Entertaining in a Disturbing Way

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.

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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This is mostly just quick thoughts, but gets a bit long. Covers episodes 1-25ish, I think, with one or two not listened to.

The monthly range seems to vary in era and continuity, and while I listened to them generally in order, I don't think it's actually required (outside of a couple linked ones, like the Andy + Norton or Andy + Owen ones).
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1. Dragoncon came and went, and was generally a blast. I'm getting old, though. No 3 am nights for me. I went to a couple of panels, and encountered a "but there were no 'good' white people in Rosa! It sucked!" whiner in the wild during the Doctor Who fan panel. (so painful, that entire panel, but that was a stand-out moment where NO ONE rebutted this dude). Freema & Catherine Tate were there and entertaining at their panel. Tried to see some of the Farscape panels (they were supposed to broadcast them), but the audio was completely screwed.

2. AO3 won a Hugo Award, which seemed to be fine. Until oldskool fans decided that it was AWFUl, AWFUL, they tell you, that people were devaluing it by saying their tentacle porn fic on AO3 won a Hugo Award! The over-blown wank has been the gift that keeps on fucking giving. I don't know that I ever held the Hugo Award in much esteem, but the defenders of its sanctity and holy divinity have certainly made me consider it little more than a rocket-shaped dildo.

3. Which we still won. For writing tentacle porn. (check fanlore for more links)

4. Fic Round-up for August:
BBC Sherlock: At the Risk of Falling (Off Roofs) - Molly/Sherlock, AU where they are spies in competing agencies. It was a lot of fun to write.
BSG: BSG Ficlets - Mostly Kara-related. Friendship and gen. I'm going to do a Kara/Sam one at some point, but most of the ficlets I have for them are half-assed unfinished things.

5. Grim Tales released some new games which I broke down and grabbed. The Nomad ends up with Anna re-writing history for teenage delinquents, so they... do not become gang members. A bit on the iffy side. The Guest From the Future was excellently ridiculous bad fanfic tropes (Anna's teenage daughter from the future needs her help saving everyone!), which has a final level where you literally mind-wipe the bad guy so he doesn't fall in love and cause death and destruction.

6. I mean, I shouldn't be surprised. This is the series where Anna's dead father who tried to murder her and her sister (and did murder her twin sisters before she was born), comes back as a skull who sasses at her a lot and is kind of an asshole. (Richard has, unfortunately, grown on me like a creeping mold. And at least he has a personality, unlike Dorian Black, her husband)

(TBF to Dorian, though, it's not like Luisa's husband, son, or grandson aren't all more than whiny idiots who never seem to learn "Do NOT TOUCH THE THING. IT WILL KILL YOU. OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE.". At least Dorian only whined that time his portrait was destroyed)

7. The Secret Order also put out Shadow Breach and Return to the Buried Kingdom. I actually liked Shadow Breach, but Return was a bit eh. Also, Sarah's friend Julie must be a telepath in a former life as she keeps getting possessed.

8. Big Finish released The Further Adventures of Lucie Bleeding Miller, and they are excellent. Amazing and fun and silly and heart-wrenching and there's LITERALLY A MOMENT in The Dalek Trap where I was like "OMG FU, Nick." for something Lucie said that was like being punched. And also, they got the SOUNDS from earlier DW eras, and it was EEEEEeeee-inducing, because I did so love that episode (and also, the writer fully admits Island is a riff off Wicker Man). Ahem. Anyway, if you're looking for something short and quick and fun, this is a good one to grab.

This is a collection of radio plays featuring several female characters from Doctor Who - both original and current, and some of BF's OCs.

The set was created in honor of International Women's Day, and has a lot of women in both writing and directing, producing, and starring.

Episode 1 is River meeting Leela.
Episode 2 is NADW-era Ace & Benny without the Doctor (think Birthright, but shorter and with less Jack the Ripper).
Episode 3 is Paternoster Gang - Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax
Episode 4 is UNIT - Kate Stewart, Osgood, and Jackie the reporter who was last heard (for me) in the Lady Christina set (which was smashing, btw, if I haven't said).

There are some minor spoilers in the cut section.
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