Back to Who: An Adventure in Space and Time

As part of the celebration for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, the BBC and Mark Gatiss gave a world a wonderful gift: the TV movie An Adventure in Space and Time. About the creation of the show and the amazing legacy that William Hartnell, Verity Lambert, Sydney Newman, and Waris Hussein started.

If you know the name "Mark Gatiss" at all, you know that he is one of the most devoted fans of  Doctor Who- David Tennant often credits Mark Gatiss as being the first adult person he knew that every made frequent casual references to Doctor Who episodes in every day life. And Gatiss's devotion shows in the beauty, respectfulness, and love that comes through in every scene. It's just a shame that it wasn't a longer special and couldn't go more into detail.

The special starts by focusing mostly on Verity Lambert, who should be known as the Mother of Science Fiction Television, if you ask me. She's played brilliantly by Jessica Raines of Call the Midwife and, to show my shallow side, wears the most amazing 1960s clothes all throughout the film. It focuses briefly on how Newman took a risk in making her a producer- the youngest producer ever at the time at the BBC and also the first female producer. But it could go into it more. I hope that one day there will be a biopic entirely about Verity. Wikipedia tells me that there's a student film about her with the amazing name of "Verity: Men, Bitches & Daleks" but that's not enough.

The true focus of the film, however, is William Hartnell. Which is rightly so and also heartbreaking. David Bradley plays him so wonderfully- straddling that line of crotchety and magical- and by the end of the film, I was more misty-eyed than I had been about anything Doctor Who-related than I had been in ages. There's something so lovely about seeing the journey of a cynical man that thought his best days were behind him, only to suddenly find himself to be more adored than Santa Claus.

In many ways, this tv movie was what I was looking forward to for the longest time in reference to the 50th anniversary. And I'm not disappointed by it- I just wish there was more. And I wonder how it would play for those that don't give a damn about Doctor Who. Like my mother, who adores Jessica Raines and would probably love to see anything she's in. But doesn't even know that the shape of my minifridge is a "thing", let along a TARDIS. And the film only barely bothers to stop and explain things that the uninitiated wouldn't know, which makes me think that it might not be the greatest idea to test it out on my mother.

Back To Who: Partners in Crime

Somehow "I want to go more in-depth about the series 7 episodes I just watched" turned into "I wanna rewatch the Donna Noble era."

Donna is my favorite post-2005 companion. By far. Which is saying something since I haaaaated "The Runaway Bride" for the first year it existed and especially the character of Donna in the special.

But after the ultra-depressing "Last of the Time Lords" and the mis-fire of Martha Jones (I'm so thankful for how they redeemed her once she wasn't the regular companion and no longer mooning after the Doctor), Donna was the perfect solution to bring new life to the show.

Or, rather, Catherine Tate was the perfect solution. Donna changed enough between "The Runaway Bride" and "Partners in Crime" that she was now palatable in large doses and I imagine a lot of that had to do with Catherine being Catherine. And also being the perfect pairing with David Tennant, matching his comedic highs and dramatic lows beat for beat. I don't want to slander Billie or Freema, but the truth is that Catherine had more training and more experience than either one of them and it showed. And was greatly appreciated that they chose her.

Also, I vastly prefer when the Doctor and his companion have no hint of a romance happening. Romance is boring. Caring deeply for someone without romantic feelings? That's far more interesting. And Donna and the Doctor's was of rubbing each other the wrong way is so much more entertaining than watching Rose, Martha, or Amy moon embarrassingly after a clueless absent-minded professor. Not to mention how nice it was to have a companion that wasn't ridiculously young and naive. Donna got things.

But back to "Partners in Crime". Good grief, I love this goofy episode. A perfect screwball sci-fi comedy with the absolute cutest alien villains ever in the baby Adipose and their desire to happily wave at the people they just popped out of. It would've made a great movie, with a little adjusting. Even with the silly slapstick ending of the nanny having a Wile E. Coyote fall to her death.

And in the more serious moments, there are some beautiful moments. Wilf and Donna staring at the stars is possibly one of my favorite scenes ever on the show. Such an endearing relationship that you immediately understand and adore. Not to mention Donna's little check-ins with how the Doctor has been since she last saw him and her ability to see that he has had some shit go down.

Plus, it's just great to see a companion take so much initiative. The kind of initiative that the Doctor might normally laugh at as stupid, but was absolutely brilliant in how Donna was pulling it off. Putting her skills to work.

Also, did I mention how adorable the Adipose were?

I Still Can't Believe We Have a Network Show About S.H.I.E.L.D.

Best line in the show was delivered in this moment.

Man, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot was... kind of boring. Not even the constant Marvel Movie universe sly references (gamma radiation! Super soldier serum! Extremis!) and an amazing Cobie Smulders appearance could really keep me totally interested. This has to be the most mainstream middle-of-the-road show to ever have Joss Whedon's name connected to it, and I'm including Roseanne and the early 90s version of Parenthood to that equation.

I'm guessing the middle-of-the-road-ness might just be to ease in folks like my parents, who will tune into anything resembling a cop show and also just really like Ming-Na Wen (when did she stop being just Ming-Na?). And as the show goes on, it'll get more genre-friendly. Hopefully. That end was so super-cheesy that my side hurt.

And I have to admit to having total and complete nostalgia giddiness of seeing the Grr-Argh monster once more. I miss that little paper Mutant Enemy.

So, quick breakdown of the Good:

• Seeing old friends like Ron Glass and J. August Richards. Although, I'm a little freaked out by how Richards appears to be going grey. Remember when Gunn was, like, just slightly too old to still be considered a juvenile delinquent? I do. But he got a great role for the episode and I always feel like he should be much more famous than he really is. So, hopefully this episode will help him get more notice.

• Clark Gregg. Clark Gregg. Clark Gregg. I would not watch this show if Coulson was not in it. I do fear that he's actually a robot, but I'll take what I can get. It is a teeny bit weird to have Coulson as the central character, however, as he's a little... aloof. And it does feel like there might be a Doyle-esque situation in the making, if Clark doesn't want to hang around forever.

• Actors that can handle Whedon-style dialogue. It takes a special brand of actor to be able to wrap your tongue around the twisty-jokey dialogue of not just Joss Whedon but of Jed and Marissa as well. The cast handled it beautifully, much better than any other Whedon cast managed in a first episode. 

• Bear McCreary's scoring, which is suitably super-hero-y and lush. 

• Two main characters played by Asian-American actresses? And the characters aren't even related?! Again, it's a shame that something like that gets me this excited but... that's nice to see. 

The Not-So-Good:

• Whedon has this weird ability to cast really bland looking guys. Eventually, you do start to be able to remember which one is which, but right now I've got "Tech Guy" and "Poor Man's Sam Witwer".
• What the hell was that ending? Slow-mo? Bullet to the head that's not actually deadly? No follow-up with the character as to how they're going to help him pull his shitty life together? I don't understand how they thought that was a decent ending.
• Man, I wonder how much damage the set takes for all those heavy dropping anvils about the pasts of characters.
• 
  

Yes, I Am Still Talking About Anne Shirley

As I mentioned before, when I'm feeling down I seek comfort in the greatest Canadian heroine of the 20th century: Anne Shirley.

Watching Anne of Green Gables every time it was on PBS (or, even better, on the two tape collection) was a major past-time in my family. My mother loved it. My sister loved it. My godmother was usually the person we borrowed the tapes from. And I had no chance but to love Anne of Green Gables, too.

I was young enough that when I did the majority of my watching of Anne of Green Gables (and the sequel, which at the time was called Anne of Avonlea but has since been retitled to Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel) the follow-up TV series, Road to Avonlea, was still airing on Disney. But Avonlea without Anne Shirley is like a day without sunshine.

So, as I was feeling pretty crappy this past 4th of July as well as feeling rather miffed at my fellow Americans, I decided that I'd watch Anne of Green Gables while drinking a tumbler of Mexican tequila mixed with German cherries and cherry juice. And then I kept watching as the weekend went by. There is very little on television at this time of year, so why not just keep re-watching Anne of Green Gables?

And then I pulled out the old battered copies that my mother had received as a child in the 1950s. With artwork depicting a slender and sleek redheaded woman that looks nothing like Megan Follows and also nothing like any early 20th century Canadian girl I've ever imagined.

The books were a bit of a letdown, the first time I started thumbing through them. I've seen the tv specials so many times in my life- I remember when I used to also get scared when Diana was helping the limping Anne through the woods and Anne would start talking about the ghosts they imagined living there. That's how young I was the first, oh, dozen or so times I watched the specials. So, to go back as an adult and realize that Montgomery's writing isn't exactly the greatest was a little startling. The books are decent enough- it's not like they're terrible, but they're easy reads with a lot of flowery writing. Similar to Little Women, in some respects. There's very little action, however, with a lot of talking and I've come to realize that they're much better when being read outloud. As otherwise I'll just start to glaze over from the plethora of new names and silly little conversations that don't read in my head nearly as entertainingly as Dear Lucy Maud intended them to be.

So, that's how I spent a whole sick day from work this week- listening to the audiobook of Anne of the Island, only to realize that there's no audio version for Anne of Windy Poplars (at least not one available on Audible, iTunes, or even Librivox). It's a little intriguing to realize what was grabbed from Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars to make the second television movie and what was kept. There's a rather heart-breaking death in Island that was completely ignored, but I wonder if it would've been worth including. Possibly not The twins, Davy and Dora, were pretty much completely removed and I can't really blame them (although, they did end up on the tv show towards the end). Minnie May Barry ends up basically taking Davy's place.

Thankfully, they also removed most of the proposals Anne received while at university. The girl has FIVE proposals by the summer she graduates. FIVE. And only one repeat customer!

For what it's worth, the second special is still good but not nearly as good as the original. I would've liked it more if they kept the story in Avonlea or at least on the island. I don't care for all that prep school meangirls nonsense. I would've preferred to see Anne going to her birth place and maybe a bit of Stella and Aunt Jimsie or Miss Lavender and more Marilla and Rachel than we were given. And having Gilbert as a friend for a bit before the whole weird distance-y mooning deal. However, I do love watching Colleen Dewhirst's scenes and trying to guess if she was wearing jeans under her dress or not (apparently, she was at times, I can't blame her!).

"Hello, John Blythe. I'm totally wearing jeans under this dress- want a peek?"

And, of course, the second TV special gets extra points for including not one but TWO members of the Kids in the Hall.

I think the thing that really gets me about the Anne of Green Gables tv specials is that they has no right being as good as they are. If you've ever had the misfortune to see the animated version, you know how terrible it can get. In the animated version, you don't end up loving Anne. You end up wanting to smack her and then kill her, she's so disgustingly ignorantly upbeat.

But Megan Follows has such an amazingly perfect performance in the 1985 special that never makes Anne's flights of fancy sound saccharine and one-dimensional. Anne Shirley may be an optimist and a romantic- but Megan Follows knew as a teenager to play Anne as someone that is trying to convince herself that everything is okay. She knew that the only way an orphan could keep her head up and stay as determined as Anne did was to use her fantasies for escape and for courage.

I think my favorite moment is when Miss Stacy comes over for dinner. Because normally I hate the type of moments like that one. Anne discovers a dead mouse in the sauce for the pudding but, before she can both remove the mouse and fully confess to having forgotten to cover the sauce to prevent that, a comedy of errors results in the sauce being served to everyone for dessert. Then, just as her treasured teacher is about to take a spoonful of cream with a hint of dead mouse- Anne shouts "PLEASE DON'T EAT IT MISS STACY!" and startles everyone into a near heart-attack. She then confesses about the mouse, apologizes for her faults and then, to her surprise, Marilla and Miss Stacy start to laugh heartily at Anne's drama. It's as they laugh that Megan Follows has one of her best moments- Anne struggling to understand her emotions- embarrassment, relief, confusion, and a little bit of weariness at not finding the moment funny despite how much everyone (well, you can't tell if Matthew is in on it) is laughing. It's perfect.

Anne was such a good character to get to know as a young girl. I was never one to "pretend out loud" but I felt like I got to by proxy via watching Anne. As a kid (and, well, as an adult) I was prone to speak flowery a little too often and wrote more than my fair share of bad poetry (at one point, I wrote a freeverse poem for each of the girls in my little middle school clique. All of them pouring my heart and soul into how much I appreciated each girl for her uniqueness. Thankfully, I never showed them to those girls.). Anne got that. Anne was that. Anne was the safe knowledge that it's okay to be the girl that's reading and walking at the same time. Anne was the comfort that it was okay to not yet be interested in boys, despite your friends being completely obsessed with boys. Anne was the distance needed to see that when a parent yells at you, it's often out of fear or worry rather than hatred. Anne was the dream that you don't have to go only as far as people think you will go.

And, most importantly, Anne was the realization that friendships, not romances, are the strongest and most emotional relationships you will have outside of family.

Sadly, the roommate does not share my love of The Anne-Girl yet. Mostly because she has never seen any of it. I will fix that, eventually.

Oh, and you might've realized I didn't bring up the third special. Because there was no third special. Don't be ridiculous. I also tend to feel that Annes House of Dreams and all later books are too boring, though.

Spacing Out, Part Four: The Sky Was Falling

Previously In Space: Introduction, Part One, Part Two, and Part Three

Halloween 1994. I didn't go trick-or-treating that year, for whatever reason. Instead, I spent my night watching the craziest scariest thing on TV that I had ever seen at that time. Something that, when I mentioned it the next morning, no one else at school had watched it- which made it seem even freakier to me. For years, it was filed in the back of my head- something that I hoped was just a forgotten TV special or odd nightmare but might've been, in the end, something terrible that happened yet only I remembered- like from an alternate reality. Or something. In the 2000s, I'd occasionally search the internet to see if anyone else remembered it. Never finding anything helpful.

Until 2011. A friend and I were talking about seeing scary movies too young in life and not being able to process our memories from the scary movies. I brought up that phantom memory of a Halloween special. That's when we found it (the entire thing!) on YouTube: Without Warning.

And even he agreed, after watching clips, that it was kind of messed up, awesome, and terrifying at the same time.

Marshmallows! Crowd-Sourcing Wins!

 So, when I hopped onto Facebook this afternoon while in the waiting room at my doctor's office, I expected to see a lot of commenting on the new pope- as I knew there had been white smoke but had not yet heard any further announcements.

Instead, my newsfeed was absolutely SWAMPED with people sharing the Kickstarter link for The Veronica Mars movie. Some people, like one of my cousins, I didn't even know were fellow fans of Neptune's Girl Detective.

At that time, the kickstarter was at about $1,350,000 of the $2,000,000 goal. Four hours later, it had swiftly passed that goal. All pledge rewards above $400 had already been maxed out, which was the really impressive thing. And the majority of pledges seem to be in the $35 to $50 range.

Back in 2004, this is essentially how I fantasized that Joss Whedon could've brought back Firefly. I essentially thought that there should be a way for fans to basically front/pre-order a short second season of the show that would be released either straight to the internet or straight to dvd. I remember debating with someone about if the average fan would pay $30+ for a season of tv that they didn't get to watch until well after they paid.

Nine years later, I think I've won that conversation!

It's going to be amazing, no matter what, to see what the total is on April 12th. I bet Rob Thomas is currently feeling a sense of validation that makes mine look like a grain of sand, though. For years, he has probably been told that he just didn't have a big enough audience and that he was lucky that his little show lasted as long as it did. And now... boom. Also, major props to both Thomas and to Warner Bros. for being able to consider going super low-budget in the sake of making something great. If this is as successful as it has the potential to be, it could mean some big change-ups to how the film industry could finally revitalize itself by focusing more on small and/or micro-budget passion pieces as well as make things interesting in how built-in fanbases are connected to the films that will eventually be marketed to them.

As for knowing that we're a year away from seeing the sassy Miss Mars again? It's so sudden!

 Even though, clearly, this has been in the works for a while (the Kickstarter video was obviously recorded before Kristen Bell was pregnant- a quick read of the EW article from today reveals that they filmed it February of 2012! Holy crap!). I just don't know what to think. I know I'm happy! But how happy am I? I'm a little sad that I'm in a tight money month and can't contribute yet (yet!).

I'm wondering if it will be as good as it has the ability to be (like the first season of the show) or will be decent and okay-ish (like the third season. Or, say, the movie version of another TV show that I might've already brought up in this post. But maybe I didn't say that? It's a decent movie, just not great. I mean, the sound design has some major flaws. We all know this, right? Let's just pretend we don't. I didn't say anything...). But I'd kinda be okay with decent and okay-ish.

Actually, I really would. Because, you know what? I miss seeing Kristen Bell play Veronica Mars. Because Veronica Mars is an amazing character and has made it so every other character Bell ever plays, is a let-down after the amazement that was Veronica.

On a more personal note, it has been a nice evening of nostalgia with all the internet talking about Veronica Mars because the show was one of my favorite shows to watch with my dad. Because it really is a great father-daughter show.

The relationship between Keith and Veronica was probably the strongest of any relationships of any sort on the show and it was always the most interesting one to see be played with. I know other people were all about Veronica and Logan but those puppydog eyes have nothing on seeing Keith Mars trying to wrestle with his emotions when Veronica would do something that was great as a detective but really stupid as teenage girl.

Between Veronica Mars and Gilmore Girls (our other major show to watch together- again, with a strong relationship between a parent and child), we had a great three years of shows we both really liked. And tonight it's been nice to be trading article and webpage links with him about the show we both like. It's a lot more fun than watching Flashpoint with him.

Man, I hope someone in the Chicago area purchased the $5000 "we'll rent out a local theater and show the movie" package (and is looking for some friends to pad out that 50 person theater. Hi, future BFF!)