There are moments in time where fiction is made all the more stranger by events that ‘really did happen.’ The following is a modified transcript of events related to me in a pub on Chancery Lane on Wednesday night. Only the names and a few pertinent details have been changed… Not to protect the innocent but to make things just a little funnier. (more…)
Author: HORansome
One Funny Line
I’m six pages in (at least ten minutes if performed) into my radio script and despite the fact that it is meant to be humourous it only has one funny line thus far, and it might be funny only because the rest of the script is rather dry and boring. If I said this was meant to be the case I wouldn’t be lying all that much. The show is a documentary of sorts; science of the future based upon philosophical solutions to issues we have now (and the consequences of these solutions). I’m trying to get the framework of the documentary format down and that means info splurge for the time being. I need to know what I should be making funny by taking it all rather, well, seriously.
Still, I just know that by the end of this process I will really wish I had decided to start with the much more viable ‘second idea.’ At least that one is likely to be looked at.
“No Second chances; I’m that kind of man.”
Welcome back Mr. Patrick Troughton. Or, at least, that’s what I thought after watching ‘The Christmas Invasion,; the latest episode of ‘Doctor Who.’
My thoughts; uninspired up until the tenth Doctor makes his presence felt. The UNIT material was okay, although the continued lack of the Brigadier will irk me for a while, especially if Nicholas Courtney dies. Whilst the Brigadier might be continuity overload of a sort at least a passing reference to him would have been good. Otherwise it’s a little humdrum… Or it could be seen as being. Russell T. Davies, the producer, scripted this episode and like many of his stories from the previous season it just doesn’t seem to stack up all that well to the other stories he produced. This is a weirdly good thing; Davies stories are not bad but he has made the decision to hire even better craftspeople to surround him. Thus we get a good scriptwriter-turned-producer whose work looks weak compared to that of his staff.
But here is the canny part; Davies gets to characterise the new Doctor by writing his maiden story. And what a character it is (let’s ignore the fact that I am starting sentences with conjunctions). The new Doctor is friendly yet spikey; he can be hugs and kisses one minute and serious the next. There is a Second Doctor playfulness here, as well as the Troughton anger when people disappoint the Doctor. Without giving anything away there is also a return of the Seventh Doctor’s ability to cause trouble through innocent means. Davies writes this stuff well, even if he does steal lines from such magnum opuses as ‘The Lion King.’ I wonder of this new Doctor will be quoting a lot of pop culture.
(And the ‘Hitchhikers…’ reference was worth the price of admission alone.)
I’m gushing here and I’ve lost the thread of my thought. Let it suffice to say that I have high hopes for the new season and if Tenant continues to impress me I’ll be glad that he’s staying in the TARDIS for at least another season.
Late Night Rambling with the Ransome
Christopher Franke, one of the creative minds behind ‘Tangerine Dream’ and the composer for five years of ‘Babylon 5’ composed a suite called ‘Voices of Authority’ (a section of which was eventually used as the theme music to year five of ‘Babylon 5’). It is a stirring military piece that I like walking to. It makes me want to conquer the world and impose my own special tyranny on society. It also inspired me to try and write a short piece of fiction in the time it takes to play (eleven minutes, approximately). Here is the result.
Long time, no write…
Not much of an update today, other than that I am still thinking of you all and planning to splurge data upon you relatively soon. I’ve just started my new job and now my creative output is no longer work-related, which should hopefully mean a completely new and refreshed writing-ethic. Can’t say too much about the new money-making gig other than that it should, when confidentiality is no longer a majot issue, be the source of many an amusing story. As for the new writing projects; well, now that I am in the United Kingdom and thus able to submit work to Aunty Beeb I’m thinking radio. In fact, I’m writing for radio. Let’s just hope that radio wants me to write for it.
Trah.
Subtitles are my only reading matter…
I have not read a book since mid-August; it’s a medical thing. I had some viral infection and a sleep disorder and was thusly ordered not to do anything other than sleep in my own bed. No using the computer, no reading; just sleep. Yet bed was my reading refuge and now I find that I’m just not reading books at all. A chapter in the morning before I get up, a chapter at night before I turn off the light… None of this.
Work finishes in two weeks; maybe then I will learn the technique that is reading in a chair. It might turn out to be a useful skill.