vivdunstan

Onto another one, and this is a relisten for me. As I wrote on Gallifrey Base back in June 2010:

"Timeless Passages is indeed wonderful. I've only heard Benny on audio in some of season 3, Timeless Passages, the Diogenes Damsel, and the Companion Chronicle story. Of these Timeless Passages is easily my favourite, and requires no prior knowledge. And it's *so* timey-wimey :) I just love it."

And my feelings haven't changed, though I've now heard way way more Benny audios than I had back then. Timeless Passages is a quite superb Benny audio, and a brilliant piece of scifi storytelling. Totally standalone, so you don't need to have listened to any of the other Benny audios. As is often the case this one has a very small cast, but they are used superbly, very well acted and written, and the story keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. A tightly plotted mystery box of a timey wimey puzzle set inside a giant library. What's not to love about that?

It's a rare Benny audio from this era still available to buy from Big Finish on CD, but also in DRM-free download. £5.99 plus shipping if ordering by post. If you hear just one Benny audio, this is the one I'd recommend by far.

Cover of Bernice Summerfield and the Timeless Passages

Recently I reread "The Musgrave Ritual" story in the Sherlock Holmes canon. I blogged my thoughts then. In a nutshell it's one of my favourite all time Sherlock Holmes stories, revolving around an old riddle and a treasure hunt. I mentioned in that blog that I planned to rewatch the Jeremy Brett version, and newly watch the Basil Rathbone film version. I've done that now, so will jot down some brief thoughts. Note there are some spoilers in here, though light.

Firstly I rewatched the Jeremy Brett TV version from 1986. This takes some liberties with the plot, which in the original story involved a young Holmes on his own in the past, but here was changed to Holmes and Watson going together to a countryside manor for Holmes to recuperate. There are lots of little elements even early on retained and reworked from the original story, such as Holmes having a big box full of old case papers that tantalise Watson. The TV version puts the story of the manor's butler firmly in the forefront, and we see this back story play out early on. James Hazeldine as butler Brunton is extremely effective, and carries his scenes very well. A few small changes are made to the treasure hunt itself, but the story is otherwise largely faithful. And those changes that are made are effective for transferring it to a TV episode. Good stuff.

From the Jeremy Brett "Musgrave Ritual" Holmes follows the clues on the manor estate while Watson and Musgrave approach

The Basil Rathbone 1943 movie version is a much looser retelling, but charming in its own way. Here Watson - during WW2 Britain - is working in a Northumberland convalescence home for servicemen suffering from shell shock. And a series of murders lead him to call in Holmes for help. In this version of the story there are three members of the Musgrave family to meet, not one as in the original story, plus a characterful group of wounded servicemen, who are superbly written and acted. The butler Brunton is retained, though here with a wife. And there's another medic, and also the American airman that Sally Musgrave is in love with. The ritual is totally reworked, not really recognisable from Conan Doyle's original. Rather than a hunt around the physical grounds of the manor, this ritual leads to a giant chess game in the house, with the inhabitants playing the chess pieces as Holmes shouts out moves. Ultimately the secret treasure is uncovered and there is a satisfying ending. But it doesn't feel much like the original story. But, as I said, I like it. The direction is dynamic, with sometimes amazing special effects for 1943. The cast of British and American actors generally do a great job, with only a few dodgy accents (London-born Dennis Hoey as Lestrade has a surprisingly poor accent). The film is a little over an hour long, but full of incident and interest, and kept my attention throughout.

From the Basil Rathbone "Musgrave Ritual", a giant human chess game while Holmes, poised over a physical chess set, calls out the moves

So two fun but different retellings of this Arthur Conan Doyle story. My favourite is the Jeremy Brett version, which is more faithful, and also features my all-time favourite Holmes and Watson pairing of actors. But the Basil Rathbone version is a delight in its own way. There's also a 1912 short silent film version of the story, that can be viewed on the story's Wikipedia page.

On to my next audio, the first in the seventh series of Big Finish Benny audios. This story follows on from the upheaval of the previous one, before sending Jason off on a quest to rescue Benny who has vanished from time and space.

There are a lot of clever ideas in this audio. The aliens involved have a datascape virtual world that they inhabit. And they can also control time to go back in time. But I don't think I was in the right mood for this level of abstraction. It's also rather difficult to successfully achieve in audio alone.

The writing wasn't great. There were some particularly painful extended info dumps. Again very much the "tell not show" poor form of storytelling. And this wasn't even the huge back story elements of especially Benny but also to an extent Jason that the story relied on.

Stephen Fewell and Lisa Bowerman were acting their socks off as Jason and Benny though.

But ultimately not a great audio by a long chalk.

I do remember the next one is a fab story, so looking forward to that ...

Cover of Bernice Summerfield and the Tartarus Gate

Onto my next story, and it's the last episode of season 6 of Big Finish's Benny audios.

And it's a key story. I can't really say much even in spoiler space without giving too many important things away. But it certainly changes things up.

It's also impressive how full cast it feels, against so many Benny audios that feel too sparse. There's a key core cast here of Benny, Jason, Brax and one other. But then there are another eight or so cast members. And it just feels full of folk. But also very well paced in the writing. Joseph Lidster has done a fantastic job.

I do feel I'm missing out on some of the beats in this story by not having read the Big Finish Benny books around this time. Particularly some of the short story collections. However I have most of the books in house, so may dig out a few key short stories to read.

But, yes, epic, very moving, and a huge shake up to the status quo.

Cover of Bernice Summerfield and the Crystal of Cantus

Started reading The Wheel of Time #9 today, worryingly my Kindle estimates 1 hour 26 minutes to read just the prologue. Chapter 1 starts 77 pages in. Robert Jordan is bombarding me with new characters. I'm adopting my usual "If they're important I'll encounter them later!" not remembering strategy. Am still enjoying this mammoth series, though I've been forewarned that I'm going into a really poor run of books. But I'm enjoying it in spite of the writing more than because of it. Though I still admire the ambition of the large scale writing. Even if I wish it was maybe not quite so large scale!

Continuing my reread of the Memoirs collection, and another story I can barely recall. ( spoilers ... )

Thought I'd do a quick recap on the main things I've been/am watching recently. These are in addition to things we record on the Sky Q box and watch together. Watching anything at all is tricky for me given how heavily asleep I am for most of the time, including often at night between dinner and supper, assuming I can resurface for supper. But here are some of the main things I'm squeezing in.

Finishing Wednesday season 1, ready for watching season 2 later this year. I binge watched the last few episodes, which is extremely unusual for me.
Rewatching Daredevil from the very start, ready (though I may be lagging a bit behind!) for what looks like pretty much a continuation coming later this year on Disney+.
Watching plays on National Theatre at Home. So far I've got through London Tide (a version of Our Mutual Friend), Prima Facie (the Jodie Comer version), and am now onto Noel Coward's Present Laughter starring Andrew Scott. I have *so* many more on my watch list to hopefully get through with my year's subscription. It takes me a lot of watches to get through a single play.
Watching recorded talk videos from Treadwells occult bookshop in London. So far I've learned about subjects such as Greek folk tales about goblins at Christmas, and an overview of the history of grimoires. Lots more lined up to watch soon.
Enjoying some of my favourite YouTube channels, such as writer Christy Anne Jones and a Swiss family of Norwegian Forest cats.

As usual the Urban Crow deck, and my loose 3-card past/present/future spread.

Scavenge / Freedom / Battle. Again some new to me cards this week.

This random draw does feel close to what I've been going through lately, and will be going through in the coming weeks and months. I very recently had my 10th Covid vaccine, which I expected to cause my 10th post Covid vaccine neurological auto immune illness flare. Which is really tough, and happens a week after each vaccine, and lasts for 3 long months. I'd spent the last few weeks before the vaccine trying desperately to sort things out that needed doing, including finishing (or nearly finishing) a couple of academic journal papers before I got too sick to work on them. At the same time I knew I was in as good a position as I was going to be for a long time, and wanted to grab the opportunities. Then when I had my vaccine it was a very strange feeling of limbo for the next week, feeling good - apart from flu like vaccine side effects (I had both flu and Covid vaccines together) - but knowing it was just a brief period. It almost felt psychologically like floating on air. And then this last weekend things crashed back down, with clear signs of my latest flare starting. Which is still currently relatively mild, but should get much more scary and difficult to deal with over the coming weeks.

So yes, a bit of desperate scrabbling around, and then a strange feeling of limbo, and tough times looming. I will cope though. At least I was forewarned, and have been able to prepare for it. That almost sounds like a Doctor Who quote!

Oracle cards spread for 29th November 2024

Writing up brief reviews of a couple more stories in my Matt Smith era rewatch, which is nearly over. As I write these reviews it is currently Doctor Who's 61st birthday. Happy birthday to my all time favourite TV show, which I have watched almost continuously (I didn't know about and missed the 1996 TV movie!?) during its broadcasts ever since 1978 and the Key to Time series.

I am going to discuss spoilers, but not put them into spoiler space after all this time. Look away if in doubt though.

These two stories, as well as the Night of the Doctor minisode between and The Time of the Doctor after, provide a quadrology of "of the Doctor" stories. Which is a surprisingly little used title form for the series. Though recently we had "The Power of the Doctor" with Jodie Whittaker.

"Name" provides an answer to the long running Clara mystery, with her jumping into the Doctor's time stream, and scattering into splinters. This was a satisfying resolution for me, and also neatly handled in a way that led in to the mystery of John Hurt's War Doctor.

Not so good was the rest of the episode for me. It felt like it had too many things packed in, and lots didn't get enough depth. I liked the conference call, with Vastra, Jenny, Strax, Clara and River. I liked the farewell between River and the Doctor. But so much else, including Richard E Grant's Great Intelligence and the Whisper Men, was just too much thrown in. Of course without REG we wouldn't have seen Clara jump into the Doctor's time stream. Yes, REG's character was necessary. But a lot felt clumsy, and too thinly spread.

"Day" by contrast has an extended running time. 77 minutes versus 44 minutes for "Night". and it needed that to balance its many elements. There are slower, more thoughtful moments, such as John Hurt's War Doctor's trudge to the barn. But these are matched by numerous hectic action scenes. And just so many ingredients. Elizabeth I and Zygons, UNIT in the present day Tower of London, Gallifrey during the Time War, the High Council of Gallifrey, Doctors and their TARDISes swirling. But somehow, and even though it feels as though it shouldn't, it works. Really well.

Even the three main incarnations of the Doctor on screen are each given sufficient time. It does feel like a Matt Smith episode though. He's at the start and end, bookmarking, and is in no way outshone by David Tennant or the War Doctor. I *love* how the War Doctor effortlessly sums up the other pair in a few words, far from flattering. Billie Piper, this time as a sentient interface to a weapon of mass destruction, works too. And yes, Clara is also well handled. This is by far the best representation of her since The Snowmen, though Steven Moffat writing her again will have helped. It was a little strange to realise there must have been quite a time jump, for her to qualify as a teacher. Of course she's at Coal Hill School. But that's ok too.

Ultimately though the episode is a love letter to the past. The scene where multiple Doctor incarnations appear briefly to save Gallifrey is epic. This was the first time my husband had any clue about the next doctor after Matt Smith, and he recognised Peter Capaldi immediately from just his eyebrows! The best nod to the past for me though had to be Tom Baker's appearance. I'd heard a hint that he might appear, but forgot when watching. And then was in tears seeing it on screen. The doctor of my first years as a fan, and still one of my all time favourites. And played and scripted so beautifully.

So yes, a lot to like. I would also highly recommend the Target novelisation of this, written by Steven Moffat himself. Which plays with the structure and details in a highly imaginative way. A great read, even if you think you know the version from the telly.

Just one more Matt Smith story to go. To quote my all time favourite doctor "I don't want to go ..."

I'm currently enjoying a reread of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, my all time favourite book. Having just got to the end of the first half of Fellowship (the end of the first of the 6 books the 3-volume trilogy is divided into internally) I thought I'd jot down some notes.

I'm always struck by how slowly the story starts. And how small the world initially appears to be. Even after Bilbo and Frodo's very lengthy birthday party, then Frodo leaving too, it takes an extremely long time for the hobbits to actually leave The Shire. That's good writing, reflecting how the characters would have thought, as their perception of the world expands. But it also makes for a very leisurely experience at times.

I like the Old Forest section, but could happily skip Tom Bombadil. To be fair I do skim his numerous songs. And, also to be fair, I honestly found him a little less annoying than usual this time around! The Barrow Wights are fun. And then Bree is a lot of fun, though I could do with fewer slant-eyed references, and I start to ponder more about the use of black in the book too ...

Aragorn's introduction remains one of the highlights of the trilogy for me. I *adore* this quote:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

From leaving Bree the tension and speed cranks up dramatically, but it's also noticeable how much more miles the hobbits are covering in these sections. There are many whole days, largely skimmed over. It's quite a contrast from the 1985 The Fellowship of the Ring text adventure game, which lets you cover these distances in surprisingly few moves.

As for Weathertop, I have a fondness for how the movie handles this climactic encounter. But it's a dramatic series of events whatever.

Re the race to the ford, I do rather favour the use of Glorfindel here, rather than the movie Arwen. Though that's probably due at least in part to Liv Tyler's often monotonous delivery! I do understand why they brought her in here. There is a phenomenal lack of female representation and agency throughout these books. But in this case I prefer the book's approach.

So we're now at Rivendell. I'll continue on with the book. Which is rather timely, with Oxonmoot coming up shortly. As usual in recent years I have a virtual ticket for it. Though will be watching on catch up, rather than taking advantage of the live events.

I'll be blogging about this properly on my academic musings blog. But I've just finished watching my final catch up videos from the Cymera 2024 Edinburgh festival of fantasy, scifi and horror writing. Here is the list of things I got through - a rather impressive total of 18 events. Rather stunned with that, given how asleep I am constantly, and I have been mainly watching them just before bed at night. And not every night. And usually taking several nights to finish each one! These and other Cymera videos have been available for me to watch online from early June until tonight at midnight.

From Dr. Who to Star Trek: New Stories with Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson and Una McCormack
The Power of Books with Gareth Brown and Mark Lawrence
Eldritch Gods and Other Uninvited Guests with Mark Stay and Charles Stross
There’s Been A Murder with Amy Goldsmith, T.L. Huchu and Frances White
Arctic Horrors with C.J. Cooke, Tim Lebbon and Ally Wilkes
In Search of a New Eden with Oliver Langmead, Ken MacLeod and Adrian Tchaikovsky
Time Travels with Poppy Kuroki & Nigel Planer
Cassandra Clare in conversation with V.E. Schwab
The Pleasures of Reading
The Secret to a Successful Partnership with Megan Bannen and Gabby Hutchinson Crouch
Many Shades of Darkness with Elle Nash, Kaaron Warren and Johanna Van Veen
Creating Legends with Kate Heartfield and Sophie Keetch
Past, Present, Future with Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, William Letford and EJ Swift
Dark Encounters with Em Reed and Lorraine Wilson
Writing the Future with Rachelle Atalla, Dan Coxon and Una McCormack
Thrilling Futures with Lauren Beukes, Nikhil Singh and Maud Woolf
Retellings with Joanne Harris, Lucy Holland and Shona Kinsella
Unleashing Chaos with Jane Flett and Kelly Link

Just three more books finished since last time. Though I've already reached my 2024 reading goal of 25 books finished. Which was, admittedly, a very modest goal. Of the new books read two were 3-star reads for me, and the other a 5-star read. That was the tale of bicycle riding Norwegian Forest Cat Sigrid in London. I've been following her on Instagram for a while, and it's been a delight to learn her history. I am now in a slight holding pattern fiction wise until the middle of July. But still reading lots of non fiction books. Plus some manga. And still a play script book. Those last ones in print.

( earlier books )

Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman
Sigrid Rides: The Story of an Extraordinary Friendship and An Adventure on Two Wheels by Travis Nelson
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami

Was just musing over this. I think I have 3. Servalan isn't in the list. Though she's deliciously evil. And for the record I vastly prefer Travis I to Travis II.

First up has to be Avon. An anti-hero in every sense, and also a computer/hacking expert, which young me who was rapidly falling in love with computers could relate to. I'm not convinced by his depiction in the later series, though he's well acted. But yup, best one.

Next for me Cally, though she's frustratingly underwritten for, along with Jenna. But among the female characters she was easily my favourite. Even if we didn't always know too much about her. Brill in Sarcophagus of course. I loved both Tanith Lee episodes.

Then although young me really liked the attitude of Soolin I'm going to go with Vila. Always funny, consistent in everything he did. And a great foil for Avon. Under appreciated by his crew mates.

Pondering all this reminds me of last year when I was playing a text adventure / parser interactive fiction game version of Blake's 7. That did an *excellent* job of capturing some of the characters' personalities. Not least Avon and Vila. Though Cally was barely represented. Pretty much like in much of the TV show sadly! To read more about my playing experience with this game see my writeup on the intfiction forum.

Just booked myself an online digital pass (early bird reduced rate) for this summer's Cymera festival of science fiction, fantasy and horror writing. I'd love to be healthy enough to go to it in person in Edinburgh but the online streaming is a great option. Masses of talks.

For anyone else who might be wondering if the Cymera festival ticket price - especially the online option - is worth it, here's what I wrote about my experiences watching it last year. So phenomenally rewarding for me.

Belatedly following up a previous post about this to say I've resumed watching Bergerac. Though not helped by Britbox removing the programme recently (Britbox are in a bit of a transitional mess, with the part-way-through transfer to ITVX), alongside many other programmes (including Blake's 7), before realising that was a mistake and reinstating them. Though losing the records of where viewers like me had got to, including how far through individual episodes.

I'm not sure how long Bergerac will stay up on Britbox so am currently rewatching the many Philippa Vale episodes at priority speed. Also reminded by that blog post that I need to rewatch the Louise Jameson introduction episode, and also her character's final episode. And right now I've just started rewatching the episode with Michael Gambon and Connie Booth, which at the start has the most over the top introduction of a "computer conference" ever. Martin's mouth was on the floor when he came into the room at that bit. This episode was the last TV credit by renowned Doctor Who writer Robert Holmes, who died before it aired.

I am constantly being distracted by familiar faces. Also so many from Doctor Who. Eg apart from the very obvious in my limited rewatch I've already seen Richard Hurndall, Ian Marter (a glimpse and you'll miss it bit), Elizabeth Spriggs, and Michael Gambon in the current one. Plus many other familiar faces from the past.

I just hope I can get through enough, in case Britbox (or ITVX ultimately) do finally stop streaming it!

Just reading the audition script used for the Fifteenth Doctor casting, which Ncuti Gatwa won. This must have been such an effective test for the potential candidates.

Continuing our weekly rewatch. And this one is a lot of fun with Londo’s three wives. Also fab Londo/G’Kar interactions. The other main plot is a bit light, but much better handled than recent weeks. So much smoother writing and direction overall. And aren’t the crew’s dress uniforms for Londo’s party blingy.

Just one more episode to go then it’s my all time favourite B5 episode. Excited.

Most probably on my academic blog for my occasional musings:

(long overdue) on ethnicity DNA tests (I have strong thoughts!)
19th century Scottish passport records
the tentatively titled “Bookshops as alienating ableist spaces? Thoughts as a reader with progressive neurological illness reading difficulties.” - that one might prove quite provocative ...

It's a really good sign that I am thinking of writing these soon, a good sign that I'm recovering more and more. Though it may take me a while to get to them, I do now have a to-do list of blog posts to have fun writing. I hand draft blog posts with a fountain pen, then quickly type them up, very quick edit and post. I find writing by hand generates a freer sense of content than if I type. I usually surprise myself with what I come up with.

I am also hoping soon to get going on IFComp games. But at the moment, apart from some awake time at night, I am just asleep.

I blogged about this on my main personal blog, having just finished viewing all the talks I will watch. I got through 22! All watched online. Phew. Extremely positive experiences.

This passed me by before, but this year I was lucky to find out in time about the Cymera festival of fantasy, scifi and horror writing. It takes place in Edinburgh, but in recent years due to Covid has been online too. It took place in early June and I bought a digital weekend pass. This let me watch events streamed live, but more importantly for constantly sleeping me let me also watch after on catchup. I have until 3rd July to watch them, so am now watching as I can. Have already enjoyed Adrian Tchaikovsky and others talk about cityscapes in fantasy fiction, and Aliette de Bodard and Ann Leckie talk about space operas. With many more things still to watch, as much as I can fit in before the deadline. The technology has sometimes been somewhat ropey, but overall I’m getting lots out of it, and am inspired as a reader and writer myself.

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Entries tagged with writing

Bernice Summerfield: Timeless Passages

Watching Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone versions of Sherlock Holmes story "The Musgrave Ritual"

Bernice Summerfield: The Tartarus Gate

Bernice Summerfield: The Crystal of Cantus

Starting Wheel of Time book 9

Sherlock Holmes reread: The Gloria Scott

Current watching

This week's oracle cards spread

Rewatching Doctor Who: The Name of the Doctor & The Day of the Doctor

Rereading Lord of the Rings: thoughts after finishing book 1 of 6

Cymera 2024 end list

Books finished in 2024: end of June edition

My favourite Blake's 7 characters

Cymera 2024

Bergerac take two

Audition script

Rewatching Babylon 5: Soul Mates

Blog posts coming soon

My blog post re watching the Cymera writing festival

Catching up with Cymera Festival panels