I have not read many (well, there’s some “non-fiction” books…but I digress), but one that I have had fun reading is “Shadow and Substance: My Time with Charlie Chaplin (A Novel)” by Gerry Mandel. I have read it 3 or 4 times. Summary is that it takes place in the late 1990s and it’s about a guy named Cooper whose a huge Chaplin fan, who been hired to work on a documentary on Chaplin. And who appears from the mists of time to help him with this quest but Chaplin himself. Is Charlie a ghost? Time traveler? I’ll let you decide.
That does sound like a hokey description. But a fitting one that doesn’t give away too much.
Is it a literary masterpiece? I wouldn’t say that. Is it a lot of fun to read? Yes.
And if the title sounds familiar, it’s taken from one of many film projects that Chaplin had started on but never completed. And when he met his last wife Oona.
And Jason Allin, a filmmaker and a topnotch Chaplin impersonator, is currently recording an audiobook version. Hooray!
There weren’t a lot of guest stars that I knew who they were prior to their appearance in Doctor Who. People like pop-singer Kylie Minogue who seemed to be popular in the UK, but, being an American, I had not a clue who she was.
There was Maisie Williams who I knew who she was from Game of Thrones (though I don’t watch it) , and her character, Ashildr/Me, had great potential to be an interesting part of series 9 and I really wanted to like her, but just fell flat in the beginning and then irritated me towards the end.
I already mentioned Michael Gambon being my favorite male actor and I could put him in for this as well. But trying not to repeat myself, that really narrows down to one person who I knew who he was, and the character wasn’t annoying – John Cleese’s cameo in City of Death as an art critic:
That’s the whole of his acting in Doctor Who. and it was wonderful!
And yes, I remember mentioning this scene in Favorite Classic Episode, but the category is different enough for me to mention it again.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Location
Back in the classic days of Who, there were not a lot of ,music from the show. There were some albums released of the sound effects and music, but nothing like New Who which has a soundtrack for each series.
Five years ago, during the 50th anniversary, there was an album release of a number of songs from both Classic and New Who. A sort of “Greatest Hits” of the entire run, ranging from the very cool retro scifi sounds of early Who to the orchestral masterpieces of New Who.
If we are talking for a non-greatest hits, I would pick Series 5, which was to Matt Smith’s first season as the 11th Doctor. It’s what also introduced the awesome 11th Doctor theme, “I am the Doctor” (track 9). The variants of that and “Amy’s Theme” (track 13) are wonderful.
Oh, if you want to see the video from where I got the top image from, it is a clip from the first of three (so far) Doctor Who at the Proms where the BBC Philharmonic performed music from the show (up to that point) as well as classical music. Sadly, they haven’t had a Proms since 2013, though there have been other orchestral performances.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Guest Star
