Thinking Fast

I have been watching Doctor Who. The three part season finale for Tennant's second season actually began well--as played by Derek Jacobi, the Master was actually interesting for once, mainly in how his true personality subtly leaked out from around the facade. Professor Yana seems to have been a good, brilliant person, and yet one senses a certain subtle, petty resentment in a lot of his lines. It starts to craft a psychological profile for the Master as a man who does great and terrible things because of something lacking inside him. As played by John Simm, though, he not only goes back to being broad and uninteresting, but also intensely annoying. Though he wasn't as bad as the very heavy-handed depiction of the Doctor as Christ in the third episode.



"Time Crash" was short and delightful, though I could've done without Tennant breaking character for a brief moment. "Voyage of the Damned" was mostly a nice little mini-movie, particularly good for the inclusion of Clive Swift in a much better role than he'd had in Revelation of the Daleks. I could've done without this, though;



It might have actually been sort of funny if it weren't for the whole Doctor Christ thing in the finale of the previous season that gave us to know Russell T. Davies takes this very seriously.

So far I'm liking Tennant's final season, except I thought the two part Sontaran episode was very badly written, though I appreciated the fact that its writer, Helen Raynor, who seems to be something of a pedant, took a moment to subtly point out that "Doctor" is not his name. It's been referred to as his name three times now in the new series, something the old series managed to avoid for its entire run. It's a title, not a name, that's kind of the point. It's Doctor Who.



Twitter Sonnet #287

Phosphorous yellow braids tangle in ink.
Lazy molluscs coil around chill flesh.
Broken feathers sway in the opaque drink.
Salt grey open grins keep ghostly meat fresh.
Onyx braille casts spells on a coral cake.
Bluebirds speed across a shaded vision.
Unmanned tugboats leave a scattered froth wake.
Dark depths are like a delayed decision.
Shining scales flush with sharp cherry red blood.
Nutrients congeal in gelatine orb.
Hasty movements leave burn in on the HUD.
Isolated lamps find dust to absorb.
Soft pink passages dry from a pipe's smoke.
But heavy blue extinguishes the coke.