February 1st, marks the birthday of the late Elizabeth Sladen who sadly passed away on April 21st 2011. Best known for her portrayal of companion Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who, she become a role model to millions of people. The journalist entered the Whoniverse when she encountered The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) in the serial "The Time Warrior" in 1973, which was also the first ever appearance of the classic monster The Sontarens, and revealed the name of The Doctors home planet as being Gallifrey. Sarah Jane redefined the role of the companion, from being rather helplessly hysteric to being a feisty, opinionated, strong, equal to The Doctor and elements of her can be seen in every companion afterward, down to current companion Clara Oswald. At that time, that was not the role a companions or women were meant to play. It was an extraordinary thing to do at the time, before Liz Sladen, they played the victim or were just used as decoration, but what she did with the character showed women as equals to men. As recurring Doctor Who writer Toby Whitehouse says: "we forget how revolutionary she was at the time."
In the series 11 final "Planet of the Spiders" (1974) viewers bid farewell to another Doctor and welcomed Tom Baker to take over as The Fourth Doctor. Sarah Jane continued to travel with our favorite timelord, where she met four of the most iconic monsters/villains in Doctor Who in Tom's first series alone: The Daleks, The Cybermen, The Sontarens and Davros. In the following series she met a fan favorite The Zygons, in their first and last appearance until the 50th Anniversary Special last year. It was the next series in which Sarah Jane had her final adventure with The Fourth Doctor in "The Hand of Fear" before she had to leave because The Doctor had been summoned to Gallifrey by the timelords and no human was allowed entrance. She was brought back to her hometown in South Croyden,,,when in actual fact, she found herself in Aberdeen. Oh Doctor.
Thirty decades and five Doctors later, 2005 brought the relaunch of the much loved Sci-fi drama after having been cancelled for sixteen years. In 2006, David Tenants first series as the Tenth Doctor entailed a reunion with Miss Smith, and a particular metal dog. K9 was a robot dog that joined The Doctor and Sarah as well other companions on many adventures, before a new model of K9 was given to Sarah in episode three "School Reunion" after he had sacrificed himself to defeat the bat like Krilitains. Despite an offer to travel through time and space once more, she declined, as she had come to realize there were plenty of adventures to have on Earth... defeating aliens, unironically. Before her return once again in the series four final "The Stolen Earth" and "Journeys End" Russel T Davies created a spin-off show in 2007, all about the journalist. Defending aliens with her adopted clone son Luke and his friends on Bannoman Road. 2009 leading into 2010 brought the final battle of Ten and in her brief glimpse of The Doctor before he left, it was only a stare that told her he was going to change and brought tears to fans eyes. Her final onscreen adventure with The Doctor was with our beloved bow tie wearing Eleventh Doctor in 2010... at his funeral, well sort of.
One year later, family, freinds and fans of all ages were devastated to hear the news that she had lost her battle with cancer at the age of 61. Two days before the start of series six, and straight after the episode aired, a special dedicated to her was aired on CBBC. Elizabeth Sladen changed Doctor Who for the better, and even for fans a new, she immediately sealed herself onto our hearts. Her acting ability was unmatched, in the smallest of scenes, she made them feel big. One tear from Sarah Jane left fans completely heartbroken and a moment of chuckles filled them with joy. Elizabeth Sladen was an absolute sensation, she really was and she will continue to be remembered as such, because it is no exaggeration. Thank you. Thank you Elizabeth Sladen not for just being an amazing actress and role model to millions of people, but for being my Sarah Jane: "t'ill we meet again Sarah."
Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2014 will bring you all many days of awesomeness. At the start of the new year, we recollect on the great times we had in the past year as well as all the hardships, and some people may think it best to not look at the worst parts of the year gone by but in a way, isn't that the whole point? Humans cannot help themselves but dwell on any worries they had, any lingering regrets, any mistakes made, etc. However, when looking over the hardships we have faced over the year, we recall what helped us survive them; what helped us defeat them; what helped us reach today and still have the energy to face the next day. We look at the aid that was given to us in our hours of need, and we use it to help us develop, to help us fight any obstacles that we come across and help us become better people.
2013 was not only a special and significant year for me, but for billions of other people all over the world. To name a few things that have made a big impact on 2013: Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary (including the departure of Matt Smith as The Eleventh Doctor and the introduction of Peter Capaldi as the Twelth), the sad passing of the wonderful Nelson Mandela, the birth of a new royal baby to be third in line for the throne, the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the typhoon that hit the Philippines and so much more.
2014 will be the bringer of many significant events. The Commonwealth in my home city of Glasgow; the Scottish Independence referendum on September 18th; series 8 of Doctor Who with Peter Capaldi taking over as The Doctor and the third Scottish actor to play the role; after a two year wait Sherlock series 3 starts on January 1st at 9pm; Winter Olympics to be held in Russia and so on.
Obviously living in Scotland, the first two upcoming events of 2014 to which I mentioned, will have a great affect on my day to day life. I have no doubt that the Commonwealth will be a great event and will make me proud to be Scottish. As for the vote for or against independence, I will be 16 by the time that the voting starts, so I will be eligible to vote and I personally will vote no for Scottish Independence. I wont start ranting about it or try and persuade any Scottish readers to agree with me, but all I'll say is that I just feel we are stronger as a part of the UK Anyway, though I may still be heartbroken by the departure of The Eleventh Doctor, I excitedly await for the proper arrival of The Twelth Doctor and anticipate what the next 50 years of Doctor Who will bring.
I have had many very special moments in 2013, some that I will hold close to my heart for many years to come but I have also suffered many difficult situations. It was a great surprise for me to have made so many more friends, I thought after 2nd year that process of making new friends will draw dormant, whereas in actual fact upon joining Nerdfighters I met tons of people who I now hold as my dearest friends and even at school as well I have been given more friends. Maybe the multitude of friends I have made are more than I deserve? Whether or not this is true, I am still hugely grateful to have met them. Obviously, with Doctor Who being very special to me 2013 was an extra special year for myself and other Whovians; since being brought into the Whoniverse in 2005 the show has significantly changed my life and I have loved every minute of the show. There were a number of occasions that really hit me hard, but most of the time I had someone who supported me and I am truly grateful for their help. Finally, having done my first Prelims at the start of December and having done fairly well, I try to forget the stress that they gave me and try to look forward to the nearing final exams with more optimism.
2013 is a year that I will definitely remember fondly more so than I might look back with regret and I hope that 2014 will come to the same standards, if not more. I hope you as well share how I feel, and that any hardships you have faced in the past year, will be left behind and you can start afresh in 2014. Happy New Year, lets all make 2014 one worth celebrating.
Wow. 1,019 views. I am quite proud about reaching such a high number. Thank you to everyone who bothered to take time out of their schedules to visit my blog. If you've read my previous post about reaching 500 views and are concerned whether these kind of posts will become a habit-do not fear. It is simply because this is my first blog and 1,019 views is quite significant for someone still fairly new to Blogger. It's at moments like this that I rejoice for starting my blog. Making this blog certainly has given me a boost in confidence; to know there a large number of people, even in other countries, that are interested in what I have to say is very comforting. Honestly, I would really appreciate any kind of comment on my posts to reassure me. Thank you all for taking a look at my blog and I hope you all continue show an interest.
Stephen: Greetings, my apologies for the considerable gaps between each of my posts but I am trying my best bring an end to this. This latest post is written by guest writer and my good friend Elizabeth Rose Hamilton. I wanted to do something a little bit different and I knew Elizabeth was the right person to ask to write this article. As you may already have guessed from the title, this post covers the controversy over equal marriage, where Liz will give her opinion on the matter. I hope you enjoy reading her article as much as I have.
Elizabeth:The
topic of equal marriage has been widely discussed for a great length
of time. There are several arguments both for and against the notion,
but I am here to give my viewpoint.
In
my own opinion, I feel that equal marriage shouldn’t even be
debated upon. I feel it is a necessity, that it is a right
to
anyone, heterosexual or not. So why do I feel this way? Well, I have
a few things to say about that.
First
of all, gay
rights are human rights.
They
are no different from any other human being; so why shouldn’t they
have the same rights as other human beings?
Second
of all, even
religious Christians that I have met have told me that they accept
homosexuals as people with rights.
While
yes, homosexuality in Christianity has a very clear viewpoint, it
also has another; ‘Judge not lest ye be judged.’ The core
teachings
of Christianity, I feel, are of love and acceptance. As I myself was
previously a Christian, these were always the teachings I tried to
follow, and still do, despite my movement from the religion. So why
is it that so many Christians refuse to accept homosexuals?
Another
point I’d like to make is that times have changed. Society has
changed. The world as a whole is different. What was once an
unspeakable sin is now acknowledged as an orientation that people
can't just choose. So why is it a loving couple may not partake in
the sanctity of marriage, simply because they are the same gender?
You
know who's homosexual? Neil Patrick Harris (Barney, How I Met Your Mother). You know who else is
homosexual? Jim Parsons (Sheldon, The Big Ban Theory). And John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness, Doctor Who). Look at that. Real, successful people. Who also happen to be homosexual people. Does that
make them any less of a person? No.
Homosexuals
can serve in the army. They can become doctors, fire-fighters, any
number of life-saving jobs.
But
no, they cannot marry.
And
this is what infuriates me most.
Ollie Outie!
Elizabeth.
Stephen: I hope you found Liz's article interesting and feel free to comment. Also, if you wouldn't mind, make a visit over to her Tumblir; there's some pretty cool stuff on it.
""No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes naturally to the human heart than its opposite."- Nelson Mandela
For those of you unaware, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, has passed away at age 95. This quote here truly shows how great of a man Nelson Mandela was, who was responsible for shaping South Africa into a multi-racial democracy. Elected first black president in 1994, from then on Mandela become a true leader, a symbol of hope and inspiration. Without this wonderful man, the world would be a very different place; Obama wouldn't be president, there would still be segregation of black people and the words courage and morality would have no true meaning. .
He is a credit to this planet, he is someone whom we will always look up to and deserves more than our respect. I hope your thoughts go to his friends and family at this time. So few people in history have endured oppression with such little ranker or overcome the oppressor with so little bloodshed. That is what makes Nelson Mandela truly remarkable. Despite all the hardships he faced, this brave man chose not to surrender. I could go on and on about how much of an amazing human being Nelson Mandela is.
I can't understand why anyone would be so ignorant as to not know who he is, but lets not dwell on that. Even in the time of his death, it is not the time to sorrow over the loss of a great man but celebrate the outstanding achievements of an outstanding human being. Thank you Nelson Mandela, from the bottom of all our hearts; thank you for not only for shaping South Africa into a place of equality, but for shaping the word into a more equal society and for creating a brighter future for the human race. Thank you Nelson Mandela, for being born. May you rest in peace.
""Our nation has lost its greatest son,"- Mr Zuma
R.I.P Nelson Mandela (July 18th 1918-December 5th 2013)
Firstly, I would like to start by apologizing to you wonderful people, for the considerable gaps between each of my posts. This is either due to school, sheer laziness or because my mind is not allowing me inspiration to write. I will try my very best to shorten the gaps between each post and if I may request, any comments on my posts would be very welcome, so that I do not feel as if I am wasting my time with this blog.
Anyway, as most of you will hopefully be aware, not too long ago was the 31st birthday of Matt Smith; the fantastic actor who brought The Eleventh Doctor to life. When first announced that he would be the wonderful David Tenants successor- a number of fans were almost in shock(including myself if I am perfectly honest) because no one had ever heard of Matt before, he had some roles in television beforehand but none to make him generally well known. It was a bit of worry for fans, that he wouldn't have such an outstanding acting ability (being the youngest actor to play The Doctor at 26) and they weren't exactly wrong. The first series, he did show some excellent talent as an actor but it wasn't until the end of series 5 that he truly settled in to the role and grew amazingly well as an actor. At the end of his time as The Doctor, there was news of a number of roles in movies,etc that Matt had accepted and it was great to see that not only is he seen more as an actor now but he hasn't been typecast.
Considering the point I made in the first paragraph, I wanted to make a post to keep you going and assure you that I am still alive. It just turned out to be a happy coincidence that Mr Smiths birthday gave me this idea. I wanted to do something particularly special to celebrate Matt's run as The Doctor. A few ideas floated in my mind, but some of them I didn't want to put into action until closer to date of Smith's last episode. So I decided that I give a list of some of my favorite videos on YouTube in tribute of Matt Smiths era as the mad man with a box.
Note: I did not create these video and all credit goes to the people who made them.
1. A Tribute to the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith)- by Mrlazarus01
Compared to other videos, this one will be seen as "slow" and for some of you that may be a bad thing, but that is not quite true. One of my reasons for choosing a video that I think you will see for all of them, is the music. This video particularity, had the most powerful music in my opinion; from the series two episode of Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia. I absolutely adore the music, it just gives me so much feels and the scene that it is used for in that episode just makes the scene so emotional. Another reason for this video reaching the top spot, was the number of memorable quotes put into the video and not with the music from that episode, making the video feel cheap. My favorite quote in the video due to how effectively it is used, is the speech made by The Doctor in the divisive series 7 episode "The Rings of Akhaten." When listening to the speech, and seeing clips of episodes matching what The Doctor is referring to-such as: "I have lost things you will never understand" and we can see the timelord putting on Amy's glasses to read the sad message she left for him in Rivers book. So many feels accompanied this video and the music only intensified the pain that fans such as myself would be suffering. A magnificent video, a wonderful tribute for Matt Smith and well deserving of the top spot.
2. Doctor Who, Series 5-7 Mega Trailer, 1,000 subscribers video (Matt Smith) - by taridselliot
Compared to the previous video, I feel this one covered Matt's era as The Eleventh Doctor a little bit better and the music was quite good, however the music combined with the powerful quotes in the other video, made for a more effectively emotional video and it is for that reason mainly that this video isn't at the top of the list. The build up at the start was quite nice, I liked how they began with clips from Matt's first episode "The Eleventh Hour" and Amy's voice could be heard referring to him as her "imaginary friend" and what set them off on their adventures together. It then touches on his other companions, such as Clara and the beginning of The Doctors endeavour to find out who she really is. As well as River Song, where we are given a quote from the first adventure that The Eleventh Doctor meets River and people who have continued to watch the show afterwards will know how significant that quote can be. From then on, the music got more fast paced and more exciting, that's why I quite liked about this video was that it covered a lot of his era at an exciting pace.Another thing that caught my interest, was the way that the Cybermen, Daleks and Weeping Angels all got a special mention in the video and was quite well done. The arcs of The Eleventh Doctor were touched upon quite nicely as well. This is a very excellent video but sadly didn't have that emotional edge to grab my attention. A well deserved second.
3. Ultimate Doctor Who Era Trailer, Series 5-7, Matt Smith- by tardiselliot
Another exciting video by the same YouTuber. Originally, this video had found itself in second place, but just as I was about to write the description of it, I re-watched both the videos and I believed the other was more deserving of the spot. My reason being, is that the video felt better structured and that it covered Smith's era better; the second video does also cover his era quite well but I felt it was a bit jumbled up in a bad way. Also, a few of the quotes or clips were used in the same order as the previous video but I didn't feel they were used as well as the other one. One thing that allowed me to quite enjoy this video, was the use of the guitar; it just felt right and built up the video quite well. I also, like the use of the last scene from "The Name of the Doctor" not only do I absolutely love that scene, but i thought it was placed perfectly within the video. It is quite unusual to hear guitar music quite clearly with Doctor Who (not that it hasn't been done at all) and it worked quite well together. To me, it felt that tardiselliot was trying to get across the dangerous, action-packed adventure that can come with traveling with The Doctor and they certainly did do that. It really did feel like a good trailer to advertise to a non-Whovian ( just the thought of it is horrible) and would surely prove to be very enticing to them.
4. Doctor Who: "The Matt Smith Era"-Ultimate Cinema Trailer-by TheAfroThunder1
A small conflict took place in my mind as to what position this video deserved? Quite simply because of the music; with the excellent use of clips from Matt's first episodes at the start of the video combined with the music, gives that "fairy tale" feeling to it. A very popular and well used theme of Series 5. However, I don't feel like this video touched on the best and most important parts of Matt's era as the previous two have. It still proved to be a very pleasing video, the music was quite catchy and enticing. I think what partly let this video down was the time that it was created; only being released the month after Amy and Rory's heartbreaking departure, they didn't have clips from the remainder of Series 7 at their disposal. Granted that this would not allow them to tocuh on Clara, but they could have looked a bit more at River and the arcs of Matt's run. However, one thing that I particularly liked about this one, was the specific scenes that it looked at. For example, the scene between The Doctor and Oswin, not the most significant scene of NewWho or the most powerful, but this was a very excellent scene and very well intensified with the music. A great video and a great shame for the time that it was made in.
5. Doctor Who, Series 5-7 Ultimate Trailer, The Pond Era (Matt Smith)- tardiselliot
The word to describe the music which accompanied this video would certainly be epic. They did take their time to actually get into it, to go at a more faster pace but from around 38 seconds onward, it did feel quite thrilling. What was nice about this one is that it did touch on the main arcs of Matt's era at the beginning but it just wasn't so spectacular to top it's successor, even with it's lack of coverage of the arcs. With this video, I made an exception because it was a pretty good video but it's time of release meant they had no clips of the Clara era as did the previous video. As long as it covered the majority of Matt's run then I would allow it to be a contender. I am really repeating myself a lot when analyzing each of these videos, but nothing else really comes to mind that I should be looking for in the videos. A good video none the less, it had a nice build up and quite entertaining.
6. Doctor Who, Series 5-7 Mega Trailer, Matt Smith- tardiselliot
I feel like this video had potential; it contained movie-like trailer music and generally felt quite exciting. One thing that let this video down, was the little to no quotes. The only one that was satisfactory was Doriums speech about "the question that must never be answered". Afterwards, only three more remained and even then they weren't very significant ones, nor could they be heard very well and some of the original music from the scenes could be heard seeping into the video; making it feel cheap. Again, the music did generally give a sense of it being epic. It did definitely feel like tons of clips were thrown in with no apparent order. As well as the previous one, I made an exception if it didn't cover Clara's ear so far, as long as it covered the majority of Matt's era. Compared to tardiselliots other videos, this one is disappointing Although applauds to tardiselliot, for filling four out of the six places.
I do apologize once again for being quite repetitive when analyzing the selection of videos. Also for how technically late this post is. If there is any videos that you think I have missed out, I do apologies but I have either seen them and not deemed them worthy of reaching the top contenders ( I sound like some kind of God) or I may have just not watched them myself. I didn't make full scale search for the best Matt tribute videos on YouTube, for I already had a few in mind and it would have required to much effort and taken up a lot of my time which should be spent studying for my Prelims.
All I hope is that you found some entertainment from watching these videos and this post has made you ponder over your own favorite Matt Smith era videos.
"Old words are reborn with new faces.”― Criss Jami
I don't know either. I was never aware that I had an obsession with quotes until I made this blog. Within this blog, are a a total of 30 quotes from TV shows, Films, famous people, etc. That will answer anyone asking: "what poppycock is he talking about?". However I sincerely hope that none of you chose that particular word.
At the very beginning of creating my blog, I often looked at the blog of my good friend Rosemary; in search of hints as to how I should display my blog. One particular thing that caught my interest (which should be fairly obvious) is her display of a few quotes within her blog. I decided then that I would do so as well, but I did not foresee what outcome this would bring.
I later came to the decision, that I would not display every single quote that I find of interest (otherwise this blog would be overthrown with quotations) and even later, that I would try my very best not to limit the quotes to ones from Doctor Who. Whatever message they may bring, I agreed that some kind of emotional, inspiring or meaningful message would have to come across that would appeal to myself and most other people. As well as the exception of the odd funny quotation every once in a while. It came across to me, that whenever I searched up quotations to post on my blog that fell into those categories; they never seemed to fail at inspiring me and boosting my self-confidence.
This quote at the top matches this post perfectly and the topic of quotations in general. In the sense that, there are words of people decades dead and they are still inspiring to people living in the modern day. For the words of someone long gone, to still have an inspirational affect on people, they must either be someone of great significance in History or someone of great wisdom (not always both). The fact that, the words of someone else can still be used after so long, almost links us to the past and shows two things: that they are not forgotten and/or how the world has been shaped by their words/actions.
It is because of this epiphany, that I have decided to create a separate page on my blog for all the quotes that really appeal to me. I have been looking for something to create a third page around, and I have finally found it. Quotations are not just words of the past that appeal to the people of the present, but they are a way in which people can express themselves. They can show us who we are, particular quotes don't just appeal to people for no reason, but because they relate to that person. Whether it is because they refer to something that someone has experienced (i.e bullying) or touch on something they feel strongly about (i.e war).
I never realized how significant quotes are, or how important they feel to myself and obviously other people as well. This is something that I was glad to come to realize and I will leave you with this. When you live your everyday lives, aspire to inspire yourself and in that, you will inspire others. If you do so successfully, your words will be remembered not for their significance but for their wisdom.
Many Whovains will have had the pleasure to watch the brilliant trailer, celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who, on it's very first release on BBC One earlier tonight. Others will have come across it online very shortly after it's televised release. This purpose of this post, is quite simply for any unfortunate soul who is unaware or been unable to view the wonderful video.
Fans were aware for some time before it's release, that a special trailer was being produced and what we could take from that was that it would not contain actual footage from the 50th special. Some Die-Hard Wovians who have become overly frustrated with the lack of a 50th trailer containing actual footage of the episode, will of course no have been exactly pleased. I assume, especially not when closer to the date of release, it was made quite clear that the trailer was celebrating "50 years of Doctor Who". At first, I was guilty of growing in anger when the BBC continued to fail and release an actual trailer, but I have come to terms with it. Part of this, may have been due to the several rumors and fake tweets that were created and raised fans hopes that a trailer would be released on a particular date, but were later diminished.
Myself, and many others for sure, had anticipated that the celebratory trailer would be of very good quality, seeing as it has been made by professionals who know what they're doing and the insanely huge budget that has been spared to celebrate the iconic Brisitsh TV show. Instead of the end result, proving to be just a mash up of clips made by an amateur video maker. We were definitely not mistaken, when the cleverly crafted video brought us countless references and Matt as the narrator supplied a little speech that only intensified our excitement of the approaching Doctor Who 50th Special. The trailer was exactly what we were promised as we traveled through the shows long history. A particular thing that made the trailer so ingenious, was how they jumbled up different parts of different episodes into one place and made it feel very wilbbly,wobbly, timey, wimey. For example, a fez in a junkyard or Sarah Jane and K9 in front of an number of 60's Daleks, 70's Cybermen and in the background, a Dalek ship above Big Ben in what appears to be an invasion of London.
The trailer was such a fantastic achievement of the BBC, at celebrating 50 years in only one minute. A trailer for all the fans, for those who have stayed dedicated to show from the very beginning or for those of us who entered the Whonivers back in 2005. If a short trailer can achieve such a task, then surely an hour and fifteen minute special can do better, can't it? I have no doubt that it will do so but don't forget Who fans, as Mr Moffat has made quite clear, the 50th special is as much as celebrating 50 years as it is creating the next 50 years. I happen to agree with him and can only look forward to what will surely bring a new peak for the show to have achieved.