Calling All Whovians!

As The Random Acts of Geekery prepares to return on April 1st, I've been working and working away at getting things prepared so that I'll keep on track, and of course, that means getting articles written in advance so I'll stay on deadline!

One of those articles, naturally, is Geek TV, where I look at different TV shows that geeks like us enjoy (or would enjoy) watching, and you may have noticed that I've been more or less going in alphabetical order. Well, I got to one entry that I don't think I can do proper justice to... Doctor Who.

I'm familiar with Doctor Who, but there have been so many incarnations of the Doctor and his companions that my mind boggles at the contemplation of doing the show right!

So here's the challenge I'm throwing out: I'm giving you faithful readers the opportunity to 1) Write a guest post (or more likely, series of guest posts), and 2) Show off your knowledge and devotion to this classic science-fiction series!

Here's the deal: If you are interested in doing the Geek TV articles on Doctor Who, first of all, you need to let me know in the comments. I'm kind of thinking that each one of the Doctor's incarnations/regenerations will need a separate entry in order to provide adequate information (and from what I've seen, each Doctor has his own style that carries over to the series stories). Even if you're only interested in writing the articles for specific incarnations, that's okay -- there may be others who have their own favorites.

Once the articles have been submitted to me via email (preferably as an attached MS Word or OpenOffice file with formatting), I'll plug them in to the schedule as there are openings (currently, the earliest they'd run would be in September, as I'm working on August now... but of course, the further along I get, the further out they'll run, unless I reserve the spots).

Just as a reminder, here's the format:
 

Concept: The basic premise of the series. I'd imagine that these will pretty much be, "Eccentric time traveler from another world and his human companions get into a series of adventures in time and space," but you can be more specific as needed.

Total Episodes: In this case, the number of episodes of that Doctor's series.

Original Air Dates: This can be month and year, or date/month/year, start to end, if you wish.

Original Network: Obviously, BBC, right?

Geek Factor: On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being geekiest, how geeky is this show? I'd imagine these will all be 10s, although some may be 9s, depending on how much sci-fi really plays into it.

Characters: The main or recurring characters in the show. The format for these is:

Character Name (Who played the character): A brief description of the character's role in the series and a bit of personality.

Geek Guest-Stars: Anyone who appeared in one or a couple of episodes that is known better from something else geeky. For example, didn't John Cleese of Monty Python appear in an episode? You should mention the actor, the role they played in the series if possible, and then some of their geek credits -- preferably listed first what they did previous to their Doctor Who appearance, and then after. For the most part, I've focused on geek guest-stars who were known for stuff before their show appearance, but it'll be up to you!

Geek Pedigree: This is where I've gone into the show's creators, writers, and directors and look at what they did before doing Doctor Who that would be of interest to geeks... as well as the actors who played main characters. I know this will end up being very much other BBC and UK programs (or should I say, "programmes"?), but it can't be helped, eh?

DVD Release: Has this specific series been released on DVD yet? Is it only available in Region 2 or Region 1 formats? Have there been multiple releases, and which do you recommend?

Website: The official website, or a very good fan website. This may be the same for each entry, unless you can find websites that focus entirely on one Doctor.

Notes: This is the catch-all category, where you can share a few personal memories about the show, offer up a bit of trivia, or even just point out something that bugged you about this particular series!

When the articles are sent, you can also feel free to send along any photos that you'd like to accompany the article... maybe these could be named something like "doctor01_somethingspecific.jpg" where "somethingspecific" would be what the photo is specifically of... I mean, I can recognize a Dalek or Cyberman when I see it, but I wouldn't want to put the wrong companion's picture in the wrong place! Oh, and if the number, i.e. "doctor01" could refer to which Doctor, that would be great and help keep things sorted properly.

I know there's not going to be an immediate response, as few of you are checking things out here while waiting for posts to resume... so I'll be patient! Thanks everyone!

Sheldon Moldoff, R.I.P.

Just read that Sheldon Moldoff passed away Wednesday night... and Mark Evanier's written a better article about him than I ever could right here!

You Found It!

You've been successful in following the links and getting to Random Acts of Geekery's new URL!

Of course, the hiatus is still on, but regular postings resume April 1!

RIP, Davy Jones

We interrupt the hiatus to report the sad news that Davy Jones of The Monkees has died at the age of 66 of an apparent heart attack, according to TMZ and The Huffington Post.

Davy was known as the cute Monkee who seemed to fall in love with a girl in every episode (often with sparkles in his eyes). His best-known songs with The Monkees were "I Wanna Be Free," "Daydream Believer," Valleri," and "Cuddly Toy". He was one of the first of the Monkees to be cast, having already been under contract with Screen Gems at the time (and having released the self-titled "David Jones" album through Colpix Records, a Screen Gems subsidiary). Fittingly, he was one of the last of the Monkees to stay with the group, after first Peter Tork quit, and then Mike Nesmith. Davy and Micky Dolenz recorded one Monkees album together, "Changes," before quitting recording as a group.

After the group was finished, Davy lent his voice to his animated counterpart in an episode of "The New Scooby-Doo Movies," and had a memorable guest-appearance in "The Brady Bunch."

Several times in the intervening years, there have been revivals of interest in the Monkees, most recently surrounding the tour last summer, which celebrated the Monkees 45th anniversary. Davy had re-teamed with Peter and Micky several times before then, with Michael Nesmith only joining them onstage once. The four Monkees had recorded one post-breakup album together, "Justus," which came out at the same time as the one-shot Monkees TV special that acted as though the show had never been cancelled.

Davy is survived by his wife Jessica and four daughters from previous marriages.

The Random Acts of Geekery Will Return...

And Lo, A Hiatus Shall Come!

Seven years ago today, I made my first posting to this blog (then called "Waffyjon's Random Thoughts"). And now, over 5,359 posts later, I am making my last post for a little while.

I already wrote on the first of the year about why this is occurring (constraints on my time), and some of you may have even been expecting this, given that I've not responded to a single comment in way too long (I'm hoping to get caught up on those in the near future, though).

This blog has meant a lot to me... it's been one of the only ways I've been able to share with the entire world (or at least my fellow geeks) all this geeky stuff that, for one reason or another, resonates with me... yes, even the goofy AHI Spider-Man toys that make no conceptual sense!

The blog changed a lot over the years, but once I really found my voice and developed a solid following, I like to think that I was producing one of the top-quality blogs, not only for content and variety, but also for sheer passion about what I was writing about day in and day out.

I would like to say thanks to all of my readers, no matter how long you've been with me, whether you've been a regular commentor (hi, ManicMan!) or "just" a reader! You guys are the reason I kept going all this time!

Naturally, I won't be erasing any of the old posts, so you can feel free to go to the beginning and read any posts you missed out on the first time around, or even revisit old favorites!

Now, how long will this hiatus be? Well, right now I'm looking to start up on April 1st, but we'll see how that goes. There will be some changes when I return... I've been thinking of tinkering with the overall look of the blog somewhat for a while now. Some of the features may end up going away, and some features that have been gone may return -- you can leave a comment and let me know what you'd like to see continue when this blog resumes publication, you know!

And just because RAOG is on hiatus, it doesn't mean I don't have a blogging presence... the Comic Reading Library has posts set up through April 7 before it goes on hiatus, although Dracula's Crypt of Collectibles will be making its last posting on April 3rd. Coincidentally enough, tomorrow will be the last post for Go-Go Godzilla, and the Batcave Trophy Room will cease new post on the 27th of this month. The Blog of Frankenstein, however, will continue until the 15th of September, because I got that far enough ahead there before running out of material, so hopefully I'll be back with Random Acts of Geekery again well before all of my other blogs run down!

In the meantime, if you're looking for new daily reading, why not look over on the left at the "Random Blogs of Geekery" linklist? Those are all blogs I read each day, and I recommend them all.

And now, without any further ado, I bid you all so long for now! Thank you all again, and I hope to be back here again with you soon!

Fandom Library: On The Scene Presents Superheroes & Cinemefantastique V11 #4!