ROCKLAND-In the Dictionary of Pop Culture Literacy (not a real book, i just made it up), there should be a section alone on what a TARDIS is. I don't care how cool you are, if you don't have a working knowledge of Star Wars, Monty Python or Doctor Who and his fun time magical TARDIS by the time you're 18 years old, your parents have failed you. 

Doctor Who was one of those TV programs that came on right after Batman in the 1970s. As a little kid, I got wicked creeped out by the opening sequence. It  was like looking through the eyes of someone who'd just taken five hits of acid along with a shot of Justin Bieber's "sizzurp" and sounded like some cheap, tinny House of Horrors carnival ride. Needless to say, after watching Catwoman try to POW! and WHAM! the crap out of Batman in her killer leather boots, I wasn't quite ready to make the intellectual leap to embrace this hoary old British dude and his time machine.

But then I grew up and fully embraced the Inner Nerd, and so should you.

This Thursday, Feb 21, at 6:30 p.m., the Rockland Public library will present a Doctor Who 50th Anniversary screening of one of its best episodes, "Blink" with a post-screening discussion with Bill Halpin & Saskia Huising.
 
Here's the plotline:

Blink

When Sally Sparrow enters an old abandoned mansion to take photographs, things are not exactly what they seem…or are they? Can the Doctor (David Tennant) help her find out? Well, yes...and no. Steven Moffat’s Blink won two BAFTA Awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, as well as science fiction’s prestigious Hugo Award. In addition, actress Carey Mulligan won the Constellation Award for Best Female Performance in a Science Fiction Television Episode. Blink was voted the second best Doctor Who story in the show’s long history. It is also one of the most ingenious time travel tales ever filmed. Screened by permission of BBC Home Entertainment.

So this is a good cheap date to take a friend or a first date and especially someone who doesn't know what a TARDIS is, so when they say "Doctor who?" you smile and say, "Exactly."*

For more information, call the Library at 594-0310. Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com

*Note: this episode can be kind of scary for the younger audiences and may not be the best introduction of Doctor Who!