What a viewing today! The Time Warrior was the first story in the eleventh season of Doctor Who, and although I had never seen it before it was just like visiting home after being away for years. There were just so many firsts in this story, starting off with this:

Right off the bat it's the familiar time tunnel that began literally every single episode of Doctor Who that I watched as a boy in the 70's, combined with the iconic diamond logo that was used for the remainder of the decade right up through the end of Tom Baker's reign as the Fourth Doctor. Within the first few seconds of treadmilling this morning I had a stupid grin on my face, and the hits just kept on coming.

Let's talk about that.

First off, can I get a what what for two consecutive days under 260? I strongly suspect that tomorrow I will bounce back up a bit, but that's ok.It just feels awesome to feel awesome. And it's pretty dang cool to look in the mirror and not see fat-me anymore. I'm only ten years in (or six months, however you choose to count), and honestly anything after this is gravy. Mmmm. Gravy...

Anyway, lots more giant maggots in today's viewing. Have I mentioned how much I love typing the phrase "giant maggots"? So yeah, giant maggots, a super-intelligent but slightly ADD evil computer, and a marriage proposal, all in the same day. Let's talk about that.

I'm totally gonna talk about Doctor Who (and, apparently, giant maggots), but first I have to cheer -- this morning for the very first time I weighed in at under 260 lbs.  This past month in particular has been frustrating in terms of making forward progress, and it has been nearly eight weeks since I crossed below 270, so I was overjoyed when I finally crossed that milestone this morning. I keep trying to remind myself that I don't have any particular weight goal, and that I am only doing this to feel physically better (which I totally do!), but seeing my progress stall out like that has been a real challenge. Today, though, feels like a victory. So, hooray for me.

Anyway, getting back to The Green Death: sure. lots more giant maggots today, but also some lovely comedy bits to offset the horror. Let's talk about that.

If I had to pick two words to describe The Green Death, they would have to be "giant maggots". I mean, honestly, what else could you possibly take away from this story? And to think I almost stayed in bed. Honestly, though, the reason I almost stayed in bed was because my foot was throbbing all night long. Even so, I got up and hit the treadmill and then a surprising thing happened: once I started walking on it the pain went away. Maybe the nerve endings just got overwhelmed when I started stepping on it constantly, but within a few minutes of walking it stopped hurting at all. So that was nice.

Generally speaking, you know it's a good workout if you spend at least part of it thinking "I can't possibly keep going, I just can't..." Preferably, though, you hit that point somewhere near the end of the workout and then fight your way through the last few minutes. It's a bad sign when you hit that point about five minutes in, like I did this morning. I've got a cut on the pad of my right foot where I stepped on something, and every time my right foot came down it screamed at me. I've got another spot on my left foot where I got a blister while in Vegas from walking all day on granite floors, and it was also screaming. Even so, and even with thinking five minutes in that I would never make it all the way through, I did just that. I pushed through a solid fifty five minutes of treadmilling at my current full speed. I hope you are proud of me, my dear Imaginary Readers, because I came this close to quitting. I also watched the end of Pl ...

Today's viewing of the middle part of Planet of the Daleks involved quite a bit of time spent in either A/C cooling ducts or else powerplante ventilation ducts. Which made me think of this little gem:

Anyway, let's talk about that.

Today has been a busy day, what with a regular dental checkup, plus juggling work and some other family stuff. Even so, I did manage to work in an hour to watch some more Doctor Who. I was a little nervous about this new story, but I have to say my worries were completely unfounded. I thought Day of the Daleks was pretty weak sauce, but with Planet of the Daleks the Third Doctor finally has a great Dalek story to be remembered by.

Let's talk about that.

Today's viewing marked the end of Roger Delgado's tenure as the Master. Born with the rather impressive name of Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo de Roberto, he truly left his mark on Doctor Who with his enduring performance. He was originally intended to return in one more story, The Final Game. Tragically he was killed in June of 1973 while working on location in Turkey for a French mini-series. He was in a chauffeur-driven car with two other technicians when the car went off the road and into a ravine. It was a terrible, terrible accident that largely influenced Jon Pertwee's decision to leave the show the following year. As I have said before, I had never seen any of his stories prior to this project. Having now viewed all eight of his stories, I absolutely understand why he remains so beloved among Doctor Who fans.

As for the end of this particular story, let's talk about that.

So, that concern about padding and spinning in place during the middle of a six-parter? Yeah, that totally came true today. It was done reasonably well, but still. The middle part of Frontier in Space pretty much turns into a prison drama. But at least the Master shows up to liven things up a bit.

Let's talk about that.

Happy Great North American Eclipse Day, everyone! I assume that you were all smart enough not to look directly at the eclipse without proper precautions, lest you end up blind like the Twelfth Doctor (spoilers!). I enjoyed a luxurious day off from work today, spending a fair chunk of time working on a LEGO Saturn V rocket. I only made it through the first four (out of twelve) bags of parts, so it will be a while yet before I am finished. I also watched the first two episodes of Frontier in Space this morning.

So let's talk about that.