That stretching session I had yesterday evening? Yeah, still feeling it today. It's good, but boy howdy I wasn't exactly jazzed to get back on the treadmill this morning. Still I know that you, my dear imaginary readers, would be disappointed if I missed another day so I forced myself to do it. I knew I wasn't up to going full speed, but I didn't want to be lazy, so I split the difference and went 4.5 mph for the full session. I made it all the way through, but i was definitely feeling it by the end. Ultimately I was glad I forced myself. 

Anyway, I also watched the rest of the current story today. It paid off with a t-rex. Let's talk about that.

The Mark of the Rani - Part 2

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Ill give the writers credit, they didn't even pretend that the TARDIS was in any danger from being dropped down a mine shaft. Sure, it had to be carried back out, but there was never any pretense about any damage. The back half of the story had the Rani and the Master trying to trick the Doctor into walking into a minefield, but instead of explosives the mines just turn whoever steps on one into a tree. Which.... ok? Whatever. Even weirder, after one of the local villagers gets treeified then a little bit later Peri comes blundering into the same minefield but is stopped when the PersonTree wraps a branch around her like an elephant trunk. Which.... whaaa?!?

I'm just saying, this story got really weird really fast.

Also, for whatever reason, the Rani has several t-rex embryos just lying around her own TARDIS control room, marinating in glass jars. Unfortunately for her (and the Master), the Doctor sabotages her TARDIS so that when next she tries to use it, it goes accelerating off in space and time completely out of control. This also causes, for some random reason, one of the baby t-rexes to start growing. So in the end the Doctor saved the day by creating a booby trap and waiting for the bad guys to trigger it. Seriously, it was the climax of the story and I didn't even realize that was the big plot resolution. It was a wee bit unsatisfying.

Then again, maybe I was a little more delirious than usual at that point, and maybe I missed some of the finer details. Maybe.

Overall I just wasn't very jazzed about this story. It's not like it was in Planet of Giants or Warriors from the Deep territory, it was just kind of blah.

On the upside, the next story is a three-parter instead of the normal two for this season, and it also features guest appearances by my favorite Doctor, number Two, and his best companion Jamie. That means I get to spend the entire weekend revisiting Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines, which is just peachy keen by me. I almost don't even care whether or not the story is any good.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Sixth
Companion(s): Peri
Episode(s): Mark of the Rani - Part 2
Steps Walked: 7,563 today, 2,263,907 total
Distance Walked: 4.12 miles today, 1,166.32 miles total
Weight: 245.34 lbs (five day moving average), net change -61.96 lbs