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Doctor Who: Six Points About the New Series Or Why It’s Worth Your Time Again.

Posted: June 2, 2024 by datechguy in doctor who, entertainment
Tags: , ,

I haven’t really done any reviews of the Ncuti Gatwa Doctor Who episodes and I frankly don’t have time to do a full review today but as someone who walked away from the series after Capaldi I want to comment on the season so far today (and I’ll cover this week’s episode later this week) because I think people who are skipping it are missing out.

Point 1: Chibnall clearly isn’t the boss anymore:

I’ve been watching these episodes with my oldest son who unlike me watched all the Chibnall era episodes. As he put it the worst of the episodes to this date is leaps and bounds over the best of the Chibnall era. For me as some who discovered the show in 1976 and watched it regularly since about 78 you can clearly see that the writing and the plotting have improved. Davies being Davies has of course inserted his agenda into the show but that was true and recognizable from the moment the show was revived. The point was can he do so without overwhelming the story. For the most part he has succeeded. These are solid stories, as always some better than others but are clearly recognizable as Doctor Who stories.

Point 2: Gatwa works as the Doctor

I’ve seen plenty of Doctors over the years the two best being hands down Tom Baker and Matt Smith (Tennant is good but VERY over rated). It took a couple of episodes but Gatwa clearly has reached the point where he carries himself as the Doctor. Frankly the early episodes didn’t do him a lot of favors as the first three (The Church at Ruby Road, Space Babies and the Devil’s Chord were, meh) but Boom clearly established him as the Doctor and while 73 yards was a classic Doctor lite story but by that time you clearly saw him as The Doctor. That’s what you really have to do to carry this role, be clearly recognizable as the Doctor while still carrying your own Doctor’s traits. He has pulled that off. I think Davies would have done better to have the regeneration (or bi-generation Trauma) and perhaps that’s reflected in some early weakness (more on that later) but so far so good.

Point 3: Millie Gibson is more than adequate.

It seems to me that they have made Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday very strong right at the start which was overcompensating but the character has really worked. The proving ground was 73 yards, the Doctor lite episode. We got to see how traveling with the Doctor (even briefly) has affected her and watched her grow. That to me was the strength of the episode not the lack of Gatwa who as I have already said, had established himself as the Doctor by that time. From what I hear they are already getting ready to dump her and I think this is a mistake as the primary goal of this season is to reestablish the show as something worth watching and Gibson is worth watching

Point 4. The elephants in the (script) room.

A lot of people have written off the series because of the agenda thrown in their faces and we saw plenty of that during the specials and there is agenda here. As I already noted the Davies has been pushing his agenda since day 1 in 2005 but the agenda hasn’t been the boss of the show, at least not yet. As long as the agenda doesn’t get in the way of the actual stories I’m willing to put up with it. There are also those who hate that Davies hasn’t reversed the timeless child stuff, spoiler alert. That isn’t going to happen here and never was in the cards and won’t be until it hurt them financially and with Disney paying the bills that not likely. I simply ignore the references and remember rule #1 The Doctor Lies.

Point 5: Big Finish influences

Those of you who don’t listen to the big finish audios might miss it but there seems to be a ton of big finish influences in this series. Over and over I spot things from audios that I seem to recognize (elder Gods, relatives of the Toymaker for example) . This is not surprising as they have been doing Doctor Who for 26 years and doing it well so it’s natural that you would have some stuff bleeding over even if it’s not all considered canon. Given the quality of the Big Finish work this is a positive rather than a negative. I don’t know if this is deliberate or unconscious but either way it makes the show better.

Point 6: Irony Irony Irony Conservative Messages All Over the Place

One of the things that has been really amusing has been that the Davies crowd is so wrapped up in the agenda that they are missing things that I’m seeing. The latest episode is the best example of this but I’ll save that for my review later this week. Today let’s hit a few today from the prior ones

  • In the Space babies episode there is a scene where the intelligent babies suggest there is something wrong with them, but the Doctor reassures them they are good just as they are. While our agenda friends thought they were dunking there actually they dunked on themselves because that is an explicit message against transitioning kids. You are great JUST AS YOU ARE
  • In the Devil Chord episode the idea of pushing a Trans character was big, in fact SO excited were they missed what said character was. Or to put it another way: The same guy who was all bent out of shape having a handicapped person as the murderous Davros had no problem at all as a clearly trans character as an evil murderous elder God out to pervert and destroy not just the world but culture and joy.
  • In 74 yards I really liked how the Welsh noted how many in England still think of them (shades of Boomtown). More importantly the episode shows how the Doctor changes others in the sense that they see what’s in front of them and act. More on that later this week when we hit Dot and Bubble but that’s constant theme is there.
  • And of course in the Church at Ruby Road we celebrate foster parents, the idea that a kid is worthwhile even if said kid is not wanted. That the entire basis for the pro-life movement which I suspect few if any of those involved in product embrace.

Again I’m going to cover Dot and Bubble separately but to sum up. This season of Doctor Who is worth your while not because of the woke stuff so far but despite it. Granted we don’t know if it will turn on a dime but at least to this point, I must say the Doctor is back and he’s been missed.

Episode ranking as I see it (not including specials nor Dot and Bubble which I’ll review this week)

  1. 73 Yards ***** Solid episode
  2. Boom ****1/2 Nice basic plot
  3. The Church on Ruby Road **** OK doctory intro
  4. Space Babies **** Not bad but not great
  5. The Devil’s Chord ***1/2 Interesting villain but wasted potential with weak resolution & lousy ending.

(spoiler alert the top spot on that list will change this week)

Oh and let me re-iterate that per my son all of these are better than anything since Capaldi.

June Indulgence Calendar now available

Posted: June 1, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions
Tags: , , ,

It’s a new month so time for a new indulgence Calendar and it’s a busy one if you live near me because there are multiple feast days for saints who have a church dedicated to them meaning lots of extra Plenary indulgences available just for going to mass.

indulgence-calendar-june-2024Download

Remember there is always a plenary indulgence available for going to mass on the feast day of a saint at a church dedicated to said saint so this month will be a big one for all those St. Anthony of Padua and St. John the Baptist churches nationwide.

I’ve decided not to do the blank ones except on request. The lines below the names listed can be used to add additional names for a particular day.

These are the type of Numbers that Might Trigger the Worst Case Scenario

Posted: June 1, 2024 by datechguy in culture
Tags: ,

Saw a poll result that made my jaw drop:

Logically none of this makes sense, not the reaction mind you, but the over the top efforts to destroy Trump since day one. In the normal order of things the left would take a loss, regroup, wait for a mistake and try to win at the polls.

The degree of all this stuff suggest they consider Trump a extremital threat beyond a mere election and know that they have crossed the legal and moral line to such a degree that if a Trump, uncompromised by the swamp, investigates and reveals it their destruction of their prerogatives is assured.

So if we’re not reached a point where Trump has NY state in play we’re talking Nixon 1972 numbers which are beyond the capacity to steal, the “To Big to Rig” scenario that President Trump has advanced.

Given what we’ve seen and the sheer panic I suspect this will generate the worst case scenario.

  1. The left panics as the Trump train, driven by the unjust verdict, becomes unstoppable
  2. Thanks to the situation in Ohio Biden can’t be replaced at the convention
  3. Left arranges assassination of Biden (and possibly Harris as well) to get him off ticket, blames right
  4. Left uses this as grounds for massive repression of the right leading to an actual shooting civil war

To say this would be a disaster for the country is the understatement of the century, yet given what I’ve seen over the last seven years I can’t imagine that stopping our friends on the left who seem to have gone utterly mad.

I’m old enough to remember when I would have mocked such a possibility as lunacy.

Time to Apply the New Trump Trial Rules To National Leftists Everywhere

Posted: May 30, 2024 by datechguy in the courts
  • Ernst Janning: Judge Haywood… the reason I asked you to come: Those people, those millions of people… I never knew it would come to that. You *must* believe it, *You must* believe it!
  • Judge Dan Haywood: Herr Janning, it “came to that” the *first time* you sentenced a man to death you *knew* to be innocent.

Judgement at Nuremburg 1961

Well the Trump verdict is in and the only people who might be surprised by the result are those who have no familiarity with the soviet show trials and how they worked.

I have nothing printable to say to those cheering the verdict but I do have two thoughts about what we will see thanks to it.

The first I’m spotting already:

I think a lot of people have this idea. While I supported difference candidates in the 2016 primary (Ted Cruz) and in the 2024 primaries (Ron DeSantis) I had no problem voting for Trump in the general in 2016 or 2020 and of course have no trouble voting for him in 2024.

I think a lot of people who might not have realized it before realize it now and are making a final attempt to restore the rule of law by the ballot box before it has to be restored by the ammunition box.

But that’s only one thing that’s coming from this verdict. There is a second think that we haven’t seen yet but I hope to see soon:

Let me remind you of the wise words of Kurt Schlichter:

Well, unlike the Fredocons, folks like you and me don’t do two sets of rules. One set of rules, for everyone, applied good and hard. The new rules are in effect and may God have mercy on your souls.

What do these new rules mean? Well they mean in you are a deep red state with a deep red electorate and with a conservative who wants to gain strength with the base, the trick is now to promise to prosecute national leftists. Political leaders, Cultural leaders, University leaders members of the media and of course all these darling leftists who were and are all in on the Trump prosecution.

If there is one thing this country is awash in it’s laws and I’m sure if you reach deep enough you can find ones that have been broken and can turn them into felonies. It’s been said you can indict a ham sandwich, well it’s time to turn our leftist friends into pork.

Now there are those who might think this is a bad idea, who might not like it, in fact I don’t like it myself but I have to say I’m again with Kurt Schlichter:

Now, I am not saying that I like the new rules. I don’t – I think the new rules are bad. I’m just accepting that the rules have changed, stating what the new rules are, and strongly urging us to play by them. I want to be very clear, as I have been for nearly a decade,  because there are stupid people out there who can’t hear this often enough. I was against imposing the new rules. I argued against them. I warned people against these new rules time and time again. But you know what? I was overruled about the new rules. A lot of people, mostly leftists but some pseudo-conservatives, decided we would go with the new rules. Again, I told them it was a bad idea. I told them it would lead to outcomes that they would not be happy with, but they decided not to listen to me. No, they decided that they were smarter and wiser and blah blah blah blah blah and that suppressing the speech of bad people – like us – was a moral imperative.

Well, they got their new rules. Now they get to enjoy them, really hard and free of lubrication.

The new rules boil down to one thing – if you’ve got power, exercise it to promote your interests over the interests of your enemy. That’s it. That’s the basic rule in 2024.

But frankly the bottom line is the left will continue to impose these “new rules” on anyone they see as a threat. The only way to cause this to stop is to apply the same rule to them and to use them brutally.

Remember Illinois, Massachusetts and New York didn’t give a damn about illegal immigration until red state governors started bussing them to their states and “sharing the wealth”. The Democrat left has decided to use lawfare as a political tool. So be it, I urge red states to do the same to the fullest degree that they are able.

They have made their choice and their rules, make them live by them until they cry “enough”.

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