Various Stuffs. But Mostly Thoughts On "Revenge of the Cybermen"

[capri0mni]

Various thing #1: I like what I see on naarmamo today, but I have no energy to reply to any of it, for some reason... Not even to reply to folks' replies to my piece. Dunno why; my brain's just not there, I guess.

Various thing #2: My Inner Critic has been chewing away quite steadily at my idea for a comicbook character for a while now. I may find a way to answer its questions, or, I may just abandon the idea altogether... I dunno.

Various Thing #3: I've drawn five scribble monsters over the last three days, all in grey scale. It was when I was drawing the second one, I got the idea that I'd like to make a story of them in the style of a Doctor Who recon, where there's only one blurry photo surviving for each actor, and that one photo is used over an over, whenever that character speaks. And I'm trying not to be bothered that people keep seeing yesterday's monster backwards. ... I'm only half succeeding.

---

Well, I thought it was spiffy, even though even the BBC's site panned it, pretty much.

Yes, the cybermen were overly emotional. But there's an explanation for that in my head that makes perfect sense: There needs to be a minimum number of individuals in order for the Hive Mind to emerge; you can't have a Hive Mind without the Hive.

And I also had the thought that cybermen are like the Shakers -- they can't have babies on their own, but they can convert others.

I was hoping to find this exchange on the Beeb's Episode Guide, because I'm unsure if this is how it goes exactly. But they didn't have any dialogue "gems" -- only the "disasters". But anyway, this is how I remember it (From Episode 3):

Doctor: I think I've got an Idea.

Commander: What is it?

Doctor: I don't know ... That's the trouble with ideas, they only come a little at a time.

The one line I didn't like so much was when the Doctor shouted "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!" I get the sense that that's considered a classic line. But it seems to have been put in only for the laughs, and as the Doctor is laughing at his own joke, there, it fell flat for me.

And the Beeb's review on their episode guide also made fun of the scene where the beacon almost crashes into the asteroid. And yes, I could tell how they were doing the effect. But I still thought it was exciting and spiffy as I was watching it.

And even though this is considered a "weak" Doctor Who story, it's still head and shoulders above CSI: Miami (the former comes on Channel 15 at 11:30; the latter comes on channel 13 at 11:35. The comparison comes only because of their proximity in space-time).

Comments

[jekesta]

Sometimes commenting is impossible. It's a weird feeling.

When I look at the picture and read your words about it I can see a figure in a white robe, looking over his shoulder, but only really when it's bigger. And I suppose it is strange that more people aren't seeing it that way, because you've shaded it that way, and the elephant way does suppose that you decided to leave his trunk white, but it's still the first image that sort of jumps out of the thumbnail at me. Strangely enough from the original scribble I would probably have ended up with an elephant, but an entirely different, more obvious sort of one. I really like that piece because it can turn into so many different things if you spend a bit looking at it. I'm not trying to say you shouldn't be annoyed, I can totally see how it would be annoying and you would know it didn't ACTUALLY MATTER if EVERYONE wanted to be WRONG and that is annoying too. ::hugs::

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I almost did draw the scribble monster as an elephant, but I would have turned the scribble 90 degrees, first. If I'd turned it 180 degrees, I would have drawn a wee little elf child in a big conical hat that flops forward.

But I saw the great big eye looking over the shoulder the very first thing, as soon as I opened my eyes. And besides, neither an elephant or an elf child would have fit into a story with my hairy dragon and the other two monsters I'd made. So...

Mostly, I think we see what we see based on brain habits. I'd been thinking really hard all about human shoulders, and lizard shoulders, and bird shoulders, for days. So when I opened my eyes, of course that was the first thing I saw.

And you had just spent that whole morning drawing an elephant, and sue_chose_this had drawn a whole herd of elephants, and posted it right above yours. So everyone commenting on my piece had already seen two pictures of elephants in a row, right before, so they all saw an elephant, too.

Mostly, I was annoyed with my scribble because the head is an almost perfect egg shape, so there was no place to put any strong shadows to tell people "this is a nose and that is a jaw." Because really, when we see faces, what we see mostly is shadows.

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

Mrrr... I constantly get the sense fom you that there's a lot of creativity that you just don't bother letting out because you don't think it would be good. I'd like to see you try, and I'm really intrigued by the microraptor kid. :)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I need to malletize that Inner Critic to a pulp.

I used to be able to face him down a lot more effectively.

[pedanther]

The one line I didn't like so much was when the Doctor shouted "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!" I get the sense that that's considered a classic line. But it seems to have been put in only for the laughs, and as the Doctor is laughing at his own joke, there, it fell flat for me.

I never liked that line much, either; for the reasons you mention, and also because I think it's unfair on poor Harry. It's possible that he does occasionally do stupid things, but the thing that the Doctor was reacting to wasn't stupid, it was a perfectly sensible attempt to help a situation that he just didn't know enough about.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Exactly. That's what made the cliffhanger so effective.

Harry Sullivan is not an imbicile. He's just hapless.

[pedanther]

On a completely different and more cheerful note, I just discovered this web page that I think you'd get a kick out of:

The (426) Things I Will Not Do When I Direct a Shakespeare Production, On Stage or Film

I'm up to #200 - "Benedick is NOT the fourth Stooge." and enjoying it immensely, and very glad that most of these haven't happened anywhere near me. Yet.

(Although I suspect 179 & 180 are inspired by the production of Hamlet I saw in high school, which was seen by a lot of people and is still famous for mostly the wrong reasons.)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes... the Shakespeare Evil Overlord list. I do like dipping into that every now and then.

:-)

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

That's great dialogue, and it captures one of the reasons why I love the fourth Doctor.