Happy Tennant Tuesday!
P.S. Today is also Sam Raimi’s birthday.
I’m sort of a birthday geek.
Category: Doctor Who
Who Is This Smile On My Face
No question mark at the end of your entry title? Oh, Kuri… we thought you were obsessed with grammatical and punctuational correctness…
I am. The title isn’t a question; it’s a statement — Who IS this smile on my face!
5 Facts About Chameleon Circuit
Not to steal the format of the palisadespete blog that I follow, which is always “10 Facts About” various subjects, but I didn’t feel like doing some long-winded blog about how I feel about one of my favourite bands. Since this is my first shot at a facts blog, I’m only going to make myself do five and see how it goes.
1. Chameleon Circuit was originally started by Alex Day, a YouTube vlogger and Whovian, back in 2008 after he did an online search for already existing Time Lord Rock (or “Trock”) music and found none. He was eventually joined by Charlie McDonnell, Liam Dryden, and Chris “Ginger Chris” Beattie.
2. Due to problems with their producer, the band was forced to release their self-named first album incomplete on 1 June, 2009 (15 days after I got married!), under the DFTBA Records label. (Nerdfighters! Yes!!!)
3. Beginning work on their second album, Still Got Legs, band member Chris Beattie left and in came Ed “Eddplant” Blann. Also to join was American Michael Aranda as producer, as well as bringing his many musical talents. This album was released in July 2011 and ended up hitting #23 on the charts in America.
4. A few months before they released their second album, they came across problems when Aranda was refused re-entry into the UK after a trip to France. After creating an online petition, they won Aranda’s re-entry for two weeks. Upon hearing of their predicament, the company Red Bull contacted the band and offered to pay their way into France so they could continue working on the album. As a thanks, the band performed at the company’s UK studio for Whovian employees before they released their second album.
5. The band was privileged to play in front of fans at VidCon 2011. VidCon was started by brothers John and Hank Green, most famous for their Vlogbrothers channel on YouTube. Hank is also co-founder of DFTBA Records. (“DFTBA” is an acronym for “Don’t Forget To Be Awesome,” a term coined by the Vlogbrothers.)
Whew! I did it! That wasn’t so painful after all… but I doubt I could have done ten, haha.
The Angels Take Manhattan
I hate spoilers with a passion. I avoid them at all costs, but thanks to stupid things like the Internet, I still find out things in the future of my favourite shows. So I’ve known what the outcome of the Doctor Who episode “The Angels Take Manhattan” would bring, but dang it Moffat! You didn’t have to make the way it happened so gosh-darn good!
I’m not a crier. I don’t even think I cried when David Tennant’s Doctor regenerated (though I was very close). Of course, I really didn’t have the chance to cry because it ended with Matt Smith’s Doctor excited about the next adventure. (Oh, and by the way, I wrote a sort of blog entry after watching “The End of Time,” which I never posted anywhere. Note to self: find that document!)
Oh, but Moffat, you conniving little sneak… you knew just where my soft spot is… and I cried like a baby.
Touché.
Days of Nothing
Disclaimer: I don’t have actual medical proof that my “nothing day” theory is true. It’s all simply from what seems to be true after my many experiences of this type.
Have you ever had one of those days when you feel nothing? Just nothing? You also know it’s just today so you don’t waste time thinking there’s no point to life.
Maybe you hang out with or talk to friends, but you feel nothing. Maybe you watch your favourite programme, but you feel nothing. Maybe you even smile and laugh, and mean it, but you just don’t feel it.
For me, today is one of those days. I’m not unhappy or depressed. There’s just no emotion. Like the limbic system (the parts in the brain that are mostly responsible for emotions) decided to take a day off, for the most part. (The hippocampus, in the limbic system, plays a big role in converting short-term memory into long-term memory, but that works just fine.) In this case, however, I know I’ll be just fine tomorrow. I know exactly what caused it.
When I was a teenager (in February of my high school senior year, to be precise), I discovered a link between days like this and recent “emotional overload,” you might call it. One day I would be at an extreme emotional high –usually over a crush or fandom over something–, and the next day I might feel nothing. I made the connection after learning why taking steroids has negative effects on the body. Steroids themselves aren’t bad; they’re a natural thing the body produces. However, when one takes steroids from other sources (especially synthetic ones), their brain realises that there’s too much and it slows, or even stops production. I figured that my brain must have realised there was too much going on in those few-and-far-between instances of that extreme emotional high, and therefore greatly slowed production of those hormones. Thankfully since it was my body that produced so much, it knows to start back up again.
Though my recent episode of that type of high was two days ago instead of yesterday, here I am, remembering why the heck this must have happened to me today. I love the show Doctor Who so much. I’ve been thinking about it a whole lot recently, mostly due to the addictive Trock band Chameleon Circuit. I swear, I only have to listen to them once and three weeks later I’m still waking up with their songs stuck in my head. Anyway, for some reason, I felt so obsessed with the show (especially the first season), even though I don’t think I watched a single episode all day. I did watch G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, which stars Christopher Eccleston, but that’s not Doctor Who.
As I’ve always done on the days I feel nothing, I tried all day to feel something using the thing that made me feel something in the first place. I watched Doctor Who, looked at Doctor Who pictures, and thought about Doctor Who all day, trying to get myself to feel it again. You know, just trying to make sure I’m still alive. But once I remembered why this happened… well, I couldn’t say I was relieved, because that’s an emotion, haha.
Now that the “nothing” day is winding down, I’m starting to get some feeling back in my limbic system. I actually kinda meant that “haha” up there, haha. Ooh, and that one, too!
Good-night, Doctor Who. I think I’ll take an emotional break from you for a little while… and get some actual work done. Haha! :o) (Don’t worry… I’m still going to watch the new episodes as they come out.)
A Different Doctor
Please read the section about posting stories on the “About This Blog” page.
Additional note: The Doctor’s dialog is bold, while the companion’s dialog and the rest of the story is not.
“Just this once, everybody lives!”
“Doctor, can we talk?”
“Of course, we can. I’ve always got time for you.”
“I’m going to get right to it. I think I want to go back home.”
“‘Go home’? What brings all this up?”
“I haven’t seen my mum in a long time. Haven’t talked to my friends in years. I’d rather not be forgotten because I’m off travelling.”
“You’ll never be forgotten! People all over time and space are already telling stories of how together you and I saved them.
“But something tells me that’s not really what’s bothering you, is it?”
“I was hoping I didn’t have to say this, but… it’s because you’ve changed, Doctor. I know you’re technically the same man –still love the Earth and humanity and risk your life to save them– but you’re still different from when we met.”
“Are you referring to my regeneration?”
*nods*
“How long have you felt like this? Did you feel like this last time?”
“No, it’s just this one. I’m not sure why it’s so different this time. Maybe because last time you’re the only thing that changed. This time it was not only you, but the TARDIS, the companions, the sonic screwdriver, and heck! even the Daleks changed!
“I’ve held off this conversation for so long because… I do know that you are the same man. The Doctor that I met is in there. Even your tenth incarnation — he’s in there. You’ve got their memories. I haven’t been able to bring myself to leave because … I promised him that I’d travel with him for forever. And yet, I know that I’ll never actually, completely get him back.
[Hugs.]
“I’m sorry, Doctor. I am so sorry.”
“Hey, now… it’s alright. Frankly, I’m surprised you lasted this long.
“Don’t worry about me. Companions come and go. Rose and Donna promised to stay forever, but they’re gone, too.”
“That’s not fair! They didn’t choose to go.”
“I’m sorry. Forget I said that. It was stupid of me. I only meant…
“So… you really want to go?”
[Hesitation in her agonised eyes.]
“I’m scared, Doctor. I feel incomplete here, but I’m afraid that if I leave I’ll realise my mistake and be trapped in some mundane life and never see you again.”
“I tell you what… I still have that mobile that Martha left me. You can take a break, and if you find that you want to come back, call that number and I’ll drop everything I’m doing and come rescue you from that ‘mundane life.’ But instead, if you prefer to remain on Earth… then, by all means I wish you the best of luck!”
“Thank you, Doctor! You’re still the most amazing man I’ve ever met. No matter what happens, always have a companion. You always need a companion. I know that in that past you’ve thought that all you do is hurt people. Just remember the old saying: ‘It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.’ Well, it also applies to travelling with you. I mean it. I wouldn’t trade the last seven years for anything. I love you — we all do. And if I never come back… Well, we’ll see how that goes.”
[One last embrace.]
“I promised you, Doctor. I’m so sorry! Take care of yourself.”
“It’s OK. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.
“I still think you’re brilliant. And fantastic — absolutely fantastic!”
“So are you, Doctor. So are you.”
The Same Doctor
Please read the section about posting stories on the “About This Blog” page.
Additional notes:
I didn’t intend for my first post to be an incomplete “story,” but it goes with one I wrote last night that I’ll post later.
The Doctor’s dialog is bold, while the companion’s dialog and the rest of the story is not.
“Uh… nothing. It’s just… the change has finally caught up to me.”
“What change is that?”
“You. Your regeneration.”
“It’s been two years.” The woman nods. “I never saw you like this the last time I regenerated.”
“I know, but this time it’s different. Last time it was just you that changed. This time everything changed. You, the TARDIS, even the sonic screwdriver. And we never see the same people as before. New companions, new friends, new allies, new enemies,… [scoff] even the Daleks changed. I feel like I’m the only thing that’s the same. Almost like time has moved on and I’ve been left behind.”
The Doctor sits down next to her, now beginning to understand the downhearted condition of his friend.
“You haven’t had a chance to connect the dots yet,” he says.
“Right. I just need a ‘moment.'”
“We’ll then… let’s get you that ‘moment.'”
.
.
.
.
“‘Just this once, everybody lives!’ That was the moment I knew that I want to travel with you forever. I saw what a truly beautiful man you are. There are times when you may have seemed to be angry and violent, but in the end your love for people is what it’s all about.”
.
.
.
.
“I still think you’re brilliant. And fantastic — absolutely fantastic!”
“Thank you, Doctor. So are you.”
Fandomitis 