There aren’t a lot of male companions. Ones I really love are Adric (another controversial opinion :P), and Captain Jack Harkness.
But again I have a tie:
Ian Chesterton
There aren’t a lot of male companions. Ones I really love are Adric (another controversial opinion :P), and Captain Jack Harkness.
But again I have a tie:
Ian Chesterton
Ian (played by William Russell) was part of the original Tardis team. He and fellow teacher Barbara went to investigate the strange behavior of one of their students, and wind up traveling in time and space with a mysterious person called “the Doctor”.
“Who is he? Doctor who? Perhaps if we knew his name, we would have a clue to all this.”
I loved his friendship with Barbara and how they were in their weird adventure together and bound determined to return home… even if it was 2 years later (London1965!).
And a fun bonus. Earlier this year Russell T. Davies happened to be on the same train as William and shared this on his Instagram –
Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
The Brigadier is my other top fav. Also a unique character because he was the only character to have played opposite with every Doctor from 2 to 7 as well having worked along the 8th Doctor in the audio Minuet in Hell. And the actor, Nicholas Courtney, also played Space Security Agent Bret Vyon with the 1st Doctor. His grandfather met the 1st and 12th Doctors, and his daughter Kate continues to work for UNIT and has helped out the 11th and 12th (Kate is awesome!). I love how he continues to hold an important place in the show, even years after Courtney passed away, (Though I do have “ewww” feelings about him being turned into a Cyberman)
I remember watching one episode where the Doctor and Brig were arguing having totally different opinions on how to handle a situation, and my daughter asked me if they were enemies. And I explained that no, they are friends, they just are a bit stubborn, but they are both on the same side.
Recommended episodes:
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.
https://youtu.be/aXBmQz2r2M8
https://youtu.be/hRsfKK34SFY
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 🙂
There are a large amount of female companions. Ones I really like are Barbara Wright, Sarah Jane Smith, and River Song.
Well, River comes in a close second place. Really hard to decide. But I keep coming back to the companion who was with the Doctor when we first met River. The temp from Chiswick, the one and only: Donna Noble.
I loved Donna so much. Lots of sass and not afraid to straighten the Doctor out if he needed. And no romantic ties either. They were just best friends. And the ongoing joke when people would assume that they were married, and the Doctor and Donna would say “Oh, no, we’re not married”
DoctorDonna forever!
I would have added a picture of Catherine Tate and me because she came to Orlando for MegaCon this year, but I wasn’t able this year because of financial constraints. I was really bummed that I missed her.
Recommended episodes:
Fires of Pompeii
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Added Bonus:
Came across this music playlist of songs for 10 and Donna. I’ll list them below as well.
To help get this blog going again, I’m going to take on a Doctor Who 30 Day challenge (there are several out there, I picked one I liked). The image below is the lineup of challenges, and I hope to have them done by the time the new Doctor makes her (it is weird to write that) appearance. If I am really lucky, I can do it on consecutive days. The below challenge is one I found on the Doctor Who group on Amino .
Day 1 – Favorite Doctor
Right, let’s start with the most asked/biggest question, shall we?
Most of my 30+ years of being a Whovian, the 4th Doctor – the jelly baby offering, loooong scarf wearing, teethy grinning, “Do I have the right?” saying – has always been at the very top of my list. I love them all, but the 4th just has not been out-beaten. Not exactly a controversial favorite since almost everyone loves him, some exclusively only him.
But a couple years ago he became tied by the 12th Doctor. The angry eyebrows, hair of amazing, sonic shade wearing, guitar playing actor who was an ultra Doctor Who fan from toddler age and wrote sooo many fan letters to the BBC as a child and teen that some people at the BBC wished he would go away – has been tied with 4 since the end of series 9. (And I noticed that he is the 4th numbered Doctor in New Who. Coincidence?). Part of the reason why he is tied is how he played the role. Another reason is how Peter interacts with fans, going above and beyond the normal expectations of someone famous.I’m going to miss him sooo much! :'(
Recommended episodes
4th Doctor
Genesis of the Daleks
City of Death
Shada
12th Doctor
The Magician’s Apprentice/Witch’s Familiar (2 parts)
Undere the Lake/Before the Flood (another 2 parts – and immediately follows the 2 parter above)
The Eaters of Light
Post Script – It took me 5 days to write this (well, and the fitting of things onto the page). Don’t think I can do one everyday, but I hope to finish the challenge before series 11 starts!
Ah, the year 1986. A big year that became very influential in my life. I hope to write an entry for each one (I already wrote about how I got introduced to Sherlock Holmes), but here’s a summary (in no real order):
Disney’s Dreamers and Doers
The Disney company here in Florida (for a few years) picked someone from each county in the state from elementary, junior high, and high school as someone showing the “4 Cs” – curiosity, confidence, constancy, and courage. And somehow I was picked for the junior high level for Volusia county! It was one of the most exciting days of my life! And I still have my medal, hangs in my living room. May 2 is the anniversary 🙂
Sherlock Holmes
Thanks to reading the classic Hound of the Baskervilles story in my 8th grade English class, I got hooked on the adventures of Sir Author Conan Doyle’s famous detective. Not because of the mystery genre, but in the characters of Holmes and Watson and how the stories were written. I found, and still find, that endlessly fascinating! And for the last few years I have basked in the glow of it being a big thing with the help of the Robert Downey Jr movies, and BBC’s Sherlock and CBS’s Elementary tv shows.
The Smothers Brothers
Fate has a wicked sense of humor, and so it introduced me to these guys, by accident. And, boy, I had no idea what I landed myself into. My poor family somehow put up with me either listening to or watching this harmless looking comedic brother duo – a lot. I also got really interested in classic comedy due to these guys (Thanks Tom and Dick!), along with history (particularly the 1960s), folk music, and being politically involved.
Doctor Who
A guy that traveled in time and space in a spaceship disguised as a British Police Box. And he’s not always able to control where or when his ship ends up.
That’s how the show was described to me by a couple classmates in school. And I was curious. And the first episode I watched was the very first episode from 1963, An Unearthly Child. And I have stayed curious for the last 30 years. And I still haven’t used to the idea that Doctor Who is a big thing now. I love it, it’s just weird.
Highway to Heaven
The Summer of ’86 introduced me to this show. I have had a long interest in the nature of God and religions in general, it did not really take off until I happened upon this show by accident. Starred the late Michael Landon as an angel, and Victor French as a former Oakland cop (hence the Oakland A’s baseball cap), driving around the country on assignments from “The Boss”. Had a lot of heart and some laughs.
The above video was created by tumblr user tooru-book, and it’s clips from various television and movies that Robin played in: Mork and Mindy, Seize the Day, Moscow on the Hudson, Flubber, Aladdin, Toys, The World According to Garp, and others. The song is Florrie’s “Too Young to Remember”
I like watching this one when I want to see something of his, but I know that if I start watching Mork and Mindy, or a movie, it’ll end up being more than just a few minutes, lol
So it’s Christmas time once again, and I thought I would share some of the things I like to watch around this time of year. In no real order. Except Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown always comes in first!
A Charlie Brown Christmas
What is there not to like in this classic 1965 cartoon? Everything is so perfect that I can’t imagine it any other way. The characters, the wonderful, upbeat music, how just about every line is quotable.
Added bonus – If you are as old as I am, you might remember the special being preceded by this CBS intro
The Blue Carbuncle
The beautiful Granada series that starred Jeremy Brett and David Burke as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in this wonderful story set at Christmastime. Ah, a Victorian Christmas! This is one of my favorite episodes of the show. Back when VHS reigned supreme this was the only episode I bought (they cost $15-20 each back then!)
This is based off the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story of the same name (text from Wikisource; audio part 1 and part 2 from Project Gutenburg, a fantastic reading!)
Mork’s First Christmas
From the Mork and Mindy tv series, this one has recently been added (though I have seen it at least a dozen times since August). Mork finds out what the true meaning of Christmas is (not a horrible plague…watch to find out his telling of his first encounter with Christmas) And what a sweet ending!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leOMutMen_k
The Greatest Gift
From one of my favorite scifi shows, Warehouse 13 (I miss that show! 🙁 ), this is their Christmas episode from season 3. Something happens to Pete where he wakes up as if he never was born. The story and title comes from the short story written by Philip Van Doren Stern that led to the film classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
Unfortunately, I am not able to find the full episode, so here is a clip from near the beginning:
If you have Netflix, it’s on there. Amazon also has it. Or you can buy it from Google
(Another tv episode that was inspired by It’s a Wonderful Life was also from Mork and Mindy, “It’s a Wonderful Mork“, but it’s not a Christmas episode so I don’t really include it in this list. But it’s really good, and a bit of a tearjerker due to recent events).
It’s a Wonderful Life
There was a time when I was growing up that this movie would be on a bunch of channels, sometimes at the same time. You turn to one channel and it would be at one scene, and go to another channel and it would be at another scene. And it remains and endearing movie, full of heart and makes you realize how much you can make a difference to someone else, even if it’s a small one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PlYcT6DmJY
A true classic starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, and Henry Travers.
The Gold Rush
Not exactly a Chistimasy type of movie, but it takes place over Thanksgiving and Christmas. This 1925 silent film by Charlie Chaplin is considered to be his best. Charlie, as the Little Tramp, goes to the mountains in hopes of finding gold. He encounters a friend. and enemy, boils and eats a shoe, does a dance with rolls, and falls in love.
The below version is the 1942 (tweaked) re-release with Chaplin’s own narration (in place of the typical silent film title cards) and musical score. While I like this one better overall, I like the story of the original better (mostly the same version, just a couple important cuts that Chaplin took out)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8a83CI1B1o
A Christmas Carol
Take a classic Charles Dickens story, and the 11th Doctor, and you get Doctor Who’s 2010 Christmas episode (my favorite Who Christmas episode so far, though I didn’t quite understand the whole thing about the fish and shark). And there is the absolutely beautiful, operatic song, “Silence is All You Know”
As with Warehouse 13, the full episode is not online for free (that I can find), so below is a trailer and a clip.
This episode is on Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, and a few other places.
Chaplin as Billy, age 14 (though he looks 12 to me.
When I became a Charlie Chaplin fan in 1991, one of the *very first things* I learned about him was his role in the 1901 Sherlock Holmes play written by William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I had been a Sherlockian for 5 years by then and was thrilled that my new “obsession” had a connection, one of many (and growing!) I would later discover.
William Gillette, in his Holmes garb
Chaplin was born on April 16,1889, in Lambeth, London, England, at the beginning of the Sherlock Holmes publishing era. the year before the publishing of the second Holmes story, “The Sign of Four”. After living for some time in poverty, he gradually got work as a child actor (both his parents were stage performers). He wrote in his My Autobiography (1964) how he lied about his age to get a part in a H A Saintsbury play, A Romance of Cocknaye, saying he was 14, when he was actually 12 1/2. The manager of the production and cast liked him so much they offered him the Billy the Pageboy role. So from July 1903 to February 1906 he traveled the country performing the part. (Holmes trivia: The pageboy in the original stories did not have a name until after the play was made. It would have been interesting if Doyle named him Charlie!)
The argument over “Who’s the best Sherlock Holmes?” is nothing new, though the names change over time. Back in his day, Chaplin worked under two of the starring Holmes’: William Gillette and H A Saintsbury. He wrote in his “My Autobiography” that while he liked both, he felt Saintsbury was closer to the “real” Holmes.
List of the cast (including Chaplin as Billy), as they performed at Duke of York’s Theatre, circa 1905
Want to see the play? Here it is, performed in 1981 for HBO. Frank Langella plays Holmes (very well, I must say!) My favorite scene (Act 3, pt 2), which includes some great interactions with Billy, is embedded below:
(side note – the boy playing Billy in the above performance is a young Christian Slater)
The Great Dictator (1940) – Chaplin as Hynkel (center), Reginald Gardiner (left) as Schultz, and Henry Daniell as Garbitsch (right)
While he had other roles in his early childhood showbiz career, none seemed to have stuck with him later in his life than the Billy role. Decades later in 1939 when he was shooting his Hitler satire, “The Great Dictator”, he would re-enact scenes from the Holmes play in-between scenes for the movie to entertain the cast and crew.
One of the actors in Dictator was Henry Daniell, who later who appear in three of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films: Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943), and The Woman in Green (1945, playing Professor Moriarty, the role I best remember him for.)
Which also brings us to Nigel Bruce. Chaplin hired Bruce for his 1952 film, Limelight. Bruce was hired not only because of his talent but mainly because of his strong connection with the Holmes franchise having famously played Dr. Watson.
Basil Rathbone (left) as Holmes, Nigel Bruce (back, center) as Watson and Henry Daniell (right) from Voice of Terror (1943)
In the film Limelight, Bruce plays Mr Postant, an homage to the real life who was William Gillette’s stage manager, and who had played an important role of keeping an eye out for the young Chaplin during the Holmesian days.
I have often felt that if he played Watson like he later played Postant, Watson would have been considered less bumbling. Below is a clip from Limelight which not only includes Bruce, but also Claire Bloom (many years later she would costar with David Tennant in Doctor Who, “The End of Time”), and Buster Keaton who plays Calvero’s partner (Keaton’s Holmes connection is making the brilliant 1924 silent film Sherlock Jr.)
One of the reasons why I picked using the name Calvero on the internet, and have kept it for almost 20 years, is the Holmes connection (along with Keaton, and the later Doctor Who connection,
To Modern Times
In 1992 came Robert Downey Jr playing the title role in Sir Richard Attenborough’s “Chaplin”. Absolutely brilliant! And he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor (he was ROBBED! ROBBED, I tell you!). Downey did such a great job, that most of the time I forgot I was watching someone else playing Charlie.
Fast-forward 17 years and he was picked by Guy Ritchie to play the lead in Sherlock Holmes, which, honestly, sounded a little weird. For Chaplin, he played someone who was about 5’4″. And years later he plays someone who is described by Watson as being at least 6 feet tall. Either way, I did (and still do) enjoy his take on the Great Detective. He did win a Golden Globe for “Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy” for his portrayal of Holmes (a category I still don’t understand how he won, but he won it. So, YAY!)
Chaplin and Holmes meet once again
On season 2, episode 1 of BBC’s excellent show Sherlock, “A Scandal in Bohemia”, John Watson’s girlfriend Jeanette is played play by Charlie’s granddaughter (Geraldine’s daughter), Oona Chaplin. When I was first watching the episode, I didn’t know who the actress was but there was something about her… I couldn’t put my finger on it. She seemed familiar, and at the same time not familiar. When I immediately re-watched the episode for the second time (because it was so mind blowingly awesome), I paid more attention to the ending credits, and the name “Oona Chaplin” jumped out at me. I threw my arms up in the air and shouted “WOOOOOOOHOOOO!!!” and did a happy dance. And so a new Chaplin comes face to face with the great detective.
Close encounter of a Sherlockian/Chaplinesque kind: Aidan Quinn
Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), and Captain Gregson (Aidan Quinn) from Elementary
Another recent connection (though not as strong as the above ones, but still there) is CBS’s newest take of the Holmes and Watson interpretations in Elementary starring Jonny Lee Miller as Holmes, and Lisa Liu as Joan Watson (that’s right, a female Watson…a very good one), which premiered during Holmes’ 125th anniversary (2012). Co-starring is Aidan Quinn who plays Captain Thomas Gregson of the NYPD.
Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson), Sam (Johnny Depp), and Benny (Aidan Quinn)
Almost 20 years earlier (1993), Quinn played in an adorable movie that also starring Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Matherson, Benny and Joon (released just a few months after Downey’s Chaplin.). Quinn plays the older, and pretty protective brother, Benny to Matherson’s Joon who slowly falls in love with Depp’s Sam who is a eccentric person who is obsessed with Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
What kind of connections will show up later? Who knows. What I do know is that they keep popping up from time to time. And if I notice them, I’ll create a “Part 2”.
Today marks the anniversary of the first episode of Mork and Mindy, one of my all time favorite tv shows.
How it started
It was inspired by Garry Marshall’s (creator and executive producer for Happy Days) son who saw Star Wars and wanted to know about an alien being put on Happy Days. And Jerry Paris (who directed many episodes of Happy Days) remembered an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show (which he sometimes co-starred as Rob Petrie’s neighbor, Jerry Helper), “It May Look Like A Walnut” where Rob thinks a walnut eating alien has invaded Earth and taken over.
Out of that came the idea of Mork from the planet Ork. There was a casting call and one of those to respond was Williams, who entered the room using a helium type voice and sat on his head. Here is Marshall telling how he was introduced to Williams:
Marshall gave him the role right away because “he was the only alien who auditioned”.
In the Happy Days episode “My Favorite Orkan”, Richie sees a UFO, but none of his friends believe it. Here is part one (Mork shows up at 4:25):
Part 2:
The creation of Mork and Mindy
The episode was a hit, so when coming up with a new show idea, he remembered Mork, and an actress named Pam Dawber.
Set in (what was then) present day, Mork from the planet Ork is sent to Earth by Orson, his superior, as an observer of Earth customs and also so he would not be a bad influence on Ork. A sense of humor, as well as all other emotions, are banned on Ork “for the good of the race”. And Mork meets Mindy, who had just had a rough experience with her boyfriend who drove off in her jeep.
An unexpected hit
Very few people gave the show much of a chance before the first episode aired, but afterwards, it was a ratings smash, with an average of 60 million people watching, nominated for 2 Emmys and winning Golden Globes and People Choice Awards. And it was ranked #3 for the 1978-79 season, sometimes weekly beating the show that gave it’s start, Happy Days. (Many years later Williams won Nickelodeon TV Land’s “Most ‘Out of This World’ Character” for both 2005 and 2006.)
The show would run into problems with censors. Robin would slip in things, sometimes in another language. The studio would have a censor who spoke 4 languages to the set to prevent him from causing trouble. And the network messing with what made it a hit to begin with.
For many fans of my generation, the show plays a big part of our childhood. And a week ago I finished re-watching the whole series (a few of us on tumblr were all doing the same thing, ending the series at the same time), and it was a wonderful stroll down memory lane. Oh, did I say stroll down memory lane? I mean a skipping-break-into-a-frantic-run-so-fast-I-get-dizzy down a 5 lane interstate highway (look out for that car!!).
While the show makes me feel like a kid again, I also am able to appreciate the characters more. Robin is still awe-inspiring, but Mindy is equally amazing. From the get-go she stands up for herself when her boyfriend tries to attack her, then later dealing with her loving but over protective father, and being patient and understanding with Mork though she isn’t afraid of setting him straight. And later standing up to Mork’s boss, Orson.
It was great to see both Robin and Pam together earlier this year on The Crazy Ones:
My 7-year-old watching an episode of Mork & Mindy. Here, it’s Dr. Morkenstein (anyone got a tissue for the ending?!?)
It’s also great to see younger generations watching and becoming fans. One of the youngest is my 7 year old daughter who loves watching it with me.
Thanks to Robin (wherever you are!) and Pam (you’re awesome!) for making many people’s childhoods funnier.
Mindy consoles Mork who is stressed out about his uncontrollable emotions.
I am currently going through all of the Mork and Mindy episodes chronologically, currently in season 3. I had previously jumped around with my memory overloading on hilarious scenes that I haven’t seen in 3 decades.
So far my top favorite is “Mork’s Mixed Emotions”. It is a great episode to see how many different types of characters (in this case, emotions) Robin Williams goes in and out of and back in again at the speed of light.
It’s Mindy’s birthday and she is planning a special night out, just her and Mork. Meanwhile Mork had a nightmare and has trouble dealing with confusing emotions from it (Orkans are banned from having emotions) and, afraid of what they will do to him, he locks them up. Unsuccessfully.
It really is hard for me to watch this without laughing, and I have seen it several times in the last couple weeks. Really liked him using a Peter Lorre imitation for the voice of Fear. Very clever. Though there is a bit of a dark second in the restaurant scene… if you blink you’ll miss it but I got a little lump in my throat when I saw it.
Also I must no forget the amazing Pam Dawber who plays Mindy. Her actions and reactions to what Mork does andd says are always a treat. The reaction to the disco guy in the record store always makes me giggle.
There are plenty of other great episodes to see that are hilarious. Pretty much all of season 1 is top stuff. I might just write a review of each episode for the whole series. At some point. There’s a total of 91 episodes (or 95 depending on how you count) so that would take some time to accomplish. But you never know ;).