Tag Archives: Doctor Who
Yesterday I was re-watching Arachnids in the UK, the fourth episode of the latest season of Doctor Who, and a somewhat goofy idea popped into my head about how to respond to the charge that sometimes stories are just ‘too improbable’ to enjoy — or to have happened at all.
That certainly is an accusation that seems to apply in many cases. In order for some story to have happened at all, certain events had to happen just so and in the right order. It’s easy to shake your head and think, “Yeah, right. As if that could actually ever happen.”
For many years I’ve had a generic response to that accusation, but yesterday I realized it can be justified mathematically!
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5 Comments | tags: Doctor Who, Hilbert Hotel, infinity, story plots, storytelling | posted in Writing
Star Trek wasn’t hugely popular right off the bat, or even for a long time. The first series, after all, lasted only three years and had to fight for survival for most of that time. But it did catch on hugely with us fans; many of us fell in love right away.
From an early point even within the fan community, let alone to mundanes, some of us were careful to identify as Trekkers rather than Trekkies. As I used to put it, “Trekkers are grown ups who love science fiction. Trekkies own a pair of Spock ears.”
Then, because of a little movie, named Star Wars, science fiction went mainstream. And so did the divide between two rather different kinds of fans…
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28 Comments | tags: Bill Maher, Doctor Who, Gamergate, Ghostbusters, Leslie Jones, Marvel comics, SJW, social justice warrior, Stan Lee, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Doctor | posted in Rant, Sci-Fi Saturday, Society
As someone whose high school and college education focused on writing and storytelling (through stage, film, and video), I’ve long been askance at how much culture reveres actors while not paying as much attention to the writers who provide their words or the directors who control much of what they do.
I do not at all mean to suggest actors aren’t also artists who bring important skills to the table. In college, I had to find people willing to act (for free!) in my productions — I couldn’t tell my stories without them — so I’m well acquainted with their importance and skills.
My point is only that the stories we love owe as much, if not more, to the writers and directors who create them in the first place.
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2 Comments | tags: actors, Atomic Blonde, Bebe Neuwirth, Bilbo Baggins, Charlize Theron, directors, Doctor Who, Eddie Murphy, Elijah Wood, Frodo Baggins, George Burns, Idris Elba, James Bond, Johnny Carson, Loretta Swit, Martin Freeman, Racisim, The Doctor, writers | posted in Movies, Rant, TV
The universe may not be connected in the Dirk Gently sense (or perhaps it is, wouldn’t that be fun?), but I can’t help but be bemused by those occasional moments of synchronicity. Just striking coincidences — almost certainly — and just a product of one’s own mind connecting personal dots, but still.
When a moment of such synchronicity involves favorite TV shows, South Park, NCIS, and Doctor Who, plus the Mandelbrot Set, it covers a lot of bases and adds an extra special element of cosmic delight. (Not to mention all the options for the lead image! (Except not really. Gotta be the new The Doctor!))
Fundamentally, it’s all another riff on an old standard: Yin-Yang.
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2 Comments | tags: Doctor Who, Gibbs, Gibbs' Rules, Jethro Gibbs, Jodie Whittaker, Mandelbrot, NCIS, South Park, The Doctor, Yin and Yang | posted in Society
It’s been a wait of almost a year (the last episode of season 8 aired in November 2014), but The Doctor is finally back!
The best science fiction show ever on TV continues to deliver with a gripping and engaging cliffhanger first episode for season nine.
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7 Comments | tags: Alex Kingston, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Freema Agyeman, Martha Jones, Matt Smith, Myanna Buring, Peter Capaldi, River Song, science fiction, Scooti Manista, The Doctor | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
Some months ago, someone commented that I apparently watched a lot of TV. A recent Nielsen report claims the average American watches 5 hours per day, although age and race are factors. Children (2-11) watch a bit over 24 hours per week, and those 65 and older watch over 50 hours per week. It’s apparently close to a flat line with a dip in the teens.
My 50-64 age group supposedly watches nearly 44 hours per week (6.3 hours per day). For this TV Tuesday post, I thought it’d be interesting to see just how much I actually do watch.
It turns out I do watch a lot of TV; here’s the proof…
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19 Comments | tags: ABC, Angie Harmon, Bill Lawrence, Castle (TV series), CBS, Doctor Who, Elementary (TV series), For The Record, FTR, Grimm (TV series), HBO, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Leverage (TV series), Lisa Edelstein, Lucy Liu, NBC, NCIS, NCIS:New Orleans, Rizzoli & Isles, Sherlock (TV series), Sherlock Holmes, Showtime, TBS, The Blacklist, TNT | posted in TV, TV Tuesday
“These are the voyages of the…” Wait! Wrong great SF TV show!!
Do you know about the impossible girl? How about the girl who waited (for 12 years and then again for 36), or her other half, the boy who waited (for 2000)? There are others: the woman who forgot the greatest adventure ever; the woman who became a doctor and a warrior; the woman who was forever lost to another dimension. And there is the stolen daughter raised as would-be assassin, but who instead became a wife traveling backwards in time.
Do you know about deadly monsters encased in metal armor? How about fearsome monsters that are as stone statues when you look at them, but who remove you from time when you don’t?
Most of all, do you know about the madman with a box?
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14 Comments | tags: Amy Pond, Astrid Peth, Clara Oswald, Doctor Who, Donna Noble, Idris, Martha Jones, Peter Capaldi, River Song, Rory Williams, Rose Tyler, science fiction, Star Trek, TARDIS, The Doctor | posted in TV
In my family, we were rather casual about birthdays and other event days. It wasn’t unusual to celebrate a birthday, not on the exact day, but on a nearby day. We were fairly poor, so birthdays mostly consisted of a cake and a token present of some sort. (Put it this way: I can’t recall a single birthday present I ever got. We just weren’t that into birthdays.)
But I don’t recall ever not celebrating Christmas or Easter on the day. That may be as much due to my father being a pastor and having to do his thing at church on those days. The religious upbringing — and the strong streak of anti-materialism that went with it — likely accounts for downplaying birthdays and other gift-giving occasions.
Which is all to say that I missed posting on John Venn‘s birthday!
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12 Comments | tags: aliens-robots-zombies, Doctor Who, geeks-nerds, John Venn, logic, sets, Simon & Garfunkel, Star Trek, Venn, Venn diagram, Venn diagrams | posted in Wednesday Wow
November shouldn’t pass with just the one post. I intended a post last Science Fiction Saturday to rave about the new Doctor Who episode (celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who), but the day slipped to Sunday before I got the writing motor started. I’ll rave about it now: it was really, really good! A wonderful, delightful milestone marker and, as always, built on a damn good story.
I’ve not been idle lately! Dedicated post-retirement loafing finally shook the work dust off my shoes, and I’ve gotten back into personal project work. Seriously into it. In the 16-hour sessions, sleep and eating are unwelcome distractions, not knowing what time of day (let alone what day of the week) it is sense of seriously.
And I read some really good vampire novels!
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11 Comments | tags: Amy Heckerling, Berserker series, Bram Stoker, Chelsea Yarbro, computer generated images, computer programming, Count Dracula, Doctor Who, Fred Saberhagen, Johnny Dangerously, POV-Ray, Python, science fiction, vampires | posted in Books, Computers, Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday, TV
Today I’m starting a brand-new ancient tradition: Sci-Fi Saturday! It won’t mean a science fiction post every Saturday, but when I do post SF topics, it’ll be on Saturday. This new protocol has many precedents. Last August I posted four articles for Star Trek Saturday. The August before that, I posted two key Star Trek articles (one of them my favorite diatribe about the holodeck).
Turns out it was a Saturday I posted those videos with Captain Kirk and Princess Leia giving each other crap about which was better, Star Trek or Star Wars (duh, it’s Doctor Who). And there are other science fiction posts that fell on Saturday (I was surprised at how many — it seems the new tradition is foreordained). Plus, Saturday is named after Saturn, which is an extremely science fiction-y planet!
So welcome to Sci-Fi Saturday!
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14 Comments | tags: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Game of Thrones, Saturn, science fiction, SF, Star Trek, Star Wars | posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Saturday
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