Z is for Zero and Zabini

A to Z Challenge - Z

The last day of the challenge!  It's been a lot of work but also a lot of fun.  I've enjoyed discovering a lot of new blogs and meeting new people.  But I'm also going to enjoy not worrying that I don't have a post for every single day! :)  But the challenge isn't over yet - one day to go, so on that note...

Z is for "Prisoner Zero"
I'm going to claim this as being a quote, even though (like K) it is the name of a character rather than a proper line in the show.  Prisoner Zero is in Matt Smith's first episode The Eleventh Hour and was (as his name suggests) an escaped prisoner.  He was a shape-changing alien that could take on the appearance of anyone unconscious, and when in his real form was a giant worm/snake/thing that always lived just on the edge of perception.  In true Stephen Moffat fashion, Whovians were now scared of things on the edge of perception - those movements that happen in the corner of your eye, yeah those are a giant snake thing.  Happy dreams!  Anyway, the prison guards came looking for Prisoner Zero and decided it was easier to blow up the Earth rather than recapture their prisoner.  Matt Smith stepped up into the role of the Doctor (with a very different costume-choosing segment) and saved the day.   The Eleventh Hour also gave us a legendary quote, that I couldn't fit in to this alphabet (not without loosing a quote I like more).  Well, it's more of a thing than a quote: fish fingers and custard, which the 11th Doctor determines is his favourite food.  If you have a look on the net, there are a number of videos and blogs dedicated to people trying this rather disturbing combination (this from the girl who loves Vegemite and honey sandwiches).  Matt Smith swore for years that he actually had to eat fish fingers and custard.  You know what they say, the Doctor lies (another fantastic quote): turns out it was sponge cake with a cheese sauce - which is just as disgusting-sounding.

Z is for Blaise Zabini
There are actually two characters in Harry Potter whose names start with Z: Zacharias Smith (a Huffllepuff student who was in Dumbledore's Army) and Bliase Zabini.  I choose Blaise mainly because he was the first character I found, but also because it gives me the chance to talk about Slytherin.  Blaise appeared in Half-Blood Prince, as one of the potential Slug-Club initiates.  He was the stereotypical Slytherin - stuck-up, selfish, self-centred, power-hungry, nasty.  It's my mother's biggest complaint about the Potter books - that all the Slytherins were nasty, and how that's not very realistic (I think we need to have a talk about how magic's not real...).  However I don't think that's the case.  Yes, as Ron says "there not a witch or wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin", however that's not the same as saying that every witch or wizard in Slytherin is bad.  The Sorting Hat (who knows all) describes them as "cunning folks" and "those of great ambition".  There are Slytherins such as Sirius' brother Regulus, who turned on Voldermort and tried to destroy a horcrux; or Narcissa whose great aim was to protect her son.   And let's not forget Snape.  There are many readers, fans, members of Pottermore who are very proud to be Slytherins, who wear their green and silver with pride.  I'm not one of them (I'm Ravenclaw), however I think if I had been sorted into Slytherin, I would have been happy too.

Come back tomorrow to see the completed Doctor Who cross stitch piece, and my review of my time in the A-Z Blog!