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 13^th 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!