New Who Review

Next Christmas David Tennant will regenerate leaving the roll of the Doctor behind. When the dust settles Matt Smith (26) will be the youngest Timelord ever to play the role. Here’s the story from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7808697.stm.

Tom Baker is my Doctor. There were three Doctors before him (William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, & Jon Pertwee) but it was Baker’s regeneration that I first discovered the series. I started watching Doctor Who back in the seventies with him in the role. I watched him regenerate into Peter Davidson but then the show disappeared. BBC or PBS pulled the plug on American audiences so I missed Collin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. I saw the TV movie where Paul McGann became the commander of the TARDIS and had high hopes that there would be more but for the next 9 years there was nothing. The series was revived in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston in the role and it was like manna from Heaven. Gone were the cheesy special effects and production values and in there place was rock solid acting and storytelling. It was with a heavy heart that I watched Eccleston regenerate into David Tennant after only one season. But then Tennant made the role his own. He became a pleasure to watch with his humor and eccentricities. There are some truly great moments that have happened during the last four years. Tennant will be at the helm of the TARDIS for the next four BBC specials and it will be with a heavy heart that I will watch him regenerate into Matt Smith next Christmas.

All the best Mr. Smith; I am looking forward to seeing how you make the Doctor yours.

Loose Ends

I’ve been pretty busy as of late so here are some loose ends that I thought could use some attention.

Eartha Kitt passed away, she was 81. She led a very interesting life which you can read all about here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eartha_Kitt and here; http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081226/ap_en_mo/obit_eartha_kitt_15. I first discovered Ms. Kitt via the old Batman TV show. She was the best (and dare I say sexiest) Catwoman to date. My kids (and me too for that matter) loved her character Yzma from Disney animated film, “The Emperor’s New Groove” and “The Emperor’s New School” on the Disney Channel. My thoughts are with her family and friends at this time.

The new Doctor Who BBC Special, “The Next Doctor” was broadcast across all of Brittany on Christmas Day. While this was great for Doctor Who fans there it did precious little for fans here in the good ole United States. Fortunately, it’s possible to check it out on Youtube cut up into eight segments. If you’re interested just do a search for “The Next Doctor” and enjoy. David Tennant will be the Doctor for the next four specials in 2009 but that will be it. A new Doctor is going to regenerate in 2010. Tennant stepped into some big shoes when he succeeded Christopher Eccleston in the role; and the wonderful thing is that he was able to keep stride. I will miss Tennant as the Doctor but I’m glad for the specials coming in 2009.

Battlestar Galactica is ending. The story is coming to a close. You can tune into the SciFi Channel on January 16th to see the beginning of the end. If interested, and I’m assuming you are if you’ve hung in this long, in the meantime you can check out the 10 episode web series that bridges the gap between season 4.0 and 4.5 here: http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/webisodes/. So say we all!

Back in August of 2008, I entered a script-writing contest sponsored by Ain’t It Cool News. The task was to write the ending to Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith that you wanted to see. No winner has been announced yet. I believe that the volume of the entries was unexpected by AICN. No news is good news and, to the best of my knowledge, I’m still in the running. Hey, who’s to say? I’ll let you know if my script is in the running.

The world keeps moving… no really; there was an earthquake yesterday between Lancaster and Three Mile Island. It was only a 3.4 but it was enough to get people’s attention. Here’s the details here; http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6575318 and here; http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/ld1023196.php. I’ve never been in an earthquake – at least one that I was aware of – but I’ve got friends who have lived and live in southern California and they have stories to tell. The AP report says that 1,000 people called 911 after the quake. I would have been 1,001. I’m glad that it wasn’t more to the north west of the epicenter since that’s where Three Mile Island is located.

There’s some loose ends tied. Mischief managed.