Oh lordy, the Time Treadmill kicked by butt this morning. I started doing my push-ups and immediately though, huh, maybe I could just do twenty five today...? But I pushed my way through it and got all hundred done, got on the treadmill, and holy cow was it a battle to go the entire fifty five minutes. If it weren't for the fear of disappointing you, my dear imaginary readers, I might not have made it.

But I did, so let's talk Doctor Who.

The Bells of Saint John

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

Before I get to the actual episode, there was actually a pretty clever prequel short that was released on the web ahead of the premiere. It had the Doctor swinging dejectedly on a playground swing set, and talking to a young girl who is trying to cheer him up. He explains how he had lost his friend and was trying to find her, and has looked everywhere.Mostly he has tried just wandering about, hoping that he would bump into her via Destiny. The little girl suggests that maybe he should try going to a quiet room and having a good think about it, because that's what she does when she's lost something. As the girl leaves at the end of their conversation, we discover that she was actually a young Clara. It's just a sweet and nifty little two-and-a-half minute peirce, and I like it a lot.

So with today's episode the Doctor has taken her advice and gone to a quiet place, specifically to an Abbey in Cumbria in the year 1207 where he has become a "Mad Monk". The titular Bells of Saint John turn out to be the telephone ringing inside the TARDIS door, just next to the St. John Ambulance logo.

The call is from Clara, trying to reach technical support for her internet. She claims the number was given to her by "the woman in the shop" (whose identity will be revealed in the next season), and when the Doctor realizes to whom he is talking he comes running. 

From there it's just your basic "evil company is uploading the souls of humans to the internet" kind of story, all about the terrors of technology and WiFi. Ultimately the Big Bad turns out to be the Great Intelligence. Also ultimately, of course the Doctor frees everyone who had been captured in the internet cloud. Also also ultimately, the Doctor invites Clara to travel with him, and while she doesn't exactly accept she does tell him to come back the next day and ask her again.

This is a really fun story, and once again Steven Moffat shows of his greatest strength in creating imaginative and original monsters. In this case, it is the Spoonheads -- basically walking WiFi servers who can pose as humans, at least until their head spins around to show a concave silver broadcast dish. It's all deliciously creepy and effective. Jenna Coleman is charming as Clara, and immediately establishes her rapport with the Doctor. I particularly appreciated that, while there is a certain flirty-ness to their relationship, it is one hundred percent not romantic in any way.

So that's it for today. Tomorrow marks a full seventeen months since I started this ridiculous project, and by my count I should only have another forty seven days left to go until I cross the finish line. Woo hoo!

STATS:

Doctor(s): Eleventh
Companion(s): Clara Oswald
Episode(s): The Bells of Saint John
Steps Walked: 7,359 today, 3,258,385 total
Distance Walked: 3.90 miles today, 1,702.80 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 100 today, 6,364 total
Sit-ups Completed: 0 today, 929 total
Is Anything Cool?: No, nothing is cool, but monks are definitely not cool.
Weight: 251.86 lbs (five day moving average), net change -55.44 lbs