Month: May 2020

The Thing About Today – May 24

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 24, 2020
Day 145 of 366

 

May 24th is the 145th day of the year. It is Independence Day in Eritrea, commemorating their independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Yucatan Shrimp Day, National Aviation Maintenance Technician Day, Brother’s Day, National Scavenger Hunt Day, National Escargot Day, and National Wyoming Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1819, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom was born.
  • In 1830, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by Sarah Josepha Hale was published.
  • In 1844, Samuel Morse sent the message “What hath God wrought” – a biblical quotation from Numbers 23:23 – from a committee room in the United States Capitol. The message was received by his assistant Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, and it inaugurated a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.
  • In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened to traffic in New York City after 14 years of construction.
  • In 1925, illustrator and educator Carmine Infantino was born.
  • In 1930, Amy Johnson landed in Darwin, Northern Territory after an 11,000-mile flight that began on May 5th. This made her the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
  • In 1940, Igor Sikorsky performed the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
  • In 1941, singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist, writer, producer, and Nobel Prize laureate Bob Dylan was born.
  • In 1943, actor Gary Burghoff was born.
  • In 1944, singer-songwriter and actress Patti LaBelle was born.
  • In 1949, actor Jim Broadbent was born.
  • Also in 1949, cinematographer Roger Deakins was born.
  • In 1953, actor Alfred Molina was born.
  • In 1958, United Press International was formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
  • In 1960, English actress Kristin Scott Thomas was born.
  • In 1962, American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbited the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
  • In 1965, actor John C. Reilly was born.
  • In 1972, director, producer, and screenwriter Greg Berlanti was born.
  • In 1989, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released.
  • In 1999, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicted Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

 

May 24th is Bermuda Day.

The public holiday is celebrated in the islands of Bermuda and is typically observed on the last Friday in May. Before a permanent move in 2018, the date was May 24th or the nearest Monday if the 24th was on a weekend.

Bermuda Day is traditionally the first day of the year that residents will go into the sea or go onto the water after winter. It is also traditionally the first day on which Bermuda shorts are worn as business attire. To celebrate the holiday, there is a parade in Hamilton, Bermuda, and a road race from the west end of the island into Hamilton. Celebratory events are popular with spectators, and residents are known to stake out particular sections of the pavements to enable them to watch the runners and the floats.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

 

 

The Thing About Today – May 23

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 23, 2020
Day 144 of 366

 

May 23rd is the 144th day of the year. It is Constitution Day in Germany. Their constitution is called The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany and was approved on May 8, 1949 in Bonn. With the signature of the occupying western Allies of World War II on May 12th, it came into effect on May 23, 1949.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Lucky Penny Day and National Taffy Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to raise the Siege of Compiègne. She was later handed over to the English and put on trial by pro-English bishop Pierre Cauchon, who declared her guilty and sentenced her to be burned at the stake at the end of May in 1431.
  • In 1701, Captain William Kidd was hanged in London after being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore.
  • In 1883, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Douglas Fairbanks was born.
  • In 1908, physicist, engineer, and Nobel Prize laureate John Bardeen was born.
  • In 1911, the New York Public Library was dedicated.
  • In 1928, actress and singer Rosemary Clooney was born.
  • In 1933, actress Joan Collins was born.
  • In 1934, the infamous American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
  • In 1958, actor, game show host, and entrepreneur Drew Carey was born.
  • In 1965, actress Melissa McBride was born.
  • In 1974, singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet Jewel was born.
  • In 1984, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released.
  • In 1995, the first version of the Java programming language was released.

 

May 23rd is World Turtle Day.

The event has been sponsored yearly since 2000 by the American Tortoise Rescue. Its purpose is to bring attention to, increase knowledge of, and develop respect for turtles and tortoises. It also encourages human action to help them survive and thrive.

World Turtle Day is celebrated around the world in a variety of ways, from dressing up as turtles or wearing green summer dresses, to saving turtles caught on highways and conducting research activities.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

 

 

Culture on My Mind – Quarantine Con, Episode V

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Culture on My Mind
Quarantine Con, Episode V
May 22, 2020

This week’s “can’t let it go” are the awesome mullets of science fiction.

It’s the irregulars from Dragon Con American Sci-Fi Classics Track, back once again from their individual COVID-19 quarantine bunkers, this time talking about the business in the front and the party in the back as they tackle the mullets of classic science fiction.

This has been a tradition at the Classics Track when Tegan Hendrickson can make it to Dragon Con. Her presentation of the best mullets in ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s sci-fi is both a love letter and a gentle parody of the things that we love so dearly. Especially when you consider “that horse”.

The mullets panel is one of the most talked-about presentations on the track. It’s amazing.

Classics Track co-directors Joe Crowe and Gary Mitchel are joined by Tegan Hendrickson and her truly outrageous presentation.

As before, Joe and Gary will be hosting more of these, so stay tuned to the YouTube channel and the group on Facebook. If you join in live, you can also leave comments and participate in the discussion using StreamYard connected through Facebook.
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Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – May 22

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 22, 2020
Day 143 of 366

 

May 22nd is the 143rd day of the year. It is World Goth Day, a day where “the goth scene gets to celebrate its own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world.” World Goth Day celebrates the subcultural aspects of the Goth subculture. Aspects of the culture like fashion, music, and art are celebrated by fashion shows, art exhibitions, and music performances.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Craft Distillery Day, World Paloma Day, National Solitaire Day, National Buy a Musical Instrument Day, National Vanilla Pudding Day, National Don’t Fry Day, National Road Trip Day, and National Cooler Day. The last three are typically observed on the Friday before Memorial Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1455, the War of the Roses began. At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeated and captured King Henry VI of England.
  • In 1813, controversial German composer Richard Wagner was born.
  • In 1840, the penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony was abolished.
  • In 1848, slavery was abolished in Martinique.
  • In 1849, future United States President Abraham Lincoln was issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only United States President to ever hold a patent.
  • In 1900, the Associated Press was formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
  • In 1906, the Wright brothers were granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”.
  • In 1907, English actor, director, and producer Sir Laurence Olivier was born.
  • In 1939, actor Paul Winfield was born.
  • In 1968, the nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) sank 400 miles southwest of the Azores with 99 men aboard. She is one of only two nuclear submarines that the United States Navy has lost – the other being the USS Thresher (SSN-593) – and the reason for the loss is unknown.
  • In 1974, actor Sean Gunn was born.
  • In 1978, actress Ginnifer Goodwin was born.
  • In 1979, actress Maggie Q was born.

 

In 1819, SS Savannah left port at Savannah, Georgia, United States. After this voyage, it became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The Savannah was a hybrid sailing ship and sidewheel steamer built in 1818. Her transatlantic transit was made mainly under sail power, but in spite of this historic voyage, the large amount of space taken up by her large engine and fuel supply cut into cargo space and kept the ship from being a commercial success as a steamship. This was compounded by public anxiety over steam power.

Savannah was wrecked off Long Island, New York in 1821.

To commemorate the monumental transatlantic transit, National Maritime Day was created to recognize the maritime industry.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

 

 

The Thing About Today – May 21

Michael Falkner1 Comment

May 21, 2020
Day 142 of 366

 

May 21st is the 142nd day of the year. It is the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, a United Nations-sanctioned international holiday for the promotion of diversity issues.

May 21st is also National American Red Cross Founder’s Day.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Waitstaff Day, National Strawberries and Cream Day, and National Memo Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1703, Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel. He was the author of Robinson Crusoe.
  • In 1780, English prison reformer, philanthropist, and Quaker Elizabeth Fry was born.
  • In 1843, French jurist, educator, and Nobel Prize laureate Louis Renault was born.
  • In 1844, French painter Henri Rousseau was born.
  • In 1851, slavery in Colombia was abolished.
  • In 1860, Indonesian-Dutch physician, physiologist, academic, and Nobel Prize laureate Willem Einthoven was born.
  • In 1864, Russia declared an end to the Russo-Circassian War. Many Circassians were forced into exile, eventually leading to the designation of the Circassian Day of Mourning.
  • In 1881, the American Red Cross was established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
  • In 1904, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris.
  • In 1917, the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 burned for 10 hours. It caused $5.5 million in damages and destroyed around 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches. About 10,000 people were displaced, but only one fatality was recorded. The fatality was due to heart attack.
  • Also in 1917, actor and director Raymond Burr was born.
  • In 1927, Charles Lindbergh touched down at Le Bourget Field in Paris after completing the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
  • In 1939, the Canadian National War Memorial was unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
  • In 1945, actor, writer, and producer Richard Hatch was born.
  • In 1946, physicist Louis Slotin was fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  • In 1952, actor and wrestler Mr. T was born.
  • In 1980, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back was released.
  • In 1981, Transamerica Corporation agreed to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven’s Gate.
  • In 1999, All My Children star Susan Lucci finally won a Daytime Emmy after being nominated 19 times. She set the record for the longest period of unsuccessful nominations in television history.
  • In 2017, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

 

May 21st is the Circassian Day of Mourning.

The Circassians call the North Caucasus home, stretching from along the high peaks of the Caucasian mountain range at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, bounded by Russia from the north and the Middle East from the south.

In its narrowest sense, the term “Circassian” includes the twelve historic Adyghe princedoms of Circassia, three of which are democratic and nine which are aristocratic – Abdzakh, Besleney, Bzhedug, Hatuqwai, Kabardian, Mamkhegh, Natukhai, Shapsug, Temirgoy, Ubykh, Yegeruqwai and Zhaney – each represented by a star on the Circassian flag.

Most Circassians are Sunni Muslims, and speak the Circassian languages, which are a Northwest Caucasian dialect continuum with three main dialects and numerous sub-dialects. Many Circassians also speak Turkish, Russian, English, Arabic, and Hebrew due to their history.

From 1763 to 1864, the Circassians fought against the Russians in the Russian-Circassian War. They succumbed to a scorched earth campaign led by General Yevdokimov. On June 2, 1864 (May 21, on the Julian calendar), Russian Tsar Aleksandr II declared that the war over after the occupation of Circassian land, and he approved a decision to deport and exile the entire Circassian people for both their refusal to convert to Christianity from Islam and their continuous raids on Russian villages.

More than 1.5 million Circassians were expelled, which comprised nearly ninety percent of the total population, and most of them perished from disease, hunger, and exhaustion. They traveled around the world in search of a new home on foot and by ox cart, some roaming for over twenty-five years.

In 1914, Nicholas II celebrated the 50th anniversary of the event as one of the empire’s greatest victories. Joseph Stalin had continued their oppression with a classic divide-and-rule policy, subdividing the remaining Circassians into several smaller groups, including the Adyghe, the Cherkess, the Kabardin, the Shapsugs, and several others.

Today, between two and four million Circassians live outside their homeland in over 40 countries worldwide. In 1996, Boris Yeltsin acknowledged while signing a peace treaty with Chechnya that the war had lasted 400 years and was a tragedy.

In 1990, the Circassians designated the 21st of May as day of mourning on which they commemorate the tragedy of the Circassian nation.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

 

 

Timestamp #204: The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End

Michael Falkner33 Comments

Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth
Doctor Who: Journey’s End
(2 episodes, s04e12-e13, 2008)

 

The return of a long-dead enemy and the rise of a family.

 

The Stolen Earth

The Doctor and Donna race back to Earth to find that everything is fine. It’s a calm Saturday, but the Doctor knows that the walls of the universe are breaking down because Rose has been able to travel between realities. When they return to the TARDIS, the planet begins to shake. When the violent tremors subside, the Doctor and Donna look outside to find themselves in space.

The TARDIS is in the same place, but the Earth has been stolen.

Far across the universe, Martha Jones wakes up in New York with her UNIT team. In Cardiff, Torchwood Three are picking up the pieces. On Bannerman Road, Sarah Jane Smith and Luke dust themselves off before Mr. Smith tells them to look outside. Sylvia and Wilfred look upward as well.

The planet Earth is among twenty-six other stolen planets, all of them visible in the sky above, and Rose Tyler has just arrived with a big freakin’ gun.

Back in Earth’s orbit, the Doctor and Donna puzzle over the mystery before setting a course for the Shadow Proclamation. On Earth, Torchwood Three discovers that the planet still maintains atmosphere and heat. Both Torchwood and Mr. Smith detect a space station and a fleet of ships. UNIT spools up their alert status as the two hundred ships enter orbit.

As rioters swarm the streets, Rose stops a pair of looters before using a stolen laptop to get an update.

Martha calls Jack as the planet intercepts a single repeated signal: EXTERMINATE! It rattles all of our heroes to their very cores as Dalek saucers open fire on Earth. The Supreme Dalek declares that they are now the masters of Earth.

The TARDIS touches down at the Shadow Proclamation and is greeted by a squad of Judoon. The Doctor meets with a member of the Proclamation and learns that twenty-four planets have been taken. Donna reminds the Doctor that Pyrovillia and Adipose 3 are missing. Adding the lost moon of Poosh, they have twenty-seven planets taken out of time and space and formed into an engine. The Doctor recalls that someone tried to steal the Earth a long time ago, but it can’t be…

The UNIT forces decide to activate Project Indigo, their top-secret project that Jack doesn’t think will work. Martha puts on a backpack apparatus, is handed something called the Osterhagen Key, and teleports away using Sontaran technology. Jack believes that she is scattered into atoms because the technology lacks coordinates and stabilization.

On the Dalek station, the Supreme Dalek orders the fleet to commence landing and rounding up of humans for “the Crucible”. A familiar-looking form asks about the Doctor, warning the Supreme Dalek about his pride and that Dalek Caan has an uneasy prophecy: The Doctor is coming.

Donna is deep in thought when a member of the Proclamation gives her sustenance. She knows that something was on Donna’s back and is sorry for the loss that’s about to come. The Doctor asks Donna what he’s not thinking of and she reminds him that the bees have gone missing. The Doctor says that it means that they were going home to the planet Melissa Majoria before the Earth vanished. The Doctor uses that to trace the planet’s course – an act that forces the Proclamation to order him to join their war fleet, which he declines – and the TARDIS is off to the rescue.

On Earth, the humans in Wilf and Sylvia’s neighborhood resist. The Daleks respond by destroying their homes. Wilf uses a paintball gun to try blinding a Dalek, but it doesn’t work. Before the Dalek exterminates Donna’s family, Rose rescues them by destroying the Dalek with her gun.

The TARDIS materializes in the Medusa Cascade, a place that the Doctor hasn’t visited since he was ninety years old. They’re in the middle of a rift in time and space, but there’s no trace of the missing planets.

Torchwood and Bannerman Road listen as the United Nations surrenders the planet to the Daleks. Their sorrow is interrupted by a mysterious (familiar sounding) signal from a “subwave network”. The caller is Harriet Jones (former Prime Minister) and she links Torchwood, Bannerman Road, and Martha Jones (who materialized at her mother’s house). Rose can only listen in since Sylvia considers webcams to be “naughty”.

Introductions are made around the table – Jack admires Sarah Jane’s work, but Sarah Jane has been staying away because of all the guns – and Harriet Jones warns that they will not use the Osterhagen Key under any circumstances. Rose is a bit jealous.

Using a sentient computer program from the Mr. Copper Foundation, the subwave network can boost the signal to reach the Doctor. Sure enough, the Doctor’s Army pools their resources and opens a channel, but the Daleks are hot on their trail. The TARDIS locks onto the signal as the Daleks blow a hole into Harriet’s home. She transfers control and faces them down before they exterminate her.

The TARDIS materializes in the middle of the missing planets, now one second out of sync with the rest of the universe. The Doctor opens a channel and makes contact with everyone but Rose. Moments later, Davros breaks into the signal and reintroduces himself to the Doctor. The Doctor saw him destroyed in the first year of the Time War, but Davros was rescued by Dalek Caan after the mad Dalek hybrid shifted through the time lock and rescued him. Davros returned the favor by donating his own DNA to rebuild the Dalek Empire.

The Doctor pilots the TARDIS to Earth while Dalek Caan predicts death for the most faithful companion. Jack uses Martha’s coordinates to fix his vortex manipulator and teleport to her location as the Daleks descend on Torchwood. Ianto and Gwen mount a defense.

Sarah Jane leaves Luke in Mr. Smith’s care as she races to the TARDIS’s landing point. Rose also teleports away with a wish of luck from Donna’s family, appearing behind the Doctor and Donna on a street full of abandoned cars. The Doctor and Rose race to each other, but a Dalek rounds the corner and shoots the Doctor. Jack appears and destroys the Dalek, but they’re too late.

Rose, Jack, and Donna take the Doctor back to the TARDIS. Rose and Jack know what’s coming, but Donna has no idea. The Doctor’s hand begins to glow.

Sarah Jane is trapped by Daleks. Torchwood is under assault.

The Doctor begins to regenerate.

 

Journey’s End

The Doctor channels the regeneration energy into the hand in the bubbling jar, leaving his companions baffled. Meanwhile, Sarah Jane is rescued by the surprise appearance of Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler, and Torchwood’s certain doom is stopped by a strange bubble in time. It’s a time lock developed by Tosh before her death, but it means that Ianto and Gwen are trapped in Torchwood HQ.

The Doctor used enough regeneration energy to heal himself, but refused to change his face. The Daleks surround the phone box and place it in a temporal prison before transporting it to the Crucible. Sarah Jane warns her saviors to put down their guns before they all surrender to the Daleks, intent on being sent to the Crucible. Martha uses Project Indigo, but only makes it as far as Germany.

Rose tells the Doctor about the coming darkness and how all the timelines are converging on Donna. The loss of power on the TARDIS also means that the capsule is as fragile as the wooden doors that it resembles. These are, after all, the Daleks that fought the Time Lords. The TARDIS lands at the Crucible, but Donna is lost in thought once more. The Doctor and his companions exit the TARDIS, certain of their fate as they face the Supreme Dalek, but Donna doesn’t leave the ship.

The TARDIS door closes and the Daleks eject the time capsule into the heart of the Crucible. The Doctor fears that it will be destroyed and begs for Donna’s life. On the TARDIS, Donna is enthralled by the hand in a jar, and she reaches for it, it glows with regeneration energy and explodes into a fully formed duplicate of the Doctor.

The new Doctor – the Metacrisis Doctor – pushes a button and the TARDIS vanishes. Everyone in the Crucible above believes it to be destroyed and Jack opens fire with his revolver. The Daleks exterminate him and lead Rose and the Doctor away as Jack revives and plays possum.

The Metacrisis Doctor fixes the TARDIS and bonds with Donna, discovering that he only has one heart. He’s a human-Time Lord hybrid, and he believes Donna to be special. They’ve been heading to this moment from the very beginning, from the runaway bride to the convenient parking of Donna’s car near the TARDIS during the Adipose incident. But time or destiny or fate or whatever is not done yet.

Martha arrives at a castle, one of the Osterhagen bases. The caretaker threatens her by gunpoint not to go through with the plan, but Martha presses on.

On the Crucible, Jack escapes disposal and is free to find his allies. Meanwhile, Sarah Jane and her new friends arrive. The Doctor and Rose are put in confinement beams and converse with Davros, who the Doctor calls the Daleks’ pet. Davros reveals Dalek Caan, the last of the Cult of Skaro, and says that the Supreme Dalek is afraid of the mad hybrid’s prophecies about the Children of Time. Davros revels in the darkness with the Doctor, but the Time Lord puts it away as quickly as it surfaced when he learns about the secret weapon: A reality bomb.

As the prisoners are processed, Sarah Jane and Mickey escape with her sonic lipstick. The Daleks test their reality bomb on the prisoners, using the neutrino energy channeled through the aligned planets as a weapon. Just as it’s about to fire, Jackie’s teleporter recharges and she escapes as the prisoners are vaporized. They literally vanished from existence.

Davros plans to destroy the entirety of creation, every single corner of reality in every universe. The only thing to remain will be the Daleks.

Jack meets up with Sarah Jane, Mickey, and Jackie. Jack and Mickey share a manly hug as Sarah Jane produces a warp star – a warp fold conjugation trapped in a carbonized shell, or an “explosion waiting to happen”, gifted to her by a Verron soothsayer – to destroy the Crucible. On Earth, Martha makes contact with the other Osterhagen bases and opens a channel to the Crucible, threatening to use a chain of twenty-five nuclear warheads around the globe to destroy the planet. Jack also makes contact, threatening to use the warp star to destroy the Crucible, and Davros is pleased to see Sarah Jane once again.

Davros is pleased that the Doctor, a pacifist, has honed his companions into weapons ready to kill. He asks the Doctor – the man who keeps running because he dare not look back for fear of the shame – to consider how many others have died in his name. The drama is a distraction as the Supreme Dalek locks onto all of the Doctor’s allies and teleports them to the Doctor’s location.

The Daleks then initiate the reality bomb.

One the TARDIS, the Metacrisis Doctor and Donna rig a device to cause the reality bomb to backfire. The TARDIS materializes in the Crucible and the Metacrisis Doctor races out, but Davros strikes him with an electrical charge before trapping him. Donna picks up the device and is similarly dispatched before Davros destroys the weapon. Unfortunately for the Daleks, Donna stops the reality bomb, Davros, and the Daleks with knowledge that she shouldn’t have.

The creation of the Metacrisis Doctor was a two-way street. It created the Doctor-Donna, which was sparked by Davros when he shot her.

The Time Lords and humans send the missing planets home and round up the Daleks. Davros asked why Dalek Caan couldn’t see this coming, but the truth is that Dalek Caan put everything in motion to end the Dalek reign of terror. The Supreme Dalek tries to stop them, but Jack destroys it. As the Doctor rushes into the TARDIS, the Metacrisis Doctor decides to send a surge of energy into the entire fleet to prevent the Daleks from attacking the universe.

As the Daleks explode, the Doctor is appalled at the bloodlust of his duplicate, and he rushes his allies into the TARDIS. The Doctor offers sanctuary for Davros, but earns the name “Destroyer of Worlds” in return as his offer is declined. The TARDIS takes off but cannot break free of the time bubble, so the Doctor contacts Torchwood and Bannerman Road – including K9! – to break free with every companion on the console.

Just as the TARDIS is meant to be flown.

The time capsule tows the planet Earth back to its rightful place in our solar system. As they arrive, having saved the world in epic fashion, the console room erupts in a celebration that bleeds onto the planet below.

The Doctor bids farewell once again to Sarah Jane, who tells him that he has the biggest family on Earth. Mickey decides to stay behind in this reality as the Doctor disables Jack’s vortex manipulator. Jack and Martha walk away with Mickey in close pursuit.

The Doctor takes the TARDIS to Bad Wolf Bay in Rose’s parallel universe. Jackie tells the Metacrisis Doctor that she needs to find her husband and son, and the Doctor tells Rose that he’s leaving his clone with her. The Metacrisis Doctor is exactly how Rose found the Doctor, full of anger and fury, and he needs Rose’s influence to grow and change. The big difference is that he is part human and will grow old with her.

She asks the Doctor what he was going to say on the day he left her behind in Bad Wolf Bay. The Metacrisis Doctor whispers the answer to her and they kiss as the TARDIS vanishes from sight.

As the TARDIS flies, Donna’s Time Lord knowledge begins to overload her brain. She wants to stay with him, but if she does, the metacrisis will destroy her. She cannot be with him forever as she wanted. She begs him not to leave her behind, but he has no choice but to say goodbye as he wipes her mind.

He delivers her home and makes Wilf and Sylvia promise that she can never remember anything about her travels with the Doctor. If she remembers any thread of it, she will die. Wilf is understanding but angry, and he takes solace in the fact that she saved so many in her travels. For one shining moment she was the most important woman in existence. Sylvia says that she still is. The Doctor reminds her to tell Donna every once in a while.

Donna awakens and rushes in, but she doesn’t remember any of it. The Doctor bids her farewell as John Smith, and Wilf promises to look up to the stars on his behalf every night. The Doctor walks away in the rain takes flight in the TARDIS once more.

Time Lord victorious. Time Lord alone.

 

It is no secret that this story earns every last bit of a high rating.  The balance of action and dramatic tension as all of our heroes from the last four years come together to defeat one of the Doctor’s oldest enemies is masterful. They all bring strengths and weaknesses, and they leverage all of them together to save the world. The universe. All of creation.

The cinematography was quite impressive. I was blown away by the beautiful dichotomy between the close shots of the celebrating family and the long shots of the Doctor alone and somewhat defeated.

There’s also a great deal of attention paid to the franchise’s mythology, both old and new. It’s important for them to do so because, hey, it’s the Daleks. We met Davros in Genesis of the Daleks and watched him lose his hand in Revelation of the Daleks. UNIT gets another crack at the Daleks after their first encounter in Day of the Daleks. The Daleks tried to steal the Earth before in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which is also where we first encountered a Supreme Dalek.

We last saw Davros and the Supreme Dalek in Remembrance of the Daleks as the Dalek Civil War came to a close, and that’s a really interesting dynamic: Davros commanded the Imperial Daleks and the Supreme Dalek commanded the Renegades. After the Time War, it seems that bygones are bygones as there is only one faction of Daleks now.

Of course, in the post-Time War era, we’ve seen the Cult of Skaro. Survivors of the Time War, it adds a twist as a hybrid helps give birth to the new Dalek empire before destroying it.

In more comical callbacks, we’ve seen Daleks disabled by attacking their eyestalks – The Daleks, Planet of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, The Parting of the Ways – often screaming, “My vision is impaired!” This time, the trope was flipped to both humorous appeal and heightened tension.

The Doctor has been shot by a Dalek before, but this is the first time it was effectively lethal. When the Third Doctor took a hit from a Dalek cannon in Planet of the Daleks, he was only paralyzed for a short time.

In terms of the missing planets, the theft of Earth is nothing new since it was stolen by the Time Lords (and renamed Ravolox) in The Trial of a Time Lord. Earth’s twin planet Mondas was moved and became home to the Cybermen.

We heard about Adipose 3, Pyrovillia, and the Lost Moon of Poosh through this series. We’ve never seen Shallacatop or Jahoo, but three others have been mentioned in one way or another: Clom was the home of the Abzorbaloff (Love & Monsters), Woman Wept was the site of an off-screen adventure for Rose and the Ninth Doctor (Boom Town), and Calufrax Minor could be in the same vein as the miniaturized Calufrax from The Pirate Planet.

Then we get to the Children of Time.

I know that Rose is a fan favorite, but I stand by my assessment that Martha was superior in every way. Rose is a liability to the Doctor, almost costing him his life in the middle of a war. Sure, the reunion was touching, but her jealousy was nearly intolerable.

It’s a little ironic that an avatar resembling her will be the key to saving the Doctors, the Time Lords, and Gallifrey down the road.

The consequences of the Rose and Doctor relationship also gives us the notion that Time Lords have some degree of control over their regenerations.

Martha, Sarah Jane, and Jack continue to bring their strengths to bear in a conflict, each tackling the problem with their unique skillsets. I had the biggest grin at Sarah Jane’s line about Torchwood using their guns too often, and Jack’s fanboy nature over Sarah Jane was adorable.

Gwen (who gets the callback to The Unquiet Dead) and Ianto holding down the fort at Torchwood makes sense, particularly since they’ve never encountered Daleks before. The same goes for Luke and Mr. Smith. I was also pleased to see Mickey (“Us Smiths gotta stick together!”) and Jackie following Rose through the breach and, in a natural evolution since their debut, fighting for their planet.

That leaves us with Donna. Oh, Donna. Her departure is heartbreaking, particularly since she wanted to travel with the Doctor for the rest of her life. She considered him to be her destiny, and she was correct thanks to Dalek Caan. Now she doesn’t remember any part of her adventures with the Doctor, even though the universe remembers her.

Donna Noble was the Doctor’s conscience, saving him with her direct nature and wide-eyed innocence more than once. She reminded him of his empathy, which Davros tries to use against him by reminding him of those who sacrificed themselves for him and those he couldn’t save – Harriet Jones, Ceth Ceth Jafe, the Controller, Lynda Moss, Sir Robert MacLeish, Angela Price, Colin Skinner, Ursula Blake, Bridget Sinclair, the Face of Boe, Chantho, Astrid Peth, Luke Rattigan, Jenny, River Song, and the hostess – and how easily any of his Earth family could join those ranks.

None of the Doctor’s companions physically died to save the world, but the Donna that he knew is gone. She didn’t love him, but she loved everything about him. She believed in him. She saved him.

And he saved her in turn.

I’m going to miss her.

 

Rating: 5/5 – “Fantastic!”

 

UP NEXT – Series Four Summary

 

 

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

 

 

The Thing About Today – May 20

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May 20, 2020
Day 141 of 366

 

May 20th is the 141st day of the year. It is European Maritime Day, an event that seeks to raise European citizens’ awareness of the seas and their importance. It was established jointly by the European Council, European Parliament, and European Commission in 2008 as part of the EU maritime policy.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Be a Millionaire Day, National Pick Strawberries Day, National Rescue Dog Day, National Quiche Lorraine Day, Emergency Medical Services for Children Day (typically observed on the Wednesday of Emergency Medical Service Week), and National Juice Slush Day (typically the third Wednesday in May).

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1570,  cartographer Abraham Ortelius issued Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. It was the first modern atlas.
  • In 1609, Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published in London (perhaps illicitly) by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
  • In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a United States patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
  • In 1883, Krakatoa began to erupt. More than 36,000 people were killed when the volcano exploded three months later.
  • In 1891, Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope was first publicly displayed.
  • In 1908, actor James Stewart was born.
  • In 1911, author and DC Comics alum Gardner Fox was born.
  • In 1932, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot. She landed in Ireland the next day.
  • In 1936, actor Anthony Zerbe was born.
  • In 1946, singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Cher was born.
  • In 1959, actor Bronson Pinchot was born.
  • In 1960, actor John Billingsley was born.
  • In 1964, cosmic microwave background radiation was discovered by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
  • In 1968, actor and producer Timothy Olyphant was born.
  • In 1983, the first publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS were made in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.
  • In 1996, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.

 

In 1875, the Metre Convention was signed by 17 nations, leading to the establishment of the International System of Units (SI).

The SI (abbreviated from French: Système international (d’unités)) is the modern form of the metric system. It is a coherent system of measurement starting with seven base units:

  • the second (the unit of time with the symbol s)
  • the metre/meter (length, m)
  • the kilogram (mass, kg)
  • the ampere (electric current, A)
  • the kelvin (thermodynamic temperature, K)
  • the mole (amount of substance, mol)
  • the candela (luminous intensity, cd)

The system allows for an unlimited number of additional units, called derived units, which can always be represented as products of powers of the base units. There are twenty-two derived units that have special names and symbols, including hertz, joule, watt, ohm, volt, and so on. Both the base and derived units can use prefixes (such as kilo, mega, and centi) to measure nearly any quantity.

Prior to 2019, the base units were defined by simple readily observable terms. For instance, a kilogram was defined as, “The mass of one litre of water at the temperature of melting ice. A litre is one thousandth of a cubic metre.” Unfortunately, these measurements were also imprecise and subjective.

Since 2019, the magnitudes of all SI units have been defined by declaring exact numerical values for seven defining constants when expressed in terms of their SI units.

  • The speed of light in vacuum, c
  • The hyperfine transition frequency of caesium, ΔνCs
  • The Planck constant, h
  • The elementary charge, e
  • The Boltzmann constant, k
  • The Avogadro constant, NA
  • The luminous efficacy, Kcd

These defining constants range from fundamental constants of nature (the speed of light in a vacuum) to the purely technical (Kcd). One consequence of the 2019 redefinition is that the distinction between the base units and derived units is in principle not needed since any unit can be constructed directly from the seven defining constants.

All of the technical jargon aside, this all makes the International System of Units incredibly precise and exacting.

In celebration of the anniversary of the International System of Units, World Metrology Day is celebrated annually on May 20th.

 

In 1734, the pioneer of beekeeping Anton Janša was born. In honor of his birth and to acknowledge the role of bees and other pollinators for the ecosystem, World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20th.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

 

 

The Thing About Today – May 19

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 19, 2020
Day 140 of 366

 

May 19th is the 140th day of the year. It is National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in the United States.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National May Ray Day and National Devil’s Food Cake Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1848, Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This ended the Mexican-American War and ceded California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million.
  • In 1911, Parks Canada, the world’s first national park service, was established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior.
  • In 1934, journalist and author Jim Lehrer was born.
  • In 1939, astronaut Dick Scobee was born.
  • In 1941, director, producer, and screenwriter Nora Ephron was born.
  • In 1944, actor Peter Mayhew was born.
  • In 1946, wrestler and actor André the Giant was born.
  • In 1948, singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Grace Jones was born.
  • In 1962, a birthday salute to United States President John F. Kennedy took place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight was Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of “Happy Birthday”.
  • In 1963, the New York Post Sunday Magazine published Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.
  • In 1966, actress Polly Walker was born.
  • In 1999, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace premiered.

 

In 1925, American Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X was born.

A popular figure during the civil rights movement, he is best known for his staunch and controversial black racial advocacy and for his time spent as the vocal spokesperson of the Nation of Islam. He joined the Nation of Islam while in prison for crimes he committed in his teenage years. He adopted the name Malcolm X and quickly became one of the organization’s most influential leaders after being paroled in 1952. He served as the public face of the organization for a dozen years, advocating for black supremacy, black empowerment, and the separation of black and white Americans. He publicly criticized the mainstream civil rights movement for its emphasis on nonviolence and racial integration.

He also found himself under federal surveillance due to the Nation of Islam’s supposed connections to communism.

In the 1960s, Malcolm X grew disillusioned with the Nation of Islam and its leadership. He subsequently embraced Sunni Islam and the civil rights movement after completing the Hajj to Mecca, adopting the name el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. He traveled across Africa and publicly renounced the Nation of Islam, afterward founding the Islamic Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Pan-African Organization of Afro-American Unity.

As his conflict with the Nation of Islam intensified, he started receiving death threats before being assassinated on February 21, 1965. Three Nation members were charged with the murder and given indeterminate life sentences.

Despite being a controversial figure, Malcolm X is a widely celebrated figure within African-American and Muslim American communities for his pursuit of racial justice. He was posthumously honored with Malcolm X Day, which is celebrated on either his birthday or the third Friday in May. The event commemorates him in various countries worldwide.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

 

 

Culture on My Mind – WHOlanta’s Virtual TARDIS

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Culture on My Mind
WHOlanta’s Virtual TARDIS
May 18, 2020

This week starts with news of a virtual convention.

This year was supposed to be our hiatus year from Wholanta. But current lockdown situation has provided a way for us to have a con after all! And basically, I have a slight problem and have had a difficult time letting this thing go. So another Wholanta is born!

WHOlanta, the Atlanta-area Doctor Who-centric convention, hung up the scarf and bow tie last year after their annual celebration of all things wibbly-wobbly and timey-wimey. But, as R. Alan Siler said, there was an opportunity so he jumped on it.

The convention will be hosting a virtual event on Saturday, May 30th from noon to 8:00pm EST. So far, they have character/creature actor Jon Davey, actress Sophie Aldred (who portrayed Ace), revival era director Rachel Talalay, and series composer Dominic Glynn. They also promise more guest announcements to come.

For the celebrity panels, there will be streaming Q&As where attendees can post their questions in the chat. They’ll also be supporting a virtual dealer room and cosplayers.

Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more information.
cc-break

Culture on My Mind is inspired by the weekly Can’t Let It Go segment on the NPR Politics Podcast where each host brings one thing to the table that they just can’t stop thinking about.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.

The Thing About Today – May 18

Michael FalknerLeave a comment

May 18, 2020
Day 139 of 366

 

May 18th is the 139th day of the year. It is World AIDS Vaccine Day, also known as HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, during which advocates promote the continued urgent need for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and AIDS.

 

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Visit Your Relatives Day, National No Dirty Dishes Day, and National Cheese Soufflé Day.

 

Historical items of note:

  • In 1291, the Fall of Acre marked the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.
  • In 1652, Rhode Island passed the first law in English-speaking North America. It was to make slavery illegal.
  • In 1872, British mathematician, historian, philosopher, and Nobel Prize laureate Bertrand Russell was born.
  • In 1897, director Frank Capra was born.
  • In 1917, the Selective Service Act of 1917 was passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
  • In 1927, Grauman’s Chinese Theater opened in Hollywood, California.
  • In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  • In 1946, actor Andreas Katsulas was born.
  • In 1953, Jackie Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier.
  • In 1955, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter Chow Yun-fat was born.
  • In 1965, Gene Roddenberry suggested 16 names for the captain on Star Trek. Among them was the name Kirk.
  • In 1969, Apollo 10 was launched on a “dress rehearsal” of the first Moon landing with astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan aboard.
  • In 1970, actress, producer, and screenwriter Tina Fey was born.
  • In 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted in the State of Washington, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
  • In 2005, a second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.

 

May 18th is International Museum Day, an event coordinated by the International Council of Museums that highlights specific themes to reflect the basis of the international museum community’s preoccupations.

The day provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and address challenges in the community. It serves as a platform to raise public awareness on the role museums play in the development of society today, on an international level.

Each year, all museums in the world are invited to participate in the event to promote the role of museums around the world, thus creating unique, enjoyable, and free activities around an annual theme.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

For more creativity with a critical eye, visit Creative Criticality.