The Journal of the Browncoat Cat

Sometimes Doctor Who fans are too suspicious for their own good. There is a long running thread on the Outpost Gallifrey Forum discussing the rumour that in 2009, the series is going to be rested and that for the next couple of years, there will only be a feature length specials at Christmas and Easter. Like that is ever going to happen. At the moment Doctor Who is a monster hit for the BBC, destroying all that dares stand against it in the Saturday night ratings. It is true that Russell T. Davies, who masterminded the return of the series is getting itchy feet, he wants to move onto new projects, and that David Tennant will eventually leave the series, but the idea that BBC Wales will put the series on a sort of hiatus for two years until they can return to the series full time is quite, quite daft.

This video, constructed using The Sims 2 computer game is just wonderful. The song is Things I’ll Never Say which is my favourite Avril Lavigne song, from her first album* Let Go.  As far as I am concerned she has yet to better, as it was full of fun and variety.

*Yes, I know only old people call them “albums”, now.

As requested, a photograph of George, sitting on the windowsill in my back porch. And it took me days to get this shot. Every time I went to take a photo, he would either move, scratch himself or turn away from the camera.

One of the things I find amazing about the fan’s reaction to the return of Catherine Tate as a full time companion is the sheer conservatism of their alternative. They really, really, really wanted sparkly Sally Sparrow from the episode Blink to replace Martha Jones. Whilst I have no real objection to the lovely Carey Mulligan becoming the Doctor’s travelling companion, I cannot help but think that it would not have been a very original development. Another twenty-something contemporary female, just like Rose and Martha. At least Donna will be something different, a prickly older character who wont follow the Doctor with sad puppy-dog eyes because he is not in the slightest bit interested in her romantically.

I would really like to see an historical female companion for the Doctor who is from somewhere between 1880 and 1914.  Originally Martha was going to be an Edwardian Maid, but that idea was spiked by senior management in London who insisted that the companion should be from the present day.  Well with Martha due to return mid Series Four [30], after Donna, now that the paradigm has shifted then a historical female as a second companion is at least possible.

However, the production team at Upper Boat would be wise to remember the character of Victoria Waterfield from the 1960’s.  She became the Doctor’s companion after Evil of the Daleks, when everything she ever knew was destroyed by the malignant pepper pots.  The character quickly lost all traces of her Victorian background, mainly because the writers were expecting the character of Samantha Briggs to continue and were unprepared for a Victorian Lady in the scripts they were writing.  Very little effort was made to help the character of Victioria fit into the sixties dolly-bird shaped hole that Pauline Collins’ descision not to take up a full time role in Doctor Who left in Series 5.

So if a historical, preferably Victorian character were to be introduced, RTD n Crew  would have to consider the fallowing pionts:

• Clothing : Even as late as the 1970’s women  generally wore skirts or dresses all the time. So an historical character would not be seen wearing trousers until at least her third or fourth story.  The Doctor and his contemporary female companion would be able  to get her to ditch the corsetry and crinoline/bustle, but the historical character would still be seen in ankle length skirts or dresses.  I emphasise long skirts because an historical character would rather be naked in Church than be seen in public wearing a mini-skirt, unless it was her last story and she left the Doctor to marry someone from the 1960’s.
• Progress : The Victorian and Edwardians especially believed that there was a general progression from ancient to modern.  So an historical female companion would be in awe of anything from the future or alien planet, but be highly dismissive of anything from before her own era.
• Class : Social station was vitally important before the 1960’s.  If the character introduced was an Edwardian Maid then she would automatically defer to the Doctor and contemporary female companion because she would initially seen them as her social superiors.  Likewise if the historical companion came from a wealthy background, she might regard the Doctor as her equal, but be very snooty towards anyone she regards as from a lower social order.  In the course of a story she would need that sort of thinking to be knocked out of her.
• Can Never Go Home : When it eventually does become time to write the character out of the series, she will not be the same person she was at the start of her journey with the Doctor, and no way would she be able to go back to her old life.  I should imagine that the Doctor, with the help of either UNIT or Torchwood, will be able to set her up in a new life with a new identity in modern day London.

2007 has certainly been a year of movement and growth.  A year in which I have finished long standing arrangements that were no longer beneficial to me, and so far all the changes have lead to an improvement.  20six to Wordpress, Vodafone to T-Mobile, RISC OS to Ubuntu Linux, upgrading the TIMELESS mailng list etc.   The latest change has been moving my current account from the HSBC to Barclays.  Last year the branch of HSBC in Treherbert, which had for a number of years been a part-time branch, closed permanently.  As I cannot drive, getting down to the HSBC branch in Treorchy to do my banking bussiness was very inconvenient.  The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I was in Cardiff last week, and wanted to pay in a couple of cheques into my account.  I had hoped to use the machines in the lobby of the HSBC branch on Queen Street, however, the out of hours lobby service has been seriously curtailled, with a single ATM in an old phonebox on Queen Street.  It seems to me that since the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation bought out the Midlands Bank it seems that things have moved from doing things for the benefit of the customer to the benefit of the bankers.  As I now have a Barclays mortgage, it made sense to open a current account with the Bank that has a full time branch in Treherbert.  The account was opened yesterday, but became active today, and I was able to pay in a pair of cheques that have been sitting in my wallet for a month.  Over the course of the next few days, all my Standing Orders and Direct Debits will automatically transfer to the new account, and my monthly salary will be paid into the new account from next month onwards. 

http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/1155.htm

The Daily Mirror is reporting that the Christmas Special of The Catherine Tate Show will see the death of Lauren Cooper, whose catchphrase “am I bovver’d?” is one of Ms. Tate’s most famous creations. That The Catherine Tate Show will end with a bang, as one of its iconic characters gets killed off. Could it be that Ms. Tate has mixed feelings about the sketch show that made her a household name? Most of the flack that was generated on places like the Outpost Gallifrey Web Forum came from people unable to see beyond the comedy. That the sketch shows are preventing here from getting work as a serious actor because casting directors can only see the comedic nature of her work, that The Catherine Tate Show is now an albatross around her neck.

Could this be why she is moving to Doctor Who a series that used to be considered the kiss of death to the career of the actress playing the companion. All that changed with Billie Piper, who is now seen as one of Britain’s top actresses, but back in 2004 was desperate to change her public image as a plastic pop singer and wife of the most annoying man on radio. After a year of playing Donna Noble will it be a case of “Lauren, who’s that then?”, and The Catherine Tate Show will be a thing of the past.

I was reading through the Western Mail this morning, and in the Tuesday “Women’s Section” it had a double page spread, trying to persuade its readership that the ugliest fashion trend so far this century (even uglier than jeans under dresses) is in anyway attractive.  In an article entitled Would You Wear a Playsuit? the journalist tried to argue that these one-piece trouser suits were the latest thing to make a woman look beautiful.   The warning comes in the name of the garment, Playsuit, it sounds like something warn by a child under five and not a grown woman. 

I spent the weekend down in my sister’s static caravan at Fontygary.  It was really pleasant on Saturday, because the sun was shining and the sky was blue and all was right with the World.  Not so good on Sunday, when it was raining heavily, the sky was grey and there is not an awful lot to do in a caravan.

However, the Fontygary site does have a marvelous indoor swimming pool in its leisure complex and a first class Indian Restaurant next door.   So I had a pleasant swim on Sunday morning, before heading off with my sister Janet, her son James and her husband Andy to the Raj Kimara for the Sunday buffet. I ate far too much though, but it was all so nice.  I particularly liked the Spinach and Chicken Balti, although the Chicken Korma was also very pleasant.

Another video from YouTube. This was posted by GavSalkeld and I thought it was fabulous. The end of a new run episode of Doctor Who featuring the Delia Derbyshire version of the theme from the start of the original run. The two blend together so perfectly.

I do intend writing something myself very shortly, instead of just using other peoples’ efforts as fillers. Honest.