My new favourite word of 2009 is not unfriend, although that is a killer word. Rather, my new favourite word is bacronym.

From Wikipedia:

A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed after the fact to make an existing word or words into an acronym. Bacronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology.
The word is understood as a portmanteau combining back and acronym.

I’ve decided that as I prefer the spelling “bacronym” that will be the British English spelling and “backronym” will be the American English spelling.

Somewhat embarrassingly I think I found the word bacronym while Wikipedia-ing Doctor Who, and specifically, the TARDIS which is apparently a bacronym of “Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space.”

Doctor Who Equals Excellent Buddy! (DWEEB)

BACRONYM!

Love it.

Exactly 46 years ago, on Nov. 23, 1963, DOCTOR WHO first flickered to life on TV screens in the United Kingdom. BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman and first producer Verity Lambert are generally acknowledged as the “parents” of DOCTOR WHO, but legions of writers, producers, directors and actors have all contributed to make the series what it is today: my favorite TV series of all time.

The Doctors

My earliest memories of the series stem from Tom Baker’s reign as the Fourth Doctor, as syndicated here in the USA in the late 1970s. It was shown on WWOR Channel 9 in New York, and actor Howard DaSilva would provide recaps of the previous episode (always referring to the lead character as “Doctor Who”). I have very vivid memories of the hallowed story “Genesis of the Daleks,” which introduced Davros, as well as “The Deadly Assassin,” featuring the desiccated, corpse-like Master. I remember being fascinated by the weird program with the wobbly sets, rubber-masked monsters, and the guy with the floppy hair and mile-long scarf. This was not STAR TREK, which I had watched religiously in reruns. I quickly realized that what the program lacked in budget, it made up for with heart and good intentions. There was an awful lot of love invested in those wacky stories – and Captain Kirk had never met anyone like Leela! The cliff-hanger format was perfect for hooking younger viewers, and I almost looked forward to the scream of the musical stinger that would sound just as the Doctor or one of his comely companions was in peril.

The series was reliably available on PBS stations in the ensuing years, and I was lucky enough to catch various episodes on PBS in the New York region, and especially later on, after I moved to the Baltimore region, where Geppi’s Comic World underwrote showings on Saturday and Sunday nights. Over the years I have been lucky enough to have seen every surviving episode at least once.

7th Doctor

I was overjoyed that McCoy was given the opportunity to return to the role and pass the torch to the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 American TV movie. McCoy was quiet and dignified in his twilight story, just as he should have been. And he got the legitimate regeneration sequence that he had to fake due to Colin Baker’s absence from the end of the Sixth Doctor’s run. Paul McGann took up the mantle in the movie, and managed to sketch in a unique character in just one appearance.

The revived series in Britain is pretty much everything I always hoped the show could be if given enough money and a dedicated brain trust. The acting has been uniformly terrific, especially from David Tennant, who will be vacating the role at the end of this year. His manic energy has made him arguably one of the most popular Doctors ever. Show-runner Russell T Davies has shown a knack for big ideas and the bravery to implement them – let’s face it, who else would ever have dreamed of destroying Gallifrey and wiping out the Time Lords? Sure, Davies tended to repeat himself – how many Dalek invasions were there in his four seasons? – but he also crafted some truly memorable stories, brought in some truly gifted writers, and left the series in fine shape for the rest of the 21st century.

I eagerly look forward to Steven Moffat’s regime, with young Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor, and Karen Gillan as his new companion, Amy Pond. Wherever the series goes from here, and whatever happens, it simply cannot be boring!

Hooray! Latest Doctor Who special! It took me a bit of a while to watch this – and so, unlike the Supernatural recaps, this is going to be full of my initial reactions as well. So, as usual with all of my recaps, I am wordy and there are spoilers ahoy!

Okay, so we start with a flickering screen, which gradually comes into focus. The video, blue-tinted, is of a mother and baby, and it soon becomes obvious that it’s some sort of video call, as the first thing she says is “Hello, Mum!” – yep, she’s sending the message to her mother, who’s watching on a screen surrounded by other screens and generally just looks very sci-fi. Ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet has been wherever for two years, and the daughter says she was talking to her uncle and that they all really miss her. She continues on with some typical minutiae about buying a house, but the screen keeps breaking up. Ladywhoshasnotbeennamedyet urges her daughter to talk faster, but the screen and sound continues distorting. Elsewhere, on what looks very much like Mars, we hear a familiar vworp-vworp-vworp and the TARDIS starts to appear. The TARDIS door swings open, and there’s the Doctor, dressed, oddly, in that space suit he wore in The Satan Pit almost three seasons go (hooray continuity!). He states, “The Red Planet!” and marches out into the rock and debris, looking utterly pleased with himself.

Back to… wherever. Some guy in a more typical space suit exits through a computer-controlled door, wielding something that looks like a cross between a ray-gun and a small satellite dish. He sets the dish thing up and talks to the crew that are watching him on video. One of the crew – I’m assuming that if he’s not captain, he’s pretty high up, tells spaceman to get back inside as soon as he can – he’s wasting power. Instead spaceman (identified as Yuri by another crew member and um, by the name-tag on his suit that I can finally read, so I’m guessing he’s supposed to be Russian?) props up a little solar panel that states No Trespassers. Captain dude is not amused. While he lectures Yuri about how this is a unhabitated planet and how all he’s doing is polluting the area, when Ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet pops in and tells Captain dude to get back to work (so maybe he’s actually Second-in-Command dude? I hate not knowing character names at the beginning).

Back to the Doctor. He’s discovered the colony there, and as always is in his pleased little “yay, humanity is awesome and adorable!” way, calls it beautiful. And then a gun of some sort jabs him in the back. He turns around to see a little robot (that kinda looks like the cross between WALL-E and a giant webcam) with the gun raised, that says that he is under arrest for trespassing. This is not good at all.

TITLE SCREEN!

Ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet sticks a ray-gun (that’s what I’m calling it) up at the Doctor, and asks him his name, rank and intention. The Doctor says, “The Doctor, doctor, fun”. Hee. Some other guy (NAMES. I NEED NAMES) runs in, incredulously stating the obvious (“It’s a MAN. A MAN on MARS.”), and then asks the German lady (SINCE I HAVE NO NAMES) about how was he even out there. German lady is holding up the funny red and yellow space suit and points out that he was wearing this thing. Guy asks what about mission control. They’ve been out of range for ten hours because of the solar flares. Ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet tells them to quit with the chatting. The Doctor asks if ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet can please put the gun down, since it’s directed at his head, and since the next in the list of gun-related things is shooting, he’d rather if she’d do that, kthnx. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” “You know of someone who wouldn’t? O_O” She asks why should they trust him, and he says that he gives them his word, and considering the sheer distance they are away from Earth, that’s all any of them have anymore. It apparently works, but Ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet says that WEB-E (or Gadget, as is apparently its name) is to keep an eye on the Doctor. Someone controls WEB-E (I just like that name, so I’m going to keep calling it that) and always looks perpetually annoyed. The Doctor asks if it has to keep saying “gadget, gadget” all the time. Mr. Annoyed says that he thinks it’s funny. “I hate funny robots.” Something comes through on the walkie-talkies asking how is it even possible that there’s a random other person there, and ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet just tells her that since they are all on open communication, she is to be called Captain, not boss, and cuts off the walkie-talkie.

The one on the other end is walking through an indoor garden, and makes a comment about how they’re treated like gardeners (NO REALLY? Considering where you’re working and all…). The other guy is shoveling up plants and is overly excited about the new carrots that have been grown. While lady in the gardens babbles on to herself about there’s no way a new person could have shown up and Adelaide (I think) is going to be annoyed about new guy stealing her thunder and maybe he’s built a rocket, other guy takes a bite out of one of the carrots after washing it and starts convulsing. She doesn’t notice it, too busy checking on the other plants. Then she realises other guy isn’t responding and is just kneeling, quietly. She approaches him (his name is Andy, so I shall call him Andy from here on in) and asks if he’s okay. No response. She asks again, and gets closer. Andy suddenly whirls around, his mouth black and blue and warped looking, his eyes not human-looking anymore. She screams.

Second-in-command is trying to figure out which group the Doctor must belong to, something that makes the Doctor a little twitchy, so when second-in-command says one specific group by name, the Doctor just latches onto it and says that he’s from the Branson group and that he’s the Doctor so who are they? Ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet says that everyone on Earth knows who they are – they’re the first off-world colonists. This surprises the Doctor and he starts putting things together – he’s read about the first off-world colonists, or Bowie Base One, which takes place in 2058, they’ve been there for 18 months, which makes it 2059 now, and ladywhohasnotbeennamedyet is Captain Adelaide Brook (yay! I have a name! Thanks show!), second-in-command is Deputy Edward Gold, Captain Obvious from earlier is Tarak Ital, MD, Russian guy is Yuri Kerenski, a nurse, German lady is senior technician Steffi Ehrlich, Mr. Annoyed is junior technician Roman Groom, and the girl who was talking to Yuri earlier (that I probably didn’t quite mention) is geologist Mia Bennett. While the Doctor goes through all of these names, the screen is flashing quick biographies… obituaries, to be exact. All of them die in 2059. FORESHADOWING. Wherever the Doctor goes, death follows. Adelaide is confused and says “yes, everyone knows our names”. The Doctor says that no one will ever forget them either.

A video of something exploding and a little planetoid-shaped thing pops up. The Doctor asks for the exact date. Adelaide humours him and tells him it’s November 21, 2059. Another information sheet pops up (I guess this is little bits of things the Doctor has read on his travels) – on November 21, 2059, a nuclear blast destroys the Bowie Base One colony. (Yes, we all know how everything is going to end for this episode.) This upsets the Doctor, which of course, no one else understands, asking what’s wrong. The Doctor says that he should probably go, and does his “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry” thing, and says that it’s been an honour and shakes everyone’s hands to their utter confusion. And then, just before he leaves, he remembers that there’s two more – Margaret Cain and Andrew Stone (those would be the gardeners). Edward calls up Margaret and tells her that if she wants to see the only other human being she’s going to meet in the next five years, she should come up and take a look. No answer – except for a snarling roar that comes over the speakers. Mia asks what that was. The Doctor mutters something about he really should go. Adelaide checks on the biodome but the cameras aren’t working, so she asks to see the exterior. The lights are shutting off inside. Adelaide states that she’s going over and she’s taking the Doctor with her. The Doctor tries to get out of it, but Adelaide says that this started as soon as he arrived, so he’s staying until they figure out what’s going on.

Off to the biodome with lots of plinking music. Adelaide, the Doctor and Tarak (along with WEB-E) are walking down the dark hallways. Adelaide asks why it was so important that the Doctor mentioned Mia’s age. The Doctor just says that he runs off his mouth sometimes and he doesn’t make any sense. Tarak says that that’s kinda obvious. The Doctor smirks and thanks Tarak for his comment. Roman asks through WEB-E why the Doctor doesn’t like robots. The Doctor says that he doesn’t like how people try to domesticate them, giving them names, dressing them up. Roman says that a friend of his made a robot that she dressed up like a dog. Roman continues that he made WEB-E from the worker drones that were already used to build the place and starts babbling until Adelaide cuts him off, saying that the channel they’re using is to be only used for official communication. Roman apologizes (and you get the feeling that he’s one of those computer geeks who aren’t good with people in general). The Doctor says that he knows a lot about Adelaide, but he wants to know – is it worth it? Adelaide says that they’ve gotten excellent results. The Doctor means her – that he’s heard that she’s sacrificed her whole life to get to Mars. Adelaide says that Earth has gone insane in the last few years, and humans nearly became extinct, and to go to a new world where there is no smoke, and where the only streetlight is sunlight – then it was absolutely worth it. The Doctor geeks out a little (“That’s the Adelaide Brook I always wanted to meet. The woman with starlight in her soul.”), but they notice Maggie lying on the floor. While the Doctor tells them not to touch her, they do so anyway, and Tarak calls Yuri to send a medipack. Yuri goes running and Edward follows him, much to the frustration of Steffi. They put Maggie on a stretcher, and Adelaide starts throwing out orders. Edward makes the comment that the only other person out in the biodome is Andy, and if he did something to Maggie, then it’s a pretty good sign that he’s gone wild. Adelaide warns him that he has spoken out of his place and tells him to go back, and then she and the Doctor head off into the biodome.

Mia and Steffi are running some kind of sound identifier thing (I have no idea what that audio program is supposed to be) on the roaring sound, and for some reason, it identifies the sound as coming from Andy. The two stare at each other in shock. Steffi contacts Adelaide and says that diagnostics believes it to be Andy. Adelaide, Tarak and the Doctor carry on into the biodome. The Doctor gets to the main computer and uses his sonic screwdriver to turn on all of the lights. When Adelaide asks what did he do, he just makes a comment about it being a screwdriver. “Are you a doctor or a janitor?” “I dunno. Sounds like me – the maintenance man of the universe. ” The Doctor geeks out over all of the plants that are being grown (as he tends to do), asks if they’re planning Christmas dinner, and then notices that there are birds inside (apparently, they’re to help reduce the insect population). Yuri messages Adelaide, saying that Maggie is awake. He then asks Maggie if she remembers what happened – and she can’t remember, she was working and then she woke up in the sick bay. Adelaide and Yuri both ask about Andy, but she doesn’t remember that either. Edward tries to ask questions, but Adelaide cuts him off. Maggie asks to leave, but Yuri says that according to the rules, she has to stay for 24 hours. Squealy threatening music!

Tarak keeps calling for Andy, and eventually finds him, standing still, not reacting other than a constant trickle of water all over his body. Andy finally starts moving when Tarak demands that Andy look at him, and then Andy whirls around, his eyes completely white, his mouth black and gross and veiny.

Yuri is watching some sort of little video and laughing, and Maggie calls out to ask if that’s his brother. Yuri says that it’s just a repeat since the solar flares are causing too much interruption, and asks if she’s okay. She says yes. Yuri keeps talking about his brother, or well, his brother’s husband who apparently doesn’t know how to save money. Maggie starts convulsing in the background, Yuri completely unaware, and then her head flops downward and she stands still. Yuri keeps talking. Maggie somehow snaps back to attention and asks where his brother is. Yuri says it’s around the Caspian Sea. He brings up a picture of the map and then the sound of water dripping is audible, and Maggie starts talking about how much water there is on Earth. When her voice changes, he turns around, and sees Maggie, her mouth completely dried-up looking and starting to crack, yet dripping massive mouthfuls of water. Yuri, understandably, is startled and starts calling for help. Adelaide tells him to calm down, and while he describes what she looks like, Adelaide starts to call for Tarak, so they can head back.

Tarak doesn’t respond, so they start running to find him. Edward calls orders for Yuri while the rest of the crew begin to follow him. The Doctor and Adelaide keep running until they find Tarak and Andy. Tarak’s getting turned into a water zombie in this strange sort of baptism – just more and more water flowing over him while he convulses. Adelaide gets the raygun ready while the Doctor tries to say that he can help and the two argue over each other. Andy, creepily, looks at them, with almost robotic-like movement, and then lets Tarak go. While the Doctor and Adelaide slowly approach, Tarak bolts back up, his face starting to change just like Maggie and Andy’s did. The Doctor tells Adelaide they have to leave, and then they run, zombie Andy and zombie Tarak following them (they can run pretty fast for two zombies. Just saying. Considering it’s not braaaaains but waaaaaater). Running. More running. The Doctor and Adelaide get into the little room before heading back into the main hall and lock the door tight. Zombie Andy gives the window of that door a nice washing, but otherwise doesn’t do any damage. He slams against the door. In the sick bay, Edward is staring at zombie Maggie in the same surprised shocked way (the zombies look like they have a perpetual 8D face). Water is just flowing out from Maggie’s sleeves and Maggie watches Edward’s every move. Mia, Steffi and Roman are watching from the camera feeds and they can’t figure out what’s going on. Adelaide tells everyone to make sure Maggie is contained, and to shut down the water supply, and definitely don’t drink it, and don’t even touch it. The Doctor is figuring out what the zombies are now – if the parasite goes through the water, then humans would make a completely logical host, being 60% water, but he’s still not quite sure yet. The Doctor is still trying to leave, but then the zombies start spraying water at the door. It’s supposed to be airtight (also watertight) but somehow they’re doing enough damage that some of the electric thingies are starting to go off. So Adelaide and the Doctor start running again, locking up the other door, but the zombies have come through. The Doctor screwdrivers Gadget, and while it physically hurts Roman, somehow the Doctor turns the robot into a superpowered Segway, with flames bursting out of the back. They manage to drag Gadget into another little room, which is even more sealed than the last, but the Doctor says that “water waits”, and that they need to keep going. They head off to the medical dome.

Edward and Yuri are still monitoring Maggie, who’s still making an 8D face. Adelaide warns them that as soon as she tries to hit the door, they all leave, no questions asked. While Adelaide does the expected “can you understand me? Do you remember who I am?”, the Doctor starts talking to Maggie in a completely different language and that gets her attention. Edward asks what language that was, and the Doctor says it’s ancient North Martian. Adelaide tells him to not be ridiculous, but Maggie’s eyes turn back to brown and not completely white. The Doctor asks where the water supply comes from – the ice fields that they’re close to, but Yuri insists that it’s safe because it’s filtered so much. Edward starts thinking that maybe there’s a virus down there that’s starting to come back up. The Doctor keeps putting ideas together that whatever it is, it not only hides in water, but it makes it too. Yuri says that she told him that zombie Maggie wanted Earth – a world with an abundance of water. Edward asks to speak with Adelaide in private. Edward reminds Adelaide that as it’s a spreading infection, the whole situation needs Action Procedure One. Somehow the Doctor overhears this, and realises that they mean evacuation. She immediately calls for Action Procedure One, and the crew snaps into action. They don’t have enough time to pack everything they need (Steffi says it’ll take 3 hours, Adelaide gives them 20 minutes), but they’re doing what they can. Zombie Andy and zombie Tarak are just staring at the cameras, waiting…

While they pack up stuff in the sick bay, the Doctor catches Adelaide and tells her that there is a chance that anyone could have been infected – everyone’s drinking from the same water source, and now they’re planning on returning to Earth – where they can possibly infect the entire planet. It takes her a little while to figure what the Doctor means, and then she says that she’s going to inspect the ice fields. The Doctor tries to convince himself that he should go, and then takes off, yelling after Adelaide (when he catches up to her, he makes some comment about needing bikes). Yuri, with a cart full of supplies, looks back at Maggie, apologizes, and then shuts down the sick bay and locks it. Of course, by now, Maggie’s strong enough to force the door open, and while Edward and Roman watch on the camera feed, she causes enough damage to shut off the cameras. After getting free, zombie Maggie looks around with glee and starts screaming so the other two zombies hear her, and like a call to arms, they leave.

The Doctor and Adelaide get to the ice field that Bowie Base One has marked off as part of their base. The Doctor, being the Doctor, starts talking about how there were other Martian civilizations – the Ice Warriors, but she cuts him off, saying she hasn’t got time to listen to stories. They start messing around with the computers, seeing if there’s been any sort of change in the water levels or things related to that. She says that he doesn’t look like a coward, considering all he wants to do is leave (nooo, it’s because the Doctor is a time traveller and already knows what awful thing is going to happen). She says that he knows so much about them, and the Doctor brushes it off as the fact that they’re famous. She adds that he seems to know even more.

He then starts saying that certain moments in time are locked – and this is one of them, and that it can’t change at all (Time Lord Logic! Hooray!). And then he mentions something that happened 50 years before – something she’s only ever told her daughter, a story that can be passed down through the family: when the Earth had been misplaced (Stolen Earth/Journey’s End), Adelaide saw the Daleks – she was maybe 10 or 12 at the time, and the sky had changed, and so she was sent to stay by herself by her father to keep safe. Her father left, and that was the last time she ever saw either of her parents (victims of the Daleks? Most likely). She went to the window, and a Dalek floated down, fixated its eyepiece on her, and then floated away. It was then that she decided that she would travel space – to follow it, to explore. The Doctor then starts telling her that by deciding to become a space explorer, she changed everything – she started the journey that would continue on with her granddaughter in thirty years, and from there, even more of the family would keep on the journey, all over the universe. She asks why he’s telling her this, and he says, “as consolation”. Then something pops up on the computer screen – a video of non-zombie Andy stating that there’s been a problem with the filters, and they don’t fit. One little itty-bitty filter is what caused the problem. The rest of the crew is safe and non-infected. They’re free to leave. Ed is preparing the shuttle and the rest of the crew are packing, having now been given the go-ahead. Adelaide gives the Doctor back his space suit, and tells him to escape and save himself.

While Roman pushes some of their supplies into one of their cargo rooms, the Doctor watches two little blobs on a screen nearby – the zombies are right above their heads on the roof of the base, and start spewing infected water all above them – meaning it’s going to eventually drip down on them if they don’t move faster. The crew tries to assure themselves that they’re safe, but the Doctor knows better – this is the day that Bowie Base One explodes. No survivors. He says nothing, just watches everyone, his face covered with regret, and then, turns to leave, as he believes there’s nothing he can do – fixed moment in time and all. Ed runs to the shuttle. The Doctor, dresssed in his space suit, tries to exit the airlock, but it won’t open for him. Adelaide won’t let him out until he tells her what happens. The Doctor claims he doesn’t know, but she demands that he tell her anyway. He ends up having to relate the situation to his time in Pompeii – in trying to save people, you instead cause the whole disaster to occur. Steffi pops in and says that they need Adelaide right now. The Doctor tells her that while they’re taking Action Procedure One right now, that Action Procedure Five is there, too – detonation of the nuclear bomb at the heart of the base. The Doctor continues to tell her that on this day, in historical records, for unknown reasons, Captain Brooke detonates that bomb and while it kills her and the crew, it saves Earth, which will lead her granddaughter to see her as a hero and pick up where she left off. Adelaide insists that she won’t die, and if he knows this information, why can’t the Doctor change it? The Doctor says he can’t. He just can’t. He thinks that when that Dalek first saw her, it knew that she was going to be involved in a fixed moment of time years later and spared her. She says that he’ll die too, but he says he won’t. She opens the airlock for him.

The water is starting to flood the place, and nowhere is safe. The crew is doing the best they can avoiding the water, but it’s everywhere. While listening to everyone panic and try to keep going, the Doctor stands and thinks and thinks and thinks. Steffi gets surrounded by the water while separated from the rest of the crew. The Doctor exits the base. In her last moments of awareness, Steffi brings up a video of children that she’s related to as the water infects her. She convulses then turns into a zombie, following the crew out (the transformations are getting faster). The shuttle prepares for liftoff. A single drop of water lands on Roman’s face, and he insists they all go without him – and then he changes, too.

Yuri, Mia and Adelaide leave. Zombie Maggie’s got on the shuttle, and blasts water at Ed before he has a chance to snap the doors closed. He calls Adelaide and says the shuttle’s been compromised and he doesn’t have enough time to leave. He set the shuttle to cancel the mission so it won’t ever affect Earth. Just before he changes, he pushes the big threatening button and the shuttle explodes. The Doctor is still walking around outside, until he’s thrown by the explosion. The base is beginning to be destroyed – the roaring of the zombies can almost be heard amongst it all. While he stares at the destruction, the Doctor thinks about being a Time Lord – mainly that he’s the only left. He’s the only one left who can change the rules of time, and now – he can’t just walk away. So of course, he shows up where the remaining three crew members are left, tosses some sealant to Mia to stop up the holes in the wall, tells Yuri to check the computer and helps Adelaide up. While she says that it can’t be stopped, the Doctor starts talking about how death will knock four times for him and he’s not hearing any knocks, so therefore they can fight back.

Then zombie Andy starts pounding at the door – one, two, three. The Doctor electrocutes him. Also, he gets Yuri to help him turn up the heat against all of the water. Adelaide says that he told her that they all die. The Doctor then explains that sure, there were Time Lords once and they made all of the rules for time and such, but he’s the only one left now and so, now the laws of time will obey him. In the most frenetic he’s been in quite some time, he runs back and forth, announcing his game plan, who they’re up against (not just a flood, but also time – and he WILL win against time).

Zombie Maggie has made it to the ice field and screams so loudly she breaks it. The Doctor, still crazy, tries to put together where they should go (Section 1A, it sounds like, which is mostly empty except for autoclaves), and brings out Gadget, who can’t be affected by the virus (the Chekov’s gun of the episode) to go get something for them. Adelaide begins to implement Action Procedure Five – blow the place up, basically. The countdown starts, to the shock of Mia and Yuri. The Doctor urges Gadget to move even faster – and the little robot just tears out of the base. The ice keeps cracking and the zombies are standing under some of the waterfalls as if they’re at a Christian worship service, raising their arms, waiting for their zombie diety to come help them. Or… something. Gadget shoots straight for the TARDIS, and the Doctor makes Gadget unlock the door and go in. Adelaide looks at him with an expression of utter defeat on her face, but oh no, the Doctor will not give up. Gadget gets the TARDIS going and the Doctor goes to greet it, the blue light shining in almost everyone’s face. The clock reaches down to zero, and the base blows up.

And then the TARDIS vworp-vworp-vworps onto a street – early winter, lined with houses, in the middle of the night. He opens the door and the remaining crew of Bowie Base One leave, Mia looking completely spooked, and the others shell-shocked. The Doctor says “so, is anyone going to thank me?”. Out putters Gadget, which promptly dies the second it makes it outdoors – it’s lost its signal. Adelaide recognizes one of the houses – as it’s hers. They are all confused. The Doctor says that it’s the same day – November 21, 2059, but on Earth. And there’s snow. Which he likes. Mia is not intrigued by the TARDIS, but absolutely freaked out, and runs off – Yuri goes to find her. Adelaide doesn’t know why he saved them – since he did tell her several times she was supposed to die and all, but the Doctor says that, nah, not anymore. She could see her daughter and her granddaughter again! Of course, she realises that this does change the future, her granddaughter’s especially. He says, nah – some parts might change but the end result stays the same. She insists that he can’t know that – if her family changes, then so can the entirety of human history. She thinks absolutely no one should have that much power. “Tough.” Ouch, Doctor.

She walks backwards and keeps questioning him – the Doctor’s a little drunk on power right now and makes some incredibly cocky statements, which royally pisses Adelaide off. The Doctor calls himself “Time Lord victorious.” “And there’s no one to stop you?” “No.” She says that this is wrong – regardless of who dictates it, it’s wrong. The Doctor says it’s for him to decide, and flippantly adds that she should go home. He unlocks the door from a distance. She asks if there’s nothing he can’t do. “Not anymore.” She stalks off into the house, and as the Doctor’s back is turned, she pulls her raygun out from her holster and closes the door. A blast of blue light flashes, and the Doctor realises that she’s just killed herself – regardless of how it happened, Captain Adelaide Brook died on November 29, 2059 – in the previous version of history, going down with her base; in this one, by her own hand. He leans against the door in shock. One word changes in the obituary. Two survivors remain. Adelaide’s granddaughter would follow in her grandmother’s footsteps of space travel. He changed so very little of time, and he may have pushed the rules too much in doing so. “I’ve gone too far.” He looks behind the TARDIS and sees Ood Sigma, the original speaker of the prophecy (“Soon, Doctor, your song will end.”) there in the distance. The Doctor is brought to his knees and he asks if this was his death, if it’s time. Ood Sigma just disappears. The Doctor darts into the TARDIS, and stares at the console. The cloister bell, the bearer of bad news, bongs in the background. He blurts, “No.” and pulls the levers to head off wherever he’s headed next.

Wow, this was long. And I probably did not do it justice because it’s a pretty damn dark episode, all things considered – my skin crawled at some points. When it comes to the RTD team and Ten, they’re going out with a huge bang for the last two episodes, and this was just a great big lead up. If you can, WATCH THIS EPISODE. Really (even though they’re probably going to top it with The End of Time).

JEG VIL HA DENNE!

T-skjorter, spesielt nerdete, unike t-skjorter, er livet! Jeg skulle ønske jeg var rik ikke måtte bruke pengene mine på andre enn meg selv, da hadde jeg kansje hatt tidenes t-skjorteskap, jeg hadde med stor sannsynligvis bestilt hele threadless, shirt.woot, thinkgeek og alle de fantastiske sidene.

En Delorian som uheldigvis har kræsja i The Tardis, jeg ser for meg scenen, og jeg må si jeg får vann i munnen av det.

Doc spretter ut av førersetet i Delorian og bemerker høyt
“Great scott!! how fast were we going? certainly 88mph!”
The Doctor åpner døra til The Tardis og ser spørrende ut mens han sier
“What?…What?….What?”

Aaaand the fun starts, make me the movie!

NOEN KJØP MEG EN AV DISSE! og du har min evige elsk!

[Shirt.woot]

Kaizer

I was in the shower at about 5:10 this morning, groggy as hell, and I thought back to growing up in St. Michael, Minnesota.  Specifically, I remember hanging out with my friend Tim at his barn.  Yes, they had a barn – and a big one at that!  On the top floor there was a rope hanging from the middle and there was a platform which we could swing off of.  It was a total blast and many afternoons after school were spent up there.  The bottom portion of the barn was considerably less open.  While they occasionally had a horse it was usually empty – but had different areas sectioned off where animals could be housed.

Got the new Blu-ray disk for the PS3 that allows Netflix streaming.  It works well, but would work better if we had a faster Internet connection.  Netflix will probably replace the Blu-ray with a downloadable application soon.  Seems like Netflix streaming on a PC works a little better, but the PS3 is very handy since it is connected to the TV and you can use the PS3 remote.  Watched a few episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ with Tom Baker.

Used to watch ‘Doctor Who’ on PBS a long time ago.  Always thought the Tardis was cool.

Hello everyone. I am planning and writing for an upcoming special episode of Constructions. Monday November 23 is the 45th Anniversary of Doctor Who, television’s longest running sci-fi series. I am inviting Whovians to write to me, telling me of their favourite moment in the series, classic or new, spin-off or regular. Tell me who …your fave Doctor is, or your fave companion. Also, tell me to what degree this fascinating television program has become part of your interest in popular culture, of your life, or even in your everyday reality. Also, say how you feel the Whoniverse relates or compares to other programs of the same or similar genres. Remember, Constructions is about explorations of various aspects of everyday reality (socially, psycologically, philosophically, culturally, artistically, etc.), as is this fictional tv show in many ways. Send me your thoughts to richardballare@gmail.com, or a Facebook message. I’d love to hear from other obssessed Whovians like myself.

As unlikely as it sounds, Cheryl Cole is being lined up as a guest star on Dr Who.

According to The Mirror, the BBC are keen to get the X Factor judge on board – particularly as this coup would mean stealing one of ITV’s biggest stars.

An insider told the paper “If she can find the time, a part will be written for her.”

So what do you reckon – can you picture Cheryl in the TARDIS or do you think time travel is a step too far for the Girl Aloud?

Source

What have they done to Doctor Who?

... Doctor Who 2008 ...

I am a fan, a BIG fan of Doctor Who. Well geek, I suppose, but oh well. However, recent developments in the Doctor Who universe leave me feeling rather disappointed and a little bit worried. Most people know by now that a new Doctor will be taking over from David Tennent in 2010. This is a great shame as in my humble opinion, Tennent has done a fantastic job of portraying the 900 and a bit year old Time Lord, but his parting words implied that if he didn’t jump ship when he did, then he would have to be carted out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. in a  bath chair.

Our new Doctor will be one Matt Smith, the youngest actor to play the role to date. Now that’s fine, I wouldn’t mind having a crack at being the Doctor myself (just a shame I can’t act) and I am a couple of years younger than Mr. Smith, but having seen the guy interviewed and read comments he has made, I have taken an instant dislike to him. He’s too… what’s the word? Camp? Arrogant? A combination of the two? I could be wrong, and to be fair the first time I saw Tennent interview I wasn’t keen and was subsequently proven wrong, but I fear Smith could be the worst Doctor yet.

So, new Doctor… fair enough, that happens from time to time, what with the Doctor’s ability to regenerate and the like. But when the program returned to our screens in 2005, it was obviously a bit of a reboot having been off-air for nearly 20 years. Now, just four years and two Doctors later they are “rebooting” the show again. Steven Moffat (possibly the best Doctor Who writer since the show returned in 2005) will be taking over from Russell T. Davies as head writer, fair enough… but a new Doctor and new head writer is not what I would consider cause enough to require them to completely reboot the franchise, introducing a new logo, a new interior of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and restarting the series number count from 1 again (this will mean that in Doctor Who’s history to date there will have been 3 series 1s. The very fact they feel a reboot is required scares me and implies that the program is in trouble and they are desperately attempting to cling to their fan base now that David Tennent is leaving.

... 2010 Doctor Who Logo ...

[actually, in retrospect, I quite like the new logo...]

Thankfully, before his departure we still have a few golden moments of Tennent to look forward to. The next of the 2009 specials, The Waters of Mars, will be airs on BBC One, 15th Nov. (the time is unknown at present) quickly followed by a 6-part animated adventure, Dreamland, to start on November 21st (although clips of this are available online and it looks like the worst animation I have seen in a while). Finally, there will be two specials over the Christmas period that will see the demise of the present Doctor in what is allegedly a very emotional farewell and rumoured to see [spoilers ahead, highlight to view...] Rose Tyler before she knew the Doctor seeing him regenerate.

Having said that, I could just be being paranoid and it could be the best season yet.

The TARDIS Home Server

I already had a mail server in a Hush PC, but that had stayed behind in England (I accessed it remotely via ssh and SMTP/IMAP over TLS).
I liked the Hush PC, it was small, quiet, it happily ran headless, and most importantly it didn’t use much power.

My other PCs are all a bit hungry, but this home server was going to be on all the time and needed to be low power – so I quickly decided it was going to be a Mini-ITX Via motherboard (Intel Atoms were a long way off at this time, I make a lot of use of encryption so I’m not sure that I’d choose an Atom over Via’s padlock even now, I’d love to see some benchmarks).
And then I wanted a nice box for it.

I searched around for a nice existing box, something like an old radio or typewriter, but I couldn’t find anything.
Then Ali suggested a TARDIS.
It was just a simple throwaway comment, but it kept me busy for a while…

I would have liked to have been the first, but I knew I could be better than that one.
I also knew I wouldn’t be disappointed in the end result – because I knew exactly how well a Via board performed and for my purposes it was adequate.

I have been through a few routers in my time, but one of my favourites was the Linksys WRT54G3GV2 (with the HyperWRT Thibor firmware, I did some work to get Samba working with Vista and to fix bugs in UPnP, never got the latter sorter properly though).
That rather limited box made me want to have all my eggs in one basket, meaning a single power brick to a single device that would provide a home server, a decent number of gigabit Ethernet ports, router, and 802.11n wireless Ethernet.

The first step on construction was to make work out the dimensions and make some plans.
The new series TARDIS is rather more squat than the original TARDIS, this is a benefit for me so I decided to go with the new design.
I found a flat front picture that someone had made of the TARDIS and used that to base my plans on.
The plans themselves consisted of a pair of diagrams, done using Scribus, that showed the front and top of the TARDIS with dimensions.
I then printed these out 1:1 on an A3 inkjet printer.

The Basic Box

The Bare Box

One thing that I did wrong is the interaction between the light boxes and the corner posts.
In my design the light boxes go ‘through’ the corner posts, the normal way to make a TARDIS is for the corner posts to be solid all the way up and then to have the light boxes cut around the posts.
I found that I couldn’t actually cut away the corner posts reliably enough, so I’ve actually got the corner posts ending below the light boxes – there is then a small corner post on top of that and an end cap (the same cross section as the main corner post) on top of that.
The result is that it looks like the corner post is cut away, but if you look closely you can see that the corner post caps have a gap below them at the height of the top of the light box.
Each corner post is clad in very thin ply to provide the routed lip at the edge of the corner post (you can’t see the gap below the corner post cap on the finished image above, but you can see it on the image here).

The main (inner) square of the roof is made up of the same wood as the corner posts (providing a very solid square frame, once I’d managed to cut it neatly enough, it took a few goes).
The outer ridge on the roof is ~6mm balsa glued onto the outside of the main square – hiding a substantial part of the main square and providing two equal height steps down from the roof itself.
The angled roof itself is thin ply, with some kind of modelling material (probably milliput, but I’m not sure I could get hold of the real thing) under the joins holding it together (the angle of the roof of a real TARDIS is always much less than you imagine).

The light boxes are very delicate, very thin ply for the four sides with very fragile balsa, sanded round, making the front edges – which stand proud of the ply on the inside to provide a lip for the POLICE BOX sign.
There are a couple of lengths of dowel inside the light box to provide more support.
At this point the POLICE BOX sign itself is just a print out on an inkjer printer.
It took some experimentation (later in the project) to get the signs right – the end result is done using Scribus (and a very good approximation to the right font) and printed on the inkjet printer, this is then backed with acetate (to hold the printout in place) and behind that is some black card to stop light leaking through the main black areas.

The chamfer around the base is sanded from balsa glued on top of the MDF base itself.
This provides a hidden join between the walls and the base for a much neater effect (also the MDF wasn’t the right height).

The Detailed Box

Box With Panel Details

Each side has three long vertical strips of balsa (narrow for the sides and long for the middle) and ten short horizontal strips of balsa (with narrower strips top and bottom).
Each of these strips has been sanded to create the camfer, and the horizontal strips have been sanded on the back to fit over the vertical strips.
After the panels had been put together they were glued into the corner posts and then the door frames (balsa strips, roughly 2mm cross section) were added (hiding the edges of the detailing strips).

The window frames are very fine balsa (~1mm x ~1mm cross section) glued as complete frames and then glued onto the back of the detailing balsa (making the front of the window frames the same depth as the door panels).

The telephone panel on the front side is edged with more fine balsa and has a very thin balsa panel behind it (making it raised relative to the main door panels).

The idea for the lock was stolen from another TARDIS builder – it’s the barrel of a very small padlock, cut out and put into a hole drilled in the front door (I think that even now it hasn’t been glued).

The lamp took a very long time to get right.
Starting at the top there is a 1″ diameter dished metal washer (complete with hole in the middle that I never did fill in).
Below that is a wooden washer/wheel about 33mm in diameter and originally about 10mm thick – I drilled a large hole through the middle of it and sanded the bottom flat.
Hanging down from the wooden top are four nails – these are fixed through the wooden top (with their heads hidden by the metal washer) but are loose in the wooden block at the base so the central part can be accessed.
The wire frame came from offcuts of the back panel (though that was diamond shaped and needed stretching to make square) and the glass is a plastic tube (it took me a long time to find one that was the right size and I don’t remember now where I found it – I do have a collection of test tubes and plastic pots now though:)).
The lamp base is a just a block of MDF which sits on two support struts glued across the whole in the top of the angled roof (so that a lamp from below can be stuck into it).

Painting

Finding the right paint was a total nightmare.

Merchandise (printed media) related to the new series always tends to have a distincly purple tint to the box, but whenever I tried paint that colour on my tests it looked very wrong.
My conclusion was that it is more important for a model to look right than to be right – I don’t actually know what colour the TARDIS props are, but my TARDIS looks the right colour as seen on the TV (and if you disagree based on these pictures I’ll blame the colour reproduction of the images ).

Paint Test

The Final Paint Job

The telephone sign was printed from one found on the Internet somewhere.

The window panes themselves are cut from a plastic stationary-type wallet (a cheap thing for keeping your papers in). There are just three sheets cut out and stuck behind the three front & sides pairs of windows.

I think the light behind this image was just a torch sitting in the box.

That’s about it for the outside, the next stage was to prepare the insides.

The Back Panel

As I said before, the back panel began as a sheet of wire mesh.
This was them fitted with the same kind of detail as the other three sides, but with cutaways for access to the various ports.

The Back Panel

The Empty Box

On the back panel there are two holes for the two six-way CAT-6 patch panels; one large hole for the back panel of the mini-ITX motherboard; a large round hole for the power button; and a small round hole for the power lead.

Interior of Back Panel, With Fitments

Back Panel, With Fitments

The patch panel fittings were taken from a 12 port Cat 6 patch panel bought from Fry’s. The cable is solid core Cat 6 cable from a local cabling company in Redmond – they gave it to me for free because I only wanted about 15′ of it.
I have to be honest and say that I don’t know whether the motherboard back plane is still held on with insulating tape!

The Guts

Internal Tower, Rear View

Coming up from the drive bay are four threaded rods, with plastic tubes being used as spacers. The threaded rods hold up, in turn, the motherboard and the table – upon which the Netgear gigabit Ethernet switch and DLink 802.11n router sit.

Stuffed in by the side of the drives is the DC-DC power supply module (it was very awkward to get that to fit – if you’re building a custom Mini-ITX case remember to take into account both the DC-DC module and the cabling from it.

The Mini-ITX board I used has an IDE port (connected to a compact flash boot drive); and a couple of SATA ports (one of which is used to connect the Samsung 500GB physical disc).

Internal Tower, Front View

Preproduction Power Solution

Also shown here is the light strip that provides illumination behind the light boxes (and spills light through the main windows too), and the sounder that never made it into the finished thing (a server that sits silently in the corner but occasionally makes dematerialisation noises isn’t really that practical).

Stuffing It All In

Stuffing It All In

Also showing on this picture is the lid, with a long black cable (coming from a fan header on the PC board) snaking out to it.
The lid is a simple panel that rests on the light boxes and holds the light strip behind the light boxes. Without the lid there would be light leaking underneath the roof.

The image also shows that the rear light box is loose (the router is sitting where it should be). That light box has to be removable in order to get the back panel out, so it’s just held in place by the weight of the lid and the roof.

The Software

The Finished TARDIS

Since the start I’ve run exim for my email; samba file sharing; and an apache web server (for my own use only). I use the courier IMAP server (sometimes available externally, but these days I tend to lock it down for internal use only).

SSH has always been key to my use of the TARDIS, enabling me to have access to it whereever I may be (on an obscure port and usually locked down to known external IP ranges).

Sometimes I use rtorrent (with dtach), though not as much now I’m back in England and the television is better!

The fan is controlled via lm_sensors, and you can hear it spin up and down during the day (and more so at night when there is nothing else to drown it out – the TARDIS isn’t silent, but it is quiet).
The disc is also set to spin down when idle, but I don’t think it gets much opportunity to actually do so.

And Now

The TARDIS Today

The TARDIS is still my main home server, now with three or four PC clients and whatever Macs Ali is using.

In the US I had a cable modem, with a nice Cat 5 plug straight into my router, back in dear old Blighty I’m on ADSL, which is why there is that nasty ADSL modem visible in the picture.
There’s no space to fit the modem inside, there aren’t any decent 802.11n/gigabit/ADSL routers on the market, and anyway I’d need to cut a new hole in the back to account for the RJ11 connector.

It sits in the window and at night the glow seen outside is beautiful, but then I’m biased, the neighbours probably think I’m nuts.

The Doctor and Adelaide

THE end of an era for Doctor Who approached on a screen in central London today.

“It’s been something that I’ll be forever proud of,” David Tennant told us afterwards.

“Filming the very, very final scenes was very sad.”

The Waters Of Mars is as dark and as thrilling an episode of Doctor Who as any I’ve ever seen.

It’s the second of four farewell specials starring David as the tenth Time Lord.

And it foreshadows his departure in a final two-part story to be screened at Christmas.

The hour-long episode, premiered at the press launch today, will be broadcast on BBC1 at 7pm on Sunday Nov 15.

There’s a full transcript below of this morning’s post-screening Q&A with David and outgoing Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies.

But first a little background.

This remarkable film, written by Russell and Phil Ford, begins with the TARDIS landing on Mars on Nov 21 2059.

There the Doctor discovers Bowie Base One – the human race’s first off world colony, led by a mission commander called Adelaide (Lindsay Duncan).

The Doctor calls her “a woman with starlight in her soul”.

Some parts of The Waters Of Mars are seriously scary and will ensure children never shower again.

With one of the most intelligent and moving scripts in the long history of Doctor Who.

“I really should go,” insists the Doctor. Several times.

“What happens here must always happen,” explains the last of the Time Lords.

Before an ending which will disturb and disrupt what we all think of him.

It’s significant that this doom-laden story has the Doctor alone, without a companion, running from his own demise.

With the Ood appearing at the end to summon him.

BBC drama boss Ben Stephenson described it as “one of the most sophisticated pieces of writing I’ve seen in a long time”.

He’s also watched the final two episodes – The End Of Time.

“Stonking is probably the only word. They are full of the best twists and turns Doctor Who has ever done,” promised Ben.

“Some of the twists are really, really shocking. Some of them are hilarious. And a lot of them are incredibly moving.

“There really won’t be a dry eye in the house and your turkey will be quite wet by the end of it.”

We were also treated to short extracts from those last two films.

Featuring John Simm’s return as The Master, with what looked like blond hair.

Fans who want to read more, including why David has locked away his sonic screwdriver, should check out the transcript below.

As chance had it, I asked both the first and last questions at the post-screening press conference:

(Sat Oct 31 update – new pics added following the expiry of the BBC image embargo)

1. One of the darkest and scariest episodes that you’ve filmed?

David: “Probably, yeah, I think. It tells a different sort of story and it’s a long time into the episode before the Doctor takes control. I think that’s what’s unnerving about it. It’s not the standard kind of structure – we expect the Doctor to take control, we expect the Doctor to know how he’s going to do it and how he’s going to win through. And he sort of doesn’t. Even though he wins in the end, it’s a bittersweet victory and people die. And that’s part of the story we had to tell to go where we’re going.”

Russell: “It’s not so much scary as intense.”

2. Are you still getting ideas for Doctor Who and, if so, what are you doing with them?

Russell: “I don’t really, no. I knew I was finishing two years ago, so I stopped then, in a way. I think there’s a good Twitter Doctor Who story to be told, I’ve got to say…in 140 characters. No, to be honest – I’m old hat.”

3. Are you still aiming at children?

Russell: “Absolutely. Have you read a Harry Potter book?”

David: “Have you seen a Harry Potter film?”

Russell: “It’s his (Harry Potter’s) own mum and dad, let alone complete strangers on Mars. I think kids would laugh at your worries. What I love about that, it’s a complicated story. Frankly, it’s very intelligent. The Doctor’s moral choices there are caught up in a temporal conundrum – and six-year-olds could follow that. Absolutely easy…and I think that’s fantastic television for children. It’s the sort of challenge you should give them.”

The Doctor and Adelaide

4. Is this an indication of where things might be going in the future?

David: “Well, I think this gives you a bit of a hint, the fact that the Ood have come to summon the Doctor and the fact that the Doctor now knows incontrovertibly that he’s running from his own demise. At the very end he says, ‘No, I’m not going there, I’m going to rage against the dying of the light,’ which kind of beats at the final story, I suppose. All those chickens come home to roost.”

Russell: “At the end of the series with Catherine Tate, Davros told him he was responsible for many people’s deaths – and all these things are coming to an end. This shows why he travels with a human companion. That’s the point of this story – he would have had someone to talk to…and found a different way out of it. But because he’s alone, he’s lost in his own head and he goes too far. All these things are coming to an end. It’s time.”

5. Do you feel that you’ve wrapped it up satisfyingly for yourself?

David: “Yeah. It feels like we tell a big end of an era story and hand it on, which I think is important in this show, which has, let’s face it, been going a long time before we showed up and no doubt will carry on into the far distant future. So, yes, I think we tell a big old farewell story and then hand it over in rude health.”

Russell: “It’s nice knowing when you’re coming to an end so far in advance, you get a chance to do everything. It’s not like you’ve forgotten anything. We see the Ood summon the Doctor…for Children In Need in a few weeks’ time, you get the first scene of the Doctor arriving on the Planet of the Ood – Ood-Sphere, which was actually a hilarious scene. That scene is so funny. You shouldn’t think it’s going to be as dark and as doom-laden from now on.”

6. Did either of you take any souvenirs from the set?

David: “You’re not allowed. You really aren’t allowed. I think people think we just walk away with our pockets stuffed full of stuff. But, you know, the licence fee is very well protected and so it should be. I did get a little gift box at the end of stuff they didn’t need anymore.

“I do have my own sonic screwdriver and I put it in a secure location because I suddenly got worried my house would get burgled and I’d lose it. So I’ve locked it up somewhere.”

Russell: “No, I’ve got like an orb from the end of the world. I had to pay a thousand for it at a charity auction. I actually was very drunk and I thought I’d bought a weekend in Devon…then it turned out it was an orb.”

7. Photos have leaked out of the new Doctor Who series (starring Matt Smith) being filmed at the moment. Do either of you feel any regret?

David: “It’s weird, I remember before it was the case, thinking, ‘Oh that’ll probably happen, we’ll probably start seeing snaps of them on street corners and wearing anoraks and having cups of tea between takes.’ And I was nervous about how I’d feel about that. I’m thrilled that it’s carrying on and I know that everyone who’s there is a great choice. Of course, you feel a little bit proprietorial. But I’ve been very cheered by the fact that I haven’t, actually. I’ve just been really excited to see that it’s going on, teased by what I’m seeing, and I just can’t wait to see it. I suppose because I remember what it felt like, as well, to be where Matt is now. I just was really excited and I’m really excited to be seeing somebody else starting out on that journey, I guess.”

Russell: “It’s funny because when you’re inside the programme and you see those things, you think, ‘Oh it’s spoiled and it’s ruined and it’s dreadful.’ But when you’re outside, you think, ‘Ooh, that’s exciting.’”

8. Are you currently putting together, conceiving, writing an American version of Doctor Who to pitch to American networks?

Russell: “Absolutely not. No. As you know, I lie my way through these things, but no, absolutely not. I bet you a hundred quid that I’m not. I’m developing things – but new things. And I’m not going to tell you what they are because they’ll probably never exist. There’s a recession out there as well. We’ll see.”

David: “I can do the accent…that was a joke.”

9. Do you feel you’ve done everything you wanted to do with this series?

Russell: “I do feel that. When I started, I could never imagine you could go so far with it, like to do episodes with Peter Kay or to do monsters that are statues…or to bring Davros back…you never would have thought it would go that far. So I feel more than happy and vindicated, actually, that all these things worked.”

David: “I got to do so many more things than I ever imagined I would, just playing the part itself, let alone working with all the incredible actors who came through – all the things I got to do, hanging off things, being blown up and wearing make-up of myself as a nine-million-year-old-man. All these things that I would never have dreamed of. So, no, I didn’t have a checklist, thinking, ‘When am I going to get to ride on a unicycle, it’s just not fair.’ No, it was just an incredible, continually surprising trip. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Riding the robot - Gadget

Russell: “You got to ride on a robot with Lindsay Duncan. Hilarious. All those posh things she’s done. We brought her down to this.”

10. We know some of the companions are returning for your final episodes?

David: “Well you saw Catherine Tate as Donna. You saw Bernard Cribbins as Wilf. John Simm as the Master…not a companion but he’s part of the gang.”

Russell: “Jacqueline King. who plays Donna’s mum Sylvia and The Master’s wife – she’s back. And The Ood. And the new Ood.”

11. David, how did you feel giving up the role?

“Like I just said, it was an incredible experience. It was something that I fantasised about as a child, so it was an incredible, slightly surreal thing to finally be up there and be part of that. It’s been something that I will be forever proud of.”

12. Elisabeth Sladen said recently that she was worried about you David, as to how you’re going to cope not being the Doctor and she thought you might end up in rehab?

David: “It’s not looking that likely at the moment but who knows. Never say never.”

The Doctor and Sarah Jane

13. What was your last day like?

David: “Actually my last day was on The Sarah Jane Adventures, which is on this afternoon. The last line I say as the Doctor is half way through the episode tonight, which is, ‘You two, with me, spit spot.’ They were the last words I uttered in this suit (though not his last words as seen on screen). So I guess it was robbed of any epic quality. But that was probably best. It was very emotional saying cheerio. Filming the very, very final scenes was very sad. There’s lots of scenes in the final, final episode that are very sad and were very sad to play. And I think if one of them had co-incided with the actual final day, I’d have been in trouble. I was a bit in trouble as it was, but I was alright.”

14. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen your face on?

David: “Pants has got to be up there, certainly. Yoghurts for a while. Healthy yoghurts, obviously. I don’t know, it just keeps coming – bath bombs. I think pants are probably the oddest, just because they’re pants.”

David also said he had plastic Doctor Who figures, including one of himself. “It’s a very odd thing and I’m not sure if it is entirely healthy but it’s quite fun.”

15. The Waters Of Mars is dedicated to Barry Lettts, who died earlier this month.

Russell: “He was one of the finest producers of Doctor Who and many programmes, actually. He used to do the Sunday afternoon classic serials and he actually produced the Jon Pertwee years. And then he cast Tom Baker. He cast Lis Sladen as well. He was an extraordinary figure in Doctor Who history and in pop culture – and he passed away, sadly. So, of course, we wanted to have that tribute to him on screen.”

16. Does David see a future filled with Doctor Who conventions?

David: “Never say never. I don’t know. It would be fun to try. The three of us went to the San Diego Comic-Con, which wasn’t quite like a Doctor Who convention because it’s almost a media event really, as much as it’s a fan convention. Although it started as a fan convention and that’s still, at heart, what it is. I don’t know. I’ve got no immediate plans. But never say never.”

17. Which episodes or specials have you been most proud of?

David: “It’s hard to pick favourites because it feels unfair.”

Russell: “And also, there really are no episodes we don’t like. You feel if you did leave an episode out, you’re insulting all your friends and colleagues who worked on that episode.”

David: “And I haven’t seen the last two yet, so I can’t comment.”

Russell: “They will be up there…definitely.”

18. Can you ever wear a blue suit again?

David: “Do you know, the only thing…there is a certain brand of footwear…I used to wear quite a lot and I don’t any more because it feels a bit wrong. Maybe I’ll get over that.”

19. Are you able to share one of the more inspiring or moving things a child has said or written to you about Doctor Who?

Russell: “Drawings…we do get all sorts of lovely letters and things, from adults as well. Extraordinary letters, truly emotional letters about it sometimes. But kids’ drawings – we’ve filled that space in children’s imaginations and their joy when they’re writing…I’ve genuinely found that moving.”

David: “It’s funny. Quite often when I meet kids they don’t know what to say, they get a bit overwhelmed by it. I remember what it did to me, I suppose. I remember how enthused I got by this show, by the worlds that it took me to and how special it seemed. And when you feel like you’re creating a similar world for a child now and you can see it reflected back, because they don’t know how to express or how to say it to you, that’s very special.”

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Who Am I?

Matt Smith is the new Doctor. This we know. What has long been rumoured is that the TARDIS would also be getting a new look and this is our first glimpse of it.

io9 found the photos.

What do you think of the new look? Good, bad or Disco?

Como eu estava sem fazer listinhas por um looooooongo tempo, decidi fazer essa. Uma lista dos 10 atores que eu acho que trabalham melhor do que os outros. Teve MUITOS que eu queria colocar aqui, mas que não deu…! São só 10, sabe? Muitos deles já coloquei em outras listas… mas, fazer o quê? Os caras são realmente bons!

Obs.: Não confundam “melhores” com “mais bonitos”, ok? :*

10 – David Schwimmer

Um dos caras mais engraçados da televisão. Depois de anos atuando em “Friends”, não tem como ele não ser lembrado como Ross em qualquer outro papel que faça. Um dos melhores atores, na minha opinião, e ele também tem um charme escondido que eu adoro *–*

9 – David Tennant

Quem gosta de ficção científica sabe de quem estou falando. David Tennant interpreta o décimo doutor, da série britânica Dr. Who, um seriado muitíssimo interessante. Na minha opinião, o melhor dos 10 doutores que já apareceram na série, que está no ar desde 1963…!

8 – Will Smith

Esse cara! Todos lembram dele como Fresh Prince Of Bell Air (Um maluco no pedaço), mas também como todos os outros super personagens que esse cara já fez na vida…! Quem no mundo não para para assitir “Eu, robô”, mesmo que seja só um pouquinho, quando passa na televisão? É o magnetismo Smith!

7 – Heath Ledger

Sempre que eu penso em Heath Ledger, fico com vontade de chorar. Um ótimo ator, que interpretou personagens que nos fazem rir, ou chorar, ou até mesmo idolatrar um vilão, que morreu precocemente – alguns dizem suicídio, outros acidente. O fato, é que ele morreu com uma legião de fãs ao redor, tendo a certeza de que era um ótimo ator…! *não, eu NÃO assisti O Segredo de Brokeback Montain ¬¬

6 – Liam Aiken

Ator desde pequenininho, ficou famoso depois de interpretar Klaus Baudelaire em Desventuras em Série. Apesar de ter assistido poucos filmes com ele, simplesmente me encanto quando o vejo na telinha. E não só em Desventuras em Série, pois, quem não gosta do filme com o cachorrinho alienígena que SEMPRE passa na Sessão da Tarde? hehehe

5 – Michael C. Hall

Sim, ele mesmo, o “Querido e Devotado Dexter”. Não tendo assistido outros programas/seriados/filmes com ele, falo apenas por ter assistido o seriado Dexter, em que ele interpreta um assassino em série sem sentimentos, que tenta limpar o mundo de certos “espirítos de porco” que poluem nossa sociedade. Além de ser um gato.

4 – Rupert Grint

Pois é! Sempre apaixonada por ruivinhos…! O ator que interpreta Ron Weasley nos filmes de Harry Potter, na minha opinião, é um dos melhores atores da série Harry Potter, se não o melhor – O segundo melhor era o cara que fez os dois primeiros filmes da série, que infelizmente, morreu… tadinho -. Não, eu acho que Daniel Radcliffe atua mal e que Emma Watson é muito falsa em sua atuação, mas não Rupert. Esse carinha realmente encarnou Ronald Weasley, principalmente pelo fato de que ele já era um grande fã da série antes mesmo de ser chamado para fazer os filmes. Mas, é claro, que um ator desses não faria apenas Harry Potter! Ele atuou também, quando criança, num filme chamado “ThunderPants” – no Brasil “Pum – Emissão Impossível” -, e já depois de Harry Potter em um filme chamado “Driving Lessons”, ou “lições de vida”…!

3 – Hugh Jackman

É, acho que todo mundo já sabe da minha paixão incondicional por esse cara…! O homem que sabe interpretar qualquer papel, desde super-herói rabugento, até um inventor do século 19 cheio de floreios. Além de ser lindo e encantar corações, sabe atuar como ninguém…! Com certeza, um dos primeiros lugares nessa lista!!

2 – Johnny Depp

Outro por quem sou apaixonada…! Desde Edward Mãos-de-Tesoura até o querido Jack Sparrow, Johnny nos encanta com suas personagens tão diferentes uma da outra. Johnny é extremamente exigente com seus papéis, e, estranhamente, não gosta de assistir seus próprios filmes. Também atua como dublador, e, sempre que pensam em Johnny Depp, outro nome vem imediatamente na nossa cabeça: Tim Burton. A parceria entre os dois já é bastante comum, e vem funcionando desde sempre… E espero que até muito tempo a partir daqui. 

1 – Robin Williams

Um ator que eu simplesmente acho O MELHOR. Não é de hoje que sou totalmente fã desse cara. Quem nunca assistiu Patch Adams, O Homem Bicentenário ou Jumanji? Um cara que consegue fazer filmes de comédia da mesma forma como faz filmes de drama: perfeitamente. Um gênio da atuação, que faz qualquer um dizer “esse é um cara legal” quando o vê em qualquer papel em qualquer filme ou seriado, ou até mesmo clipe. Até mesmo seu rosto faz com que a gente sinta que ele é O cara…! Por isso, com toda certeza, Robin Williams merece o primeiro lugar nessa lista!

Bem, depois dessa lista, pretendo criar uma com “As 10 melhores atrizes”, porque as mulheres também merecem uma listinha dessas! Então, qual é a sua lista?

Beijos da Tia Rose :*

BBC fetzt! Das weiß man spätestens seit der Verbildlichung von »Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis« oder »Monty Python«. Eine weitere Serie die ich nun hier einreihen möchte ist »Doctor Who«. Zugegeben ich habe mir nur die Neuauflage angesehen, welche seit 2005 produziert wird. Allerdings kann ich mir nicht vorstellen, dass die alten Episoden schlechter waren. Es gab immerhin über 700 davon! Einziger Kritikpunkt könnte sein, dass die Qualität für heutige Verhältnisse nicht mehr zeitgemäß ist, aber wer stört sich schon an soetwas!?

Wer oder was ist nun eigentlich »Doctor Who«?
Nun, es handelt sich hierbei um einen quirligen humanoiden männlichen Außerirdischen der sich selbst der Doktor nennt und mit seinem Schiff durch Raum und Zeit reist. Warum er das tut? Tja, das habe ich nach zwei Staffeln auch noch nicht recht verstanden, aber ich behaupte einfach mal des Wissensdranges und der Abenteuerlust wegen. Das Schiff ist hierbei etwas Besonderes, denn es ist nicht wie herkömmliche Sci/Fi Raumschiffe, nein, es ist eine Notrufzelle:

Tardis © BBC

Das Volk des Doktors war wesentlich höher entwickelt und so ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass die Tardis innen wesentlich größer ist, als es von außen den Anschein hat. Eben die Größe, die man von einem Raumschiff erwarten würde…
Der Doktor verfügt desweiteren über eine Reisegefährtin, mit Namen Rose Tyler. Sie ist ein Mensch von der Erde und schließt sich dem Doktor bereits in der ersten Folge an.
So reisen also die beiden mit einer Notrufzelle durch Zeit und Raum und erleben so das Ende der Welt mit, treffen den letzten Menschen, reisen versehentlich in eine andere Dimension oder begegnen den Leibhaftigen selbst.

Die Serie bietet viele verschiedene Facetten. Von Episode zu Episode kann sich die Atmosphäre komplett verändern. Ist in der einen eine recht düstere Weltuntergangsstimmung, so sind andere Folgen recht humorvoll und satirisch gehalten. »Doctor Who« besitzt einen typischen britischen Humor und setzt diesen auch in unerwarteten Situationen gekonnt ein. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich erst nach drei, vier Folgen wirklich damit warm wurde, allerdings konnte ich danach nicht genug davon bekommen.
Selten habe ich eine solch kreative Serie gesehen. Man merkt, dass viele Autoren, Regisseure (oder was auch immer) Fans der alten Serie waren. Beispielsweise sind ja auch Bill und Ted mit einer Telefonzelle durch die Zeit gereist. Zufall? ^^ Übrigens hat sogar Douglas Adams einige alte Episoden für »Doctor Who« geschrieben und ich muss sagen, dass sich der Humor zuweilen auch heute noch sehr ähnelt, manchmal sogar direkte Anspielungen gemacht werden.

Alles in Allem eine der besten Serien die ich kenne und ich finde es schade, dass sie, wie könnte es anders sein, in Deutschland nicht genügend Anklang fand.

Okay… hold tight…

Time travel hasn’t happened yet… isn’t happening now, and will not happen in the future.

We will not even meet aliens who have the technology. Not even Dr Who.

Remember the 70’s? Even the 80’s? The technology we had then was limited. No one even dreamed of owning a mobile phone… in fact if you go back a few more years, even the cutting edge scientists and sci-fi writers hadn’t even thought of the idea… and yet pretty much everyone has a mobile phone now… and access to the internet… which is another thing that 50 years ago could not even be thought about – It was beyond imagination!

Go back 100 years and no-one would believe we could video talk by a small hand held digital device to someone across the World… I’ve even Twittered to the International Space Station… Technology that was once not even imaginable is now common place.

What has this got to do with time travel?

Well, it has to do with rebels and kids with too much time on their hands if I am to cut to the chase.

Like previous technologies any new technology is generally very expensive and owned by a Government, Research laboratory, Institute etc… The technology is hugely expensive and prone to going wrong…. but over time the technology improves and more lower level groups get hold of it… and eventually a few well off “normal” folk get hold of it… and then we all have it… A bit like mobile phones and the internet.

The thing is, once it is common place (as all technology is eventually), it becomes a plaything for the idle and deviant.

The internet! A thing of knowledge, research and communication to start with…. but now it’s also a thing of silly videos, hacking, chat rooms, and pornography…

Time travel would eventually go the same way… It’ll start as a special project, it’ll develop into a more widely available technology… and eventually all the kids will be able to do it…. If they mix it with the internet I am not looking forward to receiving spam from the future

DEAR: L Blick – In the future everyone has a bigger penis.. YOU COULD HAVE ONE TOO!!! VIAGRA 3012! Don’t miss out!!! By the way… our King (your future King) has died and left you £129,432,345,322:00 and we need your credit card details & a DNA sample so we can send you the money….

With such a widely available technology there will be those who abuse it… hackers, kids with too much time on their hands, terrorists etc… and as such it wouldn’t be long before someone went back in time and left proof that time travel was possible. We would have been visited by now.

Even if it is/was discovered when (if) we finally meet extraterrestrial life, then the same rule applies. Sure, it may take 100 years to creep out of the secure Government facility, it may take 1000 years…. 10,000 years…. but it’ll still follow the same path and become common place and be a thing that can (and will) be abused.

Sure, manufacturers of your pocket “iTime™” transporter will build in infinite anti-paradoxical time protective features (∞APTP-f ©), but as with all things, some clever folk will hack and jail break these features eventually… and we are back at square one – ANYONE can travel back and mess with the past.

The thing is….. they haven’t….. and they won’t….. because it isn’t possible then, now or ever.

We’d know about it by now if it ever happened at sometime… but it hasn’t…. & that’s what I’m getting at.

It’s not a far fetched thing really. Back in WW2 there were top secret RADAR research programs going on… and now most people have at least one item developed from this system in their house. A once top secret thing that a few years prior wasn’t even a figment of someone’s imagination is now, less than 100 years later, a common place thing.

So there you go, Time travel hascannotwon’t happen…. and if you just skipped to this last line, that isn’t time travel, that’s just cheating!

]]> http://stornowayhistory.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/dr-who/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:59:37 +0000 stornowayhistory http://stornowayhistory.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/dr-who/

Fans of the popular tv series Dr Who will be surprised to learn of the close connections that the Time Lord has with the Isle of Lewis. William Hartnell, the first Dr Who, was a keen fisherman and spent many years tramping the moors of Lewis in search of trout and salmon. He was also regularly up in front of the Sheriff for partaking in nocturnal poaching activities.

When the second series of Dr Who was in production, Hartnell demanded that some of the filming should take place on Lewis to allow him to partake in his favourite pastime. As most Dr Who episodes requiring outdoor shots were filmed in old sandpits and quarries, the producers, in an effort to keep their star happy, were willing to search Lewis for a suitable quarry. Consequently, many episodes of Dr Who were shot in the Marybank Quarry throughout the sixties and seventies. The village of Garyvard also doubled as an alien planet on several occasions as it didn’t require any special effects whatsoever to recreate a hostile environment.

A number of mid sixties episodes of Dr Who filmed on Lewis fell foul of the BBC ‘clear out the cupboards’ policy. Among those episodes lost were ‘Attack of the Gugamen’. This was filmed entirely on location on Sulasgeir. The storyline revolved around the second Dr and his companions landing by Tardis on a barren island and been attacked by a fierce tribe of savages who worship a strange seabird/rat deity. The BBC film crew and actors accompanied the Neisochs out to Sulasgeir and spent a fortnight plucking guga in between filming location shots. The actual Tardis used on location for these episodes is still on Sulasgeir, as the Neissochs refused to take it back on the fishing boat as it would limit the number of guga they could take back to Lewis. The Tardis is now used as a lighthouse run entirely on guga oil.

Another episode filmed on Lewis and now lost/destroyed was ‘Exodus of the Daleks’. This was from the Jon Pertwee era and was the first Dr Who episode to feature the prototype K-9, the Dr’s robotic dog. The storyline revolved around the Daleks being cleared from their crofts by an unscrupulous landlord and forced to emigrate to America. These episodes featured the Daleks draped in tartan and talking in a robotic form of Gaelic. ‘Tha mi exterminate’ as they said. The prototype K-9 was also a metallic sheep dog who came to an unfortunate end when he fell into a sheep-dip and rusted.