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Adam M. Anklewicz

The Power

I know I’ve posted this before, but I did something I haven’t done in FOREVER… I dragged my ass out of the house to a rock show. Yes! I went to see Army Girls! I adore their cassette EP. I’ve listened to it so much that if I didn’t use the download code and was listening to it on tape, it would be mangled by now. There was something mighty special when they performed “The Power,” their closing song. When the audience were singing along to the final lyrics “Your past, your lack, your cruelty/The power you’ll never have on me” over and over again. “Your past, your lack, your cruelty/The… Read More »The Power

Doctor Who Story 008 – The Reign of Terror

May I first say, it’s ridiculous I have to add a leading double zero because Doctor Who has hundreds of stories? “The Reign of Terror” is the final story of the first season. We’ve been through 42 episodes, broken down into 8 serials. Until “The Reign of Terror” we’ve only had seven missing episodes. Those seven episodes make up the entirety of “Marco Polo.” “The Reign of Terror” is missing two episodes (“The Tyrant of France” and “A Bargain of Necessity”). When I was a kid, I would record episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation on VHS, and then all other versions of Star Trek. It seems that British kids had a… Read More »Doctor Who Story 008 – The Reign of Terror

Doctor Who Story 007 – The Sensorites

Synopsis: The Doctor and his companions arrive on a spaceship to find a crew sleeping. They wake up to warn The Doctor to flee as soon as possible as the Sensorites are keeping them prisoner. The Doctor and his companions return to the TARDIS to find the locking and opening mechanism for the TARDIS has been removed. They can’t get in. This is one of the weirder ones; not because of the story. In 1997, a new TV channel launched called Space. They decided to show episodes of Doctor Who, and they started right from the beginning. They only showed complete serials, and they had the rights to air episodes from… Read More »Doctor Who Story 007 – The Sensorites

Doctor Who Story 006 – The Aztecs

Synopsis: After leaving the TARDIS, Barbara emerges from from the tomb of Yetaxa, a priest of the Aztec people. The Doctor, Ian, and Susan are mistaken for Yetaxa’s servants. This is second1 historical story. The original plan for Doctor Who was to have The Doctor finding themselves on alien worlds and in Earth’s past. This isn’t something that lasted longer than William Hartnell. Pretty early on, the party discover that a human sacrifice is about to take place. Barbara refuses to allow it. In her words If I could start the destruction of everything that’s evil here… then everything that is good would survive when Cortez lands.” But The Doctor has a… Read More »Doctor Who Story 006 – The Aztecs

Doctor Who Story 005 – The Keys of Marinus

Synopsis: The TARDIS arrives on a beach of glass on the shore of an acidic sea. They are being stalked by a man in a scuba suit. They find a building, and for some odd reason split up. They are all captured by an old man in robes, except for Ian, who saves the old man from a scuba man. Once he knows he can trust The Doctor and his companions, the old man tells them of his machine which can save his world, but he needs the four keys of marinus to work the machine. The Doctor and his companions are forced into helping the old man. They modelled… Read More »Doctor Who Story 005 – The Keys of Marinus

Doctor Who Story 003 – The Edge of Destruction

Plot Synopsis: Doctor Who was originally commissioned for a 13 episode run. The Four episode story “An Unearthly Child” and the seven episode story “The Daleks” left the production crew with a two episode void. They decided for budget purposes to set the entire story within the confines of the TARDIS. An accident completely knocks The Doctor and his companions to the ground (except Ian who seems to land perfectly in a chair). They all wake up confused and Susan complains of pain, ready to scream “GRANDFATHER!” They find the doors ajar, and Susan freaks out and assumes something got in. I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a big… Read More »Doctor Who Story 003 – The Edge of Destruction

Doctor Who Story 002 – The Daleks

Plot Synopsis: The crew find themselves on an alien world in an alien forest where the vegetation has turned to stone. While his companions wish to leave and search for home, The Doctor is insistent they travel to the city. There they encounter The Daleks, a species of mutated organic beings encased in a metal box. Only on story 2 and we already see the most iconic of Doctor Who baddies. The first episode is filled mostly with exposition and positioning the characters where they need to go. The audience learns the planet is flooded with radiation, while the characters are oblivious. We see The Doctor sabotage the TARDIS to… Read More »Doctor Who Story 002 – The Daleks

Doctor Who Story 001 – An Unearthly Child Parts 2-4

Synopsis: A tribe of cave people have lost the knowledge of how to make fire creating a power vacuum within the tribe. The Doctor is kidnapped after being observed using matches. He must make fire for the cave people or die. We see an interesting power struggle between Cal and Za. Neither of these characters can control fire, but one is the son of the now-deceased fire-maker and the other a great hunter. Paralleling that, there’s a power struggle between Ian and The Doctor. At first, Ian is adamant that they’re not possibly standing in a time machine, and that they’re still in 1963 London, while The Doctor knows the TARDIS… Read More »Doctor Who Story 001 – An Unearthly Child Parts 2-4

Doctor Who Story 001 – An Unearthly Child Part 1

After watching the 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who, I felt it was only appropriate to go back to the beginnings in 1963. Aired on November 23, 1963, Doctor Who told the story of Susan Foreman, an eccentric girl from an alien world who arises the suspicions of her teachers. Most stories I will treat a whole, but “An Unearthly Child” is really two stories, the pilot and the cavemen stories that are episodes 2-4. So let’s start with episode 1. The premise of this story is a bit ridiculous. Two teachers, Ian and Barbara are concerned with their student Susan. She eccentric. She thinks the UK is on the… Read More »Doctor Who Story 001 – An Unearthly Child Part 1

Dear Mayor Ford,

I felt I had to email my mayor… Dear Mayor Ford, I was pleased to hear you finally admitted to the allegations against you. Finally you answered the questions put forward to you. This is an amazing step towards Toronto forgiving you. You’re lucky to live in a city with 2.7 million wonderful people who want the best for you, even if you are unable to admit you need help. There are still some questions that the people of Toronto feel you have inadequately addressed: Other than your conviction for a DUI in Florida, have you ever operated a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or narcotics? Have… Read More »Dear Mayor Ford,