Monday, November 25, 2013

The Weekend of the Doctor

Since I was watching "The Day of the Doctor" on Amazon Instant instead of cable, and had to wait a day to see it, I figured I'd make the most of it and turn it into a full weekend celebration. Starting Saturday afternoon, I watched one story from each Doctor as a warm-up for the new episode.
  1. The Aztecs - Not my first choice by far, but it was the only first Doctor show I had handy.
  2. Tomb of the Cybermen - One of my favorite stories from any Doctor.
  3. The Three Doctors - Seemed appropriate, considering what was coming.
  4. Genesis of the Daleks - A hard choice because there's so much great stuff in the Tom Baker run and I have a fair amount of it. I almost went with the "The Brain of Morbius" because of the tie-in with "Night of the Doctor," but the awesomeness of this particular episode was too much to resist.
  5. Resurrection of the Daleks - The other strong candidate here was "The Caves of Androzani," but this is another good one and I thought it would be a fun pairing with number six.
  6. Attack of the Cybermen - I was tempted to go with "Vengeance on Varos," another of my all-around favorites, but like I said, the story arc from the previous Doctor made this seem like a better choice. I wonder now if I shouldn't have picked one of the ones with the Valeyard, though. He was also the Doctor, after all.
  7. Ghost Light - Ace is one of my favorite companions, but most of the episodes she's in are just grodawful. This one is pretty crazy, but in a way I enjoy.
  8. Doctor Who (Fox TV Movie) - Didn't have much choice here, although I did follow it up with "Night of the Doctor." It's a pity Paul McGann didn't get more of a chance. 
  9. Dalek - Eccleston is my Doctor, so I kinda wanted to watch the whole season. "Dalek" seemed like the best single episode for summing up what's distinctive about this incarnation, though.
  10. School Reunion - Sarah Jane, K-9, and Mister Giles. How could I not? This one also stands out as one of the few Doctor Who episodes in which I wanted him to side with the villain. 
  11. The Name of the Doctor - I didn't pick this episode so much as a representative of the 11th Doctor (since I was about to watch another of his episodes anyway) as for the fact that it looked like it was leading directly into the new one.
I got through the first eight on Saturday and finished up the others Sunday morning. Well, technically it was Sunday when I watched seven and eight, but it was Saturday night to me. I don't have any special insights to share about Day of the Doctor. In fact, I go out of my way to avoid analyzing Doctor Who, at least until I've enjoyed it unfiltered a few times. I'm happy to say that it was lots of fun, though.

Saturday, November 02, 2013

Daydreams at the Bus Stop

In the midst of trying to cope with something that I can't change, I've found myself occasionally thinking about where I am and what I can do.

... and, after letting it sit in draft form for a week or so, I'm no longer certain where I was going with that. I still want to finish what I'm in the middle of, so that's something.

After all the work I've put into it, including releasing a complete if unsatisfactorily organized version of the game at Gen Con, I'm not going to abandon Qalidar. I'm a little frustrated that, while I was in limbo, someone popped up with a kickstarter for a game that seems to echo several of its concepts and themes, but that's no reason to stop.

When that other game finally comes out, I doubt that the similarities will turn out to be substantial, and I doubt even more that the person writing it is even aware that I exist, much less interested in ripping me off. What bugs me is that, when a coincidence (or maybe a zeitgeist thing) like this occurs, with a nobody like me and someone relatively famous releasing things that seem at first glance to be similar, the Internet loudmouths won't look into the history or even reserve judgement. They'll just do the only thing they're good at.

So yeah, I guess it's obvious this is bothering me more than it should.

Okay, back to work.