Missy = River Song? I Hope Not!

I will be so disappointed if Missy turns out to be River Song on the penultimate (and part one of two) episode of Doctor Who (airing November 1st). Titled Dark Water it does not take a huge leap here to think that writer/showrunner Steven Moffat is giving us a evil version of River (after all Dark Water equals River as well). 

Though I admit, I would be even more if this was a female version of The Master.

I understand the thematic aspect of taking a hugely popular character such as River (who has proven again and again to have suspect morals and willingness to do dangerous things in pursuant of her goals) and making her bad. It’s a hollowed trope within almost every genre, as it gives the hero (i.e. The Doctor) to strive to save someone, say Clara. 

But I think keeping her ambiguity -and the one who is able to make huge decisions in mere moments without going through a committee- is much more fun and interesting.

I realize bringing an old villain back from the TOS is complex -Moffat has said to do that, he needs a very logical reason for it. Mostly though, it’s a rights issue, as writer and creator of any previous villain must be compensated financially as well as acknowledged on screen. It was how it was done in the old days. So a dark version of River Song is easier, I guess (Moffat created her), but then does that not negate Moffat's reason for not bring back older villains like The Rani? Because making River Song dark would be a cop-out and a pointless thematic tool that writers use when they paint themselves in a corner. What is the logic in making River evil?

I may be wrong here, but I would think there is plenty of old villains in Doctor Who's canon that would deserve a return. Yes, the Rani would be nice. The Celestial Toymaker and even The Meddling Monk would be cool as well. 

But Moffat seems little interested in mining old Doctor Who these days (yes, he pays homage to it like the yoyo scene in Kill The Moon and the Jelly Baby scene in Mummy on the Orient Express), but he seems to think taking a characters like River and twisting her into something different is more creative.

It may be, but I like ambiguous River Song.

All of this, I will note, will be moot if what I wrote above does not play out. Carry on.

The Woe Is Me Post

It’s been nearly a year since I wrote something here.

Part of it –or most of it- is that other sites do this stuff better and all I’m doing is repeating what they wrote, trying to put my own spin on it. I don’t know how or have connections that would get me information before everyone published it.

Plus, I’m no journalist. 

The other part is that I’ve lost interest in reporting news about stuff I never plan on seeing. And that’s another thing that has changed in me. I used to care about this stuff, used to see almost every movie that came out, watched all the popular shows and followed the news coming out of Hollywood with bated breath. Now I could care less because it’s mostly about reality/game shows and paint-by-number dramas that demean women with such striking violence it shocks me that folks actually like this stuff (I’m looking at you Criminal Minds and Stalker). Oh, there are shows I like, but the list of shows I don’t like or watch is much longer than the ones I do like and watch. I still watch nothing on CBS.

And this past summer, I went weeks without turning the TV on. 

And I’m paying 9.99 a month for Netflix that I don’t even watch and what few Blu Rays I have bought over the last few months are still sitting in there factory sealed packages.

I’m at a crossroads –have been really for three years (which means, maybe, I’ve been stopped dead in my tracks with no means or ways to choose which path to take). And I’m tired, oh so tired of sinking in the mud, drowning and never finding the surface.

Still.

Still.

I want to get back into reporting news; just got to figure out a way to put my own spin on it.