2008 - 03/2008 Meeting

Page Created: 09/16/10. Last Updated: 11/01/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 07/05/08.

VIDEO PROGRAM:

Doctor Who: Time Crash

Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned

MEETING SUMMARY:

Meeting Date: March 8, 2008.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church.

Official Attendance: 6.

Meeting Program: Video Program.

Notes:

Meeting Memories:

Newsletter Account:

It was a relief and not a disappointment when our scheduled guest called in the afternoon to say that he didn't think that it was a good idea for him to attempt to make the meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County on Saturday, March 8, 2008. It was a relief because between threatening weather and other obligations by a number of club members, we were forecasting a very light turnout for the event.

The group was already committed to paying for the use of the facilities of the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, so we decided to come prepared with a video and discussion program for anyone who showed.

Early arrivals encountered no significant problems, but as the evening wore on, the weather worsened. It took Pamela Webber, who lives only 10 minutes from the Church, over an hour to arrive due to detours necessitated by road closings due to fallen trees and power lines. Robert Yeager and Irene Evans encountered similar difficulties and ultimately gave up and went home.

Barry Weinberger gamely took charge of the Ice Nine pre meeting discussion. The event began with an examination of a number of super hero cartoon shows. There was the new SPECTACULAR SPIDERMAN show, which segued into the BATMAN and LEGION OF SUPER HEROES shows. From there we moved to the Big Screen Classics Series at the Lafayette Theater in Suffern, New York, tvguide.com, the Nebula Award nominees, and STAR TREK comic books.

The place was still pretty much empty by the 8:00 PM scheduled meeting starting time, so we decided to hold off another 15 minutes to allow extra arrival time for anyone delayed by the weather. It was during this break that Taras Wolansky elected to head for home.

The main program began with the 2007 DOCTOR WHO annual Christmas Special which had not yet aired in the States. There were two parts to the show, "Time Crash" and "Voyage of the Damned."

"Time Crash" was a confection which paired two incarnations of The Doctor, David Tenant and Peter Davidson, find themselves together on the Tardis due to some interdimensional gobbledygook technobabble mishap. Tenant is a delight, recognizing the clueless earlier version of himself. The crossover was handled with affection.

"Voyage of the Damned" formed the meat of the special. The final scene of the previous series had been the Tardis crashing into something and a life preserver marked "Titanic" falling upon them.

The show begins with this scene and then reveals that the Tardis has materialized within the hold of an interstellar luxury liner which provides themed vacations to primitive planets. The vessel is actually pulling into Earth orbit on Christmas of 2007.

A lot of laughs are provided by the ship's tour guide who has taken a correspondence course on Earth customs and has badly mangled the source material. He informs them that a lucky group of ticket holders will actually be able to wander around London on Christmas eve. The Doctor objects, saying that a multi species band of aliens cannot simply beam down to the heart of London without causing a riot. His protests are ignored, and he decides to accompany them to minimize the fallout.

The group materializes in the London equivalent of Times Square. The place is deserted. The Doctor looks around concerned and says, "There's something very, very wrong here."

I don't want to spoil the punchline of this set up in case you haven't seen the episode. It's really very funny and also perfectly logical.

The group returns to tithe Titanic which is hit by a meteor and the show pretty much becomes THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE with dastardly doings and homicidal robots. It was a lot of fun. The only problem was that the DVD player had problems with the disk downlaod and froze at some scenes, needing to be coaxed around the problem areas.

Pam arrived when the program was 3/4 done and updated everyone about the state of affairs beyond the Church walls. We decided not to show a second feature and instead to adjourn to the Horizon Diner. Downed power lines blocked our original planned path, but a helpful policeman verified that the roads were clear for an alternate route. All in all, it was a night to remember.