 Fantasy: March 13, 2013 Issue [#5558] |
  Fantasy
This week: Doctor Who Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.
― The Doctor
There's something that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick.
― The Doctor
A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.
― The Doctor |
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Doctor Who
Okay, this newsletter is really just for both of you who haven't been following Doctor Who. The rest of you can follow along if you like. Or go check out the Comedy newsletter - I hear this week's editor is brilliant.
Still with me? Cool. So there's this British science fiction TV show called Doctor Who, see? And it's been around since 1963 (though they took a few years off from TV).
For those of you who don't math, that's 50 years. To put things in perspective, the first episode of Doctor Who aired the day John F. Kennedy was shot. The US hadn't even gotten into space yet, and Russia only barely. High technology of the time involved big cars with eight-cylinder engines that got thirty gallons to the mile. The internet wasn't even a glint in the milkman's eye (to steal a phrase from another British show).
And not unexpectedly, they're planning a giant 50th anniversary celebration in London, which I'd totally go to if it weren't London in November, and if there were a chance in hell I could get tickets.
Celebration or not, they will be doing a 50th anniversary special which we can all see (eventually, even if you don't have BBC), presumably also in November.
So, with me being a Doctor Who fan from way back (though not as far back as the beginning; I'm not that old), I decided that the best way for me, personally, to celebrate this event would be to watch all the Doctor Who episodes, starting from 1963, going through all the Doctors in all his incarnations.
I knew this would be an heroic undertaking. For one thing, TV shows back then were shorter, perhaps, but instead of the paltry 13-show seasons we get these days, they came up with a new episode nearly every frakking week of the year.
For another, to history's great shame, a lot of the early episodes of Doctor Who simply don't exist any more, purged in the 1970s when they didn't think they'd be showing them anymore.
But the internet is a tool almost as cool as the TARDIS, and Doctor Who fans are a force to be reckoned with (second only to Browncoats), so many of the lost episodes have been partially reconstructed from what little remains of them. Mostly, this involves soundtracks - before the days of VHS or DVD, some fans would record just the audio portion of the show; also, in some cases, the studios kept the audio tracks separate from the video tracks. In either case, there are many episodes where the soundtrack still exists in some form.
Also, for many lost episodes, production stills were preserved, and so were scripts. So some people - officially or otherwise - started the project of putting together what still existed into a reconstruction.
Now, you might wonder "why bother watching these?" Well, fans know the answer to that, and if you don't, certainly you can give them a miss. Heck, if you haven't seen the show, you'd probably do just fine by watching only the modern Doctor Who revival series, which featured more modern production values and higher budgets - and spawned an entire new generation of fans, which makes us old-timers chuckle.
And speaking of budgets, even the surviving early episodes can be painful to watch with modern sensibilities. This was in the time even before the original Star Trek, and I'm sure you know how great those special effects weren't. And to be perfectly honest, some of the costumes made me laugh out loud, even the ones that were supposed to be scary. Especially the ones that were supposed to be scary. But that's part of the show's charm, in my opinion.
Still, for the most part, the storytelling was excellent, and I find that if I allow for conventions and technology of the time, I can understand how the show got a massive following from nearly the beginning (though I think the show didn't really hit its stride until the second season).
Whether you've been a fan for 50 years or just getting started, you know how much a part of popular culture Doctor Who is. And I still have a great many episodes to watch before November, so I'd better stop writing this editorial and get on with it! |
Not Doctor Who, but some science fiction from all over:
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Last time, in "Fantasy Newsletter (February 12, 2013)" , I talked about what lies beneath the ocean's surface.
Ida_Matilda_Wright Help  : I used to just glance over the news letters. I am ashamed to admit it now. However, I found these newsletters to be a great reviewing tool. No only can I find some great work, I also love to here that some don't even know that they are in the newsletter. They are so happy to find out
Some editors like to warn authors, which is fine. I follow the "surprise is good" philosophy 
Quick-Quill  : RE: fantasy-I agree with you; the line is blurred. I guess I am a High Fantasy reader, all else is Sci-Fi or that new genre Paranormal  the large umbrella that covers the offshoots of any "magical" genre.
I will have to look again at Neil G. I never heard of Charles delint.
I reiterate, though, that in the end, genre is a marketing tool. We like what we like, whether it's genre-related or not.
Elle - on hiatus  : An interesting newsletter that has inspired me to work more on my chapter featuring the mermaid! Thanks!
Glad to help, however inadvertently!
And that's it for me for March - until next time, keep calm and
DREAM ON!!! |
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