"No, Not the Mind Probe!!?!"

Because I've spammed this around everywhere else - may as well do it here too. If you think I've missed anywhere where people might be interested, let me know.

50th Anniversary Fanwork-a-thon-a-thon, Round Four: Eight

(Secondary prompt: Monsters)

Even as the third round rumbles on, already we're thinking about the fourth in our series of monthly fanwork-a-thons counting down to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Please, if you have an interest in Doctor Who fanwork, take the time to look at the signup posts on the who_at_50 comm...and if it takes your fancy be sure to sign up! It's Eight this month, who after the briefest and shakiest of TV starts went on to shine in novels and audios, and hopefully an inspiring secondary prompt - Monsters. That's right, all of the good, bad and ugly creatures that the Doctor has encountered, fought and on occasion befriended over the course of his adventures.

The Livejournal Version

The Dreamwidth Version

All fanworks of whatever form are more than welcome!

50th Anniversary Fanwork-a-thon-a-thon, Round Two: Ten

(Secondary prompt: UNIT)

Even as the first round continues, it's time already for kicking off the second in the series of monthly fanwork-a-thons counting down to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Please, if you have an interest in Doctor Who fanwork, take the time to look at the signup posts on the Who @ 50 comm...and perhaps even sign up! It's Ten and/or UNIT this month, two themes that I hope will attract a lot of interest.

The Livejournal Version

The Dreamwidth Version

All are welcome!



And an observation: I've been very pleased, and indeed pleasantly surprised, by the amount of interest generated by the fanwork-a-thon and by the Who @ 50 comm in general. One thing I've noticed, though, is that in spite of the general perception about the place that Livejournal is on the decline and Dreamwidth is the wave of the future, there has been far more activity on the LJ version of the comm. I wonder why this is; could I do more to promote the comm on Dreamwidth, or is the dynamic of comm-joining and participation different there in some way (I'll admit, as something of a Dreamwidth newbie myself I wouldn't really know)? Interesting, anyway.

50th Anniversary Fanwork-a-thon-a-thon, Round One: Eleven

(Secondary prompt: Sonic Screwdriver)

You will all recall me discussing my plans for a series of monthly fanwork challenges counting down to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. Well, today's the day. Please, if you are at all interested in Doctor Who fanwork, take the time to check out the launch posts on the Who @ 50 comm and maybe even, y'know, sign up.

The Livejournal Version

The Dreamwidth Version

All are welcome!

As some of you may have noticed from the sheer volume of tasty tinned meat product clogging up your friends pages, Who @ 50, the comm I was talking about setting up as my small contribution to the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary extravaganza, has been "officially" launched. Whether she turns out to be HMS Victory or the Titanic...well, we'll see. :)

As discussed in earlier posts, the comm is mirrored across both LJ and Dreamwidth (lost_spook suggested it might be an idea to, you know, actually link between the two mirror comms too...). The individual URLs are as follows:

LJ: http://who-at-50.livejournal.com/

DW: http://who-at-50.dreamwidth.org/

I hope I'll see plenty of you over there over the coming months. :)

So, er...interesting.

( SPOILERS ENSUE!!! )

Anyway - only so many shopping days left to Who's return and a fresh start, which is probably needed at this point. Can't wait. And then 2013, which I still feel needs emphatically marking somehow, by us, even if the BBC's efforts don't come up to snuff.

I don't know if I've made myself quite clear on this point yet, but already I am ludicrously excited about the impending 50th anniversary of Doctor Who (well, November next year is almost impending, isn't it?), even though I sort of know that whatever the Beeb actually pulls out of the hat probably won't live up to (my) expectations. Come on, it's the only Doctor Who 50th anniversary we're ever going to see, right?

(I'll eat those words in 2055 when a very elderly RTD is presiding over the 50th anniversary of the new series, but until then...)

Anyway, thought this was encouraging news:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/aug/09/mark-gatiss-drama-creation-doctor-who

I don't want to get into a debate on the merits of Mark Gatiss as a writer (although we can, if you want to - personally, I feel he's done his best work outside of televised Who, but that's just an opinion) - what I find encouraging is that the BBC feel the anniversary is something worth marking with more than just a special episode one Saturday night, and also that nowadays they're happy to acknowledge and celebrate the old series too (I mean, I know it's only a 50th anniversary if you include the old series), instead of going along with the mainstream media idea that Who only got good one day in 2005.

So yeah, basically I just crave the BBC's approval and validation, clearly. ;D

(And very, er, spirited below-the-line "discussion" on the linked article between advocates of old Who and new Who about the merits or otherwise of the different eras)