I have a non-musical one, and a couple musical ones.
The non-musical one is probably is not a surprise. “Mom Always Likes You Best” (and it’s variants) 🤣.
I am the oldest of 4. So of course I can really relate to the type of sibling bickering that is in the routine. But what I didn’t think would happen, or was possible, was that it would become even funnier.
After I became a mom of 2.
My daughters are a few years apart, but once the youngest started talking, they started fighting. And they would argue over who got away with more. And so on.
One time they started up, and I stood there listening to them, and started to laugh. And my oldest asked me “Mom, what are you laughing about?” And then quickly caught on “Are you thinking of the Smothers Brothers?”
While still laughing, I nodded yes. And then she started laughing. And my youngest laughed too, though I don’t think she understood exactly why.
Below is from the same-titled album, along with “You Can Call Me Stupid”, which is what I liked to call “Mom Always Liked You Best, part 2”.
Back in 1993 when they rebroadcast the Comedy Hour on E!, with Tom and Dick setting up the episode and afterwards talking about memories they had. Below, they share the time when their mom appeared on the show, and slapped Dickie.
“Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” from Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2 is a great one. Also the reference to Ralph was great, especially for me since that’s where my fanhood started.
(Background – Ralph was a character from their sitcom they did right before starting the Comedy Hour. He was Tom’s angel supervisor who would call Tom on various different items to give out assignments.)
From the same album, “I Talk to the Trees” is also fantastic.
Added bonus…
Lincoln Logs, circa mid-20th century. I had them when growing up as well. Our dog chewed up one of the logs. And the thought of termites being put in them… 😅. And here’s a cool little video about them. And, yes, they are still around!
Some of the 1949 St. Louis Cardinals baseball trading cards.
I don’t go to concerts very much. In fact, I think the last time I went to one was to see the Smothers Brothers. And they retired in 2010, so that gives you an idea. But I saw them much more than all other concerts combined (John Denver in ’85, Janet Jackson in ’90, and David Byrne also in ’90… I think that’s it, 😂).
So how many times? I don’t remember. I lost count. But there were a few that stood out.
The first time I saw them, it was February 1990. Not only did I see them in concert, I got to meet them backstage.
Here’s my Instagram post I made for my personal #OTD a couple years ago!
But I’ll tell more of this tale in my future Day 6 “Have you lucky been lucky enough to meet them?” post :).
My small George Harrison / Beatles experience
I saw them a few more times with my grandmother. Once with both my grandmother and grandfather when they played with Florida Symphony (Philharmonic? not sure) Orchestra. After I got married, I saw them a few more times with my (at the time) husband. At one concert, we sat in a row that was technically the second row, but the first row was short, and our row was longer and wrapped around a little bit so it was like sitting first row. And it was at that concert I saw their montage of photos and video clips about their life that was shown between their usual routines and then change to the closing Yo-Yo Man bit. The montage got to the Comedy Hour (found that part of the montage here) and up came the clip of when George Harrison came on to thank them for having the Beatles on a couple weeks earlier.
At the time of this particular concert, it was a few weeks after 9/11 and just a few days after George’s passing. Everyone was still a bit emotional. And when that clip showed up on the screen at the concert… well, I never heard so much cheering, clapping, stomping of feet, roaring of cheers before! Was the roof going to cave in from the reverberating happy noise? In the following times I saw Tom and Dick, and that montage was shown, there wasn’t the same kind of uproarious cheer, so that night was something special.
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night
Then there was the time when my mom, daughter, and I went to see them at the Strawberry Festival in 2008. My daughter had never seen them live and was curious to see what they were about on stage. It was an outside venue. And it started to rain. More and more. But they stayed on stage. My mom and daughter went to seek shelter, but my feeling was if they were going to be on stage, I was staying put. I had come to the realization the previous couple times that I won’t be seeing them live many more times, and to not take it for granted. And I wasn’t going let a little (ha!) water ruin my fun.
Though I was concerned about them being onstage, with whatever electrical equipment mixed in with rain.
The last time
The last time I saw them was in 2009. It was their 50th anniversary and there was no way I was going to miss seeing them. It was, oddly enough, at the university I graduated from years earlier. When I had attended in the 90s, I thought “Wouldn’t it be cool if they came over and performed here? But that’s *never* going to happen!”
Well, not while I was a student there. A stint with the circus, marriage, two kids, and divorce later 🤣
My dad went with me. He averaged seeing them about once every 20ish years: once in the 60s, once in 1990 as mentioned above, and again in 2009. It was a great show. And they sang my favorite song they have sung straight, “They Call The Wind Mariah“. Dick introduced the song by saying they hadn’t performed it in 40 years, and Tom (just loud enough for the mic to pick it up) says “I hope I remember how it goes,” which everyone laughed at.
The concert I didn’t see
In the beginning of 2010, my cousin Nancy (who helped tracked down some Smothers albums for me in the pre-internet days and recorded the Comedy Hour when it was re-aired on E! network), had told me about how they were going to be at that year’s Strawberry Festival. And for some unknown reason I didn’t get tickets. I have absolutely no idea why. If I had known they were going to retire later that year, I would have gone.
But maybe, in the future ?
At the time of writing this, they are planning a tour of some places and already played in some areas, though different kind of concert. They had planned doing it earlier this year, but scheduling was delayed because of upsurge in Covid cases. A mix of performing, showing clips from the Comedy Hour, and “Question & Answer” session. They are making an appearance in Florida, and I hope to be there!
Live recordings
A fun filmed live performance was done back in the late 80s for PBS’s series “An Evening With Pops” with the Boston Pops with the legendary John Williams conducting/ It gives you a good idea of what it was like seeing them in concert. Below I have a playlist of shortened version of their live performance.
Fun little side bonus
From this same episode of the Evening with Pops. Tom and Dick do no appear in, but Dickie’s bass can be seen in a couple shots: The 1988 Olympic Spirit theme , composed and conducted by John Williams
So there I was in 1986, a 13 year old kid, flipping TV channels on our TV in our family room looking for something to watch. And then I see them. It was on the Nickelodeon channel during a block of shows called Camp Nickelodeon (shortly later to be renamed Nick at Night). It was a black and white sitcom that I had never seen before – “The Smothers Brothers Show”. And two guys who (I thought) I had never seen before , the blond haired one telling his dark haired brother that he was an angel.
I was familiar with 50s and 60s sitcoms such as I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, I Dream of Jeanie, and my absolute all-time favorite: The Dick Van Dyke Show. But this one I had never seen before. Who were these guys?
I decided to keep watching to find out. Fate, or destiny, or something, had blindsided me without me knowing it.
The Smothers Brothers Show. A sitcom where the blond-haired Tom arrives on Earth as an angel (after drowning at sea) and comes to ask his dark-haired brother Dick for help in earning his angel wings.
There’s only one complete episode I can find online: ” ‘Twas The Week Before Christmas”
https://youtu.be/Oligp-MLcRo
I found out years later that they hated making the show, especially Tom since he had so many lines and, without him knowing at the time, was dyslexic, and had trouble. And they had little input into the creative process. And for the first few episodes they did not sing their theme song (that later changed. See – or hear – above). That would change when they were offered “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” after the angel show was canceled.
But for 1986 me, 13 years old, I guess I was the right demographic for this show. I loved it and watched it every Sunday evening. And my parents took notice.
One night my dad mentions that he went to see Tom and Dick in concert back in the 60s.
“Really? So did I!” my mom replies.
“Where?”
Mom says where (some college campus somewhere)
“That’s where I saw them!” dad says and they laugh.
And we laughed at the possibility of if they had met there rather than how they actually met (at a wedding where each of their best friends were getting married).
Censorship? Really?
And then I began to hear murmurs about how they had censorship battles. This totally baffled me: “What’s so controversial about the sitcom?” I had no idea about the Comedy Hour….yet.
In the summer of 1987, I was once again flipping tv channels (we did that a lot back then), and stopped on VH1. It was in the middle of the music video “Meet Me Half Way” by Kenny Loggins. I watched the rest, and when the VJ, Bobby Rivers came on, he introduced a couple of guests in the studio: Tom and Dick. And my jaw just dropped. VH1 was doing a week (or weekend, I forget) long spotlight on comedy, and for some reason, had the guys on. They talked about their comedy and the Comedy Hour. And then I saw my first clips of this controversial show I had heard about before but never saw.
The only clip I really remember is an opening where Tom is trying to put on police riot gear. Dick asks him what he is doing when they should be starting a show. Tom says that he’s getting ready for college. I laughed even though I didn’t get the real meaning. I later found out they were referring to the riots on college campuses between students and police over Vietnam protests.
Then the Reunion show…
A few months later I hear that they were coming back to tv for a Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour 20th Reunion show! I was excited to see it, but I wasn’t able to watch it during the broadcast, so I recorded it. (That poor VHS tape had no idea what it was in for!). It had all the regulars on from two decades earlier: Pat Paulsen, John Hartford, Leigh French, Mason Williams, Glen Campbell, Jennifer Warnes; a couple writers who went on the bigger careers after the 60s series: Bob Einstein and Steve Martin.
I only caught their closing routine during the original broadcast:
I loved it! I sat there and laughed until i cried. It was fantastic. So I watched from the beginning all the way through. Absolutely fabulous!
Also, they sang and played their instruments well too (which I was not yet really used to)
I would watch a segment before going to junior high as a boost for my day (alas, was too young for coffee). And it continued when they returned with a short season and specials of the new Comedy Hour later in 1988 and 1989 (which I recorded and wore out the tape).
Why a fan?
I was not (well, still not, lol) the typical age for being a fan of theirs, so what was it that got me hooked? First they were funny. When I first caught them was when I was just beginning to stop judging what I liked/didn’t like based on how old it was. And what I saw, I really liked.
When I was little, my parents had an 8-track player and I listened to a lot of the musical artists that I later discovered had appeared on the Comedy Hour (Peter, Paul, and Mary; Simon and Garfunkel; The Beatles; Glen Campbell; Joan Baez; Judy Collins). So there was a sense of familiarity and nostalgia with a show that was thrown off the air before I was born. Also I recognized some of the songs the brothers sang like “Slithery Dee“, “Michael Row the Boat Ashore“, “Down in the Valley“, “The Impossible Dream“. All these musical familiarities.
The sibling bickering. Being the oldest of 4, that was hilarious (also seeing my grandmother argue with her two brothers).
It was a great way for my to learn about history, particularly the 60s as it was happening.
Also being inspired by their fight with CBS about freedom of speech.
And that’s how it started and has happily kept on going since then 🙂 …
I know this is more niche than my Charlie Chaplin one. And even more niche than the Doctor Who challenge. For example, some of you might be thinking to yourself: “Who the heck are the Smothers Brothers?”
In a nutshell: Tom and Dick Smothers are real life brothers and from 1959 to 2010 they performed as a musical comedy team, with Tom on acoustic guitar and Dick playing double bass. Both of them singing (or attempting to sing) folk songs and breaking into sibling rivalry, occasionally arguing over who mom liked best. They made several comedy albums a few tv series, including the iconic 1960s “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” which got them in hot water over their position on the Vietnam War and shortly later, censorship.
I created this 30 Day Challenge as my way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their first album, “The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion” (released in May of 1961), and also because I am a huge fan and wanted to share it with others and maybe introduce them to you if you have no idea who they are.
To say that they have impacted my life is very much an understatement. Things I have gotten interested in stemmed from being a fan of theirs ranging from history, music, to political involvement, and classic comedy, and probably a few other things that I cannot think of right now. My life would be vastly different if it hadn’t been by chance of… well I don’t want to get ahead of myself 😉
So here it is:
How did you become a fan?
Did you ever see them in concert?
Favorite album
Favorite routine
First album you got
Have you lucky been lucky enough to meet them?
Thoughts of the Purple Onion album
Thoughts on The Two Sides of the Smothers Brothers album
…Think Ethnic!
…Curb Your Tongue, Knave!
…It Must Have Been Something I Said!
…Tour de Farce: American History and Other Unrelated Subjects
…Aesop’s Fables: The Smothers Brothers Way
…Mom Always Liked You Best!
…The Smothers Brothers Play It Straight
…Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (the album)
…Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2
Favorite song they sang straight
Favorite interview
Thoughts on the “Smothered” documentary
Thoughts on the book “Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” by David Bianculli?
Should season one of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ever be released?
Favorite episode of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (original 60s, 70s, or 80s?)
Favorite Comedy Hour guest?
Favorite Comedy Hour musical guest?
Favorite regular?
Inspired by the Yo-Yo Man to learn (or re-learn) yo-yo tricks?
Favorite piece(s) of memorabilia
Favorite performance (Comedy Hour, late night TV, concert, etc)
Routine or album you would recommend to recruit a new fan?
If a movie/mini-series was made about them, who would you pick to play Tom and Dick?
If you are looking at this and saying “Hey, you have 31 days! I thought this was a 30 day challenge?” Well, it’s in spirit with how they number things, like their album “Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2”. There was no volume 1. And the release of their 60s Comedy Hour being released on DVD a few years ago. First was Season 3 (September 2008), then season 2 (October 2009)… season 1 has not been released yet (I am holding out hope!)
And I’ll end my 30 Day Challenge intro with their performance from 1966 on the Ed Sullivan Show. I love it because it’s an excellent short example of how they sang and played, and go into a little of their Mom Always Liked You Best routine:
I have two. My answers will not be surprising to long time Chaplin fans.
The Gentleman Tramp and Unknown Chaplin. Gentleman Tramp is a biography, and Unknown Chaplin is a “behind the scenes” doc.
I baffled my family growing up with the number of times I have watched these. And I have baffled my kids equally as much.
“Mom, you’re watching that again?“
Like his films, these docs are fun and comforting. And I appreciate the tons work that went into them.
By the way, these are listed in order of release date, not a ranking.
The Gentleman Tramp
First, The Gentleman Tramp, written and directed by Richard Patterson, narrated by Walter Matthau, released in 1975. One of the things that makes this interesting is that it was made while Chaplin was still alive.
I first saw it listed in David Robinson’s book. And then in the early 90s in my baby Chaplin fan days, I saw the VHS while browsing around one of my favorite stores, Media Play, and grabbed it up right away. And continued to watch it numerous times. Then many years later I saw it at Amazon from Patterson himself. The DVD has two versions of the doc: one is the version that was on the VHS, and another longer version with a introduction by Matthau and his son, Charlie as they traveled to Chaplin’s Switzerland home, and a couple alternate takes (for example: during the Joan Barry court case). The DVD also came with a booklet written by Patterson talking about the ups and downs of making the doc (Chaplin had some disagreements with him with how the doc was being put together). I usually watch the version that I first saw.
You can buy it from Amazon here. Or you can watch a couple clips from it that was put up by the official Chaplin YouTube Channel:
There’s no place that I know of where you can buy it streaming, but it is on DailyMotion – watch it here: part 1 and part 2.
All the music is either by Chaplin (most of it falls into this category), or about Chaplin (“When The Moon Shines Bright On Charlie Chaplin” played during discussing why Chaplin did not fight during WWI). It also has more footage from the 1972 Oscars than what exists online.
Narration is provided by Walter Matthau. Which seemed like an odd choice to me at first, but then I realized that his wife, Carol, and Charlie’s wife, Oona, had been best friends since their teens. Also wonderful voice-overs reading excepts from Chaplin’s autobiography (read by Laurence Olivier), his son Charlie Jr (haven’t ID’ed that voice), various news articles and gossip columns (either supporting Charlie or deriding him),
Unknown Chaplin
Unknown Chaplin was the first Chaplin documentary I saw, years before I was a fan. It was somewhere during part 2: “The Great Director” when they were showing how The Gold Rush was made. I remember sitting there amazed by everything. They were explaining how the famous shoe eating scene was done (the shoe was made of licorice). When I finally saw the film when I became a fan, I remember not being grossed out because I knew that it wasn’t a real shoe, just licorice in shape of a shoe. And it did not gross me out like it does everyone else. Then after I became a fan, I read how Chaplin said that he never liked to talk about how he made his films, because it ruined the magic of it. And I thought to myself “What is he talking about? I love seeing how it was done and all the behind the scenes stuff. That;s just silly…” And then I remembered the shoe, and then thought “Okay, maybe he does know what he’s talking about”. Haha.
What got me when I was younger was the witty writing, excellent narration (by James Mason), smart editing, fitting music (the wonderful Carl Davis!), and overall energy of the documentary. That’s what kept me watching the first time, and what keeps me coming back to it.
So what is Unknown Chaplin about?
In the 1970s when Kevin Brownlow and David Gill were putting together their behemoth multi-part documentary “Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film”, they discovered so much unseen Chaplin footage (that Chaplin had originally ordered to be destroyed) showing how he made his films that they decided to make a documentary based around that.
There’s 3 parts:
My Happiest Years – From his days at Mutual, this contains lots of footage of his filmed rehearsals as he worked out story ideas.
The Great Director – Footage from How to Make Movies, making of The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights,. Interviews with Dean Reisner, Jackie Coogan, Lita Grey, Robert Parrish, Virginia Cherrill, Georgia Hale..
Hidden Treasures – Main focus is ideas that Charlie would play around with earlier in his career with and how they would show up years later in his films. The other half is deleted scenes from his films. And some other footage from How To Make Movies and visitors to the studio
Below is part 1. I totally love all 3, but part 1 is my favorite, in particular the evolution of “The Immigrant”. And here’s part 3
Favorite lines/scenes from Unknown Chaplin
During the segment on how The Immigrant came about, in the scene with Charlie and Albert Austin, and Charlie purposely throwing Albert off and laughing:
“After all, it’s only slate one”
This is hilarious, because practically from the time Chaplin started directing while at Keystone, he was notorious for doing oodles and oodles of retakes.
And then shortly later
“The film is a simple cafe comedy about a man who’s never been in a cafe. That all it is. So far.”
In the beginning of part 2, “The Great Director”, Dean Reisner’s story of how Charlie and Sydney had to trick him into hitting them in The Pilgrim. Also love the edit of when Dean says “And so finally he and Sydney would play slapping games”. And it cuts to Charlie looking over at Sydney. Lovely edit! Also great story that I forgot to put in my “Favorite story about him told by someone else” post. You can also see this segment in the free preview on Amazon.
The opening of Hidden Treasures, with Doug Fairbanks 1929 home movie where Charlie is running around with a ancient Grecian tunic. And then fools around with a globe and then puts a WWI German helmet on it. Cut to 20 years later in The Great Dictator to the famous globe dance scene. That still jaw drops me! You can see the full home movie here (black and white, no music), and colorized (4k, 60fps,and music. Rather cool!)
(Side note: The above opening segment was cut out of the DVD and the version on Amazon. However, you can watch it in Amazon’s free preview. Why is it not included in the regular episode? I have absolutely no idea. I just noticed it now while writing this.)
From Hidden Treasures, the deleted barber scene from Sunnyside with Charlie and Albert Austin. Music is clever too. The song is from the opera The Barber of Seville. Like in Day 11 when it took me almost 30 years to realize Chaplin used Wagner in The Great Dictator, it took me a few years before I realized (though it was just 5 or so years). I was listening to the local NPR when they were playing Barber, and it got to that part, and I thought “Hey, I know that song!”. And then remembered Unknown Chaplin. Very clever use of the music :). You can watch the opera with that particular tune, “All’iddea di quel metallo”, here.
Also from Hidden Treasures, the cut scene from City Lights where Charlie tries to push a slat of wood down a grate. Most of the scene is slow, and I’m glad he cut it. BUT – the guy who comes out to window dress the mannequin and gets furious at Charlie for not figuring it out…. Love that!
Deleted from the DVD and Amazon release
One thing that got removed was Geraldine Chaplin’s introduction:
Right after the segment about the cut piece from “Behind the Screen” where Charlie just misses the huge axe landing on him, there was a pause before going onto the segment for “The Immigrant”. (Yeah, I watched the VHS that many times I remembered how it was edited, haha).
And, as I mentioned above about the Douglas Fairbanks opening for “Hidden Treasures”
Remember the Easter Egg in Robert Downey Jr’s Chaplin?
That documentary series I mentioned above that Brownlow and Gill made, “Hollywood” is an amazing multi-part series. One of the reasons why it’s amazing are the interviews with people who were there. Directors, actors and actresses that are no longer with us.
A great documentary that is not just about Chaplin, but the other great silent comedians: Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Harry Langdon. With interviews with Hal Roach, Frank Capra, and Jackie Coogan and a few other contemporaries. In “Comedy: A Serious Business”. Made by Brownlow and Gill a couple years prior to Unknown Chaplin.
It’s more of a video essay, but I really love the below video by the YouTube channel Newfangled (and currently has less than 1000 views at the moment): “Charlie Chaplin Doesn’t Give a F*ck”
So the genesis of me watching Doctor Who goes back to about 1986. A classmate was talking about this British show about a guy who’s an alien, and travels in time and space in a blue phone box. He doesn’t have complete control over where he wants to go.
This concept intrigued me and I thought I would try and catch an episode. The first episode I watched was *the* first episode, An Unearthly Child. I caught it at the beginning of the story. I remember Susan reading the book on the French Revolution that Barbara lent her, and saying “That’s not right!”. My imagination flipped on with that simple comment. and I watched to see what happened. Her grandfather lived in a “Police Box” in a junkyard (what?!?), but when the teachers went to find out more about her situation, and barge into the “Police Box” where it’s all white and very clean, and… bigger on the inside? What?!?
The time travel aspect is what I came for, but I ended up staying for everything else. 😀
Most of the time the episodes would be on late Saturday nights on the local PBS station where I would sneak out of my room into the family room and watch. After several minutes of having the volume on just loud enough so as to not wake up anyone, one of my parents would come into the room:
“Kim, do know what time it is?”
“But I want to watch Doctor Who!”
“I don’t care, it’s late. Go to your room!”
“But this is the only time it’s on!”
“NOW!”
And I would. I am sure there were times when they knew I was watching it and didn’t bother to tell me to go to bed. It made it easier on the few days when it would be on during the day. Ah!
The only merchandise I could find was VHS tapes in the video store. And this was when I was driving. My two favorite ones (the *only* ones) were Suncoast Video and Media Play (I loooooovvvveeeddd Media Play! A video, book, CDs, and electronics store in one!). For many years, these tapes would be the only merchandise I had (shirts? mugs? blankets? AS IF!!). And I still have them! And what a shock it was when I found out that the stories were not 1 1/2-2 hours but 25 minute chunks.
What stunk about being an American fan was that I was one of very few American fans. I don’t know what ever happened to that kid who talked to me about the show (*sniff*) but from the 80s until I got on the internet in 1995, I was the only fan I knew (most of the fandoms I was in back then, and still a part of, I was the only one). Which was lonely in one way..,
But helpful in another in that I formed my own opinions about characters and stories without being bombarded by popular opinion. Much to my surprise I found out when I did get onto the internet that most fans didn’t like Adric, hated the 6th Doctor, and blamed the 7th Doctor for the show’s cancellation.
Even though it’s been back for 13 (13? Hmm… that number rings a bell or two!) years and has been a big success, I’m still not used to it. It’s weird to have a shirt (what?) and wear it and almost be guaranteed to get at least one reaction from it when I go out. That’s just… weird. And exciting. And something I do not take for granted.
Not a quarry, but a city. A big city. Known in Ancient Roman times at Londinium. One of the most wonderful cities in the world: London!
A bunch of scenes or whole stories takes place in the living settlement on the River Thames. Starting with the very first episode, An Unearthly Child, taken place at the fictional Coal Hill School in London, up to present day.
Among the different invasions of aliens, there was the infamous Daleks and Cybermen (at different and multiple times) trying again and again to take over. Which kept the First and Second Doctor very busy!
When the show returned in 2005,London was once again the star location of “Rose”. The story used one of the newer landmarks as a… well, don’t want to get into spoilers :).
For the big 50th anniversary episode, it took place in various very popular London landmarks (Tower of London, Tower Bridge, River Thames, National Gallery, Nelson’s Column, Statue of Liberty… kidding, but I do remember several years ago hearing from someone who thought the SoL was in London).
https://youtu.be/fJcsf9nghCw
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – When Did You Start Watching Doctor Who
There weren’t a lot of guest stars that I knew who they were prior to their appearance in Doctor Who. People like pop-singer Kylie Minogue who seemed to be popular in the UK, but, being an American, I had not a clue who she was.
There was Maisie Williams who I knew who she was from Game of Thrones (though I don’t watch it) , and her character, Ashildr/Me, had great potential to be an interesting part of series 9 and I really wanted to like her, but just fell flat in the beginning and then irritated me towards the end.
I already mentioned Michael Gambon being my favorite male actor and I could put him in for this as well. But trying not to repeat myself, that really narrows down to one person who I knew who he was, and the character wasn’t annoying – John Cleese’s cameo in City of Death as an art critic:
That’s the whole of his acting in Doctor Who. and it was wonderful!
And yes, I remember mentioning this scene in Favorite Classic Episode, but the category is different enough for me to mention it again.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Location
Back in the classic days of Who, there were not a lot of ,music from the show. There were some albums released of the sound effects and music, but nothing like New Who which has a soundtrack for each series.
Five years ago, during the 50th anniversary, there was an album release of a number of songs from both Classic and New Who. A sort of “Greatest Hits” of the entire run, ranging from the very cool retro scifi sounds of early Who to the orchestral masterpieces of New Who.
If we are talking for a non-greatest hits, I would pick Series 5, which was to Matt Smith’s first season as the 11th Doctor. It’s what also introduced the awesome 11th Doctor theme, “I am the Doctor” (track 9). The variants of that and “Amy’s Theme” (track 13) are wonderful.
Oh, if you want to see the video from where I got the top image from, it is a clip from the first of three (so far) Doctor Who at the Proms where the BBC Philharmonic performed music from the show (up to that point) as well as classical music. Sadly, they haven’t had a Proms since 2013, though there have been other orchestral performances.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Guest Star
This one is a bit easier than the last! Since I already named my OTP and Favorite Friendship, that helps narrow it down. So time for another tie! And it’s a family affair!
The Ponds, or rather, the Williams, and their daughter and no-good son-in-law.
River and the Doctor
How characters are introduced is one of the best things about Doctor Who, especially in New Who where an introduction can be built up over time (see: Missy). We first meet River Song with the 10th Doctor and Donna in series 4 in Silence in the Library. River knows very well who the Doctor is but he has no idea who she is. Even though they are married (Ah, the timey wimey!).
We don’t catch up with her again until the following series with the 11th Doctor with Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone. And the wonderful The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.
Now, normally I don’t like the Doctor being romantically involved with his companions (in fact, I don’t care for romantic stories in general because they are usually cliché ), but River was a different case. And it was an interesting because she appears older than her parents (the River Song version, that is, not Mels), and she’s part Time Lord/Lady due to the Time Vortex, and she’s really handy with a gun (a little too much to the Doctor’s liking) and a .archeologist (a little too much to the Doctor’s liking XD ).
And how she was with the 12th Doctor was adorable. Most of The Husbnads of River Song, she doesn’t know who he really is. And it was so sweet when she does realize it.
Amy and Rory
And now to River’s parents, Amy and Rory. From the time they were kids, and then teens, and Rory going into the medical field because he wanted to impress Amy because she talked about how amazing the Doctor was. They were adorable together, and I loved how committed they were to each other, even the alternate Rory as the plastic Roman solider waiting 2,000 years to keep Amy safe in the Pandorica. Amy’s face when she realizes that with River and the Doctor married, that makes her his mother-in-law. And how, when the weeping angel took him away, she went with him, knowing that she won’t see the Doctor again (*sniff*). And we see their names on the tombstone (*sob*).
On a up note, some of the best episodes were where the 4 of them are together (The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, A Good Man Goes to War, Let’s Kill Hitler, The Wedding of River Song, The Angels Take Manhattan). They make a great Tardis team :).
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Soundtrack
doesn’t have complete control over where he wants to go.
A bunch of scenes or whole stories takes place in the living settlement on the River Thames. Starting with the very first episode, An Unearthly Child, taken place at the fictional Coal Hill School in London, up to present day.
How characters are introduced is one of the best things about Doctor Who, especially in New Who where an introduction can be built up over time (see: Missy). We first meet River Song with the 10th Doctor and Donna in series 4 in Silence in the Library. River knows very well who the Doctor is but he has no idea who she is. Even though they are married (Ah, the timey wimey!).
Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone. And the wonderful The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.