Today marks the three month anniversary of this project. In that time I have walked well over a half million steps, almost 275 miles, and this morning I weighed in 28.3 lbs lighter than the day I started. I used to always leave my shirts untucked, because of course I did. Lately I have been tucking them in, because although I still have a belly that extends over my belt line it's not by much anymore and it doesn't seem grotesque. I feel significantly better than I did three months ago, and without going into any gross details I will just say that some previously-persistent GI issues have almost completely evaporated. I think it is safe to say I am very happy with the results of this project so far.

Also, I watched two more episodes of The Evil of the Daleks this morning. I guess I have to talk about that?

So. This morning I walked on the treadmill for 55 minutes. I also watched episodes 3 and 4 of The Evil of the Daleks. Out my window I could see the grass growing and the clouds drifting by. Across the way I could hear a work crew starting in on re-roofing another house in our neighborhood. All those things happening outside were infinitely more interesting than what was happening at Maxtible Mansion.

Let's talk about that.

The bad news: It's another damn Dalek story. The good news: It's the last damn Dalek story forever. Well, at least, it was supposed to be. That lasted for about five years, which means that after this weekend I get a respite from them for several months. Seriously, I told my wife earlier today that she could go ahead and write my blog post for the day - Just say, "F%&$. Another Dalek story," and then a frowny face. Actually, though, it turns out that at least the first two episodes are pretty good.

Let's talk about that.

I wrapped up my viewing of The Faceless Ones this morning, and it is easily my favorite Second Doctor story so far. Thankfully, Ben and Polly do get a proper send-off at the end of the story, unlike Dodo in The War Games. Granted, they both disappear for all of episodes three, four, and five and for all but the last few minutes of episode six, but at least they do get a final goodbye scene with a heartfelt farewell. 

Let's talk about that.

Before I get to today's viewing, a quick hurrah. This morning I finally broke the 280 barrier, I am now weighing in the 270's for the first time in years. This makes me a very happy boy indeed.

Anyway, The Faceless Ones...  Poor Ben and Polly. It's their last story, and much like Dodo in The War Machines they have been written out. They were both pivotal in the first two episodes, but by the third episode it is just The Doctor and Jamie Show. Presumably they will make another appearance towards the end once the Doctor has rescued them from the evil Chameleons. As for what the Doctor and Jamie have been up to, well...

Let's talk about that.

After the giant crabby ridiculousness of The Macra Terror, I really wasn't expecting much out of today's new story. It turns out I was completely wrong. The Faceless Ones, at least so far, is fiendishly unsettling in all the right ways. It has certainly creeped me right hell out.

Let's talk about that.

One of my all-time favorite pulp novels is The Captive City by Daniel Da Cruz. In it, an entire city of American oil workers in the Middle East are cut off from the West for nearly two decades. (I am now going to spoil the ending of this obscure forty-year-old pulp novel that you will never read.) Ultimately it turns out to be a long-term plot to breed an entire generation of Americanized janissaries who can be sent into the U.S. as completely undetectable and un-suspicious terrorists under Arab control. They spend a lot of time walking around saying, "Obey Control!" and waiting for orders. Today's episodes of The Macra Terror made me think of this book, because of all the times that characters in the story walk around saying, "Obey Control!" Unfortunately, I liked that book an awful lot more than I liked this Doctor Who episode.

Let's talk about that.

Ah, The Macra Terror. It is a completely lost story, only telesnaps and very brief video clips remain to match up with the audio. I expected a story about a seaside town being invaded by giant crabs, à la Guy N. Smith's Crabs series of books. You can imagine my surprise when, instead, I got a dystopian 1984 pastiche... with giant crabs. Before I get to that, I should explain this post title since it is incredibly obscure. It comes from one of my all-time favorite web comics, Sluggy Freelance:

Anyway, about those giant crabs -- let's talk about that.

I finished The Moonbase this morning, and it was a rip-roaring finale as long as you don't spent much time thinking about the physics involved. I mean, really, the moon seems like a really impractical place to have any kind of terrestrial weather control apparatus, and don't even get me started about orbital deflection into the sun. So yeah, when I say that Kit Pedler writes more "hard science" stories, I only mean that as contrast to completely nonsensical stories like the previous one. That being said, The Moonbase is an excellent example of the kind of casual misogyny and sexism that is rampant in classic Doctor Who.

Let's talk about that.

As soon as I saw Kit Pedler credited as the writer for today's story, The Moonbase, I knew I was in good hands. He pitched the idea that led to The War Machines, and he also wrote The Tenth Planet. Where The Underwater Menace was a mishmash of amateur science fiction tropes thrown into a blender with no artfulness or even logical coherence, Pedler writes stories with a hard scientific edge and clearly defined characters. The only downside to the story is that the scripts had already been completed before Frazer Hines was asked to join the regular cast as Jamie McCrimmon. That leads to some issues.

Let's talk about that.