Two bits of good news today:

First, after two consecutive days of being back above 250 lbs, I finally dropped back down below today. Of course, moving averages being what they are, that number went up even though my weight went down. At this point I fear that poor Colin Baker is going to suffer the ignominy of being the first Doctor in this ridiculous project for whom I actually gain weight. Oops.

Second, I got the results of my recent colonoscopy, and it was very good. I was a little bit paranoid because of my dad. You see, he was a very heavy guy. After he retired he decided to make some changes; eat right, get more exercise (with particular focus on walking), etc. Over the course of a year he lost a bunch of weight. Sound familiar? Well, at the end of that year he went to get an annual exam to show off to his long-time physician, and that's when they found the colon cancer. He passed away nine months later. So, as awesome as I feel right now I still had that bit of family history nagging me in the back of my head. Turns out I am all clear, and barring any other symptoms I don't need to go back for another five years. Yay!

I also watched the rest of the current sub-story, so let's talk about that.

The Trial of a Time Lord - Parts 3 & 4 (A.K.A. The Mysterious Planet - Parts 3 & 4)

(TARDIS Data Core page for The Trial of a Time Lord, TARDIS Data Core recap for The Mysterious Planet)

Being a Robert Holmes script, the back half of this story was just as strong as the front as long as you ignore all of the stupid Space Trial interruptions. The Doctor finally meets the robot who is running the show underground, and figures out that it is powered by Black Light. Unfortunately, the beacon up above ground is destroyed which leads to a dangerous backflow of energy or some such. If the systems are not shut down then there will be a Black Light explosion, which because of Reasons could propagate and basically destroy the entire galaxy. Oops.

Unfortunately, because the robot lives on Black Light it is unwilling to shut down the systems. It has come to the eminently logical conclusion that if it is going to die, then everything else should die with it. The Doctor is unable to convince it otherwise, but fortunately a fast-talking scam artist is able to convince the robot that he has Black Light on his spaceship up on the surface.  With the robot distracted, the Doctor is able to mostly shut down the systems, and after a small explosion the robot is destroyed and the galaxy is saved. Yay.

All in all it felt very much like a story in which the Fourth Doctor and Leela would have been right at home. Some of the dialog was even very Fourth Doctor-ish. I have to say, though, that had it been that pair instead of Six and Peri then I imagine Leela would have had a much more interesting part. My big problem with Peri is that she doesn't do anything. She literally does not contribute to the plot in any way aside from being a person for the Doctor to monologue to, and being a person to be captured by whatever local threat is running about. Nicola Bryant seems like a perfectly pleasant person, but her character is just such a NothingBurger. I am trying to think of any other companion in the previous twenty three years that was as useless. Maybe Dodo Chaplet? But at least she was interesting. I would say that I am not going to miss Peri when she is gone, but then I remember that her replacement Mel might be even worse. Oh how I long for the days of Sarah Jane Smith.

Tomorrow has the return of Sil from Vengeance on Varos, so that should at least be interesting. Here's hoping.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Sixth
Companion(s): Peri
Episode(s): The Trial of a Time Lord - Parts 3 & 4 (A.K.A. The Mysterious Planet - Parts 3 & 4)
Steps Walked: 7,447 today, 2,331,403 total
Distance Walked: 4.03 miles today, 1,203.36 miles total
Weight: 248.74 lbs (five day moving average), net change -58.56 lbs