The Great Sonic Screwdriver Battle (Minus The Great Part)

The Sonic Screwdriver: the most useful tool in the universe. Just point it at anything, flash it for a couple of seconds, and it can do just about anything. As a Science Fiction icon, like phasers or lightsabers, sonic screwdriver replicas have been on the market for years.

Every die-hard Doctor Who fan has the Doctor's second best friend (apart from the TARDIS) in some form or another, be it a vintage Jon Pertwee unit, or the modern Matt Smith model. I've got a David Tennant/Christopher Eccleston model, thin, blue and silver, which my Aunt (also a Whovian) gave to me on Christmas '09.

At first, I was the only one of my friends who had one. I was the cool guy.

Then my friend Duke got one too. My screwdriver was slightly older than his, which had a brighter light and more realistic sound effects. Then he became the cool guy.

A few days ago, my roommate, Slate, got one of the newer Matt Smith screwdrivers, which is big, green and bronze. Ever since he got it he'd point it at me and say "mine's bigger." I'd point mine to him and say "It's not size that matters, it's how you use it that counts". Eventually, we'd forget we were talking about our screwdrivers and plunge into all sorts of grotesque innuendo.

It's also fun to whip it out in public (the screwdriver, that is) and meet total strangers who are Doctor Who fans too. You never know when it'll come in handy.

(Photos courtesy of Wikimedia)

Chicks Dig Fezzes

If you're a single man living in Boston, there's apparently one sure fire way to rectify that: dress like Matt Smith.

When my gaming/anime club attended Anime Boston this weekend, I wore my 11th Doctor costume, complete with a fez. I cannot tell you how many times I was stopped by fellow con-goers (mostly college girls) for a picture/chat/hug. I lost count somewhere around two dozen (on the first day of a three day event).

Oh yeah...

Matt Smith's popularity has had quite an impact on the world of fashion as well. Since he became the star of Doctor Who, sales of tweed jackets and bow ties have supposedly spiked in the United Kingdom. You couldn't wear a fez in public unless you lived in Northern Africa, but now, in Smith's own words "fezzes are cool." He's a man of danger, a man of adventure, and the most brilliant man in the universe. It's no wonder the Doctor (or people dressed like him) is so popular among women.

Anime Boston, Beantown's annual festival of everything geek, took place from April 22-24. Over 19,000 people from around the country crowded into AB for the even which describes itself as "New England's largest annual celebration of Japanese animation, comics, and pop culture". Hundreds (maybe thousands) of people wore costumes for the weekend, and I saw at least two dozen Doctors.

Not a great dancer though.

(Pictures courtesy of Marissa Tripp and Anime Boston)

Goodbye, Sarah Jane...

It's been a sad couple of days for the world of Doctor Who. As many of you know by now, we've lost Elisabeth Sladen, best known around the world as the Doctor's longest serving companion, Sarah Jane Smith. She died on Tuesday after a long struggle with cancer, aged 63.

Sladen started her long history with the greatest show in the galaxy in 1974 as a partner for 3rd Doctor Jon Pertwee, during his last season with the show. After Pertwee left, and regenerated into 4th Doctor Tom Baker, Sladen remained with the show for another two and a half seasons, departing from the TARDIS in late 1976.

Her character, Sarah Jane was seen as a departure from the women who came before her. She wasn't just some screaming siren who needed to be saved by the Doctor every week (although she was kidnapped sometimes). She was a character who could operate on the same level as the supremely intelligent Doctor, and sometimes solving problems before him.

Sarah Jane and Sladen were so loved by fans and producers, that she continued to be involved with the Doctor Who franchise after her departure. She starred in a pilot for an unsold spin-off  in 1981, five years after leaving the show. Sladen reprised her role yet again in 1983 and 1993, for the 20th and 30th Anniversary specials "The Five Doctors" and "Dimensions in Time".

Even when the new series of Doctor Who began in 2005, she kept returning. She appeared in an episode with 10th Doctor David Tennant in 2006, and became so popular with new fans, that she was finally given her own successful spin-off series in 2006, nearly thirty years after she first became a part of the show.

The future of her spin-off, "The Sarah Jane Adventures", is unknown; Sladen completed six episodes before her death. The producers of Doctor Who have said that a "suitable tribute" to her will air during the premiere show's sixth season this Saturday.

I'm no good at writing obituaries, and I couldn't say anything that hasn't already been said a million times. But I'll end with this: Rest in peace Mrs. Sladen. You've made millions of fans during your nearly four decades of acting, and you're already missed by them all.

Third time's the...ah, screw it.

I've talked about the concept of "so bad, it's good" in one of my previous entries, so consider this part two.

In the music industry, there's one man whose name is practically synonymous with unintentionally hilarious songs (apart from William Hung, or Soulja Boy, or Limp Bizkit, or Kevin Federaline, or...). One man whose foray from sci-fi television to the recording studio left behind a wave of unexpected fans (mostly dopeheads and masochists). Now he's doing it again. For a third time.

That's right. William Shatner is making a third album.

He first showcased his musical "talents", with his 1968 album The Transformed Man. The most famous track from this album has to be his cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man":

His unusual spoken-word performance style was presented to a wider audience a decade later, when he sang Elton John's "Rocket Man" at the Science Fiction Film Awards in 1978. How the audience made it through the whole thing without laughing, we'll never know:

He made a second album called Has Been in 2004, with help from some actual artists like Joe Jackson and Henry Rollins. Shatner's new album, scheduled for release later this year, is titled Searching For Major Tom. The track list, which has a distinct sci-fi theme, includes David Bowie's "Space Odyssey", Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", and a re-mix of "Rocket Man".

Just for the heck of it, here's one more Shatner gem. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds:

Only Two Weeks Until Doctor Who Season 6!

The new season of the nearly fifty year old TV show premiers on Saturday April 23rd! For the first time ever, the show is being taped in the United States (specifically in Utah) for a two part episode. Other stories include one written by fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, and another one rumored to feature the return of the original Cybermen.

Matt Smith will be reprising his role as the Eleventh Doctor, while Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are returning to play his companions, Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Alex Kingston (of "ER" fame) will return in a recurring role as Dr. River Song. Season 6 will be aired in two parts, with seven episodes airing in Spring, and the remaining six airing in Autumn.

The BBC America trailer looks intriguing, complete with (among other creatures) pirates, nazis, and secret service agents. The equally interesting prelude to episode one features the President of the US (who may or may not be Richard Nixon) apparently getting a call from an alien.

Check 'em out!

"Alas Poor Picard, I Knew Him Horatio. (Or, Something Is Rotten In The State Of Gallifrey)"

It's almost like a crossover. Not quite, but almost.

The other night I watched a performance of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart. Some of you may not be big fans of Shakespearean theater (I recently gained an interest, and am still working my way through his complete library), but it's worth watching just to see the Tenth Doctor and Jean-Luc Picard together in the same performance.

If you've never seen a performance of "Hamlet", nor read the script in high school, here's a quick rundown:  Claudius (played by Stewart in this version) is the brother of the King of Denmark (also Stewart). Claudius steals the throne by poisoning him in his sleep. The ghost of the King visits his son, Hamlet (Tennant), in his sleep, and tells him to avenge him.

This present-day production has a very dystopian atmosphere. The characters dress in modern attire and use modern technology, while the Danish (not as powerful today, as it was back in Shakespeare's time) monarchy still maintains complete control over the nation. It almost feels like a work of Science-Fiction. 

Like all of Shakespeare's work, the Olde-English in the dialouge can make it difficult to understand if you aren't entirely familiar with the story. As the author of a seldom read Sci-Fi blog, I'm hardly qualified to review it, but I'll just say that if you enjoy good drama (and are proficient in Olde-English), it's worth watching, especially just to see (SPOILER ALERT) the Doctor stab Capt. Picard.

On a semi-related note, William Shatner is a classically trained Shakespearean actor. They should have had him play Yorick.

You can watch the entire production (Along with "MacBeth", starring Patrick Stewart) here.

Writing That First Novel (Part 1)

I enjoy writing. Not just essays or articles for classes or assignments, but I gained an interest in writing fiction towards the end of my middle school years.

My bibliography consists of only a couple of short stories, most of which were written during high school. A lot of these stories were fan fiction featuring characters from Star Trek and Doctor Who.

I actually started writing a novel during my freshman year of high school. It was a story of a secret civilization who lived in a city under the ocean. I stopped writing it after a couple of chapters, and scrapped the idea, for a couple of reasons. I hadn't planned out the story before I started writing, and this often led me to make up characterizations and plots as I went along. I wasn't even sure how I wanted to end it. The parts of the plot I had thought of were quite preachy and heavy handed, and there were some environmental messages spread through out (I was going through sort of a hippie phase around this time).

I probably won't start writing it again. I had the only chapters I wrote saved on a floppy disk, which I managed to lose somewhere. Also, the idea has since been done. If I tried to publish this story today, I'd probably get a cease & desist from the creators of BioShock.

I've had a lot of time to hone my skills, and study the styles of some of the greats (Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, etc.). This summer, I'm going to try again.

I won't reveal too much about the plot of my new novel (You never know where plagiarists may be lurking). I'll just say that it's part sci-fi, part surreal comedy. I'll try to keep making updates on my progress throughout the summer.

To Be Continued...