Go Sox!!!

Save The Doctor, Save the World

I'm such a geek. Last week I purchased the Series Three Dr. Who and Martha Jones action figures. It looks as though the manufacturers cheaped out this time around, as the figures don't come with any accessories like those in Series One and Two. The Doctor doesn't even come with a sonic screwdriver this time, even though one of his hands is shaped to hold it because they used the same mold for this action figure as they did with the other two series. See what a geek I am that I can differentiate between the series of action figures? Next thing you know I'll be comparing the paint jobs on the faces before buying them to get the "best ones," and I'll be afraid to take my action figures out of their original packaging because MIB doesn't increase in value as much as NRFB. I like how they made the David Tennant-as-Dr. Who action figure wear glasses this time because, in the words of David Tennant himself, "The world need a speccy hero." As one who is cursed with appallingly bad eyesight and can't see two inches in front of my face without corrective lenses, I say Amen!

Tonight was the American premiere of the last episode of the most recent season of "Dr. Who," wherein Dr. Who is imprisoned by his nemesis The Master, and it's up to Martha Jones to save all of humanity, and indeed, the entire universe, from utter chaos and destruction. But we all knew she would, didn't we? What I didn't expect was the kiss-off Martha gave to the Doctor at the end when he asked her to continue to accompany him on his trips through space and time. After initially being secretive with her about who he really was, and ignoring the fact that she was in love with him - at times to the point of being insensitive - did he really expect that she would continue to risk her life traveling in a shabby old police call box to uncertain danger and life-threatening encounters with species from other universes, just because he doesn't want to be alone? Boo hoo! Hell, even The Master blew him off, choosing to kill himself rather than spend the rest of his life traveling with the Doctor (albeit as his prisoner). But Girlfriend took the Doctor to task, possibly being the only person to make the Doctor feel ashamed of himself. And I'm guessing this is the first time the Doctor ever got dumped. I like the fact that this new series of Dr. Who doesn't paint the Doctor as the perfect, infallible superhero. He has faults. He makes mistakes. And for once, someone called him out on it. You go Martha Jones!

Of course, Martha's exit paves the way for next season's new companion, comedienne Catherine Tate. She will be reprising her role as the annoying Donna Noble from last year's Christmas special. I can't wait! But don't worry, we haven't seen the last of Martha Jones. I hear she gets a job at Torchwood, the Dr. Who spin-off show that I've also become addicted to. Torchwood heroine Gwen Cooper kicks butt too, but that's probably going to be another post for another time. And if the rumor of Torchwood action figures turns out to be true, I'll have to get a Gwen action figure too. And I will take it out of its original packaging.

Where Have All the Tourists Gone? Everybody's Askin'

Despite my previous post about how Salem gets crazy busy in October, this season is off to a slow start. There are tourists in town, but it doesn't seem as crowded as past years. And these past two weeks have been excrutiatingly slow at the tea shop. Today I made a total of 60 cents in tips - not even enough for bus fare home. Last year there were lines out the door for hot apple cider and hot chocolate. It's only the first week of October, though, so hopefully things will pick up. Tonight is the Haunted Happenings parade through town. It officially kicks off the Halloween season. It goes right past the tea shop, but I decided to go right home after work because I didn't want to deal with the crowds and the re-routed traffic, which might have affected my bus ride home if I left later. The fact that it's early October and it was 85 degrees out today doesn't help to make it feel like autumn in New England.

And speaking of autumn, it's time for the new fall season of television shows. Last night I watched "Pushing Daisies" on ABC. I don't watch any of the shows on the ABC network except for "Dancing with the Stars" (and don't even get me started about how they pre-empted last week's dance episode until 1:45 am because of football, which means I missed it and didn't realize it until I tuned in for what I thought was the dance episode but was in fact the results show). But now I will have to make an exception. "Pushing Daisies" is about a man who has the ability to bring the dead back to life if he touches them, but only for a minute, because if he doesn't touch them again, which makes them dead permanently, then a sort of cosmic equalization takes place and someone else dies. So he uses his ability to re-animate murder victims, asks them who killed them, touches them again, and then collects the reward money. But when one of those victims is his childhood sweetheart, he can't bring himself to touch her again to make her die permanently. The show is full of black humor, and is very quirky and charming. It has a magical Dr. Seuss-meets-Tim Burton quality that makes it unique from most of the shows out there, right down to the use of a narrator (British actor Jim Dale), which gives it the feel of a strange yet fascinating fairy tale for grown-ups being read aloud. British actress Anna Friel is absolutely adorable as the protagonist's dead childhood sweetheart. She has a gamine quality that makes her a modern-day Audrey Hepburn. And it's great to see Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz again - two veterans of stage and screen in roles so quirky and eccentric that only they could play them.



Next week, ABC continues its new fall season of quirky shows with a program about a woman who's lost her memory, called "Sarah Who" - not to be confused with "Dr. Who."