Evil Snowmen

'WOO new WHO!' is of course the feeling I had when I watched the new Christmas Special episode of Doctor Who. I've got to say, it is best to watch any new episode, that one has been waiting for months in anticipation, without seeing or hearing anything about it in advance. But, of course I can never help myself. So my expectations were, unfortunately, blown out of proportion. I was actually expecting something scary from the gist of it all, but, I should have known better. Although, my hopes of an exciting and fun episode were answered, and it was a good episode. My favourite Christmas Special, however, is still the 2010 one, A Christmas Carol. 

So, The Snowmen. Evil-grinning snowmen. Muahahahaha! - No. Stop right there, and take a back seat pile of frost! Because, it's time for the new companion to show off. And she did. Although, I've always found when companions show off their smartness, it seems rather contrived in contrast with when the Doctor does it. All the same I look forward to seeing more of Clara Oswin Oswald.

The Doctor: Go on say it. Most people do.
[The Doctor giggles as Clara races to do a lap around the police box.]
Clara: [returns back inside] It's smaller on the outside.
The Doctor: O.O ... Ok. That is a first.

Speaking of show offs. The Doctor and his new TARDIS console! Ooh Doctor, I see you have redecorated... I don't like it. Oh I'm just teasing, all I mean is I prefer the last console desktop. The last one was fun and extravagant with a warm, welcoming, orange-y glow. The new one is darker, more tech-y and very retro-looking. Given what the Doctor has been going through I understand the redecoration and it was very picturesque for the story. But, but... it's smaller! Still bigger on the inside but smaller than it was before. Oh, Clara's missing out. Tangent thought, River must be able to keep track of the Doctor's timeline by the console desktops too.

So the Doctor's off again, to discover the mystery of Clara Oswin Oswald, the women twice dead. To be honest, I'm more excited by the troubles they'll get up to than the mystery shrouding who she really is. There's just one too many mystery women in the Doctor's life.

Endings

"I hate endings!" ~ The Doctor

Seriously, I know I am in too deep when I frequently reference Doctor Who =/

It's the end of another year. Well, in five days. But, to the point, there's just been so many endings I've had to experience with my favourite telly this year, and if you're the type of person who loves their telly you know that devastatingly, sad feeling that washes over you when it's the end of an era. Like my old favourite, House Md that ended earlier this year to Merlin which I just finished watching in the last hour and is the cause of my current spout. And then by my own personal construct in discovering Doctor Who and suffering the heartrending transitions in the Doctor and each companion all in one year. Arrghh! I miss them all! Oh, but, no! There's more endings to come because we'll be meeting the mother of Ted's kids very soon too!

Beginnings are fun too. But, sometimes, usually, I'm too weary in the beginning to enjoy it. I prefer to be all settled in, in the middle somewhere, waist deep but far from the end.

Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

We all know this poem. Well, I know of it :/ Frankly the poem is too long to really remember all of it.

Anywhose. Happy Christmas and safe holidays!

Apples

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Well, I hope they don't mean THE Doctor. No? Lame? Fine have it your way!

Apples are yum. Of course that's not why I drew them, but, of course that's not a bad reason to draw them either. I guess every artist, professional or amateur, would have dabbled in drawing this fruit at some point in their lives. This is probably my third time. Have I improved? Maybe, maybe not. Who really cares, as long as it's a fresh attempt.

M. Smith - The Doctor

Hello!

M. Smith - The Doctor, 2012.

Finito. I'm not Italian - Duh!- but all the same. The Doctor. My favourite alien. Never thought I would ever have a favourite alien, but, now I do. I have been wanting to do a Doctor Who piece for a while now, but, I could never decide on who I wanted to do. I never really wanted to draw Ten, even though he was my favourite for a long time. So why Eleven, then? Because I think he deserves it. Over the course of series 5 to current, Eleven has gone from being one I didn't like and probably had some bias against - Yes I admit it! - to being the Doctor I completely adore. I felt strangely guilty not very long ago when I switched favourites, but I, like many who had once, "sworn allegiance to Ten", to put in one way at least, have been won over by Eleven. What can I say? I'm not very loyal and I'm quite fickle, stubborn too - That's enough! So I'm not perfect, eh. But Eleven, he has everything you want in the Doctor.

So the drawing. Like I said in Work in progression, the reference image was a lot more challenging than I had thought, yarda, yarda, yarda... But, luckily it did turn out alright. There's nothing new about the materials I used to do this drawing. The usual. Although, I should probably invest in a kneaded eraser 'cos my regular eraser ain't achieving the sharp wisps I desire anymore. What's new, is I decided to go with a grey background with cross hatching. I decided to skim on the tweed 'cos learning how to do the realistic texture of tweed is not quite up there on exciting drawing techniques. I was going to skip the print patterns on the shirt too, but, later on did it anyway. And lastly, I am quite happy with the outcome; it was fun, like it always is.

Good night.

Stamp of Approval

The ultimate stamp:

"Whoa dude! No! Lily Aldrin is special. You hold on to that girl!" ~ college Ted to college Marshall

Just when I felt HIMYM has been losing its heart for a while now, it leaves me in awe.

River Song

Long story short her life's a big jumble, it's all back to front, yarda, yarda, yarda, simple right? Well... no.

This is what a person gets up to when they should have been studying for their finals, they decide "Hey, I'll just go draw out the tangled timeline of River Song from Doctor Who. I have time."

Let's start from the beginning...

The Big Bang - Conceived on the TARDIS while flying through the time vortex. Therefore, a baby to be... not with a "time-head", fret not Amy, but, one with Time Lord DNA.

A Good Man Goes to War - Newly born Melody Pond is kidnapped at birth by Madame Kovarian and the Silence on the asteroid, Demons Run to be used as a weapon in the Silence's plan to kill the Doctor.

The Impossible Astronaut //Day of the Moon - L'il Melody escapes the orphanage she's been held captive during her early childhood. She has her first run in with the Doctor and Amy. Lots of stuff goes down but by the end she gets away to safety but not unscathed and so regenerates.

Let's Kill Hitler - Newly regenerated Mels tracks down her parents. Not Amy and Rory but li'l Amelia and l'il Rory and grows up with them to present day, all the while being highly obsessed about the Doctor. Mels finally meets the Doctor formally; hijacks the TARDIS, plots to kill Hitler, accidentally gets shot by Hitler and regenerates. Revealed to be a psychopath, Mels poisons the Doctor, who she feels suspiciously knows a lot about her. Mels learns to fly the TARDIS, learns of River Song, learns of her future part in the Doctor's life and revives the Doctor but loses all her regenerative energy and finally embraces her identity as River Song. She receives the TARDIS diary as a gift from the Doctor and in the 52st century, River pursues studies in Archeology to find the Doctor again.

Closing Time - River graduates as Dr River Song of archeology and is kidnapped by Madame Kovarian once again.

The Wedding of River Song - River refuses to kill the Doctor at Lake Silencio causing the fixed point in time to collapse. Stuff goes down and River marries the Doctor and the fix point is reinstated when River appears to kill the Doctor at Lake Silencio, faking his death. River is sentenced to prison for his murder.

First Night - The Doctor takes River on their first date, on the first night of her prison sentence. He has a dress picked out for her but she hates it and he explains to her the purpose of the diary and the rules. All the while she is suspicious of another woman present in the TARDIS.

The Pandorica Opens //The Big Bang - River obtains the vortex manipulator from Dorium and pretends to not recognise Rory when he meets her for the first time as the plastic Centurion.

First Night // Last Night - After being chased by Sontarans, River finds refuge in the TARDIS parked in the same place and time as on the night of their first date, oblivious that it is that night from the Doctor's perspective. Having served 5 years of her prison sentence she still professes her dislike for the dress hanging beside the TARDIS console and hounds the Doctor for hiding another woman "again", unbeknown it was her respective selves she heard the Doctor talking to. The Doctor eventually programs her vortex manipulator and sends her back to her prison cell.

A Good Man Goes to War - River returns to Demons Run using her vortex manipulator and reveals to the Doctor, Amy and Rory who she really is, to comfort her parents after the kidnapping of their baby.

The Impossible Astronaut //The Day of the Moon - River returns to Lake Silencio as a witness to the Doctor's death by her younger self all those years ago. She keeps the truth about the Doctor's death from Amy and Rory; and aids the younger Doctor in discovering and defeating the Silence. She is also seen wearing the Doctor's dress she had previously expressed dislike for, as she dives of the skyscraper in escape. The Doctor receives his first kiss from River, who upon realising frets that it may be her last.

Time of the Angels //Flesh and Stone - Amy meets River for the first time and the Doctor learns news of River's prison sentence for the first time. The Doctor let's slip that River will be a professor in her future. With her knowledge about the cracks in time River hints to the Doctor the next time he'll meet her will be when the Pandorica opens.

The Wedding of River Song - After climbing out of the Byzantium and of course sneaking out of her prison cell, River visits Amy telling her about her day and reveals to Amy that the Doctor is alive.

The Angels Take Manhattan - River is now a professor and seemingly has been pardoned for some time due to the Doctor deleting all records of his existence from all databases in the universe. River writes a novel under the pseudonym Melody Malone.

...

...

Last Night - River wearing the dress she use to dislike, accidentally enters the wrong TARDIS on her date with the Doctor and briefly mistakes the younger Doctor (ready for his first date with River) as "her" Doctor, who had parked his TARDIS around the corner. Unbeknown to River, this is her last night with "her" Doctor. He takes her to Derillium to see the Singing Towers and gives her his sonic screwdriver.

...
...

Silence in the Library //Forest of the Dead - River meets the Tenth Doctor, who she soon realises has not seen her before, for this is his first time ever meeting her. She reveals brief clues that she is from his personal future, someone important to him, intimate, potentially his wife, about the diary of her past/ his future, his sonic screwdriver she possess and out of desperation whispers his real name in his ear. Taking the Doctor's place, River sacrifices her life to save the people in the Library, preserving the Doctor's future and her past, but in turn the Doctor was able to "save" her and all her memories onto the Library's computer database.        

So we know the end, but the story is not finished yet. There are many off screen adventures River must have had with the Doctor such as Jim the Fish, Picnic at Asgard and the many night parties he had with her when Amy and Rory were asleep in the TARDIS all of which can't really be pin pointed where and when with much certainty. And of course there's still the rest of series 7 and beyond! Her character can really stick around forever given that time travel is so "wibbly wobbly".

That's it for now.

Work in progression

Hello there! I meant to leave a word a few days earlier, but, when I was here I didn't know what I wanted to type about. I wasn't feeling particularly great about finishing my last exam either. So let's not go there.

I really didn't have any topic in mind today too. I think I'm going through the motions of having a vast amount of free time ahead of me and not quite sure what to fill it with. It'll soon pass... I hope. It's strange, the immense of motivation I possessed to do little projects when I was suppose to be studying. Where's all that motivation gone now? It just goes to show how desperate I am when it comes to distracting myself from revision.

Anywhose. I knew if I didn't post something, this dry spell could last a long time. So what better to show you I haven't abandoned everything and I'm not dead, by gifting you a sneak preview of my next portrait drawing. Can you guess who it is? Probably not, cos it's not very good. It hasn't turned out as well as I was hoping it would. When I first did the eyes, I realised the reference image was more challenging than I initially thought it would be. I have not spent so much time on drawing eyes before. Sketching out the proportions, shading it in, erasing, re-rending, re-rending, re-rendering. I really should have chosen the other prospective image; I had three picked out. Well... four, but the fourth one was just this image but without teeth bearing. I did contemplate giving up on this one and starting, in my mind, the potentially easier image, but, I felt pretty determined to keep going with this drawing and see what comes of it. Who knows, maybe it won't turn out so bad. I must say, the hair looks promising, depsite the fact that it is a pain in the backside; I will try very hard to take my time with it. But all the same, CURSE YOU HAIR!

wip ms

T'ill next time!

Insomniac and the Orange moon

... Maybe it's the headache I'm having but I'm finding it very hard to... focus... It's extremely difficult to do what I'm suppose to do so I'm here instead, but, I'm even finding it difficult to put words onto this page. Jeez maybe it was the lack of sleep I had last night. Maybe so but who knows.

I couldn't sleep last night for what ever reason. Trying hard to clear my mind but instead I'm distracted by a yellow beam shining in my face. Stupid light! Stupid strange yellow light. Stupid strange yellow light coming through the crack between the blinds and the side of the window; too high in the sky for it to be a street lamp. Distracted and curious. Distracted, curious and 'can't sleep', leads to an annoyed person who gets out of bed only to find a huge yellow moon over yonder. I've never seen a yellow moon before but it was bloody beautiful!

And this leads me here telling you about it. But ooh look at that it's time for lunch. If you want to know more about yellow/orange moons you can click here. But it's late-ers from me!

Barren STUVAC

The coming week will be my last STUVAC. Hurray! I just realised there are a lot of "lasts" of my uni degree that I have recently enjoyed or very soon will. I say "enjoy", the exams I don't think so, but finishing them will definitely be enjoyable. Among my "lasts" that have come to pass: I've had my last coffee on campus; my last lunch break on campus; last time at the Village Green which I usually refer to as the oval, which technically it's a circle but that's what I use to call large round fields of grass all the way through school and habits die hard. My last lecture, last tutorial, last essay written and submitted... and now STUVAC.

For those not living in Australia, you might be wondering what STUVAC is. If you're thinking acronym. You're wrong! It's pronounced stu-vac which is simply short for Study Vacation. How silly. Who would ever really take a vacation to study? But that's besides the point. It's my last one! Three more exams and that's it! No more uni! Hurray! But there ain't any balloons and the party hasn't started. I'm stuck here. This moment. This minute. Pre-STUVAC. Of course I consider this week STUVAC too 'cos I'm such a little nerd, cracking at the textbooks already. I say "textbooks" but who am I kidding I haven't opened a textbook in two years. So "nerd"? More like half-nerd, a nerd who hates reading long chunky slabs of text. Well, unless it's interesting but, unfortunately, if you're me, you're staring at concepts of retirement income policies, hardly riveting stuff. Oh don't get me wrong the lectures are some of the best I've had, but, cramming it all in my head just for a two hour exam is not fun. 

The end couldn't come sooner. Oh well, back to YouTubing. Study. I mean study, really. 

The answer in Postscript

What about Brian? ...

Doctor Who: P.S. - Series 7 2012 - BBC One

This was nice and exactly what a fan needed to see. The voice over by Arthur Darvill was perfect and I'm glad he was the only one they got back to do this piece. Amy had her wrap up at the end of The Angels Take Manhattan but this is Rory's moment. Of course it would have also been great to see this scene been made in the official episode too ,but, the way this has been put together, keeping it minimalistic has retained the grace and beauty of the story.

I do assume in my mind that the Doctor did also make some gesture to apologise to Brian because that's the man I see him as.

Goodbye Pond

No quotes this time. Why? I suppose it was the performances that had me and not the words spoken.

The Angels Take Manhattan. The episode was... an end. Because it's what happens in life and sometimes you don't have any say in it. Was I saddened by this episode? Yes. But, more for the Doctor than for Amy. I feel the intended emphasis was Amy and Rory's story and in every right it should be. But... in the end Amy and Rory had each other. The impossible choice between a life with Rory or a life with the Doctor but without Rory was not a choice at all as established long ago. The Doctor was given the back seat in this episode but it's his potential and inevitable loss that burned distractingly bright in the background of the couple's story. The moment when the Doctor breaks down in shock and anger when he realises the end is near for his dear companion. The scene on the rooftop as he calls her name helplessly. And again, as he pleads desperately for her to stop in the graveyard because he will never get to see her again. We can only imagine how high his emotions were running because we know how important Amy is to the Doctor as set up in the previous episode. And the fall out? Well, that will be left to be seen in the next story.

So did I get the heart wrenching, harrowing end I was hoping for? ...Sorry, no. It missed it by a little bit, because again, this was Amy and Rory's story and in the end they were happy. But it still is very sad and in the end the Doctor ended up "standing over their graves", something he so desperately tried to prevent since The God Complex. 

It was great to see River again. Married life I must say suits the Doctor. Well, their version of marriage at least. I think the scene I love the most among all the hell that was breaking loose was the heart to heart moment when the two sat on the staircase. The Doctor out of love healed River's broken wrist and giving it a kiss, but the sweetest gesture (I thought at least) was received with a slap to his face from his darling wife. She storms off saying he's embarrassing her, with him calling after her in frustration like only a confused husband would be. The two are adorable.

Putting the good stuff aside for the moment. I really didn't like the Statue of Liberty being a Weeping Angel. The first time I read the idea in a comment I thought it would be cool but then I dismissed it because it's so impractical. How many tourists have snapped pictures of the iconic statute? How can the gigantic statue ever move, is there ever a moment in the city that "never sleeps" when people aren't looking at it? And isn't the Statue of Liberty made of copper not stone? But I've long become tired of the Angels since The Time of the Angel/ Flesh and Stone, those two episodes were over kill. Although, the cherubs and other formed statues did bring back some of the fear that I'd lost for the usual kind.  

So it's goodbye to the Ponds. It really is the end of the Ponds as signified by how Amy chose to be remembered as a Williams and not Pond. And it's the end of another chapter in the Doctor's life. However, I do wonder what about Brian? How will the Doctor break the news to him or maybe River should deliver the news? I wonder if Rory ever got around to telling his father about River? Guess, we'll see.

The first

Before I start I wanted to revisit what I mentioned last time about the Doctor traveling alone for too long. What I didn't realise last time about the 300 years that have past was what this evidently means. Putting this into content, in the Doctor's life it's been 300 years since Rose, Martha, Donna and fish custard with l'il Amelia. So this version of the Doctor is in a league of his own. Long gone are the days of early Eleven, Ten, Nine and even distant are the days of the Classics. And I find myself to be wrong in referencing the past lessons we have witnessed him learn because he will reasonably have a different take after hundreds of years later.

Jeez I write too much. Moving on...

Amy: Then why do you keep coming back for us? 

The Doctor: Because you were the first. The first face this face saw. And you were seared onto my hearts… Amelia Pond. You always will be. I’m running to you and Rory before you… fade from me.

This explains a lot and it's sad to hear knowing that there is only one more adventure the Doctor has with the Ponds. The Eleventh will always belong to Amy just like how Ten belonged to Rose. They were respectively the first. The first faces his new face saw, seared onto his hearts forever (until he regenerates of course). It's really beautifully written.

The Power of Three... gosh do I cringe at this title. Yeah I get it. "Cubed", to the power of three. But seriously?

Again I'm gonna sit on the fence about this episode. It was fun, we got to see the Doctor go all 'Saturday Night Fever'-ish. It was cringe worthy but it's so the Doctor. Oh and the Shakri, like Darth Sidious but more creepy. However, it all ended rather too quickly again and the problem solved so easily. I do hope we see the Shakri come back for revenge. Muahahaha!... 'cos they're like the Sith. Revenge of the Sith. Shakri. Sith. Shakri?... No? Bad joke?... O_O

One more to go.

MY MERCY!

Preacher: [referring to his horse] He’s called Joshua. It’s from the Bible. It means the deliverer. 
The Doctor: [the horse grunts] No he isn’t. 
Preacher: What?! 
The Doctor: I speak horse. He’s called Susan. And he wants you to respect his life choices.

I sort of wish he'd followed "He's called Susan" with the comment "lovely name" as a little nod to his granddaughter. But alas, he didn't.

So A Town Called Mercy... I'm not sure how I feel about the episode as a whole, but, I'll definitely remember it for the edge-of-the-seat-moment when the Doctor was frightfully merciless. Taking justice into his own hands again but this time with his companions witnessing. I was wide-eyed seeing the Doctor push and shove Jex across town to his pending doom and threatening to shoot the man; and him, genuinely not knowing if he would. So what happened to the Doctor's "I never would" motto? I don't condone his actions, but, boy this scene was brilliant stuff and rather than scary it was thrilling. And Amy butting heads with the Doctor. She put him in his place but I don't feel he's learnt his lesson yet. The story sort of wrapped up rather quickly and I'm a little confused where the characters all stand now. But hey, still two more Pond stories to see where it leads.

On a trivial note, I always thought the Doctor was joking in the Impossible Astronaut when he said he was 1103 years old. So I was astound to hear that he's now 1200 years old and "matured". I'm assuming it's true then. He really did take a 200 year long farewell tour before the events of Lake Silencio. Boy, did he run! And for so long. Now add another 100 years on top of that. Wow. he really is spending too much travelling time alone.

...

28/09: Oh I just watched the First Doctor's trip to the Wild West in The Gunfighters story and I so had to add to this post! The two adventures intriguingly mirror each other in little ways. In both stories the Doctor is mistaken by the locals for another "doctor" in town. He gets called 'Doc' a few times and also 'Pop' with irritation. Ha!

Yet, it is so ironic when the First Doctor says, "...you can’t walk into the middle of a Western town and say you’ve come from outer space. Good gracious me! You’d be arrest on a vagrancy charge!", seeing how openly Eleven admitted to being an alien when in Mercy (though he probably meant the other definition). 

And I can do one better than Ten's "I never would" now, with One's response, immediately after being forcibly deputised, "Well. this is utterly absurd! Nothing will ever induce me to raise a gun in anger." Oh if One saw Eleven, he'd probably give himself a good scolding! But it was just hilarious seeing the First Doctor nervously waving a gun about. 

Great to hear even back then the Doctor didn't drink alcohol, opting for a glass of milk instead. Guess he hadn't quite gotten on to the tea drinking business yet. 

I guess this could have been a post on its own but it relates well with A Town Called Mercy so I'll just stick it here. =)    

Rory's Queen

Shall we all hail Queen Amy then?

Queen Nefertiti: You and the Doctor, are you his queen?
Amy: No. No. I’m Rory’s queen. Wife! Wife. I’m his wife. Please don’t tell him I said I was his queen. I’ll never hear the end of it.

Oh Amy and ahh the Ponds. With three episodes left with them it's good to still be able to have a chuckle. And this is exactly what Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was. So apparently the new marital traditions are that not only does Amy's husband become a Pond but so does her father-in-law. Female dominance. Ha! I'm loving it!

Aside from all the laughs, there was the darker stuff. The description of the genocide was a jaw dropper. It also seems the Doctor has become less forgiving. He has killed before but only when he didn't have a choice (in recent incarnations). Not like this. He left them to die as punishment. Taking justice into his own hands. Quoting Captain Adelaide, "No one should have that much power". I guess we'll see where this leads next epsiode.

All in, great epsiode. Brian Pond/Williams was a great character. Of all the favours involving the TARDIS I would have never thought to ask to be able to have tea and sandwiches while floating above the Earth to enjoy all its beauty. Brilliant!

But you made them forget me

Oswin: [referring to herself] There a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?
The Doctor: Doctor. You call me the Doctor.

Asylum of the Daleks. ...Well that was an epic episode. Ambitious. Very ambitious. Of movie length proportion. I feel like it only returned back to its campy television self at the end when the Doctor hops out the TARDIS and calls the Daleks "Suckerrs!". 

Now his greatest and oldest enemies have Doctor-amnesia... Whoah! I just realised, isn't it ironic that the first bit of advice the Doctor told Amy aboard the parliament ship was "Make them remember you". Oops! now they don't.

Just to qualify, I thought the episode was good but not great. It felt too grand in some way.