Rolling right along with the Doctor Who challenges, we have the hardest question. Hundreds of stories. Only one winner. (“There must be only one” – Highlander voice).
This. This is really difficult. I could choose one story from each Doctor. Or one from Classic Who and another from New Who.
Hmmmm…. I might do the latter.
Yes, yes, I think I might…
Classic Who (1963-1989)
Just picking one story from the classic era is hard enough. Seven Doctors. Dozens of companions. Still hundreds of stories.
An Unearthly Child
Have to give it to the one that started everything. The first part, not so much the caveman story that followed. Just An Unearthly Child. What introduces the world to the companions everyday life, their curiosity about one of their students. The Doctor, who is not very social. And his ship that his granddaughter nick-named the TARDIS – Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.
I have seen this a number of times, and never have gotten tired of it. I love how things have remained, like the console (well, the things on the console and how it looks change over time but the basic purpose has remained). Commenting on how the TARDIS is alive. The sound of the TARDIS taking off.
New Who (2005-Present)
Not nearly as many stories, but still a difficult pick.
Day of the Doctor
But it goes to The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary episode bonanza. Multi-Doctor story featuring the 11th, 10th, and a “new” Doctor – the War Doctor. Had classic bickering of the Doctors yet also finding a way to work together because they knew what was at stake.
Plus a big cameo towards the end, so big it caught me totally by surprise that I tweeted all in caps after I caught my breath. And when I saw it in the theaters a couple days later, everyone in the theater went crazy (and some of us had already seen by then and we were still excited by it). But I won’t say who it is for any new fans who haven’t seen it yet. Spoilers 😉
Well, there was another very brief cameo, which everyone also was very excited about and cheered loudly in the theater. I even had a screen-capture of his eyes on the top of my blog before his episodes even aired because I had a feeling I would like him.
Of, course, there are many, many, episodes/stories that I love,And maybe I’ll write about my “Top Ten episodes”, or something. But this will have to do for now 🙂
Time to change gears to another one of my interests, though somewhat related: Doctor Who. I have loved Doctor Who for as long as Holmes and Watson (about 25 years now). And as with Holmes, I have enjoyed watching what fans did with the Doctor, both the original and newer series.
First off, if you haven’t already seen it, check out the Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover video, “A Study in Time” that I posted earlier. Totally brilliant!
Doctor Who – Tenth Doctor Tribute – Fireflies
There are a bunch of videos using Owl City’s Fireflies song to clips of the Doctor. This one and the nest one are my favorites. This one is a shortened version of the song, but still fun to watch. Stars the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and his various companions.
Doctor Who – Fireflies
Most of the fanvids that used Fireflies used the Tenth and (since it aired) Eleventh Doctors. A few brave souls man one using almost all the Docs, such as this one:
CSI: Gallifrey (DW/CSI Miami Parody)
I don’t care for any of the CSI shows, but have seen enough to ROFL whenever I watch this video.
Since restarting this blog, there has been a new Sherlock Holmes series, called, simply. Sherlock (Original, right? LOL!). I will post my review of it here (I have it posted somewhere else at the moment). But I wanted to show some brilliant fanvids here.
A Study in Time
Oh My Gosh! This video just blew me away. It’s done like a BBC trailer for a show (even has the BBC One logo on the bottom), combining Sherlock and Doctor Who (BTW, both shows are written and (in the case of Sherlock) created by (Steven Moffat (head DW writer) and Mark Gatiss). Unfortunately, Moffat has said that he will never combine the two on one show though I think he should for charity like Big Nose Day or Children in Need. Anyway….
Short explanation of the Sherlock show. Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) and Watson (Martin Freeman) are brought up in present day instead of Victorian England. If you haven’t seen it, please do yourself a favor and watch it! Acting, writing, sets, etc., top notch! The song is Cracking the Code by PostHaste Music.
Sherlock Holmes: The Boys Are Back
I found out about this video from the Baker Street Blog (a great blog to find out news from the world of Holmes and Watson) a while back. This includes 5 different sets of Holmes-Watson teams: Rathbone-Bruce, Brett-Burke, Basil-Dawson (from Disney’s Great Mouse Detective movie), Downey-Law, and Cumberbatch-Freeman. Note that in different clips Holmes is playing the violin during the guitar solo…. nice touch!
Sherlock – ‘tick, Tick BOOM’
A short one. And loud music. Probably will attract attention if you play it with people around. Tick Tick Boom by The Hives.
Sherlock – Life in Technicolour
Life in Tecnicolour ii is one of the best songs by Coldplay, so put together with one of the beat teams of Holmes & Watson, it’s hard to not like it :). But it’s a short video :(, still brilliant though.
I have been a Doctor Who fan since around 1986-87 (don’t remember exactly when). I came in at the end of Colin Baker’s era and was able to enjoy all of Syvester McCoy’s. While I loved all the actors who played the Doctor, Tom Baker was my favorite, McCoy in second. I have been a fan during the 16 year hiatus and would be glued to the tv if I happened to catch it on a PBS channel, which dwindled as PBS stations around the country dropped the show due to the expense (how much *did* the BBC charge anyway for an older show?)
I was overjoyed when it came back in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston in the role, doing a *fantastic* job! Then David Tennant who really was a great blend of previous Doctors as well as having his own flare. Then it was annouced late last year that David felt it was time to go. The other day it was annouced that a young lad named Matt Smith was taking the helm of the TARDIS.
He’s 26.
26!!
He’s younger than me by 10 years!
Of course this was bound to happen to have an actor be around my age, but man, I feel old now! David I was able to handle, being just a couple years younger than him. Christopher was just a few months younger than the series.
I saw a picture of him and I don’t know what to think …well, other than young! But comments about interviews are positive. We’ll have to see when he makes his entrance when David leaves, which won’t be until 2010.
While being wowed by his age, the name was also funny. Smith. In the recent series, the Doctor would sometimes use the name John Smith (Human Nature comes to mind).
Here are some great sites if you are new to the Doctor Who universe:
But it goes to The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary episode bonanza. Multi-Doctor story featuring the 11th, 10th, and a “new” Doctor – the War Doctor. Had classic bickering of the Doctors yet also finding a way to work together because they knew what was at stake.