Skip to content

Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story by Robyn Doolittle

Sigh. I kinda feel sorry for Robyn Doolittle. She’s an excellent reporter for the Toronto Star, but sadly her name is most associated with Rob Ford. Crazy Town is a book about our mayor, his family, and his problems. Crazy Town at times is extremely hard to read. We’ve lived through this drama for the past three years (longer, if you include his time as councillor). We’ve seen the insanity. Reliving it is not something you really want to do. However, Doolittle does add some interesting new revelations into her book that make it quite interesting. For non-Torontonians, I think it is a must-read. Anyone outside this city who has seen… Read More »Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story by Robyn Doolittle

Doctor Who Serial 040 – The Enemy of the World

Synopsis: The Doctor is mistaken for Salamander, a man who is trying to become dictator of the world. Salamander’s enemies try to convince The Doctor to impersonate the evil man and help take him out. In the 1970s, the BBC was junking old TV shows in its archive. Back then, reruns didn’t exist, and the concept of home video and DVD would have been ridiculous. The shows were recorded onto video, and rather than buying new tapes, it was easier to blank the existing ones. They also had 16mm prints which were used to sell shows to foreign markets. Since film takes up a lot of space, those were destroyed… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 040 – The Enemy of the World

Political Parties

Parties are no longer about commitment, in the sense of principles, loyalty and tradition. Long ago, partisans rallied to Sir John A. Macdonald’s Tories under the slogan “the Old Man, the Old Flag, the Old Policy.” No more. A party is not a collective project. It is a “mutual fund.” Commitment has become investment, and investment demands appropriate returns. If “wasted,” it should be pulled out and put “elsewhere.” The party’s name and symbols are no longer marks of allegiance, but are merely a “brand.” Brands are corporate marketing devices for products. Brand identification is intended to promote sales. If sales falter, re-branding may be required.” – Reg Whitaker writing… Read More »Political Parties

Doctor Who Serial 039 – The Ice Warriors

I forgot to mention at the end of the last post… Serial 038, The Abominable Snowmen, is missing five of its six episodes. Back to The Ice Warriors. Synopsis: Global climate change is wreaking havoc on Earth. Scientist are using an ion beam to manually heat the Earth and combat an impending ice age. In the glacier they find… AN ICE WARRIOR! This six-part story has two episodes missing (and animated), which means, I’ve never seen it before! It’s a fun episode, but a bit dumb. They introduce a new villain that they call “The Ice Warriors.” We never get to hear their actual name, but learn they are from Mars. These ice… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 039 – The Ice Warriors

Senate

This is what Canadian politics has come down to. Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, announces one of most incredible moves in Senate reform since Confederation, kicking all Liberal senators out of caucus to force them to sit as independents, and he gets upstaged by Rob Ford who allegedly ordered a prison beating. Prime Minister Harper has been talking about Senate reform for at least a decade. He’s been in power since 2006, and has barely done anything. Trudeau’s step is a step in the right direction. It’s not going to end up meaning too much yet, but it could make a huge difference in the future.… Read More »Senate

Doctor Who Serial 037 – The Tomb of the Cybermen

Synopsis: After 500 years without Cybermen, an Earth expedition of archeologists finds their homeworld to find the Cybermen sleeping in wait. Hello, and welcome to The Patrick Troughton Years. The Patrick Troughton years of Doctor Who are arguably the best. Troughton brought something very unique to the role, he brought comedy and clowning. Perhaps the greatest asset Troughton had in his time on Doctor Who was Frazer Hines. Hines played Scottish highlander Jamie McCrimmon for twenty stories, to give you some perspective, Patrick Troughton played The Doctor in twenty-one stories1. I cannot think of any companion who lasted as long as Jamie did, three years.  The Doctor liked to hide how… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 037 – The Tomb of the Cybermen

Doctor Who Serial 029 – The Tenth Planet

So it turns out that serial 028, The Smugglers, is a missing story. Not a single episode exists. I had downloaded a reconstruction. Since that doesn’t interest me in the least, the fourth season premiere story will be skipped, and we’ll go on to The Tenth Planet. Episodes 1-3 of The Tenth Planet exist, while episode 4 is lost in the ether. The BBC has animated it for DVD release, and that is what I shall be watching. This serial is rather special, as it is William Hartnell’s final story. This is the first time we see regeneration. Doctor Who will soon enter a new era as Patrick Troughton takes on the titular role… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 029 – The Tenth Planet

Doctor Who Serial 027 – The War Machines

Synopsis: A COMPUTER GOES CRAZY! First things first. Stephen left during episode four of The Savages. We didn’t see it. It’s just The Doctor and Dodo, I hope he ditches her sometime soon1. They keep on trying to experiment. In The Chase was had ridiculous piano music. In The Gunfighters we had that terrible song. In this episode, The War Machines, we have a rather insane opening for each episode. I love-hate it so much, I had to upload it to YouTube. The Doctor gets a strange feeling when looking at a building. He makes his way into a secret laboratory where the scientists have created a computer well ahead of its time, WOTAN.… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 027 – The War Machines

Doctor Who Serial 025 – The Gunfighters

Synopsis: The Doctor in the wild west! The Doctor has a toothache, and ends up finding Doc Holiday. I remember this serial being horrible, mostly because of the terrible “American” accents. The Doctor sees Doc Holiday, for his toothache, doesn’t seem to realize that dental work in the 19th century is far from ideal. Why he doesn’t pop into the TARDIS and head off somewhere new where perhaps they have better dental work is beyond me. I don’t understand the appeal of Westerns that seemed to be so prevalent in the 1960s. It was a time of lawlessness. It was post-pioneer, but pre-civility. All the sci-fi shows of the time… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 025 – The Gunfighters

Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones

Doctor Who Serial 023 – The Ark

Synopsis: The Doctor, Dodo, and Steven arrive on an ark which is taking the human population from a doomed Earth to a new planet. The guardians who are awake for this journey catch a cold from Dodo, and thus put The Doctor and his companions on trial. After less than a minute, we learn that our monster of the week is Brian Jones! Turns out they’re the Monoids, and they’re essentially slaves for the human population, but they imply that the Monoids are slaves voluntarily. Yeah, uh ha. The legal minds who wrote this script must have a great experience in the court room. No evidence, no anything except conjecture.… Read More »Doctor Who Serial 023 – The Ark