Sunday, May 18, 2014

A very realistic Weeping Angel, a clockwork robot, and the McMinnville alien parade. A very short review.


We found this one searching for victims before the parade started. This was the best part of the whole show, and I would have been happy to head back home at this point, the rest was a somewhat hum drum repetition of last year's parade.  They weren't in the parade of course, The angel wouldn't have been able to move with everyone looking at it. 

You can see from my posture that when I looked away earlier she managed to remove some critical parts of my back.
The Weeping Angels had a unique and nearly perfect defense mechanism: quantum-locking, which caused them to turn into stone when being observed. (TVBlink) It could also happen by instinct when they believed they were being watched. (TVFlesh and Stone) When not being observed, they could move incredibly fast, though they appeared to slow down the closer they got to their prey; they appeared to like "playing with their food". However, quantum-locking meant that they had to cover their eyes when in their stone form, as if they saw each other they would be trapped forever. (TVBlink) This also applies in the instance that an Angel were to see itself in a mirror. (TVThe Time of the Doctor) They have the ability to see in the dark as well, as the Angels have no trouble pursuing their quarry in total darkness. (TVBlink)
The clockwork robot/droid was right out of the Victorian age.
I wore my alien hat.
They followed camouflage procedures to blend into the surroundings by dressing in somewhat unrealistic 18th century costumes. They were equipped with short range teleporters, scanners, tranquilizers and sharp tools within their wrists for part removal. They could also heat themselves if they were frozen and empty unwanted fluids from their system. Whenever they entered a room, they made "tick tock" noises from their clockwork parts. They broke any clock in the room to avoid raising suspicion. (TVThe Girl in the Fireplace)
The Droids' only purpose was to fix the ship. When the ship was damaged in the Dagmar Cluster in an ion storm, they lacked the right parts. They used all the crew members' body parts; according to the Tenth Doctor, "No-one told [them] the crew weren't on the menu." The last part they needed was a brain for their command circuit, and they believed that only a thirty-seven-year-old brain (the same age of their ship) would work. They modified the ship's warp engines to open many time windows to 18th century France and passed through it at various moments of Madame de Pompadour's life, attempting to find her in her thirty-seventh year. The Tenth Doctor defeated them by disconnecting the time window that led back to their ship. With no purpose, they shut down. After one of the droids deactivated, it collapsed to the floor and shattered to pieces on impact, suggesting they were fragile and had no sense of self-preservation.   http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Clockwork_Droid
There are at least 800 Dr Who starting in 1963 and continuing today. One of my all time favorite shows. 
A couple of shots of the parade. At this point I was thinking..."it was supposed to rain,  it's sunny, I'm hot, I should be putting together the raised garden beds.



6 comments:

  1. Well judging from your pictures the special effects at the parade were 100 times better than they were on the Doctor Who episodes until at least 2005 :)

    BTW... I have never been a Doctor Who fan at all but all my friends were so I was constantly assaulted by Doctor Who stuff during my young adult life so I always make rather critical, flippant remarks to Dr. Who posts. It's meant in good fun for future reference :)

    Ask North I make em on his blog all the time he just says there's one in every crowd now a days :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cheap effects on the early show were part of it's charm. They get a little carried away on some of the newer ones.

      Delete
  2. I heard some talk of this "alien show" on Coast to Coast radio show last night. Meant to look it up today but of course forgot until your posting reminded me. I hear Dr. Who is a good show but have never seen an episode.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Tom Baker episodes are our favorites. The 4th Dr Who regeneration.

      Delete
  3. Dad knew the people who saw the alien space ship. He said they were not the sort of people to tell a tall tale.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what I hear too, but I'd have to see one to believe it.

      Delete