Litter Clean Up – Cedar Creek Parkway (Or, the Environmental Winter Warriors make a difference)
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 26, 2012
Yesterday, between snow squalls, in the windy and bitter cold, a group of people came together and cleaned a vital “Grow Zone” across a large swath of Cedar Creek Parkway. I arrived early and as the snow seemed to slam in to the ground with the force of a winter wind that had been mostly absent this year; I was genuinely worried that no one was going to show up. Thankfully, my worry proved to be unfounded.
I was joined by Muhlenberg College’s EnACT club, the fraternity ATO, Scout Troop 74, local environmentalists and neighbors of the park. In thick coats and large, black, plastic garbage bags, we marched through the buffer removing plastic, Styrofoam, cell phones, and whatever other miscellany of human waste that accumulated there over the last year of flooding and use.
The pictures from the event are loaded as a slideshow below, take a look through. I want to thank everyone for helping out! It was really incredible to see so many people come out and quite literally brave the elements to make a difference in a place that they care about. I also want to thank the Morning Call for coming and covering the event. (If a story or pics are posted, I will link to them as soon as I see them.)
That was an awesome time. Come out for the next one!
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Tomorrow, at Noon – Come and Help out!!
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 24, 2012
Big day tomorrow everyone! I hope to see you there!
| A year of heavy flooding and frequent usage have left the Grow Zone (riparian buffer) full of litter.
That means, It’s go time folks!! We will meet at the Stone House near the Rose Garden and go through the riparian zone picking up litter and cleaning up the area!! Come out and help!! |
9. Thanks Harry, at Trexler Park
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 21, 2012
(This is a continuation of my new Park Logs, the others are linked at the bottom. Don’t forget about our event at Cedar Beach this Saturday at Noon!)
Trexler Park has to remain the symbolic heart of the Allentown Park System even 80 or so years after the Estate of Harry Trexler became a Park following The General’s death. Today, Trexler Park may show us how a solution can occur to bridge the recreational and environmental uses of our City Parks. There are extensive riparian buffers here, as well as deep and thick developing wetlands. Despite all the environmental development, Trexler Park remains one of the most frequently used and easily accessed parks in Allentown. Also of note, that despite all this growth there are no criminals or drug dealers hiding in the grass.
Yes, there is compromise at Trexler Park. That does not exempt Trexler from the ecologic issues plaguing its nearest verdant neighbors, Cedar Creek Parkway and the Lehigh Parkway. There are ruts from the use of heavy machinery in developing wetlands, as you can see below.
There are large and expanding swatches of invasive plants across the park and they need to be dealt with as Cedar Creek first enters the park system here and any seeds from these plants that are loosed to the wind will find new homes downriver and in turn, spread colonization. Despite that though, there must exist an inherent appeal to Trexler Park. I have never visited the park, even in bad weather, to find it empty. This is something that has always been curious to me.
My inner cynic wants to think that people come here because it’s natural but not too natural. That given its location, it is a seemingly and stereotypically safe place rather than a downtown location like Canal Park or Jordan Park. Maybe my inner cynic is correct, maybe not. Perhaps, a visceral remnant of the mythical spirit of Harry Trexler can actually be felt there. It could be that ecologic/recreational compromise that draws them in droves. I think it to be a combination of all the things that I have listed above.
The true validity in my wild speculation is that people are going – regardless of the reason. Trexler succeeded. He got urban dwellers into green spaces and here at Trexler Park, park users are fulfilling his wishes on his former property. It is my hope that in the near future, the vision of Trexler will be acknowledged again and we will restore the ecology in our parks in the manner that is necessary to ensure that they survive for future generations. For now, I wander on. Lots more to see…
Thanks Harry.
Park Logs 2012:
1. Cedar Creek Parkway 1. : The LCA destroyed everything.
2. Cedar Creek Parkway 2. : Well, They never paved the Rose Gardens…
3. Lehigh Parkway 1: Erosion, Erosion, Erosion )
4. Lehigh Parkway 2: The Proof is on the Stream Banks
5. Parkway 3: This is Bad. Very Bad.
6. Jordan Park: What I was surprised to find
7. Winter Woods and Rain at The East Side Reservoir
8. A Smack in The Face at Canal Park
8. A smack in the face at Canal Park
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 20, 2012
(This is a continuance of my new Park Logs, the others are linked at the bottom. Don’t forget about our litter pick up on February 25th!)
The thing about Canal Park, like East Side Reservoir, is the surprise the place offers. There aren’t many surprises left in the world. Mostly, I think we find ourselves surprised at how things in the world seem to worsen more than we could have imagined. Sure, that sounds pessimistic but any time spent on a news site will confirm my assessment in seconds. This is why these parks matter so much folks. Now, there are plenty of other good and/or great things out there in the maddening chaos – I will never deny it. This blog is mostly about parks though and today it’s about Canal Park. 
It’s a smack in the face. It’s a glass of ice-water dumped over your head on the hottest day of July after hiking Mount Tammany. It’s stepping from your car and making your way down to the boat launch to be greeted with this sight – in the middle of downtown Allentown: 
Driving through the broken macadam and pothole riddled parking lot convinces me that that view, that surprise – is just not that important to be tended to. With the East Side Reservoir and Keck Park in Allentown and Walking Purchase Park and the Lehigh Mountain Preserve across the river in Salisbury Township, we are privileged to have some of the best preserved sections of forest, river, and mountain in any urban corridor in Eastern Pennsylvania. That parking lot would seem to suggest that such a fact has been deemed insignificant or was simply just forgotten. I dare you to go and look straight into the face of the waters of the Lehigh River and tell me that a place like this should ever be forgotten. 
Park after park in Allentown, all I see is promise. In the face of ecologic destruction or human abandonment, I see the possibility of projects – of clean ups, of ecological restoration, of science, of community of the very stuff that is the antithesis of the worsening world that makes both the existence and subsequent ruin of these precious places such a surprise.
The meandering D+L trail that finds itself arriving at Canal Park over the hill from the river is such hope manifest. You can see it behind the green building that used to rent boats to park goers years ago. 
If I were to be awarded one million dollars under the condition that I could spend that money in only one Allentown park for the purposes of restoration, I think that I would spend that money here. Getting out of the city and venturing into places like Cedar Creek Parkway and the Lehigh Parkway is incredibly important for folks living in the urban density of a City. Having said that, perhaps it is more important to visit a place like Canal Park, just to get slapped upside the head with a taste of the grandeur of Nature. It might make decisions easier when it comes to the needed restoration in those other places. 
For now, Canal Park sits in true beauty as half a ruin. It’s a shame. As I was driving out of Canal Park, a group of neighborhood kids rode/walked over the train tracks to come into the park. It was just after three and they must have come down to hang out after school. Loudly laughing and playfully chasing each other, the kids were doing exactly what kids should be doing with a park as their backyard. The oldest kid, on a bike waved at me as I drove me and said “Hello Mister!” 
His friends waved as I passed and headed home.
Park Logs 2012:
1. Cedar Creek Parkway 1. : The LCA destroyed everything.
2. Cedar Creek Parkway 2. : Well, They never paved the Rose Gardens…
3. Lehigh Parkway 1: Erosion, Erosion, Erosion )
4. Lehigh Parkway 2: The Proof is on the Stream Banks
5. Parkway 3: This is Bad. Very Bad.
6. Jordan Park: What I was surprised to find
7. Winter Woods and Rain at The East Side Reservoir
7. Winter woods and rain at The East Side Reservoir
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 17, 2012
(This is a continuance of my new Park Logs, the others are linked at the bottom. Don’t forget about our litter pick up on February 25th!)
Unless you are from the neighborhood, you would have to try really hard to stumble upon the East Side Reservoir. Living in a City that is literally known as a “Park Place”, it sort of makes sense that some of these places fly under the radar when compared to their flashy sisters like the Lehigh Parkway. The East Side Reservoir is a place that I have not visited often enough over these last three years and my journey there yesterday showed me what I was missing.
A hop, skip, and jump from some serious urban density; the parking lot sits secluded under trees, an antenna, and an old stone house. Given the nearby proximity of homes, I couldn’t escape the consideration of stories as I walked through the ridiculous raw cold, golf ball sized raindrops and meandered into the winter forest.
What would it have been like to grow up with a park that is made up primarily of deciduous forest in your backyard? A younger kid would be provided with the opportunity for endless adventure and exploration in what must seem a Terabithia-esque foreign kingdom given the city environment they are used to. This forest would become their forest. Maybe they would come back one day and steal a first kiss here.
(Yeah) I went that far probably because it was just Valentine’s Day and as a single man, the thought of a kiss in the woods seemed rather appealing especially because of how cold I was in the forest, in the rain.
Seriously though – how awesome would it have been to have this forest to grow up in? There are so many great reasons to have urban parks and this is one of the most important to me.
Wandering around the winter woods is a blessing if only because these woods are still here. You aren’t going to find this in many cities across this country with an analogous population. It is something to always be thankful for.
Regardless of whether wandering these winter woods has been the scene of the central narrative of your life or you find yourself on your first visitation, these woods offer a special gift. They are living monuments to something beyond and better than us. They are here to offer us a reminder of it and to provide us with an invitation to join them – even if it is just for one afternoon.
I walked into the woods full of worry. Between the trunks, branches, and dead leaves I found that small slice of peace that a worried man so desperately seeks. I found that which is beyond me. Be grateful for it my friends and readers – these places are endangered and likely to go missing in coming decades. For now though, hidden in a corner of East Allentown, you can find a reservoir of spirit.
Now, if I could only get that kiss.
Park Logs 2012:
1. Cedar Creek Parkway 1. : The LCA destroyed everything.
2. Cedar Creek Parkway 2. : Well, They never paved the Rose Gardens…
3. Lehigh Parkway 1: Erosion, Erosion, Erosion )
4. Lehigh Parkway 2: The Proof is on the Stream Banks
5. Parkway 3: This is Bad. Very Bad.
6. Jordan Park: What I was surprised to find
My Remember 2009-2012 (Picture Post!)
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 16, 2012
So, I was thinking about another sort of “From-The-Vaults” post today but instead of listing links and hoping people click on them; I have decided to do something completely different. Below this sort block of text is a picture slideshow. Some of the photos have been posted either here or on Facebook and some have never seen the light of day until now. With the spirit of yesterday’s post intact, a majority of these pictures are focused on events and community service. But enough, click through! Who doesn’t love pictures?
Leave me a comment today about your favorite pic or one that is interesting to you or that you have a question about. Don’t Forget – Litter Pick Up and Invasive Species Removal at Cedar Beach, February 25th, Noon.
Lastly, Will – there is a picture in here of you that you told me you never wanted posted. (Let’s see if Will really reads the blog)
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We will make a difference. A small one. February 25th.
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 15, 2012
If you spend about five minutes surfing a news aggregator for stories regarding the Environment, you will likely end up believing that there is no hope left in the world. The problems are so big that it seems as if there is nothing one individual can do to make a difference – to make it better. That’s almost true. None of us can strap a magical backpack to our shoulders, fly into the troposphere and suck excess carbon dioxide out of it. We can’t stop the pythons in the Everglades. We can’t do that much, really.
On the smaller, non-biospheric scale however, we can actually do a lot. We can do enough that we create a lasting difference either in an ecosystem or in the spirit of those involved in the difference making activity. Those two outcomes are equally important. The positive and immediate effect on the ecosystem is easy to see as important. The community spirit outcome might not be so easy to see. 
I am under the impression after running all of these small scale change type events over the last three years that the spirit thing really does matter. The reactions I hear from the people involved are always a mix of accomplishment, resolve, and satisfaction. It is my belief that those positive emotions are spread to the people who are encountered by that individual in the days after the event. See where I am going here? I am sure that there exists a cliché to describe this… fill in the blank. 
So, Why am I going on about this today?
The time has come for another one of these events and I really want to see a large turn out this time around. The more people that come, the more work that will be done.
The event is on February 25th at Cedar Beach Parkway.
We will meet at noon in The Rose Gardens.
There is a twofold purpose to this event:
1. Removal of the Invasive Species Poison Hemlock.
2. Intensive Litter Removal
Please, help me spread the word! Big Turnout!! I am hoping that local media outlets pick up on this event as well!
I will be writing more about what the purpose of this event is in the coming days. In the meantime, Spread and Share!! Get people signed up on Facebook!!
My Lehigh Parkway: 2009-2011
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 10, 2012
The worst thing about writing a blog, to me, is the shelf life of posts. Remember/Kleiner’s Blog is not The Huffington Post. Watching my site statistics, it becomes very clear that each new post I put up on here has about a 48 hour window of readership before it falls backwards into the bowels of the Internet, likely to never be heard from again.
Writing a blog about journeys in nature leads to a lot of posting, storytelling and documentation. As my readership changes, I get bummed that new readers won’t be able to see all the interesting stuff that I had done over the past three years before they stumbled onto my page. I can tell you, 90% of my readers visit my site only for the current post. Readers also very rarely click on links to other posts. If a post draws in 200 readers, 5 or 10 of them usually click on stories and posts I link to.
Despite all that, today I am going to link to most of the stories I have done on The Lehigh Parkway since April 2009. Why am I doing this? Well either I am a masochist who wants to bum himself out because no one is going to check this stuff out or I am a guy who thinks he has some real quality content out there and wants people to check it out. You decide. J
The Lehigh Parkway
2009
1. The Original Park Logs:
1. The Lehigh Parkway Part 1
2. Part 2: Robin Hood
3. Part 3
2. After The Thunderstorm
If you click on this one, you will see Cedar Beach and Union Terrace as well as the Parkway. The thing about this post is that it is probably the coolest post on the entirety of this blog regarding our parks. In the middle of summer, a massive thunderstorm rocked Allentown with hail. I went down to the parks to see the damage and the icy, misty world I found in the Parkway was incredible.
3. Riparian Buffers – The Lehigh Parkway
Park history – from the estate of Harry Trexler in 1945 to studies done on The Little Lehigh in 2007 with pictures and discussion of one of the oldest “Grow Zones” in Allentown.
4. The First Walk in The Park
My very first event, attended by 4 people, was at the Lehigh Parkway. On this first walk, we just went for a stroll. The walk began at Bogart’s Bridge and went from there.
5. Nightfall at the Parkway
This is a short post I wrote up after considering being able to experience the Parks at Night.
6. The Lost Lehigh Parkway Park Log
I had missed a section of the Parkway when I wrote those first park logs in May. I went back at the end of Summer to correct the error.
7. Late Afternoon: The Lehigh Parkway in Autumn
This is purely a pretty post. Yellow leaves, pretty scenes – Autumn, etc…
8. Indian Summer
Emily Dickinson, a few pictures and Cedar Beach too
2010
9. Beyond the Parkway: Trails
This one was fun! I wandered the old railroad tracks from Schrieber’s Bridge, underneath the deteriorating 15th street Bridge and into the skeletons of Allentown’s manufacturing past, across the stream from the Fountain Park flood walls. Also, this may be the first post to feature snow.
10. January Thaw
A sister post to Indian Summer, this was a walk in the mud and muck of melting snow and ice in the Parkway with some friends. Also, beaver damage.
11. Snowfall, Canal Park, Lehigh Parkway and Wallace Stevens
While the link pretty much explains this one, I want to mention that this was just following a snowfall and is really interesting to see.
12. Sledding in the Parkway
A video post of me riding a lubed up snowboard, accidentally hitting a snow ramp and swearing loudly as I nearly decimated my tail bone.
13. In Search of Spring
I was looking for something green. The interesting thing here is that I am in a part of the Parkway that I never covered in a Park Log. Oops.
14. Save Our Parks: Lehigh Parkway
This one is a lengthy examination of the ecologic issues plaguing the Parkway.
15. What’s Up with the Riparian Buffer at The Parkway?
Invasive species all up in it….
16. The Parkway: The Way It Was
A reader randomly dropped off a picture in my mailbox at my house that showed the way The Parkway looked around the trestle bridge. Despite the claims of older Allentown residents, it showed some serious vegetation.
17. The Great Bird in the Parkway
An Osprey sighting and a rarity that shouldn’t be rare at all…
18. The EAC tour of the Parkway
My second event in the Parkway, with Mike Gilbert, Karen Tuerk, Dave McGuire, Dead fish, dead birds, and beavers.
19. Lehigh Parkway: Molovinsky gets his wish?
A look at city efforts to clear some of what Molovinsky calls the “icons” of Allentown.
20. Without Refuge, The Lehigh Parkway
A very serious and angry post about the state of ecology in the park. The only picture here is of John Muir.
21. Land Ethic and The Lehigh Parkway
A picture essay on how horrible conditions had become in the Parkway
22. Buzzard Gods of the Parkway
Vultures, folks, big-ass Vultures.
23. Soil Destruction in The Parkway
Intense pictures of soil death, etc…
2011
24. The continuing mess in the Lehigh Parkway (Sigh…) The dumbest thing I ‘ve seen in awhile…
This one really bummed me out. (Confession: Working on a big project for this very area, right now!)
25. The Long Blades of Grass bending in the Wind
This was an aborted attempt to restart my Park Logs. It’s a good post but with Muhlenberg keeping me busy I had to wait to 2012 to really get back to it.
And that, brings us up to date. The 2012 posts are on the right!!
Jordan Park: What I was Surprised to Find.
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 8, 2012
No matter how many times I journey down Sumner Avenue to visit Jordan Park, I cannot help but smile as I walk from my car towards the Jordan Creek. There are almost always folks playing basketball or baseball down there and if there was ever a better use for an urban park for active recreation, I cannot think of it. Now, the passive recreation and educational aspects of an urban park, well those are coming next. 
I hadn’t heard of any radical construction down here to remove the old stone walls that once helped turn Jordan Park into a swimming spot for early 20th century Allentonians. Sure enough, that hasn’t changed.
If you have been reading my blog long enough, I am sure you are very familiar with the dangers of channelization for streams. This section of the Jordan Creek is permanently channelized. It’s set in stone. The stone edifices here also deepen the stream to an unnatural depth and in dryer months lead to serious algal blooms. While the stone stream bank issue remains, I was about to be surprised by Jordan Park. 
The developing riparian buffer at Jordan Park looked different. As I drew nearer to it, I could see that it was more stable, thicker and bigger than it had been in the past. Just like what I saw at the Lehigh Parkway a few days ago, there was even evidence here that just a bit of buffer holds the stream bank together in a visible way. This was all very good to see! Check it out yourself:
My posts have been running a little long lately, so I am going to end this promptly and positively. There are good signs at Jordan Park. Of the three parks I have visited thus far in 2012, I have seen some very good and hopeful things amongst the ecologic abominations I have also stumbled across. I have many more parks to go and much much more to discover and share with you. Today though, take a look at the pictures below. I am not a photographer and I do not pretend to be. This is just what can be seen on a (kind of) winter night in an urban park in downtown Allentown. Brilliant.
Catch up on Park Logs 2012:
1. Cedar Creek Parkway 1. : The LCA destroyed everything.
2. Cedar Creek Parkway 2. : Well, They never paved the Rose Gardens…
3. Lehigh Parkway 1: Erosion, Erosion, Erosion )
4. Lehigh Parkway 2: The Proof is on the Stream Banks
5. Parkway 3: This is Bad. Very Bad.
My Top Ten Doctor Who Episodes–For Marc
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Read this on February 7, 2012
(This is not best to worst – there is no order but chronological!)
1. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
“ Everybody lives Rose. Just this once, Everybody Lives!”
Christopher Eccleston’s version of The Doctor seems to me to become complete in this episode. The charming campy sci-fi of early Doctor Who is well represented here, especially as it is mixed in to the backdrop of a German airstrike in WWII. This is the first episode written by Steven Moffat and it really is one of his best. I mean, Captain Jack Harkness is introduced here! If Eccleston’s Doctor is overshadowed by Tennant and Smith, this episode is a lasting testament to why his incarnation shouldn’t be.
2. The Impossible Planet/ The Satan Pit
“I believe in her.”
Rose Tyler seems to me to be a pretty polarizing figure to Doctor Who fans. I have heard fans dismiss her as stupid and or middling and I have heard fans extol the graces of Rose as beautifully as the red grass of Galifrey. I am a Rose Tyler fan and despite how heartbreaking the love story between Rose and The Doctor becomes, it is one of my favorite aspects in the reincarnated series. Here, David Tennant’s Doctor faces off with Satan himself (the reveal of Satan actually (probably) being Satan is another reason why this is on my list – it would have been much less risky to not actual have The Doctor face Satan) and he beats the Dark Lord with his love of Rose. Brilliant.
3. Human Nature/The Family of Blood
“ He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of The Time Lord.”
The tenth Doctor had a really pronounced manic/mad scientist nature. He was prone to loud fits and exclamations at the discovery of an idea or when presented with grief or anger. Tennant’s facial maneuverings were perfect at relaying this manic side in a way that was never overbearing or overacted. The Doctor becomes human in this episode to hide from a maniacal alien threat. In doing so, as a human, he falls in love and engages in what could be considered “a normal life”. When the aliens find him and he has to lose his humanity to once again become The Doctor, all that aforementioned manic behavior is transformed into a rage that results in the actions shown in the video above. No episode in the reincarnated series shows The Doctor like this besides this one. It’s almost frightening. This episode also exposes companion Marsha Jones’ unrequited love for The Doctor and in turn, her ultimate reason for leaving the TARDIS.
4. The Sound of Drums/Last of The Time Lords
“ He has saved your lives so many times and you’ve never even knew he was there.”
Martha Jones finest hour, Captain Jack being awesome and the return of The Master. The scale of this episode is huge and handled perfectly. The Master’s tyrannical insanity is beautiful, funny and terrifying to watch especially as The Doctor is rendered useless. The end here of this episode provides a vindication of belief for The Doctor so grand that I can’t believe how effectively touching they managed to make it become. The entire human race chanting, praying for The Doctor and saving his life! He is the one who saves them because he believes in them so much! You see what they did here? Tearjerking and amazing.
5. Turn Left
“Bad Wolf.”
A world without the Doctor? London nuked and 60 million Americans turned into fat monsters? Yep. This Doctor-Lite episode is one of the most memorable of the entire revived series. The entire fate of the universe becomes dependent on the direction Donna Noble decides to turn on the day she is supposed to meet The Doctor. O, and Rose comes back. One of the more gut punch moments occurs in this episode as following the nuclear destruction of London, labor camps are instituted for all immigrants. Donna’s grandfather stands with tears in his eyes and says “It’s happening again”. Holy Crap. O, and Rose comes back!
6. The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End
“Every night Doctor, when it gets dark and the stars come out, I’ll look up on her behalf, I’ll look up at the sky and think of you.”
Every companion of the revived series joins The Doctor in the ultimate fight against a revived Dalek empire. I could end this little bit with that statement and it would be sufficient but there are some things to say. Rose gets her Doctor and becomes a right badass, finally. Donna becomes the most important woman in the universe. Davros returns and is dispatched by a team of three Time Lords. Every component of the revived Doctor Who that made it so magical is fully displayed here and like “Last of The Time Lords”; in the end The Doctor’s beliefs are vindicated. Those beliefs though, what The Doctor represents, will ultimately and always leave him alone in his Tardis and that is exactly how this episode ends. It also ends with The Doctor being John Cusack, rain, trench coat, etc…
7. Vincent and The Doctor
“The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don’t always soften the bad things, but vice-versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant”
The first season with Matt Smith playing The Doctor is very interesting to me. The 11th is far sadder than 10 and instead of masking anger with manic brilliance like 10; this Doctor hides his sadness by becoming childlike. Matt Smith’s Doctor is also the oldest and much more philosophical than the previous incarnation. This episode is a tear inducing, gut punching, beautiful trip through art, depression, and life. If there is one episode to watch on this list, if you have never watched Doctor Who before – this is the one I would recommend.
8. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
No quote here because well –watch the video. That Speech!! I liked Matt Smith from the beginning. I like the way the writers tie in the history of the show with him and I like the bow tie. Here though, Matt Smith’s Doctor becomes a legit badass and ends up restarting the entirety of the damn universe. It’s great. The ending at the wedding is slightly cheesy but for whatever reason, in the context of the episode – I completely love it. This is epic on an epic scale and the hominess of the 11th Doctor keeps it real. Love it.
9. The Doctor’s Wife
“No You’re Not! You’re a bitey mad lady!”
One of my favorite things about Doctor Who is the way the writers are able to seamlessly blend humor, suspense, anger and heart-wrenching sadness into a one hour weekly episode. Neil Gaiman wrote this one and his fandom shines through the excellent story. The old, lonely, and sad Doctor that Smith plays is on full display in the ending of this episode and again, this is another episode that for me, cements how amazing Matt Smith is as The Doctor. The way this one is shot and the setting is really unique as well.
10. The Wedding of River Song
“The first question! The question that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight. The question you’ve been running from all your life. Doctor who? Doctor who?”
For all the convoluted plot machinations of Series 6, that simple stand-alone scene in the video above made the entire Series for me. The history of Doctor Who on full display in the breaking heart of the 11th as he readies himself to die; that’s incredible. A should have seen it coming beautiful ending, another chance for Rory and Amy to fall in love for the first time again, River song being all River Song. Great episode. Really though, here, Matt Smith cements himself in for me as the second greatest Doctor. Yep. Tennant is still number one though, for now.
Honorable Mention:
Every single other episode with the exceptions of Fear Her and Love and Monsters. There are so many amazing moments that I guarantee you, if I were to write this list again tomorrow – it would be different.
I love Doctor Who!
