Once Upon a Geek

Hey gang! More of an administrative post today.  I was hoping to get some feedback from you readers about a change I’ve recently made to the blog.

If you look in the right-hand sidebar I’ve added two Twitter feeds, one for comic books and one for Doctor Who (both popular topics here).  I thought this might be a nice geek-news aggregation resource for readers while on my site.  What I’m looking to find out is if this is useful to you.  If not, are there any ways to make it useful to you (i.e. list 10 tweets instead of 5, create a feed for Star Wars, only show tweets from news sources, etc).  Also, is there anything I can do to make the blog more interesting or relevant for you?

Typically when I ask for feedback like this I get a couple responses.  That’s depressing considering hundreds of people read this site everyday.  I can prove you’re not alone.  Scroll down to the bottom of the sidebar.  Towards the bottom, there is a section labeled “Users Currently Online”.  That’s the number of people on ONCE UPON A GEEK at that moment.  See, you’re not alone.  Now c’mon folks, help me out here.  Suggestions you provide will only make your experience better here.  Y’all are a great audience, so I’d appreciate any feedback you’ve got to share.  Please feel free to comment here or send me an e-mail at shag@onceuponageek.com.  Thanks!

I am SO ready for the new Doctor Who season to start.  Doctor Who season 5 opens with “The Eleventh Hour” by Steven Moffat and is set to premiere on BBC One in the UK and BBC America on April 5th.  BBC has released a brilliant new teaser trailer for season 5 featuring Matt Smith as the Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.  Check it out!

This video will be running in 3-D in the UK before the new Alice in Wonderland film. I can’t confirm it, but I get the sense this video was created specifically as a trailer, rather than as footage from upcoming episodes.  I hope that is the case as I appreciate the efforts from the BBC to create a real buzz for new Who Matt Smith.  I love everything about this trailer, from the music, to the swirling stars, to the action, to the Doctor and Amy’s interaction.  This trailer has really provided me with a lot of confidence in the new season. I just can’t wait!

Hold on tight.  Geronimo!

Neil Gaiman has confirmed that he will be writing an episode of Doctor Who to air in 2011!  In an exclusive message to SFX Magazine he revealed that he is writing an episode for the second season of Matt Smith.

I am totally jazzed about this!  While I haven’t read much of Gaiman’s stuff since Sandman, there is no denying that he’s an amazing writer! His work on Sandman kept me reading comics in 1989 when I considered dropping everything.  I started with Sandman #8, Death’s debut story, and stayed with it all the way to the end.  Given his ability to tell really emotional tales, he could possibly give Blink and Caves of Androzani a run for their money as the best Doctor Who episode ever.

Here is what he told SFX Magazine:

As anyone who’s read my blog knows, I’m a big fan of a certain long-running British SF TV series. One that started watching — from behind the sofa — when I was three. And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that, it’s quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called “The House of Nothing”. But it definitely isn’t called that any more.

Countdown. You’ve got about 14 months.

Watch this space in 14 months for the, “OMG! It was brilliant!”

Here are some cool Doctor Who related items I’ve come across in the past week.  Be warned, these contain SPOILERS for The End of Time.

• Check out the Doctor’s and the Master’s Facebook pages. Hilarious!

• io9 contemplates some of the lingering questions from The End of Time.
• RTD reveals the answer to one of the questions.
• io9 dissects the Matt Smith season five trailer shot by shot.  Some good insight here.
• Finally, the BBC has released a new promotional of Matt Smith as the Doctor.

Let’s face it, we’ve all had them before… New Doctor Jitters.  I don’t think there has ever been a name given to this condition, but now we have a label for it – New Doctor Jitters.  When the Doctor regenerates, we find ourselves skeptical after seeing those first few moments featuring the new actor.  It’s only natural.  We’re wrapped up in our emotions as we say goodbye to an actor we’ve come to accept as the Doctor, and then in the middle of that emotional turmoil his replacement appears.  It’s so jarring to switch from a sad departure to a grand entrance.  It’s difficult to accept someone new while we’re still reeling from the departure of the previous actor.

I remember my reaction when Tom Baker regenerated at the end of Logopolis.  After transforming from Tom Baker into Peter Davison, the new Doctor sat up and the episode ended.  That’s all we got until the first episode of Castrovalva.  It didn’t matter.  In those few seconds of screen time I had already decided that I hated Peter Davison as the Doctor.  I couldn’t stand him.  There was no way I was ever going to accept this new guy as the Doctor.  Forget it.  No way.  No how.  … Well, that opinion changed after seeing Castrovalva.  I eventually realized I didn’t have an issue with Peter Davison, I was just unhappy that Tom Baker was leaving and wasn’t ready for some new actor to take over.  In fact, Peter Davison quickly became my favorite Doctor and remained so until David Tennant came along.   It just goes to show that it’s not fair to judge a new Doctor on his first appearance.  9 times out of 10 we end up loving each and every Doctor after just a few episodes (sorry Colin, but you’re brilliant in the Big Finish audio adventures).

I think it’s reasonable to be nervous or skeptical.  However, some people have already passed judgment on Matt Smith.  They’ve decided they don’t like him based upon what they’ve seen so far.  They say his hair is too crazy.  He’s too young.  His chin is huge and his eyes are sunken.  He uses his hands too much.  If we actually had a TARDIS, we could go back in time four years and hear those same people talk about David Tennant after The Parting of the Ways but before The Christmas Invasion.  They said his hair was too crazy.  He was too young.  He was too pale and thin.  He was too geeky to be a hero.  Sounds kinda familiar doesn’t it?  Gotta admit, Tennant’s first few lines didn’t exactly fill us with confidence. “Hello.  Okay… New teeth. That’s weird.  So where was I?  Oh that’s right, Barcelona!”  Those lines were no indication of how amazing he was going to be as the Doctor.  As another example, just imagine being a Doctor Who fan in 1974 after getting your first glimpse of Tom Baker in costume.  The scarf, the big smiling teeth, googley eyes, and crazy hair. Those fans were probably convinced Tom Baker was going to be terrible.  So again, it’s not fair to judge a new Doctor before he’s had a chance to really play the part. Who knows, maybe Matt Smith will be the best Doctor ever!

I watched The End of Time Part Two with my ten-year-old step son.  When the credits started to roll, he turned to me and said excitedly, “This new Doctor is going to be fun!”  I think my step-son’s got the right attitude.

Sure I’ve got New Doctor Jitters, but I’m also eager for the next season to begin.  I’m ready to jump in with both feet.  Geronimo!

If you can’t see the embedded video above, please click here.

I just finished listening to an excellent Doctor Who audio book entitled, The Forever Trap.  I’m typically more of a full-cast audio drama fan, but this particular audio book really impressed me.  The story was written by Dan Abnett (yes, that Dan Abnett of Marvel Comics Nova, Annihilation, War of Kings, etc), read by Catherine Tate (Donna Noble on Doctor Who), and features the Tenth Doctor and Donna.  This two-disc story was released in the same format as the other BBC Books Tenth Doctor Adventures audio book adaptations, but this one was released exclusively to audio.  It is the second of its kind, preceded by Pest Control and followed by The Nemonite Invasion.

I’ve listened to Pest Control, which was read by David Tennant, but it failed to impress me.  Even with David Tennant reading the story, it still didn’t feel like proper Doctor Who.  Needless to say, after that I didn’t have high hopes for The Forever Trap.  As I had expected, I was disappointed within the first few minutes of The Forever Trap.  Right out of the gate, Catherine Tate provides an unbelievable voice for the role of a holographic salesman.  I was so turned off by that voice, I gave up listening for a while.  A few days later, I started the audio book again.  Wow!  Sure, that salesman voice isn’t great, but the rest of the audio book was fantastic!  I could visualize the Doctor perfectly thanks to an excellent script by Dan Abnett, and Catherine Tate totally nailing David Tennant’s speech patterns.  Did I already say “Wow”?  Well, I gotta say it again.  WOW!  This is proper Doctor Who.  Abnett clearly gets the Doctor and Donna both.  Also, his talent for writing good science fiction really shines through.  Kudos to Catherine Tate for doing such an outstanding job!  She effortlessly switches between the abrasive Donna, the energetic Doctor, and a wide array of other characters.  I didn’t realize what an amazing range she has.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audio book, more so than most other Doctor Who audio books.  Apparently The Nemonite Invasion is also read by Catherine Tate, so now I’m gonna have to track that one down too!

I finally got my copy of the Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Roleplaying Game, and turns out I’m in it!  Well… I’m not exactly IN the game, but I am mentioned in the credits and some of my playtesting group’s contributions made it into the game!  Sorry to subject you to what follows.  I’m not trying to brag, I’m just sharing my excitement!  Here is a picture of me going all Gollum with my new prize.

I’ve only just started flipping through the set, but I gotta say this is a truly gorgeous game!  Each book has glossy, full-color pages.  There are several loose character sheets, each printed on heavy-cardstock.  There are punch-out cardboard tokens for Story Points.  It’s just well put together and beautiful.  For a video walk-thru of the box set contents click here.  For a seven-page PDF preview of The Player’s Guide, click here.  I’ve only scratched the surface of the contents and can’t wait to read it cover-to-cover.  For now though, here are a few things I’ve noticed that relate to my playtesting group…

CREDITS

Here are the credits listed on the inside cover of The Player’s Guide.

And a close up on the Playtester’s paragraph…

Hooray!  My thanks to Cubicle 7 for the shout-out!  My group, called THE UNIQUE GEEKS, consisted of Sterling, SGhoul, Scott C, Shavenger, and myself.  We read through early drafts of the rules, ran a few adventures, and created lots of characters and gadgets.  Then provided feedback to Cubicle 7 on all of this.  I’m happy to say some of our contributions made it into the final draft!  Now, I hope I’m not breaking some unspoken playtester rule by talking about which contributions were from my group.  If so, I deeply apologize to the almighty playtester gods and humbly offer to sacrifice myself on the altar of the omniscient 20-sider.  Additionally, I’m not trying to take anything away from David F. Chapman or the folks at Cubicle 7.  They’ve created a great game and deserve to be praised for everything they did.  They did all the heavy-lifting creating the game from scratch, we just came along and piggybacked on their ideas and made a few suggestions.  I’m honored to have been invited to the playtest and honored that the folks at Cubicle 7 thought some of our suggestions were good enough to include.

GADGETS

For one particular adventure, I developed four different gadgets.  Gadgets are unique devices or tools characters carry with them for specific purposes.  While going through the new box set, I was blown away as I stumbled across two gadgets I created printed right next to the Sonic Screwdriver and Psychic Paper!  Wow!  I created the “Engineer’s Mate” and the “Engram Eraser”, both shown below.  Click the image to enlarge.  I created these gadgets for an earlier draft of the rules, so some of the stats have changed since I came up with the concepts.  However, the gadget name, traits, and purpose remain the same.  My compliments to whoever wrote the descriptive paragraph.  They did a great job taking the idea and explaining it succinctly and effectively.  Nicely done!

You can’t tell from this scan, but each gadget on the page below is perforated so you can pop them out of the page!  So cool!

TRAITS

One of the areas we provided lots of feedback and suggestions on was “Traits”.  I’ve noticed looking over the new box set that several of the “Traits” we suggested have been incorporated.  Now it’s quite possible that several other playtesters suggested the same particular “Traits” that we did, so I’m not claiming that we’re solely responsible for these.  “Traits” we suggested that appear in the final game include: Sense of Direction, Animal Friendship, Owed Favour, Unattractive, Owes Favour, Argumentative, Dark Secret, Impulsive, and Selfish.  Again, my compliments to whoever wrote the lengthy descriptions for each of these.  We just shared a germ of an idea from a game mechanic perspective, whereas someone at Cubicle 7 beautifully wrapped explanations and examples around it.

That’s it for now.  I’m going to take a deep-dive into these books and savor every detail!  In fact, I may be so wrapped up in this game that I fail to post here for a few days. 

The Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space role-playing game by Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd was released a couple weeks ago in England, and I should finally get my hands on a copy today!  I ordered the game through my LCS, which is getting it from Diamond Comics Distributors.  Diamond has it listed on their shipping list for today!  Hot dog!

I’ve posted about the game previously, but again I gotta say how impressed I am with the package they’ve put together for this game.  First off, it’s a box set.  How cool is that?!?!  What game company has put out a decent RPG box set in years?  Everyone just publishes hardbacks nowadays.  Also, this box set is packed!  Check out the video below done by my buddy The Acrobatic Flea.  He posted this on his excellent blog, HeroPress, to demonstrate how nicely this box set was put together.  It’s even got a hinged cover!  Way to go Cubicle 7!  Even if you don’t care for Doctor Who, you gotta admit this is a well-designed product.

Click here if you can’t see the embedded video above.

Below is a list of the contents as you saw them in the video:

• Player’s Guide (86 pages)
• Gamemaster’s Guide (144 pages)
• Adventure Book (30 pages)
• Character sheets (including pre-generated characters for the series cast)
• Dice
• Blank Character Sheets
• Gadget sheets
• Story Point Tokens

You can purchase a PDF version of the box set right now from DriveThruRPG by clicking here.  You can also join the discussion forum for the game by clicking here.

Upcoming supplements to the game include: Doctor Who Gamemaster’s Screen; Aliens and Creatures; and Defending the Earth (U.N.I.T. box set).  Also, next summer they’ll release a Matt Smith/11th Doctor themed edition.  It won’t be an all-new edition, mostly just updating the visuals and the branding.

Finally, I’ve heard a rumor that there is a credit to me and my playtesting group inside – Shag (and the Unique Geeks).  I’m totally stoked about that!  I got mentioned in an official Doctor Who publication!  My life is now complete! 

Here are the first three minutes of Doctor Who: The End  of Time Part One.  While I’m not looking forward to David Tennant’s departure, I’m am looking forward to this story and what lies ahead for Matt Smith.  This episode airs in England on December 25, and on BBC America on December 26.

If you can’t see the embedded video above, click here.

Additionally, the BBC just finished broadcasting the animated Doctor Who: Dreamland story which you can probably find on the internet (if you know where to look).  Finally, here is a good article listing five lessons we hope Russell T Davie’s has learned from his past Doctor Who epics.

Because nobody demanded it! Here are some updated pictures of my Comicatorium (a.k.a. Shag’s Sanctum Sanctorum).  Did some rearranging recently and I’m pretty pleased with the results so I figured I’d show it off here.  My thanks to the Irrepressible Gena for her assistance and inspiration.

Biggest change below is the new flat-screen monitor for the desktop!  Hooray!  Love it!

Added a new bookcase, which will help get some things organized.  I still need to fill the shelves (which won’t take long).  Yes, the top shelf of the left bookcase is entirely full of Doctor Who audio dramas, and the middle bookcase is almost entirely full of Doctor Who books and RPGs (with Doctor Who videos and magazines stacked on top).  Some of those book shelves are actually stacked three deep.  Feel free to be jealous or horrified.  Your choice.

This corner is most interesting because all the yard equipment is gone!  We enclosed an outside shed-like-thing and moved all the yard equipment out there.  So my Comicatorium is no longer an impromptu garage.  Also, got my Tom Fleming prints framed and hung.  Loving them!  Thanks to Sterling for buying the Aquaman print and starting my love affair with Fleming’s work.

Finally, here is the overflow of comic boxes from my closet.  The nice thing is that they are alphabetized and organized!  Hooray!  I’m now up to 47 comic long boxes.  I’m dreading ever moving again.