Regeneration

Let's talk about Doctor Who some more.  The whole bit where the doctor regenerates instead of dying is clearly brilliant for the show.  I mean, otherwise it would have been a four season show back in the sixties and that would have been the end of it.  So that's fine.

Sometimes, though, I have a little trouble with this.  The problem is that he is a different person after the regeneration.  Yes, I know that's the point.  It's just a little hard for me to wrap my head around it.  Having a different body is okay, it's the personality changes that make it a little difficult to believe.  I know that all characters, or all good characters, have changes in personality over time, which is what we call character development, and is generally a good thing.

It’s just weird that it happens all at once.  I was reading a thread in a forum the other day where people were discussing the regeneration of nine into ten and the ways they interacted with Rose.  Someone had remarked that it was as though the closer he got to her (and Jackie and Mickey), the more he wanted not to hurt them, and so when he regenerated he became “less straightforward,” and I guess this sort of made sense. 

I don't know.  It just weirds me out a bit.  I spent the first few episodes of season two going “can I imagine Christopher Eccleston saying that line?” every time the Doctor opened his mouth.  This helped me get over it somewhat, although it did distract a bit from the episode.

Glee

The problem with Glee, is that it has more characters than are really reasonable for a TV show.  It means that things kept getting left out because there isn’t time for every subplot every week, but then they’ll get brought back three weeks later out of left field.

So, for example, in the most recent episode, Will announces via voiceover that he’s over Emma.  Wait, what?  When did that happen?  He was still pining over her, last we heard, wasn’t he?  And after the huge deal with the Superbowl episode about bringing the football team together and people being friends with Karofsky, he doesn’t show up for two episodes.  And what ever happened to Artie’s things that made him able to walk in the Christmas episode?  And why was the season premiere all about this Sunshine girl when she’s not going to be so much as mentioned for at least half the season?

I also wish it wasn’t all Finn all the time.  If you have to focus on some characters over others, at least pick ones that are interesting.  More Mercedes?  More Kurt?  Yes please?  And can Jesse St. James come back?  He was probably one of the most interesting parts of the show, and I think he would solve everyone’s problems right now so it could stop being an “omg who’s cheating on who now?” show.

I do have to say, I am in love with Puck and Lauren.  I think that is just the best.

Ninth vs. Tenth

The tenth was my first doctor.  My introduction to Doctor Who was, well, sporadic.  My parents started watching it about a year ago, which meant that whenever I was home I saw an episode or two.  I ended up seeing about 15 episodes, weeks or months apart, completely out of order, but all from seasons 3 through 5 (aside from the Christmas specials, which I'd seen all of).

Over the Christmas break, between the usual amounts of pre-recorded episodes that I watched with my parents, and the Christmas special marathon, I more than doubled the total number of episodes I had seen, and finally hit the point of needing to actually watch the show.

So as of January, I started watching it, from the beginning.  Having only really seen seasons 3 through 5 meant that I'd seen a fair bit of David Tennant and a few episodes with Matt Smith, but never Christopher Eccleston.  Not a single episode.

I was really iffy about him at first.  I feel like the ninth doctor is more different from the tenth and the eleventh than those two are from each other, although I probably haven’t really seen enough of the eleventh to make that judgement.  It took me quite a few episodes to come around to the ninth, but when I finally did, I really came around to him.  I loved the ninth  doctor. 

By the time I finished the first season, I had become rather attached to him.  I knew that the doctor regenerated in the season finale, and I didn't want him to.  I found myself thinking that I would gladly trade off one season of David Tennant to have another one of Christopher Eccleston.  I cried when he regenerated. 

But then David Tennant was there.  And I like David Tennant.  I couldn't imagine what would possibly have made me be willing to give up one of his seasons; he was clearly totally great and should have been the doctor forever and ever.  Who cared about Christopher Eccleston?

Basically, I am really fickle, and both of them were great in very different ways.

Welcome

One day I found myself really really wanting to write about Doctor Who, but didn't want to post it on my main blog.  I've had this weird thing lately where I want that blog to be a "real blog."  I'm not exactly sure what I mean by "real blog," but it’s not one where I just gush on about Doctor Who.  Also I'm not sure how much of my current readership over there has any interest in Doctor Who and whatever other things I might want to write about in these occasional moments of madness, and I didn't want to scare them off.

So this blog is a side-project sort of thing which will be updated pretty sporadically.  It will contain the random bits of things I want to share: musings on Doctor Who and other bits of pop culture, undignified rants, and who knows what else.