Entertaining in a Disturbing Way

- I'm on a Narnia kick again, just as a warning. Part of that is telling everyone to go watch this vid, because it's amazing, and I've watched it like 8 times in the last two days: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41655432

- I've been re-watching the Walden films, and the commentary and BTS stuff, and really enjoying them. I disagree with various choices, but I do at least love the final product for the first two films. The third one is... ok. But really pales to the other two (unfortunately, but I don't know how they could rescue it).

- I listened to some of the Torchwood: Soho box sets, they are the gayest fucking thing ever, and the snark is perfect. A quick grouping of quotes (the best was Norton whining about wanting to kill more Nazis, I love this man, ok)

"No woman has ever had an idea that a man hasn't improved by repeating it louder." - Norton Folgate (being sarcastic, though somewhat honest given history)

"I saved her life, and she didn't give me a biscuit." - Lizbeth Hayhoe

"Alien invasions don't normally stop at the county border." - Andy Davidson

"You're a rebel."
"Oh my god, please tell my mum, she'll be well pleased." - Gideon & Andy

- Seriously, TW: Soho is so gay (Gideon is Norton's boyfriend/ex/boyfriend, Lizbeth corrupts Wrens [and is sad she's no longer with the war office to do so], Andy is Gideon's sugar daddy...); and so OTT, and the characters are complete assholes (except Andy, who is always having a very Trying Day). I cannot imagine them managing to get this as a tv series without toning people down, but I'd love them to make a go at it.

- I tried listening to the Last Centurion stuff they did for Rory, and unfortunately, it's not as gay as TW, and Arthur Darville sounds too American. I have most of the Amy & Rory era as sound files, and I used to listen to them constantly, so that tiny variation, which is probably sound quality or something put me off.

- Now if only BF would do another Torchwood One box set. I miss Yvonne. :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyivgZ074PY

I m so excited.

- I live!

- Went to visit the family over the holidays, saw most everyone. Sadly, mom had to put Ella down in early Dec so there was no doggie. I spent most of the visit watching Lynley, Marlowe Murder Club, and The Ladies' No 1 Detective Agency (mom really like the latter, so we watched all of it and lamented at there being now more).

- While it is cold here (is it ever), it's snowed heavily down there (ugh for them).

- Have been mainlining the Queen Latifah The Equalizer, it's very good, fills that Leverage/Pretender niche well (well, not the revenge as much, but a lot of the "this is the terrible thing that happens thanks to Corporate Greed" way). And I love 90% of Mel's outfits (and about 80% of Robyn's and 99% of Aunt Vi's and Dee has the most gorgeous smile). It is also occasionally hilarious when they'll all be standing around and Liza Lapira is wearing five-inch heels and standing on a box (she is pretty amazing, though).

- I have watched a couple of the Fifteenth Doctor's episodes. I really really like him. I still get hives with RTD's writing. But otoh, RTD is continuing to shove the Gay Agenda in as blatantly as possible, and I AM HERE FOR THAT. So. It's a toss-up. In a perfect world, it would be a patchwork of RTD, Jacqueline Rayner (her BF stuff is great), Moff, and Chibnall, with a bunch of newbie talent to breathe in wonder and fresh air.

- 3 Sentence Ficathon is running again. I was late in remembering it (I cannot believe it's 2025 and been a year, ok). https://threesentenceficathon.dreamwidth.org/4733.html < - post 2 for leaving prompts, fills are still accepted on post 1.

1. I watched Netflix's Damsel and it was fun! Not as meaty as I was expecting, though. And the logistics of the world-building--I don't know that they put enough thought into it, but, uh, I came away with Questions. But if you're looking for Woman In Peril Saves Her Own Ass, this is an excellent choice.

Skimmed AO3 for Damsel fic, and there's a distressing amount of people who clearly are too fucking stupid to be allowed to watch media with women. (I say distressing, but that's hyperbole, as it was only like 4 out of the 20 or so fics there which were Clearly Wrong).

(if you think Elodie should have lived Happily Ever After with Henry, you are clearly an idiot, please go back to watching Barney the Dinosaur, that's about your level of media comprehension)

2. I picked up Small Town Terrors (Livingston, Galdor's Bluff, and Pilgrim's Hook) in the last sale, not that I remember what sale that was. But anyway, I was trying to get everything from the same company that put out Emerald Maiden: Symphony of Dreams (which is 50s SF themed and amazing), and these three seemed to be related. I think they're a different company, though.

- Galdor's Bluff is kinda The Prestige: The Game - or at least, borrows some of the elements of rival magicians. It was all right.
- Livingston is The Walking Dead: the Game, but you're a mother looking for her kid. I didn't manage to play much as I wasn't in the mood for zombie horror.
- Pilgrim's Bluff is Cthulhu: the Game. This isn't a bad thing, it has a great atmosphere and the mystery is fairly well-done, and there are definitely some creepy bits I wasn't expecting. Of the three, this is the one I'd recommend, though the other two aren't bad (and all three are very different in style and tone).

3. I listened to two of the Torchwood One box sets, and Yvonne Hartman continues to delight and terrorize everyone around her. She's terrible, but so much fun to listen to - and she has some great moments of just being human. But I also like how she's so deep into the Old Boys Net to the point they all owe her favors. Also, Ianto just keeps getting more and more tragedy dumped on him (I seriously think that's GDL's whole reason for coming back every time: to make Ianto's life worse and worse =D ). Both Before the Fall and The Machines are excellent sets, so if you're looking to delve more into pre-Torchwood Torchwood, definitely given them a listen.

- Before the Fall starts out a little rocky, but jumps right into some great character beats for Yvonne (and just because she doesn't want people dead doesn't make her not ruthless as fuck, ok.)

- The Machines brings back a First Doc enemy, as one does, and it's an absolute blast!

Both sets had some great laugh out loud moments, even as everyone is dying and The Worst Is Happening to the World. Or just London (also, I get the impression that Cardiff accidentally raising a demon wasn't a one-off for Torchwood as a whole; Yvonne was just better at cleaning up and retconning her messes).

4. In RL news, not much is happening - I mean, work and all. And the people upstairs moved out (at 2 fucking AM, keeping me awake half the night, the assholes), and left a bunch of trash behind.

It's here it's here it's here, and I have a three-day weekend.

https://threesentenceficathon.dreamwidth.org/2727.html

1. Have watched RTD Who. As always, his style/writing grates on me, so I'm mostly blah about everything barring Gatwa, who is amazing. I think I'll be vacationing until either bbc cancel or we get a new show-runner sadly. I don't need more re-hashing of RTD era shit that annoyed me the first time through, so.

(I wish his writing worked for me! I wish it didn't make me want to claw my eyes out! The last episode had a villain I have enjoyed in Big Finish, and tons of women! It still was Not My Thing)

(I don't know why Torchwood worked for me, but I expect it was the Chibnall of it all. And James Goss, these days.)

2. I cannot fucking believe it is almost christmas.

3. Went to Teslacon, did random things.

4. Mom and I watched Gallowglass together. It was equal parts compelling, frustrating, and omg. the 80s have a lot to answer for. It was also less lurid than I'd remembered.

These look like they will be fun:
https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/welcome-to-the-whoniverse-and-tales-of-the-tardis

I also clicked on the Dooms Day thingie, and my fucking god is that costume a hideous conglomeration of "I bought this rubber corset off Amazon for two dollars and some random fabric from a bin" and not in the fun Doctor Who way, either.

Let's go back to Jo's impractical boots and Nyssa's velvet, please. :/

Not even Avon's matador (or the one that should have had spikes, which might be the same, come to that) was that terrible.

This popped up on Netflix, so I decided to watch it (because the preview was mildly entertaining, and I'm always down for "women who are spies and punch things").

And it was great - I won't say it's perfect or whatever, but it did a lot of things in the time it had, and I loved 99% of them (the 1% is the bit I wanted to punch someone for). I would seriously love a sequel, and there's total setup for it. I AM HERE FOR THIS, NETFLIX AND SUNDANCE.

The reasons: it was entertaining. Also, there were multiple female characters, who had conversations. ALSO, and this is something that still annoys the fuck out of me about most Action Women movies: a good 50% of the background characters were women. This was where The 355 fell down for me, because, yes, that movie had four (five?) women as a team, but every single person they encountered or walked past was a dude. Women didn't exist in that movie outside of them, and it made the movie terrible for me (aside from the laser focus on all the dudes, ugh, I'm getting off my soap box now).

Right. Heart of Stone (2023) stars Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Sophie Okonedo, Matthias Schweighöfer, Paul Ready, Jing Lusi, and Alia Bhatt

There will be spoilers beneath the cut, but also for Person of Interest (seriously, if you've watched POI and you watch this, there are a couple of moments where you will cackle like hell, because, really? REALLY?)
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I'm slowly continuing my way through, and being gleeful because it's Torchwood.

Er, I should note that neither Tosh nor Suzie appear in any of the ones I reviewed.
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First, I'm not entirely sure I've ever really talked about Star Cops before? Like, I know I touched on it during the last post, but I don't have a Star Cops tag.

Anyway, Star Cops was a late-80s SF show written by Chris Boucher (of Blake's 7/Doctor Who, yes, that Chris Boucher), about cops in space which was dedicated to being Very Grounded In Almost Reality, and while it was all right, it had Issues, and only lasted the one season.

It was something my father really liked (his favorite Annoy The Children joke related to Star Cops was to call it Space Cops)

Thirty years later, and Big Finish have got hold of it, and of three of the original actors.

So, Mother Earth is two box sets, and eight episodes in total and feels very much like one series/season of Star Cops. This is great in that it has a natural start/stop, and also in that I feel like I have most of the story.

BTW, my biggest letdown (aside from the spoiler at the end) is that they didn't get the song (It Won't Be Easy, sung by Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues) from the original series to play as the theme tune. I fucking love that song, and it encapsulates both Star Cops and that 80s SF feel that the series is meant to be.

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