"Entirely Due to My Influence, of Course"

Years ago, my mom told me that the fourth Doctor was like my dad. I watched one episode, but it was a later one, when the show's producer wasn't very good, and also just not the best episode, and I didn't really see much resemblance, except for the crazy-looking face a messy curls. A month or two later, we got "The Ark in Space", and that was when I really began to see the similarity. The first line that ever made me wonder about my dad was "You're improving, Harry! Your mind is beginning to work... It's entirely due to my influence, of course. you mustn't take any credit." There was and still is only one person I know who could say and has said that, and that person is my dad. He's said it to me, and last night he said something similar to my mom. I had almost forgotten about this proof of him being the Doctor, but then last night we watched "The Masque of Mandragora", and I realized that the conversation the Doctor and Sarah have in the TARDIS was all-too familiar to me from my life and not just the show. Sarah had asked the Doctor something about how the TARDIS could be so big, and he gave her a weird, useless answer that didn't explain. When she didn't understand, he said something like, "You humans have such small brains. I don't know why I like you so much," and Sarah quickly replied, "Because you have such good taste!" Then he says, "Yes, that's true. I do have very good taste," or something similar. Now, I've had almost exactly that same conversation with the Doctor, except, of course, since he refuses to admit who he is to me, it was "some people" or something like that, instead of "you humans", but he was talking about me as one of those people. I often wonder how he can be so rude and hold such a high opinion of himself at the same time. It's very insulting sometimes when he does it to you, but after a while, you get used to it, and just laugh it off as one of his strange little things, and it's funny when he does it to someone else. They tend to get rather annoyed, and then he has no idea why they insult him back! :)

Pyramids of Mars Pictures - Michael Sheard's Amazing Acting

I was watching "Pyramids of Mars" last night on my computer, to make a transcript, and I paused to write down some lines in Episode 2, when Laurence Scarman sees the inside of the TARDIS. When I came back to the video, I noticed that Michael Sheard, who plays Laurence, looked absolutely hilarious at that moment. The Doctor had said to him, "You're going to say it transcends all the normal laws of physics," and he was answering, "I am, yes. I mean it does. I mean it - i - it's preposterous!" and as he says, "I am, yes", he nods his head quite strongly, and his eyes glare in crazed amazement, and his face seems almost stretched!

This is the picture! I think it's really funny! :) He's obviously an amazing actor, and is totally into the role and circumstances, which is a very good thing. But one thing I've noticed about the best actors, who, in my opinion, don't care if someone would think they look "silly", is that their expressions are perfectly natural. In fact, they're the ones that made me realize that natural expressions look funny if you pause them! If you don't pause this picture, the only funny thing is how his eyes look.

While I was finding the exact frame on Windows Media Player (I was watching on Media Player Classic, which won't let me take a screenshot photo properly, so I had to find it again), I found this! :) His eyes look kind of crossed and madly staring. To me, He looks like his eyes are about to explode! :) I just noticed this, but the Doctor seems to be enjoying it more than I am!

  I also took this. Just look at his face! :) He looks so realistically upset and shocked that I almost feel sorry for him. It amazes me how a good actor can be so realistic. I hope to be an actress one day, and I feel that I have discovered the key to the way the best actors act, but I'll explain it some other time. :)

And I know this is similar to the last one, but it's not quite the same, and his face shows a completely different emotion. He looks like the truth is finally coming upon him, but he still refuses to believe it. It's very funny! :) I just love his eyes! I really believe that it's an actor's eyes that often show how good his acting is.

I'm not laughing at Michael Sheard, but the actually opposite. I'm congratulating his amazing acting. Although I may be amused by his expressions, it's in the same way that I would if I saw it really happening, because, to me, his acting (and the acting of those around him, but I'm talking about him right now) makes it as if it really is happening.

The Truth About Philip Hinchcliffe

When I'm researching Doctor Who, I often find people criticizing Philip Hinchcliffe, the producer from 1974-1977, and it really disturbs me. People call him and his episodes "dark", "violent", "terrifying for children", and occasionally even "evil". Now, I don't mind if a few people think that, but I've noticed it's a lot of people, and it's also on Wikipedia, where anyone reading it will be frightened out of letting their kids see it. It's not that I feel I need to correct them just because they're wrong, but to me, Philip Hinchcliffe's episodes are the best there are! Reading about him, I tend to find that, rather than raising violence, he toned it down. For instance, in "The Ark in Space" many scenes were deleted because he considered them too dramatic or upsetting or scary for children, and in the original script for "Planet of Evil", Sorenson was meant to die, but Philip Hinchcliffe thought this would be too upsetting for younger children, and believed that even though Sorenson was killing people, it was only because he had been taken over by the anti-matter. He even went so far as to say that "there was always a bit of devilment in Bob Holmes", who wrote and edited a lot of the episodes considered to be bad because of Philip Hinchcliffe. An episode that is often used as an example of his supposed "darkness" is "Genesis of the Daleks", particularly the beginning scene where two soldiers are shot. Here's a picture of the second one dying:

As you can see, he's rather overacting (the photo shows him throwing his arms into the air as he's shot). What the photo doesn't show, is that there's no blood at all, that the person shooting him is not shown doing it, and that sound-effects were used for the shooting, which sounded far away, fuzzy, and from nowhere in particular, so much so that I think even a seven or eight-year-old wouldn't be frightened. The same goes for the first soldier. Also, this scene wasn't even in the original script, but was added by David Maloney, the director, during the making of the show.
That already clears Mr. Hinchcliffe's name, but there's even more to go with it. Here's a picture from the first scene of "Death to the Daleks", an episode produced by his predecessor, Barry Letts, which I've seen called much less scary-sounding things, like "goofy", "childish", and "silly":

This is the Captain of the Earth mission ship, who is first seen running frantically and falling, picking himself up again, and then pausing, only to be hit with an Exxilon arrow. The arrow is not shown at the same time as his face, which is the more important thing, as it shows how good an actor he is.

After being shot he staggers out of view, and over to this cliff, and then falls off.

I thought I should also add this one, because it shows that the arrow is still in his side.

He then lands with a splash in this muddy water, and the scene closes. I had to use this extra picture to show how far down the drop really is, because ion the last one it looks like his foot's touching the water.

Finally, this is a picture from Jon Pertwee's first episode, "Spearhead from Space", which I have never head many complaints about, and produced by Derrick Sherwin. It's of a UNIT soldier who was happily driving along, until one of the Autons stepped into the road and he swerved to the side, crashing into a tree. (The Auton's behind him.) I don't think I need to explain any more than that, because the picture tells why it's not the greatest moment for younger children.

"He's just thinking... I think."

Yesterday morning, the Doctor did the strangest thing to me. You see, I'm writing a book, and I asked him for a little help with one bit that was giving me trouble. I asked him for ideas, and he lay back on the couch, took off his glasses, and closed his eyes. I thought he was asleep, and asked if he was trying to think of an idea, or sleeping. He sat up, and said he was awake, and that I had disturbed his thoughts, so I stayed quiet. Five minutes later, he hadn't moved. Don't worry, I thought to myself, he's just thinking. Then, he started breathing very slowly and deeply, like when someone's asleep. I think, I added to myself. I was beginning to think of "The Masque of Mandragora", when the Doctor is thinking, and the Prince (or something like that - it's an episode I've seen only a few times, and that was a while ago) comes in to ask if he should go ahead with the masque. The Doctor is sitting on a chair next to Sarah, trying to find a solution to the problem, with his eyes closed and his head flopped, and the Prince comes in and stops half-way through his sentence, thinking he's asleep, and Sarah says, "Oh, don't worry. He's just thinking." But then the Doctor snores and she adds, "I think." Then the Doctor jumps up with his finger in the air, saying something like, "That's it!" Then he runs out of the room before the Prince can talk, thanking him for the costume he was holding and telling him "it'll do perfectly."
I was just about to laugh and say, "Doctor! Wake up! I thought you were meant to be thinking," when, all of a sudden, he sits straight up, and shouts, "I've got it!"
So you see why I am so convinced that he must be the Doctor. I mean, who could do something so similar without being him?

My New Blog! :)

Hey there! :) I don't know if anyone's reading this, but if someone is, and you like ABBA, like me, I just made a blog about them! :) It's: abbaeverlasting.blogspot.com so if you want you can go check it out! :) Sorry I haven't posted for the last few days. I've been pretty busy, and I also need to be in the right mood to post. :)

Does ANYONE understand what he's talking about?

Sometimes the Doctor does the strangest things while he's talking. Once, he explained to my brother (very slowly, with pauses between all the actions he named) how he was making his burger, and made the motions of making the burgers with his hands (such as putting them together and opening them out for cutting the bun, and flicking his fingers for putting on pepper). It was so strange it made me laugh, and I said, "I like the actions!" At first, he didn't know what I meant, but then he realized, and, meaning every word, said, "It helps me to understand what I'm saying." This reminds me a lot of "The Ark In Space", when the Doctor starts talking to himself, and Sarah explains to Vira, "He talks to himself sometimes because he's the only one who understand what he's talking about", which, by the way, the Doctor I know also does very frequently.
Sometimes, though, I'm not sure even the Doctor understands what he's talking about.For instance, we were driving in the car, and I said something like, "It sure is dark!" Then he said, "No, it's not dark, it's just less light." That really makes me think of "Pyramids Of Mars", when Sarah tries to show the Doctor the door, but it isn't there, and she says, "It's vanished!" to which he calmly replies, "Nonsense! It can't have vanished! It's just disappeared. That's all!" And according to my dad, he once answered a phone call at work, saying, "Good morning - I mean, good afternoon. What question do I have for you today?" Somehow, I don't think this is the normal way to answer work calls. He even said the same "Good morning - good afternoon" thing to me once when he came home! I'm not sure when, but I remember the Doctor of the '70s TV shows saying something that was similarly complete gobbledygook. It's things like this that really prove to me that he's the Doctor. I mean, who else could say things this ridiculous and still be perfectly normal-looking when he has to? (Well, half of the time he has to...)

Do Not Disturb

I've noticed lately the Doctor never seems to pay attention to anything but what he's currently doing. He says it's because he can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Also, when I ask if I can help, he often says "Yes", but when I ask how, he says, "Leave me alone", like he did to Sarah in "The Invasion Of The Dinosaurs". It's rather strange, the things he says sometimes. For instance, he was working on something, and came in and said "Hello." He didn't look up from his work, but growled, "Don't hello me", in that "I'm busy. Go away" tone. I was in a very mischievous mood, so I broke into an evil grin, giggled naughtily, and said, "Hi!" Now, I expected him to say "I said, "Don't hello me"! I'm busy!" but instead, he calmly replied, "That's better." But what's really funny about it, is that he meant it! He had no idea why I laughed!

"You Went Down To The Cellar to See If Johnny Was Still There."

Two nights ago, I was absolutely shocked at what the Doctor said to me. We had been discussing how my room doesn't suit me (we moved house a few months ago), and I said that if we changed the color of the doors it would look nice, but it still wouldn't be "me". Then I said, "And even after my work, it still just..."
"It looks like a cheap B&B room," he said. I was so shocked, I didn't know what to say. I know the Doctor can be rude sometimes, but my father just told me that my weeks of work to make my room look nice made it look like a cheap B&B room! After a few seconds, still stunned, I disbelievingly answered, "What?"
"They all do," he said calmly. "Every room in this house." At first, this meant to me that he thought all my work had made no difference, and my room still looks as strange as all the others, so I asked, "Even after all my work?"
"What? Oh, no, no!" he said, I had made a mistake. "We're talking about before you worked on it!" Then, I realized that he hadn't been listening when I said "after all my work", and I took a minute to convince him that I had actually said it. Then he realized why I had been so shocked, and we started laughing.
When he doesn't hear me talking like that, it makes me think of "Planet of the Spiders", when Sarah's telling the Doctor an important story, involving her and Mike Yates going down to a cellar, to see what someone was doing, and meeting a man called Tommy on the way. Then she realizes the Doctors not listening, and the Doctor says, "Of course I'm listening! You went down to the cellar to see if Tommy was still there." My Doctor does this kind of thing a lot, so "You went down to the cellar to see if Tommy was still there" has become a joke with us. (Afterwards in "Planet of the Spiders", Sarah mentions a spider, and the Doctor becomes interested and tells her to explain again. This is something that often happens when I talk to the Doctor as well.) But once, he repeated what he thought I had said (which was very confused), and when I laughed, he smiled and said, "Oh, "Went down to the cellar to see if Johnny was still there", hmm?" I roared with laughter at him saying "Johnny"! It was like him proving the point - he obviously hadn't even been listening when we watched the show!

And He Tells Me To think Before I Speak...

I was greatly offended by the Doctor the other day. I was wearing overalls with a turtleneck sweater, and my mom said it was a nice country look, but them the Doctor sees me and, laughing, says, "Well, Nikki looks like she just got dressed quickly to go to work after feeding the ducks!" I was shocked, but, a few minutes later, found out that he had meant he thought it was cute!
Now, this isn't the only time he's said something extremely rude to me, and been completely confused as to why I'm offended. For some reason, he never seems to know when he's being rude. Take the time he just walked off while I was talking to him (well, one of the times...), and I asked if I'd said something wrong. He said "no", so I asked, "Then why are you ignoring me?", to which he calmly and innocently answered, "Because there's nothing more to say." The only person in the world (sorry - universe) who can be so rude and not understand when you get upset has to be the Doctor.

Am I Confused, or Is He?

I've noticed the Doctor never seems to understand what simple English terms mean. To most people "prehistoric" means "stone-age". To the Doctor, I've found it means "soon before we moved here". And if I asked anyone else, "How are the sausage rolls?" they'd probably tell me if they're good, but the Doctor says, "Feeling pretty well, I imagine." He also often says "windscreen" instead of "computer screen", and last night, he said "spit" instead of "water"! I've been wondering why he does things like this, and it's just come to me that maybe he's busy with something enormously important, and it's taking up all his thoughts. He has acted like he doesn't quite know what's going on lately. He and I were having a discussion recently, and I said that we were getting confused. He said, "No, we're not confused. We're just trying to work something out," so I said, "Well, I'm confused!" and he said, "No, you're not." Then, last night, I was talking to him about it, and he said, "I don't think I meant to say that  - well, I meant it, but I didn't say what I meant." Then when I laughed, he tried to explain again, and said, "I meant what I said, but it wasn't what I said." A few days ago, he even told me, "I think you're just thinking something 'cause you're thinking something." :) Yes, I guess he must be busy with something big - or is that just how he normally acts...?

A Funny Moment In "The Android Invasion"

This blog is about my dad, and he's the Doctor, so I can add in some other Doctor Who stuff as well, right? :) Well, anyway, every time I watch "The Android Invasion", there's this one bit that really makes me laugh. I'm sure it wasn't in the script, and I really want to share it!

The Doctor and Sarah are happily walking through the wood after leaving the TARDIS. Do you see the branch the Doctor's pushing aside?

He's just let it go, and Sarah's just seen it flying at her! :) She always holds her hands open like that when she gets a fright. I thought it was just acting, but I guess she's just a good actress and takes her character from herself! :)

Here's the branch in mid air! :) It's blurrier than it was, so I'm not sure if you can see, but the Doctor's grinning. He did it on purpose! :)

Look at her face! I think he's turning to see what her reaction is here! :) Poor Sarah!

She's laughing in this one as she realizes what's happened. He's looking rather innocent! :)

Now that she surprise is over she's fully understood what he did, and she looks amused and annoyed at the same time!

She's catching up with him now, and still looking at him like that.

Now they're walking on happily again. I just had to take this one, because it just looks so sweet it makes me happy. The Doctor's looking odd, and Sarah's smile just reminds me of Winnie-the-Pooh - you know, so care-free and happy. :)

Oh, look! There's a man watching you as you leave the scene... Watch out - you'll meet him again.
I put that in just for fun! It just looks funny to see them leave the scene with that guy staring after them! :) He's also in one of the other photos! Can you see him? :)

What do you think of it? It's really funny, huh? But if you haven't seen the episode you should really watch it! It's one of my favorites, and it's written by Terry Nation, who created the Daleks, too! :) 

The Doctor Remembered... Once.

Last night, the Doctor found his glasses before I did. I thought his memory was improving, but then he said, "Now what was I doing? I can't remember what I was doing!" I have now realized that he can only remember one thing at a time, so, if he remembers where he left his glasses, he forgets what he's doing! :) I really don't know why this is. Although, I guess Timelords could have only so many spaces in their memories, and other things have filled up all but one of the Doctor's. But no, not likely. It's probably just that he's so busy thinking about all kinds of life-and-death matters, he just hasn't got time to remember. That makes more sense. :)
If he's thinking about important things like that, he must have made a faily recent trip, or been assigned something by the Brigadier. I wonder where his TARDIS is? If he's fixed the camouflage device, it could be right here in our house, but otherwise, I guess it could be anywhere! Actually, I must find a way to get into his office building, if it could be some sort of undercover headquarters for UNIT...

Two Of Them?!

Two days ago, I found out something very important. I found out that my dad is one of two Doctors who have come forward in time (or possibly gone backward for my dad), and not only ended up in the same time, but the same place as well! Who is this other Doctor? He's the second Doctor from the TV series, I'm sure of it! To watch, he has never been my favorite, but actually talking to him, he's so much fun! He walks sort of half running, with long strides, and talks just like him, too. And he wears a black suit, with a very smart white shirt, HUGE, really squeaky brown (with black?) shoes, and a big, red bow-tie! Now who else could he be but the second Doctor? :) But you won't believe what he is. He's a local optician! I don't know why he'd want to pretend to be an optician, but he didn't do things the same way that all the others do, and he knows a lot, so he must be the Doctor. He must be on some sort of mission.
The thing is, is it dangerous for them to meet? I know they can be made to meet, like in "The Three Doctors", but what if they just bump into each other? They must know about the current TV series Doctor, but that maybe why they don't live near London. And mom wants dad to go see this optician too, so I guess I'm gonna have to find out pretty soon what happens when two Doctors accidentally meet. :)

I Wonder Which Planet He Left His Memory On? :)

The Doctor (my father) has an (extreme) element of forgetfulness about him. He says he has a brain like a colander, and when I was younger, I said the hole was bigger than that, and playfully nicknamed him "Ol' Hula-Hoop Head"! I've grown out of that now, and have decided that it's more like the absent-minded-professor brain of the Doctor. I've gotten into the habit of calling out each night, "Goodnight, Doctor!" when I get into bed, and at first, he'd reply, "Goodnight, Sarah!", but he got confused and often called me Elisabeth or Susan! Then he decided I was more quick-tempered than Sarah, and started calling me Leela, although more often than Leela, he calls me Leesa, Louise, or Layla! A few nights ago, however, he simply said, "Goodnight...uhh... Whatever!" His forgetfulness can be less insulting, though, such as when he walks right past the ketchup, staring straight at it, and then says "I don't know where I left the tomato sauce!" :) He's also in the habit of constantly losing his glasses. It's like the sonic screwdriver! Almost every night he says "I've lost my glasses! Where did I put them?" to which I usually reply, "I found your glasses!", and hand them to him (remember "The Sontaran Experiment"?). :)
I wonder what else is taking up so much of his mind... Maybe he's trying to save the earth again. Who knows where he goes during the day? He says he's at work, but "work" could be talking to the Brigadier or something. :) I've never been inside his office, and I must say it looks pretty important from the outside! :)

Living With The Doctor Can Be Strange...

Well, this is my blog. :) You see, it's about the Doctor, who, I am absolutely convinced, is my dad. Although he looks nothing like him, he acts very much like the fourth Doctor. For example, a couple days ago, a few hours after we had had a disagreement about the quality of my memory, he asked me to remind him what he'd just been asked to add to a shopping list, only to find out he'd just written it down. So I asked, "Who's got the bad memory?", and, perfectly serious, he replied, "I have got a bad memory in that sense - that I can't remember things."
I'm sure any other fourth Doctor fan will notice how Doctor-ish this is, and  that's just one example out of a million. I have no idea whether he is a doctor from before the TV series began, come forward in time, or one from the future, come back. Being a Timelord, I figure he can go anywhere in time and space, and that means he can end up in the same time and place as a later or earlier version of himself. (Sorry if that sentence was confusing!)
Now, I still don't know why he won't admit to being the Doctor, but I guess it probably has something to do with the other Timelords. Maybe they're angry at him again, and he doesn't want them to know where he is. Something like that. :)
Well, my mom has just informed me that he and my brother have been playing golf in the house, using my favorite mug as the hole. Excuse me, but I must ask the Doctor about this...