#pex lives

I rewatched this serial on 19 May 2023. This story got me back into Dr Who fandom in the late 1980s after I took a little sabbatical. If you’ve been following each of my write ups, you might remember that I mentioned first watching this season — Dr Who’s 24th — while living on campus at a college with one television in a shared communal area. Well, me and my chums got to watch Dr Who from part one of Paradise Towers because the college jocks were scared of a mouse and we weren’t. And then the jocks didn't want us to mention it, so we secured agreement we wouldn't if we could watch Dr Who without fear of teasing or whatever. The bargain was honoured.

We begin in a built up area with a young woman being hounded by shouting voices. The relief on her face when the voices call off the attack… and then the sheer terror as something deadly approaches…

Inside the TARDIS, Mel is excited about going to a place called Paradise Towers for a swim. The Doctor is despairing of Mel wanting a holiday; I adore the rapport between the two of them. They arrive in the place where the young woman was cornered, but there’s no sign of her… only rubbish and rats. Then the Red Kangs arrive. They are a gang of girls who don’t know what boys are. They speak with their own idioms (a first time Dr Who seriously took world-building like that; the Face of Evil poked a bit at it with the name shifts from Survey Team to Sevateem and Tech to Tesh). Most of the support cast are white, but there is at least one Red Kang who is Black.

Ice Hot!!!

Paradise Towers - Where Kangs rebel each other, A yellow robot in the pool, something in the basement, A possessed cheif,  Carnivorous unyoungs and Caretakers who gets rid of the unalive.

Kevin is joined in the Pex Lives recording bunker with friends-of-the-show Gene and Kim to begin answering the question: after the election, what is to be done?

A statement From Gene, Kim and Kevin:

We should not only organize on the basis of reacting to events as they transpire, but we must take the initiative and not allow them to keep us on the back foot. We will defend our existing gains by demanding more, by rejecting complacency. We need to build a movement around those demands in order to create the conditions for the new society. We should not stand for the mere restoration of liberalism, but for supplanting it. We should seek to secure not just the familiar rights, but real liberation founded on material equality. The immediate, short-term struggles must be understood in light of the long struggle. We have to demand what they cannot deliver.

Amelioration is our priority, but we must not substitute reformism for reform. we have no interest in rescuing the Democratic Party from itself. We can use the party for as much as it is useful, but we must remember it is not a neutral tool, and neither is the state. These are organs of the ruling class. Their very structure presupposes rule by the capitalist class. So we must take care.

We don’t have all the answers. We can see the broad sweep, but We're just as disoriented as anyone. We may come across as alarmist in the podcast. We don't mean to. We think we should prepare for the worst and consider what we’d do if it came to that, but we can't tell the future, and there are reasons to be optimistic.

We also don't want to get anybody killed or hurt. Assessing risk and figuring out what you can do—that’s not for us or anyone to do for you. Just remember that whatever you can contribute will be useful, and stay safe. Your local organizations will probably have better ideas than we do.

Oh, and one last thing: a shoutout to @PissPigGrandDad, who’s fighting for the revolution in Rojava. Solidarity with the YPG.

Links:

-Democratic Socialists of America. Join and fight.

-Politics is the Solution. Jacobin.

-Where Does the Left Go From Here? Jezebel. Particularly check out Roqayah Chamseddine's insights.

-A Blueprint for a New Party. Jacobin.

In the first installment of an irregular, ongoing series: Kevin hosts longtime friend of the podcast, Ben Knaak, to discuss the baseball season (at the time), the Olympics, taxpayer financing of new stadiums, and - of course - Lucha Underground.

All that and more, on this very special premiere episode of Pex Lives Xtreme!