6 Weird Things About NCIS

I love NCIS.  I love Gibbs and his neanderthal vocabulary and random violence, DiNozzos' cool attitude, McGees' geekiness... they're all great.

But, as a fan, there are a few odd things about the show.

Number 6: Typing solves everything

There is one hell of a lot of typing done in NCIS.  In a typical workplace, you'll certainly hear a significant amount of typing, sure.  But you'll also hear mouse clicks.

In NCIS, mouse clicks don't happen.  Anything and everything Gibbs could want, from the location of a bad guy to the bank account statements of a grieving widow, are found with a few seconds typing.

And never does the computer systems crash, unless of course DiNozzo is using it.

But if, by some chance the keyboard doesn't meet your needs, well...

Number 5: The psychic clicker

The clicker will.

Whatever Gibbs wants on the plasma screen, it will appear with one click of the clicker.  If you've ever used a "clicker" before, for example for a PowerPoint presentation, you'll know that it can either go forwards...

...or backwards.

It isn't a magical tool that will bring up any slide that you want, never mind information that isn't on the slide.  Either someone at NCIS is spending all their time creating PowerPoints that will be used a total of one times, or there's something special about that clicker.

And don't get me started on-

Number 4: Ducky

Is there anything this man hasn't done?  He's trained in shooting, he's been a doctor pretty much everywhere...

And he looks like Illya Kuryakin.

From the LOOK Magazine Photograph Collection

Number 3: The field office in NCIS: Los Angeles

I'm only mentioning this spin-off series once, because to be honest I don't really watch it.

But why are they stationed in what appears to be a garden centre?

Number 2: Everyone else in NCIS.

Who are they?  There must be hundreds of different people working at NCIS headquarters, but apart from the handful of named cast, we've no idea who any of them are.

Number 1: GIBBS.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs.  The leader of the team, the fearless and indestructible Gibbs.

Gibbs knows when DiNozzo is making jokes about him.  He stares confessions out of bad people.  He makes boats teleport through walls.

And he is incredibly lucky.

Think about it.  Every case, he'll tell his people to look into a particular aspect - the wife, the boyfriend, the bank account, the phone records... and that one thing will result in the piece of information that he needs to find the naughty person and stare the life out of them.

And if that doesn't work, his gun will finish the job.

Almost as though it was a TV show or something.

If you enjoyed this list and like rants of variable quality, check out this list of 8 things you learn from slimming clubs (hint: none of them include "eat less, exercise more")

The Wil Wheaton Project and making videos

I'm a big fan of several people.  Stephen Fry, my son, and Leroy Jethro Gibbs, to name but a few.

For about a week I went around drinking out of those american travel mugs that kind of look like the coffee pots in NCIS because it made me feel like Gibbs.

One other guy that I am definitely a fan of is Wil Wheaton.  Wil played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and has done a ton of stuff since then.  Wil is unashamedly a geek, and presents TableTop on the Geek & Sundry network on YouTube.

Anyhow, Wil is involved in a new show appearing on SyFy in the near future called The Wil Wheaton Project, which sounds like an awesome show about science fiction, pop culture, viral videos, all that kind of thing.  I don't know if it's going to be available here in the UK but I really hope so!

And on his blog, he's asked for submissions for an item called First Contact.  I'd suggest that you read his blog entry for full details, but briefly they're looking for short videos from people talking about when they met someone famous.  I had a go at recording a video, and I'm pleased to say that the quality of the video is really good, better than anything I've done before.  I've not shared this video on my YouTube channel because I don't know if the show makers would want it kept private - not that I really think that they're going to actually use the submission because it isn't that good, but I don't want to give them any additional reason for not using it - but I used my video editing software to record the video using the highest quality settings it had, and I also did more mucking about with the audio than I usually would, to chop out hiss and background noise, and I'm really pleased at the quality of the final video.  Although I still really want a proper camera, new webcam, and a decent microphone to improve my videos, it is pleasing to see what can be done with a bit of tinkering and effort.

Just like Gibbs...

On Friday I stopped at the coffee shop (I don't know why I'm being unspecific, I went to Costa, other coffee providers are available but Costa is the closest one to work, and they're open when I go to work, so I went there) and got a drink.  Mainly because I fancied one, but also being it meant that I felt a little bit like Gibbs of NCIS, being able to march into working, clutching a hot drink, ready to do business.

Although the look was probably thrown off a little bit by the drink being a hot chocolate, and by me also clutching a bag with a piece of Tiffin in.

While I'm talking about Gibbs, what's the deal with Norfolk?  You know how an episode of NCIS starts (well if you're addicted to the show like I am you will), basically Tony looks all smug and makes some kind of wisecrack about McGee being a geek, Ziva/Kate shoots Tony being with an epic remark, then Gibbs marches in, and says "Grab your gear - dead marine in Norfolk"

Why Norfolk?  Why is Norfolk, the fairly quiet rural county to the east of England, so popular for marines getting murdered?  Are they choking on insufficiently cooked asparagus?

(Note for American readers - I know Norfolk in the USA is home to the world's largest Naval Base, but in the UK it's a rural county with a penchant for growing asparagus)

Finally, many thanks to all that have watched my World of Warcraft video.  It's become one of my most viewed videos which makes the effort worthwhile.  And thanks again to Andy for helping make it.