Battlestar Gallantricate

A title which isn't so inappropriate as one might think, considering the similarities in genre between BG and its counterpart, as discussed below. Soundtrack: "Crowded House" - "Woodface", in particular "All I ask", which is so beautiful, it hurts. Once again, congratulations are in order, and this time directed towards David Tennant, Catherine Tate and the marvellousness that is "Doctor Who". Quite appropriately, my favourite show managed to sweep the TV Quick/TV choice awards, in a procedure identical to that of last year, winning numerous prizes and securing further popularity, or - technically - verifying the popular support that they already behold, which is - moreover - a good indictation of what we might, hopefully, pretty pretty please, expect at the National Television Awards later on. So, whilst we're counting down to that enormously fantastic and anxiously awaited event, let's give a big cheeeeers!!! for Catherine Tate: Best Actress, David Tennant: Best Actor and Doctor Who: Best Loved Show. In all of Britain. Courtesy of the TV Choice "jury", voters, readers, whatever you say. Good representatives, in every respect. Hurray for the achievement, and well-deserved tribute; a fine treat for all their hard work and inhumane working hours and an exhausting schedule, that - still - results in the best television ever made, and boy! is it grand to have that explicitly penned down on a statue. With stars on it. Very nice indeed. Also, must be great for Catherine, who's now left the show, although she's rumoured to make her return after all; rumours which are now soaring even more intensively, and with higher frequency, around the net; through a special cameo in either Series 5 or the "Specials". Whatever they might be. First and foremost, though, she's hereby been honoured for her fantastic performance in Series 4, her incredible acting job as Donna Noble, making her come alive onscreen and, thus, becoming everyone's new favourite character (actually, she is) - now gaining her first, official confirmation that these are not alleged dictinctions, but true facts. Go Cathy! You've earnt it! And I do hope she comes back on the show; properly and for a longer period of time/episodes; whereas another comeback for Billie should be out of the question. She's of course been asked, i.e. in an interview I read on her website just recently, but she replied she hadn't thought about it, and it didn't seem to strike her as a likely thing to happen anytime soon. And she'd better stick to that decision, or refusal to decide. As much as I love Rose Tyler, we've had more than enough now; of drama, sorrow, crying, death threats, partings of the ways; and frankly, I can't bear any further heartaches, or worries that my heart might be completely broken once again. I've spent hours, days, months pining over the 10/Rose dilemma, and their tragic fate. Not to mention how I spent all of last spring dreading the finale, where they were to be reunited, which fortunately turned out to be a really great adventure; and they should - must! - let it end that way. It was a decent, spot-on, albeit heart-wrenching outcome; which, thank god, provided a sense of closure for us post-"Doomsday"-neurotics. It's all settled, now, and we can move on; our speculative minds and hearts can have some rest at last. Rose is happy. The Doctor-Clone is happy. Billie's having a baby. Also, she's promoting a new series of "Secret Diary of a Call Girl", which looks brilliant. The Doctor himself is on the lookout for a new companion, and I do hope David Morrissey gets to stick around for a while. What else; an idea; of managing to combine Catherine Tate, John Simm, David Morrissey, David Tennant and John Barrowman? Then, I would absolutely positively die. Of fangirl squee, that is. I mean, that's every piece of television magic come together creating - what? Possibly a magical overdose. Fandom explosion and fangirl outrage. Makes me inarticulate, already, just thinking about it. So, probably shouldn't start imagining the scenario too vividly. Oh dear. But it would have been amazing. Series 5 casting department, take notice! As for the moment, I think I should focus the more on the imminent Series 4 DVD release and celebrating the award show victories and crossing my fingers that Donna isn't completely out of the picture yet. And that's more than sufficient for my poor fandom-obsessed mind, thank you very much.

What else, on a (further) side note, which is more than related to the above-mentioned subjects, I just learnt from my English Professor that he'd actually been to Straford this summer to watch the David T.-led RSC performance of "Hamlet", lucky bastard, but instead of providing praise and joy, at the recollection of this event, he only wished to criticize it, harshly, and dared dismiss the cast as a group of very poor performers he hadn't enjoyed watching; none whatsoever. When I then declared my fondness for said Tennant, immediately standing up for him, as I tend to do with my favourite folks, defending his skills, Mr. Professor added that it would probably be a "somewhat different experience" if one was under the habit of being "such a big fan". And then he just grinned sheepishly at me. Well, alright, here's fandom retaliation for you; I certianly would not let these comments pass unnoticed, or without reproach. Silly old man. Who, thereafter, went on to call "Ricgard III" a pointless, storyless play - and attack cultural phenomena, in general, with such overwhelming ardour - I don't know with how much seriousness I should regard that particular spurning of his. In any case, though, it doesn't matter if one believes onself to be of a superior rank in the university system, or so highly esteemed, one's ascended above counter-criticism; every argument (given by oneself or others) should be allowed some contradiction, some opposing notion that even the most famous, prestigious lecture type must take to consider. Now, this man is an elderly, infamous, humurous, old school Oxford teacher, with a strong sense of personal preference and self-righteousness, but at the same time an extremely skilled lecturer, and possibly the most knowledgeable Shakespeare interpreter the world ever saw. Cleverest one too. He spent two hours straight, talking about illustrated dramas, "Taming of the Shrew", old and new editions, artists, authors, scholarly work, his own work, everything you need and needn't know about The Bard. Also, he'd brought no books or note sheets with him, to aid his memory, he rather "improvised" throughout, and his discussions went on non-stop; that is, except when interrupted by critical questions, as raised by yours truly. He just sat there, telling, and we were all keen listeners, but after a while I did think it necessary to raise my hand and challenge his assertions, now and again. Especially due to their being presented in such a controversial, (thought-)provoking, critical and dismissive fashion. When you share your opinions at such a level (of reading English), in such a professional capacity; and choose to do it in such a manner, no less; you need to expect an equally terse response. So, I made myself heard. In spite of his not seeming to happy about it; suddenly being cut off by someone disagreeing vehemently with those "asserted" statements, and for once (or, well, for a seldom moment) in his career meeting a student who didn't sigh in awe but scream with anger. One who didn't remain a supporting follower, jotting down notes in silence, but kept on asking, and - even! - ignored that discontent he displayed, when faced with my opposition. However, deep down, I do think he appreciated the exchange of opinions, thereby avoiding the usual situation of onesided monologue; which must be awfully tiring for him, as well, indicating an unpleasant lack of response from the audience, and possible loss of interest; and, all this being said, I do respect him wholeheartedly and I deem him the best professor I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and - hey! - that's one compliment I very rarely give. Consequently, he really should feel honoured; making me feel the greater need to speak my mind, when in the same room, and produce some contradictions. For he is a man far too brilliant not to be discussed with. And, at last, he gave an honest smile and approached our confrontation with a sincere involvement, continuing his speech - shortly afterwards - completely unaffected, with unaltered enthusiasm about his subject; which seemed a very good sign to me. A very appealing quality. Still, I did trace a hint of annoyance here and there, and I think he found me a little too straightforward, lest to say forthright. But, seriously, when you in one sitting manage to insult David Tennant, Shakespeare and - what more! - Elizabeth Taylor, Meryl Streep, The RSC, The BBC, Wordsworth Editions; the latter being too cheap and "commonplace" for his taste; thus showing the most explicit signs of being overly intellectual, academically arrogant and culturally "advanced", as opposed to the inferior "common men"; then, I can't keep my mouth shut. Far less sit still and agree with him. This is a tendency I despise, and have confronted many a time, but here it was being promoted in a way that was possible to handle, and rightfully contest, not just bound to be dealt with. Thus, our last session became a very intense, very loud and very engaging battle-of-the-whims between Mr. S (hey there, if you're reading this, bear in mind that I'm a devoted student) and myself, and none of us wanted to win, but I bet he wanted to outwit me - and keep me quiet, probably - and personally, I wanted him to jack down quite a bit. And curb his high class expectation, where they aren't fit. We finally agreed on some things, and decided to disagree about others, and I was very tired and very absorbed when we'd finished for the day; loving the subjects, but mentally exhausted from having had to fight so much over them. In other words, it was a blast. And I love my English course. I really, really do. But I want my lecturers to be even more willing to debate and show themselves open to new opinions, new ideas, new impulses. And David Tennant.

Speaking of which, as a slight double-apropos to both posts above, here's that David Tennant again, with his official acceptance speech made for, and broadcasted at, the TV Choice award show - in which he babbles a lot (well, in general, but mostly), and goes on and on about "Doctor Who" and "Hamlet", in the opposite order, and apologizes for his absence at the evening of the award show, tells a little about his current working conditions, gives some further excuses, and also: gives a very nice nod to Catherine, "all hail Catherine", and he mentions Billie (with much fondness!), Jack, Freema, Camille, Noel, etc etc, hence very worth watching, and in particular because of the completely random and somewhat überpersonal comment at the end, about "loose women". Chuckle moment deluxe. I bet he's right, and according to said Billie he's been experiencing downright pursuit. Everyone loves The Doc, some a little too much. I take no responsibility for the actions of others and shall try to compose myself if I ever meet him face to face, whereas I can commit to more excessive drooling and quite liberating fandom outbursts in front of my computer screens. As always. In honour of being a true fan, and those I'm being fan-obsessive of: three times hurray and enjoy the vid!