Thursday, March 31, 2011

Best of/Worst of 5, part 2

 Best of/Worst of 5
By
Kevin Scott Bolinger
     Greetings and salutations, and welcome to my second look at Doctor Who. Today, I will be focusing on the actors who played the titular role, as well as giving a few insights on their take, and key events that would shape the Doctor's personality as the show went on. Some Doctors will have more information then others, due to the differences in acting styles, and story lines presented. I hope you enjoy. Let us jump right in by going back to the beginning, 1963.

The original Doctor.
William Hartnell.  First seen in “An Unearthly Child” , Hartnell’s Doctor at first came across as an old, daft grandfather. He seemed to react to things with trepidation. He could be grumpy, and serious, yet at time, soft and caring. He looked the part of the well worn traveler, one who had seen a great many things, and would try to use the wisdom he had gained to out think his enemies. He demanded respect from those with him.
    
     He  was far from perfect, he would make mistakes, get caught off guard. A few of his companions would pay the price for that, he would mourn them in his own way. He even had to let a great massacre in France occur simply because he could not interfere. He was accused of being cold and uncaring, yet he would lament that those with him just simply did not understand. He was the first, and for many the template all others must be judged against. Hartnell could play him both fierce and threatening, yet also remorseful and caring. Sadly, many of his episodes are lost to time, so to speak. The BBC back then did not keep copies of episodes for future use. Through the years many have been found and recovered, but others, including his final performance, were destroyed. Fortunately, the audio from all his episodes was saved, and there are reconstructions, using stills from the episode, the audio, and a few computer effects.

   The first Doctor was truly a fish out of water, a stranger in a strange land. All he wanted to do was explore time and space, yet trouble seemed to always find him. The crazy old man and his magic blue box. He was fond of belittling his companions on a regular basis.

   Hartnell brought a certain charm to the role. Alas, his health, never the best, had caught up to him, and he was forced to leave the show. What should have been the death knell for Doctor Who, was turned into the concept that has helped it survive for nearly half a century.
The second Doctor, with his recorder.


 Patrick Troughton.  When the first Doctor lost his life, the only one to do so from extreme old age, he entered his first regeneration. He emerged a new man, with a new face, and new personality. If the first Doctor was a grumpy grandfather type at times, Doctor number two was your favorite crazy Uncle whom would do silly dances for you.

    Troughton’s Doctor was a very different being. He wore oversized clothes, sometimes acted clueless, and was fond of playing the recorder to help him concentrate. He was also a bit more ruthless. He was far more ready to watch his enemies die then give them a second chance to bother him or his companions. As he grew into his new form, he became more of a manipulator, and a meddler, a trait that would cause him a problem later on down the road.

   The way he reacted to problems, seeming to not know what to do, or even goofing around, was all a ruse at times. The wisdom of his experiences with a long lifespan made him extremely intelligent, yet also very dangerous. He outright defiance of Time Lord laws eventually lead to a trial, the outcome of which would see him forced by his own people to relinquish his current life, made to regenerate, and on top of that, left him exiled to Earth in the nineteen seventies. His knowledge and skills needed to use the TARDIS were removed from his mind.

    Troughton had fun with the role. He knew that some of the things being presented could have a bit of humor attached. Unfortunately, not many of his complete stories survive. Of the first three Doctors, the destruction of old tapes hit his era the hardest. Only six full stories survive. The rest, some fifteen adventures, exist in bits and pieces, all having reconstructions with stills done to fill in the missing parts. This is a true shame, for he was an actor who knew he was handed the keys to the kingdom, and he ran with it!

The third Doctor, the scientist, with a judo chop!

Jon Pertwee.  At the end of his trial, the second Doctor was forced to regenerate, and spend his life exiled on Earth. Pertwee’s Doctor embraced that, becoming more of a scientist. He wound up working directly for UNIT, a military organization similar to NATO. Though he tried to avoid guns , preferring to utilize his fists. He would spend his free time trying to relearn how to use the TARDIS, though ultimately, he was asked to do special favors for the Time Lords, and he did win his freedom and the knowledge once again.

   He was a bit more serious then his predecessor. He did have a few quirks though. He had rebuilt and modified an old Earth car he nicknamed Bessie. Bessie would go on to be used by other incarnations in the future. His past experiences with his fellow Time Lords had left him very bitter. This Doctor was also the first incarnation to go head to head with The Master, the Moriarty to Pertwee’s Holmes, so to speak.

    Pertwee’s take on the role was almost that of a stern father, yet one who was treated badly at his day job, and would sometime take his frustrations out on those closest to him. This worked, since the Time Lords had imposed such a harsh punishment on him. From day one, all the Doctor wanted to do was to explore and help those in need, and that ability was taken from him. Pertwee fully embraced this aspect.

     Pertwee was the first Doctor to be broadcast in color. This was a fairly new concept back then, despite color televisions existing for close to a decade at this point. Only one of his stories was destroyed, before the BBC finally came to it’s senses and began archiving them for the future. Luckily, a black and white copy of this missing story was located many years ago. It has since been colorized. Only episodes from the first three Doctor’s suffered destruction, with Troughton getting the worst of it. Those missing have been referred to as Lost in Time.

The fourth Doctor, with that famous scarf.

Tom Baker. When you say the name Doctor Who, most fans of the classic series immediately think of the overly large scarf, fedora hat, and long overcoat. For many, he was the epitome of the character, the one  whom all others are judged against. He was also the longest surviving incarnation. While fighting giant alien spiders, the third Doctor absorbed a huge amount of radiation. He managed to return to UNIT headquarters on Earth, where he collapsed and regenerated. When he came to, thins just were not quite right.

   The Doctor awoke from his regeneration cycle a bit on the manic side. Ordered to bed rest, he snuck out, and attempted to make his way to the TARDIS to leave. After a few hours, he stabilized. This new Doctor was unlike the others, yet still retained small amounts of their personalities. He was a bit of a bohemian at times, could be laid back, yet would get excited and happy when trouble appeared.  Baker embraced the role, he chewed the scenery. This Doctor was, for lack of a better word, fun.

   Tom Baker was out of work when he took the role. He practically begged for it, and he did not disappoint in the least. He gave the role a new energy, a playful edge, and most importantly, Jelly babies. Though he was now free to roam the universe as he wished, he too was called upon by the Time Lords. On one occasion, the practically ordered him to commit genocide, by traveling to the planet Skaro, before the Daleks were created, and his mission was to stop their creation at any cost. He failed, but did manage to delay their rise to power.

    For many fans, he is the best Doctor. I have yet to see all of his stories, but have watched a great deal of them. I tend to bounce between incarnations, getting a feel for each actors take. Tom is high on my list a great Doctors, then again, so is Matt Smith, and you New Who fans, Smith is great as the Doctor, he captures the whimsy of the Doctor’s of old. But more on him later. Tom had some of the best stories. His was truly the Golden age of the Doctor. No actor would hold the role as long as he. He is the quintessential Doctor for many, yet I feel no one actor can truly be the best with a character as diverse as Doctor Who. I will admit though, Tom does come close.

   This Doctor, however, was not all fun and games. He could be aloof at time, keeping to himself. He was also fond of brooding. He was not afraid of taking a life, or letting a life be taken in the name of the larger picture. He was perhaps one of the most alien of incarnations. Even his own people considered him odd. He was even manipulated by outside forces to claim the Presidency of the Time Lords, in a plot to bring about their destruction. When the plot failed, the Time Lords wished for him to stay and rule, but he did what he always would do, run!

   Baker embraced every character quirk the writers could throw at him. He would show great anger when it was called for. He could also make it seem as though the Doctor was humorously keeping things from those around him, not letting them in on the joke, so to speak. It was a brilliant take on a character who was, let’s face it, an alien. Yet, even his run on the show would come to an end, and the next actor would bring a complete change to the character.

The fifth Doctor, celery and all.

Peter Davison. When Davison was announced as being Baker’s replacement, there was an uproar in the fandom. They felt he was too young to portray such an iconic role. A similar incident occurred recently when Matt Smith was announced to be replacing David Tennant, Smith being a mere twenty-eight. Davison’s take , however, was embraced, and has even been know to be many fans favorite.

   When he first regenerated, his memory was gone, and he was very weak. He was making no sense, and scared his companions. Ultimately, he was able to pull himself together in time to yet again foil a dastardly plan of the Master’s.

   This Doctor was decidedly more human then the rest, and the complete opposite from Baker’s take. He could be cowardly, abhorred violence of all kinds, preferring to talk his way out. In a crunch, he could become panicky and indecisive. Yet he could still match wits with the worst of his enemies. He even refused to use the Doctor’s signature piece of technology, the sonic screwdriver, though this was more because the producers did not want it to become the fallback item to get the Doctor out of trouble. The Tenth Doctor would later go on to rib him about this, when the two met during an accidental crossing of their respective TARDIS’.

   He had a penchant for playing cricket, and was known to wear a celery stalk upon his left lapel. He could also figure out the ingredients of any drink simply by the smell.  He was also less likely to take charge of a situation, preferring to follow the lead of others. This was a huge deviation from his predecessors, who would all take the reigns in a bad situation.

   Davison brought a compassion to the Doctor some feel he was always lacking. He could play the Doctor as soft and gentle, yet could also show how, despite all his knowledge and technology, there were still things that frightened him greatly. This vulnerability was a novel concept for a character that always seemed to be in control in the past. His take also ranks as one of the best. However, he took advise from Jon Pertwee, and stuck to it. Pertwee told him to play the role no longer then three years, and that is exactly what he did. When his time was up, a new regeneration took place, and the show, for some, began a downward trend.

The sixth Doctor, refugee from Munchkin Land?

Colin Baker. Poor Colin Baker, he was doomed from the start. He was not allowed to give his own take on the character, but forced to play him as the studio wanted. This meant that he has gotten a reputation for being the worst Doctor to ever grace the screen. I personally do not think this way. He simply tried to make the best of a bad situation.
  
    It was during Colin’s run that the show began to fail, mostly due to a budget that was slashed to nearly nothing. The BBC really had no love for the show anymore, and the end was nearing for this much loved character, though history would see that, like the Doctor himself, the show could regenerate.

    When the fifth Doctor regenerated, it was immediately known that this new Doctor was a bit arrogant. As the seasons progressed, this would prove to be an understatement. He was prone to some rather violent outburst, especially in the first few hours of his new form. He even would go on to attack and nearly choke to death his companion Peri. He was diametrically the opposite of the fifth Doctor. He could be nasty, cruel, and stubborn. His behavior has even been labeled as downright childish.

    His outfit was almost as gaudy as his personality. Sporting a coat that looked as if someone in OZ had gotten drunk one day and had patched it all together from the munchkins! His hair was huge, curly and blond. He also had a dislike for exercise, and carrot juice, both of which another of his companions had forced on him.

   This incarnation, however, would become the scapegoat for a Time Lord cover-up. His accuser, a Time Lord known as The Valeyard. The Valeyard was ruthless. During the doctors trial, which lasted an entire season, the Valeyard would present evidence from a Time Lord recording device known as the Matrix. It was supposed to be infallible, and no-one could tamper with it. Unfortunately , the Valeyard found a way and had painted the Doctor in a very bad light. As the trial progressed, the Doctor worked out what was going on. He was being put on trial so that the Time Lords could erase history. They needed to wash their hands of bloodshed they had caused, and decided the Doctor should take the fall. It did not work though.

   The Valeyard, it would turn out, was a possible incarnation of the Doctor himself, one from a time between his twelfth and thirteenth lives. Somehow, all the evil within the Doctor was driven out to become the Valeyard. Ironically, all this information was presented to the tribunal through the Doctor’s own worst enemy, the Master. The Master’s hope was, that the Doctor and Valeyard would fight it out within the Matrix and destroy each other. In the end, the Doctor won.

    Colin Baker tried, he really did, and there are a few episodes where a likeable charm was shown in the Doctor. The studio, however put the show on hiatus and fired Baker. They then, when the show returned a year later, had the audacity to ask him to return for the regeneration scene at the beginning of the next season. He declined, having been burned by the BBC, and so the next actor was simply shot in the rainbow coat and blond wig, with special effects blurring the face.

   I feel bad for Colin Baker, he was really handed the short stick. He does not deserve the reputation he has as being the worst. His hands were tied, and that is the real tragedy of his run.

The seventh Doctor, looking sullen.

Sylvester McCoy. Sylvester McCoy would only play the Doctor for two seasons, and briefly in one television movie. His Doctor would be the last to be seen until 1996. After the hiatus, the BBC decided to give the show one more shot. They still gave it a crap budget, but gave a little more creativity back to the actor. At first, this worked, but then the writers decided to take the Doctor to a darker path, that of a great manipulator, using those around him, friend and foe alike, as if they were mere chess pieces to do with as he pleased.

    The sixth Doctor , flying in his TARDIS, came under attack from another rouge Time Lord he had dealt with in the past, the Rani. During the fighting, he had hit his hard enough to trigger a regeneration. The man that emerged had no idea who he was or what he was doing. He eventually regained his senses, and began a more cheerful and good natured fellow. This was not to last, as he matured, he became someone prone to alienate himself from those closest to him, causing them to leave his side, one by one.

   He would dress a bit more conservatively then his predecessor, fond of white or light clothing, at first, and always wearing a panama hat. He could be seen carrying an umbrella that had a question mark for a handle. He was also, as far as this writing, the last Doctor, to use old Bessie.
This incarnation, at one point, was even accused of being Merlin himself. This turned out to be true, from a certain point of view. As they say, technology to a primitive would seem no different then magic.

   As he grew older, he was left on his own, and would be found to peacefully roam the universe. His end came when he was asked to retrieve the remains of the Master, recently executed on the Dalek home world of Skaro. Upon his return to Gallifrey, the Master’s essence escaped, and corrupted the TARDIS, causing it to crash land in 1999 San Francisco on New Years Eve. Unfortunately it landed in an alley where a gunfight had broken out, and as he emerged, he was shot twice. The doctors in the hospital thought he was human, not realizing he had two heart. The gave him a heavy dose of anesthesia, and did an exploratory to determine the irregular heartbeat, which caused him to expire. Due to the anesthesia, his regeneration was delayed to the point where he was already sitting in the morgue.

   McCoy brought back the crazy old uncle appeal the Doctor had in old days. He had a quirky smile, and would play the Doctor as dumb, to make his enemies underestimate him. Alas, he too was subject to the whims of writers who really did not care for the character, and they forced McCoy to go darker, to treat those around him on screen as if they were mere plaything. I think this is what eventually led to the series cancellation in 1989. Officially, it was put back on hiatus, and with the exception of the 1996 movie, it would not grace the screen for another sixteen years.

 
The eighth Doctor, destroyer of worlds.

Paul McGann. A plan was made to attempt to resurrect the Doctor, get him back into television sets across the world. It was a bold idea, but would not go the way they planned. A television movie, picking up with the seventh Doctor on his return from Skaro. As stated above, due to gunshot wounds, and human doctors no realizing he was an alien, he died, and regenerated in the morgue. The new man that would emerge would dress more elegantly. He also was far more romantic. In the grand scheme of the character, he would become the most important incarnation.
   
    The T.V. movie, simply titled Doctor Who, would see the Doctor pitted against a new form of the Master. The Masters essence would possess a human, and his ultimate goal was to steal not only the TARDIS, but the rest of the Doctor’s regenerations. To this end, he opened the Heart of the TARDIS, the time vortex itself. If left open, the Earth, and then eventually, the entire universe, would be sucked inside and destroyed. The Doctor outsmarted him, and the day was saved. He would not , however, get the girl and travel on as before. He left Earth alone.

    I will talk about McGann’s performance before getting into why this Doctor was so important to those that would follow. McGann did a fantastic job, he had a childish glee about him, and a very romantic edge that had been sorely lacking from the first seven Doctors. He would take delight in simple things, and this makes him a little endearing. I think, if a regular series had developed out of this, he would have been a pleasure to watch. As it was, the movie did not have the desired affect, and there would be no new Doctor Who till 2005.

   Now, why was this Doctor so much more important then the rest? This Doctor was the one who would change everything. During his tenure, The Last Great Time War would break out between the Time Lords and the Daleks. Thousands of innocent worlds and even galaxies would be destroyed. Millions would die every second, only to be resurrected anew to continue the fighting. As the war reached it’s penultimate climax, the Time Lords had become as evil and ruthless as the Daleks. The Doctor was left with no choice. He used a weapon known only as The Moment, destroying not only the Daleks and their home world of Skaro, but also his own home, Gallifrey, and his own race. His last act before succumbing to regeneration, or death, was to use his TARDIS to time-lock the entire war, so that no-one, not Time Lord or Dalek, could escape. He was left alone in the universe, the last of his kind. From this point on, he would acquire a few names. One was The Destroyer of Worlds, another, The Oncoming Storm.

   The Doctor that would emerge after the horrors of the Time War would be a bitter and scarred individual. He would carry the guilt of having caused his own peoples extinction. The Eighth Doctor would prove to be the deadliest. Though what he did was necessary, for if he did not, time itself would have been brought to an end. Though much of what I wrote can be seen as speculation, there was enough evidence given in the newer series to come to these conclusions. The Doctor would admit his hand in ending the war, he would admit that his people had been corrupted. The pieces of the puzzle are there, and what I presented is the most logical sequence of events that had played out. One day, I hope the full story of the Time War emerges, I think it would be truly fascinating.

The ninth Doctor, a man in mourning.

Christopher Eccleston. In 2004, producer and writer Russell T. Davies , know for the show Queer as Folk, had convinced the BBC that the time was right to delve into Doctor Who again. So, in 2005, after an eternity of waiting by old school Who fans, a new Doctor once again graced our screen. This incarnation would be vastly different. Fond of saying the word fantastic to describe a situation, good or bad, the guilt he carried would show through again and again. He was known to dress in black, dark shirts, pants, and a black leather jacket, a subtle nod to the mourning he was doing.

   We meet him first though the eyes of Rose Tyler, a nobody who latterly ran into him in the basement of the department store which she worked. His first word to her “RUN!” As things progressed, he tried to keep his distance, the last thing he needed was a companion, someone else who’s life could end under his watch. He eventually relented, and with her help, he would get past the worst of his guilt, but his anger still would remain. When Rose caused a paradox by saving her fathers life, he referred to her as another stupid ape.
  
    The true bitterness he carried would manifest itself fully, when he and Rose wound up in a bunker in 2012 that had been turned into a museum of alien artifacts, including the head of a Cyberman, by a rich collector. The TARDIS had drawn them there because of a distress signal. When the Doctor is captured, he learns that the collector has a live specimen, and this specimen had sent the call. Locked in a dark room with the creature, he is horrified to find out it is the last surviving Dalek. Damaged and without orders, it was powerless and helpless. The Doctor’s first instinct was to destroy it, but he is prevented. He goes into a mad foaming rage, because no-one knows what the creature is capable of.

   When the Dalek escapes and murders nearly everyone in the base, the Doctor is even more determined to destroy it. However, the Dalek had repaired itself using a sample of Rose’s human DNA, which had the effect of changing the Dalek. In the end, all it wanted was the sunshine on its face, one last time. It opened its casing, felt the warmth, then decide to kill itself. The Doctor learned a great lesson that day.

   He was changed from that point, he realized he was fallible. He had admitted to the Dalek that he had destroyed both their worlds and peoples. He began to let go of the survivors guilt and anger. By the end of his life, he would again face a Dalek invasion. He was given the choice of being able to destroy the fleet at the cost of the Earth, but he relented. He was resigned to death, but was spared when Rose looked into the Heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex. She destroyed the fleet with a thought. In an act that would cost him his life but spare hers, he took the vortex into himself and returned it to the TARDIS.

   Eccleston was at first excited to play the role. He brought a new energy and excitement to the role. He could be charming with his big goofy smile. He would show a wit and manicness that would endear the character to many yet again after a long delay. As the filming progressed, however, he felt he could not give the character exactly what the writers and producers wanted, so, he left. He would have the second shortest run as the Doctor, but he ensured that the series would live on.

the tenth Doctor, not to be crossed!

David Tennant. After the Doctor sacrificed himself to save Rose, he picked up his conversation with her right where he left off, though stopping to comment on how new teeth felt weird. Almost immediately , something was wrong. His regeneration was not smooth, the effects of the Time Vortex were causing him to have seizures. He begins acting crazy and flies the TARDIS so erratically, it ends up crashing on Earth, just outside of Rose’s  apartment. Her mom and boyfriend Micky rush to the box as the Doctor stumbles out. He sees them, puts his arms on both their shoulders, tells them Merry Christmas, and passes out. Eventually, he gets some good old tea, and it sets him right, just in time to stop an invasion by the Sycorax.

   This version had a bit more humor, until you crossed him. He would only give you one chance at redemption. After that, all bets were off. He could be vindictive, and at times, cause a fate worse then death, as he did with the Family Blood. They came from a race that lived a very short lifespan, measured in days. They wanted to use the Doctor’s life-force to grant them immortality. He hid himself using a bit of Time Lord technology to turn himself human and erase his memories, storing them for future restoration in a simple pocket watch. The Family tracked him down, and killed many innocents to get to him. When his memory was restored, he destroyed their ship, but gave the four members of the family their wish for immortality, but in twisted, vengeful ways.

   He went through numerous companions, loosing Rose in a parallel universe, his second, Martha Jones, left on her own, because she loved him, but knew he would never love her. After he had to wipe the memories of his final companion, Donna Noble, he decided to travel alone. He was eventually told that his time was ending, something was returning, and that he would knock four times. These were all clues to how his life would end, so he did what he always would do, he ran, trying to avoid his fate. His arrogance blinded him, he declared himself not the survivor of the Time War, but the winner, the Time Lord victorious. Unfortunately, as soon as he did, he found out how wrong he truly was.

   At the end of his life, his old enemy returned from the dead, The Master. His body was unstable, and though the Doctor tried to offer him help, the Master refused, using alien technology to turn the entire population of the Earth into himself. Unknown to either the Doctor or the Master, Rassilon, the resurrected leader of the Time Lords during the war, had managed to create a loophole to allow Gallifrey to escape it’s fate. Using the point in time of the Masters childhood, when he looked into the Untempered Schism and went insane, a simple rhythm was placed in the Masters head, a constant drumbeat that was the driving force of his madness. The ultimate goal of all this, to bring about the Final Sanction, the end of time itself, to allow the Time Lord to evolve into beings of pure energy. Working together the Master and the Doctor stopped Rassilon, and flung Gallifrey back into the hell of the time war, the Master sacrificing himself to accomplish this.

   Overjoyed that he had survived, he was snapped out of his reverie by a small tapping sound, four taps. Donna’s Grandfather Wilf, who had been helping the Doctor, was locked in a radiation chamber. In order to save him, the Doctor would be forced to absorb the radiation himself. He did so, despite Wilf’s pleas not to. He took Wilf home, and decided, in the short time he had left, to say goodbye to his old friends, in his own way. Defiant to the end, he tried to hold off his regeneration to the point where when it did happen, it was so violent, it destroyed the interior of the TARDIS control room, causing it to begin to crash back to Earth, pouring out smoke, the new Doctor inside, giddy with glee over the danger.

  David Tennant is arguably the most popular amongst the New Who fans. However, these very same fans, for the most part, have seen little to none of the classic series. He did bring a new twist on the character, making him a lot more hip, always spouting pop culture references. As time went on, he would become more melancholy, as his companions were taken from him one by one. David could convey the pain behind the Doctor’s old , weary eyes very well. When he was serious, you knew someone was going to pay for crossing the Doctor.

   There was one thing, however, about this version of the Doctor that just never sat right with me. He had an air about him of being vastly superior to everyone in the universe. This arrogance would bite him again and again, causing him to loose many close to him. He though himself perfect, infallible. In the end, he knew he wasn’t, but was still afraid to let go, admitting that regeneration felt like death, everything he was would be lost, and a new man would go off  and continue the journey. All the other Doctors seemed to embrace regeneration, as if it was just as normal as breathing. The Tenth mourned it. I think what he was really mourning was that he had been wrong, that he was imperfect. For many, in reality, this can be a very hard lesson to learn.

The eleventh Doctor, bow ties are cool.
Matt Smith.  When David Tennant announced he was planning on leaving the role of the Doctor, everyone wondered who they could replace him with. When Matt Smith was announced, there was an almost immediate backlash. He is the youngest actor to date to play the role. I feel, however, that an actor should not be judge by his age, but what he brings to the role. Matt brings a lot to his take on the Doctor. He has, for many of the Classic Who fans, brought the Doctor back to his roots.

   While coming to grips with the violent regeneration that had created him, the Doctor was trying to get the TARDIS under control, all while hanging out the door. Narrowly avoiding crashing into Big Ben, he ends up crashing the TARDIS on its side, in the back yard of little Amelia Pond. Still in his torn and tattered clothes from his regeneration, he tries to help Amelia with a crack in her wall, that is really a crack in the skin of the universe. As he is trying to figure it out, the warning bell on the TARDIS goes off, and he needs to do a quick jump in time to stabilize it. What should have been five minutes, turns into twelve years for Amelia.

   He returns, and is locked out of the TARDIS as it repairs itself. As events play out, an alien race is determined to burn the Earth to destroy an escaped prisoner. After catching the escapee for them, and saving the Earth, he calls back the aliens. He then admonishes them for trying to destroy Earth, showing them that others have tried. Yet they were all stopped, by the previous incarnations of the Doctor. To make his point to the aliens, he calmly walks forward after they see the evidence and says “Hello, I’m the Doctor. Basically…run.”  The aliens get the hint, and quickly leave, and all this was just in the first few hours of his current life.

   This Doctor harkens back to the old days, the definitive fish out of water. He is truly alien, and it shows. He still retains a bit of arrogance, in that he is constantly telling others to shut up when he is talking. However, he has learned a great deal of humility, and will admit when he is wrong. He may look young, but there is a boundless wisdom brought on by old age behind his eyes. He can be a fast talker, trying to use deception to his advantage, but in one instance, even he told a lie too big for his psychic paper. He still possesses that childlike glee when there is danger, but he tempers it more with a bit of caution.

    The Eleventh Doctor is very awkward in social situations. He can be completely clueless at times, which his companions seem to catch and poke fun at. He is far from normal, and this is a good thing. Yet, he can at the same time convey a great deal of authority, while using a very quiet speaking tone. He can be prone to great fits of anger when the simplest of things frustrates him. Yet it is the quiet anger that one needs to be wary of. As one foe learned, he was able to take down everything she had set in motion, simply because she failed to even remember one of her victims names. Though, he also flew off the handle a bit at the beginning of a football match he was playing, misunderstanding the phrase “We are gonna kill them!” thinking he meant there would be violence, yet halfway through his admonishing speech, he got it, and was apologetic. He also showed he had absolutely no idea how to handle simple kissing, and could offer no advice to a companion who would experience his first.

   Matt Smith has caused the rift between the two fandom factions. The Classic fans love his take on the Doctor, saying how much he reminds them of the old Tom Baker days. The New Who fans, well, he isn’t David Tennant, so they hate him, yet have no evidence to put behind that statement. The accuse him of trying to be too much like Tennant, which he is far from guilty of, and yet others complain because they feel he is not enough like Tennant, and really, that is the point of the Doctor, every regeneration is different from the last.

   Matt is just fantastic as the Doctor. His outfit makes him stand out as being not quite the norm. He can play both the quiet emotional scenes just as well as the loud, boasting, “I am the Doctor” scenes, with equal professionalism. He is having fun with the role, and I feel that is what is important. Time will tell how he will be received, having only one full season under his belt. The looks he gives when the Doctor is confused are just brilliant. His eyes can convey so much, which is a sign of a good actor. Is he the perfect Doctor? Some say yes, some say no. I will say, let us see what happens. As I stated above, I have no clear favorite, since each actor brought their own personal touch to the role. So far, Matt has done a good job trying to fill the much loved shoes of David Tennant.

    We shall end here, as this is a very long installment, and those with ADD have probably stopped reading at Tom Baker. Next we, I will conclude my look at Doctor Who, and try to leave it to you who is the best and worst Doctor. I will also take a more in depth look at a few of the Doctor's best know villains. I hope you will join me then. As always, remember, we are simply the universe, trying to find it's voice, we are one.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Best of/Worst of 5, part 1






Best of/Worst of 5
By
Kevin Scott Bolinger



   Greetings and salutations. Welcome to what will be my first real deviation from my usual format of presenting the best of a subject followed by the worst. I am about to embark on what will probably be a multiple part blog on the subject I have chosen. As we near the fifty year anniversary of this fantastic show, I feel the need to delve into the realm of Doctor Who.
  
    Fear not, however, I am not going to do one of those blogs saying , so and so was a better Doctor. Those really are not fair. The whole point to the character of the Doctor is change. As he regenerates into a new person, he has new quirks. Some come off as stuffy and proper, others as manic, and yet others as being a complete fish out of water, which is the true essence of the character. What I will do here, over the next few weeks, is present information on the show, it’s rich history, and each of the actors to portray the Doctor, and what they each brought to the character. In the end, I will leave it to those who read this to make up their own minds as to who is the best…Who.

   The main problem with doing a best Doctor type blog is simple. There is a huge chasm in the fan base. On one side, you have fans who were watching the show as children, and grew up with the older shows. On the other side, we have the next generation fans, those who have only experienced the last three incarnations of The Doctor. Many on the New Who side have freely admitted to not watching the Classic Who at all. To them I say this, until you get off your duff and actually watch at least a few episodes from all eleven portrayals of the Doctor, your opinion does not hold much weight with me. I am sorry, but a show that has been around since 1963 deserve the proper respect it has earned. You cannot just throw out lines like “David Tennant is the best Doctor.” then follow that with “I have never seen the old episodes.” That is just plain rubbish. You do not judge a book by reading only the last three chapters, now do you?

     So, there we were, the year 1963, and the BBC aired the very first episode of a show called Doctor Who. The show in question, “An Unearthly Child”, an episode that laid the groundwork for those that would follow. As the show went on, more is learned about the titular character, who demanded to be called just The Doctor. He was an alien, from the planet Gallifrey, a rather large and distant world where his kind, a race know as Time Lords had technology that allowed them to traverse space and time. They possessed ships, known as TARDIS , which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space, that were thousands of times larger on the inside then they appeared on the outside.
The Beautiful Blue Box!



    The Doctor’s TARDIS was, as we learn, stolen by him. We also learn that all TARDIS are equipped with a chameleon circuit, which is supposed to disguise the ship as a common object relative to the time and place upon which it lands. Unfortunately for The Doctor, the chameleon circuit on his ship is broken, leaving the ship stuck in the last form it took, an old English Police Box from the 1950’s. Attempts to repair it were made, with disastrous results, including the TARDIS taking the form of a pipe organ.  TARDIS’ are grown, they are partially alive. There are times where the ship takes the Doctor not where he wants to go, but where he needs to be.

    Time Lord’s themselves are a quirky bunch. They have laws they must all obey, the main one being non interference in the natural flow of events on any world. They have a binary vascular system, or two hearts. Another interesting aspect is that they can regenerate to stave off death. This was actually written into the show when the original actor to portray the character, William Hartnell, was suffering health issues and had to quit the show. It was a brilliant move on the producers part. This simple act, changing every cell in a time lords body, becoming in essence a new being altogether, was what has kept the show fresh and exciting.

      As I said, the Doctor stole his TARDIS, and was considered a renegade amongst his people. He would routinely defy them, and ultimately, in the end, he was destined to destroy them, for they had become corrupt in such a way that he was left with no option. He has had many companions that would travel with him over the long years of his life, he being over nine hundred years old. Some stood by him to the bitter end, others were killed, either through his action, or inactions. Others simply moved on, growing weary of the constant danger and adventure. Ultimately the Doctor is doomed to roam the universe alone, the last of his kind.

   He has faced many foes over the long years, the most famous being The Daleks, the race his people had battled across time itself. The Daleks started as mutants from the planet Skaro, created by the insane genius Davros. They were an armored shell, with deadly weapons and a single eye stalk. Inside, was a small tentacled being, one full of hatred for anything not Dalek. Emotions such as love, compassion, sympathy, had all been removed from them. Their goal, exterminate all life that was not pure, not Dalek. It was the war with them that caused Gallifrey to burn, and the Time Lords to become all but extinct.
Is this a pepper shaker? Nope, just a Dalek.




   The next well known foe has to be, the Cybermen. Robots with human brains inside their heads. Originally possessing a weakness to gold, in recent years, a new form has been created, using human technology. The first Cybermen to menace the Doctor came from Earth’s twin planet, Mondas, which was destroyed at one point during the early run of the show. They also want to make the universe in their image.
Cybermen through the years



      The Sontarans should be next, a clone race of warrior, fighting a never ending war. In early stories they would run experiments on humans. One even gave firearm technology to middle age man. They are short, with a very potato like appearance. They live for war, and no race is better at fighting war then the Sontaran.

   The Icemen of Mars were an early thorn in the Doctors side, as were the vervoids, deadly plants that could wipe out all animal life on a planet if given the chance. The list of classic enemies goes on and on. But there was one, one who would tax the Doctor to the limit. He was his polar opposite, and the only other Time Lord to escape the Last Great Time War. He was simply known as, The Master.

    The Master started life as a friend of the Doctors, long before they were know by the names they now use. But his mind was twisted by the untempered schism, a rift in time and space that all Time Lord must look into at an early age. Some would see all of time, others would run in fear, and a few, would go insane. For the Doctor, he ran, and never stopped. For the Master, insanity was his lot, an insanity that would drive him to time and again attempt to destroy The Doctor. He was always outwitted, and on a few rare occasions, even came to the Doctors aid. In the end, he sacrificed himself to undo a great treachery the Time Lords were trying to bring to the universe.
The different faces of The Master



   So, we have our background established, now it will be time to explore each incarnation of The Doctor. I shall present a brief description of the Doctor, starting with his first life. I will try and present both pros and cons about the portrayal. I will not rate each one, though some may get more love then others. No, I have not seen every classic episode of Doctor Who, however, I have watched many from all eleven Doctors. I am slowly getting through them all, but nearly fifty years of programming is a lot to sit through. I feel each actors performance gave the character something new, yet each still had a gleam of those that had come before. So, let us begin, shall we?

    I am going to stop there, due to the fact that to properly look at each actor in turn, I feel a separate blog will be in order. So, next week, I will present part two of this  look at Doctor Who, starting with William Hartnell. I hope you stick around through this little project of mine. Till then, we are all simply the universe, trying to find it's voice, we are one.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Best of/Worst of 4



Best of/Worst of 4
By
Kevin Scott Bolinger



   Greetings and salutations. I know this is over a week late, but illness beset me, and for that I apologize. This week I will bring you what I feel is one of the worst science fiction shows ever created, and I beg to ask why it was made in the first place. Back in the seventies and eighties, there was this idea that many successful of even semi-successful films would make for good weekly television shows. In some cases this was a great idea, such as shows like M.A.S.H. , taken from the film of the same name, Airwolf, taken from the concept of Blue Thunder, (A show made directly from Blue Thunder was a failure, for some odd reason,) and to a lesser extent, the original Battlestar Galactica, itself a slight rip-off of Star Wars. Other shows sadly fell into the category of utter crap. Today’s subject falls into that category. I present to you, Automan.

     Back in 1982, the Disney corporation brought to life a film that took place inside the computer. I am of course speaking of that wonderful cult film TRON. It was a novel idea, maybe a bit ahead of it’s time, but still, was one of the first widespread use of computer graphics in a movie, something we take for granted today. Someone, back at ABC saw this and thought “Wow, that would make a great T.V. show.” How wrong they were.  Using a cheaper rip-off version of the Tron suit effects, a show was quickly thrown together. Fortunately it did not last long, only twelve episodes ever aired in the original run, the thirteenth produced episode did not see television screens until the SyFy channel broadcast the series a few years ago.

    I will admit, I haven’t seen the show since back when it was first broadcast, so forgive me for any errors I make. I am also aware that many would consider Manimal to be a worse  show, however, I have fond memories of Manimal, and you have to admit, in concept, it was quite original, if lacking in it’s execution. I may elaborate on Manimal at another time, maybe a Best of the Worst side blog.

   The basic premise of Automan is a bit convoluted and wrought with scientific impossibilities. The show centers around a highly intelligent police officer and computer programmer named Walter Nebicher, played by Desi Arnaz Jr. , who creates a highly intelligent crime fighting program that can somehow generate a solid light hologram capable of actually fighting crime and creating things out of thin air, such as a car and a helicopter. Walter names him Automan, and proceeds to use his creation to take down bad guys everywhere. After having said all that, I can see how someone in a drunken stupor could think it was a great idea.
Walter and his creation



   Not only could Automan fight crime, and have his tiny bit like sidekick, named Cursor, (Cursor would literally draw what Automan needed to fight his war on crime,) but, somehow he and Walter could merge, why, I have no idea. Automan on his own was smarter and faster, and invulnerable, so why would he need to merge with a human. During the day, when not living in the computer, or fighting crime, Automan would pose as a government agent named…sigh…Otto J. Mann. I could not make this up if I tried.

   Automan’s vehicles were all capable of making  ninety degree turns, he of course being unaffected by this, but any of his passengers would get tossed around like scrap. He did have a weakness, power shortages, mostly during the day. Why this would be , I have no clue, power stations run both night and day, so really he should have no weakness. I guess it was tossed in so he would not be overly powerful.
Ok, The car is cool, I will give them that.


   I will not even go into the rest of the supporting cast, they were just your generic eighties cop types. A captain that yelled a lot, a partner that was in on the secret. Nothing new or original there either.

   Why was this show even made? I mean really, Tron, at the time was a box office flop, so this show should have never seen the light of day. Movie spin-off shows nowadays are not as prevalent as back then, and this may be a good thing. There are concepts that work well in the confines of a theatrical film that would never translate well over to weekly television. It is best to keep them separate. If you had never seen Automan up to this point, keep it that way. The show is a bad rip-off of a cult classic film. Let us leave it that way.

   Again, I am sorry for this being late, and for being a bit shorter then my normal blogs. Really, there is not a whole lot to say about this show. It was on T.V. for not even half a season, and vanished from memory for the most part. Some ideas should just never see the light of day. Next time, I might switch gears again and move on to something many might have a lot of varying opinions on. If it sparks healthy debates, so much the better. Till then, remember, we are the universe, trying to find it’s voice. We are one.

Tron? Is that you? Oh wait...just a knock-off

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Best of/Worst of 3

Best of/Worst of 3
By
Kevin Scott Bolinger

          Greetings and salutations. Welcome to the third of my Best of /Worst of series. Today I will be switching things up a bit. It is obvious I am a science fiction fan. So, it would seem logical that somewhere out of all the myriad science fiction and fantasy shows that have graced the airwaves over the years there would be one that I would consider the best. So today, I will bring you the series I have come to love, one that can make me laugh, gasp, and in the end, even cry. I bring to you the great labor of love from J Michael Strazinski, Babylon 5.
     Where to begin about this fantastic show. Some of you may have watched it, and for you, this will be a simple refresher. For those of you who have never seen the series, I really do not want to spoil too many major plot points. I will try my best to get across the gist of the show without letting too many of its secrets slip by.


      First off, a bit of back story. The show is set in the twenty-third century, ten years after Earth and humanity had almost become extinct at the hands of a race know and Mimbari.  It was decided that in order to avoid the mistakes made that lead to the war, a place would be created in neutral territory where all the know races in the galaxy could meet and work out their issues. This was known as the Babylon Project. The first three stations, known simply as Babylon 1,2, and 3, were all destroyed by terrorists who wanted to see Earth free from alien influence. Babylon 4 , however, mysteriously vanished twenty-four hours after being brought online. The project almost vanished with it. However, the Mimbari believed so strongly in the need for such a place, that they funded construction of one more, Babylon 5.
      The station itself is five miles in length, though a great section in the center is hollow, inside being a huge park area as well as ambassador quarters. It spins along it’s axis to create gravity.  Ships docking with the station need to match this rotation to enter. It was built in the orbit of Epsilon III , in the Epsilon Eridani system. Faster then light travel was available through access to hyper-space. For smaller ships, this was made possible by what are called  Jump Gates, permanent structures fueled by fusion reactors that would open up a jump point into hyper-space, or for those wishing to exit, a jump point out. Larger ships, such as warships and exploration vessels, could create their own jump points.
A shining beacon in space, all alone in the night...


     The station was far from defenseless. Numerous forms of laser cannons were hidden in her superstructure, and there was even an upgrade done in 2259 to allow far more firepower to be deployed. She also had numerous fighter bays, equipped with fighters known as Star Furies , small one man craft with multidirectional thrusters for high maneuverability. The creators of the show had NASA consult them on the design, to which NASA replied that if there was to be a one manned fighter for space combat, it would look just like that.
      That brings me to a point about this show, the technology show was not so far removed from what we currently have. There was still television, ships closely related to shuttles still were used to land and take off from planetary surfaces, Earth ships, the larger warships, had rotating middle sections to create gravity. Unlike Star Trek, this show used practical solutions for it’s technology, not techno-babble. In the universe of Babylon 5, humanity had slow ships to explore, until they met a race know as the Centauri, who gave them jump gate technology, at a premium cost of course.
     I suppose I should mention a few of the main races in the show. Besides humans, there were many major aliens that had an effect on the outcome of the main plot. First off, the Mimbari, a race divided into three castes, worker, religious, and warrior. They were ruled by the Grey Council, made up of representatives of all three castes, three from each, so no one cast had a deciding vote. They were nearly human in appearance, but instead of hair, they had large boney structures about the backs of their heads. Their technology was far in advanced of Earth, their ships used gravity drives, which gave them artificial gravity on their ships. The relied heavily on ceremony to accomplish anything.
   Next up, since  already mentioned them, the Centauri, a race that once held a great empire in the stars, but had recently fallen into obscurity. Most longed for the days of glories past. They were very human looking, but had sharper fangs. In fact, when they first came to Earth, they claimed it was a long lost colony, but DNA later proved humans were nothing like them. One-hundred years before the show begins, they had enslaved the Narn. This leads to many confrontations during the shows run.
    Moving on to the Narn, since they tie close to the Centauri, they are a race evolved from lizards. Orange  skin, spots and red eyes are their main traits. They were proud warriors who fought a war of attrition to be free from the yoke of the Centauri. However, the cost was the devastation of the Narn home world.
   Next we come to the Vorlon. This race is old, very old. They walk around in encounter suits. No one knows what a Vorlon really looks like. They speak in riddles, that is, when you can get them to talk. They look upon the other races as children.
    Next come the members of the League of Non-Aligned  Worlds, a small confederation of numerous races that work together on occasion. Some of the main races in the League are the Brakiri, Drazi, Pak’Ma’ra, Gaim, Markab, Vree, and many others. Funny thing about the Vree, as a side note, they use flying saucers, and are the race responsible for the kidnapping and probing of humans in the twentieth century. There is even an episode where a human sues the Vree for one of his ancestors.
   Earth, the Mimbari, the Centauri, the Narn, and the Vorlons made up the members of the Babylon 5 advisory council. Each was represented by an ambassador, or in Earths case, whomever was commanding the station. The first commander was Jeffery Sinclair, a survivor of the last battle of the Mimbari war, a battle know as the Battle of the Line. He was hand picked by the Mimbari, despite Earths protests. He came aboard in 2257 when the station came online, but was reassigned shortly after new years of 2259. He was replaced, much to the protest of the Mimbari, by Captain John Sheridan, the only Earth Force Captain to survive and defeat a Mimbari warship.
Captain Sheridan and his crew from season 2

Delenn and Kosh

   The Mimbari were represented by Delenn, a female who was full of many secrets. She is the driving force behind the main events of the series, as well as becoming Sheridan’s wife later on as things progress. I would say more, but that would include more spoilers then I wish to give.
   The Centauri are represented by Londo Molari, a man who would be happier gambling and drinking then negotiating. Londo is perhaps the most tragic of all the main characters on the show. Some go from loving him, to downright despising him. His fate was sealed long before he came to the station.
   The Narn are represented by G’kar, a proud and wise being, though he does not start out as such. His fate is intertwined with Londo’s, the yin to his yang so to speak. He is dragged through hell, yet comes out the other side a far better being. Easily one of my favorites.
Londo and G'kar, forever entwined by fate.


   The Vorlons are represented by Kosh Naranek, though he goes by Kosh. Being a Vorlon, I cannot tell you much about him, he is mysterious, vague, aloof, and downright stubborn. He has a yellow-green encounter suit. He is later replaced by Ulkesh, who has a purple encounter suit, and is far less tolerant of the other races.
    There are many other main characters, and supporting cast, though if I went into each one, this would become a novel. They each have personal issues to deal with, and those are portrayed in a very realistic way. No quick fixes, not antidotes given within the course of one episode. Choices they make, actions they do, have real consequences, there is no resetting at the end of an episode to the status quo.
     This brings me to a point about this show, it is not like most science fictions shows , which are know as episodic television, in which a problem arises, is resolved, and at the end, a magic reset button is applied. Episodic television can be watched from any point in a series run, and you can get the gist of what’s going on. Babylon 5 is a single story, told over a five year period. Each season represents a year in the history of the station, episodes flow linearly. A decision made in one episode might not be resolved until the next season. This was a refreshing change.
     This however did lead to a few problems in the beginning. The pilot, a TV film known as “The Gathering” was not as well received as was hoped. The effects and makeup’s for the aliens not finalized. Season one of the show was dedicated to a lot of character development, with only a few hints at the main plot. Some have a hard time getting through season one, but please, stick with it, by mid season, the show hits it’s stride, and major plot developments begin. Also, during season three, it was decided the show would be cancelled after season four, so season four became a condensed version of what was to be four and five. The shows finale was even filmed at this time, which in hindsight was fortuitous due to the leaving of a major player. In the middle of filming season four, the show was saved by TNT, who would produce the fifth and final season. This cause a few issues, in that many of the major plots had been wrapped up in season four, which lead to season five not having a strong start. It does however end on a high note, of sorts, but more on that later.
    I really cannot give a season by season breakdown due to the amount of spoilers that would occur. I will however bring up two major plots, since they are intertwined. The first is the main villain of the show, simply known as Shadows. Their ships are powerful, can phase in and out of normal space, very hard to destroy, looking like a nightmare spider come to life. They have a human representative named Morden who interacts with other races on their behalf. His calm visage can be disturbing, his smile deadly. His fate, well deserved. The coming of the Shadows also brings about a civil war between the station and Earth, due to illegal orders and the slaughtering of innocent civilians across the galaxy. Earths colonies on Mars and Proxima, along with Babylon 5 are ordered to declare marshal law. They all refuse and are blockaded , however the station has allies, which quickly turn back the forces from Earth. These major plots are completely taken care of at the end of season four, with that season being one of the darkest and most heart wrenching of any science fiction ever brought to the screen.
A child's worst nightmare, a Shadow vessel


     I wish I could tell you more, but this truly is one that needs to be seen and not heard about second hand. I know many may argue that Joss Whedon’s   Firefly should have been number one, however, I have never seen it, and it only lasted a few episodes before cancellation. I know as of this writing it is being brought back for new episodes to air on the Science channel, however, since it was not a full series, it really cannot be added to a list of best of. Babylon 5 on the other hand was a tale that was fully told, almost exactly how it was envisioned in the mid nineteen-eighties by it’s creator. It was a hard fought battle and it was well won. The phrase I use as my sign off for these blogs even comes from the show.
    Babylon 5 makes use of and references many great literary and historical stories that have come before, from the tales of Agamemnon, to The Lord of the Rings, and even the legends of King Arthur. It was a labor of love, with a finale that still brings a tear to my eye every time I watch it. To me the finale ranks up there with M.A.S.H. for being an emotional roller coaster ride. Give the show a chance, it may surprise you in more ways then one. Till then, remember, we are the universe trying to find it’s voice, we are one!