dalek

Star Trek writier, producer, and showrunner Jeri Taylor has died. https://trekmovie.com/2024/10/25/star-trek-voyager-co-creator-jeri-taylor-has-passed-away/

On the running in high heels thing - here's one of my favorite comdey clips on the subject: Jurassic Park High Heels Edition

I really enjoyed this week's episode. Three thoughts at the moment: (1) Shirley Bingham didn't last long as UNIT's scientific advisor. Too bad. She was a fun character. (2) Was not expecting a "Pyramids of Mars" callback. Always nice when they reference classic Dr Who. (3) It's never Susan.

I liked this episode more than Space Babies. I was amused by alt-timeline Cilla singing what was pretty close to the Barney theme. Nice cameo by June Hudson. After Ruby let real music into the air, I thought it was interesting that her character was the one to play music, because given when the Maestro came into the world to start devouring music, most of the characters in the episode would have been too young to have been exposed to proper, really good music, but Hudson’s character was old enough to remember good music. It was very obvious that none of the actors were actually playing their instruments or doing proper bowing, etc. during the music battle, which I thought spoiled it a bit. It would have been cool if the chord that Paul said he dreamed about had been the magic chord to defeat the Maestro.

I was mostly "meh" about this episode, although I did like the "Sound of Thunder" bit. Given that Davies had the farting Slitheen on his first go round with Dr Who, I shouldn't be surprised he had a snot monster and a giant fart moving a space station. Liked what I'm assuming was a dig at a certain type of pro-lifer. Overall, I found it fun but nothing special, although thanks yo Disney money, everything looked great (although what I think were CGI lips on the babies did seem a bit uncanny valley)

Comic book artist and historian Trina Robbins has died. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2024/04/10/trailblazing-comics-icon-trina-robbins-dies-at-age-85/?sh=78863a912a66 I've got a complete run of Wimmen's Comix and a numb er of other underground comics she worked on. And a piece of original art from her brief run on wonder Woman in 1986 (she was the first woman to draw Wonder Woman for DC. In 1986!)

Comic book artist Ramona Fradon has died. She was 97 and had only just retired. I knew her best from her years drawing the Brenda Starr newspaper comic strip, but she did a lot of work for DC Comics. https://bleedingcool.com/comics/comic-book-creator-ramona-fradon-has-died-aged-97/

Author Steve Miller, who wrote the Liaden Universe space opera novels with his wife Sharon Lee, died yesterday. Probably from a heart attack, according to Sharon Lee on her facebook page. https://locusmag.com/2024/02/steve-miller-1950-2023/

Actor Gary Graham has died. I was a big fan of Alien Nation back in the day. https://deadline.com/2024/01/gary-graham-dead-1235802196/

SF/F author Howard Waldrop has died. His story "Night of the Cooters" was turned into a short film. https://www.lawrenceperson.com/?p=23015&fbclid=IwAR2MDasNPr35tNiDmNs1SHvHgTY1IQ9wF56rTLmgx4qTfLp3aA_XX23RxKg Hw was a very funny man and a popular guest at science fiction conventions. Here's video of Howard Waldrop, Gardner Dozois, and George R.R. Martin at my local SF/F convention talking about their (mis)adventures: https://youtu.be/nvdsmhQYTyc?si=RrvlKwuYAYiKfBeX

Author Terry Bisson has died. https://locusmag.com/2024/01/terry-bisson-1942-2024/ I'm a big fan of his story "Bears Discover Fire." His story "They're Made of Meat" got turned into a short film. Pretty sure it got shown on the SYFY channel back when it was still the SciFi Channel and had a regular short film program. Or possibly I'm misremembering where I saw it.

I really enjoyed Round and Round. Hallmark has made enough Hanukkah movies now that my expectations have gone from "just don't completely fuck up Chanukah" to "should actually have a decent plot and good acting." And I like a good time loop movie or tv show (Stargate SG1's Window of Opportunity is one of my favorites) Wasn't a huge fan of this year's crop of movies. Liked Holiday Road, Friends and Family Christmas, Mystery of Mistletoe Lane, and To All a Good Night, thought The Santa Summit was decent, and enjoyed Catch Me If You Claus. Was happy Hallmark Drama had a couple Hallmark Hall of Fame movie marathons, so I got to see Naughty or Nice twice this year, Hitched for the Holidays, and Season of Miracles, one of my all time favorites. Mostly when I was watching Hallmark I was trying to watch movies I'd enjoyed from previous years, like A Godwink Christmas: Made for Love, my favorite of that series.

RIP Keith Giffen. My favorite of his creations was Ambush Bug. I also really liked his run on Justice League International. Here's another decent obit and career overview: https://screencrush.com/keith-giffen-dies/

Comic book artist Joe Matt has died. It looks like he died of a heart attack while at work at his drawing board. Back in the day, when i had a ridiculously expensive comic book habit, Peepshow was one of the Drawn & Quarterly books I read regularly. https://www.comicsbeat.com/rip-joe-matt/

Sheldon Harnick, lyricist for Fiddler on the Roof and other musicals has died at 99. Huge fan of Fiddler. I've seen several productions, but have not yet had the opportunity to see the Yiddish language version. In his long career, Harnick racked up 3 Tonys and a Pulitzer Prize. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/06/23/sheldon-harnick-fiddler-dead/