Oh Pixar you do treat us.
Comics, films and television...oh my!
Oh Pixar you do treat us.
At the Golden Globe awards the other day, Jodie Foster finally acknowledged her sexual orientation after, frankly, decades of the whole world knowing. Whilst I'm impressed that she's finally come out to the whole world, I must confess a certain disappointment that she did it as easily and consequence-free as she chose to. As Patrick Strudwick says:
Without visibility we would have nothing. Without millions of ordinary people, kids in British state schools, activists in Uganda, married Christians in the Bible belt, saying, "Actually, I'm gay," Jodie Foster would not be able to stand up, resplendent, creaking open the closet door free of consequences. She surfed the wave of others' courage and gave back only when she felt like it.
It is every gay public figure's social responsibility to be out, to make life better for those without publicists and pilates teachers. Those who cry, "It's none of your business! Who cares who I sleep with?!" shirk their public duty, and deny the shame that keeps the closet door shut. Do straight people consider their orientation private? You cannot skip the tough part of a human rights struggle. I long for being gay to be nobody's business, to not matter, but we're a long way off. You either do your bit, and in the case of an A-list actor, that means blazing a trail for other performers, or you remain concealed, bleating about privacy.
I completely agree with him. She's unarguably done good by coming out at all, but it's true that, like it or not, as a major public figure she's in a position of responsibility. She does indeed have a right to privacy but a human rights struggle indeed affects everyone - there's no avoiding it with any honour. To those who cry 'it's no big deal, why should she come out' I point them to the persistence of homophobia (and heterosexism) in numerous industries, and not just her's. The only point at which being an out gay Hollywood actor is not worth acknowledging, reporting on or celebrating is when it's commonplace. I'm glad she's out but she should have done this years ago.
Dear God how can you not be massively excited about this?
It's a little contrived - The Doctor really didn't know about an Angel energy farm in 1938? - but it's hugely emotional. Facing the end what are Rory and Amy prepared to do to save each other and the city? What fixes a point in time? How much of what we're presented with can any of the trio change? What does River Song already know? Moffat uses his standard timey-wimey manoeuvring to keep us on our toes, in an enjoyably hard boiled tale in the past.
I'd never thought Karen Gillan or Arthur Darvill were that good the last couple of years but here they positively shine - their loss is real, their heroism triumphant. It's a shame both decided to leave, but it puts The Doctor in an interesting position, particularly with the 'Doctor Who' code words used a second time in this run (no doubt, Bad Wolf-style, foreshadowing a possible resolution to the Silence subplot). So the Angels seemed less threatening, sure, but after repeated use they were always going to be.
It was a good episode, offering the cinematic experience Moffat said he wanted this year for the first time, with superb direction and significant character development (for River Song too). Having said that I've not engaged with the non-Moffat episodes at all this year, and I hope the opposite is the case in 2013. Christmas and a new companion seem such a long time away.
Most enjoyably though was rather than play outright 'wibbly wobbly timey wimey' games, Moffat has set up devious ones. His new companion was unexpectedly introduced this episode but just as quickly dispatched. The ominous question which was to trigger 'silence' falling was asked by the memory-wiped Daleks, their hive memory having been wiped by said companion. Moffat clearly has a series long thread (or series of threads) he wants to pursue, but isn't over playing his hand.
The three leads were uniformly excellent, Karen Gillan again making a quantum leap between series, leaving me quite frustrated by her imminent departure. She, Darvill and Smith gelled better than ever before, and it was a sublime start to what promises to be a great series.

OK so I'm a little less annoyed about having to drop Aquaman now. But it does mean I'm unlikely to drop the main Justice League book...
It's over to you now Marvel, it seems! Can we?

I met Joe Kubert at the very last UKCAC I attended, and he drew an amazing Sgt Rock for me, going well past closing time, and infuriating the overzealous organisers. He was a kind, talented gentleman whose company I briefly enjoyed, but whose work will awe me forever.