One fat geek's SUCCESSFUL attempt to regenerate into a not-so-fat geek by watching the entirety of Doctor Who while walking on a treadmill

Boom Goes the Tyrant

Nov 04 2017
Boom Goes the Tyrant

With this project, although the big changes are certainly awesome I find the most pleasure in the little things that sneak up on me and catch me by surprise. Here's an example: I spend an awful lot of time at Walt Disney World with my (autistic) son. I am in either the Magic Kingdom or Epcot on average 6-8 times per month. I usually wear a little waist pack to carry around things like my son's cameras and medications, batteries, charging cables, et cetera. It used to be that I wore that pack low around my waist, primarily so that my gut would fall over its belt. Given that I have lost more than six inches around my waist since this past February, it is not surprising that I have had to adjust the pack to shorten up the belt over time. What I suddenly realized today, though, is that I have begun wearing it high on my waist now such that the belt crosses directly across my abdomen and the pack itself rests on my right hip where it is stable and won't get jostled around as I am walking. I'm not saying I don't have a belly anymore, because I certainly do, but it has now shrunk to the point where it is no longer a physical obstruction to my daily activities. I used to not wear tucked shirts because I was embarrassed about how my stomach rolled down over my belt line, but these days I almost always tuck my shirts because I like how it looks. What an amazingly gratifying transformation this has been!

Also, I watched the back half of the current story today, so let's talk some Doctor Who.

The Ribos Operation - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The back half of the story has one of the grifters, who has escaped with the bag of money and the precious jethrik stone, escape capture due to a chance encounter with a local bum. As it turns out, said bum is actually a genius in the mold of Copernicus, and who was made outcast due to his heretical belief that the stars are actually suns, and that the planet Ribos orbits around the sun. The young grifter tells the bum that he is, in fact, correct about the nature of the universe, and out of gratitude the bum leads the grifter down into the secret catacombs beneath the city as a means to escape.

At about the same time, the Doctor realizes that the jethrik stone is actually the hidden piece of the key to time. The rest of the story has pretty much everyone running around the catacombs, either escaping or hunting. Sadly the Copernican Bum dies at the hands of the deposed tyrant, but not before being reassured about the true nature of the universe. I was really hoping that in the end the two grifters would take him along with them, and was pretty bummed about how it turned out.

And then I was absolutely shocked when, at the final confrontation, the Doctor straight-up murdered the deposed tyrant. The tyrant stuck a ticking time bomb onto the Doctor, who the proceeded to use slight-of-hand to plant the bomb on the tyrant. The Doctor then patiently waited and counted down as the tyrant walked away and around a corner, before dying horribly offscreen. I'm not saying the dude didn't deserve it, because he totally did. Even so, it was quite unlike the Doctor to be so calmly cold-blooded.

So in the end the two grifters lose their intended grift but get to make off with the deposed tyrant's spaceship and all the riches in its hold, and the TARDIS crew has the first piece of the key.

On the whole, it was a good story that I enjoyed quite a bit. Romana is starting to loosen up already, and the whole key to time MacGuffin is serving as a nice through-line. I particularly liked the younger of the two grifters, who has not yet given over the complete cynicism. The scenes between him and the Copernican Bum were genuinely warm, and a surprising turn to the story.

Next up: the only broadcast Classic Who story for which Douglas Adams (of Hitchhikers' Guide fame) gets sole on-screen credit.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Romana, K9
Episode(s): The Ribos Operation - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,436 today, 1,666,707 total
Distance Walked: 4.02 miles today, 835.08 miles total
Weight: 253.84 lbs (five day moving average), net change -53.46 lbs


Total: 0 Comment(s)

Progress

Currently Watching:

( Story )


 of episodes viewed
%
 
 
 

of stories viewed
%
 
 
 

Total Steps Taken:

Total Distance Walked:
miles

Weight Progress:
 
Blue Line: 5-Day Moving Avg
Yellow Line: Daily Weight

Archives

Latest Posts

My Final Sweaty Thoughts about Doctor Who
6/7/2021 2:18 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
5/26/2021 4:47 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about Warriors of Kudlak
5/25/2021 6:12 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about Eye of the Gorgon
5/24/2021 6:10 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about Revenge of the Slitheen
5/21/2021 5:14 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about The Last of the Time Lords
5/20/2021 4:46 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about The Sound of Drums
5/19/2021 6:27 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about Utopia
5/18/2021 5:00 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about Blink
5/17/2021 6:55 PM
Sweaty Thoughts about The Family of Blood
5/16/2021 5:00 PM

Recent Comments