Vee

I'm not surprised River is back. I figured she would be around at least until shortly before Smith and Moffat left, whenever that may be. Matt is signed through at least 2014, I believe, and I think it's confirmed he is doing Series 8, though I don't know whether that airs in fall 2013 or early '14. They never gave her a goodbye in TATM, so I knew she'd be around. Lots left to do. I would cry if they did another tie-in with the SJA kids sometime during the anniversary. Have Luke, Clyde and Maria (or Rani, or whoever that little girl was they added in the last series I haven't watched) pop up to help the Doctor.

Pretty much all the legit polling shows Obama pulling out a commanding lead. Which is why I laughed my ass off when I saw CNN the other night showing Obama up four points in Ohio and Wolf Blitzer staring into the camera calling it "a tie." I've heard Romney may be pulling out of Ohio and trying to peel off Nevada. It can't be done. He cannot win.

From the anniversary celebration today at MCM London: Matt Smith confirmed River Song would return soon enough. Also, there was this cute bit:

Speaking of Joe Scarborough, this morning Joe came to terms with some of the hard math (and I think he may be wrong about Virginia and Florida, to name a few). There isn't a YT upload yet, but it's here and the discussion really starts several minutes in (around 3:30). Oh, and I was right about Virginia - this morning's Pew poll has Obama up 5 over Romney at 51%.

In other news, Colin Powell will be on CBS This Morning today, and looks set to endorse Obama again. ETA: And yes he did!

The most terrifying thing about Joe Scarborough these days is that compared to about 75% of the current Republican legislature and government, he is a compassionate moderate. He's a sane man. A partisan, and almost relentlessly wrong, but he has some sense. Most of the actual elected Republicans today do not, or have ceded it for political expediency - something John McCain's been doing since 2000 in the hope of being president, and now does seemingly out of sheer spite against Obama. And while McCain sold his honor for his campaigns, he still had a set of core beliefs which he deeply felt and stood by in his campaign. George W. Bush, for all his catastrophic decisions, was the same. Even though he was a wrongheaded, arrogant fool, even as he drove this country into senseless war, he cared deeply for the men and women he sent to battle and wept for them. I don't believe Mitt Romney cares about any of that, or anything else any of the most arrogant of those men cared about. He just cares about closing a deal. I've never seen anyone so utterly amoral in my admittedly-limited political lifetime. This, too, is why all the Republican candidates in the last four years, to a man, despise Romney - he has no core. For all their horror, no one could say the neoconservative lobby did not truly believe what they believed about America or the world. I think Mitt Romney only believes in himself. That is unbelievably dangerous. Fortunately, he's not going to win. The wind is now Obama's, as are the polls. I look forward to casting Mitt forever to what The Simpsons called "the land of wind and ghosts."

She's the daughter of Lenny and Lisa Bonet. Absolutely beautiful girl, she also co-starred in X-Men: First Class., a.k.a. the only good X-Men movie. But she had very few lines there, and that's because she's more of a vision than an actress. She does alright in this film, but she has some wooden-ness and is clearly struggling with the weight of carrying it. EJ Bonilla seemed much more natural here than he ever did on GL. But yeah, Billy Kay - it was odd. He does look the same, but he also looks like a slightly heavy adult playing dress-up. It was a tad Jason Priestley or Luke Perry on 90210.

Minor note: Two young GL vets have turned up in something I had to watch recently - Yelling to the Sky, a gritty if derivative indie about a young girl (Zoe Kravitz) who turns drug dealer. Has Gabourey Sidibe from Precious as her nemesis, but as for GL, EJ Bonilla (Rafe) has a bit part as one of the girl gang's boyfriends, and Billy Kay (Shayne) - now 28 years old - is still playing high schoolers. He turns up as a preppy drug dealer in a sweater vest with longish hair. I guess he sort of sells it, he still looks about the same, if a bit puffier. But it's a little silly.

Amazing how it's always "that lone guy".

50/50. Please. This ain't 2000 or 2004. Voter suppression can only do so much in 20 fuckin' 12. It was a wide enough lead in '08 to be unable to be faked then, and Mitt Romney is no John McCain and Paul Ryan no Palin (who was equally a fraud, but a far better entertainer). It's not going to be close. Yes, I have been drinking, what of it.

Romney had a very slim chance before last night. If anyone thinks he has a chance after last night, I got a bridge to sell you. That Libya answer is going to live in infamy. It's history now, and Obama broke him on live television, with spontaneous applause.

That was lovely.

Get ready to cry.

There was no reason one of those kids could not be Brenda's, either, maybe fobbed off on a relative or adopted, in secret. That is an old, old soap staple. Remember, a weird plot point of that first season was that Kelly had a young son by Dylan, who was a deadbeat dad. It would've ignited that show like wildfire if Kelly discovered one of her students (and one of the regular teen cast) was Brenda's illegitimate son/daughter - also with Dylan, but conceived in the '90s during their time together away from the States. I thought Jennie Garth in particular had a formidable presence in that early time of the new show, and thought they really fucked her and the two Wilson parents over.

I lost interest in that show once they dumped Kelly, Brenda, Ryan Eggold, Rob Estes and Lori Loughlin. It was already swiftly moving to terrible before that but it really got bad when they cut all those ties and started blitzing through stories and pairings faster than B&B. A real waste of talent and of a brand. AnnaLynne McCord is great, as is Jessica Stroup, as is the guy playing Navid, as was Tristan Wilds (on The Wire). And Jessica Lowndes is talented, and Matt Lanter is still hot. But the show is a hot mess.

After Dorian confessed in 2007, they very deliberately changed the date of Victor Sr.'s death back to the '70s in the Lord crypt. I think that said it all about RC's regard for the 2003 story.

Dorian out and out said she killed Victor in 2007. I don't know if I believed it, but I think it was more explicitly put there - however randomly - to cast doubt on the 2003 story where Malone foolishly revived Victor. Dorian addresses it with "if that was him..." In typical Carlivati work, this would be a lead-in to a future retcon of a bad story/explanation, but they never touched it again. I always preferred that Viki did it, but w/e.

Dorian did learn that secret, in 2003. Viki casually mentioned it to her at a chat after they escaped their plane crash in Saranac. Dorian looked shocked. Cut to commercial. 30 minutes later, their segment returns and Dorian is leaving Llanfair - "I'm glad we got that out of the way." Thank you, Brian Frons.

I really don't agree with that take, but that's me. They've given me plenty of Rory this year. I think all the companions have gotten happy endings in the revival, but many have a bittersweet edge. Rose and the Doctor were separated forever (until that clone [!@#$%^&*]) despite her full family and life in another universe. Martha went on with her life and found love. Donna lost her memory of the Doctor but has found love and money. And Amy and Rory are together and happy, but back in time - and from our POV, already gone.

Who knows? I heard some recent interview had Gillan and Darvill very nervously hemming and hawing their way around whether they might appear in the anniversary next year - but this time did seem like a rather final end. I do think their exit was great because, like their very presence as a team, it brought home one of the core tenets of the series that revival-only fans don't always recognize; there can be more than one companion of more than one type, and sometimes, they don't always have the happiest of endings. (Though Amy and Rory did live happily ever after, after a fashion.) I saw some fan thing somewhere with Sarah Jane writing Amy's obit some 5-10 years ago, about her career as a writer and activist (she was the only reporter Nixon trusted!) and crediting her with inspiring her to become a journalist. That was sweet.

The difference, of course, with the Romanas is that with Lalla Ward in the role it's almost official in some of the stories that this regenerated Romana and the Doctor are in a relationship - they're too close. I actually kind of prefer Romana II, though I love them both, simply for that subtle, mature dimension. One can fanwank that the Doctor latches onto Rose partly because of the physical resemblance between the two (well, I see it, anyway).

Oh, BTW, this is cute - the latest of reviews of the new series by a four year old girl, Lindalee Rose, who particularly latched onto Amy, as the character originated as Little Amelia:

Oh, I'd taken Elisabeth Sladen for granted too. I think everyone did at that point. Who else could possibly have staged such a comeback in pop culture, capturing yet another generation of fans and children and actually getting her own spinoff as a woman in her sixties? We thought she'd outlast us all. With Lis and Sarah Jane I think it's different than acknowledging another companion's death. It also makes me worry for Tom Baker. I loved Caroline John - particularly on her Jon Pertwee-era DVD appearances and commentaries, which she was sharp as a tack - and Mary Tamm. Mary Tamm was a huge shock. I actually thought she had a lot of fun in her year on the show, though obviously not enough for her to stick around. I remember her in one of those crazy international thrillers in the '70s - The Odessa File with Jon Voight.

I haven't read much of the books, but I'm familiar with them. I know most of the current writers worked on the New Adventures or the rest of the novel range, so I like to think most of that happened - Ace just came back home later. I do think time with the Doctor also turned both Rose and Martha fairly paramilitary - Rose is running Torchwood, and Martha did her time with UNIT and then became some sort of roving mercenary. I'm sure Sarah Jane will be addressed soon. They dealt with the Brigadier and they'll get to her. I just am not entirely looking forward to it, simply due to the fact that Lis Sladen's death still makes me so incredibly sad.

There is a long, lovely story with Sophie Aldred in one of the recent DW Magazine issues where she reads aloud an email from RTD outlining in detail her scripted return on SJA, with Ace driving up in a stretch limo, a hip, beautiful businesswoman, as Sarah Jane mentions at the end of Death of the Doctor. Later in the story, "Dorothy" would prove she is still good ol' Ace despite her wealth and power, helping Sarah Jane and the kids bash the monsters with a bat. I wish they'd gotten to do it. Both Freema and Noel Clarke were intended to become regulars on Torchwood after DW Series 4, which is why they leave with Jack at the end of Journey's End. It didn't pan out, as Freema got other shows and Noel is busy with his films and such, and so the Lois Habiba character was added to Children of Earth in Martha's place. Jack is a Moffat creation, and I'm sure he'll be back sooner or later. I do think Torchwood is a shambles again. COE was masterful IMO, perhaps the best thing produced in the entire franchise since 2005, but the first two series were dross despite a great cast, and Miracle Day was mostly awful. I personally would love to see Tommy Knight as Luke. But that would require addressing Sarah Jane, which I'm not sure I can bear. I do not want them to write Lis Sladen's death in - I'd rather they say she is still off in space on adventures - but I guess they must soon.