The Gamer's Quarter

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah. This series is shapin' up pretty well. The Macrae/Davies switcheroo and shuffle changes things. Now instead of another probably-limp one-off episode cluttering the middle, the series ends with FOUR Davies episodes in a row, with the Moffat story as a lead-in. And he wrote all of these episodes pretty late. Three of them, certainly, not only after most of the series had been planned but after most of it had been shot. So it seems reasonable to expect a certain amount of thematic buildup here.

Not that this will be a four-parter per se. Just, it's three full hours of ramp-up. With an hour and a half of Moffat to kick-start it. If the finale is going to be as nuts as it sounds, I guess it could use that space!

Man, the second half of this series is going to be ludicrous. And the first half looks decent, too. So long as the Raynor Sontaran thing is passable. Again, I've yet to be really impressed with anything she's written. Though the Torchwood stuff is... pretty much competent.

"Meat" was good. The CG for the alien whale-thing is terrible. Normally I don't pay much attention to these things, but really. It's that bad. And there are some weird or cheesy moments, a lot of them Jack's. It's one of my favorites so far, though. It feels like some real progress is going on with the characters. No Rhys-set button! The episode does some difficult things, about as well as they could be done.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

For what it's worth, a couple more DVDs have been surreptitiously revealed. The Brain of Morbius is one of the big pillars of Bob Holmes' and Phillip Hinchcliffe's clumsy attempt to retcon the show in the mid-'70s. And it's one of their more derivative, boring, and even cheap-looking, to boot. Still, it's coming soon. Also in the pipeline is a two-pack of Invisible Enemy -- the highly bizarre story that introduces K-9 -- and A Girl's Best Friend, the one 90-minute episode actually made of K-9 & Company. Presumably the latter set is meant to accompany the Sarah Jane Adventures DVDs, which should be coming along eventually.

So in the UK, what it looks like is this:

January: "Beneath the Surface" (Silurians, Sea Devils, Warriors of the Deep)
February: The Time Meddler (introduction of the Meddling Monk)
March: The Five Doctors ("complete" edition, with both the original version and the 1990s extended edit)
April: Black Orchid (two-part "historical" with Davison)
May: The Invasion of Time (a major Gallifrey story, and a Sontaran story)
June: Trial of a Time Lord (aka Season Twenty-Three)
July: The Brain of Morbius (hugely failed, and thank goodness, attempt to retcon the Doctor's history)
August: The Invisible Enemy / K-9 & Company
September: Four to Doomsday

TBA: Some combination of The Krotons, a McCoy story, or either the "E-Space trilogy" or "Black Guardian trilogy".

In the US, the release rate has been stepped up. So now every month or two, they're issuing two or three releases. As yet they've only scheduled through Beneath the Surface, which will come out here in June. We should catch up pretty quickly after that. (We're only about four behind, including this and this.)

After Time Meddler, none of the releases are really that fascinating. Black Orchid is okay. The Five Doctors re-release ought to be bursting with special features. It already has Colin Baker and Paul McGann presenting some of its documentaries (leaving just McCoy, Eccleston, and Tennant uninvolved... Yet there's a super-secret commentary track...).

The most interesting things to say are that Invasion of Time makes a full set of Sontaran stories, which means they can be reissued in a collector's box -- as with Davros, last fall -- and that the release of Black Orchid means Davison's first season is almost complete.
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Westacular · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Looking around, a lot of people seem to hate this episode. I guess that should be expected, because... that's silly.

If anyone's hankering for old-school Master or Jon Pertwee, there we have it. There's the R1 version. They're really catching up now; that was just released in the UK. Granted, it's not actually coming out here for a couple of months. Get your Netflix ready, nonetheless.

Probably the single best Delgado Master story in there, and two of the three best Pertwee stories. The third one, Inferno, has been out for a while.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Apparently the new version of The Five Doctors has a hidden Tennant/Davies commentary. I'm a little surprised they didn't get McCoy or McGann or Colin Baker in on it, rather than Davies. Not that Davies is ever boring to listen to.

Other stuff.

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Doctor Who papercraft
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

That's pretty great. A Cassandra papercraft... wouldn't tissue paper be best?

Slight update.

Westacular · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:13 pm Post subject:

So still no confirmation on Jack for the Moffat episodes?

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

No, looks like he's just in the finale.

And yeah, looks like Trial of a Time Lord is as confirmed for this year as Davros is for Series Four. It was kind of bleedin' obvious that it was, yet someone involved just dropped a rather enormous hint that it's coming out before a couple of the revealed releases. So that's rather nice.

Though Colin Baker makes a fine Doctor, his era is pretty lousy. Hardly a good script to find. No interesting co-stars. A script editor and a producer in a feud, both incompetent, each pulling in the most destructive direction possible. For all of that, and the other weird contemporary context, Trial is about as good as Colin Baker's stuff gets. He's sunken into the role by this point. His chemistry with Nicola Bryant is much better. When Mel comes around, his chemistry with her is better yet (which says something!). For all the flak they get, Pip & Jane Baker's scripts at least have a sparkle of wit and warmth -- which sets them above almost anyone else's during Saward's tenure.

I like the theme tune much better (though I realize a lot of people don't!). I like the multi-colored rainbow that Colin starts toting around; it sets off and sort of justifies his costume. As usual, Pip & Jane actually created something new, and halfway interesting, in the Vervoids. Though the whole premise for the season is boring and ill-advised, they did some wonderfully surreal stuff with it in the last couple of episodes. The only thing that sticks in my craw about the season is the second segment, Mindwarp -- which is as icky as anything else by Philip Martin. (He has a thing about violence and subjecting Companions to grotesque transformation porn. In all three stories he's written!)

The production values are also better than usual, in The Mysterious Planet. Being filmed largely on location helps. That's part of what makes Mark of the Rani, from the previous season stand out. (Another Pip & Jane script. So again, it's a bit warmer and wittier as well.)

Anyway, that'll be another complete season out. And that just leaves two Colin Baker stories: Attack of the Cybermen, and The Twin Dilemma. The former already has a commentary (also recently recorded), so presumably that's coming pretty soon as well. That'll finish off Season 22.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

I just worked out (with the help of this list) that the core Whoniverse (that is, the four TV shows) takes up more screen time than all of Star Trek (including TAS and all the movies -- plus the new one) if you discount the last six seasons of Voyager. Which... you might as well.

This doesn't include series five, the 2009 specials, the 2008 Christmas special, or any future Torchwood. It does include series four and the 24 new episodes of SJA about to be shot. And Torchwood 2.

At their normal episode count and length, one series each of New Who, Torchwood, and SJA adds up to about 1.5 seasons of Voyager. So in theory, assuming production didn't slow down, it would take four Who years to equal six Trek years. Of course, production is slowing down. Save the specials of indeterminate length, no Who in 2009. I've already accounted for the next two series of SJA (as it seems they're shooting series 2 and 3 back-to-back; thus the hugely increased episode count), and there's no telling what they'll do after that.

So depending on the length of specials, by the end of 2009 the most that'll be chipped away is about 23 episodes of Voyager. Most of season two. If, after that, Who and Torchwood continue and SJA is folded, they'll add up to a little more than a season of Voyager. About three and a half hours more, per year. So it'll still take most of five years of the combination. Best to assume Torchwood won't last that long, so unless some other spin-offs pop up, it'll take even longer.

It's weird that Voyager has so damned many episodes, since it wasn't on for all that long and it was so easily ignored (from being terrible and on UPN). It's like a viral culture that overflowed the petrie dish when you turned your back for a moment.

TOTAL
15:18:30 Whoniverse (through 2008)
15:17:30 Star Trek (-Voy2-7)

BY SEASON
00:18:12 Voyager
00:10:45 New Who
00:10:50 Torchwood
00:05:00 Sarah Jane
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Westacular · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject:

Are you also counting Enterprise?

And, uh, Voyager was on for seven seasons same as both TNG and DS9 and they all have almost the same number of episodes. (No argument with the "so easily ignored" part though.)

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Regarding "Adam": I like the Buffy version better.

I dunno about this one. First impressions are kind of... not-thrilled. Maybe because the device was so transparent. Pour in backstory by using the old genie-bottle memory-shifting character deal. Also, I don't think Barrowman's acting has been worse. And there's a lot of it here.

This Adam dude was certainly ill-defined, wasn't he. As were the logistics of the memory-inveiglement. (If he's worked himself into their long-term memories, why does a 48-hour wipe have any tangible effect?) Also, characters... aren't acting as smart as they were earlier in the season. Only some of that can be chalked down to the memory issues, and only some can be interpreted as comedy. All in all, this was kind of sloppily written. And just as sloppily executed.

Good job, Jack, physically turning your head, VERY SLOWLY AND DRAMATICALLY, whenever you see your little brother. Then being surprised when you turn back and he's not there. TWICE. The second time, to check if someone else is seeing Gray. Rather than, after your first experience, keeping your eyes fixed and asking the same question. The characters keep doing this shit for most of the episode. It's pretty much what keeps the story going, and it just makes me grate my teeth.

The depiction of the Boeshane Peninsula was rather nice, if... uh, Tatooine. And I think Rhys has become my favorite character in the show. Sort of interesting how they keep not revealing who Jack's terrible creatures are. Here the non-reveal just strikes me as a little distracting, though.

Some elements were well-conceived, at least. Gwen's memory loss as a first sign of trouble, say. Nerdy Owen.

Not as bad as some of the series one episodes. And not irrelevant, anyway. That's something, I guess. Hasn't been one of those yet this series.

(Fan reaction: "Best Torchwood episode ever! Finally the show's turning around! 10/10 amazing! Wow, what a change after last week's pile of shit!" It's amazing how I can predict these things...)

Regarding "Reset": Jesus. I... guess they're there, then. Part procedural, part thriller. Best writing to date, some of the best character stuff. Interesting and subtle continuity from a bunch of things, including the ending to "Meat". Martha should be a regular on this. She fleshes out the team perfectly. Works better here than in Who.

(Fan reaction: not as good as the previous episode, and God, Freema is the weak link. Plus why does she know so much stuff all of a sudden? It's stupid!)
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

I liked both of these episodes. The Martha one more, but Adam was actually better than a lot of other Torchwood eps. Owen was priceless in Adam. I am not a fan of that snap-zoom thing they keep doing, though. And it's not that they do it, I just think they do it a bit too much. Are they trying to make that a trademark? It's not as cool as when Sam Raimi does it, for some reason. Mind, if the main thing I'm complaining about is snap zooms, then I think they're not doing too badly.

I think the beginning really made Reset. Not even the continuity masturbation, but more the jokes. The dialogue seemed to flow naturally.

Now, this is interesting: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a89191/davies-torchwood-stars-may-join-dr-who.html

So, now that he's said that the Doctor won't appear in Torchwood... does that mean he will? That always happens, you know. Mind, I'd put my bets more on Torchwood appearing in Who in some manner. I've read that Toshiko's meeting with The Doctor is referenced in some manner, too.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, you know how I am. "Adam" is pretty good. I think it's just my least favorite of the year so far. There are too many gaps in the writing and production, and it just feels clumsy in a way that Torchwood hasn't since series one. Mind, if the worst episode is "pretty good", that's something in itself.

I really like the pacing and structure of the series so far. Every episode has been significant, both in terms of introducing material and in developing characters. And yes! It's the dialog. This episode and "Sleeper" have the best dialog of probably all of Torchwood so far. And this is better, as it aims toward the natural rather than the clever.

Another way to think of it: there were only maybe six solid and important episodes in series one. Six episodes into series two, there's not a disposable one or a total misfire in the bunch.

Somehow I don't see Owen fitting into Who too well. Ianto would be perfect. (Hell, there were already two Iantos in "Army of Ghosts". Tosh has already been in it, as you said. If Gwen were to show up...

I wonder if they'll ever do anything with the Gwen/Gwyneth business, or if Davies just set that up to tease.

All that said, you notice how Owen twigged when Martha mentioned how she knew Jack? "Same Doctor? Wait a minute..." One more reason, besides the date and the nicening, that he had to die.

For the moment.

Got to admit I grew sort of suspicious the moment the "Torchwood Junior" business was announced. Why were they backtracking, all of a sudden? Was it because Davies wanted to do more continuity between the shows? What would that mean, in the context of the series four fangasm? In which nearly every major character in the Whoniverse shows up, over the course of three episodes?
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Westacular · Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:47 pm Post subject:

Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

Torchwood Jr. = Pre-Watershed Torchwood, yeah?

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

I forgot the age thing. Yeah, how about that. As you say, Owen does not look or behave any younger than his mid-30s. None of them do.

I just learned the other day, however, that Gillian Anderson was TWENTY-FOUR when she got the role of Scully. What the hell? All this time I've thought she's ten years older than she is. Which would explain why she looks so good at the grand old age of... what, 39?

Yes, the cut-down version. I've not yet seen any of those. I hear none of them have alternate shots yet; these are all episodes that were shot before they made the decision.
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

I think the best Groundhog Day episode of any show was the Stargate SG-1 episode. If only for golf through the gate. That, and putting the two least brainy characters in the situation.

Meanwhile, Owen is 27? ... right.

I'm thinking of Adam in terms of Freddy Kreuger. Where, he only exists if you know he exists. I like characters like that, but this doesn't explain how he got out of the void so much.

On the number crunching thing, yeah. I can't, uh, I dunno. If they had to do the the keypad entry deal, they could've either made the code funny somehow (like, I dunno, something weird like the Konami Code), or done it in a different way that's not been done to death (say.. the contacts could see the fingerprints on the buttons, and Tosh gave her the possible combinations and she went through a bunch of them to find them or something. That's at least using the ability of the thing.)

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Regarding Groundhog Dag episodes: oh God, talking of topical...
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Westacular · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:24 pm Post subject:

Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

Yeah, it's my favorite ep of SG-1.

Though the Supernatural one was actually really well done, too, with lots of nods. Also, a lot of hilarity, which the show needs right now.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, it's yet another example of something that, going into it, I thought "oh no...", yet they pulled off way more than adequately well.
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

The Trickster episode of last year was my favorite episode, so it was good to see him back again. I think it was a little too much to show him in the opening recap, though. But I guess that's how they can justify to do anything with backstory when people would otherwise 'not get it.'

Supernatural is interesting in it's sort of the combination of X-Files and Angel aesthetic (with one person from both shows working on it.), with a kind of balance between them. I love Angel, but I think Supernatural has sort of surpassed it.

Bobby keeps appearing lately, I have to wonder if his days are numbered. With the strike just now ending, I'm guessing we're either going to see the rest of this seaon in a fourth season or they're going to film the rest like right freaking now.

With how the show works, I really wonder if Dean's going to become a demon but come back with his humanity. Everything they've tried so far has failed more than hardcore.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, Bobby is so dead. Unless they do something unusual. Which they might!

By traditional Television logic, that Evil Dean from the other week would have been seeded for a reason. In this show... hard to tell. That would be kind of obvious. What you suggest would be a decent twist.

Oh, I didn't mention Julian Bleach. Apparently he's Davros. It's this dude (at the start):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOVSp-fYUQc

He's the guy behind that particular company. As for how this has been confirmed (and the source is quite convincing), he's recently been in for measurements for the leather tunic. He's also in a Torchwood episode this year; presumably they saw him in that and thought "oh!". And. Yes, it seems like pretty great casting.

Sort of fun mock-up. Pretty well-done.
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

Wow, that's a really good photoshop. I can usually spot them a mile away, too.

On Evil Dean: I really liked the shot of him snapping at the end.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

I understand that Supernatural is going back to make up at least a few of the episodes this season. Seems like most of the interesting shows are, except BSG. Who knows what's going on there.

That Batman anime thing looks pretty splendid, incidentally.
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

Ha ha.

As an aside, I noticed they had a big SciFi ORIGINALS trailer, and Doctor Who was featured prominantly in it along with Stargate, BSG, etc. I was surprised, since they don't produce the show. But I guess SciFi really treats the show well, considering.

It even got the buzzer on the end of the trailer.

"Save the world, yeah, sounds about right.'

Apparently Heroes isn't doing anymore episodes this season.

Westacular · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:35 am Post subject:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

That's a good resource.

Trial of a Time Lord has been confirmed now. Disc 2 (Mindwarp) alone seems to have a fair number of extras. I kind of hope they do the Hartnell thing and give each segment its own blanket title splash screen before the feature, just to give the hardest-core fans an aneurysm.

"NO! ITS TITLE IS NOT MINDWARP AND TRIAL IS ONE STORY EVEN THOUGH IT IS FOUR STORIES EACH WITH ITS OWN TITLE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY DIFFERENT PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT BLOCKS STRUNG TOGETHER BY A VAGUE FRAMING DEVICE BECAUSE ONLY ONE TITLE APPEARS ON THE SCREEN AND TO SAY OTHERWISE IS HERESY AND I WILL REPOST THIS MESSAGE FIVE TIMES A DAY UNTIL THE UNIVERSE COLLAPSES INTO ITSELF"

I've seen people threatening never to buy another Doctor Who-related DVD if 2|entertain dares put the individual titles anywhere on the packaging.

Also, one of Moffat's episodes is titled "Silence in the Library".
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Westacular · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

So it is!

Though "Boron" is... kind of funny.

Hey, more Torchwood. MadMartha is a week behind, so I'm going with VTV from now on.
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Westacular · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:49 pm Post subject:

Nobody doesn't like molten boron!

I find it's easiest to just use the feeds at http://tvrss.net/ -- there's an RSS feed that contains both EZTV and VTV torrents. Whoever posts it first wins! And I don't even have to know.

In this case, as is typical, both posted the same file (capped/encoded by FoV) but EZTV had the torrent up 3 hours earlier.... although for the past 6 episodes, the VTV torrent appeared earlier. Regardless, in past weeks, you were often posting reviews before I finished downloading the torrent, which suggests that either your download speed has significantly improved, or MadMartha was much faster to torrent the scene release.

Westacular · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:04 pm Post subject:

Ok this is odd: Italics is broken on this page in Firefox 3 Beta 3. Probably some CSS or font issue I guess.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, MadMartha tended to pretty much pounce on the releases. Also, I've reconfigured stuff! So it's faster.

This new episode... occasionally dumb and occasionally boring, but man is this show throwing itself into its own continuity now -- plot, mythology, and character. (Is this the most the Weevils have ever been used?) There are also all of these little, almost subliminal beats. Like Owen's injection mirroring the ending to Meat (much as the almost-ending to the first Martha episode mirrored Meat).

This is the Supernatural episode, apparently. Even the same basic special effect. Though not done quite as well.
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Westacular · Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:22 am Post subject:

Last week's Smallville (please god explain why I still watch it) was filled with "the Torchwood sound". You know the "waaaaaooooop" sound at the end of the Torchwood theme? Smallville used it to mark almost every scene transition, like a children's read-a-long audio book or something.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

How queer!

Full list of Trial extras (reorganized):

DOCUMENTARIES
Making Of - Part One - Mysterious Planet (24:58)
Making Of - Part Two - Mindwarp (20:20)
Making Of - Part Three - Terror of the Vervoids (19:14)
Making Of - Part Four - The Ultimate Foe (15:11)
Trials and Tribulations (Behind the Scenes) (55:04)
Now Get Out of That: Doctor Who Cliffhangers (28:18)
Now and Then: On the Trail of a Time Lord (21:00)
The Lost Season (10:55)
A Fate Worse than Death (02:21)

SNIPS
Deleted & Extended Scenes (36:04)
35mm Film Sequence (01:13)

MUSIC VIDEOS
Title Sequence - Textless (02:16)
Theme Music Remix (03:06)
The Trial Theme (02:47)
Doctor In Distress - Music Video (03:43)

ARCHIVE TV MATERIAL
Wogan (14:22)
Saturday Superstore (13:30)
Open Air (10:27)
Saturday Picture Show (07:30)
Blue Peter - 18/09/86 (06:49)
TV Talkback (05:34)
Lenny Harry Sketch (04:33)
1985 Hiatus - Media Footage (03:53)
BBC Children In Need (03:14)
Points of View (02:21)

ERRATA
Trails and Continuities (17:46)
Photo Gallery(24:16)
Coming Soon to DVD: The Brain of Morbius (00:57)
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digi · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:17 am Post subject:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, they really overuse that sound in Torchwood. At least they haven't progressed to "CHA-CHUNG!" at every scene transition...

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Westacular · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 3:19 pm Post subject:

Razor Doctor HG!

... that would seriously be quite fun to watch.

No single episode of Torchwood has used that sound as often as that episode of Smallville. My brother was watching it with me, and neither of us could place it at first, but after hearing it for the third of fourth time we had to pause it and spend thirty seconds trying to remember why it was so amazingly familiar.

So that whole Angel vibe on Torchwood jumped to unprecedented levels during the first ten minutes of "Dead Man Walking", and ... didn't really subside during the rest of the episode.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Westacular · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:15 pm Post subject:

Replace Jack with Angel, and the Weevils with... Weevils, and that whole progression could have come straight out of an Angel episode.

Speaking of which: Has anyone here read the Angel: After the Fall comics? Fourth one just came out. The books are also published by IDW, and pick up where the show left off with a I-guess-it's-canonical "season 6" (story by Joss Whedon, but not written by) that would have been utterly unfilmable on the show's budget. The character's voices all ring true, and the art is generally effective although some of the likenesses could be improved.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Is this along the same line as the Buffy Season Eight comics? Those are a little weird, the two or three issues I read. A giant-sized Dawn, for instance.

Going by this episode, the Weevils are about as close to a Buffyverse "demon subculture" as Who gets.

Doctor Who is kind of a hard show to describe to people, so for about six months I've been whittling out a stock response, saved somewhere on my hard drive. Every now and then, when the question reemerges, I pull it out and change a few things around. Here's the most recent draft, which is getting a little closer to the point, I think.

--
It's about a man who looks human but isn't, traveling through time and space in a ship that looks like a police phone booth but isn't. The title is the show's central question: who is this guy, anyway? Hints have trickled out over the show's forty-some years, but they generally just raise more questions.

As he explores, the Doctor recruits traveling companions -- usually pretty young women from modern London -- and tries to show them the universe. Instead, he tends to stumble into crises that he feels obliged to put right, using little but his wits and a startling audacity. Then he takes right off again, always moving.

The point of the show is that what matters is not who or what a person is; it's what he does right now, and how he does it. With enough curiosity and persistence, even a nobody can change the world. Yet to find that wonder, and become more than you seem, you must leave your comfort zone.
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Westacular · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:11 am Post subject:

Yeah, same idea as Buffy Season Eight, which I haven't read. BUT: the fact that Buffy had a relatively tidy ending while Angel ended with a huge game-changing cliffhanger changes the way both writers and readers approach a comic book extension.

I like your summary of Doctor Who, but it could use something about the Doctor's flaws and limitations, or the anxieties that drive his constant roaming.

Something to the effect that he's afraid to look back at past mistakes, and he avoids thinking too hard about any one topic until the situation demands it. The unspoken thrill-seeking aspect of it all. There is a countless variety of things he could do to make himself more prepared for the inevitable crises that he stumbles into, but for some pathological reason, he doesn't: he himself tries to keep within a certain odd comfort zone.

Then again, all of that stuff is almost always left in subtext, so maybe it isn't quite worth mentioning in a blurb.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

I was also wondering how to fit in the whole enabling issue without making it more complicated or ballooning the wordcount. That's the big thing I'm working on; making it as dense as I can, while keeping it simple.

And yeah, that's one of the more interesting things the new series does, that the classic one kind of doesn't, much -- bringing the Doctor's failures (both large and small) front and center, to contrast with his overall intent. There's a lot of finger pointing at the moments where he and Rose (especially) stop challenging themselves and each other.Tennant's Doctor, in particular, gets a little weird when he just lets things happen, unchecked. (This is why I see such promise in Donna.)

And then there's the avoidance, which is dripping from every corner of his character now -- whereas before, you just sort of had to infer it from his long-term behavior. Which is also sort of a comfort zone thing, which results in a sort of a key internal conflict for the character. Something he always has to fight against, even if he never quite wins. Whatever he does, he's always running from something.

Hm. Probably an elegant way to suggest some of that. Though yeah, probably doesn't do to be too overt right up front.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Sci-Fi is being clever with scheduling. Check this out:

Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

I just read Angel: After the Fall recently and it's really well done. The only character who read oddly to me was Connor and really, how much did you know about new-Connor from the two episodes that he appeared?

I don't want to spoil much since Aderack hasn't seen season 5 and I think he intends to. This is a great continuation, even though I didn't see it going this way exactly when they ended the series - budget, mainly. The twist at the end of episode 3 is well played, too.

EDIT: Okay, so I should've said issue.

The edit is for this: Apparently, Jesse L. Martin is leaving Law and Order, and is being replaced by Anthony Anderson. I.. I don't even know what to say, really.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, I've bumped season three up my Netflix queue. Might as well plow through the rest of it, since I've come this far. No sense stopping at nine seasons of Buffyverse.

Oh. I expected Green to stick around forever, somehow. Agnes will be displeased. I've not seen this new guy in anything. He looks... jolly?

Man. So basically, the clearing of the decks continues. That just leaves Van Buren and Nu-McCoy. And I don't think either's going to leave until they croak.
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

McCoy isn't even in a lot of scenes now, so it must be pretty easy to keep him on.

Anthony Anderson is primarily in comedies, actually. Some good, a lot bad. I haven't seen any of the serious stuff he's been in, to be honest. He's not bad at all, mind you, but he doesn't come from a really serious background so people are going to have a shitfit if this turns out to be fact. It's almost like casting Will Farrell in a serious part. And hey, I liked Stranger than Fiction.

As an example, Anderson was in that movie with Jerry O'Connell where they were trying to catch a kangaroo.

EDIT: You know, it occurs to me: Sliders is a show they really need to remake or bring back. It has continuation potential much like Doctor Who. I don't even think you'd need all the original actors anymore. Plus I think tv budget special effects have progressed where alternate realities are possible.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco