Twenty Questions...

[fajrdrako]

From monanotlisa:

Pick five of your favourite shows, in no particular order, before you read the below questions, then answer them!

Current or just-finished shows only, 'kay?

1. Torchwood
2. Doctor Who
3. The Sara Jane Adventures
4. Supernatural
5. Leverage

01. Who's your favourite character in 2?

The Doctor. If you want me to be more specific, I'll say the Ninth Doctor. Because he's so incredibly smart and sexy and strong and quirky and brave.

02. Who's your least favourite character in 1?

Doctor Who: There are a few characters I never really liked, but... Mickey, maybe. He had his moments but I liked him best when he was at his worst.

03. What's your favourite episode of 4?

Leverage:"The Jury #6 Job", because of its portrayal of Parker.

04. What's your favourite season of 5?

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The first series, because I so liked Maria. The stories are about equal from one season to the next. I haven't actually seen all of series 2 yet.

05. Who is your favourite ship in 3?

Supernatural: Dean/Castiel. It delights me on all levels. Slashy as all hell - no pun intended - we have this wonderful life-and-death, soul-shaping, life-changing obsessive concern between an Angel and his charge that works so wonderfully, and which goes both ways. Each has learned from the other, and each has turned the other's life around. Castiel changed Dean by saving him from Hell. Dean changed Castiel by teaching him to understand and care about humanity.

06. Who is your antiship in 2?

Torchwood: Toshiko/Owen. The only way I could deal with it was to pretend it wasn't happening. I liked either of them with anyone else, but together? They brought out the worst in each: Owen became an insensitive bully and Tosh an immature whiner. Ah, the compulsions of loneliness.

07. How long have you watched 1?

Doctor Who: Since about the time that "School Reunion" aired in the UK - say, early May, 2006. I saw it in Montreal, at a MonSFFA meeting.

08. How did you become interested in 3?

Torchwood: It's a spinoff of 1 (Doctor Who) and a sort of first cousin of 2 Torchwood. Being hooked on them, I had to watch it. Besides, since seeing "School Reunion", I loved Sarah Jane. Of course I had to watch. How could I resist? I love a show that has a mature woman as the protagonist - and she isn't a cutesy granmotherly Miss Marple type, either, she's an intelligent, heroic, flawed human who thrives on adventure and discovery. How often do we see that? Ever? I can't think of another example.

09. Who's your favourite actor/actress in 4?

Leverage: Beth Riesgraf as Parker. I can't even explain it. I just adore Parker and her point of view. Her skills. Her blindnesses. Her insight.

10. Which do you prefer: Show 1, 2 or 5?

Doctor Who, Torchwood or Leverage: Diificult question to answer, forcing me to choose between Doctor Who and Torchwood, which in my mind form a sort of continuum on idea. I love Leverage for much more intellectual reasons, while Doctor Who and Torchwood have won my heart and mind on a much deeper level. So... I think I'll say Torchwood, close call though it is. Doctor Who has better writing and more depth - vaguely ironic, given its lighter tone and its appeal to kids - but there you have it. But Torchwood has other virtues that win out: despite its huge variability in quality from one episode to the next, I love its themes and its characters and its setting and its stylized realism. I love it that it has bisexual characters and writes them well. I love it that it surprises me. And "Children of Earth" was so incredibly well written that my respect for the show increased, my embarrassment at its flaws faded.

So. Torchwood is my favourite.

11. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?

Depends how you count. If you count Doctor Who from 1963, I've seen only a tiny percentage of it, while I've seen 100% of Supernatural. If you count from 2005, when the New Who started, I've seen all of four-and-spare-change series. But a British series is about half of an American season (for reasons I've yet to understand, though I suspect the reason is money) so in having seen all four seasons of Supernatural now, I've seen about twice as much of it as Doctor Who. On the other hand, I've watched Doctor Who episodes many, many times each, while I've only seen most episodes of Supernatural once or twice.

12. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Leverage: Parker. For a dozen reasons. Including loving the way she jumps off buildings.

13. How would you kill off your favourite character in 1?

Doctor Who: I'd make him regenerate, as Russell T Davies will be doing in a few months.

14. Give a random quote from 1?

Doctor Who: Not a random one: a favourite. Before I go, I just want to tell you: you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And d'you know what? So was I.

15. Which character from 5 would be a good guest star on 2?

Sarah Jane Smith, of course. I would love, absolutely love, to see her make a visit to the Torchwood Hub. I guess she can't, since it's destroyed. But we have seen her meet Captain Jack, and I loved that, too. I'd love to see them in an adventure together - just the two of them, not with a crowd like in "Journey's End".

16. Would a 3/4 crossover work?

Supernatural and Leverage? Anything can be crossed with anything. Why not? The Leverage crew could be working on a case dealing with demonic injustice. Or the Winchesters stumble across one of Nathan's scams. Works either way.

17. Pair 2 characters in 1 that would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Doctor Who: Well, David Tennant was complaining that he didn't get to snog Bernard Cribbins. Not that I'm particularly eager for that one, but... in that show, nothing would seem particularly strange.

Seriously, the Doctor is one of those characters who could be paired with anyone. All the more so in that the show itself is allergic to pairing him with anyone. The closest they've come was Rose, and though I've no doubt that Rose and the Doctor seriously love each other, deeply and forever, look what a mess has been made of it.

The Doctor, in fact, would be both "strange" and "okay" with anyone.

The pairings I want to see, are the Doctor with Captain Jack, or the Doctor with Martha. This has the advantage that both Jack and Martha are in love with the Doctor.

But if you want stranger ... Hmm. The Doctor and Shakespeare rather appeals to me.

18. Has 5 inspired you in any way?

... Well, I could easily see Sarah Jane as my role model. She's about my age, but beautiful and active and healthy and clever and and brave pretty much what I would want to be if I weren't me. She's also industrious and with plenty of initiative.

19. Overall, which show has a better cast, 2 or 4?

Eeeeeeeeeeee. Both are terrific, and in just about the same ways. My love of John Barrowman forces me to say Torchwood, as does my personal affection for Gwen, Ianto, Owen, Tosh, Rhys and Andy, but the cast of Leverage is great.

20. Which has better theme music, 3 or 5?

Supernatural. I love what they do with music and with the brief but fascinating title theme. Especially with the black angel wings in season 4.