So, I've not posted about Children of Earth since the first day - partly because I was busy, partly because I was enjoying the squee, partly because I was heartbroken. And to be honest, I think I'm done with Torchwood now. But this post was brewing. I've tried to take a step back and I've tried to be coherent - but I'm not sure it worked. So here are the top ten things I hate about that thing that happened in episode 4 (with spoilers right up until the end):
 

More horribly late at night quick-fic (i.e. riddled with mistakes) - but I rewatched the movie last night and have been reading some awesome fic and I wanted to play. So yep, no point to this story, it goes nowhere - but I had fun writing it. Yay.


WARNINGS - It is my aim to post warnings for major triggers on all my fics - however, as I am aware not everyone wishes to see warnings, I have placed them underneath the grey block below, to see the text, please highlight. For a full list of the things I warn for and for further explanation of my warning policy please head here.


Title: Drinking Games
Fandom: Star Trek 2009
Characters/Pairings: I aimed for everyone (but I may have missed slightly, it was 3am when I wrote it)
Rating: Teen
Contains: (skip) Swaggering, Competition, Alcohol - lots of alcohol, Terrible Russian, Bonding, Friendships and Flirting- Oh My, Drunken Rambling, McCoy Being Sneaky, Kirk Being Drunk
Length: 2,400
Download Link (complete story, word file): http://www.box.net/shared/fgxt9gujxs

Summary: Kirk thinks the team need to bond.

So I started this fic a few days after the last episode of series 1 of Merlin had aired - so yep a while ago - at first it was an unimanginable mess and I owe a huge debt to such_heights who kicked it into shape with an amazing beta. THANK YOU.

Beta'd by the forever lovely such_heights 

PART 1
 

It turns out that all it takes for me to actually get out of the house at a reasonable time to do my laundry is for it to snow – so if we could just organise that every week, that’d be great. Anyway I spent far too much time yesterday wandering around Stratford in the snow taking photos and now my legs ACHE from all the trying not to slip in the sludge.

In other news, in a fit of madness I have signed up for tardis_bigbang – eep! Help!

Also alas, I have just read THE interview in Dr Who Monthly and I fear I am in danger of falling in love with Matt Smith before I’ve even seen him act in anything.

Here are my five favourite quotes in the hopes of sharing my excitement, because, seriously I love how this man talks:

1. … luckily we’re in the hands of Steven Moffat, who has this show ingrained in his soul and searing through his blood.

2. We’ll talk about my intentions, their intentions, how we feel it can fly, and sing, and be as brilliant and as Doctor-y and as excellent as it can be.

3. What’s brilliant about being the Doctor is… as an actor, you sort of… when you get a part, when it’s yours, I don’t know how it is for other actors, but you carry it around with you, or inside you, all the time. So, when you drink a cup of tea, or eat an apple, or run a bath or whatever, you can do it with him in mind – and the Doctor is such a wonderful part to carry around with you, because, as you say, he’s 950, he’s got two hearts, and he’s the Doctor, isn’t he? The most brilliant, bounding, leaping mind of us all.

4. [In response to a question about whether he had to think twice about taking the role] No, because… as much as I profess not to be a huge kind of scholar of the show, getting to know the Doctor through the scripts that I’d been given was thrilling. I fell in love with him, instantly. I thought, this Time Lord is brilliant! Steven’s scripts are so inventive and funny, and I like the idea of the Doctor being… well, I don’t want to give away too much.

5. I’m going to try and make my Doctor as varied, and brilliant, and dark, and unpredictable, and happy, and sad, and funny as I can – every facet of me, really – and explore it with bravery and courage. I’m going to do it my way, and see where it takes me, and I really hope you enjoy it. I hope you continue to get a thrill when that brilliant music kicks in. Diddle-de-dum, diddle-de-dum, diddle-de-dum… and then woooooooeee!

And one extra, because this gives me lol-worthy images of the Doctor as a child setting up elaborate traps:

I think back to when I was a little boy, and I always had a vivid and active imagination. I was always making booby traps or inventions.

Also – yes the Torchwood trailer was awesome. XD

Yep this got far too long for the main London post. It was mainly Spring Awakening that pushed me to make the trip to London – I’ve heard a lot about the American productions and wanted to give it a go and it seemed worth making the trip while the tickets were still cheap.

Hmmm…. It’s difficult to know where to start with this, because I overall loved it but there were things I didn’t like as well. I think I’ll stick most of the stuff I didn’t like at the bottom in a pseudo-essay type thing – because I can’t seem to discuss it without big massive spoilers. But roughly speaking – I didn’t much like Melchior (whups main character), thought it missed some great potential and was somewhat disgusted by the way homosexuality was portrayed. With that out of the way, if you don’t want to be spoiled just stick to this top section, if you’re vaguely interested in my disjointed rambling just scroll down.

     
So yes, despite this rant (which was basically a long way of saying I didn't like the main character and one scene), overall I liked the musical and would like to see it again but I don’t think I’ll ever be quite comfortable watching it. And it could be so much better.

To explain why I’m discussing this the way I am, first of all I have to explain how I see the story telling in new-Who. I think there is a story being told throughout new-Who about the Doctor’s relationship with his companions and how it’s developing and changing. Within this story I think each series has told a specific chapter or idea, or made a specific point. I don’t mean that this is the main theme of the series, it’s more like a side theme, it’s not explored in every episode – but it is there in the background.

This may sound a little over the top and pre-planned and I don’t mean that every series was planned from the beginning, it makes very little difference if there’s a long term plan or whether it’s decided at the beginning of each separate pre-production stage, it’s something that could easily emerge organically from the writing process.

But RTD has been a Who fan for a very long time, I’m sure he’d thought plenty about what he’d like to do if he was in charge. I sometimes get the impression that people don’t think there’s much forethought going into this – I can only talk for myself, but when I’m writing anything, I’m simultaneously thinking about and planning three or four things I’d like to do next. So personally I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to think that the Who team, who are much cleverer than I am, may be doing the same.

So with that out of the way – lets get onto what I think has been going on in the last three series and what the future might hold.

SPOILERS RIGHT UP UNTIL 4.01 – PARTNERS IN CRIME

Oh good lord – how did this get to be so long? I hope some of this made some sense to some people (I’m not sure I can hope for any more than that as mostly this has been rambling).

But yes – I think there has been some very deliberate exploration going on throughout new Who about both the impact of the Doctor’s relationships with his companions and the way he handles those relationships. It’s a work in progress and he doesn’t always get it right – but I think he’s getting better at it.