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Many Small Things and Eagle Awards Anger
Anyhow, I had a wonderful time at the Bristol Comics Expo. The panel with Grey's Anatomy and Young Avengers writer Allan Heinberg was great fun. We ended up just chattering away about craft in front of an audience. He seems a very kind and generous man. It was also a pleasure to catch up with artists like Mark Buckingham, D’Israeli, Liam Sharp and too many others to mention. Old mate comic scribe Rob Williams is now a father. How is that allowed? It was also good to meet Brian K. Vaughan, who now writes for Lost as well as having created my current favourite comic, Runaways (to the party of which I know I am very late). It was lovely as always to have a gang to hang out with, in this case the folks from Millarworld. Caroline got to chat about manga. And one of the best things is that so many blog readers pop up at things like this these days and say hello. (Hello back, especially to those two student Who fans who'd flown down from the North.) The convention itself was an enormous hit, a crowded warehouse-sized sales area, and a beery convention hotel with lots of programming. Perfectly organised. Who could ask for more?
The Eagle Awards, on the other hand, were the usual meaningless fiasco. The online voting system: great. The statuettes themselves: excellent. Everything in-between: rubbish. One is proud to even be nominated for one of the science fiction community’s Hugo awards, because they take the honour they impart very seriously. I’m not sure some Eagle winners this year will even notice. I hope for change every year, and every year I’m disappointed. Could the winners not present not be notified beforehand, and thus send a speech, or even a video file? Would just a little bit of un-self-mocking non-drunken pomp be so out of the question? Would a rehearsal, to stop the vast Eighties Brits Awards –like stumbling amateurishness of it all, be too much to ask for? Pah. I say again, pah. But those present that night will have heard me go on about this too much already. For some reason, there’s nothing that annoys me more than a useless awards ceremony.
I’m in the midst of the novel re-write now, but that will take a backseat for a couple of weeks as I move into the next Primeval draft. Many exciting unmentionable things are also happening. I say that just to let a tiny bit of the excitement leak out and calm me down. And thus hopefully stop wheezing so much.
I’m intending to blog towards the end of the week about my forthcoming Doctor Who episodes, ‘Human Nature’ and ‘The Family of Blood’, the first of which is on next Saturday. (I was very excited to see the trailer yesterday.) In the meantime, I thought I’d get through quite a lot of announcements that have piled up while I’ve been ill…
ITEM! The sixth and final issue of Wisdom will be in comic shops Wednesday in the States, Thursday over here. And those of you who ordered the whole series in one stop, via the banner above, should get their packages a day or so later. Through the sheer courtesy of Marvel, the last issue has two extra pages. I’m very proud of what, I hope you’ll see, turns out to be one complete six-issue story, that ties up neatly. And… well, horrifically, really. Marvel’s solicitation reads:
It's only Pete Wisdom, Captain Britain, the King of the Fairies, the Master of Kung Fu and the Skrull Beatles vs. multiple Jack the Rippers and an all out alien invasion. We may throw in Dick Van Dyke. Don’t miss the catastrophic conclusion to your favourite MAX book.
Which is lovely of them.
ITEM! The BBC Doctor Who website team were kind enough to let me have a play with their new Comic Maker, a device which lets you compose your own Who comic strips online, and is thoroughly addictive. It also, incidentally, teaches the basics of comic composition through doing. You can’t have a single expression deliver more than one emotion. And there’s not enough room to show that spectacular battle scene when you also need a big close up on a shocked reaction. Most of all, I really hadn’t appreciated the trouble to which I put my letterers. Those bubbles don’t place themselves! Anyhow, here’s my silly effort, do have a play:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/comicmaker/player.shtml?cid=20071161921106462733
ITEM! I've been following with glee the new audio re-imaginging (or Battlestarring as one of my mates at Bristol put it) of Blake's 7, adapted by my old mucker Ben Aaronovitch. With an entirely new cast, and a very modern attitude, it takes any expectations of cheese and in-jokery and sinks them under the noise of whirling helicopter blades and gunfire. The adaptation is freeform, with the basic story suddenly sprouting all sorts of interesting new twists and characters. I couldn't imagine it being done better. And it's free to listen! Do check it out:
http://player26.narrowstep.tv/nsp.aspx?player=SciFi_Channel&idxtab=25192
ITEM! Favourite author Geoff Ryman, an internationalist if ever there was one, has a show about Cambodian rap music being broadcast, at 7pm on Monday, 21st May, on Resonance FM, 104.4 FM if you’re in London, or afterwards on the web:
http://resonancefm.com/audio.htm
We’re promised ‘music by and interviews with Prach Ly, Sok Visal, A Ping, DJ Boomer, Tony Real, and Silong’. Anyone now nodding your head wisely, you’re either lying or on the programme. I think that’s going to be a mind-expanding listen.
ITEM! Fellow Who author Mags Halliday tells me she will shortly bring online a new Doctor Who fan fiction ezine, Lost Luggage, for which I’ve written an introduction. It will be found here:
ITEM! Caroline’s folk/country rock band The Magpies will be playing the courtyard of Faringdon pub The Crown at 4pm on the Bank Holiday Monday, 28th May. If you’re in the area, do come along.
Anyhow, I shall see you all again around midweek, by which time my eager anticipation for next Saturday will know no bounds. Until then, Cheerio!
Labels:
Blake's 7,
Bristol Comics Expo,
Cambodian Rap,
Doctor Who,
Eagle Awards,
Geoff Ryman,
Wisdom
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Yes, the new Blake's 7 is very good. But whose loony idea was it to broadcast in 5 minute chunks? Rubbish! I like to get involved in the story, rather than get hooked then find it finishes 30 seconds later. I won't be listening to the rest, I'll wait for the inevitable CD release, where hopefully the 'episodes' will be in decent lengths.
Looking forward to Human Nature though :-)
Hope you're back up to full strength soon.
A very concerned neice of mine asked her grandpa today if they would have arrived at their holiday destination next Saturday in time for Doctor Who. She's had a very Who-ified 8th birthday today with toys, games, a shaker maker and autographs. I was quite jealous. 8-)
Then I was amused that she's christened her Cyberman doll "Kevin" and that we had a whole conversation about a mispronunciation of the word Beatles!
I'm glad you notice that we take the Hugo Awards very seriously. (I take this personally, as I was the overall manager of Events at the 2005 Worldcon; the excellent job in staging the ceremonies there, of course, was because of the great crew of volunteers we had there; all I did on the night was stand around nervously and make the pre-event safety announcement.)
With the Hugo Awards, we generally attempt to contact all of the nominees and if they can't attend, make arrangements for an alternative acceptor. With the Dramatic Presentation categories, alas, it's often difficult to get the nominees to even notice (excepting sterling souls such as you). It sounds here as though the comics industry treats the Eagle Awards the way (most) of the TV/movie industry treats the Hugo Awards.
So with Primeval, do you get to specify where the Wilhelm goes or is that up to the sound guys?
I'm just so not bothered by the length of the episodes. I'm the opposite, really, two hour podcasts leave me cold. We're going to have a do for the broadcast of the episode that will involve everyone I know in town, with many of the target audience eight year olds of which your neice is a prime example. Kevin! Tell me if she likes it. And then here's... Kevin, who I hope has no cybernetic parts. I'm well aware of how seriously the Hugos are taken in the SF community, and what a great job is done with them every year. There's what an amateur awards organisation can do if it really has the will to. It's true that Hollywood is the last community to notice, but they have their own mutual awards, which may be the root cause of that. And with Moffat having now adopted 'Hugo' as his middle name, the BBC may be paying more attention too. Dave: I don't know what you're talking about, which makes me wonder if I've been derelict in my duties. Wilhelm, who works on Primeval, says he goes where he likes.
Ta for the Blakes Seven link. I'll see how the Battlestarring works.
Mark P
Thanks a lot for the Blakes Seven link. I'm really excited as I've seen the original show last time somewhere in the mid 80s.
*sends a virtual cold tea*
Hey Paul,
There was something in the Daily Mirror the other day about you being involved with a SuperHero show for the BBC in the Doctor Who slot.
Any news on that?
Also, been enjoying Wisdom, will be a touch sad to see it end. Loved the reveal at the end of issue 5.
I CANNOT tell you how very excited I am about HN/FoB ! You wrote one of my favourite episodes of Season 1, so I've very high expectations of a brilliant story (hopefully they'll wipe the horror of "42" from my mind!)... I'm hoping, also that the BBC will reinstate the e-book of HN once the episodes have aired as I'd really like to read it afterwards.
Are you speaking at the Faringdon Arts Festival again this year ? (I came to the panel you did with Juliet E McKenna, back before New Who began airing)...
Well, I think I'd prefer hot tea. But ta. There's no official news about the demise of my superhero show, but I think that for all intents and purposes it's dead. I think the Mirror just grabbed bits from the DWM interview I did recently. It's amazing how, in this business, busy hope can become resignation to defeat in the time it takes an interview to be printed. I think you'll find Wisdom six is loads more of what you saw at the end of five, and thank you. I'm not actually holding a panel at FAF, I'm running about in a tabard directing traffic, but I will be available in the evenings for a serious number of pints with anyone who comes along from the blog audience. Just ask for me at the Portwell Bar.
Shame about the superhero series. The BBC would reap huge rewards if it kept the 7pm Saturday night fantasy drama slot open all year instead of the current six months.
I am enjoying the reworking of Blake 7, thanks for the link. Nice that B7E have finally got something of the ground. So far I have heard two of the instalments adn I am looking forward to the rest.
That's terrible news about the superhero show. I had thought it must be a cert with the greenlighters with the success of Heroes and Marvel films.
The 7pm Saturday night slot must be held by family genre drama all year round as far as I'm concerned and you're just the man to do it!
Hope you're feeling better soon.
R.
As one of the blog readers who popped up to say hello at Bristol - hello again.
Ran into an advance review for your ep just now which said something like "this is the best Doctor Who ep I've seen for quite a while". And because I always believe reviews implicitly (who doesn't?!) I shall be even more excited about Saturday.
BTW thanks for the tip about "42" - really enjoyed the ep.
Paul, it was great to see you in Bristol. You didn't seem ill then! But then again, it was frickin hot in the showroom so I wouldn't have noticed you sweating, cos everybody else was too :-) [Cor, those poor StormTroopers...] I passed along your card to my colleague, because I thought I still had an email address for you, and I've since discovered I do not. Will you (and/or Caroline, too!) ever-so-kindly drop me a note on lea ~at~ leahays ~dot~ co ~dot~ uk Cheers!
Thanks very much, all. I'm on the road to recovery. Lea, I'll be in touch. Cheers.
Does there need to be another Blakes Seven? Wasn't the first one bad enough? Mind you,the same could be true of bsg (I loved the original as a kid, mind you, along with Fireball xl5) and the new one is very good. Can't wait for Doctor Who, hope your episode is good, cos some of them have been a bit lame recently...
Wisdom was a terrific series. Everything I wish Torchwood would've been, really. Marvelous job. I shat myself at the end. Well, metaphorically.
Very much looking forward to Human Nature.
Well I always thought Family entertaiment was supposed to appeal to every family member, not just to certain people, however i guess i was wrong though.
Like everybody else, I look forward to Human Nature. Are you allowed to say who is doing the online commentaries for the two episodes?
Hi Paul.
I wanted to say I've enjoyed all of your work that I've come across so far and am impressed that you've been able to write professionally in so many different media (books, TV, audio drama etc). I’ve got a question but I’m sure your super busy so don’t worry if you don’t have time to answer but I thought I’d ask…
From reading the wikipedia article on you (I realise this may be inaccurate!) I see you started off writing stories and moved to TV scripts after that. How did you make that leap and were people willing to employ you as a script writer simply on the strength of your prose or did you have to pitch scripts to them as well? As an aspiring writer (I entered Big Finish's recent Doctor Who competition) who'd also like to work cross medium I'm interested in how you did that as I'm wondering how best to spend my energies and get people to take me seriously.
Am looking forward to Human Nature - I've not had a chance to read the book so it will all be fresh to me.
I've been watching 'Doctor Who' for as long as I can remember but I haven't dreamt about the programme. Until now. Basically I was watching 'Human Nature' and really enjoying it until Bernard Manning made a cameo. Quite what brought this dream on I don't know - maybe something to do with the Radio Times cover saying Is this the scariest episode - anyway I feel the need to apologise. Sorry about that
Thanks very much, all. I'd better leave the announcing of things, such as online commentaries, to the BBC. I don't know that it would be an issue, but that's their playground and they own the toys within. Chris: every writer's story of how they got into the business is mad. There is no career ladder, so we all had to grab ridiculous chances. In my case, it was Moffat having read my Press Gang review in the Guinness Book of British TV and introducing me to his producer. I'd already won a BBC contest and had a short play made, so I wasn't entirely new, mind you. You have to keep working away, seek out harsh criticism of your work, change because of it, and grab any such chances that come along. Tim: all I can say is, that's spooky. Seriously, if before your next holiday, you dream about crashing on a desert island, don't take that flight.
Just read the last of the Wisdom issues -- great stuff, Paul. Too bad about Maureen, but she probably still lives in another alternate world anyway and few folks remain absolutely dead in comics nowadays. She'll probably pop up again in your next mini-series.
BTW, what more can one ask for than Rippers, Martian war machines and Captain Britain. Goshwowboyoboy. Didn't realize that Maureen's son was the alternate world doppelganger of Killraven...
Can't waiting for the Dr. Who season 2 eps to be shown on CBC in Canada (the advantage of Seattle's cable service) and the SciFi Channel in the US. Don't know when and if they might get Torchwood.
Erp! Brainspasm -- that should have been Dr. Who season 3...
Just to let you know, Lost Luggage is now live. Whew...
Now for issue 02...argh!
Thanks, Stu, sorry I missed that post earlier. And Mags, I shall repromote! Cheers.