7 Days in May: Harry Potter and the Furious 7

Doctor Who



We've been watching classic Doctor Who for a while in our house, but recently David expressed an interest in the new stuff, so we skipped ahead. Diane and I had already seen the Eccleston episodes and David was enjoying them for the most part (he's not a big fan of the Slitheen and who can blame him?), but our New Who marathon ground to a halt with "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances." That's the two-part story where the Doctor and Rose go to London during the Blitz of WWII, meet Jack Harkness, and have to solve the mystery of a gas-masked boy who goes around very creepily asking people, "Are you my mummy?"

Diane was freaked out about these episodes back in 2005 when they first aired. David was about the same age as the gas-masked boy at the time, so the story resonated in an especially disturbing way with her. Ten years later, we hoped it wasn't quite as scary as we remembered, but no, it totally is and David was freaked right out. He has a very active imagination and three days later he's still struggling with some of those images. There's no way he's going to be able to handle the Weeping Angels, so as a family we're going back to the Pertwee era and I'll forge on alone with the New Who catch-up.

My personal opinion about these two episodes though is that they're the best in the Eccleston season up to that point and are a great reminder of why Stephen Moffat (who wrote them) eventually got the gig as show-runner. There are some other very strong episodes in that season ("Dalek" and "Father's Day" being two), but "The Doctor Dances" is my favorite so far.

Eccleston gets a lot of crap from Doctor Who fans and I understand it to an extent. When these episodes first aired, I was just so happy to have the Doctor back that I wasn't the least bit critical of Eccleston's portrayal. Especially since I didn't have Tennant's to compare it to, yet. Watching it again, I can see why it doesn't sit well with some people. Eccleston's Doctor is manic, but in a dark way. He's very angry and sometimes outright mean and cruel. But that makes complete sense to me considering what he's recently been through and I still find him a compelling and likable - if extremely tragic - character.

Star Wars: Clone Wars



Another marathon we're working through is trying to get through all the Star Wars movies and TV shows, in chronological order, by the time The Force Awakens comes out. We're in Season 3 of Clone Wars right now and it's rough going.

We like the adventures and the way the series jumps between groups of characters. That keeps it exciting and fresh. But the show really dumbs down the Jedi in order to make other threats more dangerous. All the Jedi forget to use the Force at key moments and apparently anyone in the galaxy can pick up a lightsaber and use it with Jedi-like skill against an actual Jedi. Right now, my enjoyment of the show is about equal with my frustration at it. If we weren't doing this as part of a project, I'd consider dropping it to free up time for something else.

The One I Love



Another project I'm working on is catching up on all the 2014 movies that I missed seeing. If you check out that post, I'm banging them out in pretty much the order that I listed them.

The One I Love isn't exactly what I expected. It explores the theme of changes in relationships; just not in the way I thought it would. It starts off as a drama with comedic (and perhaps supernatural) elements, but ends up being sort of a light thriller. It would make an interesting double-feature with Gone Girl since both movies compare their leads' relationships at different stages and ask which stage is preferable. Do we like the beginning stage when everyone's on their best behavior? Or do we prefer the later stages when we're getting real with each other, but everything's so much messier? Gone Girl explores those questions in a heavy, obvious way, while The One I Love is light and subtle. I prefer The One I Love.

The F Word (aka What If)



The F Word is an Irish-Canadian movie that was retitled What If for release in the US and UK. The original is the better title, not only because it's way more clever, but also because it actually has something to do with the movie. The F Word of the film is "friend" and the movie explores the relationship between an emotionally damaged man (Daniel Radcliffe) and a woman (Zoe Kazan) who's currently in a serious, long-term relationship.

I love this movie. Its leads are absolutely charming, but what I like most is how complicated the emotions and relationships are. Wallace and Chantry agree to be just friends because she has a boyfriend. Wallace claims to be okay with that because a) he's recently been hurt badly by a cheating ex-girlfriend, and b) he's vowed never to do that to anyone else. He doesn't want to be the guy who breaks up Chantry and Ben. But Wallace obviously has feelings for Chantry and a lot of the movie is about his struggle to keep those in check. He doesn't want fall into Nice Guy Syndrome and it's fascinating to see him navigate the relationship imperfectly, but as honorably as he can.

What is so refreshing about the movie though is that Chantry is an equal player in the relationship. She's not just the object of Wallace's desire, she's a complete character with her own faults and mixed emotions about both Wallace and Ben. She's just as compelling to watch as she tries to figure out what's going on, how she feels about it, and what she should do. Put all that together with funny dialogue, a wonderful supporting cast, and a great soundtrack and you've got the best romantic comedy of last year, if not the last several years.

Furious 7



I was nervous going into this. Partly that's because I attributed everything I love about the Fast and Furious series to Justin Lin. James Wan was untested as an action director and that was before all the troubles during production, starting with the death of Paul Walker. I wanted Furious 7 to be as good as the last few movies in the series, but I despaired.

And truthfully, it's not as good as Fast Five or Furious 6. Those are enormously fun movies with huge casts and over-the-top plots that still manage to hold together somehow. Furious 7 is dealing with a smaller cast thanks to the deaths of some characters and its plot doesn't hold together nearly as well. Really, the thing that's supposed to be driving the plot doesn't make sense at all. None of this makes it any less fun than the previous movies though.

The plot is super thin and I expect that will bother people who aren't already all in on the series, but I found plenty to enjoy. The story is only there to get us from one action set piece to the next and it does that adequately. As important as story is to me, this is a movie about huge action and characters I've come to care a lot about. It handles those elements perfectly while also including awesome performances by Jason Statham and Kurt Russell. The Furious series is everything I want The Expendables series to be.

10 Greatest Giant Robots of All Time

Because Siskoid and I often share a brain, we both disqualified giant robots from our Top 10 Giant Monsters lists last week. Which means that we're back with lists of our huge, mechanical friends this week.

I know a few others who are also planning to join in for our second, big, blogging crossover, so I'll update this post as I see those. Anyone can participate, so just let me know and I'll be sure to link to you. [Update: Here's Siskoid's list, and here's Ken O's from That F'ing Monkey.]

Here's my list. No special rules this time; I'll explain any caveats in the entries below.

10. Martian Tripods (War of the Worlds)



My first caveat is that I'm accepting pilot-driven mechs as "giant robots." It's not technically accurate, but since they're visually indistinguishable from actual robots, that's good enough for me. The Martian war machines from H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds are the grand-daddies of this concept and are super scary besides. Love them.

9. Warbox (DC Comics)



The only reason Warbox is so low on my list is because he's only had one, brief appearance in Metal Men (V.3) #2. On the other hand, he looks like a teddy bear and has a reel-to-reel tape player on his chest. It kind of hurts me not to have him higher.

8. Mechani-Kong (King Kong Escapes)



It's a horrible movie, but just look at that giant robotic gorilla shooting lasers out of his eyes and tell me you don't love him.

7. Mechagodzilla



I haven't yet seen any of the Toho films with giant robots like Mechagodzilla, Mecha King Ghidorah, or Jet Jaguar, so it's hard for me to love them as much as I should. I'll lump Ultraman into that same category and heck, Voltron and every anime ever made too. I have a lot of learning to do.

But Mechagodzilla is such a cultural icon with such a great look that I feel like I know him even though my entire experience with him has been in the recent Godzilla comics from IDW.

6. Grurk (It Came!)



It's name probably isn't actually Grurk, but that's what it always says, which is part of its charm. I probably shouldn't include it until the It Came! mini-series is done and I can think about it as a complete story, but it goes to show how much I loved that first issue that I want to honor it here.

5. Gallaxhar's giant robot probe (Monsters vs. Aliens)



I should have figured out how to work Susan (Ginormica) or Insectosaurus into last week's list. I love Monsters vs. Aliens and its giant robot is spectacular and funny.

4. Sentinels (X-Men)



An important part of my childhood and the X-Men's world in general. One of the few X-Men villains that still give me a thrill when they show up.

3. Experimental Prototype Robot K1 (Doctor Who)



Not only was Tom Baker my first Doctor, his first episode, "Robot" was my first episode too. So as crap as those special effects are, this giant machine is a major part of what hooked me about Doctor Who.

2. Archer (Kill All Monsters)



I feel like I need to apologize again for not only including one of my own creations (with artist Jason Copland, of course), but for putting him really high on my list. But where I'm fond of the some of the visual aspects of the creatures we created for Kill All Monsters, I'm genuinely in love with the characters. I hope you'll forgive me the indulgence.

I like all the Bots for different reasons, but I have a special place in my heart for poor Archer who so much wants to fit in as part of the Kill Team, but is having a difficult time because the human members are (perhaps justifiably) scared of him.

1. The Iron Giant (The Iron Giant)



I usually have a live-and-let-live attitude about these lists, but this is one of the rare occasions where there is absolutely a right answer. Number One has to be the Iron Giant. Has. To be.

The Doctor hates cephalopods

[Via Siskoid, yer one-stop-show for All Things Who)

LXB | The League's Ultimate Crossovers

Brian's posted the rest of the League of Extraordinary Blogger's responses about their ultimate movie crossovers and there are several that I'd pay big bucks to see on the big screen. The image above was created by Sideshow Cinema for an imaginary crossover that I cannot believe Dark Horse hasn't yet done. Other ones I want to be real are:

• Memories of Toymorrow's goofy, fun mash-up of famous movie and TV bachelors competing for the affection of the cat from the Pepe LePew cartoons. I just can't decide if it's the ultimate romantic comedy or the ultimate horror film.
• Branded in the 80s created a sequel to '80s movies that pitted kids against a sinister government: Wargames, Cloak and Dagger, and The Manhattan Project. In his version, the kids are grown and pulled into another plot in which they have to prevent World War III. (In his comments section, a reader talks about his idea for a Dukes of Hazzard/Knight Rider crossover that would also be awesome.)
• Tupa's Treasures has three cool ideas, but my favorite is combining the casts of the two Raiders of the Lost Ark TV knock offs: Tales of the Gold Monkey and Bring 'Em Back Alive.
• Speaking of Raiders, AEIOU and Sometimes Why would love to see Indiana Jones meet the Doctor. And so would I.
• The Man Who Stares at Toys sold me on his idea for Wookiees and Klingons teaming up to fight Xenomorphs.
• Dave Lowe wins at life by coming up with Indiana Jones' exploring King Kong's Skull Island.

There are a lot of cool ideas out there though, so check out Cool and Collected for the whole list, including Tombstone meets Deadwood, and Batman vs Ace Ventura.

LXB | Zombie Apocalypse Buddies

Still trying to catch up to the rest of the League of Extraordinary Bloggers.

Which TV or movie hero do you want beside you when the zombie apocalypse arrives?

I hate zombies. I don't want to hide from them. I don't want to kill them. I don't want anything to do with them. So this might be cheating, but my perfect companion for the zombie apocalypse is someone with a spaceship to get me the heck off Earth. And I can't think of any spaceship I'd rather travel in than the Millenium Falcon or any crew I'd rather hang out with than Han and Chewie.

Besides, I bet blasters and bowcasters make great zombie killing weapons while we escape.



The rest of the League is way tougher than I am and chose to stay and fight it out with a wide range of capable pals from Charlton Heston in The Omega Man (Geek Chunks) to Wonder Woman (Siftin'). A couple of them got creative and picked people who know a lot about zombies (Team Hellions) or were just slower than they are (Freak Studios). "I don't have to outrun the zombie; I just have to outrun you." I have questions about the long-run sustainability of that strategy, but it's funny.

My favorite of the League's picks is Life With Fandom's selection of the Doctor. I still prefer Han and Chewie who would be all for selfishly running away, because of course the Doctor would want to stay and fix things as long as possible. But I can get behind the Doctor as long as he lets me hide out in the TARDIS and if things get really bad, a time machine makes an excellent escape route.

What about you? Fighter or runner? Who would you pick to help you survive?

31 Days of Frankenstein: Meets the Space Doctor

Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)



Not really a Frankenstein movie at all, Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster is about a Martian invasion to capture Earth women to help repopulate the Red Planet. Thinking it's a retaliatory missile, the Martians shoot down a space probe containing a human-looking android named Frank Saunders. Frank is severely damaged and goes on a rampage of Puerto Rico before ultimately facing the Martians' radiation-scarred mutant-monster.

I've only tried to watch this thing once and failed to make it without a lot of fast-forwarding, but I don't remember Frank's even being called "Frankenstein" by another character in the movie. If he is, it's just a nickname based on his first name, his monstrous appearance, and his terrorizing humans. If not, it's an even lamer attempt to inappropriately use the name to steal some ticket sales. I do like Frank's Two-Face look though. It's an interesting, symbolic way to depict the man-monster.



Doctor Who: "Journey Into Terror" (1965)

"Journey Into Terror" is an episode in the longer, second season Doctor Who serial called The Chase. In that story, the Doctor and his companions are being pursued by Daleks who have developed their own time-travel device. As the Doctor tries to outrun the Daleks he stops in a variety of settings, including a haunted mansion inhabited by Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster. It's later revealed that the place is actually a futuristic (1996!) theme park and that the monsters are just robots. The episode used the Universal version of the Monster, but clothed him in mummy-wrapping.

Amazon of the Week: Martha Jones

But first: some housekeeping.

If you missed having the Art Show post this week (or Pass the Comics or Quotes of the Week, for that matter), be sure to check out/subscribe to/follow the Adventureblog Annex where all that stuff is now. I know that starting Yet Another Blog is spreading myself pretty thin, so I'm going to pull back the content I  was putting into spin-off blogs Amazon Village and Dear Dairy. As fond as I am of the idea of them, I'll probably end up killing them for no other reason than to keep things simple and efficient.

So here's the plan. This blog will be much more about original content than it has been. Art, other people's comics, and quotes are in the Annex. News links are on Twitter. Personal stuff (and weird YouTube videos) are on Facebook.

One of the things I tried at Amazon Village was to have an Amazon of the Week. I use the word Amazon loosely to describe any strong, independent woman, because frankly I can't come up with a better term. Lisa Paitz Spindler calls them Danger Gals, which is awesome, but I'm not stealing her name. Anyway, I love these characters and have meant for years to start a feature spotlighting my favorites, so here we go. The first three weeks will be reposts from Amazon Village and then we'll get into new ones.



Martha Jones probably won't be the only companion of the Doctor to be featured here, but she gets to be first because she's my favorite.

Yeah yeah, I'm as in love with Rose as anyone (other than folks who think it's cool not to be in love with Rose, of course) and was heartbroken by how her story played out. But it's Martha who really has my heart. First of all, I get the whole Unrequited Love Thing. I've been through that and it's just as terrifying as the Eternally Separated From The One You Love Thing, if not more so. And not to make Rose or anyone else seem unheroic in comparison, but Martha's a warrior for a) sticking in that situation for as long as she did and b) finding a way to continue sacrificing herself even once she'd pulled away from the Doctor.

More than any other Companion, Martha feels like she's got a life worth following outside of Doctor Who. We should've gotten a spin-off with her instead of Torchwood.

The Awesome List: Keep your hands off my shower spoon!

Surviving in the Wild



[Failbook]

Official Stationary of the Captain Marvel Club



I want to join the Captain Marvel Club. [Letterheady]

After the break: an Avengers cartoon, Catalog Living, and the coolest version of the Doctor Who theme you've ever heard.

Art Show: A City of Web-Foot People Built in a Watery World

Squid Attack!



By Lawrence Sterne Stevens. [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

Up in the Sky!



By Al Feldstein. [Golden Age Comic Book Stories]

After the break: Wonder Woman, apes, lots of robots, and space girls on Venus.

Art Show: Quickly, Old Chum! To the TARDIS!

The Escape



By Lorenzo Etherington.

Yoshied



By Vincent Bocognani. [Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs]

After the break: The Lone Ranger, Black Canary, Frankenstein, a witch, Wonder Woman, a giant robot, and Batmannin' the TARDIS.

TV News: Dinosaur shows, JJ Abrams spies, a post-Jedi cartoon, and more

Terra Nova cast



Steven Spielberg's show about a time-traveling family in the age of dinosaurs may have its first cast member. Kyle Chandler (also known in our house as The Handsome Man) has been offered the lead role. As the dad perhaps?

I hope he takes it. Not only is he a favorite actor of mine, he's got some experience running from dinosaurs in King Kong. [The Ausiello Files]

Reign of the Dinosaurs



A while back, /Film had some interesting evidence suggesting that Pixar might be working on a dinosaur movie. No such luck, unfortunately, but they are working on a Discovery Channel special called Reign of the Dinosaurs. The subject matter sounds fun, if not all that ground-breaking. The visuals should be really cool though. [/Film]

Animated Star Wars, Big Bang Blossom, and the family that spies together, after the break. 

TV News: Meet Jim Rockford

Grey's Anatomy SPOILER



No, that's not Jim Rockford. Keep reading for that news.

What the heck's a Grey's Anatomy spoiler doing at the top of this list? Well, it's also a spoiler for Shonda Rhimes' new, tropical-island medical drama Off the Map and if it's set on a tropical island, I'll cover it. At least until I discover whether or not it sucks.

At any rate, the romance between Ben the anesthesiologist (played by the awesome Jason George above) and the even awesomer Bailey will be short-lived. George is moving to Off the Map to play a different character. The odds of Off the Map's sucking just got a lot longer. [The Ausiello Files]

A dinosaur pilot, your new Nikita and Rockford, and the best way ever to get detention after the break.

Doctor Who and the End of Time

As usual, I'm way farther behind on TV than the rest of the world. I just finished the two-part "End of Time" movie that closes down David Tennant's time as the Doctor.

It was as dramatic and funny and scary and touching as I've come to expect from this version of the Doctor, but I admit that I became impatient with it towards the end. The regenerations I've seen the Doctor go through before have all happened quickly and by surprise. This time, the Doctor knows it's coming and has time to make some visits to old companions and tie up some loose - if only emotionally - ends.

My problem with it is related to a comment that writer Russell T Davies made during one of the many Doctor Who specials that BBC America ran around the time of the movie. He said that the Doctor's regenerating isn't like going to the dentist and that it should be a momentous occasion. A serious, scary occasion. Well, I guess I disagree.

I would've agreed after the first time I had to deal with it, watching Tom Baker morph into Peter Davison. Man, I mourned the loss of Tom Baker. And resented Davison so much. But eventually, I came to like Davison. He's one of my favorites now, celery-stick boutonniere and all.

More recently, I distinctly remember being sad that Christopher Eccleston was leaving the show after only one season. I really dug him as much as I had any other doctor - even Tom Baker - and, not at all sure of who we were getting next, I anticipated having a similar reaction to David Tennant that I did to Peter Davison. But I didn't. Turns out, I loved David Tennant right away and so did everyone else.

Now he's leaving and as much as I'm going to miss him, I'm ready for the next guy. Bring on Matt Smith. I've learned my lesson and accept that the show's creators know what they're doing. I think I'd moved on faster than Davies wanted me to though. Clearly - from the lengthy part of the finale where the Doctor runs around saying his heartfelt goodbyes - I was supposed to be holding on much tighter than I was. I kind of resented Davies' sitting next to me, nudging me and proclaiming loudly, "This is SO SAD! He's really leaving, you guys!"

"Yes," I kept telling him. "It is sad. But we've been here before and it kind of is like going to the dentist. Let's see what this Matt Smith guy's like."

I've eased up on Davies though after reading Dorian's take on the episode. Especially this part:

...regeneration is an end to a facet of the Doctor’s personality. Everything that is Ten will be gone when Eleven arrives. And Ten loves his life. Ten loves his friends. Ten is the most emotionally connected we’ve seen the Doctor in, well, ever, frankly.

That's completely true. As ready as I was to move on, I get that Ten wasn't. It's not fair for me to read Davies' meta-textual statement over the story when the story as it plays out is perfectly in keeping with who this Doctor is. Was.

But, on the other hand, as nice as it was to see a Doctor so emotionally connected with his companions (or most of them anyway, poor Martha), where it left him was extremely screwed up and depressed. He'd become a Doctor resolved to have no companions, not even one as fun and charming as Lady Christina de Souza. He'd become a Doctor who was going insane from grief and loneliness. I may be the only one who feels this way, but his regeneration was a mercy killing. I really, really liked Ten for a long time, but at the end I was ready for him to go. And - though I get Dorian's point - I'm not completely sure why Ten wasn't.

Welcome, Eleven.

Quotes of Last Week: Bad-Luck Slut

Totally forgot the Quotes of the Week on Saturday. Oops!



I've always wanted Tigra to be a fun-loving character whose cat-like curiosity gets her into interesting predicaments (including fighting monsters). I'm not sure what Marvel's take on her is. Bad-luck slut, maybe? I haven't truly kept up with what's happening with her lately. I suspect I don't want to know.
--Kerry Callen, perfectly illustrating why he should be writing and drawing a Tigra comic.

It's bad enough that Americans have to wait a few weeks or months to watch Doctor Who episodes on BBC America after they've aired in the United Kingdom on BBC One...
--SCI FI Wire, not seeing the irony in that that's exactly how it used to be when Doctor Who was on their damn channel.

It's good to encourage physical activity, but NOT if the purpose of encouraging it is to try to make people thinner. Then it's counter-productive. People will be healthier if they're more active and don't smoke and if they avoid eating disordered behavior (like dieting in particular) ... The idea that people pursue thinness primarily for health reasons is laughable.
--Paul Campos, the author of The Obesity Myth, on the difference between fitness and thinness. As a fat dude, I found the whole interview absolutely fascinating. (Incidentally, I've been getting this message from other health professionals as well. Physical activity as its own reward is a lesson I'm finally starting to internalize.)

No thank you, Ridley. Why don't you just go ahead and work on a prequel to your Monopoly film instead. Tell us how Uncle Moneybags met the dog and thimble.
--Topless Robot, on why the proposed prequel to Alien is actually a pretty horrible idea.

Adventurenews: Sexy Sidekicks

Meet Thor's girlfriend



Natalie Portman has been confirmed to play Jane Foster in Kenneth Branagh's Thor movie. How much do you want to bet she's a doctor now instead of a nurse like in the comics? Not that there'd be anything wrong with that, but would there be anything wrong with her being a nurse either necessarily? I sound like this matters to me, but it really doesn't either way. I'm just guessing what the press release means by, "The character will be updated for the feature adaptation."

Actually, I'm kind of surprised that Foster appears in the movie at all. Early reports were that the movie would focus on Asgard and would be mostly a fantasy film. The inclusion of Foster suggests that there'll be more Earth-based story than we were led to believe. The press release supports that theory in its description of the film too:

This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe; from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

I'm all for that. I've always preferred Thor's Earth-bound adventures to his Asgardian ones, but the most successful comics have been the ones that have been able to maintain a balance between the two. Sounds like that's what they're going for here.

Time and Relative Dimensions in Sexy



Siskoid has a fun pictorial of all the Doctor Who companions at their sultriest. Male and female. Including Adric.

I'd forgotten what a huge crush I had on Nyssa back in the day.

Please pay me immediately

A couple of scifi odds and ends.

Tridimensional Monopoly



Bully should totally write the next Star Trek movie.

The world makes more sense now



The Doctor Who specials and movies that will have to tide us over until the new Doctor takes over will air on BBC America and not the Sci Fi (SyFy?) Channel. Not real sure why the series hasn't been there all along.

You have until June 27 to adjust your Season Passes accordingly. That's when last year's Christmas special airs with the first movie, Planet of the Dead, to follow in July. The rest of the schedule (so far) is in the link.

10 Favorite TV Characters

As before, Siskoid gets the credit for this. I sort of don't want this meme to end, so if he's up for other Favorite Character lists, I sure am too. It sounds like he might be moving on though (Create Your Own Black Ops Team? Do it, Siskoid! Do it!).

I tried making my own rules for this list too, but I kept breaking them. I wanted to include mainly characters whose series have ended so that I can say with certainty that I liked the character from beginning to end. But that would've left out some of my very favorites and I dumped the rule.

I also wanted to choose only characters from shows that I stuck with to the very end. My rationale is that if I loved the character so much, that ought to be enough to keep me interested in the show. But though I have stuck with shows much longer than I should have for love of a single character, there have also been times that the series' overall plot got the better of me and I couldn't take it anymore.

That's enough preamble. I've got more to say about characters and the effect they have on my enjoyment of shows, but I'll save that for below. I will note though that this time I've actually listed these in order of my favorites, from least to most.

10. Jamie Sommers (The Bionic Woman, 1976)



She's bottom of the list because it's been thirty-plus years since I've seen the show and I have no idea if I'd still like her as much. But she makes the list for being the first TV character that I actually cared deeply about. Not just because of a childhood crush - which I did have - but because she was such a tragic character.

If you don't know the original Bionic Woman, she started off as the girlfriend of Steve "the Six Million Dollar Man" Austin, but was injured in an accident that not only necessitated her bionic implants, but also took her memories, including her knowledge of her relationship with Steve. Her memory loss was harder on him than it was on her, but Lyndsay Wagner played Jamie Sommers with such sadness that I always got the sense she knew she was missing something. If only she could remember Steve, she could be happy again. My ten-year-old heart broke for her.

9. Jayne Cobb (Firefly)



You have to love the simplicity of a guy like Jayne who's so damn honest about his motivations. Plus, he named his gun Vera. Plus, there's that song...



8. Jack Bristow (Alias)



Another character with clear motivations. Jack Bristow will do anything to protect his daughter. Anything. It's the same single-minded determination I love about Jack Bauer from 24, only Bristow's daughter is infinitely smarter than Bauer's. His show was a lot better written too.

Anyway, there's just something awesome about a man who will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve his goal when his goal is admirable. And I don't know much that's more admirable than continuing to protect a daughter who more or less hates your guts for it.

7. The Doctor (Doctor Who)



I think I might be cheating a bit by listing all the Doctor's generations in a single entry. After all, I like some of them better than others, and some of them I've never even seen. But I really don't want to have to pick between Four and Ten, nor do I want to eat up two entries listing them separately. Nor do I want to leave out Three, Five, and Nine, whom I also like a lot.

Besides, one of the things I really love about the Doctor is the versatility of the character. It's amazing that so many different actors can interpret the same character so many different ways while still being so convincing that this is in fact the same guy. There's no one else like him in any media.

And I promise I hadn't looked at Siskoid's list before deciding to include all ten (or that specific collage) in mine.

6. Sherry Palmer (24)



Bar none, the greatest villain in the history of television. I spent the first half of 24's first season thinking that I loathed the selfish, manipulative Sherry Palmer until I realized how much I absolutely reveled in hating her. Arvin Sloane from Alias comes a close second in being this despicable, but he has a couple of redeeming qualities that Sherry didn't. I miss you, Sherry!

5. Dr. Charlotte King (Private Practice)



This year's season finale of Private Practice seemed like it was doing it's best to make me stop caring about the show. Addison Montgomery's flirtation with adultery is killing my interest in her. Dell's storyline this season came out of nowhere and is pretty unconvincing. The cliffhanger left one of the other characters not just in mortal danger, but threatened with the most emotionally excruciating death I can imagine. That she's also a character I don't like leaves me feeling conflicted and icky. Do I care that she could die this way? Not really. But boy do I ever feel like I should care, and I sort of hate myself for not.

What does any of this have to do with Charlotte King? She's the reason I'll be back next season.

I do this a lot. Faced with a show that I used to enjoy, but aren't anymore, I'll latch on to one or two characters I love and make them the focus of the series in my head. And I'm a total sucker for unlikable characters who are revealed to have hidden depths of redeeming qualities. Sawyer from Lost, Alex Karev from Grey's Anatomy, maybe House one day if he ever gets his act together. I love shows that are successful in making you hate someone and then even more successful in turning that hate to love.

Charlotte King tries so hard to be a hard-nosed, emotionless robot. It's what she thinks she needs to be to do her job. For all I know, it is what she needs to be to do her job. But the very fact that she's trying so hard at it reveals that she actually cares. I'm loving watching those walls she's built around her come down. As long as that development continues for her on the show, I'll keep watching it regardless of what nonsense everyone else is going through.

4. Patrick Jane (The Mentalist)



I'm not sure I should include a character on this list whose show is only one season long so far, but I can't help it. I thought that this show was going to be a Psych rip-off and it's so not. I love every character on it, but especially the infuriatingly smirky, know-it-all and above-it-all (yet deeply wounded) Patrick Jane. Give this show a few more seasons like the one it just had and he'll be the top entry on this list.

3. Worf (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)



Do you want to know how much I like Worf? I went to a Star Trek convention to meet Michael Dorn, the actor who plays him. That's crazy.

But Worf's story arc on Next Generation and then Deep Space Nine was intensely appealing to me. He's the outsider who manages to fit in without sacrificing who he is to do it. And he kicks booty. And he gets all the best lines ("Captain, I protest! I am not a merry man!"). And he ends up with the hottest women on whatever show he's on. Just saying.

2. Dr. Miranda Bailey (Grey's Anatomy)



Oh, how I love Miranda Bailey. On a show full of drama kings and queens, she manages to stay above it all. Most of the time. Occasionally though, something will get to her and she'll lose it and cry. That's when I always have to grunt and pretend there's something in my eye.

1. Noel Crane (Felicity)



Noel Crane (or "Dreamy Noel" as we call him around Casa del May) was me during college. Oh sure, he's not as good-looking as I am, but I so relate to his luck with dating. It's not that Noel can't get dates, but just that they're rarely with the girl he wants to be on them with.

College was a great time for me and Felicity helped me relive it shortly after I was out, just when I was missing it most. I accessed the show through Noel, so that makes him an important character in my life. I miss that show like crazy.

Not surprisingly, Noel made me a huge Scott Foley fan. I think my wife's a bit jealous of him. "You'll follow that man anywhere," she says, and she's right. I even watched every single episode of AUSA. That's devotion, baby.

Did my heart good to see him on Siskoid's list as Bob from The Unit.