Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12:Part 4- Strifes, Strikes and a Trial

Regenerations #1-11 and What’s in Store for #12 A twelve part series on the episodes, serials, and one Movie that surround the most iconic piece of Doctor Who Cannon, The Regeneration and what will be coming for Peter Capaldi

Part 4- Strifes, Strikes and a Trial

Caves of Androzoni was not an overwhelming episode.  It played off the ideas of Phantom of the Opera with the ultimate goal of eternal life.  Why do evil masterminds never get creative?  They are always searching for ultimate power or eternal life.  For a regeneration story, this lacks pizzazz.  The Doctor sacrifices himself to save Tegan.  The budget restraints of the BBC again show their ugly head.  The regeneration sequences seem unfinished.  In later interviews the Director and producers et all, indicated that there HAD been more planned with the SFX and filming more dialogue to be shot.  There was a strike or two to work around.  Not a good beginning for Colin Baker’s Doctor.  His first story was Twin Dilemma.  A sub par plot of a would be tyrant trying to take over the universe.  This Who episode has some of the worst Doctor Who cliches, including rubber masks, running down endless corridors over and over again, and 1980’s SFX.  There is a second Time Lord present and we don’t get much information about him of the Time Lords.  Also he dies without regenerating!  Colin Baker went on to have the worst time in the TARDIS.  The threat of cancellation was constantly over head, and several strikes ending up closing down BBC for significant periods of time.  This causes The Doctor to be put on Trial.  In the show it was the Time Lord high counsel but in reality it was BBC.

Coming Next Part 5

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary MY Guesses

What do we know?  First we know that the Doctor get called to UNIT for some reason.   Let’s assume (I know, never assume) that they send a signal out to the doctor and accidentally call 11 AND 10.  That accounts for Tennant and Billy Piper being there.  They tell him that they have a creature claiming to be Elizabeth the first in custody and they need him to verify who she is.  She says that she came through a time bubble at Loch Ness so that makes her suspect because that’s where the Zygons were last.  This also accounts for a different actress playing the role.  She turns into a Zygon but she is from the 70’s.  There is still a time bubble.  The Time War is starting to unlock from the Time Lock The Doctor (John Hurt) put on it.  Lord Benthem and The General are the First Time Lords to come through and try to warn The Doctor.  We get to see lots of CGI and Green Screen of the Time War, a regeneration or two (8 to 9, 9 to 10 maybe), some flashbacks of the doctor running away (because the doctor always runs), and we get a plausible explanation for why The Doctor get more the 13 regenerations and why regeneration 13 wasn’t The Valeyard like it was supposed to be. (Maybe he sacrifices a specific regeneration to make the Time Lock that would be a good one to give up)  Of course this is Moffat.  He lies.  The Doctor lies.  Or so we’ve been told.  It is a nice story to cover the fact that they don’t pay the researchers enough.   I think I managed to cover all the shots they’ve let us see.  They certainly have been generous with what they WANT us to see.  However, what we didn’t see it something else.  I am still half betting that the whole thing was filmed on a sound stage and the stuff we saw was staged to make us believe what Moffat wants us to believe.  The only reason that didn’t figure into my plot theory is that the Beebs is too cheap to let Moffat film and throw away the tape.  Even if those shots become an additional episode somewhere on a DVD.  I know that film will be used somewhere.  I wonder if anyone bothered to notice if the cameras they were using were 3D or not?  That would make a difference.

Okay what do you think?  Am I right?  Were they faking?  Is my Plot spot on?  Sound off in the comments!

Twelve guesses for the Twelfth doctor

1.Someone no one has ever heard of- This is my number one pick.  This is the general direction they go.  Most of the doctors were unknown when they were cast.  There was only one that had a heavy TV presence going in was Peter Davidson.
      2.Hugh Laurie- He seems to be the front runner.  I personally think that he is a great actor but he brings too much baggage to the role.  The Doctor as a druggie??

   3.Ruppert Grint- He also seems to be a crowd favorite.  I could see it, but again he brings the baggage of previous roles.  Expecto patronium TARDIS?

   4.Colin Morgan- I personal like this choice but the producers would never go for it.  He was already in an episode. (Midnight) I think he has the ability to take the Doctor in a new direction.

    5.Karen Gillan- Admit it, I made you think.  It has been shown that Time Lords can control the regeneration, remember Romana? The Doctor could be Scottish AND a Lady AND a Ginger!  Hurts your head doesn’t it?!

    6.Idris Elba- I personally see him as too serious for the role but it seems worth mentioning.

    7.Andrew Lee Potts- I think he’s funny and not so well associated with any character.  He’s not too old and plays funny and bumbling well.

    8.Jonas Amrstrong- I loved him in Robin Hood. He might be a touch too serious though.

    9.Sam Troughton- Good with the comedy, loved him in Robin Hood and Bonus Pat Troughton’s grandson! 

   10.Marina Sirtis- Someone else said this.  I thought about and it would be a different way to go.  I’m not sure it would play well with all the audiences.  I love her though!

   11.Aidian Turner- He’s cute and broody.  What else can you say?  Wait, I take that back, he’s hot!

   12.Damien Molony- See above.

Okay, so you can tell I’m US based because I picked a lot of BBC America actors.  I think they will pick someone that no one knows because that is what they always do.  I don’t know why we bother picking or guessing.  If I had my druthers I would pick either Karen or Sam.  That would make my day! :)
*Thank You to www.imdb.com for the actor profile links!:)
and the Tardis Data Core for Romana's particulars! :)

Spoiler Escape 2013

So I will do a review of Nightmare in Silver later.  Let’s deal with Spoiler Escape 2013.  First, let me say I wish I had bought Season 7B from wherever they let the birdies fly early.  How lucky can you get!  Second, BBC is doing a good job of keeping the spoilers of the net.  I’m not just talking about this mess with the early birdies.  The filming on the fiftieth has been done for about a week, a large part was done outside in full public view and only minimal pictures have surfaced.  They are the same pictures on every site.  They might as well have BBC stamped on the bottom because if they didn’t approve they wouldn’t be there.  They could be enough pictures to get a good idea of the plot.  Also, how come the PA, grips, and best boys haven’t leaked any plot details?  Now that they are in editing all someone has to do is go home mention something to a friend…  It’s the Brits, I swear it is.  This would never happen in America!  How many movies have had the endings out before the Premier?  I don’t know if I can wait a week till the next episode and 6 months till the anniversary.  At least they are running the specials in between and there’s always reruns and classic doctor on DVD.  I have a significant collection, and it’s growing…  Donations can be made to AMAZON.COM, JK, well maybe not, I have a wish list!

http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/368CFTASOATYZ/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_o_C-5

Journey to the Center of the T.A.R.D.I.S.

So I took me a while to write my review of Journey to the Center of the TA.R.D.I.S..  Why? I generally take a couple of views to get all the references to Classic Who and pick up subtleties I might otherwise have missed.  However, the BBC did my work for me.  I really don’t write reviews of the actual episode so I’m kind of at a loss for what to write about.  One thing that sticks out is the interior of the TA.R.D.I.S..  I wasn’t actually impressed with the swimming pool.  Sorry, it was nice but I would have like spas or fountains or flying fish and more than just a passing glimpse.  The Library, now that was cool.  I could spend my life in the library.  The Encyclopedia Galifrey being bottled was cool, although J.K. Rowling might want some copyright money.  The Time war book seems to have caused a lot of tongue wagging on the internet.  I don’t know why, it speaks to the entropy in the universe.  No knowledge is ever lost.  My personal theory is that the Doctor swiped it from The Library (The planet, not his).  If Clara learned the Doctor’s name, the knowledge is out there now to be learned, she won’t “forget it” now.  The brothers that ran the salvage yard remembered some things and Clara is plucky, bright, and determined, otherwise she wouldn’t be a companion.  What was infinitely more interesting was Clara’s reaction to “apparently” learning the Doctor’s name.  (We don’t know that’s what she read, it could have be a line explain the T.A.R.D.I.S. in a simple way or something) Clara implied that the information that she read was something she ALREADY knew!  At least that’s the way I interpreted it.  I felt that there was too much crammed into the story.  I’ve been watching “Classic” Who and this story would have done well as a 4 or 6 part serial with the secondary story of the brothers expanded and more exploration of the T.A.R.D.I.S..  So all in all a meh episode.  It served to move the plot forward, sort of, except where it didn’t because of the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff.  Clara learned who the Doctor was, maybe, except she didn’t because she doesn’t remember.  Only two things really happened.  One the Doctor asked Clara what she was and she said “Clara” and didn’t know about the other three versions of herself.  Two, the salvage brothers were nicer to each other.  Let’s see what happens next week when Dame Diane Rigg joins us for The Crimson Horror!

N.B. Clara said." So that's Who.." And Also the Key to the T.A.R.D.I.S. say Smiths has to be important or they wouldn't have shown it.

Who is the Doctor?

I was sitting here and had a horrible thought.  The doctor always lies, right?  He never has a girlfriend, except for once when he was kinda sorta married.  He's old and British.  He has a critical thinking mind.  He cant resist a puzzle.  He's very witty and thinks no one knows more then him.  He's unconvential.  No one calls him by his full name.  He's a maverick who doesn't follow the rules.  He has one or more people that he directs to do his bidding.  HOUSE!!!!  Everybody lies.  What a great misdirect!!  House is writing the whole thing as a book while in jail.  What about that?

N.B. I was watching some of the extras on The Key to Time series and they(the prodcures and writers) made references to Sherlock Holmes.  This explains a lot.  The writers for House had said they intended it to be "Sherlock Homes in a Hospital setting".  Also a neat fact, the writers for Doctor Who said that they wrote the Master to be the Doctor's Moriarty.

Random

So forgive if I ramble a bit on this, I’m not sure where I’m going but I’ll know when I get there.  I ordered a brunch of stuff from #Amazon the other day.  Most of it was from Amazon directly but one item was from another seller.  The item from the other seller shipped first.  It was shipped #USPS first class and I expected it to arrive it about two days.  It took four.  The items from that came from Amazon directly shipped later and arrived the same day as the other package. The Amazon package was shipped #FedEx Smartpost which basically means that FedEx sends it through the USPS but guarantees delivery on time. Of  course to complete my day, one of my videos(which was sealed) was missing a disk.  I told Amazon and they have agree to replace it and refund me the money plus shipping.  I guess it was a screw up on #BBC Enterprises’ fault.  Sitting back and thinking about it I guess overall I’m happy with Amazon, pissed that I can’t watch my video, mad that I had to wait so long(when will someone invent transporters already), and happy that I will be getting my money back and that I have videos to watch and books to read.

Doctor Who Announcement

Is it just me or was the hype not worth it?  There was massive hype that a big announcement was coming on January 23, 2013 regarding Doctor Who.  There were many rumors varying from believable to far fetched.  I particularly liked some of them.  I also have a few of my own.  How about that the doctor is real and actually left his blue book in 1963 when he came back in time?  Why was he back here?  To save Kennedy of course!  And because he screwed up he was turned into a human.  The 50th anniversary revives him and we find out Doctor Who! But seriously BBC you promised us that the doctor would take over our TV's this year.  At the very least, run old episodes more then the ten promised.  It's better then leftover Kitchen Nightmares or Top Gears.