Humour

On August 4, 2013August 4, 2013 By Keith ParkerIn Doctor Who, Emotion, Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Science Fiction, Suffering, Television, Time Travel, TV, World War IILeave a comment

EDIT: The BBC announced today that Peter Capaldi will play the twelfth Doctor. We, of course, knew this beforehand and after-hand and simultaneous-hand. It’s really hard to surprise time travelers. Now, on with the post …

This week’s Fish and TARDIS Sauce newsletter will look at the use of humor in Doctor Who, and ways that you might be able to apply this technique in your everyday life.

In “The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe” (s06e24), Doctor Who travels back to 1940s London, where he meets Madge Ardwell, her son Cyril, and daughter Lily. Madge comes home to tell the kids that she is going to help The Doctor return to his time machine, as if this happened every day (who knows, maybe it does). While there at home, Madge asks Cyril what he’s is doing up so late looking through his telescope. When Lily makes a snide comment it begins this brief but quite funny exchange among the characters.

Cyril — It’s astronomy.
Lily — Don’t make up words. He’s always making up things … and breathing.
Madge — Where’s your father?
Cyril — In the garden.
Madge — What’s he doing in the garden?
Cyril — Agriculture.
Lily [off-camera] — You’re not fooling anyone.

And you see? Like that. Or three scenes later, which is also three years later, the family is standing in front of an ancient house somewhere in the English countryside, and the kids say —

Cyril — Is it haunted?
Lily — Is it drafty?

Another sharp, understated exchange.

But if you’ve seen this episode you know this episode is not all fun and games. The kids’ father is killed when his bomber goes down over the English Channel (although that’s not quite the whole story), leading to nightmarish grief and stress for Madge. This leads to a poignant scene where Madge admits this to The Doctor and reflects on her short temper around her children.

Madge — I don’t know why I keep shouting at them.
The Doctor — Because every time you see them happy you remember how sad they’re going to be. And it breaks your heart.

What we see here is a dramatic turn, where the dry wit of British comedy gives way to the realities of life during World War II (or anytime for that matter). And once again, Doctor Who, the show, and Doctor Who, the character, offer us a glimpse into the human condition. After all, why do we love a rose? Because it’s blooming but will not do so forever. Why does it smell so divine? Because its thorns are so sharp.

It’s always been my opinion that humor for the sake of humor gets stale after a while. Even the best comedians — the Steve Martins and Richard Pryors and George Carlins — cannot sustain me for long unless I have a break. It doesn’t have to be something morbid or maudlin, but it does have to be balanced. And I love humor. In fact, I was once asked why I don’t watch Comedy Central all the time. The answer is simple, really. I don’t watch Comedy Central, or any other 24/7 source of laughter, because I don’t usually turn to comedians for jokes. The best humor grows out of drama, to relieve the tension, or out of horror, to dispel the terror. That’s why, in that famous line from Steel Magnolias, the characters reflect on the wonder of laughter through tears.

Which brings us back to “The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe.” Doctor Who, the character, looks at Madge thoughtfully in this episode, and finally offers his advice. And this is one of the many reasons I love this show. The characters get to the heart of the matter so damn well. In the scene I’ve described above, Madge is momentarily distracted by the distant sounds of the children’s glee, leading Doctor Who to say this:

The Doctor — What’s the point of them being happy now if they’re going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later.

Pretty good stuff for science fiction, eh?

Until next time, remember: Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can procrastinate about today.

Years truly,

Keith Parker, CEO, COO, CTO, CCO, CAC, COCOA of The PITTS*

Please visit my hometown bloggers at our Rocket City Bloggers website!

* The Parker Institute for Time Travel Studies.

The Time Traveler’s Life (Part II)

On February 7, 2013 By Keith ParkerIn Clocks, Creative Writing, Doctor Who, Fantasy, Fiction, movies, Science Fiction, Television, Time TravelLeave a comment

The second part of this series on writing time travel fiction is precautionary. Hopefully it will help you avoid stuff that’s just weird. A good example of weirdness is not Lea Thompson playing Lorraine Baines. No, a good example of weirdness is that family photograph that Marty carried around in Back to the Future. People loved that movie, so much so that it’s become a trope (very Back-to-the-Future), and its quotes have entered daily dialogue (“You’re my density!” and “1.61 gigawatts of electricity,” and “Great Scott!”). But as much as people loved the movie they hated that damn photograph, and the way Marty’s family faded in and out depending how he was messing up the timeline.

With that in mind, here are a few other cliches you’ll want to avoid if you’re writing about time travel:

If the hero’s past and future selves encounter each other it’ll destroy the universe. This one is just plain stupid. And who’s to decide what’s stupid and what’s not? I am. It’s my blog.
The Butterfly Effect. This one is just too worn-out or, as Doctor Who put it, “Just don’t step on butterflies, then.”
Overuse of Daylight Savings Time, the International Date Line, and clocks that run backward, and any other type of artificial construct.
Avoid having the hero travel back in time to give the time machine to himself. This is actually my favorite paradox, but it doesn’t make for a good story. You know what does make for a good story? Characters.

Avoid the mysterious stranger who is revealed to be the hero’s past or future self. Readers will spot this one immediately. It’s much better to start with this as a premise and see how it goes from there, e.g., John the Younger has just discovered that spooky ol’ John the Older, who lives right next door, is actually his future self. Have the story, novel, screenplay, etc, start there.
Going back in time 65 million years to be chased by a dinosaur. If you want to get chased by a T-Rex just fly down to Isla Nublar. It’s much closer.
Repeating the same eras as destinations: I touched on this in Part I of this blog entry. There are certain time periods that have captured our imagination. Among them are prehistoric times, the Middle Ages, the American Civil War, the Wild West, World War II, the (not-so) good ol’ days of the 50s, and the Kennedy Assassination. But if you just quickly browse any good bookstore you’ll realize that history is much more than this. In fact, it’s been around for a long time.
Having the main character change sex as a result of time travel. Robert Heinlein did this in “All You Zombies.” It worked for him, but chances are you’re not going to ooh-aah anybody with that zinger these days.
Don’t make the future a dystopia. A nuclear ash-heap of post-apocalyptic, angst-ridden, one-armed assholes carrying assault rifles fighting off hords of zombies and a virtual reality “Big Brother” is … tiring as hell. I just made all that up, by the way. So, if I can make up a cliche in thirty seconds there’s a damn good chance it’s overused.

This is just a snapshot of the cliches. And also remember that if you’ve seen it once in a movie (e.g., Groundhog Day) it’s been done dozens of times in fiction.

A word of encouragement before I sign off … If you want your character to travel back to the Kennedy assassination it’s perfectly fine to do so. But what you need to do is find a fresh angle. I’ll give you an example as a sort of writing prompt: Instead of writing about the events in Dealey Plaza why not write about the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald by the Dallas Police and the FBI? Make your time traveler one of the FBI agents. He could’ve “just flown in” from Washington. And not only does he have to deal with the stress of the situation he also has to deal with a culture that is hostile to Federal agents. Food for thought. Or, as they say in the UK, food for thought.

Pax,

Keith

Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, oh, my, too!

On October 31, 2012November 4, 2012 By Keith ParkerIn Creative Writing, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, movies, Science Fiction, Television, TV1 Comment

Did you really think I’d write a Halloween blog and not have a sequel? How could I possibly be true to Hollywood’s model of movie-making if I muffed that one? Since today is actually Halloween, I thought you’d like to read about the the movies that have scared the living piss out of me over the years. I actually don’t like scary stuff all that much, which is a partial lie because some of my favorite stories from science fiction and fantasy hang close to that crumbling cemetery wall known as the horror genre.

(The freakishly odd “mask” art was done by my daughter on our iPad. She didn’t mean for it to be a scary image, but when I saw it I immediately thought, “Hannibal Lecter.”)

A caveat about lying: I’m a fiction writer; I fib out of habit.

Now, on to the movies that have scared the holy mackerel out of me, even though I prefer swordfish, with field peas and a nice … never mind.

The freakin’ previews for The Exorcist back in the mid-70s … Jesus! Do you realize I’ve never seen that movie because of the previews?
The Silence of the Lambs – Well, what can you say? The movie is an Oscar-winning masterpiece, with freakishly superb acting by Anthony Hopkins and Jodi Foster … “quid pro quo”
Psycho – Kids these days! Geesh, they’ll tell you that old movies aren’t scary. Next time they say this put them in a dark room and watch them shiver as Hitchcock’s black-and-white creepiness unfolds before them.
Seven – Okay, this flick is just downright “ewwww,” but I also can’t help thinking about it on days like this … or whenever a package comes in the mail.
The Green Mile – I don’t like executions. Hopefully there aren’t many people who do, but the electric chair puts me into a deer-in-headlights trance of abject terror quicker than most anything else (aside from disco).
Angel Heart – Yeah, this is the scariest thing I have ever seen. It’s gruesome, sickening, and hammers me over the head with the single worst fear I’ve ever had: Finding out I did something horrific that I cannot remember at all. And it doesn’t help that the ending implies that Harry Angel/Johnny Favourite is going to be riding the lightning soon (see above).