things that I wanted to post about and have not since forgotten about

[usuallyhats]

- fandom_stocking has started up again! I really regretted not getting involved last year so have already signed up myself and started bookmarking other people's letters - let me know where yours are! ♥

- I finished The Wanderer by Fanny Burney yesterday, which is sort of a good thing because it is a Mighty Tome and I was getting tired of lugging it around, but also sad as I was enjoying it. It's not her best work and it has the same problem as Richardson's Clarissa in that every now and then you want to climb into the book and tell the heroine that she doesn't have to be quite that impeccably virtuous all the time, honest (I loved the bit where Giles Arbe guilted the heroine into using some of Harleigh's money to pay the tradesmen she owed money to, on the grounds that they need the money more than she needs her principles), but it's well written and engrossing (even though the blurb on the back of my copy contained SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS, which given that the identity and history of the heroine is meant to be a mystery is rather annoying) and I enjoyed reading it. It succeeds beautifully at what it sets out to do, i.e. demonstrating how hard late eighteenth century society makes it for a young woman who wants to live independently without compromising herself.

- Quick thoughts on The Android Invasion, which I watched the other day:

+ OK, the aliens' plan is... bizarre, to say the least. Never mind.

+ The first episode is genuinely creepy, as is SARAH JANE'S FACE FALLING OFF. Yes, that freaked me out enough to deserve capslock, even though I'd seen the clip before.

+ Ian Marter is once again great as evil Harry... BUT I was v. sadface that the story contained so much Android!Harry and Android!Benton and so little real Harry. He never gets a proper goodbye scene and it makes me so sad. WHY, SHOW, WHY? Plus there was no Brigadier, just an inferior substitute, though apparently this is because Nick Courtney had other commitments, which is fair enough.

+ I was going to judge Sarah Jane's outfit but it actually really suited her and wasn't as bad as I thought on first glance. If it hadn't been all pink it would have been great.

+ Yay, Lis Sladen got a chance to do her "this slope I have fallen down is REALLY REALLY STEEP, honest" acting! ♥

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I LURVE Lis' "this slope I have fallen down is REALLY REALLY STEEP, honest" acting! It's too funny...

Ian was very good as evil!Harry, but yeah, Harry should've had a proper goodbye. I miss him!!

Was it Clarissa that made me threaten violence to a book for the first time ever? No - it was Pamela (which I hated so much, I put aside mid-way through to read the newest Harry Potter book when it came out - whichever one that was (can't remember 'cos it's too many years ago!)!)

[everlasting-day.livejournal.com]

The first episode of The Android Invasion is totally fab, and then it all goes a bit wrong. I actually do quite like it in a sort of way, but it really does have Problems. My favourite bit is the astronaut not realising he actually did have his eye under the eyepatch for all that time - how could you not notice?!

[usuallyhats]

She's doing her best, but she's scuppered by the fact that the slope is very obviously not as steep as we're meant to believe! Though it's not nearly as bad here as The Five Doctors.

Argh, Pamela! I would definitely have given up on that one if I hadn't been reading it for university. Clarissa is loads better!

[usuallyhats]

I know! I scoffed at that quite a bit. Surely you would realise, even if you never took the eyepatch off to have a look?

I like it too, as long as I don't think too hard about the plot. Or think about it at all, really...

[nentari.livejournal.com]

Besides never getting a proper goodbye from Harry, we don't get as much Benton as I'd wish - though I quite liked the bit about him taking his sister out dancing. And even though I'm sad we didn't get the Brig in this, I have to say it tickles me that the actor they chose to stand in for him as Faraday was Mother from The Avengers - rather appropriate if we consider that Harry did a John Steed impression in his first adventure.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

She's doing her best, but she's scuppered by the fact that the slope is very obviously not as steep as we're meant to believe! Though it's not nearly as bad here as The Five Doctors.

LOL That IS true - and then there's the utterly silly Three-throwing-her-a-rope-and-towing-her-up-the-slope - the same slope anyone else could've just strolled up!

Argh, Pamela! I would definitely have given up on that one if I hadn't been reading it for university. Clarissa is loads better!

*nods* I did Pamela for my English degree too. Nightmare book. I threatened to tear it to shreds once I'd finished the module. My tutor was appalled! (As you might expect!)

[everlasting-day.livejournal.com]

It literally makes zero sense. You'd just know you still had an eye - you can't just cover it up and then suddenly it feels like your eye has gone. It's really, really sloppy.

I've always thought it was a pretty mid-level sort of Doctor Who story, but apparently some fans really hate it, which I don't quite get. Sure, it's not exactly the most intelligent story in the world and it has some major flaws, but there are quite a lot of nice bits in there, and I think it has a good atmosphere to it. And it's certainly not got such a dramatic quality drop post-episode one like say, The Space Museum does.

[usuallyhats]

Hee! Luckily our lecturer was fairly sympathetic, and we studied Shamela on the same course.

[usuallyhats]

Yeah, I don't get why anyone would hate it either. It's not brilliant, but it has plenty of things to like about it - like you said, it's pretty much a mid-level story.

[usuallyhats]

I didn't know that! (*has not watched much of The Avengers*) Heh, that makes me like him more.

Definitely needed more Benton, too. *nods*

Your icon is so pretty!

[nentari.livejournal.com]

Heh, I think I must have watched too much of The Avengers (if there is such a think as watching too much of it), because the first time I watched The Android Invasion I practically shouted "OMG MOTHER IS WALKING!" (You see, Mother is in a wheelchair - in the movie they also introduced Father, who is a blind woman, but apart from that I like to pretend that one was never made. :P)

You can never have too much Benton, I think.

Thank you - I wish I could take the credit for it, but it's by sunshinesky. I just love the sight of Harry in Four's scarf. *smiles*

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I can't recall whether we were supposed to study Shamela, or if I just found it myself and read it - but I do know it made Pamela a teensy bit more bearable (that and reading whichever HP came out that year right in the middle!)

[usuallyhats]

I wasn't that desperately keen on Shamela either, but it certainly helped to know that I wasn't the only one rolling my eyes!

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yes!!