One fat geek's SUCCESSFUL attempt to regenerate into a not-so-fat geek by watching the entirety of Doctor Who while walking on a treadmill

I am looking on the bright side, and it's dark, very dark

Jan 06 2019
I am looking on the bright side, and it's dark, very dark

The nice thing I have learned about sit-ups is that if I wake up with a kink in my back, doing several sets of sit-ups will sort it right out. In hindsight it seems obvious, the movement is exactly what is required to naturally get the spine back into shape. The first time I discovered that, though, I was more than a little surprised. I had hesitated to do the workout, but decided to try it slowly and carefully. During the first set my back was sore -- not in an OUCH something bad is happening way, but in an *ouch* something is out of place kind of way. After my first rest, when starting the second set I realized that whatever had been out of place had moved back into place and all the soreness was completely gone. Sure, by the end of the fifth set I was completely exhausted, but dang if my back didn't feel fantastic...

Shada - Parts 5 & 6 (more or less)

(TARDIS Data Core recap)

The other thing I have learned about sit-ups, btw, is that they work a heck of a lot like the infamous Downward Dog yoga position. Let's just say that I am very happy to be doing my workouts alone at home instead of in a huge room surrounded by TwentySomething ladies in yoga pants.

Anyway, Shada...

It turns out that the titular Shada is a forgotten Time Lord Prison Planet. The "forgotten" part happened because the not-quite-as-dead-as-it-previously-seemed Professor Time Lord is actually an infamous criminal who escaped from Shada, stole the WhateverBook that McGuffins this story, and used his special hypnotic powers to make all of Gallifrey forget Shada ever even existed in order to cover his tracks. Then he retired to Cambridge to hide as a tenured professor, turned his TARDIS into his office on campus, and turned out to be a kindly old man with the crimes of his youth long forgotten. Like you do.

So the bad guy who has been prancing around looking for the book is actually trying to break into Shada in order to spring the infamous criminal in order to make use of his hypnotic powers. His big evil plan is to use the silver spheres plus the hypno powers in order to merge all of the minds in the universe into a single consciousness (under his own control, of course).

Some stuff happens, some other stuff happens, and then the bad guy with all of his giant LavaMonsters is roundly defeated.

And then... then we get a newly filmed scene with 2017 Tom Baker reprising his role as the Fourth Doctor, and if it is not quite the treat that the Caretaker was in the fiftieth anniversary special, it comes darn close.

Look, in a couple of weeks Tom Baker will be turning 85 years old. Also in a few weeks, his novel Scratchman is coming out -- it being a novelization of the failed Doctor Who feature film he tried (and failed) to get off the ground forty years ago. What I am saying is, the man is a legend, a goddamned national treasure, who is still in peak form in his mid-80's. I have no idea how much longer he will be around, but I very much foresee the day when I will be crushed by the news of his passing. And seeing him like this, this morning, still completely and utterly the Doctor even four decades later? It brought a real smile to my face. I somehow had missed the news that he filmed this scene, and it absolutely made my day to see it.

On the whole I quite enjoyed Shada, and I am pleased that it has finally found its day in the sun. The animated bits fit seamlessly with the live action, and the voice acting was top notch all around. I really, really hope the BBC keeps investing in these restorations. I am beyond excited about the upcoming Macra Terror release, utilizing the same kind of animation to bring it to life against the remastered existing audio. I can only hope against hope that one day they decide to give Marco Polo the same treatment. In any case, yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Unfortunately, tomorrow I dive into the ill-conceived Australian K9 spinoff.


Really? REALLY?!?!?!

STATS:

Doctor(s): Fourth
Companion(s): Romana, K9
Episode(s): Shada - Parts 5 & 6
Steps Walked: 7,246 today, 4,238,809 total
Distance Walked: 3.50 miles today, 2,218.61 miles total
Push-ups Completed: 0 today, 9,600 total
Sit-ups Completed: 200 today, 3,065 total
Weight: 264.76 lbs (five day moving average), net change -42.54 lbs


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