Oh, this episode. It was so clearly an Elevator Pitch, just a title that somebody said out loud and somebody else said, "Yeah!" On the whole it comes off better than Snakes on a Plane (how could it not?), so let's talk about it briefly so I can move on.

This is going to be brutally brief, as I expect many of these posts will be for the next two months. I started rehearsal for a new show and I need to be completely off book by Sunday, so I need to go memorize like crazy. That doesn't mean I am skimping on treadmill time, though. I put in my hundred pushups and fifty five minutes. By God I am going to see this ridiculous project through to the end.

So let's talk about today's surprise debut.

(The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later.) I just finished a great rehearsal for the show I am in this summer, and even finished two hours early. Bonus! Now I just need to write this post and then I can go to bed. Yay! It's been two weeks, so it's Christmas again already. And then next Monday it will be Christmas again, because it's Doctor Who and time gets all wibbly-wobbly.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, and stick to Christmas 2011. Or 1941. Or, actually, 5345. Like I said, wibbly wobbly.

Today's story aired in the fall of 2011, and was filmed only a few months after actor Nicholas Courtney had passed away. If there is any more towering figure looming across the expanse of Doctor Who than Brigadier Lethbridge-Steward I don't know who it would be. And so, in today's episode he got both an obvious send-off and also a more subtle one. 

So let's talk about that.

This morning I shifted my 100 push ups into four sets of 25 instead of five sets of 20,  which upped the difficulty factor but not by as much as I would have expected. It's still weird to me that  a few months ago I couldn't even do four of them and the thought of a hundred in one session was pure fantasy. It is absolutely true that this ridiculous project is working.

I also, of course, hit the treadmill and watched Doctor Who, so let's talk about that.

I don't usually write about my son here, but I just have to say that today was an amazing day with him. He is an autistic adult who has kind of a bit of a Disney thing. Usually on Saturdays we go to the Magic Kingdom and he takes pictures of Tinkerbell and visits a few other places, but doesn't get any more adventurous than going on the Pooh ride. Today, however, he asked to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, which is a little unusual but not by too much. Then he absolutely blew me away by asking to go on Splash Mountain. He calmly stood in line for ninety minutes, and although he tensed up for the big drop he never actually got upset. It is the first time in years that he has gone on that ride, and it totally made my day. Usually we are in the park for two or maybe three hours. Today we were there for a full eight hours and it was amazing. So, yeah, today has been a pretty dang good day.

Also today, I watched the Doctor Who homage to Kubrick's The Shining. So let's talk about that.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had made it through my entire 100 push ups, five sets of twenty, in cadence with no breaking. I think it was maybe the next day that I got sick and went several days without doing more push ups. It has taken this long to get back to that point, but this morning I again did all five sets in cadence with no breaks. How cool is that? So, if it happens again tomorrow that means it is time to switch to four sets of twenty five. Bonus: that will cut two minutes from my workout by eliminating one of the rest periods between sets. Winning!

As for Doctor Who, it was a pretty dang good one today. So let's talk about that.

Back in 1961 one of the greatest episodes ever of The Twilight Zone aired. It's a Good Life starred a very young Bill Mumy as a six-year-old boy with the power to wish pretty much anything into (or out of) existence. He has an entire town in rural Ohio under his control, with the terrified adults doing anything they can to keep him happy and prevent him from "wishing them to the cornfield". It easily ranks among the top five episodes ever, and was (poorly) adapted as a segment in Twilight Zone: The Movie.

Although fundamentally different, today's episode of Doctor Who made me think of that story. So let's talk about that.

I have to tell you, I'm kind of hitting a wall right now. Not exercise-wise, that's still cooking right along (although I could certainly benefit from more variety and being unleashed from my treadmill). As much as I love Doctor Who, and as much as this particular season is certainly Matt Smith's best, I am really feeling the relentless slog at the moment. I think this is largely due to the fact that the end is near, but not quite near enough. In under two months I will have completed this ridiculous projects, but that's still nearly two months away. God am I planning on a huge celebration in Vegas come August...

But in the meantime, let's talk about the Justice Department. No, not that one, the other one.

I need to start this post with an apology. Seven years ago I accidentally spoiled the big reveal at the end of this episode to my friend and colleague Amelia Ross. She had specifically told me she hadn't watched the episode yet, so I had no excuse on that point. I simply blurted out in a conversation that was , at which point she gasped and said, "Did you just tell me that is ?!?!?" I wanted to crawl under a rock and die. I still work with her virtually every day (although this week she is on vacation in Scotland and - I hope - having an amazing time), and I value her friendship and skillset more than I can ever say. I don't know if she has ever actually forgiven my for my indiscretion. All I can say is...

So anyway, yeah, let's talk about that huge spoiler.