New Month New Challenge

Well, the Doctor Who Challenge was a lot of fun. Hope you all enjoyed it, and enjoyed last night's episode of Doctor Who.  But tomorrow we kick off a new month, and I think it is time to start a new challenge.  And since April starts with April Fools Day, I think it will be time to extend that to all of April.  Our new challenge will be 30 Days of April Foolishness.  I will be sharing daily pictures and videos designed to make you laugh.  I have no set pattern as I did for March. It will just be random silliness.

As a foolish preview, here is the meet the meat segment from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, BBC TV version.  The meat is played by Peter Davison (Doctor #5) and Trillian (the blond) is played by his wife at the time, Sandra Dickerson (mother of Georgia Moffet who is married to David Tennant...sorry must tie everything to Doctor Who when possible).

Doctor Who Challenge Day 30: When did you become a fan?

I became a fan the first time a friend from high school told me about the show,  I tuned to channel 11, PBS for Chicago at the time late one Sunday night, and nearly crawled out of my skin watching Talons of Weng Chiang.  This is a longer episode, so cut off mid story for a cliff hanger. Of course I was hooked, and came back week after week.

Don't forget to tune in tonight as season 7 continues!!!

Doctor Who Challenge Day 29: Favorite Guest Star

Well  friends it is almost over.  We have only one more day of the challenge and only one day until season 7 resumes.  for today's task we search for favorite Guest Star.  I define a guest as someone who appears in only 1 or 2 episodes.  For me, my favorite guest star was in the episode A Christmas Carol.  The guest star is the lovely and talented Katherine Jenkins.  Her song at the end of the episode is stunning and beautiful.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 28: Favorite Collectable

Okay, so in the challenge I stole my challenge from, day 28 was illegible, couldn't make it out at all, so I made this one up.  There are so many great Doctor Who collectables.  I have several, and my list is growing, but my all time favorite was my original Doctor Who Scarf, I had this from High school, and through college and beyond, then stupidly sold it on ebay.  Hope to have one again soon.  I have no picture of mine, but you know the scarf... Here's one from EBay:

Doctor Who Challenge Day 27: Favorite Interview or Press Appearance

All right, this is a fun one. Here we got to see the cast as themselves.  I have never been to comic con, or to a Doctor Who convention.  Did do a Star Trek convention once.  But of course with YouTube you can have the fun of a convention, without having to go to one.  In This clip from comic con 2012 Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill perform an impromptu version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 26: Favorite Gadget

Well, the TARDIS alone is a pretty nifty gadget...but is so much more.  We've already dealt with K-9, and Chameleon we really never got to fully so how he worked.  So of course the best gadget is the Sonic Screwdriver.  This has been around since Doctor #2, morphing a bit with each new Doctor.
Here we see #11 using it. Note in some scenes he still has #10's screwdriver...the one with a green light is #11's own model.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 25: Favorite Doctor Catch Phrase

Although I love Matt Smith saying "Bow ties are cool" (or Fezzes, or Stetsons), there can really only be one answer to Favorite catch phrase.  You figure it out from this clip.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 24: Favorite Quote

Well heck, give me 11 days for this, one for each Doctor, and I'd still have problems choosing.  But for the purpose of this challenge I'm going to pull a quote from my favorite episode.  One that always makes me cry.  This is the Pile of Good Things scene from Vincent and the Doctor.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 23: Favorite Spin-off

With only one week to go, and anticipation getting high for new episodes, we continue the challenge.  Today's is favorite spin-off, with only three choices, I'm going to pick the least obvious.  Most are probably picking Torchwood, but Since I have Captain Jack avoidance issues, I'm not going that way.  That leaves Sarah Jane Adventures or K-9 and Company, both starring the late Liz Sladen.  I'm going with the short lived K-9 and company...just because I want to.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 22: Favorite Friendship

There have been some great friendships on this show. It was hard to pinpoint one as a favorite.  And then it came to me as i watched the scene I chose below.  It's like the saying says, "Dog is man's best friend" and of course K-9 is the Doctor's best friend.  The Doctor has liked, loved or cared for in some way all of his companions.  But the bond with K-9 is special.  My favorite friendship is that between Doctor #4 and K-9.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 21: Favorite Couple

I had to put a little thought into this one, but in the end I think my favorite couple ever on Doctor Who has to be the young hippy couple of Jo Grant and her Biologist love, Doctor Jones as they run off to explore the Amazon at the end of Green Death.  And you can see how hard it is for the Doctor to let Jo go.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 20 Favorite Writer

Ok, so this is a no-brainer.  There can be no favorite writer for Doctor Who other than the AMAZING Douglas Adams. Although officially on 1 episode that aired bares his name as writer (Pirate Planet), he co-write City of Death under the pseudonym David Agnew, and he wrote the unaired episode Shada.

He was also Script editor from Armageddon Factor through Shada.  The man was a comic genius and Tom Baker had just the right comic sense to pull off what Adams could write.  Today's clip is rather longish...it is the first part of the first episode of Shada.  I think you can piece together most of Shada on YouTube, but it's in chunks.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 19: Least Favorite Actress

Seems like all my acting awards come from the Baker Era and this is no exception.  My least favorite actress is Lalla Ward (aka Mrs. Tom Baker at the time).  She played the second Romana, and to me always seemed second string.  The Lovely Mary Tamm decides she needs to leave the show (I think to have a child??) and so the producers say, "hey, how about Tom's wife?"

I never could bring myself to like her. I found her mostly whiny and annoying.  watch for yourself, and you decide.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 18: Favorite Actress

I believe I am stuck in the Tom Baker Era...not a bad place to be.  For favorite actress I choose the classically trained Louise Jamison as Leela.  Trained to perform Shakespeare, she has the difficult task of playing a primitive warrior, encountering technology for the first time.  I think she is just amazing...(and she looks good in the little costume.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 17: Least Favorite Actor

Once again going to the Tom Baker years for this one.  I choose Ian Marter as my least favorite Actor. His portrayal of Harry Sullivan always seems very weak to me...or Harry is just a dull as dirt character...either way, he wins today's prize.  I think the Doctor says it all in this scene.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 16: Favorite Actor

This one seemed tricky to me.  Are we talking as the Doctor?..No we did favorite Doctor...and favorite companion.  The I remembered that Actor is not the same as the character.  We are looking at the persons ability to act...or at least I am.

So for favorite Actor I chose someone who has been with the series through several Doctors.  The late Nicholas Courtney (aka Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart).  In this scene we see his ability to hold a straight face in the face of Tom Baker's comic genius.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 15: Most Annoying Character

This was an easy choice for me.  Since I have been replaying the new series season one.  The characters who just annoy me to death are the Slitheen (hope I spelled that right.  These blubbery aliens, who squeeze themselves into human skins and pass gas the whole time, are by far the most annoying thing in the Who universe (especially the female).

On an up note, one of my favorite Christopher Eccelston quotes is in this clip. Guess which one.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 14: Character You Like that Everyone Else Hates

Ok, I have thought long and hard on this, and i feel I pretty much hate everyone that everyone else hates, so I am reversing this one (because it is my challenge, and my blog, and I can do what I want) and I am presenting the character I hate who everyone else loves.

The character I can't stand, who everyone seems to love (on and off the show) is Captain Jack Harkness.  I find this immortal womanizer/manizer to be cocky, arrogant, and completely annoying.  His charming grin may work on everyone he encounters, but it just pisses me off.  So here he is. Like him if you want, because I don't.  As I like to say, he likes himself so much, he doesn't need me to like him.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 13 Favorite Episode Ever

Okay, in the original challenge day 13 was favorite theme song. I thought that was dumb, since the theme song is the same song, just updated for time. And I noticed it had no spot for favorite episode ever, so I changed day 13.

My favorite episode ever is Vincent and the Doctor, where the Doctor and Amy go back in time to get rid of a monster they see in a Van Gogh painting.  Once again this one is music with clips from the episodes, but this one is really good.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 12: Scariest Episode

I was all set to list my scariest episode as Talons of Weng Chiang.  A classic episode from the Tom Baker with Leela era; and I have to admit it scares the Bejesus out of me.  But then I was watching the first season of new Who and came across a two episode story that really freaked me out also.  It is Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances. It is the episode where the people look like they all have gas masks and the keep asking "Are you my mummy?"  The fact that the gas masks are melded and part of the people just gave me the willies.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 11: Funniest Episode

Although many episodes have humor scattered throughout. For funniest episode, The City of Death, we must turn to the funniest man who ever wrote for the show...and yes he will turn up again in this challenge...the amazing Douglas Adams. Also adding to the funniness was a cameo by John Cleese.

For City of Death Adams was a co-writer, with two others writing under the pseudonym David Agnew; but you can tell it was Adams to the core, as in this hilarious scene.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 10: Saddest Episode

For me there are several episodes that tug at my heart strings. Vincent and the Doctor brings a tear. The Doctor's Daughter, when Jenny dies. Terminus when Nyssa is left behind. Logopolis, when the 4th Doctor falls to his death.

But the episode that tugs at my heart the most is A Good Man Goes To War.  In this episode Amy gives birth to Melody, and then loses her, only to find out that River Song is Melody, and Amy has missed out on the entire life of her child.  This is such a sad and painful thing for a mother to deal with.  I'm not a big fan of the "Doctor Who clips with music" videos, but this one is the best I could find for this show,

Doctor Who Challenge Day 9: Favorite Master

Having already established the Master as my favorite villain, now I must pick a favorite?? Well, the first time I met the Master, it was Anthony Ainley throwing Tom Baker off the giant telescope in Logopolis.  And I thought he did evil pretty well.  But when I went back, and saw some of the Pertwee episodes, I realized that Roger Delgado was even more the perfect, evil Master.  Probably no episode showed this better than The Daemons, where the Master literally raises a little Hell.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 8: Least Favorite Season

My least favorite season was pretty easy to pick. Once again it is a season from the classic series.  It is season 23 (1986). This is the season known as The Trial of a Time Lord.  Colin Baker (my least favorite Doctor) is put on trial for his interfering in time.  This season came after an 18 month hiatus, and a time when many stories that had been in the works were scrapped.  The BBC cut the episode length & the number of episodes per season. It was a sad time in Who history.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 7: Favorite Season

I've seen other versions of this challenge that are only using the New who, but that doesn't give you much to play with, especially when pick favorite seasons.  So of course I dove back into the classic series and chose for my favorite season the 16th season (1978-79).  This is a classic Tom Baker season, and is known collectively as The Key to Time.  It features the Lovely Mary Tamm as Romana I (much more likable than Romana II).  It also features the Douglas Adams penned story Pirate Planet.  And Adams took over as Script Editor at the end of the season.

Today's video features a tribute to Mary Tamm, who passed away last year.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 6: Favorite Special Episode

Well, my lord, aren't they all special?  But I know they are referring to the Christmas specials, and other "off season" episodes that have become part of the norm during the new Who years.  And so I have made my choice, although Snowmen almost edged it out, I choose Christmas Carol as my favorite special episode.  It feature Dumbledore (my son recognized the voice right away) and the lovely Katherine Jenkins.  Plus it was just a great story...and we got to see Pond in the police girl outfit again.  Here is a look at the trailer.

Doctor Who Challekge Day 5: Favorite Alien

Well, I took this to mean not The Doctor, since he is probably everyone's favorite alien on the show.  I further eliminated the companions that are aliens, since they are covered in the companion section.  I have further narrowed it to the not recognizably human aliens.

There are several aliens that reoccur throughout the show.  Several of them are quite likable.  But for my favorite alien I chose a member of a species that, as far as I know only appear in 1 episode.  They are from The Doctor's Daughter episode, and it is a member of the Hath. Now it is not the whole Hath species I like.  They are actually quite strange to me, and generally warlike. But one of their member, Peck sacrifices himself to save Martha Jones.  I found that very cool, so he earns the title Favorite Alien.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 4: Favorite Villain

This is a very simple one, the only villain that comes close to being a match for the Doctor is of course The Master.  Being a Time Lord himself, he is on an even playing field with the Doctor. And even though we know he has used up his 13 given lives, he somehow keeps coming back, cheating even the limit that is part of being a time Lord.  I know some will say the Daleks, or Cybermen should be in the best villain category, or even the weeping angels.  But as far as I'm concerned, the Master and his evil plans top them all.
Here is a look at the Master, in all his incarnations.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 3: Least Favorite companion

For me this was easier than choosing a favorite, although I will present you with my 2 least favorites, pretty much a tie.  First is Adric, the boy math genius the Doctor and Romana pick up in E-Space.  I find he is a bit whimpy and whiny quite a bit of the time.  He redeems himself a bit when he goes down with the ship against the Cybermen, but still found him rather annoying.

Second half of the tie is Turlough.  He is the Ginger who spends the first part of his tenure with the Doctor trying kill him for the Black Guardian. Even when he comes around to the Doctor's side, he's still pretty whimpy.  Here are clips of both, you decide.

Doctor Who Challenge Day 2: Favorite Companion

Okay, 1 A.M. on day 2 of March, and the Doctor Who Challenge.  This one is not so easy.  Favorite companion is tougher, because there are more than 11 choices.  I could almost give you a favorite for each Doctor...probably 2 or 3 from the Tom Baker years.

But when push comes to shove, the companion who has touched my heart most, and made me cry most, and laugh often too, is the girl who waited...Amy Pond.

This scene is from the DVD of season 5 a deleted scene, but very funny, and shows why it is so hard to pick a favorite companion, as we flash thru all the women of the Doctor's past,

Doctor Who Challenge Day 1: Favorite Doctor

Well of course this is an easy one.  My Favorite Doctor is of course Tom Baker.  Who else could it be. The 4th doctor was the first one I met/  My first episode I remember seeing was Talons of Weng Chiang.  This was from I believe his third year as the Doctor. Leela was his companion at the time.

Tom's floppy hat and ever changing scarf were the Doctor for seven seasons...longer than anyone.  He was a perfect blend of smart and smart Alec.  His humor and wit made the show a joy to watch.  Below is a small sample of the wonders of Doctor #4...forgive the sappy music.