Today was my first day at the new Time Treadmill command center, in our newly remodeled master bedroom. I still have more work to do in there, but my new workout area is good to go. It was really nice, I could absolutely tell the difference between the old carpeting vs the new good quality underlayment, hardwood floor, and new mat underneath the treadmill itself. It was much, much quieter. Two days earlier I had worked out with the treadmill just on the bare subfloor and it was so loud it sounded like the house was going to shake apart. I am very happy.

So let's talk Doctor Who.

Arc of Infinity - Parts 3 & 4

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

In a shocking turn of events it turns out that the Doctor did not, in fact, die at the end of the last episode. Instead, his consciousness was shunted back into the Gallifreyan Matrix, while his body was hidden away behind a force shield. Inside the matrix, the antimatter bad guy shows the Doctor that he has Tegan in captivity and threatens to kill her unless the Doctor stops trying to stop his plans. The Doctor reluctantly agrees, but we all know he won't stick to that promise.

There is a bunch of palace intrigue in which the head of security believes that Lord President Borusa is the traitor, which of course means he can't possibly be the traitor. Ultimately it turns out to be Councilor Hedin who is colluding with the antimatter bad guy, and said bad guy turns out to be (drum roll please....)  Omega!!!!

I think it was a lovely idea to bring back the Big Bad from the tenth anniversary special and use him again in the twentieth season opener. It kicks off the season well, and frees up the big twentieth anniversary episode later in the year to do something else.

So anyway, yeah, Omega is totally alive and still trying to break free of the antimatter universe. But since he showed Tegan to the Doctor, that leads the Doctor and Nyssa directly to Amsterdam for the final showdown. In the end the Doctor does a Very Clever Thing which, although it doesn't prevent Omega from crossing over, it makes his new body (a clone of the Doctor's) unstable. The climax has a lengthy foot chase through the streets of Amsterdam, because you don't go to do a location shoot in a beautiful destination location and then not spend time showing it off. Ultimately Omega vaporizes back into nothingness, and Tegan is reunited with the Doctor and Nyssa. Yay! Even better, Tegan is finally out of that stupid purple stewardess outfit and wearing sensible clothes.

I thought this was a great season opener. Going back to Gallifrey is always fun, and Omega is one of the truly great villains in the show's history. I also liked that they didn't rush the reunion with Tegan, and let that plot thread play out until the fourth episode to get everyone together again. I would also certainly love to visit Amsterdam someday, it looked absolutely beautiful.

And on that note I am going to bed. Tomorrow, the Mara returns in the sequel to last season's Kinda.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fifth
Companion(s): Tegan, Nyssa
Episode(s): Arc of Infinity - Parts 3 & 4
Steps Walked: 6,540 today, 2,040,387 total
Distance Walked: 3.40 miles today, 1,042.27 miles total
Weight: 245.82 lbs (five day moving average), net change -61.48 lbs