Tag Archives: Doctor Who

Doctor Who, Just a Day in My Life

2013: A resolution or two

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Merry second day of Christmas! As you know, Christmas is a twelve-day holiday, starting on December 25 and running through Epiphany, also known as Twelfth Night, which is on January 6.

Now for a couple of notes about Doctor Who:

  • First, I mostly enjoyed this year’s Christmas special, “The Snowmen”, though I was a bit disappointed with the resolution of the main storyline. On the other hand, I’m very impressed and intrigued by the new companion, Clara. I think she’ll make a fine addition to the show.
  • Second, I really want someone in the UK to send me a letter in March, primarily because the Royal Mail is beginning to issue these. Sure we in the US got classic movie monster stamps and Marvel superhero stamps, but Doctor Who!

Yes, I’m a fan. Yes, I’m aware that Doctor Who is a children’s show. Don’t judge me.

I don’t normally make New Years’ resolution. Why set myself up for failure? Last year I tried with a mere couple of resolutions, and while I did well with the second one, I didn’t do so well on the first. But I think I’m going to try again, just in case I’m able to refocus properly this coming year. After all, I’m turning 45 on my birthday (which just happens to be New Years Eve, so you have less than a week to buy me presents), which, being a nice multiple of five, seems like the perfect time to refocus.

So here are my two resolutions for 2013:

  1. Take better care of myself. Meaning, of course, eating better, exercising, all that stuff. I figure this means taking care of myself emotionally and spiritually as well as physically.
  2. Go easy on myself. That is to say, be forgiving of myself when I screw up. And screw up I will. I’m human, after all. Plus, I tend to have high expectations for myself, and when I don’t meet those expectations, the kobolds start knocking on my door. This resolution means not paying attention to them when they come calling.

I figure I’ll also take the opportunity this year to set some new goals and challenges for myself. I’ve already set a couple of writing goals: to complete the second and perhaps third drafts of Code Monkey!, and to finish up and publish The Winds of Patwin County, a novel in the form of several interwoven short stories, by November. I have other plans in mind. We’ll see if I get to them.

So those are my resolutions and goals for this year. I put them out there in public for the sake of accountability. If some of you will take note of them and help me remember them, I’d be mighty grateful.

One last bit of Doctor Who: Here’s the trailer for the upcoming second half of Series 7:

My first thought when I saw the Cybermen in this trailer was, “Oh Lord, not the Cybermen again.” Then I remembered that this coming year’s Cybermen episode is written by Neil Gaiman. So it will be really interesting to see what he does with them.

 

 

‘Tis the season for Holidailies

 

Doctor Who, Nerdgasm

Daleks everywhere

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Another thing I’ve never made a secret of is my fondness for the British science fiction show Doctor Who. It’s a cheesy show, filled with great villains and monsters and aliens; and the Doctor himself is just so much fun (especially as portrayed by David Tennant).

One of my favorite villainous races in Doctor Who are the Daleks. Created thousands of years ago by a mad scientist (or possibly they evolved — there are two distinct origin stories for the Daleks in the Doctor Who universe), the Daleks swarm the Universe, destroying everything in their path so that they one day become the only life form in existence. Not afraid to think big, these Daleks.

Of course, because the budget for building sets for science fiction shows in the BBC in the 20th century was pretty much nil, a lot of the Dalek stories took place on Earth, and were filmed… Well, here on Earth. Apparently at one point during the 1980’s, some of the Dalek props were just tossed into a local pond after the filming of the episode, and were recently uncovered. And here’s a photograph of a recent removal of one of these props:

Dalek in Pond
Dalek in Pond

(Click for full size image.)

To anyone at all familiar with the series, this is a dramatically eerie picture.

Of course to a guy like me, who is a twelve-year-old boy stuck in a grown-up body, this is every kind of awesome there is.

(HT to )

Doctor Who, Nerdgasm, Twoo Wuv

Cuddly evil!

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Because tomorrow is my birthday, my wife, who is the coolest wife in the history of the Cosmos, made me this:

Knitted Dalek

Yes, it is a knitted Dalek. This was after the plush brain cell, the “What Would a Zombie Do?” spinner, and the tickets to a Jonathan Coulton concert in San Francisco in January.

I often wonder what I did to deserve such a cool wife. Then I figure I’d better not question it.

That said, Happy New Year to all of you!

Doctor Who, Nerdgasm

Sad news from the BBC

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David Tennant has announced that he will be leaving the role of the Doctor after he finishes filming the next four specials that will air in 2009 and 2010. Of course, that means we have two years or so of Tennanty goodness before the eleventh Doctor takes the helm of the TARDIS.

I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who for more than half my life. I started watching the show when Tom Baker was the fourth Doctor, and he remained the quintessential Doctor for me even through part of Christopher Eccelston’s tenure (I became a convert about halfway through Series One of the rebooted series). But David Tennant has infused the character with a brilliant, manic intensity and even an emotional depth that none of the previous actors to play the character did. Tennant really made the character his own.

So the speculation about who would take over the role of the Doctor is running rampant. My personal choice, though I don’t know if he’s really in the running, is Simon Pegg. True, he’s moved on to movies after doing television shows, and he already played a villain in the new series (as “The Editor” in the first series episode “The Long Game”), but so what. As Shaun and as Nicholas Angel he’s proven he’s got the skill and the potential and word is he’s going to do a decent job as Scotty in J. J. Abrams’s rebooted Star Trek this December. Nick Frost would also be an interesting choice. Of course, if they really wanted to mess with our heads, they could cast John Simm as the next Doctor.

I say we start a “Draft Simon Pegg” movement right now.

What do you think?