2001 A Space Odyssey/After Jack.

(From my sketchbook,) Here is my wee tribute to jack Kirby's adaption of 2001 A Sapace Odyssey which he did way back in 1976 and which I remember as an out sized album edition. The Sentinel found buried under the surface of the Moon, waiting for mankind to evolve to the point where they have the abilities to find it in time for their next nudge forward up the evolutionary ladder. At least that is my interpretation of events in the movie.
            Before I left the house this morning there was an article on the news suggesting that five skeletons found in Africa may indicate Homo-sapiens have been around a lot longer than previously understood. Were they the product of humming stones?
             It is a beautiful film but I do not pretend to understand it all. It seems to make sense to my eye but not my brain. Dug out my old original soundtrack for the movie and got an Arthur C Clarke book expanding on his initial story from Atomic Collectables. I do not know if I want to have the events in the film explained. I quite like the air of mystery. Understanding the cosmic scale of events might well diminish their wonder.
              I am only a partially evolved ape after all.
              Shaking bones at the sky and shouting "Stay Away From My Watering Hole.".
             Whilst constantly attempting to remain thoroughly modern off course.

The Shining Man.

The third of the most recent Doctor Who books published by BBC books, well, the third as I have been reading them. This story is a present day adventure which explores the power of Urban Legends mostly generated by online media, and what happens when they share roots with much older myths and legends. In this case it is the relatively new idea of The Shining Men, creatures glimpsed at the corners of ones eye, supernaturally tall with blank faces and eyes which emit blazing lights. The Shining Men appear on the corner of your street, the bottom of your garden, the foot of your stairs, waiting and watching, getting ready for the moment they drag you down to unseen realms. The Shining Men were a Halloween tale which grew in the telling, an invention which became real by dent of repetition. Home made bogey men who were not real until they simply were.
               The story, as far as The Doctor and Bill are concerned begins in a forest, a spooky forest at night. We are talking the full Fetch Priory woods here, a classic Tardis location. The Tardis team find themselves pitched against the  ancient form of magical science which lies at the heart of most folk tales. The Shining Men reflects a new suspicion among  modern Fortean investigators that phenomenon such as demonology , UFO sightings, even Slender Man stories are in fact old enemies of mankind hiding behind new hideous faces. The suspicion that there is in fact nothing new under the sun and that these are old foes allowing themselves to be seen in a modern context. That malicious demons are playing a sly game of "you only thought you knew us."Cavan Scott does a great job as the regular scribe on The Ninth Doctor title published by Titan Books and his book makes a worthy addition to this trilogy of new books which will probably be the last Doctor Who books to be published while Peter Capaldi occupies the Tardis bearing his face.
              Hard to believe that era is drawing to a close.
              And how appropriate is the title of this book.
              It could well refer to Peter Capaldi himself who shines in the role he has waited so many years to perform.

           

Heralding The Torchwood Archive

The Torchwood Archive vol#1 hit the shelves this week and not only is it a treasure trove of great comic strips and text stories it also has a story with artwork by my Noe The Savage Boy collaborator Stephen Downey. I think he is in China at the moment. He does get about. Bringing his handsomeness to the world. This is a great volume brimming with ideas, by turns exciting and disturbing. Everything Torchwood should be in whatever incarnation those stories present themselves. The Big Finish cds, box sets and single plays, are just some of the best examples out there. and boy are some of those stories Really Out There.
              The most recent story I listened to Visiting Hours was one of the most raucous and outrageous and very very funny stories I have heard to date. Kai Owen and Nerys Hughes are just fantastic, like two badly behaved but very endearing children who find themselves in a desperately dangerous situation. Even the extras are a hoot. Loud and loony and a joy to listen to.
               Also out this week was the truly amazing 3RD Doctor collection Heralds Of Destruction. It is written by the immensely talented Paul Cornell with artwork by Christopher Jones/ ably assisted colour-wise by HI-FI. A lovely ode to a period past, an era remembered with much love and affection by not just those who lived through its original transmission but a legion of fans for Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning and the much missed original UNIT family. There are other familiar faces in the story and some genuinely unexpected twists and turns. Its cheeky, irreverent and full of life.
              Just like Doctor Who at its very best.

From Here To Centauri.

What a great episode last nights Doctor Who was. Not only a return to Mars but the return of an old alien character I never expected to see or hear again. And I am not even talking about The Ice Warriors who off course are always a welcome sight in any story. I am referring to the cyclopian hysterical alien diplomat Alpaha Centauri who I have not seen any  context other than as a representative for Galactic civility and is a wonderful mirror to the notion of infinite diversity in a huge universe. Also the fact she/he/it/they is a very BBC alien.Even the voice was like the familiar voice of an old companion one never expected to see again.
             Could we be returning to Peladon in the near future?
             Another wonderful moment in  a really great new series.

John Wayne Is Indeed Big Leggy,

                                                              (From my sketchbook.)
They were not around for very long but I loved Haysi Fantayzee. Punky Victorian waifs dancing and singing dirty songs. Dreads and hats and skanky dance moves. When I try to explain why I like things I sometimes proceed straight to boobie-babble but thats okay. People speak it more than they know.

Moonwalking with Ryan.

(From my sketchbook.) My nephew Ryan makes it to the lunar surface and is about to meet a familiar lifeform. Hope it is a bit more friendly than the ones in Alien Covenant. Their hostile actions and natural ferocity might well be unclouded by notions of morality but who would want to spend any time in their company.

Plague City,

Just finished the new Doctor Who book by Jonathan Morris Plague City. "Fear is contagious" so says the blurb on the cover and I quite agree. I have been in a crowd when some one began to panic and I have watched that impulse leap and spread through that crowd like an airborne virus. The Doctor, Bill and Nardol land in Edinburgh 1645 . The Doctor having promised to take Bill to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. So they are actually a bit off target, time-wise. Plague is sweeping through the Scottish City , victims and their families are barricading themselves in their homes, trying to avoid contact with their neighbors in the hope of skirting infection. Exactly the sort of subject matter that would sit comfortably after an episode of Pointless Although given their limited understanding of bacillus they are more scared of meeting the risen dead  (Not without cause in this book.) than germs. On top of this nightmare there also visits from a masked cloaked figure   who claims the dead thus also breaking the hearts of the bereaved. This being a Doctor Who story things are not just what they seem. In fact, despite how grim things seem they are actually about to get worse for all involved. Ancient aliens and grief Leeches, yes they are bad as they sound, are thrown into this heady mix.
              This novel is by Jonathan Morris who is no stranger to the worlds of Doctor Who past and present. He brings an assured hand to things and even a dynamic familiar to us now watching the new series. Which is remarkable given that he must have written this book way way before anyone really knew how things were going to play out. Even access to a script bible would only have given him a bare bones to the way characters would have interacted. There is so much alchemy which only comes out in the playing. The Doctor is just words until the actor does his magic thing.
              The new series has been a delightful series with a renewed joy and freshness. Maybe its the power of having an end in sight that motivates all involved to give it everything. The Tardis team are warm and endearing with Bill establishing herself as a worthy best friend to The Doctor quite quickly. There were some lovely moments in The Pilot. And I gasped with disapointment when I saw Nardol laying apparently dead on the floor of the Tardis in the second most recent episode and I found myself asking "When did I start caring so much about Nardol?". Matt Lucas has won me over as I feared goofy extremes which would distract from good storytelling.
                Plague City is one of three new Doctor Who titles released by BBC books.I went for this one first as it was set in a period which interested me, the time period and whatever. With an amazing city like Edinburgh in one of its darkest periods.
                One of my favorite moments is a sequence Jonathan Morris comes up with(SPOILER!) when the Doctor does a pied piper, using his guitar instead of a James Galway tube, playing a selection of some of the very best tunes written by a couple of the best British bands ever, to effect a rescue.
               Oh yes, the devil may have all the best tunes but The Doctor knows how to play them.