Something to Celebrate
Thirteen actors (12 men and one woman) have taken to the small screen to play an alien interdimensional time traveler from the planet Gallifrey simply known as The Doctor.
Tales of battling foes, saving planets and people while commuting in the TARDIS (an acronym for Time And Relative Dimension In Space), have played out on the British sci-fi show 鈥淒octor Who鈥� for decades.
The show premiered on Nov. 23, 1963, making this Monday the day designated as both TARDIS Day and 鈥淒octor Who鈥� Day.
Appearing as a blue police call box, the TARDIS functions as The Doctor鈥檚 time machine/space craft that鈥檚 鈥渄imensionally transcendental鈥� 鈥� a fancy way to note it鈥檚 way bigger on the inside.
Always accompanied by a companion, The Doctor鈥檚 first set of adventures lasted until 1989 with eight actors taking on the role.
After a 16-year break, the show rebooted in 2005 with actor Christopher Eccleston portraying The Doctor for one season.
Actors David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi followed, and in 2018 Jodie Whittaker was the first woman to take over the role.
The show has gone through numerous plotlines trying to unravel exactly who The Doctor is, including battles with the Daleks, a recurring thorn in The Doctor鈥檚 side since 1963.
On the outside, Daleks look a bit like R2D2 with lightbulbs fused to them. The creatures inside the armor, however, resemble octopuses.
Their favorite word: 鈥渆xterminate.鈥�
While Dalek plots and schemes have presented formidable challenges for The Doctor, one of the creepiest foes, the Weeping Angels, were introduced in 2007.
On their face, they appear as statues of angels 鈥� full-sized or cherubim.
Described by one of the doctors as 鈥渢he deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has produced,鈥� the angels don鈥檛 actually kill anyone.
Instead, they send a victim back to a point before his or her birth, and live by feeding off the energy the person would鈥檝e generated had they lived in the present.
The angels first appeared in the episode 鈥淏link,鈥� where they move silently when unobserved. In that episode, they wanted to find the TARDIS to feed off of its energy.
While they were foiled, it wasn鈥檛 for long. They returned in later years to face subsequent iterations of The Doctor.
Even if sci-fi isn鈥檛 your schtick, it鈥檚 worth looking around to see where you can stream 鈥淏link.鈥� The episode might just make you want to learn more about the erstwhile, time-traveling doctor.
Other things to celebrate this week include:
n Nov. 19: Have a Bad Day Day, National Blow Bagpipes Day, National Play Monopoly Day
n Nov. 20: National Absurdity Day, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Name Your PC Day
n Nov. 21: False Confessions Day, World Hello Day, World Television Day
n Nov. 22: Go For A Ride Day, Mother Goose Parade Day, National Cranberry Relish Day
n Nov. 23: Doctor Who Day (Also known as TARDIS Day), Fibonacci Day, National Espresso Day
n Nov. 24: National Sardines Day, Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day, D.B. Cooper Day
n Nov. 25: National Parfait Day, National Jukebox Day, National Play Day with Dad