January 6, 2023

The Fate Of (Almost) Every Doctor Who Companion

New Who does seem to end up there quite a bit.

The Doctor should not travel alone. It was the addition of Companions in his life besides his granddaughter that formed the Doctor’s moral compass, and eventually led him to becoming the protector of time and space we know today. Without a Companion, especially in New Who, the Doctor loses his (or her) way. For the Tenth he grew cold, seeing himself as the Time Lord Victorious. For Eleven the loneliness kept him out of action.

The Companion also serves a role for the audience, someone to explain all the science fiction stuff. Even with the original TARDIS team, Ian and Barbara served the show’s original mission of science and history education being schoolteachers in those respective fields. Over time though the show became less accurate in both and just became a serialized sci-fi adventure. So the humans are the relatable ones to the alien Time Lord, they can ask the questions the audience needs to know the answers to, and gives the Doctor someone to talk to besides himself.

However, life aboard the TARDIS is not necessarily a safe one. Some Companions left on a world other than their home planet, and a few have even died. In the following video, Harbo Wholmes goes over every Companion the Doctor has had. Well, not all of them. While mentioning events in external media (books, comics, and Big Finish audio dramas among other sources of questionable canonicity) he does leave out Companions from them. So if you wondered what happened to Charlotte Pollard you’re out of luck. What disappoints me though is the one major show Companion he left out.

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Posted by on January 6, 2023 in Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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January 6, 2023

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Starriors #1

From mini-comic to mini-series.

Starriors #1

Marvel Comics (November, 1984)

“Discovery”

WRITER: Louise Simonson

PENCILER: Michael Chen

INKERS: Akin & Garvey

COLORIST: Julianna Ferriter

LETTERER: Joe Rosen

EDITOR: Ann Nocenti

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Posted by on January 6, 2023 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , .

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January 6, 2023

BW’s Daily Video> Why Superman Is A Great Character

Catch more from Dances And Edits on YouTube

Yeah, of course I’m starting the year with a Superman defense. You know what I realized recently? Clark Kent doesn’t turn into Superman, Superman turns into Clark Kent, a mild-mannered normal person who blends into the background, pursues truth, and easily makes friends. I wish I were Clark Kent more than I wish I was Superman, though both aspects of Kal-El are something to aspire to be, not because of his powers or even how he uses them, but who he is as a person and a character. Too bad today’s Superman writers can’t figure that out.

Posted by on January 6, 2023 in DC Spotlight and tagged , , .

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January 5, 2023

I’m Trying To Finally Watch…M*A*S*H* (the movie)

It’s considered poor form in reviewing to not finish a movie before reviewing it. However, I have been forced to do so in the past. The Legend Of The Lone Ranger was a movie I was looking forward to, having had the poster and Cheerios tie-in stuff as a kid, making merchandise my introduction to the Lone Ranger franchise. When I finally had the chance to review if for Finally Watched I couldn’t make it through the whole movie, so I had to write about my disappointment. It was a poor take on the character, and it was boring. I was hoping this was a one-time phenomenon and all further Finally Watched movies, even if I ended up disappointed after waiting so long to see it, would still be a proper review.

I’m currently running the Movies TV network showing of M*A*S*H*, the 1970 movie, as I write this. That should tell you we’re two for thirty-eight in this series, and two in a row. Now I really wish Into The Spiderverse hadn’t glitched when I record it. Am I going to have to vette these movies before it becomes three in a row? I feel like a failure as a reviewer but…good Lord this movie is boring. Sadly this is not the biggest crime of the movie.

The usual format includes the question “why did you want to see it”, but frankly that should be obvious. The TV series was based not on the original novel by Robert Hooker but this movie. So of course I had to see it. I found it odd that my dad hates this movie considering he still watches the reruns of the show and I’m sure he’s seen it more times than I’ve watched any TV on my favorites list. Well, I know why. For the record of those who have seen it, this is where I started writing.

If you know the context, you’d be on her side…and that’s the other big problem with this movie.

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Posted by on January 5, 2023 in Movie Spotlight and tagged , , .

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January 5, 2023

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Little Nemo: Return To Slumberland #1

When Nemo jumps into bed, he overdoes it.

Little Nemo: Return To Slumberland #1

IDW Publishing (August, 2014, as posted to comiXology)

WRITER: Eric Shanower

ARTIST: Gabriel Rodriguez

COLORIST: Nelson Daniel

LETTERER: Robbie Robbins

EDITORS: Chris Ryall & Scott Dunbier

based on the works of Winsor McCay

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Posted by on January 5, 2023 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , .

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January 5, 2023

BW’s Daily Article Link> How High School Ruins Reading

My high school English teacher had a very narrow view of what qualified as worthy of being read, and my love of science fiction didn’t make the charts. Except for that time I got her to let me read Planet Of The Apes, and if you came in from the movies…stick to the movies. The book is not very interesting. High intellectual French stuff. So basically she tricked me with my own request.

When you take the fun out of reading and declare only a certain kind of book should be read regardless of the student’s personal taste, you ruin their love of reading. Lucky I’m stubborn and my mom encouraged reading in general. I’m not against having a wide variety. I have Robin Hood, Batman, Captain Kirk, and Tom Sawyer all in my library. However, Christina M contributed an article to Cracked going over all the ways high school teachers drain all the enjoyment out of their students’ reading experience. #2 is that teacher in a nutshell.

Posted by on January 5, 2023 in Book Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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January 4, 2023

Hollywood “Auteurs” Versus Geek Media

Francis Ford Coppola once tried to get George Lucas to not make his “silly sci-fi” movie and direct one of his movies. I think Apocalypse Now, but Lucas decided to make Star Wars even after the failure of THX-1138. Well, Lucas’ movie turned out to be a big hit…but Coppola apparently still thinks it was a mistake. This is not surprising as the Hollywood movie and TV machine has the cliquish nature of your average high school stereotype.

In a world where The Big Bang Theory was considered good geek representation you can imagine what the “cool kids” think of the current superhero trend, pushed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the questionable attempt at bringing back Star Trek while the CEO of the company who holds the rights hated the Star Trek franchise. Once again the pecking order comes into play. Action sci-fi is always looked down upon, and that’s if you can push anything science fiction past the elite of Hollywood. Fantasy has struggled since movies existed, with studios only wanting to copy Harry Potter and Middle Earth because someone managed to push those movies through and they worked. It’s recent comments that James Cameron of all people made that inspired this article but he’s not the only one I want to point fingers at.

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Posted by on January 4, 2023 in Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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