a vintage year for scoundrels

Here be my answers to the five things meme! (Any more for any more?) Contains spoilers for: "The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse" (The Middleman),Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Spooks, DS9 and Buffy, most of which are probably common knowledge by now but better to err on the side of caution and all that. Also contains some pictures.

Some of these were v. hard. FIVE IS NOT THAT MANY :(

persiflage_1 asked for:

( Your Top 5 Sixth Doctor stories (TV or non-TV!) )

and

( Your Top 5 Favourite Companions )

and

( Your Top 5 Favourite Big Finish audios )

biichan asked for:

( Top Five Alternate Team TARDISes (that should have happened but didn't) )

marah_sarie asked for:

( Top Five Blake's 7 episodes )

and lesbiassparrow asked for:

( Top 5 fictional couples that broke up but totally shouldn't have. )

First, everyone should go and join b7rewatch! Especially people who've never watched it; it is really good, you won't regret it.

Second, I have just read my BBC7 newsletter and this week they are broadcasting an adaptation of Biggles Flies North read by Michael Palin, which I shall be listening to when I get home. I think BBC radio stuff should be available outside the UK, but this may have changed since they switched from Real Player to iPlayer, and I have no way of checking.

Third, Whoishly, EEE THE COMPANY OF FRIENDS IS OUT NOW! Er, sorry about the capslock, I have been looking forward to this for quite a while. I've only had time to listen to Benny's story so far, which I really enjoyed (I posted about it, with spoilers, at amongthedeadmen). Mostly what I want to say is "MORE LIKE THIS PLEASE!" - my one complaint with the main range is the lack of Eight, since he is my favourite, and I can't really afford to subscribe to the Eight and Lucie stuff too. Plus although I am fond of Lucie, C'Rizz and Charley, I don't love any of them nearly as much as I love Benny, Fitz (and Anji! Anji audios please!) and Izzy. And Fey! I would love to hear some Fey audios, since she has so little canon, really.

Speaking of Fey (does this count as fourthly? or third-b-ly?), I got Oblivion for my birthday, which I meant to review at the time but forgot. Anyway, I thought it was excellent, which is saying a lot given that I am generally not good at reading comics (I go straight for the words and forget to look at the pictures, oops). ( spoilers )

Tis very muggy today. We've got the windows open but the main effect of that is to make the library smell of tar. But still, sunshine! Summer! I went to see an outdoor production of A Midsummer Night's Dream last Friday evening with Jess and Phil. It was an excellent production; I recommend seeing it if you get the chance (it's on tour at the moment). All the costumes and music were done in a 1920s style and it was great fun, full of energy and singing and dancing. And it reminded me of how much I like Hermia.

I finished watching Doctor Who and the Silurians last night and this time it had a trailer on the end for The Ambassadors of Death, which I don't seem to remember seeing before, even though it's the same DVD. My memory must be impersonating a sieve again. But anyway, now I am looking forward to The Ambassadors of Death. Fights! Car chases! Liz's HAT! Everyone looking unusually coral coloured in the face department!

Recently I listened to Circular Time. I must admit, after the first disc I was a little skeptical about it's fantastic reputation: although both stories were good, they weren't that madly brilliant. HOWEVER. Disc two completely changed my mind. (This next bit may be vaguely spoilery, so here's a cut.) ( spoilers )

And finally, Big Finish sent me an extra copy of this month's Vortex again, and due to buying job lots of stuff on ebay I also have an extra copy of Big Finish magazine CD #6, y compris UNIT, Terror Firma, David Tennant and probably some other things wot escape me at the moment. CD now gone! If anyone wants either or both of them the copy of Vortex, just give me a shout and they're yours.

Title: Plasticine and Shells
Characters: Seven, Ace, Hex
Rating: All Ages
Warnings: None
Words: c.3,000
Summary: Seven, Ace and Hex have a nice evening out.
Notes: The Hotel Galaxian mentioned by the Doctor towards the end is from the PDA The Murder Game by Steve Lyons.
Thanks to persiflage_1 and ghost2 for beta-reading!

( Plasticine and Shells )

Here are some icons I made.

7 Bernice Summerfield
6 Big Finish
3 EDAs
9 misc. Classic Who

Teasers:


( everything under here )

I'm thinking about creating a Benny community, because she doesn't have one yet (not that I can find, at any rate) - would anyone join? I'm debating the very important issue of what to call it; looking at the list of audios and books she's in, beyondthesun or loveandwar are looking like possibilities, both of which I like but don't love, any thoughts?

A bit fell off my oven yesterday. Not a crucial bit, but a bit I don't know the name of so reporting it to the letting agency should be fun. "You know how the heating element on the hob is a sort of open spiral? Well under that there's a sort of metal disc... thing. And it's held up by three other things. And one of the things has fallen off and the disc has fallen over."

BENNY. I read "Life During Wartime" at the weekend (so good! Rob Shearman's story may have broken my heart a little) and am now desperate to get to "Death and the Daleks" so I can find out how the cliffhanger is resolved. The thing I loved most about it was the way it fleshed out a lot of the other people and the general background for the Collection, something that I thought was missing a bit from the audios so far. I bought the hardback bundle from Big Finish in the sale so hopefully the other books will do the same thing. Does anyone know what how they fit in with the audio sequence? I'm sure I've seen a link to a website that explains it, but I didn't bookmark it or anything sensible like that and now I can't find it.

Big Finish has a new podcast! This year's releases sound like they will in fact be made of awesome, yes. I was a bit take it or leave it about the Key to Time audios at first but it sounds like they're going to be pretty good. And then there was Izzy! And Fitz's VOICE! It didn't sound exactly like I imagined but somehow I didn't care. Also I ♥ Nick Briggs; stapling duvet covers wot his mum bought him to the walls of his office to make it soundproof!

Watched a few more episodes of Alias; I don't have mad fannish love for it (yet, anyway) but I am enjoying it. I think I heard that the whole Rambaldi plotline goes a bit wossname later on but for now I like it since it is basically a giant treasure hunt but with spies and fights and outfits. I am quite glad of the voiceover at the beginning of each episode, because I'm sort of vaguely spoiled for the whole run and was getting muddled up between characters I've met, characters I've heard of and actors who I thought were characters.

ETA what is it about 4.30 on a Monday afternoon that screams "I must return/renew/borrow a book AT ONCE!"? Most peculiar.

tigerpixie tagged me for a meme. I do love memes and this is a v. happy one!

1. Post about something that made you happy today, even if it’s just a small thing.
2. Do this every day for a week without fail.
3. Tag 8 of your friends to do the same. (Eight seems rather a lot. Instead I shall cop out and tag anyone who wants to do it!)

Today's happy: Fantabulous Big Finish casting spoilers! There is nothing about this news that does not fill me with joy. Let me count the ways:

( spoilers )