wirrnarehere

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Brilliant reading.

would love your opinion of the newest episode of DW, if you get the chance.

HAHAHAHA YES I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS

Alright okay so

I only have one complaint, which is that that wasn't a faerie ring. You could still have the shamble, no problem, but it should have been over the top of an actual faerie ring, which should be a mushroom (or, at a push, stone) circle. Not some cotton that would blow clean off the cliff edge in three minutes.

HOWEVER

This is the first time I've seen Doctor Who do a time travel story using, not Doctor Who time travel lore and rules, but Welsh faerie rules. (First time I've seen anything do it, in fact.) In Welsh myth, people who enter faerie rings or get entranced by the music become suspended in time, out of sync with the real world. They think they danced for a night, but when they return it's been 100 years, and they crumble to dust as soon as they eat/drink/step on land/etc.

In this case, this is what I think happened to Ruby. She spent that time in Annwfn, seeing what would happen if the binding on the ring was broken. When she 'dies', she returns to the spot and lasts long enough to give her younger self the warning, then crumbles to dust.

But, a time travelling Ruby is not the woman who follows her throughout the episode. That, in fact, is a gwyll.

The gwyllion were hag faeries, usually of mountain tops (though Pembrokeshire's liminal cliffs are 100% from Welsh mythology - it was said that if you found a faerie ring on one but only put one foot in, you could see the faerie islands in the sea. And that faeries used to visit the human markets in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. So while gwyllion are unusual there, it's not an impossible relocation.) They were malicious and sometimes vicious faeries who delighted in making people lose their way, could strike an uncontrollable and ungodly terror into travellers, and who feature in more that one myth as an old woman that someone tried to approach, but they always appeared at the same distance away, impossible to catch up.

CAN YOU SEE THE PARALLELS

And the best part!! Is that this is why she defeats UNIT!!!

Kate tells Ruby that her agents have necklaces of silver and salt to keep out the supernatural, but that's just generic fairytale shit. That doesn't work on gwyllion. Salt drawn in a line would provide a barrier, but the UNIT soldiers aren't trying to trap or block the gwyll; they're trying to capture her. What works, very specifically, is a knife. Iron or steel for preference of course, but it needs to be a knife.

But UNIT has no Welsh employees and the soldiers have guns, not knives. And so they all become entranced.

(This is also what I think the gwyll 'says' to everyone to turn them against Ruby. She doesn't say anything - she sings.)

This is also the first time I've ever encountered any mainstream media doing Welsh faeries and understanding the tone to strike, which is 'unknowable, unstoppable and fucking terrifying'. I think I've only ever read it in Catharine Fisher books, and she's a Welsh author so... yeah, obviously. But I basically vibrated with delight and excitement for the entire episode.

Oh my god, hang on, Roger ap Gwilliam! Okay, I have two theories about him.

My weaker theory and the one I don't like is the kind of boring and obvious one, which is that he is himself not human. A lot of Welsh folklore features the devil, and I get that vibe from his role in the story. But, I'm not keen, because I can't see the link to the gwyll.

But my strongest theory, and the one I have chosen to believe, is that he's a human who made a deal with the Fae for power, and then reneged. There's a Metric Fuckton of stories about humans fucking up Fae gifts in some way, and the punishment is usually something ironic but always results in the loss of the gift. It could be a faerie harp that makes everyone dance, and the Fae tell the giftee not to abuse it, but they cruelly force everyone to dance so long and so hard that the faerie returns, takes back the harp, and then takes the human's ability to ever make music again, so example (by taking fingers or eyes or tongues as well, often.)

So I think Mad Jack strikes a bargain for power - but, then tries to abuse that power (nuclear war). But part of the bargain is that the Fae cannot approach him directly ever again. In the real world, they therefore tempt him into the faerie ring and bind his soul there, problem solved - until the Doctor accidentally lets him out, and gets his own soul stuck. Ruby, therefore, becomes the instrument through which they manage to take that power away once again - and then, her final Fae gift for her service is that they use the temporal anomaly of the faerie ring to send her back, at the end of her life, and give her a second chance. This time, with Mad Jack's soul left bound in Annwfn.

The fun part is, RTD is a writer who understands the power of not explaining everything and leaving some things up to the viewer's imagination, so none of this is ever going to be explained lol. But yeah, that is a gwyll. The moment she appeared, I said out loud "Oh holy fuck, gwyllion." That was a gwyll.

As a final observation, I loved seeing Siân Phillips, and I choose to believe they filmed those scenes in a pub because they could only get Siân if they agreed to just come to her local. The woman is a queen.

[wirrnarehere]

Hello Tumblr 👋

Today, Tumblr’s owner, Verizon Media, announced that Automattic plans to acquire Tumblr. Automattic is the technology company behind products such as WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, and Simplenote—products that help connect creators, businesses, and publishers to communities around the world. 

We couldn’t be more excited to be joining a team that has a similar mission. Many of you know WordPress.com, Automattic’s flagship product. WordPress.com and Tumblr were both early pioneers among blogging platforms.

Automattic shares our vision to build passionate communities around shared interests and to democratize publishing so that anyone with a story can tell it, especially when they come from under-heard voices and marginalized communities.

We look forward to continuing to create products that empower your self-expression and sense of community and that build a better, more inclusive internet. 

We’re excited for our future together!

<3 Tumblr

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Number 43 of The Tides of Time, Oxford University’s Doctor Who fanzine, is available as a free download as well as a paid-for print edition. For more details follow this link! Thanks to the denizens of Tumblr who generously allowed their artwork to be used.

[wirrnarehere]

So here I am

I made a redbubble shop.  This is my first adventure in selling my photography or my art. I have spent so many years practicing and trying things, taking courses and trying to understand colour, composition, what works and what doesn’t, looking at art in galleries and online and trying to develop an eye. And now at last I think I am making things that I like enough that I might buy them, so I am wondering if anyone else would like to. And there’s only one way to find out… Not really expecting anyone here to buy anything, but you could go through the link and click the ‘like’ button  on something if you wanted to be nice - and offer any constructive advice you may have. 

[wirrnarehere]

“Me and a Dalek. It’s personal.”

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The Doctor’s Kerblam purchases finally catch up to her  

[wirrnarehere]

Doctor Who - The Tsuranga Conundrum

A few weeks ago I suggested that the placing of Doctor Who on Sunday nights confirmed it as the established national religion in the eyes of BBC One. The Tsuranga Conundrum might confirm this, with the Doctor finding herself in a society which not only knows her – the first time this has happened this series – but regards her as a priest or a saint. I’m not sure what the episode’s Book of Celebrants thinks a celebrant is, but if it’s a book for celebrants in the sense of those who can officiate at religious ceremonies or comparable rites of passage, then perhaps both the Doctor and General Eve Cicero are exemplars around whose deeds sermons can be based. The society which built the Tsuranga and Resus One presumably has a faith in which military heroes can be saints, but this doesn’t seem an excessively militarised society. The details are underdeveloped, but it’s possible to imagine the 67th century culture in which the Doctor and friends find themselves as a pluralist one where there are different ways to lead an ethical life and people share each other’s rituals.

https://theeventlibrary.wordpress.com/2018/11/07/doctor-who-xxxvii-11-5-the-tsuranga-conundrum/

[wirrnarehere]

This cat is thoughtful and quizzical and would probably rather be somewhere else but is prepared to remain where it is for now.

I really cannot get over this cats fucking face it’s so round and conveying an emotion that I simply am not equipped to understand

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This is the Church Of The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary on Vasilievsky Island in St Petersburg.

It was built in 1895 – and in 1956-57 it was turned into Leningrad’s first indoor ice rink. All of Leningrad’s top skaters (Alexei Mishin, Belousova and Protopopov…) would have trained here until Yubileyny Sports Palace was built in 1967.

Now it’s become a church again, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend a service here when I was in St Petersburg.

Russian Wikipedia article

Historic photos are by Howard Sochurek

[wirrnarehere]

Whovian Feminism Reviews the New Target Novelizations

I fell in love with the Target Doctor Who novels in the year between when the Classic episodes were taken off of Hulu and when they were finally put back up on BritBox. Trying to catch up on all the stories I hadn’t seen yet — and re-watching some of my favorites — was becoming an insurmountable financial burden. DVDs for individual stories regularly cost anywhere between $15 and $40 (and some out-of-print DVDs could go for as much as $90 on Amazon or eBay). I started combing the local second-hand bookstores to find cheap used DVDs, but oddly, I rarely found any. What I did find were stacks of Target novels — $2 each, or three for $5, and suddenly I had a handful of stories previously out of my reach.

Even though the Classic stories are available for streaming again, I still love collecting and reading the Target novels. So when I heard they were reviving the imprint for novelizations of the modern series, I was ridiculously excited. Instead of waiting for the U.S. release date, my family ordered three of the novels for my birthday from Amazon UK: Rose by Russell T. Davies, The Christmas Invasion by Jenny Colgan, and Twice Upon a Time by Paul Cornell. I read them all in one weekend and then re-read them all again. Each is a delightful novelization that could entirely stand on its own and be appreciated by someone who has never seen its on-screen counterpart. But for those who have already seen the episode, each novelization brings a renewed and deeper appreciation for the on-screen story.

First up was Rose. It’s a hefty novelization that diverges fairly significantly from the on-screen story. The original story is there, to be sure, but Davies has slipped in a few more plot twists to keep even devoted re-watchers on their toes. He’s fully enjoying having absolutely zero time or monetary restrictions to build his new story — to be honest, I’m not even sure he was given a word-count limit. And yet, it never feels tiresome. There is genuine dread and horror at what the Nestene Consciousness is capable of. And even though the reader will likely already know which characters will live and die, there are enough new characters introduced to create a real sense of concern about whether your favorites will survive. 

Davies also goes on significant and lengthy digressions to explore the lives and inner thoughts of these characters. Surprisingly, it’s “Mickey the idiot” who comes out looking the best. Significant care is taken in Rose to explore Mickey’s life and how it influences his world view. He still has his flaws — he’s not the most attentive boyfriend, and he doesn’t react particularly well to the Doctor — but far greater qualities are revealed. Mickey is a man who has lived and suffered and lost most of the people he loved most, and yet all of those experiences have just made him kind. His life in the Powell Estates doesn’t feel stifling to him like it does to Rose, because to him it offers stability and the opportunity to make a new family. He opens his home to anyone who needs one, including three of his friends who don’t feel safe or welcomed in their homes.

Those three friends include a gay man, a trans woman, and another male character who doesn’t explicitly state his sexuality, but does take his first tentative steps towards a relationship with the other man after surviving the Auton attack. And Mickey welcomes them all with open arms. Davies could have left out several pages of additional material and rested on his laurels, and yet he went out of his way to add new characters to make this novelization explicitly, unapologetically queer. 

Next up was Colgan’s novelization of The Christmas Invasion. Personally, I think Colgan is one of the most quietly devastating writers working on Doctor Who right now. I rarely walk away from one of her books or Big Finish audios without feeling deeply upset about something she’s written (in the best way possible!). And The Christmas Invasion gives Colgan a lot of tragedy to work with. By the time that Harriet Jones orders the destruction of the Sycorax ship, you see a fuller impact of the invasion and how many lives were still lost despite the Doctor’s intervention, and the victory over the Sycorax seems even more hollow.

But Rose’s own personal tragedy is the focus here. It’s easy for those of us who have sat through regenerations multiple times to have our empathy for the companions dulled, and The Christmas Invasion is easier than most to mock. After all, the Doctor told Rose what was going to happen to him right before he regenerated. But Rose doesn’t just have to come to terms with what physically happens to the Doctor. She has to work through her own fears and insecurities about how their relationship will change, and whether she’s just permanently lost one of the most important people in her life. It’s another form of grieving, and Colgan handles Rose’s grief beautifully. 

But by far the most tragic scene was right at the end, when Rose leaves with the Doctor again and Jackie is left alone, desperately bustling around her empty apartment and creating as much noise as possible to hide her own sadness. Perhaps this just reflects my own guilt as a daughter who left her mother and travelled very, very far and doesn’t call nearly as often as she should, but damn, that hit me hard.

Finally, there was Cornell’s novelization of Twice Upon A Time. This was actually the first of the novelizations I read. The bittersweet joy of Peter Capaldi’s departure and the pure exhilaration of Jodie Whittaker’s arrival were still so fresh that I couldn’t wait to experience them all over again. And, oh, it was so good. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say I literally sobbed at the end of the book. But thankfully, Cornell kept me laughing all the way through.

Twice Upon A Time’s ending is a tear-jerker, but at its heart, this is a classic multi-Doctor story, full of humor and merciless mocking of each of the Doctors. Every single joke set up by Steven Moffat gets knocked out of the park by Paul Cornell. An anachronistic VHS becomes the Dalek’s missing Master Plan. An off-hand joke comparing the first Doctor to Merry Berry becomes an entirely new side-story about her friendship with the Third Doctor.

One of my greatest disappointments with the televised Twice Upon a Time was that Bill didn’t get a satisfying arc of her own. She existed largely to facilitate the plot, or to assist with the Doctor’s emotional labor towards his regeneration. But in his novelization, Cornell gives Bill the happy ending with Heather that she deserved, full of adventures and cats and love. 

But it’s the regeneration scene that keeps pulling me back to this book. The interior monologue that Cornell creates for the Twelfth Doctor as he decides whether or not to regenerate is so perfect for the moment. It reflects not only on Capaldi and Moffat’s tenure on the show, but also on the pivotal importance of the moment that’s about to come. This is a Doctor who feels trapped in a never-ending cycle, moving from battlefield to battlefield, gaining and losing friends along the way. And he’s doing it all from “basically the same model of body,” because he’s “one of those stuck-in-a-rut Time Lords.” He knows change is necessary, but doubts how much he’s really capable of.

The Doctor’s upcoming regeneration isn’t just a curiosity or a gimmick, it’s necessary, and vital, and a validation of the Twelfth Doctor’s decision to regenerate. The Thirteenth Doctor proves that change is possible, and that even the Doctor can still be surprised by something new and delightfully unexpected.

“Rose” by Russell T. Davies, “The Christmas Invasion” by Jenny T. Colgan, “The Day of the Doctor” by Steven Moffat, “Twice Upon a Time” by Paul Cornell, and “City of Death” by James Goss are currently available in the U.K. and will be released in the U.S. on June 19th. Or, if you’re impatient like me, you can order them through Amazon UK.

[wirrnarehere]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Doctor Who, Giles cartoons Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Third Doctor, Zoe Heriot Summary:

In an alternative timeline where Zoe was exiled to Earth with the Doctor (as was intended at one point), Zoe has difficulty blending in to twentieth-century London - and it looks as if twentieth-century London might have its own ideas. First published in issue 20 of 'The Terrible Zodin', Fall 2017.

[wirrnarehere]

This is the Church Of The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary on Vasilievsky Island in St Petersburg.

It was built in 1895 – and in 1956-57 it was turned into Leningrad’s first indoor ice rink. All of Leningrad’s top skaters (Alexei Mishin, Belousova and Protopopov…) would have trained here until Yubileyny Sports Palace was built in 1967.

Now it’s become a church again, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend a service here when I was in St Petersburg.

Russian Wikipedia article

Historic photos are by Howard Sochurek

[wirrnarehere]

Whovian Feminism Reviews the New Target Novelizations

I fell in love with the Target Doctor Who novels in the year between when the Classic episodes were taken off of Hulu and when they were finally put back up on BritBox. Trying to catch up on all the stories I hadn’t seen yet — and re-watching some of my favorites — was becoming an insurmountable financial burden. DVDs for individual stories regularly cost anywhere between $15 and $40 (and some out-of-print DVDs could go for as much as $90 on Amazon or eBay). I started combing the local second-hand bookstores to find cheap used DVDs, but oddly, I rarely found any. What I did find were stacks of Target novels — $2 each, or three for $5, and suddenly I had a handful of stories previously out of my reach.

Even though the Classic stories are available for streaming again, I still love collecting and reading the Target novels. So when I heard they were reviving the imprint for novelizations of the modern series, I was ridiculously excited. Instead of waiting for the U.S. release date, my family ordered three of the novels for my birthday from Amazon UK: Rose by Russell T. Davies, The Christmas Invasion by Jenny Colgan, and Twice Upon a Time by Paul Cornell. I read them all in one weekend and then re-read them all again. Each is a delightful novelization that could entirely stand on its own and be appreciated by someone who has never seen its on-screen counterpart. But for those who have already seen the episode, each novelization brings a renewed and deeper appreciation for the on-screen story.

First up was Rose. It’s a hefty novelization that diverges fairly significantly from the on-screen story. The original story is there, to be sure, but Davies has slipped in a few more plot twists to keep even devoted re-watchers on their toes. He’s fully enjoying having absolutely zero time or monetary restrictions to build his new story — to be honest, I’m not even sure he was given a word-count limit. And yet, it never feels tiresome. There is genuine dread and horror at what the Nestene Consciousness is capable of. And even though the reader will likely already know which characters will live and die, there are enough new characters introduced to create a real sense of concern about whether your favorites will survive. 

Davies also goes on significant and lengthy digressions to explore the lives and inner thoughts of these characters. Surprisingly, it’s “Mickey the idiot” who comes out looking the best. Significant care is taken in Rose to explore Mickey’s life and how it influences his world view. He still has his flaws — he’s not the most attentive boyfriend, and he doesn’t react particularly well to the Doctor — but far greater qualities are revealed. Mickey is a man who has lived and suffered and lost most of the people he loved most, and yet all of those experiences have just made him kind. His life in the Powell Estates doesn’t feel stifling to him like it does to Rose, because to him it offers stability and the opportunity to make a new family. He opens his home to anyone who needs one, including three of his friends who don’t feel safe or welcomed in their homes.

Those three friends include a gay man, a trans woman, and another male character who doesn’t explicitly state his sexuality, but does take his first tentative steps towards a relationship with the other man after surviving the Auton attack. And Mickey welcomes them all with open arms. Davies could have left out several pages of additional material and rested on his laurels, and yet he went out of his way to add new characters to make this novelization explicitly, unapologetically queer. 

Next up was Colgan’s novelization of The Christmas Invasion. Personally, I think Colgan is one of the most quietly devastating writers working on Doctor Who right now. I rarely walk away from one of her books or Big Finish audios without feeling deeply upset about something she’s written (in the best way possible!). And The Christmas Invasion gives Colgan a lot of tragedy to work with. By the time that Harriet Jones orders the destruction of the Sycorax ship, you see a fuller impact of the invasion and how many lives were still lost despite the Doctor’s intervention, and the victory over the Sycorax seems even more hollow.

But Rose’s own personal tragedy is the focus here. It’s easy for those of us who have sat through regenerations multiple times to have our empathy for the companions dulled, and The Christmas Invasion is easier than most to mock. After all, the Doctor told Rose what was going to happen to him right before he regenerated. But Rose doesn’t just have to come to terms with what physically happens to the Doctor. She has to work through her own fears and insecurities about how their relationship will change, and whether she’s just permanently lost one of the most important people in her life. It’s another form of grieving, and Colgan handles Rose’s grief beautifully. 

But by far the most tragic scene was right at the end, when Rose leaves with the Doctor again and Jackie is left alone, desperately bustling around her empty apartment and creating as much noise as possible to hide her own sadness. Perhaps this just reflects my own guilt as a daughter who left her mother and travelled very, very far and doesn’t call nearly as often as she should, but damn, that hit me hard.

Finally, there was Cornell’s novelization of Twice Upon A Time. This was actually the first of the novelizations I read. The bittersweet joy of Peter Capaldi’s departure and the pure exhilaration of Jodie Whittaker’s arrival were still so fresh that I couldn’t wait to experience them all over again. And, oh, it was so good. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say I literally sobbed at the end of the book. But thankfully, Cornell kept me laughing all the way through.

Twice Upon A Time’s ending is a tear-jerker, but at its heart, this is a classic multi-Doctor story, full of humor and merciless mocking of each of the Doctors. Every single joke set up by Steven Moffat gets knocked out of the park by Paul Cornell. An anachronistic VHS becomes the Dalek’s missing Master Plan. An off-hand joke comparing the first Doctor to Merry Berry becomes an entirely new side-story about her friendship with the Third Doctor.

One of my greatest disappointments with the televised Twice Upon a Time was that Bill didn’t get a satisfying arc of her own. She existed largely to facilitate the plot, or to assist with the Doctor’s emotional labor towards his regeneration. But in his novelization, Cornell gives Bill the happy ending with Heather that she deserved, full of adventures and cats and love. 

But it’s the regeneration scene that keeps pulling me back to this book. The interior monologue that Cornell creates for the Twelfth Doctor as he decides whether or not to regenerate is so perfect for the moment. It reflects not only on Capaldi and Moffat’s tenure on the show, but also on the pivotal importance of the moment that’s about to come. This is a Doctor who feels trapped in a never-ending cycle, moving from battlefield to battlefield, gaining and losing friends along the way. And he’s doing it all from “basically the same model of body,” because he’s “one of those stuck-in-a-rut Time Lords.” He knows change is necessary, but doubts how much he’s really capable of.

The Doctor’s upcoming regeneration isn’t just a curiosity or a gimmick, it’s necessary, and vital, and a validation of the Twelfth Doctor’s decision to regenerate. The Thirteenth Doctor proves that change is possible, and that even the Doctor can still be surprised by something new and delightfully unexpected.

“Rose” by Russell T. Davies, “The Christmas Invasion” by Jenny T. Colgan, “The Day of the Doctor” by Steven Moffat, “Twice Upon a Time” by Paul Cornell, and “City of Death” by James Goss are currently available in the U.K. and will be released in the U.S. on June 19th. Or, if you’re impatient like me, you can order them through Amazon UK.

[wirrnarehere]

The Tides of Time, number 41 - a new issue of the long-running Doctor Who fanzine

The latest issue of The Tides of Time, number 41, was published by The Oxford Doctor Who Society in June 2018. It’s printed in colour throughout its 80 pages and is edited by James Ashworth, who is studying biology at Worcester College, and society veteran, its historian Matthew Kilburn.

Copies of the print edition can be ordered within the UK for £3.50 via PayPal. Contact us for information about overseas orders.

A PDF of the issue (compact, just over 5Mb in size) can be downloaded from this link.

Features include

Farewells to the Twelfth Doctor

‘Once Upon a Time, The End’: The Twelfth Doctor and the Duties of Narrative. William Shaw examines Peter Capaldi’s Doctor’s control of his own story

The Doctor Falls No More! Ian Bayley on how Paul Cornell’s novelization of Twice Upon a Time comments upon Steven Moffat’s depiction of the Twelfth Doctor’s end

Poetry

Haiku for Smile by William Shaw

The Space Museum by William Shaw

Paradise Lost by John Milton as discovered by Ryan Bradley

Terror of the Zygons by William Shaw

Bedford CharityCon 4 reports

The Bedford Boys Ian Bayley and Adam Kendrick meet Colin Baker

‘I am the very model of a model-making pioneer!’ Ian Bayley discovers the small world of Mike Tucker

The Bedford Tales. Adam Kendrick reports from the Battlefield and Weeping Angel/K9 panels

Discussion

The Mysterious Case of Gabriel Chase. Andrew O’Day explores the allegory of Control in Ghost Light

‘Nobody here but us chickens.’ Bethan Hughes finds there’s more than nostalgia and motherhood in The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances

Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor and the World is a Wonderful Place. Georgia Harper on the emerging era of the Thirteenth Doctor

Xenobiology Special Edition: The Science of Whittaker. James Ashworth on gender change in fungi and fish and what this might mean for the Time Lords

Running Towards the Future. John Wilson looks at the revival of the Target novelizations by BBC Books

Looming Large. Stephen Bell and Rogan Clark debate the idea that Time Lords are woven on Looms introduced in the Virgin New Adventures novels

Big Who Listen: The Sirens of Time. In association with the Big Who Listen blog, John Salway, Rogan Clark, James Ashworth, Ian Bayley, Michael Goldsmith, Jonathan P. Martindale, Adam Kendrick and Philip Holdridge discuss the first Big Finish Doctor Who release

Fiction

A Stone’s Throw, Part Three by John Salway, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan, and a bescarfed fellow and his dog.

Oxbridge

Mad Dons and TARDISfolk. James Ashworth’s Who on Earth series continues with the Doctor’s visits to Oxford

Varsity Quiz 2018. Questions, answers and results from the 2018 Oxford-Cambridge Doctor Who Varsity Quiz written by James Ashworth and Matthew Kemp

[wirrnarehere]

Happy Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day, and we asked three of our guides: who were some of the best (and worst!) fathers in Alnwick Castle’s long history?

Fatherhood is an incredibly important part of the Castle’s story. The dukedom of Northumberland - and before that, the earldom of Northumberland and barony of Alnwick - have traditionally been inherited through primogeniture, the law that usually takes the form of father-to-son. But some fathers have been more notorious than others!

1) Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland

(1342 - 1408)

Guide Gary says:

“The 1st Earl is my nomination for worst father… Not only did he lead his son, Hotspur, into rebellion, he then failed to join up with him in battle claiming a heavy cold or some such! Then he goes to York, meets the King and practically blames his son for the whole affair, his only punishment being a heavy fine and slap on the wrist! He ought to have been ashamed of himself!“

It is true that the 1st Earl did not actively take part in his son Hotspur’s rebellion in 1403, in which Hotspur was killed. It was reported that he was too ill even to mount his horse and was not physically able to be at the battle. Whether this was genuine ill health or effectively ‘calling in sick’ to avoid risking his own life is up for debate!

After hearing of Hotspur’s death, the Earl was summoned to answer for his conduct during the rebellion. It is unknown what exactly was said at this meeting between the Earl and King Henry IV, but it is clear he must have demonstrated submission, and that Henry must have shown some mercy in turn, but historians believe the Earl would have known “he had sinned past the royal forgiveness”, and Henry IV would have been “confident that the death of Hotspur would not [be] unavenged”.

Percy family historian de Fonblanque claims the 1st Earl was, from this time, “broken in health and inconsolable under the loss of the son… he so dearly loved”. He rebelled twice more himself until his death in 1408.

-

2) Henry ‘the Magnificent’ Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland

(1478 - 1527)

Guide Olga says:

“Here is a good example of a bad father. The ‘Magnificent’ Earl was not magnificent to his son [who became 6th Earl]. He used to humiliate his son publicly, often calling him a ‘thriftless waster’. He did not respect his son’s choice [of partner], Anne Boleyn, insisting that she was not a suitable bride, and forced a marriage with another woman upon his son, which resulted in a disaster. All his life, the 6th Earl was seeking approval and respect from other people and ended up as a ‘landless pensioner’, willing his fortunes to the Crown. Isn’t that a good example of a bad father?“

It is true that the 5th Earl did not appear to hold a high opinion of his heir, Harry Percy. He worked closely with Cardinal Wolsey, advisor of King Henry VIII, to prevent the relationship between Harry and Anne Boleyn. When he met with his son regarding the matter, an eyewitness reported him saying:

‘Son, even as you have been, and always were, a proud licentious and unthrifty waster, so have you now declared yourself… having neither regard unto me, your natural father, nor yet to the King your natural Sovereign Lord… nor to the wealth of your own estate; but have unadvisedly assured yourself unto her, for whom the King is highly displeased with you… his indignation [could] ruin me and my posterity utterly… I assure you that if you do not amend your prodigality you will be the last Earl of our house; for of your natural inclination you are wasteful and prodigal, and will continue to waste all that your progenitors have with great care and travel gathered and kept together with honour… to tell you true, I intend not to make you my heir; for I thank God I have more boys, that I trust will prove much better than you…’

In 1523, Harry was married to Lady Mary Talbot in order to remove him from any attachment to Boleyn. He was banished from the royal court and forbidden from seeing Anne again. In the words of de Fonblanque, ‘thus passed away the one gleam of sunshine that ever brightened the sad life [of Harry Percy].’ He had been so rebuked that the fear of displeasing his father became the primary factor in his life.

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3) Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset

(1684 - 1750)

Guide Maria chose the 7th Duke as one of the best father’s in the Castle’s history, and says:

“I am sure he was a good father! [It’s popularly known] that the 7th Duke of Somerset went against his own father in order to ensure that his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Sir Hugh Smithson would inherit the Percy estates. This is a story that we’ve heard many times - [and they went on to become the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland and restore Alnwick Castle. It couldn’t have happened without her father’s help!]“

Algernon was a Percy by blood, but not technically by name. Though he held the earldom of Northumberland and the barony of Percy, his Percy lineage came from his mother Elizabeth’s side of the family - his own father, Charles Seymour, had agreed to take the Percy name on their marriage (in fact, this was one of the main conditions of the marriage) but later ensured Elizabeth signed a contract to take his own name instead.

Charles’ hatred of his son’s family (particularly Algernon’s wife Frances) led him to secretly approach King George II to ensure his granddaughter Elizabeth and any children she had with Sir Hugh were excluded from any major inheritance.

The Duke’s plan was discovered and foiled at the last minute by Algernon and Sir Hugh, who convinced the King to suspend any decision. Frances wrote in 1744 that Algernon ‘wrote to the King and told him that it was not in the power of the Duke or Duchess of Somerset to hinder [Elizabeth] of the estates in Northumberland, and therefore he hoped that His Majesty would not do so great a hardship to him as to give the title from his only child.’

Algernon became Duke of Somerset in 1748, and the following year George II issued a patent stating that on Algernon’s death, the Percy titles and lands would pass to Sir Hugh and Elizabeth, and to their male descendants thereafter. Algernon died just four months later, but in 1750, an Act of Parliament stated that he ‘did in his lifetime express his desire that the name of Percy should be used and be the surname or family name of the Earls of Northumberland.’ This meant Hugh and Elizabeth could reclaim the Percy name, which had been so close to disappearing, and not only own Alnwick Castle, but transform it into their ancestral family home again.

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We hope everybody reading is able to treat their dads this Father’s Day - provided they’re more like Algernon and less like the two Henrys!

[wirrnarehere]

Lots of people will have already reblogged this, and I’ve shared it elsewhere; but it is an important moment for Doctor Who conventions and for women articulating their experiences of sexual harassment.

A #MeToo Moment Unfolds At Gallifrey One

This article contains descriptions of sexual harassment and mentions of sexual assault, as told by panelists at Gallifrey One.

On the final day of this year’s Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles, fifteen women stepped on to the main stage for a monster of a panel titled “Gallifrey Waits No More.” Actors Sophie Aldred, Lisa Bowerman, Camille Coduri, Jessica Martin, Chase Masterson, Wendy Padbury, Jemma Redgrave, and Dee Sadler; writers Jenny Colgan, Sarah Dollard, and Rona Munro; script executive Lindsey Alford, costume designer Hayley Nebauer, and director Rachel Talalay joined writer and podcaster Deborah Stanish for a discussion about the changing landscape for women in the entertainment industry.

What occurred over the next hour was an experience that was simultaneously harrowing and cathartic as a #MeToo moment unfolded on stage. Nearly every panelist revealed a story of sexism, discrimination, harassment, or assault from their careers — some of which they were discussing for the very first time. Cast, crew, and fans were brought together in a shared moment of grief and solidarity. It was truly an exceptional moment that was unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed at a convention before.

The panel began with a broad conversation about what more could be done to support the careers of women in entertainment. Lindsey Alford shared her story of working with the rest of Doctor Who’s production team to ensure that she could keep working on the show while she was pregnant and raising her young children. It was a wonderful illustration of how to support working mothers.

Hayley Neubauer has a young child as well — her husband could occasionally be seen at the back of her panels during Gally with their baby in tow. When Alford was done speaking, Neubauer revealed that last year, while she was looking for a new job after her time on Doctor Who, she had been denied a job because she was pregnant. The entire audience gasped in shock. Rachel Talalay jumped in to point out that that decision was patently illegal. Still, Neubauer was told by the person who denied her the job that she would be “grateful” not to be working once she had the baby. Neubauer wondered why that person felt they could presume to make that decision on her behalf.

The mood in the room had noticeably shifted. But Neubauer wasn’t done. She explained that because of the nature of their work, anyone who works in costuming is often with actors as they are putting on or taking off their costumes. Most of those actors are professional during these moments — but some are not. Neubauer said that many of the women she knows who work in costuming have #MeToo stories, and that they all are watching as each new revelation comes out, waiting to see if the predators that they know about will be exposed.

Jemma Redgrave and Camille Coduri expressed their shock and rage at what Neubauer had revealed. That was part of what made this panel so powerful. Cast and crew were brought together in a place where they could share and hear each other’s stories. Barriers that isolated them were broken down.

Redgrave had stories of her own to share. She told the audience that when she was cast in her first film, she was told to lose weight. And when she went out to dinner with the director, he actually took her menu away and ordered her a plate of crudités. 

Sophie Aldred had a similar experience. She had struggled with eating disorders as a young woman. After “Dragonfire” aired, she was told to lose half a stone (approximately 7 pounds) before the next season of Doctor Who was to be filmed. She was so furious that in the intervening time, she actually gained weight to spite them.

That wasn’t Aldred’s only story. When she was rehearsing for a one-woman show, a director attempted to pull down her pants. Dee Sadler had a similar story. While filming a scene for a movie that required her to be in a shirt and underwear, the director called her over and pulled down her underwear so another man could take a photo of her bare bottom.

The room came to an absolute standstill when Wendy Padbury took the microphone. She had never told anyone this story before. When she was 16 or 17 years old, she was asked to sing for an American producer for an audition. She was taken to a soundproof performance room. The producer played the piano while she sang her prepared piece. When she was done, he asked her to come around to the other side of the piano. He was masturbating. She immediately turned to leave the room, but he had locked the door. Thankfully, he unlocked the door when she asked him to do so, and she fled.

Photo credit: Joy Piedmont

This is both the power and devastation of the #MeToo movement. One person steps forward to tell their story and prompts another to share theirs. Sometimes, they just needed a boost of courage and a sense of solidarity to feel safe enough to share their story. Several of the women on the panel said they hadn’t thought about what had happened to them until they heard other women share their own stories. It is harrowing to share and hear these stories — but there’s something reassuring about realizing that we’re not alone.

You could see the shock, anger, and devastation on each of the panelists’ faces. Over 1,550 people were packed into the room at this point, and every single person was transfixed by what was unfolding on stage. The silence was only broken by the sound of a few quiet sobs as people in the audience wept.

On the stage, moderator Deborah Stanish noticed that the panelists seemed to forget the audience was there at times. Their panel discussion became a conversation among women — and they could have been ANY women — about their experiences.

There was grief and anger at this panel, but there was also a sense of hope and healing. The women talked about the relief they all felt at being able to talk about these issues together. And they advocated compassion for each other and for themselves.

And this brilliant panel was full of ideas about how to create change in the future. Sarah Dollard noted that programs designed specifically to promote the careers of women and POC writers and directors can help increase the diversity of the talent pool. Talalay added that those programs are only effective if participants are guaranteed jobs at the end. Otherwise, companies can take credit for “promoting diversity” without providing tangible results.

Chase Masterson noted as well that women often aren’t able to speak up because doing so could put their careers at risk. Studies have shown that women producers and directors hire more women crew members. And when more women are represented in all levels of a production, that can transform the culture and provide additional support for women to speak up about harassment.

Rona Munro said that we also need to think about the kinds of stories that movies and television are telling about women. She said that nine times out of ten, when someone writes a “strong female character,” that character is basically exactly the same as a male character. “Strong female characters” also rely extensively on violence and the use of weapons to establish their “strength.” She told the audience that “womens’ actual experiences are not seen as heroic. Womens’ actual lives are seen as sad and depressing. I want to start a campaign for telling womens’ actual stories and demonstrating how brilliant they are.”

To that point, Redgrave talked about how important her role as a lesbian woman is on the BBC show Holby City. From the fanmail she receives, she knows just how important it is for viewers to have that kind of visible representation — to have unique and interesting roles for women of a certain age, to show a lesbian woman on-screen, to show her in a relationship, and to show her interacting with other women in interesting ways that don’t revolve around men.

And as powerful as the panelists’ stories were, they admitted they were all limited in their perspectives. Nearly every single panelist was white (Jessica Martin revealed during the panel that she has Filipina and Burmese ancestry). Although Pearl Mackie was invited to Gallifrey One and would have been on that panel, she had to cancel her appearance after she was cast in a play in London.

Jenny Colgan and Masterson both highlighted the lack of women of color on the panel and made an explicit call for future conversations to include marginalized voices — including more WOC and LGBTQ voices — in order to represent a truly intersectional vision of the #MeToo movement. Dollard also noted that it was on all of us to demand that more women of color be hired to work on Doctor Who. In this show’s nearly 55 year history, not a single woman of color has ever been hired to write or direct a televised episode.

Dollard also pointed out that only the most splashy stories that feature the most high-profile abusers or victims get the most media attention. Even these panelists had a stage on which to share their stories. The vast majority of victims of sexual harassment or assault do not have that same platform.

Statistically speaking, there were likely many people in that audience who have experienced sexual harassment and assault. Had you asked every member of the audience who could also say #MeToo to stand, hundreds of us would’ve been on our feet. The #MeToo moment is happening all around us, from the top echelons of the entertainment industry to the hallways of your local convention. And even if we couldn’t all be on that stage, there was a sense of recognition and validation in that moment.

So, how do we move forward? Colgan told the audience to keep talking about #MeToo and the lack of representation for women. Padbury talked about how hard she worked throughout her life to foster her daughters’ and granddaughter’s ability to speak up and change the world around them — and how important it is to keep fostering those abilities in young women.

Aldred asked the audience to share their stories and to listen when others share their stories. Dollard reminded the audience to be allies for each other and to stand up in the moment when you see something awful happening, if it is safe for you to intervene. Coduri was personally in favor of giving harassers a good slap. And if you’re not comfortable doing that, well, Coduri seemed ready to take names and take justice into her own hands.

Talalay ended the panel by reminding us of the Twelfth Doctor’s final words: “Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be kind, particularly in the context of #MeToo. I don’t think it means that we just have to be nice. I don’t think it means that every interaction needs to be sweet and pleasant, or that we can never say a harsh word to one another. I don’t think it means that there can never be conflict.

I think that being kind means that we have to fight for justice. It means that we have to work to build a world in which we are all respected and valued. It means that we have to stand up for one another and fight to keep each other safe. And it means that we have to be willing to speak out and hold each other accountable when we witness discrimination, harassment, and abuse.

To me, being kind means that I am less interested in protecting people from hard, uncomfortable conversations than I am in protecting the women who are bravely telling their stories and fighting to hold their harassers accountable.

Stanish reflected on Twitter after the panel that as hard as it may have been to witness this conversation or read about it afterwards, it was even harder for those women to live it, saying: “These amazing women didn’t owe us their pain and anger but they shared it with us anyway. Let’s make it worth something.”

When that panel concluded, I felt a sense of solidarity and purpose akin to what I felt during the Women’s March. The audience gave the panelists a standing ovation, and people were openly weeping and hugging as the lights came up and the stage cleared. It sparked a conversation that continued into the hotel lobby and onto Twitter that evening — one that will hopefully continue in the weeks and months to come. And hopefully, when this topic is revisited during next year’s Gallifrey One convention, we’ll have some tangible results to show for it too.

Note: This piece has been updated with a correction to Sophie Aldred’s story.

[wirrnarehere]