doctor who | puppet wrangling

Wednesday various

Mark Evanier on celebrity voices in cartoons…and why it’s mostly same as it ever was.
Along sort of the same lines (and also via Evanier), the Cartoon Color Wheel. Where does your favorite cartoon fall along the wheel?
Nathan Rabin revisits Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip so you don’t have to. His review is a lot more intelligent and funny than the series itself ever was.
Dream is over for Virgin Galactic space tourist:

After waiting seven years to fly aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceline, Walton gave up on the dream and asked for a $200,000 ticket refund on his 75th birthday this past spring. [via]
And finally, the TARDIS Teapot:

It’s neat, but they’re missing a golden opportunity by not having it make the TARDIS sound when you pour. [via]

YA Comes of Age:

The young adult market these days is a bit like a nephew you havenâ€™t seen in years: transformed from a little darling into a hulking almost-grownup who is maybe even a little scary. Teen titles dominate publishersâ€™ fall lists, and those books overwhelmingly feature menacing creatures, forbidden romances, and apocalyptic versions of this and future Earth. â€œBloodâ€ is a common word in titles, as is â€œdark,â€ â€œdeath,â€ â€œdeadly,â€ and even â€œdarker still.â€

Wait, that is an actual title. Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber (Sourcebooks, Nov.) [via]
I find it very strange that they’re remaking Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
What Does the Silence Need With a Spacesuit? (And Other Narrative Failures of â€œThe Wedding of River Songâ€). While I genuinely enjoyed the episode — and the season of Doctor Who — I can’t shake the feeling that most of his larger complaints are entirely valid.
Jazzsoda remembers Don Lapre
And finally, Cthulhu Mythos, As Imagined By Kids [via]

I pretty much agree with everything Zack Handlen says about the latest episode of Torchwood. It wasn’t a bad episode, but it didn’t fill me with much confidence about the seven still to come.
I have no idea if this Doctor Who Tube Map is even remotely accurate — wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff and all that — but it’s wonderfully detailed. [via]
In praise of Joanne Rowlingâ€™s Hermione Granger series [via]
Billionaire sheikh carves his name in desert so big it can be seen from space. (Or “SPACE,” if you prefer The Sun‘s spelling.) The rich really are different, aren’t they? Kind of…what’s the word? Assholes. [via]
And finally, Dave Shumka of the very funny Stop Podcasting Yourself asks:

Do you ever suddenly remember you briefly had a blog 4 years ago that combined LOLCats and the Brat Pack, and it was called LOLBrats, and it sustained itself for 3 pictures?

No, but I do remember my own Lolchak the Night Stalker blog. Every now and then, I actually think about starting it up again.

While there’s a new strain of E.coli in Germany recently, high levels of Prozac are apparently killing off the bacteria in the Great Lakes.
Noel Murray on ‘A My Name Is Alex’, a “very special episode” of Family Ties. It’s an interesting look at a show that hasn’t aged well, nor as badly as one might necessarily think.
Crap Is Not the Same as Stuff You Don’t Like [via]:

If you don’t like something that’s fine. I’m never going to tell you your taste is wrong just because it doesn’t match mine. But if you don’t like something, Jesus fuck, tell me why.
Doctor Who to give it a rest with all the Daleks. I can’t say this is exactly a bad thing.
And finally, how can you resist a headline like this: What’s Flinging Comets Out of the Oort Cloud? [via]

Firefly Meets the Muppets. Yeah, like any of you aren’t going to click that link.
Amber Benson’s remix of “Under Your Spell” is all kinds of weird.
Doctor Who recipes. [via]
Kids: don’t sell your kidneys for an iPad. Got that? Good. [via]
And finally, Alan Rickman’s classy goodbye letter to Harry Potter. [via]