A belated tribute to this most versatile actor, who frightened me with a revisit so long ago and like Laura Palmer, I would see again long after I settled down and stopped rooting for the protagonist of A Clockwork Orange.
Voltaire
October 4th, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
J’ai toujours fait une prière à Dieu, qui est fort courte. La voici: «Mon Dieu, rendez nos ennemis bien ridicules!» Dieu m’a exaucé.
Kpop Cafe
September 25th, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
Had a dream the other day that I couldn’t get into a library without waiting in line, and I wasn’t even sure what for, and even when I did, I stayed because I didn’t have much of a reason to enter, anyway. Later that evening, I’d spend our entire time at the harvest moon festival in front of a food truck for a shitty $16 plate of 불고기-topped noodles, prompting me to prayer:
Now I lay me down for the day,
I pray my Dreams take me away;
For Life’ll still suck when I awake,
I pray my Dreams give me a break.
All that I ask is something new,
The smallest change from my Day’ll do;
All that I ask is to be free,
From all the Fears restraining me.
Time Warp
September 18th, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
Intellectual property is a concept borne from capitalism, right, and yet it seems folks whose only concern is self-enrichment are always the worst at following its rules. And loathe as I am to credit that cocksucker for anything, the story did lead me (back? Because this banger sounds familiar) to—
The Invisible Enemy — Invasion of Time
September 2nd, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
Leela’s last few stories were by no means my favorites of the short Tom Baker run we had growing up—I remember scratching my head seeing Sarah again after Invasion, being disappointed when it happened a second time, then a third, fourth… but maybe it was for the best, considering what actually followed. Wouldn’t it have been great if it turned out that Romana was Leela all along, gentrified by Time Lord society? Killing her off wasn’t the right call (imagine the effect on the Doctor, though), but a time skip definitely would’ve worked.
Crazy that they were actually thinking of doing it in The Sun Makers, which I admit I like now more than I did back then, when I was far too young to relish the overthrow of a corporatocracy, however cheaply dramatized. As if the BBC would air a group of terrorists tossing a government official off a building anymore, much less greenlight a companion named after a Palestinian freedom fighter! Underworld also suffered from trying to present an epic with a shoestring budget, but I’ve always had a soft spot for takes on Greek mythology, those shield guns were as cool as anything in Star Wars, and Leela truly had her final best moments under (and after) the influence of the Pacifier Gun. Orf was not a beautiful name.
Lord of the Flies
August 15th, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
I get now why Raphael’s drop grants Fly.
The Robots of Death
July 16th, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
One banger after another, leading to arguably the pinnacle of the franchise (Talons, which I revisited recently so I may skip this time around, you know, allow the nostalgia gauge to refill, try and appreciate newer work like Evil that’s the only thing to come close), the inspired costume design, no-nonsense whodunnit, and dialogue Davies ought to try harder to emulate:
“You mean you can’t control this machine?”
“Well of course I can control it! …Nine times out of ten. Well, seven times out of ten; five times—look, never mind, let’s see where we are.” [Heads towards exit. Leela takes Tesh rifle from previous episode. In hindsight, probably more effective against those vocs than her knife.]
“You won’t need that.”
“How do you know?”
“I never carry weapons. If people see you mean them no harm, they never hurt you …nine times out of ten.”
The Face of Evil
June 30th, 2024 § 0 comments § permalink
I had just about given up on Disney Who after that entire episode written around a single brilliant (better) moment between Harry and the Doctor from “Genesis of the Daleks”, but I’m a sucker for time-skip stories like “73 Yards”, though I think Black Red Mirror’s “Demon 79” did something similar (and again, better). The next two felt like the inevitable reminders Gatwa’s both Black and gay and were serviceable enough, but damn, was that finale ever a twisted abhorrence to this long-time fan. For an all-new series, it sure does rely on marvels of its past; even that homage to a scene from “Pyramids” in an earlier outing was a pale imitation, amidst hokum appropriate for mid-to-later-era CW Flash. At least nonagenarian Gabriel Woolf got paid in 2024 money.
Stuck in the hotel on my latest trip to the Twin Cities I got to explore the free offerings on Pluto TV, one of whose channels ran ad-supported Britbox reruns of the Pertwee era, more or less in order until it got to Baker, and never was the popular term “peak” more apt. I fear my Doctor’s not long for this world, so allow me to praise his performance in those first few seasons we had on PBS, including in Leela’s debut, when he was at his most ruthless and egomaniacal.