The Angels Take the Ponds...

It takes a lot to get me to cry for a tv show or a movie, but Doctor Who managed to do just that last night.  And I never even loved Amy all that much.  I didn't dislike her, but I just never really connected with her terribly closely.  Whatever your feelings for the Ponds, though, I think it'd be hard not to admit that Moffat created the perfect farewell for them.

There were a few things that were a bit predictable in the episode.  I could see some of the plot points coming beforehand, which is fairly unusual for the show, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable.  In fact, I loved pretty much everything about it.  Except River's fedora.  I wasn't a fan of that.  I also did take mild offense when Rory told the Doctor that he's the only person who could be attracted to characters in a book because pretty much all of my major crushes have been on fictional characters.

The set-up as a detective noir story was fantastic.  I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.  I love the dark atmosphere it gave to the story we already knew was going to be heartbreaking.  As if the angels weren't scary enough on their own, it added another level of creepiness.

I loved the fact that the Angels were back to their time zapping hunting ways again.  I somehow find that even more scary than the way that they killed people in the "The Time of the Angels."  There were so many throwbacks to "Blink" (one of my favorite episodes of all time) in the show last night that I was enjoying myself so much that I almost forgot that there was major sadness on the horizon.  Plus, now I get to be terrified of the Statue of Liberty too, so I'm super excited about that.

My only real question with the episode is the part about the TARDIS not being able to go back to 1930s New York.  In series three, the Doctor and Martha visited New York during the Great Depression in "Daleks in Manhattan."  I'm not sure exactly which year that was, but it would've had to be sometime during the '30s.  So now I'm trying to figure out whether the time problem applies only to 1938 and beyond.  If so, why was he able to land the TARDIS perfectly fine in 2012.  Maybe I'm over-thinking it.

At any rate, I thought it was the perfect goodbye to the Ponds in a sad, but sort of happy way.  I'm super excited for the Christmas special and finding out more about Oswin/Clara and how she meets the Doctor.  There are so many great things to come and I can't wait to see how the dynamics change with the Doctor starting a relationship with a new companion.

Waiting for The Doctor...

Every Saturday, I eagerly anticipate the new episode of Doctor Who.  I triple check my DVR to make sure that the recording is set properly and that nobody has cancelled it to record a football game instead.  And then I wait.  And wait.  And wait some more.  The day seems to drag along while I wait for the episode to start.

There's just one problem: I live in the United States.  Normally, I'm more than happy with that.  But not on Saturdays.  On Saturdays, I'm stuck waiting an extra six hours or so for the new episode.  I hide from Twitter and my RSS feeds in an attempt to avoid spoilers and also to protect myself from copious amounts of jealousy directed at those people who are lucky enough to be able to watch the new show sooner than I can.

I'm sure I could find some sort of live streaming site to watch the show sooner, but I've never been a fan of watching pixelated, jumpy feeds where the audio never quite syncs up with the video.  Especially for shows that I love.  So I'll just wait.  I've still got five and a half hours left until the show starts here in the Eastern Time Zone.  In the meantime, I guess I'll watch some college football and read a book or two and hope that nobody kicks me off of the tv when the time comes.  And yes, I'll try to fight down my jealousy.  See you on the other side, Twitterverse.

Downton Abbey Addiction...

I have a particular "type" when it comes to entertainment, whether it's books, tv, or movies.  I like excitement.  If it involves gunfire, explosions, or fight scenes, I'm usually pretty happy.  I've never had any interest in the typical girly type of stories.  I don't like dramas or "deep" movies and I'll take a Tom Clancy book over Jane Austen any day.  In light of that, you'll understand my confusion over my incredible addiction to Downton Abbey.

It makes no sense at all.  For all intents and purposes, I should hate this show.  Or at least have a very strong dislike of it.  It's loaded up with romantic intrigue, rich people being waited on hand and foot, and not even a hint of a car chase.  On the surface, there's nothing there for me.

But I love it.  I absolutely love it.  Like most of the BBC programming I watch, I was a bit of a late-comer to the fandom.  Also, in the interest of full disclosure, the first time I heard of the show was on Twitter last fall.  It took me a solid five months to realize that it wasn't called DowntoWn Abbey.  It didn't really seem like my cup of tea (see what I did there?), but I read too many rave reviews from people whose taste I trust and I finally decided to give it a shot.  I was hooked from the start of the very first episode.  I love the people.  I love the historical setting.  I even love the occasional American joke they make.

Somehow, the writers and actors have managed to make me truly care about these characters' lives, which is quite a feat considering how dispassionate I am about almost everyone (real people included).  There have been moments that have made me actually squeal out loud and clap my hands.  Likewise, there have been moments that have made me cry (again, a feat of epic proportions).  I can't describe what it is.  This show has found some magical formula that has me hooked for reasons I'm not sure I'll ever be able to explain.  Whatever it is, I'm totally happy with it.  I'm just enjoying the ride.  (And oh, was the latest episode ever amazing?)

The Spies of Warsaw...

I love spy novels.  A lot.  I don't care when or where they're set, there's something about a lone operative working through tremendous danger to fight for their cause that hooks me every time.  I've had a bunch of highly acclaimed spy novels on my "to-read" list for a while now and I recently checked one of them off thanks to David Tennant.

Not literally, of course.  I don't mean to say that he sat down and read me the book; I'm not sure I could've handled that.  I did, however, watch an interview with him in which he talked about his upcoming BBC mini-series based on The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst and think to myself, "Hey! I've been meaning to read that book for ages!  I need to go to the library right now."  I'm a avid believer in reading the book before the movie/tv adaptation (hence my week-long Hunger Games trilogy binge prior to the movie release earlier this year and failure to keep up with the Game of Thrones show) and as I wouldn't dream of missing a period spy drama staring my favorite Doctor, reading this book was suddenly an urgent matter.

The book was awesome.  I love exciting and suspenseful stories.  I love books that are well-written.  The Spies of Warsaw was both.  I've already checked out two other Furst books from the library since I finished Spies.  The best part of the book was the way Furst manages to immerse the reader in the setting.  There's nothing better than being in the middle of a book and feeling like you've been transported to its world.  I've never been to Warsaw or any of the other European cities the characters visit in the book, and I certainly didn't experience the 1930s, but I felt like I was there with them.  I wanted to be a part of their world and help them out.  There are parts of the book in which I want to reach through the pages and shake the characters by the shoulders and warn them about what Hitler has in store for them.  ("You idiots! He's going to invade through Belgium and make your stupid Maginot Line irrelevant!)  As far as I'm concerned, that's the mark of a great book.

The book focuses on a French military attache named Jean-Francois Mercier (Tennant is going to be great as Mercier [duh].  I could really picture him in the role as I read the book.) who is stationed in Warsaw and is set a bit prior to the German invasion of Poland that started WWII.  These were the murky years just before the war in which Hitler was already beginning to menace the rest of Europe.  Mercier struggles to turn up information that could give the French government clues as to Germany's intentions, but the leaders in charge don't necessarily want to listen when his intelligence contradicts what they believe the Germans will do.  It's a classic problem that we can all relate to even today.

I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy of Spies.  It really is a great read, and I've loved every bit of Furst's writing so far.  I'm currently working my way through The Polish Officer which is one of his earlier novels.  One of the smaller characters from Spies is also in this book.  It's a little less polished than Spies, but it's still a great read.  I also picked up Red Gold and I'm anxious to start that one.

Bill Nye Extravaganza...

Any kid who grew up during the '90s probably has fond memories of Bill Nye the Science Guy.  Remember how awesome it felt when you walked into science class and your teacher informed you that you were going to be watching a Billy Nye video?  Of course you do.  It was always cause for a celebration.  Even this year as a substitute teacher, I got excited when I filled in for a science teacher and his lesson plan was to show one of these.

Last night, I came across a tumblr post with links to 100 different Bill Nye episodes.  How great is that?!  If you've got some time on your hands, you can relive all of the great moments and every cheesy '90s science song.  Have you been jonesing for a rap about centripetal force?  Check out the Spinning Objects episode.  Want a look at some slightly old school computers?  There's an episode for that too.  You could spend days being entertained.

Series Seven Excitement...

I'll be honest: I'm a late-comer to the Doctor Who universe.  I heard of it for the first time last fall when a friend of mine repeatedly tweeted about how hot some guy named Matt Smith was and I had absolutely no idea who she was talking about.  I'm far from up-to-date on pop culture, so this wasn't at all surprising. She informed me that Smith was a British actor from a tv show I'd also never heard of, and I left it at that.

However, I kept seeing references to this show online and I finally decided that if I was going to be a fully literate nerd, I would have to watch at least a few episodes so I could understand what people were talking about.  I didn't expect to like it (a show about an alien who time travels inside of a phone box?) since outside of my Star Wars obsession, I'd never really been much of a sci-fi fan.  I watched the first episode of the new series this January and plowed through all six series in about six weeks, despite making a major move in the meantime.  I was officially hooked.  I made myself a Who quotes screensaver.  I picked up a brown pin-striped blazer at a thrift store (Tennant is "my Doctor"). I set my text alert to the TARDIS engine noise.

I tried to talk to other people about it, but once I started explaining what it was about, their eyes kind of glazed over and they looked at me like I was crazy.  I have a tendency to inspire that reaction in people anyway, but I suspect that the subject matter played a role too.  Nobody really got it.  And since nobody understood the show, nobody understood the agonizing wait for the new series to premiere.  There's nothing quite like watching a show from start to finish in a matter of weeks and then facing the reality that there is no more to watch.  You've seen everything there is to see.  It's especially bad when that tv show has become an instant obsession.

To say that I was eagerly anticipating the premiere of series seven would be an understatement.  This was my first chance to experience the show in "real time," to wait week by week for a new installment.  In honor of the new episode yesterday, I started reading Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts and finally got around to Scotch Garding my new white Converse sneakers so that I could wear them in public.  Moffat and crew more than delivered.  The episode was fantastic from start to finish.  I'd even go so far as to say that it was my favorite Matt Smith one.  I'm beyond excited for next week's dinosaurs episode.  I can't wait to see what happens when the Ponds leave.  I finally feel what it's like to be at the mercy of Steven Moffat.  It's great.  And agonizing.  And I just want next Saturday to be here already.