Happy 50th Anniversary To Count Chocula And Frankenberry!

I just found out that General Mills' Count Chocula and Franken Berry cereals debuted a whopping fifty years ago, back in 1971! FIFTY YEARS! Holy crap! And I can still remember seeing them on store shelves for the first time. 

Now excuse me while I go look for my rheumatiz medicine.

The two cereals were introduced in March of 1971, and were an immediate hit. This was no doubt due to the incessant commercials featuring the two characters, in which they'd typically argue over which cereal was best, until these alleged "monsters" would become frightened by a child or something equally innocent.

Franken Berry caused a bit of a controversy in 1972, when it was discovered that the pigment used in the cereal turned human feces a bright pink— which quite rightly alarmed mothers nationwide. The recipe was quickly altered, and cases of "Franken Berry Stool" disappeared.

In December of 1973, the line was expanded to include Boo Berry, a blueberry flavored featuring a ghost mascot. In 1974 Fruit Brute debuted, whose mascot was a werewolf. Fruit Brute was discontinued in 1982, and replaced by Yummy Mummy. It was the exact same cereal & flavor, just with a different shape and spokes-monster.

Starting in 2010, the various monster cereals have only been released around Halloween. This year General Mills is supposedly commemorating the anniversary of the original cereals with a new one called Monster Mash, which is supposedly an amalgam of all of them (whatever that means).

If I'm being honest, I never much cared for any of these cereals. I'm not a big fan of marshmallows, especially after they become soggy from soaking in milk. But I was a fan of the fun character designs, and always enjoyed looking at those. I just wish they were hawking a product that wasn't so unappealing!

Happy 50th, Um... Cancellation Anniversary To Star Trek

On this date (June 3rd) in 1969, Star Trek closed out its third season with its last-ever episode, Turnabout Intruder (aka the one where a crazy broad switches bodies with Captain Kirk). That was a whopping fifty years ago! FIFTY YEARS! Holy cow!

I wonder if anyone at the time had even the slightest inkling that we'd still be talking about the show and watching it five decades later? Or that it would become a huge franchise, spawning six subsequent series and over a dozen theatrical movies? Doubtful.

And yes, that photo's from the final episode.

Happy Fiftieth Anniversary To Star Trek!

As everyone and their dog has already pointed out by now, today marks the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. The very first episode of the series premiered at 8:30 pm on Thursday, September 8, 1966. Why 8:30 instead of 8:00? Because back in those days, prime time began at 7:30 for some odd reason, so many hour long shows actually started on the half hour.

The first episode that aired was The Man Trap, aka The One With The Salt Vampire. It was actually the sixth episode filmed, but NBC decided to air it first because they thought it was the most "exciting." Plus is featured a cool monster.

Most critics of the time weren't impressed. Variety said the show "Won't work," and that it was "An incredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities." Which just goes to prove that critics have never known what the hell they're talking about.

The first episode came in at #1 in its time slot, probably because it was up against reruns of The Tammy Grimes Show on ABC and My Three Sons on CBS (believe it or not, there were only three networks in those days). Unfortunately in its second week, the competition aired brand new episodes, and Star Trek fell to second place, and two weeks later it was ranked 51st in the ratings. Which just goes to prove that the ratings system is flawed and meaningless, and doesn't judge the true popularity of a program.

I didn't really watch the show when it was first broadcast. Like most families, we only had one TV set back then, which my Dad controlled with an iron fist. He thought Star Trek was "stupid," so the instant it came on, he changed the channel to something else. I have some vague, foggy memories of seeing it a couple of times though (probably at someone else's house). I remember seeing a couple guys— one with pointed ears— walk into a room and disappear. I was way too young to understand what I was watching though.

When I was in junior high my local UHF station started running the show in syndication, and that's when I really discovered it. By then I was old enough to understand and appreciate the series, and it quickly became a huge part of my life. I've seen every episode more times than I can count, and bought enough tie-in merchandise to fill a modest-sized home (as one look inside my modest-sized home can attest).

I dutifully watched all the various spin-off series, and even though some of them were excellent, they never quite managed to recapture the magic of the Original Series. There's something about that Kirk/Spock/McCoy triumvirate that just can't be topped.

I've written numerous posts about how Star Trek and its characters affected my life, so I won't go over that well-worn ground again. But I will wish Star Trek a Happy 50th Anniversary. Here's to fifty more!

Happy Belated 50th Anniversary To Batman!

Happy Belated Anniversary to the Batman TV show, which premiered FIFTY YEARS ago on January 12, 1966. Fifty years! Can you believe it? 

I can vividly recall watching the show as a kid. Twice a week I'd park myself in front of the TV and all activity in the house had to cease while the show was on. Add to that The Munsters and Lost In Space, and it was an amazing time to be a kid in the 1960s!

As a kid I loved the comic book action of Batman— especially the BIFF! and POW! captions that would fill the screen when Batman and Robin would fight the villain of the week. The colorful villains, the pop art design, the various bat-gadgets and the catchy theme song were awesome as well.

Happily adults can also enjoy the show's campiness and the deadly seriousness the actors bring to their roles. I don't know if the producers intentionally planned it that way, but if they did, kudos to them.

Adam West gave us the ultimate Batman-- he played the role perfectly straight, even when he was being dangled over an alligator pit. Burt Ward was also great, as he brought a youthful earnestness to Robin. In fact the entire cast was pitch perfect-- I can't think of any other actorsvwho could play the roles. 

One thing the actors all did right— they played their parts completely deadpan. No matter how outrageous the plots were, they delivered their lines with the utmost seriousness. I think that's why the show's lasted so long— if the cast had been winking at the audience the entire time, it would have been insufferable.

A few Bat-Facts:

• Even though the series only ran for three seasons, it gave us a whopping 120 episodes! Man, actors really earned their pay back in the 1960s!

• Batman was originally intended as a one hour show, but ABC only had two half hour time slots available— on different nights! So the show was split in half, airing twice a week in half hour installments. 

The first episode of the week ended in a cliffhanger, which was resolved the next night. I think that probably helped the popularity of the show— kids watching at home HAD to tune in to see how Batman would get out of the Joker's latest trap!

• Lyle Waggoner was originally considered for the part of Batman.

• Five different Batmobiles were created for the series. The Batmobile was a highly customized 1955 Lincoln Futura. It was built by famed film car customizer George Barris. 

• Today Batman is one of DC Comics' most popular characters, but it wasn't always so. Believe it or not, in the early 1960s the comic was on the verge of cancellation, due to poor sales. The massive success of the TV series renewed interest in the comic.

• Burt Ward earned a meager $350 a week during the first season! 

• Burgess Meredith, who played the Penguin, was always seen with a cigarette holder in his mouth. He claimed the smoke irritated his throat, which is why he always uttered his trademark "Quack, quack, quack" to mask his coughing fits.

• Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred was a character in the comic, but had been killed off a year or so before the show began. When the show began using him, the comic followed suit and resurrected him.

• Many fans believe the Aunt Harriet character was added to the show to prevent viewers from thinking Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were gay. According to the producers that's an urban legend.

Even if it was true, why would the presence of an addled old maiden aunt scramble anyone's gaydar?

• Supposedly Robin says his catchphrase "Holy (insert word here), Batman!" 352 times over the course of the series.

• When actor Caesar Romero was cast as the Joker, the producers told him he'd have to shave his mustache. Romero was famous for playing Latin lovers in the movies, and refused to shave his trademark. So the makeup man simply slathered white greasepaint over his mustache, as well as the rest of his face.

In the 1960s viewers never noticed this, because everyone was watching TV sets with about 250 scan lines of resolution. With the advent of HDTV, Romero's poorly hidden mustache is quite obvious.

• The various villain's hideouts were always filmed at a "dutch angle" to subliminally suggest they were "crooked."

• There were supposedly eighty four different sound effect words (such as POW!) used in the fight scenes over the course of the series.

• William Dozier, the producer of the series, was also the narrator.

• There was never an origin episode of Batman; the series begins with the Caped Crusaders as already established crime fighters. I'm guessing this was because the show was for kids, and the producers didn't want to deal with the young Bruce Wayne seeing his parents murdered in cold blood before his very eyes, or with Robin's acrobat parents falling to their deaths from a trapeze.

Bruce Wayne has a brief line in the very first episode referencing his parents' death, but it's never mentioned again.

• Two Face was one of Batman's major foes from the comics, and was briefly considered for the show. The producers ultimately decided his appearance would be too gruesome for a kid's series.

• Batman was actually quite a forward thinking show. In the third season, Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman, was filming a movie and was unavailable. The producers recast the part with actress/singer Ertha Kitt. She was one of the very few black actresses on TV at the time (Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols being the other). She broke additional racial boundaries by actually flirting with Batman!

• After ABC canceled the series in 1969, the producers hoped another network might pick it up. They eventually realized that wasn't going to happen, and bulldozed the set. Two weeks later, NBC offered to pick up the series! When they heard the sets had been dismantled, they were unwilling to splurge to have them rebuilt, and the deal was off. 

• Amazingly after five decades people are still referencing the series (despite the fact that some have probably never even seen it!). "Holy Blank, Batman!" and "Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel" are still being quoted to this day!

• Despite the popularity of the series, it was never released on home video until 2014. Various rights issues and legal entanglements were the culprit. It's now finally available on DVD and glorious blu ray, and no doubt looks even better than it did in 1966.

Team Up Update

Welp, looks like it's time I got busy and updated this. Thanks a lot, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special!

So when I do get around to updating it and add The Day Of The Doctor episode, do I include just the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors plus the War Doctor, or will I need to include ALL of them? Including Peter Capaldi? Technically all thirteen made an appearance in the episode!

I'm also going to have to update this one of these days as well. 

I've got a bit more time to work on this one though. Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor won't debut until Xmas, and even then he's probably not going to wearing his official costume. We likely won't get a glimpse of that until the new season starts, which won't be until next freakin' fall! So there's no rush on this one.

Actually I'm not even sure how to go about updating it yet. Does the War Doctor, who I guess is now being called the Other Doctor, get a number? Is he really the Ninth, and everyone else moves up a notch? Show runner Steven Moffat has been shooting off his mouth lately saying that Matt Smith is really the Thirteenth Doctor (!). So I have no idea what the hell's going on. Maybe Moffat will clear it all up at Xmas, but I ain't holding my breath.

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special: The Day Of The Doctor

At long last, the Doctor Who Fiftieth Anniversary Special is here! Broadcast five decades to the day after the very first episode originally aired on November 23, 1963. I bet nobody who caught the premiere back then ever dreamed they'd still be watching it fifty years later.

All in all it was a pretty good episode. Lots of nods to the past, and it's always fun to see various versions of the Doctor team up. For the record this is the fifth time the Doctor's teamed up with his past selves-- the previous gatherings occurred in The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors, The Two Doctors (not very original titles, are they?), Time Crash and now this special.

From the moment the Special was announced, many fans hoped and prayed for some sort of mega-adventure starring all twelve Doctors, similar to the various team up episodes of the past. While that would be amazing, there's no way in hell it was ever going to happen. It's just not possible or practical. The actors who played the first three Doctors have unfortunately passed away and the next four have aged almost beyond recognition. Add to that a grumpy actor who refuses to reprise the part, and it's pretty obvious to even the most hopeful fan that we were never going to get an all inclusive team up. Sad, but true.

There were lots of shout outs to Classic Doctor Who in the episode. The show opens with the original black and white title sequence and music, as a policeman walks past the I.M. Foreman scrap yard, exactly as the first episode did fifty years ago. We see Clara now has a job teaching at the Coal Hill School, which is where Susan Foreman, the Doctor's granddaughter, attended classes. The Coal Hill sign lists Ian Chesterton as the school governor. Ian was one of the First Doctor's original companions. And Clara rides past a clock that reads 5:16, a nod to the exact time the very first episode was broadcast fifty years ago.

In a similar vein, the access code for Captain Jack's Vortex Manipulator was 1716231163, which again is the exact time and date of the airing of the first episode. 1716 being military time for 5:16, 2311 is November 23rd (cause the Brits list the date before the month, dontcha know) and 63 for the year. And that's one to grow on!

In a very obvious shout out, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart's assistant Osgood is wearing an exact copy of the Fourth Doctor's iconic scarf. Lethbridge-Stewart has a line about "events that occurred in the 1970s or 1980s, depending on the dating protocol used." This is a reference to the Third Doctor era UNIT stories, which may or may not have taken place a few years in the future (from the time they were first broadcast, that is).

The Tenth Doctor's marriage to Elizabeth I was mentioned in The End Of Time and The Shakespeare Code. The Fall Of Arcadia was first mentioned in Doomsday. And of course the Tenth Doctor's line, "I don't want to go" were the last he uttered in that form in The End Of Time. The Moment, the ultimate doomsday weapon, was also mentioned in The End Of Time (that episode gets around!).

The Plot:
It would take ten or twelve thousand words to adequately describe the plot, so to put it as briefly as possible: 

The previously unseen and un-talked about War Doctor is the one who ended the Time War by destroying both the Daleks and the Time Lords. A time anomaly causes him to meet both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. Together they search for a better way to end the Time War.

Thoughts (Spoilers!)
• OK, enough with all the The Blank Of The Doctor titles. The Name Of The Doctor, The Night Of The Doctor-- it's getting confusing. Not to mention a bit repetitive. 

And as if all that wasn't enough, this year's Christmas Special is titled The Time Of The Doctor! Oy gevalt! 

• After getting a call from the Doctor, Clara races across town on her motorcycle while wearing a short skirt. Can you wear a skirt on a motorcycle without giving everyone a good look at your drawers? I freely admit I have little or no experience in riding a motorcycle in a skirt, so I have no idea.

• As Clara rides her cycle into the TARDIS, we get another cool continuous shot of someone entering it from outside. I love these shots, and I'm glad they finally have the technology-- and the budget-- to pull them off. It's much more awesome than cutting from outside to inside. I hope they keep on doing them.

• I really didn't get the point of the whole "carrying the TARDIS through London by helicopter" scene. It felt more like a big publicity stunt dreamed up by the BBC rather than a necessary part of the plot. You could have cut out the entire sequence and it wouldn't have harmed the episode one bit.

• Apparently everything the Time Lords make is "dimensionally transcendental." The TARDIS, the Genesis Ark and now even Time Lord paintings are bigger on the inside than the outside. Must take them forever for them to pee with bladders that are bigger on the inside.

• The War Doctor steals the Moment, the ultimate doomsday weapon which he wants to use to end the Time War. The Moment is a conscious, sentient weapon and takes the form of Rose Tyler's "Bad Wolf" persona.

It was a nice way to bring back Rose without bringing her back (since she's supposed to be living in a parallel dimension), if that makes any sense.

By the way, is a conscious weapon that tries to talk you out of using it a good idea? What if you needed to use it in a hurry? What if your sensors detected a big ol' squadron of Dalek suicide bombers heading for your planet? You hurry and fire up the Moment so you can destroy the Daleks plummeting through your upper atmosphere, but then it starts asking you if you're really sure you want to do this, and are you worthy to use it, and then KABOOM! It's too late and you and your planet are gone.

• Zygons! We finally get to see Zygons again for the first time since 1975!

• The Doctor's solution to the Zygon problem-- to wipe everyone's minds so no one knows if they're human or alien so they'll write up a fair treaty-- is a real theory. A philosopher named John Rawls postulated that if you could somehow apply a "veil of ignorance" to a group of people so they didn't know if they were rich or poor, they'd opt to create a society in which you could live adequately in either case.

• When the three Doctors are imprisoned in the Tower Of London, they determine they could use their sonics to escape, but that it would take hundreds of years for the device to perform the calculations necessary to free them. The War Doctor notes that he began the calculations on his sonic, so it should have had four hundred years to work on the problem and be finished on the Eleventh Doctor's sonic (did you get all that?).

It's a cool idea at first glance, but there's one big problem with it. 

First of all I'm pretty sure I've seen the Doctor's sonic destroyed at least once in the past few seasons (I'm thinking it was blown up in Smith and Jones). Whoops! Does it download its ongoing calculations into its replacement? 

• When the War Doctor enters his battered TARDIS at the end of the episode, he immediately begins to regenerate. Unfortunately the camera cuts away right before we get to see his face morph into Christopher Eccleston's. 

Eccleston's stated his reasons for not wanting to return many times before, and he's entitled to his opinions and beliefs. It's just too bad he couldn't have set them aside for one day for the fans. His absence cast a bit of a pall over the episode.

So I'm assuming that this regeneration had to take place shortly before the episode Rose. In that story the Ninth Doctor passes a mirror and comments on his appearance. That seems like something you'd do right after your face changed, not months or years later. 

• Great confusion surrounds the matter of if and how the Doctor ages. In the mini episode Night Of The Doctor, the Eighth Doctor regenerates into the War Doctor, and when he looks at himself in a mirror, we see he resembles a young (well, young-ish) John Hurt. 

In this episode, the War Doctor has an aged and haggard appearance, and looks like he's in his seventies at least.

Compare that to the Eleventh Doctor. There's numerous evidence that suggests he's been in his current form for hundreds of years, yet he doesn't look a day over 30. 

So why does one version age dramatically while another stays untouched by time? Did the stress of the Time War prematurely age the War Doctor? Or did the Time War last for thousands of years?

• John Hurt did a great job as the War Doctor. I enjoyed when he seemed appalled by his "immature" future selves. A nod to fans who like the Classic Series more than the Modern one, maybe?

• When confronted by Elizabeth's men, the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors aim their sonics at the soldiers. The War Doctor scolds them and says, "They're screwdrivers! What are you planning to do, build a cabinet at them?" I'm betting that's a dig at the way the Classic sonic was pretty much just a screwdriver, while the Modern ones are more like magic wands.

• As the various Doctors converge on Gallifrey in their TARDISes, we get a (very brief) cameo by the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi! Note that he appeared in extreme closeup, showing nothing more than his face. I assume this was done because the production team hasn't decided on a costume for him at this point in time.

• So it looks like the forgotten War Doctor has now been made an official real Doctor. I guess that means everyone after him has to move up a notch. The Ninth Doctor is now the Tenth and so on. So Peter Capaldi will be playing the Thirteenth Doctor? It sure looks that way to me. 

• Doesn't the Doctor's new solution to ending the Time War-- by placing all of Gallifrey into a frozen painting-- tromp (with big muddy feet) all over the continuity of The End Of Time? In that episode we learned that while Gallifrey was destroyed, the Time Lords weren't really wiped out. They were placed in a Time Lock by their leader Rassilon and were trying to break out. At the end of the episode the Tenth Doctor, with the help of the Master, sealed them back in the Time Lock. Now though the planet wasn't destroyed, it's inside a painting. Are the Time Lords in the painting as well, or are they still Time Locked somewhere? My head's starting to hurt.

• The Doctor decides to make it his new mission to search for Gallifrey. That's all well and good I guess, but didn't The End Of Time and various other episodes show us that the Time Lords were pretty much a bunch of assholes? Why would he want to free them?

• At the end of the episode the Eleventh, or I guess Twelfth Doctor has a moment with the curator of the museum. The curator bears a striking resemblance to an older version of the Fourth Doctor. But he's just a plain old human... OR IS HE?

So there you go. The Fiftieth Anniversary Special. Looking forward to the Hundredth!

Happy 50th Anniversary To Doctor Who!

Happy 50th Anniversary to Doctor Who! The show first premiered exactly fifty years ago today. Fifty years! Can you believe it! I'm betting the creators of the show never dreamed we'd still be watching new episodes half a century later.

Google even got into the spirit of the Anniversary with a special Doctor Who Google Doodle game! Very surprising, considering it's such a British institution. I guess the Doctor belongs to the world now.

Yahoo even got into the spirit of the day by adding a TARDIS to that stupid animated logo in the corner of their screen.

The Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special premiered worldwide today. Look for my thoughts on it tomorrow, after I've had a chance to mull over it.

Night Of The Doctor

We're fast approaching the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who! Can you believe it? It's been fifty years since the character debuted on November 23, 1963. The show hasn't been running continuously since then-- it's taken a couple of multi-year breaks-- but it's still got to be some kind of record. 

The BBC is airing a sure to be awesome 50th Anniversary Special later this month, but the biggest and most surprising news occurred last week with the premiere of a prequel mini episode called Night Of The Doctor.

Warning! There are spoilers ahead. Go watch the mini episode before reading any further. Here's a link to it, or you can use the Google to find it for yourself.

Are you back? Good. So WOW! Paul McGann returns as the Eighth Doctor!!! Holy. Crap. What a jaw dropping surprise! Especially considering the fact that earlier in the year McGann was asked point blank if he was in the special and he said no. I suppose technically he wasn't lying-- this prequel episode isn't actually part of the Anniversary Special. Sneaky! How the hell they managed to keep his appearance a secret before it came out-- especially in this day and age when people constantly post photos of their lunch online-- is beyond me. I'm glad they were able to do it though!

Coincidentally this mini-episode premiered on McGann's birthday!

McGann played the Doctor onscreen exactly one time in the 1996 Fox TV Movie that tried (and failed) to both resurrect the series and introduce the character to the American public. The TV movie is pretty hit or miss-- well, actually it's more miss than hit-- but McGann did a great job as everyone's favorite Time Lord. I can say with all honesty that I never thought I'd see his version of the Doctor on screen again.

After watching this mini episode I want to see more of this Doctor! A lot more! I know there's not a chance in hell of it happening, but I wish they'd do some kind of flashback series starring him.

Let's take a look at the episode, eh? 

It begins in some undetermined time period, with a spaceship in distress. It's about to crash into the planet Karn, which is a name that should be familiar to long time fans.

Inside the ship is a woman named Cass, who's doing everything in her power to keep from crashing.

As her doomed ship flies by, we see it's being followed by a familiar blue box!

I couldn't help but notice that the TARDIS seems to have the little round "St. John's Ambulance" label on the door (the blurry white dot next to the white square in the middle of the doors). That label was on the TARDIS in the early days of the show but disappeared for decades and only recently popped up again when the Eleventh Doctor took over. The Eighth Doctor's TARDIS never had it. Whoops!

The ship's computer keeps trying to assess Cass' health, and she angrily tells it she's trying to send a distress signal, she doesn't need a doctor. Suddenly a voice from behind says, "I'm a doctor. But probably not the one you expected."

You can say that again! I just squealed like a little girl.

To quote Obi-Wan, "Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. A long time."

Say what you will about Steven Moffat and his writing skills, but one thing I've noticed-- he seems to excel at writing these short episodes. The Space and Time mini episodes he wrote a couple of years ago are some of my all time favorite moments in the history of Doctor Who. Maybe Moffat ought to ditch the full length episodes and stick to writing seven minute scripts.

The Doctor introduces himself and assesses the situation.

His costume here looks a lot like the one he wore in the TV movie back in 1996. Not an exact match, but pretty darn close, what with the dark green jacket and the vest (or waistcoat if you're from England) and the fob watch. I'm betting that was intentional.

His hair's a lot shorter though, thank Rassilon. I was never a fan of his long curly locks.

The Doctor and Cass race toward the back of the ship, because as he says, "The front crashes first!"

Suddenly a bulkhead closes, barring their way. The Doctor uses his sonic to open it.

Note that his sonic looks like the one used by the Fourth Doctor. I did a quick search online and I believe he used this same model in the TV movie. I could be wrong though.

After finally getting the bulkhead to open they continue down the hall and see a familiar sight. Seeing Cass' puzzlement, the Doctor says, "Don't worry, it's bigger on the inside."

See? No St. John's label. Oh well. Nobody's perfect.

This causes Cass to stop in her tracks. "What did you say? Bigger on the inside, is that what you said?"

"Yes," says the Doctor. "Come on, you'll love it."

Cass' reaction is unexpected as she says, "Is this a TARDIS?"

Wow, that was a surprise! Most people the Doctor meets have never heard of a TARDIS and have no idea what it is. 

Cass recoils in disgust and says, "Don't touch me." The Doctor realizes why she's acting this way and tells her he's not part of the War.

He's referring of course to the Time War, the massive universal conflict between the Time Lords and the Daleks. We've been hearing about the Time War ever since the series started up again in 2005, but so far we've gotten precious little detail about it. 

Cass' reaction is interesting, but totally understandable. The Time Lords are their war are literally destroying the universe-- no wonder she's not happy to meet one.

"You're a Time Lord," hisses Cass.

"Yes," says the Doctor, "but I'm one of the nice ones!"

But Cass doesn't want the Doctor's help. In fact she doesn't want his help so much that she seals herself behind the bulkhead. The Doctor says, "Look on the bright side, at least I'm not a Dalek!" "Who can tell the difference anymore?" says Cass.

It's not quite clear what she means by this. Does she mean that she considers both sides to be equally dangerous? Or are the Daleks disguising themselves as Time Lords (we've seen human looking Daleks in the past)?

The Doctor pleads for her to let him help.

She tells him, "Go back to your battlefield! You haven't finished yet. Some of the universe is still standing!"

The Doctor tells Cass he's not leaving with out her. She says, "Then you're gonna die right here. Best news all day!"

We then see Cass' ship (with the TARDIS and Doctor inside) crash into the surface of Karn.

Luckily for the Doctor and the future of the series, the Sisterhood Of Karn is watching. Ohila, leader of the Sisterhood, says, "And here he is at last. The man to end it all. My Sisters, the Doctor has returned to Karn."

Note that in the credits the Sisterhood's leader is named "Ohila." In The Brain Of Morbius, the episode in which the Sisterhood is first introduced, there's a character called "Ohica." Close, but I guess they're not supposed to be the same person.

We see the Doctor among the rubble, looking not mostly dead, but all dead.

A short time later the Doctor wakes, and shouts Cass' name.

Ohila tells him that Cass is almost certainly dead, because no one could survive the crash. "I did," says the Doctor. "No," says Ohila.

She tells him that the Sisterhood dragged him from the wreckage and restored him to life, but it's a temporary measure and he has a little under four minutes to live before he dies again real good.

"Four minutes?" says the Doctor. "That's ages. What if I get bored or need a television, a couple of books? Anyone for chess? Bring me knitting!"

This is my favorite part of the episode. It's such a "Doctor" thing to say! You can just tell he's trying to find an out somehow.

Ohila tells him that their Elixir Of Life can trigger his regeneration, which will restore him to more permanent life again. 

"Time Lord science is elevated here," she says. "On Karn the change doesn't have to be random. Fat or thin. Young or old. Man or woman."

"Why would you do this for me?" asks the Doctor, who has a point. "You have helped us in the past." says Ohila. "You were never big on gratitude." says the Doctor.

Ohila gets to the point. "The War between the Daleks and the Time Lords threatens all reality. You are the only hope left." The Doctor refuses to get involved in the war, saying he's, well, the Doctor.

He sees that Cass is truly dead. Ohila reminds him he has only a few minutes left, and begs him to reconsider. To choose his regeneration and put an end to the Time War. "I'd rather die," says the Doctor. "You're dead already," says Ohila. "How many more will you let join you? The universe stands on the brink. Will you let it fall?"

The Doctor picks up Cass' gun belt and looks at it. He makes his choice. "Warrior," he says. "I don't suppose there's any need for a Doctor any more. Make me a warrior now."

Ohila says, "I took the liberty of preparing this one myself."

Wow, manipulate much, Ohila?

The Doctor takes the Elixir and orders everyone out. "Will it hurt?" he asks. "Yes," says Ohila as she leaves. "Good," says the Doctor.

Before taking a drink, the Doctor says, "Charlie, C'Rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly-- friends and companions I've known I salute you."

These are the names of the Eighth Doctor's companions in his various audio dramas, which apparently means the BBC just made them all canon! Cool!

The Doctor drinks the Elixir. A familar yellow glow begins streaming from his hands.

It soon spreads to the rest of his body.

He doubles over in pain as a familiar (to us) blinding flash envelops him.

Ohila stands by, waiting. Hey, I thought she was supposed to be in the other room while he regenerated?

She bends down and asks, "Is it done?"

The newly regenerated Doctor takes Cass' gun belt and straps it on. He looks into a mirror and surprise! He's turned into young John Hurt. "Doctor no more," he says. He's now the War Doctor. Kind of a clunky name, but what are you gonna do?

Pretty awesome, huh? So now we know how the Eighth Doctor regenerated into the War Doctor. Based on his relatively youthful appearance here and his haggard look at the end of last season, he must have been the War Doctor for a really long time. 

This mini episode also clarifies the numbering of the Doctors. At the end of last season when John Hurt was introduced as some sort of forgotten Doctor, everyone wondered if that meant the Ninth Doctor was really the Tenth, the Tenth the Eleventh and so on. I guess since he's not considered a real Doctor but a "War Doctor," the original numbering is still correct.

Most fans (including me) are assuming that the War Doctor is the one who ended the Time War by destroying both sides-- the Time Lords as well as the Daleks. I guess we'll find out for sure in a week.

By the way, the Sisterhood of Karn has appeared on the show before. They were in the 1976 episode The Brain Of Morbius. They're a female society dedicated to protecting the Sacred Flame, which they use to make the Elixir of Life.

Lastly, if the writers are smart, they'll use this episode as a way to get around the ridiculous "Twelve Regenerations Limit" that most fans just can't seem to let go of. Wayyyy back in the 1976 episode The Deadly Assassin there was a throwaway line about Time Lords only being able to regenerate twelve times. For some reason most fans insist on clinging to this little tidbit of info like grim death-- never mind that they gleefully ignore all kinds of other rules and laws the show's set forth over the years (like a person not being able to revisit their past). 

I honestly don't get it. If they abide by this rule then the show's gonna have to end after upcoming Doctor Peter Capaldi turns in his TARDIS keys. Is that what they want?

This mini episode is a way out of that trap. The Doctor was officially dead here and the Sisterhood brought him back to life and then offered him a special Elixir that would allow him to choose the form of his regeneration. The yellow regeneration glow effect had never appeared in the old series-- we never saw it until the Ninth Doctor regenerated into the Tenth. So they could say that the Sisterhood's elixir reset his regeneration clock and now he's got another twelve to go, or better yet, and unlimited supply. I hope they go with this explanation so we can set this silly idea to rest once and for all.