Great_Beyond
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Posts
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Joined
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Ah, cool beans! Thanks a ton - I haven't been around in a couple of years now and I'm prone to getting lost. You know, dementia setting in and all. (:
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Hey - not exactly a bug, but this seems to be the only forum I can post to - so here it goes..
So I know the game goes dark this friday the 30th. Do we know any more details than that? Is it a midnight flip of the switch? Do we know what time zone Midnight would be?
Basically I want to come party in Atlas Park, and I don't want to miss The Big Dark. -
Quote:Yeah, all the episodes exist in audio format, and I think between Unearthly Child and Web Planet there's only a couple of missing stories. So no, I cant offer a reason why they'd start so late in the run (and start on such a crappy story, too). Ah well - at least it's free and legal.Originally Posted by Zikar
I thought they had audio for all the episodes. -
MSN starts running old school Who, for FREE - starting with The Web Planet, one of the not-so-good episodes, so be warned. . . .
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Quote:Ah, but while all Time Lords are Gallifreyan, not all Gallifreyans are Time Lords!Originally Posted by Prof_Backfire
There isn't. Time Lord is to Gallifreyan as Human is to Earthling.
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Quote:She's in the range of oldest companion, but not by a huge margin. She was born in 68 and joined the show in 06 - making her 38. Jacqueline Hill (one of the first Doctor's companion) was 35 at the show's start back in 1963 and William Russell (the other of the first Doctor's elder companions) was 39 when Unearthly Child was first broadcast.Originally Posted by Starsman
(now know she is 41, does that make her the oldest companion yet?)
Aside from those three (and perhaps John Leeson, if you count him), that's it for the upper age bracket.
***EDIT***
Wait a second - unless you count Camille Coduri (Rose's mom) as a companion. She's 39 at the 2005 series start. And then there's Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier) who was also 39 when he first appeared as his recurring character in '68. But both may or may not be companions, depending on which fan you ask. -
Quote:More like infamous! While I had never heard of her before Runaway Bride, all the UK people I knew were up in arms that she'd destroy the show with her redneck, lowbrow humor!Originally Posted by Zikar
Donna Noble is played by Catherine Tate by the way, who's a famous comedian here in the UK, just fyi
Wanting to see what all the hubbub was about, I sought out some of her skits on youtube. Now, let me preface this that I love Catherine in Who and Donna is one of my favorite companions of the run (including the old series, too). That said - holy cow does her skit stuff SUCK! Wowza, it's the most unfunny thing I've seen since Sinbad! -
Quote:Because - in very simplified terms - the BBC is in serious financial straits. Most of their series have been cut back and otherwise run at a reduced budget. So no, it's not a reflection of their love for Who, it's just that the money just isnt there for anyone!Originally Posted by Starsman
What?! Why not? That would mean that had things gone normally I'd have a 5th season to look at now!!!
But brave heart, Tegan! The premere of season 5 is only about 6 months away. And it could be MUCH worse! You could have to wait the 18 months for Trial of a Time Lord. . . . .
The Infinite Quest is a fun bit of fluff, but it doesn't have an effect on the main series. It sports Martha as the companion, so it takes place before S4 for sure, but you could easily skip watching it without suffering too badly. That said, its only an hour long and kind of fun - so go ahead and check it out anyway.Quote:Originally Posted by Starsman
Oh and another question: should I watch The Infinite Quest before I get started on S4? Or it's never referenced from that season? -
I concur on the Sarah Jane adventures. Yeah, you can tell that they're shooting for the younger demographic, but the show is still pretty good. It's consistently better than season 1 of Torchwood, that's for sure.
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Quote:Yeah, it pretty much was just a love letter to the past - and you know, I'm okay with that. It was a fun little bit of fluff to get Peter back into costume and romp for a few moments.Originally Posted by Starsman
Oh and saw the children in need special with the other doctor. Felt more like the actors talking than the actual character’s though, how the new doctor was telling the old that he was his doctor.
Yeah, not much of a spoiler, since she shows up in the very first episode. It's only just very briefly tho.Quote:Originally Posted by Zikar
If that's all, you won't have had too much spoiled
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Yeah, Family of Blood - where you learn that you never **** with a Time Lord!
Geeze, at this rate you'll be all caught up any time now. Cant wait to see how the end of Utopia works for someone who doesnt know the mythology of the series. . . . -
The only tricks up my sleeve are either trying youtube (a hit or miss proposition) or finding a torrent somewhere. Although, if youre watching through netflix, coudlnt you get the disks through the mail? Or is that too 20th Century for you? (:
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Quote:Oh, if you want to do the shows in order, season one of Torchwood would fit in between seasons 2 and 3 of who. Speciifily, the end of season one of Torchood leads directly into the Who episode Utopia.Originally Posted by Starsman
Oh and started S3, although I sort of like the new Companion I think I will miss Rose.
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Quote:I'd also say that he had a thing for Jo. He may not have shown it outright, but look at his reaction at the end of Green Death when he leaves the party, with him looking far more crestfallen than he ever had with a companion.Originally Posted by Zikar
The only other instance I can name for sure was way back with the 1st Doctor, where he sort of fell for an old Aztec lady.
Oh, no - Harriet Jones and the fallout from the Doctor deposing her is far from done. The events of season three wouldn't have unfolded as the did if the Doctor hadn't uttered those six little words. Plus Torchwood: Children of Earth (the third season of that show) was much more harsh than it would have been if the Doctor hadn't meddled like he did.Quote:Originally Posted by Starsman
The prime minister never showed up again, I was expecting her to do a strong presence related to Torchwood. They built up a lot of backup on the group and in the end the group turned out to be just another bunch of stupid humans meddling with forces they don't understand.
Perhaps he can get by with just watching bits of Torchwood. The first two episodes, Random Shoes and then from Captain Jack onwards to the end of the show? That should cover all the important bits, set up the premise nicely and still avoid the **** episodes like Countrycide.Quote:Originally Posted by Zikar
I wish I could recommend watching Season 1 of Torchwood... but it was really bad... but it does set up some important things to know about Torchwood after the S2 finale. -
Quote:I watched some Eastenders for a while - it was running on CBC out of canada right before Series 1 back in 2005. So my mom and I would get some take away and eat watching Eastenders while waiting for Who. It was interesting, seeing one episode out of 5 (Who was weekly, Eastenders was daily) - it made the show more, well, fun I guess.Originally Posted by Zikar
I like Dragon's Den.
EastEnders... well, I hate soaps but it gets about equal viewership than Doctor Who
And then I got a chance to see the x-mas special last year since I was in Paris and decided to take the 25th off as a rest day from my two week holiday. So here I am in France, doing nothing but watching television. That's crazy! (But man did my feet need it!).
I never did find out if the estranged father ever hooked up with his cheating wife to find out if their baby was really his or his best friend's. -
Quote:Not in Torchwood, since it's an adult program with swearing and nudity and sex (or at least it was originally, it's mellowed over the years), so Torchwood shows up in the parent program, the Doctor doesn't appear over there.Originally Posted by Starsman
BTW, on these spinoffs, do the doctor ever shows on either of these two spinoffs?
In the Sarah Jane Adventures, the Doctor hasn't shown up. . . yet.
There's Totally Dr Who, which was a kids program magazine type show that ran for the first two years of the new series (which also had an animated section called The Infinite Quest, featuring the voice of David and the third season companion).Quote:Originally Posted by Starsman
Was also checking the wiki for "related series", what about K9 and "Totally Doctor Who"?
There's Doctor Who Confidential, which is a Making Of documentary program that runs on BBC3 right after the parent program.
K9 hasn't aired yet, but the show takes the Doctor's robot dog companion and lands him with some kids in Australia (or at least the show is produced in Oz, I don't know if it's actually set there). There's also an episode of K9 and Company from back in the early eighties - which was kind of similar to the Sarah Jane Adventures - but it wasn't very good. Not in the slightest. -
Quote:It should have been on disc one of the season 2 set, tucked away in the extras section. If not, however, it's Youtube to the rescue!Originally Posted by Starsman
That was episode 1 of S2 in Netflix. Although already read there was a 7 minutes mini episode in between, got to see where I can catch that one up.
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Oh, I would be remiss in my duties if I didnt mention that season three of the Sarah Jane Adevtures started today (well, yesterday) with the second part playing later this friday. Gentlemen, start your torrents! (:
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Quote:Castle's and Dr Darkspeed's links are both safe and spoiler free. Mine is set between season 3 and 4, but doesn't say anything that'll give the game away.Originally Posted by Starsman
You guys not filling my Doctor Who thread with links that would potentially spoil my viewing fun, are you?
I've always wondered how the detection vans work. A television set, by it's very nature, is a receiver not a transmitter - passive, not active. So the vans are scanning for . . . what exactly, with those big antenna?Quote:Originally Posted by Father Xmas
And don't forget about TV Detection Vans to find those who scoff the law. -
Quote:Sort of. Kinda. See for yourself.Originally Posted by Starsman
Curious about this doctor crossover thing, when they meet, do they recognize clearly they are talking to themselves?
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Quote:If The Big Three offered the quality shows that the BBC does and ran without commercials, I would gladly pony up 250 bucks a year. In a hot second I would! Seriously, I don't watch TV any more thanks to the oceans of crap out there and the 12 minuets of commercials in a half hour program. Last show I watched with any regularity was B5.Originally Posted by Lord_of_Time
How would you feel if you had to PAY just for the privilege to watch ABC,NBC,CBS, and Fox. With the kind of programming they offer you'd feel pretty damned gipped wouldn't you?
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Quote:In Yank terms, the BBC is pretty close to PBS. Itr's not exactly the same, but that's pretty close.Originally Posted by Zikar
This all stretches back to when TV was new and the BBC was the only TV channel. The government felt we needed out own channel that would "Inform, Educate and Entertain" or something like that. And they didn't want adverts.
The Big Finish audios, on the other hand, have done quite a bit with Doctor 8. Oh sure, some of them are clunkers, but there are a great many that rock, too (like Invaders from Mars).Quote:Originally Posted by Jade_Dragon
Eighth Doctor - Eh, just one movie isn't enough to form much of a picture. He seems very like the Seventh Doctor, and started out as the Seventh, at the start of the movie. As he spends most of the movie in Regeneration, he really is experimenting with his personality more than having formed it.
One of the documentaries on the Trial of a Time Lord boxed set is a look at the mid to late eighties where the BBC heads were gunning for the show, including some interesting and frank interviews with the (then) heads of Series and Serials David Reid and Jonathan Powell. It's well worth getting the set just for the documentary.Quote:Originally Posted by Zikar
I mean, with Doctor Who, they didn't just cancel it, they just tried to bury it so when it's viewing figures dropped enough they could cancel it... and it just just refused to be buried
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Quote:Now, to be fair, I love Colin as the Doctor. I thought he got the short end of the stick at the BBC, that his Doctor has some good, solid stories (Vengeance on Varos and Mysterious Planet were especially good) - and I think that he acquitted himself and his doctor marvelously in the Big Finish stories. Hell, I even kind of like the coat.Originally Posted by Cowman
So alone....
It's just that Twin Dilemma set up the Doctor all wrong. -
Well, the basics have been pretty covered, so I'll just throw my two cents in on which stories to catch. To spread things out, I'll just do one per Doctor (plus perhaps some bonus episodes here and there)
Doctor One: The Aztecs
It's one of the rare pure historical episodes, a style of story that was phased out over the early seasons, but it's brilliant stuff. The supporting cast has such a poetic flow to their acting, it's really good!
Stay away from: The Web Planet
An ambitious production that just misses the mark
Doctor Two: The Invasion
Sadly since most of Pat's run has been gutted from the archives, we dont have some of the REALLY good episodes for me to recommend (Evil of the Daleks would be at the top of the list). So I think I'd go The Invasion here. A cracking good bad guy, the introduction of UNIT and the Cybermen! Cant go wrong! (Although I should point out that the animated reconstructions of episode 1 and 3 might be off-putting if youre not prepared for it).
Stay away from: The Dominators
Just a dull, plodding script.
Doctor Three: Inferno -
It may not play as well to someone who doesn't know the UNIT family, but I think it's a cracking good adventure. A touch long, but worth it.
Stay away from: The Time Monster
Way way WAAAAAAAY too long, by at least three episodes.
Doctor Four: The City of Death -
Written by Douglas Adams (yes THAT Douglas Adams), it's a great romp, has an awesome bad guy (Jullian Glover needs to be in the new series) and is witty as hell. The best of Tom's run in my opinion.
Stay away from: Genesis of the Daleks
"What?!? Have you gone mad!" The other fans in the audience scream, but hear me out. It's a good story to be sure, but it's got two episodes full of padding and it's overrated. It's not a story that I'd have a new viewer start out on.
Doctor Five: Earthshock
A nice, tightly paced adventure with a shocking cliffhanger for episode one (that will no doubt be spoiled for you by the cover of the DVD or the front end menus).
Stay away from: Time Flight
Yikes! This one is a clunker on all fronts! Seriously, seriously bad.
Doctor Six: The Two Doctors
Written by the show's best scribe and has the added bonus of more Patrick Troughton!
Stay away from: The Twin Dilemma
While the story isn't as quite as dire as I remember, the Doctor being a total jerk for two episodes is a bit off-putting.
Doctor Seven: Curse of Fenric
The Doctor at his Chess-mastery best. Gripping and well written, with some solid acting on all fronts.
Stay away from: Time and the Rani
Bad acting, insane script and WAY too much screaming!
The Runner-up list:
The Caves of Androzoni (Dr 5)
The Horror of Fang Rock (Dr 4)
The Time Warrior (Dr 3)
The Time Meddler (Dr 1)
Remembrance of the Daleks (Dr 7) -
Whoops - disregard!