Spring wallpaper and Blink

[mollyringle]

If you, like me, are in the chilly Northern Hemisphere and pining for the green of spring, maybe you would be interested in this wallpaper:



I took this photo near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, in April of 2004. People had left coins on this ancient old stone pedestal, for luck or to appease the fairies or something, I assume. I should note that the wall in the photo is not actually Hadrian's Wall. It's a sheep fence, more likely, whose stones were possibly stolen from the original Wall.

Doctor Who watching notes: we recently saw the two-parter "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood," which was like getting to see David Tennant perform a different role altogether. If you (like me) are into that idea, it makes for good viewing. If you (like my husband) want to watch Doctor Who in order to actually see the Doctor, it isn't so great.

But we both agreed on tonight's episode, "Blink," being awesome. It reminded me of Buffy's "Hush" episode, in being artistically beautiful and terrifying at the same time, with tight writing, many a cool twist, and plenty of humor to save the day. Can we just let Steven Moffat write all the episodes, please? Oh, and my husband remarked that Sally Sparrow is cute. Even I thought so, and I don't generally swing that way. I see now why her name crops up so often in fandom discussions, even if she never shows up in another episode. (I don't know as of this writing whether she does. I may spoil myself by going to look it up, though.)

Cheers and goodnight.

Comments

[astroman-rich.livejournal.com]

Now you've gone and made me want to go back to the UK. :-)

"Blink" is one of my favorite Who episodes - very nicely handled in almost all respects, though I wasn't fond of the way that they resolved the crisis in the end. I would have expected the Doctor to have used a more permanent solution. ( What happens when someone decides to get rid of those ugly statues in the basement? )

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

*hands you a make-believe plane ticket* (first class, of course)

Hmm, good point on the statues. Really should have smashed them into gravel or something--assuming that would work.

[sopdetly.livejournal.com]

"Blink" is brilliant. I adore Steven Moffat. I mean, I already did because "Coupling" = Yay, but... yeah. I actually screamed during "Blink". I never scream at scary stuff. And god yes, Sally Sparrow. ♥ (HN/FoB also rocks it out. I pretty much adored every minute of S3, and even "42", which disappointed at first, has held up much better on re-watches.)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely add Coupling to my Netflix queue. Sweet.

And yeah--those stone angels suddenly appearing with an outstretched arm, or the bared fangs, was the creepiest thing ever. Yeeeks. And nice and low-tech, too! Good old-fashioned scariness there.

[sopdetly.livejournal.com]

Gasp, you've never seen Coupling?! Definitely put those at the top! There's a conversation in the 2nd episode that...well, you'll know it when you see it ;)

[jigglykat.livejournal.com]

I find the latter half of S3 to have some of the best episodes of the series to date. I absolutely love Human Nature/Family of Blood, but I find it very difficult to watch that second episode more than once. It's a tough one, isn't it?

And Blink has become my favorite episode. I never thought of comparing it to Hush, but you're so right! The Gentlemen and the Weeping Angels scare the crap out of me! And yes, I fully agree that Mister Muppet (as he is known in my circle of Who-friends) should write everything.

EEEEEEEE! You're almost caught up! Are you by any chance going to attempt Torchwood? The second season starts up on Wednesday in the UK and next week for the US. And I believe the DVDs are coming out very soon or something. (Just checked... Jan. 22)

PS. Gorgeous photo!

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I didn't find the matron love interest very charismatic, so in that sense it wasn't hard to watch. But "John Smith" being so obviously distraught, and Martha too in having to watch him go through all this, made it harder. I kind of loved the Baines kid's weird alien sideways smile, though. :)

I do plan to check out Torchwood, yup. S1 is already out according to Netflix!

[gavinworld.livejournal.com]

If you're a fan of Moffat's writing, then you've got check out Coupling (this is the original UK show, not the horrible US ripoff from a few years back)- it's extremely funny, and it's available on Netflix.

[shebit.livejournal.com]

Seconded. Also, there are ocassional Who references.

Don't bother with the fourth series, though - there are a few excellent scenes, but generally it's very disappointing and sullies the brilliance of the first three.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Sweet. I totally will. Moffat is all I need to know!

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

"Blink" is one of the best episodes of the revived Who, despite not having that much Doctor. Almost every note in it is perfect, as you said! And it gave us "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, stuff" which I think will stick with Tennant for a long time :)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Heheh. We got a good laugh out of the timey-wimey stuff, as well as his technical machinery description, "It goes 'Bing' when there's stuff."

[shebit.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't 'Sparrow and Nightingale' make for an adorable spinoff series?

Human Nature/Family of Blood is wonderful (and I don't know if you're aware, but Paul Cornell actually adapted it from his own novel, in which it was, I think, the Seventh Doctor who became human). I think that the final scene between the Doctor and Matron says so much about him - for all his travelling with them, the Doctor still doesn't really get humans - he can't grasp the idea that travelling with a man who looked and sounded so much like her dead lover would be torture for her.

[katymulvey.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't take too long for you to find it, but it is available as an ebook on the BBC website:

Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Nature_(Doctor_Who_novel)

Prelude:
http://www.drwhoguide.com/whona38p.htm

Novel:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/ebooks/human_nature/index.shtml

[shebit.livejournal.com]

Ooh, superb. Now I can read it without having to steal borrow a copy from a friend. Thanks.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks. Man, I really need to catch up on the old Who...hardly know where to start, though!

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

for all his travelling with them, the Doctor still doesn't really get humans - he can't grasp the idea that travelling with a man who looked and sounded so much like her dead lover would be torture for her.

*nod*
In a sense it's odd, since he's still acting moony over Rose. But he clearly still also thinks that being invited onto the TARDIS would solve everyone's problems. Such a Time Lord. :)

[shebit.livejournal.com]

As much as he loved Rose, Humans are still pretty much cute pets to him - he doesn't understand that some problems can't be fixed by a quick jaunt around the galaxy.

Quick notes.

[dirae.livejournal.com]

Love the picture -- I remember back when you took that trip.

Love "Blink" obsessively. It kinda scares me. Possibly my 2nd favorite episode. Sally Sparrow is teh cuteness.

Re: Quick notes.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thanks on the photo! And yeah, I totally have a girlcrush on Sally Sparrow; and an artistic crush on Moffat for those stone angels, which are terrifying without any need of CG or animatronics.

Re: Quick notes.

[dirae.livejournal.com]

Your photo is my wallpaper now...

And there are "Blink" inspired t-shirts out there. One of my students has one that says "The Angels have the Phone Box" ...

Re: Quick notes.

[modmerseygirl.livejournal.com]

I've heard about those t-shirts!

Re: Quick notes.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Sweet! I should look up such T-shirts. Would be fun explaining it to people who asked, of course.

[modmerseygirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a GORGEOUS photo! :-)

Glad you're still enjoying Doctor Who!

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And yep--one more disk of s3 to go. Catching up!