Siskoid Radio: Geek Out! - April 7th

"If you've ever beat someone at Magic just so you could sell him your winning deck, you might be a geek..."

This week, I'm fighting a cold, but the best radio voices are the ones that sound like you've been smoking a pack a day for the last 20 years, so... My reading of RPG stats for creatures mentioned in songs last week was a bit of a hit, so I'm gonna keep doing that. It's a good way to transition into songs. I'm also trying out new features to better fill the last half-hour. If you couldn't listen or understand the French interventions, I supply the episode's playlist, with You-Tube links where available.

Intro tune: Doctor Who IX - Murray Gold
Ouverture du Gala para académique - Justin Guitard (by popular demand because he's a friend of ours who wrote and sang a parody of the year in review - excuse the sound, it was recorded in a closet)
Geek News: This week's headlines include the Eisner nominations and how there isn't a New Series category this year despite DC putting out 52 of them.
Furr - Blitzen Trapper (+TORG stats for the werewolf)
Flash Theme - Songs and Stories of the Justice League
Comics round-up: Basically a few of the week's tweeted comic book reviews
Me Party - Amy Adams and Miss Piggy
TV recommendation: Greg the Bunny
U.S. Movies - Les Sherpas (sadly, this band has no Internet presence, booo, because their music is awesome)
Movie anti-recommendation: Having fun with the blaxploitation film Hot Potato
The Wrestler - Bruce Springsteen
Geek Band: Ookla the Mok
Secret Identity - Ookla the Mok
Super Powers - Ookla the Mok
Super Skrull - Ookla the Mok
I'm the One That's Cool - The Guild
Geek 101: CCGs
The Judoon Song - DrGaz (+DWAITAS stats)
Featurette: Deus ex Machina, why geeks are more wary of this device than most
Silmarils - Mackina
Featurette: Cryptozoology (the following song is about legendary lake monsters from Nessie to Poénégamook)
Boisson d'avril - Groovy Aardvark (+GURPS stats)
Goodbyes and your Doctor Who theme of the week (with wonderfully sad lyrics):
Doctor Who Zer0sen Remix - Patrick Wade Runyan

The show's on CKUM Radio every Saturday between 7 PM and 8:30 PM Atlantic Time (-4 GMT) on 93,5 FM in the Moncton area, or online, while capacity isn't exceeded, HERE. (Note that there won't be a show next week as the station is doing special programming around the East Coast Music Awards. As it turns out, I had to give my time to a charity event anyway.)

Doctor Who #137: The Power of the Daleks Part 1

"I'd like to see a butterfly fit into a chrysalis case after it's spread its wings."TECHNICAL SPECS: Aside from a few brief clips, the episode (indeed, the entire serial) is missing from the archives. I have used a reconstruction. First aired Nov.5 1966.

IN THIS ONE... The second Doctor's first appearance, but the colony on Vulcan think he's the Examiner come to inspect the Dalek capsule they've found.

REVIEW: The first regeneration is complete. Patrick Troughton is now the Doctor. And he's immediately wonderful, even without the full video. Wish we had it though. The pictures taken of this episode give him an impish look, and he does seem to tease his companions a lot, but in the short clips we have, you can tell there's a dark side bubbling underneath, whenever the Doctor goes quiet. Somehow, he's brought back mystery to the Doctor, the same kind of mystery present in An Unearthly Child. We know this new man is the Doctor, not just by virtue of hindsight, but because he sees the old Doctor in the mirror, and he remembers old adventures. But Ben and Polly don't share his point of view in the mirror, and weren't in those adventures, so it's far more ambiguous for them. And the Doctor isn't making it easy on them either, talking about himself in the third person and answering question with sharp flute sounds. They may well believe him to be some kind of impostor. Ben's questions (he's more a doubting Thomas than Polly is) have a function - it's not taken for granted that we'll accept this new character as the Doctor, so we're brought along on Ben and Polly's journey to accept him. Brilliant!

The Doctor, too, is discovering who he is, and it's a concept that will be repeated through all the post-regeneration episodes. He gives up the emblems of his old self, like the ring, and forages for new ones, a recorder, a diary and an outrageous hat. His impishness is disarming, but the fact that he's an unknown quantity makes him dangerous. He's also got an acid wit and a way with a turn of phrase. This was Hartnell's weakness, I think, especially in science fiction scenarios where the bafflegab never sat well with him. Troughton is more of an improviser, and finds a way to make even the scientific dialog work for him.

And of course he IS an impostor. He may be the Doctor, but he isn't the Examiner everyone on the Vulcan colony thinks him to be (or as Ben reminds us, all but the Examiner's murderer does). Vulcan is an interesting looking planet, with strange rock formations, mercury swamps and gas geysers putting our heroes in danger. I'm almost sorry to see them go inside where blank walls are the norm. The colony comes ready-made with a full cast of guest-stars who are obviously hiding something, or several somethings. And the Dalek capsule isn't even it. Like the Doctor, they've got secrets and are being evasive. And guess what, the Daleks will be the same. Writer David Whitaker ties everything into that theme. One of the Daleks' secrets is revealed however as we get our first shot of a naked Dalek mutant. In The Daleks, we saw a claw. Here, they are the tentacular blobs we still know. If this is all set-up, I can't wait to see what's next.

THEORIES: For regeneration trackers, the 2nd Doctor definitely thanks the TARDIS for his ability to "rejuvenate" himself (he's using Ben and Polly's words) and says he couldn't survive without it.

REWATCHABILITY: High - It's a crying shame Troughton's first story was wiped from the archives because even without the original video, it's a great start. The best post-regen stories are the ones where you immediately accept the new Doctor, and Troughton did it first.

The 1st Doctor: The Character Sheet

If you've been following my posts that turn the original seasons of Doctor Who into role-playing sessions, then you know what has to come next: Billy's left us his character sheet before taking his final bow. (Click to enlarge for legibility.)Stuff that didn't fit on the sheet (Billy kept it on the back)...

GOOD TRAITS
Boffin (Major)
Charming (Minor)
Gadget (Minor) - Time Lord Ring (the ring can activate TARDIS systems when the power is down and adds a +2 bonus to attempts at Hypnosis; the gadget also holds 1 Story Point, which was once used to unfuse the TARDIS lock using a particular sky's light after a visit from the Meddling Monk)
Hypnosis (Minor)
Indomitable (Major)
Keen Senses (Major)
Psychic Training (Minor)
Resourceful Pockets (Minor) - Sample items include a torch, small binoculars, a handkerchief and a piece of string
Time Traveler (Major) - The Doctor is familiar with the technology of all Tech Levels, unless in cases where the GM has decided some technology is strange even to him
Tough (Minor) - Though frail-looking, the Doctor was able to resist his
Voice of Authority (Minor)

BAD TRAITS
Adversary (Major) - Daleks, The Meddling Monk
Argumentative (Minor)
Eccentric/Cantankerousness (Minor) - The Doctor is quite volatile and may turn on his own companions
Eccentric/Grandfatherliness (Minor) - The Doctor bonds easily with teenage girls who remind him of Susan
Eccentric/Vanity (Minor) - The Doctor is uncommonly vulnerable to flattery, and will also take credit for others' work
Forgetful (Minor) - This also manifests in his speech patterns, making him tongue-tied or get names wrong
Insatiable Curiosity (Minor)
Weakness (Minor) - -2 penalty to Athletics when he doesn't have his walking stick in situations where it would be useful

SPECIAL TRAITS
Experienced
Time Lord - The first Doctor does not get the Traits Feel the Turn of the Universe or Vortex, making this Trait cost only 3 Story Points

FAVORITE METHOD FOR ACCUMULATING STORY POINTS
Losing access to the TARDIS was a big one at first, the Doctor even going so far as to sabotage his own ship for points (the group came to call it Fluid Linking). Over the course of three seasons, his favored trick became using his Forgetful Trait to get himself into hot water, refusing to acknowledge what his player could obviously see.

Hey Pat! Here the sheet. It's all you get to build your own version of the Doctor!

Doctor Who #136: The Tenth Planet Part 4

"This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin."TECHNICAL SPECS: Though a number of short clips from this episode exist, as a whole it has been lost. Reconstruction to the rescue. First aired Oct.29 1966.

IN THIS ONE... Mondas and the Cybermen are destroyed, and the Doctor regenerates for the first time.

REVIEW: Wouldn't you know it, the most important episode of this serial has to be the one that's missing. Thankfully, we do have a number of clips that feature Hartnell's performance and the all-important regeneration scene. After a noticeable absence from the previous episode, the Doctor returns at just about the same time the Cybermen do, and Cutler, who by this point is a raving and ranting madman, get himself killed. It's a relief, really. Now we can concentrate on things that matter - the main threat and the Doctor taking a defiant stand against it. While Polly is relegated to playing the scared hostage (it seems like she's going to be assimilated, but then isn't), Ben a good share of the action and figures out the Cybermen's vulnerability to (a specific kind of?) radiation. It makes him a bit Doctorish, and not just because he fluffs the word Mondas into Mandos. Were some of Hartnell's bits re-written for Ben to give the unwell outgoing star a bit of a break?

The Cybermen's other weakness of course is that their plans are complete rubbish. Why are they the only ones who don't know their planet is about to "fry" from an excess of energy? Stealing Earth's place in orbit is a good Whovian objective (i.e. epically ridiculous), but do they really have to destroy Earth to cut off the power drain? Wouldn't an off switch have been safer? Especially considering that once their planet starts melting, so do the Cybermen landing parties on Earth. It's all a bit deus ex, isn't it? Structurally, Ben's solution should have been applied on a larger scale. Instead, an illogical, magic solution is put into effect that solves everything.

Thematically, however, the fate of Mondas is mirrored in the Doctor's. He, too, is worn out. The end section is a wonderful piece of television, with strange music and direction, made more so by the way many of the existing clips flicker (film shooting television). It's hard not to see Hartnell's own struggle with health issues in the disorientated, sweating Doctor almost ramming a camera, moaning "It's FAR from over!" He has to get back to the TARDIS as soon as possible, and once there, locks Polly and Ben out, like an animal who needs to be alone so it can die in peace. He does allow them to come in, but has collapsed by then, and a white-out effect turns Hartnell into Troughton (see Theories). Today, we take regeneration for granted, but in 1966, it would still be 8 years before the word "regeneration" was even used! What must the audience at the time have made of this? On the surface, this is no stranger a cliffhanger than the Doctor being made invisible by the Toymaker. That it would be a lasting thing was the real innovation. Did they realize at the time that this scene would ensure the longevity of the program?

THEORIES: If you're trying to track how regeneration works, best of luck to you. Not until the new series would there be any kind of consistency to it. It looks here like the TARDIS is part of the process. The Doctor can feel his body giving out and heads immediately for the TARDIS, where he operates some controls. The central column moves and the regeneration effect is accompanied by the dematerialization sound. Are they related, or is the regeneration just happening at the same time? In the future, featured Time Lords will regenerate in or near the TARDIS on all but two occasions, so it at least seems better if the TARDIS acts as a control for the process.

VERSIONS: The Target novelization makes a number of changes, and not all of them make sense. The story takes place in 2000 instead of 1986. The old western projected into a Cyberman's face by Ben turns into a Roger Moore Bond film Ben claims to have just seen (seeing as that would have been in 1966...). The ending is also changed to end with a renewed Doctor looking at himself in the mirror. The regeneration is played more like Romana's in The Destiny of the Daleks, matter-of-factly.

REWATCHABILITY: High - Those last few minutes and Hartnell's last full performance alone are worth the viewing, even if the Cybermen plot turns out to be drivel.

STORY REWATCHABILITY: Medium-High - That The Tenth Planet is historically significant can hardly be debated. First Cybermen, first regeneration, last Hartnell story. The plot's just not very good is all.

Comics: How to Get Yourself Dropped in Three Easy Steps

Legion Lost #7 teaches you how!

Step 1: Having beloved Legionnaires pose as Kardashians to pass undetected in 21st-century society.Step 2: Misspell a word, showing your poor proofing skills.
Step 3: Announce a crossover with Lobdell's Teen Titans!
If you did it correctly, then congratulations! I've dropped your book!

Note: It is entirely possible to get the same result by skipping directly to Step 3. You've been advised.

Doctor Who #135: The Tenth Planet Part 3

"Well, I could make some coffee or something."TECHNICAL SPECS: Watched on Dailymotion. First aired Oct.22 1966.

IN THIS ONE... After the Doctor faints, Ben and Polly attempt to stop crazy General Cutler from blowing everybody up with his Z-bomb.

REVIEW: Part 3 is sorely lacking star power. Hartnell took ill that week, so the Doctor inexplicably faints (see Theories) and is out of commission for the duration, played only by a double. It's especially painful given that this is his penultimate episode (and the last of the Hartnell era still in the archives), but I guess it shows why a change needed to be made. But while Hartnell's absence has a real-life explanation, that of the Cybermen does not. After Part 2's big introduction, the bandaged giants are almost nowhere to be seen, showing up towards the end and getting their asses massacred in a snow storm.

The antagonist of the piece instead becomes General Cutler, but the stupid military mindset of the Whoniverse is doubly annoying when the Doctor isn't around to attack it with sparkling witticisms. Cutler really has gone round the bend, obsessed with making use of the Z-bomb, a deterrent that would be at home in Dr. Strangelove, despite its probable irradiation of half the Earth. He's told specifically not to use it, then tricks his higher-up into giving him carte blanche so he can use it anyway. It's really about saving his son, an astronaut with an even worse accent than his, which means we spend a lot of time in countdowns and other space program procedures. Ben and Polly do much in taking over the Doctor's role, keeping the story's moral compass and attempting to prevent the Z-bomb from launching. Ben is the action man, and gets to crawl through the program's first modern ventilation shaft (the first of many), while Polly offers to make coffee (it's her thing) as a way to stay on Barclay's shoulder and play angel to Cutler's devil. We'll see if they succeed in the next episode, or if Ben's concussion was all for naught.

The science continues to be bonkers, but that should be obvious from the Z-bomb (strictly B-movie). The missile which can destroy a whole planet, and of which there are only three on Earth, is a smallish affair in a guarded room Ben can access rather easily. But if they just wait out the power drain, Mondas will just fry itself. Surely by then, Earth will have stopped spinning and died? And wouldn't Cutler Jr. be killed if such a bomb exploded in space? Especially if the planet goes supernova (WHAT.), as Barclay fears. It's hard to believe writer Kit Pedler was brought on to bring "hard science" to the program. I guess he was a "medical scientist" and little else. Leave the physics to the big boys, Kit.

THEORIES: Why does the Doctor pass out? No doubt, it's for the same reason he is forced to regenerate in the next episode. Now, the Doctor's first body looks old even by Time Lord standards, but surely that's not it alone. Of course, his inate vitality has taken quite a few hits lately. The Time Destructor aged him, and in The Savages, he was drained of his energies. And in this serial, the Cybermen are draining energy from Earth. And it's not just Earth's motive and geothermal energy, because electrical systems are also affected. Yet, humans don't seem affected. Could Time Lord physiology be different enough that the Doctor WOULD be? After all, whatever sparks regeneration looks to be an energy effect. Is the Doctor drained of life, or was the regeneration energy matrix pulled out of him, causing him first to collapse, and later to regenerate? If so, then the Cybermen can be proud (if only they had emotions) that they drew first blood and killed the first Doctor.

REWATCHABILITY: Medium-Low - Without the main protagonist OR the serial's main antagonist, we're left with some very annoying butch officer vs. sniveling scientist action and a whole lot of nonsense. Ben and Polly are the saving grace, but not enough for a better recommendation. I think you can skip from Part 2 to Part 4 with little fuss.

Dial H for... Harlan Ellison?!

The title will make sense soon, Dialers! This is the other two-thirds of Adventure Comics #479, with lots more heroes and a couple of villain who both use the word "dolt" a lot. Coincidence? (Actually, yes. Though you can blame it on lazy writing if you like... by Marv Wolfman, who also includes publicity for New Teen Titans into the work. Hmm.) At least Wolfman builds on Chris and Vicki's life in high school, where Vicki plays basketball even though soccer is the "in" sport, and Chris' science teacher is apparently a world-class scientist. I guess he's just not that ambitious.

Case 20: Adventure Comics #479
Dial Holders: Chris and Vicki
Dial Type: Watch and Pendant Dials
Dialing: Whatever hand is guiding the transformations, it gives Chris exactly the right power to cure the Silver Fog of his condition in one of the two stories, so the Dials aren't as random as they seem.Name: Doomster (AKA Master of the Cosmic Lightning, almost sounds evil)
Created by: Nelson Jimenez, Age 18, of the University of Connecticut
Costume: A purple and yellow number with flashy gloves, boots and plastron, but an unforgivable jester's hat as part of his cowl.
Powers: The Doomster rides the lightning quite literally, like the Silver Surfer rides a surfboard. He also throws lightning bolts around. COSMIC lightning bolts.
Sighted: In Fairfax (which Carmine Infantino can't help but make look like Central City). He and Grasshopper foil the Silver Fog's robbery, but fail to capture him.
Possibilities: The crazy look, yet derivative powers, make him a good candidate for one of the DCU's lesser team. Like Japan's Super Young Team.
Integration Quotient: 15% (not bad, but the costume is going to close a lot of doors for the Doomster)

Name: Grasshopper (a solid insect name for a superhero)
Created by: Monte Wilson, Age 17, of Yuron, OK
Costume: The green tights, halter and pixie boots put me in mind of Tinkerbell, but GH has a strange crown that looks like antennae, and a massive pair of earrings to break up the legal posse.
Powers: The Grasshopper can jump and seems pretty fast.
Sighted: In Fairfax. See Doomster.
Possibilities: There are grasshoppers all over, which means she could find her niche practically anywhere, but she seems well suited to jumping across urban landscapes. Perhaps a less street vigilante, a cheeky wink to Spider-Man.
Integration Quotient: 20% (insect heroes are easy to sell thanks to you-know-who)
Name: The Composite Man (old school name and Maddrox might be pissed)
Created by: Ben Stillwell, Age 23, of Adolphus, KY
Costume: A rather ordinary white and blue uniform, CM's blond hair come out the top, and the lines on his mask make him look a little cross-eyed. Strangely, his duplicates are just featureless while figures.
Powers: The Composite Man can shoot tiny, featureless versions of himself out of his crotch and stomach. These are fearless and do not cause pain to the main hero when they are destroyed. CM can "recall" them in an instant, making them disappear from reality.
Sighted: In Fairfax. He fought and defeated the Red Death at the high school.
Possibilities: His powers aren't generic even if his costume is. I see him as a governement agent, helping one of a number of organizations with his unique abilities.
Integration Quotient: 25% (he's unusual enough to get an inclusion, though not memorable enough to appear very often)
Name: Twilight (the name is a seller, I tell ya! And DC already has dibs because Shadow Lass once used it)
Created by: Delmo Walters Jr., Age 12, of The Bronx, NY
Costume: Pink and blue, with stars on her belt to evoke the night sky, Twilight wears her hair in an unusual front-placed ponytail.
Powers: Twilight can fire a beam of "black light" that blinds her opponents, just like Shadow Lass.
Sighted: In Fairfax. See Composite Man.
Possibilities: She's not blue enough to be a Talosian, but maybe she could be one of the shadow's chosen slumming it on Earth in disguise.
Integration Quotient: 5% (we've already got this character in the Legion and LEGION, we don't really need another)
Name: Windsong (a pretty name for a heroine, with fantasy connotations)
Created by: Frank Mills Jr., Age 17, Address unknown
Costume: A fetching blue and white number with a plunging neckline, her cape, hair and swirling designs merge thematically to produce the required effect.
Powers: Windsong creates tornadoes that propel her into the air, or disperse gas-like villains.
Sighted: In Fairfax. She helps stop the Silver Fog once and for all.
Possibilities: Windsong is a good-looking heroine in the Storm mold who could use her elemental powers on many "young hero" teams, or could be a good-hearted witch in Skartaris or Arion's Atlantis.
Integration Quotient: 50% (her look doesn't preclude displacement to a more mystical clime, which opens a lot of doors)
Name: Captain Electron (how long before Captain Atom comes over to school you?)
Created by: Stephen de Stephano., Age 14, of So. Ozone Park, NY (he would grow up to create 'mazing Man, Hero Hotline and a lot of Instant Piano strips! In fact, watch for more of his designs to make it into Dial H.)
Costume: Red and yellow, a bit like the Human Torch's alternate costume, but with no chest insignia. Captain Electron tries to make himself distinctive with crazy wild ginger hair and a shiny metallic belt, but is it enough?
Powers: Captain Electron fires explosive electron bursts, which he can also use to propel himself through the air.
Sighted: In Fairfax. He stops the Silver Fog by stabilizing his molecular structure, and destroys a truck-full of his family's furniture.
Possibilities: Captain Atom could start a team of particle-powered heroes...
Integration Quotient: 15% (some potential, but energy blasters are a dime a dozen)

Bonus Supervillains
Name: Red Death (an Edgar Alan Poe buff? It's a good name!)
Created by: Russell Frakes, Age 16, of Carrollton, MO
Costume: Red and white is fine for a skull-helmeted villain with a huge cape, but I have to wonder why the skull'n'crossbones on his chest and his helmet both have a toothy smile. It's a bit silly, not to mention repetitive. The Red Skull called...
Powers: The Red Death decays anything he touches, making floors and walls collapse, tiny Composite Men turn to dust, and even wither his own hands. He gloves may help him control the ability and seem immune to the power.
Sighted: In Fairfax. He is really Hal Kramer, bent on revenge against a high school science teacher for being the better scientist after an experiment gone wrong gave him the means to get back at those who mocked him. He maims himself by trying to grab hold of a tiny Composite Man and missing.
Possibilities: He's sort of appeared already, hasn't he? The Red Mask from Grant Morrison's Animal Man #7 is very close to Red Death, with a similar costume and powers. He apparently fought a little-known hero during the 40s, which is pretty much where I see the Red Death.
Integration Quotient: 80% (Grant Morrison found a way)
Name: Silver Fog (sounds like a crooner, but it's actually a plant; good name)
Created by: Harlan Ellison, Age 46, of Sherman Oaks, CA (yes, THAT Harlan Ellison)
Costume: Not surprisingly, the costume is silvery, with some impressive metal underpants and some perhaps unnecessarily pointy head gear. The best feature is how the trim around his gloves, boots and cape sometimes go gaseous.
Powers: The Silver Fog can relax his molecular density so as to pass through solid objects, fly, and stretch out parts of his body. Unfortunately, he's losing control of that density and is in danger of losing complete cohesion. Only an electron burst can stabilize him, and thankfully, Chris become Captain Electron.
Sighted: In Fairfax. He commits a number of robberies geared towards helping him fix his density problem. Once cured, he turns himself in and makes reparations to all the affected parties.
Possibilities: A good ghostly villain for heroes who regularly deal with super-powered thieves (like the Flash). Silver Fog could also work as a tragic villain à la Mr. Freeze, who is cursed by his powers.
Integration Quotient: 100% (Marv Wolfman used the Silver Fog again - though with a different backstory, but same costume - in New Teen Titans vol.2 #40! That character's son became a new Silver Fog who fought Impulse.)

And that's it for Adventure Comics #479! 480 will be coming to you sooner than later!