Meglos

So I thought why not watch some classic  Doctor Who

I liked this a lot

Basically the Dr stops and Alien from stealing an artifact that is a source of immense power

Tom plays two roles, it is a doppelganger story The antagonist  Meglos- Meglos who is the sole survivor of a long dead race of plants.  And of course the russet coated JNT era 4th Dr, and Tom is always good as a Gillian. Sorry as a villain. Tom's breakout role was as Rasputin

A plant antagonist is interesting. It's quite different then a bumpy headed alien. I did wonder why Meglos needed to kidnap a host from Earth. Rather than any warm body. In modern Who they would make more of a struggle between the captured host and Meglos.

This is one episode where the Dr can actually pilot the TARDIS. Albeit it is something he does off screen. He returned the hos human home

It's nice to see one of the villain's of the week simply covert the Dr's long red coat.

The escape from the Time loop is brilliant. The Dr and Romana realize there is no technological solution to the problem. So they try and preempt the events, throwing the cause and effect loop out of sync.  Romana  also tries to use the fact that the planet has counter rotation like Venus to throw the goons off...

Quite fun, quite fun indeed.

Fugitive of the Judoon thoughts

So this is episode is a feint and a bob, and then a sucker punch... I was not looking forward to it. 

There was a lot of fuss about the Judoon. Who seem to be strangely popular in ``New Who''. 

I know there was a Terrance Dicks book about the Judoon . I am not  against, or opposed, or hostile to the Judoon, but I did not understand the fuss- I would not be dancing in the street if we saw Monarch again

So we have two stories here. We have the Companions meeting Captain Jack Harkness. Jack from Torchwood. Jack is in the middle of a battle in space and using a time scoop to shanghai Graham and then the other two companions. (Ryan and Jasmin)

Jack does try and deliver a warning to the Doctor- 

" Beware of the lone Cyberman! Do not give it what it wants!''


Captain Jack  also mentions the Alliance sent something back through the past... Could that be ...(1)

We also have a backdoor or a Doctor introduction. For the Ruth Dr. Like most Regeneration episode, the Doctor faces a slightly weaker protagonist. The Judoon In fact, this can be seen as a sequel to Robot. Instead of the UNIT family. We have the actual Doctor introducing the Doctor

So to begin

Do your worst...

I was not quite a tour guide. I have done similar work and quite enjoyed it So apart from the do your worst bit. I quite liked the introduction to Ruth. It is her birthday. She is trying to be happy. Greeting the dog, smiling at people trying to drum up business. It could almost be a sitcom. A comedy-drama to be broadcast a bit later on Sunday nights. Set somewhere in Northern England 
There is a great scene where Ruth goes into a cafe to get her morning coffee. She tells the guy behind the counter who fancies her, that if he chooses a nickname it's not a nickname.

It's a sitcom... As the viewer knew the Judoon were going to be in the episode from the promo's it sets the tone for a happy go lucky, runabout episode.


This is in contrast with our heroes The Doctor! Jodie's Doctor is not in a good place.  

She has been going back to the ruins of the Gallifrey. Have they ever shown the Doctor do this? Go to see the ruins of Dalek destroyed Earth. See the dead from the Martian colony- wallow in guilt 
In fact the Dr has been leaving her trio by themselves while she goes back to Galifrey to sift through the ruins. Is this safe?

There has been a change of mood in the TARDIS this season. I think it was something that supposed to be there in Orphan 55 but did not come across well. The companions are beginning to distrust the Doctor. The Master put the seed of doubt in their mind. The Doctor  is not telling the Companions everything. To go back to Orphan 55 The Doctor did not say  immediately that she had seen Russian letters  

 Yasmin tells, the Doctor not to talk to Ryan like that.

 Ryan is dismissive of Jack- Jack takes it in his stride. I think there is something brewing

So I assume you have seen the episode

But

S
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AHEAD

So Ruth Clayton, was the Doctor. The Lighthouse was her chameleon arch

I notice the tailored suit and the bright orange blouse. Ruth  is not a hobo Doctor, like the second. 

She is certainly a  physically robust Doctor like Pertwee.. She is introduced attacking several Judoon and ritually disarming /dishonoring one  The eye glasses are a touch of Hartnell, Davison, and Smith. 

I think there is a bit of David Tennant in their two. Still no love for old Sixie?

There is a confrontation later on a Judoon space ship. Aboard the ship we meet another Timelord called Gat.

Gat mentions Ruth has having been one of the best operatives.  Ruth had referred earlier to a job that she had tried to leave. This makes me think that Ruth was a 6 B Dr. A regeneration between 2 and 3 that had been wiped from the Doctor's memory. But then why does she not recognize the sonic?
and why is the TARDIS shaped like a police box. ?

On the other hand, there is the possibility that the chameleon circuit was broken before the Doctor arrived at the scrapyard Dialogue in the name of the Doctor

Also if Ruth is the Dr. So who is Lee? Is Lee the Master/Susan? Their relationship is close

``I'd quite like if you got out of my ship now... I wondered if Ruth had or will  develop a grudge against Jodie.
This has not been done before.  The Doctors argue but has one ever held a grudge? Has one resented his past or future- Oh with the War Doctor sure

It's been a while since I have been arguing a point about Doctor Who here. We done Mr. Chibnall

So who is the Ruth Clayton Doctor?

Theories 

1. She is a different universe Dr

2. She is the Doctor from season 6B. There is a regeneration between 2 and 3, which we did not see. 

Hence she is working for the CIA. Celestial intervention agency

3. She is the Valeyard. Which would put her in Dr's past

3. She is a pre-Hartnel Dr, the Morbius Doctors are canon. It was her coat in the control room

4. There was something going on, she is the Doctor from the past....But there were looms or something.

5. She is the Peter Cushing Doctor regenerated

Update

Chibnal says she is not a clone

Kobe Byrant

August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020

Saddened to hear of the news of his passing, and that of his daughter in a helicopter crash

A famed Basketball player, Catholic and Father

Terry Jones

Father, Writer, Historian, brewer and Python

1942-2020

``He's a very naughty boy!''''

I know people will go on about his work, with Python but I remember ripping yarns, and his series Barbarians especially his criticism of Kenneth Clark

Picard

Wow !!!!

It's nice to be excited about Star Trek again

I did not hate Star Trek Discovery. I found it frustrating, I enjoyed Captain Yeoh, Lorca and Anson Mount's Christopher Pike in particular.  This was a great pilot.

It is nice to see Trek go back to the future. Instead of endless prequels and reboots. Picard takes place after the events of Star Trek Nemesis. Indeed it fixes a problem from Nemesis. Data was not able to download his mind into B4. So Data's death has significance Data is dead. He was the last of his kind.

Orla Brady turns up as an Irish accented Romulan. My headcanon says she was taught English by the O'Brien family in Dublin

I am wondering why the Romulans needed federation aid to evacuate 900 million Romulans from Romulus. There are hundreds of inhabitable worlds in Federation

Nice, to see Bruce Maddox is back...

Thanks

For my daughter's safe return

My daughter had gotten out of her house and had ran off. She was found in the market.

The rise and fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brussati

A Christmas gift from my brother. Very well received

A very readable book, I quite enjoyed

It was bittersweet to note that one of the leading paleontologists of the day is pretty American born Sino Celt. Ahh if only one had been more diligent

The Deccan traps hypothesis is put to bed. The Cretaceous era ends with the Chixlub  collision

A good discussion about how scales became feathers

A nice primer for adults on the evolution of the  Dinosaur's 

The Two Popes

I liked this

It has its flaws. It could be described as ``Sister Act in the Vatican''. Francis being the outsider who shakes up the Vatican and gets them to change their ways. When we first see Francis in B.A in a barrio talking to a crowd.Bishop Francis talks about football. We see Francis bantering with a tobacconist and watching football matches.

He is very Argentine. This is I think an issue with Francis's Papacy. A lot of Northern Hemisphere Catholics are not familiar with how Argentine's act and talk. ``Jumping off the top of his ego''

Firstly it is beautiful. The Vatican is beautiful. The colour, the art. The bright red thread to tie the vote.

There are some flaws with the piece. For example, the Pope always eating alone, is a tradition This tradition upset John Paul the second. It is not something that can be blamed on Benedict

Secondly, it is well observed. Hopkins -Benedict is German. The Nun who serves Francis comments on the meals that Bennedict eats. The constant bottles of Fanta   You can see Benedict's mind always working. He notes Francis's jokes and comments that they are silly. You also see him tell Francis to show him the respect of being angry with him. This is one of the few debates between conservatism and reform that you will see

`` A Church that marries the spirit of it's age will be widowed in the next''


We detour to Francis's past in the dirty war in Argentina. Interestingly we did not see Benedict talk about his time in the HJ. It would have been nominal. I note, but we have other characters mention it.

The Witcher

``Throw a coin to your witcher, oh valley of plenty''

I am in two minds.

First I have to thank one of my co-workers for explaining that the story is told over several time periods.
I found Cavil as Geralt of Riveria an interesting piece of casting. I like Henry Cavil. I liked his Superman, I liked him in the Tudors. I have heard he was good in the Man from Uncle but, it took me a while to warm to his Witcher. Cavil seemed to be doing a Clint Eastwood impression. The voice being gruff being a particular bugbear.

Cavil's horse being called roach is another gripe of mine. I hate this trope. It is probably just me but I notice that Neil Gaiman does it too

The scenery is beautiful, some of the CGI is a bit ropey. This is a problem when we have CGI characters talk to the cast. Practical effects were the way to go.

Okay so the books were set in a fantastic Eastern Europe. But we have the usual mix of Brits, paddies and black people This was a mistake I would have preferred an Eastern European look. I think they did with this Freya Allan as Princess Cila But Cavil and Fringilla are obviously what you would see in an upscale cade in Hoxton. I know it is fantasy, and so people can eat potatoes and turkey. I think there is a look, an anesthetic A dark-skinned Tartar makes sense not the children of Notting Hill, and Streatham

Fire arrows. Oh Lindybeige you have so much to answer

The second lead Jenefyer is pretty. I would have preferred they kept her as a hunchback Though in-universe this makes sense. The orgy scene where she meets Cavil's Gerad for the first time is meh. She is even wearing a mask- Why? She does not need to hide her identity

Interesting that they made Yenefyer's quest to be able to have children. They did similar in Game of Thrones with Dany

The law of surprise was well done. The idea that you can be repaid for a favor or a good deed with  the first living thing the helped party encounters  Nice to see  a trope from a fairy tale used well  Nice to see Anna Louise Plowman back too

It's heavier going then game of thrones It's more straight-faced, and the universe is not as well thought out

On the other hand it's just 8 episodes. I will keep going with it...

Update Fifth of January 2020

Tomorrow is my youngest sister's birthday

QPR won 6-1 against Cardiff on New Years day

Celtic lost the Old Firm derby on the 29th of January

I went to the local on New Year's eve. I was pleased to finish early on Christmas eve and New Year's eve.

I enjoyed the first part of Spyfall. The New Year's day Doctor Who episode The Master returned and recast.