"Aliens."

The Doctor: Where’d you want to start?
Rose: Um. The inside’s bigger than the outside?
The Doctor: Yes.
Rose: It’s alien.
The Doctor: Yeah.
Rose: Are you alien?
The Doctor: Yes. Is that all right?
Rose: Yeah.

Rose, Doctor Who

I was recently killing some time browsing at the Indigo outlet at Broadway and Granville while waiting to meet my friend Chris at the Storm Crow, and idly picked up a Doctor Who novel.  Although I generally don't buy novelizations and adaptations, in this case, I was literally just looking (which can lead to some interesting discoveries).

 

The cover blurb for this 13th Doctor adventure read as follows:

"A ruthless alien threat."  Sigh...

As fond as I am of Doctor Who, I feel that the show has one problem: it always has to be aliens.  Mayor of Cardiff pushing for a nuclear power station?  Turns out to be a Slitheen who wants to use it to power the Cardiff Rift to create a passage home, destroying Earth in the process.  Random visit to the city of Pompeii just before the eruption that destroys the city? It's being caused by alien Pyroviles trying to make a new home for themselves after the destruction of their planet. Superhero origin story?  Accidentally swallows alien technology.  Time travel to 1938 New York - turns out the Statue of Liberty is a giant alien Weeping Angel.

At some point this can become absurd.  Local supermarket runs out of milk?  Plot by bovinate aliens to rescue cows from servitude and slavery.*  Piece of gum stuck to the Doctor's shoe?  Alien hitch-hiker attempting to take over the TARDIS.

To be fair, there have been a few episodes, such as Season 11's Arachnids in the UK, that have relied on human malfeasance rather than alien malice, but by and large, yep, it's aliens.

It may be surprising, but I'd actually like to see more stories without the alien factor.  The Rosa episode really didn't require a time-travelling conservative trying to stop Rosa Parks, it could have just dealt with being witnesses to history who become participants in order to ensure that events transpire as they are meant to.  Similarly, The Demons of the Punjab doesn't need any demons, the tragedy of families in conflict was all the story they needed.

So, in the unlikely event that anyone at the BBC is reading this, hey, maybe it would be interesting to invest some time in looking at all the reasons that the Doctor decided to spend so much time on this ridiculous little planet on the edge of nowhere - with only the one alien involved.

- Sid

* The part about servitude and slavery is a Jean-Luc Picard quote, which really has no place in a Doctor Who posting - although there was an eight-issue Star Trek-Doctor Who crossover comic book miniseries published in 2012 by IDW.

Which actually sounds like the concept for a Netflix series.

Photo by KT

Last night we saw British indie pop band Bastille in concert, on tour to support their new Doom Days album.  Obviously I'm going to support a band that decides to do an apocalyptic concept album based around an all-night party that takes place during the end of the world - apparently Pompeii was just a warm-up in terms of disaster music.

- Sid

NYNY 2019: "IF WE DON'T HAVE IT, A SUPERHERO DOESN'T NEED IT."

 

Captain America: You got heart, kid, where are you from?
Spider-Man: [Straining] Queens!
Captain America: Brooklyn!

Captain America: Civil War

With our New York vacation finished, I have to admit to one small regret:  that we didn't have an opportunity to visit the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, located, as you might guess, in the savage heart of Brooklyn itself. (Okay, actually kind of north and to the west of the actual heart, but you get the idea.)

The BSSC is exactly what its name implies, a storefront location that sells the necessities of day-to-day heroic life:  masks, capes, utility belts, tins of Invisibility, cans of Antimatter, and convenient packs containing Intuition, Gumption, X-Ray Vision, Reflexes, Mind Control and Bravery.

 

As with its meta-powered clientele, the Superhero Supply Company has its own secret identity, accessible through a hidden entrance at the back of the store: that of a mild-mannered non-profit arts and literature organization, 826NYC, whose mission statement is more than a little reminiscent of the opening voice-over from Star Trek - or maybe the Superman TV series from the 1950s:

"Our mission is to encourage the exploration of endless possibility through the power of writing. To empower students with the skills to write their own paths forward, undefined by circumstance. To support new and exciting approaches to writing and inspire student engagement. And to foster generations of creative writers and thinkers, who together will define a better future."

826NYC, a branch of 826 National, is dedicated to helping students between the ages of 6 and 18 to become better writers through workshops, tutoring, and by providing publishing opportunities for student work.  All proceeds from the sale of superhero supplies go towards supporting 826NYC, but that's not their sole source of funding:  luminaries such as Jon Stewart, David Byrne, Sam Rockwell, Cynthia Nixon, Bob Balaban and many others have appeared at fundraising events.

I realize that I could easily order from the Company's website, but somehow it doesn't feel the same as strolling up to a counter with an armload of assorted superpowers.  However, it's very likely that Karli and I will visit New York again in the not too distant future, and maybe we'll find the time to take the train over to Brooklyn to stock up on some Inspiration.

Ignoring the admirable real-world purpose of the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, it seems like such a logical idea that there would be an outlet offering supplies to the superhero community* - or, more interestingly, superhero supplies to the rest of the population.  Lord knows there have been lots of times when a quart or two of Invincibility would have been a handy thing to have around.

And, to make the whole joke even funnier, imagine if the superpower supplies actually worked...

- Sid

* By extension, that suggests that there would be an equivalent organization supporting super villains, and I do recall owning an issue of the Avengers that introduced the Taskmaster, who ran a school for evil minions - no, not the little yellow guys, I mean the sort of people who worked for the Joker, you know, the ones that Batman and Robin would punch with an accompanying visual sound effect.