Author: Lee Hurtado

Yes, Clara, There Is A Doctor

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We don’t believe in Santa Claus because he’s real. He’s real because we believe in him.

There’s that kind of power in our fantasies, our fairy tales, our heroes. They don’t have to exist in our world. And it might be far better that they don’t. Reality can be a mess sometimes, maybe most times. And it’s a comfort to know that there’s something outside of it. Something better. Something impossible and incredible and great.

And so we create these heroes and vest our faith in them. Like Santa Claus.

Like the Doctor.

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Your Earworm for Today, or: Hook the Uncanny

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It goes without saying – so of course I’m saying it anyway – that today’s post is inspired by last night’s Peter Pan Live!, in which Christopher Walken played Christopher Walken playing Captain Hook (seriously, check out his reading of “Prepare to meet thy doom”).

Response has been… mixed at best. To be fair, though, I haven’t had a chance to sit down and watch the whole thing. But it does give me an excuse to go on about a near-forgotten telling of the tale. Continue reading →

Anywhere You Want To Go

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In a lot of ways, my working relationship with Nikki is like a story from Doctor Who, with her as the Doctor (I think I’m more a Harry Sullivan type). She’ll call or text me out of the blue one day and invite me to join her on her latest adventure. And that’s really the best word for it: adventure.

Sometimes the way through the project is a straight path. Far more often it’ll have all these twists and turns before we get to the end of it. But we always end up where we need to go. And we always have a lot of fun getting there. I’m proud of all the things we’ve accomplished together.

And now, I’m especially proud of the work we’re doing to pass that sense of adventure on to the next generation.

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Old Friends Die Hard

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“Clara, be my pal. Tell me… am I a good man?”
“I… don’t know.”
“Neither do I.”

– from “Into the Dalek,” by Phil Ford and Steven Moffat

They were the central questions of Series 8 of Doctor Who. What kind of man is this new Doctor? Is he a hero? Does he still care? Is he even capable of caring anymore?

It’s to the show’s credit that it dared to ask those questions, to explore the darker sides of life with, and as, the last Time Lord. Asking those questions gave us stories like “Listen” and “Flatline.”

And it’s to the show’s credit that in the end, it found a way to answer them.

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The Hope of Art

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The world is full of possibilities.

If your experience with that truth is anything like mine, then it’s a lesson we all learn. And forget. And relearn. But I have to believe it’s worth the constant trying.

That truth is so much at the heart of what Monarch Academy is about. And it’s at the heart of the school’s latest [ad]venture.
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A Longer Note About Notes

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There’s something about barbershop music that makes the genre so unique. It’s at once wholly American and wholly global, as the existence of organizations like Sweet Adelines International demonstrates.

In San Antonio, we have the Alamo Metro Chorus, a local chapter of Sweet Adelines. AMC and its affiliated quartets regularly travel and compete regularly in international showcases. I’ve heard them, so I can tell you they deserve it.

Which brings us to last weekend. Continue reading →

If This Is Paradise, I Wish I Had A Sonic Lawnmower

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Since I’ve committed to life as a Doctor Who blogger, I’ve often surprised myself with the connections I’ve made. Not so much within the show itself – it’s easy to find traces of a past story or a past Doctor in the current series. It’s Doctor Who – there’s always going to be at least a piece of its past in its present.

No, the surprise comes from the connections I find outside of the series, the things an episode reminds me of as I’m watching it. Last week’s episode is a perfect example. I didn’t go into “Flatline” looking for a Bourne Identity parallel, but once I found it, it just made perfect sense to explore that.

With all that in mind, you really have to wonder about the kind of mind that goes from Doctor Who to Talking Heads…
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Look At What They Make You Give

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One of the many assets of Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity (spoilers ahead) is Clive Owen’s character, called the Professor. Like Jason Bourne, the Professor’s one of the Treadstone program’s assassins, a laconic piece of work who says nary a syllable until he finally catches up with his quarry. And once Bourne has gunned him down, he uses his dying words to reflect on the terrible bond they share:

Look at us. Look at what they make you give.

Bourne himself will repeat those words in The Bourne Ultimatum. It’s a commentary on the way Treadstone has leached the good from them both, in the name of a supposed higher purpose.

And after seeing the latest Doctor Who, the road from the Professor to the Doctor might not be as far as you’d think. Or hope.

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These Are The Musical Voyages…

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Spend the briefest length of time with me, and you’ll know that I love film music. I’ve been in love with film music for the better part of my life. It’s effectively permeated my DNA.

Spend a slightly longer length of time with me, and you’ll know that it all started with Jerry Goldsmith and his iconic score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Since I first heard “THE score” all those years ago, music has been a huge part of my Star Trek experience.

And last night, that experience took me to a whole new dimension.
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It’s Complicated, But Does It Really Have To Be THAT Complicated?

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One of the many things that’s made Series 8 of Doctor Who so different from past seasons is the nature of the arc that informs the stories. In past years (especially since Steven Moffat became showrunner), those arcs were plot-driven, grounded in twists and turns and reveals of mixed justification and mixed success.

But this season, the arc is almost entirely character-driven. It’s about relationships. It’s about Clara’s relationship with the Doctor. In a way I’m not sure the show has really attempted before, Doctor Who is exploring what it means to travel with the Doctor. And it’s exploring that relationship from both sides.

And so, it’s not altogether surprising that the last two episodes have effectively changed the status to “It’s Complicated.”

But it’s still great viewing.

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