More gardening

[avevale_intelligencer]

Dug over and planted out a new bed at the far end of the rustic raised bed. Hollyhocks, marjoram, and some primulas and a carex which have survived in spite of everything in a trough on the patio. Also sorted out and replanted the three-tier "plant fountain." We'll see what happens. Today, ache, but not too awful at the moment. Pictures will follow when I know they're not all going to diiiie.

Follow the Lawrence Miles link in my earlier post if you want to see a view of the Gaiman ep of nuWho that's even unkinder and more jaundiced than my own (though his last paragraph summarises exactly my feeling about the programme as it is now). I hadn't picked up on the fact that two out of the three "other characters" in this story, victims themselves of the main villain, keel over and die towards the end and hardly anyone notices; nobody even bothers to mutter "everything has its time, everything ends" or some such platitude. They are completely disposable, and hardly even memorable. Gaiman can do far, far better than this. So could Doctor Who, once.

That said, my point about the not-newness of the concept of TARDIS-as-person was born of an acquaintance with BF audios and other Who-related stuff that most fans would not share, so it's fair to point out that Gaiman's use of it will be new to most people who see it, like a boy band's naff cover version of a forgotten classic pop song. This is not to disparage Gaiman, whom I still admire and like, nor to compare him in any way to a boy band. For one thing, none of him is blond.

I suppose what really bugs me about the way it was done is the subtext, present in nuWho since at least "School Reunion" and here made embarrassingly overt, that the relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS, like all relationships in this view of the universe, is All About Sex. People who can't imagine why, for instance, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson would share rooms in Baker Street if they weren't banging each other senseless every night may well (if they watch the thing) have seized on this story with cries of delight, because it bears out their long-held belief about human relationships; that friendship, loyalty, love, a shared fondness for evil-smelling tobacco, are all fancy distractions, and the only possible basis for contact between people of any species is about having sex, wanting sex, or withholding sex.

EDIT: I should point out here that I am not specifically talking about slash fans, nor do I believe for a moment that slash fans in general think that way. Slash fanfic is a valid and flourishing fan culture which explores alternatives, and there is nothing wrong with that.

The same speculation has been put forward about Nyronds and their homeships and/or smallships; I am happy to confirm that if the said vessels were embodied in human form, they would be completely uninterested in sexual contact of any kind with the Nyronds, and vice versa. (And the smartarse at the back who said "that's what humans are for" will be polishing the binnacle for the next seven hundred years. We don't tolerate that kind of objectification around here.)

If you doubt that this fannish subtext was grafted on to the series whole cloth by RTD and his merry pals, imagine any Doctor up to, say, the Fifth, or in other words the Doctor for most of the time of his lives, addressing the TARDIS as "sexy."

And that really is enough about that.

I don't go for blues myself, but it was nice to watch Hugh Laurie on his journey to New Orleans to play with Allen Toussaint and various other luminaries of the genre. I like the man, and I like watching someone who feels as passionate about something as I do about my own obsessions. Makes me feel almost human.

Hey ho. We need bin bags, so off I trot. Have a reasonable Monday, everybody, and here's a *hug* to be going on with.

Comments

[soren-nyrond.livejournal.com]

Hug-back.

Beloved on way home from 'stralia -- will get a change from the Bear's cooking