Doctor Who

[robwebster]

Haha, no prob! I did realise about halfway through writing that you hadn't actually asked.

But yeah! It's basically the antidote to the relatively aloof drama of, say, Lost or The Wire or Spooks or whatever's currently taking itself very seriously. It's got a more swashbuckling, tongue-in-cheek vibe, more like Pirates of the Caribbean or Harry Potter. Or Indiana Jones. Immensely varied, too. Most flexible format ever.

I mean, these clips...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cyn7ICFf2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqEsspZkac0

Two trailers. Completely different. Any time and any place - any mood, as well. Brilliant.

[Super Dude]

I still haven't seen the whole episode because iBBC video isn't available outside of the UK.

[ariich]

God, I know! So brilliantly done, though.

What did you reckon to it, on the whole though? Children in Earth particularly - I've yet to successfully rewatch that; the 456 freaked me the hell out.

Yeah Children of Earth was great, seriously exciting and Peter Capaldi was genuinely amazing! The show gets better and better, although with literally half the main characters now dead, I'm not sure what they'll do with a fourth series. I imagine they'll enlist Rhys full time.

Beast Below looks good, exciting times!

And yeah Sigz, I'd recommend checking out the new one as well, it's as good a place to start as any, and I know a number of people who had never watched Doctor Who before who watched it and really enjoyed it. And if you do like it, just go back to series 1 of the rebooted series and catch up! (although beware, the very first episode Rose is a little weak).

[robwebster]

Here's an interesting thing... apparently they're making a Doctor Who computer game.

"The first episode of Doctor Who – The Adventure Games will be available to download for PC and Mac from bbc.co.uk/doctorwho in June 2010. Its title will be revealed at a special press event on 21 April in Sheffield.

"Establishing new forms of drama is exactly what the BBC should be doing. By aiming these 'interactive episodes' at the broad audience of the TV show – unique in British television, in that it encompasses at least three generations – we're aiming to encourage the family to gather round the PC or Mac in the same way they do the television. Driving computer literacy is a keystone of the BBC's public service remit and we expect Doctor Who – The Adventure Games to be hugely popular in the homes of Britain this year."

I expect it probably won't have the lasting appeal of, say, Monkey Island or something, given the BBC's track record with video games and the fact that they won't want to exclude children or computer-baffled adults ("driving computer literacy," they say), but it's a fascinating little move nonetheless. They're meant to be doing something for Nintendo later in the year, too. They're doing four of these adventure games; written by Phil Ford and James Moran, who wrote The Waters of Mars and The Fires of Pompeii (and Children of Earth: Day Three) respectively, so you know - fairly good people.

EDIT: Ooh! They've got the bloke who designed Broken Sword involved! Hold the phone kids, those games are fantastic. This might be quite good after all!

Yeah Children of Earth was great, seriously exciting and Peter Capaldi was genuinely amazing! The show gets better and better, although with literally half the main characters now dead, I'm not sure what they'll do with a fourth series. I imagine they'll enlist Rhys full time.

Apparently RTD knows exactly how he'd bring Torchwood back. God knows how! Maybe they'd get that Lois Habiba lass. She's definitely proven her mettle. If anyone deserves the option it'd be her.

[ariich]

They're doing four of these adventure games; written by Phil Ford and James Moran, who wrote The Waters of Mars and The Fires of Pompeii (and Children of Earth: Day Three) respectively, so you know - fairly good people.

True, although Moran is one of the people responsible for killing off Ianto.

EDIT: Ooh! They've got the bloke who designed Broken Sword involved! Hold the phone kids, those games are fantastic. This might be quite good after all!

Awesome, I played the first game and part of the second and they were good fun!

Maybe they'd get that Lois Habiba lass. She's definitely proven her mettle. If anyone deserves the option it'd be her.

True, although I didn't think she had very much character. Whereas Rhys is badass. And without Ianto, they need a badass Welshman.

[robwebster]

They're doing four of these adventure games; written by Phil Ford and James Moran, who wrote The Waters of Mars and The Fires of Pompeii (and Children of Earth: Day Three) respectively, so you know - fairly good people.

True, although Moran is one of the people responsible for killing off Ianto.

Hahaha, oh christ! That reminds me. James Moran notoriously stopped writing his stellar blog because a bunch of fangirls took a break from furiously masturbating to send him gallons of hate-mail after they aired Day Four. Massive furore. Real shame.

True, although I didn't think she had very much character. Whereas Rhys is badass. And without Ianto, they need a badass Welshman.

Hahaha, fair point! I love Rhys. I think he might be my favourite character in Torchwood.

[ariich]

Hahaha, oh christ! That reminds me. James Moran notoriously stopped writing his stellar blog because a bunch of fangirls took a break from furiously masturbating to send him gallons of hate-mail after they aired Day Four. Massive furore. Real shame.

I know, I read about it on Wikipedia. I mean, I can understand their disappointment, I thought the fact that he was killed off so soon after Owen and Tosh (when the show went nearly two series with no major characters dying) was pretty disappointing, and almost felt like they were trying to imitate American shows like 24 where people keep dying all the time. But it is what it is, sending hate-mail to the writers is completely insane!

[robwebster]

Aye. It's like, it's sad and that, but if you're a fan of the series you should at least respect the artistic integrity of the writers. "Bring him back" kind of undermines the entire story they were trying to tell. The point is that it's tragic! If you're upset that means they're doing their job right.

Nice that a bunch of far saner fans sent donations to charity as a monument, though. Made a couple of thousand quid if I remember. Much better idea than sending vitriol to James Moran.

[ariich]

True, although the charity fundraising was still under a campaign name of "Save Ianto". Still, a far more honourable way to go about it.

[Bombardana]

OMG Terrence Hardiman

[robwebster]

Man that guy's got weird eyebrows.

Cool episode though! Not as good as The Stunning Eleventh Hour, but that's like saying "it's only my second favourite sexual position." Let's face it, who's really complaining?!

"This isn't gonna be big on dignity."

EDIT: Whoa. Just ftr, really improves on a second viewing. It feels more like it's on a similar plane, now. The voting booth becomes really quite sinister with the benefit of hindsight.

[robwebster]

Christ! Every time I watch this episode I love it more and more. Like, whoa. I've just watched it a third time, and I'm in love with it. It's gorgeous! It's brimming with feeling. So much atmosphere and very creepy, and it all comes together impossibly well. I thought the solution came a little bit "out of the blue" at first, but with the benefit of hindsight it hangs together so much more beautifully.  The voting booth scene is fast becoming one of my favourite Doctor Who scenes. Oh and the first scene. Goosebumps. I want a Smiler.

A horse and a man, above, below
One has a plan, but both must go
Mile after mile, above, beneath
One has a smile, and one has teeth
Though the man above might say hello
Expect no love from the beast below

[Silver Tears]

That episode was pretty good! I've missed Doctor Who, I stopped watching at some point when Martha was the assistant, thought I should tune in again. The new guy seems alright but I miss David Tennant 

[Super Dude]

*SPOILERS*

I thought the part where he chastised Amy for pushing the "Forget" button was a bit overdramatic.

[robwebster]

God no! I couldn't disagree more - that was stunning acting!

Besides, keep in mind he's still not had a rest since he was called to the Ood-sphere in the End of Time. This has been a fairly long day for him. And someone he's just met, a stranger's just come up to him on his first voyage and tried to control whether he saves the day or no. With good intentions, but still. He's also just uncovered a vile human conspiracy. I think he's earned a little tetchiness. Besides, it's not like it's out of character. I mean Chris Eccleston was always calling people stupid apes.

[Super Dude]

Ah well I've only watched a handful of Eccleston episodes, so that might've helped to have known that.

[robwebster]

Ooh, crikey. Yeah, catch up on him! He's no Tennant, but he's a very good actor nonetheless. If you've not caught Father's Day, The Empty Child or The Doctor Dances yet, they're the essentials, but you can't go wrong with The Unquiet Dead, Dalek, Bad Wolf or The Parting of the Ways either.

[ariich]

Empty Child and Doctor Dances are two of the very best Doctor Who episodes. The moment when the tape runs out literally gave me goosebumps! And yeah, Ecclestone often got annoyed with people, and even Tennant did on occasion, though less so. I like the fact that each incarnation has it's own personality though, I think it's why the show has lasted so long!

Haven't seen The Beast Below yet, as I'm currently in Cyprus. I shall be checking it out as soon as I get back though! Gonna have to the same with next weekend's episode as well, grr!

[Schleppy]

My story of awesomeness requires some awesome backstory.

Spring of 2008, I took a TV Production class. I was pretty well into Doctor Who, but hadn't had any experiences with the fandom.

Anyway, there's a girl in that class who's wearing a Torchwood pin on her hat. I bring it up and she instantly pulls me along to meet her friends. Turns out she's part of an all-girl Torchwood cosplay group, friends with writer James Moran as well as actor Gareth David-Lloyd, etc., but that doesn't matter so much, because what it did mean is introducing me to cosplay (beyond making fun of anime cosplayers online) and got me to sign up for the Gallifrey One convention in 2009.

The convention was fantastic, but the important part came in on Saturday morning, when I realized that some of the clothes in my bag would actually match up with the old, old promo pics of Matt Smith (which were, at this point, still pretty new).



At first I thought "What the hell, I'll just do this as a joke." But after about an hour of being on the floor in costume, people asking questions (some asked if I decided to do this because my name is Matt - no, just a coincidence), people getting pictures, I started saying "Yeah, when production stills start coming out, I'll try and get a real costume together."

Cut to the week before Comic-Con. I only had a pass for Sunday, which was the day Russel T Davies and David Tennant and John Barrowman were all gonna be there. On the Monday prior to con, the first pictures of Matt Smith in costume, onset with Karen Gillan, came out. That Friday, I spent the entire day running all over Southern California raiding Goodwill stores. Managed to find a great match for the jacket, a passable shirt, and a burgundy bowtie. Already had combat boots and passable pants - only part that was missing was the bracers, I just used black ones this time around.



Anyway, during the Doctor Who panel I was way toward the back, but managed to move myself closer up front as each panel switched, until I was in the second row with the aforementioned Torchwood cosplay group I'm friends with in time for the Torchwood panel.

Halfway through the panel... well, I'll pull up the youtube for this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r56XOTT06k#t=2m40s

After that day (and the millions of pictures I took with random con-goers), I thought it couldn't get any better.

Until last night.

So I step away from my phone for five minutes last night, come back to it and there's a voice mail.

"Hi, Matt, this is Karen Gillan! I play Amy Pond in Doctor Who. And your friend was just telling me that you were the guy at Comic Con last year who was dressed as Matt Smith. Just wanted to say that everyone at work's been talking about you because you were the only one dressed as him. Just wanted to say that, talk to you later, bye!"

Turns out my friend Amy (who plays Gwen in the Torchwood cosplay group) had managed to get into the invite-only Los Angeles BBC-America premiere event as a plus-one. She managed to approach Karen, and when she mentioned me apparently Karen's eyes lit up with recognition.

Anyone know a good, free method of putting a voicemail up online?

[robwebster]

I'll tell you if you give me Karen's number.

I can't tell whether I want to kill you or make love to you. Seriously, so so SO jealous. Seething with envy. My face is burning off. Just a big ol' fire where my face should be.

My only claim to any Doctor Who related fame whatsoever is that I met Steven Moffat. He signed my copy of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, bizarrely.

[Schleppy]

Sorry, should've explained it was my friend's phone that was being used. If it were Karen, then I'd have called her back, we'd have talked for hours, and then we'd have a date planned for next time she's in LA 

[robwebster]

Christ! Still, you're a friend of a friend of Karen Gillan! That's mad.

...that makes me a friend of a friend of a friend of Karen Gillan. If you'll acknowledge me as a friend. Which you should! So that I can brag.

Actually, one of my friends used to go out with Billie Piper's brother. I've kissed my friend, and she's kissed Billie Piper's brother, who's undoubtedly kissed Billie herself at some point, who's kissed David Tennant. So you can form a nice ol' chain of kissing. I worked this out one night while crying into my cereal. Fucking weetabix.

[robwebster]

(www.zshare.com, btw! Upload audio. I think. I might have forgotten its name. Bad habit. I'll click the link after posting.)

EDIT: That's not it.

EDIT2: Just use rapidshare. Or YouTube! Good ol' Youtube.

[Schleppy]

I'll probably just put it on speakerphone and upload it on youtube, like you suggested. If I can find my camera.... 

[ariich]

Schleppy, that is outrageously cool! Although, if you'd been at your phone to answer it when it rang, would you have even believed that it was Gillan?!

Forgot to update this thread when I saw The Beast Below, but it was really good. The smilers were seriously creepy and the story was really clever.

The next episode looks like tremendous fun, and I know you're not a big fan of the Idiot's Lantern Rob, but I like Mark Gatiss's writing. Sadly I won't be able to watch it at the time again so will have to catch up tomorrow.

[faemir]

Work was cancelled due to the Icelandic stuff so I can watch it on air \o/

[robwebster]

The next episode looks like tremendous fun, and I know you're not a big fan of the Idiot's Lantern Rob, but I like Mark Gatiss's writing. Sadly I won't be able to watch it at the time again so will have to catch up tomorrow.

Yeah, I've got faith in the man! I think the main reason I didn't like The Idiot's Lantern was the weird acting; The Wire just bizarred me out, and I felt absolutely nothing for the family. The Unquiet Dead was a highlight of series one, and The League of Gentlemen is fantastic, so I'm really excited about this episode. It looks wonderful.

[Martinman300]

For those who have seen the WWII episode...

[RobD]

Just popping my head in to say the first time I heard the "Oblivion Continuum! Inactive!" line by the Dalek, was in fact one of the ADR takes about a month ago where he said "Oblivion Continuum! FUUUUUUCKED!", so that is all I heard when I saw it.

Swearing surprisingly suits the Daleks really well!

[faemir]

I cant shake the feeling that all the episodes so far have been by-the-books, and not an improvement over the meh specials (except the finale). I was thinking about Blink, and what made it great was the unusual storyline, not the angels themselves, so I'm not sure if this double will be as good or even close.

I dunno, I was just hoping for more impressive episodes

edit: and the solutions to problems have been a bit far-fetched and deus ex machina-like for my liking.

[ariich]

Wtf are you on about, the first two had damn clever stories! This one not quite so much but it was still damn good fun. Also, you pinpoint Blink, which is arguably the best Doctor Who episode ever, so hardly a fair one to judge against.

For those who have seen the WWII episode...

Love it.

Loving the iDaleks as well. And the jammy dodger was genius.

[Silver Tears]

I've never been a fan of the Daleks (I know that's rubbish since they're such a big part of Dr Who) so I didn't like that episode much. But I'll agree with you that Blink was an excellent episode. 

[faemir]

Wtf are you on about, the first two had damn clever stories! This one not quite so much but it was still damn good fun.

The disarming of the bomb in this episode was silly and a bit lame.

What was so clever about the first two? I mentioned blink out of memory, but when I compare episode 1 and 2 to Moffat's other ones, this series ones suck in comparison.

[ariich]

You're accusing Doctor Who of being "silly and a bit lame"? The show is FAMOUS for those things. Honestly, the episodes so far have been true Doctor Who in every sense, I've no idea why you're not liking them, other than possibly fear of change.

The first ep was generally clever playing on the fear of what you can't really see other than in the corner of your eye, plus the big time jumps showing Amy growing up. The second episode was very clever with the twist that Liz Ten had been doing the same thing every ten years for centuries, and everything that surrounded that twist.

Besides, Doctor Who is great because of how fun it is. I really get the feeling that you take it WAY too seriously.

[faemir]

It's my brother, he keeps talking to me about the episodes afterwards, and making me be far too overcritical as a result. I like the episodes until I talk to him about them