Savage Musings....

My Doctor Who marathons has brought me to the end of season 14 and the introduction of one of my favorite companions, the savage warrior of the Sevateem, Leela.

Armed with janis thorns and her handy knife, and clad in next to nothing compared to previous companions Leela kicked butt during her travels with the Doctor. What I like about her character is that she is intelligent and resourceful, but this usually doesn't surface much when the Doctor is around because he always too busy telling her to shut-up, sit down, or be quiet. Really! Sometimes the Doctor can be such a pain! 

On my DW bucket list is to learn more of Leela story. She has been a major character on her own in many Big Finish audio stories. 

This November I will have the pleasure of seeing Louise Jameson for the second time at Chicago Tardis. Jameson is a delight, and has some of the best stories about the actor behind my favorite Doctor, Tom Baker. Now, if we could just get Tom Baker to travel to Chicago for Thanksgiving weekend!

http://www.chicagotardis.com/

BBQ... I make a mean pulled jackfruit! Vegan Month of Food - Day 2

My meat-eating daughter has today off so I offered to make her anything she wanted for dinner. She picked pulled pork. I appreciate the fact that she chose a meal I could just put in the crock pot and forget. But, what would I eat?

Searching through the web I found exactly what I was looking for... BBQ Pulled Jackfruit at http://chowvegan.com/2008/05/28/bbq-pulled-jackfruit-sandwich/. 

I've tried Jackfruit carnita before and found the texture of the final product a bit gummy for my liking. So, what I liked about this recipe was cooking the jackfruit in a pan before putting in a crock pot. I cooked my jackfruit about 15 minutes, and added extra garlic and cumin. I waited until the jackfruit was a wee bit dried out and light browned in spots before moving to the slow cooker. 

In the slow cooker I added two sliced sweet onions and the barbecue sauce. Since the jackfruit has no protein to speak of, I decided I wanted to boost the protein with some beans. But, I didn't want the beans to detract from the "pulled pork" nature of the dish so, I pureed a can of dark red kidney beans with 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup brown sugar. I added this, with a bit of teriyaki sauce, to the mix. 

Yum! I'm servicing this with homemade whole wheat sandwich roll, potato wedges, and coleslaw. 

Vegan Month of Food - Day 1

My favorite pancake recipe - Oatmeal Pancakes! I make these with flax eggs and applesauce. I've tried making the recipe with all whole wheat flour, unbleached white flour, whole wheat pastry flour, gluten-free baking mix and regular all-purpose flour. The all-purpose flour version makes the lightest recipe, if made with a cup of soy milk or rice milk diluted with a cup of water. I also find that almond milk, no matter how much water I mix it with makes the pancakes gummy.

Of course, the pancakes would not be complete without our homemade - home tapped maple syrup!

Oatmeal Pancakes


1 ½ cups rolled oats - pulsed in food processor
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour 
1 tbsp. each brown sugar and baking powder
1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. flax meal mixed with 1/2 cup warm water

2 cups non-dairy milk or soy milk (1 cup non-dairy milk + 1 cup water)
1 tbsp. vanilla extract 
1/2 cup of applesauce

In a large bowl, blend together oats and milk and let stand 5 minutes.

In small bowl or measuring cup mix flax and warm water. In a medium bowl, stir together white flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
To the oat mixture, add the flax egg, applesauce, and the bowl of dry ingredients.
To make pancakes, use approximately ¼ cup batter per pancake. Cook over medium-high heat on a griddle or lightly-oiled frying pan.

Adapted from: http://suite101.com/article/oatmeal-pancakes-recipe-a46578

I'm dealing with fifty years of programming... something is bound to get lost along the way.

The other night I was reading reviews of Star Trek: Into the Darkness when I had the passing thought... Simon Pegg would make a great addition to Doctor Who.

In one of the numerous duh moments of my life, I turned on Doctor Who this morning and the BBCA was showing The Long Game ... 

... And sometimes it's nice to play with the grown-ups

I actually just finished The Mutants, story number 63 and the fourth story of season 9, but I wanted to take a moment and reflect upon the some of my highlights of the previous seasons of the the third Doctor. After the Time Lords left us hanging at the end of The War Games, I entered  unknown territory. I had never seen a complete story with the Doctor's assistant/companion Liz Shaw, and this season proved to be a treat.

My introduction to the Doctor came toward the end of the 10th season, so for me, my first real companion was Sarah Jane Smith. And, as a woman I could identify with her... smart, liberated, brave, outspoken... Liz Shaw has those qualities too. 

What makes Liz Shaw unique is that she, more than any other person at U.N.I.T is the Doctor's equal. As the science adviser of U.N.I.T, Liz Shaw holds the post which will eventually become the Doctor's. She actually grasps what the Doctor is working on, even when he is dismissive. Of course, these qualities are also her downfall, as her character was seen as being too smart for the audience to relate to. 

Shame on you Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks... you set a whole new standard for ditsy companions in your creation of Jo Grant! But more on that later...

Liz Shaw's final appearance came in my favorite story of that season, Inferno.  The icy Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw, alternate universe Liz Shaw, is so well played by Caroline John. Just as smart as her alt-universe counterpart, this Elizabeth Shaw channels that intelligence into a calculating and determined officer of the fascist regime of her world. She is the true hero of the story, recognizing that the Doctor's plan is the correct thing to do, and will give meaning to the death she is facing on her Earth. 

In Caroline John's obituary, Toby Hadoke recognizes the unique qualities that John's character embodied in a Doctor Who companion. "As Dr Elizabeth Shaw, she provided brains, cool-headed intelligence and maturity where once the Doctor's female companions had screamed and asked questions."  These are qualities, that as a female fan of the show I can relate to, and unfortunately find lacking to a certain extent in New Who. 

When the marathons are over I would like to learn more about the Liz Shaw and her further experiences with the Doctor found in the novels and audios.

Farewell to the little hobo Doctor... In Epic Style

I admit a fondness for the epic qualities of the some of the stories of the 60s era Doctors. The creators of the day had the extra time allowed for the complete play-out of subplots and exploration of minor characters that isn't possible trying to squeeze epic into a 42-minute package... Heck back in the good ol' days that wasn't even two weeks of programming.

With that being said... Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, and Wendy Padbury received an epic sendoff in The War Games.

What Whovian could ask for anything more... crazy screechy bad guys, hypno-glasses, hypercubes, bad accents (I didn't know that the Grand Army of the Republic recruited Caribbean islanders to serve in the Civil War), Time Lords in their casual Friday outfits, and a proto-Master!

Time Lords: You've Got Mail!

The Troughton Era has obviously been an inspiration to the fanboys who make Doctor Who today. Bowties & Hypercubes included. Of course, I'm still waiting for the return of a companion who can rock a kilt, but given the current obsession with pretty young things... it would be a mini-kilt! Not what I had in mind.

Casual Friday Time Lords

 I love "Time Lord" stories, especially classic Time Lords - and new-Who without John Simm. The War Games is significant in that we meet the regular stay-at-home Time Lords who are called upon to help the human captives and end the War Lord's game. Unfortunately the choir robes are a poor replacement for the opulent robes which will be seen in future stories. The War Chief more than makes up for the lack of flash on the part of the Time Lords.

War Chief and Doctor

In the War Chief, I see the debonair flair and fashion sense of the Master. Watching this story after having been introduced to Doctor Who during the big-bad days of Roger Delgado, I am a bit concerned about the upbringing of Time Lords during the Rassilon Era.

So... we are left at the end of the story with the indecisive Doctor having his selection of appearance taken away by the Time Lords who exile him to Earth. A new Earth of vibrant colors!

Krotons and Ice Warriors and Pirates... Oh, my!

Oh, my dear Time Lords... season six, the second Doctor's final season, is a trying experience. I had such high hopes after the delightful story The Invasion, only to have them dashed twenty episodes later. But, I am optimistic, and have the 10 episode final story of the second Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe.

So, lets take a look at the stories...

The Krotons

Our intrepid trio decides that they need a vacation, but the TARDIS has other ideas, of course! So, they end up in a wasteland where the survivors are slowly feeding their best and brightest to an unseen enemy. Obviously the ultimate brain-drain, and that's probably why no one on the planet figured this out before the Doctor arrived.

The Doctor and Zoe, being the best and brightest of.... everything... make the Krotons head spin, and that was my favorite part!

The Seeds of Death

Admittedly, this is the best of the three. It is the rich creamy center of some nasty dried up cookie!

Meanwhile back on Earth... The Ice Warriors are transporting killer snowballs to Earth and stag a one-warrior invasion of an Earth based weather station. Luckily all you have to do is turn up the thermostat and the Ice Warriors pass out.

My favorite character is Gia Kelly, the commander of the T-Mat. She's a bit set in her ways, but steps up when needed and supports the Doctor. 

On the flip-side, I was left after watching the story trying to figure out how much longer Jamie was going to let the Doctor and Zoe treat him like a dolt. Then read the Frazer Hines tried to leave the series this season but was talked out of it by Patrick Troughton, so I guess he was sick of his character repeatedly being told to shut-up, too.

The Space Pirates

All I need to say, my dear Whovian peeps, is AMERICAN ACCENTS!

You immediately thought... Daleks in Manhattan, and we all know how bad that was!

Secondly... silver butt-heads! 

The combination makes this episode one of the funniest one I've seen so far, and not in a good way!