Day 562: Kinda Part 1

Some stories I watch and I can slowly remember when I watched it for the first time. I remember a particular type of soup that I had whilst watching State of Decay, or the fact that I was wearing my pyjamas whilst watching Logopolis. For Kinda, it's a memory of the time of day, and the time of year that I watched it. It was midday in an Australian winter, I think. I'd finished my first semester at Uni and I was celebrating by catching up on some Doctor Who DVDs that were lying around. I'd bought Kinda because of its reputation. Certain corners of fandom had called it the greatest Doctor Who story of all time, and out of curiosity, I checked it out. And what I watched was, to my surprise, perhaps the greatest Doctor Who story of all time.

The Jungle on the planet Deva Loka

There are so many reasons why Kinda is great that I will never be able to go into them all. But I can make a start, and I'll start with the setting. It's on an alien jungle planet, where a team of colonists are performing a survey. The colonists are straight out of colonial-era England, with upper class accents, pith helmets, and a belief in rule and regulation that puts them above the natives. One of the main settings is their base with some technology that is surrounded by greenery, remaining peacefully there in the background, but leaving the base with a feeling of being alien within its surroundings, the only non-natural thing in this jungle planet.

The Colonists' base on Deva Loka

Looking at this came across as rather personally evocative for me. I live in Australia, a country colonised by the British in the 18th century. It's a lovely little country, that whilst it does have a surprisingly large amount of things that want to kill you, also has some truly beautiful scenery. Various parts of the Australian landscape have been cut down to make way for structures like houses, but occasionally they've been blended together, to create buildings that feel more natural. I remember holidays in the bushland, staying in houses that are surrounded by wildlife. My year seven geography classrom looked directly out on a group of trees that occasionally felt as if they threatened to burst into each lesson. And around 4 months after watching Kinda, I had an exam in a building that was exactly like the sanctuary base, cream coloured insides with red metal pylons on the edges, surrounded by grass, and the sweltering Australian Sun.

The University of Newcastle Architecture Department
Place most memorable to me on the ground that I had a
rather easy Mathematics exam there, allowing a certain ability
to enjoy the view.

So when I watch Kinda, I feel an odd connection to it. Because when I watched it for the first time, it was at midday, in the bright Australian Sun with light coming into the room from all directions. So as I watched it, I thought to myself that it was just like where I live, the places where I grew up, and the places where I work every day. It's personal connections like that that make me grow to enjoy Kinda more and more with each passing day.