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Lurking Musings

~ Musings of a newly published writer

Lurking Musings

Tag Archives: Firefly

Doctor Who: Agents of UNIT?

17 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Agents of SHIELD, computerised voice, Doctor Who, Female Doctor Who, Firefly, Joss Whedon, Jules Verne, Lenora Crichlow, Moffat, Osgood, Phil Coulson, The Doctor, Torchwood


I had meant to post about this not long after the final episode of the last series of Doctor Who aired. However, real life intervened and made my life a hell of busy days and frantic brain goblins. I’ve finally got some time now to get back into blogging and today saw me spot two articles online which triggered me to revisit some thoughts I had following the last episode.

Osgood: Phil Coulson for the Whoniverse?

First there was this one:

The Doctor could be female

Yeah, I feel it was fairly obvious that Moffat was using the gender switch with Missy as a way of basically setting a precedent to be used to allow the Doctor to one day have a similar switch. He also did the same with River Song – showing a regeneration from a young woman of colour to a middle aged, white woman. You can dredge up even earlier references to Time Lords even changing species, though Romana’s regeneration into several alien forms in Destiny of the Daleks is largely considered controversial for a number of reasons, it still shows the possibility exists. Not that this has triggered a similar change in the Doctor yet (unless you count Scottish as a change of race?) but the indication that Gallifreyians are basically blind to gender (and also likely race and species) is an encouraging thought and I hope that it is acted on sometime soon. Could this be an indication that Lenora Critchlow now has a good chance of being picked next?

c7de3-lenora_crichlow_2345432If it should happen that the Doctor becomes female I do hope that it is handled with sensitivity rather than being merely a gimmick. It needs to be done in such a way that the viewers can believe it is the same character and this is not always possible even with a male actor. As for any casting, it needs to be based on who can do the job well rather than focussing on any criteria like ‘has to be female’.

Next there was this little gem:

Bad news for Osgood fans

Now, when I first saw Osgood’s death (and man that hurt…) I did have a little suspicion. You see, the whole set up seemed remarkably familiar. Ancient, evil nemesis of one of the heroes is captured by secretive, government sponsored agency keyed to battling alien threats. Said nemesis escapes and in the course of their fiendishly clever plan to get out, manages to kill a high ranking, popular and geeky member of that agency. Was I the only one who was thinking ‘Avengers’? Whether it was deliberate tribute or unconscious copying, you cannot deny there is a link there between Osgood and good old Agent Coulson.

The British version has a better scarf

Which did make me wonder if the plan wasn’t to kick off a spin off series in which a mysteriously resurrected Osgood is put in charge of a rag tag group of UNIT agents and set to fly around the world in a converted jet solving problems and fighting HYDRA… erm, I mean, Daleks… who have infiltrated their organisation. Just picture it, the complicated spy games as they try to figure out which UNIT agents are actually Daleks in disguise (hint: if they can answer a question without using the word ‘Exterminate’ they are probably safe) and the big twist when they realise that one of their own is actually a traitor (they probably should have realised that Dr. Darian Alek was dodgy from his computerised voice and the sink plunger attached to his chest) and the emotional fallout that emerges from that. Has to be compelling viewing.

Though, wait a minute… Doctor Who has already had a popular character killed by a nemesis who mysteriously came back to life to lead a rag tag group of agents of a secretive organisation… Could Torchwood’s Captain Jack have actually been the inspiration Joss Whedon used for Phil Coulson in Agents of SHIELD?

I guess we could trace tropes ad infinitum and claim that all modern SF is actually derived from a stone tablet found in Babylon (probably written by Asimov or Jules Verne) because there isn’t really anything new anymore, just different ways of presenting the same ideas. But I suppose it is not too much of a stretch to wonder if Joss Whedon was familiar with the concept of Torchwood before he developed Agents of SHIELD.

So, in all, I think it is a shame that Osgood has been declared as ‘officially dead’ by Moffat. She was a wonderful character with a lot of potential. Certainly far better companion material than some that have been in that position in recent years. While as a writer I can see the benefit in killing off a popular but not critical character, I feel Osgood’s death was maybe a step too far.

Though, despite all this, I think Moffat is still being beaten by Whedon in the bastard of the century competition. After all, he did kill Wash. You have to be far more brutal in killing off your beloved characters to beat that.

###

D.A Lascelles is the author of Lurking Miscellany, Transitions (Mundania Press) and Gods of the Sea (Pulp Empires). He lives in Manchester UK. You can sometimes see him writing about Zombie porn on https://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ but he mostly blogs about books, vampires, science fiction and Terry Pratchett. He is inordinately proud of the fact that one of his Pratchett articles was referenced on the French version of the author’s Wikipedia page.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaLascelles

Twitter: @areteus

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Six Gun Apocalypse

15 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

American Civil War, David Gemmel, Defiance, Firefly, Hunger Games, Jon Shannow, Post Apocalyptic, Revolution, Wild West


America loves cowboys. Maybe not enough for certain television executives to damned well do the decent thing and commission a second series of Firefly but enough that there are references to the genre everywhere you look. Especially on television. OK, you don’t see the likes of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne or even Emilio Estevez riding around on horseback and firing six shooters left, right and centre as much as you used to. We don’t even get to see Nathan Fillion in anything other than a smart suit, unless it is halloween, and this is something which makes women the world over lament. However, America still seems to have an inherent tendency to revert to the ideals and concepts of the old West in a crisis.

Case in point, look at the two recent American TV shows that have come over to the UK – Revolution and Defiance. Both are post apocalyptic science fiction and both are so heavily flavoured with cowboy you can almost smell that campfire bean eating scene from Blazing Saddles.

Let’s take Revolution first. Ignoring the blatant Hunger Games reference of a cute young girl with a bow, the whole look and feel of the Militia reeks of the American Civil War. The uniforms (especially the caps), the attitude, the liking for large canvas tents that are usually only seen in re-enactment events in this day and age… Ok, American Civil war is not really ‘Wild West’ but there are also Saloons, fist fights, gun fights and all sorts of Wild West cliches inherent in the world building. And horses. It is, I suppose, natural that in a society where cars and planes no longer work (and ships are apparently all but rusted or rotted to scrap), people will revert to the next most reliable means of transport – the Horse – but that does add significantly to the whole western feel.

Defiance also has a wild west thing going on. The blatant imagry of the Castithan in this show is clearly Victorian in style, for example, but that is only one of the many references. Small towns with a troublesome population and the need for a strong sherrif is a common wild west cliche and in many westerns the hero comes from outside the town to take on that difficult job. In Defiance, a tough outsider comes to a town with a troublesome population, mostly comprised of squabbling aliens, and ends up with the job of lawman.

I do not imagine for a moment that I am pointing out anything here that you have not already noticed for yourself. Neither show really goes to great lengths to hide what they are doing. However, these observations led me to wonder what it is about the American psyche that means it reverts to the Old West as soon as any disaster happens that collapses society. What is it about the tropes inherent in the genre that makes writers of other genres fall back on them so often? Is it some nostalgic harking back to the good old days? Something to do with the lone gunman defeating evil? Maybe it is the idea of spunky, independent women eking out an existence in the bleak wilderness with nothing but a Gingham dress and a shotgun to defend them from all the rapacious lone gunmen who seem to be wandering everywhere? Personally, my theory revolves around the old West being seen as an idealistic time for many born in the US. It was a time and place when the population was smaller outside of the big East Coast cities, people gathered in small communities and there was endless space for expansion. America was truly a land of opportunity because land and gold and whatever else you wanted was simply there for the taking. This translates well into a post apocalyptic setting as most of those features are also present then – low populations, resources such as land less tied up by governments and laws and a need for people to work together to survive.

Whatever it is, it seems irresistable for writers to fall back on these ideas. The question I feel needs to be asked, however, is whether or not this can be considered lazy writing or inspired reimagining of common themes? This is not a new thing, either. You could argue Firefly as being another interpretation of the Post Apocalypse Wild West (Earth that was being somewhat uninhabitable when they left) and David Gemmel’s Jon Shannow novels are also along this sort of theme. So what is it about this period of American history that so appeals? Feel free to comment below…

And before anyone says anything… No, we Brits are not immune to similar things in our writing. Ignoring for the moment the obsession Doctor Who seems to have with Cowboys at the moment, British Apocalypses tend to come in Crusty flavour – raggedy, dreadlocked punks in lumberjack shirts throwing petrol bombs. However, that may be a topic for another occasion…

[Amwriting] The City and The City

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#amwriting, Ankh Morepork, China Mieville, City, Fantasy, Firefly, Fritz Lieber, guest blogging, guest posts, Joss Whedon, Lankhmar, New Crobuzon, Personality, Terry Pratchett


In my first post for the newly ressurected Amwriting site I talk about how the personalities of cities vary and give examples of three fantasy cities that are very similar in some ways and yet very different…

http://amwritingblog.com/wordpress/archives/15471

If anyone has any ideas as to which city is shown in the first photograph of that article, feel free to comment to reveal your knowledge and I may tell you if you are right or wrong… here is that photograph again for you to look at….

Guess the city… answers in a comment, please…

Being a Brit

17 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by D.A Lascelles in TV

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Adelle De Witt, Anthony Stewart Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Eliza Dushku, Firefly, Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Olivia Williams, Rupert Giles, Sarah Michelle Gellar


I feel I should warn you – this post is at risk of getting a little fanboyish. I think it is only fair that you get this warning because, as I am sure we are all aware, there are dangers inherent in second hand fanboyishness and it is my civic duty to ensure that you are saved from it.

Now that the ‘official government health warning’ is out of the way, I can get on with what I want to talk about today. Joss Whedon.

There, see, look what happened. The moment I say his name someone squeals and faints. It’s only relief I was not planning to talk about Nathan Fillion… Oh, bugger… Er, I’ll wait until the paramedics have sorted everyone out before I continue.

So, yes, Joss Whedon. I don’t think I need to bother with any introductions. I suspect that anyone with any claim to a semblance of geekdom is at least aware of the name of someone who is possibly one of the more influential people in geekery. He brought us Buffy the Vampire Slayer and revolutionised perceptions of horror while demonstrating that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dusku look really hot in leather pants. He brought us Firefly and showed us that you do indeed get cowboys in space and that Nathan Fillion looks hot in cowboy duds. He created Dr. Horrible and showed how success is possible even without the big business backing and that Nathan Fillion looks hot in skintight t-shirts. He brought us Dollhouse and demonstrated that Eliza Dusku looks really hot in leather pants. Oh, and there was some quite profound lesson about equality, slavery and not treating people like objects in there too.

So, needless to say, he has had an influence and there has been much said about his attitude to strong women (‘Why do I write strong female characters?’), his feminist ideals both positively (Joss Whedon on Feminism) and negatively (A Rapist’s view of the world), his ability to subvert stereotypes (Mal’s best moments)  and concerns that he intends to kill off all the much loved Avengers characters in the upcoming film (‘What to expect when expecting Joss Whedon’s Avengers’ – pay especial attention to the comment about a major death in act 3).

What I want to talk about is his attitude to the British. In particular the English. You see, from the point of view of us over here in this tiny little kingdom of ours, the US has a strange opinion of us. ‘English’ accents are either very RP (to the extent that you would believe everyone is related to the Queen and went to the same elocution teacher) or so cockney that ‘within the sound of Bow bells’ can be interpreted as being as far away from London as Northumberland. We are invariably the bad guys in most Hollywood portrayals. As Eddie Izzard does say on one of his stand up tours, we are the only ethnicity it is still OK to demonise. I often find myself cringing whenever I see a British character portrayed on screen by American writers and directors and while many great actors do their level best to keep the side up they often end up mired in the cliches.

Now, Joss Whedon is guilty of these crimes. I am not denying that. His English characters (Buffy’s Rupert Giles, Dollhouse’s Adelle De Witt , Firefly’s Badger among others) display a cornucopia of stereotypes from the aforementioned RP accent to a liking for tea. However, the portrayals often come across as more than the stereotypes. I am not sure why this is, it seems hard to analyse the reasons for it. Perhaps it is due to the great acting talent that is employed in these characters (because it cannot be denied that there is some talent here). Perhaps it is how that talent is directed or how well it is written. However it comes about, English characters in Joss Whedon productions seem to acquire a vitality and depth which is often lost in other portrayals of ‘Englishness’ in American productions. Rupert Giles, for example, is overtly the stiff upper lipped English academic stereotype but as you delve deeper into his character you see the tearaway teenager he once was, before he became a Watcher, and the dodgy demon summoning occultist he was at University. Then there is the fatherly affection he has for the Slayer which is very understated but still present in every scene Anthony Stewart Head has with Sarah Michelle Gellar. Some of these elements come out in occasional, teasing flashes and you come to realise that the ‘bumbling librarian’ is actually a very clever front based on expectations.

Adelle De Witt is similar. On first viewing she is cold, efficient and immoral; all played excellently by Olivia Williams. Willing to serve in a role that is actually a high class, glorified Madam in a very expensive brothel. There are hints she does this for wealth and power – the connections to the Rossum corporation clearly guaranteeing both. However, as Dollhouse progresses, we see cracks in the Ice Maiden facade. They first appear in the first season episode Echoes (episode 7) when a drug causes all characters involved to reveal snippets of their secret inner selves and from that point on more and more of the ‘inner De Witt’ comes to the fore. As the series progresses we see less of the ice maiden, a common stereotype for strong English women, and more of the concerned mother who cares for all under her charge. As season two progresses, you see her face her demons and choose a side in the upcoming conflict between Rossum and the rest of the world, finally picking a side based on moral grounds rather than profit. In De Witt’s case, I believe it is a case of having to repress her natural instincts in favour of succeeding in a career and then facing a situation that even she cannot ignore.

Perhaps what we have here is a combination of Whedon’s desire to approach genre stereotypes and subvert them – showing the viewer an unexpected outcome to the one they expect – combined with an ability of skilled actors and writers to really get under the skin of these characters and  give them a great deal of depth. It applies to all the characters portrayed in the Whedonverse but I think it is especially relevant to his English characters because it is so rare to see them portrayed as being more than the stereotype. Also because, you know, I’m English and I like to see some role models of our greatest stereotypes done well.

And note, not once did I mention that his greatest British creation, the Cockerny Vampire Spike, is played by an American… 🙂

I am also wondering what we might expect in The Avengers. Will we get some interesting, British characters added to the Marvel universe?

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