I increased my speed on the treadmill today, and walked further than I ever have before in a session. So that was a victory. I also weighed in at well over 260 lbs, not so much a victory. I have definitely reached a point where I need resistance training in addition to aerobics, I just don't know how to fit it into my schedule. That being said, I feel great and even my 42's are feeling a little loose on me and require a belt. That's another tick in the victory column. Oh, and I watched the rest of The Ark in Space today and it was awesome.

Let's talk about that.

The Ark in Space - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The back half of the story pretty much amounts to the insectoid Wirrn hatching in force and gaining control of the space station's power source, and the Doctor & companions plus the three awakened humans trying to figure out how to protect the rest of the cryogenically frozen humans from becoming Mantis Munchies. This leads to a plan in which secondary power needs to be routed from the escape capsule (which has its own independent power source) through a path of ducts and into the cryogenic facility. The only person physically able to fit through the crawlspace is Sarah Jane Smith, which leads to this fantastic bit where the Doctor provides some not-so-tender encouragement in the form of reverse psychology:

The whole story is tense and claustrophobic, and Wendy Williams is a real standout in the character of Vira, the station's second-in-command. Where at first she seems aloof and disconnected, she slowly allows her humanity to peek through as the story progresses. There is also an excellent scene in which Harry suggests that they all just pile into the TARDIS and hightail it out of there, to which the Doctor asserts that they cannot go because it would mean dooming humanity. "It may be irrational of me," he intones, "but human beings are quite my favorite species." Harry is properly chastened, and mankind makes its last stand against the Wirrn. All the more so, when the lead insect turns out to have retained more of the ship commander's humanity than anyone realized, and leads the entire swarm to their fiery deaths.

It has been so long since I had seen this story, and I had forgotten most of it. Even so, watching it brought back many fond memories. This is the show I fell in love with as a child, and forty years on it still holds its charm. There is no question that the alchemy between Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, writer Robert Holmes, and producer Philip Hinchcliffe is pure magic.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Sarah Jane Smith, Harry Sullivan
Episode(s): The Ark in Space - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,277 today, 1,330,474 total
Distance Walked: 3.85 miles today, 658.61 miles total
Weight: 260.90 lbs (five day moving average), net change -46.40 lbs