Friday’s Doctor Who thing, Amy’s History Hunt, came with a prize: the short story “The War of Art” by Paul Cornell. Did you give it a read? If not, download a PDF here.
My thoughts on the tale: Hey, if the Doctor’s visiting a center for art that collects material from throughout all of history all over the universe, how come — with a single exception — all the art and artists mentioned is from Earth, and only up till today? Oh, I suppose the purpose of the story, as with Amy’s History Hunt, is to get today’s human kids interested in real artists whose work they can see in books and museums. But still.
Clearly, this is a story for children, and that’s fine. I do like the nasty aliens who are, inevitably, causing trouble: the Arucha, who are “grabbers of things, takers of things,” have an interesting, erm, blind spot that is quite helpful, I imagine, when it’s the Doctor fighting them.
I think I want to hear more — and in a story for adults, a story not suitable for children — about the summer of 1966 and the Doctor’s adventures with Andy Warhol…
(If you stumble across a cool Doctor Who thing, feel free to email me with a link.)
