Hi. Long time no talk.

Life has been...weird, for all the reasons it's been weird for everyone else.

But I'm not going to get into that right now. Hurricane Isaias is knocking on the door, so instead of dwelling on any any real life stress or anxiety, I'm going to talk about the thing that I've been hyperfocused on since COVID-19 hit in March: Star Wars...or, more specifically, Star Wars Rebels and why you should watch it.

"Hey Quipxotic," you say in this conversation I'm imagining, "isn't that show aimed at kids?" Well yes, sometimes it is, imaginary person, but it also has plenty of storylines adults will appreciate. Plus, it has the best found family in Star Wars, my favorite Jedi of all time, some gorgeous scenery, and (something that is lacking from lots of other Star Wars properties) actual character development.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First off, did you like The Mandalorian? Most likely the answer is 'yes' because, while there are people who dislike that show, they are few and far between. (Although, if you haven't seen the first season yet, you should probably stop reading this post as there will be SPOILERS below.) What does The Mandalorian have to do with Rebels? Plenty. The two main forces (see what I did there?) behind The Mandalorian are Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, both of whom serve as executive producers, writers, directors, and seemingly half a dozen other roles within the series production. Favreau is the more famous of the two, but it's Filoni who is the most interesting for my purposes because he was supervising director, writer, etc., for the 2008 animated series The Clone Wars and the creator, executive producer, etc., for Star Wars Rebels.

And here's the thing about Filoni: although he's knowledgeable about all aspects of Star Wars, there are certain elements he really loves and he finds new and creative ways to use them in everything he does. The black lightsaber (aka the Darksaber) at the end of season 1 of The Mandalorian had its origins in The Clone Wars and then appeared again in Rebels. Mandalorians predate all three series, but their history and politics feature pretty heavily in both The Clone Wars and Rebels. Jedi are in both as well, obviously, but Filoni does more than just make stories about cool space wizards; he explores what the Force actually is, what the Jedi believe and how that's sometimes really fucked up, and he makes it clear that the Jedi aren't the only Force-wielders in the galaxy, in fact they're not even the oldest.

Do you need to know all this backstory to enjoy The Mandalorian? No, thankfully not, but it does give the series added depth if you know where things come from. Plus, it sounds like a few characters from Rebels are going to be showing up in season 2, along with no doubt a few more of Filoni's favorites narrative toys. All of which are great reasons to watch Rebels before the new season.


Want some other reasons? Okay...

• A lot of the art and character design is based on concept art created by Ralph McQuarrie for the original trilogy. That's cool for sheer geekiness, but it's also gorgeous art.*


• The music by Kevin Kiner, who also scored The Clone Wars, is some of the best music in the franchise not penned by the legend that is John Williams.


• This is not an imagined found family. You don't have to force it (I know, I know) or squint to make the stories fit that trope. It's something that is referenced frequently by the characters in the show itself. If, like me, found families (and stories about dealing with difficult families) are your catnip, you'll love it in this show.


• Hera Syndulla is a better pilot than Han Solo and The Ghost is a better ship than The Millennium Falcon. (It's true, don't @ me.)


• Kanan Jarrus, while not the most powerful Jedi, is perhaps one of the best, most interesting Jedi ever created. He starts out the series very much in the gunslinger mold, but as the series goes on he gets a lot of added depth. He's flawed, he struggles with self-doubt and guilt, but he's fundamentally a good, caring guy who finds a way to defy expectations (ours, his own, the Jedi Order's, the Empire's, everyone's). The comic series Kanan: The Last Padawan, which deals with his experiences during the Clone Wars, is really good too, and the book A New Dawn which features both him and Hera is a lot of fun. And the voice acting for him by Freddie Prinze, Jr., is just *chef's kiss*.


• All the voice acting in this show is fantastic.


• Chopper is the third best droid in Star Wars, after K-2SO and R2-D2.


• The Inquisitors are a fascinating concept and make for excellent villains, particularly the Grand Inquisitor who features heavily in season 1.


• Unlike The Clone Wars, which is the more acclaimed show of the two, Rebels is linear, not jumping around to different parts of the timeline from one episode/story arc to the next. It features characters who, for the most part, don't feature in later media, meaning that anything can happen to them and they actually have space to grow and change as characters. And the quality is more consistent. I mean, I love a lot of The Clone Wars episodes and if you were to say that the best Star Wars content ever is in that series, I wouldn't disagree with you; but there's some real stinkers in there too. While I love some Rebels episodes more than others, there's only one episode in four seasons that I'd call bad.

Those are only some highlights, because I could go on and on about why I love this series. I won't because if you also follow me on Tumblr, you've already been subjected to months of Rebels GIFs and are probably sick of this topic already. If that describes you, thank you for putting up with my current obsession. I'm sure I'll move on to something else...eventually.

[* - The art in Rebels is something of a divisive topic among Star Wars fans. People tend to either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it, but if you don't there are plenty of folks who will agree with you, so your mileage on this point may vary.]

[Oh, PS - want to hear the song I reference in the "music" field below? You can do that here and you really should.]

I've only had intermittent access to the internet for roughly a week and a half. Before that I was deep in drabble-writing-land, but I'm back now. Prepare yourself for bullet point updates!

Reading

• I listened to Big Finish's The Martian Invasion of Earth featuring Richard Armitage and Lucy Briggs-Owen and it was truly frightening. I can see why it won Best Audio Drama for 2018. Armitage plays a fictionalized version of H.G. Wells in an alternate 1890s where the only thing that's changed is that aliens invade Earth. Definitely one that's worth picking up if it ever goes on sale.


• I bought the novelization of the Second Doctor serial "The Mind Robber" primarily because it was read by the fabulous Derek Jacobi. The TV version is one of the more surreal 1960s Doctor Who stories and isn't one of my favorites, but I was pleasantly surprised by the book version. Not only does Jacobi shine, but the story is so much better in book form where the special effects all take place in your head. Author Peter Ling also beefed up the rather weak plot and made it into an engaging story.


• I listened to the War Doctor novel Engines of War by George Mann. In general, it was quite good and I enjoyed the character of Cinder. The War Doctor has always been a tricky prospect: how do you write a version of the Doctor who does things the Doctor wouldn't and yet is still the Doctor? The general solution (and something that Big Finish does a lot the War Doctor audios) is to make him a toothless, shouty Doctor who keeps telling people how bad he is without...actually...doing anything bad...ever. The book gives him some teeth, at least early on; you can believe this is someone who has done and seen horrible things. By the middle he's back to being very Doctorish, but there's an in-story explanation for that, so it didn't bother me as much. Your mileage may vary. I wrote oodles of drabbles for it, if you're interested.

Which segues me into...

Writing

• I've finally broken through my brain block on the "Hill House Eight" chapter I've been working on for what feels like forever. I should a have a draft of that ready sometime this weekend.


• I've written a lot of Time War stuff recently. In addition to the War Doctor drabbles, I've finished writing for the Eighth Doctor Time War vol. 1.


• I'm about done writing for the Second Doctor Companion Chronicles vol. 1, I just need to finish up writing for "The Integral." The other stories include "The Mouthless Dead" and "The Story of Extinction," which both have new drabbles, and "The Edge," which I wrote for years ago.

I finally caved and used one of my credits to pick up Thirteen Doctors 13 Stories - an anthology of Doctor Who short stories, one story for each Doctor - which I've been eyeing since I first joined Audible. I've spent the last week listening to it and overall it's quite good, but there is a wide range of stories of varying quality. Below I'll give a brief blurb, review, and rating for each one.

• The First Doctor: "A Big Hand for the Doctor" by Eoin Colfer - "London, 1900. The First Doctor is missing both his hand and his granddaughter, Susan. Faced with the search for Susan, a strange beam of soporific light, and a host of marauding Soul Pirates intent on harvesting human limbs, the Doctor is promised a dangerous journey into a land he may never forget..." - What is it about modern writers and the First Doctor? They all just want to focus on the angry, grumpy old man aspects of his character, which means their portrayals of him are utterly one dimensional. And yes, he is grumpy, self-centered, and vindictive at times, particularly early on before Ian and Barbara start rubbing off on him. But he's also mischievous, curious, delighted by all sorts of things, sarcastic, brave, and hopeful about the future, both his own and the universe's. In short, he is still the Doctor. And yet, with some exceptions from Big Finish, most modern writers don't even make an attempt at creating a well-rounded person when they're writing the First Doctor. As you may have guessed, I hated this story because it's guilty of all the above and more. The story is also just...painfully dull. Rating: 1 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Second Doctor: "The Nameless City" by Michael Scott - "When Jamie McCrimmon brings the Second Doctor a mysterious book, little does he realise the danger contained within its pages. The book transports the TARDIS to a terrifying glass city on a distant world, where the inhabitants are intent on getting revenge on the Time Lord for an ancient grudge." - Unlike the first story, this one nails the characterizations of both the Second Doctor and Jamie. I particularly like its take on Jamie's motivations as he tries to (yet again) save his friend. The story is fast paced and creepy, with lots of great world building. It also benefits from Frazer Hines's perfect voice acting as both Jamie and Two. Rating: 12 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Third Doctor "The Spear of Destiny" by Marcus Sedgwick - "The Third Doctor and Jo Grant are trying to track down the magical spear of Odin when they find themselves caught up in a vicious battle between two Viking tribes. But one of the Vikings is even more dangerous than he appears to be. Can the Doctor stop the spear getting into the wrong hands before it's too late?" - This is a charming little story that also manages to get its main characters right. I particularly enjoyed the part set among the Vikings, both for it's action-adventure qualities and how it spotlights Jo's relationship with the Doctor. Rating: 10 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Fourth Doctor: "The Roots of Evil" by Philip Reeve - "When the Fourth Doctor takes Leela to visit an immense tree space station known as the Heligan Structure, little do they know that the tree has been asleep for centuries, dreaming of vengeance against a man in a blue box. As the tree awakes, the Time Lord and his companion soon discover why they are such unwelcome guests." - What a fantastic story. I'm a little at a loss to describe this one without spoiling it, but it's a joy from start to finish. It's a perfect story for Leela in that there's plenty of fighting for her to do, but it also allows her to connect with the other characters on a warm, personal level. Rating: 12 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Fifth Doctor: "Tip of the Tongue" by Patrick Ness - "In 1945, a strange new craze for Truth Tellers is sweeping the kids of small-town America. The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa soon arrive to investigate the phenomenon, only to discover that the actual truth behind the Truth Tellers is far more sinister than anyone could have imagined..." - This is a Doctor-lite story, which is a little disappointing given that Five is one of my favorite Doctors. Still, the two main characters are so endearing they almost make up for it. Rating: 8 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Sixth Doctor: "Something Borrowed" by Richelle Mead - "A wedding on the planet Koturia turns out to be a far more dangerous proposition than the Sixth Doctor and Peri ever expected. It marks the return of a formidable old foe whose genius matches the Doctor's. Can the Doctor outwit this villain, save Peri and stop the wedding in time?" - The villain in this one is pretty unimpressive, but that doesn't matter too much as the main appeal is the Doctor and Peri. Mead gets their personalities right, quarrels and all. The story is fairly predictable, but enjoyable. Sophie Aldred reads/acts several stories in this set, but she impressed me most on this one. Rating: 8 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Seventh Doctor: "The Ripple Effect" by Marorie Blackman - "When the TARDIS lands on Skaro, the Seventh Doctor and Ace are shocked to discover the planet has become the universal centre of learning, populated by a race of peace-loving Daleks. Ever suspicious of his archenemies' motives, the Doctor learns of a threat that could literally tear the universe apart..." - The ideas behind this story are really good, but the story itself is predictable and the pace drags as a result. Plus, it takes the Doctor until nearly the end of the story to figure out something I guessed five minutes in; given that Seven is one of the most cunning and clever of the Doctor's incarnations, that undermines his characterization. Rating: 6 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Eighth Doctor: "Spore" by Alex Scarrow - "In a small town in the Nevada desert, an alien pathogen has reduced the entire population to a seething mass of black slime. When the Eighth Doctor arrives, he realises this latest threat to humanity is horrifyingly familiar - it is a virus which almost annihilated his entire race, the Time Lords..." - Scarrow has a good handle on Eight's voice in this story. This is the Eighth Doctor not long after his regeneration and at his most hopeful. It's a good thing too, because the events he's dealing with are pretty horrifying. This is a genuinely creepy tale that I thoroughly enjoyed. It fails to develop the supporting characters as much as I'd like, but that's the only complaint I have. Rating: 12 of 13 sonic screwdrivers


• The Ninth Doctor: "The Beast of Babylon" by Charlie Higson - "When a girl called Ali pockets a silver orb that falls from the sky, little does she realize it's her ticket to seeing the universe! Desperate to retrieve the mysterious object, the Ninth Doctor agrees to let her join him on a dangerous trip to ancient Babylon. Together they must join forces to stop a giant Starman from destroying Earth before it's too late! " - This is a story set during the episode "Rose" and there's a lot I like about it. Ali is a joy and I'd love to read more about her. Higson does a pretty good job with Nine too and I enjoyed the story as a whole, although it's a bit more comfortable with violence than I'd expect any Doctor Who story to be. Rating: 10 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Tenth Doctor: "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" by Derek Landy - "When the TARDIS lands on a planet that looks identical to Earth, the Tenth Doctor and Martha are amazed to find it packed with fictional characters from her childhood. But who has the power to create an entire world out of books and why? The Doctor and Martha must solve the mystery before their story ends!" - Was the Tenth Doctor always this annoying? Landy's version of Martha is brilliant and funny, which is right in keeping with my memories of her from the show. But Ten? I was so tired of him by the end. The beginning of the story is really slow, but it picks up after the reveal when they try to escape through an ever-changing series of fictional settings. Rating: 5 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Eleventh Doctor: "Nothing O'Clock" by Neil Gaiman - "Thousands of years ago, Time Lords built a Prison for the Kin. They made it utterly impregnable and unreachable. As long as Time Lords existed, the Kin would be trapped forever and the universe would be safe. They had planned for everything… everything, that is, other than the Time War and the fall of Gallifrey. Now the Kin are free again and there’s only one Time Lord left in the universe who can stop them!" - It will surprise no one to learn that this is probably the best story in the set. It's creepy, funny, and charming. Gaiman does a fantastic job with both Eleven and Amy, and the villains are real nightmare material. Rating: 13 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Twelfth Doctor: "Lights Out" by Holly Black - The Doctor is waiting in line at the universe's third best coffee shop when the woman in front of him is murdered. Under the flickering lights of a space station, the Doctor recruits a teenage pilot as his temporary companion and tries to discover the culprit before there are more deaths or the lights go out completely. - There's a lot to like in this story. Twelve is very true to his early self - rude, frightening, and so very sad. The narrator of the story is also a wonderfully complex character. There's a twist that I guessed before it happened, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment. I haven't talked much about the narration of these stories because for the most part all the voice actors do pretty good jobs. But here the voice acting by Samuel Anderson (aka Danny Pink) really helps the story shine. Rating: 12 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.


• The Thirteenth Doctor: "Time Lapse" by Naomi Alderman - The year 2004 has gone missing. A letter sent to the TARDIS alerts the Doctor and her friends to the mystery and they soon find themselves embroiled in struggle that could erase all of Earth's history. - This one could have benefited by being longer, so it could develop its characters more. It also features one of the most annoyingly incompetent professional time travelers I've ever had the misfortune to read about. Still, it's nice to spend time with Thirteen, Graham, Yaz, and Ryan inbetween seasons. Rating: 7 of 13 sonic screwdrivers.

Today I listened to Alien III by William Gibson. Audible bills it as the Aliens franchise "script that never made it to screen." The story recaps the events of Aliens (1986) and picks up an indeterminate amount of time after the movie. Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen reprise their roles as Hicks and Bishop respectively. Newt and Ripley appear in a limited capacity, probably because they couldn't get Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in for this full cast recording. There are plenty of new characters, many of whom meet with typically grisly fates for this type story.

The audio serves as a sort of AU in which the Sulaco doesn't catch on fire and therefore doesn't load the four surviving crew into an escape pod that later crashes (as seen in the movie Alien3 (1992)). Instead the ship travels through the territory of a rival political group to "The Company" and is boarded. Disaster, as it usually does in these movies, ensues.

Long story short: it's a very good audio and honestly frightening. The last ten minutes or so were so tense I had to get up and pace. Biehn and Henriksen sound great in their roles and I love their characters just as much as I did in the movie. The lack of Ripley is extremely disappointing but, given what all happens, there is at least the comfort that she's out of this mess early. This is definitely still a Cold War story, with obvious stand-ins for the USA and USSR/China in the two featured political groups. At a little over 2 hours, it is a short audio and I'm glad I got it for free. That said, if you can find it cheap it certainly is worth a listen. It's definitely a better sequel than Alien3, although that's damning it with faint praise and it deserves better than that.

My favorite bits, other than Hicks being awesome vs the Xenomorphs, were when he says goodbye to Newt and Ripley. I may eventually end up writing some fan fiction related to those two segments.

-- --


Updates on the writing front:

• I added a few more drabbles to "The Lost City of Jedha" this week.


• I've added some Sanctuary drabbles as well, with a particular focus on the episode "The Five."

I've got to work this weekend, but I hope to continue writing for "Hill House Five" and the Eighth Doctor drabbles at some point.

A few random things that I'm thinking about today...

Listened to a few more Desert Island Discs podcasts on Friday that have really stuck with me:

• Nitin Sawhney - It's always interesting to listen to musicians talk about music and I really enjoyed the variety of cultures/musical styles represented in his list.


• Hugh Bonneville - The interview was delightful but I'm especially happy to know Annie Lennox sings Christmas music.


• Professor Monica McWilliams - This might be the most impactful interview I've heard so far on this podcast. McWilliams talks about the Irish Troubles and her experiences co-founding the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and taking part in the Good Friday Peace Agreement.


• Dame Judi Dench - This interview was also delightful. I can't say much more for fear of spoilers, but be sure to stay to the very end if you listen to it.

Today I'm working on more Hill House Five, but yesterday I wrote some ficlets for the Eighth Doctor based on a different Tishani Doshi poem.

Lucie Miller audios are on sale at Big Finish to celebrate the release of "The Further Adventures of Lucie Miller." Although the new box set is set after Lucie's first series, it's full of spoilers for the end of her run as the Doctor's companion, so proceed with caution. That said, all four stories in the new box set are good with my favorites being the final two, "The House on the Edge of Chaos" and "Island of the Fendahl."

Happy 4th of July for those of you who celebrate it, happy holiday to those of you who don't but get the day off anyway, and happy Thursday to everyone else.

I put chapter 3 of Hill House Five online earlier this week and today I wrote chapter 4 (all 2,779 words of it). I still have to read and edit it, but I'm happy about the progress I've made. I'm trying to get as far as I can as quickly as I can since July is a big Big Finish month and I'm sure my attention will be diverted back to the drabbles soon.

I'm not very far into SPQR (it is 18 hours of audiobook after all), but so far I'm enjoying it. Mary Beard spends the first chapter talking about Cicero vs Catiline, an incident that, if I knew anything about it before, I had long since forgotten. Cicero was a famous orator and consul; Catiline, a conspirator and aspiring revolutionary. Beard tells of their conflict in a very non-linear fashion - focusing on the fates of the two politicians, their backgrounds, and then the official version of events as written by eye-witnesses, including Cicero's own writings. She uses the story to discuss what the event tells us about Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the Roman People), how western media has typically portrayed Rome vs what we actually know about it, and how the situation and the questions it inspires apply to modern politics. Beard then up-ends the whole thing by calling into question the official version by detailing archival materials that contradict it. The letters used as evidence of Catiline's conspiracy could have been faked by Cicero himself; the Gauls who gave evidence about Catiline's army and intentions may just have been trying to curry favor with a powerful consul; and some of Catiline's actions and his mysterious supporters could be explained by the economic downturn that hit Rome during this time.

My favorite bits so far: Cicero wrote a long poem celebrating his own consulship that includes lines like "Rome was sure a lucky state, born in my late consulate;" and he tried to talk a historian friend into writing a favorable history of his conflict with Catiline, noting that actual facts shouldn't stand in the way of creating a good story.

Thanks to sanguinity's beta reading and advice, I nearly have the first chapter of Hill House Five ready to post.

The summary, one of my least favorite things to write is also, I think, done:

What starts as a typical adventure in the TARDIS turns deadly when the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan come to the aid of the Crain family.

Has the Doctor met his match in Hill House?

Now I need a title. I hate this part of fic writing.

Do I stay with Hill House Five? Do I switch to an old-school Doctor Who title like "Doctor Who and the Mystery of Hill House?" Any ideas, suggestions, or feedback welcome.

-----

Edit to add: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! The first chapter is online now.

Just a quick review now that I've finished this book by Erik Larson. In general it was good; like I mentioned last time, Larson includes lots of humanizing details about the main players. He also clearly did plenty of research in archives and libraries as journals, letters, diaries, and account books are heavily quoted. Sometimes I think he goes a bit overboard in the amount of details he includes. For example, there are long passages about Pres. Wilson's courting of Edith Bolling Galt, which don't really add much other than reinforcing the idea that Wilson was distracted during May 1915 and didn't give the Lusitania or the war the attention either deserved. If Wilson comes across as silly and unfocused, Winston Churchill and the rest of the British Admiralty and their secret information gathering group, "Room 40," seem to be either actively manipulating the situation to enable the Lusitania to be sunk or, at the very least, capitalizing on it in an effort to bring the US into the war.

But, aside from that, there's so much here that I wasn't aware of regarding this event. While I'm not an expert on World War I, I thought I knew a bit about it...enough to know that the Lusitania was one of the causes of the US declaring war. But somehow I missed that the United States didn't go to war immediately after the sinking, which is obvious if you know the dates of both events, or that so many other US ships were sunk after the Lusitania. I thought the attack happened at night, an idea I no doubt picked up from the period propaganda posters; but it didn't, it happened at roughly 2:10 in the afternoon on a bright, clear May day on an oddly calm sea. I didn't know how huge the ship was, more in line with a Titanic than anything I'd pictured, or that it sunk in about 20 minutes.

The main image that sticks with me is the description of the ocean right after the sinking - hundreds of hands reaching up out of the water, trying to reach for help that wasn't there, and slowly disappearing.

Since it's so long and detailed, this is a book better consumed in audiobook form, I think. The voice actor reading it, Scott Brick, is generally good, but he does have that tendency you often find with voiceovers on true crime documentaries. You know, where you can tell they hear the dramatic "dun Dun DUN" after every statement and, after a while, you almost hear it too? That does get a bit annoying, but it wasn't enough to make me want to stop listening.

As I may have mentioned, life both at home and at work has been stressful...well, for most of this year. Stress means I spend a lot of time listen to soundtracks. I'm not sure when or why they became my musical happy place but it's been that way for a while.

So here's ten examples of songs from movies and TV show soundtracks that make me happy:



1. "Stargate Overture" - Just aside from the fact it's gorgeous, there's a sound effect early in the track that is either reminiscent of or exactly the same sound as the Stargate turning. That sound gives me goosebumps every time.


2. Actors singing in Lord of the Rings - Whether it's Ian Mckellen singing part of "Roads Go Ever On and On" during "Bag End," Viggo Mortensen in "The Nazgul," Miranda Otto during "Théoden King / The Funeral of Théodred," or Liv Tyler in "The Houses of Healing," I love hearing the LOTR cast in the soundtrack.

3. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - It is no secret that I love this cheesy-ass movie, but the soundtrack for it is FANTASTIC. It's honestly hard to pick a favorite. Maybe one of the best car chase tracks ever "Take You Down" or the other great car chase from this movie "Escape From East Berlin?" Or maybe the spy vs spy tracks "Laced Drinks" or "Circular Story?" And that's just the music created for the movie, the soundtrack also includes great era appropriate tunes like "Take Care of Business" by Nina Simone.

4. The Mummy - This is one of those soundtracks that, the minute I hear the beginning of the track, I can picture exactly what was happening in the movie. Try it yourself with "Imhotep" and "Camel Race," two of my favorites.

5. Murray Gold's Doctor Who soundtracks - Not all of Murray Gold's music for the New Series is memorable, but some of it definitely is. I submit for your appreciation: "The Impossible Planet," "Together or Not at All - The Song of Amy and Rory," "Clara's Diner," and "The Shepherd's Boy."

6. "You Never Say Goodbye" by P.M. Dawn - Such glorious 1990s X-Files gloom and weirdness. Yes, "Red Right Hand" is better known and loved, but this one has a special place in my heart.

7. The Haunting of Hill House - Speaking of gloomy weirdness, what a great atmospheric soundtrack. A few of my favorites are the "Main Titles," "I Want to Wake Up So Badly," "The Red Room," and "The End."


8."Adagio For Tron" by Daft Punk - This whole soundtrack is excellent (the movie not so much), but "Adagio For Tron" is the best track of all. Don't let that stop you from also listening to "Derezzed" and "The Game Has Changed," however.


9. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - Another movie that, while cheesy at times, is among my favorites to watch over and over again. The soundtrack is pretty interesting, with tracks as varied as "It's So Overt It's Covert," "To the Opera!" and "The Red Book."

10. "Casablanca Main Title/Prologue" - I mean...what's not to like?

Okay, it's been a week - let's talk about the Good Omens series.

I'll start. I loved the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale. I mean, I liked them in the book but their series relationship was so gloriously shippy, full of pining, angst, and falling in love at different speeds. Just...AH!

Anyway, when they were on the screen, either together or separately, the story sparkled. When they weren't, everything got less interesting. I liked The Them and the Four Horsemen, Anathema and the witch hunters were fine, and I think Madame Tracy (Miranda Richardson) did a fantastic job. But still, everything associated with the angel and devil, including the denizens of Heaven and Hell, outshone everything else. Ligur, Hastur, Beelzebub, and Gabriel were also standouts.

What did you think of it?