Searching for McCrimmon

My wife loves the series of books by Diana Gabaldon called "Outlander". I dare say her level of fandom rises the same level as I have with Star Wars! A little know fact is that what inspired Gabaldon to write her famous series of historical novels to be set in Scotland was, of all things, a Doctor Who episode. Apparently she found the highlander, who was a companion to the Second Doctor, "quite fetching." So I thought it would be neat to get on DVD some of these episodes for her.

This is why my blog post is scheduled to be posted on Christmas Day rather than today, November 23rd!

Little did I know that many of the episodes from the early years of Doctor Who have been lost due to poor storage conditions! It's hard to believe that here we are 50 years later and the Doctor has such a dominant influence among us 'geeks' and yet so much of its history is lost.

So here are my notes of what currently exists during the era of the Second Doctor and his companion, Jaime McCrimmon. I know practically nothing about Doctor Who, so there a lot of notes that fans of the show may roll their eyes at. But to quote Dr, Tyrell, "Indulge me."

Apparently the Doctor Who seasons are subdivided into stories, usually consisting of 4-6 episodes. Each story has a number, which I suppose is done to help navigate the history of this long running series. The Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, makes his appearance in the fourth episode of Story 29 (the last of that arc). This was during the 4th season of the series, broadcast in 1966-67. The series is famous for making a casting change of the titular Doctor that was later dubbed in-world as 'regeneration'.

Jaime McCrimmon joins the Second Doctor in Story 31, a four episode arc dubbed 'The Highlanders'. This happens when the Doctor and his companions Ben and Polly arrive in Scotland just after the Battle of Culloden. The encounter and befriend some fleeing Jacobites. While Polly is away fetching water, the group is captured by the English and are about to be sold as slaves into the West Indies. Polly and a Laird's daughter helps to free them and a young piper named Jaime McCrimmon joins them in the TARDIS. This story marked the last time the series employed historical references until the Black Orchid in 1982.

Sadly, no complete episode from this entire season exists. How painful to know!

Here are the stories of the 4th Season. The number of episodes are in paranthesis and an significants notes follow after that:

• Smugglers (4)
• Tenth Planet (4) - Transition from the First to Second Doctor
• Power of the Daleks (6)
• Highlanders (4) - Jaime McCrimmon becomes a companion
• Underwater Menace (4)
• Moonbase (4)
• Macra Terror (4)
• Faceless Ones (6)
• Evil of the Daleks (7)

That is 43 episodes we don't have - incredible to believe.

The 5th Season has slightly better news from a preservation perspective. In the early 1990s the first complete story of the season, and thus the earliest for the Second Doctor, is "The Tomb of the Cybermen" (Story 37, first of Season 5). Additionally a second complete story was found this year (2013) in a relay station in Nigeria. No, I am not making this up! This story is called "The Enemy of the World" (Story 40). It came out on DVD on November 25, 2013.

Here are the stories of the 5th Season:

• The Tomb of the Cybermen (4)
• The Abominable Snowmen (6)
• The Ice Warriors (6)
• The Enemy of the World (6)
• The Web of Fear (6)
• Fury from the Deep (6)
• The Wheel in Space (6)

The 6th Season is even better in terms of availability. All but seven episodes have been preserved and there are at least audio recordings for those lost ones. The season ends with the final appearance of Jaime McCrimmon, as well as the other companion, Zoe, and even the Second Doctor himself! It marks the only time that the Doctor and all his companions were written out of the show in the same episode. Jaime is sent back to his own time by the Time Lords and has no recollection of his adventures with the Doctor. That's kind of sad.

Anyway, here are the stories of the 6th Season:

• The Dominators (5) - Story 44
• The Mind Robber (5)
• The Invasion (8) - considered to be one of the best for the Second Doctor
• The Krotons (4)
• The Seeds of Death (6)
• The Space Pirates (6)
• The War Games (10) - Story 50, the last episode with Jaime, Zoe, and Second Doctor

So what is available on DVD? Well, there is the Doctor Who - Lost in Time Collection of Rare Episodes - The William Hartnell Years and the Patrick Troughton Years (2004), which has the following episodes:

• Moonbase 2 & 4
• Faceless Ones 1 & 3
• Evil of Daleks 2
• Abominable Snowmen 2
• Enemy of the World 3
• Web of Fear 1
• Wheel in Space 3 & 6
• Space Pirates 2

This covers probably all of what is available in Season 4 and the incomplete episodes of Season 5. There are also episodes from Season 2 and Season 3 as well, but I am not listing them here since I am focused on episodes with Jaime.

Then there is the Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen - Special Edition (2012)

There is also the Enemy of the World (no link yet since I am writing this before it has been released)

For Season 6, you can get these ones:

Doctor Who: The Dominators (Story 44) (2011)

Doctor Who: The Mind Robber (Story 45) (2005)

Doctor Who: The Invasion (Story 46) (2007)

Doctor Who: The Krotons (Story 47) (2012)

Doctor Who: The Seeds Of Death (Story 48) - Special Edition (2012)

Doctor Who: The War Games (Story 50) (2009)

If you want to read more, here is a nice article on Nerdist called, Doctor Who for Newbies: The Second Doctor.

Altoid Tin Projects

One web site that I really enjoy reading on a regular basis is the Art of Manliness. There are great skills you can learn on a variety of topics. One article I found recently is on Altoid tin projects. 

Altoids are those "curiously strong" mints that come in an old fashioned lidded tin. Being about 2" x 3", it is a conveniently sized container for all sorts of stuff. The article lists  bunch of projects that some very creative people have come up with from survival kits to racecars to guitar amplifiers. 

I designed my own modest little kit for kid cryptography. Below is a listing of the contents in case you want to try it out yourself. 

The centerpiece and most expensive component of the kit is a secret decoder ring. I confess that I always wanted to have one of these myself. Although I grew up in the 80s, my father got me into the old time radio programs from the Age of Radio - programs like the Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, the Shadow, and Fanny Brice. One of the promotions back then was a secret decoder ring which you could use each week to decode a secret message. 

There is a small company called Retroworks (www.shopretroworks.com) where you can buy high quality decoder rings. I highly recommend them! Not only do they have code medallions but also code rings you wear on your fingers. There is also a full range of transliteration style rings. These rings show you what each letter of the English alphabet looks like in languages such as Klingon, Tolkien Elvish, and even Aurebesh!

Anyway, the ring I bought uses a simple code technique called the Cesear Cipher where you simply shift each letter a certain number of places. So an A could be coded as D, and so forth. 

I did a web search and found other transliteration pages like for Norse runes, Greek and Morse Code. I printed these out on card stock and made sure they could be folded up easily. I also made up some 2x3 inch cards with instructions on how to write in invisible ink and how to make paper look old. 

I also added a pencil stub and some q-tips for the invisible ink technique. There is still room for more things in my tin but I figured this was a good start. 

I made up three tins - one for me, one for my son, and one for one of my nephews. (they are about the same age). They will get them during Christmas as part of a treasure hunt activity. I will write secret codes on strips I paper and hide them around the house. One message will lead to the next message. When they get I the end I have a "treasure chest" with some small things like mini flashlights and stuff. Hopefully they will like it!

How to Read S.

Well I am almost 100 pages into S and I think I have decided on how I am going to read this book. Maybe it is my ADD talking but I can't bring myself to ignore all the marginal notes and read just the text itself. Even if I did that, there are still footnotes by the translator to look at. 

So I am reading everything on each page. This encompasses (1) the book text itself, (2) the translator's footnotes, (3) three versions of marginal notes by Jen and Eric, and (4) miscellena of inserts spread throughout the book. Perhaps if I had the audio version of the book, which covers just the text itself, I'd be able to stick with that. But too late now!

I did take these inserts out and used post it notes to flag their locations and numbered them. It makes it much easier to read the book and I can refer to them as needed. The cardboard slipcase is being put to good use in holding all this stuff.  

This is a fascinating read and one I can already highly recommend to people. I am not expecting to be able to solve the mystery or even for there to be an actual solution. Having watched all the seasons of Lost and being immensely disappointed by the conclusion, I've learned that to enjoy a J J Abrams creation, one most be more focused on enjoying the journey and less so on final resolutions. 

Oh and I strongly advise against getting the ebook version of this book. You really need the physical copy to truly experience this work - plus the production values are phenomenal!

Avatar? Who Cares?

Ok, I have to confess that part of me is happy. I am not a James Cameron fan. I think he thinks far too highly of himself and that his films aren't as good as he thinks they are. 

I didn't see Avatar. I didn't want to see Avatar. Despite all the hub bub about the special effects and 3D animation, the trailers seemed to me to be a movie that desperately wanted to be the next Star Wars. The plot line read like a stereotypical story from the political left. It did not seem inspiring or thought provoking.  

I was disappointed in how well Avatar did in the box office and that it unseated Star Wars from its box office perch in the record books. 

Now I hear that Disney is continuing its development of Avatar-land at it's Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando. It seems to me this whole effort was driven to answer Universal's smash hit Harry Potter land at the nearby a Islands of Adventure theme park. I believe they went searching for intellectual property to build their own immersive attraction and decided on Avatar. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/travel/avatar-land-animal-kingdom-disney/

The opening of this park expansion is to coincide with the release of the first of three - yes, three - Avatar sequel movies.  All of which got me thinking. Who is even talking about Avatar anymore?

You don't hear about it at conventions or Comic Cons. Avatar cosplayers seem to be few and far between at best. There are no cartoons, comics, books, or large online communities about the Avatar world. This article on Slate really hit the nail on the head for me:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/05/avatar_sequels_three_no_one_cares_here_s_why.html

With the acquisition of Lucasfilm, I was really expecting Disney to quietly announce that the Avatarland project was being axed. I was thinking an Ewok Village or even a world taken from the upcoming Episode VII film would replace it. It looks like that isn't happening. 

Now I can take comfort that an immersive Star Wars area or two is coming to the Disney parks - perhaps a full size Millennium Falcon at Disneyland and a full size Mos Eisley Cantina at Disney Hollywood Studios. But things will also be awkward with having a competing franchise, releasing movies at the same time as  the Star Wars films at the Disney parks. 

I just think striking with Avatar is a mistake. 

Order Placed for "S."

Here is another indirect Star Wars blog post. I saw this book in a post on the excellent SW news site jedinews.co.uk. It is a book co-written by J. J. Abrams himself. 

If you want to know what the heck this is, check out this post on Wired:

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/11/j-j-abrams-s-book-review/

I won't go into specifics here. You can read about it yourself with the above link. It takes me quite awhile to get through books because I don't have a lot of free time. But this one looked too good to pass up. 

I'm sure I will have future blog posts on this once I get it and start reading it. More than likely they will have spoilers but I will warn you appropriately. 

Pick up a copy yourself and feel free to post comments! I expect there will be a lot to unpack and discuss about this work!

Rising Gun Violence

I am very concerned about the growing amount of gun violence in American entertainment. I know I hold an unpopular view but I truly believe the horrific incidents of gun violence in movie theaters, schools, and shopping malls are linked to the pervasiveness and permissiveness of gun violence in entertainment. 

I do not claim that people who watch such violence turn into violent criminals. Nor do I think gun rights of responsible gun owners should be taken away. In fact, I believe such rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. However I do think there is some detrimental effect on the viewer who is exposed to a lot of this style of entertainment. Such a person is, I believe, desensitized to gun violence. Also, studies have shown a correlation between this exposure and higher levels of aggression. 

A recent study has established that gun violence in PG-13 movies has grown significantly and are now more violent than even R-rated movies: http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78139868/

Now movie studios know that they need the teenager market to be profitable so there is an economic incentive for them to push as much adult content into a PG-13 movie as they can get away with. This is why I think the whole idea of self-regulation, via the MPAA, is laughable. But they are politically well-connected and thus better oversight won't happen. 

So what is the Star Wars connection? Well it is something I struggle with. There is plenty of gun violence in the Saga. Yes it involves fantasy-style blasters, but that is more of a technicality. 

I have most of the seasons of the Clone Wars on DVD and now that my son is showing an interest, we are watching them together. It seems to me that there is much more violence than what I am accustomed to in the original trilogy or Episode I. 

Granted the name of the series is called Star WARS for crying out loud so it's not like there should be pillow fights. Yet in the back of my mind I keep thinking that this is much more violence than what I was exposed to when I was my son's age. 

I don't really have an easy answer to my dilemma other than to moderate the frequency of watching these shows. Perhaps the future movies will see more weaponry that is not as clumsy or as random as a blaster but more elegant weapons for a more civilized age. 

One can always hope. 

MCU, I'm In!

I know this is a Star Wars blog but since Lucasfilm is now owned by Disney, as is Marvel, I figured it wouldn't be too far afield to venture into the Marvel Universe every so often.

I saw Thor 2 this past weekend and really enjoyed it. I've seen all the recent movies in the series which is dubbed the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - except for the Incredible Hulk remake. I think it is an ingenious idea to carry story line threads through several different movies. It provides an extra incentive to see the latest installment even if the particular movie is not one of your favorite characters. 

That is how I felt about Thor 2. I am not a big fan of the first film. It had just a little too much fantasy for me. But having loved all the Iron Man movies and at least enjoyed the other MCU films I wanted to see how things continued with Thor 2. The box office numbers show I wasn't alone!

This inter-connectedness of stories reminds me very much of the marvel comic books I read as a kid in the 1980s. I would discover new characters and new  books as the stories would intersect with my favorite titles. It's pretty incredible to think that this same concept that involved a handful of writers, artists, and editors is now being used by hundreds if people across a wide spectrum of disciplines to achieve the same result. 

This is also a brilliant move in what it leaves out. There is no mention of Spider-Man, the X-Men, or the Fantastic Four. This is intentional as Disney does not have exclusive or perhaps even direct rights to those properties. As the MCU continues to build on itself, now including the Agents of SHIELD television series, these other characters will seem increasingly isolated and thus less attractive. This could ultimately play out that the other studios that own the rights might end up cashing them in rather than compete with the coming juggernaut. Disney has the inside track and I am on board with it!

A New Dawn

Well it has been nearly three and a half years since I last updated this blog. A lot has happened since then! Most importantly, I began a daddy for the second time. This time a beautiful little girl. I have also had to accept that my son is *not* a Star Wars fan. Perhaps he is just not old enough to appreciate it, or maybe I have failed to transfer my passion for the GFFA on to him, but regardless, I have come to accept it.

But there is new hope, thanks to the jaw dropping news last November that Disney was buying Lucasfilm and that the sequel triliogy has been green-lit! I hope this might create another opportunity with my son. My first introduction to the Star Wars universe was with Empire Strikes Back. I was seven years old when I saw that movie and have been a fan ever since. Episode VII is slated for 2015 (though I suspect it will be pushed back), so my son will be ten years old. I think that is the perfect age for a young Star Wars fan. The news has certainly rekinidled my own fandom!

Obi-Wan: "That boy is our last hope"
Yoda: "No. There is another."

Even if my son manages to resist the siren call of Jedi Knights and distant planets with a single ecology (e.g., Hoth, Endor, Tatooine) there is still hope that my daughter will get into Star Wars when she is older. One can hope!