The Old Squirrel

It was a beautiful day at the end of May. I was hiking in one of my favourite places, the Rouge Park. A little way off the main trail there is a pond likely created by a beaver dam. It is a place with many old dead trees standing like grave stones in and around the water's edge. The atmosphere, even on a sunny day is a little creepy.

I pushed through some brush as I made my way toward the water. Despite the dead trees, the place was full of life. Red winged blackbirds flew from brittle branch to brittle branch.

An owl chased by smaller birds fled into the forest.

On the ground were many fallen trees. On a log directly in front of me sat a small black creature. I stopped.

This thing just sat there looking at me. I didn't know what it was at first. It had the head of a squirrel but a thin body with very little hair. It turns out it was a squirrel. I realized this when it flashed its tail. A tail with only a few hairs left on it.

It was an old half starved critter. It didn't run and scurry up a tree as most squirrels would. It let me get quite close. In fact when I got too close it just walked of the log and moved behind a stump.

This little animal touched me somehow. I couldn't help but wonder what its life had been like. I'm sure at one point it was a lively young squirrel jumping from tree to tree, chasing other squirrels and having as much fun as squirrels can have. Now it was a skinny little thing, alone on the edge of a swamp. The neat thing is that it was old and still alive. It is rare in nature for any animal to die of old age. If this old squirrel could last a little longer perhaps it would die of old age. Whatever happens, I have a feeling that I will not see this squirrel again. And that is a little sad.

Doctor Who - The Doctor's Wife

Let me start by saying that I have in general really enjoyed Doctor Who since Matt Smith took over last year. He has claimed the role and done a fantastic job. The same goes for Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.
While I feel a sense of excitement every time I sit down to watch a new episode, I also feel nervous. Unfortunately I have been disappointed a few times in either the direction that some of the stories have gone as well as the overall tone. It is hard to actually put my finger on exactly what it is, but I often feel something is missing.

A couple of examples:

Victory of the Daleks should have been a great episode. It started well, and for the first ten minutes or so I was really into it. Then it devolved into a silly spectacle that felt like a commercial to sell new brightly coloured Dalek toys. This is my least favourite episode. One that I can almost actually say that I disliked.

The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood was not bad but I felt like, being a two parter, it should have had more gravitas. It really could have been done in a more tightly written single episode.

Also throughout the Eleventh Doctor's first season, we had the ongoing plot of the crack in time. A perfectly valid and interesting plot. Unfortunately its execution lacked any sort of subtlety. It felt like we were being hit over the head with it. Compare that to the way Bad Wolf was used in series one, or Harold Saxon in series three or even Rose coming back in series four. In those cases you often didn't notice what was happening at the time. It was only at the end when the connection was finally made that you had that ah ha moment. Plus it led to more enjoyment when you would re watch previous episodes and see Bad Wolf in graffiti or the Vote for Saxon sign in the alley or Rose appearing on a tv monitor.

This season started with The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. Both exciting episodes. But I was left feeling that there were too many story lines left open. I'm sure that these will be tied up by the end of the series, which is fine, but I felt unsatisfied at the end of the episodes. I read a quote on twitter today that was appropriately directed at Doctor Who, Writing for TV Series and Managing Viewer Expectations... "Leave Breadcrumbs, Not Boulders"

Last week's episode, The Curse of the Black Spot, was one that I enjoyed (who doesn't enjoy pirates?). But even this episode had an unsatisfying ending. It felt like they ran out of time and just quickly slapped together an ending.

One more complaint. Enough River Song. She has been in some great episodes but I have had enough of her. She diminishes the value of the Doctor. I have said it before, I think it would have been better if they had heeded the title of the music written for River in The Forest of the Dead, "The Greatest Story Never Told".

By the way I only complain because I really love the show. Even the "bad" episodes are better than most tv. But the show has the potential to be truly great. With the calibre of the writers on the show, we deserve a great show. Perhaps that is the problem. We expect too much.


Okay. For those that are still with me, I will finally get to The Doctor's Wife.

Simply a great episode. Almost as good as my favourite, Vincent and the Doctor.

I think that Doctor Who works best when it is about the characters. This was an excellent character piece. The heart of the Tardis is stolen and placed into the body of a woman, Idris. There was no real attempt from the writer to hide this from the audience and to most viewers, I'm sure they got the point right away. Sometimes it fun to know something before the characters do. We could delight in her choices of words. She called the Doctor her thief and talked in past, present and future tenses.

Once the Doctor realized who she was we got some great insight into their relationship. They were made for each other. They need each other. And it was nice to see the emotional attachment they have for each other. The Doctor truly is married to the Tardis.

The villian was House. He was some sort of malevolent power living inside the asteroid, who had tricked travellers into his trap, including hundreds of Time Lords. He would feed on the energy from their Tardises, and now he had caught the last Time Lord. House then moved into the Doctor's Tardis in an attempt to make it to our universe. I like how House was just a disembodied voice. It reminded me a little of the Devil in The Satan Pit. A creature with unmeasured power going up against the Doctor.

We also had some great moments with Amy and Rory. As they ran around the corridors inside the Tardis, House played with their minds. House brought out the subconscious fears in Amy's mind. Poor Rory being left for hours, then years, then dying and leaving some rather dark messages for Amy was really well done. I have to say that the writer's seem intent on torturing Amy this season and Karen Gillan is really putting in some great performances.

Here are some lines that I feel sum up the episode.

Doctor: "You gave me hope and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me."

Idris (Tardis): "The first time you touched my console you said.."
Doctor: "I said you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever known."
Idris (Tardis): "Then you stole me and I stole you."

Doctor: "You have never been very reliable."
Idris (Tardis): "And you have?"
Doctor: "You didn't always take me where I wanted to go."
Idris (Tardis): "No, but I always took you where you needed to go."

Idris (Tardis): "You talk and run around and bring home strays."

House: "Fear me, I've killed hundreds of time lords."
Doctor: "Fear me. I've killed all of them."

Idris (Tardis): "There's something I didn't get to say to you."
Doctor: "Goodbye?"
Idris (Tardis): "No. I just wanted to say, hello. Hello Doctor. It's so very very nice to meet you."

Doctor: "You okay?"
Rory: "No. I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me but it still does. I'm a nurse."
Doctor: "Letting it get to you. You know what that's called. Being alive. Best thing there is."

It is so exciting when you have the pleasure of watching a truly well written episode. This was really exciting.

I will also mention that I was unable to watch this episode live as it aired because I was busy. Of course I recorded it and sat down to watch it when I got home. But before I did that I noticed that a video blog had already been posted on youtube about this episode by Rosianna on the TARDIStacular channel. I came across her reviews of Doctor Who a few years ago and found them to be really well done. Rosianna is very intelligent and articulate and I really respect and value her opinion on the subject. Anyway, I did not immediately watch her review as I had to watch the episode first, but just the fact that her review was already uploaded the night that the show aired got me excited. I assumed (and assumed correctly) that this meant that the episode must have been extraordinarily good.
For those interested, here is her review:

By the way, Rosianna is also a writer, student, book reviewer and freelance copy editor. Such talent. So, Rosianna, if you ever read this blog, please forgive any of my improper uses of grammar and poorly constructed sentences etc. That was probably a bad one right there.
And for any Doctor Who fans, be sure to follow TARDIStacular on youtube.

Survivor - That's a Hell of a lot of Steps

After two weeks of average episodes in what has been a great season, we get another really good episode.

It started with the tribe (and the RI group) receiving the Sprint 4G phone. Many people cringe at the product placement, but at least Survivor incorporates the products in a useful way. I know most people would prefer there was none but it is what pays for the show. I am developing a show right now so I know how very important sponsors are. If you want a show with the production value that Survivor has, it costs a lot of money. So cut them some slack.

On the phone were videos from loved ones. I used to hate these episodes. I thought it was cheesy and I thought the crying was wimpy. After all, they have only been gone a month. But as I get older I have come to really like these episodes. Also, you have to realize that these people have not just been away from family, they have been away from all civilization, they are hungry and tired and have been under tremendous stress. So to have a little love from home must be wonderful. I can imagine myself being out there and having my brother visit or seeing video of my two and a half year old niece. I would be teary.

The twist this time was that it was the winner of the Redemption Island challenge that got to see their family. Mike won the challenge and would get to spend time with his mom. Or... there is always an or... he could let the two remaining Redemption Island guys, Matt and Ralph, spend time with their loved one or let the entire Ometepe gang spend the time with their family. Wow, what a choice. What would he do? I think at that point in the game I would have been selfish. But Mike, whether for strategy, although I really don't think that alone would buy you votes from a potential jury, or maybe because he is just a nice guy, decided to let everyone on the former Ometepe have the time with their families. A very nice gesture. Whether it helps him in any way we shall see.

By the way, am I a bad person for hoping that Matt loses a challenge?

After the day with the loved ones came the immunity challenge. And what a challenge it was. They had to fit planks like a puzzle into steps that went up and up and up. It was one of those challenges that if you made one little mistake you would be out of it. Very quickly Phillip, Natalie and Ashley were so far behind that they would not be a threat. But the race between Grant, Andrea and Rob was close. It went back and forth. Rob really wanted to win. I also really wanted him to win. Andrea clearly wanted it too. You could feel them getting tired. Especially Rob, who was giving it all he had. He was a little ahead as he grabbed his last plank and barely made it to the top of the stairs. But he got it in place and collapsed at the top victorious.
I was tired watching. Actually I went for a hike yesterday and it included going up some steep hills. I was tired and out of breath going up the hill just once. They went up and down these steps multiple times. So Rob won the immunity necklace.

Who would they vote out at tribal? This is the first time that they have had to really turn on themselves. The consensus seemed to be to get rid of Andrea. But Phillip, being Phillip, started acting crazy again making them think twice. I like watching Rob think through the strategy here. Actually, he was the only one thinking things through. Everyone else was just doing what Rob told them. Rob can see that having Phillip at the end will help him get votes because no one is likely to vote for Phillip. He also sees that Andrea is the only one smart enough to see that Rob could be a threat. So logic seemed to support voting out Andrea and that is what they did.
I don't know that that was the right thing to do. Now you have Andrea on Redemption Island with Matt. This may or may not stir up trouble for Rob. I think for Rob's sake he would have been wiser to keep Andrea and maybe get rid of someone with less use to him like Ashley. They always say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
The good news is that Rob had won immunity this time. He still has the hidden immunity idol and he also is good at challenges so he potentially could win immunity again. Plus for some strange reason, his star struck tribe (that may be the reason) hasn't even thought about voting him out.

There is one more episode to go and then the finale. I am concerned about when they will allow the person from Redemption Island to rejoin the tribe. If they do it too soon, you could argue that it is unfair for those that get voted out and don't get a chance at Redemption. If they do it too late, then it is unfair to the people that have been playing the game and strategizing the whole time. I have liked Redemption Island up until this point. How it is handled from here will be the deciding factor for me.

Doctor Who Day of the Moon

Last week week we had the first episode of the new season and it was exciting. A great ride with lots of twists. I did have some reservations despite really liking it. I was concerned that Steven Moffat's love for complicated and potentially paradoxical plots might lead to some holes that would not be filled.

This week we had the conclusion in Day of the Moon. It had some really good moments but it unfortunately left me disappointed and unsatisfied. My fears appear to have been realized. There were far too many plot twists that did not wrap up and the episode felt rushed to try and finish what they did actually finish.

Let's look at what I did like.

The rounding up of Amy, Rory and River was a dramatic way to open the episode.

Building the prison around the Doctor and the Tardis was also clever.

The overall haunted house feel that the episode had was really well done. The scenes in the orphanage were very creepy and you really felt the fear that Amy felt.

The recording devices in the palms of their hands was a great way to remember what they saw. The scene in the Tardis where Canton sees a hologram of one and then straightens the Doctor's tie was a brilliant way to introduce the fact that the Silence rule by the power of suggestion and it paid off with Canton recording the Silence on the video phone and ultimately being played back during the moon walk.

The scenes with Rory listening to Amy through the recording device were touching as was the little heart to heart he had with the Doctor. "Stupid face"

I did really like the final confrontation with the Silence. Using the video in the broadcast of the moon landing was brilliant and maintains why we (the people of the world) have no recollection of the Silence. The shootout with River was exciting.

I also liked the moments after the Doctor and River kissed (although the kiss itself made me uncomfortable). The Doctor says, "There's a first time for everything." and River, after the Doctor leaves, says, "And a last time." Throughout all their history is it possible that that was their only kiss?


Now the things that I did not like.

There was far too much use of the Tardis. In most stories there will always be a reason why the Doctor cannot use the Tardis because otherwise the solutions to the problems become too easy. I also really hate that River is flying the Tardis around without the Doctor.

Speaking of River Song. I think that I have had enough of her. When she is around it diminishes the Doctor. She always knows too much and almost makes the Doctor look foolish. I know Steven Moffat loves this character, but please let's be done with her. We need a break.

I actually found the Doctor a little disappointing at times as well. I think it was that he was acting a little to foolish and was played for laughs a little too often, especially in a story that had such a grim enemy.

Nixon also came across as a bit of a clown in this episode. He lost the gravitas he had in the last episode.


There were a lot of plot lines that did not wrap up. This may be intentional, but even if it is intentional it left us feeling completely unsatisfied at the end of the episode. It is totally fine to introduce new plot lines and not wrap up everything, but you still need to leave the audience feeling a sense of satisfaction and excitement for what will come. I felt neither. I feel worry. I worry where Steven Moffat is taking things. More on this in a moment.

I am left with questions.
Who was the woman behind the door in the orphanage?
Why was the control room of the Silence the same as the one in the Lodger? Will we find out or was it just because they had a set they could reuse?
Who is the little girl?
Why can she regenerate?
If Amy is pregnant then with who's child? (I am assuming it is the little girl)
Why was the older Doctor killed?

I think the last question deserved to answered in this episode as it is what began it all. There was no mention of it. It was as if the characters had all forgotten it as well.

The reason I worry where all of this is going is all because of Steven Moffat. I think he is a great writer. He has written some of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who. However he seems to want to take the Doctor in a completely different direction than Russell T Davies did. This is fine except that he seems to want to rewrite history. He has to remember that the fans of the show love the Doctor. They love all the Doctors. To keep things in the present, they love the Ninth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor. It is not fair to write things that could potentially negate some of the things that happened with Nine and Ten. Steven Moffat seems to love paradoxical stories. I fear he will create a paradox that he will not be able to write himself out of. We will see.

And now it seems like they will just go off and have a few adventures for fun before revisiting the events of these two episodes. That is fine, but not satisfying.