Dr. Who Series Seven to Eight

And on goes the Dr. Who binge watching! So far there's hardly beeen a day in the last few weeks on which I didn't watch at least one episode.

First off two things I really love about Dr. Who:
I really love how curious, enthusiastic and thirsty for knowledge the Doctor is. I think that's a really good thing to teach children.
And then I love the little camoes by scientists. Like when something happened to/on Earth and there's TV coverage on the phenomena and they show interview snippets with people like Richard Dawkins or Brian Cox. Love it!

Series 7 - The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond and Rory Williams as well as Clara Oswald
Again Amy and Rory. And I still don't like Amy. How come they get three seasons when both Martha and Donna only got one?

This season has two parts. The first couple of episodes were ok, though I think they overdid it with the Statue of Liberty being a Weeping Angel. Amy and Rory leave at the end of the fifth episode. Though I don't quite get the drama of it, because the Doctor could just visit them - no?

We also learn that the Doctor was busy deleting information about himself from all databases. Which also means that River is no longer in prison since there's no record of the man she presumably killed.

The second part of this season gets new beginning and ending credits - which I don't like as much as the others. There's also - of course - a new companion. We've met Clara (or version of her) before. I'm looking forward to this because I liked her when she first turned up.

The episodes are fun, though nothing special. We get to see a Soviet submarine and ghost hunters. We also get to see a bit more of the TARDIS interior and the Doctor gets assimilated to the Borg Cyberman, complete with Seven of Nine make-up - that makes him Eleven of Twelve, doesn't it? That episode had Warwick Davies in it, by the way (and was written by Neil Gaiman).
I do like that we get to meet the reptile Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny and the alien soldier Strax - we first saw them in an earlier season when rescuing Amy, but they weren't introduced back then.

The most emotional part is when we see River Song say goodbye to the Doctor for the last time. Their timelines are chaotic, so it's impossible to say how often we see River in future episodes, but this was clearly her last time within her timeline.

The Day of the Doctor - The War Doctor, the Tenth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald
I love this episode! It's a 50th anniversary special and it might just be my favourite episode so far.

The interaction between the three Doctors is simply hilarious.
And I love how they integrated old footage of the past Doctors. Best as they could, at least.
David Tennant is back and he's just perfect. Oh, I've missed that face. The difference between the Tenth and the Eleventh Doctor is even more obvious like this - I've mentioned them before. And I still like the Tenth best; probably because of these differences.

In the end, it didn't change much for the past Doctors. For plot reasons they couldn't remember, so they'd still suffer. It didn't change much for the Time Lords; maybe they're not dead, but they're not in normal space-time either. But it opens up interesting possibilities.
I also thought that the infamous Time War didn't actually look that terrible that it'd be reason enough to destroy two whole species. It looked just like any other war, really. I'm not quite sure what I expected though.
The strange thing was that since they already showed the next Doctor, I expected Eleven to die any moment at the end. But he didn't. Pleasant surprise there, though it keeps me wondering...

Did I mention that the three Doctors interacting was fantastic?

Series 8 - The Twelth Doctor and Clara Oswald
So in another special Eleven regenerated into Twelve. Didn't like the special much compared to the others. The end of the eleventh Doctor wasn't as emotional as the others, to me.

So now there's Twelve, Peter Capaldi. I was a bit worried at first, I know I have problems understanding the Glaswegian dialect. But it's ok; it's not easy, but not as bad as I expected.
The regeneration does seem to have it's drawbacks, as he has trouble remembering peoples names at first. But this time I've seen the previous Doctors in him. When Clara announced she'd leave, I saw the Tenth Doctor being afraid of loneliness. And he sometimes did sound a bit like Eleven, too. Yeah, I really liked that.
But he doesn't portray the fascination as much as the other Doctors. He seems a lot more serious. More grumpy old man.

Clara at first seems to have some trouble coming to terms with her Doctor not being a pretty young man anymore. She did involuntarily admit in the last special that she fancied him. But eventually she comes around. She even finds a boyfriend. She didn't fulfill my high hopes though. I'm not quite sure what it is; maybe sometimes she just comes across as a little bitchy. Or maybe it's because the Doctor bosses her around so much and she lets him - I'm not sure if that's been the case before, I just notice it a lot in this series.

There's also a new intro. Very CGI, but not too bad.
I absolutely love the bookshelves on the walls of the TARDIS. I really like this Tardis interior, got a bit of Steampunk feeling to it.

I really liked the Robin Hood episode; one of the more light-hearted episodes. It was a little cheesy, but fun - that's Doctor Who, I guess.
And the one with the Orient Express has a great 1920s cover of Don't Stop Me Now.

Sometimes though, the death toll bothers me. A lot of people die in Doctor Who. Not only main characters, but lots of others. And I don't like how casually it is dealt with. And often they die a horrible death like falling alive into liquid gold.

The double season finale... Well, I knew I didn't like Clara that much and this episode confirmed it. More than anything that she went through, what touched me most was the former Companion of the Doctor (I guess he was).
I liked how they hinted at what's to come in the finale episode through the previous episodes, without influencing the plot of these.

This is the last series that's available for free with Amazon Prime, so for now that's where I'll stop.
I'd really like to watch the old seasons, too. Especially since some of the new episodes featured old Companions. Read more on this article...

Dr. Who Series Four to Six

After series one to three, here's my thoughts about the next batch...

Series 4 - The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble
We've seen Donna Noble in a christmas special before. She declined the offer of the Doctor to travel with him back then. When she came back I wasn't sure about her, because I didn't understand why she declined at first and then regretted it so much. I still have a hard time understanding the motivation of the Companions, I think.
At first the Doctor denied her new wish to travel with him, afraid that the drama and hurt of what happened with Martha would repeat itself. But without understanding what was going on, Donna made it quite clear that she didn't think him attractive in the least, so he agreed.

Certainly Donnas life wasn't overly great. We see in this series that it could be much worse, but there's nothing that could give her self-worth. I think that's one aspect of her character a lot of people can relate to. And it makes her goodbye so much sadder, because she loses everything she has gained.
While she's not as intelligent and educated as Martha, she has some sorts of street smarts. What I like most about Donna is her absolute "no bullshit" attitude. She'll give everyone a piece of her opinion, including the Doctor. That does him some good, it gets him off his high horse.
Shame she didn't get more than one season. I'll miss her.

The Doctor himself felt more vulnerable to me. I'm not sure whether this is actually really there in the plot and the acting or whether I'm just getting to know the character better. But in the last christmas special he very nearly had a breakdown out of loneliness.
I really do like Tennants acting, his facial expressions are a joy to watch. It's a shame this was his last season. I'm looking forward to the next Doctors, but I'll really miss him.

We also get to meet River Song - not a former Companion, but apparently a future one (or something else, something more?). And we also get to see Martha Jones and Rose Tyler again.
Among the new characters I really liked Donnas grandfather the best, he's great.

In the final double episode we see people from spin-off series - including Captain Jack Harkness (yay). It was really great, seeing all of them together, working together, everyone playing their part. It's probably even better if you actually know the spin-off series (which I don't), but so far this was my favourite season ending.

Series 5 - The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond
Amy as a little kid was really cool. There was this madman, demanding food (priceless: "You're Scottish - fry something"), eating fish fingers with custard and she's totally calm.
Adult Amy is not so cool. I don't know... laughing madly and runnning along with the doctor. And then she threw herself on him the night before her wedding... That's, well, not a sign of good character, is it?
And then they get her fiancé Rory to tag along - just like Rose and Mickey. Except Rory seems to die a lot.
And I really don't like Amy. I can't put my finger on it. She's flat, hardly any character, and what's there just isn't likeable. It's not just that I'm not liking her very much (like Rose), I actually dislike her.

What also confused me is that the curious Doctor did not think to investigate the gap and the strange things that were happening. I mean, there's obviously something wrong, something that frightens even Weeping Angels - and he takes Amy and Rory on a date in Venice?
The character of the Doctor seemed to change, too. He's not... as contemplative and lonely as the Tenth Doctor. I wonder if everything that happened is just kind of forgotten after a reincarnation? Or rather still there in the memories, but not emotionally relevant.

I really liked the episode with Vincent van Gogh. Though he sounded Scottish or Irish - well, anyway not Dutch. It also had Bill Nighy in it. And a great musical score. It was nice, and very sad, bitter-sweet. I actually cried.

I felt this series was rather dramatic. Lots of dramatic death scenes. Matt Smith is a good Doctor (and a cutie), but I'm still getting used to him. River is back, which is great. No Jack, unfortunately.
Not my favourite season (but the Vincent episode was great).

Series 6 - The Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond and Rory Williams
Well, seems like I'm stuck with Amy for another series. And it seems like we got an explanatory intro - not sure why. Perhaps the show got more popular abroad and the producers felt the need to explain.

And Rory keeps on dying. Seriously, he died more often than Buffy now, it kinda keeps getting old. Actually everyone gets to die. And Amy gets pregnant and her baby is stolen.
With all the emotional damage that Amy and Rory are suffering by travelling with the Doctor, you have to wonder why they keep doing it. They never really see these wonders the Doctor promises them (the TARDIS gets lost a lot in this series).

We also get more River Song. We finally find out who she is ("Spoilers"). Very interesting. Must really be a confusing life though.
We also see the TARDIS come alive as a woman in an episode written by Neil Gaiman. That one was one of my favourites from this series.
And how come it took five seasons until Nazis? Knowing the British, I really would have expected this sooner.

No Jack Harkness though - it seems like the Eleventh Doctor cut a lot more ties than the Tenth. There seems to be hardly any overlapping of these lives, like people from the past are forgotten.
The Eleventh Doctor also feels a lot more... ruthless. Well, I guess even before the last reincarnation the Doctor didn't always go through with his pacifism, but I felt like it got worse. Even River confronted him with it.

When he's not dying, Rory is rather brave. On one hand, that makes him likeable. On the other hand I don't like when they turn a healer into a warrior (like Marsha), and I feel like that's what happened with Rory who turned from a nurse to "The Last Centurion".

The pace of the series is a bit confusing. At first it seems like they are again ignoring important signs (and I got the feeling the Doctor was doing it on purpose). Then suddenly after just a few episodes we get a seasons finale - in the middle of the season. But then the overall plot just disappears and we get single episodes again. And then the plot returns. The last episode is a little confusing but wraps up what began in the first episode.

There are some good episodes, but overall this season was way too over-dramatic. If there is a heart-wrenching death scene in nearly every episode... it's really too much.

Read more on this article...

Dr. Who Series One to Three

When you're out and about in the internet, you can't help but notice some fandoms you don't know anything about. Of course, you can't watch everything - and much less like everything - but I get curious anyway. So Firefly is on my list and I watched Avatar and Korra (review coming up) and then there's Dr. Who... One of the reasons to get an Amazon Prime trial was Dr. Who. Luckily you can also watch it in English, though my TV can't do subtitles and the British actors are soemtimes hard to understand.

So, I thought why not write a review and share my impressions.
Amazon only has the revival series though. Which on one hand is good (because it's faster to catch up - imagine having to start in the 60s!). On the other hand it's a bit of a shame because you miss out on the beginning.

In case you don't know what Dr. Who is about: the Doctor (he never gives another name) is an alien from the planet of Gallifrey. His species is called time lords, a very powerful and long-lived species. When hurt badly, they can "regenerate", which completely changes their body and saves them from dying. Despite of this the time lords became extinct in a terrible war; as far as the Doctor knows, he's the last one.
He travels around in his space ship, the TARDIS, which can travel through both space and time. The TARDIS looks like a blue British police box, but is a lot bigger in the inside.
He usually travels with one or rarely more Companions. They seem mostly to be female, though the relationship is not of a sexual nature. They're just a partner to join in on his adventures.

Series 1 - The Ninth Doctor and Rose
I quite liked the outfit of the Ninth Doctor - leather jacket and jeans. Simple. Practical. But I have to say I had some difficulties with his character. He seems so hyper, he was laughing so often, which to me felt inappropriate considering the seriousness of most of the plots. He was acting like he was on a roller coaster ride when it was actually a matter of life and death. So I wasn't too sad when he "died" at the end of series one.

I'm not too sure about his Companion Rose either. She's very down-to-earth but I never could get a real grip on her personality. She was there and she's kinda cool and that's it.
Her relationship with Mikey was one of the things I didn't like about her. He's a cool character, too, brave, loyal and sensible. But I felt like he was treated unfairly.

The highlight of the first series for me was Captain Jack Harkness. Former time agency agent, badass, flirts with everyone. What a joy to watch! He's a bit like Han Solo meets Captain Kirk. I liked how they made him bisexual, it just fits; and it's still rather rare on TV. Plus he got a good bit of characters development, too. While watching I thought to myself "hey, they should give this guy his own show" - only to find out later that they actually did! Another show to put on my list, it seems.

Overall it needed a bit getting used to the cheesiness now and then. On the other hand, some of the episodes were really creepy (like peoples faces turning into gasmasks - nightmare material).
There are some people saying that you shouldn't watch this series and you should start with the second one. I'm not quite sure why, because even though I didn't like the main characters too much, I think you really should start here.

Series 2 - The Tenth Doctor and Rose
It went on with the creepy and there were quite a few double episodes (whcih are too long to watch during the work week), so I feel like it took ages to finish this series. Even though I finally get to see one of the two sexy fangirl-favourite Doctors - that should have been an incentive to watch.

And yeah, David Tennant is good. You know, American heartthrobs look like Chris Evans, but British heartthrobs look like David Tennant or Benedict Cumberbatch. And like so often, I do prefer the British way over the American way in that aspect.
Oh, and did I mention how I love the Chucks? Suit, trenchcoat and Chucks - wonderful outfit.

But still, this series was somehow hard to watch.
I liked the episodes in the past, with Queen Victoria and Madame de Pompadour. And it was really interesting to meet a former Companion.
The season finale didn't touch me as much as it should have - probably because I really don't get Roses character. Most of the emotion in the scene came from watching the face of the Doctor (so hey, kudos to David Tennant).

Series 3 - The Tenth Doctor and Martha
Alright, I have to admit, they finally got me with the first episode of this series because I think the way the Tenth Doctor invited Martha to the TARDIS was damn sexy. I get it now. And once it has been seen, it's hard to unsee.

Anyway, Martha. I quite like Martha. Perhaps she's more relatable to me than Rose. She seems to be an introvert, she's well-educated and clever. I love how when she turned up with the Doctor as a "date" to a party, her sister remarked something like "science geek - should have known"; it says a lot about Martha.
With all that strength of character she's also unfortunately a tragic figure. She falls in love with the Doctor right away. I can't blame her: he's intelligent, he's good-looking and he kissed her in a dangerous situation (science shows that people easily fall in love in frightening situations because of misattribution of the excitement). Plus the way he invited her to their first voluntary space-time-adventure was nothing short of seduction.
And I think that's where Martha was treated unfairly by the Doctor. It felt like he desperately needed someone and he chose her, with little regard towards her feelings and she needed to deal with all his emotional baggage while also having to deal with her own unrequited love.
And I feel like Martha also got treated unfairly by the producers. She's intelligent, but was never quite allowed to show it. She saved the earth from one of the most powerful beings in the universe, saved the Doctor - without any super power, just by herself, a normal human being. But it wasn't actually shown on screen. It's a little unfair, really, to not show any of her badassery. No wonder the fans didn't like her as much.

And then, in the last few episodes - Jack is back! So good to see him again (and the big reveal - wow). Although... The Doctor also treated him badly, at least in the beginning. What is this - the season of the Doctor treating his friends like shit? True, we have been shown that the Doctor can be quite merciless; but usually only to his enemies.

But still, I shed a few tears at the end of the finale, with both Jack and Martha leaving the Doctor and his puppy dog eyes.

That's it for now. The next series will follow later when I have watched them.

Links
Official Website
Wikipedia Series 1
Wikipedia Series 2
Wikipedia Series 3

Read more on this article...

Like an Englishman in New York

Lately I feel weirded out again. I have these phases when I get depressed and feel utterly lonely because no one around me is like me or understands me.

At work I often feel at the wrong place. I don't share the humour of my coworkers and sometimes I despise their dull jokes and rude behaviour. Especially one external coworker is annoying me to no end - but I seem to be the only one. Am I too sophisticated? Plus I think I did some really clever work, for example I guessed the cause of a bug where programmers were searching for days; but my idea was dismissed. Even after it turned out, hours later, that I was right, no one acknowledged it.
Is there an expression for feeling superior to your peers but instead of feeling good and proud, it just makes you sad and lonely?

There were also several events in the last few weeks to maybe trigger this feeling further.

The Death of Leonard Nimoy.
When I was a certain age and struggling with what maybe was the oncoming of a clinical depression, I wished I was a Vulcan. Superior in mind and especially in control of all emotions, not letting those get in the way. So of course Spock was my favourite character of the original Star Trek series.

Surprisingly Nimoys death was big news in mainstream media, too.
But when I searched for products, you know, fan merch, I mostly got those "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" stuff from Big Bang Theory. And it made me wonder: how many people actually saw Star Trek, the original series? Most, it seems, just know him from Big Bang Theory or the new Star Trek movies, like some kind of second-hand geekism.


The Death of Terry Pratchett.
Even though of course I was aware it would happen sooner or later, this came as a shock, too. Pratchett is one of my favourite authors, and it was always a joy to hold a new Discworld book in your hands and be able to read it. It felt like not only Sir Terry died, but with him Susan Sto Helit, and Granny Weatherwax and Tiffany Aching and Sam Vimes - they all died, too. Additionally I'm following his daughter Rhianna Pratchett on twitter and felt sorry for her. It also made me terrified of thinking about my parents dying.

Seeing how she dealt with this made me admire her more. I'm not a big gamer myself, so I'm not interested too much in her role in the gaming industry. But I read a piece on her and her relationship with her father and it made me feel like she's a kindred spirit. In a way, maybe, a better version of myself. And I thought: Wow, it would be great to have a friend like that. Someone who maybe not shares all of my exact interests, but someone who understands and listens.
Anyway, I did wear all black at work the next day. Since I always wear rather dark clothes, no one noticed. I did not mention it, I was afraid of condescending remarks and how I'd react to them.


I feel like a lot of the good ones go, musicians, too, and I'm not sure those who are still there are good enough to fill the gap. Music and books are very important to me, but what will the future hold?


The partial Solar Eclipse in Europe.
I badly screwed this one up myself. Since I'm following scientific accounts and a few astronomers on Twitter I knew about this beforehand. But I had other things on my mind, procrastinated, whatever - and I only remembered a few days before that I'd need special glasses to watch it. I also underestimated the demand and the supply of these glasses. Other than  with the total eclipse in 1999 hardly anyone sold these glasses this time. And those places were sold out. So in the end I couldn't get any. I was rather angry with myself because it would have been no problem if I had just taken care of it a few days earlier.

No one around me was interested in watching the eclipse and most considered my quest a little peculiar. I actually built three different kinds of pinhole cameras the evening before and took them with me to work. Two or three coworkers got interested then. I got excited when I realized our shutters acted like pinhole cameras, too, and you could watch the eclipse right there, tenfold, in our office. I could not understand how people around me could be so indifferent. I just don't get it! This happens so rarely, who knows whether we'll have a chance this good ever again, the weather was wonderful. How can they get excited about a worldcup that happens every four years, but not about this?

I could hardly do any work during the morning and then went out around the time of the highest eclipse to try out my pinhole cameras. There were three others there. Three! Ok, it was just one door of many, but still... One of them had special glasses (old ones from 1999) and I could borrow them for a few glances. I was really happy about that. The others were curious about my equipment. Something as simple as a pinhole camera fascinated them so much, like a magic trick - and those were grown-ups, mostly working in IT. I felt like I came from another world.

After it was over I felt so happy that I could experience this. I wish I could have shared it with more people, shared my joy. I still can't get my head around most people being so indifferent and letting such a rare event pass without a single glance.

And even worse: a lots of German schools locked their pupils inside. Yes, you read that right: school, responsible for ecudation children, locked them inside during this rare event. Media repeated again and again that you shouldn't look into the sun and the with the shortage of special glasses they just took the easy and safe way. Some schools even closed the shutters. I have no words for how appalled and disappointed I am. I understand the need to be safe, I myself refused to looks through a space blanket. But Pinhole cameras are perfectly safe, cheap and easy to make. Even a famous TV physicist posted a rant about how we live in a society of fear mongering.

So, additionally to feeling lonely and cut off, I'm also sad about what this world is coming to. There is so much fear in this world and freedom and equality and peace are eaten up by it. And many of the people pretending to protect freedom are sowing fear and feel like I can do nothing but watch helplessly.
But this issue probably is better of in another blog post. Read more on this article...

On the issue of Fake Geek Girls, The Big Bang Theory, Legolas and the new Star Trek movies

I know I'm late to the party, but some thoughts about this came to my mind just now.

I do believe Fake Geek Girls exist. But: it's not just girls.
Girls are just more obvious, they get more attention. I'm not 100% sure why that is. I think it has to do with gender stereotypes. If a guy says he thinks a woman is sexy, it's like stating that it's going to be a warm sunny day. Everyone can see that, it's not worth mentioning, though nobody minds of you do. But women are supposed not to like sex, so they're not supposed to think of men as sexy, so if they do - they're fan girls. I think this is one aspect, but there's probably more aspects (like men often being able to hide their cluelessness better).

Anyway, so back to Fake Geeks. Yes, I think they exist.
Maybe it's since The Big Bang Theory has become such a big mainstream hit series. Maybe some mainstream celebrity mentioned that they're a "nerd" or "geek" or something. Suddenly being a geek is trendy. Look at all those fake big black glasses.

Take Star Trek for example. Fake geeks would say something like "I'm such a Trekkie, I saw both movies several times." The new movies are Star Trek for non-fans. They took the universe and made it into shiny, sexy action movies. Complete with "inside jokes" to make the fans happy. Looks good, enjoyable for everyone. Now everyone thinks Spock is sexy (not just Jadzia). But they left out some of the things that made Star Trek special - the philosophy, the ethics and morals. Aspects non-fans didn't know existed.

Fake Geeks are annoying.
I know I shouldn't say this. We should be happy that our fandom gets more attention, everyone should be welcome, etc. We should be happy that thanks to Sheldon Cooper more people know what the Doppler effect is. But it's annoying anyway.
I remember when the Lord of the Rings movies were made. You know, the ones by Peter Jackson. I love them, of course. I loved Lord of the Rings way before that. I was a big fan of woodelves and Rangers. My first Pen&Paper roleplaying character was a hunter because it was the closest to a Ranger I could get. My niece - born before the first PJ movie came out - is called Arwen. I knew the Bakshi movie and one of the only two poems I can remember by heart is the Ring poem. Hardly anybody knew what I was talking about - and then suddenly everyone did. Suddenly everyone loved woodelves and Rangers because Legolas was so sexy and Aragorn so cool. It was weird. And it was a little annoying.
It's happened to me again after that. It probably happened to X-Men fans, Sherlock fans, Dr. Who fans and others, too. I loved My Little Pony when I was a kid, but I still don't quite get the fad about them now. It's happening with Big Bang Theory. It will happen again in the future.

So what should we do?
We practice our patience. We're happy about the new fans it will bring to the fandom, the ones that will stick around and be an enrichment to the subculture. And we wait until the others leave again, run to the new fad that's coming up - and we hope they'll do it soon.
And, of course, we'll take all the merchandise we can get... Read more on this article...