I have to say that I to am among those that hated the movie. I ended up seeing at Dave Yadalee (yes you are reading it right) Damn I mentioned him. But I like Paul McGann as the Doctor. As for Eric Roberts over the top acting Chris Burgess with confirm that that was what ER was shooting for when doing the Master. I also agree with Warren an american should never play the role of the Master.
Dreaded scenes from the movie the cop on the motorcycle into the TARDIS and they promptly drove out.
WTF? How'd you end up at Yadallee's abode? Please tell me the answer doesn't contain the word "roofies." :)
Before I listen to this latest podcast, I thought I'd post my original review of the TV movie, written in the wee hours of the morning after the broadcast...
**********
Well, the new Doctor Who movie finished its broadcast on CITV Edmonton three
hours ago. Ten people came to our Who party, including an interviewer from CBC
Radio. The presence of an interviewer really helped to vocally bring out
everybody's opinions of the old and new Doctor Who. There were a number of
differing opinions on what the new Doctor Who should be like. Most people felt
it to be important that several Doctor Who icons remain intact, while others
were more open minded, being more concerned with how well a new American
audience would take to the programme. I'm going to try to make this review as
spoilerless as possible, but unfortunately I will end up making a few minor
revelations. Be forewarned...
(POTENTIAL MOVIE SPOILERS AHEAD!)
As the appointed hour of 10:00 p.m. approached, I was repeatedly looking at my
watch at closer intervals, such was my anticipation. Finally, the moment
arrived. The movie begins with McGann giving a prologue speech as the TRADIS
spins through the space-time vortex. (Actually, the computer graphic of the
TARDIS is a bit cheesy--I was beginning to feel right at home!) The first
thing that I found hard to get used to was watching McCoy's Doctor on epic
looking film instead of low budget videotape. It is certainly a little odd.
McCoy remains the Doctor for the first 25 minutes (including commercials), but
sadly doesn't get many lines. His performance is very subtle, in contrast to
his bouncing enthusiasm that we are used to in the old series. I found the
first 40 minutes of the movie to be quite horrific and violent in regards to
McCoy's death and subsequent regeneration. I can now understand why the BBC is
having so much trouble getting a 15 rating on the video release. All I can say
is be prepared for this when you watch.
The Master does a repeat performance from "Keeper of Traken" and takes over
somebody else's body. His non-physical form as you see him beforehand is
rather bizarre, reminiscent of the "liquid Terminator" from Terminator 2. This
is one component of the film that will be hard for the traditionalist Whovian
to accept. Eric Roberts does a pretty good job at playing the Master. He has
a deep, soothing voice, great for the trademark hypnotism scenes, but sometimes
his lines make him seem a bit too "American" rather than Gallifreyan. Those
present at my party either liked or loathed his characterization.
McGann is also quite good. He's not really Fourth Doctorish at all, but has
his own unique characterization. His Doctor is less the British eccentric that
we are used to, but is nevertheless very intense. He displays his emotions to
a greater extent than most Doctors--there are several scenes that demonstrate
this fact. (By the way, there are three of... well, ahem... those you knows.)
McGann was universally praised by the attendees at my Who get-together.
The Doctor's companion, Ashbrook's Grace, manages to get through the whole
movie without screaming, and this should endear her to a lot of Whovians.
Grace is a strong character who stands up as an intelligent person and a worthy
companion to the Doctor. You may get a few flashbacks when the Doctor shouts
"GrACE!" A lot of the Whovians at my party didn't like Grace (too Scully-ish,
was one complaint), whereas I thought she would make a good continuing
companion.
The direction by Geoff Sax, coupled with the camera work, is extremely stylish
and atmospheric, and is easily the highlight of the film. The downside is that
such technique sacrifices characterization. The sets are impressive, especially
the plush wood and steel control room. Sure, it's too bad they couldn't fit a
few roundels in here and there, but I think the more liberal of Whovians will
like it.
Sadly, the weakest link of the movie is the all-crucial script, and I'm sorry
to say that the plot is weak and much of the dialogue lacking. The early
script that concentrates on the regeneration is exceptional. However, when the
actual plot gets underway with the Doctor's struggle against the Master, the
whole thing falls apart. There are some big holes, most irritating of all--how
does the Master get into the Doctor's TARDIS without the key. (By the way, if
you've ever wondered how the Doctor fits his large TARDIS key into a
conventional lock, you'll finally discover his technique!) Another scene just
after the regeneration has the Doctor wandering the empty halls and destroyed
rooms of what is supposed to be an active, working hospital. Huh? The
potential for amusing quips that could emphasize the Britishness of Doctor Who
is ignored. Instead, we are fed allegedly humorous, cliched lines straight out
of an American action movie. There are also a number of campy jokes, but they
all seem rather forced. There are some revelations concerning the Doctor's
background that are not essential to the plot (or where any of a million other,
less revolutionary ideas could have be used) and will only serve to irritate
long-time Whovians. Most damaging of all is the reliance on Doctor Who
mythology in much of the dialogue. Things like Daleks, Gallifrey, the Eye of
Harmony, the TARDIS, and others are mentioned. As one of the party attendees
suggested, this is a lot of baggage for a new viewer to cope with and
comprehend.
Another big problem is the question of the unique Britishness of this new
Doctor Who. I'm afraid to say that, despite the promises, the movie does not
maintain this endearing quality. This reason alone will cause much pain to
many traditional Whovians.
On a scale of one to ten, I'll give the movie a seven. I am pretty happy with
what I saw on my screen, although there is room for improvement in terms of
scripting and the essential Britishness. I'm crossing my fingers that there
will be some more new Doctor Who in the future on our television screens, as
this movie has proved there is still life in the ol' Doctor.
And yes, we all conglomerated at Dave Yadallee's place to watch. Chris, too.
To his credit, Yads was the one that figured out that CITV Edmonton was broadcasting the movie in the first place, two days before the official Fox broadcast. All the local TV Guides had, I believe, The Stepford Wives or some such trash listed in this timeslot. Dave had the audacity to phone the various local stations to see if any of them were showing the telefilm.
Well, the words "Dave" and "audacity" do fit quite well....and if you haven't listened to the podcast yet, you'll be surprised at some ITV inside baseball courtesy of Steven. Ah, the joys of working in broadcast in Edmonton.....:)
Yes, there were a load of us who went to Yads' place to watch the movie in '96. That was back when we could somewhat tolerate him, I suppose. My most prevalent memory of the event was Dave rushing out of the sitting room into the adjacent room to post on USENET whenever a commercial break rolled around.
On to the podcast comments...
Yes, the movie does look clunky. I had alluded to that in the previous comment thread when I said it seemed cheap (despite Jean-Paul's protestations to the opposite because it cost $8M or whatever). It looked so hobbled together, and it was so obviously not San Francisco (a city near and dear to my heart, which I've been to many, many times, though only twice by the time the movie aired). Warren is likely correct in that you can't tell it was Vancouver where it was filmed, but you could definitely tell it was not Frisco.
Timewyrm: Exodus was a fantastic book indeed, easily my favourite of the early New Adventures. However while I read more of them than Steven, going through probably the first 25 or 30 of them, then just buying them and buying them and never reading them.
Like Warren, I had all the novelisations. He pretty much started me on the trend of buying and reading them, and I never let up until there were no more to get (even getting some of the more rare books along the way) other than reprints with the new look/style. Now, however, they're all in boxes, somewhere in storage not seeing the light of day. I did make sure to read all of them, or at least quite substantially all of them, back in the day.
The fanwank element of the movie was overkill... just listening to Warren list out some of the old show elements shows that. The mixture of old and new was far, far less elegant than how it was done in the new series. Granted, the new series had more time to flesh out those elements. I know a few people who've gotten into the new series without having ever seen the classic series, and they get what's going on thanks to the slow trickle of information about the backstory. Anyone who might have tried getting into Who via the movie would have been overrun at best.
As for the rumours about The Master returning in series 3, well, didn't RTD once say that would never happen? And if RTD says something will never happen, you can bet your gold star in mathematics you're going to see it in the show because that guy is so darn untrustworthy (or loves reverse psychology maybe?). Jean-Paul can back me up here, he's got a list of things RTD said won't happen, and low and behold there they are. This also fuels my rant about how retarded the Time War element is, and how it's so ill-planned thanks to the hack lead writer.
As for Canadian productions, I couldn't agree more... they always look a little dowdy or inferior to American-made stuff. I'm not sure Battlestar Galactica is as good a comparison as some other stuff which could be mentioned, as it's just too studio-bound to be a valid comparison (and what they do show for exteriors is generally in wooded or other very non-identifiable areas). However, if you watch something like Corner Gas or Little Mosque on the Prairie, you're watching something that's fairly well done, but there's just that intangible portion which makes you never forget it's Canadian and it's just a little... off, relative to American cousins.
Oh, and in a quick search, Dimensions in Time isn't actually on YouTube, surprisingly enough.
Grace being taken over/going evil was exactly what Warren figured, the influence of The Master coming into the TARDIS and the plot needing the Doctor out of the way breifly.
As to American redesigns, the sign something has been determined as needing revamping is Ted McGinley showing up... or so says www.jumptheshark.com if memory serves. =)
As for American TV with far-reaching fanbases, Lost is a prime example which has huge followings here and in the UK, among other areas no doubt. Lost routinely beats lots of British shows in the UK ratings.
For the audio adventures, one friend of Jean-Paul's and I used to import the Big Finish CDs all the time, spending a small fortune on them between shipping and exchange costs, and he was a huge proponent of them. Nowadays, I don't even know if he's seen all the episodes of the two series of the new show.
Bernice Summerfield is indeed quite popular, given she's had a bunch of series of her own audio adventures outside the main Big Finish ones and the New Adventures. Paul Cornell created the character and is quite proud of his effort (and rightly so).
I wasn't aware Kate Orman married a superfan type guy, but good on her. I know she used to be quite active in rec.arts.drwho and presumably still is active there if not on OG. Jean-Paul would remember better, but a lot of the DW creative folks were active on the net. Jean-Marc Lofficier, Kate Orman, Paul Cornell, Steven Moffat, etc. etc. etc. That's one beautiful facet of the net, bringing together fans and the creative folks. Then, you've got things like the monthly DW fan pub gathering at the Fitzroy Tavern in London, where Jean-Paul had Paul Cornell buy him a pint even.
The Curse of Fatal Death was a fun romp, and if it weren't for the fact nobody would take him seriously, Rowan Atkinson would possibly have made a decent Doctor. I thought Jonathan Pryce even made a decent Master. And now there's all those rumours about Hugh Grant regretting not playing the Doctor when asked to do so, after his stint in Fatal Death.
You guys spent at most half the time discussing the movie, but honestly, you spent as much time as you needed to given the subject matter.
I look forward to ripping your opinions apart for the Eccleston episodes. =)
Well, comparing the telefilm to 1980's Doctor Who, it sure didn't look cheap to me at the time. I thought it's visuals (i.e. cinematography) was one of the better aspects of the flick.
Ah yes, RTD's reverse psychology. Like his statements that he wasn't even considering introducing concepts such as regeneration at the start of the first series, knowing full well that Eccleston was gone. Or that Billie Piper had signed on for a third series at the start of the second, even though he knew she would be leaving at the end. And in keeping with his pattern of reintroducing one major villain from the original show per season, the Master is the obvious next choice, this despite RTD saying that a moustache-twirling villain wouldn't work in today's Doctor Who. Translation: We're bringing back the Master, but he won't have a moustache.
I got to see Dimensions in Time at the Visions 1993 convention in Chicago. John Nathan Turner brought it along, together with 3D glasses, to raise money for Children in Need. The way the 3D worked was that the glasses had one lens shaded darker than the other. Apparently it takes your brain longer to process a darker image than a brighter one. So the special was filmed with the camera constantly moving, so that all the objects in the scene keep moving from left to right. The discrepency in your brain processing resulted in one eye seeing a frame later than the other, which renders it in 3D in your head. Didn't really work very well, and boy did my eyes go wonky fast.
Yeah, Kate Orman married Jon Blum. She helped turn him into a published writer. Back in the 1990's, some of the regular big names in r.a.dw on USENET included Christopher H. Bidmead, Johnny Byrne, Ben Aaronovitch, and Paul Cornell. This is before Steven Moffat's time, I think, at least I don't remember him being in there.
Yes, to think one night in 1995, I had dinner with my fellow Edmonton Whovians, including Yads. And the next night, I was drinking cider in London with Paul Cornell, Andy Lane, and probably some other future Who writers I don't recall. Fellow Canuck and popular r.a.dw babe Carrie O'Grady was there, too. I think she ended up moving to England and sharing a house with Gareth Roberts, who of course is now a writer in the third series of Doctor Who.
After the failure of the telefilm, I moved away from watching Doctor Who. No more buying books, etc. KSPS took it off the air. When the DVD's started coming out, I started to get back into it. Is fandom an addiction?
Speaking of PBS, there's about 40 or so PBS stations across the US that have now picked up the Eccleston series for broadcast. Sadly, KSPS is not one of them, but, man, that is sweet news. As much as I love watching the new series on the interweb and on DVD, nothing says Doctor Who like 11:00 on a Saturday night. Perfect time for a young nerd with nowhere to go...
I can't believe we didn't mention the motorbike cop bit from the TVM. I mean, that was the single best comedic moment in the show's history since "City of Death", and we never bothered to praise it. Inexcusable.
Which motorbike cop, the one whose motorbike is taken by Grace and The Doctor, or the one whose brakes fail in a masterful (ugh) comedic moment where the base of the TARDIS magically disappears so he can more easily go inside and come back out?
Can't it be both? If anything, Doctor Who just does not have enough motorbike cops. Thankfully, we had two in the TVM.
I like how both the Doctor and Grace laugh at this unfortunate fellow as he, no doubt, careens off to his inevitable death. If anything, that cop needs a back story. Who was he chasing to go so fast in the first place? And how did he manage to do a quick 180 in the TARDIS without hitting anything (console, hat rack, etc), and then exit by the same 6' wide door he came in? Quite a talented fellow, and a lost opportunity that he didn't stay on as a companion.
Why didn't they get that base to disappear whenever K-9 wanted to get in/out of the TARDIS?
Fandom is an addiction, but with age comes either binging and tunnel vision or moderation. One thing that always bugged me about other fans (and not just Dr Who, pick your poison..) even back in my monomaniacal teens was a dismissal of everything that wasn't "their show." Also, superfans tend to have an air of superiority predicated on, well...nothing, since they come off as smug jerks about a subject few, by definition, care about.
And some people, as they get older, tunnel into that role until they can't get out. But on the other hand, others (and I count all of us in that group) can stay true to the fan within while maintaining lives in the real world. It's just a question of picking and choosing, and for me that means watching the old shows, downloading the new ones, and this podcast, and not much else.
And Jean-Paul, I know where you're coming from with the "from X to Y" sensation. I went from working in a tiny town in Alberta and drinking beers at the Legion to taking pictures of celebrities and BSG hotties in the space of under two years, and sometimes I just have to shake my head and make sure it's not all some surreal jape. Probably not as jarring as hanging with Yads and then the future luminaries of Who the next day, but there we are. :)
BSG hotties.....I'm a rookie office temp, but you don't hear me bragging.
Ah but you experienced televisual glory, sir, far longer than I. :)
In a related note, apparently editing jobs are few and far between in this town. It all goes down to LA so producers can rule with an iron fist. Makes me happy (once again) I got out of the TV game.
I can;t wait for my "Invasion" and "Sontaran Experiment" DVDs to arrive in my mailbox anyday now, if only to wash the taste of the TVM out of my mouth. Poor Paul McGann. We continually dump on his only visual contribution to the Whoniverse. I almost want to start listening to his audios purely out of kindness.
In the dark days of Who, circa the late 1990s, I too was turned off the series. I don't necessarily blame the TVM, at least not as the complete reason, but more the lack of Who content in general. Sure there were the few mainstays like the books and DWM, but those simply weren't enough to maintain my rabid fandom. Much like Jean-Paul, the DVDs sparked anew my interest in the series. Watching Robots of Death, seeing the dimensional analogy presented to Leela by the Doctor of keeping those differently-sized cubes apart yet together, with the larger fitting inside the small all at the same time, making me think, "hey, I remember that bit fro back in the day" regenerated (pun intended) my fandom. I'd become quite apathetic with the series by then, not caring about it any more. Then, slowly but surely, I got back into it through the DVDs. Then topping up orders from Amazon with VHS Who stories just to get free shipping and to revisit things I'd not seen in years or in some cases (as with The Invasion or The Tenth Planet) never seen. Then more DVDs came out. Then low and behold "teh interwebs" presented me with Big Finish dramas (of which I've listened to a grand total of zero, despite having numerous data DVDs full of them in mp3). And these funky Kazaa and DirectConnect thingies allowed me to get DivX copies of old stories. Then when BitTorrent hit the scene in 2002 or 2003 or whenever, all of a sudden there was no shortage of sites out there where one could procure old episodes (much more easily than the haphazard means offered by other p2p systems at the time like WinMX, DC, etc.).
I was late to the game with finding OG though, I've not been reading it forever like some people I know. To this day I've still never bothered with their forums (though I do keep meaning to get over there, but the draconian policies in place by Shaun Lyon do bother me), but I read the site at least daily (despite the fact it's not what it once was, even considering there are more contributors than just Shaun Lyon... case in point, it took 4 or 5 days for the information about Robot and Timelash to hit the front page at OG after it was announced at the restoration team's site).
I'm still not as gung ho now as I was back in the day when everything was so new and fresh to me, trying to absorb as many stories as I could, trying to meet as many people interested in Who as possible, etc. However, I do still sit there with bated breath as I see DVD-quality digital source MPG2 dumps of the episodes trickle into Usenet, unable to contain my glee at a new episode of Who. A sort of buyer's remorse invariably hits me after I watch the new series dreck (it's more bad than good, save a few shining examples like Steven Moffat's efforts in the first two series) but come the following saturday, the same anticipation wracks my body.
I expected my copies of Sontaran Experiment and The Invasion to arrive today, and I was looking forward to them as Tuesday is a nothing night for TV for me, however no mail came at all (damn labour shortage, I swear it's holding up my DVDs) so I'm sat here with no new DVDs to watch. I've had my VHS of Battlefield sitting nearby for 3 days now, perhaps it's time to finally indulge myself in its rampant glory. Glory, I tells ya!
Excellent. As of 12:46am today (so, 35 minutes or so ago assuming Canada Post uses Mountain Time) my DVDs are here in Edmonton, at the sortation plant. I should have them in my grubby little protruberances Wednesday morning/afternoon.
Then I can enjoy the suckage that is The Sontaran Experiment.
At least I can look forward to The Invasion, which I've not watched since I bought the VHS a few years back.
Aha! Mine, too, are at the Edmonton sortation plant as of 8:36 AM! Pity they didn't arrive yesterday because I was up to "Sontaran Experiment" in my marathon, and I don't wait for anyone when it comes to a Doctor Who marathon (least of all the postal service.)
My DVD's of the "Sontaran Experiment" and "The Invasion" have arrived. Yipee! I'm tearing open the Amazon box right now. The big question is: which do I watch first?
It's a conspiracy! No DVDs in the mail for me today. Usually mine arrive 2-3 days before Jean-Paul gets his, this is quite weird. Maybe there's a separate parcel truck yet to make the delivery today... hmm...
I got my parcel slip in my mailbox when I got home today...will it there when I hit the post office in a few minutes? Or is this just Canada Post teasing me?
My DVDs finally showed up today.
Also, for the consumption of the loyal readers of this fine comment thread, I've posted a couple clips from this week's Dead Ringers (s7e03 for those wanting to bother downloading the whole thing) featuring lovely -- oh so lovely and very accurate -- spoofs of Torchwood. Quality is OK, but not perfect (downloaded as XviD, clipped in QuickTime, saved as QT movies).
They can be found at http://www.cburgess.ca/torchwood_spoof.mov and http://www.cburgess.ca/torchwood_spoof2.mov for your enjoyment.
My goodness Torchwood sucks. =)
My DVDs finally showed up today.
Also, for the consumption of the loyal readers of this fine comment thread, I've posted a couple clips from this week's Dead Ringers (s7e03 for those wanting to bother downloading the whole thing) featuring lovely -- oh so lovely and very accurate -- spoofs of Torchwood. Quality is OK, but not perfect (downloaded as XviD, clipped in QuickTime, saved as QT movies).
They can be found at http://www.cburgess.ca/torchwood_spoof.mov and http://www.cburgess.ca/torchwood_spoof2.mov for your enjoyment.
My goodness Torchwood sucks. =)
Chris is making me post this. He says that he gets flagged as a spammer and so can't do so himself.
Chris says that his DVD's arrived today: "The Invasion" and "The Sontaran Experiment".
Also, he has found a few observant spoofs of Torchwood that he would like to share: http://www.cburgess.ca/torchwood_spoof.mov
The second is: http://www.cburgess.ca/torchwood_spoof2.mov
And finally, Chris would like to mention, and I quote, "My goodness Torchwood sucks."
Testing...
The spoofs are from this week's Dead Ringers episode, in case anyone doesn't recognize the source.
Heh. That was some funny stuff, and pretty close to the mark, frankly. Still liked the fairy episode, Countrycide and the one with the cats from the 50's.
Are you sure that its a spoof of the show, it looked just like the episodes of the show.
I have no DVDs to brag about. But I did watch the first two episodes of Eccleston's reign yesterday as homework for the next podcast....while lying on the couch racked with sickness.
Keep watching then... I ranked episode 3, The Unquiet Dead, as my favourite of the season (yes, beating out the Moffat two-parter). Then stop there for fear of that Slitheen tripe.
Chris, your comment was over the number of allowed links in a comment so it kept getting flagged as spam. I've increased the limit, but it's your fault if the site gets completely overrun with people selling penis enlargement pills now... :)
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Thanks for the limit increase. I guess I should learn to say things in fewer posts or something. =)
Okay let's see if I can break this again.
The Torchwood parodies from last night's Dead Ringers have now been mentioned on one of the larger (that I'm aware of anyway) Torchwood blogs/info sites:
http://torchwoodtv.blogspot.com/2007/03/dead-ringers.html
P.S. buy viagra =)
Got my Viagra! Was there anything else the spam machine told me to buy? I'll check later.
I ain't watched Series 1 in some time, but according to the rulebook, Caretaker #345/12, sub section 3, I ain't allowed to break the marathon that I'm currently in. I'm up to Genesis of the Daleks right now. But I watched Series 1 enough over the past 2 years that I'll have no problem remembering.
Get well soon, Freyburg.
Genesis... so presumably you got your Sontaran Experiment DVDs just in time to watch a nicer copy of it. Soon you get to rewatch the dreck of Android Invasion and Planet of Evil and the thrilling CSO of Terror of the Zygons.
I have yet to crack the shrinkwrap on either of the two new DVDs. Perhaps I should consider doing so tonight and sink my teeth into The Invasion, which I've not seen in a few years....
I usually watch the episodes with the commentary and production notes on when I first get them on DVD, so I watched the story proper on Monday, then the new DVD on Wednesday. Season 13 is surprisingly weak, really, apart from the superb jungle set in Planet of Evil. But how long can you admire a realistic Ealing studio jungle? About 7 and a half minutes, I reckon.
The Invasion was pretty cool. Kinda drawn out, though, I always thought, and I bet the animators were wishing that episodes 6 and 8 were the ones missing, because 1 and 4 are pretty unremarkable, visually.
"The Tenth Planet" seems like an obvious choice for the next animated experiement. I wonder if they'd bother to draw the sheen from the endless rolls of clear packing tape used to hold the headlamps on the Cybermen heads.
When I first watched Tenth Planet I absolutely loved it. I'd seen Tomb before that of course, but that was the only one of the 5 black & white Cyberman stories I had seen at the time. I loved the voices of the Cybermen, I loved the costumes, and I really didn't miss Hartnell as the story progressed. For some reason I kind of dug Ben & Polly as companions (despite them only being in the one surviving story!) and I remember after reading the book I really wished The Smugglers still existed (wow did I love that book!).
Now that I've seen the rest of the Cyberman stories from the 1960s (or at least as much as exists; if I bothered to watch a reconstruction I'd do so for Wheel in Space and probably nothing else) I really dig them. They were so much more atmospheric and dark than anything that came in colour (aside from portions of Earthshock). I think I'm convinced David Banks should not have been allowed to do his thing for so long... not that I blame him for ruining the villain, he can just be the scapegoat.
All I can say is on a pure enjoyment level I like some aspects of Attack or Silver Nemesis... but give me the old Cybermen any day!
Now I want to watch Tenth Planet again... thankfully it's the most complete of the black & white stories. Ah, so much Who, so little time.
A friend that some of us that have been posting here one Greg Fink was at lunch the same time I was over at dell and he mentioned that he got The Invasion and said he is quite impressed with what has been done.
That's goo to hear, since Greg's favourite Doctor was always Troughton. If they can kep the fanboys happy then they'll always have a market. How's Greg doing?
Besides being married, he is doing preety good.
More importantly, is he a regular listener to the show? :)
So Mike, you're saying being married degrades one's condition? =)
I don't know if he's a regular listener or not, but hopefully Warren remembers Greg from the 10-0 days (or BAKA even).
Oh, um, buy xanax. Gotta get with the spam times.
Here's a nice (but lengthy URL) interview with RTD:
My favourite part: "This created uproar in the Doctor Who online community. But then, everything creates uproar in the Doctor Who online community."
The most interesting part: "A fourth series of Doctor Who has already been commissioned, and Davies is putting the finishing touches to scripts for Christmas 2007. His work here is - almost - done."
Now, did I miss the news of a fourth series being commissioned?
Hey, I don't disagree with him. I don't think pandering to the fans, rather than hewing to a vision for the series (which the series has, like it or not) is the way to go. Like we said in last week's podcast, fan wank is momentarily amusing but ultimately detrimental.
Do I agree with everything RTD has done? Nope. But I agree with enough to be happy with the finished product, and the show probably wouldn't have come back at all if it weren't for a driving force like someone like RTD.
Thanks for that interview, I'm going to post that on the main page.
I suppose the long and the short of it is Doctor Who has had good people running it over the years and it's had not so good people running it over the years. Not every production team will put out product/content that all fans will enjoy (a great example is our differing opinions on the McCoy era, to pick something outside the new series). We're all going to like and dislike aspects of every production team's efforts and that's that.
Of course, it's still fun to debate and goad in order to promote discussion or even reevaluation of another's opinions. =)
I see that today OG has picked up on that interview's comment about a fourth season (and 2007 Christmas special) being commissioned. There have been a few major coups scored by British newspapers about the new series so it's quite within the realm of possibility that there has indeed been a fourth series commissioned and perhaps the BBC is sitting on the news until the press screening of 'Smith and Jones' or maybe even after the initial viewing figures for 'Smith and Jones' are in.
And as for RTD and pandering to fans, well, yes he absolutely does do it. He's not as overt as the fanwank elements in the TVM or (for instance) Remembrance, but he's nonetheless doing it. He's got his own twist on things to be sure, and I applaud him for having a vision (just not for the lack of ability to carry it through very well), but the fanwank is there. A great example is the sonic screwdriver (as well as Jack's sonic gun in series 1)... that's a fanwank element brought back to life, and it frankly didn't take long for the production team to realize it was as silly a kludge as it was in the 1970s/80s if the rumours of its destruction (again) are true. And you can't tell me the sonic lipstick (!!!) isn't fanwank in Sarah Jane Adventures. Ultimately, your assertion of fanwank being ultimately detrimental is wonderfully correct. Still, it's awfully hard to keep a fanbase for a series with such a history without bits and bobs of fanwank throughout.
However, all praise be to the wonderful fans of the series who can adapt to changes in the series and society reflected in the series. We're far better off than say Star Trek fans who (in my experience) take a very hard line when it comes to any element of that franchise. Not to mention the pity I feel for the poor writers of Star Trek series and movies considering the canon bible to which they're quite forced to adhere (Rick Berman bastardizations aside). You guys touched on that a bit, and it's a wonderful thing to keep in mind.
I'm sorry Warren but the two times that I have managed to run into greg at work he has not mentioned your podcast.
Did you know the Ood are from a sister planet of the Sensesphere, home of the Sensorites? So yes, RTD grabs ideas from the old series as needed to fit his storylines.
The Sensorites connection wasn't in the story itself... not that I recall picking up on... was that in the making of book?
However now that it's mentioned, they do sort of look similar...
I think the fanwank elements in the new series are, for the most part, incidental to the plot, and provide an inside laugh for those who know the joke, but allow the average viewer to accept it and move on.
The sonic screwdriver is, really, a way to avoid 15 minutes of taking the Doctor out of the story while he tries to figure a way to open up a door. Of course, if he had it in "The Aztecs", there would have been no story to speak of.
The sonic screwdriver is rather over used though, isn't it? A fun drinking game is to count the number of times it is used in, say, "The Runaway Bride".
Yes, in the book Doctor Who: The Inside Story, RTD mentions that, in his mind, the Sensorites and Ood are related with the Ood living on the Oodspere, and even showed Millenium FX pictures of the Sensorites, explaining how he wanted the Ood to have the same sort of bald, broad scalps.
Yeah, the sonic screwdriver is over used and used for things that to my mind make no sense i.e. bring back the silven back after she teleported, over and over again. and using it as a tool for examining the patients in the hospital in the Empty Child. Still I like that the sconic screw driver is back, but RTD needs to tone down its so called uses.
Sadly, it looks like a serious technical error has been made on the second disc of the North American release of "The Invasion". It is believed that the video was dropped down to composite for standards conversion or authoring. This has resulted in chroma noise and jitter on episodes five through eight. So much for getting a beautifully cleaned up digital copy of the story...
Woo, post 50, yeah !!!!!!!!!!!!
Well I didn't see Greg at Dell today it could have been his day off, I'll ask him about the second disk.
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