Doctor Who?

One of my all-time scenes from Doctor Who is when the regenerated Doctor (David Tennant) burst through a door in a robe and pajamas into the middle of a major crisis and says, "Didja miss me?" That note of levity was typical of Tennant's Doctor. That question also applies to my missing my turn here last month. Sorry about that. No excuse. No reason, other than absentmindedness.

I'm sure my fellow Whovians have their favorite Doctor. Tennant is mine. I came late to the party. But if you have to come into an existing franchise, the best time is during a retrospective--like the 50th anniversary. I couldn't believe Doctor Who had been on the air for all that time and I never knew about it. I could up quickly with the anniversary specials, and I've now seen all the episodes in the new version, starting with Christopher Eccelston's Doctor. Wasn't too crazy about him, though. 

As I mentioned, Tennant's quirky humor endeared him to me. But he wasn't all fun and games. He could be tough when he needed to be. Remember his threat to bring down Harriet Jones' government with six words? Very clever, that man. Or is he a man? He's certainly not human. A Time Lord, who doesn't die but regenerates. The most poignant scene was with Rose on the beach when she knew she would never see him again. I was very disappointed when they wrote out Tennant.

I'm still ambivalent about Peter Capaldi's Doctor. Loved the interaction between him and the much younger Clara. The humor was still there, but then the series grew much more serious. And weird. I didn't want to see Clara leave. Even worse, the way she did, as well as the way the Doctor tried to hold onto her. The strangeness of the last episodes of the season left me wondering how they would ever return to the humor of previous seasons. I hope they will.

Don't get me wrong. Doctor Who has always made us think about our current events. That's what science fiction is good at--dealing with current crises in an oblique way. Gene Roddenberry did the same in Star Trek.  Watching aliens work through troubles is easier than being lectured at for polluting the atmosphere or racial relations.

So I'll keep watching, keep hoping. And enjoying good science fiction.

When Diane Burton isn't writing romantic suspense and mysteries, she's off to the frontier of space, the world of her Outer Rim series.
 

Hi, I’m Jane, and I’m a Christmas-a-holic

I can’t help myself. Even though I celebrate it as a secular holiday marking the Winter Solstice, I love everything about Christmas: the trees, the lights, the ornaments, the cookies, the goofy movies, the goofier music, buying and wrapping presents, the candy, the scents of pine and spiced cider…all of it. I have more ornaments than I can fit on a 7-ft tree—though I try to—and I buy more every year. I spent last night hanging tinsel on my tree one strand at a time. And it’s my goal to own (and watch annually) every version of A Christmas Carol ever made.

To me, Christmas is the most magical, romantic time of the year—two elements that feature strongly in A Christmas Carol. And one of my favorite versions is the recent Doctor Who version, which I discovered as a standalone Blu-ray disc on Amazon last night, and is currently winging its way to my home. The Doctor hops through time to play the ghost to an old miser in hopes of prompting a change of heart that will save a space liner in the present—carrying the Doctor’s companions, Amy and Rory, on their honeymoon—from crashing on his planet. It’s one of the sweetest, heartstring-tugging episodes (on a show that has many), and I look forward to having it on hand to watch every year in my Christmas line-up.

Another favorite holiday movie is Bell, Book and Candle, which is also full of magic and romance. Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak), a restless modern-day witch, feels something is missing in her life. On Christmas Eve, she seduces New York publishing-house editor Shepherd Henderson (James Stewart) to keep him from marrying her old college rival on Christmas day. When Shep finds out she’s a witch who used magic on him to make him fall in love with her, the real fun begins.

Bell, Book and Candle is actually my second favorite movie of all time (although I’d change the ending if it were up to me) and features one of the actors (Stewart) from my number one favorite movie, another must-see in my annual viewing festival: It’s A Wonderful Life. I think we all know how the plot goes, so I won’t bother to recap it here, but suffice it to say, this movie has magic and romance in spades. Maybe the two always go together.

In my upcoming January release, Prince of Tricks, Book 1 in my Demons of Elysium series, my two naughty demons spend some time in the world of Man in the newly-established Russian Federation in January of 1992. I wanted to find a holiday movie they could watch on TV (the big holiday celebration in Russia is New Year’s, and goes on for a week), and while Googling Russian movies from that year, I discovered that none other than IAWL actually aired there, as the first American movie ever to be shown on Russian television, on January 5, 1992.

The timing was perfect, but the movie was even more perfect. I’d written a private joke between the two demons at the beginning of the related series, The House of Arkhangel’sk (which takes place in the present day), referencing IAWL. Vasily quotes the beginning of Zu-Zu’s iconic line, “Every time a bell rings...” after the angelic grand duchess they’re holding for ransom has just discovered her wings. Even I didn’t know the backstory behind that private joke. It just popped in there, and the line worked, so I left it, never realizing my demons would later turn out to have seen that movie in Russia on Vasily’s first fall to the world of Man. It seemed like a minor Christmas miracle. ;)

But lest anyone think Prince of Tricks gets too sweet and sappy, I should point out that this scene is sandwiched between hot m/m demon sex and an even hotter m/m demon sex foursome, because that’s where my mind goes whenever I’m writing about these guys. Even IAWL couldn’t make them behave for long.

Right now I’m working on the third book in the series, Master of the Game, heading toward the climactic scene. Once again, I find I've set it at Christmas-time, with all the magic and romance of the season. I seem to be addicted to this time of year.

So what’s your favorite holiday movie? Does it have the both the crucial elements of magic and romance?

Time Travel: Star Trek and Doctor Who

In a recent author interview I was asked if I could travel back in time what would I change. I said nothing because I like the life I have and if I changed anything I might not have my wonderful family. Then I got thinking. What if we could go back in time and change something major? The Mongol Horde, Hitler, September 11^th, Al-Qaeda.

In Star Trek, the Prime Directive orders no interference in the development of alien civilizations. Of course, we know Jim Kirk doesn’t exactly follow that order all the time. Consider the most recent movie Into Darkness. At the beginning, Kirk has to reveal the Enterprise’s presence in order to save Spock who is trying to stop a volcano from wiping out the inhabitants. That’s interference for a good reason, right? Not according to the Powers That Be and Kirk is punished.

What a difference in Doctor Who. He is always interfering. Or so it seems, since

I’m new to this series. Yes, I just wrote new. I’m embarrassed to say I just discovered Doctor Who a few weeks ago. I’d read references to the series in various blogs until my curiosity finally “made” me look it up. Did I ever pick the right week to start watching! Right before the 50^th Anniversary. Right before the Doctor Who marathon. I set the DVR to record the episodes and specials. Wow. Talk about a crash course in Whovian culture. I think there are over eighty episodes I haven’t watched yet, but I’m working my way through.

Back to my original topic. Time Travel and changing history. What if someone went back in time and killed Genghis Khan, Hitler, or Osama Bin Laden before they came to power? Would we be better off or would our history be worse?

Diane Burton

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Who is Doctor Who?

My new hobby, that's who.

He's a British science fiction television hero. An eccentric humanoid alien that goes by the name the Doctor having adventures through time and space, traveling in his space ship called the Tardis. An acronym for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, which resembles an old, blue police box. With companions, he travels any where in time and space, rights wrongs, and saves the day.

I remember watching this show as a child on PBS. Now, I catch it when I visit my family in Canada or in spurts on the space channel. At least until I found whole episodes listed on--you guessed it--youtube.

Every time I start writing a sci-fi story at some point I begin to question if I'm getting too far fetched. I ask myself, "Is this believable?" Then I watch Doctor Who. With good writing and great story planning anything is believable.

So, I've spent some time catching up on episodes I've missed and even had the chance to introduce the next generation of fans to him.  My sons watched BLINK with the weeping angels and thought the concept fabulous. My five year old has spent the day moving my small garden gargoyles around the house so  he can freak my ten year old out. LOL

Here's the first part of that episode.

What are your favorite episodes?