Saturday, January 2, 2021

THE HAT SQUAD - ACTORS & PERSONALITIES

2019 PICK-UPS
Natalie Trundy ('The Twilight Zone', 'Quincy M.E.', 'Bonanza')
Jack Sheldon ('The Merv Griffin Show', 'Run, Buddy, Run', 'Schoolhouse Rock')

ACTORS
Edd Byrnes ('77 Sunset Strip', 'Sweepstakes')
Stan Kirsch ('Highlander', 'Invincible', 'General Hospital')
Harry Hains ('Chase')
Derek Fowlds ('Basil Brush', 'Yes, Minister', 'Heartbeat')
Nora Michaels ('King of Queens', 'Easy A', 'Mind of Mencia')
Bruce Armstrong ('Dragonball')
Terry Jones ('Monty Python's Flying Circus')
John Karlen ('Dark Shadows', 'Cagney & Lacey', 'The Doctors')
Marj Dusay ('Guiding Light', 'Santa Barbara', 'All My Children', 'Days Of Our Lives')
Neville Buswell ('Coronation Street', 'Emergency Ward 10', 'Turn Out The Lights')
Kirk Douglas ('The Moneychangers', "Amos", "Victory At Entebbe", 'Tales From The Crypt')
Kevin Conway ("The Lathe From Heaven", "The Deadliest Season", 'Star Trek: The Next Generation')
Orson Bean ('To Tell The Truth', 'Desperate Housewives', 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman', 'The Twilight Zone')
Robert Conrad ('The Wild, Wild West', 'Hawaiian Eye', 'Centennial', 'Black Sheep Squadron')
Paula Kelly ('Santa Barbara', 'Night Court', 'South Central')
Ron McLarty ('Spenser: For Hire', 'Cop Rock', 'Law & Order')
Cheryl Wheeler Duncan Sanders (stunt woman - 'Dharma & Greg', 'Temple Grandin', 'GCB')
Lynne Cohen ('Damages', 'Law & Order', 'Sex And The City')
Janet Du'Bois ('Good Times')
Miller Lide ('Tattinger's)
Kellye Nakahara ('M*A*S*H')
Elaine Hyman ('The Doctors', 'Dark Shadows', 'A Flame In The Wind')
Claudette Nevins ('Headmaster', 'JAG', 'Return To The Planet Of The Apes', 'Melrose Place', 'Husbands, Friends And Lovers')
Joyce Gordon ('Law & Order', 'The Mickey Rooney Show', lots of voice dubbing)
Max Von Sydow ('Game of Thrones', 'The Tudors', 'Professione fantasme', 'Christopher Columbus', 'Quo Vadis?')
Nicholas Tucci ('Daredevil', 'Ramy', 'Pose')
Lorenzo Brino (one of quintuplets to play '7th Heaven' baby)
Lyle Waggoner ('The Carol Burnett Show', 'Wonder Woman')
Roy Hudd ('The Roy Hudd Show')
Suzy Delair
Kenny Rogers ('The Gambler' TV movie franchise)
William Dufris (American voice of 'Bob The Builder')
John Callahan ('All My Children', 'Santa Barbara', 'Days Of Our Lives', 'General Hospital',)
David Schramm ('Wings', "Dreamer of Oz", 'Kennedy')
Julie Bennett (Cindy Bear in 'Yogi Bear', 'Dragnet')
Forrest Compton ('Edge of Night', 'Gomer Pyle, USMC')
Honor Blackman ('The Avengers', 'Columbo')
James Drury ('The Virginian', 'Alias Smith and Jones')
Logan Williams ('The Flash', "When Calls The Heart")
Hamish Wilson ('Doctor Who')
Tim Brooke-Taylor ('The Goodies', 'I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue')
Danny Goldman ('The Smurfs', 'Columbo')
Brian Dennehy ('Star Of The Family', 'Blacklist', 'Hap and Leonard', 'The Fighting Fitzgeralds', 'Public Morals')
Ranjit Choudhoury ('Cosby', 'The Office', 'Prison Break')
Shirley Knight ('Maggie Winters', 'Desperate Housewives', 'Buckskin')
Irrfan Khan ('In Treatment', 'Tokyo Trial')
Rishi Kapoor
Jerry Stiller ('Seinfeld', 'King of Queens')
Fred Willard ('Fernwood Tonight', 'America 2Night', 'Modern Family', 'Back To You', 'Versailles', 'A Minute with Stan Hooper', 'Everybody Loves Raymond', 'Maybe It's Me', 'D.C. Follies', 'Sirota's Court', 'Space Force')
Ken Osmond ('Leave It To Beaver', 'Still The Beaver')
Richard Herd ('V', 'Seinfeld')
Heather Chasen ('Crossroads', 'EastEnders')
Michael Angelis ('Thomas the Tank Engine' narrator)
Chris Trousdale ('Lucifer', 'Days Of Our Lives')
Mary Pat Gleason ('The Middleman', 'Mom')
John Winston ('Star Trek' - Lt. Kyle)
Tony Scannell ('The Bill', 'Family Affair')
Peggy Pope ('Barney Miller', 'Soap', 'Calucci's Department', 'Billy')
Ian Holm ('Game, Set, and Match', 'The Borrowers')
Jill Gascoigne ('The Gentle Touch')
Linda Cristal ('The High Chaparral', 'General Hospital')
Earl Cameron ('Doctor Who', 'Danger Man')
Louis Mahoney ('Doctor Who' - "Blink")
Naya Rivera ('Glee')
Kelly Preston ('CSI Cyber', 'Medium', 'For Love And Honor')
Nick Cordero ('Blue Bloods', 'L&O: SVU', 'Lilyhammer', 'Queer As Folk')
Phyllis Somerville ('The Big C', 'Little Children')
John Saxon ('The Bold Ones: The Doctors', 'Falcon Crest', 'Dynasty')
Olivia De Havilland ('The Love Boat', 'Roots: The Next Generation', 'North & South Book 2: Love & War')
Royana Black ('Raising Miranda')
Jacqueline Scott ('The Fugitive', 'Gunsmoke',')
Wilford Brimley ('The Boys of Twilight', 'Our House', 'The Waltons', "Ewoks: Battle of Endor"}
Brent Carver ('Inside Canada', 'Street Legal')
Reni Santoni ('Owen Marshall, Counsellor', 'Manimal', 'Hill Street Blues', 'Murder One', 'Sanchez of Bel Air'. 'Midnight Caller', 'Seinfeld')
Raymond Allen ('Sanford & Son')
Ben Cross ('Dark Shadows', 'Banshee', 'The Citadel')
Alan Rich ('Hill Street Blues', 'Judging Amy', 'Barney Milller')
Norm Spencer ('X-Men' cartoon voice actor)
Salome Bey ('Due South', 'Night Heat')
Kevin Dobson ('Kojak', 'Knots' Landing')
Leslie Hamilton Freas (twin sister of Linda Hamilton, her stunt double)
Diana Rigg ('The Avengers', 'Diana', 'Mrs. Bradley Mysteries', 'Game of Thrones', 'Mother Love', 'Doctor Who')
Alien Huong ('Love You', 'Tokyo Juliet')
Michael Lonsdale ('Smiley's People', 'Maigret')
Yuko Takeuchi ('Miss Sherlock', 'Flash Forward')
Archie Lyndhurst, son of Nicholas ('So Awkward', 'Bad Educatiion')
Frank Windsor ('Z Cars', TVXOHOF member)
Thomas Jefferson Byrd ('She's Gotta Have It', 'Living Single')
Clark Middleton ('The Blacklist', 'Twin Peaks', 'Fringe')
Margaret Nolan ('The Newcomers', 'Crown Court', 'Q6')
Conchata Ferrell ('Two and a Half Men', 'LA Law')
Diana Devlin ('Clerks')
Doreen Montalvo ('Madam Secretary', 'Elementary')
Rhonda Fleming ('Wagon Train', 'Burke's Law', 'The Love Boat', 'Ellery Q
ueen',
'McMillan & Wife')
Sean Connery ('Age Of Kings', 'ITV Play of the Week')

Elsa Raven ('Wiseguy')
Eddie Hassell ('Surface', 'Devious Maids')
Johnny Leeze ('Coronation Street', 'Emmerdale')
John Sessions ('Whose Line Is It Anyway?', 'Doctor Who', 'Tom Jones')
Geoffrey Palmer ('Hot Metal', 'Butterflies', 'As Time Goes By')
Ann Lynn ('Just Good Friends', 'Minder', 'EastEnders')
John Fraser ('The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes', 'Doctor Who', 'Columbo')
Lynn Kellogg ('The Edge of Night', 'Mission: Impossible', 'The Beverly Hillbillies')
Broselianda Hernandez Boudet (Cuban actress)
Kirby Morrow (voice actor, 'Dragonball Z', 'The X-Men')
Philip Voss ('Vicious', 'Doctor Who', 'Fish', 'Melissa')
Dena Dietrich (Mother Nature, 'The Practice', 'Adam's Rib', 'Philly', 'The Ropers')
Louise Pajo ('Cop Shop', 'Carson's Law', 'Doctor Who')
David Prowse (Darth Vader, 'The Saint', 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy')
Abby Dalton ('The Joey Bishop Show', 'Falcon Crest', 'Hennessey')
Hugh Keats-Byrne ('Farscape', 'Ben Hall', 'Secret Valley')
Betty Bobbitt ('Prisoner: Cell Block H', 'Cop Shop')
David Lander ('Laverne & Shirley', 'On The Air', 'Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills')
Pamela Tiffin ('The Survivors', 'The Fugitive')
Natalie Desselle-Reid ('Eve', 'Built To Last', 'For Your Love')
Marguerite Ray ('The Young & The Restless', 'Sanford', 'Dynasty')
Tommy "Tiny" Lister ('Mann and Wife', 'On The Court', 'First & Ten')
Carol Sutton ('Treme', 'In The Heat Of The Night', 'Roots' [remake])
Barbara Windsor ('EastEnders', 'The Rag Trade', 'Worzel Gummidge', 'Doctor Who')
Jeremy Bulloch (original Boba Fett, 'Starhyke', 'Sloggers', 'Agony', 'Robin Hood')
Peg Murray ('All My Children', 'Me and Mrs. C', 'The Doctors and the Nurses')
Rosalind Knight ('Gimme Gimme Gimme', 'Jackanory', 'Martin Chuzzlewit')
Rebecca Luker ('Boardwalk Empire', 'NCIS: New Orleans', 'The Good Wife')
Lee Wallace ('Ryan's Hope', 'World War III', 'Mrs. Columbo')
Marcus D'Amico ('Tales of the City', 'The Trainer', 'The Bill')
Basil Moss ('UFO', 'Compact', 'First Among Equals')
Dawn Wells ('Gilligan's Island', 'Gilligan's Planet', '77 Sunset Strip')

PERSONALITIES
Derek Acorah ('Most Haunted', 'Ghost Towns')
Jack Van Impe (televangelist)
Nicholas Parsons ('The Benny Hill Show')
Kobe Bryant (Basketball legend)
Tyler Gozdz ('The Bachelorette')
Caroline Flack ('Love Island', 'Bo Selecta!')
Bill Britten ('Bozo The Clown', 'Time For Fun')
Al Sperling (Hair Club for Men' president and spokesman)
Marty Sullivan (Superhost for 'Monster Theater', 'Prize Movie')
Danny Tidwell ('So You Think You Can Dance?')
Mal Sharpe (prankster)
Eddie Large ('The Little And Large Show')
Vic Henley ('Comedy Central Presents', 'The Stand-up Show')
Ashley "Miss Minnie" Ross ('Little Women: Atlanta')
Lynn Faulds Wood ('Good Morning, Britain', 'Watchdog', 'World In Action')

Don Shula (Miami Dolphins coach, 'Ballers')
Corrie La Barrie (YouTube personality)
Roy Horn, of Siegfried & RoyB
Phyllis George (Miss America - 'NFL Today', 'People', 'The $10,000 Pyramid')
Margarita Procatan ('The Clive James Show')
Hugh Downs ('Today', 'Concentration', 20/20')
Grant Imahara ('MythBusters')
Regis Philbin ('The Joey Bishop Show', 'Live with Regis and Kathy Lee/Kelly', 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire')
Rene Carpenter ('Everywoman')
Becky Mullin ('The Gorgeous Women of Wrestling')
Mahlon Reyes ('Deadliest Catch')
Chi Chi DeVayne ('RuPaul's Drag Race')
Mary Hartline ('The Mary Hartline Show', 'Super Circus')
Lloyd Cafe Cadena (Filipino YouTube personality)
Stevie Lee Richardson (Puppet The Psycho Dwarf)
Aaron Grissom ('Top Chef')
Christopher "Kentucky" Ellis ('Street Outlaw')
Michael Peredes ('Wipeout')
Whitney Collings ('Bad Girls Club')
Mac Davis ('The Mac Davis Show')
Helen Reddy ('The Helen Reddy Show')
Thom Kennedy ('Password Plus', 'To Say The Least', 'You Don't Say')
James Randi (magician, debunker)
Eddie Van Halen (musician, guitarist of Van Halen)
Nikki McKibben ('American Idol')
Nate Burrell ('Sixty Days In')
Luis Troyano ('The Great British Baking Show')
Alex Trebek ('Jeopardy!')
Norm Crosby ('The Ed Sullivan Show')
Bobby Ball ('Cannon & Ball')
Des O'Connor ('Countdown', 'Today with Des & Mel'), 'Des O'Connor Tonight')
Ben Watkins ('Master Chef')a
Jose Luis Da Silva (Brazilian media star)
Nick McGlashon ('Deadliest Catch') 

NEWS & SPORTS
Harold Burson (AFN)
Jim Lehrer (PBS, NBC anchorman)
Bobbie Batista (CNN)
Jimmy Gordon, Lord Gordon of Strathblane (STV political editor)
Bill Small (News Executive at NBC and CBS)
Nina Kapur (WCBS News)
Kathy Plasker (KCBD forecaster)
Bowie Meeks (Hockey Broadcaster)
Jeannie Morris (WBBM, WMAQ sportscaster)



THE HAT SQUAD - BEHIND THE SCENES



WRITERS
Charles Wood ('Don't Forget To Write!', 'Family And Other Animals', 'Wagner')
Maj Sjowall (Creator of the character Martin Beck)
Martin Pasko ('Batman: The Animated Series')
Roger Beatty ('The Carol Burnett Show')
Larry Kramer ("Angels In America")
Bruce Fretts (EW television critic)
Ben Bova ('Land of the Lost', 'Starlost' consultant)
John LeCarre (spy novels basis for 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy', 'Smiley's People', 'The Night Manager')
William Link ('Columbo', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Mannix', adaptd 'Ellery Queen')


DIRECTORS
Ivan Passer ('Kidnapped', 'Stalin', 'Picnic')
Lynn Shelton ('GLOW', 'Little Fires Everywhere')
Tony Cash ('South Bank Show')
Diana Tommes (BBC)
Peter Tiffin
David Rodriguez ('Push', 'The Chi')
Joan Micklin Silver ('Sisters', "Finnegan Begin Again", "Invisible Child")

PRODUCERS
Silvio Horta ('Ugly Betty', 'The Chronicle', 'Jake 2.0')
Derek Bailey ('Aquarius')
Lucy Jarvis ("Family Reunion", "Peking Ballet", "Mary Martin: Hello Dolly! Round The World")
Brian Armstrong ('World In Action', 'Coronation Street', 'Wood & Walters' 'The Cuckoo Waltz')
Richard S, Kline (CBS coverage of Apollo 9, 'The Dick Cavett Show', 'Joker's Wild', 'The New Tic Tac Dough', 'Pictionary')
Maria Mercader (CBS producer)
Chloe Aaron (PBS executive)
Hal Willner (SNL sketch music producer, 'Night Music')
Thomas L. Miller ('Full House', 'Happy Days')
David Harvey ('That's Life', 'Hearts of Gold',
'On Camera', 'London Weekend Television')
Lester Crystal (PBS)
Catherine Freeman (BBC current affairs 1950s)
Sydney Lotterby ('Porridge', 'Last Of The Summer Wine', 'Open All Night', 'Butterflies', 'As Time Goes By')
Paul Knight ('The Adventures of Black Beauty', 'Dick Turpin', 'London's Burning')
Miles Barton (BBC Natural History Unit)
Clay Smith ('Access Hollywood', 'Entertainment Tonight')
Larry Barron ('The Amazing Race', 'Paradise Hotel', 'Couples')
Lin Qi, ('The Three-Body Problem')

MUSIC
Jonathan Whitehead ('Smack The Pony', 'Brass Eye', 'Green Wing')
Ennio Morricone
Billy Goldenberg

ANIMATION
Ann Sullivan (Disney)
Gene Deitch
Joe Ruby (Scooby Doo co-creator)
Ken Spears ('Scooby Doo co-creator)
Doug Crain ('Beavis and Butthead', 'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe')
Tuck Tucker ('Hey Arnold', 'Spongebob Squarepants')

EXECUTIVES
Reese Schonfeld (founded CNN & Food Network)
Sumner Redstone (Viacom giant)
W. Russell Barry (Fox, Turner head honcho)


OTHERS
Larry Edgeeworth (NBC News audio engineer)


THE HAT SQUAD - HYPHENAATES & OTHERS


HYPHENATES
Buck Henry (actor/writer - 'Get Smart', 'Captain Nice', 'SNL' host)
Peter Wollen (writer/director - "The Bad Sister")
Sonny Grosso (producer - 'The Big Easy', 'Night Heat', 'True Blue', tech adviser - 'Kojak', plus writer & actor)
Jack Burns (comedian - 'Burns & Schreiber', actor - 'The Andy Griffith Show', writer - 'The Muppet Show')
Fred Silverman (NBC Overlord, 'Matlock' producer)
Gene Reynolds (Producer/Director/Writer - 'M*A*S*H', 'Lou Grant', 'Room 222', 'Karen')
CARL REINER (Actor - 'The Dick Van Dyke Show', 'Good Heavens', 'Your Show of Show', 'Caesar's Hour' Producer/writer/Director - 'The Dick Van Dyke Show', 'The New Dick Van Dyke Show', 'Good Morning, World')


OTHERS
Christopher Tolkien (editor of his father J.R.R. Tolkien's works; made it possible for the expansion of Middle-Earth into live-action movies and now into a TV series.)
Carol Serling (widow of Rod Serling)
Margaret McFarland (child psychologist who helped shape  'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood')
Sonja Warren Brandon (Commercials Unlimited founder, talent agents)
Annie Glenn (Wife of John Glenn, portrayed on TV, 'The Astronaut Wives Club')
Nanci Ryder, (Publicist)
Gale Sayer (portrayed by Billie Dee Williams in "Brian's Song")
Desiree Anzalone (Grandfather Desi Arnaz Jr., Great Grandfather Desi & Lucy)
Michael Marion (Husband of Bobbie Thomas from 'Today')

Friday, January 1, 2021

THE 2020 WHOBITUARIES



At the end of every "Who's On First" marathon, we have paid tribute to those connected with 'Doctor Who' who passed away over the last year.

We lost some big names in 2020 - Dame Diana Rigg, Dame Barbara Windsor, Honor Blackman, Geoffrey Palmer. John Sessions, and a couple of 'Star Wars' alumni. They were in 'Doctor Who' long before becoming famous for playing a couple of guys in masks - David Prowse & Jeremy Bulloch.  And we lost one of the team behind the scenes - writer Philip Martin.

I won't say we should be thankul, but with the Pandemic, I thought we would have lost a lot more....

As far as characters go, in a show where there is regeneration and the ability to travel to earlier periods in a person's life, the loss of an actor doesn't always mean it's the last we'll see of a character.  Still, there were a few characters of note whose actors left us this year.

Borusa was a powerful Time Lord who faced a fitting doom, but even with Philip Latham gone, Borusa return.  (Who thought Rassilon might stage a come-back?)

We lost Earl Cameron at the age of 102.  He was in William Hartnell's last story, "The Tenth Planet" as an astronaut.  His character of Williams was the first ever portrayal of a black astronaut in any medium.

Here are the Whovian actors we lost to this fracking year: 





Edmund Kente
Mr. Scoones in The Next Doctor

Norman Hartley
Ulf in The Time Meddler
Sgt  Peters in The Invasion

Nicholas Parsons
Reverend Wainwright in The Curse of Fenric

David Collings
Vorus in Revenge Of The Cybermen
Poul in The Robots Of Death
Mawdryn in Mawdryn Undead.

Honor Blackman
Professor Lasky in Terror of the Vervoids

James Garbutt
Ronson in Genesis of the Daleks

Philip Latham
Borusa in The Five Doctors

Louis Mahoney
Newscaster in Frontier In Space
Ponti in Planet Of Evil
Billy Shipton (older) in Blink

Earl Cameron
Williams in The Tenth Planet

John Rolfe
Captain in The War Machines
Sam Becket in The Moonbase
Ralph Fell in The Green Death

Diana Rigg
Mrs. Winifred Gillyflower in The Crimson Horror

Barbara Windsor
Peggy Mitchell (as seen in 'EastEnders') in Army of Ghosts

Geoffrey Palmer
Edward Masters in Doctor Who And The Silurians
The Administrator in The Mutants
Captain Hardaker in Voyage of the Damned

John Sessions
Gus in Mummy on the Orient Express

David Prowse
The Minotaur in The Time Monster

Jeremy Bulloch
Tor in The Space Museum
Hal The Archer in The Time Warrior

Philip Martin
Scriptwriter for Vengeance On Varos

Good night and may God bless....

BARNSTORMING....

 


You know how ‘Law & Order’ was known for finding their plots in the news, “ripped from the headlines”?  The same could be said for ‘Doctor Who’, perhaps.

And 2020 provided just such a headline before the year wil be thankfully be over.

From Nova
(December 08, 2020)

On Sunday morning, Japan’s Hayabusa2 space probe dropped a capsule from space, delivering an asteroid sample to Earth.

The capsule “streaked through the atmosphere at high speeds before deploying a parachute,” Charlotte Jee writes for MIT Technology Review. At 4:37 a.m. local time, the capsule, containing up to several grams of rock, dust, and debris, landed in the red desert sand of the Australian Outback town of Woomera, 280 miles north of Adelaide.

A recovery team, led by the Japan Space Agency (JAXA), deployed a helicopter before sunrise to locate and collect it. They carried the capsule by hand into a facility to be cleaned and dismantled, exposing the interior sample container, Masaki Fujimoto, deputy director general of JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, said during a news conference.

The event marks the end of a six-year, 3.25 billion-mile mission in space. Its team of scientists hopes to unravel the mysteries of our solar system’s early days—asteroids provide hints about the “ingredients” in planets, astronomers say—while also exploring the origins of life on Earth. JAXA scientists hope to have collected at least 0.1 grams of asteroid debris to do so. Analyses this week will reveal if they met that goal.


Something in those samples would probably be of grave interest to the Doctor… and a threat to the people of Toobworld…. 


   

FANFICCERS' FRIEND - SOCK IT TO ME!

 
Like to write Whovian fanfic?

Stuck for an idea?

Here's a photoshopped picture you can use for inspiration....


An alien threat leeches all color from Earth Prime-Time.  But the Doctor and his daughter Jenny save the day with socks they smuggled in from the cartoon dimension - the Tooniverse.

Why would an alien do this?  And how?  And how do the socks revert the process?

Hey, it's your fanfic, you lazy bastid.  You take it from there!


'DOCTOR WHO' AND 2020 III

 





UN-SCENE ON TV - POMPEII FAST FOOD

 


An undated photo of the thermopolium in the Pompeii Archeological Park, near Naples, Italy. A fast-food eatery discovered at Pompeii is now completely excavated, helping to reveal some favorite dishes of citizens of the ancient Roman city who liked to eat out. Pompeii Archaeological Park's longtime chief, Massimo Osanna, said Saturday that it is the first time such an eatery -- known as a thermopolium because it served hot foods -- had been entirely excavated.
[
Luigi Spina | Parco Archeologico di Pompei via AP]

Within the TV Universe, this could be a place where the Doctor and Donna Noble got something to eat before they got caught up in their adventure against the Pyroviles.

You don’t remember seeing that particular food stand in the episode?  Life in the TV Universe is always moving forward – it probably happened while you were stuck with a commercial break….


'DOCTOR WHO' & 2020 II

 



'DOCTOR WHO' & 2020 I

 

Later this evening, the new special will be airing in the United States - "Resolution Of The Daleks".  It's been since March since the show last aired.  And around that time, all hell broke loose with the pandemic.  It will be interesting to see how the Doctor addresses the situation.



STILL THINKING OF COUSIN CASSANDRA

 
BECAUSE IT'S TIME FOR A SNACK!



TIME LORD OF THE RINGS PART TWO

 
If 'Doctor Who' ever did an adventure in connection with "The Lord of the Rings," the Doctor would team up with young John Ronald Ruehl Tolkien to foil some alien plot against the Earth, during which Tolkien gets inspiration for the Ents (allies from the Forest of Cheem?), Sauron (Omega?), the Istari (from Time Lords themselves?), and maybe even for the Hobbits (a return of the Emperor Porridge, perhaps.)



TIME LORD OF THE RINGS PART ONE


Maybe this new Middle Earth series from Amazon might provide some theoretical links between two of my favorite fantasy worlds....





 

O'BSERVATIONS

 



WHO TANNENBAUM

 
Since Christmas was a week ago....


So....

Did you have a TARDIS tree?

And did it start spinning around?



CONFUSE-A-NON-WHOVIAN


I have to figure most of the world understands the basics by now though....


 

MISCASTING A SPELL

 

Nice try.  You at least get a Participation Award....



SALT IN THE WOUND

 
This is the kind of crossover which could happen in the series.  But only if she wanted to be cruel to her past self....



WHOVIAN CROSSOVERS - WISH-CRAFT UPON A STAR

 
Last hour we had an actual crossover for 'Doctor Who'.  This one is pure fantasy.....






WHOVIAN CROSSOVERS - DON'T PANIC!

 
Here's one reason why the Doctor is in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame....



THINKING OF COUSIN CASSANDRA

 



THE WHOS DOWN IN WHOVILLE

 



Incarnations Twelve & Thirteen must be hidden away behind the TARDIS, along with Doctor Ruth.

That's the problem with great memes which show all of the Doctor's Incarnations.  Four years down the line, maybe even less, and they're O'Bsolete.

A VENETIAN HISTORY LESSON


One problem I had with the ‘Doctor Who’ episode “Vampires In Venice” was the prominence of the character of Guido in Venetian society in the year 1580.  This had nothing to do with the talent of Lucian Msamati, whom I already knew and enjoyed  his work in ‘The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.’  No, it was because of his race.

I just couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that a black man could rise to such an honored position in at that time in Venetian society.  But that's my failing. I was looking at it from the perspective of one who grew up with the cultural depictions of blacks in early American history.

Luckily, Jess Nevins offered up this historical tidbit….


So I’ve been set straight on that score.

Jess has done incredible work in the past as a researcher into Victoriana literature, most of that of a fantastic nature.  I first learned of him when I read his annotations on Alan Moore’s concept of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  With the art contributed by Kevin O’Neill, Moore told a ripping yarn about the team of Victorian literature’s greatest heroes, anti-heroes, and villains.

And Jess was there with his splainins to do for each issue, which I bet Moore would never have dreamed possible.

Jess Nevins is a published writer and researcher and he’s tossed out an interesting idea for the Eastern Connecticut area, especially around Windham County.

Should Jess ever write it up, I’d love to find a way for a Waysider or three to have an adventure in his lycanthropic location in Connecticut. 

BCnU!


MEME 4 - WHEN IS "MASTER O"


As with other posts to be found at the beginning of this blogathon, I’m writing this one early in January of 2020 – in the morning of the day on which the second part of “Spyfall” will be shown later that night.  So for alls I know, this question has already been resolved.

But in the meantime….


With this meme, one of the ‘Doctor Who’ Facebook pages posed the question: Is Sacha Dhawan’s incarnation of the Master (the O Master?) from after Missy’s incarnation or before it?  And if before, is he then from before Roger Delgado or from the space between John Simm’s incarnation and Missy?

I’ve always wanted a whole season dedicated to the eleven incarnations of the Master before Delgado’s introduction of the character to the audience.  It would be a feast of great guest stars – you’d have to nab the very best to make the role memorable, especially if it turns out to be a one-shot appearance.

Here are some ideas for actors to interpret the Master:
  • Jeremy Irons
  • Helen Mirren
  • Philip Glenister
  • Eric Idle
  • Adrian Lester
  • Jim Broadbent
  • James Buckley (My choice for the First Incarnation as a young man)
For some of them, the role could be perfect for a recurring opportunity; others could be around only long enough to endure regeneration; and some of them could even team up to battle the Doctor.

If it turned out that Dhawan was one of these regenerations, I’d be okay with that (although I had hopes for him as the Doctor.)  He certainly has made the role memorable with his introduction in “Spyfall Part One”.

I went In to my embrace of his performance thinking that he was the next regeneration after Missy.  However, I was bothered that the mellowing of Missy’s temperament was cast aside so easily even with the new personality quicks with each new incarnation of any Time Lord.

But what if Dhawan is a Master from after John Simm’s dive through the dimensional veil to return to Gallifrey and before the Twelfth Incarnation met Missy?  Up until now, I think we all assumed that Missy was the incarnation directly after “Harold Saxon Reborn”.  But that was quite a span of Time between his exit and her entrance.

So Who knows?

What do you think?   

THE DIY "DOCTOR WHO" ALIEN ACTION FIGURES



Remember in the tenth season of ‘Doctor Who’ when the 12th Incarnation of the Doctor set aside the sonic screwdriver and started using sonic sunglasses.  Or to be cooler, sonic shades?

Big hissy fit from a large section of the fandom.  (Not from me; I thought they were great.  And come on!  It’s more than likely the Monk used sonic shades as well.)

But the behind-the-scenes story as to why they were introduced was sweet, I thought.  Moffat believed that the merchandise for the show was getting too expensive for a lot of little kids (and fans of all ages) with limited incomes.  So he brought in the sonic sunglasses because most kids probably had access to a cheap pair of sunglasses lying around the house.

I think that was a great idea and I believe there are other ways to avoid buying high-priced toys connected to the show by coming up with your own alternatives.


With the first episode of this new season of ‘Doctor Who’, we were introduced to a new race of aliens.  As this was just part one of the adventure, we don’t know the name of their race/species nor where they come from (save that it’s probably from beyond our universe.)

But they have an incredible look, one that doesn’t need a plastic action figure trapped in a mint-condition box.  Your kids could make them at home.


They appear to be made of light and probably quite fluid in form and movement.  I think simple humanoid cutouts from ordinary paper, construction paper if you want them to have a longer shelf life.  And then you could paint them, on both sides, with white glow-in-the-dark paint.

Remember, kids: paint one side first and wait until it’s dry and then paint the other side. Once your aliens are fully dry, expose them to light and you can play with them in darkened settings and have them interact with your Thirteenth Doctor action figure.

For more durability and flexibility, you can cut them out of old flimsy plastic, like discarded shower curtains and even old plastic bags and then paint those up.

They won't be able to stand up on their own, but you could attach them to black construction paper with a base and they'll not only stand up but look brighter against the background.

Just watch out for choking hazards!  Ask your parents for supervision to play it safe.  There’s nothing wrong in asking for help.

All you’ve shelled out for is the paint really and that’s easy to find at craft shops.

Allons-y! 

 

MEME 3 - SONIC FEEDBACK



At some point in last year's "Who's On First" blogathon, I coined a term for those who are always complaining about 'Doctor Who'.

"Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whiners"

And the backlash against the sonic sunglasses was a good example of those Timey-Whiners.

The sonic sunglasses kick off our next post in the next half hour...

Geronimo!

O, WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS....


Christmas was only a week ago and I already have a wish-list for a Christmas toy.  (I’m writing this up the day before the premiere of Part Two of the ‘Doctor Who’ – “Spyfall” story, so I’ve wanted this for a year now already.)


I want an Agent O action figure – not necessarily the usual five inch tall version which would work well with the Doctor figures, although it would be cool to have Sacha Dhawan as a toy.  Wait.  That didn't sound right….)

No, what I want is a tiny one set inside a normal-sized matchbox, based on the actual Agent O who was killed via tissue compression by the Master, using one of his old tricks from the classic series.


Let me know if you hear of anybody selling these….  Muwhahahaha!

MEME 2 - THE "GAME OF THRONES" CROSSOVER


Whenever a Zonk – that is, a mistake or some kind of discrepancy – shows up in a TV series, I don’t just write it off as an error.  I try to work within the reality of the series to splain it all away.

Such a discrepancy popped up as ‘Game of Thrones’ was drawing to a close.  In fact, it happened twice.

First there was that infamous coffee cup on the table at Winterfell.


Well, there was no problem with that.  Somebody provided the reason and the resolution in a handy-dandy meme….


[And why were the Doctor and Amy on the planet of Westeros?  Because it was Mondas, where the Cybermen would eventually come to reign.  And for a specific reason?  Let's say that they had to retrieve Qyburn's papers about reanimating the dead before the Rani got hold of them.  Why not?]

The trickier problem came later in the last episode, when a water bottle was left in the scene.  


I doubt this was done by the Doctor.  “Once burned, forever shy” as ‘The Prisoner’ once said.  Or was it John Drake?  No matter.  In Toobworld, they’re one and the same.  Six of one and half a dozen of the other.


But it would be in keeping with the practices by that meddlesome Monk (seen here wearing his sonic shades.)  We’ve blamed him in the past for supplying modern day products to TV characters in the di)stant past of Earth Prime-Time – like Pepsi and Bud Light in the Middle Ages; or FedEx during the Neolithic era.

How a plastic water bottle might have adversely affected the Seven Kingdoms on the planet of Mothra, I can’t say.  I can only propose the theory that the Monk was responsible for leaving it behind in King’s Landing.

At least the Doctor came back to retrieve his garbage….

BCnU!

O’Bservation:
For the type of post that is just a time-waster to fill in the half-hour breaks, I wrote way too much on this one…..

THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY - AN OBLATION OF O'BRIENS


As I write this, the second season for Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor has only just started with the first part of “Spyfall” airing on New Year’s Day.  (Part two airs tomorrow.)


And in that time we’ve spent in her company, we’ve had at least one good story for the companion Yaz, oftentimes in connection with Ryan.  But outside the references to his late wife who died during the first adventure with this Doctor, there hasn’t been much of a spotlight on the oldest companion, Graham O’Brien.

I’ve got a suggestion for one, however.  [O’Briens have to look out for each other.]


What if it turned out that Graham was the Great to the Nth Power Grandfather of Lady Cassandra O’Brien, the last “pure” human by the time of “The End Of The World”?  Even if she was just a stretched out tapestry of skin?

[That might not freak out Graham as much as finding out that when she was a little girl, Cassandra O’Brien was actually a little boy!]

It’s a monumental coincidence, but where would TV be without them?

BCnU!



WHO MEMES - THE DOCTOR'S BEARD


For the timey-whimey being, I think the blog posts today on the half-hour will be ‘Doctor Who’-related memes I find in Facebook and the Interwebz in general.

Let’s kick it off with this one…..



2021 WHO'S ON FIRST BLOGATHON - INTRODUCTION



Welcome to the 13th anniversary edition of the "Who's On First?" blogAthon.  For the next 24 hours, there will (hopefully) be forty-eight posts about 'Doctor Who', one every half hour.

This round-the-clock celebration of 'Doctor Who' began somewhat modestly - there were only seven "episodes" for that first outing.  But it has grown to the point where for the last couple of years we have tried to present a new blog post about the universe of the Doctor every half hour.   That may not be the case this year.  We'll at least get one in every hour.


And I always amaze myself that I find enough topics each year.  But then, I have yet to see every episode of the 55 year old series.


Because of their time-sensitive nature, there were a few posts I published earlier in the year.  Some are just mentions of the Doctor, most of them dealt with the breaking news about the show.  But if you're interested....


So here it is - the kick-off to the 2021 edition of 'Who's On First'!  And as always, we begin with the frame grab from 'Robot Chicken' which has become our mascot.....  

ADDENDUM - This frakking year....  My heart just wasn't in it this year for my whovian theories.  The best I could summon when it came to enthusiasm are the memes which take up most of today's line-up.  Sorry, follks.  This may be how it goes from now on.... if I even attempt it again next year.   Who knows, with this pandemic still with us, if I'll even be here to do this for 2022.....  Toby Downer!