785 – Love and ELO | Sleeping with Doctor Who S2 E11

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls and friends beyond the Binary, and my patron peeps. Hello patrons, how are you doing? It's time for another episode of Sleep With Me, the podcast to put you to sleep. Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep? Well welcome, this is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. All's you need to do is get into bed and turn out the lights and press play. I'm going to do the rest.

What I'm going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you can set aside whatever is keeping you awake, whether it's thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, changes in time and temperature, routine, whatever it is. If you have something you're thinking about, something you're experiencing or physically dealing with, I'd like to take your mind off that and keep you company. Be near your bedside, at your bedside, across the room. It could be, this is imaginary, but we could be best friends. I could be one of those tin cans, going across … Actually, maybe that's something people don't know about anymore.

It was mostly in the movies from my memory, so maybe we'll talk about that. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to send my voice across the deep, dark night. I'm going to use lulling, soothing, creaky dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents. There are things TBD, things to be decided, like when I think of them, I say, “Well, you've got to put some words in there, Scoots.” WTBS, words to be spoken. But basically I'm here to goof around and keep you company. If you're new here's a couple of things. This show is silly and a little bit goofy and very different so give it a few tries, kind of see how it goes. If you can just kind of view the first couple listens as a passive observer, ideally you'll fall asleep. Maybe it'll put you in a better mood, but yeah, just see how it goes.

Structurally what to expect, the show starts off with a few minutes of business, that's how we keep it free. Then there's an intro. The intro's around 12 or 15 minutes and it mostly consists of helping ease you into bedtime by me spending 12 to 15 minutes trying to come up with a metaphor of what the podcast is and I haven't been able to successfully do that in a concise way in 750 plus episodes. But yeah, you could listen to it and it ideally helps get you comfortable. Some people fall asleep during it, a few people skip ahead about 18 minutes or so and just go straight for the discussion portion of the show. Tonight we'll be talking about Doctor Who season two episode 10, 11 depending on technicalities.

If you say, “Well, I don't watch that show.” Or, “Oh, I don't want to be spoiled.” Or, “Doesn't that show contain … isn't Doctor Who a traveler? Is this the same Doctor Who with a scarf?” No scarf on this one. Good question, that's a very good question. But no, it's kind of like I'll look at the episode. This one actually has a low … this is a very fun episode. It does have a low Doctor Who and Rose content, but still it has a full arc and the first story is a … it's really a heartfelt story from beginning to end. But you wouldn't know listening to me talk about it, because I'll mostly be talking about Jeff Lynn, ELO, things in the background. I say, “What is that in the background of that dude's room? Elton is his name.” Here's something I don't think I'll talk about, but I do wonder where … Does Elton have roommates? Because Elton is in Elton's room the whole time. Not the whole episode, but just at … Anyway, so that could be … that'll be what you have coming up. You just got a like four minute sampler of it there.

And then there's some thank yous at the end. Between the intro and the episode portion there is some business, that's again what keeps this show free and able to put it out twice a week for your consumption. To put you to sleep, to keep you company, to calm you down during the day, that's a larger portion of the show is you say, “Hey, I need something to distract … something to do. I can't quite chillax, but I would like it if my L-A-Z-A-R-D brain chillaxed, so maybe if I put this podcast on.” I say, “You've got it.” And the whole idea is to keep you company, this podcast isn't something you really need to listen to. It isn't necessarily something that actually does put you to sleep, but more it keeps you company as you drift off, it distracts you.

I've been a bit distracted thinking about this tin can thing. Let me see if I can break it out for everybody. Now some of you may have lived in the tin can phone era. This was a hobbyist phone, by the way, it wasn't a actual communication device, like a mass market thing. But what it was … Let's see. Some of you may have lived during that era. I guess for some reason … Well, anyway it was on cartoons a lot when I was a kid and maybe like one science class you would do it. But really the glory users of the tin can phones were either best friends that happen to live in houses next to one and other. I guess CBs and Walkie Talkies is in the great Netflix show kind of did away with that. Even though, come on, I mean those kids had the greatest Walkie Talkies that ever existed. I suspended my disbelief for it until just this moment, but before you had Walkie Talkies in movies and cartoons you had a tin can phone.

It may have gone by another thing. If you had either tree house or best friend with … who's bedroom was also ideally parallel to yours and about 15 feet or less away by window and you could do this. I bet you one of the great science channels podcasts, YouTube, check out SCi Show, maybe they've done it, I don't know. Because I don't know what the science behind it is, it's sound waves I presume. But basically you take two tin cans, which are also known … were known as soup cans, now I would more call them a bean can, because I mean I guess you still buy … I guess I don't buy a lot of canned soup. I do by beans and tomatoes or diced tomatoes in cans. But a can that you would buy canned goods in. You need two of those, then I think you need a string. Then you need a supervising adult by the way, always of course.

Then you would need something, I think these used to be in … this used to be a tool that was used all the time, I don't know if it is necessarily anymore, an awl, A-W-L. Or I guess a hammer and a nail. Because I can kind of see this and I'm seeing it in my science book now. And then what you do is obviously you wash out the can, so you have an open end on one end of the can and a closed end on the other. Here's another pro-tip, you probably want to sand down the inside of the open can because it could … just to make sure there's no edges before we … If we've got a responsible adult here, we might as well put them to work. Get sanding, Aunt Sally.

Sand that down. Then you take, let's just say, a hammer and a nail. You want a pretty big nail like the kinds they use in cartoons and movies and science books. I don't know if that's a double [inaudible 00:08:37] or what but then you just tap the nail with the hammer, put a little hole in there. I guess not too big a hole, but a hole. Then you put the string through, then reach through the other side, you knot the string a few times, then you do the same … Here's probably why I never did it because the string would have gotten all freaking tangled. I don't know if Rob or Josh can get this to Jeff Probst, but maybe this can be a competition on Survivor. Also, maybe Survivor tin can communication. They could call the other tribe and say, “Hey, what are you doing over there?”

I've got to get to the point of what this thing actually does though. You have the string now, you have two tin cans. Now all's you do, and here's one of my favorite words to say, pull it taut. That's T-H-U-G-H-T, I think. Then what you can do, and you can whisper say, “Hey sibling, sorry about that the other day. I love you so much.” Or if it was a best friend, you would say stuff to them. I think you have to put it to your ear to listen. You should use Walkie Talkie protocol and say, “Over.” And then you can communicate just like a telephone or a Walkie Talkie and you should have tons of fun with that, just don't get it tangled. Ideally, you've got to use it in some situation where I guess you'd have to be quiet. Let me know. Those of you that are doing it. I'll thinking about doing it with my daughter.

I'll put that on the list of things. Maybe, maybe I could. Maybe I'm emotionally at the point where I could do this, a weekend science project. And maybe I could do it in front of her friends, so say, “Dad, I wanted a real …” I'll say, “Well, you told me you wanted a phone. Well, here you go, tin can phone. We'll run it across …” You can't really run it across anywhere where people are walking. That's why in the TV shows and the movies it was always …

Anyway, that's a tin can phone. I think my point was I was going to try to make that into a metaphor, that at least in my … When they say, “Scoots, what did you aspire to be as a kid?” Well, a tree house owner, a communicator, having a … like a member of The Goonies, talk to someone, have a best friend. Of course if it was the 80s then it would develop one day into a blossoming romance that I talked to by tin can phone and or also parallel have awesome Walkie Talkies, go on adventures.

Mostly those things, what would you take if we said scale it down? Well, it's a tree house and a tin can phone, because I know The Goonies. Then we have the Netflix show, but those kids are already full up too. So yeah, it gets one of those things, that's what I'd like. And, “Scoots, how is that a metaphor for the podcast?” Well, when you're lying there in bed it's always nice to have somebody to talk to and ideally you … But that's aspirationally. Really it's just nice to have someone to take your mind off of stuff, to know you're not … to not feel alone and maybe to put that tin can phone to your ear and they say, “Well, anyway I was talking to my teddy bear about buying shirts.” And they'll say, “Well, what size do you wear? How come no shirt?” And then I said, “Well, why don't you snuggle up here under my …” That's the kind of thing that might take your mind of stuff, keep you company, that's the kind of thing we do on this show. Mostly because I know how it feels, I've been there. So I guess that's kind of the summary of the show.

Also, I guess a little monologue about tin can phones. Ideally emails would be coming in with corrections, which I appreciate and I say, “Okay, well that's good to know. I wondered why my tin can phones never worked. Oh Jeff, thanks for getting back to me. I didn't realize why that's why you wouldn't base the whole season.” Actually Jeff, I didn't say the whole season of Survivor based on that, I just said it'd be a cool thing. Maybe instead of for their family visits that they talk by tin can phone. They say, “Well, you didn't earn a family visit, but you can talk to them by tin can phone.” “Okay. Hello?” That was an imaginary version of Jeff Probst anyway. Also, this episode is going to come out and I don't even know if there will be Survivor … Anyway. Anyway, I'm glad you're here and I really hope I can help you fall asleep. I work very hard, I yearn and I strive for it and I appreciate your time and here's a couple of ways we keep the show going.

Hey, everybody we're talking about season two episode 10 or 11 depending on how you're counting, but the way I've been counting it's episode 11. It's episodes called Love and Puppies. Who couldn't love anything more than a puppy? Oh no, it really is a pun on puppy love which I just realized this second. It starts with this dude running and he's running, there's running music. It sounds like something out of the musicals Stop or Blue Person Group and speaking of blue, one thing that stuck out to me was the blue doors on the warehouses, they looked like they're just fresh painted for the episode and there's these brick warehouses. Let's see, warehouse doors, that's what that says, brick building, oh I see. And then the TARDIS, then we have the TARDIS theme music the woo, woo, woo mystical music as this mystery person that seems friendly walks up and touches it.

In this one you kind of see a little bit of sloppy painting from the crew. No offense, it just is rarely do I notice those things. It could have been the city of wherever they are. Then Rose yells for the doctor. This character, the new character keeps running, he's inside a warehouse now. There's a little cookie, because a couple of the pieces of equipment look like Daleks. Oh yeah, Dalek lookalikes, industrial building, opens a door. There's a being there, like a puppy from another universe, world. There's a puppy based being and this character really does it and this is actually a witty, fun episode, I forgot to say that. Bit different than the normal episode of Who. But it cuts to our character talking to the camera and he says, “If you think that was the exciting .. most exciting day of my life just wait until you hear the rest.”

Then he says, “Oh boy, you're just like Scooter.” I mean in a different way but just like I say in the podcast. Then the episode opens, he's back and talking to the camera. I was in person being Doctor with … Oh no. First he's back at the camera I think at the episode, I'm like two seconds ahead of the episode. Oh yeah, there he talks to the camera. Then we're back at the warehouse with the doctor holding a pork chop for the puppy, and there's a little comedy with blue buckets and not blue buckets and Rose and then like some cartoon endless running with Rose, the Doctor and the puppy. And the Doctor had told this other character to hit the road. Chases rod and blue, oh, chases, yeah they're just chasing with red and blue buckets. Then the doctor stops. I don't know, yeah, when he's running maybe he says, “Don't I know you from somewhere?” To this character. Then we hear a TARDIS, dude Brians, what does that mean? Dude breaks, maybe, he breaks out of there. When the doctor says, “Don't I know you? Yeah it's happening right now. Hold on, don't I know you?”

Yeah, he breaks out. He says something about that, he says, “I got to hit the road.” Then we hear the TARDIS sounds so while he was running things resolve themselves and the Doctor and Rose took off and he talks about how much he loves this sound, he's leaning against the wall. I didn't have a chance to look this up, but I know this kind of episode, it's not a recap episode, it does have some recaps, but an episode where the main characters take a break, or the actresses and actors, which showed that's what this … I didn't look that up so I don't even know. But let's see, there's endless hallway, we already covered that, leaning, Ursula without the … oh, without Sirius.

Then we see Ursula on camera, it's a brand new camera, the character's talking. He says, “They're outside my family home.” He says, “The people who live there now they're a bit severe.” And I love that phrase. There's a few different good phrases in here. Oh boy of course, a bit severe, and he kind of gives a … like he goes, “When I first met the doctor I was four years old. Oh by the way my name's Elton even though you're eight minutes into the episode Scoot, so share it now.” Still don't know why the doctor was there. Then he has this moment, he's talking to the camera and to Ursula and he has this moment where he looks off, a thousand yard, and then he does a recap of his other run ins with the Doctor which were the Mannequin episode. 12 months later when the thing went into the Big Ben, then the Christmas Day episode that started this season off which feels like a long time ago.

Which kind of did some stuff to Elton's room and he said, “I had to do a rudimentary pulley system to reach my boots.” The future of the episode and realize the truth that Elton thinks … Oh that's when they flash forward, I think the episode resolves everything and restores the truth, Elton thinks. I don't know what that actually means, I'm watching it right now. Then there's a sunset of a different short … sunset different shirt. I think he changed shirts so there was a new scene with Elton because if this isn't my whole life. Let me see where it is, let me check the transcript too. Yeah, so Elton's talking, “In my bed nice and cozy, that's when I got woken up by the …” Okay, here we go, this is where it gets interesting. Then he talks about, yeah, how he saw the doctor. Oh no that's … I'm always mixed up here, no problem though. Oh, he flashes forward to when he met Jackie Tyler, Victor Kennedy and finally the Doctor. That's what he's kind of setting up. But he goes, Geez, this isn't my whole life, just space ships and the doctor. I like football, I like a drink, I like Spain and if there's one thing I really love it's Jeff Lynne and ELO, Electric Light Orchestra.”

And then he's dancing to Blue Sky, Mr. Blue Sky, sorry, Blue Sky I didn't mean to call you just Blue Sky. Let's see. I've seen him as a kid, Mr. Skinner. Oh okay, I'm ahead of myself, Jeff Lynne, Blue Sky Dancing. Then we cut to Elton working on the case. He's observing a blog about the Doctor with a snow effect. Never been signed, talking at a park bench. This is when he talks to Ursula. Then he says something about Trafalgar Square. The spaceship, “We all went to Trafalgar Square.” Oh, after and that's where he saw the Doctor. Then he reached Ursula who has a blog. She says, “We're at the Inner Sanctum, we're all studying the Doctor.” And they kind of talk about how he doesn't age. He goes, “That's how I met Ursula and then there was a community of us. Ursula for a while was a proper mate, then we found this community of people with stories about the Doctor. We used to meet below the main, old library on [Mayster 00:21:51] Street or something. Mr. Skinner, who is also named Colin Skinner, he goes by Mr. Skinner.”

Also the actor who is, I apologize, I can look it up but he was in one of the … I believe he's in both seasons of Alan Partridge, or was he only in the first season? I can't remember. I think he's in both. He plays this great foil, I guess, in Alan Partridge, the great … one of my favorite shows or comedies. Okay, so, “That's how I met Ursula so then we had the community.” This is five minutes in Greenall … Let me see because, let's see, five minutes I guess I'm supposed to pause it. No, this is not five minutes in. Mr. Skinner, Colin or pause 10 minutes, yeah, for something. Oh, because he's giving this presentation so this becomes this beautiful short montage.

“Like I say, we used to meet up in … and just talk about the Doctor. Mr. Skinner, Bliss, Brigitte and then we started talking about more things.” First they do, okay, wait a second, here's Mr Skinner, he's talking about the mythological structures or archetypes of the Doctor, “The Fool, The King, The Trickster or The Stranger.” And it kind of shows how they're interactive, really cool. Yeah, so he's giving that one and then Brigitte gives a slideshow about how there's more than one doctor, but the police box is a thing and it's showing up in history, even in Egypt. Then Bliss is showing about like kind of more of a interpretive art around … like physical art that she's done around the Doctor and representations. But it really is more of an actual insight into who the Doctor is and then it becomes … “We should have a name.”

It gets cuter by the minute, the first act at least and he says, “London Investigation ‘N Detective Agency.” The letter N, so LINDA and everybody says … he says, “I always wanted to have something like Fish ‘N Chips, Rock ‘N Roll, Chaka Demus ‘N Pliers.” And Ursula says, “Did you just think of that or …” And he goes, “No, I've waited my whole life to use the LINDA.” “LINDA United” they say. And Ursula kind of gives him a cool look. Oh Simon Greenall is an actor that plays that Mr Skinner. Then there's this, another montage, Bridge To Shell Cooking, I don't know what that means.

“Cheers to LINDA.” They have a cheers to LINDA, but then they show again how they're sharing. Mr Skinner reads from his novel and they're just like … They're people that were living, they kind of have … they're eating, they're sharing truth from their hearts, they become real friends. Bliss sings some of her music and everybody sings I Gave My Love A Cherry, I've Got A Brand New Pair Of Roller Skates, a couple of them on banjo. And then it's just, yeah, it's like it's better. Elton says, “I confess my love of ELO. So then we became musical LINDA.” And they were singing as a group Don't Bring Me Down. Oh man, this episode is good, yeah.

Oh, then there's a power surge and he goes, “That's when it all changed. Victor Kennedy showed up and the Golden Age was gone.” And this Victor Kennedy rolls in and you can tell that this is something up, they don't act like there isn't. But he doesn't shake hands with anybody. He solution, what does that mean? Let's get ahead here. “I've got work to do.” Oh, there's Mr Kennedy, yeah. “Felt like we were getting closer.” Oh, maybe I jumped ahead. Here's Victor Kennedy, he's rolling in. Okay, they say, “You know I don't shake hands.” He goes, “You forgot.” He goes, “Aren't you looking for the Doctor? You got to get to work.” Oh, he talks about how the sound continues, he shows him as video. He goes, “That's the sound of the universe.” And then he says, “Elton, you've heard it before.” And he goes, “Yeah, I forgot about it till just now. But it was the night when I was a kid and I went downstairs.” And then they say, “What is it?” And he goes, “It's a spaceship.”

And he says, “Use the Torchwood files, get to work. We got to find the Doctor. Tell him the universe [inaudible 00:27:24] attention. Then once we'll be one step closer to the Doctor.” They see a Goods Only sign when they leave, Victor talks to Bliss but then there's like another montage where he says, “Now we're working for Victor Kennedy. I never thought about it as work from Doctor.” I don't know what that means, Ursula says that, “Until now.” Oh, because Elton says, “Here we got a lot of work to do.” Pause for the desk details, okay, so then we go back to the sort when, after a quick montage, maybe this is a montage, we see Victor Kennedy's kind of totally taking things over and he's got a desk set up in the basement, he's got globes, he's got a bust, an hourglass. The three things of adult beverage, scrolls, we see he has four, three light up globes of different colors, then one wooden globe. A bunch, a brass lamp.

Yeah, he's got a lot going on. Let's see if, I'll let it play and see, if there's anything. Oh yeah, we're peeling out to he's got a coat rack, Elton's working with a … What do you call the thing? He also has something like a Tesla lamp but it's in a [inaudible 00:28:53] But Elton has like a blue … one of those transparent blue rulers that you have in middle school and he raises it when he has a question. “Woolwich police box.” They found a clue, Woolwich, Woolwich, and they say, “Get over there.” But then Elton kind of froze and this is at the beginning of the episode where Elton's the one that finds it. They do a fast forward so then he froze, so then Victor's not nice. He says, “How could you have froze?” Then we see the power and shrank Ursula, because she stands up to him, she says, “This is not proper. We're working together, Mr Kennedy. Don't raise you're voice at anybody.” And he says, “Duly noted.” Ursula is the strong one. And then they say, “We're going to switch it up. We're going to try to find the Doctor's companion now. The Bad Wolf something protected her ID.”

Also the Doctor said this which I find, “I don't like to be touched literally or metaphorically.” So they head to London and Elton says, “How am I going to find a girl out of 10 million people?” They don't think that's going to happen. And the first person he asks, she says, “Oh yeah, that's Rose Tyler. She lives at Bucknell House right down the road, number 48. Her mom's a Jackie Tyler, bit odd, nice family.” We get to the blue sky, Elton's running, we see him dancing. We see Jackie at the laundry, it turns out she likes to go to the pub quiz at The Spinning Wheel pub, Elton pretends to go into the laundry to do a fake wash, kind of talks about the training they've gotten from Victor Kennedy. Pretends to wash his shirt with Jackie, he needs change. Now, Elton's the kind of person that carries change maybe, because … So he is able to make a connection with her. Her washing machine's broken that's why she's there so Elton starts going … There's another montage kind of of Elton fixing her house, her fuses and then she goes, Jackie says to him, “I should have you on tap.” I liked that one, “I should have you on tap to fix stuff around the house.”

And she goes, “I used to have somebody named Mickey do all this stuff, but not anymore. He's gone away.” And she also says, “Let's put on the telly and have some tea. But I can't bear it's silent.” She doesn't like it quiet, she goes, “Yeah, it's my daughter. I got a bunch of pictures of her up. She's traveling, name of Rose.” And Elton says, “Well, that's a nice name. Where is she at?” She goes, “All over, she calls me through a mobile.” He says, “Oh, who's she with?” Says, “Mates.” And then, “I wouldn't stray far for here, everyone proud of …” I don't know what that means. She says, “You're a charmer.” Oh, he says, “If I had enough cup of tea like this I wouldn't stray far from home.”

Then we go back and everybody's proud of Elton for meeting Jackie. Except for Ursula, Ursula actually is impressed with Jackie's chest, she says, “That was unexpected.” They say, “Keep it up Elton, buddy.” Mr Skinner and Brigitte are proud, turns out those two are going to date, Mr Skinner and Brigitte. They're fixing, but then Victor Kennedy kind of takes care of that. Then there's a montage of Elton fixing Jackie's place up and doing a lot of work there. Elton has, actually has abs and he wears tight pants and he has a tight butt and Jackie's like checking it out, I mean I don't know how else to say it. He goes, “I can't believe how much work she needed done around her place. It's weird.” And he says, “It's like the flat …” And then Jackie gives him a glass of wine, she gives a little reward from her handing purse and he goes, “Well, I got to go.” She goes, “You could always splash out on a taxi, see what happens or whatever.” And he goes, “Is this wine French?” Jackie says, “I suppose so. They know how to do things the French.” But Elton's still working the Rose angle.

And Jackie says, “My daughter's not coming home tonight in case you're wondering.” Then she's playing Il Divo, they're talking about … and she goes, “Is it hot in here or is it just you, Elton?” She goes, “Take your jacket off.” Then she spills some wine on his shirt, she goes, “I'm sorry.” He goes, “It's fine.” She goes, “No, no, no. Let me put it in the wash.” He goes, “No, it's not very much.” And then she pours some more wine on him. Then Elton kind of goes into the bathroom, let's see what we got here, I had a boy. Elton can't take a hint from Jackie. Elton is fit, because then he goes in the bathroom, he takes his shirt off, he's getting ready and then he comes out but like without his shirt on and Jackie's getting a call from rose.

Killing Me Softly by Il Divo's playing in the background and he says a great thing, he says, “Funny things you think of when you're shirt's off.” Because he had a moment, then the term swanning off gets used, proper mates, he says, “Jackie, how about we be proper mates and get a pizza?” Then we have Elton coming back with a pizza to Jackie's but she, Jackie, figured everything out, that he was trying to figure out the doctor so she's not happy. Also during this part of the scene there's a flashback to Ursula because by taking his shirt off for Jackie Elton realized he was in love with Ursula, Jackie knew because she went in his coat to give him money. Feelings hurt, Jackie uses the term, “Those that get left behind …” Something, “Because you become hard because it is hard.” Or something.

It's really good, like even though it's short we get a deep insight into Jackie. She says, “I'm not going to. I'm a guardian of the Doctor and Rose.” Then, “Hit the road, Jack.” She says, “You and your pizza, tsk, tsk.” Then Elton's not happy with Victor Kennedy because he says, “What are you doing, roping us into this stuff?” So then Victor Kennedy gives this big speech and Elton gives it back, he says, “You've gone all wrong. We were having fun till you showed up.” And he goes, “I'm out of here.” And he goes, “As for you, Ursula, would you like to go get … go have a Chinese?” And she goes, “What do you mean?” He goes, “Like a date?” And she goes, “Yeah.” And they go, “Mr Skinner, you want to leave with us? Like you can't come on our date but you can roll out with us.”

But then he says, “Mr Skinner, I think I got …” Whoever he was dating, “Brigitte's phone number.” I think they say good luck, goodbye. So he says, “Mr Skinner, can you stay?” But then they, Elton and Ursula, leave but then they have forgotten their phone, Ursula's phone. What does it say? Oh, libraries. Yeah, because you see there's a library sign. Then they realize that something's not right, because they say, “Mr Skinner is in the restroom.” Victor Kennedy says it and they say, “There is no restroom, you got to go around the block to the pub.” And Pace Of [Pavway 00:37:10] Nouns, oh, he's reading the newspaper, Victor Kennedy, and wanted to get a couple of reads off of that and then we realize that Victor Kennedy is from another world too and he's been up to no good. He's been using them obviously, that's like pretty par for the course.

Also when they get to the dialogue, but let me see this newspaper thing first. They're going to get their phone, coming back, they open the door and it looks like, let's see what paper is he reading, The Daily Telegraph, we're going a slow zoom. I was just trying to see if there was … if it's a real paper, whether there was jokes on it or anything. Usually not any jokes. Looks like some people on the cover and still zooming in. Yeah, I can't read, it's a little blurry. See if it goes back one more time, because it was a close up. “Four months of …” Yeah, so a load of weather's on the back side, a couple of crosswords, there's a commercial. It looks like a real paper, talking about different things.

Then he says, “Yeah, I'm a collective of … I'm an absorbent collective, that's the being I am.” And they say, “What do you mean, absorbent collective?” So Skinner and Elton goes, “Are you Absorbathon? An Absorbling? An Abzorbaloff?” Victor goes, “Yeah, like that; Abzorbaloff.” But Bliss, Brigitte and Mr Skinner, they because, part of the collective and, let's see, sponge, yeah, it's a sponge-like thing. Then Ursula joins the collect, she says, “You know what, Elton? Not sure.” But she joins the collective, it's a mistake, because the Victor Absorbathon or whatever, Abzorbaloff. It tricks here kind of.

She says, “Get out, Elton.” Then Elton and Abzorbaloff they do a little running, but Elton's like, “There's no point really. Everything I've ever wanted has been absorbed.” And the Abzorbaloff says, “Dissolve into me.” Then we have a TARDIS inbound, it rolls up. But it rolls up not for Elton but so that Rose can berate Elton on behalf of Jackie. She says, “No one upsets my mom.” And that makes sense with everything. And he goes, “Well, actually …” He goes, “There's an Absorba-being here.”

And the Doctor's kind of just playing coy the whole time and then he goes, “Wait a second, are you an Absorbatrix? An Absorbaclon? An Abzorbaloff?” He goes, “Yeah, an Abzorbaloff.” And they go, Rose says, “Are you from Slitheen? Are you a Slitheen from Raxacofalitorbus, Raxicocorofallitorpus or whatever?” He goes, “No, no, no. I'm the twin planet.” He goes, “What's that called?” They love saying Raxacocoraco and he says, “Klom.” And they go, “Klom?” He goes, “Yeah, Klom.” And he goes, “I'm going to be a hero there when I roll back with your time machine.” The Doctor goes, “That's not going to happen.” And he goes, “Yes, it is.” They go back and forth and he goes, “Well, one way it wouldn't is a collective decollectiving of your Abzorbaloffing.”

And so that's what happens and while that's happening Ursula says if you … He had like a little bit of a cane, a fancy cane, more of a decorative cane than … She says, “If you crack that in half it's like a magic wand. That'll be it for the Abzorbaloff.” And then, yeah, so he ends up being Absorbed, the Abzorbaloff. It's a very Whovian moment after this, Ursula becomes a part of a paving stone, like she becomes a collective with that, she says, “Bye, bye Elton.” Elton's not happy about it so Rose gives him a big hug, she feels his lost love and she kind of holds Elton, it's a sweet moment. And you see there's a couple of endings to this because he goes, “And that's it. Almost.” This is Elton on camera, he goes, “Because there's one more thing about the Doctor.” And then the Doctor explains to Elton, through flashbacks how, “Yeah, I was at your house. I was dealing with some Elemental Shade and yeah, sorry, I was running late but I got there.”

And Elton says, “We forget what we must.” And then he says, “So, that's it basically. Some good things, some not so great. I can't tell the difference. Stephen King once said, “Salvation and darnation are the same thing.” I didn't know what he meant till now. Because the Doctor's wonderful but at the same time I was having a special time before that, just for a bit. I had this nice little gang and it's not his fault, but I wonder what happens if you touch the Doctor?” Which made me think, has anyone touched the Doctor? I would assume so, but I don't know if that's a thing or not. He goes, “Because I keep thinking of Rose and Jackie.”

Then we hear Ursula's voice, and then he goes, “Oh yeah, the Doctor used his magic wand to make Ursula a sentient paving stone.” What else, garden Ursula version and he says, “Yeah, this is Ursula.” He goes, “It's a relationship of sorts.” And there's even like more WTF discussions in there and it's like just one of those very Whovian where it just takes an odd little turn and also he says, “So this is kind of my girlfriend now. Also my camera, I got a new camera with remote zoom.” And let's see, Elton doesn't want a normal life, what is this? There's closing dots, he goes, “Oh yeah, when you're a kid you're supposed to grow up, get a job, you get married, get a house, have a kid. That's it.” He goes, “The world's so much stranger than this. Darker, madder and so much better.” And with that the episode ends.

Okay, let's talk about some of the research that came up in this episode. The first thing was Stomp which is a musical. I think I saw it one time in New York, like Off Broadway. It's a percussion group though, it started in Brighton in the UK, uses the body and ordinary objects to create physical theater and music. Steve McNicholas and Lou Cresswell started it in Brighton in 1991. They first worked as members of another theater group, they were in Edinburgh Festival in the 80s and Pookiesnackenburger, that was their group. Pookiesnackenburger, that was their group. They had a TV show, commercials, then they did some large scale outdoor events with drum orchestras on a pontoon and 120 piece strong orchestra. And then they, in '91, they started the original Stomp show. Won Best Of The Fringe, it previewed in the Bloomsbury Theater in London, became an eight person outfit, went from seven to eight.

Between '91 and '94 they toured to sold out shows, returned to London, did a run at Orpheum Theater in New York in '94, so that's probably where I would've saw them and then toured North America and Japan. They've had a larger scale one with 30 members. 2006 they had their 5,000th New York performance, they made a IMAX movie, they have show, I wonder if that's still going, Stomp Out Loud in Las Vegas. Their London show did end the run. So that's a little bit about Stomp, which also brings up the Blue Man Group.

I think they started in maybe New York, or I don't know where they started, they have ongoing … 87, they currently have productions in Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York City and Orlando and they perform … This is like a so culturally thing. But yeah, there's seven, eight or nine full time performers. It grew out of a collaboration between Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton in Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1987. They did these strange blue men, they did a street theater, small shows at downtown clubs and eventually started a full performance in the Aster Theater in '91. No, but they're just like a little bit more of a theatrical production than just a musical production. I think I probably saw them maybe in Aster Place, I guess, so that's the Blue Person Group.

What about this ELO that we were hearing about? And Jeff Lynne? I know now everybody's familiar with it, though I am. ELO, Electric Light Orchestra, is an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1970. Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan. It's a fusion of Beatle-esque pop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography. Wood departed in '72 then Lynne became the bands leader, arranging, producing every album, writing all the material. For the initial tenure it was Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy. It was formed out of Lynne and Woods desire to create modern rock and pop songs with some classical overtones. Off shoot of Woods previous band, The Move. Between the 70s and 80s they released a string of top 10 albums and two LP's that topped the British charts, Discovery in '79 and Time in '81. By '86 they had stopped. Bevan did form a band, ELO Part II, which became the orchestra. They did do a short lived reunion in the [inaudible 00:48:46] and now Lynne and Tandy are together with Jeff Lynne's ELO.

But yeah, I think that's like … I mean their biggest hits are Blue Sky, Can't Get It Out Of My Head. There's a lot more. And then Jeff Lynne is also a part of The Traveling Wilbury's and produced albums for George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney and a lot of other things. So not only is Jeff Lynne a musician, but he's a great producer. And I guess I'm going to have to sit down and listen to some ELO that's not the top songs, because I don't think I've ever listened to just ELO by itself, so I guess I'm remiss.

Okay, Trafalgar Square was another thing. That's a public square in the City Of Westminster, Central London. Built around the area formerly known at Charing Cross and it commemorates the Battle Of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic Wars, off of Cape Trafalgar. So it's been a significant landmark since the 13th Century when it contained the Kings Muse. After George The Fourth it moved the Muse to Buckingham Palace, there it was redeveloped by John Nash, Nelson's Column was placed in 1844 when the square opened. There's other commemorative sculptures that occupy the square. But the Fourth Plinth has been left empty since 1840, but has been host of contemporary art since 1999. There's been a lot of gatherings there and celebrations. It's owned by the Queen and managed by the Greater London Authority.

Let's see what else. History, development, columns, redevelopment in 2003, the plinth, the Fourth Plinth, the sculptures. It's got fountains. I guess I've been there, I would assume. Sports victory parades, there's other Trafalgar Squares of course in other cities. I was just trying to see what Tube stations were near, but I would assume Charing Cross. But that's just a little bit about Trafalgar Square.

What about Chaka Demus and Pliers? That's that reggae duo. Chaka Demus, the DJ and the singer, Pliers. They had hits, two hits you've probably heard of and you don't want [inaudible 00:51:48] the show. They began collaborating in the 90s, they were already established musicians when they teamed up, they performed together in Miami. Both solo artists and together and with other groups. They appeared at Reggae Sunsplash in 1992 and that's when their first came out along with a couple of other well done songs that were successful too. And they use Chaka Demus And Pliers, but when Elton shared it it was ‘N, just the letter, apostrophe N.

I did some Googling about The Spinning Wheel pub because I just wanted to see if it was real and if Jackie would've gone there, but the first thing that came was this website for The Spinning Wheel Inn in Branson, Missouri. It's closed right now, I think probably because it's the off season, but they say, “If you're looking for something fancy we're not for you. If you're looking for clean and affordable we're the perfect place to stay.” And I'd just like to add and they have another property next door, 12 Oaks Inn, which says that one's not fancy either, so that's good news.

But then I also found a Yelp review for Spinning Wheel, London which doesn't look like it's open currently. It only has two stars out of two reviews and it was on Northfields Avenue in London, 227 and, let's see, one user said, “Spinning Wheel should be called The Spinner. The Spinner's great if you want to go somewhere with live music. Place looks better in the evenings if you've had a few drinks. If you find yourself thirsty in Northfields there are better pubs, but if you fancy a boogie or some pretty good bands come in and pop in The Spinner.” But that person only rated it three stars. That to me is a four-five star review. And then another person said, “They're closed.” This was in 2011 and it's going to be a grocery store, a Sainsbury's Grocery Story, so that's news.

Il Divo is a crossover group. I don't know, is this the one that, yeah, Simon Cowell formed? It has like worldwide singers, it stands for Divine Performer. Sold 30 million copies of albums worldwide, so that's pretty great. They've got two million concert tickets. Simon Cowell came up with the concept because he said, “Well, if you take three tenors, you make them younger, multinational and you have four.” And they said, “Do it.” And so they did it. Yeah, so they've been around since 2004 so time does fly, even when you're Il Divo. Let's see if they're still putting stuff out. I mean I would assume. Artist Of The Decade in 2010, Il Divo on Broadway. They've sold 28 million albums. They won the Silver Clef Award and then Reinventing Il Divo … So just like a lot of things they go through different stages, that's Il Divo.

Oh, this is the term, attaboy got used in this episode and whenever I hear attaboy I think of High Fructose and Daniel Seeford's … he was an artist. I just wanted to link to it mostly, I just remember getting these issues of High Fructose and just looking at the art and my mind being blown. You can find out everything current over at YoungFactory.com. Or swanning around, swanning off I think is what Jackie said about Rose, I said, “That's another good one, other than bits of ear.” And it's a idiom that has a fairly recent origin. It means to move about aimlessly or irresponsibly in a carefree manner. So maybe swanning off just means wandering off whenever you want. First appeared in the late 19th century, because it was just the way swans swim.

And then I'll just close things off reading Mr Blue Sky by ELO, Jeff Lynne. First it talks, starts with this radio thing where it says, “Good morning, and today's forecast calls for blue skies. sun is shining in the sky, no rain or cloud in sight. It stops raining, everybody's in the play and don't you know it's a beautiful new day? Hey, yay. Running down the avenue, see how the sun shines brightly in the city, on the streets where once was pity. Mr Blue Sky is living here today, hey, hey. Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why you had to hide away for so long, so long. Where did we go wrong? Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why you had to hide away for so long, so long, where did we go wrong? Hey you, with the pretty face, welcome to the Human Race.”

“A celebration, Mr Blue Sky's up there waiting and today is the day we've waited for. Or Mr Blue Sky, Mr Blue Sky, Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why you had to hide away for so long, so long, where did we go wrong? Hey there, Mr Blue, we're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see what you do, everybody smiles at you. Hey there, Mr Blue, we're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see what you do, everybody smiles at you. Mr Blue, you did it right but here comes Mr Night. Creeping over, now his hand is on your shoulder, never mind. I'll remember you this way. Mr Blue Sky, please tell us why you had to hide away for so long, where did we go wrong? Hey there, Mr Blue Sky, we're so pleased to be with you, look around see what you do, everybody smiles at you.”

And I think then there's this thing to turn the album over maybe. It also reminds me of my brother, for a time he edited … Well like freelance edited, it was skateboard videos sometimes, particularly for one … an actor/skateboarder and when he was doing a rough cut of one he used Mr Blue Sky. Obviously they didn't have the rights so it was just a rough cut. But it was such a cool … Like if you make a skateboarding video mix that song in there, if you can get the rights to it, because it looks so awesome. Or a snowboarding or a skiing video. I have a friend Caroline who has since … Anyway, thanks everybody and good night.