New post over at Coat of Many Colors, “Our Amazing Book of Psalms“. An analysis of the introductory texts to each of the 150 psalms.
Monthly Archives: September 2014
Doctor Who: The Daleks, Part Three: The Escape
Well, don’t you know about the Daleks? – Susan
Three episodes into The Daleks and we finally get some action! This episode also gives us the Thals for the first time, a perfect race of beautiful people that make inappropriate comments about sixteen-year old girls. Doctor Who is finding its feet still in these early stories, but I do not believe that you have to be a mature show to know that insinuating that a 35-year old man has the hots for a 16-year old woman is a bad idea.
That transgression aside, this is a nice episode that finally moves the plot forward while establishing several new characters. On to the recap.
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Daleks, Part Three: The Escape
Name Origin: Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts and is the south-westernmost town on Cape Cod. It is to the east of Buzzards Bay and to the north of Nantucket Sound with the Elizabeth Islands extending from it to the southwest. The original Indian name for the area was Suckanessett but it was first settled by a group of Quaker sympathizers in 1660. The settlement was incorporated as the town of Falmouth in 1686.
Doctor Who: The Daleks, Part Two: The Survivors
It’s time you faced up to your responsibilities. You got us here. Now I’m going to make sure that you get us back. – Ian
I can see already that one of the challenges facing “classic” Doctor Who will be the pacing of the serials. The adventure with the cave-people completed in a brisk three-episodes, but The Daleks will be seven when it is done. While the first episode did a great job setting the status quo of the series, the second episode tries to include the key exposition to get us hooked on this serial– and it mostly succeeds– but we realize in the end that we have not made it very far.
After a brief cameo at the end of the last episode, the Daleks are introduced here properly. They are not quite the Daleks that we know from the later series, but the introduction is done well enough. They are a deadly foe, but perhaps one that is somewhat more devious than their blunt-instrument counterparts later. On to the recap.
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Daleks, Part Two: The Survivors
Name Origin: Eastham, Massachusetts
Eastham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Originally called the Nawsett (or Nauset) Indian Territory, Eastham once encompassed much of the western cape including territory now held by Brewster, Chatham, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet.
Doctor Who: The Daleks, Part One: The Dead Planet
“We’d better keep an eye on him. He seems to have a knack of getting himself into trouble.” – Ian
The Daleks: the Doctor’s most famous set of foes debuted in the second-ever serial of the series: 1963’s “The Daleks”. Far from a “Christmas special” (the first episode aired on December 21), the moody and tense first episode established a world far removed from the campier caveman serial that had just ended. They were no longer on Earth, and the possibilities of the series were endless.
Much has been written about the Daleks becoming the signature enemy of the series and the “Dalekmania” that spread throughout the UK as the series progressed. But what Terry Nation brought in this first episode at least was just as valuable: he set a tone and a status quo for the series, established “scientific facts” (to steal a term from MST3K) about how the passengers ate and slept on board the TARDIS, and generally laid the groundwork for the whole series in a tense, but not scary, 22 minutes. The final scene with Barbara being menaced by an unseen beast (with a plunger attachment) is rightfully one of the most famous of the show.
Continue reading Doctor Who: The Daleks, Part One: The Dead Planet
Name Origin: Dennis, Massachusetts
Dennis is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Prior to the arrival of the English, the area was known by its Indian name of Nobscusset. The first European settlers, John Crow, Thomas Howes, and William Lumpkin, arrived in 1639 when the area was part of Yarmouth. In 1721, a church was built and the area was organized as the East Parish of Yarmouth. In 1793, the local villagers broke away from Yarmouth and incorporated separately as the town of “Dennis”.
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Part Four: The Firemaker
“Are you saying you don’t know how to work this thing.” – Barbara
And so the first serial of Doctor Who ends with a whimper rather than a bang. This episode felt extraneous, the careful build-up of tension over the previous episodes was tossed aside quickly. Much of the intelligence of the script and characters are gone here, although the Doctor’s speech to the tribesmen stands out as the first time in the series that the Doctor talked himself out of a mess.
More after the recap.
Continue reading Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Part Four: The Firemaker
Name Origin: Chatham, Massachusetts
Chatham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by several hundred members of a tribe known as the Monomoyicks. The first European to visit the area was the Frenchman Samuel de Champlain in 1605, but after difficulty with the natives he ultimately departed and founded Quebec City in 1608. He gave the region its first European name, “Port Fortune”.
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Part Three: The Forest of Fear
“Fear makes companions of all of us.” – The Doctor
This second caveman-focused episode is an improvement over the first, in large part because the first had to spend so much time setting up the conflict and the story. This episode flows quickly, establishes a clear villain, and is overall fun to watch. We also get some running!
More after the recap.
Continue reading Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child, Part Three: The Forest of Fear