Somewhere Different Now

Well, that was certainly an episode of Steven Moffat's Doctor Who.

( Spoilers! )

I have a Doctor Who thought question for you! Over in Sherlock fandom I've read a number of excellent fics fusing the world of Sherlock with the His Dark Materials book trilogy, giving all the characters daemons*. I started wondering how such a fusion would work in the Doctor Who universe. Specifically, would Time Lord daemons be like human daemons? Please note that this is purely a speculative exercise; I have no plans for writing DW/HDM crossover fic (though I'd happily read any that's already out there...)[Poll #1752951]Feel free to use the comments to speculate further on this topic and/or suggest daemons for Doctor Who or Torchwood characters.

*A very quick primer for those who haven't read Phillip Pullman's excellent His Dark Materials Trilogy:  in this alternate universe fantasy, each person has a daemon, which is essentially an external manifestation of his/her soul.  Daemons take the shapes of animals.  During childhood they may shapeshift freely, then at adolescence they settle on a form that remains for the rest of the person's life.  Daemons have real physical form and may touch their own humans, inanimate objects, or other daemons, but touching another person's daemon is a deep cross-cultural taboo.

There has been some debate this season about the morality of some of Eleven's actions this series and to what degree the Doctor does or should tolerate violence.  Personally, I imprinted on Nine, who would sometimes cause the baddies' deaths and even threatened to use a gun (and didn't bother Jack about his gun use quite as much as Ten did), but he hated it and generally found some other way.  He ultimately declared that he'd chose to be a coward, not a killer, every time. 

However, to add to this discussion, I bring you a video of classic Doctors shooting stuff/aliens/etc. set to gangsta rap. (Lyrics NSFW)


(found via io9)

Tonight, there was Doctor Who on a pirate ship.  To repurpose Benjamin Franklin's comment about beer, this is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy*.  Mind you, it wasn't a terribly good episode in most ways, but I'm not going to let a little thing like that get in the way of my enjoyment.

*Note:  Moffat is very much not God, though when he okayed a pirate episode he might have shared the loving us and wanting us to be happy.  For now.

( Avast! Here be spoilers and abuse of capslock! )

-NEXT WEEK IS NEIL TIME.  THERE IS NOT ENOUGH CAPSLOCK IN THE WORLD TO EXPRESS MY EXCITEMENT.

I need to do a RL update at some point, but here is a short mostly-fandom post instead.

-I've started watching Fringe!  I'm only at 1X11, "Bound," so please no spoilers in the comments!  I'm enjoying it a great deal, primarily because Olivia Dunham is a grade-A BAMF.  I adore all the emotions going across her face, her dedication, her resourcefulness, that rare but lovely smile, and in general everything about her.  After so much time spent primarily paying attention to fandoms with male leads, it's SO refreshing to watch a show with a female lead that passes the Bechdel test in most episodes.  The plot seems to be getting better as it goes along, and I've heard that it gets better yet.  I really hope the future includes more Astrid, for she is awesome and deserves more to do than being a gopher.  Also, the credits feel like a lame rip-off of the X-Files credits, but whatever.  Olivia Dunham is way more important than credits.

-Less than a month until Doctor Who!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Yes, this news totally called for that many exclamation points.  Maybe more.)  I'm excited.  I've been trying to avoid spoilers like the plague, though I did watch the trailer.  It looks awesome, but I think I like the "1911 version" with ragtime music and grainy b&w footage even better.

( trailer under the cut for the spoiler-phobic )
-I have a random desire to read some Merlin fic.  (By "random," I mean that I had Vienna Teng's "Harbor" stuck in my head, which made me think of kaydeefalls 's Gwen-centric vid to that song, which made me think of Merlin.)  Anyone got recs?  I prefer things the canon setting to modern AUs, though AUs relating to events are fine.  Encouraged, even, since canon in that show is frequently so unsatisfactory.  Any genre, any ship (other than fics that portray incest as a sexy thing...fics dealing with myth!canon messed-up Arthur/Morgana or fics written before we learned certain familial relationships are fine).  Female characters being awesome, fics giving S2 or S3 Morgana character development the canon never allowed her, and stories where the magic feels, well, magical are especially encouraged.

-On Saturday I went to a city-wide yardsale a nearby town was having where they encouraged lots of people to have a yard sale on the same day.  I meant to get some useful household stuff like an end table, a rug, wall-mounted hooks, maybe some kitchen things.  Instead I bought three books, a game of pictionary, a pair of shoes, and a Haagen Dasz bar (from an ice cream truck).  Oops. 

-Doctor Who!  April 23rd!  It's exciting enough to say again!

Title:  Mercy of the Fallen (3/4)
Author:  TARDIS_stowaway
Rating:  Teen
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Nine, Jack/Ten, Jack/original character
Spoilers:  Through Children of Earth and The Waters of Mars.
Warnings:  None other than angst in this chapter, story as a whole contains descriptions of violence, cursing
Disclaimer:  Not mine, no profit here.  Do I look like the BBC?
Summary:   If wishes were horses, this spaceship would be even more crowded and smelly. Trying to escape his past, Jack instead comes face to face with it in the form of the Doctor, on the run from his own recent tragedies.
Author's notes:  Huge thanks to my ever-helpful beta reader, the fantastic wendymr.

Previous chapter
( Chapter 3 under the cut )

Title:  Mercy of the Fallen (1/4)
Author:  TARDIS_stowaway
Rating:  Teen
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Nine, Jack/Ten, Jack/original character
Spoilers:  Through Children of Earth and The Waters of Mars.
Warnings:  Descriptions of violence
Disclaimer:  I am not the BBC.  The Doctor, Jack, and all other characters you recognize are not mine.
Summary:   If wishes were horses, this spaceship would be even more crowded and smelly. Trying to escape his past, Jack instead comes face to face with it in the form of the Doctor, on the run from his own recent tragedies. 

Author's notes:  Bottomless thanks and cookies go to my fantastic beta reader, wendymr .  Her patience is every bit as impressive as her super beta skills.  The title comes from the Dar Williams song of the same name.  You can listen to it via YouTube here.

 

( Chapter 1 )

I picked this excellent meme up from isiscaughey .  Here are five companions the Doctor would have been lucky to have. 

( party in the blue box! )

Longer thoughts on The Big Bang will follow at some point.  For now, a brief (and rather tangential) matter occupies my mind.
( spoilers! )

Prior to watching 5x12, I was reflecting that I was not quite as jittery with anticipation and uncontrolled excitement as I used to be about finales in RTD's era.  I've more or less enjoyed every episode this season except the Dalek one.  However, Moffat just isn't as character driven as RTD, and it's characters who really get me to give my heart to a a show.  S5 has been a great ride, but it's left me just a little bit cold and removed (or, looked at another way, a little less fevered and crazy over a fictional show). 

(  So what did I think after watching 5x12? The Livejournal cut opens )