Freyburg

So I’ve been busy for the past couple of months with my day job, working as a writer and editor for EP Daily, the new, daily version of the long-beloved Electric Playground.Basically, I get to make stories about video games, sci-fi movies and TV, and comics, all of which makes me extremely happy. Here’s a taste of the show, which you can see on G4TechTV…

The BBC, in their infinite wisdom, decided sometimes in the late Sixties or early Seventies that they needed space for new shows in their tape library, and destroyed many of the original tapes containing Hartnell, Troughton, and even a few Pertwee stories. Despite the odd find each decade of a lost story molding away in some backwater, many of these classic Who tales are lost in the mists of time…until now.

It turns out many a fan recorded the audio from the shows as they were broadcast, so almost all the soundtracks have been preserved. But a cadre of fans spread across the globe are taking things a step further and animating the classic lost Doctor Who adventures to recreate the Doctor’s first adventures. The BBC did this officially with “The Invasion,” but as stated in the Guardian story, animating is a tremendous amount of work. Fans don’t care, though, they want their Who and they’re willing to put noses to the grindstone to get it.

Chris absconded to Las Vegas  this week for liquor, gambling, and other licentious pursuits, so it was left to the other two pillars of RFS to hold the fort, which they barely managed. The subject at hand? “Turn Left,’ which served as not only this season’s “Doctor Lite” episode but also as a fantastic return to the series for Billie Piper, not to mention a sterling performance by Catherine Tate. The usual digressions and drivel-making were of course present, but without our tall co-host’s derisive sneers and seething hate, it wasn’t quite the same.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #88 - Third (Guy) Left: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (83)

Ah, two great tastes that taste great together!

The Canadian DMCA has just been tabled by the House of Commons, and from what I can tell (gleaned from Michael Geist’s excellent blog post) it’s a complete and total ruinous mess for the future of electronic media in Canada. Let’s, just for a second, get past the spectre of evil pirates stealing content from hard-working, impoverished studios and record companies. This bill makes it illegal for anyone to transfer music they bought off a CD and onto their own iPod. It also makes it illegal to unlock an iPhone or other locked digital devices, to the tune of a $20,000 fine. So the fact that I’ve been carting around said iPhone for the last six months is apparently more important than the fact that our representatives in Parliament consort with gangster molls or that the Alberta tar sands are an ecological disaster area. No, people downloading the latest Coldplay album is what our law enforcement services should concern themselves with.

The real irony here is that the studios are the authors of their own destruction. If these laws are actually enforceable, all that will happen is that people won’t bother to watch copyrighted material anymore. The means of production are cheaper than ever, and more and more people are watching amateur video, citizen journalism and other user generated content. The drive for self-preservation will actually accelerate the decline and fall of big media, by its own hand.

And the potential damage from this bill doesn’t just affect individuals. Companies in the business of moving and storing content, like Domain7, have already expressed concerns (check their news section for their take on the bill).

What can you do to voice your concerns about this bill? Email your member of Parliament (I just did, for the very first time), join online groups like the Fair Copyright for Canada group on Facebook, and join the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Canadian Music Creators Coalition, and other groups advocating for digital rights.

Dissent in the ranks this week, as the Third Guy forsakes a life of marital bliss with Who scribe Stephen Moffat and rips “Forest of the Dead” a new one. Steven and Warren, on the other hand, were charmed and entertained by the concluding episode of the two-parter that began with last week’s “Silence in the Library,” and thus did vigorous debate and pointless digression occur for about an hour and change.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #86 - Forest of the Dud?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (76)

Silence in the Library marks not only the return of Doctor Who to TV screens after a week’s absence but also easily the best episode of the season thus far. The Three who Rule waxed lyrical on the many excellent aspects of this Moffat-penned tome, speculated madly on the mysteries and plot twists sure to be answered next week, and of course digressed and went on mind-melting tangents as per usual.

 

 Radio Free Skaro #85 - Triumph of the Library: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (69)

With the villainy of Eurovision erasing Doctor Who from England’s screens for the week, all we were left with was a corking trailer for the second half of Season Four and the wonderful news that Steven Moffat, ace writer and life partner of the Third Guy, will take over whip cracking duties from Russell T Davies come 2010. And, as threatened last week, we actually did a commentary for “The Brain of Morbius”, one of Tom Baker’s more violent excursions from the classic series. This is by far the longest RFS we’ve ever done, so let us know by telegraph, carrier pigeon or new-fangled electronic mail if we’ve jumped the shark or whether you’d like to hear more of our extended ramblings on the Classic Series (which, given the semi-hiatus next year, you surely will in one form or another.)

 

 Radio Free Skaro #84 - The Brain of Moffatius: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (73)

….and not a moment too soon. Heather Mallick points out that the ultimate “girlie” movie is less about female liberation than about rampant consumerism and empty, shallow competition to secure a rich husband. I can’t possibly match Mallick’s lovely bile, so check out her article yourself. She also name-checks and quotes professional misanthrope Toby Young’s post about the SATC movie, which is OK by me. Time Out New York also points to the movie as unleashing a new wave of douchification on unsuspecting NY neighbourhoods, and how the show created the creature known as Julia Allison.

I for one will probably never see the SATC movie, but my sympathies go out to all those dragged to the film by a significant other. That just ain’t fair, and I recommend dragging that significant other to as crappy a revenge flick as possible. One of the Saw movies should do the trick.

In my brief tenure as a co-host for the (now-ended) Lab with Leo, I was able to pimp my own podcast, Radio Free Skaro, while explaining the dreaded Red Ring of Death on the Xbox 360. Many thanks to the intrepid Third Guy, my RFS co-host, for tracking down this clip.