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glinda:1. First fandom?
Properly, as in knowing it was a fandom and being online, Doctor Who, back in the days of newsnet (and forever after, of course). In terms of being fannish about something and even writing fic, probably actually Dungeons & Dragons (the cartoon). Which I still love. Um. Moving on = not a thing I really do that much.
2. Most unpopular fannish opinion (fandom of your choice)?
Apart from DW (in which everyone disagrees about everything), most of my fandoms are too small to know. Besides, unpopular opinions makes me feel as if I, well, actually have opinions instead of just likes and dislikes and possibly sometimes some theories. I suppose the fact that I don't think Silver Nemesis is awful would be one. (I was 11. It was my first whole DW story. I had no problem in immediately seeing that this was the best TV show ever. So.) And being in B7 fandom and not especially wanting to read much Blake/Avon really does limit what's available to... nearly nothing. Liking Silver better than Steel is definitely an unreasonable thing to do in S&S. But it's a very nice fandom, so they put up with me, or at least, they have so far.
3. Favourite small fandom to inflict upon introduce others to?
Ha. Nearly all my fandoms are small. Also I am a librarian. So, I'll rec anything I think you might like all the time. /o\ However, it is true that for the past 18 months or so, I am not a person you want to come near if you are trying to avoid Sapphire & Steel for some reason. (It is highly weird and unique and brilliant; I make no apologies.) Also Press Gang before that. And I'd like to be able to make all the Classic Who fans watch Blake's 7. They don't know it yet but they would thank me for it afterwards. It's just working out how to do it that's the problem.
4. What song do you consider to be 'the best song in the world'?
Oh, I really don't. I go through phases of listening to a couple of songs quite a lot and then moving on, but I just don't have one song like that. If I do, it would probably feel like a private thing anyway, and I wouldn't want to tell you.
5.If you could travel anywhere in the world, money no object, where would you go?
And health no object, too, because I don't feel like wanting to go anywhere ever again? Well, I want very much to go to China with my friend one day, and to Austria again, but this time to the Tyrol with my other friend. (Why, yes, we are Chalet School fans, what of it?) If rl concerns are not a problem, I think it would be lovely to go to New Zealand as well. Also, it would be wonderful to go back to Uganda one day and see how it has changed, and because it's a beautiful place with amazing people. (But i'd have to find a way of not going back as a tourist, because that would feel awful.) I don't think travelling will ever be a thing I can do much of again, but otherwise I'd like to see lots of places really.
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ETA: You didn't say how to play...
Edited at 2013-02-03 01:13 pm (UTC)
No, that's because I'm just answering my questions. I'm not playing. I'm rubbish at thinking up questions for people.
Silver Nemesis is AWESOME. Here is part of what I wrote to
Also, it is one of those episodes you can SEE the way Eleven constantly channels his Seven-side. Because Seven is every inch this:
'Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident.'
Seven, of course, doesn't SAY that, but he radiates it completely. Plus, all the time travel is brilliantly and cleverly done. I draw hearts around everything to do with that episode! (Seriously though - Doctor WHO? And Seven just smiles, and puts a finger across his lips.
And I get why people don't like it (for an obvious thing, it is hardly a great 25th anniversary story) but I think it's so much more fun than a whole lot of other stories. And, yes, I do like pretty much all those things and as my introduction to DW it was all I could have asked for. (Of course, almost all the things you list have come in for specific criticism of why people don't like it. :loL: DW fandom is great at disagreeing, but that's because it's a 50 year old show with 11 different lead actors, each showing a different facet of the character, different show-runners (or producers as they once were known), different companions, different writers and directors every week. It's the everything show. Eat it all up and you get stomach ache. I've kind of learnt to rejoice in the disagreeing. DW is so wide that you can adore one era and hate the next and with reason!)
Or something like that, sometimes I get Pollyanna-ish. And how Matt Smith is now referencing Seven as well as One and Two (and indeed, he does Five sometimes and all), warms my heart no end. ♥
Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident.'
Seven, of course, doesn't SAY that, but he radiates it completely.
No, Seven's too careful. After all, what's the point of being sneaky and then warning people about it? That would be silly. Heh.
As S25 was *my* season to write about in Chicks Unravel Time, I am rather protective of it. And I don't think there was an episode that was a straightforward plain enjoyable as The Silver Nemesis.
or an obvious thing, it is hardly a great 25th anniversary story
Hmmm. You know, I think it was, pretty much. Maybe I'm just biased as the whole thing revolved around 'Doctor Who?' and Seven being impossibly Trickster-y, but then I'm allowed to be biased too! *g*
Or something like that, sometimes I get Pollyanna-ish.
*self-declared fannish Pollyanna* Nothing wrong with that!
And how Matt Smith is now referencing Seven as well as One and Two (and indeed, he does Five sometimes and all), warms my heart no end. ♥
Allllll the love.
No, Seven's too careful. After all, what's the point of being sneaky and then warning people about it? That would be silly. Heh.
Eleven is like the dotty grandfather version of Seven. :)
And the thing about the 25th anniversary - I think it's the fact that Remembrance just does that aspect of it so much better and more effectively, whereas I never remember till I think hard that's what SN was supposed to be. I just enjoy it anyway and like Lady P and Richard too much and cheer still inwardly when Ace gets all the Cybermen. (Even better for knowing that Sophie did that scene on the gantry, despite being afraid of heights. Being her, she says that cured her of the fear... &hearts)
:-)
Oh I know what you mean. (I read the essay on the new S5 and 6 with great trepidation...) However, here is a snippet from the beginning of the essay on S24:
'Received Fan Wisdom collectively agrees that Season 24 mustn't be held up as an example of what makes Doctor Who great.
Received Fan Wisdom is wrong.'
Then there is my essay on S25 which is essentially all about Ace as Alice in Wonderland (and why she is awesome, and why Seven is awesome too), and as for S26 I don't even need to look up the essay, as I remember that the author calls it the greatest DW season ever.
I think it's the fact that Remembrance just does that aspect of it so much better and more effectively
Oh I get that point. But SN (in a rare feat amongst the older seasons) never drags. Maybe it's because it's so [comparatively] short. I'd certainly consider it as a perfect gateway for someone to dip into the classic show. Especially if they have a short attention span... *g*
:-)
The perceived wisdom of fandom is stupid anyway. For years we were told that "The Gunfighters" was one of the low points in Who history. Then it came out on VHS, and turned out to be brilliant. Whatever, fandom.
I adore The Gunfighters, but some people would still agree with that. I suppose it depends how high your tolerance is for bad accents and earworms and whether it's outweighed by William Hartnell being great and Dodo finally getting the chance to do stuff or not.
I assume everything I like everybody hates:s
Edited at 2013-02-03 03:25 pm (UTC)
I think we have similar experience of growing up with Seven as our Doctor and loving his serials that everyone else seems to hate. Except that I hate The Happiness Patrol and everyone else seems to love that one. Ah, ever contrary.
I have fond memories of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon as well - haven't seen it since I was a kid, mind. I do have The Mysterious Cities of Gold on DVD though! Oh, and there was Dogtanian and the Three Muskahounds, as well - that was another one! Kids TV in the '80s was brilliant.
I lurk on the fringes of Chalet School fandom as well - one of my Dad's cousins gave me an almost complete set of the books when I was a kid and that was it: hooked for life. *G*
Within the subset of people who grew up with Seven, you mean? Because there's definitely a large contingent of people who hate it among those who saw it first as an adult.
(I'm still quite fond of it myself, but then I've never seen it as an adult. It was one of my favourite Whos ever when I was twelve.)
And The Happiness Patrol - it's one of my absolute favourites (the bit at the end where Seven confronts Helen A was the first bit of DW I saw, before coming back the next week for Silver Nemesis, and while I didn't understand anything that was going on, I fell in love with Seven on the spot, just for that). But I've always felt in a minority for loving it - I think those of us that do are a little defensive about it, because it tends to get used as an example of the nadir of DW (aargh) - it's probably the ultimate "Marmite" story of Classic Who. And I can see why people wouldn't like it, but it's one of the stories that means the most to me - so much about being allowed to be who you are and not what society thinks you should be. With Bertie Bassett gone evil. That's DW for you. Beryl Reid, captain of a space ship! Bertie Bassett, the mass murderer! ♥ It is the best show ever, really. I flirt with other things, but there's nothing like DW.
I don't think I'd dare rewatch Cities of Gold but we adored that too - followed it obsessively for a year. D&D... I kind of bought the DVD on sight in a reckless way I'd never done before. And I don't regret it at all.
I love CS. I keep rereading them when I'm ill to keep myself sane. Probably worrying, but there is something about them, isn't there?
Edited at 2013-02-04 12:58 pm (UTC)
I don't know what it is about The Happiness Patrol. I mean, it's my era of Who and I love everything else Seven, but that particular story just grates on me and I can't buy into it. Ah well, can't love 'em all, and overall there are very few Doctor Who stories I find unwatchable.
I find it hard to evaluate New Who. There are elements of it that I absolutely love and there's nothing quite like the thrill of being able to sit down and watch new episodes of Doctor Who again. But then there are aspects of it that seem so far removed from the Doctor Who I loved growing up that it creates this huge cognitive dissonance.
My brother bought me the Cities of Gold DVD in a fit of nostalgia, because we used to watch it together as children - obsessively, as you say! I've only attempted to watch a few episodes of it, though. Shows like Blake's 7 and Sapphire and Steel are on my 'rediscover one day' list - there just aren't enough hours in the day for all the telly I want to revisit!
The CS is fabulous. It's such a lovely cosy other world to be able to retreat into. I'm very grateful to my Dad's cousin Jean for donating her books to me!
Yes, I think that's exactly how I feel about it. It isn't at all not liking it, but yes. It feels more like DW now it's Eleven, but I can't put my finger on why.
I'm not so keen on the writing for his era, though. So again, it sets up this huge cognitive dissonance!
Then again, I have similar issues with the Third Doctor's era, because I love almost everything about it, but just can't warm to Jon Pertwee's Doctor. I've tried. I love what the writers did with the character, can totally understand where he is coming from, I just don't enjoy Jon Pertwee's performance. I feel like a heretic whenever I admit it, though!
Still, that's the beauty of the show, isn't it? We can't all love every era, but there is still something for everyone.
hahaha. I had no idea that was true, once. Then again, it's not like I helped matters (Cally/Travis is entirely niche, after all). But sometimes, I just feel the need for vast, wordy, swathes of Jenna and Cally saving the universe. And if Blake and/or Avon want to come along for the ride, that's acceptable. (Vila is useful, and Cally sort of likes him, anyway, so he's a shoo-in)
It's funny, but I never really understood the Seven dislike from the fanboys (sometimes, I wonder if it was because it poked too much fun at them?). I have a terribly all-abiding love for pretty much every one of his serials (and the Virgin NAs are as catnip--even if I do think no one should be forced to read Deceit without alcohol on hand)
Silver Nemesis might not have been the strongest thing, but it set up things, and it was still an entertaining Cyberman story with witchcraft and Doom and Nazis. And Seven being Seven.
(well, that turned into a ramble)
I don't know. There's just always been this feeling that DW got worse and worse until it was cancelled. And Sylvester was someone they knew from really silly children's TV shows, so I think that is still a problem with some people re. suspension of disbelief. But, like I said, I was 11 and I hold all TV ever up to the standard of Seven-era Who, and mostly it fails.
:-) I like Lady Peinforte and Richard and I'm sure I shouldn't. Plus, it is a better story to explain what the Cybermen actually are than Revenge, or even Attack. I got what they were immediately and they are still scarier than the Daleks to me, because of it.
Rambles are good. ;-)
I hope you get to go someday, though. :-)