Whovian Chatter: The Troughton Years Season Six

Ghost here, thanks for joining.

I'm going to be examining Doctor Who... every single episode.  I'm going to take you on a journey through the 50+ years worth of this show, showcasing the good and the bad along the way.  For each episode I'm going to give you a very brief rundown of the plot, how good/bad the story is, and anything interesting about the episode.  Basically I'll just talk about whatever comes to mind for each of them.  These will be a more in-depth overview of the series as a whole so you can see which stories or episodes (if any) you want to check out for yourself.  Today I'm going to be talking about

The Second Doctor

Patrick Troughton

Season Six

Season six of Doctor Who ran from August 10, 1968 to June 21, 1969.  It contained 44 episodes spread among 7 stories.  Season six is a special season to me.  The companions are Jamie and Zoe, and while only Jamie is considered one of the fan favorites, the three of them together just work so well.  Not does this season have extremely special companions, but the show was doing perfectly fine without having a foothold in the present time it was being broadcast.  This is something I wish the modern run of the show would do every now and then.  The Doctor is an alien from the future, Jamie is a highlander from the far past, and Zoe is from the far future.  This also holds one of my favorite Doctor Who adventures and ends on an amazingly high note (for the series, not for the Doctor.) 

Season six also has the last of the currently missing stories.  While some of the Pertwee era did go missing, there were black and white copies of everything from that era.  This season's The Space Pirates is the last of the missing stories...and some people would say it should remain missing.

Story 44
The Dominators

The first story of this season is The Dominators and it's five episodes long.  An alien race known as the Dominators lands on a radioactive island on the planet Dulkis.  They use the radioactivity to partially refuel their engines.  Since they found a suitable fuel source, the Dominators move forward with their plan to turn the planet's core into fuel by using their robots, the quarks.  When a group of locals arrive on the island, the Dominators decide to use the Dulkins as a slave race.  The TARDIS crew lands, and they are quickly captured and examined by the Dominators.  It's up to the Doctor to stop these Dominators as the Dulkins, a peaceful race, decide whether they will actually do something about these oppressors.

I always try to see the good out of every Doctor Who serial produced but there isn't much I can say about this one.  It's mostly forgettable and not very good.  The best thing you can say about it is that it's a story about the Doctor fighting space dominatrices.  I'd give this one a pass unless you're watching the whole series.

Story 45
The Mind Robber

The second story is The Mind Robber and it's five episodes long.  The TARDIS has to make an emergency shift when leaving the planet Dulkis and ends up in a white void that is calling out to Jamie and Zoe by showing them mental images of home.  As the pair wander around the white void, avoiding strange robotic creatures, the TARDIS explodes and the trio end up in the land of fiction.  There, the TARDIS crew finds unicorns, Gulliver, Rapunzel and other such beings who are alive in this world.  Word puzzles manifest themselves as actual puzzles that the Doctor must overcome and Jamie loses his face forcing the Doctor to put it back together from a list of options... he gets it wrong and Frazier Hines is replaced by another actor for an episode.  The realm of fiction is being controlled by a simple editor who has chosen the Doctor as his replacement.  Can the Doctor use the powers of the land of fiction to get his himself and his friends out before they become trapped as part of fiction?  Well yeah of course but it's one heck of a ride!

This is one of the greatest stories in all of Doctor Who.  It's creativity and ambition are practically unparalleled.  Take any four seasons of the show and this episode has more creativity than all of them combined.   Everything is demented beyond belief and absolutely nothing makes sense.  The final "battle" between the controller and the Doctor utilizing works of fiction to fight each other is absolutely brilliant.  This is a must-watch story!

Story 46
The Invasion

The third story is The Invasion and it's eight episodes long.  The TARDIS lands back in London and most places seem to be on lock-down.  While there are several strange happenings, the most mysterious of all is one particular company building where people go in but no one comes out.  The Doctor decides to track down Professor Travers (who we met last season) to help figure out what's gone wrong, but Travers cannot be found.  While investigating, the Doctor and Jamie are picked up by UNIT under the leadership of the newly promoted Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.  As UNIT and the Doctor investigate they find that the company's plan is to revitalize a group of Cybermen for an invasion of Earth.

If I think six-episode stories can sometimes be long then you should know what I think about this one.  Although it's honestly too long of a story its still a really good one.  It keeps the suspense and mystery going for quite awhile.  This story also introduces UNIT though they won't really become a major driving force till the Pertwee era.  It's a good story just a bit on the long side.  Check it out!

Story 47
The Krotons

The fourth story is The Krotons and it's four episodes long.  On an unnamed planet, a group of people known as Gonds are subjects to the Krotons whom they have never physically seen.  Every so often the Krotons take the brightest among the Gonds and choose them as companions; those Gonds are never seen again.  The TARDIS lands and the trio see the fate of the latest chosen one as he is vaporized before their eyes.  In order to investigate what's going on, the Doctor and Zoe eventually get themselves invited on board the Kroton Ship.  While there, they find that the Krotons use brain power to fuel their space ship and have been trying to leave the planet for years by picking the smartest Gonds to see if they could help pilot the ship.  When those Gonds fail, they are killed.  The Doctor takes samples of the environment and concludes that acid would destroy the Krotons.  Teaching the last remaining scientist of the Gonds how to make acid, the group destroy the Kroton ship saving the colony

This is another one that a lot of people think is really bad but I kind of enjoy it.  The Krotons look absolutely ridiculous but I like the idea that they can revert to a liquid form to save energy and live on for centuries.  It's mostly a harmless and forgettable story but there are a few redeemable points.  This is the first time you see the TARDIS hostile displacement occur as a Kroton attacks the TARDIS.  It's also amusing to see Zoe pass the intelligence test easily while the Doctor is getting flustered by the same questions.

Story 48
The Seeds of Death

The fifth story is The Seeds of Death and it's six episodes long. The Earth has started using a teleportation system to transmit goods from the planet, to the moon, and back down to another spot on the planet again.  Suddenly, the teleportation system on the Moon base breaks down and ground control can't contact the moon.  When the TARDIS lands in a rocket museum, both the Doctor and Zoe show knowledge of how rockets work which impresses the local authorities.  They decide to send the three of them up to the moon in a rocket to figure out what's gone wrong.  Eventually they uncover a plot by the Ice Warriors to use the transmat system to send these green pods down to various places on Earth.  These pods open up, spread toxic gas and foam, and continue spreading at an alarming rate; they could easily wipe out all of humanity.  The Doctor must stop the Ice Warriors and find out a way to stop the spreading toxicity.

This story is a pretty solid one.  It's got a fairly good mystery going on for a little while and both the Ice Warriors and the pods seem legitimately threatening at first.  The biggest problem with the story is that the Ice Warrior's plan is stupid.  These pods which give off toxicity and spread are stopped by one thing...WATER.  You know, the one thing Earth is primarily filled with!!  The evil foam is a fantastic addition and really works well.  I know it sounds silly to say that foam is threatening but in the black and white era and with Troughton's amazing acting it actually works far better than you would think.  Also this story is a notable one as the Doctor outright kills several Ice Warriors with homemade heat ray guns; something that the Tenth Doctor would swear he would never do....but I'll get to that episode much later.

Nothing important happens in story 49.

Story 50
The War Games

The last episode of the Second Doctor's era is the massively long The War Games; it's ten episodes long.  The TARDIS lands in the middle of a World War I battlefield and are taken in for questioning.  Afterwards they are put on trial for being Nazi spies and are found guilty due to the examiners being mind controlled.  They barely escape execution only to find themselves walking through a fog and directly into the Roman Empire.  What's going on?  Well, a race of aliens known as the War Lords, and an antagonistic Time Lord known as the War Chief have been using TARDIS-like machines to steal human beings from history.  They have been allowing them to continue fighting in the war they were stolen from believing them to be on Earth.  Once they have found the perfect set of warriors they intend to take them on a rampage across the galaxy.  After several episodes of trying to stop them, the Doctor realizes that he cannot do this on his own and sends out for his people, the Time Lords.

I'm going to pause for a moment before I talk about the last episode of the War Games.  It's one insane ride and because of how special it is, if you don't wish to be spoiled then stop reading this now and go find the episode.

Episode 10 of the War Games has the Doctor absolutely terrified and running away in the TARDIS with Zoe and Jamie but they cannot escape the Time Lords.  The Doctor reveals that not only was his TARDIS stolen, but in his various travels of helping people has actually been disobeying the first law of the Time Lords.  Realizing that he cannot run anymore, he materializes on Gallifrey to witness against the War Lords.  The Time Lords agree on the War Lords' guilt and not only isolate their planet for all of eternity, but they wipe these particular War Lords from history entirely...meaning they never even existed.  They then put the Doctor on trial for interfering with other worlds. He explains that he is out there fighting against evil when the rest of them do nothing.  The Time Lords agree that he has a point but he has still broken their law so they wipe the memories of his companions and send them back to their original spot in time and space.  They then exile the Doctor on Earth and force him to regenerate; effectively they execute the Second Doctor.  The episode ends as he is shouting "no" repeatedly and shrinking into the distance to regenerate.

This is one heck of a ride and an important episode.  Not only did this introduce the Time Lords as a group but it also explained a little more about the Doctor's past.  The Nine episodes leading up to the final one are long...far too long.  However it was originally intended to only be a six part episode with an additional four parter preceding it.  Due to budget this didn't happen.   We also see our first truly evil Time Lord in the War Chief and he is either the inspiration for, or an earlier incarnation of the Master who we will see in a couple seasons time.  Episode ten is huge and is one of the greatest single episodes of Classic Doctor Who.  However you have to trudge through a lot to get there if you plan on watching the whole thing.  Honestly, while the first three or four episodes of this story are fairly good the rest of it just drags and repeats itself.  Only watch the first 9 episodes if you want to, but you should definitely check out the last episode.

Conclusion

That concludes season six.  As I said previously it's a very special season for me.  While it does have a couple of missteps, it has one of the greatest stories of the show's history, one of the greatest single episodes  in the entire series and a few of the stories that introduce very important elements to the future of the show.  I love Patrick Troughton as the Doctor.  While Matt Smith will always have that special place in my heart, Patrick Troughton will always rank very highly.  It was very sad to see him go, especially in the way he did.  Thankfully we get to see him three more times in the classic show as he participates in what is known as Season 6B...but I'll talk to that MUCH later when I'm discussing the Sixth Doctor.  Please join me again as we continue to examine all of Doctor Who.

This is Ghost, fading into the darkness

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Ghost's Arcade: Top 10 Games or Ideas that Need to Happen

Ghost here, thanks for joining.

It's no real surprise that gamers can act like little children at times in both positive and negative ways.  While we can be child-like in our anticipation and hype over something seemingly insignificant, we can also act like spoiled brats by throwing tantrums because something didn't turn out the way we wanted.  We can pout when that game we were hoping for doesn't get announced (coughPokemonZMother3cough), or we're just being flat greedy and wanting more and more.  I... don't intend to address this whatsoever.  In fact, I'm here to be one of those greedy little kids who's just wanting more from his games.

It doesn't matter what you happen to be a fan of, once you decide that you are a fan of something in particular you always want to see something more or something different.  There's always going to be something that comes to mind which you haven't seen yet but want to see.  Perhaps you would like to see an all-star basketball game with a roster of your own liking.  Perhaps you would like your favorite author to write a book in a different genre to see their spin on it.  Maybe you just want a second season of Firefly, dang it!  Or maybe like today's topic there are just some games or gaming ideas that you just want to see happen no matter how much you know they probably won't.

So, yes, that is today's topic.  This is my own personal

Top 10 Games Or Ideas That Need To Happen

This is my own personal list of stuff that I particularly want to see based on my own gaming interests.  If it's not something that I generally play or are interested in then it won't be making it to the actual list of 10.  I will try to NOT double dip in a franchise or idea as much as possible.  That being said, there will be 2 pokemon entries.  The reason for this is due to my love of the pokemon franchise, and because my attempt to consolidate ideas left me one short.  A secondary pokemon idea was all that came to me that was worth putting on the list.

Before we get started, let's have some Honorable Mentions

A more unique Call of Duty Title - While I don't actually play Call of Duty something to breathe new life into the stagnation would be very welcome.  Though I have no ideas what that breath of fresh air would be, something very unique might actually get me to play the game.

Silent Hills or a spiritual successor to Silent Hill - Again I don't play this franchise, but I'm more interested in it than other game franchises I don't play.  I know many people were outraged at the Silent Hills cancellation so it would be nice to get something out there for those fans

Kingdom Hearts Styled Game for Nintendo Franchises - I love Kingdom Hearts and I would absolutely so bananas if a series came along doing the same thing with Nintendo worlds as Kingdom Hearts does with Disney Worlds.  It didn't make the list however because it was just a little too similar to something else I have on the list.

Pokemon Online MMO - Everyone's been asking for this for years.  It would be great to have an online Pokemon MMO with full 3D graphics and models but that would be such a strain on the Nintendo servers and consoles that I'm not sure if it's feasible.

Half Life 3 - Just because I want those stupid memes to stop

Now that I have those out of the way, let's dive right in to the list shall we?

10. More unique types and specific inspirations of Pokemon

I'm going to start with this one as it was not only my last-minute addition but it is also the one most likely to happen in one form or another.  This is mostly due to the fact that fan pokemon games exist which have "fakemon" of these types or styles, but also Pokemon Sun and Moon are coming out later this year and may provide us with some of these awesome ideas.  There are tons of pokemon; no one can deny this.  We have everything from an entire ocean full of generic fish, to various land animals, to ice cream cones, walking desserts, mimes, and a god.  However despite all of their efforts there are still several animals, items, and mythical creatures that simply haven't been touched in the six generations of the game series.  One could say that they just haven't gotten to them yet, but many of these are fairly commonplace and I'm surprised they haven't been done yet.  Things like koalas, dolphins, geese, moose, tombstones, peppers, minotaur, and pegasus aren't exactly that ...farfetch'd.

Ba DUM Tiss!

To top it off, while there are certainly many unique type combinations, as of the writing of this blog there are somewhere around 40 completely untouched type combinations.  That's not to mention the various type combos that have only been represented by one pokemon or  a single mega evolution.  Yet there are hundreds of normal/flying types, and mono types all throughout the series.  I appreciate any...er..well most pokemon for what they are but I feel Nintendo should think of these unused type combinations and be a little more inventive.

It took me only about 20 minutes to compile a list of pokemon that cover one or both of the categories listed above from various sprites that either I have created or modified in my boredom or that I have found online.  Just take a look at them.

I see no reason that all of these couldn't be pokemon and I'm quite frankly surprised that many of them aren't already.

9.  More alternate costumes in Smash Bros

One of my fondest memories about Super Smash Bros Brawl was when the online community got together and hacked practically everything about it.  Out of this behavior, Project M was born.  However of more significance to me was the ability to change what a character looked like for their alternate colors.  With only a few exceptions, most characters by default just had various color pallet swaps as their other skin choices.  However, with a hacked Wii system you could make the alternate costumes be anything you wanted whether it was a character from their series, or something from real life.  By the time I was done scouring the internet I had alternate costumes for every single one of the Brawl Fighter's alternate colors.  Many of these things would have been excellent alternate costumes to have come with that character already; these included things such as Dry Bowser for Bowser, Funky Kong for Donkey Kong, Fierce Deity Link for Link, and Mr. L for Luigi.  Others were just utterly ridiculous like Billy Mays for Ganondorf, Buzz Lightyear for Olimar, and Ronald McDonald for Captain Falcon.  It was fantastic.

Enter the 3DS and WiiU versions of Smash Bros and we find out that more characters actually do have alternate costumes, many of them with their own separate name in the announcement such as Alph and the other Koopa Kids.  With all of these alternate people as costumes one would have thought that everyone would get an alternate costume or at least there would have been a DLC to add an extra costume for everyone.  That didn't happen and it's a shame.  They are really missing some great opportunities to add flavor to the roster by giving alternate costumes or alternate people to everyone in smash.  Just think of how awesome having Shiny Charizard, Hyrule Warriors Zelda, or blue pajamas Toon Link would be if it were in the actual game!  Maybe we will get that in the next installment. 

8. Remake the Jedi Knight series

I don't know about you all, but some of the first games I ever got into as a child were part of the Star Wars franchise.  While I did own the original trilogy on gameboy, their extreme level of difficulty didn't really allow me to enjoy them that much.  Then, somewhere around 1996, my friend Matt introduced me to Dark Forces on the PC.   It was GLORIOUS.  It had all of the action packed Star Wars goodness I was hoping for and more!  Between the blaster battles, facing off against Jabba the Hutt's minions, fighting Boba Fett, and taking down the Dark Trooper project, I was having a blast!  Then Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight came out showing that the main character, Kyle Katarn could utilize the force and introduced battles against seven different Sith.  There was an expansion pack called Mysteries of the Sith that accompanied Jedi Knight as well as a Gamecube exclusive title Jedi Outcast that finished out Kyle's journey to being a Jedi.

These games were wonderful but even back then I knew the graphics were pretty terrible... far worse than what these brilliant games deserve.  With technology quickly pulling away and the ability to play these old PC games becoming more and more difficult to do, we should have some sort of remake or remastering of these games.  This would allow those of us who truly loved them to see them the way they should be, and allow a whole new generation just getting in to Star Wars thanks to Episode VII, a chance to experience the adventures of this awesome Jedi!

7. Fallout Game/DLC in a different part of the world

Fallout is a series that I have grown to adore over the last few years and still go back to play Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas every now and then.  While I still don't have Fallout 4 because I can't afford a PS4 at the moment, I'm looking forward to that game and the DLC that it will offer once I can.  One of the coolest parts about Fallout is getting to see real-life landmarks and the series' spin on what they would look like/become in a post-apocalyptic world.  We have seen many locations in these games such as the cities of Washington DC, Boston, and Las Vegas, as well as the deserts of the Nevada, a virtual reality simulation of Alaska, the irradiated swamps of Maryland, and even the inside of an alien mothership.  However, I just want a tiny bit more variety.

With the exception of the Mothership Zeta, all of the Fallout games (as far as I know) take place in the United States.  While I love the United States and identify more with the landmarks there as it is my home, I would love to see how the rest of the world has dealt with the apocalypse.  How have the pyramids in Egypt held up?  What has become of the Taj Mahal?  How would people have survived the irradiated oceans surrounding the Philippines?  I would love to have a full game or even just a DLC expansion that explored one of these other locations around the world just to see what it's like somewhere other than the United States just for once.  It would be nice to have a change of scenery to be something we haven't seen yet in a Fallout game.

6. Pokemon Snap 2

Here's something that should have happened eons ago.  Pokemon Snap was a one-off game for the N64 about taking photographs of Pokemon.  While that does sound silly, the ways in which you had to coax certain pokemon to appear, evolve, or pose made the game quite enjoyable.  I've never personally heard anyone speak poorly of this game and the fact that they have never given it a sequel is astounding.  The premise pretty much writes itself with the advances in technology and all of the new pokemon to have been released. With the 3DS and WiiU screen controller both utilizing gyroscopic controls it's a no-brainer to have this game make a return.  They've already brought over Fatal Frame for use of the WiiU screen for this exact same purpose.

Well...maybe not the EXACT same purpose

The developers of the original game have made comments about fans' desire for a second game and have noted the 3DS and WiiU's gyroscopic controls would make for effective gameplay.  However, they have also stated they shouldn't make another game unless they bring something new to the table with it.  It legitimately took me 2 minutes to come up with something new.  Rather than have the photographer on a moving cart have him freely walking around various locations in the pokemon world.  He will have to find places where the pokemon live, hide, and play while trying to remain undetected just like a real wildlife photographer, so he can get some natural shots.  If he is seen or detected by the pokemon, some may actually be friendly towards him and might put on a show or lead him somewhere neat.  Other times they may attack allowing you for some cool action shots (though if you get attacked too much your day will end sooner), or sometimes they will just run away.  The better pictures you take then you get to go to new locations and get different lenses for your camera to zoom in farther as to avoid detection etc.  Something like that would be fairly easy to make and honestly pretty fun provided you can interact with your surroundings and toss food etc like in the original.

5. Star Fox/Metroid Crossover

Despite any verbiage that Nintendo will say otherwise, the Star Fox and Metroid series have been getting the shaft in recent years in a bad way.   Star Fox has always had a bad trend of re-making the same game as Star Fox 64 was a remake of Star Fox... which was later re-released for the 3DS... and now is basically being re-released again under the name Star Fox Zero.  This is Metroid's 30th anniversary and we get absolutely nothing except the potential for a 4 player 3DS game that nobody wanted.  Yes I know Nintendo has said Star Fox Zero has a different story and they have said Metroid Prime Federation Force is an integral part in the franchise but I'm not totally buying either story quite yet.   Star Fox Zero simply looks like an updated Star Fox 64 at this point, and the 3/3/16 Nintendo Direct screamed of "We put too much money into this Metroid title to pull out now so let's try to convince you it's not as bad as you know it is." ... sorry got off on a rabbit trail there.

What we need is something brand new and awesome for both of the series and I think this right here would be the key.  The story almost writes itself.  Both Star Fox and Metroid are set in space with multiple planets and space stations dealing with alien menaces.  It would pull the best from both worlds.  Obviously it would pull the puzzles and various artifacts from Metroid, but it would also pull galaxy travel and vehicle battles from Star Fox.  It would incorporate the best parts of ground combat from both series.  Due to the differences in both franchises the story wouldn't have to be THAT original to still be awesome.  It could just simply be that somehow the space pirates, metroids, aparoids, Team Star Wolf, Ridley, Kraid, Andross and all other unspeakable atrocities have started havoc across the galaxy but the job is too big for just one hero so both Samus and Team Star Fox team up to save the galaxy.  With a premise so great and simple why hasn't this been done yet?

4. Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories WITHOUT the card-based battling system

Kingdom Hearts is one of my favorite series of games.  I've always enjoyed Disney movies and the fact that I can run around exploring these different worlds, interacting with the characters, and beating up the villains is just wonderful.  It's unfortunate that every single title in the series no matter on what format they are released continues or adds to the story line in some way.  It's unfortunate partially because you have to own multiple systems or wait till they are re-released for a system you own...but it's mostly unfortunate because the second game in the series, Chain of Memories, is mostly unplayable and is a giant stain on the reputation of the series.  They have since re-released it twice to make some enhancements but they've never actually gotten rid of the core problem with the game, the card-based battling system.

Seriously, why do I have 3 versions of this wretched game?

I don't intend on typing all day about how horrendous the card-based battling system is.  In short, it's unresponsive, clunky, confusing, and is just outright terrible.  Unless you are playing a physical card game there is NO reason for the word "card" to ever appear during a fighting sequence, and yes I AM looking at you, Paper Mario.  The other games in this franchise have a simple albeit fairly "button-mashy" fighting style that is easy and intuitive, but this game takes that all away and replaces it with a handful of cards that function about as well as a dead battery in a toy robot that's been run over by a semi.  The battling system makes this game so insanely difficult that I've never even been able to get to the second part of the game because I've not been able to beat the final boss of the first story in the last 12 years on any system that it's come out on.   Square, let's just re-release this game one last time.  Keep the cards to open doors and open worlds, but let's re-do the fighting mechanic to be the classic Kingdom Hearts fighting style that everyone loves and is actually functional.

3. English Releases or Remakes of Mother 3 and Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

You knew this was coming...or at least you knew Mother 3 was coming.  If there's one thing I dislike about being a gamer it's the fact that most games I enjoy playing come from Japan and as such Japan often gets games months in advance of the United States.  At the same time I can't necessarily complain because I would assume it would be easier to distribute in your home country than internationally.  That being said, it's still a massive annoyance when Japan gets to play a game for six months before you can even see a pre-order box at the store.  What's worse is when Japan gets a game and we don't get it at all...ever.  Now this normally wouldn't be a big deal because why would I care about Assassination Classroom, Giftopia, Last Window, or Dynamic Blade when I have no frame of reference on any of those titles.  I have no connection to these games so not getting them isn't bothering me in any way.  In the case of Mother 3 and Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade however....

Yeaaaaaaaaah.....

Roy and Lucas have both appeared in Super Smash Bros in the United States of their own accord.  They also were so popular that they were included as downloadable content in the latest 3DS and WiiU versions of the games.  The problem is compounded when you realize that the other Mother games and several Fire Emblem games have been released to us.  There is not only a precedent for these games selling in the States but also a clear demand for these characters.  We want to see what happens in Lucas and Roy's games.  Why not give us a remake of these games or at the BARE minimum translate them for us and provide them as eshop purchases?  Sure we have fan translations we can fall back on if we wish but I'd willingly hand Nintendo money for an official copy of either game in English.

2. An Amiibo adventure game

I love amiibo more than I honestly should.  There's just something charming and wonderful about having figurines of characters from some of my favorite Nintendo franchises.  They are something that I can cherish long after I get too old to play games with any level of competence.  The fact that they can actually function with the 3DS and WiiU make it even better.  What sort of things can they do?  Well the Splatoon amiibo give extra challenges and rewards by using them with Splatoon.  Shovel Knight adds a truck load of content and goodies when you scan him in his games.  The Smash Bros ones can act as a more powerful and learning opponent in Smash but...honestly there's not a whole lot that's been done with them.  I don't even keep them near my game systems because the benefit of using the majority of them just isn't there yet.  Recently, however, Nintendo has upped the ante a bit by having the Fire Emblem amiibo give you playable characters in Fire Emblem Fates and allowing practically all the amiibo to give you a costume in Super Mario Maker, but we're still missing a truly core amiibo centered game that can utilize them in a great and fun way.  Something that will make you want to have your amiibo around to play the game.

NO NO!  You keep that Mario Party bullcrap FAR away from me and those wonderful Animal Crossing characters!

...seriously?  Is this a joke?

What we need is for Nintendo to just go ahead and bite the bullet.  They got the idea of amiibo from Skylanders and what we honestly need to do with our amiibo is have a game like Skylanders just Nintendo themed.  We need a nice action adventure game set across multiple Nintendo worlds (or 3rd party worlds if any of the 3rd party characters with amiibo wish to participate) to fight and solve puzzles just like in Skylanders.  Something where you aren't required to have a certain amiibo to progress.  You just pick your favorite characters and utilize them in the game; each having their own fighting style and special skills.  It would be an easy way to include all of the amiibo that they are planning on producing and could very well be a window into that particular franchise.  Say there's a Kid Icarus world and someone who has the Mario series amiibo has never played or even heard of Kid Icarus.  Thanks to the amiibo adventure game they would get a taste for the greek hilarity and could be more likely to buy additional amiibo and games because of it.  It's a simple way to make something great and promote Nintendo's own products in the meantime.  Why are they wasting their time with pitiful drivel when they could be making this?

1. A Marvel VS DC Fighting Game

How has this not happened yet?  With the entire world sucked into the idea of super heroes for the last few years why hasn't this happened?  I realize that having two competing companies work together on a project is generally not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish.  However, unless I am grossly misinformed, the beef between DC comics and Marvel comics is not as heated as it once was.  Sure there's competition but it's not an all out war or anything.  We already have DC characters in Mortal Kombat.  We've seen a DC only fighting game in Injustice: Gods Among Us, and there have been several Marvel VS Capcom games but no DC VS Marvel games.  Despite the fact that fans over the whole world have been asking for this game it keeps not happening!  Who wouldn't want to see a match of Iron Man VS Cyborg, Hulk VS Superman, or Captain America VS Green Lanturn? 

I seriously do question why this hasn't been done yet.  Are both companies afraid that it wouldn't be profitable?  There is no way in Hades that this game wouldn't sell millions of copies.  It would sell so many copies that would practically print money for everyone involved.  Are they concerned that their characters wouldn't be well represented?  Well they don't seem to mind sharing the screen fighting against Mortal Kombat and Capcom's line of goons so there's no harm in the characters being misrepresented.  Are they against collaborations with their competitors?  Clearly not because they created a set of comic books that were specifically created around this premise right here.  There is absolutely no reason for this not to exist and I hope that one day soon while the super hero boom is still alive and well we will get to play something so marvelous.

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There you have it.  That was my top ten list of games and gaming ideas that need to happen.  It is my genuine hope that I get to see all of these ideas come to fruition.  I hope to one day play these games and be exceedingly happy that such greatness was finally made available to us.  Sadly, if I know the gaming industry as well as I think I do then the majority, if not all of these, will never even be considered.  In the end, these companies have their own ideas about what they think will sell and do well, and they are going to follow those ideas.  It often doesn't matter what the consumers want.  The tragedy of that mentality is that generally it still works.  The consuming public may want one thing but will still purchase something that's not what they want so they can at least experience some game in the franchise they love.  So while I remain hopeful for these ideas, I won't be holding my breath.

What sort of games or gaming ideas do you think should be implemented?  Let me know in the comments below.

This is Ghost, fading into the darkness.

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If you want to see my other Video Game discussions and reviews, click here!

Whovian Chatter: The Troughton Years Seasons Four and Five

Ghost here, thanks for joining.

I'm going to be examining Doctor Who... every single episode.  I'm going to take you on a journey through the 50+ years worth of this show, showcasing the good and the bad along the way.  For each episode I'm going to give you a very brief rundown of the plot, how good/bad the story is, and anything interesting about the episode.  Basically I'll just talk about whatever comes to mind for each of them.  These will be a more in-depth overview of the series as a whole so you can see which stories or episodes (if any) you want to check out for yourself.  Today I'm going to be talking about

The Second Doctor

Patrick Troughton

Seasons Four and Five

Troughton's era of season four ran from November 5, 1966 to July 1, 1967.  His portion of the season was 35 episodes across 7 stories.  Season four continues to be the season of change as we have a brand new Doctor, a companion who was never meant to be a companion, and what was supposed to be end for the Daleks.  However, as I said in my last post about Hartnell, season four was one of the most devastated seasons by the lack of archiving.  There are no stories from this season that are 100% complete.  We do have two stories with the help of animation/reconstruction however.

Season five of Doctor Who ran from September 2, 1967 to June 1, 1968.  It consisted of 40 episodes across 7 stories.  Season five used to be the most incomplete season up until the 90's.  Till that point there were no complete stories of any kind, but suddenly Tomb of the Cybermen resurfaced.  This season also received a boost in 2013 when The Enemy of the World and most of The Web of Fear were found.  This season has one tiny problem; it all feels a bit samey.  All but one (or maybe 2 depending on how you think about Tomb) of the stories are base under siege stories; all but one of them are six episodes long as well.  That's not to say they are bad stories, they just seem the same.

Again, I shall only talk about the stories we can actually view, so several things I may have mentioned above we won't be able to talk about in detail.

Season Four

Story 30
Power of the Daleks

Only recently released on DVD in animation.  Will review later.







Important Notes from the missing story 31

A lot happened when The Highlanders came about.  Not only was this the last pure historical (story set in the past with no sci-fi elements outside the Doctor, TARDIS, and companions) for many many years, but it it also introduced Jamie McCrimmon.  Jamie was a Scottish highlander fighting in the Battle of Culloden.  He's extremely strong and tough while being loyal and charmingly thick.  Jamie was never intended to be a companion but because of the chemistry between Troughton and Hines, they decided to re-write the ending and bring him along.  Ben and Polly didn't come out of this well.  The rest of the season's stories were hastily re-written and much of Ben and Polly's lines were given to Jamie.  Since Troughton and Hines worked so perfectly together, Ben and Polly's clock was ticking.  Jamie is, to this day, the longest running companion that the Doctor has ever had.  He's great!

Story 32
The Underwater Menace

The first available story to us is the Underwater Menace and it's four episodes long.  I'm going to be brief here because the DVD has still yet to be released; it keeps being delayed and delayed in our region for some reason.  I shall update this once it has.  The TARDIS lands in Atlantis and deals with fish people, trying to raise Atlantis from the depths, a companion almost becoming a fish person, and the first truly insane scientist the show had seen.  He wanted to take over the world just because he thought he could.  It also has the first example of extremely over the top acting in that same scientist.

This story marks the first of three attempts to explain Atlantis in the classic show because of reasons.  Two of the episodes are missing and may be animated or reconstructed for the DVD release depending on why they keep delaying it.  The most interesting thing so far is the DVD release itself.  They were supposed to have the episodes animated and it was to be released in December 2015.  Then it got delayed to March of 2016 and the animation was stated to not happen but have reconstruction episodes instead.  Now the DVD has been delayed once more till May 2016.  We'll just have to see what it holds and how ridiculous this story may actually end up being.

Story 33
The Moonbase

The next story is The Moonbase and it's four episodes long.  Mankind has placed a base on the Moon that modifies Earth's weather patterns.  However, the people are dropping like flies.  The TARDIS lands on the surface of the moon and the four of them head into the base.  The men have been infected with some sort of virus and people are going missing.  It turns out that the Cybermen have let loose the plague as a precursor to their attack on the moonbase.  They intend to use the base's equipment to change weather patterns on Earth and destroy mankind.  It's up to the Doctor and his companions to stop the Cybermen and save the world.

This is a fairly basic base under siege story.  There is some interesting dialog when Jamie becomes ill and believes that a Cyberman is a mythical Scottish piper spirit, but aside from that bit there's not really that much to praise or condemn here.  It's basically a paint by numbers so it's just average at best.  Two of the episodes were lost and were animated for the DVD release so we are able to see the entire thing.

Important Notes from the missing stories 34-36

There are some fairly significant things happening in these episodes and I wish we had these back in the archive...or at least two of them.  The Macra Terror while not really changing anything is probably the story I want back the most because it introduces the Macra.  The Macra you may or may not remember seeing in the Tenth Doctor story Gridlock.  The Macra in that episode were enormous crabs with practically no intelligence....not so in this story.  They are somewhat smaller, fully sentient beings, and able to breathe toxic gas at people.  The Faceless Ones sees the departure of Polly and Ben when the TARDIS lands back in London.  The Evil of the Daleks is also an important one.  In the late 60's the Daleks were massive and Terry Nation wanted to make his own series about them.  As this was his plan, he couldn't keep letting Doctor Who have them.  Evil of the Daleks was fully intended to be the last time they ever appeared on screen.  The only reason they returned was because Terry Nation never got the show started.  It also introduced a new companion, Victoria, who was aptly named because she was a Victorian girl.  Having been orphaned by the Daleks, she's also the youngest person to consistently travel with the Doctor; she was around 15 or 16 years old and is generally just a nice sweet young lady.

Season Five

Story 37
The Tomb of the Cybermen

The first story of season five is The Tomb of the Cybermen and it's four episodes long.  After adding Victoria to the team, the TARDIS lands on the planet of Telos where they join an expedition to find the Tombs of the Cybermen.  After setting off several traps and the expedition's ship being sabotaged, the Doctor decides to stay and witness the expedition fearing what their true intent may be.  He begins acting like a fool and fixing calculations behind people's backs until they unlock the frozen tombs.  It is then discovered that a couple among the expedition intend to revive the Cyberman once more so that they can dominate the galaxy.  Their plan succeeds in not only reviving several Cybermen but also the Cyber Controller, and the rodent/snake-like Cybermats.  It's up to the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria to stop these people and seal the Cyber Controller back inside his tomb.

This story was considered one of the lost great stories of Doctor Who...that is until it was re-discovered.  At that time it was re-evaluated and it's status lowered quite a bit.  It's still considered a "classic" but it's just not that great.  I honestly find this one a rather dull and boring adventure and don't see people's absolute love for it.  Yes it introduced the Cyber Controller and the Cybermats but the only other really good part is when Troughton and Hines improvised their hand holding scene for comedic effect.  Only watch if you want to...or just check out that one scene on YouTube.


Important Notes from the missing story 38
The Abominable Snowmen show the introduction of the Yeti, the Great Intelligence, and Professor Travers.  All three of these would appear later on in the season.

Story 39
The Ice Warriors

The next story is The Ice Warriors and it's six episodes long.  Scientists have been trying to slow the progress of the Earth's second Ice Age.  Two men run across an armored man frozen in the ice.  Calling it an Ice Warrior, they bring the alien back to their base to thaw it out for examination.  The TARDIS  lands outside of the base and begin to investigate their surroundings when the Ice Warrior melts and jumps to life.  Knocking out Jamie, she Ice Warrior takes Victoria hostage.  The Doctor and Jamie work together with the crew of the base to find Victoria and the Ice Warrior, who has now revived his comrades.  Eventually the Doctor and the crew must use the ion cannon that was being utilized to stop the iceberg to destroy the Ice Warrior ship thus solving the problem of both the aliens and the approaching iceberg.

This story is a key example of why I feel that 6-episode or higher stories in Classic Doctor Who can run far too long.  While the premise of story is a good one, there is a lot of running around in the middle few episodes that I skipped talking about entirely because it was inconsequential.  It's another base under siege with aliens trying to attack.  There are only three things that stand out here.  First is the introduction of the Ice Warrior race.  Second is the fact that The Ice Warriors continue to call themselves Ice Warriors later on even though they were just named by some guy who had no idea what to call them.  Lastly this story explains the second ice age is due to an decrease in carbon dioxide in the air because the plants have disappeared.... fewer plants would mean more carbon dioxide thus making the earth warmer.  For a show that was originally intended to teach historical events and scientific principles, I'm confused at how they got this bit of science so wrong.

Story 40
The Enemy of the World

The next story is The Enemy of the World and it's six episodes long.  When the TARDIS lands on the beach, the Doctor gets shot at by some rebels believing him to be a Mexican leader named Salamander.  Due to the Doctor and Salamander looking exactly alike, the Doctor and his companions are roped into an espionage mission across various nations to figure out what Salamander is actually up to.  Salamander is having people executed secretly, pretty much runs the world, and can cause natural disasters on a whim.  What is his end goal?  How does it fit in with a group of people being held underground?  Why do they believe that he is scavanging the Earth after a nuclear apocalypse?  Which man just entered the TARDIS, Salamander or the Doctor?

When this story came out, like Tomb of the Cybermen, it was re-evaluated.  This one came out far better.  This story is a very unique one for early classic Doctor Who with it's focus on espionage rather than the normal science fiction stuff.  While it's not the first time a Doctor duplicate has appeared, it's definitely the most memorable.  Patrick Troughton was an amazingly gifted actor and in this story he has to play the Doctor, Salamander, Salamander pretending to be the Doctor, and the Doctor pretending to be Salamander...sometimes in the same scene.  I literally can say nothing negative about this episode and if season six's The Mind Robber didn't exist then this would be my favorite Second Doctor adventure.  Definitely check this one out!

Story 41
The Web of Fear

The last available story to us is The Web of Fear and it's six episodes long.  The TARDIS becomes trapped in a spider web looking substance in space and makes an emergency landing in the London Underground.  London has been covered with a strange fog and web-like fungus that is spreading in the Underground.  The Yeti are also mobile once again after Professor Travers activates one of the control orbs during his study.  The military are trying to stop the spread of the fungus but every attempt is thwarted by the Yeti.  The TARDIS crew, with the help of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart and Professor Travers, find the source of the issue...the Great Intelligence.  The Great Intelligence wants to drain the Doctor's mind from his body to increase his own power but the Doctor plans on draining the Great Intelligence.  Unfortunately as he cannot tell anyone this, Jamie causes the device to be destroyed and the Great Intelligence is free to return to Earth one day though the current problem is resolved.

This was a fairly good story.  I wish that we could actually see the Abominable Snowmen as this is basically a sequel to that story.  Overall it was a good experience and it introduced one of the greatest characters in Doctor Who history, Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.  He eventually becomes the Commissioner Gordon to the Doctor's Batman.  Episode three of this story is lost and rather than animate the episode they released it with a still image recreation which I found rather odd.  This one was not reevaluated when it returned in 2013.  It was a classically good episode before and it still is.  One last interesting point is the escape of the Great Intelligence.  Since he escaped you would expect for him to return later in that season or in a couple season's time so that people don't forget about them.  Not the case here.  In fact, you won't see the Great Intelligence again until Matt Smith's 2012 Christmas special.  For those keeping track, that's 44 years!

Important Notes from the missing stories 42 and 43
In Fury from the Deep, Victoria decides to leave the TARDIS because she's tired of all the peril that the Doctor's adventures can have.  The next story, the Wheel in Space, sees a new companion in Zoe.  Zoe is a girl from the future who wears cat suits, kicks butt and is as book-smart as the Doctor if not beyond.  With the arrival of Zoe comes the best traveling trio that the Doctor has had till Amy and Rory in the new show... in my personal opinion.

Conclusion

That concludes the second part of season four, and season five.  I can't say much about the Second Doctor's first season as I have only personally seen one story and it was only average.  His second season, however, is pretty great.  You have the overrated Tomb of the Cybermen, and the way too long Ice Warriors, but you also have two back to back absolutely amazing stories in The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear.  It was a season of change and a season of similarities but overall it was pretty great.  Definitely check out The Enemy of the World!  Please join me again as we continue to examine all of Doctor Who.

This is Ghost, fading into the darkness

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You can click here if you wish to see my introduction to Doctor Who
If you want to check out all of my Doctor Who content please click here.

Ghost's Kitchen: Shrimp Alfredo

What's Cooking Today?

Shrimp Alfredo

Hello everyone and welcome to another segment of...

If there's one thing I despise cooking it's pasta.  Not that I dislike pasta as a dish, I love pasta.  I simply just hate preparing the stupid stuff.  It tends to always take a longer time than the box ever says it should, and you're constantly having to mess with the temperature on your stove eye to prevent boiling over as it tends to do so with little or no cause.  It's a pity that so many excellent dishes come from pasta that I occasionally have to attempt it.

This is one such dish.  It's just simply something I randomly came up with that happened to be pretty good.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Gather Your Ingredients

• Linguine Noodles
• 1 Jar Alfredo Sauce
• 1 Package Frozen Microwavable Broccoli Florets
• 1/2 Package Frozen Fully Cooked Shrimp
• Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 large pot
• 2 small pots (one with lid)
• 1-2 Strainers
• 1 Spaghetti Server
• 1 Ladle
• 1 Spaghetti Measurer (Optional) 

1. Pour alfredo sauce into small pot with lid and turn on low heat.

2. Fill second pot with warm water and place frozen shrimp in pot.

3. Add a liberal amount of Old Bay seasoning to your shrimp and turn on low heat.

4. Fill large pot 3/4ths full of water, turn heat on high until water begins to boil

5. Measure out how much linguine you wish you cook.
Optional: Use a spaghetti measurer to get a more accurate amount of noodles.  I was cooking for 2 so I simply utilized the 2 slot.

6. Snap linguine in half so that all of the noodles can more easily fit in the pot.
You don't have to do this but I find it easier.

7. Place Linguine in water and boil for anywhere from 10-12 minutes approx.

SIDE TIP - Keep watch over your pot and decrease the heat when the foam begins to get too high or else you are going to end up with this nonsense.

As a general rule, I tend to have the temperature at high or 9 until the foam begins to build and then I will lower the temperature to 7 or so.  Don't bother with that wooden spoon over the top of the pot trick as it doesn't actually work.





8. After 5 minutes of the pasta boiling, turn the heat on medium for the sauce, medium high for the shrimp, and microwave the broccoli.

9. After the pasta has been boiling for a solid 10-12 minutes you should pull out a single piece to test that it is fully cooked.  
If it is still chewy you need to boil it for longer.

10. Strain noodles once fully cooked.

11. Place the amount of pasta and cooked broccoli that you wish to eat on the plate.

12. Strain Shrimp

13. Pour Alfredo over top of pasta and place shrimp on top to your liking

14. Pair with Garlic Bread if you wish and enjoy!

That's all there is to it!  Sure, the linguine can be a pain at times and this dish produces a fairly large amount of dishes to clean up but it's honestly worth it.  This is absolutely delicious and I look forward to each time that we get to eat it!  May you and your family gain as much enjoyment as we have!

This is Ghost fading into the darkness.

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