Friday Creature Feature - Mara

Why is it that snakes often appear as villainous creatures? As Christians, we could take it back to the Garden of Eden. Maybe that's why ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) is among the most common phobias (right behind spiders). So it was no coincidence that the Fifth Doctor faced off against the Mara twice.

Though the physical appearance of the Mara was campy by today's standards, the evil snake was a chilling villain of Peter Davison's tenure. In modern Doctor Who, Sutekh's harbinger cited the Mara as the God of Beasts in the Pantheon of Discord. In addition, Captain Jack called fairies part Mara during the events of Torchwood.

After Tegan Jovanka fell asleep on Kinda, the Mara entered her mind and began possessing her. Though it shortly changed its host to Aris and defeated by a circle of mirrors, Tegan was affected for a long time by the demonic snake. Eventually, the Mara influenced Tegan to guide its return to a physical form. However, an old mystic taught the Doctor who to defeat the Mara by finding the "still point" and he defeated the serpent at the moment of its resurrection. 

Poor Tegan was still tormented by dreams of the Mara. The Doctor said it was her way of processing the trauma (though pseudo-canon featured more appearances of the snake afterwards). It was during the events of "Snakedance" that the nature of the villain really struck me. And what the real villain was: fear.

Behind the scenes sources on the TARDIS Wiki call the Mara a manifestation of temptation. I think you could also call it a manifestation of evil or anxiety. It was the concept of the "still point" that convinced me it could be anxiety or fear. Both on-screen appearances of the Mara play into this idea. During the events of "Kinda", the circle of mirrors turned the snake against itself. Maybe you could apply this to turning fear on its head. Logic doesn't necessarily always help with anxiety, but I have to admit that when I can turn the anxiety (or temptation) around and realize how ridiculous it is. At times, it's so ridiculous that I have to laugh. "Really, Satan, that's how you're going to present this?"

Later, during the events of "Snakedance", the Doctor learned that the only way to get the upper hand on the Mara was to find the still point. Applying that to fear, anxiety, or temptation in real life is a bit trickier for me. It comes down to mindfulness, meditation, and other forms of calming the body and soul. Mindfulness is a hard concept for me when my mind and heart are reeling. It's too abstract for me when I'm in the middle of everything. Life doesn't exactly quiet down amidst a busy schedule and hyperactive children. That being said, the Holy Ghost has taught me a little bit about slowing down. Call it self-care or something else, but I've said many times that you can take care of yourself or God can make you take care of yourself (I told my office manager that after she was out sick for a week after working about a million hours per week).

"Beside Still Waters" by Simon Dewey

"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) isn't just a religious platitude. It's an invitation (or maybe even commandment) for me to slow down and trust that Heavenly Father will take care of me and my family. It's hardly ever in the way I expect, but things have always worked out for my family, often even better than I planned. Modern scripture uses that phrase similarly "Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God." (D&C 101:16) I could work to "let" my hear be comforted--Not a shock to anyone who knows me. But Heavenly Father is in control. I take comfort in the phrase from Preach My Gospel: "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." And it will. Sooner or later. 

Take time to be still. Work to trust God. Practice self-care. That's what I need to work on at least. I trust it'll help keep the Mara at bay, even if it can't ever be destroyed.

"This is, here and now. The dance goes on. It is all the dance, everywhere and always. So, find the still point. Only then can the Mara be defeated.... the still point is within yourself, nowhere else. To destroy the Mara you must find the still point." --Dojjen ("Snakedance")

Friday Creature Feature - Fledge

I debated for a while about which spotlight to do for Year of the Horse. I haven’t been consistent at featuring each year of the Chinese zodiac—mostly citing Disney dragons, dogs, tigers in the years I remembered to do it. Instead of Disney horses, I’m going with a creature feature from one of my favorite fandoms: Narnia. I could have easily gone with Narnian horses as a whole (Phillip, Bree, Hwin, Jewel, etc) but I wanted to look at the first powerful steed in Narnia’s history. 

Born to a cavalry horse, Fledge was called Strawberry by Frank, the cabby who owned him. Neither felt at home in the city and longed for the country life. So when Jadis commandeered the horse, it was providence that the pair was pulled into Narnia with Diggory, Polly, Uncle Andrew, and the Witch. 

As the creation of Narnia proceeded, Strawberry was turned into a talking horse by Aslan. He held vague memories of his life as a dumb animal. At least enough to trust Frank and carry the kids to the Lion, his final task as “Strawberry”.

When Diggory was tasked with protecting the new land of Narnia from Jadis, Aslan turned Strawberry in the winged horse named Fledge. And as the newly christened steed, he bonded with Polly and Diggory as they retrieved the fruit that would help protect Narnia for hundreds of years. 

I think it’s safe to assume that Fledge remained loyal to King Frank and Queen Helen as they reigned over Narnia. A majestic steed that was transformed by grandeur personified—or lion-ified. 

Unlike my “Mistaken Identity” posts, Fledge is a story of transformation. Though born a dumb horse, Strawberry became the majestic Fledge. Aslan’s power changed him into something that Strawberry couldn’t have imagined on his own. Taken in a gospel light, it’s not unlike how Jesus Christ transforms us through the power and grace of His atoning sacrifice. 

President Ezra Taft Benson said, “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.” Just as Aslan turned Strawberry into the powerful and magical Fledge, Jesus Christ will turn each of us into miraculous and eternal beings as we turn our lives to Him. 

Friday Creature Feature - D-Reaper

Of all creatures I could feature on Halloween, it might seem strange I chose the D-Reaper, the final big bad of Digimon Tamers. Even in the Digimon franchise, there are lots of other well known creatures (Devimon, Myotismon, Arukenimon, etc.) but as bad as they are, the D-Reaper is worse. 

The D-Reaper is AI run amock. The same thing could be said for Digimon, but here’s the big difference: Digimon are AI programs with souls (evil souls for Devimon and Myotismon, but still) and the D-Realer is soulless. It’s the cold, unfeeling nature of the D-Reaper that makes it so scary. Even worse than the Cybermen in Doctor Who.

Once upon a time, the D-Reaper was a simple program for cleaning up data. Kind of like those apps that say they’ll clean up your phone storage. However, like the Digimon, it grew from data it absorbed, including those digital monsters. As the D-Reaper grew and learned, it surpassed its original purpose and started indiscriminately destroying Digimon. If destroying innocent Digimon weren’t enough, the D-Reaper would turn its focus to the human world. Humans had exceeded their original parameters, just like Digimon.

By the time the Digimon Tamers encountered the D-Reaper in the Digital World, it was a pink blob capable of deleting and destroying simply by touching an object. Before the Digimon Sovereign could assist the Tamers to escape in the Monster Makers’ ark, the D-Reaper latched onto Jeri. She was emotionally cold and numb as she grieved the loss of her partner Leomon, making her a perfect host for the D-Reaper.

After hitching a ride to the human world with Jeri, the D-Reaper took on a new form, more evolved and complex. Different D-Reaper agents started coming after mankind and the technology we’d developed. The core “quantum bubble” expanded and forced residents to evacuate, but it also started appearing around the world. As the Digimon Tamers fought, they slowly learned that human concepts like family relationships and emotions were foreign and useless. Maybe even detrimental.

It took Jeri waking up inside the D-Reaper core and empowering herself (with Calumon’s help) to put a wrench in the pink blob’s plans. Add to that MegaGargomon using Juggernaut to devolve the D-Reaper, with an assist from the Digimon Sovereign. Finally the D-Reaper was defeated. Unbeknownst to the kids, the victory cost them their Digimon partners returning to the digital plane. But not forever, as seen in Runaway Locomon (which is being re-dubbed and released at the end of the year).

As I said, the D-Reaper is cold and unfeeling. That’s what makes it scary. Like the Cybermen on Doctor Who, the D-Reaper seeks out anything it deems unnecessary, like human relationships and emotions. As well as humans and Digimon themselves. While evil like Myotismon and Devimon are scary in their maliciousness, the D-Reaper’s Cyberman-like nature is what should give you chills. 

The D-Reaper could be a metaphor for depression and other mental health challenges, like the Dementors in Harry Potter. It’s easy to think no feelings are better than being engulfed in depression and anxiety, even to the point of not existing at all. It’s our destiny to suffer. However, as the Digimon Tamers taught the D-Reaper (while pummeling it) we can choose our destinies and the feelings are what make us human. I’ll finish off with this quote by Jeri Katou that I absolutely love, as she breaks free from the D-Reaper’s spiraling negative influence:

“It was wrong of me to believe that feeling nothing was better than feeling sad. The sadness was real. It was human! I misunderstood Leomon. He never meant me to think my life had no meaning. He said that we all have our own destiny, and that's not the same thing. Every one of us has a destiny that's different and that's special! ... You can't delete even one of us without deleting something the whole world needs. Every one of us has something important to do!"

Friday Creature Feature - Perry the Platypus

“Hey. Where’s Perry?”

I couldn’t let the summer pass without spotlighting the king of summer vacation, Perry the Platypus (maybe Phineas is the king of summer… but I think he’d abdicate to Perry). The first round of new Phineas and Ferb episodes have finished airing on Disney Channel (I finished them weeks ago on Disney Plus) so it’s the perfect time to talk platypus. 

To the general human populace, he’s just a pet platypus. They don’t do much. The Flynn-Fletcher family adopted him when he was small and adorable. As far as they know, he wanders around town in between bouts of sleeping and eating. Originally the boys named him Bartholomew, but thankfully they renamed him to give us OWCA-regulation alliteration. 

Unbeknownst to most humans outside of OWCA (Doofenschmirtz, Vanessa, Stacy, and random unnamed civilians) the famed platypus is a secret agent who thwarts Heinz Doofenshmirtz on a daily basis. Because Doof is so incompetent at being evil (hence his break from evil between seasons four and five) Perry doesn’t have to do much to stop the mad scientist—especially if there’s a self-destruct button involved. Really it’s more like Perry is Doof’s exasperated buddy who puts up with the crazy antics. Literally went with him to run errands. 

The duck-billed secret agent deserves an Emmy for his acting as a derpy pet. A whole episode exists around “They don’t do much” while the pet platypus is off fighting an evil scientist. The concept is so ridiculous (much like the show in general) and I think that’s why we love Perry. Where else can you find an obscure crime-fighting pet with an alliterative name and a theme song?

I look forward to more antics from Perry and Doof in the next string of episodes (and maybe more Perry and Stacy). And maybe I can get my kids to join me in a dance party to his theme song. I could always use more platypus in my life. 

"Oh! There you are, Perry!"

Friday Creature Feature - Hobbes

The longer I’m a father, the more I’m fascinated by the imaginative play of my daughters and the world(s) they create for themselves. It made me think of the Calvin and Hobbes comics I read as a kid. Nothing against the Spaceman Spiff alter ego, but the most iconic part of Calvin’s imaginative play should be obvious: Hobbes.

Hobbes is Calvin’s stuffed tiger and best friend. He’s sassy and fierce and he loves tuna. He can’t get behind half of Calvin’s inventions and risky adventures. Despite being a domesticated housecat in many ways, the wild tiger still lives inside of him, even if it’s just to destroy Calvin every day after school. 

I love that over the years it’s left ambiguous as to whether he’s real or imaginary. Is Hobbes part of Calvin’s psyche or is he a real tiger that only Calvin can see? Especially with how involved my oldest daughter gets in her imaginative play, I love the idea of Hobbes being pure imagination. If Hobbes is part of Calvin’s psyche, it makes their antics that much better.

Think about it for a second: If Hobbes is really just part of Calvin, what does that say about Hobbes crushing on Susie? All a young boy trying to avoid liking a neighbor girl. And what about all the times Calvin makes Hobbes do his homework? Just a way that Calvin’s mind makes the monotony of schoolwork more palatable. And just think of all those moments that Hobbes would make a sassy remark and Calvin barks back in anger? That’s Calvin’s internal dialogue coming out. 

Regardless of what you make of Hobbes’s sentience, he’s the best friend a young boy could ask for. It makes me wonder how lonely Calvin might have been to dream up such a friend. The only boy his age I can remember him interacting with is his bully Moe. Kids are resilient though and an imaginative child like Calvin took care of himself and in some ways I think that’s beautiful. It takes a special kid to be his own best friend.

Friday Creature Feature - Chikorita

While I was busy at work a couple weeks ago, my little brother was texting me updates from Pokemon Presents. Like many fans, I was surprised to hear that Chikorita would be one of the starters for the next Legends game. I had already planned on spotlighting the little leaf Pokemon for St. Patrick's Day, but with Kalos expecting Chikorita's arrival this post will be even more timely.

Chikorita is one of the starter Pokemon from the Johto region, given to the player by Professor Elm, though in the Hoenn games (and remakes) they can be a gift from Professor Birch. Pokedex entries from the game tell of Chikorita's leaf emitting a sweet fragrance. I imagine it can lull the enemy Pokemon into a false sense of security--or maybe it could help me decompress after work. The leaf can also be used to sense the temperature and the climate. Like other starter Pokemon, Chikorita evolves by simply leveling up, first into Bayleef and later into Meganium.

In the anime, there are two major appearances for Chikorita. Early during the Johto story arc, Ash and his friends met Casey, an avid and annoying baseball fan, who had received her Chikorita from Professor Elm. Casey and her partner later appeared during the Bug Catching Contest, during which it evolved into Bayleef. Later on during the Johto anime and Pokemon Chronicles, Casey appeared again with her Bayleef already evolved into Meganium. I know plenty of fans have issues with Chikorita and I wouldn't be surprised if this first impression alongside Casey didn't help the matter.

Chikorita's other major appearance was when Ash caught his own. Not too long after meeting Casey and her partner, Ash and his friends encountered another Chikorita. Stubborn as she was, Chikorita tried to fight Ash's Charizard, who couldn't be bothered with her. After Ash saved her from Team Rocket, Chikorita started to calm down the stubbornness and was caught by the would-be Pokemon Master. Her stubbornness persisted and manifested at times as jealousy for Ash's closeness with Pikachu. At first she tried to fight for Ash's affection, but she later chilled out the jealousy... though the aggressive affection persisted even after she evolved into Bayleef. She stayed a staple of Ash's team through the end of the Johto League. With how attached she was to Ash, I can't imagine she liked staying behind at Professor Oak's lab with only sporadic appearances as Ash traveled from region to region.

Now the question: Why do people hate Chikorita so much? I've heard the argument that she's the worst choice in Gold/Silver/Crystal based on the gym types, but so was Charmander and he's popular. Maybe it's her obsession and jealousy when it comes to Ash, but I feel like many haters never watched the anime consistently. My daughter loves Chikorita though, so she's okay in my book. Maybe she'll get some love with Pokemon Legends Z-A. At the very least, it's hinted that she'll get a mega evolution. So I think we can look forward to a Kalosian Meganinum and/or Mega Meganium. 

In the meantime, I need to get saving for a Switch 2 so I can play the game.

Friday Creature Feature - Sutekh

Once upon a time in college, to celebrate the 50th anniversary, my friends and I did a Doctor Who marathon of sorts. One story from each doctor over the course of a week. Just so happens that we picked Sutekh’s appearance for our Fourth Doctor story. We were underwhelmed by “Pyramids of Mars” and ended up picking a story from the Fourth Doctor/Romana era. There was no way we could know Sutekh would come back around during the Fifteenth Doctor’s tenure. 

In the pantheon of Egyptian gods, Sutekh is the god of death. I learned a little about him while writing a Yu-Gi-Oh fan fiction in high school. Sometimes known as Set or Seth, this deity reigned over violence, storms, deserts, and pretty much everything else unpleasant. In the world of Doctor Who, he’s still the god of death. However, like other myths portrayed on Doctor Who, the god-like power doesn’t make him a deity, only mistakable for one. Though not literally a god, Sutekh possessed immense power even on his first encounter with the Doctor. Those powers put him on par with and in league with powerful forces like the Toymaker, the Trickster, and Maestro.

By the time Sutekh encountered the Fourth Doctor, he had been imprisoned by Horus for a long time. Having recently taken control of an archaeologist named Marcus Scarman, his scheme centered around shooting a missile at the Eye of Horus on Mars, which held him captive. To his credit, unlike most villains, he was able to destroy the Eye and free himself… but the Doctor managed to get back to Earth first and trap him in a time corridor. Supposedly.

The Doctor banked on him aging to death in the time vortex. Unbeknownst to the Doctor (and all companions he had in the years following) Sutekh survived by latching onto the TARDIS–which made for a funny series of memes after the most recent season finale. Using the Doctor’s memory of his granddaughter Susan to create a trap, Sutekh reformed and spread his death dust across time and space. But using his own trap involving the mystery of Ruby’s mother, the Doctor managed to send Sutekh back into the time stream to really be destroyed this time. Probably. Maybe. Who knows?

As much as I recall the complaints of heavy plot armor to explain his defeat at the hands of the Fifteenth Doctor (and I’m not sure I can disagree with those complaints) I enjoyed the return of Sutekh. I think I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy the retelling and reframing of mythology for Doctor Who (probably why I’ve also enjoyed Once Upon a Time and Percy Jackson). There’s something about making fairytales and myths relatable and fresh to the viewer. Even better when the story can motivate me to learn about the original myth or source material. Whether he had that effect on you or not, he definitely made me rethink the idea that all dogs are good dogs. Hard to see a good dog in those evil glowing eyes. But maybe I’ll feel differently when I rewatch the story before the new season of Doctor Who… now if only they’d give us a premiere date for that.

Friday Creature Feature - Smoke Monster

My last LOST blog post for the series 20th anniversary. What could be more appropriate than to spotlight the first mystery of them all? That's right! I'm talking about the Smoke Monster. From the first night the Flight 815 survivors were on the Island, they knew something was strange about the place, as they heard the monster and knocked down trees in the distance. 

The Man in Black

I debated whether this blog post fit more in the category of "Creature Feature" or "Character Spotlight", because Smokey was once a man. If you watched through the final season of LOST, this is old news. Born on the Island at the heels of his brother Jacob, he was raised by an unnamed woman who killed their birth mother. 

Despite being raised as a native, he was antsy to leave the Island from a young age. And that was before he saw a vision of his birth mother. Even so, he kept a civil relationship with his brother. Long story short, desperate to leave the Island, he ended up killing his adoptive mother. But in retribution and anger, Jacob threw his brother in the "Heart of the Island". The Island's electromagnetism somehow separated him from his body and turned him into the smoke monster.

Powers and Abilities

Connected to the Heart of the Island, the Man in Black was invulnerable to physical attacks and conventional weapons, both in human form and smoke form--though dynamite scared him off. Though intangible he was super strong, capable of disposing of human being and trees with ease. To whatever extent he also displayed some telekinetic and/or telepathic abilities, influencing dreams and "scanning" human beings. At least some of these abilities were eliminated when Desmond unplugged the Heart of the Island.

Countless times through history the Man in Black took the form of deceased humans (and maybe a horse or spider on occasion). He was confirmed to at least take the forms of Isabella, Christian Shepard, Yemi, Alex Rousseau, and John Locke. Sometimes it seemed like he needed the body physically on the Island, but cases like Isabella prove otherwise. By the time he arranged Jacob's murder, the Man in Black was limited to transforming between Locke and Smokey.

Though powerful, he was limited in his ability to travel except over land. He may have been able to travel short distances over water (unclear) but he definitely couldn't ascend high enough (even in smoke form) to clear DHARMA's sonic fence and had issues with ash circles or whatever reason. And though murderous he was unable to harm Jacob or his candidates directly, working through manipulation, due to some power in place guardians of the Island.

History with Island Visitors

As far back as the Black Rock, Jacob and the Man in Black played this game of chess to see who'd win: the Man in Black claiming that mankind only comes to corrupt and Jacob banking on humanity continually progressing and growing. Caught in the chaos of the chess match included the likes of the US Army testing explosives, Rousseau's team, the DHARMA Initiative, and of course the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 (and Ajira Flight 316).

Jacob: You'll have to ask 'em when they get here.

MIB: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?

Jacob: You are wrong.

MIB: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.

Jacob: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress. 

Though this exchange from "The Incident" presented their feud as a test of the nature of mankind, the final season of LOST set the focus of their ongoing battle as a search for a loophole to kill Jacob and leave the Island. Each time a new group arrived on the Island, the Man in Black would use his powers of deception (posing as Isabella, Alex, Locke, etc.) to further his plans. In the end, both sides of kind won, I guess: the Man in Black got Ben to kill Jacob, but Jack (as Jacob's replacement) stopped Smokey from leaving the Island. 

It's a curious question to pose, with the two brothers as the centerpiece: Mankind good or evil? The question has been asked and philosophized over for millennia. And in true LOST fashion, that question between human nature and free will remained subjective in the finale. 

I suppose I could give some gospel related answer about the "natural man" or about being children of God, but I think the message of progress is more relevant to my life. Progress over perfection. Anything that happens before it "ends" is only progress.

Unanswered Questions

Besides the unanswered question of philosophers through the ages, it only makes sense to end this blog post and the LOST anniversary with some unanswered questions about Smokey:

1. How/why did the Heart of the Island transform him into Smoke and not Desmond or Jack?
2. How/why did Smokey's birth mother appear to him?
3. What would've happened in the Man in Black left the Island?
4. How did the Man in Black end up in the Cabin?

Friday Creature Feature - Trogdor

Rounding out the Year of the Dragon, I felt like I had to do one more dragon-related blog post. I'd planned to write about Spyro the Dragon, but life got busy with buying a house and such. Instead, I'm going to bring us back twenty years to the inception of Trogdor the Burninator.

Sbemail #58: Dragon

Trogdor began as a throwaway character/doodle in a random Strong Bad Email video. The premise was simple: Strong Bad gets an email requesting a drawing tutorial. But since nothing can be too simple, the request for Strong Bad to draw a dragon resulted in a dragon-man burninating the countryside. The video quickly turned into nothing short of a phenomena (at least as far as Homestar Runner is concerned). 

How to Draw Trogdor

The steps to draw Trogdor are pretty simple (I mean they come out of Strong Bad's masked mouth, so they have to be simple):

1. Draw an S.
2. Draw another more different S.
3. Close it up real good at the top for his head.
4. Using consumate V's, give him teeth, spineitties, and angry eyebrows.
5. Add smoke or fire and wings for a wingaling dragon.
6. Last but not least, every Trogdor must have a beefy arm growing from the back of his neck.

Trogdor's Legacy

Despite being a drawing meant for only one email video, Trogdor became insanely popular. The Homestar Runner ended up featuring Trogdor on various games and cameos. Even amongst regular humans, Trogdor (or at least his theme song) has been one of the more famous Homestar Runner references across pop culture--I mean, he was referenced on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so that's pretty famous. So please finish off the Year of the Dragon the right way, by following Strong Bad's steps to draw your own Trogdor and make sure you send us a copy. 

Friday Creature Feature - Sontarans

"And if I'm ever in the need of advice from a psychotic potato dwarf, you'll certainly be the first to know."
--Eleventh Doctor ("The Snowmen")

With over sixty years of content and upgrades in special effects, much has changed about Doctor Who. What once was cardboard backgrounds (see "Keys of Marinus" where you can clearly tell Ian and Barbara are walking in place) is now CGI and cinematic quality. Even the villains have changed drastically (see Silurians and Cybermen). Besides the Daleks (who think they're perfect already), one of the few who hasn't changed much is the Sontarans.

What are Sontarans?

These walking potatoes are a clone race built solely for battle. They're prideful and would rather die honorable in battle than to surrender. Their planet, Sontar, is dense with strong gravitational pull, resulting in their stocky troll-like build. They breathe through a probic vent in the back of their neck (if you can call that a neck). That vent is their big weakness, as a quick whack to it can temporarily incapacitate the baked potato.

A recurring gag ever since their conception in the 1970s is their inability to perceive differences in gender; notable examples are when Sarah Jane meets them in "The Time Warrior" and when multiple versions of Clara interact with Strax in the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor eras. The Doctor brashly chalked this up to being a clone race and "Two genders is a bit further than he can count."

They're described as the finest soldiers of the galaxy, which makes sense since that's what they're bred to do. Their mortal enemy is Rutan Host, but they've been at war so long (50 000+ years) that no one even knows why they're fighting anymore. 

The Doctor and the Sontarans

On-screen the Doctor's first encounter with the Sontarans was when the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane ended up in the Middle Ages and thwarted the plans of Commander Lynx. The Doctor would later meet the Sontarans sporadically through the almost fifty years of television, encountering seven other incarnations of the Doctor, and Sarah Jane would even meet a lone Sontaran after her time in the TARDIS during The Sarah Jane Adventures.

One notable recurring Sontaran is fan-favorite Strax (TJ and I love him at least). Indebted to the Doctor and later companion of Vastra and Jenny, Strax assisted the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors on occasion. While I don't know if you could say Strax was a "good guy" he's probably the most civil Sontaran to have existed--though he did like to go to Scotland get in fights, while living in Victorian England. His temperamental and violent nature still shined through his butler facade frequently, which made for plenty of comical moments. Vastra, Jenny, the Doctor, and Clara tended to keep him in line, but how much can you really reform a Sontaran?

It's been a few regenerations since we last saw Strax, but I think it would be worth having him and his friends back again. It's only been a couple years since we last saw other Sontarans, but Strax and his grenades will always have a special place in my heart. As such, I'll leave you with another great Strax-related quote.

"I'm the clever one, you're the potato one."
--Eleventh Doctor ("The Snowmen")

Friday Creature Feature - Patamon

Twenty-five years of Digimon has brought us to this. Despite no indication of future Digimon movies or series, I have no desire to slow down–still perpetually watching the series; currently watching Digimon Tamers and Digimon Adventure 2020. I recently got to the point of Adventure 2020 in which TK teams up with Patamon–possibly one of the redeeming story arcs of the series. So like I’ve done many times before, I want to highlight the different iterations of Patamon. Despite being a relatively minor character among Digi-Destined partners, he’s a fan favorite between the Adventure saga, Frontier, and Adventure 2020.

Digimon Adventure

Meeting TK in the form of Tokomon, he was the late-bloomer among the Digi-Destined partners. It was through Patamon’s story arc that we learned how Digimon are reborn, after Angemon sacrificed himself to defeat Devimon. He was the last to reach the champion (Angemon) and ultimate (MagnaAngemon) levels. That being said, when Angemon and MagnaAngemon finally entered the scene, he was able to hold his own (and sometimes right out defeat) Digimon a full digivolution above him, like Myotismon, Phantomon, and Piedmon. 

A few years later, Patamon and TK joined the new Digi-Destined team to fight the Digimon Emperor, Arukenimon, and Mummymon. While digivolution to champion was prohibited, he was able to become Pegsusmon to join the fight. Later, when MagnaAngemon would have been wonderful to fight BlackWarGreymon and others, Angemon was able to DNA digivolve with Ankylomon to create Shakkoumon. He may not have been MagnaAngemon, but Shakkoumon was still able to hold his own against BlackWarGreymon. The lack of utilizing his natural champion and ultimate forms is one of my grievances about Adventure 02. However, the second season did give Angemon his mega form in The Digimon Movie… even if Seraphimon only lasted a few seconds.

When Digimon Adventure Tri came across, Patamon was still very clingy to TK, which didn’t get any better when he was the first of the Digimon partners to get infected by Meicoomon. The scene in which TK holds him as he writhes from the infection broke my heart. I want to do another post at some point to delve into the trauma that TK and Patamon go through in direct contrast with his crest of hope; suffice it to say that when the Digi-Destined get reunited with their partners post-reboot, TK putting that faith and positivity back into Patamon was amazing, enabling him to reach Seraphimon once again.

Despite being a more minor character in the original series, TK was one of the characters front-and-center in Last Evolution Kizuna, joining in all the major fights alongside Tai, Matt, and Izzy. It was sad to see him and Patamon lost in Menoa’s Never World, but with his scars of losing Patamon, who can blame him. In a similar way, it makes sense that he was scared when he was faced with the possibility of losing Patamon in the fight against Ukkomon in The Beginning. Both times, despite his fears, Patamon came to the fight as Angemon (and later as Shakkoumon in The Beginning). Last we see of them, Patamon is still alive and kicking with TK. I can only hope they find a way to keep their bond from breaking as TK grows up, unlike Tai and Agumon.

When he’s at in-training or rookie levels, Patamon ends up acting very childish, in good ways and bad ways. Throughout the Adventure saga, he’s clingy to TK. In the first season, he mirrored TK’s immaturity, but as TK matured he kind of turned into his child or pet at times. But when in one of his angel forms, Patamon matured instantly, becoming brave and fierce–though I’d never accuse Patamon of being cowardly either, as demonstrated when he would get protective of TK (see “Forget About It!”). 

Digimon Frontier

When Seraphimon entered the scene as one of the Celestial Digimon, he was powerful and epic… and comatose. That persisted until the five children visited his castle in the Forest Terminal. He was only awake for a few moments before he had to sacrifice himself to save the kids–his data taken by Mercurymon and his egg saved by Zoe and Bokomon. As an egg, he gave a portion of his power to Koji and Takuya to enable them to fusion-spirit evolve. It wasn't until Takuya recovered his data as Aldamon that the egg hatched into Patamon. He spent the rest of the season assisting the kids as they fought Cherubimon, the Royal Knights, and Lucemon.

The personality of this Patamon was similar to TK’s partner, pretty immature at times, like when referring to Bokomon as his “papa-mom”. Granted, this Patamon had barely been reborn from a digi-egg, so he had an excuse. That being said, he showed wisdom and insight at times, leftover from when was Seraphimon. You couldn’t ever really tell what Patamon was going to do in this season.

Digimon Adventure 2020

This version of Patamon was introduced as the captive Celestial Digimon, Angemon, held by his dark counterpart Devimon (the two having split from Seraphimon after the war). Like the Frontier version, after he got saved he reverted to an egg and lost much of his memory regarding his past in the Digimon war and his life as the angel Digimon. It took him a long time to regain the ability to digivolve into Angemon, but was able to turn into Pegasusmon in the meantime. As the children journey, he learns to digivolve into MagnaAngemon, Seraphimon, and (once) into Goldramon.

Between his involvement in the ancient war and being split into Angemon and Devimon, this version of Patamon has one complex backstory. I just wish he didn’t come into play so late, but other than the angel feathers that TK finds, Patamon doesn’t properly appear in any form until a third of the way into the story. I love that his backstory is more complex though, which you don’t tend to see with Digimon partners in any series; usually the complexity comes from the humans. As I continue to watch Digimon Adventure 2020, I’ll have to keep an eye on this storyline more closely.