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Annissa ([personal profile] annissamazing) wrote2011-06-15 10:57 am
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This is me angsting

I've been hesitant to post about this stuff, so here it is all at once.

I'm nervous about Dominic's school. I set my alarm for midnight so I could be among the first to submit an application for open enrollment at the school my sitter's kids go to. The application wasn't open by 12:30, so I went back to bed. It was up at 5, so I submitted it then. Dominic is in the last group of kids that will be considered because he is a non-resident of that particular city and he has no siblings in higher grades. I'm terrified he won't be accepted, because neither Justin nor I will be able to pick him up from school in the afternoons. We really need our sitter to do it, and she can't do it if he doesn't go to the same school as her kids. I'm sure there's some kind of a solution if open enrollment doesn't work, but I'm afraid it would mean finding a new sitter. And I don't know when they intend to notify which kids were accepted.

I'm nervous about fall semester. I'm worried I'm taking on too much at once.

I'm scared about my upcoming trip. I'm terrified I'm going to die in a fiery plane crash. This is normal for me, so I won't focus too much on it.

Lastly, I need to finally admit that I don't care for this incarnation of Doctor Who. I don't think I'm at the I-refuse-to-watch-this-season-anymore point (and because of the midseason break, it doesn't actually matter), but I feel like the people who are completely enamored of this season are trying to push me, and people like me, that direction and it makes me feel angry. Like I'm not the fan they want me to be, so I'm not worth anything and need to stfu. Which is why I've stopped posting about it. I don't want to be all Negative Nelly about it constantly. I want to concentrate on the things I have enjoyed (and there have been things!), but I feel like the things I don't care for have been outweighing the things I've liked.

I've been comparing it to fanfic a lot lately. I think that it's an apt comparison because the writers are fans telling new stories using someone else's characters. Season 5 and what I've seen of season 6 feel like fanfic from a very popular author whose characterization I don't buy, whose OCs I don't understand, and whose themes I don't enjoy. I'm not saying that Moffat's Who is bad. I'm saying it's not for me.

Soon I'll be watching more of the Classic Series and I'm sure there will be eras that I don't care for for similar reasons, but I'll still watch them, because (as [livejournal.com profile] gement so eloquently put it) I still love the shape of the show. I'll continue watching Season 6 and even though this era isn't my cup of tea, chances are good that future eras will be.

[identity profile] wendymr.livejournal.com 2011-06-15 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope your application for Dominic is accepted!

I feel like the people who are completely enamored of this season are trying to push me, and people like me, that direction and it makes me feel angry. Like I'm not the fan they want me to be, so I'm not worth anything and need to stfu.

This - oh, yes. So very much yes. I've stopped posting any kind of commentary or reaction on my LJ (apart from a brief comment on Rory a couple of eps ago), though I'll acknowledge that (a) I did do a flounce last year and say I wouldn't watch again, whereas I have been watching, mainly because this is canon DW like it or not and I do intend to watch future incarnations, and (b) it's not so much that people have said I should shut up, but some people on my flist who do like the Matt Smith era have made generalised comments about squee being harshed or otherwise disliking the negativity, or have vehemently argued with every criticism I have of this era to the point of making me feel that I needed to curtail conversation on my own LJ.

Not everyone's going to feel the same way about every era, Doctor or companion; I'm well aware of that. I didn't like S3 as much as the rest of the RTD era. I really dislike One. I don't care for Four anything like as much as Three, and I find young Sarah Jane abrasive. That's life. Not liking the Moffat era, and really disliking the direction he's taking the Doctor (and this is different from fanfic in a hugely significant way, because this is now canon), actually feels pretty awful. I don't get excited on episode days; I don't watch eps with friends and chat excitedly about them afterwards any more; I didn't go to last weekend's rewatch sessions, even though I've enjoyed the ones I have been to; and I don't read episode reviews or speculation on my flist any more because I'm left cold or wondering what's wrong with me that I just don't see what they're seeing.

But this too shall pass :) Sooner or later, Smith will leave and I hope the next Doctor will be one I will like. Moffat will leave also, as will the characters of his era. And this isn't just an anti-Moffat thing with me; I adore his version of Sherlock. The man can write good drama, even if I do think he doesn't write women particularly well.

Maybe those of us who dislike S5 just need to arrange our own rewatches now and again? And fic. Definitely fic!
Edited 2011-06-15 16:26 (UTC)

[identity profile] wendymr.livejournal.com 2011-06-15 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Same IRC channel as previously?

I'll try - the only reason I'm commenting here at all this afternoon is that I'm home sick! Normally, I'm at work, and then involved in meal preparation when I get home. Should be free up until shortly after six this evening, and then if you guys are still online after 8 I can be back. Sounds great!

[identity profile] kelkat9.livejournal.com 2011-06-15 04:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my gosh you just made me smile. I thought I was the only one who had an issue with young Sara Jane. Granted, I watched this when I was a kid but I never really connected with her unlike Romana who I adored. Everyone always seems to adore the young version of her character. I thought it was just me LOL! Oh I do like mature SJ. I thought she was pretty impressive in Season 2.

[identity profile] ladyprydian.livejournal.com 2011-06-15 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Young SJ causes a very arched eyebrow and puzzled expression when I watched the Five Doctors (one of the few old Who ep's I've seen). I think that's because I was all pumped for how awesome I was told she was.

I remember reading (I think it was on doctorwho here on LJ) someone saying the same thing. How they just watched some eps with SJ in it and couldn't understand how fantastic she was. Nostagia is a very clouded thing.

I agree I much perfer mature SJ.

[identity profile] wendymr.livejournal.com 2011-06-15 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I loved her in S2, and again in S4, and I did enjoy watching her in the couple of SJA episodes I watched. But, yes, young Sarah... argh! Now, I know that the 1970s were a very different era, and if a woman didn't want to be treated as a sex object or told to make the tea she had to be more assertive - though, actually, I did like the way Jo managed to get the respect of people around her. And, while Liz could also be a bit sharp on occasion, she had much more justification, considering her qualifications and ability. Sarah Jane in her early twenties just comes across as a bit self-centred, know-it-all and needlessly abrasive. Still, that's all part of growing up :) It would just have been nice to have a bit of acknowledgement that she wasn't all that's wonderful, in the way that we know modern companions aren't supposed to be considered perfect. Though that's one of the many differences between Classic and New Who, of course.