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On February 26, 2007 11:47 PM, Chris Burgess said:

Since it was posted when the last episode was no longer listed on the front page, here's a repeat of my latest comment:

20

On February 26, 2007 1:14 PM, Chris Burgess said:

The main heading for this is now off the front page of the blog, but courtesy DWO, we have some upcoming DW DVD releases:

2|entertain have confirmed some more Doctor Who titles to us for 2007.

2nd April - The Runaway Bride

16th April - Survival

14th May - Series 3 Volume 1

28th May - Robot

11th June - Series 3 Volume 2

25th June - Timelash

OMGWTF TIMELASH WHEE YAY. Steven will buy it. =)

On February 27, 2007 12:03 AM, I Am Steven said:

I can only assume that "Timelash" will be part of the "budget" releases...but they may be able to put together a two-disc boxed set, filled with documentaries detailing how much it sucked. But you are entirely right, Chris - I will buy it. But I still don't have to like it. Actually, if Colin Baker and Paul Darrow are on the commentary track, then it wouldn't be half entertaining.

Oh, and "Robot"? Sweet!

On February 27, 2007 12:10 AM, Chris Burgess said:

Of course it'll be the better part of a year before those hit North America... but yep, though I hated Timelash far less than most people I know, I will be buying it. I've bought every one so far, and if I paid for Web Planet I can live with myself for paying for Timelash.

On February 27, 2007 12:27 AM, Chris Burgess said:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178563/

The woman who played the Controller in the Season 27 finale was not in Paradise Towers...

Comments:

Time and the Rani... I liked very little of it, but overall don't hate it. As you guys noted, the VFX are good but wow was the writing bad. And there was no mention from Steven of Loyhargil being an anagram for Holy Grail, aww.

Paradise Towers and the rest of season 24... well, I'll be the brave one here and say that McCoy may well be my favourite Doctor overall. Season 24 was very watchable and enjoyable and fun overall, save parts of Time and the Rani. I love Delta (Welsh people crack me up). Dragonfire is so dark and mysterious. It's hardly the benchmark for wonderful Who, but it's not THAT bad.

On February 27, 2007 1:09 AM, Chris Burgess said:

One general comment is that it would have been rather nice if Warren had seen some of these episodes since being a teenager... this covers the whole of the classic era... it's far too one-sided with Steven having watched classic shows more recently, and plain just using his encyclopedic knowledge. As a fellow fan and nerd, and as someone who remembers a lot about a lot of the episodes, and watches classic episodes here and there (not as religiously as Steven though), outside of DVD releases, it'd be nice to have more than just one person contributing information. Warren's a busy guy and I don't suggest he take any more time out of his busy life to watch kitchy British sci fi, but most episodes it's along the lines of him remembering a little tidbit here and a little tidbit there if it's an episode not yet out on DVD.

That being said, wow, you guys murdered Silver Nemesis. I don't entirely blame you, but wow. =)

On February 27, 2007 1:22 AM, Chris Burgess said:

Battlefield... where to begin...

I'm amazed Warren so despised it considering it was written by Ben Aaronovitch who also wrote his much-beloved Remembrance. The whole dark side of the Doctor, the whole mysterious ethos started the year before... yes, it was a little tacked on. I happen to love darkness and mystery in Doctor Who (I mean, you guys love Talons, right? Those elements are huge in Talons) and although Merlin is a myth, why is it such a bad thing to have someone mistake the Doctor for Merlin? He of course doesn't claim to be Merlin (as noted by Steven). So, we have a little mystery and a little fun at the same time.

And Jean Marsh... what a tour de force! It doesn't matter she's essentially replaying Bavmorda from Willow from the year before, she's so fantastic and perfect. And not an iota of mention from you guys. We're talking about the ex-Mrs. Jon Pertwee here! Nobody could have played that role as well as she did.

The Brig was the Brig... as to Warren's remarks about him being so ineffectual, the guy's 93000 years old, you can't expect him to be doing cartwheels. What he does do is more than sufficient, and certainly he sinks back into the role so perfectly.

And no mention of the return of Bessie?

And as a sidenote, to go along with Steven's penchant for noting other roles by certain DW guest stars, the woman who played Bambera (Angela somethingoranother, I'm too lazy to look it up now) played the female Lister in the final season 2 episode for Red Dwarf, who happens to get the Lister we all know and love (shall we call him Lloyd from Corrie now?) pregnant.

On February 27, 2007 2:21 AM, Chris Burgess said:

Survival... Warren dug the speech at the end... but in the world of tacked-on bits, that monologue by McCoy is the king. That was added later on in post, because of the uncertain future of the show. Had there been a Season 27, that speech would not have appeared.

I'm glad you got into a bit of what Season 27 might have been... and I know Jean-Paul has mentioned to me what was supposed to happen, so I imagine he'll chime in with some completion thoughts for that subject.

As for the Cartmel masterplan, there's a decent amount of information on Wikipedia about that, assuming it's not been cut since I last looked months ago. If memory serves, Aaronovitch was supposed to take over as script editor and he'd work in tandem with Cartmel to make the Doctor even darker. Ah, it is still there. Good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan

As for the previous post, Angela Bruce is the lady's name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Bruce

And yes, she was on Corrie. =)

Also, relative to Fenric, I don't know if either of you read the novelisation of the story (I expect Steven did), but with all the extra meat added in the extended/movie cut of the story, the book (written by Ian Briggs of course) added a whole bunch more stuff (such as the real importance of the chess games for one). Fenric is easily my favourite story from McCoy's era, and as wonderful as the broadcast and extended versions are, the book adds another dimension to the story. It's darn well worth checking out for anyone who dug the broadcast or extended versions.

On February 27, 2007 3:39 AM, Chris Burgess said:

Survival... Warren dug the speech at the end... but in the world of tacked-on bits, that monologue by McCoy is the king. That was added later on in post, because of the uncertain future of the show. Had there been a Season 27, that speech would not have appeared.

I'm glad you got into a bit of what Season 27 might have been... and I know Jean-Paul has mentioned to me what was supposed to happen, so I imagine he'll chime in with some completion thoughts for that subject.

As for the Cartmel masterplan, there's a decent amount of information on Wikipedia about that, assuming it's not been cut since I last looked months ago. If memory serves, Aaronovitch was supposed to take over as script editor and he'd work in tandem with Cartmel to make the Doctor even darker. Ah, it is still there. Good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartmel_Masterplan

As for the previous post, Angela Bruce is the lady's name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Bruce

And yes, she was on Corrie. =)

Also, relative to Fenric, I don't know if either of you read the novelisation of the story (I expect Steven did), but with all the extra meat added in the extended/movie cut of the story, the book (written by Ian Briggs of course) added a whole bunch more stuff (such as the real importance of the chess games for one). Fenric is easily my favourite story from McCoy's era, and as wonderful as the broadcast and extended versions are, the book adds another dimension to the story. It's darn well worth checking out for anyone who dug the broadcast or extended versions.

On February 27, 2007 7:17 AM, Warren Frey said:

I would agree that it would be nice if I'd seen some of the episodes more recently, but....it probably ain't gonna happen. Work, business, social life, girlfriend, the siren call of the Xbox 360..all these things conspire to keep me from Classic Who. :)

But in a few short weeks that won't matter..for a few short weeks.

On February 27, 2007 12:14 PM, Chris Burgess said:

March 31 be the day.

And the Beeb has confirmed that list of DVD releases. All prepare for the coming of Timelash!

On February 27, 2007 5:09 PM, I am Steven. said:

Is it March 31 that is D-Day? I heard initially March 24, but then, that was based on nothing. Great. It means we're going to have drag out the McGann podcast into two parts to fill the gap between now and Series 3.

Oh, and about that "Controller" person in "Bad Wolf", I realised immediately after saying the word "Controller" that it would have sounded like I was referring to the wiry girl who was hooked up to all the wires. Who I meant, of course, was the East Indian lady whose character's name completely escapes me (nor was it ever with me). She was a Kang in "Towers", anyway. And I though that the Yellow Kangs were, in fact, the best, but the Red and Blue Kangs cheated.

And yeah, Warren, what's with all this "not watching Doctor Who" business? Man, I'm carrying this show! (apart from recording it, editing it, paying for the hosting, etc). When RFS inevitably hits the iTunes Top 20 list, I'm renegotiating my contract...

On February 27, 2007 6:20 PM, Chris Burgess said:

Renegotiate indeed... gotta keep the talent happy. Screw the production staff. You guys worked in the TV industry, you know how it is. =)

And yeah, March 31 is d-day. I for one welcome the extra McGann content should it come. How can anyone get enough of that wonderful movie? And kissing the companion? The Doctor turning out to be half human (on his mother's side)? Pure genius. You're going to need at least 3 hours to cover the 89 minute movie.

As for the "Controller" I think you may be correct now that you've clarified who you meant.

And for next week, presumably Warren can find an hour and a half somewhere in his busy schedule to rewatch the movie and be up to snuff and on the ball for disseminating his thoughts.

Build high for happiness.

On February 27, 2007 7:17 PM, Warren Frey said:

Downloading it now.....I hope you're all happy. :)

On February 27, 2007 7:23 PM, I Am Steven said:

I'm only as happy as you will be once you get to see the movie again. We could always download and listen to the 40-odd audio stories that McGann has put out since then in the next week.

But we won't.

On February 28, 2007 8:44 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

Funny that you guys went off on a tangent with Spitting Image. One of the more notable improvements in the McCoy era were the monster masks. For example, the Destroyer, Fifi in the Happiness Patrol, etc. These were made by the team of Susan Moore and Stephen Mansfield. I believe they created puppets for Spitting Image, too. (I may be making all this up, as I'm recalling these details from memory and couldn't find references on the web to back me up.)

On February 28, 2007 8:49 PM, Chris Burgess said:

I wonder if my DVD player has changed its mind about playing my R2 copy of the movie. Yes, I bought it, importing it via Amazon UK. It's the only disc (of any region) that doesn't agree with my player. I think my DVD player is smarter than me or something.

Nonetheless, I've not previously watched any episodes which I knew would be discussed on the next RFS (purposefully, anyway) but I'll make sure to also rewatch the movie as it's been a while since I've seen it. I'll need fodder with which to yell back at my MacBook Pro (as I do with every RFS) when I listen to the next episode.

I guess there's always that NTSC coversion Jean-Paul did of the PAL DVD (he too bought it, so I'm not the sole fool!) if my player still refuses to play nice with the R2 DVD.

As the saying goes, welcome to the suck.

On February 28, 2007 9:00 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

Ah, the great question. Why was Doctor Who cancelled? If you recall, the official BBC statement was that the show was "on hiatus"--in perpetuity, it seems. The simple justification was low ratings.

But is that really it? I believe we'll uncover the best answer in the documentaries that accompany the DVD release of Survival. But my current belief is that the 1996 TV Movie killed the show in 1989. Wha', I hear you cry?

Let me explain. In the summer of 1989 when Season 26 was being filmed, Philip Segal, executive producer of the 1996 movie, was working for Amblin Entertainment. He sent a letter to Peter Cregeen, then head of the BBC, expressing an interest in making an American-backed version of Doctor Who. This arrangement would have to be an exclusive--the BBC would be required to cease making their own version of Doctor Who if the deal was going to succeed. With the promise of a revamped show, the BBC puts their Doctor Who "on hiatus" in the expectation that the deal will eventually happen. (This letter appears in the book "Regeneration", worthwhile picking up if you want the history and production details surrounding the TV movie.)

Well, the deal never happened of course. Some seven years later, Segal manages to wrangle together a TV movie with backing from Universal and Fox.

(As an aside, the ratings for one particular episode of Greatest Show were higher than some of the Eccleston episodes.)

On February 28, 2007 9:32 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

I find it odd that you guys don't buy into the possibility that the Doctor may have past and future adventures unknown that affect events happening in the stories of series 25 and 26. (e.g. Silver Nemesis, Fenric, Merlin). No, I didn't find it overly convincing, either, but it did add an element of intrigue to affairs. And at least Fenric tries to resolve some of these threads.

Yet in the new series, RTD drops in a snippet of back story: the Doctor and his people were engaged in a Time War with the Daleks and the Gallifeyians were wiped out. And suddenly this brings a whole level of emotion to the character--the Doctor, lonely and alone. Personally, I never found this compelling or convincing. It has never induced an emotional response from me in viewing. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Time War, acting merely as a device to an end, never gets fleshed out any further.

On February 28, 2007 9:36 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

As yes, my homebrew R1 copy of the Doctor Who TV Movie. I'm surprised the video is even watchable. The movie was shot on film, transferred to NTSC video for assembling, standard converted to PAL for the British DVD release, and then converted back to NTSC by me to create my own disc. The end result is that there is some ghosting during action scenes and stuttering during pans.

On February 28, 2007 9:49 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

Oh, poor Andrew Cartmell, the Winnipeg-raised script editor of the McCoy series. Well, I don't sympathize that much as I suspect he's a egotistical, sexist jackass in reality.

Nevertheless, I commend him for what he tried to achieve. He had a keen interest in science fiction and comics, and was very well read in this regard. He tried developing new talent rather than rely on old hacks like Pip and Jane Baker. Most of this talent took the form of budding writers enrolled in the BBC scriptwriter's course. By series 26, he was perhaps getting too ambitious, with complex stories that require repeated viewing to explicate, made all the more baffling by bizarre and surreal settings and characters. I love it!

On February 28, 2007 9:54 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

A little tidbit for Warren that should make him chuckle in glee...

The last time writer Ben Aaronovitch tried to watch Battlefield, he could only get through the first 10 minutes.

On February 28, 2007 10:05 PM, Chris Burgess said:

Aww, poor Ben. I wonder if perhaps Cartmel "tweaked" it too much for his liking or something like that. Or perhaps it's just one of those things that artists/writers/etc do for money they later regret.

Nonetheless, I still loves me mah Battlefield.

On February 28, 2007 10:06 PM, I am Steven. said:

I have no problem in unseen adventures shaping the mystery of the Doctor at all. in fact, I think it's one of my favourite aspects of the program. If we were to see every single significant event in the Doctor's life, the show would not only not be mysterious anymore; it'd be Star Trek. And no one wants to be Star Trek.

I think Warren and I agree that parts of Season 25 had "mysterious" elements sledgehammered into them without much forethought. In comparison, you know RTD has put in enough thought into the show to make Tennat's throwaway "I was a dad once" comment something much, much larger.

On February 28, 2007 10:56 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

Nope, I have to disagree. With Season 25, Cartmel is on the record that one of his ongoing goals for the series was to add a new sense of mystery to the character of the Doctor. Unfortunately, it seems that he left this mystery somewhat unstructured. Season 26 gelled much better in this regard.

What really worked well was the mystery of Ace's past, the unspoken events from her childhood that drove her character. The layers of this onion were unpeeled in Ghost Light, Fenric, and Survival.

Sorry, I don't think RTD has any real masterplan. The whole "Bad Wolf" thing was, by his own admission, completely tacked on when the production team started featuring it as an inside joke. His concepts usually consist of a few key scenes, joined together without much thought, resulting in unconvincing logic, recycling of ideas, and deus ex machina devices. And well the "I was a Dad once" may lead up to something (e.g. the Master is the Doctor's son), it may just be just a line to titilate fans.

On February 28, 2007 11:09 PM, Chris Burgess said:

RTD is such a hack when it comes to writing I don't doubt he could generate some backstory from off the cuff remarks like that one, but I already know the result would be poor. Davies, and I've said this before here, is a wonderful and amazing writer when it comes to characterization. He's among the better TV writers anywhere on that front. However, the most important aspects of writing escape his capabilities, things such as structure, plotting and pacing.

I don't claim to be able to do a better job, but I'm also not claiming to be a writer.

The Time War element of the new series was a horrible, tacked-on element (much like Bad Wolf, although I was very keen to follow the Bad Wolf thread throughout the series, making sure I noticed all the references and such, even though that throughline was also an afterthought; the horrible, retarded conclusion to it is enough to prove that) and while RTD is in charge of the series I can see it being fleshed out (so I disagree with Jean-Paul there), but I can't see it being done so very well.

Look at what we have already:

- The Daleks and Gallifrey fought. Nobody survived except the Doctor. Um, what? He was on the front lines, he was deeply involved, how is it he was (per his thinking) the sole survivor?

- Oh, wait, no, he's not the sole survivor. The Nestenes were somehow involved. They survived, until the Doctor kills the one he meets.

- Oh, wait, no, there's a Dalek. it fell through time and became trapped in Utah. Until the Doctor's influence killed it.

- Oh, wait, no, there's now a whole army of Daleks. Another Dalek survived and started cultivating humans (can we say "Cough. Ripoff."?). And has the patience to wait thousands of years. Until the Doctor shows up and his influence leads to the destruction of all of them.

- Whew, okay, back to the Doctor being the sole survivor.

- Oh, no, wait, there's the cult of Skaro, they escaped with an impossible ship to an impossible place with a TARDISesque-sized link to an infinite number of other Daleks. Until the Doctor comes along and kills them.

- Oh, the Black one survived. And magically teleported itself 75 years back in time (yeah, because we've seen THAT before... not) to New York. And the others from the Cult of Skaro made it with him.

The whole thing has gone beyond silly. I can buy some of the elements, like a Dalek transporting itself through time without a time machine. The offscreen developments are key to the survival of the series (rocked ever so well by Timelash) but where's the line?

Going back to the "I was a dad once" line, that's one of those throwaway things which is easy to buy into, simply because we've seen, 44 years ago, his granddaughter. At the time the Doctor was cut out by the show runners to be sort of human, so we have to assume Gallifreyan family structures are the same as our own. I don't want to know more, I don't care to know more. We've seen the end result, it's over with in my mind.

The whole Time War is beyond saving, so I think Jean-Paul might have meant to imply he didn't want a resolution or fleshing-out of the concept rather than he didn't think RTD would do so. The exact opposite is true in my mind, RTD would be the one guy to make sure it was developed. With catastrophic and stupid results.

There was the rumour of the wholesale change of the DW team after series 4, meaning no more Tennant (I can live with that, Eccleston was so much better in the role... though aside from the recent remake of Quatermass, I've really dug David's acting efforts, especially in this past weekend's "Recovery"), no more Davies, no more Collinson, etc. Changes like that vastly improved and increased the longevity of the show in the 60s and 70s. I look forward to when we get rid of the current guard and move on. It might be a "the grass is greener" attitude, but I still say bring it on.

Did I mention I don't like RTD?

On February 28, 2007 11:15 PM, Chris Burgess said:

Oh, and let's also not forget the Davies penchant for blatantly ripping off ideas... such as the Time War being a ripoff of the 1990s concept of a movie featuring the Doctor as the last surviving timelord.

On March 1, 2007 12:28 AM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

Oh, Chris and I are just feeding off each other now. One of the most unsatisfying aspects of RTD's Ninth Doctor was the character's ineffectualness. Rarely is the Doctor a hero--the one who saves the day--not even an antihero, but rather an un-hero.

Let's run through the Eccleston stories, shall we?

1. Rose: At the climax, Rose defeats the Nestene by gymnastically swinging and kicking the antiplastic onto the Conciousness. The Doctor is squirming, held captive by an Auton. Rose 1/10
2. The End of the World: The Doctor reactivates the power in the station, saving it from being enveloped by the sun. Doctor 1/10
3. The Unquiet Dead: Dickens sucks the Gelth out of the cadavers and Gwenyth blows them up. Other 1/10
4. World War III: Mickey surfs the World Wide Web, cracks into military missile command with a simple global password, and targets and fires a missile at 10 Downing Street. (There's some of that convincing RTD plotting I've been alluding to.) Mickey 1/10
5. Dalek: Rose's contact with the Dalek humanizes it, compelling the Metaltron to commit suicide. Rose 2/10
6. The Long Game: Cathica turns up the heat on Floor 500 and the Jagrafess overheats and explodes. Other 2/10
7. Father's Day: Pete darts out of the church to get himself run over by an overly persistent car. Pete 1/10
8. The Doctor Dances: The Doctor introduces the nanogenes to Nancy, which then repair her zombie son, the empty child. Doctor 2/10
9. Boom Town: The TARDIS, itself alive, reveals its "your wish is my command" heart, and Margaret is regressed into an egg. (More scintillating RTD deus ex machina writing there.) TARDIS 1/10
10. The Parting of the Ways: Rose, with some help from family, rips open the TARDIS console and absorbs the energy of the time vortex, becoming omniscient and all-powerful. She erases the Daleks and ressurrects Jack as an immortal. (Nope, no hint of deus ex machina here. None at all.) Rose 3/10

So let's tally up the numbers. The Doctor directly wins the day 20% of the time, Rose 30%, and various other characters the remaining 50%. Yes, Rose plays a pivotal role more often than the Doctor in the climax of these stories. This was a great weakening of the character of the Doctor, diminishing the leading role he played in the original series.

Going back to McCoy's Doctor, some have criticized his omniscience. I would argue this is an exaggeration. Often the Doctor has manipulated used bluster and bluffing to convince a physically dominant enemy that he has the knowledge and power to succeed. This is often a stalling tactic until some other element comes into play to actually defeat the menace. In many cases, this is all I see McCoy's Doctor doing.

Yet in RTD's series, we have Rose being made, deliberately and unequivocably, omniscient in order to remove the Daleks in the penultimate climax of the series.

On March 1, 2007 10:07 AM, Warren Frey said:

Mother of crap! You leave the site alone for a day and the Whovians take over! :)

I could wade into this argument, but I'll just throw in my two bits with "New Who me like." I always thought I was the biggest Dr Who fan around, and in most situations I am, but all of you fine fellows have me beat. Alrighty, back to work.

On March 1, 2007 12:22 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

I suppose what I'm trying to get across is that I don't think the old series, and in particular the later McCoy era, is particularly better or worse than the new series. Yes, the new series has a comparatively bigger budget and definitely looks better, but still suffers in its writing with respect to plotting and character.

When the new show first came out, it was interesting for me to see the response of local fans of the old show, as well as coworkers who were familiar with it (some British, mostly software developers). With a few exceptions, they were disappointed by the new series. I suspect that none of these coworkers watch the new show now, and even some of the former Whovians haven't gotten around to watching all the new episodes, despite these having been broadcast on the CBC. Maybe there's something wrong in the head with us Albertans. Too much sniffing gasoline.

On March 1, 2007 2:09 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

The action in Fenric takes place between a military base, church, and coastline. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but as we move through sequential scenes that flip between these three locations, so to will the major characters. In one scene, a character will be at the church, in the next, that same character will turn up at the base, and then the following scene said character will be back at the church. This despite the fact that these locations might be miles apart. Obviously not much thought was given to having the characters move through the locations in a physically consistent way, but rather they magically turn up as essential to the plot. Some bad writing there, and really my only big critcism of this classic story.

On March 1, 2007 6:40 PM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

Just a few more details of the upcoming R2 DVD releases mentioned by Chris at the top of this thread.

Timelash will feature a 25 minute making of documentary: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". Narrated by Terry Molloy, it features actors Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Paul Darrow, David Chandler, Robert Ashby, script editor Eric Saward, writer Glen McCoy, and journalist Paul Lang. Also included is a coming soon trailer for the next DVD release. The usual photo gallery, production subtitles, and Radio Times listings are included.

Looks like a must have release, if only for the extras! :-p

On March 1, 2007 8:56 PM, Warren Frey said:

I'm watching the TV movie right now....I hope you're all happy. :)

On March 1, 2007 9:01 PM, Chris Burgess said:

When it comes to the TV movie, we're not happy until you're not happy. =)

I watched the first half of it last night before going out for a while and I was sort of enjoying it. I'd forgotten how cheap the production felt though.

Still, we'll get into all this properly next week... =)

On March 2, 2007 2:38 PM, Chris Burgess said:

Details about the Robot DVD release, from sarahjanetv.blogspot.com:

It's been revealed that Elisabeth Sladen will indeed be joining Tom Baker for the DVD commentary - as will the episode's writer Terrance Dicks (who's latest 'Who book - "Made of Steel" - was released yesterday). As with previous Baker/Sladen commentaries, who's betting that it's once more going to be a killer commentary?
There's also a couple of special featurettes, on a release that describes itself as a "special edition" (and not a "vanilla" like last year's "The Sontaran Experiment"). The first of these is "Are Friends Electric?", a 39 minute documentary that looks at the introduction of Tom Baker's Doctor, and the making of "Robot". Contributions come from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Philip Hinchcliffe, Berry Letts and director Christopher Barry, to name but a few.

On top of that, there's a look behind the scenes on how the onscreen titles were created in "The Tunnel Effect" - a 14 minute documentary. It features Bernard Lodge explaining all the tricks of the trade; so if you've ever been a fan of these particular onscreen titles, this release may just be for you!

On March 2, 2007 6:54 PM, Warren Frey said:

That sounds pretty damned sweet. I've always had a soft spot for "Robot,", probably because it was the first episode I ever saw. I may break down and buy this!

On March 4, 2007 12:38 AM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

The CBC has made a brief announcement that series three of Doctor Who will begin broadcasting in June, 2007 in Canada, with series one of Torchwood to follow in the fall. No word if this will be preceded by "The Runaway Bride".

On March 5, 2007 12:47 AM, jabberwocky said:

I think that I can say that I found the books for McCoy's Doctor where a lot more better than the episodes on there own, even with the episodes that were released with extra footage. As for the Doctor being omnipotent, I have to say that I quite enjoyed the doctor manipulating things behind the scene, though I think that they could have done this better than they did.

Warren: when you either hate or like something you are indifferent. do you have to take a full minute to say than.

I like the Candyman he was the best thing of Happiness Patrol, though I have to say that other than him It is an episode that has you shake your head and go what, why, who do I kill? Still I can sit down and watch it. Greatest Show is a bad one, it was to bad that it couldn't have been better. One things for sure the show did improve when mel was not longer traveling with the Doctor.

On March 5, 2007 12:49 AM, jabberwocky said:

I would like to see the Time Wars movie to me made.

On March 5, 2007 4:57 AM, Chris Burgess said:

I was in the mood for some DW last night, asking my magic 8 ball widget's advice for what to watch. I wound up watching Remembrance, Happiness Patrol and Attack of the Cybermen. Remembrance was of course decent, even with the fanwank, Attack was better than I remembered since I last watched it probably 2-3 years ago (and I finally noticed Terry Molloy was in it without makeup, so we know what he looks like... it's his Dugeen, as it were)... and Happiness was, well, not so good.

My biggest problem with Greatest Show was that it was unnecessarily long... they could have crammed the story into 3 parts effectively. The only problem with that is if it went to 3 parts, then that 14th episode would have to go to Happiness or Silver Nemesis... so maybe the extraneous episode was best where it went.

On March 5, 2007 6:36 AM, I am Steven. said:

Maybe they should have held it over to Season 26. Actually, if Seasons 25 and 26 were like this, things would have been much better :

Remembrance : 4 episodes
Happiness Patrol : 3 episodes
Silver Nemesis : 0 episodes
Greatest Show : 3 episodes

Battlefield : 5 episodes (so the Brig can be involved in at least half the story this time)
Ghost Light : 4 episodes
Curse of Fenric : 5 episodes
Survival : 3 episodes

And a one episode Christmas special, where Sylvester McCoy turns to the camera and wishes "a Merry Christmas to all of you at home" before revealing that he, in fact, was Santa Claus. And Jebus.

On March 5, 2007 9:21 AM, Jean-Paul Samson said:

Remember the "Big Yellow Truck" used to pull open the TARDIS control console in "The Parting of the Ways"? Well then, check this out: http://www.tardishire.co.uk/tardis_tankers.htm

On March 5, 2007 2:53 PM, Chris Burgess said:

Bill Hartnell did the whol break the fourth wall and wish the audience a happy Christmas during Dalek Masterplan, so it's been done before.

Besides, wasn't McCoy Jebus? The brooding backstory could have lead there....