doctor who: the lodger

do you want to know what i think?  doctor who is really a fine form of escapism.

so last night's episode--the lodger--was brilliant.  why?  one of my favorite things about it was that the emphasis was on the doctor and all his quirkiness.  i'm not saying that i don't like amy pond.  i do.  but she can get on my nerves sometimes, and i think sometimes there isn't enough focus placed upon the character of the doctor and developing this particular incarnation of the time lord.  that's why last night's episode was so fantastic (read: bloody brilliant - i wanted to write that but then thought hey, i'm not british! but man do i love that phrase).  the recaps i've read about last night's episodes all emphasized the fact that you got to see the doctor doing normal human things--cooking, playing football (read: soccer), working in an office, showering.  but one thing that wasn't answered that i wish they would have answered is this:  how did he get the 3000 pounds that he hands over to craig in the first place?  i love that he has no concept of money but i just couldn't stop wondering how he got the money in the first place.  and the way he hands it to craig and says "here, have some rent" was just classic.  and apparently the doctor can talk to animals too, which i don't think i knew until last night.  oh other alien life forms, sure, but he can also communicate with cats.  excellent.

to be honest, i think i'm the only person that i know who watches doctor who, and i have to wonder why that is.  sure, it's a british TV import, but it's a fantastic british TV import that is so much more entertaining than most american TV shows.  i mean, i know a lot of people are turned off by science fiction, in fact cringe when you even say the two words together.  and granted, the show can be uneven from episode to episode.  lots of people didn't find the previous episode, "vincent and the doctor", very good but i think it's my favorite single episode of the season, apart from the premiere.  the point is, if you're sitting on the fence about whether or not to give the show a try, jump off the fence by going to your nearest netflix website and watching it for free online.  but start with the 2005 season (or series, as they call them across the pond).  i made the mistake of starting to watch the show during the current season airing, but it was only when i went back and starting watching from the beginning of the 2005 season (which is when the series went back into production) that a lot of what was happening in this current season made sense.  for instance, i started watching with episode #3, and so the daleks meant nothing to me, i didn't understand the whole regeneration thing, and river song was just another character whose connection to the doctor i wasn't fully aware of.  it was only when i watched the previous seasons that things started to make sense, and honestly, that my addiction to the show was truly born.  

this summer has been a little difficult to get through in terms of television distractions while i waited for the season premieres of eureka and warehouse 13, but once i got hooked on doctor who, it made the wait a lot more bearable.  each saturday i've looked forward to the next episode, and yes, i'll be sad when the season ends in two weeks and it'll be nearly a year before the new one arrives.  but when you watch as little television as i do, what one watches should be entertaining and yes, truly escapist in nature.  doctor who definitely fits the bill. 

to watch or not to watch...

i've started reading this blog called "To Do: Dissertation" (located at tododissertation.wordpress.com if you're interested in reading it too) and one of the most recent posts is about whether or not a person should have a TV while he or she is writing a dissertation.  i must admit, i'm a little bit on the fence on this one.

here's the thing:  personally, i have been trying to watch less TV, and I've been a lot more conscious about not turning on the TV unless i am intending to really watch something specific.  i've stopped wanting to have it on just to have it on.  several of the blogs that TD:D listed within its post said that television was a waste of time and that it prevents you from doing other things that are, quite frankly, more enjoyable.  i find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with these opinions.  case in point:  over the 4th of july weekend, i didn't turn on the TV much, and do you know what i got accomplished?  i finished a piece of fiction writing that i've been working on for a long time.  and when i say that i've been working on it for a long time, i know that the reason for that is that there were times that i could have been writing, or possibly even wanted to write, but i watched TV instead because i convinced myself i was "blocked" and so i walked away from it to occupy my mind with something else.  if i had indulged in one of the many marathons that were being shown over the weekend, i wouldn't have finished that story.  i wouldn't have that wonderful, exhilarating feeling of happiness and accomplishment.  instead i would have been able to say that i watched season five of NCIS for the 12th time, and who really needs that?  and who really thinks, honestly thinks, that that is some kind of badge of honor?  no one, i'm sure.  at least, not if they are honest with themselves.

another thing i have to admit to is the fact that i can't do any work at home, mostly because there are two many distractions, the biggest of which is the television.  so when i want to work on my dissertation, i always force myself to leave the apartment and these days, the place i go is my office on campus.  and honestly, i am so much more productive because i'm not distracted by the TV.  even the distraction of the internet, which i still have access to at the office, is minimal compared to the television.  and so there's another point in the "yes" column on whether or not a dissertating writer should give up their TVs.

BUT, i can't.  or perhaps the more proper thing to say is that i won't.  why?  sporting events for one.  after i read the blog post on TD:D, i thought to myself, well, maybe i should turn off my cable.  i could really do it.  there are only a handful of shows that i watch on a regular, committed basis.  i even wrote them down--house, the vampire diaries, bones, and fringe during the regular TV season and then in the summer, warehouse 13, eureka, haven ( a new pickup), doctor who and being human.  so i could just take the money i spend on cable and use that to buy the season pass of my favorite shows on iTunes (and yes, i'm willing to do that instead of pay hulu $9.95/month for the same access because i'm willing to pay to not have to watch the commercials.  i spend enough of my life being advertised to thank you very much).  but i soon realized that even if i were to take the iTunes route to get my favorite TV fare, i still wouldn't be able to watch the u.s. open.  and what would i do during the baseball playoffs and the world series? so i though okay, i'll just wait until after the world series to turn it off.  by then it'll be almost thanksgiving and most shows take an eight week break now it seems so that there are no new episodes from thanksgiving to well after the new year.  but then i thought, what about the NCAA tournament?  so you see, even though i have no problem getting my scripted series from iTunes (and in fact, i do this quite often anyway), i'm not willing to give up easy access to the sporting events that i find the most viewing pleasure in.  i can completely agree that watching such sporting events is a waste of time, but watching them makes me happy, and how can you dismiss that so easily?  i guess you could say that being productive also makes me happy, that it fulfills a need, and well, you'd be right.  but in the final analysis, i'm still not willing to give up the tube, dissertating or not.

so until i move away from pullman, or have to move into a new apartment, i'll be keeping my cable TV and paying for it, while at the same time i'll keep trying to turn the TV on less and less.  to be honest, not watching TV to just be watching whatever is on has definitely made me excited and appreciative about what i do watch, and in the end, that's a really good thing.