And He Casually Crawls Out the Door...

We got a small table tennis table this Christmas, so adding that to the fact that our garage flooded with all the rain, 'The Room ' (our dining room that we don't use for eating and stuff) is slightly full at the moment. For some reason, there's an old footstool in there, too, which is usually under the table, but this morning I was sitting on it, so it was between the table and a chest of drawers, in the way of anyone trying to get out of the room from the other side of the table.:) The Doctor was on that side of the table, and wanted to get past. It was awkward for me to find my way out of that strange spot, and he had already tried to climb over me earlier, almost falling while holding two bowls of porridge, and then making the joke 'Never try to do a high-step over someone's knees [I had lifted them to try and make it easier for him, but it made it worse:P] while holding two bowls of porridge. You have two choices: drop the porridge, or fall on the porridge.' Then he said 'I probably would've done both at the same time.' Anyway, in avoidance of doing it again, he got down on his hands and knees, and crawled under the table! It was quite funny, but understandable, I guess. The really odd thing was, he didn't get up after he came out from under it! He crawled off to the door, and I began to wonder if he'd hurt his back or something, so as he was leaving the room, I asked why he was crawling, and he said, 'Because it's a nice way to travel.' or something as strange. Then, after a pause (although he carried on crawling), he said 'I'll be getting up soon... when I realize how un-progressive it is.' I finally realized he hadn't noticed he was doing anything strange! I guess it's part of the way he treats odd things so lightly. It reminded me of 'Terror of the Zygons', when Benton finds the Doctor and Sarah unconscious, and the Doctor wakes up and whispers 'It worked!' and Benton whispers back, 'What worked?' so the Doctor says something about a trick he learned from a Tibetan monk, and Benton answers with something else, still whispering. Then the Doctor says 'Why are you whispering?' as if benton was the one to start it!

'That Sounds Like Sarah.'

Recently, my mom and I were talking together, when we heard a loud bump and the Doctor saying 'Ow!' in the next room. My mom called 'Are you alright?' and his reply came, 'Yes; I just bashed my head on the ceiling.' as though he had stubbed his toe or something! It was so calm, for a moment I didn't even realize he was saying something odd!:) He can be so casual about important or unusual things! It's like what he said to me when I hurt myself on the tumble dryer, or in 'The Sontaran Experiment', when Harry says they should look for Sarah, and they hear her scream, and the Doctor calmly says, 'That sounds like Sarah.' I like that line even more after finding out it was scripted as 'Oh, dear!' and Tom Baker changed it.;) I wonder why he doesn't take these moments like other people would? Maybe to him it's not important, because he's busy thinking about some alien invasion or something, and bumping his head on the ceiling and stuff doesn't matter when lives are at stake. It's not important, I guess. It all adds to the fun!:)

More of Life With the Doctor

Last night, the Doctor said something really... "interesting". He was looking over my brother's schoolwork, and he said the the commas were to ambitious, and were apostrophes. He explained that the comma should be on the line, and my brother asked what an apostrophe was. He said, "An apostrophe... is an ambitious comma." Well, I guess it does makes sense, but I really think it's a pretty strange explanation!
Then a couple days ago, I walked into the tumble-dryer door, and started to hop around, holding my knee, and the Doctor said, "Careful!" I've only just realized, but it was the same tone he uses on Sarah in "Pyramids of Mars", when they're looking for the deflection barrier, and he stops to pick up the stick, and Sarah goes on ahead. Anyway, he looked at me kind of questioningly as to how I'd hurt myself, and I pointed at the tumble-dryer door while I mumbled "Ow! Ow! Ow!" Then he realized what I'd done, and said, "Do you mind not doing that, please?" as if I'd done it on purpose, and it was completely unimportant!
I've had a lot of interesting and annoying (or sometimes fun) little incidents with the Doctor lately, including seeing something that made me think very much of the Kraal virus in "The Android Invasion", and I'm sorry I haven't posted. I've been very busy, but I should be able to post more often now.:)

The Kraal virus.;)

Well, actually, it's the lemon curd that jumped onto the floor when I opened the fridge last night, but it really does look similar, and the Doctor was so desperate to clean it up, I think for a moment maybe he thought it was the virus.;) At Christmas we had a soda that looked just like Solon's drugged wine in "The Brain of Morbius", too! I spent the whole evening with my brother saying he was waiting for me to pass out from it, lol! I'm very sorry I didn't think of taking a picture of it, but I will next time!

P.S. I found out something really cool! A whole bunch of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" was filmed in Kingston-upon-Thames, which is where I used to live! I used to walk down some of the streets they used every day when I was younger, and one or two were only a block or so from my old house! When I found out, I kept squealing "I can't believe it! I've walked down the same streets as Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen!! And I never knew!" I want to go back there now and look at the roads, and find the exact spots that were used.;)

"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?