Scene 31: Five Fictional Women Scientists from TV

Yesterday was Ada Lovelace Day, is an annual event to raise awareness of women in the sciences. This includes engineers, technologists, scientists and mathematicians. 

To celebrate I have done a short list of some fictional female scientists from TV, that have hopefully been an inspiration to girls and guys who've watched the shows.

The list is in no particular order, and covers a range of genres, though generally I have ended up picking characters I am familiar with and that are in science fiction. I have also decided to stick to characters where it has been made clear that they are scientists or have degrees within the shows - for example, I have not included T'Pol from Enterprise even though she was the Science Officer, as it is unclear which science she works in.  

I have also included links other articles on the web, mostly Wiki entries, about the listed characters professions, and the different sciences. 

1] Colonel Sam Carter - Stargate series

Sam Carter was a theoretical astrophysicist, pilot and engineer, and one of the most intelligent female characters across the whole Stargate series. She was part of the original team along with Dr Jackson, Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c. 

2]  Dr Liz Shaw - Doctor Who

Liz Shaw was a scientist from Cambridge University who was recruited by UNIT. An expert on meteorites  with degrees in medicine and physics, she assisted the Third Doctor whilst he was at UNIT until she resigned to continue her own research. 

3] Abby Sciuto - NCIS

Abby is a Forensic Specialist working at NCIS. A kind, cheerful Goth, she is an expert in DNA analysis, ballistics and digital forensics.

4] Zoe Heriot - Doctor Who

Zoe was a scientist on board Space Station W3 when she met the Second Doctor. She is an astrophysicist, and a first class astrometricist with a degree in pure mathematics and a photographic memory. 

5] Dr Amy Farrah Fowler - The Big Bang Theory

Amy is a neuroscientist, who does research into addiction. She was introduced to show as a dating website match found by Raj and Leonard for Sheldon, who she is very similar too. The actress who plays her, Mayim Bialik, actually has a real Ph.D in neuroscience.


For more inspiration check out this video of some young female scientists and engineers showing off their projects in America. 

Scene 30: Animated Movies, You Know, For Teens!

Whilst browsing through Empire this evening - looking for inspiration for tonight's blog post, as all I have been watching recently is How I Met Your Mother (he still hasn't met her yet...). I came across a trailer for an autobiographical film of Graham Chapman, which I think is set to be released in 2013. What makes it so unusual though and interesting though, is that the film is animated, by 14 different animation studios in fact! 

Because, lets be honest, it is not often that an animated film comes out solely aimed at adults. True, over the last few years CGI films have managed to appeal everyone with successes such as Toy Story (1995), Ice Age (2002), WALL-E (2008) and Monsters Inc. (2001).  As have some stop-motion films, such as Wallace and Gromit and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Chicken Run (2000). 

However, an animated film, aimed solely at an adult audience is a rare thing indeed. After all, when is the last time you saw a Disney film with a 15 certificate? Exactly. 

There are only two films, off the top of my head, that I think of can be considered as more for adults. First of all is The Simpsons Movie (2007). Now, technically that is a family movie, but The Simpsons does lean much more to the adult audience in its use of humour and issues. Quite a lot of the stuff in The Simpsons will go over kids heads. 

The second, is the indie movie Sita Sings the Blues (2008). A beautiful film, completely animated by one woman, it would probably be best appreciated by adults. 

Of course, I don't think these can be the only films. So out of curiosity I decided to do a quick search and see what others I could find. What I found was a top twenty list that reminded me how many excellent animated films there were out there for adults. I couldn't believe I had forgotten them, especially some of my most favourite films, Persepolis (2007) and Yellow Submarine (1968)! 

Check out the full list of 20 Great Animated Movies for Adults here and please comment and tell me your favourite grown-up animated films. 

Scene 29: Amy and Rory's, and the Series, End

So, the Doctor Who finale was yesterday, the last big bang - excuse the Doctor Who reference -  before it returns at Christmas. 

Except...did this series seem a bit, unsatisfactory?

Maybe its because I didn't really get in to this series this year, or because, as a fan, I've become all to familiar with the format and my passion for the show is lagging a bit.

However, I am not the only one to feel that the last series wasn't the best, and in some ways its not surprising. Shoving the series back to September meant people used to the April scheduling had to wait several months, and then they've gone and shortened the series.

I originally though they'd shortened it to only six episodes, which was annoying enough, given that we usually get twelve to thirteen. Only to find that actually it's been shorted to five. The sixth is the Christmas special.  

Meanwhile the episodes themselves have been a bit more hit and miss than usual. The  twist in episode was very, very good - no doubt about that! But for a classic Whovian like myself, the representation of the Daleks felt a little off - the Daleks, asking the Doctor for help? Then there was the killing of the villain in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, which seemed slightly off, especially when the next episode was all a debate about how far the Doctor should go!

And then we have a finale episode. Possibly the weakest out of all them in my opinion, mostly because it was pretty obvious, once I knew that the last episode involved the Weeping Angels, that Amy and Rory were going to be sent back in time by the angels, and that was how they'd leave the Doctor. True, I fell for the Amy and Rory jumping off the building thing for a moment, but in the end, I was right and the angels got them, and got them good. 

The idea of New York, and all the statues, and the angel babies were all very good, but parts of the episode got a bit over melodramatic for me. 

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to seeing Richard E. Grant play the villain in the Christmas special and finding out if the next companion is going to be a Victorian or not - she's all a bit mysterious at the moment. 

Scene 28: Return of the Blog

So, I haven't posted for a month and a half - but I am back, with a new view to be less  inconsistent with my posting, and an aim to write once a week on all the wonders of the film, radio and tv industry. 

Well I say wonders. Let's not be coy here, the media industry, and the film industry in particular, is difficult to break in to. Especially, according to a producer friend of mine, if you are in your early twenties. Which is partly why I knew I had to return to this blog, and start writing again - because in this industry you have to show what you can do. I like to think I can write, so here I am. Again. 

And I have lots of plans for blog posts - Halloween is coming up next month, so a short history of our very own home-grown Hammer Horror films seems appropriate, as well as perhaps a guide to the best movies to watch on Halloween for those who don't like serious or gory horror - such as the Saw franchise. 

I also recently been to an excellent  course, again run by First Light/Second Light, but this time in collaboration with the The Script Factory. It was an excellent course on screenwriting, with some great speakers - such as TV writer and director Michael Walker who had written an episode of Primeval and co-wrote Collision with Anthony Horowitz.

And going on the course has reminded me that I've picked up some useful tips, links and general knowledge about screenwriting over the last few years that are worth sharing with young writers, like myself, who may not have come across them - for example, Mandy.com and Talent Circle are two great sites to browse for media jobs/experience in the UK! - so I'll probably sit down and write out some of my favourite screenwriting tips and links. 

Then there's also all the classic films I have that I keep intending to watch, which I could review, for example The 400 Blows (1959) and The Stranger (1946). 

So in short, I have plenty of material to bore the internet with.

And again, I offer you the opportunity through these blog posts, to join me in learning more about film, TV and radio, and the world of the media. 

Scene 27: DVD that I Desire

I don't know if anyone does this, but I have a list of films I want to watch in my head. Some of the films I already own, and just haven't watched yet, like Roman Polanski's Macbeth, and some of them I don' have, but are generally accessible to me through the library or a DVD shop. Except for one. One film, that I really want to watch, I am finding really difficult to get - unless I pay £30 for it on DVD and get it shipped from Japan. 

I still haven't decided what I am going to do yet, but I shall tell you about this film and why I so want to watch it. However, to do so I am going have to start with something completely different - a song.

The song is called Iris, and its by the Goo Goo Dolls. It's a lovely song that was written for a film called City of Angels (1998) starring Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan, about a doctor and an angel who falls in love with her. 

The song made me aware of the film, which sounded interesting. So when instead I came across the film City of Angels was based on, Wings of Desire (1987), or The Sky Over Berlin if you want the original title, by Wim Wender, I decided to watch it  - and it was brilliant.

Wings of Desire is a German film, set in 80's Berlin, and the story is, again, that an angel falls for a human woman.  

It is a long film - it is two hours long, though I watched it over two nights - it's slow  and reflective in pace and is full of long periods of poetic dialogue, and its nearly all in German. So honestly, if you want something fast paced, with lots of explosions, go watch something else. 

Nonetheless, it is full of fantastic moments, ideas and characters. The angels in Berlin wander about in long coats, listening to people's thoughts, comforting them and recording little bits of wonder in their notebooks. Berlin is shot in black and white for the angels, and somehow this makes it look beautiful, even though the city is dirty and graffiti covered - its a realistic sort of beauty. 

There's also a really good storyline involving Peter Falk, who plays himself!

The whole film seems to me, to be about life and its little simple wonders, about how we can get lost in our own emotions and about the sadness of life as well - its hard to describe, without writing an essay, and I am already dangerously heading that way with this post! 

Anyway, the film was fantastic, I loved it, was inspired by it, and then at the very end the words "To Be Continued..." flashed up on screen.

I couldn't believe it! There was a sequel? It is one of the first times the idea of a film sequel actually made me feel excited, rather than apprehensive. 

The sequel is called Faraway, So Close! (1993) and I have being trying to find it ever since. Unfortunately it hasn't been easy to get hold of a reasonably priced DVD that works in this country. Hopefully, something will turn up...

Scene 26: Farewell Nora Ephron

The Oscar-nominated, BAFTA Awarding winning screenwriter, director and producer Nora Ephron has unfortunately passed away, the BBC News has reported.  

I shall be honest at this point and admit that though I had heard of Nora Ephron, I didn't know what she had done, up until now. When I saw list of films she'd written I couldn't believe it. She has written some of the most famous romantic comedy films in the industry. If you have not seen one of her films you either hate romance or you've been ingoring films for the last couple of decades. 


Her credits include - Sleepless in Settle (1993), When Harry Met Sally (1989), You've Got Mail (1998) and her most recent film Julie and Julia (2009).  Yes, she is the woman who wrote the famous Meg Ryan in the cafe scene, and I am sure she shall be missed.