How Are You Doing?

[jjpor]

 I realise I've not been very active at all, either here or in Doctor Who fandom generally, for the past...well, longer than I care to recall, to be honest.  We can discuss my feelings on the Chibnall Era (which is what I choose to call it because, no, I don't like it much, but it isn't anything to do with Jodie Whittaker or the Thirteenth Doctor) some other time.  There are more important things going on at the moment.

This is, I think it is fair to say, a pretty strange, scary time for pretty much the entire world and everybody in it.  I'd wager those of us who indulged in dystopian fantasies about what might happen if X or Y won a particular election, or if a particular referendum mandate was indeed seen through to its bitter end, didn't quite expect anything like this to happen.  Myself, I'm managing to get by both work-wise and personally, and keep myself and those I care about as healthy and safe as I can.  However, I realise that depending on your personal circumstances that could be a lot easier said than done.

So, I don't know, I just thought I'd post something here and just ask how people are doing, and offer my good vibes and best wishes to all of you.  It's been a while, but I hope all of you are keeping as well as can be in the circumstances, and if you'd like to offer your greetings (from a safe social distance, of course), I'd be very glad to hear from you.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

I've been cheating on Who with other fandoms again and stuff like that. I'm not proud. ;)

Shocking! How could you?

I mean, it's not as if I've written like 20,000 words of Star Wars since January, including a fic about Obi-Wan Kenobi's mother!

Well, as you know, I'm a big Master fan, and I thought Dhawan was pretty good indeed. I think Whittaker and the other regular cast members, and quite a lot of the guest stars, are really good too.

Oh, yes. Which makes it worse. And the stories were less risk averse this year and even mostly less dull and I was almost feeling hopeful... and then we got the finale. And now I just feel weird abou DW. I've decided at the moment that Big Finish and other EU things and Moffat Who feel comparatively unaffected but I can't Classic Who at all any more which I hope passes sometime soon, but it was a weird sort of betrayal in a way that nothing else has been, and I did not like it. I don't like feeling this way about Classic Who, either. :(

And based on the couple of really quite likable scripts he wrote for Eleven a few years back, I'd thought he might be getting over those. How naive I was...

I've never trusted him, never! He's my nemesis! Although, I would very much have liked to have been proved wrong on that front. (You can share my nemesis if you like, but he's been mine since at least 2007 so I got here first.)

[jjpor]

I mean, it's not as if I've written like 20,000 words of Star Wars since January, including a fic about Obi-Wan Kenobi's mother!

Call me back when you find yourself creating another pseud on AO3 in the hope that nobody you know will notice you writing fic about roleplaying game vampires. XD

If nothing else, it shows a real lack of character on Chibnall's part, or at least a flagrant disregard for the "rules," which boil down basically to "you may play with Doctor Who for a while, provided you don't go monkeying around with fundamental parts of the setting or premise in such a way as to poison the chalice for whomever comes after you." Moffat, for all his bluster and Machiavellian twists, never did that because I think whatever else anybody may say about him he loves Who to bits. Also is a much better writer than Chibnall, but that's really by the by. I'm not sure Chibnall does. Or at least, he'd rather create his own show that shares a title and the most basic elements with Doctor Who, while disregarding everything else.

I'm actually really sorry to hear that the finale has made you feel that way about the classic series. I hope it passes. It just made me think that maybe I won't watch anymore until Chibnall's gone and somebody else has the opportunity to set things back on the right track.

[thisbluespirit]

Call me back when you find yourself creating another pseud on AO3 in the hope that nobody you know will notice you writing fic about roleplaying game vampires. XD

If you're really worried about it, you need a sock account! ;-p But, ha, whatever works, and I have been known to write the odd vampire myself. (And since that was mostly old telly stuff, very odd vampires indeed.)

I just shamelessly wrote SW Prequel fic under my usual pseudonym anyway without any thought of what the subscribers might say.

I'm actually really sorry to hear that the finale has made you feel that way about the classic series. I hope it passes. It just made me think that maybe I won't watch anymore until Chibnall's gone and somebody else has the opportunity to set things back on the right track.

It just changed too much. I'm sure I'll come back around, but I still feel weird about it - it's not what I thought I was watching all this time.

I'm sure Chibnall does love the show; he's been a fan of it for long enough, after all! But his love takes strange forms and we're not obliged to appreciate them! :/

[jjpor]

Hehe, yeah, the failure to create a sockpuppet suggests I actually secretly *do* want people to read it. I'm clearly psychologically complex or something.

I think I'd write Star Wars fic (that quarter-million-word epic about Captain/Admiral Piett that's surely coming one day soon) quite brazenly, though. Star Wars is ace. Even the prequels :D

Yes, questioning a fellow fan's love of Who is unworthy of all of us. My apologies to Mr. Chibnall. ;) But yeah, just because he seems to be enjoying himself doesn't mean the rest of us have to play along. I think a ret-retcon is probably needed to restore classic Who to its rightful state. So, fingers crossed whoever comes after him is thus inclined.

[thisbluespirit]

You have layers!

I think I'd write Star Wars fic (that quarter-million-word epic about Captain/Admiral Piett that's surely coming one day soon) quite brazenly, though. Star Wars is ace. Even the prequels :D

I know people in the Imperial side of fandom; I'm sure they'd be happy to have you!

I think a ret-retcon is probably needed to restore classic Who to its rightful state. So, fingers crossed whoever comes after him is thus inclined.

Here's hoping, but it still feels weird if people can just keep changing it like that.

[jjpor]

Like a cake. Or an onion.

Imperial fandom. :D I'm not sure they'd like my take on Piett, though. I know he's easy to feel sympathy for, but he doesn't deserve even a little bit imho. Admiral Ozzel had more integrity, and it cost him. I have Thoughts re just about all of those Imperial officers from TESB, based mostly on stuff I've read about WW2 German generals and their varying relationships to the regime. I know this probably doesn't come as a surprise to you at all, given my track record. XD

I agree - changing things like that all the time does feel weird, and that's why Chibnall shouldn't have done it in the first place. Show some restraint, man.

[thisbluespirit]

Imperial fandom. :D

They're real! They reblog my gifs of Julian Glover, and understand about the awesome of cheesy Thriller episodes where James Maxwell and Julian Glover move in together and bury girls in the back garden. (Well, Julian does the burying in knatty knitwear like a manly man while JM sits inside being dangerously into classic lit and pop music and angsting over how upsetting it is to have to kill girls). Or at least the one who's very nice and part of B7 fandom does and these are the important things in life.

I don't know if they have any rules about takes on Piett, though. They seem the sort of fandom that's small enough to welcome anyone with a well written 250,000 word epic. :lol:

[jjpor]

these are the important things in life.

Indeed they are. :D

Well, if and when I ever do write my Piett-bashing epic, I know there's an audience out there for it...!