Here's the weird thing about losing weight: it's a psychological bear trap. Case in point, I was really pretty upset with myself at the apparent weight gain I had experienced in the last two weeks. Bear in mind that also during those two weeks I pinched a nerve in my neck rendering my right arm anywhere from annoying to either numb or painful, and I also traveled out of state for a work conference where I had either limited or no access to a workout facility or treadmill. For six days I did not even have a scale to weigh myself. The natural and expected outcome was a slight weight gain, but it still bothered me (particularly because I nosed back up above 250, and getting below that number was a huge milestone for me). Today, with my pinched nerve slowly but progressively getting better, with my arm only being an occasional mild annoyance, and with drinking more fluids and getting back on my regular workout routine, my wieght has dropped back down to within 1.2 pounds of my all-time low. True, the rise is a very visible blip on my historical chart, but it is only a blip. It is frankly remarkable that in the past year on this ridiculous project I have not had any other major inuries, illnesses, or other events to inturrupt my progress. Most important of all, I am very happy with how I look and feel right at this moment, and I was just as happy with that two days ago. Sure, I am vain enough to still want to hit that magical 220 mark for no good reason other than pride, but if I were to never spend another day of my life below 240 pounds I would still be perfectly satisfied with the results of this past year.

But holy cow it really bothered me the past few days. Brains are stupid, and do stupid things.

Speaking of stupid things, I met the Doctor's new companion this morning on the treadmil. <sigh> :Let's talk about that.

The Trial of a Time Lord - Parts 9 & 10 (A.K.A. Terror of the Vervoids - Parts 1 & 2)

(TARDIS Data Core page for The Trial of a Time Lord, TARDIS Data Core recap for Terror of the Vervoids)

Let's start with the good before I start complaining about Mel (and believe me, I am going to complain about Mel). The new sub-story in this stupid Space Trial does a very interesting and bold thing: it jumps from the previous episode's very shocking ending with the death of (a useless) companion and jumps straight into the Doctor's future with a new companion. The Doctor has researched the Gallifreyan Matrix and found an adventure in his own future in order to defend himself, and so the new companion is just there and in place having already traveled with the Doctor for some undetermined length of time. We don't get to find out how they met, we don't get to know any of her background, we don't get her "bigger on the inside" moment, she's just already there and firmly established as if she is already a known and comfortable entity.

As I say, that's a bold move. Networks usually don't like that kind of gutsy stuff. Off the top of my head I am thinking of Firefly, which started with all (but one) of the major characters already in situ, but which FOX hated and forced the writers to go back and write a more traditional origin episode, which led to the episodes being aired all out of order when the show was first broadcast, which led to the show being cancelled. Go figure. The same thing happened with Crusade, the spinoff from Babylon 5 in which once again the main characters began right in the middle of their adventure, and once again the network forced  the show to go back and produce a more traditional origin episode. Even worse, the network hated the uniforms and forced them to be changed, which led to a problem in which the characters wear one uniform for the first few broadcast episodes, change to a different one for the couple of episodes that were filmed first, and then change back to the other uniforms for the rest of the season. Not surprisingly, the show was cancelled.

So my point is, major bonus points to the writers for being gutsy and going for the swerve of digging into the Doctor's future and not spoon-feeding a new companion with a traditional origin story. I heartily approve of the concept.

As for the story itself, it is another Agatha Christie pastiche. In a show like this I think that is pretty unavoidable, and it doesn't bother me. Whether it's Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, or in the case of Doctor Who The Robots of Death, having a murder mystery on board a moving vessel with a limited pool of suspects and victims makes for fun viewing. Here the Doctor and Mel are summoned via a Mayday message to the galactic liner Hyperion III where a murderer stalks the ship. There is the ship's crew, including the Commodore who has had some previous experience with the Doctor and the Security Officer who is on his last trip before retiring and is officially Too Old For This S**t (tm). There is a group of scientists with some kind of botany experiment down in the cargo hold (including a bunch of giant seed pods that totally won't turn into rampaging carniverous walking plants). There are some aliens in full-face helmets that huddle together with their own schemes. And then there is a mysterious character whom one of the passengers recognizes, but who insists that passenger is mistaken and he is someone else entirely. Not suspicious at all.

Soon enough the bodies start dropping, the Doctor starts investigating, and the plants start rampaging. It's all good stuff.

Except.

Except freakin' Mel. I will readily admit that until this morning I had never actually watched an episode with Mel in it. I have long had a visceral knee-jerk reaction to her character based entirely on pictures and character descriptions, but I hoped I was just being unfair. Unless she radically changes, and quickly, I was not being unfair. According to the character bio, Melanie is a computer programmer from the turn of the 21st century. Thus far, that character trait is not apparent. She shows no technical skill, no particular intelligence or inquisitiveness beyond a generic surface level. What she is is a fitness freak, and a rude one at that.

Her very first on-screen appearance has her forcing the Doctor to work out on a stationery bicycle, shouting out at him to count repetitions and then bringing him carrot juice to drink. At one point in the story she scolds him and prevents him from taking an offered snack from a tray. At another point she drags  him onto a treadmill. Picture every perky Jazzercise fanatic from the 80's, give her long curly red hair, put her in a trendy pastel pantsuit with huge shoulders, and there you have Mel.

Here's the thing: I was literally sweating my ass off on a treadmill at the moment I was watching this, having lost more than sixty pounds in the previous year, and I wanted to punch her in the face for being such an annoying scold. Nobody in history of the universe has ever lost weight because someone else told them to, not in the long run. If you knock the food out of someone's hand you are not helping them, you are being a sanctimonious controlling dick. I am very much of the same mind as the lead character in Dodgeball. You are awesome just the way you are, and don't let anyone tell you any different. If you sincerely feel like maybe you'd like to work out and lose a little weight, cool, you go do that and feel good about yourself. If not, that's cool to. You do you, and be the best you you can be. Don't let some annoying perky redhead force you into being someone you are not. Doctor.

So anyway, good story so far aside from perhaps my most viscerally disliked companion in the entire history of the show. Ace can't get here fast enough.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Sixth
Companion(s): Mel
Episode(s): The Trial of a Time Lord - Parts 9 & 10 (A.K.A. Terror of the Vervoids - Parts 1 & 2)
Steps Walked: 7,662 today, 2,354,300 total
Distance Walked: 4.40 miles today, 1,216.53 miles total
Weight: 249.12 lbs (five day moving average), net change -58.18 lbs