‘Here’s a particularly stupid theory. If we take “The Doctor” to be the Doctor’s name – even if it is in the form of a title no doubt meaning something deep and Gallifreyan – perhaps our earthly use of the word “doctor” meaning healer or wise man is direct result of the Doctor’s multiple interventions […]
(continued)

IMDB posted an interesting cast list for the final episode of the current Doctor Who season. If you actually believe you could somehow avoid learning this news (IF it’s even right) between now and October, then do not scroll to the closeup of that IMDB page. SPOILER BELOW (if IMDB is right, that is): Given […]
(continued)

(continued)

While working on my chapter about why Batman works with a boy sidekick, I’ve been contemplating how and why the most famous superheroes all tend to be orphans. For Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man, their parents’ and surrogate parents’ deaths are integral to their origins. Daredevil too. Robin’s origin was a deliberate reflection of Batman’s own. […]
(continued)

(…continued from “Nature, Nurture, and the Kryptonite Bomb”) We know many predictors of long-term criminality, factors that correlate with repeated lawbreaking. Among juvenile delinquents, those who did not start engaging in antisocial actions until adolescence tend to outgrow that behavior, whereas those who engaged in pre-adolescent antisocial actions do not. People who repeatedly break the […]
(continued)

If we are going to be completely honest about it, television over the last few years has been a wasteland for good science fiction shows. There have been exceptions but most shows have died a harsh and just death. Sometimes our geeky eagerness for good science fiction often has us embracing shows with very little […]
(continued)