Memories of Rachel Talalayâs talk at Sherlocked 2018, as they come to me
I had the delight of attending Rachel Talalayâs presentation on the deleted âSix Thatchersâ transitions while sitting next to @fffinnagain, whose reporting on the event can be found here.  I elected to take no notes at all, all weekend, so I could just absorb in the moment.  But as things come back to me, I will post them here.
My favorite thing is RT telling us about one of her favorite quotes from working with Steven Moffat.  For a Doctor Who episode she was directing, he asked her to create something spectacular and implausible (âand youâre always being told, âThereâs no money, thereâs no moneyââ), and she was trying to talk to him about just how she was expected to make this implausible thing work, because physics.  And budget.
And he said to her, âThe logic is flexible, but the poetry is immutable.â
In her extremely reasonable way, she looked at the audience and said, âI mean, who talks like that?â
My heart was bursting with mirth and identification. Â Um, me? Â I love that, yes, of course, thatâs what he does, he finds the emotional truth of it and thatâs what makes everything work, etc. etc. etc...
After the event, @fffinnagain -- who, in case you donât know, is an accomplished supergeek in music and science and math and tech -- mentioned that quote from Moffat.
âAh, yes!â I said happily. Â âWhat was it? Â Hmm...â [affectionate dreamy smile] Â âThe poetry is immutable!â
Finn said, âThat was PART of it.  The FIRST part of it went, âThe logic is flexible.ââ
I am still not finished laughing over the fact that I forgot the part that was pertinent to Finn. Â The part in which Moffat leaves all the figuring and labor up to the director and, as Finn noted, indicated how much he didnât care, heh.
I said at least as a piece of communication, itâs extremely clear. Â You know exactly whatâs expected of you after that!
Anyway, I now think of that quote as the two-person Halloween costume that @fffinnagain and I could put together someday.  Finn going as âThe logic is flexible,â with clenched teeth and an outraged expression on their face, while I go as âthe poetry is immutable,â smiling spacily with happy clouds floating over my head while I walk into things and hum.
