A Meme for Sunday...

[jjpor]

So, in response to the following meme, which I picked up from thisbluespirit
Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

And these were the words she gave me, revealing that she has been paying more attention to my online preoccupations/obsessions than I have XD:

Brigadier, UNIT, Torchwood, dragons, Romana

 

Brigadier: Ah, the Brig! Well, what can I say about the Brig that hasn't already been said? He is, for me, one of the stalwarts of Doctor Who during its existence. Who, I ask you, has seen the Brig and not immediately acknowledged his innate and self-evident awesomeness? Well, okay, there are probably some people, aren't there? I think I first saw the Brigadier in the Five Doctors, when I would have been a very wee nipper indeed, and not really knowing who he was except that for some reason I thought he was great. Maybe because he was in the Five Doctors - that's probably why I thought that XD. Anyway, apart from reading about him in Target novelisations, I probably didn't see the Brig properly until Battlefield, and not in his heyday until they repeated some Three stories on TV in the early 90s, and I discovered that our local video rental shop had just about all of the Three stories that had at that point been released (although, strangely, only Three stories...)

So - the Brig... I don't think you'd get a character like that in New Doctor Who. Somebody like the Brig would, in the modern television idiom, either be a heavy or an official buffoon the Doctor had to get around. To be fair, the Brigadier did get more Blimpish the more the Three era went on, to the point where he was at times almost a parody of himself. I much prefer the harder, more professional Brig of Season 7, who is much more credible as a military man and has this great, spiky relationship with the Doctor (mind you, I like Liz Shaw too). Yet, I think he always maintained that sympathy. I think a lot of that is down to Nicholas Courtney, who always portrayed him with a lot of charm and charisma even when the scripts weren't that great. Witness Battlefield, which would not be half so likeable a story without the retired Brig resurfacing; sure, he's clapped out these days, but he knows he's clapped out and is just doing the best he can, as he says. I cheered for him when he popped up in SJA; come on, Moffat, Courtney's not getting any younger, give him a guest shot in Who, for old time's sake.

UNIT: And we can't talk about the Brig without considering UNIT, can we? All I'll say is that a lot of things were better in the 1970s, and UNIT is no exception. (On the UNIT dating controversy, I don't think you can come up with a consistent explanation for the discrepancies, but I lean towards the theory that the Three stories very definitely took place in the 70s, even if that does contradict some of the non-Three UNIT stories). Anyway, Yatesy, Benton and the gang were endearingly useless (although let's spare a thought for some of the forgotten UNIT bods from the early days, before the format solidified - Captain Whatshisname from the Invasion, Captain Monroe from Spearhead, Corporal Bell...whatever happened to Corporal Bell?); I don't think they would have resolved, or indeed survived, most of the crises they faced had the Doctor not been around, but at least they weren't as annoying as their twenty-first century successors. If you want to portray UNIT as a bit harder and more military than they were in the 70s, the correct route to go down is Battlefield, where the organisation is portrayed far better than it is in NuWho. I refuse to believe the modern day Unified Intelligence Taskforce is even the same organisation; I think the real UNIT was disbanded after that unfortunate "blowing up Number Ten with a missile" incident in World War Three, and then reconstituted by some of the member nations outside UN control (explaining the name change); the new British contingent was probably made up mainly of newly-unemployed Torchwood personnel following that Canary Wharf business (see the hand-clapping in Planet of the Dead - you know I'm right!), explaining why they're such a bunch of w***ers. Which brings me neatly to:

Torchwood: Well, are we talking about Torchwood the television programme, or Torchwood the fictional organisation? Both? Okay. In the 1990s, I really liked the X-Files, and all of that UFO conspiracy theory stuff that was so prevalent at the time. I didn't really believe in UFOs, whatever that means, but I liked the stories, and I liked the idea of these secret organisations operating in between the lines of 20th century history, interacting with and concealing aliens and their technology, going at least as far back as WW2. At the same time, I really like British espionage fiction, John Le Carre and Len Deighton and all that stuff. I specify British, because there is a certain unique vibe you get from spy stories set in this country, a certain cynicism and sense of humour. Le Carre is basically all about upper-class Oxbridge types going around quietly backstabbing each other in a very polite, understated, office-politics sort of way, while being quite shockingly incompetent at their actual jobs and wistfully musing on the heroics they got up to back in the war, and the lost glories of the British Empire. The only man in the whole mess who knows what's what is George Smiley, and he keeps getting sacked after every fresh official scandal, and then getting brought back to head up the inquiry into the _next_ scandal. And his wife's cheating on him the whole while, but he's terribly polite and British about it...

Meanwhile, Deighton is the low-rent, working-class version, where the work of a spy is mostly about making tea and filling in forms and trying to avoid getting involved in the sort of sixth-floor machinations that Le Carre writes about. And about dining out well on the expense account, because Deighton was also a cookery writer on the side and knew a thing or two about that sort of thing. XD Anyway, that's sort of how I imagine Torchwood to be, in my fic-writer's imagination, before that Yvonne Hartmann came in with her management-speak (I bet the old hands from the good old days hated her, and not _just_ because she was a woman - the youth of most of her staff suggests she probably purged most of the oldtimers, anyway) and then Captain Jack ruined his branch of the organisation; George Smiley and Harry Palmer, with aliens. And of course, purely, blackheartedly, soullessly evil in that way that only British officialdom can be. And the fact that they were supposedly founded in 1879 gives a lot of potential for fic about them in the period setting of your choice. The real question is what the hell were they doing during all of the adventures the Doctor had in twentieth century Britain, considering he was supposed to be their sworn enemy? Well, fanfic is your friend in these sort of circumstances...

Which brings me to the television series; I have a love-hate sort of thing going on with the spinoff; I watch it, I do, while pouring scorn on it quite a lot of the time and wincing at the sex and violence, but I still watch it. And it does have its moments, more of them in the second series than in the first. The best "moment" for me was the one that confirmed the Torchwood scenario of my ficcy imagination; Gerald and Harriet of Torchwood 1918, being all stiff-upper-lipped in their coldblooded official shenanigans. Too bad they were only on screen for about a minute, they should have had their own episode at least. And they were totally at it, as well, in a very discreet, repressed Edwardian sort of way. I wrote fic about them, too.

dragons: Hmmm...dragons. Well, as a child and teenager, I read an awful lot of sword-and-sorcery type fantasy stories. I won't say I grew out of it, because that sounds horribly dismissive, but maybe I grew apart from it with time. I reread all of the Tolkien books in my early 20s, and have nothing but admiration for them, even while recognising the flaws that lead some genre fans to bash them in comparison to whoever their favourite author is. Anyway, dragons: Smaug the Magnificent from the Hobbit, is for me everything a dragon should be; proud, clever, greedy, and an absolutely terrifying, ridiculously powerful monster who is nevertheless strangely vulnerable to the right hero in the right place at the right time. I'm also a big fan of Glaurung, the dragon in the Silmarillion/Children of Hurin, who is a dragon very much in the tradition of stuff like the Ring of the Nibelungs or Beowulf. In fact, the Children of Hurin is very heavily influenced by the Ring Cycle, imho (not that I know anything about opera, but I know the story). Anyway, my point is, that dragons (European dragons, to clarify), in the medieval legends in which they originate, are pretty much a symbol of evil, the devil, whatever, so I like portrayals of dragons that have that almost demonic aspect, as opposed to the "noble creatures" take on them you see in some fantasy. That's just me, I guess. Oh, and there's a cartoon film called "The Flight of Dragons", which I haven't seen for years and years, but which I remember as being great. I think James Earl Jones did one of the voices.

Romana: Believe it or not, there was a time when I wasn''t a huge fan of Four; I think it was partly snobbery and/or my natural contrariness, but back in the 90s I used to see nothing but praise for Four in fandom and precious little love (to say the least!) for my favourite, Seven. Also, while I grew up watching the 80s Doctors, I'd only really heard about Four; I don't think I actually saw any of his stories until I was a teenager in the early 90s (although I read a lot of the Target novelisations when I was in school). But anyway, when I started watching the "official classics" of Four's era, I was converted, almost against my will; I mean, things like Genesis of the Daleks and Talons of Weng-Chiang were so obviously a cut above anything from the 80s (even if some of those 80s stories rank above them in my personal pantheon of favourite stories). And then, a little bit later, I saw some of the Four stories that people are not usually so complimentary about; the Key to Time season, and Seasons 17-18. And, God help me, I really liked them as well, for all of their very obvious shortcomings. I found it interesting to have a companion who was the Doctors equal in intellect, his superior in a lot of technical areas (and who keeps reminding him constantly of the fact!), but who still learns from him about life and compassion and a lot of things, really growing as a character over the course of her two seasons. And I like the humour and the banter and all of that stuff; as I was saying somewhere else recently, I'm easy for semi-clever one-liners.

Er, anyway, so the self-evident coolness of Romana (both of them) - to me  - led me to be quietly shocked when I discovered that the admiration for her and her stories in fandom is far from universal. I don't know, there's no accounting for taste, is there, but I''ll go on record in saying that Romana is my second favourite companion after Ace (although for a while a couple of years ago, Jamie dethroned her), and, to be even more out of step with parts of fandom, *my * Romana is Romana II, mainly because I saw her first, and because I absolutely love City of Death (I have an idea that the "cool" thing is to prefer I, and I'll agree she probably doesn't get the consideration she deserves). Anyway, I think the relationship portrayed between the Doctor and Romana throughout their time together is fascinating, the way it progresses from the bickering oneupmanship of their early stories to the almost married couple vibe they have in their later ones (they spend a lot of time arguing, but that doesn't mean they don't love each other). I didn't start writing fanfic for the shipping, but it seems so self-evident to me that there was that sort of relationship in their case that I felt I had to acknowledge it in my fic. And partly because it was some sort of counterargument to the "Rose/Doctor 4ever" sort of stuff you see a lot of. Anyway, whatever my motives, I quickly slipped into shameless Doctor/Romana shippiness...I'm happy the way I am, though. XD

.And, er...well. that's that. I went on quite a bit, didn't I?

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

And, er...well. that's that. I went on quite a bit, didn't I?

Really? :lol:

That was interesting. (And I've simply been reading your fic. :-D Well and turning up here, too, I suppose.) I was kind of the same about Three and Four, everyone else going on and on and on about how much better DW was then. (Blah blah blah). Well, sometimes it was and sometimes it was rubbish, but the people doing the telling were ten and not twenty at the time. My resistance to Three still shows - that's why I wrote the Brig/Liz stories really. (They don't need him at all, he's just messing up a TV show that would have been fun without him. Erm... Yes, well.) And I think most of S25 and 26 can knock socks of any other era. Except maybe the original TARDIS team. Those repeats you mentioned made me fall hard for the 60s.

And, yes, salutes the Brig. I first saw him in Battlefield and I had no idea who he was, but he was great.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Yes, here's to the Brig!

I'm with you on Seasons 25 and 26 - Remembrance of the Daleks may be my favourite Doctor Who story of them all, if you forced me to pick one, and Ghost Light and Curse of Fenric aren't far behind. While I am quite fond of Four these days, I remain a bit apathetic about a lot of Three myself; I like Season 7, I think they had a run of really strong stories there, but I mainly like the later Three stories for stuff like the Brig and Delgado!Master (who is undoubtedly great).

You know, I don't think there's any era of Doctor Who I actively dislike, but quite a lot of the Five and Six era stories are hard to love, aren't they? They had all the problems of the very late Four stories, but none of their charm or sense of fun.

I do really enjoy Two as well, what little of him remains unscathed; I find Troughton a really engaging actor, whatever he's doing.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Worst story ever, in my not so humble opinion, is Five's "Black Orchid". What were they thinking?

[thisbluespirit]

Oohhh, no, how can you possibly say that? Even aside from how much I like it, there's Time-Flight. I mean, come on. :lol:

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Words!

The Brig: Yes, I love him, in spite of my general anti-military sentiments (and I didn't like it when he blew up the centurians. We could never get someone like him now. Also, he was so having it off with Liz for a while.

UNIT: New Unit kind of stinks. They're way too trigger happy. It's that silly, habit of making everything 'darker and edgier', which really just makes them unlikeable. I like your fanon about it not being truly the same organisation.

Torchwood: I haven't actually seen a single episode of the actual show, but your Old Torchwood fic has made me a bit more interested.

''Sex and Violence'' just makes me think of that Flying Circus episode.;)

Romana: You know how Sarah Jane is sometimes referred to as the companion, Old School-wise (why, exactly?)? That's how I feel about Romana: She was the first Old School companion I actually saw, in the Key to Time Arch (which is perfectly good and I don't understand the dissing). I've never quite questioned that she and the Doctor were romantically involved, or at least had feelings for each other. The attraction just seemed perfectly obvious from The Ribos Operation and onwards. The way I see it, Romana I: UST, Romana II: established sexual/romantic. It makes me sad how some people dismiss her. Is it because of S17?

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I've come to ship Liz/Brig as well; they're so right for each other; you can see them smouldering at each other across the test tubes. XD

NuUNIT annoy me greatly; they try to be dark and edgy, but they come across as just stupid and unprofessional. And anyone who wears scary black uniforms to try and look "kewl" and "badass" is overcompensating or something... The crowning stupidity was that officer threatening to shoot the poor scientist in Planet of the Dead - if the Brig had been there, he'd probably have shot _her_!

Torchwood the show...well, I guess that at its worst (and it is at its worst quite a lot of the time!) it's like bad fanfic written by a twelve year old Doctor Who fan who likes guns and has just found out about sex, and who thinks swearing makes you sound big and clever *considers amount of guns and swearing in own fanfic and feels like a hypocrite*. But it really does have its moments, and the oldy-timey Torchwood people who appeared all-too-briefly in Season 2 were kind of loveable, in their way.

I think S17 isn't to everyone's taste; I mean, it has problems, doesn't it, and some people think it's a bit too comedic, a bit silly. That said, I love it to bits, I think it's really fun and has lots of great character and dialogue stuff, and some really good stories if you look past the cheapness and the sometimes dodgy acting. And I think Romana's just great in both incarnations. That the Doctor and, at least, Romana II were involved is firmly embedded in my fanon now (in fact it may be canon - as you say, there is a lot of onscreen evidence for it).

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I've come to ship Liz/Brig as well; they're so right for each other; you can see them smouldering at each other across the test tubes. XD

It didn't last, of course, but that doesn't mean they didn't have a hot affair while it lasted. Have your read this?

The crowning stupidity was that officer threatening to shoot the poor scientist in Planet of the Dead - if the Brig had been there, he'd probably have shot _her_!

That moment could pretty much prove your theory.;)

Torchwood the show...well, I guess that at its worst (and it is at its worst quite a lot of the time!) it's like bad fanfic written by a twelve year old Doctor Who fan who likes guns and has just found out about sex, and who thinks swearing makes you sound big and clever *considers amount of guns and swearing in own fanfic and feels like a hypocrite*. But it really does have its moments, and the oldy-timey Torchwood people who appeared all-too-briefly in Season 2 were kind of loveable, in their way.

Guns and swearing can be done well; only in Torchwood it's a bit like kids with toys. Or so I heard.

I think S17 isn't to everyone's taste; I mean, it has problems, doesn't it, and some people think it's a bit too comedic, a bit silly. That said, I love it to bits, I think it's really fun and has lots of great character and dialogue stuff, and some really good stories if you look past the cheapness and the sometimes dodgy acting. And I think Romana's just great in both incarnations. That the Doctor and, at least, Romana II were involved is firmly embedded in my fanon now (in fact it may be canon - as you say, there is a lot of onscreen evidence for it).

I kind of wish people weren't so quick to judge it. ''Destiny of the Daleks'' totally has summary executions of slave labourers! Still, it's quite possible that I wouldn't enjoy it as much if it weren't for the Baker/Ward chemistry and my own batshit. My ideal would've been a Four/Romana season with the storytelling of S18 and the charm and humour of S17.

OMG, I want more Four/Romana!

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I think I'd like Destiny of the Daleks more if I could avoid constantly comparing it to Genesis; certainly, the Daleks are as thoroughly unpleasant as they should be (I mean, the fact that they use slaves at all instead of whatever stupidly advanced digging machinery they must have says more about their own sadism/desire to crush all other races etc.), although maybe a bit thick even by their own standards in the 70s and 80s stories.

I would just like Shada to have been completed (even while sticking up for the workers' right to strike). And not be rubbish. Which, admittedly, is not a given, but we can give it the benefit of the doubt, can't we? The audio version with McGann in it is great, I think.

[thisbluespirit]

and I didn't like it when he blew up the centurians

I write some very strange typos in comments, so I can't talk, but that made me laugh a lot. :-D I'm now envisaging a missing story. An incredible missing story with time travel, probably Roman Britain! The Brig blowing up centurions! :lol: Ohhhhh.... *coughs and tries to pull self together again before very daft fanfic ensues*

If you mean blowing up Silurians, and having thought about this a lot in my endless S7 fanfics and being eager to leap to his defence at all times, even against the Doctor, please note that:

he doesn't for one minute say anything about the Doctor's treacherous behaviour that nearly gets him killed. During this serial every other main surviving human character demands that people (usually the Brig) go off and shoot Silurians. He refuses. After having been given orders to seal the cave's entrance, he obeys (taking into account that the Silurians tried to destroy the entire human race) - and he assumes happily that the Doctor wouldn't do anything different. (He soon learns and his unsneakiness is very funny and the Doctor really should have seen what was going on anyway). It's the Doctor who says he's murdered them - that's not the implications elsewhere. All we know is that he's closed up the entrance. Then in Ambassadors, the Brigadier proves the difference between him and a military man who wants to destroy aliens (without wiating to see whether they're likely to unleash a plague first) and he and the Doctor tacitly 'make up' over it. In Silurians there is a genuine clash of moral interests between the Doctor and the Brigadier and the Doctor's not necessarily right - his scientific curiosity and near-naivety is also questionable in the light of what happens. (And the original line at the end was the Doctor talking about what as waste it was, because of what could have been learned - which shows the two opposing points Hulke was going for, although I think Pertwee was right to change it to "But that's murder..." but that line isn't in the original script.)

Oh. Sorry. I didn't realise I'd been quite that long. If the Brigadier ever needs someone to speak in his defence on that incident... :lol:

*slinks away in embarrassment*

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Well, I think that's one of the good things about that story, that both the Doctor and the Brig have a point, while at the same time also being blind to some of the consequences of their actions, and that neither of them can conclusively be shown to be in the right. I guess we're supposed to side with the Doctor, but the script allows us to see the Brig's point as well. I don't think you'd get this in many other eras of Who (or indeed, in the rest of the Three era), so it's another thing to be said in favour of Season 7, which had a few moments like that.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

*scratches head* I'm not sure where my mind was when I made that typo...

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

(1) Right there with you on the Brig, on all points! Especially the Need (and it is a Need with a capital N) to have him on again with Eleven. The age discrepancy could be very poignant --- the Doctor ever older/younger and the Brig now getting beyond patriarch stage but still formidible, still commanding and, more importantly, worthy of respect (even if Three didn't always show it, he did respect the Brig as much as Two did). (3) Torchwood --- somehow, I expected way, way, way more sex. Not that it would improve things any, but I feel like I've been cheated somehow. Also, just telling you again that I loved your Harriet and Gerald Torchwood. Someday, I'll try my hand at finishing the Millennium Alex story that popped up around the edges of my mind the first time I saw Season 2's next-to-last episode, although I'd prefer it if you beat me to it (I'm all about the enjoyment of fanfic; the work --- not so much). (5) I can't agree with you on the "Romana I cool thing", though. Not at least as far as the consideration paid out in fanfic. Romana I gets so much less attention, from what I've seen, and it's a shame because I find her much more fascinating than Romana II. She's so much more of a tabula rasa than she is in her second version, but not --- naive and young and just no clue of what's out there (which Romana II isn't) but smart and flexible and ready to take on a challenge without ever having experienced challenge. A damn fine woman, in any species.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

1) Yep. Absolutely; we need some sort of poignant Brig last hurrah story (without him necessarily dying or anything).

3) I think that Torchwood's reputations precedes it maybe a bit too much; I think people seeing it for the first time now expect more of that kind of thing than there actually is. I saw it when it first aired on TV in the UK without really knowing what to expect, and was taken aback - aback, I tell you! - by some of the unnecessariness, but only because I was expecting it to be pitched at a similar level as Doctor Who. Yes, the world needs more retro-Torchwood, I'd argue.

5) I suppose by "cool", I meant that you hear a lot of people saying Romana I needs more love, and I'd agree with you she really does, I still just prefer II, though. :D If number I had been in City of Death, which was the first Romana story I ever saw, and may have coloured my perception of the rest just a wee tad XD, I'd probably like her better.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

I think that Torchwood's reputations precedes it maybe a bit too much; I think people seeing it for the first time now expect more of that kind of thing than there actually is.

Most definitely. I've got to say that the only thing I think I saw on any Torchwood I've watched this far that I was somewhat shocked by was this scene were a baby carriage ran into the street when the Mom turned all zombie and then, off-screen, you hear tires screech and then a thump. I just didn't think there was any call for that at all.

Re: the Romanas === I could see that seeing II before I could lead to a preference such as yours. I saw I first, then watched her progression and so was able to see that she actually started off awesome.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know the bit you're talking about and I was like...??!! Was that supposed to be funny?! I assume not, because it really wasn't, but the way it was done was so misjudged.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you've read ''Threads'' by violetisblue (''Vali'' over on the Teaspoon). It does an excellent, excellent job of the tabula rasa thing; in fact it's one of the central themes of the story.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have read that, and I thought it did a wonderful job of exploring the uncertainty underneath Romana I's more formidable personality aspects. And woe --- it's the only story I've found out there that does this (although I remember reading, somewhere, a little story involving a three-way between the two Romanas and Ten that had zero character development --- not surprising since it was essentially PWP --- but did a nice job showing the differences-but-similarities in the two Romanas' personalities).

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I think that would be ''Like Burning'' by Nostalgia.

[clocketpatch]

WORDS!

As for UIT, I think that explanation you've given about proper UNIT being disbanded following the whole 10 Downing Street fiasco and fail!UIT being staffed by the recently unemployed from TW is fantastic; it is now my personal canon.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I think it's the only logical explanation, don't you? I'll reiterate; the hand-clapping. I mean, apparently firing a _missile_ at _10 Downing Street_ and apparently _killing_ a large number of high-ranking British government officials _including the acting Prime Minister!_ just looks bad any way you look at it. Heads rolled, I'll bet. And the best thing about it is, it was Mickey all along! XD

Another indication that UIT aren't all that - they have control of the entire world's nuclear forces (yeah, right!), apart from Russia's?!

And that Black Archive place in SJA was pure TWood, not the UNIT we know and love, right down to the silly "badass" name...

WORDS?! You want words?? I'll give you words!!!

Ruffles
Mayans
Fanfic
Eccles
Cats

[vonquixote.livejournal.com]

WORDS!

Also: "And they were totally at it, as well, in a very discreet, repressed Edwardian sort of way."

Well, yeah. They're in Torchwood.


Romana II used to terrify me (it's something about that innocent, seraphic little face with about FOUR MILLION TEETH) until I watched 'City of Death' and then she rather grew on me, bless her. I'm not saying I prefer Romana I to be cool, but, well, The Power of Kroll was the first serial I ever watched and it was kind of formative of my expectations and standards and so on.

I would place pretty much any McCoy story after-but-not-including 'Dragonfire' above 'Talons'. Even 'Silver Nemesis'. And I'm not just saying that because of John Bennett in yellowface and "honourable Chang" mode, although that's certainly part of it.

New UNIT (Nu-NIT?) lost all credibility when Chris Chibnall had them Guantanamo Tosh. Yes, I did just use Guantanamo as a verb. It's wrong - but not as wrong as Guantanamo'ing Tosh.

As far as the Brig goes, I think he's the only human who's known the Doctor long enough and across enough incarnations to achieve any sort of meaningful understanding of him, and that would be awesome even if he wasn't.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

WORDS:

McCoy
Fanfic
Avalon
Gaming
Criticism

Yes, I think "Inappropriate Intraoffice Liaisons (Compulsory)" is like the second chapter in the Torchwood employee handbook, straight after "Hypocritical Moral Angsting at Exactly the Wrong Moment".

You're bang on with Romana II and the teeth...I mean (and I say this as one who finds her perfectly adorable most of the time, so I find it endearing rather than offputting), they just seem to come out of nowhere as well when she smiles; I mean, they can't possibly fit in her mouth, it's like...bigger on the inside or something... In fact, it occurs to me that the only person with an even more startling/impressive set of gnashers in Who (or possibly anywhere) is...well, Four himself. There's some sort of hidden connection there, I'm sure of it... But yeah, I think Romana is a bit like the Doctor, the first one you see will be forever *your* one on some level. With both Romanas, I think the smartarse snootiness is a big part of the appeal. For me, anyway.

Talons is like some sort of checklist of story elements designed to appeal to my somewhat skewed sense of what makes a story "kewl". Casual 1970s-style racism, I'll hasten to add, isn't one of those tickboxes. I do admit to a certain uncomfortableness whenever I watch it, you know in a "if I had any moral integrity I wouldn't be watching this", kind of way. It is a bit startling to be chortling along at Litefoot and suddenly thinking "he called that Chinese bloke a *what*?!"

Nu-NIT; I like that. I like that a lot. XD Agreed; whatever way you look at it, UIT are just idiots, and not in the endearing, teamaking, accidentally-shoot-themselves-in-the-foot, sort of way Benton and co were idiots, either. At least it seems to be deliberate; certainly both the Doctor in Season 4 and the Brig in SJA seem to notice it, so it's not just me being out of step with the writers again. :D

I like that assessment of the Brig, too; in fact, if they ever did bring him back for that guest spot I was talking about above, that'd be a good angle to approach it from. Or I could just write the fanfic.

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I think I once quipped something like that it was a good thing Lalla and Tom didn't have any kids together; I mean, consider the dental costs.;) *is mean* I kid, though; I actually find their teeth to be part of their charms.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I agree.

For some reason, your talk of dental costs reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa goes to the dentist (I think it's the same one where Homer becomes a union boss) and gets this enormous brace fitted, like some sort of medieval torture device. According to the photographer taking her school photograph, "there is no God..."

[akashasheiress.livejournal.com]

I've decided that Four and Romana's hypothetical love child would look something like Regina Spektor (but possibly with blond hair). She's even got the teeth to match!