Nine “Doctor Who” Episodes For People Who Don’t Have Time To Watch “Doctor Who”

Sup, Squares!

You know, I’ve covered a lot of geeky stuff these past couple months and, assuming you read the title, you won’t be surprised to learn my love of all things nerd also extends to the long-running British TV series, Doctor Who. For those of you who don’t have a clue what Doctor Who is, allow me to provide a brief overview.

How about a little music to set the mood?

In the vast reaches of the cosmos, there is an alien known as The Doctor; a Time Lord who ran away from their home planet in a stolen time machine called a TARDIS. This impossible machine is bigger on the inside, can take it’s passengers anywhere in time and space, and is perpetually stuck in the form of a blue police box from 1963. Often accompanied by one or more human “companions”, the Doctor travels from place to place righting wrongs, defeating monsters, and generally leaving things better than when they arrived.

Additionally, should The Doctor’s body ever sustain too much damage, the Time Lords have the unique ability to “regenerate”. This process can repair the damage and even save them from death, but at the cost of altering their entire body at the cellular level, and one never knows what kind of Doctor will emerge. Though their body (and their fashion sense) may continue to change, one thing never will: The Doctor will always be there to save the day.

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Source: Geeks Media

As someone who has followed the show since it’s “revival” back in 2005, I can wholeheartedly recommend Doctor Who to anyone who has even a passing interest in science fiction or fantasy. However, I understand that not everyone has the time or the interest to add yet another show to their pile of movies, TV shows, and other miscellaneous media. I’ve currently got a back-list of Marvel TV shows that’s about a mile high, so believe me, I get it. Fortunately, Doctor Who features a number of “standalone” episodes; forty-five minute tales that tell one complete story and aren’t too bogged down in continuity or a larger season long story arc. For those people who can only spare an hour or so, I present nine Doctor Who episodes that you can watch right now, without having to resort to Wikipedia.

So, with all the preamble out of the way, shall we?

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Source: Doctor Who 24/7

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After “Venom”, What Next? Here’s My Pitch for 10 New SONY-MARVEL Movies (In a Hundred Words or Less)

Sup, Squares!

You may not be entirely aware of this, or perhaps you just ignored it, but we have a Venom movie coming to theaters pretty soon. Oh cool, you might be thinking, another Marvel movie featuring a classic Spider-Man villain! So does this take place before Infinity War or what? Well interestingly enough, Venom actually takes place in it’s own isolated universe separate from the other Marvel heroes. That means no Infinity War, no Avengers, and no Spider-Man.

What? Yeah.

This is all part of the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters, a new “cinematic universe” that Sony has been trying to get off the ground since The Amazing Spider-Man 2. If Venom turns out to be the big hit Sony clearly wants it to be, the studio already has plans for movies featuring other characters like Silver Sable, Jackpot, and Morbius the Living Vampire, to name but a few. Whether or not this experiment succeeds, the idea of making movies based on these Spider-Man characters, without Spider-Man actually being in them, intrigued me.

It got me to thinking, as long as Sony is looking for ideas, perhaps I could pitch a few of my own. Full disclosure: I haven’t really put a ton of thought into these; I’m basically just pulling names out of a hat here and seeing what I can come up with. On that note, presented in no particular order are ten ideas that Sony could totally use for their cinematic universe, each in a hundred words or less!

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“CLUE: The Graphic Novel” by Nelson Daniel & Paul Allor [Review]

Wait…seriously? says the Hypothetical Reader. I’m reading a review of a comic book based on that board game I played maybe twice as a kid and then never thought about it again? To that I say…gosh, I certainly hope so. I put some real time into this, you know?

Look, I get it. I was skeptical myself, but after reading up on all things Clue over the last few days (i.e. I skimmed over all the pertinent bits on Wikipedia), I dunno, I guess curiosity got the best of me. I even pulled an old copy of the board game we had lying around the house to reacquaint myself with the set-up, and I think I have enough now to make this worth your time and mine. So yeah, let’s put on those deerstalker caps and dive in.

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Source: My basement, rescued from under a copy of Battleship and the “FRIENDS” Trivia Board Game. Incidentally, the artwork here is done by Drew Struzan. Yes, that Drew Struzan.

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“Moving Pictures” by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen [Review]

Isn’t it interesting how old forgotten things from our past find their way back into our lives? A crumpled up dollar bill you find in your pants pocket; a box of toys you stumble across during spring cleaning; running into an old friend from your high school days at the grocery store. They must have had some value to us once, some presumably more than others, but then for one reason or another we simply stopped thinking about them until one day, out of the blue, they sneak up on us. Moments like that make me wonder why those things were so important to me in the first place and, if they were, what does it say about me that I could forget them so easily?

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“How To Talk To Girls At Parties: The Graphic Novel” [Review]

Sup, Squares!

The comic I want to talk about today is based on a short story by acclaimed fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, covering a topic that has befuddled the minds of awkward teenagers for countless generations: “How To Talk To Girls at Parties”. Hey uh, quick question: kids these days still use the word “befuddled” in sentences, right? Mind you, I can’t actually hear you because the technology isn’t uh…isn’t quite there yet, so I’m just going to assume you’re all saying “yes” to your screen right now, or maybe just giving me a nod of agreement. Perfect, then let’s press on…

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“BUZZ!” by Tess Stone & Ananth Hirsh Is Why I Read Comics [Review]

I love reading comic books, but if I’m being completely honest with you — and I like to think we’ve reached that point by now — some days it’s harder for me to really decompress from all my other drama and just enjoy a good story. There have been a few points over the years where I’ve become so obsessed with pursuing the next big crossover or Kickstarter campaign or redesigned hardcover edition that I forget to actually read the books I’m buying. Inevitably, those are the moments when I hit “burnout”; when I can no longer distinguish the books that are actually good from the ones I’ve bought simply out of habit, and so I give up on all of them entirely.

Usually it’s a couple weeks before I’m finally cognizant enough to step back and realize what I’m doing to myself, and by then it can be difficult to remember why I ever loved reading these silly stories in the first place. Fortunately, there are a few comics I can always rely on to rekindle the fire in me. Today I’ll be taking some time to briefly talk/gush about one of them.

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