THE HAT SQUAD FOR 2009

This is Toobworld Central's annual list of those who died during the year who contributed to the creation of Toobworld, in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Within their categories, they are in no other order than the order in which they passed away. (Some of those are approximate as in some cases, months might have passed before I heard the news.) If I had been playing favorites, several names would have risen to the top..... It's bad enough that Patrick McGoohan is so close to the top as it is......

If there is anyone who passed away in 2009 that you know I missed, please let me know and I will add to the honors list.......

ACTORS
Pat Hingle ('Gunsmoke')
Cheryl Holdridge ('The Mouseketeers')
Steven Gilborn ('Ellen', 'The Wonder Years')
Don Galloway ('Ironside')
Harry Endo ('Hawaii Five-O')
Patrick McGoohan ('Danger Man', 'The Prisoner')
Ricardo Montalban ('Fantasy Island', 'Star Trek')
Bob May (Robot, 'Lost In Space')
Clint Ritchie ('One Life To Live')
James Whitmore ('The Law And Mr. Jones')
Philip Carey ('One Life To Live, 'Bengal Lancers', 'Laredo')
Diane Holland ('Hi-De-Hi')
James Bree ('Doctor Who', 'I, Claudius', 'Rumpole Of The Bailey')
Frank Gallacher (Scottish-Australian actor)
Wendy Richard ('EastEnders', 'Are You Being Served?')
Anna Manahan ('Fair City', "The Beauty Queen Of Leenane")
Jimmy Boyd ('Bachelor Father', "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus")
Lisa Renee Davis (in music videos for Jason Michael Carroll and Keith Anderson)
Ron Silver ('Rhoda', 'The West Wing')
Betsy Blair (1950s TV, English TV, "Marty" on film)
Altovise Davis (Sammy Davis' widow)
Terence Edmond ('Z Cars')
Bob Arbogast (voice-over artist, 'Roger Ramjet')
Monte Hale (cowboy actor)
Lou Perryman ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2", "Poltergeist") - murdered
Mary Scott ('Alfred Hitchcock Presents')
Jody McCrea (Deadhead in "Beach Blanket movies", son of Joel McCrea)
Stephanie Parker (Stacey Weaver on 'Belonging' from 15 to 22, show ended just days before she was found hanged.)
Andy Hallett ('Angel')
Bea Arthur ('Maude', 'The Golden Girls')
Dom DeLuise ('Lotsa Luck')
Frank Aletter ('Bringing Up Buddy', 'It's About Time')
Monica Bleibtrau (Austrian/German actress)
Lucy Gordon (hanged herself in France, young English actress, "Stella")
David Carradine ('Kung Fu', 'Kung Fu: The Next Generation')
Johnny Palermo ('Everybody Hates Chris')
Farrah Fawcett ('Charlie's Angels', 'Harry O')
Gale Storm ('My Little Margie', 'Oh, Susanna!')
Fred Travalena (impressionist)
Karl Malden ('The Streets of San Francisco', 'Skag')
Harve Presnell ('Andy Barker, P.I.', "Fargo")
Mollie Sugden ('Are You Being Served?')
Jan Rubes ("Witness")
Anna Karen Morrow ('Peyton Place', 'Star Trek')
Dallas McKennon ('Gumby', 'Daniel Boone')
Beverly Roberts (1930s, did TV)
Les Lye ('You Can't Do That On Television')
Harry Towb (Irish actor who worked in 'Avengers', 'Doctor Who', 'EastEnders')
Ruth Ford ('Camera Three', 'Studio One')
Leela Naidu (Indian actress, episodes of 'Channing' and 'Man Of The World')
Shaukat Baig ('Bollywood Hero')
Virginia Carroll ('Dragnet', 'The Roy Rogers Show')
Lee Kurty ('Dr. Kildare' love interest)
Dudu Topaz (Israeli actor-comedian, suicide in jail)
Wayne Tippit ('Melrose Place')
Jack Manning ('The Paper Chase')
Patrick Swayze ('The Beast')
Paul Burke ('Naked City', 'Twelve O'Clock High')
Zakas Mokae ('The West Wing', 'The X-Files')
Henry Gibson ('Laugh-In')
John Hart ('The Lone Ranger')
Robert Ginty ('Baa Baa Black Sheep')
Mimi Weddell ('Sex And The City', 'Law & Order', subject of documentary "Hats Off!")
Pamela Blake ('The Range Rider', 'The Cisco Kid')
Al Martino ('The City', 'Adam-12', "The Godfather")
Lou Albano (WWF, Cyndi Lauper videos)
Joseph Wiseman ('The Twilight Zone', "Dr. No")
Collin Wilcox Horne ('The Twilight Zone', 'To Kill A Mockingbird')
Lou Jacobi ('Ivan The Terrible')
Carl Ballantine ('McHale's Navy', Ballantine the Great)
Joe Maross ('The Twilight Zone')
Edward Woodward ('The Equalizer', 'Callan')
Dennis Cole ('Bearcats!')
Jack Kissell ('Life With Bonnie")
Paul Naschy (the Boris Karloff of Spain, mostly werewolf movies but Spanish TV as well
and one episode of 'I Spy' with Karloff)
Richard Todd ('Robin Hood', "Dambusters")
Vyacheslav Tikhonov (Russian actor, "17 Moments of Spring" mini-series)
Warren Vanders ("Empire" (as Chuck Davis), "The Big Valley," "Bonanza," "Daniel Boone," "Alias Smith and Jones," "Gunsmoke," "Kung Fu," "Nevada Smith" and "How the West Was Won,")
Eva Soreny
Mark Ritts ('Beakman's World', 'Storytime')
Gene Barry ('Bat Masterson', 'Burke's Law', 'The Name of the Game')
Val Avery ('Columbo', 'The Odd Couple')
Wayne Allwine (voice of Mickey Mouse)
Connie Hines ('Mr. Ed')
Brittany Murphy ('King of the Hill', 'The Torkelsons')
Alaina Reed Hall ('Sesame Street', '227')
Arnold Stang ('Top Cat', "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World")

PERSONALITIES
Veatrice Rice (nurse/security guard on 'The Jimmy Kimmel Show')
Jon Hager (of the Hager twins, 'Hee Haw')
Tony Hart (BBC - presenter on 'Take Hart', 'Vision On', 'Saturday Special')
Paul Harvey (Radio personality)
Geoffrey Smith (BBC gardening expert)
Jade Goody (reality TV star in the UK)
George Kell (Detroit Tigers player and broadcaster)
Lennie Bennett (British game show host, 'Punchlines', 'The Comedians')
Phil Kalas (Phillies broadcaster)
Sir Clement Freud (BBC broadcaster, dog food commercials, grandson of Sigmund)
Koko Taylor (blues legend - in both 'New York Undercover', 'Arthur' as herself)
Ed McMahon ('The Tonight Show', 'Star Search', Budweiser commercials)
Michael Jackson ('The Jackson 5', "Thriller", "Billie Jean")
Billy Mays (infomercial king)
Ginger (Taco Bell dog)
Alexis Cohen ('American Idol' try-out who cursed out Simon)
Reverend Ike (The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II was one of the first evangelists to embrace television.)
Les Paul (electric guitar wizard)
Ryan Jenkins ('Megan Wants A Millionaire' - killed his ex-wife and then himself)
DJ AM ('Entourage' as himself)
Saad Khan (died while filming a reality promotion for Unilever shampoo)
Army Archerd (show biz columnist, played himself in 'Columbo', many other shows)
Mike Bongiorno (Italy's Quiz King)
Fred Cusick (voice of the Boston Bruins)
Keith Floyd (British cooking shows)
Joanne Jordan (spokesmodel for Hazel Bishop lipstick in the 1950s)
Byron Palmer ('This Is Your Music')
Don Lane ('Tonight Show' in Australia; Oz's Lanky Yank)
Soupy Sales ('The Soupy Sales Show')
Bill Chadwick (Rangers color analyst)
Tom Sparks ('Wipeout' reality show contestant, stroke)
Ken Ober ('Remote Control')
Al Alberts (founding member of the Four Aces, hosted 'Al Alberts Showcase')
Wayne Thomas ('Engineer Bill')
Oral Roberts (king of the televangelsts)
Yvonne King Burch (of the King sisters)
George Michael ('Sports Machine')
Erik Gates ('Mythbusters' amateur rocket expert)

DIRECTORS
Kim Manners ('The X-Files', 'Supernatural')
Howard Zeiff (Alka Seltzer - "Mama Mia, That's A Spicy Meatball")
John Hughes (80's director, also wrote episodes of 'Delta House')
Arnold Lavan ('The Rifleman', 'The Big Valley')
Linda Day Varnum ('Archie Bunker's Place', 'Married With Children')
Paul Wendkos ("Gidget" movies, "The Legend of Lizzie Borden", "A Woman Called Moses")

WRITERS
John Mortimer ('Rumpole of the Bailey')
John Updike ('Witches of Eastwick')
Philip Jose Farmer ('Riverworld')
Millard Kaufman ('Mr. Magoo', "Enola Gay", 'Police Story')
Mort Lachman (wrote for Bob Hope and Red Skelton)
Robert Fisher ('All in the Family', 'Alice')
John Furia Jr ('Twilight Zone', 'Waltons', 'Bonanza', 'Felony Squad')
Michael Ross ('Chico & The Man', 'Jeffersons', 'Three's Company')
Vince Powell ('Nearest And Dearest', Brit sitcom writer)
Judi Ann Mason ('Good Times', 'Sanford')
Frank McCourt ("Angela's Ashes")
Budd Schulberg ('What Makes Sammy Run?')
Dominick Dunne ("The Two Mrs. Grenvilles", 'Studio One' producer)
Larry Gelbart ('M*A*S*H', 'United States', wrote for Sid Caesar)
George Eckstein ('Fugitive' finale, "Duel")
Troy Kennedy Martin ('Reilly, Ace Of Spies')
David Lloyd ('The Mary Tyler Moore Show', 'Cheers', 'Frasier')
Dan O'Bannon ("Alien" franchise)

NEWS FIELD
Irving R. Levine (NBC News)
Thomas Braden (CNN's 'Crossfire', inspiration for 'Eight Is Enough')
Matt Quinn ('Matt Quinn's Chronicles' on WFAA, died in burning of Stoneburg, Tx)
Milton Lewis (last surviving member of original WABC Eyewitness News Team)
Walter Cronkite ('CBS News', 'You Are There')
Robert Novak (CNN)
Don Hewitt (producer of '60 Minutes')

PRODUCERS
Jack Reilly ('Good Morning America' producer)
Richard Goldstone ('Adventures In Paradise', 'Peyton Place')
Harvey Frand ('Battlestar Galactica', 'The Pretender', 80's 'Twilight Zone')
Dick Berg ('Checkmate', 'Key West', Michener's "Space")
Kevin McGee (also former husband to 'Little Britain' star Matt Lucas, hanged)
Barry Letts ('Doctor Who')
Daniel Melnick ('Get Smart', 'Ages Of Man', 'Death Of A Salesman')
Marvin Minoff (Nixon/Frost interviews)
Bernard Birnbaum (Charles Kuralt's 'One The Road')

CREW
Gary Sherman ('Perfect Strangers', 'Dharma & Greg')
Jack Michon (Emmy-winning editor of 'Taxi')

OTHER
Ben Blank (created graphic images for news broadcasts)
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. (one of the creators of the cathode ray tube)
Nora O'Brien (NBC executive)
Anne Roberts Nelson (64 years as a CBS executive)
Ken Roberts (announcer - 'Love of Life', 'Secret Storm', and 'Electric Company')
John Kiermaier (Channel 13 PBS station in NYC, 1960's)
Ed Reimers (Allstate announcer, also 'Maverick' & 'Cheyenne' announcer, and played Admiral Fitzpatrick in 'Star Trek' tribbles episode)
Frank Batten, Sr. (Founder of Weather Channel)
Pierre Cosette ("Father of the Grammy TV broadcast")
Caro Jones (casting director)
Douglas Duitsman (former president of the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences)
Vic Mizzy (composer, 'The Addams Family' & 'Green Acres')
Winter D. Horton Jr., KCET co-founder, CTW director
Roy Disney (Walt's nephew, head of Disney Corporation)
Harold Bell (created Woodsy Owl)

Thank you all for the ways you enriched my little fantasy world. I just pray I won't have so long a list to work on next year.....

BCnU......

AS SEEN ON TV: HENRY FORD

Henry Ford was replaced by his son Edsel as president of the Ford Motor Company on January 1st, 1919.

HENRY FORD

AS SEEN IN:
"Ford: The Man And The Machine"

AS PLAYED BY:
Cliff Robertson

BCnU!

THE "WHO'S ON FIRST" WRAP-UP

So there you have it, the Toobworld Central salute to the Doctor of 'Doctor Who' here at Inner Toob. As we take our leave of David Tennant's portrayal of the Tenth Doctor and welcome the arrival of Matt Smith as Doctor Number Eleven, here's my wish for the future of the series:

More sooner than later, the show has to address the roadblock up ahead: a Time Lord is only supposed to have 13 regenerations, which would mean the original Doctor played by William Hartnell (and Richard Hurndall) and the 10 regenerations that followed, with room for three more recastaways after Matt Smith.

Christopher Eccleston and Colin Baker only lasted a year each; Paul McGann only had the one TV movie. Who knows how quickly they're going to burn through the actors to come?

This is sci-fi TV at its best - well, at the very least at its longest-running, so there must be some techno-babble to get around this. Perhaps with the Gallfreyans being re-introduced, the ruling council can offer the Doctor the chance for more regenerations, as they once did to the Master..... At any rate, the Doctor is dead. Long live the Doctor!

Allon-sey!

MAGIC ROUNDABOUTS

As much as I now firmly believe that RTD's hand should have been forcibly removed from the throttle long before this hot mess of a fiinale for the Tenth Doctor, I do think he deserves his props for certain things that came up during his reign. One of these was his attention to detail in making sure certain plot threads were tied off before the end of his run.

One of these was addressing the fact that Dr. Martha Jones resembled a woman who worked for Torchwood in the "Army Of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" two-parter. Invoking the "identical cousin" trope that's firmly established in Toobworld, we found out that Martha and Odeola were related.

Simlarly, in "The Stolen Earth"/"The Journey Home" two-part finale of last year, we found out that Gwen Cooper belonged to the same family tree as Gwyneth, the Cardiff maid from 1869. The strong echo of genetic material is also a common theme in Toobworld.

Then there was the introduction of the alien invaders known as the Sycorax. The name appeared to be just another appropriation of an established word, as we saw so often in 'Star Trek' which had "Vulcan", "Romulus", "Charon", etc. But then with "The Shakespeare Code", the Doctor mentioned the Sycorax in front of the Bard, who decided to steal it for himself to use (as he would do in "The Tempest").

From that same episode, we found out that Queen Elizabeth I was royally bleeped off at the Doctor, but even he didn't know why as it had not happened in his own personal timeline yet. But we've finally found out - at some point between the end of "The Waters Of Mars" and the beginning of "The End Of Time", the Doctor ended up getting married to "Good Queen Bess" and took away the veracity of her nickname.....

And so it goes....

DEEP SIX: THE GRAND MOFF WISH-CRAFT

Here's my wish-list for Steven Moffat to consider for future episodes of 'Doctor Who':

1) Get Stephen Fry to write that episode which he was supposed to have already supplied, but was too busy. Free up some time, Fry!

2) If the Time Lords are back, bring back Romana from E-Space for a guest spot. In fact, while you're at it, bring back Carole Ann Ford as Susan. Wouldn't it be interesting for her to be reunited with her grandfather again, especially now that he looks so much younger than her?

3) Let the Messiah Complex stories fade away with the RTD regime.

4) Continue the famous writers theme. May I suggest Tolkien? The inhabitants of the Forest of Cheem might have been the inspiration for the Ents....

5) Bring Paul McGann back and show his involvement in the Time War. Give the Eighth Doctor his due!

6) Persuade the BBC to do a crossover with 'Being Human'. It seems like a natural, especially now that the Doctor "appears" to be the same age as George, Mitchell, and Annie.

BCnU!

NAN'S GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT

Christmas may have passed, but here's David Tennant (reteamed with Catherine Tate) as the Ghost of Christmas Present......



BCnU!

TEN FOR ELEVEN: CROSSOVERS WE'D LIKE TO SEE

With Matt Smith taking over as the Eleventh Incarnation of the Doctor, Toobworld Central is realigning its Wish-Craft suggestions for 'Doctor Who' crossovers with other TV shows currently on the air so they reflect a better mesh with Eleven....

In no particular order:

'True Blood'
'Being Human'
'Eureka'
'Supernatural'
'Primeval'
'Chuck'
'Stargate: Universe'
'Fringe'
'The Vampire Diaries'
'Warehouse 13'

Here are ten others which didn't make the top ten:

'Mad Men'
'White Collar'
'Royal Pains'
'Gossip Girl'
'Flash Forward'
'Heroes'
'Psych'
'The Mentalist'
'Sanctuary'
'Bones'

O'Bviously many of these would be unrealistic. That doesn't mean we can't wish for 'em.....

(I also wish there was a good Western on now that could be used......)

BCnU!

BY ANY OTHER NAME: SELTZMAN & HAYTER

When Professor Jacob Seltzman used his mind-exchange technology to perform a three way exchange between himself, the Colonel, and 'The Prisoner', Seltzman put his mind into the body of the Colonel and was able to make his escape from "The Village". It could be that Seltzman decided to hide in plain sight in order to avoid those who would force him to continue his research for their own corrupted goals. If so, he could have assumed the identity of a "Professor Hayter" to go with his new body. As such, he may have taken a position at Darlington where he could conduct research on perceptual conditioning, which for him would probably be a rather non-taxing pursuit. (Mentally, he would probably still feel all of his years as well as the effects of the recent traumatic events in his life; and this line of work would have been quite easy for him.) In 1982, Professor Hayter was on board a Concorde Flight which was "temporally hijacked" by a Gallifreyan Time Lord known as "The Master". Perhaps due to his mind transfer, Professor Hayter was able to withstand the hypnosis imposed on the other passengers.

Stranded in the prehistoric past, Hayter joined forces with another Time Lord, one who was known as "The Doctor". Ultimately, Hayter sacrificed his physical life to the Xeraphin Gestalt in order to gain total scientific knowledge. (A similar fate would befall Lt. Ilia and Commander Willard Decker several hundred years into our future.) Although his physical presence had "died", Professor Hayter lived on as a spiritual being and even came back long enough to help defeat the Master's plans.

SHOWS [& MOVIES] CITED:
'The Prisoner' - "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling"
'Doctor Who' - "Time-Flight"
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture"

[Nigel Stock played the Colonel/Professor Seltzman in 'The Prisoner' - "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling" and he played Professor Hayter in 'Doctor Who' - "Time-Flight"]

BCnU!

SPLAININ TO DO: FIXED POINTS IN TIME

Once upon a time in the old Tubeworld Dynamic website, I speculated on the reason why Superman didn't come to the rescue of the TV version of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. The Toobworld splainin was that Superman was already dead in the TV Universe, having died from Krypton radiation poisoning in the early sixties. (This was after he rescued a couple of characters from the TV series 'Crime Story' from an atomic test site.)

But Russell T. Davies gave us a TV concept that would have meant the Twin Towers were doomed even if Superman had been alive: fixed points in Time.

Here's a splainin from the Doctor Who Wiki:

The Laws of Time were connected to the concept of "fixed points" in time -- events and/or individuals who have such a long-standing impact on the timeline that no one, not even Time Lords, were allowed to interfere with their natural progression. The Doctor, while free to interfere in alien invasions and save planets in most cases, cannot interfere/interact with these fixed points. Examples include Jack Harkness after his rejuvenation by Rose Tyler (DW: Utopia (although the Doctor nonetheless shared several adventures with him), the destruction of Pompeii by the Vesuvius volcano (DW: The Fires of Pompeii, and the death of explorer Adelaide Brooke (DW: The Waters of Mars).

The case of Brooke marks one of the only times the Doctor has intentionally interfered with a fixed point, under the rationale that, being the last surviving Time Lord, the Laws of Time were now his to command. Ultimately, he is unable to prevent Brooke from committing suicide, thereby allowing the timeline to unfold, with only a few minor changes. (DW: The Waters of Mars) However, the 2009 Dalek Invasion of Earth, despite the fact it led to Brooke becoming a fixed point in time, was not, itself, a fixed point and therefore the Doctor was able to stop it from continuing. (DW: Journey's End).

The resolution of the Last Great Time War, which involves the destruction of Gallifrey, has been "time locked", rendering it technically an unalterable -- and inaccessible -- point in space and time. Nonetheless, Dalek Caan was able to circumvent the restriction and retrieve Davros, though at the cost of his sanity. (DW: The Stolen Earth/Journey's End)

The Time Lords themselves once sanctioned what could be the greatest-ever attempt at interfering with a fixed point in time, when they assigned the Doctor the task of preventing the creation of the Daleks. The Laws of Time, however, remained intact as the Doctor did not do so. (DW: Genesis of the Daleks)

Exactly what constitutes a fixed point in time is unclear. For example, the birth of Earth religious leader Jesus Christ was a major event in the cultural evolution of the planet Earth, so much so its common calender was dated from his estimated year of birth, and innumerable aspects of human civilization related to worship of the man. Yet the Doctor once claimed to have influenced the birthplace of Jesus, who was born in a barn due to the inn in Bethlehem having no rooms; the Doctor said he'd gotten the last room at the inn. (DW: Voyage of the Damned). However, much like the eruptions of Vesuvius, it may have been simply a case of the Doctor experiencing a predestination paradox and being part of the natural progression of events.

Makes your head hurt, don't it?

So this is why there's no fantasy rewind for events like the collapse of the Twin Towers, the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, the sinking of the Titanic, the assassinations of Lincoln, the Kennedys, Gandhi, and Dr. King.....

BCnU!

SPIN-OFF CITY: CAPTAIN JACK & SARAH JANE

It may have happened anyway, no matter who played the Tenth Doctor, but it was during Tennant's Tenure as Ten that we got two strong spin-offs from the original 'Doctor Who'.

Captain Jack Harkness was introduced during Christopher Eccleston's year-long portrayal of the Ninth Doctor, and Torchwood was mentioned during his penultimate episode, "Bad Wolf". But it was after Ten was piloting the TARDIS that we saw him spur the creation of the Torchwood Institute in 1879, and get caught in a three-way battle between the Daleks, the Cybermen, and Torchwood at Canary Wharf.

And Sarah Jane Smith never ran into any of the following incarnations of the Doctor after she was unceremoniously dumped as a Companion by the Fourth Doctor. (Her involvement in "The Five Doctors" took place while she was still the Companion to the Third Doctor.) She finally crossed paths with Ten in "School Reunion", and that seems to have led to the creation of 'The Sarah Jane Adventures'. That show is geared more towards the younger set while 'Torchwood' is for a more adult audience than that targeted by 'Doctor Who'.

So even though Tennant isn't technically responsible for this expansion of the TV Universe, it can't be argued that his participation helped propel these two characters to their own series.

BCnU!

THE MEA CULPA ORATORIO

As a Facebook status update after viewing "The Waters Of Mars", I asked if there was anything more heartbreaking during the Tennant years than the Doctor telling someone that he was sorry; that he was so very sorry.

Here are a list of examples during the four seasons of Tennant's tenure, but without the last five specials ("The Next Doctor", "Planet Of The Dead", "Waters Of Mars", and "The End Of Time (Parts One & Two)".........

"NEW EARTH"

The Doctor and Cassandra/Rose go down metal steps into Intensive Care. They find themselves in the huge cavernous chamber, looking upon row and row of green doors. The Doctor walks along one of the rows and opens a door with his sonic screwdriver. A man, covered in boils and surrounded by smoke looks back at them.

CASSANDRA/ROSE
That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?

THE DOCTOR (to the man, horrified)
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Cassandra/Rose holds her nose whilst the Doctor closes the door gently.

"SCHOOL REUNION"
The children cheer even harder and start chanting 'Kenny! Kenny! Kenny!', patting him on the back. Only the Doctor and Sarah Jane stand separate from the merriment. Sarah Jane looks distraught.

THE DOCTOR
I'm sorry.

SARAH JANE (quickly)
It's all right. He was just a... daft metal dog. Fine, really.

And she bursts into tears. The Doctor puts his arm around her comfortingly.

"AGE OF STEEL"

CYBERMAN
Why am I cold?

MRS MOORE
Oh, my God. It's alive. It can FEEL.

THE DOCTOR
We broke the inhibitor.
(leans over the Cyberman, touches its head. Sincerely--)I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
*
The Cybermen, all over the factory, fall around and start twitching, crying out and clutching their metal skulls. One of them has caught sight of their reflection in a piece of metal and is whimpering and touching its face and fingering its reflection.

THE DOCTOR
I'm sorry.

"LOVE AND MONSTERS"

THE DOCTOR
I stopped it, but... I wasn't in time to save her.
(he looks Elton in the eyes)
I'm sorry.

"ARMY OF GHOSTS"

THE DOCTOR
Like a psychic link. Course you want your old dad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence. The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in.

JACKIE
You're spoiling it.

THE DOCTOR
I'm sorry, Jackie, but there's no smell, there's no cigarettes. Just a memory.

"DOOMSDAY"

THE DOCTOR
I've gotta go, I'm sorry.
He puts the phone down

"RUNAWAY BRIDE"

Lance swings the axe -- the Empress swings around and hisses at the last moment -- then he stops. He glances round at Donna and starts to laugh and the Empress laughs with him.

LANCE(to the Empress)
That was a good one. Your face!

EMPRESS
Lance is funny.

DONNA
What??

THE DOCTOR(quietly)
I'm sorry.

DONNA
Sorry for what? Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!

LANCE (staring at her pityingly)
God, she's thick.

"SMITH AND JONES"

MARTHA
I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home.

THE DOCTOR
I'm sorry.

MARTHA
Yeah.

THE DOCTOR
I was there. In the battle.

"BLINK"

DOCTOR
Normally, I'd offer you a lift home, but somebody nicked my motor. So I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow. And I'm sorry, Billy, I am very, very sorry. It's gonna take you a while.
*
DOCTOR
That's why they cover their eyes. They're not weeping, they can't risk looking at each other. Their greatest asset is their greatest curse. They can never be seen. The loneliest creatures in the universe. And I'm sorry, I am very, very sorry, it's up to you now.

"LAST OF THE TIME LORDS"

MASTER:
No! (fires laser at the DOCTOR but the field deflects it)

DOCTOR:
I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

MASTER:
Then I'll kill them!
(aims laser at MARTHA and her family but the DOCTOR throws it across the room telekinetically. Unarmed, the MASTER panics)
You can't do this! You can't do—It's not fair!

"VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED"

FOON
(hysterical, to THE DOCTOR)
Bring him back! Can't you bring him back? Bring him back, Doctor!

THE DOCTOR
I'm sorry, I can't.

FOON
You promised me!

THE DOCTOR
I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

"THE POISONED SKY"

DOCTOR
Right, Donna, listen, on the back of his neck on his collar there's a sort of plug, like a hole. The Probic Vent. One blow to the Probic Vent knocks 'em out.

DONNA
But he's gonna kill me.

DOCTOR
I'm sorry. I swear I'm so sorry. But you've got to try.

She picks up the mallet that the Doctor uses so happily when piloting the TARDIS. She sneaks behind the Sontaran and hits his probic went, knocking him out.

"SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY"

In her home, the Girl is on the ground crying in agony. Under her, there's a symbol on the floor identical to the one on the lens cover of the security camera.

THE GIRL
No, stop it, no, no!*** The Girl's words appear on a display of the camera.

DOCTOR
Ooh, I'm sorry. I really am, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
(he puts down the sphere) It's alive.

DONNA
You said it was a security camera.

DOCTOR
It is. It's an alive one.
*
DOCTOR
Actually, Proper Dave, could you stay where you are for a moment?

PROPER DAVE
Why?

DOCTOR
I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows.

Everybody looks at Proper Dave's shadows in horror.

DOCTOR
It's how they hunt, they latch on to a food source and keep it fresh.

The Doctor wasn't the only one to employ that phrase, but there was really only one other time when it cut close to his hearts.....

"FOREST OF THE DEAD"
Here's a little something from the Missus....
RIVER
Doctor... one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry.
She whispers something in his ear, something that stuns him completely.

"THE STOLEN EARTH"

DONNA(slowly)
But... if the Earth's been moved... they've lost the sun.
(urgently, to the Doctor who is immersed in the computer)
What about my Mum? And Grandad? They're dead? Aren't they? Are they dead?

THE DOCTOR(helplessly)
I don't know, Donna. I just don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know.

"THE JOURNEY HOME"

THE DOCTOR
I'm sorry, there's nothing else we can do.

DONNA(nods)
No, I know.
*
The Supreme Dalek sends a death-ray Jack's way and he screams in pain and falls to the floor, apparently dead.

ROSE(falling to her knees beside him in distress)
Jack! Oh, my God. Oh, no...

THE DOCTOR(kneels beside her)
Rose...(softly, so only she can hear)
Come here. Leave him.

ROSE(whispers)
They killed him.

THE DOCTOR
I know. I'm sorry.

That's all I have for now. I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.....

BCnU!

WISH-CRAFT: WHITHER THE ODYSSEY FIVE?

The destruction of the Earth which was witnessed by the crew of the Odyssey (as seen in the series 'Odyssey 5') took place in 2002. They were then thrown back in Time five years by an alien known only as "The Seeker", in order to stop this catastrophe from happening.

Apparently they were successful because Toobworld is still there! And still adding new "content" to the general population.

I'd like to think that not only did they succeed in their quest to save the planet, but they also got a little outside help - from The Doctor of 'Doctor Who'

Now, even though this is supposed to be David Tennant's victory lap before the series - with him as the star- ends and Matt Smith takes up the mantle in the next season, I'd rather have the Odyssey 5 take on "Leviathan" with a different Doctor....

The Eighth Incarnation, that is - as played by Paul McGann.

In theory, there could be thousands of TV characters who met the 8th Doctor through the years, but as we only got to meet him ourselves through that very muddled FOX TV movie in 1996, all of those other encounters would have to remain off-screen. And thus we could build up his collection of adventures without ever filming another sequence with McGann.

So that's what I'm proposing: the Eighth Doctor came to the assistance of the Odyssey 5 crew in defeating the plans of Leviathan to destroy the Earth.

Perhaps it was his encounter with Dr. Kurt Mendel which led to the regeneration of the 8th Doctor into the 9th incarnation. Something which stuck in his memory and influenced the supposedly random remix of his DNA. Because maybe I'm the only to see it, but there's something about the actor Sebastian Roche - especially as he looks now in 'Fringe' - that reminds me of Christopher Eccleston.... BCnU!

TEN FOR TEN: MY FAVORITE ALIENS

Several new alien races and specific alien characters were introduced to the TV Universe during the Tennant years, and thankfully none of them were known to be farters.

Here's a "Top Ten for Tennant" list of my personal favorites from this era:












THE ADIPOSE ("Partners In Crime")
I gave my five year old nephew an Adipose plushie and then showed him the YouTube clip that detailed how they were created out of human body fat.....















THE WEEPING ANGELS ("Blink")
I'm never turning my back on this kind of statuary in a cemetery ever again!












MR. FINCH ("School Reunion")
Such a great acting showcase for both Anthony Stewart Head and David Tennant as they "jousted" in the pool area....
























THE WIRE ("Idiot's Lantern")
What I liked best about this alien, trapped in a TV signal, was that it seems she took her human appearance from Annette Mills of the 50s children's show 'Muffin The Mule'. Of course, I may be wrong about that....












BANNAKAFFALATTA ("Voyage Of The Damned")
I guess it's my fascination with Dr. Loveless, but I always get a kick out of the little guys. And the juxtaposition of the spiky red head with that tux is cool.












THOMAS KINKAID BRANNIGAN ("Gridlock")
This is a character we should meet again! Perhaps one of that kindle of human/kitty hybrids he fathered could then become one of the Doctor's Companions? Might make for a cute running gag if the Doctor's dislike of cats carries over to the new incarnation. By the way, although I think of him as alien, it could be that Brannigan could be descended from the human/animal hybrids from a TV version of Dr. Moreau whom we've yet to meet....












THE RACNOSS QUEEN ("The Runaway Bride")
Decidedly over the top and rightfully so.











THE TRICKSTER ("Turn Left")
Technically we've only met the Trickster in 'The Sarah Jane Adventures', but it was one of his agents that caused Donna to choose a different path in life.....












NOVICE HAME ("New Earth" & "Gridlock")
Another cat character who could possibly serve as that feline Companion to the Doctor I suggested earlier.












OOD SIGMA ("Planet Of The Ood" & "The End Of Time")
Disgusting to look at, but there's a "Gielguldian" feel to the way he responds to the Doctor's prattle.....

I can't wait to see what new alien life forms we're going to meet now that "the Grand Moff" is taking over!

BCnU!

DEEP SIX: MY FAVORITE TENNANT EPISODES

These of course are all subjective....

1) "Blink"
2) "Journey's End"
3) "Utopia"
4) "The Unicorn And The Wasp"
5) "School Reunion"
6) "The Girl In The Fireplace"

And since the Doctor was always one for breaking the rules, here's a bonus entry - one that doesn't actually qualify as an episode: Bonus: "Time Crash"

I would love to hear what your favorite episodes were.....

BCnU!

THE CHAMELEON ARCH

I think the greatest contribution to the TV Universe that will come out of the Tennant years (aside from the fantastic performance by David Tennant himself) will be the introduction of the Chameleon Arch in the two-part story "Human Nature" & "Family Of Blood".

The Chameleon Arch probably made its debut in the 'Doctor Who' novel "Human Nature", but that has no bearing on the TV Universe. That must remain in the literary universe as it was about the Seventh Doctor. For the TV show, the basic story was about the Tenth.

I've written about the Chameleon Arch before, but you'll find that the link to the Boots video is no longer in service. So I found an alternate source and can provide it embedded here:




So long as 'Rex Is Not Your Lawyer' remains only a pilot, we can probably consider Rex Alexander to be the Tenth Doctor in disguise thanks to the Chameleon Arch. Of course, that would mean the characters to be played by Jane Curtin (as Rex's Mom) and Jerry O'Connell (his best friend) have to be splained away. They could be Companions during that unseen period in the Doctor's life between "Runaway Bride" and "Smith And Jones".

But of course, I'm rooting for "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer" to make it to series, so I'd be more than happy to kick this conjecture to the curb.

We can use the Chameleon Arch to speculate on the one-shot TV roles by any of the previous Doctors in various TV shows, TV movies, and even in commercials. So long as those characters aren't villains, aren't killed by the end of the show (which lets off Patrick Troughton in 'Morse'), or have other complications (like Christopher Eccleston's character of Claude in 'Heroes', who sported the power of invisibility), then we might give them consideration as being altered versions of the Doctor. And thus we would have new theoretical connections to 'Doctor Who'.

BCnU!

FROM GALLIFREY, NOT FROM GUILFORD AFTER ALL....

As with the 'Star Trek' connection, it was David Tennant's Doctor who strengthened the Toobworld link between 'Doctor Who' and 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' (the TV version of Douglas Adams' masterwork).

When he snapped out of his coma after regeneration, the Doctor noted that the bathrobe he was wearing was similar to that worn by a friend of his - Arthur Dent. And this would the Dent, Arthur Dent of the TV series adaptation (at least vocally the same as the one to be found in the radio universe), and not the Arthur played by Martin Freeman in that botched movie version.

Again, as with the 'Star Trek' connection, the link to 'HHG2TG' was forged before the Tenth Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS - the Fourth Doctor was seen reading a book by the author Oolon Coluphid!

The Doctor : [Reading "Origins of the Universe"] "He got it wrong on the first line! Why didn't he ask someone who saw it happen?"

Also, one of the planets mentioned in "The Pirate Planet" is also where a key ingredient for a Pan Galactic Gargle-Blaster can be found.....

The Doctor - no matter which regeneration - probably met Arthur Dent due to Arthur's association with Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox. Especially due to Ford Prefect - the tele-version of that fellow certainly looks like he had a lot in common with the Time Lord... at least sartorially....

BCnU!

FANFICCER'S FRIEND: TREKKIN' WITH THE TARDIS

With all of the other spacecraft that the TARDIS has materialized within, this doesn't feel wrong at all. Well, maybe the scale, but otherwise it's fanficcer catnip!

Just sayin', is all....

BCnU!

"DOCTOR WHO" & "STAR TREK"

The Toobworld connection between 'Doctor Who' and 'Star Trek' was unofficially established during the Second Incarnation of the Doctor (my personal fave, played by Patrick Troughton). In the lost episodes of "Power Of The Daleks", the Doctor and his Companions Polly and Ben were at the human colony on the planet Vulcan. According to that story, Vulcan was supposedly a young, volcanic world with no native life, but O'Bviously that's just what the Vulcans wanted the humans to think at the time, perhaps to keep them from pestering the green-blooded aliens in their own settlements. Apparently the Doctor kept their secret, but he must have had contact with them and learned some of their ways - not only in the use of logic, but also in the mind-meld technique.
We saw Doctor #10 employ a mind-meld to form a bond with the mind of Madame Pompadour in "The Girl In The Fireplace". It's a talent the Doctor never displayed before and there was no splainin given for it. Therefore, it's the contention of Toobworld Central that the Time Lords learned of it through their contacts with the Vulcans. (It looks as though all of the Time Lords can perform the mind-meld as the Master forced one upon the Doctor in the first part of "The End Of Time".....)
BCnU!

HERE LIES THE DOCTOR

THE DOCTOR
"I lied to you, 'cause I liked it."

The Doctor should have a nose like Pinocchio because of all the lies he's told over the years. And we, like the characters he tells them to, have accepted them at face value as being the Truth.

This is going to be a list of the lies told by the Tenth Doctor, but it's not as though he was the first to do so. The First Doctor started all when he told Barbara: "You can't rewrite history! Not one line!" And yet, in the greater scheme of all things Toobworld, that's exactly what has happened, Time and again, in shows like 'Quantum Leap', 'Journeyman', 'Primeval', 'Voyagers!', and 'The Time Tunnel'.

THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH HAS A POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT!
It's the contention of Toobworld Central that the Eighth Doctor lied when he told Dr. Grace Holloway that his mother was human. If the rumors are to be believed, that will be exposed as a lie when we learn the truth of Claire Bloom's character in the second half of "The End Of Time". Why did he make that claim? With every regeneration, the Doctor not only has new DNA which provides a totally new body, but he also gains new personality quirks. I think it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that if we stayed with the Eighth Doctor for more than just that one TV movie, we'd have learned that he enjoys bedding women. And if it would make it easier for him to get into Dr. Holloway's scrubs by claiming to be half-human, so be it.

And the Ninth Doctor kicked off the chain of events for one of Ten's lies by claiming to be only 900 years old when he met Rose Tyler. And yet he previously claimed, during his Seventh Incarnation, that he was 953 years old. By the time we saw him regenerate into the Eighth Doctor during the TV movie, Seven had visibly aged - which should mean he spent several more centuries travelling through Time having adventures we never saw on our TV screens. (And who knows how many centuries Eight was in control of the TARDIS before he regenerated into Nine just before the new series of 'Doctor Who' began?

But then, fellow Time Lord Romana caught him in such a lie, claiming that the Fourth Doctor was shaving years off his true age.

For more information on the Doctor's age, visit the TARDIS Wiki.

So here are some of the lies told by the Tenth Doctor. They have to be considered lies by Toobworld Central because of their impact on the TV Universe in general......

1] The Age thing....

THE DOCTOR:
I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion of the people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?
("Voyage Of The Damned")

Despite the regeneration, the Doctor seems to be carrying on with Nine's assertion that he was 900 years old when he met Rose Tyler. But the TARDIS Wiki states that "Assuming the Doctor is either lying about his age or ignoring his early life (the first 236 years of his life) on Gallifrey, The Doctor could in fact be at least 1136 when he was with Rose Tyler and 1139, during the Titanic incident."

2] Re: Dimension hopping
THE DOCTOR

We're not meant to be here. The TARDIS draws its power off the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine.
MICKEY

But... I've seen it in comics. People are hopping from one alternative world to another - it's easy.
THE DOCTOR

Not in the real world.... Used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became a bit less kind.
("Rise of the Cybermen")

And here's a list of TV shows that prove that Earthlings didn't need the Time Lords to jump between dimensions:

'Sliders'

'Star Trek'

'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'

'Fringe'

'The X-Files'

'The Twilight Zone'

And thanks to 'Fringe', they're still doing it on-screen even without the presence of the Time Lords.....

3] Re: Magic
MARTHA

So, magic and stuff. That’s a surprise. It’s a little bit 'Harry Potter'.

THE DOCTOR

Wait till you read Book Seven. Oh, I cried.

MARTHA

But is it real, though? I mean, witches, black magic and all that, it’s real?

THE DOCTOR

‘Course it isn’t!

("The Shakespeare Code")

Here are some of the shows that put the lie to that statement:
'Bewitched'
'Tabitha'
'Passions'
'Charmed'
'Sabrina, The Teen-aged Witch'

4] Re: the last of the Time Lords
THE DOCTOR

I lied to you, 'cause I liked it. I could pretend. Just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky.

THE DOCTOR

There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family, my friends, even that sky.
("Gridlock")

For once, this was not a knowing lie. It looks as though the Doctor truly didn't know that the Time Lords still existed. With the second half of "The End Of Time" airing tonight, we'll find out the full story behind that....

BCnU!