Five Questions

[thisbluespirit]

Given to me in a meme, by glinda:

1. First fandom?

Properly, as in knowing it was a fandom and being online, Doctor Who, back in the days of newsnet (and forever after, of course). In terms of being fannish about something and even writing fic, probably actually Dungeons & Dragons (the cartoon). Which I still love. Um. Moving on = not a thing I really do that much.

2. Most unpopular fannish opinion (fandom of your choice)?

Apart from DW (in which everyone disagrees about everything), most of my fandoms are too small to know. Besides, unpopular opinions makes me feel as if I, well, actually have opinions instead of just likes and dislikes and possibly sometimes some theories. I suppose the fact that I don't think Silver Nemesis is awful would be one. (I was 11. It was my first whole DW story. I had no problem in immediately seeing that this was the best TV show ever. So.) And being in B7 fandom and not especially wanting to read much Blake/Avon really does limit what's available to... nearly nothing. Liking Silver better than Steel is definitely an unreasonable thing to do in S&S. But it's a very nice fandom, so they put up with me, or at least, they have so far.

3. Favourite small fandom to inflict upon introduce others to?

Ha. Nearly all my fandoms are small. Also I am a librarian. So, I'll rec anything I think you might like all the time. /o\ However, it is true that for the past 18 months or so, I am not a person you want to come near if you are trying to avoid Sapphire & Steel for some reason. (It is highly weird and unique and brilliant; I make no apologies.) Also Press Gang before that. And I'd like to be able to make all the Classic Who fans watch Blake's 7. They don't know it yet but they would thank me for it afterwards. It's just working out how to do it that's the problem.

4. What song do you consider to be 'the best song in the world'?

Oh, I really don't. I go through phases of listening to a couple of songs quite a lot and then moving on, but I just don't have one song like that. If I do, it would probably feel like a private thing anyway, and I wouldn't want to tell you.

5.If you could travel anywhere in the world, money no object, where would you go?

And health no object, too, because I don't feel like wanting to go anywhere ever again? Well, I want very much to go to China with my friend one day, and to Austria again, but this time to the Tyrol with my other friend. (Why, yes, we are Chalet School fans, what of it?) If rl concerns are not a problem, I think it would be lovely to go to New Zealand as well. Also, it would be wonderful to go back to Uganda one day and see how it has changed, and because it's a beautiful place with amazing people. (But i'd have to find a way of not going back as a tourist, because that would feel awful.) I don't think travelling will ever be a thing I can do much of again, but otherwise I'd like to see lots of places really.

Comments

[john_amend_all]

I don't think travelling will ever be a thing I can do much of again

Aww :-( *hugs* Here's hoping medical science gets a move on.

[kaffy_r]

Oh, definitely, Who fans should go and watch Sapphire and Steel. It's ... brilliant. (And I kind of love Silver a lot!)

Blake's 7 is a series I've seen small bits of, enough to be fascinated by Avon - but for some reason I ran upon the last two or three, and so saw what happened in the final episode. I'm afraid to go back to it, because I think what I know will color my entire view of the series/show.

I'm sorry that your travel options are health-restricted. It sucks; I know, because it's happened to me as well.

[thisbluespirit]

:-)

B7 is an odd one, though. While it's nice to go in unspoiled, most people can't manage it these days, and the ending colouring everything else only makes it even better. Even though it wasn't planned, everything all the way through on a rewatch always feels like it was inevitably leading up to that moment. And it is surprisingly awesome with the most amazing characters. (Not just Avon, but Jenna, Cally, Servalan, Vila, Blake, Dayna, everyone!) But, heh, I have done quite enough of the oppressing lately, sorry. But, yes, if you ever felt so inclined, I wouldn't worry about that. It's like watching this great big cracky awesome Shakespearean tragedy. In space with the best costumes ever. (Sadly, everything went grey in S4, so you won't have seen everyone's Robin Hood's outfits, or Servalan in all her white-feathered glory.)

Thank you. It's really the last of my worries now. As long as I get better enough to have my regular life back, that'll do me. I don't need to go exotic places, if I can have the ability to read properly again. ♥

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I had a giggle this morning when up popped the Sapphire & Steel manfiesto in a post of links, and I was all set to rec it to you - then found you'd written it. I really should've known that!

ETA: You didn't say how to play...

[thisbluespirit]

Heh. Yes, it was fun, although probably I should adapt it for somewhere where the focus isn't purely het, because that bit was difficult - it's quite gen, really. :-)

No, that's because I'm just answering my questions. I'm not playing. I'm rubbish at thinking up questions for people.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Oh, well that's a shame - I was hoping to play and thought you'd be sure to ask me something interesting... :(

[elisi]

I suppose the fact that I don't think Silver Nemesis is awful would be one.
Silver Nemesis is AWESOME. Here is part of what I wrote to promethia_tenk after watching it, as I needed to flail to SOMEONE:

Random list of good things:

- The Doctor playing a game of chess throughout.
- Ace wearing a fez.
- Jazz used to scramble the cybermen's signals.
- Llamas.
- The Queen!
- Cybermen killed with goldtipped arrows/gold coins used in a slingshot.
- Anything to do with the Doctor's hat or umbrella.

And finally (must stop somewhere):

Doctor WHO???

*glee*

Also, it is one of those episodes you can SEE the way Eleven constantly channels his Seven-side. Because Seven is every inch this:

'Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident.'

Seven, of course, doesn't SAY that, but he radiates it completely. Plus, all the time travel is brilliantly and cleverly done. I draw hearts around everything to do with that episode! (Seriously though - Doctor WHO? And Seven just smiles, and puts a finger across his lips.

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, well, I know now that I'm grown up that it doesn't match up to the rest of S25, but I don't think "least good of S25" is much of a criticism at all. Seven-era DW is my DW and what I secretly want all the rest of TV to be in some way. TV disagrees and mostly lets me down, but every now and then I find something almost as good. :-)

And I get why people don't like it (for an obvious thing, it is hardly a great 25th anniversary story) but I think it's so much more fun than a whole lot of other stories. And, yes, I do like pretty much all those things and as my introduction to DW it was all I could have asked for. (Of course, almost all the things you list have come in for specific criticism of why people don't like it. :loL: DW fandom is great at disagreeing, but that's because it's a 50 year old show with 11 different lead actors, each showing a different facet of the character, different show-runners (or producers as they once were known), different companions, different writers and directors every week. It's the everything show. Eat it all up and you get stomach ache. I've kind of learnt to rejoice in the disagreeing. DW is so wide that you can adore one era and hate the next and with reason!)

Or something like that, sometimes I get Pollyanna-ish. And how Matt Smith is now referencing Seven as well as One and Two (and indeed, he does Five sometimes and all), warms my heart no end. ♥

Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident.'

Seven, of course, doesn't SAY that, but he radiates it completely.

No, Seven's too careful. After all, what's the point of being sneaky and then warning people about it? That would be silly. Heh.

[elisi]

Heh, well, I know now that I'm grown up that it doesn't match up to the rest of S25, but I don't think "least good of S25" is much of a criticism at all. Seven-era DW is my DW and what I secretly want all the rest of TV to be in some way.
As S25 was *my* season to write about in Chicks Unravel Time, I am rather protective of it. And I don't think there was an episode that was a straightforward plain enjoyable as The Silver Nemesis.

or an obvious thing, it is hardly a great 25th anniversary story
Hmmm. You know, I think it was, pretty much. Maybe I'm just biased as the whole thing revolved around 'Doctor Who?' and Seven being impossibly Trickster-y, but then I'm allowed to be biased too! *g*

Or something like that, sometimes I get Pollyanna-ish.
*self-declared fannish Pollyanna* Nothing wrong with that!

And how Matt Smith is now referencing Seven as well as One and Two (and indeed, he does Five sometimes and all), warms my heart no end. ♥
Allllll the love.

No, Seven's too careful. After all, what's the point of being sneaky and then warning people about it? That would be silly. Heh.
Eleven is like the dotty grandfather version of Seven. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Aw. Well, I look forward to reading the book even more now, then. One of the worries with DW books like that is the attitude taken on the McCoy era. So often so negative, bah. :-(

And the thing about the 25th anniversary - I think it's the fact that Remembrance just does that aspect of it so much better and more effectively, whereas I never remember till I think hard that's what SN was supposed to be. I just enjoy it anyway and like Lady P and Richard too much and cheer still inwardly when Ace gets all the Cybermen. (Even better for knowing that Sophie did that scene on the gantry, despite being afraid of heights. Being her, she says that cured her of the fear... &hearts)

:-)

[elisi]

One of the worries with DW books like that is the attitude taken on the McCoy era. So often so negative, bah. :-(
Oh I know what you mean. (I read the essay on the new S5 and 6 with great trepidation...) However, here is a snippet from the beginning of the essay on S24:

'Received Fan Wisdom collectively agrees that Season 24 mustn't be held up as an example of what makes Doctor Who great.
Received Fan Wisdom is wrong.'

Then there is my essay on S25 which is essentially all about Ace as Alice in Wonderland (and why she is awesome, and why Seven is awesome too), and as for S26 I don't even need to look up the essay, as I remember that the author calls it the greatest DW season ever.

I think it's the fact that Remembrance just does that aspect of it so much better and more effectively
Oh I get that point. But SN (in a rare feat amongst the older seasons) never drags. Maybe it's because it's so [comparatively] short. I'd certainly consider it as a perfect gateway for someone to dip into the classic show. Especially if they have a short attention span... *g*

[thisbluespirit]

Ha. ♥ That certainly sounds very safe to read. (Although, my trouble is, I like a lot of DW... :lol:) I have it on my wishlist, so sometime, it will be mine.

:-)

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

Hooray for liking theoretically unpopular Seven stories! I love "Battlefield" (or did, when it aired. I've been very bad at re-watching Seven). It wasn't until I started buying DWM in 1991 that I discovered we were all supposed to hate it. I've been listening to fans eviscerate it ever since.

The perceived wisdom of fandom is stupid anyway. For years we were told that "The Gunfighters" was one of the low points in Who history. Then it came out on VHS, and turned out to be brilliant. Whatever, fandom.

[thisbluespirit]

I didn't discover I was supposed to hate things really until I joined rec.arts.drwho and alt.drwho.creative. I started with DWM about 1992, but whether they'd got kinder, or I was oblivious, I didn't get anything more than "the reviewer hates this one a lot". :lol:

I adore The Gunfighters, but some people would still agree with that. I suppose it depends how high your tolerance is for bad accents and earworms and whether it's outweighed by William Hartnell being great and Dodo finally getting the chance to do stuff or not.

[liadt]

The problem with DW fandom is fannish opinion keeps changing!

I assume everything I like everybody hates:s

[thisbluespirit]

I don't think DW fandom has ever agreed on anything, really. Bless it. ;-)

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Doctor Who fandom is crazy polarised - I stick to my own very quiet lurky corner! I wasn't involved in the online fandom for the show at all until the last year or two, though; before that it was just this show I'd always loved but not one of my online fandoms.

I think we have similar experience of growing up with Seven as our Doctor and loving his serials that everyone else seems to hate. Except that I hate The Happiness Patrol and everyone else seems to love that one. Ah, ever contrary.

I have fond memories of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon as well - haven't seen it since I was a kid, mind. I do have The Mysterious Cities of Gold on DVD though! Oh, and there was Dogtanian and the Three Muskahounds, as well - that was another one! Kids TV in the '80s was brilliant.

I lurk on the fringes of Chalet School fandom as well - one of my Dad's cousins gave me an almost complete set of the books when I was a kid and that was it: hooked for life. *G*

[pedanther]

I think we have similar experience of growing up with Seven as our Doctor and loving his serials that everyone else seems to hate. Except that I hate The Happiness Patrol and everyone else seems to love that one.

Within the subset of people who grew up with Seven, you mean? Because there's definitely a large contingent of people who hate it among those who saw it first as an adult.

(I'm still quite fond of it myself, but then I've never seen it as an adult. It was one of my favourite Whos ever when I was twelve.)

[thisbluespirit]

New Who took a lot of the pressure off and it's usually safe to argue good-naturedly over Classic Who differences, because at least we can agree it's still best of all. :lol: I dunno, this show. I do admit I kind of revel in the fact that it is so long-running, so wide that it's almost impossible to like all of it the same amount. I have a lot of fondness for all the eras, but even so, some more than others - and New Who can never be quite the same, however much I enjoy it - and, of course, I do. Including many of the ones I'm supposed to hate.

And The Happiness Patrol - it's one of my absolute favourites (the bit at the end where Seven confronts Helen A was the first bit of DW I saw, before coming back the next week for Silver Nemesis, and while I didn't understand anything that was going on, I fell in love with Seven on the spot, just for that). But I've always felt in a minority for loving it - I think those of us that do are a little defensive about it, because it tends to get used as an example of the nadir of DW (aargh) - it's probably the ultimate "Marmite" story of Classic Who. And I can see why people wouldn't like it, but it's one of the stories that means the most to me - so much about being allowed to be who you are and not what society thinks you should be. With Bertie Bassett gone evil. That's DW for you. Beryl Reid, captain of a space ship! Bertie Bassett, the mass murderer! ♥ It is the best show ever, really. I flirt with other things, but there's nothing like DW.

I don't think I'd dare rewatch Cities of Gold but we adored that too - followed it obsessively for a year. D&D... I kind of bought the DVD on sight in a reckless way I'd never done before. And I don't regret it at all.

I love CS. I keep rereading them when I'm ill to keep myself sane. Probably worrying, but there is something about them, isn't there?

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I do sometimes lurk at the Gallifrey Base forums, but reading the threads there is like an exercise in recursive occlusion, honestly!

I don't know what it is about The Happiness Patrol. I mean, it's my era of Who and I love everything else Seven, but that particular story just grates on me and I can't buy into it. Ah well, can't love 'em all, and overall there are very few Doctor Who stories I find unwatchable.

I find it hard to evaluate New Who. There are elements of it that I absolutely love and there's nothing quite like the thrill of being able to sit down and watch new episodes of Doctor Who again. But then there are aspects of it that seem so far removed from the Doctor Who I loved growing up that it creates this huge cognitive dissonance.

My brother bought me the Cities of Gold DVD in a fit of nostalgia, because we used to watch it together as children - obsessively, as you say! I've only attempted to watch a few episodes of it, though. Shows like Blake's 7 and Sapphire and Steel are on my 'rediscover one day' list - there just aren't enough hours in the day for all the telly I want to revisit!

The CS is fabulous. It's such a lovely cosy other world to be able to retreat into. I'm very grateful to my Dad's cousin Jean for donating her books to me!

[thisbluespirit]

I find it hard to evaluate New Who. There are elements of it that I absolutely love and there's nothing quite like the thrill of being able to sit down and watch new episodes of Doctor Who again. But then there are aspects of it that seem so far removed from the Doctor Who I loved growing up that it creates this huge cognitive dissonance.

Yes, I think that's exactly how I feel about it. It isn't at all not liking it, but yes. It feels more like DW now it's Eleven, but I can't put my finger on why.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I love Matt Smith's performance - he seems to channel so many past Doctors, in different ways. Most notably Two, of course, but you can see traces of others in there as well.

I'm not so keen on the writing for his era, though. So again, it sets up this huge cognitive dissonance!

Then again, I have similar issues with the Third Doctor's era, because I love almost everything about it, but just can't warm to Jon Pertwee's Doctor. I've tried. I love what the writers did with the character, can totally understand where he is coming from, I just don't enjoy Jon Pertwee's performance. I feel like a heretic whenever I admit it, though!

Still, that's the beauty of the show, isn't it? We can't all love every era, but there is still something for everyone.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

And being in B7 fandom and not especially wanting to read much Blake/Avon really does limit what's available to... nearly nothing

hahaha. I had no idea that was true, once. Then again, it's not like I helped matters (Cally/Travis is entirely niche, after all). But sometimes, I just feel the need for vast, wordy, swathes of Jenna and Cally saving the universe. And if Blake and/or Avon want to come along for the ride, that's acceptable. (Vila is useful, and Cally sort of likes him, anyway, so he's a shoo-in)

It's funny, but I never really understood the Seven dislike from the fanboys (sometimes, I wonder if it was because it poked too much fun at them?). I have a terribly all-abiding love for pretty much every one of his serials (and the Virgin NAs are as catnip--even if I do think no one should be forced to read Deceit without alcohol on hand)

Silver Nemesis might not have been the strongest thing, but it set up things, and it was still an entertaining Cyberman story with witchcraft and Doom and Nazis. And Seven being Seven.

(well, that turned into a ramble)

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, it's not that I wasn't interested in Blake and Avon, but I was so used to Classic Who fandom that coming to a show where the whole fandom was so dominated by a single ship was a genuine shock to me. I couldn't understand it. I still want all the fic for EVERYTHING and everyone for it. So, you knew, niche stuff contributes. :lol: Though Jenna and Cally save the universe (or possibly fail to save it? it is b7) fic would be wonderful.

I don't know. There's just always been this feeling that DW got worse and worse until it was cancelled. And Sylvester was someone they knew from really silly children's TV shows, so I think that is still a problem with some people re. suspension of disbelief. But, like I said, I was 11 and I hold all TV ever up to the standard of Seven-era Who, and mostly it fails.

:-) I like Lady Peinforte and Richard and I'm sure I shouldn't. Plus, it is a better story to explain what the Cybermen actually are than Revenge, or even Attack. I got what they were immediately and they are still scarier than the Daleks to me, because of it.

Rambles are good. ;-)

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I really do hope you'll be able to travel again, someday. <3

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks. :-)

[paranoidangel]

I am amazed that there are Classic Who fans who haven't watched Blake's 7.

[thisbluespirit]

I know, but it's true. I was one myself until only a few years ago! ;-)

[robot-mel.livejournal.com]

Where in China would you like to go? I feel incredibly silly that I still haven't visited yet but it's the place I'd most like to visit.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm not really sure, because it's such a large country and there are quite a few things I'd like to see. But Beijing, with the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square. It's been so long since I did twentieth C China and read so many books on it that I've forgotten. So I'd have to get better, read more books and then go...

I hope you get to go someday, though. :-)