DS9 surprise

[dbskyler]

One of the channels way down the list in my cable package has started broadcasting Star Trek: DS9, and I've found myself getting hooked on it again. It also broadcasts Star Trek: Voyager, which I find myself sometimes enjoying and sometimes rolling my eyes at (just like the first time I watched!), and Star Trek: Enterprise, which I mostly avoided the first time but am now watching in order to see how I was absolutely correct to avoid it the first time.

(I should just turn off the TV when it gets to Enterprise. I really should. That show is a huge train wreck. But for some reason, when it's on at 10pm after two hours of better Star Trek, I find myself watching it just to confirm what a train wreck it is.)

Anyway, back to DS9. I was watching this episode with a guest actress playing an alien, and I kept thinking how she really seemed familiar behind all that alien make-up. It was something in her voice. So after it was over, I looked up the cast, and guess what? It was Daphne Ashbrook! Apparently she's one of a very small number of actors to have appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Trek.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

But for some reason, when it's on at 10pm after two hours of better Star Trek, I find myself watching it just to confirm what a train wreck it is.

These things have to be done. *nods*

:-)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

If I don't do it, who will? ;)

[john_amend_all]

I remember watching that episode of DS9 -- it was broadcast in the UK not long after Daphne Ashbrook had been announced as the companion, so it was my first chance to see her.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Oooh, interesting! Was there a lot of interest in the UK about her?

I remember being excited about a new Doctor, but I don't remember hearing anything about Grace before the TV Movie came out.

[john_amend_all]

I've been looking through old radw threads on Google Groups (or at least the ones GG can find) to refresh my memory. I think there was a certain amount of natural curiosity (what's she been in, what does she look like, etc.) but folks were more concerned about the rumours of the Doctor kissing her and being half-human :-)

I've only seen a handful of Enterprise episodes, and the only ones I recall seeking out were 'Future Tense' (because in those days a canon-starved Whovian would go anywhere for the merest hint of a TARDIS) and 'In a Mirror, Darkly'.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I've only seen a handful of Enterprise episodes

Honestly, that's probably for the best. ;)

I don't remember hearing anything ahead of time here about the kissing and the half-human thing -- the advertising was heavily geared towards people who were new to the show, and those of us who were already Doctor Who fans were just excited that it was finally coming back. But we certainly had something to say about it afterwards. And that was pre-internet; I can't even imagine what the reaction would have been if we'd all had access to online forums to vent our feelings.

Of course, compared to New Who, that kiss between the Doctor and Grace looks innocent and sweet.

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, it wasn't pre-internet - usenet had been up and running a while, and I was on it at the time. The TVM brought alt.drwho.creative and rec.arts.drwho alive with both complaining, excitement and new fans! It was a glorious time to be alive and at uni with sudden access to this strange new world. :-)

(I, er, don't remember anyone caring who Daphne Ashbrook was, though. Just half-human, kissing, this is the best/worst thing, delete as applicable, or carry on hating Colin and Sylvester as usual, whatever.)

*butts out of thread*

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Well, it was pre-internet for me. ;) Although, hmm, maybe I had access to some AOL forums by then? But I definitely wasn't on usenet or any of those other sites, as I was out of college and didn't get automatic access to anything strange and wondrous like that.

But even without all that, I think the half-human thing reverberated as a giant "WTF???" across the land of American Doctor Who fans. And we were all slightly embarrassed at how terrible the movie was, and what a mess Fox had made of it. But we all loved Paul McGann, and wanted to see him in the role again. Which only took, what, 20 years?

[thisbluespirit]

Well, it was only about 5 years till Big Finish managed it, and, what 18 or so until the BBC did his regeneration. :-)

Some people actually thought it was the best thing ever, though. We had been without DW for a long time...

[lolmac]

Thus far, I've only watched one episode of Enterprise, during the first run -- at the end of the episode, all I could say was "Wow, I've watched this group of people for an hour and I don't give a rat's ass about any of them." This has left me with no motivation to try again . . .

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Exactly. In fact, when it was first broadcast, my reactions to the characters ranged from "don't give a rat's ass" to "that guy is so annoying, I hope he dies horribly." (I later found out that that last wish came true . . . )

Not even Scott Bakula -- who really is a very good actor -- can rescue it. Now, I just watch it to marvel again at how bad it is.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

So, Enterprise is bad, Voyager is bad. What's left? What would you recommend to a newbie like me? So far I have seen TOS, the animated series, the original movies and the new movies. And "Star Trek Continues" which I simply adore.

I know I probably shold watch Next Generation and my friend is a huge fan of this and Patrick Stewart seems to be a cool guy, but whenever I happen to get a glance of it at TV while channel hopping it does not really appeal to me. It's all so - stiff? I hear they go on away-missions - I never see any. I only see people standing around on the ship, doing lots of talking. If I compare this to Stargate, which was so much richer. I loved that show.

I also recently watched that one DS9 episode with the Tribbles, and that was an instant like. The actors, the characters, I felt drawn towards them and wouldn't mind watching a few more of these, but I hear it also takes till season 3 to become good? Should I just skip the first 2 then?

Do you look forward to the new series?

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I'd just say it's Enterprise that's bad. Voyager has some bad episodes, especially in the first season, but it also has some great episodes.

I know what you mean about Next Generation. I was so excited when it started -- new Star Trek on my TV! -- but then it felt like the episodes were nothing except people standing around talking. Picard would spend the entire episode having meetings about something that Kirk would've solved in 5 minutes by beaming down to the planet. But after awhile, I started to accept that Next Generation has a different style and pacing than TOS, and learned to enjoy it on its own merits.

I think of the new Star Treks, the one closest to TOS is DS9, because there is such a strong emphasis on the characters and their relationships to each other. Trials and Tribble-ations is of course the best DS9 episode : ) but there are other really good ones, too. Some of my favorites are in season 2, actually, but of course it's down to personal taste. My advice is just to try it out and see what you think.

Do you look forward to the new series?

Is there going to be a new series?? I am so out of the loop in Star Trek fandom. I haven't even gotten into the new movies -- I enjoyed the 2009 one, but I wasn't interested in "Into Darkness" because I didn't want to see a retread of the Khan story, which was already so well done in "Wrath of Khan." Not sure yet if I'm going to go see "Star Trek Beyond" or not.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I can forgive the storytelling if I am drawn in by the actors/characters. I watched several seasons of "Lost" without having an idea what was going on anymore, yet I couldn't stop as it was really compelling.

No-one on "Next Generation" is of any interest to me. In DS9, I instantly liked the captain, I know and love René Auberjonois already from "Boston Legal" and a very memorable bad guy in "Stargate" (if you love relationships between characters then I also can recommend SG-1 which is a high standard I hold a lot of other series on now), and even though it was the first I saw of Colm Meaney it feels as if I have known him for a long time. One of those actors that don't have to say anything, just LOOK in a close-up and still it is interesting. Do you know what I mean? David Tennant is very good at that.

And I also seem to develop a thing for snarky doctors ;) In TOS (aside of Kirk) I also fell in love with Bones immediately. I fell in love with Spock too eventually, but it took longer as it was harder for me to read him. But I am a fan of three Bones incarnations now - DeForest Kelley, Karl Urban in the new movies and Chuck Huber in "Star Trek Continues".

Do you know that one? If you love TOS and don't know STC, you HAVE to watch it. It's the closest to new old episodes you will get. It's like them suddenly finding another classic Doctor Who episode. It's so well done, the sets, the lighting, the camera work, the music, after 5 minutes you forget that it is not the original you are watching. Especially Vic is so great as Kirk, sometimes you can think it is Shatner himself.

My favoritest are episodes 2, 3, 4 and 5. You can watch it here: http://startrekcontinues.com/episodes.html

Just this weekend episode 7 will get released. I saw it yesterday already as I was a backer in their last Indiegogo campaign. It raises another good social topic.

And, in case you may have heard about the law suit against another production, nobody here is making any money. They all do it for free and for the love of Star Trek. They even have some great guest actors, you may especially like the one with Colin Baker? It's the first I watched. There is also Gigi Edgley from Farscape or Lou Ferrigno. It's my newest fandom actually and I was lucky to meet Vic at a convention in Germany in May. He did his first Star Trek movies and costums and props as an 11 year old kid back in the Seventies. Sometimes dreams come true!

Oh yeah, there will be a new series, starting in January 2017. It's called "Star Trek Discovery". It will be on CBS All Access though, they want you to sign up for it to watch it. Other countries will get it over Netflix. At first I was not too much interested in it but the more information we get the more it sounds as if they are really trying hard to please old fans and to get it right. They seem to put a lot of effort into that. They got a lot of well-known good folks back, like Robert Meyer Burnett.

As for the new movies, it's them that made me into a fan! I basically only watched "Into Darkness" because of Benedict Cumberbatch, and I didn't like it one bit. Of course I also didn't get any references to the original. But it made me suddenly long for good old fashioned actors and to go back and start at the beginning. And here I am.

I can recommend "Star Trek Beyond" though. It feels much different than the first two. Warmer. Again you can see they tried to get it right this time. The story is rather simple, but for the first time you are really interested in the characters and their relationships. Kirk feels like a captain finally, he has matured. Some great Kirk/Bones scenes and also Bones/Spock. Many did not want to see it as the first trailer looked too much like "Fast and Furious in space" and they then were surprised that they actually liked it. It gets a lot of good feedback in the forums. So I'd say, try it out! I felt very entertained. It's the first I saw in the cinema. If you had told me this more than a year ago I would have laughed ;)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

No, I don't know Star Trek Continues. It looks interesting! And there's an episode with Colin Baker?! I'll have to check that out.

And since you recommend it, I'll probably give "Star Trek Beyond" a try, too. : )

A new Star Trek series that's only available through CBS All Access sounds very depressing. Why can't they just show it on CBS? It sounds like they're using it to increase the number of people who subscribe to their service.

If you like snarky doctors, you absolutely have to check out Voyager. It has the snarkiest doctor of them all!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

The episode with Colin Baker is number 4, "The White Iris". A very emotional one, Kirk is dealing with all his lost loves and guilt over being responsible for their deaths. The boys think it's boring (they like the third better which is set in the Mirror Mirror universe and has more action) but I really like it. And it has some great Kirk/Bones scenes which I always have loved.

It was the first I watched. I started it and they were in sickbay and I suddenly thought: OMG they even have the exact same red-brown-golden cloth! Up until then I had been ready to give them the benefit of the doubt, being a fan production, that it may not be perfect. But seeing this raised the level considerably for me. I even got a pillow made from this cloth (which they had especially woven as it does not exist anymore) in the Indiegogo campaign. I can tell you that it is rather scratchy!

When you scroll down the page, you will also find funny behind-the-scenes videos, with a Dalek ;)

Please let me know what you think of "Beyond" once you've seen it! I'm really passionate about this one. Especially the architecture of the space station blew me away. I have a love for architecture (I work in an engineer's office, drawing plans for houses that get built).

It sounds like they're using it to increase the number of people who subscribe to their service.

Yeah, that is the overall opinion, and it hasn't gone over well in the fandom since it was announced last year. It's only 6 Dollars per month which does not sound much, but I also don't get why you have to sign up to so many different things. But surely one day there will be also DVDs and such.

The pilot will be on CBS for free though, to draw people in.

If you like snarky doctors, you absolutely have to check out Voyager. It has the snarkiest doctor of them all!

Really? LOL Okay, I'll have to see if my library has it. That almost sounds as if it comes as a job requirement ;)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

If you'd like a small taste of Voyager's doctor, try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAm7auTe4CA

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Sadly I can't watch that. Not available in my country :(

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Aw, sorry! I thought Youtube worked for most locations, but hopefully you'll get the chance to check him out in some actual episodes rather than one short clip.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I thought Youtube worked for most locations

It depends. In this case, it was blocked by CBS because of copyrighted material. Many times though we in Germany are indeed left out while the rest of the world can watch - because of GEMA. This is the company that collects the fees for singers and songs whenever they are played in radio. So whenever there is a youtube video with a song they don't have the rights for, it gets blocked in Germany.

For example, I once wanted to watch a video by the Big Chief Studios company, about how their Doctor Who figures are assembled. I was really interested in that one but because they chose to put a song over the pictures, I was not able to see it.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I was really interested in that one but because they chose to put a song over the pictures, I was not able to see it.

Oh, that sucks!

Strictly speaking, the Voyager clip that's up on Youtube isn't legal, but usually when it's short like that, it's not something they bother to go after (or sometimes CBS just takes a long time to notice it). But it's odd that CBS would block it in Germany and not here. Hmmm. On the other hand, I think the different copyright laws do influence what Youtube lets go through in different countries. I know I made a fanvid that won't play in Germany, although it plays elsewhere in Europe.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Speaking of fanvids, would you like to see one of mine? It's the only Star Trek video I have done, and it was played at Fedcon right before William Shatner's panel. He came out and commented on it, I think he was a bit confused about what he just watched ;)

It's a German song but I put English subtitles on it. It's a party song about a guy that chops wood and gets more sick the longer the song goes on. Whenever the line "Yes he's still alive" appears you are supposed to jump off your chair and put the hands into the air.

I first did a Stargate version many years ago that once won 1st place at a convention in a video contest. So imagine my surprise when I found out that Captain Kirk also chopped wood. I simply couldn't resist ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVxIMOmoHY4

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

OMG, that was amazing! And now I get to imagine the look on William Shatner's face after watching it. : )

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! It is always great fun trying to find matching pictures for the lyrics. With Kirk being ill, sick and hurt all the time I had plenty to choose from ;)

This is the other version that I did many years ago, if you want to compare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa8CksRoYmc

There I had it much easier finding people throwing their arms into the air, I really struggled with that in the Star Trek version.

And one more with equally crazy lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXziR8-BYHI

(I'll happily explain the story behind this one)

I think William Shatner was a bit confused because for some reason on the big screen my subtitles were cut off, so I am not sure if he got to see them backstage or not. It probably doesn't make much sense without them.

[lolmac]

I loved TNG, liked DS9, liked much of Voyager; each of them had its bad episodes, especially in the first season of each. Each one had some magnificent episodes. Enterprise was a shock precisely because, as a fan, I was used to the show being worth watching in general.

As far as the current era goes: I like some things about the reboot, sathough I flatly refused to see "Into Darkness". I quite enjoyed the most recent movie -- I liked it a lot more than the first of the reboot films -- and I will at least give the new series a shot.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm sure I will get through them all eventually, I was just looking for a starting point.

For now I have started a re-watch of TOS, with the anniversary and all. I saw it only once so far last year, time for a second view to see all the small things one misses at the first time. And looking for inspiration for new action figure pictures ;)

See dbskyler, lolmac is saying it too! It certainly feels different than the first two. Rounder, warmer. I can't really put it into words. But I think it would be good if they continue in that new direction.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

< randomly popping in> Hi lolmac, funny seeing you here! </ randomly popping in>

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, you gotta rewatch things to confirm that yes, they're just as bad as you remember them. It's a long standing tradition of a) confirming your memory is still intact and b) expressing your disbelief at the world.

Anyway YAY @ DS9. Best Star Trek.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

DS9 did get a little too gritty for me in some of its war stories, but taken on the whole, it's my second-favorite of the Star Treks (I still have to place TOS in first place, flaws and all, because of my undying childhood love for it).

While TNG is all over my television -- in fact, it's on right now as I type this -- I honestly can't recall how many years it's been since I've seen DS9. So much fun to rediscover it!

And, well, MST3K'ing Enterprise from my couch is kind of amusing, too.

And then there's Voyager. That show was more uneven. Some episodes were amazingly good -- among the best that the Star Trek franchise has to offer -- and some were unbelievably bad. "Get the cheese to sickbay" is still #1 on my list of "worst dialogue ever written."

[pitry.livejournal.com]

I actually never got to see Voyager - I think they may have shown it after they finished DS9 but by then I was living out of my parents' home and without a TV (that was in the period where TV shows still landed in Israel with a fashionable delay of a few years).

DS9 I think at times doesn't feel like Star Trek - you can see JMS' point about it being a Babylon 5 shoehorned into an existing franchise. But I still love it, including the gritty war things ;)

I do love TOS! It's a very very close second. Very.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Voyager started off terribly -- I called it "Gilligan's Island in space," because every episode was "Will [fill-in-the-blank] get us home / off the island?" And, surprise! It never did.

But then they settled down into mostly interesting stories about a Federation starship exploring a new quadrant with zero Federation backup. Also, it had some great characters, and did a good job of growing them over time (as did DS9).

And then it gave us the episode "Bride of Chaotica," which is basically professional crackfic. It involves a problem with a holodeck program, but the program in question is "Captain Proton," a cheesy 50's-era sci-fi show (very obviously based on Flash Gordon). It's very, very silly and incredibly fun.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Huh, sounds like I need to check out Voyager one of those days then, it sounds like an entertainingly cheesy show! :)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

You should definitely check out that episode, if nothing else. Here's a taste of the Captain Proton holodeck program, which appears in more than one episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R65AGyvAGHc

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

I keep waiting for the Space channel here in Canada to start re-airing all of the shows. It's always nice to turn on the TV and find a random Star Trek episode playing.

I actually watched Enterprise from beginning to end when it was on the air. It's the completist in me. A part of me couldn't stand to leave it out, not when I watched all of the other shows from start to finish as well. At least watching Enterprise introduced me to Scott Bakula and that got me watching the gem that is Quantum Leap.

Apparently she's one of a very small number of actors to have appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Trek.

I feel like this could be a Trivial Pursuit question. :-D "Name five actors who have appeared both in the Star Trek franchise and Doctor Who."

[pedanther]

It's not as difficult as it used to be: Star Trek Into Darkness has three all by itself.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I couldn't do it, not even with Into Darkness. Which I didn't see, although apparently Noel Clark was in it?

Also, is it mostly Doctor Who actors showing up in Star Trek (and let's face it, those guys show up everywhere)? Do you know of any Star Trek actors who have been on Doctor Who?

[pedanther]

I admit, I myself could only think of four total including Daphne Ashbrook and the three from Into Darkness.

Noel Clark is one. Then the new Scotty is Simon Pegg, who was the villain in "The Long Game", and the alien sidekick they've given him in the new movies is Deep Roy, who was Mr Sin in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".

It turns out that (of course) Memory Alpha has quite a long list, although it would be only half as long without Torchwood: Miracle Day. I don't think I missed any of the big ones, though I could have got to five if I'd remembered about W Morgan Sheppard. Miracle Day aside, it seems to be all Brits (with the occasional Kiwi or similar), even among the half dozen or so who happened to be in Trek first.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Simon Pegg. I forgot about him. And Mr. Sin, cool! I didn't know that.

LOL at the long list at Memory Alpha. I kind of like that Doctor Who relies mostly on British actors, but at least we'll always have Daphne Ashbrook. : )

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I'm glad Enterprise at least led you to Quantum Leap!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Back in 1989, when we suddenly were able to watch Western TV, we watched a lot of TV. And I mean A LOT. We even watched commercials with fascination. I still can sing the songs of those.

MacGyver, Knight Rider, the original Battlestar, Hulk, Mike Hammer, CHips, Columbo, A-Team... and those are just the ones I remember from the top of my head. Quantum Leap also was among them but it was so much input all at once that I don't remember anything specifically.

Recently I saw William Shatner's "The Captains" docu which was basically the first I saw of Scott Bakula as himself, and he seems to be a really nice and also cool guy. Then again he must be as otherwise he wouldn't have signed John Barrowman's naked behind ;)

It actually made me want to go back and do QL properly.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

That must've been an amazing experience, to be suddenly inundated with Western television. Were you not able to pick up broadcasts from West Germany before that? And did you already know English, or were the programs dubbed in German?

(Sorry to be nosy, but one of my favorite things about LJ is meeting people from different countries and learning things. I shudder to think what you must have thought of the U.S. after watching so much of our TV all at once! Although hooray for original Battlestar Galactica, which is another one of my favorites.)

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Be nosy all you want! This is also why I love the internet and I have some great friends all over the world. You learn things about the life there that you won't read in a newspaper.

Most people in Eastern Germany did actually watch Western German TV and know it well. In the beginning, 1950, 1960, it was forbidden and sometimes actually people would come and remove the antennas on the roofs. But later they realized they can't fight it and in the Eighties a lot of smaller villages put money together to officially buy a satellite dish to put up on a hill, and then by hand they dug the channels for the cables to their houses. Imagine! I saw that in a documentary.

It's just the place where I live, in Dresden (from "Slaughterhouse 5" if you know that one), which is deep in a valley so the radio waves simply did not reach us. When we were visiting the grandmother who lived up the hills or on vacation somewhere, we were able to watch. Just not regularly. There is a lot of stuff I've never seen and feel left out when other people talk about it - things like "Bonanza" or "Dallas" or "The Waltons" and many many more. And with many of them it feels too late to start watching now, which is why I did not do it with TOS earlier. I caught an episode here and there in TV, but never the whole run.

We had our own TV, different actors, different series, different children programmes. So those are what I grew up with, and most of them are lost now, while Western Germans still can go back and watch the old stuff with their kids.

We did have some non-political movies in TV and cinema though. I remember seeing "Dirty Dancing" and "Legal Eagles" in the cinema, stuff like that. And in TV once they aired "A Chorus Line" which is still one of my favorite musicals.

We did actually get Western TV in August 1989, before the world changed in October/November and the Berlin wall fell. We often joke that we otherwise may have missed these important events, as official GDR news failed to report on them at first ;)

The housing association our apartment belonged to (I lived with my parents, I was 16 at the time) also bought a satellite dish and then one day there was a notice at the door that we can watch now. It was only one or two channels at first, but it was a start. We switched on the TV and came out in the middle of a "Knight Rider" episode and at first had no idea what was going on with the car. It became my first fandom. If you go to the Knight Rider tag on my LJ, you will find a K.I.T.T. model that I built myself from scratch at the time, just from cardboard and plywood and with only pictures and videos as references. I wanted one and was not able to buy one so I just made it.

Yes, in German TV and movies everything is dubbed. They do it well and use good actors for it who try to match the original, as opposite to other countries like Poland where it is one voice doing all characters. That must be confusing?

But there are more and more who rather watch the original and buy the DVDs for that reason and some movies in the cinema will be avalaible like that too. I prefer things like "Sherlock" or "Doctor Who" with English subtitles though to get all small nuances. Like you say, they mumble a lot!

We started in grade 5 with Russian which was mandatory and then in grade 7 I added English in school. But this was more for conversation, ordering a meal and such. One day I started to read an English "Stargate" fanfiction and at first had to look up almost every word. But soon that was not necessary anymore and now I can babble with the best of them. Like you I saw "Much ado about nothing" live in London. If my English teacher could see me now!

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Really interesting -- thank you for writing that all out!

I have read Slaughterhouse 5, so yes, I know of Dresden. I also know that Kurt Vonnegut was there during the fire-bombing of WWII, which is what inspired that book. Really tragic event. I hope the city is flourishing again now.

I've been to Germany, but only to Munich. My knowledge of the rest of the country is sadly lacking. I also know almost no German, and won't attempt to spell the little that I do know. ;) Your English is wonderful. I learned Spanish and French in school, and I can hold superficial conversations in those languages, but I couldn't read a story or understand a play. I'm impressed with your linguistic ability.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I hope the city is flourishing again now.

Yes it is, thank you. Even though the reconstruction of some historical buildings is going on until this day. They started in 1985 with the castle and are still not finished. If you think about how long it takes to build and how quickly it is destroyed.

There is also the famous Frauenkirche (Church of our women), who was left as a ruin as a memorial.

http://www.aufgelesen.net/mt-static/images/wochenbild/0407/frauenkirche1990.jpg

It's how I had known it all my life but then in the Nineties people started to collect money to have it rebuilt (and we also got a lot of donations from America and the UK) and now it is full and round again, but you can see where the old stones are (see the black ones at the left side?) and where the new ones. Something from the past, something from the present.

https://cdn.getyourguide.com/niwziy2l9cvz/38JwVoHMZGOQeUqoEQseGi/e1ca2743db276f10d35392d08bc8fd6a/dresden-frauenkirche-1500x850.jpg

Well, I must admit I was a bit lost when David Tennant did "Richard II". Still it is impressive to watch even if you don't understand everything. I bought the DVD and need to watch it again with subtitles. It was a bit better with "Much ado about nothing" - as you said, he has a talent to speak the Shakespeare words so that even if you don't understand what he says you still get the meaning, with how he does the voice. And I had read up on what happens in general beforehand. Still there were times where people laughed about a word play that went over my head. Especially since he used his Scottish accent ;) I have rewatched that one several times since and I also bought the book with the text, that helps.

If you ever decide to take a trip to Germany again I think you don't need to worry about not speaking the language. Pretty much everyone (except elder people maybe) speaks at least a little English. When we were at the conventions the stars were happy that they didn't need a translator on stage.

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Love the photos, thank you. The memorial section of the church is very poignant.

David Tennant's accents can be hard for me to understand, too. It's funny, because when he's talking with his natural Scottish accent -- i.e., when I see him in interviews, or on the Doctor Who video diaries -- I have no trouble understanding everything he says. But when he's acting, even if he's ostensibly using a Scottish accent similar to his own, he becomes more difficult for me to understand. Sometimes it's because there's background music, or he's mumbling or something. But I also think that in general, he changes how he speaks when he's in character, and a character's Scottish accent is not the same as his own Scottish accent. At least, that's how it sounds to me.

If you ever decide to take a trip to Germany again I think you don't need to worry about not speaking the language. Pretty much everyone (except elder people maybe) speaks at least a little English.

I don't usually worry about being able to speak the local language as I find that you can get by with surprisingly little ("please," "thank you," and hand gestures), but that's good to know. I wish people in the U.S. were as good at speaking multiple languages as the average person in Europe. And I wish I was better at it myself.