#torchwood tales

[benevolenterrancy]

Not all SUV features function as intended... "Intentionally Drove Into The Ocean" is going to be a hard one to claim insurance for

(from "The Sin Eaters" audio)

[carriagelamp]

A combined May and June book list because work was too busy for me to have any extra time or energy for reading. Now that things have slackened a bit though I've been able to start picking up more things! It feels so good to sit down with a book again and just read for the pure joy of it. Still, despite a lack of time I did read a few really cute books over the past couple months.

Doctor Who: 13 Doctors 13 Stories

A collection of Doctor Who short stories that was honestly just a lot of fun. Each story features a different Doctor, so by the end you’ve had one story for each of the Doctors that there’s been so far. Since I’m primarily familiar with NuWho and only have only seen/read a handful of Classic Who stories, this was a fun way to get to know them and their companions a bit better. I don’t think there was a single story I disliked! Though the one that amused me the most (even if it wasn’t necessarily the “best” in the collection) was probably “The Nameless City” because the idea of a Doctor Who / Cthuhlu crossover is way too funny. The Doctor throwing the Necronomicon across the Tardis? Outstanding, no notes.

Charlotte’s Web

A classic that I feel the need to reread every few years. It really is the perfect spring novel, and it made a very comforting read this May. Now that I’ve read E B White’s other children’s novels, I can now say without a doubt that Charlotte’s Web is the best of the lot. It feels like a more tightly written, cohesive and compelling story than either Stuart Little or The Trumpet of the Swan. White's writing just draws your right in, his descriptions, the way he'll wind you through these leisurely lists of details, the way every thing feels new and special and comfortable... it's impossible not to feel content while reading.

For those who have never read Charlotte’s Web, it’s a story about a pig called Wilbur, who is saved from being killed as the runt of the litter by Fern. Her parents allow Fern to raise the pig, and eventually Wilbur goes to live in her uncle’s barn. After he learns that he will most certainly be killed for meat in the autumn, his animal friends — particularly the clever and beautiful spider called Charlotte — start hatching a plan to save Wilbur’s life. 

Enemies

I’ve read the other Berrybrook Middle School books written by Svetlana Chmakova and by and large I've enjoyed them, but I have to admit they’re wearing a bit thin for me (Brave was definitely the peak of the series for me). Which isn’t the fault of Chmakova! She draws nice stories that have good themes and morals for that age group, they tackle very relevant social problems kid that age might go through. But as an adult, this one in particular felt profoundly middle school.

In this book, Felicity is struggling with the fact that she never seems to “finish” anything while her sister seems to be good at everything and impresses everyone. Felicity is struggling to learn how to balance the importance of going at your own pace versus sticking with something to meet obligations versus asking for help when you need it. During all this Felicity struggles with friendships that have faded and may even be getting worse — how easy is it to make enemies and how does one fix that?

The Innocence of Father Brown

I’ve been wanting a good cosy murder mystery and I’ve always heard good things about Father Brown so I decided to give the first collection a try. It was pretty darn good! Father Brown is an unassuming little Catholic priest who appears to bumble his way good-naturedly through life. However between his keen ability to observe and appreciate every day life mixed with the fact that a man who hears Confessions gets exposed to the way of the criminal mind, me makes an astounding detective. No one expects anything of him until he absolutely dazzles with his observations and connections. His nemesis-cum-bestie Flambeau is stupendous and I love him.

The religious fervor / aggression / intolerance of any slight deviations is a bit trying though and definitely dates the stories… I would be interested in trying another book to see if that’s toned down. Or maybe even watching one of the modern adaptations since I suspect they would chill out that a little on the blatant xenophobia. Makes me long for good old Father Mulcahy.

The Hardy Boys: The House on the Cliff

I never read The Hardy Boys as a kid but I feel in my heart that I would have loved them. This book was a fun detective story about the Hardy brothers initially attempting to stake out a group of smugglers, only to stumble across a seemingly haunted house and the sudden kidnapping of their father. The peril mounts and they need to rely on their friends to foil the plot. My only complaint is that it lays the whole "wholesome 1950s" schtick on pretty thick. I would really like to try reading the original 1930s version before it was toned down… except it’s damnably hard to find. I think if I had gotten this as a kid it would have scratched a similar itch to Tintin.

Hazel’s Shadow

A thrilling YA survival horror! It combines some neat, unexpected elements to make a really intriguing, fast-paced horror story that is part haunted house and part zombie plague survival.

Hazel has always been able to see ghosts, every since she was a child, and they don’t particularly worry her... they don't except for one creature — a horrible, black shadow — that lurks in her grandmother’s house and seems to haunt her every step, leering and waiting as her grandmother gradually grows sicker and sicker. Hazel would have thought that this would be her biggest concern until what starts as a localized fear suddenly seems to spread, turning the recently deceased into mindless, unfeeling monsters, hellbent on destroying any living person they can get, to kill them and turn them into one of them. Hazel and a small group of fellow classmates are at school when this happens, and find themselves — and a pair of ghosts — needed to band together to survive and possibly to face the horror that’s been haunting Hazel.

American Girls: Kit Saves The Day

I’ve often heard that these American Girl books are actually really good so I grabbed one from the library. And dang, people weren’t kidding, I was really impressed at how much nuance they fit into such a short book written for such a young audience. Kit Saves The Day is about a girl whose family is living through the Great Depression. It shows the life she has to live in order to help make ends meet and how its different from the life she once knew. Her understanding is expanded when she meets a young “hobo” who rides the rails and is invited to help with the family's gardening in exchange for food.

My Dress-Up Darling v2

A ridiculous series that’s just a little addictive. It's about a student, Wakana, who is trying to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps of becoming a doll maker, and is passionate and skilled at creating the costumes and accessories that goes with them. When popular, trendy Marin catches him at it, he’s sure he’s going to be humiliated… until he finds out that she’s passionate about cosplay and really wants to try cosplaying her favourite character but doesn’t have the skill to make the costume. The two end up teaming up to bring that dream to life. It’s charming and pretty and just the right amount of fanservice-y mixed with more technical aspects that keep it interesting.

Torchwood Tales

Short stories have been great for me lately — I’ve been so busy at work that they let me sample a bunch of different adventures without demanding too much time or attention — and this audio collection was a godsend. Like the Doctor Who collection, this one features a variety of exciting stories set in the Torchwood universe. I really enjoyed the first half of the stories, but honestly the second half didn’t quite do it for me. My favourite thing about Torchwood is the team dynamics, and the last four stories were set late enough in the series that they were mostly down to only Gwen or Jack… who I love in tandem with the other characters but am less interested in as solo agents. “Everyone Says Hello”, “Department X” and “Ghost Train” were probably my favourites because it really let a group of character bounce of each other in funny ways as they try to solve whatever absolute weirdness is going down. Rhys getting to the be the "most important man on Earth" for a story was such a pure delight!

Up To No Gouda // Cheddar Late Than Dead

Wow. This series. Was a disappointment. As I said with Father Brown, I was in the mood for some “cosy murder mysteries” and stumbled across this completely by accident. The concept of grilled-cheese-themed murder mysteries paired with the hilarious awful puns made me certain that this was going to be a fun series. It must, I naively told myself, be at least somewhat self-aware and probably have a humour/parody bend to it. I could not have been more wrong. This may have a negative amount of humour. I think every time it tried to be funny is actively sucked mirth and enjoyment out of the air.

This series is about the whitest woman in existence, who is so blandly pleasant that it made the 1950s Hardy Boys edgy in comparison, who goes through life running her grilled cheese restaurant, banally making uninteresting conversation with everyone (who apparently feels compelled to answer her incredibly dumb, probing questions), and brownnosing the cops so hard I might almost call it indecent if it were for the fact that this book even censored the term “that sucks” in reference to something being disappointing.

Nothing happens. Midsomer Murders is the perfect example of how I want this sort of small town murder mystery to go: it should have an at least somewhat interesting detective character, completely fucking mental background characters who make things more difficult than they should be, and an absolute pile of dead bodies by the end. I want the first corpse in the first five minutes and a steady bodycount from then out. It took an hour before the book’s one single death and I had to listen to this woman talk about cheese until then. The deaths weren’t even gruesome.

Why did I read two of these dumb books? Because I started with the third in the series (Cheddar Late Than Dead) and it was juuuuust interesting enough that I thought that maybe the author had run out of steam by this point and that the debut might be better. It was somehow the inverse and the first was EVEN MORE BORING.

I can’t emphasize enough how much she doesn’t do anything. It does not feel like anyone is investigating anything. Most of the story is absolutely unrelated small town nonsense that doesn’t even manage to be properly charming.  Most boring murder imaginable. This is a Hallmark murder mystery. Do not read these. They're not even bad enough to be funny.

Wind Rider: Rescue on Turtle Beach

A charming little introductory book to a new series. Wind Rider is about a pair of kids who find a small, abandoned ship wrecked on the shore… but which suddenly transports them across the world and becomes not only whole and seaworthy, but also capable of sailing itself. The kids go on an adventure to Hawaii where they help save some endangered sea turtles. Reading it as an adult it was fairly dull, but I can see how it would appeal to the intended age group. It had nice art and decent facts about endangered animals. It feels like it’s trying to be a new, nature-conservation-themed Magic Tree House. ...Which might be one of the reasons I wasn't that into it, I felt like I could have gone to read Magic Tree House and had a better time of it.

[third-doctor]

sorry for the owen harper posting he is my beautiful princess with a disorder

[daughter-of-time]

All of time and space, everything that ever happened or will happen. Where do you want to start?

[theplanetgallifrey]

IT IS A VERY GOOD DAY.

One small step for TV, but one big leap for Whovian kind.

[twilightzebby]

For those Whovians not in the UK but curious as to what's included in The Whoniverse collection on BBC iPlayer, here ya go (typed-up list below read-more divider under image)

Classic Who (1963 - 1996 Series, including the TV Movie)

Modern Who (2005 - present day Series)

Tales of the Tardis (exclusively made for The Whoniverse. Read more here)

Doctor Who Confidential (Behind the scenes for first 6 Modern Who seasons)

K9 & Company (1-episode pilot for a K9 & Sarah Jane spin-off during Classic Who that never led to a full spin-off....for now)

Dreamland (animated episode with 10th Doctor)

The Infinite Quest (animated episode with 10th Doctor and Martha Jones)

The Sarah Jane Adventures (The actual spin-off during RTD's first era)

Torchwood (very adult spin-off with Captain Jack Harkness)

Class (another adult spin-off, based on the Coal Hill School location)

Delia Derbyshire Documentary

The Science of Doctor Who (by Professor Brian Cox)

Doctor Who at the Proms (Music performances)

Whose Doctor Who (Documentary from 1977)

[thursdayinspace]

With all that discussion about why Jack kissed Ianto in Cyberwoman, I can't help imagining Jack at CPR training completely zoning out because his mind is on the aliens of the day trying to take over the world. And afterwards all he vaguely remembers is the instructor pretending to be snogging the CPR doll.

[spnscripthunt-inactive]

russelltdavies63: Scripts! 115+ Doctor Who scripts, including all the new Specials, Torchwood, Class, all The Sarah Jane Adventures, Tales from the Tardis, plus animation scripts, audition pieces, extras. A vast resource online at BBC.co.uk/writers. If you’re interested in writing, the best thing you can do is read scripts. And the BBC is the only broadcaster in the world that would give you this free of charge. This has taken months of work, thanks to the Writers site and @scotthandcock1984 and we’ll keep adding to it. The Whoniverse expands! ♥️♥️➕🟦

[korixae]

GZFZHTDJTDSITXIYX WAKING UP THIS MORNING TO ALL THIS DW CONTENT ON IPLAYER THANK YOU RTD

[episodeoftv]

Prelims, Vote 1 of 8

The top 4 finales will move on to be included in the main bracket

Propaganda is under the cut, may include spoilers

Agent Carter - 2.10 Hollywood Ending

Just as Peggysous became canon, just as Jack is about to start his redemption arc, they cancelled the show and left all of us on a massive cliffhanger for, let's see, almost 8 years at this point. We need ANSWERS.

Daybreak - 1.10 FWASH-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

It was written as a cliffhanger for a second season that would never come, but it just felt flat. The one objective that our leading lad (Josh) had been chasing (saving Sam) was rendered pointless, because the moment the big bad was defeated she effectively declared herself the new big bad and everyone who wasn't a major character went 'hmmm, okay!' And accepted it! They didn't even address this all that well, just ended with a shot of the MCs looking shocked.

Doctor Who - 12.10 The Timeless Children

this finale is shit!! absolute ass! nothing happens in it for it to justify having such a cool name. the master captures the doctor, shows her a slideshow that amounts to ‘‘you’re adopted!! :)" doctor breaks out of her matrix prison thing by overloading it with memories when the matrix is The Supercomputer and it’s used to hold all memories of all time lords ever? you know, the species whove been doing their thing for a billion years and live up to 10,000 years? the doctors new memories should either already be there or make nary a dent in it. the doctor’s like ‘‘why would they do that! why would they lie?’’ girl they have been lying to you since forever. they killed you once. theyve tried to kill you so many times. they turned you into a fucked up anti time monster that one time. one of the doctors past past selves even told her it doesnt really matter!! what was even the point

Loki - 1.06 For All Time. Always.

The series was going downhill past Episode 3 tbh, but it really just was a load of crap only interested in setting up the multiverse

Tales of Arcadia - Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

This finale undoes everything the show worked for. In order to give itself stakes it kills off a few characters, but in a way that only indirectly impacts the MCs (such as Jim's Mom's fiancé getting killed). Then, at the end of the special, the main character uses time travel to go back to the start of S1E01 and changed history so he never becomes the trollhunter. Instead he makes his next friend the trollhunter instead. In terms of anticipation it was not at all what anyone was anticipating. (I had assumed he'd go to the start of the special and defeat the titans without any casualties). Having undone time only he remembers the previous timestream and he makes no effort to engage with it outside of accepting his changeling principal far sooner.

Ted Lasso - 3.12 So Long, Farewell

This trash ass finale undid three seasons of character development for every single person involved (except Nate!). A long-distance parent returned "home" despite having no attachments besides his child and leaving behind his entire found family, an abused and neglected woman was left behind by the person who taught her she didn't deserve abuse and neglect, and two characters who spent the whole show learning to cooperate and care for each other got into a fistfight over the girl they both dated.

Torchwood - 3.05 Day Five

No propaganda submitted

[ozziesdisco]

"This show is my therapy" my brother in christ you spent 50% of your time watching this show crying

[scrolling-forever]

If ao3 had a yearly look back like spotify wrapped i’d simply never be able to look people in the eyes after

[john-bracket]

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Great news, the BBC's script library just added (almost) every script for Doctor Who (2005-) and all the spin-offs.

[dream-beyond-the-fantasy]

I love that the scripts to Doctor Who, Torchwood (including the radio plays), The Sarah Jane Adventures, Class, Tales of the Tardis, the two Tenth Doctor animated serials, and the Thirteenth Doctor video game The Runaway are available for free on the BBC's website.

But it does suck that there are only two episode scripts from Series 1, one from Series 6, none from Series 7 and 8, missing five episodes from Series 9, missing five episodes from Series 10, no Christmas special scripts from the Capaldi era, and no scripts at all from the Classic Doctor Who era. Also missing is Torchwood: Miracle Day.