Well, I just watched the Doctor Who Easter Special, and I’m already itching for the next one in autumn. Of course, I’m also getting more and more nervous about the inevitable regeneration – I guess it’s true what they say: you always remember your first doctor. Despite the fact I knew Doctor Who was on TV when I was a child, I never watched it (for some inexplicable reason, I was too disturbed by the theme music to stay and see what it was all about). Had I watched it then, my first doctor would have been Sylvester McCoy. And perhaps by rights, Christopher Eccleston should technically be my first doctor since I caught the first couple of episodes when Doctor Who resumed with Russell T. Davies at the helm; however, I didn’t watch enough at the time, and Eccleston didn’t hang around long enough to make a huge impression on me (in retrospect, I do still really appreciate that first series, which set the calibre of writing and acting for the subsequent ones). When David Tennant took over, I started watching in earnest and became addicted – the quirky, exuberant talk, maniacal energy and arched eyebrow playfulness, which could all turn on a dime into a rather intimidating, righteous anger or a meditative, timeworn sorrow, all endeared Tennant’s Doctor to me. And those Converse sneakers. During Tennant’s time as the Doctor, the character’s loneliness and perpetual loss were made all the more poignant and affective, so I wonder which direction the series will head in with the youngest Doctor and Steven Moffat in charge. Considering the episodes that Moffat has written have been among my favourites and have contained some of the most challenging, thoughtful content, I’m thinking the franchise is in good hands.
Although I’ve become a bit of a Doctor Who nerd, I’ve never really considered myself a science fiction buff or uber sci fi fan. However, I would still probably choose science fiction literature over fantasy for the potential in science fiction for exploring societal flaws and very real prognostications. I’ve really enjoyed books like Brave New World, Neuromancer, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep because they extrapolate the present into an often eerily correct future. Novels about space wars and different worlds just for the sake of a different fantastical setting for Jungian heroes don’t attract me as much as those with more societal commentary.
I think my fascination with space is similar to humanity’s general timeless obsession with it: the mystery of the unknown and the incomprehensible vastness of it. Within that stretch of limitless dimension, humans have mentally filled it with the music of the spheres, although the alternative absolute silence is all the more mysterious and strange. There’s also that sense of escape, adventure and discovery beyond our own well-traversed globe and that yearning to feel a little less alone in the universe. But there’s always space’s potential to drive you Major Tom insane with its infinity. I really appreciated the film Sunshine for its display of that kind of madness and its reversal of Heart of Darkness; instead, the increasing light became too much to handle, creating a fabulous metaphor for the problems of progress and “enlightenment.”
I took Astronomy in my first year of university to satisfy the Science Requirement for my degree and because I thought it would be interesting, especially since, in high school, I seemed to take everything else related to science except for astronomy. In the end, it wasn’t really the course I thought it would be; I remember doing rather futile exercises like tracking star luminosity in the depths of -30C winter, and when I wanted to be more challenged in the physics and math end of things, I was thwarted by the fact the professor believed we were all arts students with a math disability. There was also a three hour lecture on dust.
In addition to an interest in space, I’ve enjoyed the idea of it colliding with time. I always wanted a Flux Capacitor, which for a rather hefty sum, you can now purchase here. Along with snags in the space-time continuum, I rather like the idea of parallel worlds, which has led to a love of TV series like Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Sliders, and even the Australian kids show, Spellbinder. The real made strange is often far more compelling than complete fantasy.
Where is all this headed for the weekly mix? I guess some of these science fiction elements enter into a portion of the music I like as well. After all, glam rock was rooted in some sort of futuristic, alien aesthetic (if Todd Haynes is to be believed, Oscar Wilde dropped out of space to bestow special powers upon glam rockers), and electronic music itself is often the sound of the future or otherwordly music produced by something that seems decidedly unhuman. Something that looks like Gary Numan. So here’s something you can blast out of your TARDIS. This mix is called Bigger on the Inside.
It’s Always Nighttime Sometime – Los Electricos
Totem on the Timeline – Klaxons
Timebomb – The Whitest Boy Alive
Strange News From Another Star – Blur
Satellite – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Omelette From Outer Space – Adam and the Ants
Velvet Spacetime – Carter Burwell
Flaming Lips? Chrome? “Buckaroo Bonzai” by Logan Whitehurst? (Trade your flux capacitor in for an oscillation overthruster.)
Tom Baker was ‘my’ Doctor – although the new Dr Who series are more spectacular and much more fun (imo). C Ecclestone was v good but I agree D Tennant seems to have been born for the role. Life on Mars was also v compelling.
Great mix of songs, many of which I don’t know – that’s what’s great about music blogs like yours.
Love aria
I dunno, the best I’ve seen is Christopher Eccletson. Blasphemy, yeah, but erm.. I’m not totally motivated to seek out all doctor who..
This is probably my favourite entry of yours so far, for obvious reasons lol.