Rantings

From the BBC:

Actress Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, has died aged 76.

She died of leukaemia on Thursday at her home in Los Angeles, her family said in a statement.

The actress, who featured in nearly every Star Trek TV show and film, nurtured the legacy of the sci-fi series after her husband died in 1991.

She recently finished her role as the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in the new Star Trek film, due out in May.

Barrett Roddenberry was involved in the Star Trek universe for more than four decades.

She played the dark-haired Number One in the TV show's original pilot, The Cage, but was recast as the blonde, mini-skirted Nurse Christine Chapel for the series, which launched in 1966.

During this time, she was romantically involved with creator Gene Roddenberry, and the couple married in Japan after the show was cancelled in 1969.

'Vital role'

She went on to play smaller roles in all five Star Trek TV spin-offs and many of the Star Trek movie incarnations. She is perhaps best known, however, as the voice of the ship's computer.

Barrett Roddenberry helped keep the franchise alive by inspiring fans and attending a major Star Trek convention each year.

"My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years," her son Eugene Roddenberry Jr said in a statement on the official Roddenberry Web site.

"It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away."

The website added that in lieu of flowers, the family have asked for donations be made to two animal rescue charities.

The actress is survived by her only son, Eugene.

A public memorial is expected to be scheduled for sometime after Christmas.

Bo-Sco-Foe-Joe-No-Croe-Blow-Coe-Show-Row

... Michelle Collins, aka Cindy Beale from Eastenders, is making an appearance! Could be a good choice, I reckon!

Can this be true? Actor John Simm, who plays DI Sam Tyler in the abso-bloody-lutely brilliant series "Life on Mars" is currently favourite to play The Master in Series 3 of Doctor Who. Excuse me while I have a major 'squee' moment.

Read the article here

Also appearing in Series 3 (from what I've heard) is Derek Jacobi (anyone remember I, Claudius?) and also (God help us) Timmy Mallet. The first person to say Wackaday gets hit over the head. With a pink inflatable mallet.

So, after the Doctor Who exhibition, we went over the road to the Millennium Centre. What a lovely arts centre! Stylish on the outside, stylish on the inside.

Also had my picture taken next to the water tower made famous by the Doctor Who spin off Torchwood. The Torchwood Hub is supposed to be directly beneath this tower under the streets of Cardiff. He he!





Lots more photos were taken, but I won't bore you with geeky details.

So, after we'd done the tour of Cardiff Bay we went back to Aunty Kath's and had time to chat and eat something before we had to get ready to go to the theatre. My Mam had bought an extra ticket online for Aunty, so we had to be there early to collect it from the Box Office. I'm not sure she really wanted to go to see a pantomime, but we all had a great time.

The panto was superb. One cheesy gag after another, lots of innuendo, a man in drag and a pantomime cow! What more could you ask for?! John Barrowman was hilarious, and on several occasions could hardly carry on with the show he was laughing so hard. Aunty Kath thoroughly enjoyed it, and after it was over we went round to the stage door to see if we could get an autograph and a photo. Aunty Kath said she'd never done this before and she was just learning how to be a groupie at 61! Heh heh! She likes JB, though, and is a big Doctor Who and Torchwood fan. Incidentally, it's reassuring to know that I am not the only one in my family that cried bucketloads at the last two episodes of Torchwood ... there were a few tears shed from the Welsh Contingent, also.

So, we got to the front of the queue and got our programmes signed. "Kath with a K", Aunty Kath said, and then, "The pantomime was great, but I bet you're shattered now, bless you!" to which JB replied "Uh-huh". I could hardly stifle the laughter because she'd come over all maternal on him, and I was wondering if she was going to then offer him a cup of tea and some fluffy slippers! Mr Lisa, incidentally, had vanished. I think he's actually quite shy and was probably terrified in case I got him to come and pose in a picture with JB.

I think we were some of the last ones waiting for autographs, and if we'd hung around longer we could have had our pictures taken with him, but we were all cold and it was late, so we decided to get back home and open a bottle of wine. The show had finished at least half an hour later than usual as it was the last one and they wanted to send the whole thing off in style. So, this is the only picture I got of JB on the last night.



To finish off, here are some of my favourite bits from the show:

JB - "I've never danced with a fairy before!"

JB to a small child from the audience - "How are you?"
Small child - "Petrified"
JB - Laughs. "Well it's not that bad. There are only a thousand people watching you and we're going to sing a song in a bit. Where are you from?"
Small child - "Erm ..." Looks into the audience. "Mum, where am I from?"

JB, upon seeing Dame Trot appear on stage dressed in the Welsh flag and a black curly wig - "I always knew my Mom was Shirley Bassey!"

So, as you can no doubt guess, I'm back home. And what a jolly good time we had!

We arrived at my Aunty's in Caerphilly around 10:30pm, and as we hadn't eaten since the afternoon, we had some soup and a roll and sat and drank wine while we chatted and caught up on family gossip. It must have been around 1am when we finally went to bed.

Needless to say I didn't get up bright and early the next morning which what I had planned to do. I had a list of places I wanted to visit and thought it was going to take up my whole day, but it all turned out fine. I just made sure I saw the best places first.

So, after breakfast, off we toddled to the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff to see the Doctor Who exhibition. As we walked up to the entrance I'm guessing my face must have been a picture, because Mr Lisa said "the words 'kid' and 'sweet shop' come to mind"! It was certainly a visual feast, even if it was quite a small exhibition. Very enjoyable. Here is a small selection of photos I took:

Are you bored yet? There is more to come. Watch this space.

Hope you all had a good Christmas! Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?

I'm still pooterless, so currently hijacking Mr Lisa's laptop for now. I don't have long to update you all.

Me? I got the latest Terry Pratchett book, "Wintersmith". Also, the complete boxed set of Farscape Season 3 (Mr Lisa got me Seasons 1 and 2 last year), the complete Life on Mars (Yay! Can't wait for a Series 2) and the complete boxed set of Doctor Who Series One (the one with Christopher Eccleston). A geek's paradise!

Speaking of which ... wasn't the Christmas Day Special of Doctor Who great?! I was pleasantly surprised by Catherine Tate as I don't usually enjoy watching her on telly, and Sarah Parish as the Empress of the Racnoss was just superb. Also on Christmas Day was the Doctor Who Confidential Christmas Special which went behind the scenes of the Doctor Who concert which was held at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff in aid of Children In Need. Just wonderful.

And yesterday? Well, the wonderful John Barrowman got hitched, of course, to his long term partner of 16 years, Scott Gill. Some nice photos to be found here, including some rather lovely pictures of JB in his kilt (swoon). It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling and makes me proud to be British (which is a rare thing in itself) to know that same sex couples are entitled to just the same rights as everyone else. And quite rightly so.

Speaking of JB, I can now own up to my little jaunt last month when I went in search of an unusual Christmas gift for Mr Lisa. As I had been keeping it a surprise for him I couldn't really write about it in my blog in case he reads it. I don't think he has so far, but you never know. Well, let's just say I got him a signed and personalised copy of JB's CD "Swings Cole Porter". Damn that man has a good voice. Also, I got myself a nice photo of JB autographed and personalised for me, and my picture taken with Captain Jack himself. He was so patient and polite while I fumbled and got lost for words, a real gent.






Right, I think that's it for now. I'm going away for New Year (Whitby) so I may not update till I get back. In the meantime, here are some photos from the last Whitby Gothic Weekend.

Well, I eventually sat down to watch the first part of the Hogfather last night. Now, I have been a fan of Terry Pratchett for years and have been reading his Discworld novels since I was a teenager (yes, I'm 38 now, what an oldie), so following the storyline was a no-brainer for me, but Mr Lisa had problems understanding what was going on. Did anybody else have trouble following it? And if so, do you think the producers kind of assumed/relied on most people having read the book first? Bear in mind that PTerry himself had a hand in the production, so the whole thing could have become somewhat self-indulgent for him.

Thoughts?

Is it because you are looking forward to getting lots of prezzies? Is it because you get to spend quality time with your family? Is it because you get to eat and drink as much as you like without anyone nagging about your expanding waistline/heart/teeth*?

* delete as appropriate

Nope, none of the above for me. This year it's because the Christmas Special edition of Doctor Who, "The Runaway Bride" is on TV!

Me? Sad? Whatever gave you that idea?

Ok, so who watched the Royal Variety Performance last night? And I defy anyone to say they didn't swoon when John Barrowman did the last number at the close of the show. That shameless Torchwood plug halfway through was a bit cheesey, but I can live with that.

However, I was quite disturbed by Barry Manilow's performance. So much so that I had to fast forward it (I was lucky I was watching it an hour behind everyone else due to the wonders of Sky+). I couldn't help but think that he'd had so many face lifts he no longer looked human, nor could he stop smiling as his face has been stretched into a pained rictus. Now then, that's just given me a good idea for a new monster in Doctor Who ...