Doctor Who: The Sea Devils

The Whoathon starts again. People make fun of this episode because of the Sea Devils, but I like the Sea Devils. They're fun. Plus, the Master! Remember, the Master was captured by UNIT. Now he's being held captive in a castle on an island, and the Doctor and Jo go to see him. The warden claims that they're all immune to hypnotism and the Master hasn't tried to escape, but we all know the inmate is running the asylum, right?

the Master

The Doctor suspects the Master has something to do with the vanishing ships in the area. But it's the Sea Devils...hee!

a Sea Devil

They look crazy, they wear fishnet dresses, and they have those weird flat guns. They're fantastic. The Doctor immediately connects them to the Silurians and says they must have been woken up by the work at the old sea fort. He also points out that the Silurians aren't from the Silurian era. Nice.

The Doctor finds out that the Master isn't really a prisoner anymore and confronts him, which leads to a sword fight.

Huzzah!

The Master plans on contacting the Sea Devils and helping them take over the planet. When the Doctor asks what's in it for him, he says the pleasure of seeing the human race exterminated. Ouch. That's cold, even for the Master. The Doctor is captured, but Jo rescues him. I like how they gave her such agency here.

Jo Grant

Check out the 3rd Doctor's sonic screwdriver. He's using it to trigger mines as they make their escape.

the Doctor and Jo Grant

The Master builds a machine to call the Sea Devils, and they invade the castle.

The Doctor travels to the sea floor and makes contact with the Sea Devils. They say the planet is theirs. (They went into hibernation, just as the Silurians did, but the catastrophe never happened.) The Doctor attempts to convince the Sea Devils to make peace with the humans. It seems to work, even when the Master shows up and tries to ruin everything.

Then a political minister arrives at the base and acts like a cartoonish buffoon. He orders the Navy to blow everything up. Bye, peace. Time for a Sea Devil invasion!

With the Master, they take over the military base. Soon the military takes the base back, but the Master escapes. Then there's a jet ski chase that looks quite fun. Roger Delgado's stunt double looks nothing like him, but it does appear that Jon Pertwee rode the jet ski himself.

Whee!

The Master leads the Doctor right to the Sea Devils. The device to revive the rest of the Sea Devils is activated, but the Sea Devils double cross the Master and lock them both up. The Doctor says not to worry, he reversed the polarity of the neutron flow when the Master wasn't looking. It's about to blow up! They get away, but the Master escapes custody in the end and is on the loose again...

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #62, "The Sea Devils," six parts
Adversary: the Master and the Sea Devils

Classic Lines: the Doctor, talking about the Master: "He used to be a friend of mine once. A very good friend. In fact, you might almost say we were at school together."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: The Master watches the Clangers, a puppet show for children. (Later, in a 10th Doctor story, he watches the Teletubbies.)
Next Up: "The Mutants"

Ricketts Glen State Park

I took off one day last week and headed out to Ricketts Glen State Park. It was about a two hour drive, out past Wilkes-Barre. I had heard good things, and I decided to do the seven-mile lollipop loop, hiking through woods and past over twenty waterfalls.

I started at the Route 118 parking area. The hike starts out as a level walk through the woods along the stream. There are several crossings over cool little bridges, and the sound of the water flowing over the rocks was soothing. 

 
As you hit the first three waterfalls before Waters Meet, it starts to get steeper.

Then you arrive at Waters Meet, and you have to decide- do you go to the left around the loop, or do you go to the right. 50 Hikes in Eastern Pennsylvania had said to go to the left, and I am SO GLAD that's how I went. Here's the thing. When there are waterfalls, there are steep trails. Going to the left meant I was going uphill toward the beginning of my hike. I got through the worst of it, then I recovered along the flat Highland Trail through the woods. The second half of the hike, along the second stream, it was all downhill. So I went uphill when I had the most energy and cruised the rest of the way.

See those steps? Uphill like that. Lots like that. It's much better to do that in the beginning than the end. There are giant waterfalls and small waterfalls and multi-layer waterfalls.

The tallest one is called Ganoga Falls. It was a pretty popular rest stop.

A couple in their 70s was sitting on a log looking at the falls. They grabbed their walking sticks and got ready to leave, but the man took out his phone and insisted that the woman go stand in front of the falls so he could take a photo. I couldn't help think of me and Dave. He does that all the time to me! I hope we're still out having adventures when we're their age.

walking up alongside Ganoga Falls

Dave wasn't with me this time since he had to work, but I'll go back with him in the future. I really liked Oneida Falls.

Oneida Falls

I think this one was my favorite of the park. It's the one that made me wish I had my DSLR and tripod. I was almost at the top, near the flat trail through the woods that led to the second stream, so I sat on one of those flat rocks for a little water break and a rest before pressing on.

Bye, Oneida!

It's worth mentioning that you should bring water, even if you're just doing the shorter loop around the falls and not the full seven miles starting down at Route 118. However, I really recommend starting at the southern parking lot. If you start near the campgrounds in the north, you'll go downhill first and you'll have to come back uphill. Also, wear boots if you have them because some parts of the trail are wet and slippery. I didn't have a problem with sturdy hiking boots.

Yep, that's a fallen tree.

The trails are clearly marked and well maintained, which is always appreciated. I was surprised at how many people were there on a weekday. I got there in the morning and a handful of cars were in the lot. When I left in the afternoon, the lot was almost full- and it's big.

I can't say enough how much I enjoyed this hike. It was the best hike I've done in Pennsylvania. You're mostly walking along water, and the views are beautiful.

You stop a lot to look at waterfalls, so that helps with recovery from all the steep inclines.

I felt great when I was done. It was a fantastic day.

Washington Crossing State Park

We went to Washington Crossing State Park in New Jersey last weekend. It has miles of trails and some historical items in the visitor center. The exact location where the best Founding Father crossed the Delaware River isn't known, but the ranger said the marker was close.

I should note that I grew up right outside Philadelphia, where the Delaware is REALLY BIG. I live in the Lehigh Valley, where the Delaware is small. I call it the Baby Delaware. I went tubing down the Baby Delaware, and you could never do that in Philly. So the stories about Washington crossing the Delaware seemed more impressive when you think the river is enormous. The Delaware River where Washington crossed isn't much bigger than it is where I live. That being said, it's still an impressive feat to get all those men and the equipment across in the night without being found out. Go GW!

We rounded out the day walking along the river and the canal. It was a nice outing.

Wildwood Park

Dave and I went to Wildwood Park last weekend. Not to be confused with Wildwood, NJ, this place is a lake and a wildlife sanctuary with trails near Harrisburg, PA.

You kind of have to tune out the highway noise, but it was a really nice day. A large section is composed of wetlands, so we saw plenty of egrets. Yay! It also seemed overrun with red-winged blackbirds, which are always cool to see. Dave said they were the bison of Wildwood Park. (I kept being excited by bison when we were in Wyoming, but Dave got sick of them. That reminds me, I haven't blogged about Wyoming.)

One section had a ton of painted turtles and many camouflaged frogs. OH, and we also saw a yellow warbler, possibly a flycatcher, and a green heron in a nest. A nice birdwatcher pointed out the nesting heron to me. Very cool. All in all, I'd recommend the place.

Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon

The Doctor and Jo take the TARDIS on a test run and end up on the planet Peladon. King Peladon (yes, the same name, not confusing at all) is petitioning the Galactic Federation for membership and the delegates are arriving. Also, someone is murdered and the high priest, Hepesh, is clearly evil, but the naive young king trusts him. The Doctor and Jo are mistaken for the Earth delegates, and he names her Princess Josephine of TARDIS.

Arcturus (head on a box), King Peladon, Jo, the Doctor, Alpha Centauri, and Hepesh

Oh, look, some Ice Warriors are here, too.

not so bad, really

They'll be convenient scapegoats for the clearly evil guy who doesn't want Peladon in the Galactic Federation. He has already been warning about the Beast of Peladon, Aggedor, coming to kill people. Yeah, that's enough of this. To be honest, I thought I remembered this story being better. I struggled to pay attention. I did like how the Ice Warrior had the Doctor's back. I hope The Sea Devils is fun like I remember.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #61, "The Curse of Peladon," four parts
Adversary: Hepesh and Arcturus

Classic Lines: Jo, to the king: "I just don't understand you. I really don't. One minute you're condemning the Doctor to death, and the next minute you're proposing to me!"

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: King Peladon is played by David Troughton, the son of Patrick Troughton, the 2nd Doctor.
Next Up: "The Sea Devils"

Philadelphia Flower Show 2018: The Wonders of Water

My mom and I made our annual trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show last weekend.

This year's theme was The Wonders of Water. There were a lot of waterfalls and lush greenery. I also saw quite a few fake birds.

It was a nice show and I had fun, but it wasn't one of my favorites. This shot from underneath the watershed exhibit turned out neat.

Here's what it looks like from the side.

In the competition section, there was a book. I always like those.

There was a cool book last year, too. Of course, my heart was taken by this entry.

Dogs rule.