Doctor Who Blog Party

Now that Mister Laptop is up and running again, and Life is thinking about slowing down a bit, we can get back to our regularly scheduled program. To start off, here’s my contribution to Tasha and Ashley’s Doctor Who Blog Party...but I’m afraid I didn't bring a banana. Sorry. :-P 
Before I begin, though, be aware that I’ve skipped some of the questions related to the New Who, since I’ve only seen “Rose” so far, and I didn’t want to keep writing, “I don’t know” over and over. That were moronic. :-P

So now, without further ado, my answers. Enjoy!

|the questions|

1| If you decided to name your first born child after any Doctor Who character, male or female, who would it be? For a girl: Sarah Jane after Sarah Jane Smith, who traveled with #3 (Jon Pertwee) and #4 (Tom Baker)

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For a boy: Probably Jamie after Jamie McCrimmon, who traveled with #2 (Patrick Troughton)

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(Not the best picture, but it’s hard to find good ones of earlier DW characters.)

 
3| Look around yourself and name the one thing that is TARDIS blue in your house! Booffy Bear’s overalls! Totally unintentional, I assure you.

5| The Doctor is going back in time again, which historical era should he visit? I’m thinking early 1800s England, co-starring [somebody playing] Jane Austen! Just think—Balls and dinner parties, ladies in elegant gowns, gentlemen in dashing attire, and—wait, you mean Napoleon is really an alien?!

6| Would you REALLY go with the Doctor in the TARDIS? Like Tasha said, only if I could be assured of coming home the same day I left—as though no time had passed. Then my family wouldn’t be all worried about me (although I’d probably let them know where I was going first anyhow, if possible).

7| Who's your favorite Doctor and why? #4, played to quirky near-perfection by Tom Baker. Why? Because of all the Doctors our family have seen, #4 is the most balanced. By that I mean he combines the “crotchety old man” and “brilliant-and-eccentric scientist” of the first two Doctors (William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton), and the “eccentric-but-benevolent father/uncle-figure” of #3 (Jon Pertwee), with a bit of his own quirky randomness (such as pockets like Mary Poppins’ carpetbag!)...and I have a thing for curls. :-P

[source]

8| Would you be afraid to spend Christmas in London? Nope. It’d be kind of fun, actually! (OK, I’m sensing a New Who in-joke here, of which I am grossly ignorant. Sorry. :-P)

9| Do you look at an ordinary screwdriver and think 'this could be a bit more sonic?' ’Fraid not. I occasionally find myself wishing for a Sonic Screwdriver, though. Particularly when dealing with stubborn jar-lids, or when I find out the hard way that THIS DOOR IS LOCKED and I left the keys IN THE HOUSE!!!!....

10| Angel statues, plastic mannequins, Christmas trees - what ordinary everyday object would you love to make an object of terror to Whovians were you Steven Moffat? I love Kellie’s idea of Evil Doors—walk through, and you DISAPPEAR!!! Mwahahahahahahaha!!!!
*Aherm*
Diabolical Cell Phones would be fun, too....

11| The TARDIS lands in your garden and the Doctor steps out. What is the first thing you say to him? “Yes, thank you, I would like a Jelly Baby. Would you believe it, I don’t think we have them in the States.”

12| Who is your favorite actor who has played the Doctor so far and why? As I said, Tom Baker’s Doctor is my favorite (actually, he IS The Doctor for my whole family). He brought life and character into the part with his hilarious facial expressions and clever dialog (which of course is a credit to the script writers), and watching him, you tend to forget he’s acting. Although judging by some BTS clips we’ve seen, he was apparently a bit like that in Real Life, too, so no wonder the part felt so natural!

13| Have you seen any Classic Doctor Who? If so, which Doctor/episode(s) is your favorite? Actually, that’s *all* I’ve seen—grew up with it, in fact. Well, reruns (I’m not THAT old!). And since I’ve already mentioned my favorite Doctor, methinks I’ll list a VERY few of my favorite episodes:

~The Mind Robber (Patrick Troughton years). In which The Doctor (#2) and his companions Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot crash-land on a planet where the trees grow in the shape of giant letters, storybook characters come to life, and other zany what-nots. It’s unlike any other DW we’ve seen—a nice break from all the shoot-um-ups and killer aliens.

~The Time Warrior (Jon Pertwee years). In which Doctor #3 enlists the help of spunky journalist Sarah Jane Smith, eccentric scientist Professor Ruebish and his old friend Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, to find out why so many top scientists have disappeared without a trace. Their investigations lead them to 13th century England, where a Sontaran named Linx has set up a laboratory in a Medieval castle.

~Genisis of the Daleks (Tom Baker years). In which the Time Lords transport #4, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan to the planet Scaro, home planet of the evil Daleks, with a mission: Destroy the Daleks before they were ever created!

14| Which are the creepiest, scariest and all-out meanest baddies in all the Who-niverse? Hmmm...none of them have actually scared me—even as a kid. Cybermen, Sontarans and Daleks kinda have a three-way tie in my book for the meanest baddies in the Whoniverse. But as for the scariest/creepiest, I’d have to give that honor to a race that (so far as I know) only appeared in The Two Doctors*: the Andrigums! Warty-faced, pudgy, with bushy neon-orange eyebrows, these aliens’ personalities are like a combination of cannibal, caveman and...Gourmet chef?! Basically, whenever these creatures met someone from another race, they wondered what they tasted like, and how to cook them. I am NOT kidding! >Shudder<

*(Don’t EVER watch this one, BTW; it’s pretty disturbing. Even Classic Who has its >yech< episodes.)
 
15| Who is/are your favorite Companion(s) and why?
 

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~Sarah Jane Smith. Early on, she’s portrayed as a feminist, but that kinda fades into the background over time. Sarah Jane is plucky, brave, and smart—not your typical scream-faint-wait-for-the-hero-to-rescue-me female character (although she does her share of screaming, as do all Companions). While she and the Doctor have their little tiffs now and then, she’s fiercely loyal to him and not afraid to speak her mind!

[source]

~Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan. Before meeting The Doctor, Harry was a Royal Navy doctor, the medical officer attached to U.N.I.T., a special division of the Army led by the Brigadier. Harry may be a bit of a twit, but in a pinch he’s not afraid to jump right in and try to save Sarah or the Doctor, and when given proper instruction, he can even figure out alien technology…to a point.

Pictured with Zoe...and friends. [source]

~Jamie McCrimmon. This Scottish laddie from the 1800s (I think) is a new fave, mainly because I have a weakness for brogues and kilts. :-P From what little we’ve seen of him, Jamie is loyal, brave…and a wee bit impulsive.

[source]

~ Romanadvoratrelundar II. Romana (pronounced “ro-MAH-nah”) for short. She is a Time Lady—that’s right, class, she is also from The Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey. There were actually two Romanas—one played by Mary Tamm, the second by Lala Ward (because Romana just decided to regenerate in the middle of the Key to Time saga). Ward’s Romana is pretty and ladylike, but also has a bit of spunk. She and The Doctor (#4) don’t get on at first (she was smarter than him and they both knew it), but eventually they learn to work together. They made a great team, and I was so sad when she left the show.
(Trivia: Lala Ward and Tom Baker were married in real life during her time on the show…for about six months. :-P)

[source]

~K-9. The Doctor’s robotic dog. As a little kid, I was interested in robots, and I’ve always wanted a dog. With K-9, you get the best of both (except for the cuddle factor). And a dog with a super computer inside him, ears that can pick up just about anything and a multi-setting laser in his nose to protect you? Now that’s a Time Lord’s best friend! His departure was another sorry loss to the show, IMHO.


17| What is your favorite quote from the show? Mainly ones from the Tom Baker years:

Sarah Jane: Doctor, you’re being childish.
Doctor: There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.

Doctor: You didn’t touch anything, did you, Harry?
Harry Sullivan: What? Who, me?
Doctor: Well, there are only two of us, and your name is Harry.
....
Doctor: ...We can’t just let the Wirren eat through the Human Race like a lot of—
Harry: —jelly babies? *rolleyes*

Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart: ...I’m telling you, Doctor, the place is impregnable.
Doctor: Never cared for the word impregnable. Too much like unsinkable.
Harry: What’s wrong with unsinkable?
Doctor: Nothing—as the iceberg said to the Titanic.
Brigadier: What?
Doctor: Glug-glug-glug-glug....
....
Brigadier: So what are we dealing with here, Doctor? Invasion from outer space—again?

Doctor:…if I had to call out, “Look out—uh—”
Romana: —Romanadvoratrelundar.
Doctor: Yes, well, by the time I said all that, you might be dead.

Doctor: Come on, K-9, hurry it up! A hamster with a blunt pen-knife could do it faster.
K-9: It would make a great deal of noise, Master.

Romana II: Oh I do love the Spring—all the leaves, the colors.
Doctor: It’s October.
Romana: I thought you said we were coming here for May Week.
Doctor: I did. May Week’s in June.
Romana: I’m confused.
Doctor: So was the TARDIS.

18| Which Doctor (including all previous regenerations) would you most like to be the companion of, and why?  Either #3 or #4. #3 is a nice, kindly, father/uncle-type, with a handy knowledge of Venusian jiu-jitsu. #4 is witty and resourceful and can usually talk his way out of a sticky situation. Both very useful skills when dealing with cranky aliens bent on world domination.

19| Which of the following are you more scared of, the Daleks, Cybermen, or the Weeping Angles? OK, I have to admit that, while I haven't seen Blink—yet—the little I've heard about the Weeping Angles creeps me out. I mean, really? One second youre looking at an angel statue, then you blink and they *get* you? >Shudder< At least with the Daleks and Cybermen, if they decide to kill you, you have a chance to outrun (or out-maneuver) them!

20| Who are some of your favorite guest stars in the series? The only one I can think of is the fellow who played Hal the archer in The Time Warrior...none other than Jeremy Bullock, who went on to play Bobba Fett in Star Wars (that’s for all you Warries out there ;-) ).

21| What was your first experience with Doctor Who and how did you hear about the series? This answer has two parts: Classic and New Wave. 
First, Classic:
I’ve been a Whovian pretty much as long as I can remember. Mind you, by the time I was born, the show was pretty much on its last legs (it was canceled in ’89, ’though mind you, I think the show was already going downhill after Tom Baker left, but I digress)....Anyhoo (Who? :-P), PBS ran the show for a while when Bro and I were little, and my tech-savvy Daddy used to tape it off the VCR (OK, I'm totally dating myself here...). We still have a precious few of those old VHS tapes, actually (Time Warrior had to be given a decent burial because the sound track went kaput *sniff!*). Later—I think it was in the early 2000s—we were able to get BBC America on Digital Cable, and they were showing reruns of our beloved Doctor Who. So, every Sunday morning, Dad would stick a tape in the VCR to record while we were at church, and that afternoon or evening we’d have a new Who to watch. BBC happened to be up to the Tom Baker years at that point, so that’s probably why he’s OUR Doctor—he’s the one we’ve seen the most of!

Now for what I call “New Wave” or “New Who”:
I must admit to being rather dubious (read: suspicious) when Bro mentioned several years back that the BBC was picking up the DW franchise. After all, reboots and remakes tend to be pale imitations (or worse, twisted perversions) of the original. Like that disgusting TV movie they made in the late ’90s…although Bro assured me it wasn’t nearly that bad. But then Life happened—we lost Dad, moved North, established a new home, new church family, et cetera—and I forgot about the show.
Then suddenly everyone in the Blogosphere was raving about Doctor Who (mainly #10), and it’s EVERYWHERE! I must admit that all the bits and pieces I’ve picked up since have made me curious, especially since Kellie and Tasha have plotted to infect me with their madness decided to introduce me to the new Doctor(s). I’ll always be an old-school Whovian, but I’m willing to give this new series a go. ;-) (I find myself using—or thinking about using—some of the in-jokes already, LOL.)

22| The Ninth Doctor said, 'Fantastic!', Ten said, 'Allons-y', and Eleven says, 'Geronimo'; what would you like to be the signature exclamation of the Twelfth Doctor?  Nothing. The Doctor should be so clever with words that nearly everything he says is quotable, as has been the case with other Doctors. ;-)

23| If you were trapped in an episode, which one would it be?  Hmmm…I’m thinking The Mind Robber—it’d be so cool to meet my favorite storybook characters!

25| After watching a certain Doctor Who episode, did you summon up the courage to try fish sticks and custard? I’ve not seen the episode alluded to, but even if I had, I wouldn’t try fish sticks and custard. Especially together. ’Cos I don’t like fish, and I hate custard! Sorry. :-P

Well, that was fun. I didn’t realize how much I like this show, LOL.
Go rest your eyes. :-P

Until next time, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~

♥