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What's this? A Doctor Who thread?
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aderack
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And that's Graeme Harper with the glasses. He's directing the double-banked episode this year, aka the "Doctor lite" one. As with Blink or Love & Monsters. He's also got two others coming, but that's the one he's doing now.

So, uh. Huh.

As for Moffat: yeah. Looking at it again, you're right. Missed some of the tone the first time.

By the way, I'm de-carpaling by mapping this Xbox 360 controller for web browsing. And it's workin' darned well!

Here's the lowdown:

Left stick: mouse movement
Right stick: scroll wheel
D-pad: arrow keys

A (bottom button): left-click
B (right button): right-click
Y (top button): middle-click
X (left button): Tab

Left Bumper: cycle tab left (Ctrl-PgUp)
Right Bumper: cycle tab right (Ctrl-PgDown)
Left Trigger: Alt
Right Trigger: Ctrl

Back: Home
Start: End
Left Stick Click: Enter
Right Stick Click: F4

The logistics of this are pretty deep. Hold right trigger, move right stick to resize text. Hold left trigger, press X to switch windows. Hold right trigger, press X to switch tabs. Hold right trigger, click right stick to close tab. Hold left trigger, click right stick to close window. Hold B over image, move right stick to resize image. Hold left trigger, tap left or right to go back or forward in browser history.
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Dracko
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Eric, what do you make of this?
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aderack
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh yeah. That was kind of infamous. It was only recently that I realized it was Doctor Who that the broadcast interrupted.

I think this is how Max Headroom always should have been broadcast.

Man, that was a strange idea. Not sure what was going on in the 1980s...

A little while ago a sci-fi magazine threw RTD and Verity Lambert in a room together and printed what happened. Just now they put the article online. Some kind of interesting stuff in there, such as Davies making it explicit that he basically wanted to recreate the '60s era of the show, from before it got all Koji Igarashi. Which is kind of obvious, but this is the first I've seen him say it outright.

More of Ms. Piper, with some of Ms. Tate:






EDIT: Whoa, are these Axons?


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baron patsy
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An interesting tidbit: apparently the guys from the Mars Volta are Doctor Who fans, and Wikipedia says that they "incorporate the Axon characters into their backdrop", whatever that means. There are a few lyrical references that I've caught, though the only one that comes immediately to mind is the line "ring the cloister bell inside" from "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)".

They play the theme over the sound system after shows, too.
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Harveyjames
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kylie Minogue??!


Eric-Jon, you should visit Cardiff one day. Because Doctor Who is the only thing that happens there besides rugby, you can't go anywhere with hearing someone talking about it. On my very first night there, I heard a bloke talking on the floor below about how Billie Piper was a 'right bitch'.

SFX is the UK's biggest Sci-Fi magazine. They always have something covering up the lower half of the 'F' on the cover so it looks like the magazine is called 'SEX'.

Also your last post has broken the frame, you can't even be trusted in your own thread WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU
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aderack
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Get a bigger monitor. What's wrong with you?

I've seen issues of SEX that have the Predator on the front.

Yeah, Cardiff sounds like it must be pretty surreal these days. I visited Wales when I was in high school, and it's... pretty much as one might expect. It must be kind of like if The X-Files or something were filmed in Augusta, Maine. Except more so.

According to the BBC itself, Rose is back for three episodes. So. Huh. That makes: Donna, Martha, Jack, Rose. And there are rumors of Lis Sladen being spotted with Cath Tate. And Kylie has hinted that she may be back later. So, uh. I guess they're greeting the intermission with a bang?
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Westacular
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oops. I accidentally stopped receiving update notifications for this thread, and it took me two weeks to realize.


aderack wrote:
By the way, I'm de-carpaling by mapping this Xbox 360 controller for web browsing. And it's workin' darned well!

Here's the lowdown:

[snip]


A while back, I did the same thing with a very similar mapping using a cheap dual-analog USB gamepad I picked up (that had about the same number of buttons). It was useful for a while, until my ergonomic situation changed and I didn't bother with it anymore. Are you using Joy2Key, or has something new come along?

Note that Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right also switches tabs; if you mapped the left trigger to alt or ctrl+alt you'd get an arguably more intuitive tab-switching mechanism. (EDIT: scratch that; it's a mac-only shortcut. My mistake.) You could free up the bumpers, two, if you're willing to go without a one-button forward/back solution.

I think pg up / pg down might be more useful than home/end. (Ctrl+Pg Up/Down also cycles tabs.) And if it's mainly for Firefox, Ctrl+W is the best all-purpose tab closing command; it will also close the window if there's only one tab left (whereas, iirc, Ctrl+F4 doesn't.)

(AND YET, despite all those tab cycling keyboard shortcut options, I still felt it necessary to hackishly add yet another more convenient one in an extension on my MacBook Pro.)
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aderack
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I switched the two stick-clicks since that posting.

I wasn't aware of Ctrl+PgUp/Down. Changing now! Those are on the bumpers, and LT is now Alt, for more sophisticated chording.

I use Home and End because I'm always needing to hop to the beginning and end of pages. Clicking the "next" link, seeing the most recent post, whatever. The scrollwheel (especially with analog support) is good enough for paging.


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Harveyjames
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Billie looks like she's getting ready to bite Catherine Tate's wart right off.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I thought Harveyjames wrote:
Billie looks like she's getting ready to bite Catherine Tate's twat right off.

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Harveyjames
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

:O

I read an interview with Bille Piper today in a magazine, just because of the Dr. Who connection! This is interesting because I don't really watch Dr. Who! I even read that RTD/Verity Sharp interview. And I call him RTD. I even enjoy reading this thread. What's wrong with me?
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Westacular
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You've been reading this thread. It's like a game that never stops. It's also, uh, mostly noise-free, civil discussion with a small group of analytical people. It's survived four different forums, three seasons, and all of the time in between when nothing was on the air.

Welcome.
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Westacular
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ashura wrote:
As for Angel. I would watch the final 3 seasons. Word of warning, 3 and 4 make about one whole good season. There's some warbling in season 3 and the backend of season 4 is pretty shite. Season 5 is, however, 100% awesome, and even redeems the Connor character.


That, uh, more or less describes exactly what I've watched of Angel -- I started, tentatively, halfway through season 3 and kept with it to the end.

And I agree almost entirely. (I'm maybe a bit less negative about the end of 4.) Season 3 and 4 flow together; collectively they just plow through these 6-8 episode arcs that eventually pile up and arrive at a big but messy how'd-we-get-here-from-there conclusion.

Then the season finale of 4 -- which story-wise is more rightly be counted as the start of 5 -- changes things completely, giving a much needed clean slate, but thankfully does it in a way that doesn't feel like its cheating the viewer, and lets season 5 be 100% awesome.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is the James Marsters business?

They should put him on Law & Order: SVU. And still playing Spike. He can be the Evil Munch.

Apparently he's also going to be in the third series of Torchwood... and maybe beyond?

I guess I'll watch the rest of Angel?

Incidental God, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes kicks ass. I never appreciated it enough when it was on Mystery! the first time.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://beasthouse-lm2.blogspot.com/2007/11/secs-sell.html

Lawrence Miles again. Grouchy guy who used to write for the novel ranges and who took his work really, really seriously. He says interesting stuff sometimes.
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baron patsy
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some guy posted a huge spoiler breakdown in the Who thread on SA, and it contained an interesting rumor about the Doctor and the Master potentially switching bodies and the specials featuring Tennant as the Master and Simm as the Doctor. As far as I can tell it isn't actually based on anything that has been confirmed true or factual, but I admit that that'd be interesting.

Another interesting thing mentioned was a brief outline for the Doctor-lite episode. Apparently it focuses on the Doctor's assistants after he is thought to have died.
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Cycle
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The first couple seasons of Angel were quality, kinda sucked around the middle, started getting good again in season 5 and then it was canned.

Also apparently James Marstars is going to be in the Dragonball movie directed by Stephen Chow?
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Westacular
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lawrence Miles wrote:
Today, the action-figures and the voice-changer masks are like badges of honour, while the books… well, they sell, but they seem somehow irrelevant. And this is hardly surprising, because I didn't write any of them, even though I was obviously qualified for God's sake.


Any point he might have had sorta gets lost in his bone-picking grumpiness and the fact that British television and merchandising habits have never made sense to me -- 1979 or now.

Wait, let me say that again more clearly: his views are obviously biased in various ways, and I have no baseline understanding of the British situation, which together leave me unable to evaluate the validity of his arguments. My gut reaction is to say that viewer-consumer / show-merchandise relationships have matured enough (and the marketing people have learned enough) to avoid the disastrous burn out trends of yesteryear -- but that's in North America, and Britain is weird; the same gut reaction tells me that no one would be dumb enough to advertise a Dalek Sec mask on national television, so maybe he is right. Without any then-and-now sales numbers to back things up he's just talking through his hat.

His comparison of pre-1980 with contemporary viewing habits and the footnote about Daleks in Manhattan are ok, but neither say anything that hasn't be said here.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah. I mean, he's an unrepentant grouch. Though he seems to have some fun with that persona (as in that quote). Taking that in mind, I find his commentary pretty interesting.

Not as interesting as this, though.



The Doctor/Master thing is based in nothing. There might have been a tabloid rumor, but that doesn't say much. Still, yeah. It is a fascinating idea! You remember those rumors around the start of series one that Eccleston was really the Master, and that the real Doctor would turn up eventually? If they were to follow up on this, it would be kind of neat if they just sort of gradually let on that something odd was happening.

That business about the Doctor "dying" next year: it comes from dialog heard during the shoot, by the same people who snapped those pictures. There's no telling just what the context was, but there were a few lines of dialog between Rose and Donna to that end.

Oh, you know that Davros box set? It's coming out here next year after all, for some reason. Don't know if it's really worthwhile, but... maybe? I only have one of the stories on DVD, and that's Remembrance -- which has been redone from scratch for the set. Plus it comes with that Big Finish disc, and some unique extras.

Big Finish is really hit and miss. Most of their Davros stuff, though, I gotta say, is fantastic. Which is interesting, because I could hardly have cared less about him, based strictly on his TV appearances. On a drive down to E3 one year Thom and I listened to the Sixth Doctor audio titled "Davros", which is basically a sitcom featuring the Doctor and Davros stuck in a lab together, and it was hilarity all the way.

The new exclusive audio for the set is here, and it's pretty great itself. For context, each of the Davros audios takes place between two of his TV stories, helping to explain how he got from A to B. The exception, sort of, is the I, Davros series, that... well, it's set during a particular event in his later continuity, but it mostly consists of flashbacks to his youth, pre-Genesis.

This audio is set between Revelation and Remembrance. The Daleks have captured Davros and are about to put him on trial for having betrayed them. You see, eventually he got pissed off that his Daleks wouldn't listen to him so he started to develop a new race of "improved" Daleks out of human stock, that would be loyal to him. The original Daleks (led by the Dalek Supreme) saw these new Daleks as impostors and abominations, and blah blah.

So they've got Davros in custody. Yet somehow by the time of Revelation he has become the... well, a Dalek Emperor. And though he's still Davros, he has a few identity issues. Later in the Eighth Doctor audio Terror Firma he's gone completely mental, and can't decide who or what he is; whether he's Dalek or not, whether he's still himself or something else. This audio serves to explain how that whole last step in Davros's stoy came about. And it's hilariously good.

It's kind of best if you've seen Genesis first, though, to understand a key thematic point.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whoa, they're really rocketing along this year. They've now filmed (in addition to Time Crash and Voyage of the Damned) episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 -- and they're working on episodes 6, 8, and 11. Presumably 11 is the "Doctor Lite" one with Rose and everyone.



So by the end of the year they'll have finished all but the Moffat two-parter and the finale.

* CIN - Time Crash
* 4.X - Voyage of the Damned
* 4.01 - Blues [Donna joins]
* 4.02 - Planet of the Ood
* 4.03 - TBA [Pompeii]
* 4.04/4.05 - TBA [Sontarans and UNIT; Martha reappears]
* 4.06 - TBA [Either the MacRae or the Greenhorn episode]
* 4.07 - The Unicorn and the Wasp
* 4.08 - TBA [Either the Greenhorn or the MacRae episode]
* 4.09/4.10 - TBA [Moffat - Cybermen?]
* 4.11 - TBA [Doctor lite, Companion heavy; by Davies]
* 4.12/4.13 - TBA [Finale; by Davies]

EDIT: Whup, wup, what's that on Donna's wrist?


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote



ARE WE NOT MEN? WE ARE TORCHWOOD!

Some curious reports here and here.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whoa. UNIT's turning up again. I guess it makes sense, what with Martha. But... there's a lot of UNIT in series four.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

--

Last edited by vision on Sun Jul 10, 2011 9:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Ashura
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man, I tell you what, having no internet sucks ass. Stealing a buddy's internet just to post this. I've been following this thread through my phone, but unfortunately I can't actually post through that.

On Angel Season 4: Yeah, I meant to say, the final episode of that series essentially sets up Season 5... to the point where it might as well be the first episode of Season 5. There's actually some very good stuff in Season 4, like with Faith and the Las Vegas episode... but then like three, there's ass. I think if you edited 3 and 4 down, you could create one good full season out of it.

Where is this 'UNIT' info coming from, Aderack? Unfortunately I can't look at a lot of sites through my phone, so if you can be link-heavy until Comcast gets around to installing shizzle, I would totally appreciate it.

That info about Torchwood series 2 is really promising. It sounds like they really thought about all the problems and fixed it.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

UNIT: set reports. Lots of photographs of people in fatigues with berets with UNIT insignia, swarming around Donna (more recently, for episode 11) and Martha (earlier, for the Sontaran two-parter). And since it looks like there's another three-part finale this year, presumably they'll be around in the last two as well.

Yeah, Torchwood is sounding pretty good now.

http://firefox.org/news/articles/966/1/Review-Torchwood-Series-2-Episode-1-039Kiss-Kiss-Bang-Bang039/Page1.html
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aderack
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Glorpy illustration style, but hey. Novice Hame.

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=138970
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Harveyjames
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think that drawing would be alright if not for the colouring which is too tight and is really confused as to where the light is coming from. Also could do with less furry WTF.

A lot of furries are actually really good at drawing! This fact never fails to amaze me.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote





They're also willing to pay out the ass for commissions. And wait for ages. And if they like you, they don't let go. If you're ever in a tight spot, now you know where to turn. You probably don't want to put egg-laying hermaphrodite bat gang bangs on your resume, but it can pay the bills.
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I get to reply again!!

I have an off and on buddy who makes a ton of cash because she can draw really good furry shit. I mean, her stuff is really really good. She's belittling herself doing what she does but I guess it helps pay the bills. I have another who is a pretty decent artist who doesn't particularly like furry but whores himself out anyway. He also does a bunch of City of Heroes/Villains and WoW fanart of people's characters for them for commissions sometimes, which is pretty much the same principal.

Aderack is so right. Furries are willing to pay out the ass for really well drawn and professionally colored stuff, and even more if it's porn. I have seen the lines a few people I know get, and it's insanity. And it creeps me out.

Also a friend once related a fascinating story of sitting at another friend's comnission line at some anime con. The artist was essentially asked by a guy to 'draw me banging the Read or Die chick.' Needless to say, the artist? She refused.
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man, I really take my job for granted.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The exodus begins. Julie Gardner is moving on after the 2009 "special series", and some dude from Granada is moving in. He'll be sitting under her for the next year and watching what she does.

It's pretty clear that Susie Liggat is soon going to replace Phil Collinson. Davies is probably leaving after the specials, to go off and do "MGM (More Gay Men)". All of this helps to suggest that Tennant definitely will hang on through series five, as they're going to want some kind of consistency.
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RTD is leaving ??!?!
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More Gay Men!

It's not been announced, but it's been hinted.

Also, a second series of SJA is announced. And apparently that Ballet Shoes thing that the Granada guy did starred Yasmin Paige from SJA. Just for the six degrees value.
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

At the BBC isn't it more like two degrees?
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well. British TV in general, I guess. Granada is ITV. They did Sherlock Holmes, the early Up movies, and... lots of stuff. There's an awful lot of cross-pollination, though.

New RT article up. Speaking of ups.

Steve Roberts wrote:
This release is probably our most technically challenging restoration project to date, bringing together just about all of the unique techniques and processes we have developed over the last few years.


And a demonstration.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually did check before I posted, and Ballet Shoes was a BBC co-production; I've now learned that [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granada_Productions]Granada, while owned by ITV, produces some of everything for everybody[/url].

I expect to never use this information again in my life.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oho. I was unaware of its freelance status.

I do know that the BBC ran the entire run of Sherlock Holmes a while back, and that was a big deal because they were showing ITV material. Yet it was culturally significant enough that it was appropriate to do so.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In DWM, regarding UNIT, Davies wrote:
Yes, they're back! Properly! We've seen UNIT now and then... but now they're centre stage!


Also, some Torchwood information. Finally, as broadcast looms.

2.01 - Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Chris Chibnall / Ashley Way)
2.02 - Sleeper (James Moran / Colin Teague)
2.03 - To the Last Man (Helen Raynor / Andy Goddard)
2.04 - Meat (Cath Tregenna / Colin Teague)
2.05 - Adam (Cath Tregenna / Colin Teague)
2.06 - Reset (JC Wilsher / Ashley Way)
2.07 - TBA (Matt Jones / Andy Goddard)
2.08 - TBA (Joseph Lidster / Andy Goddard)
2.09 - TBA (Phil Ford)
2.10 - TBA (PJ Hammond)
2.11 - TBA (Chris Chibnall)
2.12 - TBA (Chris Chibnall)
2.13 - TBA (Chris Chibnall)

Martha is in episodes six through eight.

Also: Billie Piper.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

On Roobarb's, there's a discussion about Andrew Cartmel, inspired by his selection as moderator on a Pertwee-era story -- a decision that a lot of people feel is inappropriate, because not only was Cartmel responsible for the horrible McCoy era; he's often critical of the earlier eras of the show. Meaning from 1970 until he took over. Which is also the era that I like the least. And is also the era that RTD is making pains to ignore in the new series. All for pretty much the same set of reasons. Anyway, I wrote this:

--
He certainly had the same basic idea as RTD: dial the show back to where he thought it worked best -- that being the first six years or so. Mysterious Doctor-as-MacGuffin, developed companion-as-protagonist, more experimental storylines.

The difference is that whereas RTD goes after all this from a populist perspective, by stripping things down and creating a new space, Cartmel was more... well, I wanted to say academic. I guess, that plus brute force. His whole idea was to twist and bend what was already there into a shape that he personally liked better. A relatively clumsy method to reach the same shape.

And yeah, the method seems to mostly be what's at issue. RTD's methods tend to engage and inspire, whereas Cartmel's tend to disgust and confuse. And that is understandable.

Cartmel came to the show as an interested outsider, without much writing experience. Davies was an enormous fan, yet a disciplined (cue the snide remarks) popular dramatist. What Cartmel lacked was the affection for the material that softens Davies' approach, and the experience to tailor his vision for mass consumption.

On the other hand, Cartmel's insight is rather cutting and immediate, and it probably would have taken someone like Davies years to come to similar conclusions. Going by Davies' earlier proposals, it seems to have!

Me, I don't care so much about how either of them got there; I pretty much agree with their conclusions. I don't have any investment in the material that they dismiss. I'm not so much interested in execution as the ideas at work, so both eras feel pretty darned similar to me -- and hiccups aside, they do feel largely successful in what they set out to do. It's almost like you could chop out seasons 7-23, and hey presto the show would be consistent.

Which of course is the portion of the show most fandom tends to put on a pedestal, so I can also understand why people would balk at this vision.

Still, hey. I'm with Cartmel. I don't have the personal attachment. Or rather, what I do have is recent and entirely of my own creation. Whether that means it's not "my" show or not, I don't know. I'm just being analytical. It's what I do. Luckily, I don't have an army of fans to answer to.
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Patrick Alexander
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

aderack wrote:
Luckily, I don't have an army of fans to answer to.


Modesty.
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Harveyjames
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll be your fan if you'll be mine, Eric-Jon
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aderack
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wonder if Jonathan Blow even needs a fan. Does Heatman need a lighter?

This is sort of interesting. An narrative-styled article about the production of Voyage of the Damned.

Also, Catherine Tate mumbled something on-air about how she thinks series four might be Tennant's last full series... though she isn't sure. Now it's headlines-a-go-go.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

At the VotD press screening, David Tennant wrote:
Catherine Tate stitched me up good and proper. She goes on Jonathan Ross and makes up a load of old nonsense. Unbeknownst to me, she thinks I've made a decision - she'd clearly had too much coffee that morning. She said I was leaving, which was a decision I haven't made yet, maybe she's made it for me, but I'm going to keep people guessing for as long as possible. I'm doing four more specials and beyond that no one's asked me to make any decisions and I'm quite happy to be enigmatic for as long as possible.

So. There's that, I suppose. For what it's worth!

EDIT: More info here.

Quote:
"I started getting all these phone calls on Saturday lunchtime saying apparently you're leaving Doctor Who," Tennant told the BBC. "Catherine Tate's just announced it on Radio 2 - thanks Catherine!"

He added: "I said to her on Monday morning did you know you've caused a minor diplomatic incident? She was completely oblivious that the phone had been ringing off the hook."

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aderack
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


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aderack
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dale Cooper wrote:
LOL!

Spin-off McCoy bashing threads

Well, it didn't start that way. The negative nancies are the most persistent, however. One doesn't always have the energy to respond.

As far as McCoy goes: the role (and the show) hardly calls for dramatic skill; what it demands is a certain off-kilter charisma and warmth. McCoy has more of a "Doctor" (read: professorial, avuncular) persona about him than anyone since Troughton. He's also the first Doctor since the '60s to take more of a back seat in the action, which is tremendously welcome after the previous decade and a half of ham.

An aside: Colin Baker is sort of neat in that he wears his bacon right on his sleeves. One can forgive his character his brashness, as he's so upfront with it -- whereas Pertwee and Tom Baker are more covert asses. Here, as with Sherlock Holmes, it's portrayed as an actual character flaw. Unfortunately, not only did he never get much of a decent script; he never got a decent Watson (or Barbara) to round him off. Not until Big Finish, anyway. And now it seems like Catherine Tate will do something similar for Tennant. But back to the main discussion.

Again, frankly, with a show like classic Doctor Who, why should anyone give a shit about execution? It's all rather low crap anyway, so it boggles my mind when people go on about the rat like it's something tortuous and embarrassing in the middle of a piece of serious high drama, or about McCoy rolling his "R"s and garbling his lines as if Ian McKellen in his place would have transformed the show into high art.

There's nothing objective about something like this. Watching the show is, in the first place, an exercise in transcending a charmingly tatty exterior in search of some warmth and inspiration. When you accept that, arguing about degrees of tattiness is absurd. The lighting and direction and prop and set design was often lousy in the late '80s? Well, guess what? Twenty years on, it's pretty hard to tell the difference between a Cartmel-era set and one from the mid-'70s.

Once you're past the superficialities, all you're really left with is how interesting you find the things the production team is trying to do, and whether or not you're fond of the characters.

As far as I'm concerned, anyway, Cartmel was the first period since the '60s (with maybe exceptions for early Pertwee and the Bidmead season) where someone really tried to do something interesting with the show's basic premise. Maybe it didn't always work perfectly; still, the effort is neat to see. And it had the first really well-developed main characters played by likable leads since the '60s.

And... I mean. I don't think this is an unreasonable or especially bizarre perspective to take. It's certainly not an unusual one in my circles. If anything, it strikes me as a result of my lack of long-term nose-to-the-grindstone investment in the show. Which... though not necessarily a superior position seems at least a somewhat more balanced one, compared to the acid or the faux superiority that gets slung about. For whatever that might be worth when making judgments on a tatty twenty-year-old TV show.
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Harveyjames
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I listtened to that Jonathon Ross show with Catherine Tate. She's got quite a sexy voice. This is a surprise to me as I've only ever heard her playing old ladies and slappers.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

She's pretty meek, out of character.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I watched all of the Dr Who confidential (cut down) episodes last night in one sitting. I found that it's the only way I can actually watch them because I find them mostly useless. Anyways, the confidential for Blink was really good! because it kind of breaks the normal format and hardly focuses on the episode and all and just kind of interviews Moffat for 30 minutes.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Holy crap dudes, I'm back. With internet!

To be quite honest, the Catherine Tate 'slip up' ... there's no way it could've been a real slip up. It had to have been planned as some kind of hype creation, which it has done in spades. "I hear the Doctor is leaving! Oh man, I better watch and see!' There's no way Cathrine Tate, who has been on numerous shows and things already, wasn't run up and down and up and down the flagpole again about all the things you do and do not talk about when you sign the contract.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 5:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, I've considered the same thing. Tennant's nigh-gleeful reaction makes it all the more suspicious.

Yeah, the Blink confidential! Go download the full thing; it's basically forty-five minutes of David Tennant going existential on the show. The first really interesting Confidential since series one. Have you seen his video diaries?

Quote:
If you could job swap with anyone on Doctor Who, who would you swap with?

RTD: Steven Moffat. I'd love to see inside his mind! Oh, the labyrinths of neural connections! All made of gold!

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