Witty title goes here
Apr. 29th, 2013 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regndoftNothing much has really been happening in my life the past couple of weeks. Mum's been abroad, so I've been doing most of the cooking at home; the course on Hellenism and the Roman Republic ended so I'm currently procrastinating really hard; I've seen some friends, watched some TV, mostly done nothing at all.
This is partly because my skin condition is acting up again, and while that doesn't impair my ability to do anything it does make me feel mentally exhausted and self-conscious about going outside. Tried to figure out how to contact a doctor, but I lost a couple of maturity points when I failed to do so (mum has promised to sort things out when she gets back, though).
Possibly as a side effect from lazing about all day, I've been reading a lot more lately, though-- except instead of any course lit or the bazillion books I have lying around, I've been reading Doctor Who novels (the novelisation of Survival and Ten Little Aliens, to be precise). My sincere apologies to my Goodreads friends.
And in the middle of this, Tumblr provided download links to the DWM comics, which means-- I have literally spent all day in front of the laptop screen, guys. It's sad but true.
Now, having experienced virtually every medium Doctor Who has appeared in I think it's interesting to see exactly how diverse and genre-defying the series is, and how differently writers can define what Doctor Who can be-- this is something fairly rare, I think, limited only to a handful of huge fandoms.
But another reason I started thinking about it is because... the comics are the first medium where I've got the impression that something feels off? That there's something a bit un-Doctor Who-ish about them?
This is obvsly a bit ridiculous, since I'm not sure I could even define what Doctor Who is to me in the first place - which makes it worse, since I can't actually put my finger on what made me go "eh" sometimes.
(Note: I've only read all the volumes with Eight, and the first collection with Six).
Don't get me wrong, there are lots of great characters and stories in the comics and I greatly enjoyed them, but out of the ones I've read there are some that come across as... Doctor Who characters in a different universe. This could be partly visual-- comics obviously allow for more creative freedom than the TV budget, but not as much as the books or audios, and some character/set designs in the background come off as horribly generic sci-fi-y and overall uninspired. Sometimes intentionally pastiche, too.
Something else that struck me is that comics is a medium with its own history, and the influences are felt both in design and storywise. Sometimes this is good; "Voyager" very much felt like a throwback to early 70s Doctor Strange and other psychedelic comics (Steve Englehart's Silver Dagger arc from 1974 is like... one of my favourite comics of all time, so there's that). Other times, the cosmic entities and artifacts a la Jack Kirby flourish and to me it feels subtly wrong.
But just because something is derivative or different doesn't mean it's bad, or "wrong"-- one of Doctor Who's strengths is that it cares little for genre conventions overall. Robots of Death is obviously the spawn of Chris Boucher, Isaac Asimov and Agatha Christie's writing coupled with Tom Baker's manic grin and the best attempts of the BBC costume department. It's not less "Whovian" than An Unearthly Child or The Chimes of Midnight or The Eleventh Hour.
Perhaps it's just a kind of Doctor Who that doesn't really appeal to me personally, much like the Moffat era.
(Perhaps the comics are very Whovian, I just have a history with Marvel comics that makes me biased. Someone who has read the DWM comics who has not consumed an obscene amount of comics/books on comics/written an essay on superhero comics for English class may feel free to chime in on this.)
I don't know. It's an interesting query - what is Doctor Who - because there's no way you would get a straight answer, ever. Doctor Who needs to reinvent itself, move with the times; can some episodes even be said to be more "Doctor Who" than others? How does the change in writing affect the audience's view of the Doctor and his role in the Whoniverse?
As of the quality of these comics/novels, I might type up a more concise review post if I feel like it (what with the weekly episode and Big Finish round-ups I feel like I have quite a lot going already, even if I don't exactly put much effort into writing those).
P.S I AM SO OVER ALIEN FEMALE REPTILES/AMPHIBIANS/FISH PEOPLE/WHATEV WITH BOOBS. NOTHING ABOUT THAT MAKES ANY SENSE. AT ALL.
P.P.S I typod "with books" at first. I am never over characters, male or female, alien or not, with books. Jsyk.
This is partly because my skin condition is acting up again, and while that doesn't impair my ability to do anything it does make me feel mentally exhausted and self-conscious about going outside. Tried to figure out how to contact a doctor, but I lost a couple of maturity points when I failed to do so (mum has promised to sort things out when she gets back, though).
Possibly as a side effect from lazing about all day, I've been reading a lot more lately, though-- except instead of any course lit or the bazillion books I have lying around, I've been reading Doctor Who novels (the novelisation of Survival and Ten Little Aliens, to be precise). My sincere apologies to my Goodreads friends.
And in the middle of this, Tumblr provided download links to the DWM comics, which means-- I have literally spent all day in front of the laptop screen, guys. It's sad but true.
Now, having experienced virtually every medium Doctor Who has appeared in I think it's interesting to see exactly how diverse and genre-defying the series is, and how differently writers can define what Doctor Who can be-- this is something fairly rare, I think, limited only to a handful of huge fandoms.
But another reason I started thinking about it is because... the comics are the first medium where I've got the impression that something feels off? That there's something a bit un-Doctor Who-ish about them?
This is obvsly a bit ridiculous, since I'm not sure I could even define what Doctor Who is to me in the first place - which makes it worse, since I can't actually put my finger on what made me go "eh" sometimes.
(Note: I've only read all the volumes with Eight, and the first collection with Six).
Don't get me wrong, there are lots of great characters and stories in the comics and I greatly enjoyed them, but out of the ones I've read there are some that come across as... Doctor Who characters in a different universe. This could be partly visual-- comics obviously allow for more creative freedom than the TV budget, but not as much as the books or audios, and some character/set designs in the background come off as horribly generic sci-fi-y and overall uninspired. Sometimes intentionally pastiche, too.
Something else that struck me is that comics is a medium with its own history, and the influences are felt both in design and storywise. Sometimes this is good; "Voyager" very much felt like a throwback to early 70s Doctor Strange and other psychedelic comics (Steve Englehart's Silver Dagger arc from 1974 is like... one of my favourite comics of all time, so there's that). Other times, the cosmic entities and artifacts a la Jack Kirby flourish and to me it feels subtly wrong.
But just because something is derivative or different doesn't mean it's bad, or "wrong"-- one of Doctor Who's strengths is that it cares little for genre conventions overall. Robots of Death is obviously the spawn of Chris Boucher, Isaac Asimov and Agatha Christie's writing coupled with Tom Baker's manic grin and the best attempts of the BBC costume department. It's not less "Whovian" than An Unearthly Child or The Chimes of Midnight or The Eleventh Hour.
Perhaps it's just a kind of Doctor Who that doesn't really appeal to me personally, much like the Moffat era.
(Perhaps the comics are very Whovian, I just have a history with Marvel comics that makes me biased. Someone who has read the DWM comics who has not consumed an obscene amount of comics/books on comics/written an essay on superhero comics for English class may feel free to chime in on this.)
I don't know. It's an interesting query - what is Doctor Who - because there's no way you would get a straight answer, ever. Doctor Who needs to reinvent itself, move with the times; can some episodes even be said to be more "Doctor Who" than others? How does the change in writing affect the audience's view of the Doctor and his role in the Whoniverse?
As of the quality of these comics/novels, I might type up a more concise review post if I feel like it (what with the weekly episode and Big Finish round-ups I feel like I have quite a lot going already, even if I don't exactly put much effort into writing those).
P.S I AM SO OVER ALIEN FEMALE REPTILES/AMPHIBIANS/FISH PEOPLE/WHATEV WITH BOOBS. NOTHING ABOUT THAT MAKES ANY SENSE. AT ALL.
P.P.S I typod "with books" at first. I am never over characters, male or female, alien or not, with books. Jsyk.
