Classic Doctor

by | Sep 25, 2015 | Write Here Write Now

I first discovered Doctor Who when I moved to NYC in 1986. I had heard of it from friends in college, but had not had a chance to watch it until then. My first Doctor was Peter Davidson, and I really enjoyed the show. Later (although he was earlier in the series), I got to see Tom Baker as the Doctor, with his characteristic floppy hat and long, striped scarf.

More recently, I watched the rebooted series on BBC America, with Doctors 9, 10, and 11, and just saw the premiere of Doctor #12, Peter Capaldi. David Tennant is definitely my favorite of this group so far, although I also like Matt Smith. There were some particularly good episodes during his run, especially “The Doctor’s Wife.”

But as much as I am enjoying the new series, I became curious about the other doctors, the ones I had not seen. So I searched for the series on Netflix and found that they had 175 episodes, only a small subset. But I set out to see what I could see.

For the first two Doctors, they only had one story (consisting of 3 — 4 episodes each). The first I saw was with the first Doctor, William Hartnell, and was entitled “The Aztecs”. As the title suggests, the Doctor and his companions traveled back to the time of the Aztecs and got into a bit of trouble with the locals. I have to say, this episode did not grab me, and I don’t know if I would have continued watching if this was the first one I had seen.

The next story was entitled “The Mind Robber”, with Patrick Troughton, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The TARDIS is swept into a place out of time and space and the time travelers encounter some very weird happenings, reminiscent of Alice on Wonderland. At this point, I would have said that I preferred Troughton to Hartnell.

Next I got to see my first Jon Pertwee episode, “Spearhead from Space.” I liked this one as well. I found it a bit campy, but later episodes with him got better. I’m now into the Tom Baker episodes, which are more the Doctor Who I remember, though they are new episodes for me, which is very exciting. I’m looking forward to seeing Peter Davidson again, as well as Doctors I don’t know, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant will have to wait until new episodes are released.

In the meantime, brand new episodes are now showing on BBC America. I’ll write about the new season later. For now, I’m back to the screen to enjoy two Doctors.

Half a World: The Second “Half”

by | Sep 5, 2015 | Write Here Write Now

Joe Abercrombie’s Half the World is a sequel to Half a King, the story of Yorvi, a young man thrust into a kingship he didn’t want. However, rather than describing further exploits of Yarvi, this book focusses on two young warriors, Thorn and Brand. During a training exercise, Thorn, the only female trainee, accidentally kills her opponent and Brand stands up for her when she is declared a murderer. Thorn faces death and Brand is stricken from the raid he so much wants to participate in.

Yarvi, a secondary character in this book, is now Minister to King Uthril, and puts Thorn and Brand on his crew for a diplomatic mission to the other side of the world. The two face many trials, both physical and social, on their travels. They learn much about themselves and each other by the time they return home. But what happens then? What will they do with what they have learned? What decisions will they make?

A great addition to the “Half” series, Half the World is a book to be enjoyed by adults and youth alike. Abercrombie’s newest book Half a Crown has recently been released, and I can’t wait to see what he has next in store for the readers.