Saturday, July 14, 2007

The Shakespeare Code


I suppose it's a little off-topic for a blog on Old English, but I couldn't help but post these lines. Tonight, Sci-Fi Channel showed the second Doctor Who episode of the third series, entitled The Shakespeare Code. Quick summary: The Doctor takes Martha on "just one" trip on the TARDIS. They show up in 1599 in Shakespeare's London. They meet Shakespeare, who's writing a play called Love's Labours Won. Chaos and really awesome lines ensue.

Anyway: bar-none, these are my favorite lines from the show. You may need to watch the episode to get it -- lucky for me someone else found this as hysterical as I did.

for those without it, a transcript:

Shakespeare: So tell me of Freedonia, where women can be doctors, writers, actors?
Martha: This country's ruled by a woman.
Shakespeare: Ah, she's royal, that's God's business -- though you are a royal beauty.
Martha: Whoa, nelly! I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country.
Shakespeare: But, Martha, this is town.
The Doctor: (hurrying them on) Come on, we can all have a good flirt later!
Shakespeare: Is that a promise, Doctor?
The Doctor: (sigh) 57 academics just punched the air. Now MOVE!
absolutely priceless. Just another reason Doctor Who is awesome.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved that episode - I remember that one particular quote causing me to laugh for ages! Oh, and thank you for your kind comments on my blog - it's wonderful to know that someone else is also out there! It's great fun reading the amazing blogs out there! Blessings...

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I forgot to ask - what are BABEL and ASSC?

MKH said...

Hi Sceopellen! :) Check out the links on the right under "Legitimate Procrastination" for full explanations of both -- suffice it to say here that the ASSC is a group of Anglo-Saxonists in the tri-state area, founded by professors from Princeton, Rutgers, NYU and Columbia. It sponsors a number of lectures each year, in addition to an annual graduate student conference on Old English.

The Babel Workgroup is, I think, at the forefront of changing the way we do our work as medievalists and as scholars in the humanities. Among other things they sponsor sessions on Premodern and Postmodern humanisms at Kalamazoo and other conferences. I can't do BABEL (or ASSC) justice in a comment (though I'm more practiced at describing the ASSC) -- so definitely check out the links! I'll include them below for ease:

ASSC


BABEL

Anonymous said...

That quote was truly fantastic--nice little nod to the inherent hilarity of certain brands of academia...