The good news: I got out of bed early and got my workout done before I needed to leave for my epic 13-hour tech rehearsal (I am currently on a meal break). The bad news: for the first time since I added the plank challenge to my workout, I utterly failed. I was supposed to go for two full minutes, and I could only manage one minute and eleven seconds. Which, ok. I never imagined I would actually get up the the full five minutes scheduled in the challenge, but I hit two minutes the day before so this was a big step back. Ah, well. There's always tomorrow. I also watched the end of Destiny of the Daleks.

Let's talk about that.

Destiny of the Daleks - Episodes 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

I hate on Dalek stories, mostly because most of them deserve it. The original is good. The Dalek Invasion of Earth is superior, and Genesis of the Daleks ranks among the very best Classic Who stories overall. Outside of that, in my experience the rest of the stories range from "meh" to "excruciatingly awful" (I'm looking at you, Daleks in Manhattan). Imagine my surprise that Destiny of the Daleks is actually pretty dang good. The return of Davros makes organic sense to the story -- the Daleks have been locked in a war against the Movellans for centuries with both sides equally matched because both sides are operating on pure logic with no surprises and no chaotic factor to tilt the odds.After all of that time, which includes all of the previous pre-Genesis stories, the Daleks have operated on their own but now are seeking out their creator to find some way to break through the deadlock of their current war.

So the story itself makes sense, the setting is solid, the Movellans are interesting and new, as is the big reveal that they are all actually androids. The third episode is largely a hostage stand-off with the Doctor holding Davros, and the fourth episode has Davros back in control and adding the chaos factor while the Doctor is being forced by the Movellans to do the same thing on their side. The entire underlying theme is how important unpredictability and intuition are when faced with cold and implacable logic.

In the end, both the Daleks and the Movellans are defeated, and Davros is placed in cryogenic stasis so that he he be trotted out again for the next damn Dalek story (which fortunately won't be until near the end of the Fifth Doctor's run). The Doctor and Romana return to the TARDIS, and poor K9 is never seen aside from his brief appearance at the start of the first episode. He stays offscreen for the entire next story as well. It's a sad time to be a tin dog.

Tomorrow is a story I have been very much looking forward to revisiting, one of my all-time favorites and certainly my favorite Romana story. Even better, tomorrow I get to sleep in as late as I damn well want, and can do my workout in the afternoon. So that will be nice. Then it's off to a dress-tech rehearsal for my show. Speaking of which, if you are in Central Florida, you should totally come see Annie at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden th is holiday season. We basically run from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Don't come see it to see me, I am just a small part in the ensemble; come see it because the cast is amazing, the sets and lighting designs are beautiful, and it's just a heck of a lot of fun. I hope to see you there.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Romana
Episode(s): Destiny of the Daleks - Episodes 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 7,432 today, 1,763,531 total
Distance Walked: 4.03 miles today, 888.63 miles total
Weight: 253.48 lbs (five day moving average), net change -53.82 lbs