Today marks the 45th anniversary of the airing of the very first Doctor Who episode. It was Saturday, November 23, 1963 at 5:15pm GMT when an unheard of children’s program appeared on BBC television. It featured two school teachers, an oddball student, and a grumpy old man. Who knew this humble beginning would lead to 45 years worth of adventures!
Even more surprising is how popular the show is nowadays. The show originally ran from 1963 - 1989. There was an American-made TV movie in 1996 which didn’t perform well. Then Doctor Who returned to the airwaves as a weekly TV series in 2005. Go back in time four years to 2004 and Doctor Who was remembered as a joke by most people. Now it’s one of the most popular television shows in the world with two spin-offs. Just crazy!
I’ve personally been a fan for 25 years now. It boggles the mind that I’ve been following this show that long. I remember watching the 20 year anniversary special (The Five Doctors) when it originally aired. 25 years! Geez, I’m getting old.
Anyway, happy birthday to that lonely old Timelord meandering around the universe in that rickety old Police Box!
It was bound to happen sooner or later… it’s AQUAMAN WEEK here at Once Upon a Geek! Now for all you Aqua-haters out there, please give this week a chance. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something interesting. If nothing else, hang around so you can make pithy “go talk to some fish” comments.
Why I Like Aquaman…
If you’ve read my blog before, then you know I’m an Aquaman fan. Why is Aquaman one of my top five favorite superheroes? That’s a tough question. I’m not sure I can really put the answer into words. I just like the character. For example, how do you answer the question, “Why does chocolate taste good?” It just does. I’ll try to quantify some of what interests me about the character, but I’m not sure it will answer the big question.
First off, I like the idea of a superhero that is royalty. King Hero! Here is a guy that is ruler of an entire nation, and yet he’s bad ass enough to go out there and fight on the front lines to protect his subjects. Maybe this is a concept that is easier understood by British readers. After all, here in the United States we don’t truly understand the love that the people typically feel towards their royalty. On top of being the sovereign King of Atlantis, he’s also considered the King of the Seven Seas. That means while Superman protects Metropolis and Batman protects Gotham City, Aquaman has to cover the other 75% of the planet. That’s a pretty big jurisdiction.
Second, I like Aquaman’s origin (all the various versions). In the Silver Age, Aquaman was the son of an exiled Atlantean and an air-breathing lighthouse keeper. I liked that Aquaman was of two worlds. He belonged both above and beneath the waves, yet didn’t fully belong in either. Everything he earned was through his own hard work and dedication. The modern Aquaman was born to Queen Atlanna and the mysterious wizard Atlan in the Atlantean city of Poseidonis. He was then left for dead as an infant on Mercy Reef due to old superstitions. He was raised by other sea creatures and later tutored by an air-breathing lighthouse keeper. I like the mythical origins of Aquaman’s story. Go and read “Atlantis Chronicles” some time. It covers the origins of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. Great reading!
Third, I like that Aquaman is super-powered, but not overly so. Given the moderate level of powers he has, he seems more relatable than the mega-powered characters like Superman or Captain Marvel. Aquaman can get hurt and is fallible, but still powerful enough to get the job done. Everyone knows that Aquaman can breathe underwater and talk to fish. But many people don’t realize he’s super-strong (he can easily throw a car hundreds of feet), his skin is super-dense (to survive the pressures of the bottom of the ocean), he is able to swim at very high speeds, he can see in near total darkness and has enhanced hearing. Additionally, on a few occasions he has used his telepathic powers (that he normally uses to “talk to fish”) on human beings. He was able to affect humans with his telepathy, even to the point of making them more agreeable to his suggestions. Not necessarily the most moral of actions, but still a powerful demonstration of his abilities.
Fourth, I like the idea of exploring the wild unknown regions of the ocean. There is so much about our planet that we don’t know. How many times have you got sucked in by a Discovery Channel special about life in the ocean; it’s just plain fascinating. The ocean is a great untamed frontier and it’s Aquaman’s job to keep it in line. I think this was best demonstrated during the Kurt Busiek “Sword of Atlantis” run a few years back. During that era, the ocean was essentially a sword-and-sorcery society. Very rugged and untamed like something out of Conan.
Fifth, Aquaman was a family man. Back in the Silver Age, Aquaman had the whole extended family thing going on: Mera his wife, Arthur Jr. his infant son, Aqualad his sidekick, and Aquagirl (Aqualad’s girlfriend). As a parent myself, I kind of dig the idea of a family man superhero. … Okay, I think I should clarify that what follows is not something I “like” about Aquaman, but something that really hits home with me as a parent. … In 1977 Aquaman’s world was changed forever when the Black Manta murdered Arthur Jr. Lots of horrible things have happened to superheroes in the modern age, but this ranks up there as one of the absolute worst. Black Manta murdered his infant son. Let that sink in for a second. Reader, do you have any children, nephews or nieces? Just imagine what it would do to your world if those children were murdered by a man simply because he hates you. Holy crap. I know if one of my children were killed by someone intentionally, I would never recover. This one incident shaped the next 25+ years of Aquaman stories. Mera, Aquaman’s wife, was driven insane by the grief; while Aquaman became an angry, surly person. It was incredibly tragic and the idea still fills me with dread and rage when I think about the murder of a child in the real world.
Sixth, Aquaman is the underdog. Most comic readers mock him, yet at the end of the day Aquaman is still the King of the Seven Seas and manages to save the world. Admittedly, he’s not always the most useful member of the Justice League. I think it’s fair to say that while he’s an “A-list” superhero and deserves the clout that comes from being on the Justice League, it really doesn’t make much sense for him to be on the team from a tactical point of view. He should probably stick to the water, air-breathing cities near the water, issues related to the ocean or the environment, and function in a political capacity as King of Atlantis (i.e. Ambassador to the United Nations). While most people mock him, it’s interesting that really popular writers like Peter David and Geoff Johns are excited about the opportunity to write him. That adds a lot to his credibility.
My Earliest Memories of Aquaman…
I haven’t always been an Aqua-maniac. That didn’t happen until my college years. However, I’ve always had a mild interest in the character. My earliest memories of Aquaman are from the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon. By the way, if you ever want to research the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon, you’ve got to check out Will’s Ultimate Super Friends Episode Guide! What an amazing resource!
There are two Aquaman appearances in the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon that have always stuck out in my mind. The first involved Aquaman suffering a terrible transformation into some sort of shark creature. The second involved Aquaman being time-lost in the prehistoric era, and he figured out a plan to communicate with the modern day Super Friends. While preparing to write this blog post, I did some research and was able to find the actual cartoons online that I barely remember from my childhood.
Here is the episode where Aquaman is transformed into the shark-like creature. As a child I felt sorry for Aquaman when seeing this change. Aquaman was trying to protect everyone, but suffered from radiation exposure himself. I was also a little freaked out when I learned that Aquaman evolved from a shark creature. All this happens around the 5 minutes and 30 seconds mark.
When a military jet carrying a deadly radioactive isotope crashes into the ocean, Aquaman comes to the rescue, but when he retrieves the isotope, the deadly radiation leaks through the canister and Aquaman is transformed into the primitive sea creature from which he evolved. The Super Friends capture him and with the help of a Japanese shrink ray, Superman and Wonder Woman in the Supermobile are shrunk to microscopic size to give the beast another dose of the isotope in the hopes of returning Aquaman to normal.
Here is the episode where Aquaman was trapped in the prehistoric era and figured out a way to communicate with the Super Friends in the future. I remember as a kid thinking his plan was brilliant; as an adult, it really doesn’t seem too feasible. I guess this was a sign of things to come with my interest in time travel stories. The scene I’m talking about happens around the 14 minutes and 25 seconds mark.
Grodd supplies a time conveyor used to lure Aquaman and Apache Chief after Black Manta and Giganta into the prehistoric past. Then Green Lantern and Samurai are trapped in Camelot, and Batman and Robin in Imperial Rome. Aquaman thinks to bury his JLA communicator in the past to signal the Super Friends in the future, and Superman flies through the time barrier to rescue them. Then they confront the Legion at Sutter’s Mill in 1848.
As a kid I read a few comics here and there that featured Aquaman (Justice League of America, Crisis on Infinite Earths, etc). However, it was the 1986 Aquaman mini-series that was my real gateway drug into the Aquaman universe. The way I saw it back then, this was my chance to get in on the ground floor with a #1 issue. Back in the 1980’s, #1 issues were really a big deal. You never knew what comic was going to be the next big hit, so many of us bought almost every #1 issue just to see if the comic was any good or would become valuable. On top of that, here was a character I had a mild interest in already from my ‘Super Friends’ watching days. So it seemed like a win-win situation.
This particular mini-series was written by the great Neal Pozner and illustrated by the amazing Craig Hamilton. It was a fantastic introduction for me to the Aquaman fishtank. It dealt with Atlantis, Vulko, Ocean Master, and magic beneath the sea. The best known thing to come out of this mini-series was Aquaman’s camo (blue) costume. It didn’t stay around long, but it looked awesome! To this day I believe they should have kept this costume instead of returning to the orange and green. Years later they gave Tempest (formerly Aqualad) a modified red version of the suit in homage to its popularity.
While I loved the mini-series, there was no monthly book to follow. So my interest in Aquaman began to wane. There were a handful of Aquaman Specials and mini-series to come out over the next four years. I picked them all up, but only the 1989 ‘Legend of Aquaman Special’ really captured my interest. Then in 1990 came the outstanding ‘Atlantis Chronicles’ mini-series by Peter David and Esteban Maroto. This was a mini-series that began in ancient Atlantis thousands of years ago, and ended with the birth of Aquaman.
Around the same time, my good friend Ravenface had begun to collect back issues of old ‘Legion of Super-heroes’ stories. He would regale me with his misadventures in trying to acquire these old comics and the wacky fun of the Silver Age stories themselves. Keep in mind, back then there was no internet to order from, or trade paperbacks reprinting old stories. Ravenface’s escapades inspired me to go on a back issue quest myself, however, I needed to decide what old series I would seek out. After much consideration, I decided to give old Silver Age Aquaman comic books a try. What a blast! I enjoyed the hunt and the catch of the experience! Those old Aquaman comics were so much fun. Ironically enough, the first Silver Age Aquaman comic I bought was ‘Aquaman #56′ because I liked the cover. Little did I know that was the last issue of the Silver Age series as it had been canceled with that issue. I liked the issue and continued to buy more of the Silver Age Aquaman series. I quickly expanded my search to include the Aquaman appearances in books such as Adventure Comics, Action Comics, and Worlds Finest.
I was officially hooked on Aquaman at that point. So I was in prime position to be totally jazzed when the late 1991 Aquaman monthly book started. I’ve been buying all related Aquaman stories since.
Come back tomorrow for more Aquaman action! In the meantime, check out THE AQUAMAN SHRINE run by the amazing cool Rob Kelly. It’s the best Aquaman site on the net, as well as being one of the best overall comic book blogs on the net. I’ll be plugging this site all week, so you darn well better go check it out!
With all the hype surrounding the new Star Trek movie, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on how I was first exposed to Star Trek. I don’t consider myself to be a Trekkie or Trekker, just a fairly knowledgeable fan of some of the incarnations of Star Trek. I’m happy to say that the first Star Trek show I was exposed to is still one of the best.
My pre-teen years were spent in a typical early-80’s middle class suburban home. Two parents, four children, a dog, and a swimming pool. My dad was the general manager for a local television station, while my mom worked part-time and did the majority of the child rearing. Each night while mom made dinner, it was the kids’ job to stay out of dad’s way. After all he’d had a long day at work and needed time to unwind. He’d come home, drink a cocktail, watch the news, and gobble down a pack of Rolaids in just a few hours. Since the kids interacted primarily with mom, it was a big deal when dad got involved. When dad said he wanted something done, you jumped.
And there came a day unlike any other when my eyes were truly opened for the first time. I was about nine years old at the time. I happened to stroll into our family room where my dad was watching television. He looked at me, looked back to the television, and then looked back at me. He sort of squinted, like he was sizing me up for a fight. Then he spoke those words I’ll never forget, “Boy, sit down. Watch this. It’s important.” Knowing my place in the household, I did exactly what my dad told me to. I sat down and spent the next hour watching this TV show that he seemed to think was important.
The show featured strange new words that I was unfamiliar with, like “Stardate”, “Enterprise”, “Warp Factor”, and … “Gorn”. That’s right, it was the episode entitled “Arena” from the first season of the original Star Trek television series. That’s the one where some powerful entities force Captain Kirk to battle the Gorn unarmed. Great stuff! I was hooked from then on. I mean, c’mon, I didn’t stand a chance. Kirk versus the Gorn? What a fantastic way to get introduced to the franchise!
Soon afterward my dad took me to see “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” in the theatre. Even as a kid, I could tell that movie was just plain awesome. So I guess I’ve got my dad to thank for my lifelong connection to Star Trek. I’ve continued to dabble in the various Star Trek incarnations since those early years, but nothing will ever beat discovering it for the first time.
ONCE UPON A GEEK is back online! Much thanks to SGhoul and Ed for all their help getting my system up and running again (and much improved!). What a pain it is to reload your machine! On top of reinstalling the operating system, I had to reinstall something like 40 different applications. I guess I shouldn’t gripe too much; it could have been worse. I was lucky that I didn’t lose any of my data (i.e. documents, pictures, etc).
Thanks for your patience during this system repair. ONCE UPON A GEEK will return to its regular schedule starting Thursday morning. See y’all then!
We here at ONCE UPON A GEEK apologize for a temporary interruption of service for the next couple of days. Our primary IT resources (read as MY HOME COMPUTER) are being upgraded in order to serve you better (read as THE COMPUTER CAUGHT A F@%#!#& VIRUS!!!!).
Yeah, so I come home from being out of town for a week to find my computer has picked up the “Antivirus XP 2008″ virus! Aaarrgghh! This is a crappy little piece of malware that hijacks a few systems and tries to get you to buy some bogus anti-virus software. It also throws fake infection warnings and a fake blue-screen-of-death. It’s a pretty clever little bastard and has apparently fooled a lot of tech savvy people.
By the way, this blog is hosted by GO DADDY (rather than my own personal computer). So don’t worry, you can’t get the virus from simply reading my blog.
Thanks to the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, I believe I’ve removed the virus from my system. However, I’ve been in dire need of an overhaul for a while. So I’m going to take this opportunity to reinstall the operating system and clean things up.
Therefore, the lights at this blog may be dark for a couple days. Fear not, I’ll be back with my thoughts on comic books, Doctor Who, and whatever pithy comments I can think of.
Old-Wizard.com just posted their “Top 11 Nerd Sites”. ONCE UPON A GEEK came in at #6! As my friend Ravenface would say, “Hooray for us!”
My thanks to the fantastic folks over at Old-Wizard.com for the nod. Please stop by their site sometime. They are a great gaming blog (console, table top, RPG, etc). They also dabble in comic books, Star Trek, sitcoms, and other nerd related topics. Personally, I’d support them no matter what simply based upon their dislike of Marvel’s character The Sentry.
Exhaustion triumphed over me last night. Getting 3 hours of sleep for several days in a row finally caught up with me. I passed out rocking my daughter to sleep last night. I usually write all my posts VERY late at night and schedule them for the next morning.
Come back next week for my recap of Sunday & Monday at DragonCon, some of my favorite pictures, and hopefully some videos too!
While on an eight-hour road trip with my wife, two children, and mother-in-law, this post sprung into my brain fully-formed. It’s an excerpt from a job description for potential married geeks with children.
<<Excerpt>>
JOB DESCRIPTION
Position: Married Geek with Children
Section: Time Commitment
Applicant Prerequisites:
Applicant must have at least 25 years experience in geekery. Interests to include (but not limited to): comic books; role-playing; video games; action figures; surfing the web; science fiction movies, TV, and novels; and movie/TV tie-in novels.
Applicants must be married to a non-geek. Applicants whose spousal unit qualifies as a geek may be considered, however, several of the restrictions outlined below may not apply.
Applicants should have at least two children (some of which may be live-in step-children). Applicants with only one child will be considered, however, until the number of children equal or exceed the number of parents the full-blown “children effect” is not as substantial.
Applicants must be willing to meet the following requirements:
Applicant is expected to give up most available geekery time. Applicant must be willing to sacrifice geek-related activities in exchange for: chasing after children; helping with the dishes; bathing children; tucking children in bed; and all-around household chores. Examples of lost geekery time include:
Coming home after a long day at work, sitting down with an enormous bowl of Mac & Cheese and playing video games all night long. This will no longer be acceptable.
Seeing geek-related movies on opening night in a sold-out movie theater. Unless the spousal unit has a trusted babysitter, this is an activity for “remember when” discussions.
Long leisurely visits to the comic book store will be infrequent going forward. No more three hour discussions with comic shop employees as to who would win in a fight, Thor or Superman. Applicant’s comic shop visits going forward will require careful planning and execution. Economical usage of time is recommended; visit the comic book store during lunch hours, while out running errands for spousal unit, or take a few pico-seconds to stop by on the way home from work. It’s recommended the applicants not take children to the comic shop unless the applicant wishes to spend the entire visit chasing the children or purchasing some outrageously over-priced action figure for the child.
“Alone Time” Addendum
“Alone Time” definition: The highly unusual instances (nearly mythical) in which the applicant find themselves without children, spousal unit, and/or personal/professional duties to perform. Applicant must accept the only “alone time” they will have for the rest of their lives will most likely occur in one of the following places/circumstances:
In the bathroom - Whether it be using the toilet or taking a shower, this is one of the only times the applicant will be allowed to be alone. Applicants are strongly recommended to read comic books or novels during toilet usage. It may be the only time you get for reading the whole week. Warning: this “alone time” may be interrupted by two-year old children banging on the bathroom door because they think it’s funny.
In the car - When not transporting children to or from daycare/school, the applicant may find themselves alone in the car. Applicants are strongly recommended to use this time to their best advantage. Recommended usage includes listening to applicant’s favorite songs, calling old geek friends who never hear from the applicant anymore, or listening to audio books/radio plays. Warning: this “alone time” may be interrupted by the spousal unit calling on the cell phone. Spousal units always seem to know when the applicant is alone in the car. Said spousal units apparently believe it’s their duty to call the applicant simply because the applicant doesn’t have anyone to talk to in the car. In order to maximize this infrequent “alone time”, it’s recommended the applicant not answer the cell phone, later claiming it was set to ”vibrate” and they didn’t notice.
After everyone goes to sleep - Once the children and spousal unit have fallen asleep, the applicant may find themselves with available time. It’s highly recommended the applicant spend this time on the computer, watching TV, or reading comic books/novels. Utilization of this “alone time” may result in the applicant going to sleep at 2:30am. Many applicants find the sacrifice of sleep in exchange for maintaining geek-cred to be worthwhile. Warning: this “alone time” may be interrupted by sleep-walking eight year olds; two years suffering from night terrors; or spousal units awakening and confronting the applicant with questions like, “When are you coming to bed?” or “What are you doing up so late?”
Mother-in-law visits - This is the holy grail of “alone time”. On rare occasion, the spousal unit will take the children to the mother-in-law’s place of residence for a visit. If the mother-in-law lives out of town, these visits may include overnight arrangements. Applicants are strongly recommended to make the best usage of this time. Potential usages include: applicant hanging out with old geek friends they haven’t seen since they had children; going to geek-related movies; renting geek-related movies they missed in the theater while eating absurd amounts of bad Chinese take-out; and marathon comic book reading sessions/video game playing sessions. Warning: applicants that are fortunate enough to experience “alone time” as a result of a Mother-in-law visit should prepare themselves for the resulting application of “guilt-trip 1.0″. The “guilt-trip 1.0″ application will be initiated by the spousal unit because the applicant didn’t travel to the Mother-in-law’s residence with the spousal unit. It’s recommended the applicant allow the application of ”guilt trip 1.0″ to run it’s course, but simply purge any resulting emotions once the discussion is complete. WARNING: If the spousal unit detects compatibility errors with ”guilt trip 1.0″, it may diminish the frequency of future Mother-in-law visits.
<<End Excerpt>>
This excerpt was simply the section on “Time Commitment”. Other sections include, “Financial Impact of Children and Spousal Unit on Available Geekery Funds”, ”It Really is Wonderful to Have Children… Seriously”, and “Conversational Geek”. In the “Conversational Geek” section you’ll learn things like:
Encouraging your children to refer to automobile acceleration as ”warp speed” or “hyperspace”.
The challenges of explaining to a small child why Batman and Spider-Man will never team-up in a movie.
If you find yourself explaining to your non-geek spouse the Star Trek timeline in regard to the original series, Next Generation, and Enterprise … you must realize they aren’t listening; they are just humoring you.
If you have any further documentation for this job description, please feel free to share!
If you are reading this, please take a second to visit my site (http://onceuponageek.com/) and take the poll in the right-hand sidebar. I’m just curious how everyone reads my blog. For example, do you read it on my site, or through LiveJournal, or through an RSS feeder, or some other way I’m not even thinking of.
Regardless, thanks for reading my blog! And please take just a couple seconds to vote in the poll.
A place for all things geek... Primarily I focus on some of my favorite topics including comic books, Doctor Who, Star Wars (classic and legacy characters), role-playing, 80’s TV shows, and science fiction in general. However, any topic is really fair game. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy!
About Shag
By day, The Irredeemable Shag plays the part of a wealthy industrialist, playboy, and philanthropist. By night, he is a frightening creature that strikes terror into the hearts of criminals! ... or ... maybe he's just this really vocal geek who is part of THE UNIQUE GEEK and a semi-regular on the VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX podcast. You decide...
Today marks the 45th anniversary of the airing of the very first Doctor Who episode. It was Saturday, November 23, 1963 at 5:15pm GMT when an unheard of children’s program appeared on BBC television. It featured two school teachers, an oddball student, and a grumpy old man. Who knew this humble beginning would lead to 45 years worth of adventures!
With all the hype surrounding the new Star Trek movie, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on how I was first exposed to Star Trek. I don’t consider myself to be a Trekkie or Trekker, just a fairly knowledgeable fan of some of the incarnations of Star Trek. I’m happy to say that the first Star Trek show I was exposed to is still one of the best.
ONCE UPON A GEEK is back online! Much thanks to 
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