The Journal of the Browncoat Cat

Doctor Who : Aliens of London / World War Three

Writen by : Russell T. Davies
Director : Keith Boak
Producer : Phil Collinson

Cast
The Doctor : Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler : Billie Piper
Jackie Tyler : Camile Corduri
Mickey : Noel Clarke
Joseph Green MP : David Verrey
Margaret Blaine : Annette Badland
General Asquith : Rupert Vansittart
Commander Strickland : Steve Speirs
Harriet Jones MP : Penelope Wilton
Oliver Charles : Eric Potts
Indra Ganesh : Navin Chowdhry
Dr Sato : Naoko Mori
Piggy : Jimmy Vee
Andrew Marr : Himself
Slitheen Operators : Elizabeth Fost, Paul Kasey and Alun Ruscoe

(more…)

I now know every single step on my staircase intimately, as yesterday afternoon I lost my footing on the landing and bounced down on my well padded arse, bang, bang, bang, making contact with each step on the way. The ironic thing is I had managed to stop myself falling forward, but I still managed to trip and fall backwards, gravity shouting “come to mamma!” as in perfect slow motion I went back and then completed my unpleasant journey. It was all my own fault, I was running late after my afternoon tea break, and was on my way back for a Friday evening at work.

So after sitting dazed on the floor of my hallway for at least five minutes, although it was more likely to have been ten, I headed up to my mother’s house for some sympathy. My mother says I totally lost it, I went all white an clammy and was shivering, anyone would think I had been in a car crash. So, she made me a cup of hot sweet tea, and phoned work saying telling them what had happened, and that it was unlikely that I would be back tonight.

Still, nothing broken, just my pride, an after all the stupid things I have done over the years, that should be easy to put back together again. A bruised ego and a bruised bum, which makes sitting down a bit awkward. The only problem is I am now an an adrenalin high, an cannot sleep for love nor money. Which is why I am sitting here typing this.

The past week has flown by. It only seems like yesterday that I was starting on my yet unfinished review of the Doctor Whostory The Unquiet Dead. I hope to get that finished and online by the end of the week. I have decided to wait for both episodes of Aliens of London are broadcast before reviewing it (yes I know each episode has an unique title, but as with the Hartnell stories of the 1960’s I suspect that the title of the first episode of the story will become the generic title of the whole).

Two elections for the price of one. In Britain, there is the General Election, in Rome there is the Conclave of Cardinals to select the Bishop of Rome, in other words the election of the new Pope. The new head of the Roman Catholic Church will have a hard act to follow. Pope John Paul II made the World sit up and listen when he had something to say, in a way that has not really happened since end of the Renaissance.

Yesterday I went to the last lecture for the SP3S08 : Selected Topics in Modern Astrophysics module. Just have to hand in the coursework on 13th May, and if that is worth a pass mark, I will have sufficient Credits to finally Graduate this July.

And finally, on Thursday it is the April gathering of Doctor Who fans in the South Wales Valleys at the Pontypridd Curry Club at the Tumble Inn, Pontypridd.

Just after midnight, BBC Wales issued a press release, announcing that Scottish actor and lifelong Doctor Who fan David Tennant has been cast as the new incarnation of the Doctor. This must have been one of the worse kept secrets in Show Business, even before it was announced that Christopher Eccleston was only doing a single series of Doctor Who, Tennant’s name was linked to role of the Last Time Lord. Hell, he even narrated the documentary Doctor Who : A New Dimension, that preceded the broadcast of Rose, the first episode of the new series.

My main first reaction was slight disappointment based on the fact that he is four years younger than me, how can the chap playing the Doctor be younger than me. This is of course totally irrational, what does it matter what age he is, the character he is playing is over a millenium old.

Now of course begins the inviteable chatter of what his version of the Doctor is going to wear. Personally, I am hoping that he wears a slightly old fashioned grey suit, no tie and a black shirt. Also following Christopher Eccleston’s almost Queen’s Regulations military crop, I hope the next Doctor has long flowing locks, tied back into a ponytail and a bit of a beard.

Well, the General Election campaign is if full swing. I am certain that the Tories are going to lose badly again, and the Liberal Democrats will be Her Majesty’s Official Opposition in the next Parliament. It is of course their own fault; I knew they were walking into their third defeat in a row when they have chosen Michael Howard as their leader. In a Palace (of Westminster) coup the previous leader Iain Duncan Smith, the friendly face of Conservatism was dumped, stabbed in the back by the Tory MPs. There is something deeply unlikeable in Michael Howard. I find it mildly repulsive that a man who is the grandson of refugees from the Nazi Holocaust keeps banging on about limiting the number of asylum seekers and refugees allowed into Britain. How dare you Mr Howard, you would not even be here if the sort of policies you are proposing had been place in the 1930’s. I does not help that so far, all he has done is be negative about the current Labour Government, and does nothing to talk up his own agenda.

So, Tony Blair has admitted that at some point in the next Parliament, if Labour wins he will stand down as Prime Minister at some point before the next General Election. But will it be Gordon Brown leading Labour to unprecedented fourth victory? The phrase “when Hell freezing over” springs to mind. Tony will fight tooth and nail to get his chosen one into the top job.

I don’t for one second believe that Gallifrey has been destroyed. That some unnamed something destroyed a civilisation that had mastered time travel and created crafts as wonderful as the TARDIS. I certainly do not believe the current theory that it was the Dustbins who were responsible, if it had been the Daleks then the only species left in the year 5 Billion to witness the end of the Earth would have been the Daleks. Their xenophobia would have lead to the destruction of all other life in the cosmos, as the Time Lord in Genesis of the Daleks prophesied.

My theory is that the Time Lords want everyone to think that Gallifrey was destroyed and they were wiped out. The Time Lords are a secretive insular race. Ever since the Doctor started mucking about on his travels, outsiders have learnt of their existence. This has caused them a great deal of displeasure. So when comes the Great War happens, a war in which so many planets and civilizations were destroyed, the Time Lords seize an opportunity. The Time Lords fake the destruction of Gallifrey and their extinction. They then brainwash the Doctor, the most famous Time Lord of them al into think that he is the last Time Lord, that Gallifrey is toast. He goes around telling everyone this monstrous lie, and everyone believes him because he is the Doctor. This reinforces the fake rubble where Gallifrey used to be. Once again the Time Lords are a closed secretive insular race, observing the universe whilst not interfering, as they were before the Doctor started blabbing.

I have to wonder if the Prime Minister Tony Blair regards the number five with a supernatural significance. This week, he asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament, so that he could hold a General election on the 5^th May, 2005, in other words 05-05-05. If so, will he set an alarm clock to chime at 5.05am on Election Day?

Tony Blair is the longest serving Labour Prime Minister in history, now he is going for the record of winning a third successive election for the Labour Party, something which has never previously been achieved. I will be voting Labour, as I am a life long socialist, and I think the Labour Party will win its third term. However, it is going to be close, with a majority of about 50 for the new Labour Government. What is more, this majority will be made up of the traditional socialist Labour MPs. All the unknown clones that gave Tony Blair his unquestioning and massive majority last time will lose their seats.  I don’t think Tony Blair was ever a Socialist, his   programme of government and policies are closer to the Christian Democratic Parties of Europe  than the traditional British Labour Party. As he will only have the support of the traditonal Labour rump, the next government will be  the first Socialist abour Government for 26 years.

Doctor Who : The End of the World

Written by Russell T. Davies
Director : Euros Lyn
Producer : Phil Collinson

Cast
The Doctor : Christopher Eccleston
Rose Tyler : Billie Piper
Jabe : Yasmin Bannerman
Rufala : Beccy Armory
The Voice of Cassandra : Zoe Wannamaker
The Moxx of Balhoun : Jimmy Vee
The Steward : Alan Day
Jackie Tyler : Camile Corduri

1. Plot Summary
Rose has gleefully accepted the Doctor’s invite to tour the Universe, with the Doctor asking her where she wants to go, backwards in time or forwards. After a few short hops, the TARDIS arrives at a point in time five billion years from now, on the space station Platform 1. The sun is an angry red ball, swollen and close to death, with the Earth orbiting perilously close to its surface. Today is the day the money that has kept the Earth alive as a living museum finally runs out, and the gravity satellites that keep its swollen neighbour at bay will be switched of, and the planet will die. (more…)

I really liked today’s Arthur : King of Time and Space cartoon. It features Guinevere arguing with Morgan aboard the Starship Excaliber, with Merlin in the background (click on the link to see the actual cartoon). It just goes to show that age is all in the mind. You are what you perceive your self as, and this might not square with how others see you.