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First of all, happy birthday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
courtcat79! Hope it is a good one!
Every so often, it occurs to me to sit down and think about how really depressing my job is, a lot of the time. Mostly it's because I seem to keep finding myself in areas where I see a lot of oncology work. Breast surgery? In the NHS, most of what you see is mastectomies. Radiotherapy? Generally, that's adjuvant treatment for some kind of cancer or other. Neurosciences? Brain tumours. Medical oncology? Does what it says on the tin, and of course my consultants specialised in gastrointestinal cancer, for which the only treatment is palliative.
And I sit and type the letters. I type the letters explaining to the general practitioner that the patient has been diagnosed with cancer, and that this news has been broken to the patient and that they were devastated and blah. I type the referral letters to the therapists when the patient needs help coping with the whole thing. I type the letters that say that the patient's treatment hasn't been helping, or that they've taken a turn for the worse. Sure, sometimes I get "They're getting better" or "it wasn't what we thought it was", but that's really not what sticks in the head.
And the worst part is that I can't do anything about it. Doctors have a stressful job and I really get that, but they see human suffering every day and if it all goes horribly wrong, at the very least they can say "I did my best; I tried to help". Doctors and nurses get hands-on, and actually try to fix people, and I admire that quite a lot. All I can do is type letters and nag people into making sure the patients have the treatment they need. It doesn't feel like enough, somehow.
Dear gods, I'm such a Hufflepuff.
The weekend cometh and ye gads, I'm glad of that. I haven't got much planned over the weekend bar sleep - lots and lots of sleep. That and watching Doctor Who, I suppose. Yeah, I know what I keep saying (and saying, and saying, and saying) about what I think about Doctor Who, but this one's a little bit different. Why? Steven Moffat.
Yeah, there's a debt of gratitude to Davies. He brought Who back. He brought it back via Eccleston, no less (though I understand that Tennant was supposed to be Who from the beginning). The problem was that when he did so, he took it too far. Davies basically seems to have some kind of agenda (with Torchwood, it seems to be all about the gay; with Who, I have no damn idea) and it somewhat takes precedent over ... you know, story. I mean, sure, he tries, but Who's supposed to be a scare-fest for the kids (and for the adults, if you can manage it) and some of this stuff? Not. That. Scary.
When the Daleks first came back to the screen, I was delighted as much as I was terrified. And they were good. And then came the Cybermen, and that was equally terrifying and good, while the Daleks were ... just getting less scary. Because, of course, they kept coming back. In dumber and dumber ways. (Pig people? COME ON.) The franchise was bringing back the best Who villains of the lot and turning them into something to be played for laughs. It didn't seem fair. (Though at least as far as the Cybermen are concerned, they lost the silver booties. That's something. And frankly, the most terrifying of all the Cybermen came out in the Torchwood episode "Cyberwoman". Brr. Also, side note: it also rather terrifies me that the same man who wrote "Dalek", "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways" also wrote "Evolution of the Daleks" and "Daleks in Manhattan". What happened, Mr Terry Nation? But then, he's apparently been writing about Daleks for a long time so maybe his brain short-circuited.)
[Edit: I am reliably informed that I read IMDB wrong about who wrote those particular episodes. Also that Terry Nation died ten years ago. Also, there's the theory going 'round that zombiefication is a valid excuse for bad writing. Carry on.]
And then there's some of the new ones. Adipose? Oh gods. That godsawful spider thing in "The Runaway Bride"? Looked impressive, sounded like a bog-standard panto villain on crack. And the stupid killer mechanical santas. Ye flippin' gods. It doesn't have to look big and kerboomly to be frightening, pity's sake.
But in all that, you get Steven Moffat's episodes. You get "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances"; one little boy in a gas mask and it's incredibly freaky. You get "The Girl in the Fireplace". You get "Blink" (which I now have to find and watch because I have seen clips and eeeeeeek). You get "Silence in the Library", which I watched bits of and now intend to watch the rest of on iPlayer sometime tonight.
Fear of the dark. Fear of what might be happening while you're not looking. Fear of what's behind the masks people wear, figuratively and literally. Fear of the unseen, the unknown. That's the greatest fear of all to play on, because everybody shares it - absolutely everybody is trepidatious about what's around that next corner, to whatever degree. Everyone's a bit afraid of that noise the house makes at night. It's the very basic horror movie principle - it does not need to be seen to be scary. Actually, it's scarier if you don't.
And he's taking over the lead writer role.
No more of this "We want to move away from episodes like 'Blink' and 'Family of Blood'" shit. I hear rumours that Davies is quitting before they can fire him, and if that's true, my theory is that it's to do with the various awards that "Blink" (and "The Girl in the Fireplace") won immediately after that came out of Davies' mouth. He says they want to move away from that sort of thing and it's apparently what everybody likes. Six episodes in under four seasons; that's all it's taken for Moffat to make his mark. And now he gets to be the lead writer for Who. And if his six episodes - just six, ye gads, and the sixth isn't even aired yet - are any indication of what he wants from the series, I may have to start watching again. Even if the season finale (written by Davies, of course) is going to be shite, I may end up being able to stick it out for the hopes of something better in Season 5.
See, I can be optimistic. I just need proof that it's justified. And there's my proof right there. Please, Mr Moffat. I'm putting a great deal of faith in you, after having been burned on Who so many times. Please don't let me down. I don't think you will, but after that 'decimation' scene, the Master-gurning, the Daleks being turned into a sick joke instead of a slow-advancing terror, that 'We Are Not Amused' shit in "Tooth and Claw", and various other bits of "why am I watching this crap" moments over the past few years, I have to ask.
Also, Mr Moffat? Thank you very much indeed for Captain Jack.
courtcat79! Hope it is a good one!Every so often, it occurs to me to sit down and think about how really depressing my job is, a lot of the time. Mostly it's because I seem to keep finding myself in areas where I see a lot of oncology work. Breast surgery? In the NHS, most of what you see is mastectomies. Radiotherapy? Generally, that's adjuvant treatment for some kind of cancer or other. Neurosciences? Brain tumours. Medical oncology? Does what it says on the tin, and of course my consultants specialised in gastrointestinal cancer, for which the only treatment is palliative.
And I sit and type the letters. I type the letters explaining to the general practitioner that the patient has been diagnosed with cancer, and that this news has been broken to the patient and that they were devastated and blah. I type the referral letters to the therapists when the patient needs help coping with the whole thing. I type the letters that say that the patient's treatment hasn't been helping, or that they've taken a turn for the worse. Sure, sometimes I get "They're getting better" or "it wasn't what we thought it was", but that's really not what sticks in the head.
And the worst part is that I can't do anything about it. Doctors have a stressful job and I really get that, but they see human suffering every day and if it all goes horribly wrong, at the very least they can say "I did my best; I tried to help". Doctors and nurses get hands-on, and actually try to fix people, and I admire that quite a lot. All I can do is type letters and nag people into making sure the patients have the treatment they need. It doesn't feel like enough, somehow.
Dear gods, I'm such a Hufflepuff.
The weekend cometh and ye gads, I'm glad of that. I haven't got much planned over the weekend bar sleep - lots and lots of sleep. That and watching Doctor Who, I suppose. Yeah, I know what I keep saying (and saying, and saying, and saying) about what I think about Doctor Who, but this one's a little bit different. Why? Steven Moffat.
Yeah, there's a debt of gratitude to Davies. He brought Who back. He brought it back via Eccleston, no less (though I understand that Tennant was supposed to be Who from the beginning). The problem was that when he did so, he took it too far. Davies basically seems to have some kind of agenda (with Torchwood, it seems to be all about the gay; with Who, I have no damn idea) and it somewhat takes precedent over ... you know, story. I mean, sure, he tries, but Who's supposed to be a scare-fest for the kids (and for the adults, if you can manage it) and some of this stuff? Not. That. Scary.
When the Daleks first came back to the screen, I was delighted as much as I was terrified. And they were good. And then came the Cybermen, and that was equally terrifying and good, while the Daleks were ... just getting less scary. Because, of course, they kept coming back. In dumber and dumber ways. (Pig people? COME ON.) The franchise was bringing back the best Who villains of the lot and turning them into something to be played for laughs. It didn't seem fair. (Though at least as far as the Cybermen are concerned, they lost the silver booties. That's something. And frankly, the most terrifying of all the Cybermen came out in the Torchwood episode "Cyberwoman". Brr. Also, side note: it also rather terrifies me that the same man who wrote "Dalek", "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways" also wrote "Evolution of the Daleks" and "Daleks in Manhattan". What happened, Mr Terry Nation? But then, he's apparently been writing about Daleks for a long time so maybe his brain short-circuited.)
[Edit: I am reliably informed that I read IMDB wrong about who wrote those particular episodes. Also that Terry Nation died ten years ago. Also, there's the theory going 'round that zombiefication is a valid excuse for bad writing. Carry on.]
And then there's some of the new ones. Adipose? Oh gods. That godsawful spider thing in "The Runaway Bride"? Looked impressive, sounded like a bog-standard panto villain on crack. And the stupid killer mechanical santas. Ye flippin' gods. It doesn't have to look big and kerboomly to be frightening, pity's sake.
But in all that, you get Steven Moffat's episodes. You get "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances"; one little boy in a gas mask and it's incredibly freaky. You get "The Girl in the Fireplace". You get "Blink" (which I now have to find and watch because I have seen clips and eeeeeeek). You get "Silence in the Library", which I watched bits of and now intend to watch the rest of on iPlayer sometime tonight.
Fear of the dark. Fear of what might be happening while you're not looking. Fear of what's behind the masks people wear, figuratively and literally. Fear of the unseen, the unknown. That's the greatest fear of all to play on, because everybody shares it - absolutely everybody is trepidatious about what's around that next corner, to whatever degree. Everyone's a bit afraid of that noise the house makes at night. It's the very basic horror movie principle - it does not need to be seen to be scary. Actually, it's scarier if you don't.
And he's taking over the lead writer role.
No more of this "We want to move away from episodes like 'Blink' and 'Family of Blood'" shit. I hear rumours that Davies is quitting before they can fire him, and if that's true, my theory is that it's to do with the various awards that "Blink" (and "The Girl in the Fireplace") won immediately after that came out of Davies' mouth. He says they want to move away from that sort of thing and it's apparently what everybody likes. Six episodes in under four seasons; that's all it's taken for Moffat to make his mark. And now he gets to be the lead writer for Who. And if his six episodes - just six, ye gads, and the sixth isn't even aired yet - are any indication of what he wants from the series, I may have to start watching again. Even if the season finale (written by Davies, of course) is going to be shite, I may end up being able to stick it out for the hopes of something better in Season 5.
See, I can be optimistic. I just need proof that it's justified. And there's my proof right there. Please, Mr Moffat. I'm putting a great deal of faith in you, after having been burned on Who so many times. Please don't let me down. I don't think you will, but after that 'decimation' scene, the Master-gurning, the Daleks being turned into a sick joke instead of a slow-advancing terror, that 'We Are Not Amused' shit in "Tooth and Claw", and various other bits of "why am I watching this crap" moments over the past few years, I have to ask.
Also, Mr Moffat? Thank you very much indeed for Captain Jack.
