Whenever possible, have a back up. An alternate plan, alternate exit– mind you, these are more useful to spies and gun fighters but you can still apply the notion to every day life. I have a cell phone if my landline goes out and vice versa.
I have a crappy AT&T back up internet in case the much superior Xfinity broadband goes out. They’re both used primarily for my work and thus are a write off but since it’s work, I need the back up.
I’ve got the iPad Pro mobile set up for a back up when I don’t have access to my home set up.
An old iMac to go back to if the current one dies, however limiting that might be.
Still have the old flatbed scanner for scanning in images but in a pinch, the iPhone camera can be put into play if necessary.
And on line, if I ever approach some purchase or merchandise site that looks even the least bit sketchy, — usually they’re fine but once in a blue moon, they’re not– I don’t use my primary credit card, or even my secondary or tertiary one, I use the end of the line back up. That way, the possible scam is easier to isolate and I can easily kill the card.
Granted, at times, I might go a bit too far with my back up scenarios.
The most elaborate back up I ever committed to was an external generator to hook up to the house. This was years ago and while the thing was expensive, we never used or needed it. It just sat there gathering dust. For a decade.
It is extremely, extremely rare that we ever lose power for more than a few hours. 99% of the time, it’s just a momentary off and on.
We never had the opportunity to even test it. It ran on gas and would power some lights and the fridge. Bottom line though, it probably wasn’t the right generator for us. Technically, we’d be better off with one of those whole house generators. Maybe some day.
So we eventually found a good home for the one we had with my cousin who has a house up in Ely Minnesota, and I believe they’ve already used it.
At least it’s being used!
So to recap, having a back up is usually a good idea.
Doctor Who first came on the air back in 1963 and the show’s gone through a lot of lead actors, producers, script editors, you name it. It’s even changed direction more than a few times, along with the length of episodes. Of all the actors to play the Doctor over the decades, many of them had stuck around for different lengths of time but some had to deal with very different seasons as far as season length went. So the number of years a person spent in the role was not exactly the most precise indicator of how much time that person was actually at the helm of the TARDIS.
For instance, first Doctor William Hartnell was in the lead role for only a little more than three seasons, departing near the beginning of season four due to ill health. Yet back in the 1960’s both he and Patrick Troughton were filming the show almost all year ‘round. Thus, Hartnell has more episodes in the can than any other Doctor except Tom Baker, who starred in the show for *seven* seasons!
So, to give credit where credit is due when it comes to just how much service time these folks put into traveling through time and space, I was curious, and thus, made a list. I originally put it together during the Matt Smith era and I just continued to update it after every season. Now first things first, I’ll list in order who played the Doctor in what years and in how many seasons:
William Hartnell: 1963 – 66, 3 seasons, 1973- The Three Doctors
Jon Pertwee: 1970 – 74, 5 seasons, ’83, The Five Doctors
Tom Baker: 1974 – 81, 7 seasons
Peter Davison: 1981 – 84, 3 seasons
Colin Baker: 1984 – 86, 2 seasons
Sylvester McCoy: 1987- 89, 3 seasons
Paul McGann: 1996 tv movie, 2013 Night of the Doctor
John Hurt: 2013 The Name of the Doctor, The Day of the Doctor
Christopher Eccleston: 2005, 1 season
David Tennant: 2005 -10, 3 seasons, 8 specials
Matt Smith: 2010 – 13, 3 seasons, 5 specials
Peter Capaldi: 2013 – 17, 3 seasons, 4 specials
Jodie Whitaker: 2017 – present, 2 seasons, 1 special
Side notes — to provide a more or less even playing field in the count, since the vast majority of Doctor Who was usually in half hour installments, really about 23 minutes or so per episode and the new era consists of 44 minutes eps on average, I’ll be counting each new era ep as two episodes, as if they were two, 22 minute episodes. Fair’s fair. I’ll do the same for whichever classic seasons like 22 went with that format, since the whole point here is to see just how many episodes they appeared in, or how just how much story was packed into the era.
So any classic ep of Doctor Who gets credited as one ep. Any new era, 44 minute ep gets credited as two eps. An hour long Christmas special will get credited as three eps. A full 90 minute or 100 minute movie gets credited as 4 eps. And in certain situations, an extra long new era ep that exceeds it’s 44 minutes by a substantial margin, like a series ender, etc. might get credited as 3 eps. Got it? Excellent.
Also, I’m only counting the tv show, not audio. That’s a whole different list. Here we go:
Tom Baker: 172 eps
William Hartnell: 134
Patrick Troughton: 132
Jon Pertwee: 131
David Tennant: 113
Matt Smith: 101
Peter Capaldi: 89
Peter Davison: 75
Colin Baker: 44
Sylvester McCoy: 43
Christopher Eccleston: 26
Paul McGann: 4+
John Hurt: 4
As of this writing, Jodie Whitaker is at 46 but she’s projected to go up to 69 with all three seasons and 3 specials, but we’ll see. That would place her under Davison and over Colin Baker.
The *other* interesting bit is Sarah Jane Smith. Although not a Doctor, here’s someone who appeared throughout all of Pertwee’s last season, two and half more in Tom Baker’s era, The Five Doctors, in a few episodes during the Tennant era, and had her own show for several seasons. *Her* tally would actually be 138 and would put her in *second* place, below Tom Baker — which is kind of amazing.
In any case, there you have it. A slightly different look at just “how long” some of these Doctors were actually in action.
Sorry, I didn’t want to crowd this much baseball into such a short span of time… but all of baseball has been crammed into a short span of time. So, with the wacky, wild, extended playoffs where *everybody gets in–weeeeee* is about to start, I gotta talk about Bryant. The guy is a mess right now.
A lot of fans already got their torches and pitchforks out to round him up and force him off a cliff because he hasn’t performed any miracles lately. Screw them. We can joke about how fragile he is because he does seem to get injured a lot, but I think maybe we should stop short of crucifixion.
Rossi… take him out and send him home and rest. Whether he likes it or not.
Him stumbling up to the plate and feebly tapping the ball with his bum wrist, or going into the box without an elbow guard on for the first time in I don’t how many years– AND THEN GETTING HIT ON THE ELBOW BY A PITCH! Come on!
There may have been some funky karma/black magic working there, I don’t know.
It’s my firm belief that these players actually need to be mentally in the game 100% to do their best. I don’t think I’ll get much of an argument there. DISTRACTIONS are bad. Makes you sloppy, careless. If you’ve got things weighing on your mind, maybe you’re not paying attention to the game. Maybe COVID, the new baby at home, delayed free agency, and injuries are making him less than 100% in the concentration department. Maybe it becomes a vicious circle, I don’t know, I’m playing amateur psychologist.
But he is just not right at the moment. Send him home.
It’s not like the fate of the team is resting on his shoulders. Somehow, the Cubs are still in first place with one of the worst offenses in baseball. Rizzo, Shwarber, Baez, they’re all having horrendous seasons. Sending Bryant up to the plate to consistently fail isn’t doing anyone any good. Schwarber said that when Bryant’s up at the plate, they *know* good things are going to happen. After the last two seasons plagued with injuries, I don’t understand that belief. It borders on delusional while he’s like this.
And he has been plagued with injuries going back to what, 2018? He’s only 28 but he’s been having a rough go. It’s actually quite worrisome, because the last three seasons, he’s been getting more and more lost time due to injuries.
Everyone’s hoping he comes back at some point before the end of the season to get some at bats, get his timing back, contribute. This is stupid/crazy talk. He’s injured. He hasn’t had good at bats all season. What makes you think he will now, in the worst shape he’s been in all year? Yeah, I know, he wants to compete. Him ambling around at the plate like a rag doll is not competing, it’s risking further injury, an even worse mental outlook and possibly his future.
Honestly, it’s probably a lucky break that he lost the case to get free agency after this season. Right now, no one would want him. Sad, but true. Certainly not for any 300 million dollar contract. But if he just hangs it up now and goes home, maybe he can come back 100% next year. Get back on track, have career year, hale, hardy and healthy.
The point is moot anyway, as without any bats, the Cubs probably aren’t going deep into the post season. So I don’t think having Bryant in the line up is going to make a difference one way or another.
But hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Bryant comes back in two days in perfect health, with a clear mind and starts going crazy at the plate, and somehow, his dominance affects the rest of the guys and for the first time since ’16, everyone’s actually playing up to their potential!
Stretchable heroes. Good guys whose main super ability is that of stretching. There have been a number of these characters over the decades and stretching has been –to varying degrees–integral to the character. But credit to the various comic companies for giving us a twist in each case to differentiate the characters.
Stretching, by and large, is seen as a somewhat goofy power, but in the world of comics and cartooning, it can be visual gold. It gives writers and artists’ imaginations a workout and opens up visual possibilities. So yeah, you can play the ability for laughs or go deeper, more dangerous.
It started in 1941 with Plastic man in Police Comics #1 from Quality Comics (later acquired by DC Comics). Of course Plas is about more than *just* stretching. His name was Patrick “Eel” O’Brian, a criminal who got shot and ended up in a chemical bath which -after seeping into his wound–transformed and transmuted his cellular structure. He can literally form any shape, going flat as a pancake or inflate to the size of a dirigible. Blast a hole through him with a cannon, he’ll just close up the hole. Rip him apart, he’ll just reform. He has total control over his molecular structure and can assume any shape, or take the appearance of anyone. After gaining his powers, he decided to go straight. He is the physical embodiment of a cartoon. And his personality is that of Jim Carrey in his wackier movies. *Missed opportunity there, Hollywood! Although at one point, he did get his own Saturday morning cartoon show, for however long that lasted.
Plas has usually been played for laughs and worked as a bit player here and there providing comic relief. Maybe his biggest moment in the spotlight was being member of the Justice League of America under writer Grant Morrison. He’s had a couple of series over the years as well. His sometimes sidekick back in the day was another, broader level of comic relief in the form of Woozy Winks. I include Plas on this list because he stretches but stretching, really, is kind of the least of his abilities when you come down to it. A character like that who literally can’t be hurt or maybe not even be able to die, seems like even after almost 80 years, we’ve only scratched the surface on this guy.
In 1960, DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz, writer John Broome, penciler Carmine Infantino and inker Murphy Anderson created a sort of sidekick/guest star for the Flash in his book. They wanted a stretchy guy so they created Ralph Dibny, The Elongated Man. Ralph basically drank a concentrated extract of Gingold, which made him elastic. Schwartz and company only went to this trouble because they hadn’t realized that DC bought the rights to Plastic Man. They could have saved themselves the effort but in the end, The Elongated Man was born.
But what set Ralph apart? He was the polar opposite to Plastic man, as stretching was his main and only power, period. But he was also a detective and when he sensed a mystery, his rubbery nose twitched. Eh–It was the ’60’s and it was DC Comics. But maybe his biggest and best defining character was his love for his wife Sue. For many a year, they made a great team, solving cases together, and both served as members of Justice League Europe. Unfortunately, after the mid ’80’s, comics began to get darker and darker and fans ate it up, so they got darker and darker. A whole miniseries called Identity Crisis centered around the graphic rape and brutal murder of Sue Dibny, which spun off Ralph on a downward spiral and things just got steadily darker from there.
In 1961, Marvel decided to try their hand at a stretchy superhero, when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brought us the Fantastic Four. What makes Reed Richards maybe the most impressive character on this list is that his stretching abilities, acquired by exposure to cosmic rays along with the rest of the FF, are, for Reed, a side note. He really doesn’t even need them when it comes right down to it.
Because he’s the smartest guy on the planet, and he’s the leader of the team. A team which includes his wife Sue, brother in law Johnny and best friend Ben, three of the most powerful and dangerous people on earth. And if need be, he can stretch. Reed has historically been one of the most respected leaders, heroes and big brains in the business. The only nod to any flashiness was his chosen superhero name of Mr. Fantastic. Eh, it was ’61, Stan was excited. Bottom line, Richards’ brain saved this planet, this universe more times than you’d think. And he stretches.
Of course, *when* he stretches, he can be very dangerous. It all depends on how angry he is and what the situation calls for.
Honorable mention #1 goes to Rita Farr, Elasti-girl of the Doom Patrol. First appearing in 1963, thanks to the affect of consuming strange volcanic gases on location filming for her latest film, Rita could grow to the size of a giant or shrink down to a couple inches tall. She could also just size up or down any part of her body. But her name was Elasti-girl, so, okay. She’s also been tied to the Teen Titans off and on through the decades and appears on the Doom Patrol tv show. I’m not entirely sure if she classifies as a shape-changer, a hero that changes size, or both, and sometimes the effect seems to be like stretching.
Honorable mention #2 goes to teenage Kamala Khan, who first appeared in 2013, and thanks to Inhuman genes, she acquired shapeshifting abilities, which she appears to utilize by means of enlarging her limbs, or fists or stretching. Kind of seems to be similar to the Rita Farr conundrum. This relative newbie to the superhero world will be getting her own Disney Plus tv show as well.
But a search through the ‘net reveals other characters I either forgot or never heard of…
*Thin man – evidently predating Plastic Man, this Marvel character climbed a mountain and had his body altered by the people he found there. He gained elasticity, could become very thin, and battled along side Captain America and others during WWII. I never heard of this guy, so I’m not sure if his stretchability ended at just thinning him out or what.
*Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece eats Gum gum fruit and gained elasticity which he uses to great advantage in hand to hand combat, which, when you think about it, makes all the sense in the world, extending your reach, focusing more power into punches and kicks.
*Offspring — Luke O’Brian, the son of Plastic man, seemingly with all his abilities. Don’t know if he survived the many DC reboots like the New 52 and Rebirth.
*Skin– this mutant connected with Generation X can stretch… his skin. I’m not sure how that worked out for him.
*Rubbermaid– also connected to the X-men, she was actually made of rubber, which allowed her remarkable elasticity but, unlike some who were more durable, she also was vulnerable to anything that could effect rubber, such as fire.
There are others in the flat category, Flat-man, or Paper doll, basically flat characters who can stretch, others who are more metal or liquid metal like the X-men’s Mercury or members of DC’s Metal men.
And yes, I could very well be forgetting someone, a random villain or various independent characters who never got the spotlight.
I’d investigate further, but my schedule’s just not that flexible.
Another area of humanity that’s really letting down the side is all the hate culture on YouTube. You name a nerd culture show or franchise and YouTube has got hundreds of channels with videos to help you realize how horrible they are. Why they now suck and who ruined them and how. Let’s take an example.
Doctor Who. I feel I can speak intelligently on this subject.
There are plenty of videos where you can get all the details about how RUINED Doctor Who forever more. How it’s been eviscerated and utterly destroyed. How Satan has taken a squat on it. Anyway…
Now, I’ve shown my immense displeasure at what Chris Chibnall has done to the show since he came in in 2018. His stewardship of the show and his writing of it have been pretty bad. It has diminished the show and the ratings have been falling steadily for two straight seasons, even though season 12 was *slightly* better than 11.
*The YouTube HATE brigade will inform you in no uncertain terms that the show is now whimpering at the mercy of “feminazis” and “SJW’s” and that Doctor Who is utterly RUINED! FAIL!!! Etc. and they will go on and on about agendas and how dare they make the Doctor a woman, blah blah blah.
That’s unfortunate because there is a ton of raw hate out there and YouTube gives us all of it.
Now, IS there an agenda to these Doctor Who eps? Yes. There’s almost always been agenda to some extent with most shows because all writers usually like and want to send a message in their work of some sort. The problem comes when the writer in question is such a hack that it becomes blisteringly obvious what the agenda is and the viewer feels like they’re getting bludgeoned over the head with said message. This, unfortunately, is the kind of writer Chibnall is.
Classic Doctor Who quite often had messages and agendas, but they were woven neatly cell into stories with heart, action, drama and humor.
So make no mistake, it’s not women or SJW’s that are hurting Doctor Who, it’s just Chris Chibnall.
The nice thing is that no matter how bad Chibnall or his ideas are, he can’t “ruin” Doctor Who. He can give us a pretty bad era– currently approaching the worst era ever at this rate– but it’s one era. We’ve had a bad era before. When he leaves and a new showrunner comes in, it’s a new beginning.
But DW is just one example. Star Wars, the MCU, Batman, the DCCU, you name it, you get the same anger spewing forth. DESTROYED!!! RUINED!!! Lots and lots of anger in the fan community. REALLY a lot of anger toward women in general. It really speaks poorly of any group but the nerds get very vocal.
Star Wars is another one. It doesn’t help that the sequel trilogy was such an unoriginal, uncoordinated rehash, but when Rian Johnson wanted to think outside the box for a second with The Last Jedi and try something new, the closed minded SW fans blew a gasket. And the hate poured in. Hate, hate, hate.
It’s unfortunate but then again, there’s a lot of that going on in real life in 2020 too.
When is posting up out and out BS click-bait titles for videos going to become a crime punishable by having your YouTube account taken away?
I’m a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and superhero tv shows in general. Almost every day, I see some AMAZING ANNOUNCEMENT or BREAKING NEWS or CONFIRMATION or THE RUMORS ARE TRUE! notification about upcoming productions.
Of course, when you open the video, there is no breaking news, confirmation, nothing. No, just another fast talking host blaring out plenty of sound and fury, but signifying NOTHING. They have no news, no startling revelations and worst of all, some of these “celebrities” just keep rambling without ever getting to the point, if they even have one in the first place. Somehow, these people are getting thousands of views for having absolutely NOTHING to say. Amazing.
I fell for it the first couple times. Because I was silly enough to think there was a bit of integrity or honesty with these channels wanting to actually inform people. But, instead, it’s just a bunch of click bait to up their views. A WHOLE lot of crying wolf to an operatic degree. It’s unfortunate because when *any* channel says they’ve got news now, I don’t waste my time. I’ll wait for some credible source.
I won’t mention the names of these channels as they don’t deserve the bump.
That seems a bit thin for a blog if I stop there, so I’ll expand.
Pets are more trouble than they’re worth– to me.
Don’t get me wrong– a lot of pets are loving, lovely and adorable.
I guess maybe I think about pets the way some people think about kids.
They’re nice to experience during a visit but I’m happy to not have to deal with them all the time.
I also don’t want a pet because I’d get too emotionally wrapped up in it.
We once had a bird. I was not in favor of getting a bird. It annoyed the hell out of me. Loud, piercing chirping all day, all the time.
I work at home, everyone else was gone during the day, so I’m the one who had to listen to it. One day, I took the cage out onto the deck, so the bird could be outside. I did not realize the cage door was open.
The bird flew away and never came back.
I hated the bird and at the same time, I was now worried and horrified at what I’d done and felt miserable. After the family got over the shock, they started to mock me, insinuating maybe I mistakenly did it on purpose. Ha.
Yay, pets.
40 years ago, my mother took in a stray cat, I did not want a cat –and specifically stated that I don’t want a cat because I’ll get too emotionally attached to it—but for some reason, she kept the cat and I had to share in the maintenance. We knew nothing about this cat or where it had come from. One day it went nuts, got violent and I don’t remember what happened to it. I think mom took it to a vet, I’m not even sure. Came home and the cat was gone.
There are other stories but they all ended badly.
There’s no way I’m going outside and walking a dog in the middle of winter and then have to pick up after it. And I’m far more of a dog person than a cat person. Maybe that’s due to past experience.
My wife is not a big fan of dogs because she was bitten by a German Shepherd when she was a kid. So we have a kind of pact. No dogs, no cats. She snuck the bird in on a technicality.
I’m also very allergic to some breeds of dogs and cats.
I’ve known people who’ve bought pets that had major medical issues (and major medical bills), behavioral issues, shedding issues, attitude issues, you name it.
No thank you.
And no, having pets is *nothing* like having kids. Kids have ten times the upside and 36 more dimensions. Inevitably, the pet scenario ends in heartbreak.
Mind you, that’s just me. I’m not big on going out on an emotional limb.
Your mileage may vary.
And yes, if a dog or a cat were big enough, they WOULD eat you.
Some idiots keep tigers for pets. It’s juuuuust a matter of time.
In baseball, one of the big, hot button topics between old school and new era players and fans is what a guy does immediately after hitting a homer. Because what you do in those first couple seconds says plenty.
Old school dogma says don’t stand there preening like an arrogant young pup just staring at the ball and flip your bat with an “in your face” attitude. Just be a professional and run the bases.
New era players are the ones doing the big bat flips, the standing, the admiring. They’re more than fine with it.
Keep in mind, this is the difference between two schools of thought, which doesn’t necessarily indicate age—my intention is not to rag on millenials, just pointing out that if you just stand and gawk, whatever your age, *someone’s* going to be inevitably be pissed off somewhere.
The whole showing off at the plate routine has only been around for the last 15 to 20 years though– seems to me to have a reality tv edge to it and this is still –sadly– the Kardashian age of tv and those “celebrities” (?) still have their admirers. That’s just a stab in the dark though.
I would posit, that the arrogant bat flips and the standing admiration gets you street cred on Twitter but works against you in other ways.
And for the record, I myself don’t much care about the bat flips, as long as you’re doing it as you’ve already taken off to round the bases, and are not just standing there gawking in your glory.
Primarily, when a batter hits the home run, and stands there admiring it as if to say REJOICE YE PEASANTS AND MARVEL AT WHAT HE HAS WROUGHT… it comes across as a bit silly because pretty much every other guy in the MLB can do it as well. Yet, these guys act like they invented the home run each time they do it. They’re really not that special.
Next, they never seem to realize it but they’re in the minority with this. The majority of the players are not fond of these guys rubbing their faces in it. The bat-flippers may or may not think that’s what they’re doing but that is the prevailing theory of the guys they’re playing against. It’s possible that the very players THEY idolize may not be a fan of the theatrics.
Then there’s the retaliation aspect. You’d have to be a somewhat unobservant player or downright dense at this point to not know that after putting on your little “look at me!” show, the next time you step in the box, you’ll probably get a 90 mph fastball in the middle of your back. And then, when that happens, it can’t possibly be a surprise and yet the showboaters then get angry, asking “what’s that for?!?!” So hey, do your thing but don’t go crying when you get beaned. There are consequences.
Then there are the magnificent glory shots…that don’t go out. I’ve seen numerous instances where the batter gets the barrel on the ball, crushes it, stands, admires, flips, then slowly starts the jog to first, I am the man, OH YES. Except the ball stayed in the park, bounced off the wall, and what would have been an easy double or possibly a triple, was now a single because you were busy admiring yourself. It’s actually funny watching the player doing the slow jog, supremely pleased with himself, then suddenly realizing the ball didn’t go out, gets the “OH SHIT!” embarrassed look on his face, and mentally readies himself for the oh so richly deserved ribbing later in the dugout.
It’s my take that when you screw around at home plate after hitting a homer, that kind of attitude sometimes bleeds over with some players in other areas of the game, like when the balls hit into play, running to first. Some players, instead of running for your life, they seem to be running for the phone.
Joe Maddon was a big proponent Respect 90. Always run it out to first base no matter what, because you never know when something might happen during a play. Someone might bobble the ball, screw up the play, and by running like you mean it, you also put pressure on every infielder to be that much quicker and you open them up to mistakes.
The bat flip and admiring stance, is that a demand for respect? It definitely gets you attention, but respect? Dunno. Depends on who you talk to.
side note: although I’ve got a couple shots of Tim Anderson in here, it’s only because when I punched in “egregious bat flips” into Google image search, Anderson got a lot of hits, but a couple Cubs have been guilty of it as well (Javy and Willy).
What the bat flippers, the Manny Machados and Tim Andersons of the baseball world don’t seem to understand –or care about–is that hitting the homer itself automatically gets the respect. Boom. Job Done. THAT is the most powerful statement you can make and the other players will signify. You’re already the idol of millions. You hit it, you run the bases. No need to rub it in anyone’s face after already ruining their day.
And no, I’m no athlete, never been one, don’t have the skills.
I also don’t get paid millions of dollars, they definitely have me there, and kudos to them, I say!
Say you’re marooned in some hostile environment. Perhaps an alien planet, a dangerous jungle teeming with giant carnivores or who knows what? You might face a bear, a giant spider or roving bands of thugs/revolutionaries/mutants/curious slugs. Or a Myrka!
Unless you think you can face your situation alone and come out triumphant, you have one chance.
You have a recall device. A special mechanism to be used only in the gravest emergency. It uses a specific nucleotide genetic-lock-trace to find one particular person anywhere in the universe and transmat that person to your precise location to help you.
That person this device is specifically coded to is the Doctor.
With this device, you can literally scoop the Doctor from anywhere or any*when*, and right to your side. AND you can even punch in the incarnation number. You can choose which Doctor you get. All that’s the good news.
The bad news is, A) no one cleared this with the Doctor, who’ll certainly have something to say on the matter, and it likely won’t be pleasant. B) this device is of Time Lord origin, that’s why it can grab the Doctor specifically from any WHEN, which will induce more complaining. C) You’ll get the Doctor but not the TARDIS. Not sure how long it’ll take for the old girl to catch up to the transmat beam.
So, not knowing how long you may have before who knows what comes bursting through the trees, you HAVE to make a decision which Doctor you want with you in this particular setting.
Hmmm, which version could find some way to ward off a bear, trick a giant spider, or fight off a gang of wild savages?
C’mon, you know who.
It’ll be Pertwee.
I mean sure, most Doctors can outwit aliens and come up with great plans for overthrowing galactic despots…the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and twelfth can handle themselves in a fight one on one, the fourth can command any room–if you were in a room, and they can ALL tell you to run when they say run. But there are times when you may need to break out the Venusian Akido on a group of savages, or whip out the ol’ pocket watch to mesmerize a giant beastie. You might have to take on a Minotaur by waving your cloak or start wrestling some giant native.
Pertwee. He’ll barely stain the velvet.
Okay, granted, if it IS a Myrka, we’ve already seen that karate is utterly useless against it. Perhaps a Venusian lullaby might work there.
Pertwee. The ruffles will remain fluffed.
Sometimes, you need a little bit more brawn to compliment the brain and let’s face it, number three’s the most hands-on of ALL the Doctors, and he’s got an ARMY at his disposal!
The Eleventh once bragged he repelled an alien invasion of earth without a TARDIS.
Pffft. The Third did that regularly for three years!
Pertwee. He’s like Shaft, only posh.
So yeah, bring on that magnificent white mane and those flowing cuffs.
And whatever’s waiting in those bushes, sure……come on out.
Because you’ve got a friend here who’d like to say…
“HAIIEE!!!”
*Look for our other Pertwee related discussions:
“How is it that only Pertwee can successfully Run With Scissors”?
“Pertwee vs a cougar– who wins? (Pertwee)”
“Pertwee– High Fashion, High Danger”
“Pertwee: Taught Chuck Norris everything he knows”
“The Neutron Flow: A constant source of irritation”
Talking about the always entertaining James Garner, you are doing yourself a disservice if you don’t check out his very first tv show at some point: Maverick.
Running from 1957 to 1962, Garner plays Bret Maverick, a professional card player in the late 1800’s wild west, who quite often manages to find trouble as often as a card game. Roy Huggins created the show and did a really nice job provided full, action packed, intriguing stories with solid characterization. Some westerns would be half hour adventures and with the serio-comic undertones to the show, Maverick could have run just 30 minutes as well but they did a full hour and really packed a lot of story in there.
The very first ep I watched, “The Day they hanged Bret Maverick” is a masterclass in storytelling. In the first five minutes of the episode, it’s quickly established that:
one night, a guy robs a bank in one town,
travels to the next,
spots Maverick coming into town,
sees where he rents a room,
sneaks into said room while Maverick’s sleeping,
puts a *bit* of the stolen cash in Maverick’s wallet,
Switches his gun with Mavericks,
Same with his hat and leaves,
tips off the sheriff that some stranger came into town,
And since everyone’s looking for the robber, they go into Mavericks room,
Finds the cash, gun and hat identified by witnesses,
Puts Maverick on trial,
Shows witnesses pointing at him and nodding their heads,
The judge sentencing him guilty and to hang in the morning.
ALL of that was communicated perfectly in the first five minutes. And at this point, the story begins with Maverick having to talk his way out of hanging.
Just utterly brilliant, and amusing and entertaining. Just typical Maverick– and Garner.
But it doesn’t end there. The producer knew he had a solid hit on his hands so he doubled down. He had half the episodes showing the adventures of Bret Maverick and the other half showing stories about Bret’s brother Bart Maverick played by Jack Kelly. They were slightly interchangeable but being brothers, it made sense that they both committed to the family past time of poker.
And sometimes, they’d star together in a story. Kind of a treat for the fans. Show creator Huggins left the show after the second season.
Garner left the show after the third season, due to some contractual or legal issue where he was suing the studio. As I said he seemed to do that here and there. The studios were kinda known for screwing over celebrities though, so it’s nice to see one of them fight back. For the fourth and fifth seasons, Kelly kept up his half of the stories, while cousin Beau (Roger Moore) from over in England took on the others.
I’ve only watched about 20 eps by this point, but plenty more to go.
For some reason, Garner always got the lion share of the attention whenever there’s talk of the show, but it’s worth noting that Kelly did just as good a job as Bart and the scripts weren’t written for any one brother. They really were interchangeable–they just added their win spin to the episodes.
Much like Rockford, Garner’s Maverick came back for a TV movie appearance in the ’80’s and had a cameo in the Mel Gibson Maverick movie as well.
thingis.home.blog 