you can't just read the guidebook

I've completely neglected to keep up with any sort of cross-posting between LJ and here. I haven't been doing anything of much substance fannishly lately - no fic since I posted in April, for example - but I have been watching and writing short/sometimes not-so-short comments on various Doctor Who serials, as I've had loads of time on my hands to watch them (I'm down to only 29 classic serials left!) and I figured I might as well repost a few of those here. These are things I write for my own recollection and amusement later, really, so there's no proper summarizing or anything resembling a coherent review in them; I'm almost ashamed to inflict them on any sort of wider audience than my poor, long-suffering LJ flist.

1) Death to the Daleks. I always like Daleks and I always like Three, but it was still a close call in declaring this one any good. ( Death to the Daleks, spoilers )

2. The Underwater Menace (3/4 recons). I did not realize it had a horrible reputation but I quite liked it; in fact I chose it as a treat because it had one surviving episode of only four total, and had more Ben and Polly in it. ( The Underwater Menace, spoilers. )

3) The Highlanders (4/4 recons). Yay, brave Polly and Houdini!Ben and tricksy Two and Jaaamie! As usual the recons tested my patience somewhat, but overall it was a really great story. ( The Highlanders, spoilers.  )

4) The Smugglers (4/4 recons). I found it a bit of a chore because the audio quality was atrocious and sometimes I could hardly tell what was going on in the plot, but on reflection it was really quite fun and I remain so utterly fond of the One-Ben-Polly team, and sad that now I've seen (or "seen") all of their episodes. ( The Smugglers, spoilers. )

5) Four to Doomsday. This was my last Five serial, proving I watched things in a very haphazard fashion generally, and other than some bits, I actually liked it quite a lot. ( Four to Doomsday, spoilers. )

6) Warrior's Gate. I had been on a Four-in-order quest with my husband, only we stopped with three to go at least six months ago, for no real reason. So we decided to get back on that train, and this one was next. ( Warrior's Gate, spoilers. )

7) Keeper of Traken. Next on Four-in-order! I liked it and also didn't, it was - well, interesting, and left me desperately needing to see Logopolis to make sense of the ending. ( Keeper of Traken, spoilers. )

8) Logopolis. Finished off Four with this! (I decided since Shada never aired, I could skip that one as necessary to continuity). It also finished off all of Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan's episodes for me. ( Logopolis, spoilers. )

That is probably more than enough in one go. And now you, if you happen to find and read this and aren't on my flist on LJ, understand why I usually just keep these to my semi-private self!

2 of 2! This was a pinch-hit.

Title: Heartland
Characters: Jabe, Sergeant Benton, Jo Grant
Rating: G
Summary: Jo and the Sergeant tell her stories of their favourite trees: the ones they climbed in as children, the ones with sweet apples and sour plums that stained their fingers.
Notes: pinch-hit for doyle_sb4 in the brilliant tardis_gen ficathon, who asked to see 70s UNIT encounter some element of new school canon. It ended up a bit the other way around. Thanks to stunt_muppet for beta reading! ~1,000 words.

( Jabe has never been quite like the others. )

It's author reveal day on the LJ-based ficathon tardis_gen, so I'm cross-posting the two fics I wrote here.

Title: Sea Shanties
Characters: Mel, Tegan
Rating: G
Summary: Mel's life has never been linear.
Notes: for amaresu in the brilliant tardis_gen ficathon. Many thanks to wishfulaces, stunt_muppet, glinda_penguin, and nonelvis for beta services!

( She lived in a village in England, on the planet Earth, named Pease Pottage. )

As noted in my userinfo, I'm going to use this journal as a place to cross-post some of my fannish content, unlocked, as an effort to engage further with fandom. I intend to focus on Doctor Who content though may branch out from time-to-time, and will put fic here too.

For my first post, a review (of sorts; it will become apparent that my style of reviewing can be eccentric); I finally finished The Adventuress of Henrietta Street, only, like, nearly three weeks later, or something? It was, um. A hard slog. The following is a long, spoilery discussion of certain elements of the novel, and in particular thoughts on women and race. ( Read more... )

In sum, I feel confident in saying that as this is my leisure reading, I have given Lawrence Miles a fair and unbiased going in chance, and have no need to read anything else he has done. :/

This is a slightly odd first public post, as it's far more detailed on issues than I usually get, but that's life.

::waves::

Still not 100% sure what I'll be doing with this account, but I'm here, nonetheless! Actual playing-with-account, uploading icons, etc. to happen later.