media, with especial love and attention for the Big Finish Audio range.