The Sneaky Geek
On a recent Saturday night, my husband G. Grod and I sat down to watch the Doctor Who David Tennant finale, “The End of Time part two.” We’d not been thrilled with part 1, so were hoping for a strong finish. We got what we felt was a stronger, yet not really a strong, finish. The scenes with Wilf were worth the price of admission, though, especially the final scene. As we knew would happen in the end, David Tennant began to glow and writhe, and suddenly there was a new guy standing there, apparently disappointed he wasn’t a redhead. (Videos here.)
I’m still not ginger.
G and I switched off the television, expressed our mild disappointment, voiced hope for Matt Smith, the new Dr. Who, and the new show runner, Steven Moffat, then I got up to go upstairs. I rounded the corner, and nearly fell over in surprise.
There was 6you Drake, staring at me with wide eyes. (For those who have seen Drake, you know he has huge eyes to begin with.)
“You scared the daylights out of me! What are you doing up?” I said, startled and displeased.
Drake held up his hand as if to ward off a scolding. “Mom, what was all that light coming out of that guy’s head? And why was there a different guy there?”
I put my hand to my forehead. G. asked, “How long have you been there?” but we both knew it had probably been for nearly the entire not-6yo-appropriate show. G chastised himself for not checking; he’d heard a noise earlier, and thought Drake had run downstairs to get a book or toy. I gave G a wave meant to convey, “no use now; let’s just get on with it” and herded Drake upstairs.
“It was energy coming out of his head,” I told him, “and the new guy was a different body, not a different person.” Drake seemed placated by this. When he put his head down on the pillow, he shot right back up again.
“I can see him!” he said, excitedly.
“Who?” I asked, pun unintended.
“The guy with the light in his head!” Drake continued to put his head down, pop it up and count till finally G and I left, as Drake didn’t seem much bothered by THE SCARY IMAGE SEARED UPON HIS BRAIN. The next day he told me he’d seen the face 31 times.
I’m not sure if it makes it more or less annoying, and more or less amusing, but Drake did the same thing a year and a half ago, for one of the season finale episodes with the Daleks. He snuck down, hid for most of the show, was discovered at the end, and pestered us with questions about the weird machines with the weird voices.
Please remind me to keep an eye out for him at the end of Season 5. I think he’s gaining his geek bona fides, though.
January 12th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Hee. When I was little, I used to hide behind the couch to watch Mission Impossible and the Twilight Zone, both forbidden me by my parents. No wonder I had trouble sleeping!
January 12th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I agree the finale was a bit of a letdown, and too sentimental, but your son may be hooked.
My daughter’s been watching Doctow Who since it returned in 2005, when she was 2 and I had trouble getting her to bed Monday nights. She has some odd conceptions of time and space and death, but mostly she’s turning out OK. Plus she’s learned about Dickens, and Pompeii, and Madame Pompadour, etc. Now at age 7 she finds many episodes more frightening than previously, now that she undertands them better.
January 12th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
I love it! Of course, I would be equally perturbed were I to find myself in the same boat — but it does present a funny (and familiar) image. TV placement in our current home is such that the boys don’t stand a chance of pulling something like this, but in our previous abode we caught the youngest on multiple occasions sneaking a peak. One time he was given away by a steady snoring and the crown of his head poking around the corner.