a vintage year for scoundrels

Slightly belated December posting meme! ghost2 asked for "Big Finish. Anything would be great, but maybe your thoughts about a story you would like BF to make? Or a character you think should return. Or an underrated audio more people should listen to."

♥ Big Finish ♥ I love them a lot; I love that they've turned their fannishness into a full on respected professional company. The whole reason we have Big Finish is because some people really loved Doctor Who and wanted to tell more stories about it and this makes me so happy. They currently have main range audios #51-#75 on special offer, so let's start with some recs from there, since I have listened to all except one of them.

1) The Council of Nicaea (Five, Peri, Erimem) Thoughtful yet intense, with beautiful characterisation for the three leads.

2) Caerdroia (Eight, Charley, C'rizz) Absolutely hilarious, with lots of great character stuff for Eight. One of my favourites!

3) The Harvest (Seven, Ace, Hex) I like this story a lot, mostly because it's a great introduction for Hex (HEEEEEXXXXXX).

(The Natural History of Fear is also great, but I can't explain why without spoiling it, and also it's probably better if you listen to it in order.)

A story I would like Big Finish to make: more historicals! They've produced some wonderful ones and I would love to hear more, especially from corners of history that I don't know much about. Or a story set in the TARDIS, since they don't have to worry about building sets. In general I'd also like them to do more stories with queer characters, because they are a bit terrible at that. :(

A character I think should return: ALL OF THE COMPANIONS. ...actually, yes, that's basically it, I love all of BF's new companions a lot and I'm sad that a lot of them aren't appearing much any more. Erimem, Evelyn, Hex... I'm looking forward to more Molly in the new Dark Eyes boxsets, as she's easily my favourite Eighth Doctor audio companion. And speaking of Eight, I would love to see more adventures with him and Mary Shelley, and with Benny, and with his book and comics companions, especially Anji. For the non-companion characters, I'll go with Emily Chaudhry, from the UNIT audios (which are my pick for underrated stories more people should listen to, incidentally). She had a lot of potential and it would be wonderful to see her again, either during the time when she traveled with Six, or later, as the new leader of UNIT. (...now I think of it, why hasn't there been a Bambera and Ancelyn spin off yet? GET ON IT, BIG FINISH. (Rights and actors permitting, of course.))

Happy belated birthdays, agapi42 and kiran59!

Saturday is Big Finish Day! Big Finish are reducing the price of the first fifty audios in the main range to £5 for the day. I am only missing seven so will probably be buying them all, hurrah! neadods posted a recommendations post; this seemed like a good idea so I have shamelessly pinched it like the thief I am. (There's quite a lot of crossover between the lists, presumably because we both have excellent taste.)

The Fires of Vulcan (Seven, Mel) Particularly recommended to Mel sceptics (and Mel fans!) since she is great in it, and to fans of pure historicals, since... it is one. And a rather good one, I think!

The Shadow of the Scourge (Seven, Ace, Benny) A nice tight story that gives both companions good stuff to do, and also has some great lines. The fact that one of the characters has the same name as my dad is not influencing my love for it all in any way. Plus, it gives anyone who hasn't heard the Benny audios a taste of how good Lisa Bowerman is (hint: she's VERY good).

The Holy Terror (Six, Frobisher) This is a beautifully creepy (and very funny) story.

The One Doctor (Six, Mel) Because it's entirely hilarious. Enough said.

The Chimes of Midnight (Eight, Charley) This was the first Eighth Doctor story I heard, and it made me love him right from the moment where he explains a complicated bit of temporal physics whilst wearing a paper hat. It's a Christmas story, so a little unseasonal at this time of year, but it's good enough that it doesn't matter.

Seasons of Fear (Eight, Charley) A romp, in the best possible sense of the term. Eight and Charley career through history on the trail of a very well-drawn villain, exchanging quips along the way. I go back and forth on Charley, but this is one of the stories where I really love her. You'll need to have a vague idea of what happens in Storm Warning to understand it, but nothing more in-depth than can be gleaned from wikipedia.

Spare Parts (Five, Nyssa) This is moving, chilling, and generally just great.

The Church and the Crown (Five, Peri, Erimem) My favourite Big Finish TARDIS team (except when the Seven-Ace-Hex team is my favourite) doing The Three Musketeers with wit and style, excellent.

Jubilee (Six, Evelyn) I want to recommend this but the heat has scrambled my brain and I cannot think of any words to explain why! Just buy it, it's fab.

Doctor Who and the Pirates (Six, Evelyn) Blends the funny (Six and Evelyn squabbling over the story they're telling) with the sober (why exactly they're telling it) very well. Also, songs!

(I also recommend Neverland and Zagreus, but they're very arc-y; you'll need to have listened to Storm Warning and Seasons of Fear at least to get the most out of them.)

Off on holiday later today (well, tomorrow, but I'm going to stay with my parents tonight); am in a tearing hurry trying to get everything sorted out before then (and am consequently in a terrible temper), hence the sparseness of a couple of those! As usual, consider this a catch-all post if you want to link me to anything that you want me to comment on/think I should see etc. See you when I get back!

1.) Happy birthday, nwhyte!

2.) Here are some Big Finish type things I have been listening to recently:

- The Suffering: I really enjoyed this, it was a nice, enjoyable pseudo-historical, and Steven's Adventures in Shopping made me laugh and laugh. I was also rather tickled by Peter Purves describing Sara Kingdom as a very important space lady in the extras!

- City of Spires: I loved about this audio VERY MUCH! ( spoilers )

- The Genocide Machine: pretty solid Dalek story, I thought. ( spoilers )

- Red Dawn: this would have been much better if it wasn't for the rather dodgy science. ( spoilers )

1.) Have been watching the videos on the Big Finish facebook group and they are making me v. happy. I particularly liked the tour of Big Finish Towers (yes, it does include the Room With Duvets Stapled to the Walls, as mentioned on the podcasts), which are (is?) smaller than I expected. OH BIG FINISH, ♥! On the subject of Big Finish, I hear that there is going to be a free audio with the next DWM, featuring Five and Turlough. EXCELLENT.

2.) I have just booked train tickets to go to Brussels in April with my mother; does anyone have any recs of things to do, things to see, places to eat (I am assuming that at some point there will be waffles) etc?

3.) Meme nicked from agapi42, nentari and hhertzof

List all of the television shows you have on DVD, no matter how obscure or embarrassing. Even if you only own one season, list it! Let's see who has what!

( listy goodness )

I wish LibraryThing included DVDs too! That would please my nerdy heart.

1.) Wrote and submitted my pitch for Big Finish's opportunity for new writers thing over the weekend! It is not that great, but I think it follows all their rules, is reasonably in character and is mostly punctuated correctly, so should hopefully not be the cause of too much headdesking. I know a few other people on my flist have sent in pitches too - good luck, everyone!

2.) Last night I picked up a knitting project that I hadn't work on for a couple of months. Within three rows I'd made a huge mistake that needed lots of unpicking to make right. Why you do these things, self?

3.) I listened to the latest Big Finish audio, A Thousand Tiny Wings, over the weekend. It was fantastic. ( spoilers )

4.) QI was great this week! As was The News Quiz, which had two female guests for the second week in a row. Since the chair (the wonderful Sandi Toksvig) is also female , that meant more women's voices than men's, hurray! This may sound like a small thing, but the The News Quiz is about the only thing I can say this of, out of all the things I watch/listen to (except deliberately women-focussed things like Women's Hour, obvs), so... yeah. More like this, please!

1) I made a hat! I have been making it for a while but I finished it today, spurred on by the freezingness of my walk home from work. Here is a not entirely awful picture of it in situ, i.e. on my head:

( actually it is mostly a picture of my camera, tbh )

2.) Have not yet won anything in Big Finish's daily podcast competitions, and I don't know the answer to today's question so the prospects are not good. But they are a great listen anyway and I was pleased to hear that the main range will include the Eighth Doctor again from 2011. Eight is my favourite but I can't afford to subscribe to the separate Eighth Doctor stories and the main range and the Companion Chronicles, so something had to go and I don't like the format of the separate Eight stories, so that was it.

3.) Snow is forecast for tomorrow everywhere in the country but here, which is a little sad, but on the other hand I have some travelling by train to do tomorrow so maybe it's for the best.

4.) LJ are doing a holiday promotion thing whereby paid account holders like me get ten vouchers foor $10 off a paid account to give to basic/plus account holders, thereby giving LJ more money. If anyone would like one, give me a shout in the comments or by PM, or email, and it shall be yours!

5.) Today at work the PGCE Music studios came in and sang carols to us, it was lovely. They do this every year but there were loads of them and they sounded great. I could even hear them when they went down to sing on the floor below. ♥

Last week the BBC photoblog did a feature on photos of press photographers, and right at the bottom was this lovely one of Lalla Ward that I'd never seen before:

I couldn't find the forward facing version, but based on her hairstyle and scarf-wearing, I think it might be from the same shoot as the one where she's sitting on K9, which I can't link to at the moment as that bit of Tragical is down. Anyway, as I was saving this I found a folder on my computer marked "awesome who pictures", which clearly is a sign that I should do a PAN-WHONIVERSE PICSPAM, yes? (I don't have sources for any of the said pictures, but it's a fairly safe bet that most of them came from the Tragical History Tour and/or The Many Picspams of who_anon.)

( pictures! )

Last week the BBC photoblog did a feature on photos of press photographers, and right at the bottom was this lovely one of Lalla Ward that I'd never seen before:

I couldn't find the forward facing version, but based on her hairstyle and scarf-wearing, I think it might be from the same shoot as the one where she's sitting on K9, which I can't link to at the moment as that bit of Tragical is down. Anyway, as I was saving this I found a folder on my computer marked "awesome who pictures", which clearly is a sign that I should do a PAN-WHONIVERSE PICSPAM, yes? (I don't have sources for any of the said pictures, but it's a fairly safe bet that most of them came from the Tragical History Tour and/or The Many Picspams of who_anon.)

( pictures! )

- Sign-ups are open in this year's dw_femslash ficathon, yay! I have not signed up myself due to inability to write shippy fic, but I am looking forward to seeing other people's fic (and also am totally willing to beta read/cheerlead for other people if any of you so desire!).

- I watched the first episode of the new BBC version of Emma last night, ( impressions rather than spoilers, but I like to err on the side of lj-cutting too much rather than too little )

- Tonight is FlashForward! I wasn't completely hooked by the pilot but I was intrigued enough to watch again. ( see above cut text )

- Yesterday I went round a bit of the Windmill Hill art trail with Rhiannon and Simon. Saw lots of art and jewellery and hats, plus got to nose around other people's houses (it's a sort of open house arrangement, people show their stuff in their living rooms), which is always fun. Didn't buy any art due to EXPENSIVENESS, but I did get a pretty pendant, which I am wearing right now.

- Quick question for people who subscribe to Big Finish's monthly range: have you had your Paper Cuts and Blue Forgotten Planet CDs yet? The downloads were out ages ago but mine haven't turned up yet :(

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. )