Dr Who's Companions POST SEASON FINALE

SCREEAMMMMMMM!

Donna Noble: you are now 1 SWORD of awful. You had me going there. For a while, I was thinking 4 SWORDS... maybe this is it, even 5 !!!! then...

Catherine Tate: you have 4 SWORDS of awesome for your rivetingly versatile performance as Donna Noble. You were BATHETIC at the end and became horribly stupidly trivial leaving me in tears. You reminded me of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes




Rose Tyler: I'd retract your SWORD AWARD for that horrible last scene, where you find true love with the part human doctor but then, it's HIS fault. You know who!

Russell T Davies! Wow, I bet the swords have been out for you! I daren't read the forums. I really love your writing but why can't you stretch yourself a little bit. Go on and try out more different gender roles.

I guess The Doctor is so lovingly constructed as tragic father figure (western hero) that any other strong figure can not survive in the same series. That's why I say, "Hey, Russell, try a woman next time! AS THE DOCTOR!

Dr Who's Companions and the SWORD AWARDS

NOTE - First up is my PRE-SEASON FINALE POST which wasn't finished before Sunday night. There's a POST SEASON FINALE follow up!

Firstly, the fact that the women on Dr Who are all companions and that Dr Who has never been a woman for all of his vaunted alien regenerative body shifting abilities automatically disqualifies ANY of them from getting 4 SWORDS.

If Dr Who becomes a woman though, she's a fair chance at 4 or even 5 SWORDS of AWESOME WOMAN WARRIORNESS!




Secondly, Billie Piper with a gun bigger than her entire torso. PUHLEASE! She is so 1 SWORD of awkward. She is BIG CAR LITTLE DICK!

Now, some other companions have been more Emma Peel and less Agent 99, but I'm still waiting for serious SWORDS! There are a bucket load of companions on wikipedia and I'm going to enjoy revisiting old episodes in my new quest to rate the companions.

For now:

River Song: 3 SWORDS - only we don't really know if you're a companion yet.
Sarah Jane Smith: 3 SWORDS - for sheer persistence and fun.
Sara Kingdom: 3 SWORDS - only you got killed off straightaway - such is the fate of many of the strong women companions it seems!

Donna Noble: 2 SWORDS - when you're good, you're great but you're such a temp warrior.
Martha Jones: 2 SWORDS - you were a bit whiny to start but the uniform suits you.

Astrid Peth: 1 SWORD - worth a mention even if only a canary sized mini companion.
Rose Tyler: 1 SWORD - as said above, you are a bit BCLD !







All I can say though, is thank heavens for the taboo against kissing in the tardis!

Fly by Night - Frances Hardinge

Cheap book shops are one of the world's great mysteries and joys. Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge is the best book I've read for a long long time. It was on the discount table. Go figure.

An oddly ironic place given the nature of the book itself and the free exchange of ideas and literature.

Orphaned daughter of an exiled intellectual, Mosca Mye runs away from home, pausing only to collect her sidekick, a pugnacious gander, and to burn her uncle's mill to the ground in vengeful remembrance of things past. An overheard conversation sends her to rescue a travelling con-artist from the stocks, in the belief that he might prove useful to her, and together they leave the waterlogged village of Chough, where the petrifying springs bleach everything chalk-white, and head for a life of opportunity in the riverside towns and cities of the Fractured Kingdom.

.. from a rather sour review in the Guardian by Jan Mark. The Written Nerd has a more interesting review (to my mind) as he/she likes the book and is comparing two recent childrens works around the theme of censorship. Fly by Night and The Lost Colony by Grady Klein.

Strange Horizons' review by Farah Mendelsohn touches upon Fly by Night in a review for Hardinge's more recent book, Verdigris.

Macromantics and more early hiphop memories

That's right! I've been meaning to listen to more Macromantics cause I like what I've heard so far! 2 SWORDS for Romy Hoffman aka Macromantics.

I also dig Sneaky Sound System.

Ladyhawke seems ok too, but overated already?

Anyone remember Sound Unlimited Posse? They were awesome in a kind of daggy way.

Salt-N-Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex in Sydney

Do you remember when? I was always hoping for just a little bit more from these women. But Salt-n-Pepa really were the best around at the start of the hip hop and rap era. There still haven't been many other challengers. Isn't that sad!

Speaking of other challengers, I'm way out of date but all I can think of are Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill.

Anyway, I can't quite bring myself to go along and relive the 80s to 90s but almost... Check out the show at the Enmore Theatre.

Don't forget this was when AIDS was a very very dirty word! Now if only the debate included prostitution, these girls would get 3 SWORDS but as it is I'm going for 2 SWORDS.

Somewhat Frank vs Non Society - Talk About Sex

In the words of the great Salt-n-Pepa, "Let's Talk About Sex, Baby!"

Isn't vidcasting some kind of interesting? It's all about sex. Thirty something mating behaviours to be exact. Whether you are actually younger or older it doesn't matter. This whole 'let's film ourselves having serious discussions for everyone else out there' is some sophisticated mating marketplace behaviour.

I went in looking for Web 3.0, Social Networking and Feminism. Look what I came out with!

"We took a walk in the park and got to chatting about startups,
technology, electric cars, pets and even encountered a rather
distracting making out session. Check out video episode 46 on SOMEWHAT FRANK with Meghan Asha from NonSociety (below)."

Tech and the City - Ella Morton AND BEING ALMOST 3 SWORDS

I love intrepid girl scientists. I also dig the feminist housewife movement (trying to rediscover the issues with irony). But I am most in awe when the kick ass 2 SWORD worthy fabulous women involved in either area get that little bit meta or mega or ideally BOTH.

Ella, Tech and the City was fun (finished June 07). I wish you had more stuff of your own and fewer consumer tech reviews. This may be inevitable with your move up from associate editor at ZDNet to Features Editor at Cnet.com.au. But I"m looking forward to less 'Choice' and more 'voice' from you. Because you have a great voice, Ella. I have 3 SWORDS just waiting for you.

About Ella Morton

Member since: June 2007

Hey ho, I'm the Features Editor for CNET.com.au. I focus on our video content, manage the portable audio category and review the odd phone when the mood strikes.

Outside nine-to-five, you're likely to find me rehearsing a play, misplacing expensive possessions and whiling away the last days of my fading youth on the Internets.

Ella Morton is interested in: Camcorders, Digital Cameras, Mobile Phones, MP3 Players and Software.