Thank you, David Tennant

It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for.

It's certainly been trailered like nobody's business.

In about 26 hours time, Matt Smith will take on the most iconic role in British science fiction and David Tennant will join an elite club of former Doctors.

Before 2005 and the revival, I'd never really heard of David Tennant. When he was cast as the Doctor, I was willing to give him a chance and I was also willing to give the costume a chance.

From his initial appearances, it appeared that this Doctor was going to be a "Cockney wideboy in space".

But Tennant provided so much more than that. His Doctor was truly multi-faceted and varied. From the manic motormouth, to the lonely god, to the voice of time itself, to the oncoming storm that proved so terrible to the Family of Blood, Tennant played them all brilliantly. He (and his expressive face) was always enthralling and it must be said that the only poor episode of his reign hardly had him in.

Mr. Tennant's charisma and sheer talent kept the show strong and made it stronger. A hugely recognisable man, he will personify the Doctor for many of the young generation. Matt Smith has some big Converse All-Stars to fill.

I would like to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Mr. Tennant. You are simply the best of the Doctors.

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Revolution or war

The excellent Jams at The Poor Mouth (see my sidebar) continues with his commentary on the Iranian protests, which the regime is going to increasing lengths to try and suppress- but not succeeding.

It's clear that 2010 will be a significant year for Iran. If the regime is not overthrown and replaced by a less belligerent administration, Israel, the likely target for any nuclear weapons produced by Iran, will launch an airstrike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

If that happens, I don't know whether the regime will be strengthened or not. The populace might well rally around the government and democratic ambitions will be frustrated further.

I hope we don't have to find out.

Season's Greetings

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A Lot Of Hot Air

I actually reached 300 posts two posts back, but didn't notice it.

So the Copenhagen summit ends in an non-legally binding agreement that the conference merely "notes" rather than "approves". Many of the poorer countries are livid and with good reason.

One cause of this mess is that a treaty requires a two-thirds vote in the US Senate to be ratified and only 58 of the Senate are Democrats. Saunders would be friendly, but Lieberman...

Change you can believe in? Yeah, right.

Words fail

Someone has stolen the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign from the gates of Auschwitz.

That is just tasteless. Some people have no shame.

Advent

It's a time of year when we look forward to Christmas and all that it entails.

As a Christian, it's also a time of hope. The coming of Jesus was prophesied and it is prophesied that he will come back again. You won't have to worry about hunger, illness or tiredness if you belong to his kingdom then.

Navy Field

I signed up for Navy Field today and tried out a Great Battle, sinking pretty quickly (I tried some of the training missions first).

I've gained a new appreciation for naval gunnery as a result, as well as for those who did it for real in the two World Wars.