Saturday, January 22, 2011

Dalek Poetry Reading...

My friend posted this little tidbit on his Facebook today. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I hope you do too. 


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Today, Everybody Lives!

Are you my Mummy?

     This post is dedicated to a classic two-part episode from Season 1 of Doctor Who, and a favorite of mine: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. Written by Steve-I'm-A-Freaking-Genius-Moffat, this episode's greatly misunderstood villain has been rightly pronounced The Empty Child.
    
     The premise of this episode is that a large batch of Nanogenes have escaped into Earth's atmosphere. And what are nanogenes, you may ask? They are tiny little beasties that look like particles of dust or light or something, and their function is one of a medical nature, usually healing soldiers and preparing them for battle. However, when they emerge from their "ambulance," the only thing they find is a small child with a gas mask on, already dead. They bring him back to life, and patch him back as best they can; but what do they know of humans? Nothing at all. All they have to go by is a little boy who is looking for his mummy. And that's exactly what they make; a scared, angry, and powerful little boy who will literally tear the world apart looking for his mummy.

One of my favorite things about Doctor Who is that every single episode is quotable! No matter how lame the aliens are, or however thin the plot line, there is not a single episode that doesn't have some classic one-liners, and I'll pay money to the person who can show me an episode from the new series (Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith) where this isn't true. And on that note, here are some fabulous quotes from The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances:

"It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room!
...I sent it to its room. This is its room!"


The Doctor: "Funny little human brains... how do you get around in those things?"
Rose: "When he's stressed, he likes to insult other species."
The Doctor: "Rose, I'm thinking."
Rose: "He cuts himself shaving, does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than."


"I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."


"I like bananas. Bananas are good."


Hospital Patient: "My leg's grown back! When I came to the hospital, I had one leg..."
Doctor Constantine: "Well, there is a war on... is it possible you miscounted?"


"There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can."


The Doctor: "Go, now, don't drop the banana!"
Jack Harkness: "Why not?"
The Doctor: "Good source of potassium!"


"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene."


Jack Harkness: "Who has a sonic screwdriver?"
The Doctor: "I do!"
Jack Harkness: "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks "Oh, this could be a little more sonic!"
The Doctor: "What, you've never been bored? Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?"


"Everybody lives, Rose! Just this once, everybody lives!!"


This episode was fantastic. I give it 4/5 stars, and I recommend it to all!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

"Knock Knock." Who's there? "Doctor." Doctor Who? "Exactly."

To watch a series that is as wierd and unusual and Doctor Who you need different personalites. You need a logical personality along with an abstract. A personality that can see things seriously as well as somewhat ridiculously. To be able to see the deep meaning in a joke can be hard. It takes someone with a lack of sanity, with a disoriented sense of reality, and possibly a love for taco bell seasoning sauce. How else would one know why the TARDIS is bigger on the inside? Why Daleks cannot smile (mostly because one has tried) How the process of Regeneration works? The mind of a child in the body of an adult. Ladies and Gents....I am The Harlequin.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Back on Gallifrey...

So I thought you readers might want to know a little more about us, the Lost Sons of Gallifrey. Let me tell you a little about myself; my thoughts, ideas, philosophies, and general information on Doctor Who.
This is Gallifrey. And that man is a Time Lord. They dress kinda funny. And cool.

Back on Gallifrey, they call me The Liberator. That's my Time Lord name. Want to know why? Because through my efforts to spread Doctor Who throughout this good country, I am in fact converting people and Liberating them from their previous Ignorance, that Ignorance being a lifestyle devoid of any Doctor Who whatsoever. But you can still call me Andrew. Or just Jazz Hands for short.


Would you care to know why we have three authors for this Blog? Besides that fact that Jeremy, Caleb, and myself are the triumvirate of Doctor Who at Timpview High School, it's so that there is variety in all our opinions and thoughts on Doctor Who. That way you can hear what each of us has to say, and then judge for yourself.

I was first introduced to Doctor Who by my colleague Jeremy Sherman. I watched the first episode of Season 1. It was so weird. Suffice it to say, I waited two weeks before I watched any more. Thankfully, it got better from there. Way better, if truth be told.

My philosophy concerning viewing Doctor Who is first and foremost that you just watch it, 'cause it's fantastic. But if you will go out on a limb with me, and take a leap of faith, then I suggest the following: watch Doctor Who from the beginning of Season 1 with the ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, and watch the rest in order from there. There. I said it. Many will argue with me that the first season is rather inferior compared to the rest, but I disagree. Sure, it's more cheesy and less sophisticated, but it's a crucial part of the series. I believe it's paramount to watch seasons 1-5 in order, not skipping any. You get the full story, you meet all the characters and all the aliens, even if it's aliens that you get sick of. It gives you the full Doctor Who experience. One little disclaimer, though: I am not in any way suggesting that you go all the way back to the 1960's and start from there. The "Season 1" I referred to actually came out in 2005. Start there. However, as I said before, if your style is more of a "pick and choose the best episodes" gig, then I can respect that. Whatever floats your boat. Or your TARDIS.

Don't Blink!!!!!

Have you ever looked at something and thought "It looks like it moved". Well you shouldn't worry, it's just a statue made of stone. The only damage it can do to you is when it is actually thrown in your direction.......right?......WRONG!! There is an ancient race of creatures that somehow evolved so that they obtained the perfect defence. They are quantum locked. This means that when anything living looks at them, they become stone statues. However, when you look away they become living again and can attack you. Lukily with this power they have one major weakness. They can never look at each other or they will be stone forever. They can never be looked at by their own kind. That's how they got the name "The Lonley Assassins".








Now normaly a Weeping Angel looks like...well....an angle that is weeping. However a degenerated or aged weeping angel can look like a regular statue that looks like it was carved by a 7 year old.....or me (it's hard to tell). They are described as the nicest psychopaths in the universe because they let you live to death by sending you into the past and then living off the potential energy of your life had you never left. Another interesting little tid-bit is that the image of a weeping angel (photo and video) can turn into a weeping angel after a while. So while you have been watching them on your screens at home....have they been watching you?
Stephan Moffat must have been on brilliant pills when he made these creatures. You will find with this guy that he will often take childhood fears (moving statues, the dark, etc.) and give you an explanation, even though he can scare the heck out of you as he does it.
Here are some Quotes from the episodes containing this magnificent race:
"The Angels have the phone box"
"Tracked you down with this. This is my Timy-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff. Also it can hard boil an egg at 30 paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."
The Doctor (after finding himself beat and trapped): "Did I mention we have comfey chairs?"
Angel Bob: "We have no need for comfey chairs"
The Doctor: [amused] "I made him say comfey chairs!!!"

Saturday, January 8, 2011

How to Start watching Doctor Who... a guide

This post is for all the people out there who catch sight of this blog, start reading it and then think "What on Earth?"

For those who know are familiar with the show, the pun was intended.

Doctor Who is a television series produced by BBC that has been running since the 60's, and it is a favorite of British audiences. Now, before you leap to the first episode, let me explain what we, the Lost Sons of Gallifrey, would deem the greatest show on earth, full of plenty of suspense, action, and humor that will leave you rolling with laughter.

This TV series follows the adventures of a time traveller named The Doctor. He's not really a doctor, it's more of his name/title. Hence.... Doctor Who? He travels the universe in his time machine, the TARDIS, or Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space. This time machine, from the outside, has the appearance of a British Police Public Call Box, or a blue phone box. However, as the Doctor loves to hear, it's much bigger on the inside. The Doctor is part of an alien species called the Time Lords. Now, don't immediately start thinking green skin with antennae. Time Lords are human in appearance. As the title suggests, they were masters of time travel. However, the Doctor is the last of his species. As you can presume, he gets rather lonely at times. So, in his travels across the universe, he takes a companion with him to show them the wonders of time and space. Of course, they get more than just a free tour of alien planets and all time periods of humanity; they get a fair amount of saving the world/universe constantly.

As an alien, the Doctor has a few abilities not shared with his companions. He has two hearts, has a second respiratory outlet (good luck strangling him), and can absorb small doses of radiation without withering into dust. But the most important attribute is his ability to regenerate 12 times- how else are you going to keep a series running for over 50 years with the same character? So, when dying, a Time Lord can physically alter their entire body. The results can be surprising and it's always funny watching them try out their new face. To this day, he has not been a redhead, or "ginger" as he likes to call it, much to his disappointment. His personality changes a bit as well - he's quite literally a new man, and thus each Doctor offers their own fun quirks to the show. His changing-of-form, called "regeneration," is also a way to switch up the actors that play the Doctor. There have been 11 Doctors to date, with Matt Smith as the eleventh and current Doctor.

So there's Doctor Who in a nutshell. You have the background, now you have to test the waters before any judgements are made. After much deliberation, we have decided that the best episode for beginners to watch is in the third season, namely episode 11- Blink. This episode has a great deal of suspense, adds interesting elements to time travel and has it's own arsenal of quotable moments, including timey-wimey detectors blowing up hens. It's available on Netflix Instant Queue. 

Enjoy!