ZeroKing2015

Dr Who episode "Orphan 55" is often described by fans of Dr Who as the worst episode of the 13th Doctor era, if not one of the worst (the other "worst episode" would be "The Timeless Children").

The plot of the episode involves the Doctor and her companions arriving at a resort on what they think is an alien planet. The resort is shielded from the rest of the planet, which is a desert. However, the resort is then attacked by aliens called "Dregs", who eventually force the Doctor, her companions and a bunch of guest characters to flee the resort where they take refuge in underground tunnels. The Doctor eventually learns that everyone is in fact on Earth in the far future having been destroyed by pollution, and that the Dregs evolved from humans - bear that last point in mind. The Dregs have evolved to survive the polluted atmosphere by breathing Carbon Dioxide.

When the Doctor and her companions return to the TARDIS, with most of the guest characters dead or left for dead, she makes a speech that people need to change their ways otherwise humans and the Earth will end up destroyed by pollution and all humans will turn into Dregs.

Given that the episode was lambasted years ago when it came out, what could I possibly say that's different from everyone else? Because I've had thoughts I haven't seen anyone else on the Internet say.

Orphan 55 reminded me of a Dr Who story I once read years ago in Dr Who Magazine called "Voice From The Vortex". The story was written as a parody of badly written stories in the old Dr Who annuals from the show's classic era, featuring the Doctor acting out of character, such as deliberately using a gun to kill aliens. In that story, "Doctor Who" and "Rose Taylor" (not typos) arrive on an alien planet, where they are then harassed by an alien monster randomly yelling "Death To The Dissenters of Vrak" (probably no relation to the character from Power Rangers Megaforce, considering this came out back when Power Rangers was still being mismanaged by Disney), only for Doctor Who to shoot the monster dead with a gun. He and Rose then flee back to the TARDIS, only for Doctor Who to find out that the planet was Earth in the future, and that will be that way unless humans learn to live in peace with each other. And we don't find out what the "Dissenters of Vrak" were.

The Doctor randomly making her speech that humans need to change their ways otherwise it will lead to a bad future reminded me of that parody story, probably not only because of her "humans need to improve" speech at the end but because of the twist that the planet was Earth all along. The fact that an episode that reminded me of a parody is a bit worrying. "Voice From The Vortex", had been intentionally written badly, whereas "Orphan 55" was probably not.

If I have to give some credit here, I have to admit Orphan 55 at least had its theme of "humans need to stop polluting the Earth" dropped earlier in the story, instead of Doctor Who randomly dropping a moral at the end after a story that doesn't make sense.

Now remember that point from earlier - The Doctor learns that Dregs evolved from humans. So they way I see it, the episode gives the unintentional lesson that if humans pollute the planet, humanity will evolve to cope with the change to the planet. So the episode gives the unintentional lesson to not worry about polluting the Earth.

I could write an entry on TvTropes's "Warp That Aesop" page.

I did not attend MCM London Comic Con last week. I do not know if I will be going to MCM London in future.

ReedPop, the owners of MCM London, seem to be keen to drive people away from their event, rather than encourage people to attend.

Before the Comic Con, people were alienated by the cost for Weekend tickets of the October event. People were posting on Instagram saying they still hadn't received their tickets even though they'd booked months in advance.

And during and after the event, there were reports of security guards being rude towards disabled attendees, including refusing to believe someone in a wheelchair that they were disabled! There were also reports of security guards staring at cleavage, and claiming they were doing security pat downs when in fact they were using it as an excuse to touch intimate areas of females.

Meanwhile, ironically, a person who had been banned from the con before ReedPop's buyout of MCM got in and took pictures of cleavage without the permission of the cosplayers.

The incidents with the security have added to my list of reasons why I no longer regularly attend MCM London. I don't think it is logical to attend a con when you run the risk of being assaulted by the so-called security.

The Disney Channel, or rather its US branch, turns 40 years old this year. I'm surprised to learn it's that old.

I don't feel like celebrating this. I don't live in the US, so I don't have any nostalgic feelings about the US branch.

The most experience I have with the Disney Channel was the branch served Malaysia, which I used to watch on holidays to the country. And as I found out on a trip to Malaysia for the first time in years - the Disney Channel's Malaysia branch now no longer exists and the only way you can see Disney is if you subscribe to the "Disney+ Hotstar" service. That name may sound familiar at the time of writing, because they have been in the news for losing the rights to Indian Cricket and that has been a factor in losing subscribers. Well, the mass media has to give other reasons for streaming services losing subscribers other than:

- People having less time to binge tv shows as they return to work after Covid lockdowns

- Prices for things going up thanks to a certain person who I'll refrain from namechecking who thinks he's Julius Caesar

I do not like that the Disney Channel has been shut down and that you have to subscribe separately to Disney+, instead of getting the Disney Channel when you subscribe to watch the other kids channels.

I also find it amusing that Dreamworks now has a satellite tv channel in Malaysia. If I was Disney, I would be annoyed that I've given one of my rivals a foothold to have a tv channel.

At the risk of going off on a tangent, I doubt the Malay branch of Disney+ will have any of the following, all of which have previously been shown on either Disney Channel Malaysia or Disney XD Malaysia:

- The English dub of Chinpui

- The alternate English dub of Digimon Xros Wars (a.k.a. Digimon Fusion Battles)

- The alternate English dubs of the Digimon movies

- The English dub of the Stitch anime

- The English dub of Ryukendo

I mention the above programs/dubs because you can't get them in the West.

Let's see how DeviantArt has managed to annoy the remaining users on this website this week:

Part 1: False Flagging

Earlier this week, some users noticed that some of their artwork from their gallery was being marked as "Mature Content" to logged out people, but when you logged in, they did not show up with the Mature Content filter.

One of the problems with what DA was doing, however, was that pictures were being flagged that didn't warrant the Mature Content filter.

I found a couple of pictures that in my opinion definitely did NOT warrant a Mature Content filter:

- A picture of Velma from Scooby Doo dressed in a slightly more modest outfit than what she wears on tv, where the artist drew her wearing an orange hoodie (instead of her usual sweater) and orange leggings (instead of her usual socks).

- A picture of Cream the Rabbit from Sonic The Hedgehog dressed in a modest knee-length Alice in Wonderland dress.

Neither of the pictures involved Velma and Cream drawn with, ahem, curves in all the right places, none of them involved cleavage being shown let alone exposing the entire chest area, the pictures didn't involve their underpants being seen let alone exposed crotch areas or their bums, and they weren't taking part in adult activity. And you would think someone in a modest dress would be the last thing that would be flagged as Mature Content.

Also, I saw pictures of Velma in her usual clothes by the same artist who did the picture of her in the hoodie, again without exposing any private areas or her underpants, which weren't flagged as Mature Content.

I'd like to know under what process DeviantArt determined those pictures to be flagged as Mature Content. Though should I really be surprised a picture of someone in a modest dress would get flagged as Mature Content? Years ago when Tumblr used an AI to flag adult images, I saw one blog that showed a picture from a tv adaptation of Through The Looking Glass of Alice and the White Queen get flagged. Alice was dressed in a modest outfit resembling the one from the book, and Queen had a dress that went from her neck to toes. They weren't touching each other let alone engaging in adult activity. You'd think that would be the last sort of picture to get flagged for Mature Content!

I know DeviantArt likes playing follow the leader in its attempts to stay relevant like copying Tumblr's dashboard (this was years before Eclipse), but using an AI like Tumblr did was not a good move (this assumes DA did use an AI like Tumblr).

The other problem with this is that DA did not tell its users what they were doing until they were asked by users on the forum. Until an explanation came out, some people thought it was people from Twitter flagging pictures. I thought it was a glitch, and then put on my tin foil hat and thought it was a ploy by DA to get more people to sign up for their platform.

(As an aside, I have no sympathy for anyone moaning about Twitter, it was already a toxic website filled with lies and hatred before Elon Musk bought it and I look forward to the site's implosion.)

Of course should we really be surprised that DA would make yet another change without bothering to tell users. Aside from Eclipse and the changes to notifications, their MO is to make changes without bothering to tell users.

Part 2: An AI drawing program

In yet another installment of DA adding things onto its site that no one asked for, they've added some new AI drawing program.

The problem with this AI drawing program was that it was accessing pictures uploaded to DA would be used by the new DA drawing program, and that in order to opt out, you'd need to fill out a form for every deviation! This prompted people to delete their accounts and leave DA.

I have a gallery of nearly 5000 pictures. I don't have the time to fill out a form for every deviation.

Of course, DA changed tracks and has now changed every photo to be opted out of the AI drawing program by default. However, this is too late for some people I follow, who have said they're going to stop uploading and are fleeing to other websites like Newgrounds and Pixiv.

If DA continues to make people tip out for other websites, who is going to be left?

Part 1: Instagram

I have decided to stop uploading my pictures from Hyper Japan 2022 to Instagram. I have a few more photos I was planning on uploading that I'll upload at a much later date if I feel like it.

At this moment I would like to extend my "thanks" to Instagram for killing my reach towards the tail end of my MCM London (May) uploads and throughout the Hyper Japan uploads (with some exceptions), causing my pictures to only get likes in the 10s.

If you read other peoples' advice on the Internet about posting to Instagram, people say to post consistently. Well I would like to know how often something has to be to be defined as "consistent", because I was "consistently" uploading on weekday afternoons, and my reach was still poor!

If Instagram is trying to push people off their platform, they are doing a good job of it. Perhaps they should do something about their algorithm instead of trying to emulate TikTok and shove videos on peoples' feeds instead of photos (perhaps ironically, I've recently joined TikTok).

Part 2: MCM London

I did not attend MCM London October, as I did not see the point. And even if I wanted to go, on the Friday as I was adulting, and any last minute decision to go on the weekend was scuppered by a trip to the theatre on the Saturday afternoon to see the stage version of My Neighbour Totoro (and I have no desire to go to MCM for a Saturday morning only), and having to spend the Sunday in bed due to a migraine. Of course, there's also the question as to how many tickets would still have been available at last minute.

Returning to MCM London in the future remains on thin ice. I have seen a picture of a very overcrowded courtyard from the Saturday of the con, which resembled rush hour on the London Underground.

In addition to my concerns about overcrowding, a few years ago I wrote a tirade on my Facebook that ReedPop's "achievements" included unbanning the pervert Michael Towers. I have recently found out that another pervert named "Lucas Hayes", was supposed to have been banned from the con after behaving inappropriately towards women. Despite the ban, he was allowed in to both the May and October cons of this year, where he proceeded to continue with his inappropriate behaviour. This reminds me of a certain other London convention I don't like where someone who was meant to be banned was allowed in.

I find the inability of MCM's security rather ironic. They will accuse people who want to sit down and wait their turn in the queue of wanting to queue jump. They make people walk half a mile to an entrance because they don't "look disabled". But someone who commits inappropriate behaviour gets allowed in.

I would apologise to Monty Python for plagiarising one of their sketches, but I'm not writing a comedy sketch.

So if MCM London is trying to hand me more reasons why I should not return to the con, they're doing a good job of it.

Part 3: London Film and Comic Con

I am aware that there is no Hyper Japan this winter. I am also aware that London Film and Comic Convention is running a winter edition this year if anything after years of not running one. I will not be attending. I am not going to attend their event simply because Hyper Japan isn't running a winter event this year.

I am still waiting for an apology for the rude security guard who falsely accused me of queue jumping back in 2014. Many people are still waiting for an apology for the treatment of Joseph Quinn back at the summer event. I doubt Showmasters would dare to treat David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker in the same manner as Joseph Quinn.

Showmasters should treat their guests and attendees with respect, or people will lose respect for the con and stop attending. Like me.