Comments on PaulCornell.com: One Hundred and Four Thousand Words

I love Dwarf Assistant. I want to have it put some...

2007-02-18T13:10:00.000Z

I love Dwarf Assistant. I want to have it put somewhere in the credits to a movie. Interesting to hear that about The Bill. Good to meet you Jen, and sorry I fell asleep in the lobby rather than being sociable last night. I'm not going to drop any Who injokes in Wisdom, because I don't do injokes these days (they're so rarely actually jokes), but X-continuity has loads of Who links anyway.

A-M: That happened about a year and a half ago wh...

2007-02-16T08:59:00.000Z

A-M: That happened about a year and a half ago when Joss Whedon, kind of in a drunken state, I think, or at least faking it, decided to spam Warren Ellis's comments. It was one of the best things I have ever seen anywhere.

Hey Paul! Long time no see! I thought I should drop by and see how you're doing since Gallifrey is this weekns.end (or today...) I won't be going until Saturday. Rather sad about that, but I have to work through today and Sunday.

I think you make an intriguing argument about canon. That's one claim I haven't seen. People seem to prize canon because it lets us know what has happened...but when you're dealing with a project that has had hundreds of stories, it's difficult to keep up with everything. I come from a long history of reading X-Men and nearly every X-title up until the mid-1990s, so I understand and have witnessed how many stories can be told where not everything lines up. But Doctor Who really...I haven't seen anything quite like the history of Doctor Who. There are two fan pages where the webmasters traced back the Doctor's history, tying in everything from the books, audios, television episodes, and everything else...and frankly, the whole thing gives me a splitting headache (perhaps this is in part to how the webmasters decided to colour code everything?) It may just be better to let everything be and accept everything is up to be changed. It's the way time travel works, after all.

Here's my corny question of the day: while you're on Wisdom, will you be dropping any Doctor Who humerous bits? In addition to that incredible history the Doctor has, he's appeared on numerous occasions in various Marvel books, be it Marvel UK books, or otherwise. The TARDIS, according to Wikipedia, even made an appearance in Doctor Strange's lab, in an issue of Marvel Mangaverse.

I also get the feeling that certain writers who are currently working on Doctor Who have previously read Ellis's stint on Stormwatch, who likely watched Doctor Who, too, if this and this are indications. Some rather interesting coincdences here. :D

I liked your comment about Casualty because I don'...

2007-02-15T19:50:00.000Z

I liked your comment about Casualty because I don't think this issue of canon is restricted to sci-fi/fantasy, I think there'll always be divisions amongst fans of any show, those who like the new stuff, those who prefer the earlier episodes and those who wonder why we can't all just get along.

For what it's worth there are fans of The Bill who don't count anything from 2002 onwards as part of the same show (The period when it stopped being one off episodes and became a soap opera with lip service played to the fact that all the characters were police officers). And of course there are those who love it now and think it's less boring when all the old episodes were about counting paper clips (!)

And there's the old argument of whether the pilot Woodentop counts as part of the same Sun Hill universe as characters are renamed and actors recast. But surely it must count because the events of the pilot are referenced in the first series (Although ironically referenced by characters who weren't present in the pilot!)

Oh well it keeps us talking!

Ohh and hurrah, happy birthday to Benny.

You know what the real bugger is - 'Dallas'. Wots...

2007-02-14T10:30:00.000Z

You know what the real bugger is - 'Dallas'. Wotsername wakes up, Bobby's in the shower - what's canon after *that*? Tut, tut.

Since you raised the topic of Pluto the "dwarf planet", I have a new idea for reclassifying DW assistants (or "companions" as we used to call them before 'Firefly' made the word synonymous with prostitution).
See, I've never thought that Katarina or Sara Kingdom, one-shot characters who only lasted a few short episodes, ought to have been considered DW assistants in the authoritative-reference-book-list sense, while many other fans seem reluctant to count Captain Jack and Mickey as assistants in the new series (mainly because they don't get title sequence credits, I think - but then Catherine Tate *would* be on the list, and she's another one-shot character).
So I propose the new classification of "dwarf assistant". This will allow me to demote Katarina, Sara Kingdom and Donna The Bride (and probably Kamelion, for what it's worth) from an undeserved position of assistantdom, while also allowing, um, me to promote assistant-sized lesser characters such as Jack, Mickey, Jackie (that'll drive 'em nuts, heheh), uniformed members of the UNIT family, and Will Chandler (who was robbed, robbed I tell you!). A double win for me there.

I may have already done that, thanks to Wisdom! R...

2007-02-14T07:59:00.000Z

I may have already done that, thanks to Wisdom! Ross, that was big and lovely of you. Great stuff.

Hi Paul - at your suggestion I reread the section ...

2007-02-14T00:43:00.000Z

Hi Paul - at your suggestion I reread the section of your blog referring to the "NONE of it happened" issue.

"That’s something else of a bullying nature that people on fan forums say. ‘None of it’s real, you know.’ Like the other person thought it was. They’re deliberately confusing the game of ‘it happened’ with the reality of something that actually did."

It's looks likely that I've been guilty of jumping in with a comment heard many times during fan debates I wasn't part of, a comment that usually enduces groans and smacking of foreheads. Of course, most of us know that it's all a glorious fiction. I guess it was a seperate issue to the canonicity debate, but somewhere else in the jumble of thoughts I posted, I referred to a concern that sometimes the SF world is all too real to the certain fans who so passionately debate these issues. Experience has shown me that to some fans (a minority), it's not a "game of what happened" at all, but there is a real blurring of the boundaries between our world and the fantasy world. Did you hear about the guy who starved to death playing a character in an online virtual reality game? Debate, discussion, is fun. There's a point, however, where the direction of one's energies into somthing that, as you seemed to suggest, cannot be determined with real finality due to the absence of a necessary authority, becomes pointless. To those who want to chat about the canonicity issue as an entertaining topic of debate, let's go for it. To those, however, who seek victory in the debate by claiming the power to decide what is and what is not canonical... well, that's where my comment was directed. To the rest of you... no offence intended! And certainly, no bullying. After all, I'm the nerd who's posting my second comment on the matter - don't think the irony of THAT isn't lost on me...

Is this the start of a rampage across internet fan...

2007-02-13T19:38:00.000Z

Is this the start of a rampage across internet fandoms? Haha!

See if you can start fisticuffs between Lennon and McCartney fans next...go on....8-)

Just joshing, obviously.

I've just done that, and thanks very much. I just ...

2007-02-13T19:00:00.000Z

I've just done that, and thanks very much. I just like the word 'row'. It's funnier than 'heated debate'. Ta!

Hi Paul,

we're hardly rowing, we're having ...

2007-02-13T18:45:00.000Z

Hi Paul,

we're hardly rowing, we're having a heated debate. Or rather, our users are having a heated debate.
You are welcome to join us. Drop us a line at:

http://whedonesque.com/contact.html

...and I'll sign you up.

Simon, I could tell you how he did if you don't mi...

2007-02-13T17:44:00.000Z

Simon, I could tell you how he did if you don't mind being spoilered. Or spoiled, if you want me to tell you really nicely. Dana, I tried to join to apologise in person (and because I've always heard good things about the board courtesy of The Week in Whedon), but they have membership application window dates, and we're not in one right now. When they declare themselves open again, I'll hop in and take part.

C'mon over to whedonesque and joint the fun- talk ...

2007-02-13T17:39:00.000Z

C'mon over to whedonesque and joint the fun- talk about reader repsonse theory, astronomical categorization, authroial intent vs. reader interpretation, metaphysics, religion and a lot more.

In fact, it's been a very entertaining discussion, and I'd recommend a visit if for no other reason that to assure yourself you are not alone. :-)
Dana5140

My friend and fellow Doctor Who fan Will Howell...

2007-02-13T17:28:00.000Z
My friend and fellow Doctor Who fan Will Howells is, as we speak, on my television, on Channel 4’s teatime game show Countdown.

**** I forgot to set the video!