Writer's Block: BFFs

[seawasp]

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Boy, middle school. I didn't watch much TV in middle school. Or in high school overall, for that matter. I've watched VASTLY more TV as an adult than I ever watched as a child...

(checks IMDB)

However, one of the few shows I *did* watch back then holds a perfect candidate: Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man. We'd clearly share some of the general technical interests in common, he was obviously pretty easy to get along with, had fascinating things to tell you (even if he couldn't talk about his OSI work), and would probably have kicked me out of various ruts in my life earlier.

I don't generally outgrow things; really young children's books may not hold my interest, no, but that doesn't mean I suddenly think they aren't good, they're just no longer complex enough.

Comments

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... (thinks)... Captain Lee Crane from 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' might qualify - but if I can move on a few years to my late teen years it would have to be Hannibal Hayes (Smith) from Alias Smith and Jones.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

we didnt have Middle School back then, I went to a K-8 neighborhood school, pre-integration, where you walked or biked to school.

I did however, name my dog Dino, after the Flintstones pet.

[zanzjan.livejournal.com]

Easy. The Doctor.

[seawasp]

I didn't encounter The Doctor in any guise until I was well into my 20s.

And I dunno about whether I'd want him as a BFF. He'd be a really useful ally, but many of his incarnations would be hard to have as FRIENDS.

[caper-est.livejournal.com]

I've been acquainted with the Doctor since I've been acquainted with fiction, and that was always pretty much my feeling too.

Mapping 'middle school' onto my high school career up to 14, then that would just include his companion Nyssa, with whose thirtysomething self I would eventually spend eighteen memorable months in the course of writing my Great Fanfic Novel. Science and art and guts - what's not to like?*

* Well, okay, 'bad scripts' in the original** are understood.
** Yes, all right, my interpretation had a slight flaw in her character too. But when I was back at school... not so much, then.

[seawasp]

Nyssa I found cute but annoying, partly because she was one of the mechanisms used to destroy Adric, who was one of my favorite companions. Adric used to be the very bright young man who played *almost* on the Doctor's level and would simultaneously get in trouble and sometimes get out. His brightness got played down and shifted to Nyssa and pretty soon all he had left was the ability to complain and angst -- until his one last shining exit.

(I learned much later that it was Matthew Waterhouse's own behavior that led to him getting canned, but of course as a viewer that wasn't relevant anyway).

[k-kinnison.livejournal.com]

Steve austin... half a man. Expert at running in circles really fast.

For me, it is THE Doctor. Specifically the Sylvester McCoy incarnation (tho i would have preferred Tom Baker) I certainly would have learned more from him then I would at school

I won't go into the cartoons I was watching

[seawasp]

When I was in middle school, Tom Baker had just started his run in the original series, and -- as I mentioned in my reply to Zanzjan -- I never actually encountered any of the series until I was well into my 20s.

But Sylvester McCoy? Doctor Genocide? I'm not so sure I'd choose that one, even if I was going to have the Doctor as a friend.

[jirill.livejournal.com]

If I had to choose it would be either The 4th Doctor or even more likely K-9. Who wouldn't want a smarter than you robotic dog with all the cool toys as a dedicated life time BFF?