my word. is that mature sci-fi I see there?

Watched the Caprica pilot. :tilts head: Interesting. Good, solid tv, well set up, quite a lot of thought put into it, and decent characters so far. (hope they don't put too much emphasis on the teenagers in the series, though) I love the Taurons (oh shush, I'm a sucker for well-done design - Mexican gangsters covered in Maori tattoos in really sharp Rat Pack-era suits? So. There. Actually, I really want to see more Taurons than the gangsters, to see if the facial tats are a gang thing or a general adult-male thing, because I do not want to see that 'they have facial tats! they must be gangsters!' which is still one of the stupider things about gang culture - 'Let's mark ourselves out for the coppers!'), and once again they're doing pretty well on the melding of Ancient Greek religion and modern day-to-day life, something which they forgot about in the final couple of seasons of BSG, where they got rid of the day-to-day stuff and focussed on the whole Baltar thing.

What's kind of interesting is the tone and pace. Because it's a pilot, they're doing the whole introducing the characters and world thing, but because it's part built on BSG, they don't have the pressure to explain very much. We come into this at least partly informed, as it's a prequel. Much more relaxed. It's like Razor, which was a story from that world they just wanted to take time out and tell. No forced 'this is my backstory, this is my school, this is my workplace, excuse me while I exposition dump'. They didn't have to explain the fact that the Taurons are immigrants from a different planet. And hey, tv sci-fi looks like it's maturing (yes, we know the phrase is a bit tired) because it's now got to the point where they're telling stories as stories and not bothering to shove the 'ALIENS SPACESHIPS FUTURE TECH LOOK HOW WEIRD THIS IS' in our face, with added 'futuristic' fashion (which as we know, ages *really badly*). Yay! Finally you catch up with print media, and dare I say it, actually getting to the point of surpassing Blade Runner (don't think we're not noticing the common connection of Edward James Olmos). hmm. Does this qualify as catching up with decent cyberpunk?

They've guaranteed us gay characters but not making a big thing of it. Specifically casting Hispanic actors. Polly Walker. All these things are a wonderful sign for grown-up tv.

RIP and writing

Bugger. RIP Sir Bobby Robson. Died this morning. A true gent of the game.

In light of that, I went stalking the NUFC forums to see if my dad had been commenting on the issue - he's a regular on there and deemed one of the old-time silverbacks. problem is I couldn't remember his username, and couldn't see the icon I know he uses on the topics I clicked on. Child stalking parent on internet forum. I feel faintly filthy for the role reversal.

(though I do love that NUFC.com has *no* bells and whistles and is just standard simple design with bugger all aesthetics or prettiness. It's the fans' site and they cannot be arsed to make it prettier when it works fine. The ads and sponsors should give you a giggle, too. The official site, of course, is all flash and never decently updated and crap at info. And once they tried to force the supporters site to hand over the .com addy. The mocking laughter was... amusing.)

Finally getting around to actually writing up the Torchwood circle village story, with tweaking for inserting new character as I write. after this, of course, it'll still require shredding by beta. but there's nothing like mid-writing a scene going 'argh, how common a sight was a smithy in 1920s semi-rural britain?' and having to do a quick google. Whimpered a bit when i found out the dates of the decline of smithys due to mass manufacturing... but then remembered that horse-plough type farming didn't really go until post-war so it was conceivable, especially the more rural places. Reminds me, I really have to figure out how large a town this place is. Small-ish. Mid-way between large village and small town. 'Course, the definition of 'small town' and 'large village' has changed somewhat since the 1920s and suburban spread. pondering precisely how much I've shot myself in the foot by making one of the locals a bobby. And have to go back over it and decide precisely what characterization I really want the Torchwood girl to have. She's a mad-for-engines girl who's wavering between posh dilettante and a jolly hockeysticks type. Think I'd make it easier on myself if I just write her as Bobby Wickham who happens to be mad for engines and a Torchwood operative.

off to buy a watch and see if my sandal is fixed.