The Journal of the Browncoat Cat

Well, the family is about to become bigger again. My sister Janet is going to have a baby in January. This will not be her first child, her son James Matthew is coming up to his seventh birthday. She really wanted another child, as she comes from a large family, and wanted to spread the joy to James. Not that she needed to go to all the trouble, her partner Andy already has to sons from his previous marriage.

So, new baby, my mother is hoping it will be a little girl, as she really wants a granddaughter. Janet doesn’t care as long as it is healthy. I really don’t know what to make of it. Naturally I am pleased, but I put my foot in it ever so slightly when she told me, my first comment, in a fake Yorkshire accent was “you dull bugger, your xy next birthday.” Then I gave her a big hug and made congratulatory noises.

So, Billie Piper will be leaving Doctor Who sometime in the New Year. The character of Rose Tyler will leave the TARDIS after a yet to be determined number of episodes. Hollywood and superstardom becons for the lovely Miss Piper, and with her talent, I am not surprised. Yes, I know I was very sceptical about her casting this time last year, but I have been won over, and I will be sad to see her go.

Already, thoughts are turning to her replacement, even taking up a whole page of Tuesday’s Mirror. It just goes to show how trendy Doctor Who has become. The article rolled out a list of young brunette actresses, as it claimed that after Billie’s Cockney blonde, RTD and crew were going to go for a Posh brunette. The list included Rachel Stirling and Loo Bearsley, from last year’s proposed shortlist, and also includes Michelle Ryan, who is leaving Eastenders in few months. I doubt it will be Ms. Ryan, as she is trying for a shot of Hollywood stardom, so she will not want to be tied down to another work intensive British TV series.

My personal choice is Florence Hoath, who is currently playing the character Nancy in the two part Doctor Who story The Empty Child. This character is a young woman of about 16 who is acting as mother hen for a group of homeless children living rough in war torn London, rather than be evacuated in the country. Except of course, it is not going to happen. It would need another story set in the London of the Second World War next year, they would have to find a way of believably separating Nancy from her young brother Jamie, who I suspect will be restored to life at the end of the current tale.

There is a thread on the Outpost Gallifrey Forum campaigning for Nancy to eventually replace Rose. So I am not the only gullible fool around. I have altered my avatar for the Forum to the picture on the right, to let everyone know my preference, except on the Forum this image is slightly smaller. Putting the Tory election slogan to a much better use, even if they did pinch it from the Australian children’s programme Bananas in Pyjamas.

And then I turned around, and suddenly, it was the end of May. So much has happened in the last 3 weeks that things have whizzed by. So, over the next few days, there will be a number of new entries on this web log. The bulk of my time since the beginning of the month has been devoted to coursework for the module I am doing to complete my Degree. As I have already said, I never in my wildest dreams thought that would be studying Astrophysics at University, which is why the essay I handed in a fortnight ago and the presentation I did on Monday afternoon were such hard work. Thoroughly enjoyable, as it was all about a topic that I am interested in, but still extremely hard work.

Doctor Who : Bad Wolf

Writen by : Russell T. Davies
Director : Joe Aherne
Producer : Phil Collinson

Cast
The Doctor : Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler : Billie Piper
Captain Jack Harkness : John Bannerman
Anne Droid : Anne Robinson
Strood : Jamie Bradley
Crosbie : Abi Eniola
Linda Moss : Jo Joyner
Patterson Joseph : Roderick
Male Programmer : Jo Stone-Fewings
Female Programmer : Nisha Nayar
Controller : Martha Cope
Security Guard : Sam Callis
Dalek Voice : Nick Briggs

Thoughts
Four years ago, I was dreading the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because I thought that it was going to be awful, that the silliness of the musical format would destroy the drama. This year I have been dreading Doctor Who: Bad Wolf for a similar reason, I thought that the silliness of the reality TV pastiche would destroy the drama. Fortunately in both cases, I need not have worried. I was completely blown away by Once More With Feeling, and I have been completely blown away by the huff and the puff of the big Bad Wolf. I hope everyone who said that Russell T. Davies cannot write Science Fiction is at the table eating their humble pie, as it is fresh from the oven, piping hot.

This episode was just like two old style 25-minute episodes neatly glued together. The First Episode consisted of the game show elements, which were quickly dispensed with, once they had established what life in 200100 was really like. The Second Episode saw the shell shocked Doctor get his grove back and take control of the situation, only to be faced with the insurmountable problem of an old style Third Episode, which I suspect will take up the first 20 minutes of The Parting of the Ways.

Once again, we have been given a great pseudo-companion for the Doctor to work with in the form of Lynda (with a “Y”). Even Captain Jack was entertaining this week. Rose however, was the weakest link this time around. Apart from when she tumbled the significance of Bad Wolf she had very little to do. Although I am expecting her to more than make up for it next week. And as for next week, I really think that it is going to be a roller coaster, fitting all the promise into forty five short minutes.

I can’t wait.

This entry contains spoilers for The Doctor Dances the second part of Stephen Moffatt’s Doctor Who story. Don’t read it if you don’t want to be spoilt.

So, after watching last night’s episode of Doctor Who, I now know that the character of Nancy could not become a future travelling companion for the Doctor, should he revisit war torn London after Rose leaves. It was pointed out last week, by a very astute poster on Outpost Gallifrey Forum that Nancy might not be Jamie’s sister, but in fact his mother, and given 1940’s attitudes was hiding this fact from the World by pretending to be a lot younger than she really was. Well, that turned out to be the case. After losing her son once, I cannot see her going through the grief again. Still maybe RTD an crew could find another character for the lovely Florence Hoath to play, who would be in the position to go off galavanting through space and time, maybe Nancy’s bolshy granddaughter.

Today on the news, at the Russian commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of VE Day, I saw something I never thought I would never happen. The President of the United States of America standing on the roof of Lenin’s Tomb taking the salute from a military parade in Red Square whilst an army band played the old Soviet Anthem in the background. You know the one, it starts with the line Unbreakable Union of Freeborn Republics, and then goes on to sing the praises of Communism and Lenin. Quite bizarre. However, I have always insisted that George W. Bush has more in common with Joseph Stalin than the average US President.

20six Comment

(29.5.05 18:21)
A way of seeing for good that… we’re linving in a crazy world! But Bush and Poutine have certain things in common too, beyond ideologies.

If I were the Right Honourable and Learned Anthony Charles Lynton Blair MP, I would be watching my back very carefully. My prediction in this Web Log on 8th April has come to pass, all his flunkies are gone. His majority in the House of Commons has been reduced to 66 MPs, all the Unknown Clones have evaporated, and all he is left with is the traditional Old Labour MPs and the Awkward Squad. In the old Parliament, he was able to easily force through all sorts legislation that go against the principles of so many ordinary Labour Party members, because his majority was boosted by MP’s representing constituencies that did not normally return Labour MPs. The Unknown Clones more or less shared Blair’s political and philosophical viewpoint, in other words, not very Socialist, so we got things like Tuition Fees for University Students, The Banning of Hunting With Dogs or Foundation Hospitals. I really cannot ID Cards or Ratifying the European Constitution happening in the lifetime of this Labour Government.

Yes things are going to be different once the Parliamentary Labour Party realises that it no longer has to bury its principles. Mr. Blair has said that he will be standing down as leader of the Labour Party before the next General Election, and Gordon Brown will probably be the next Prime Minister. Given last nights result, I think Labour will probably win again in four years time. I cannot see the Conservatives coming close to returning to power for at least another 8 years.

As the songs say, It’s a Beautiful Day and Things Can Only Get Better.

So, it is still the number one best selling single in the UK. Seven weeks at the top of the Charts for the song Amarillo, the song that Tony Christie originally had a hit with back in 1971. The charity Comic Relief must be raking it in. Although given the perilous drop in singles sales in the past thrty years, it has probably sold as many copies as it did first time around, but with much better results. I wonder if Neil Sedaka, who originally wrote the song is giving the royalties he is making from this revival to the charity.

They actually had Tony Christie on Top of the Pops last Friday. I bet he never thought he would do that gig ever again. His backing singers probably were not even born when the record was last a hit.

Although isn’t it about time that something else hit the top of the charts, seven weeks is a very good run, but surely a change at the top is now way overdue.