This morning when I started my scheduled pushup program, I knew there was no way I would hit the targets. It was a flatly ridiculous notion that I could do 88 pushups. And then... I did 88 pushups! So that was a nice way to start my day. Unfortunately, I got started on that so late that I had to put off my treadmill time until almost 9pm.

But I got it done, so let's talk about it.

The Idiot's Lantern

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The Doctor and Rose arrive in 1953 London, both laughing and happy as can be despite the fact that they just left Mickey stranded in a completely different universe. Or maybe because they did so. In any case, it is the day before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and it seems like everybody has brand new Magpie Electric televisions to watch the celebration live. Unfortunately, the tv sets are controlled by an alien renegade called the Wire who is literally sucking the faces off of the hapless viewers. 

Happily, Rose gets her face sucked off halfway through the story and is forced to stop mugging for the camera.

Sadly, she gets her face back in the end. In the meantime the Doctor is forced to adopt a temporary companion named Tommy, who fortunately is very good with electronics. But as soon as Rose gets her face back, the Doctor dumps Tommy like a rock. It's almost like the Doctor doesn't want any other dudes around when Rose is there. Ick.

Not surprisingly, all of the faceless zombie people wandering around made me think of the Second Doctor story The Faceless Ones (which I liked much better, probably because I would take Ben and Polly as companions over The Sainted Rose any day of the week). But aside from the featureless visage the two stories have nothing else in common.

I didn't hate the story, It's certainly better than the first three episodes this season, but frankly it is not one that I have every thought about since it originally aired and I have never had any particular urge to rewatch it. Now I remember why.

The good news is, tomorrow I get to see the Ood again for the first time. So that will be something worth waking up for.

STATS:

Doctor(s): Tenth
Companion(s): Rose Tyler
Episode(s): The Idiot's Lantern
Steps Walked: 7,498 today, 2,695,670 total
Distance Walked: 4.11 miles today, 1,403.47 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 88 today, 769 total
Weight: 250.04 lbs (five day moving average), net change -57.26 lbs