Dr Who

Given the amount of detail that went into things like the building explosion which was only on screen for a very short time it seems rather silly to have something like those photos which are actually on screen longer.

I don't know which version you ended up getting, but the one transmitted on BBC One on Saturday suffered from a slight technical hitch. It was surrounded on either side by a rather dubious show about who can dance the best. The people performed on the show before Doctor Who which left time for people to vote shortly after which there was another show for the results.

For some reason the audio from the studio that the show was coming from was inadvertantly faded up during the bit with Rose in the basement with dummys. So during a moment of great suspense you hear a camp irish man saying 'So I go over there then?' and a few other choice TV phrases.

A few years ago there would've been people trained sufficiently enough not to let that happen. Nowadays they simply blame the equipment which is now bought off the shelf and is totally unfit for purpose.

Funny... I didn't hear Graham Norton on the BBC Scotland broadcast. Different transmission?

As for the photos, I assumed that as they were so obviously fake that it was meant to be funny. Or that the guy had made them himself. Or something.

Time to don the nerd hat....

It depends upon whether BBC Scotland was simply taking the sustaining feed from London or playing Doctor Who locally from the their own Pres. If you didn't hear it then the chances are you were watching a locally originated version. Did you have strictly dance fever on before?

I got the leaked episode. No Graham Norton for me, fortunately.

That was the version i originally got. The ep 2 tease was nice but I'm sure you can wait until next week.

I tend to not watch those anyway. I prefer the story to be presented to me in the way that the producers intend, not how some marketroid wants to entice me.

The horrendous show was on before and after but I didn't watch it. Graham Norton just saps my soul of all life.

On uk.media.tv.misc somebody reported that the apparently highly-publicised Audio Description (aka. "narrative") also wasn't switched on until about five minutes in.

Gareth

Ahh, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

EDIT: Or possibly elephants.....

I'd trust a monkey/elephant to do a better job.

Um, that was quick.

He's never been in anything for very long. I'm surprised they weren't aware of it. He does a lot of one-off stuff or short run programs. He wasn't in Cracker very long either.

At this rate, they're going to burn through those 12 regenerations in a hurry. Maybe he'll figure out some way to harness the power of the Eye of Harmony that doesn't involve assassinating the President of the Time Lords.

</geek>

I guess everyone's as underwhelmed as I am.

It's far from bad. It's probably good, but it's just not the second coming (which I swear was not a reference to another TV show when it popped into my head).

The latest episode felt a little more like Dr. Who, but was fairly claustrophobic, I thought, without intending to be. I mean, here we are in outer space watching a massive celestial event and all we really get to see are about three rooms on this space station. At certain instances, it felt an awful lot like a less comedic Red Dwarf.

Also, as I feared, it was a little rushed. Having roughly half the time to tell a story in just doesn't leave much room for the soul of Doctor Who. It was like we were rushing around to different points to make sure to get the plot in, with little time for reflection, like we were trying to get back to where we were when our text adventure game crashed. (Exit. N. Show Paper. E. Z. Z. Take sphere. Exhale. Etc.)

Other random nitpicks: The flash point of wood on Earth today is 330 to 470 degrees Celsius (according to a 1970 USDA Forest Service research paper), yet the Doctor didn't even seem phased by the heat. Maybe he's hardier than I thought. The plot was a little too obvious, I thought, and only marginally compelling -- a very, very, simple parlor detective story. I have the feeling there may have been a little more there in its initial concept, what with the talk of finances, but it just didn't make it to the actual broadcast show. A sputum joke to go with last week's burp joke. A talk to the face joke? Really? I feel like there are more, but I can't think of them now.

I just don't feel like it's going to get much better.

Not only was Chris Eccleston in it, it was written by the same guy who's doing the new Doctor Who, Russell T. Davies.

Yup, and it was filmed at my old faculty building at Uni, all the bits in the Police station that is.

It only occoured to me today that many of regulars here are actually located somewhere that the New Dr. Who is broadcast. I don't know about all of you, but I have been a fan since I was a kid and I love the new series. My kids (5 and 7) just can't wait for the next episode to come out each week. I think Christopher makes a great doctor and I will be sad to see his short run end. The only thing I can say negative about the new series is that it would have been nice if they would have stuck to the old 4 to 6 part format. I think it really left you wanting more and brought you back next week. With great things like the TiVo, you can get 'em all and never miss an episode. I know it will be top of my TiVo wish list when they decide to broadcast it here in the states. I'll also be first in line to buy the DVD box set when they release a Region 1 version.

So, what do you all think about the show now that they are about 1/2 way through the first season, and in general how is it being received over there in it's target audience / region?

--Steve

No problem about spoilers. I'm all caught up as well.

I agree about the performance when the Doctor first sees the Dalek: Fantastic!

I had noticed the callback joke of the "lots of planets have a north". Just overall good stuff.

The Doctor and Rose really do have a chemistry. I wonder how that will go with the next Doctor. Also, they have fooled me a couple of times with the Boyfriend and the Smart Kid from the Dalek episode where I thought we were going to have a second sidekick.

I've caught myself dorpping a few copies "fantastic" into my daily conversation as well. When my wife is around she just rolls her eyes. She tolerates (and even quietly enjoys) my Dr. Who fandom (I've got about 20gigs of empeg dedicated to Dr. Who audio dramas and well over 100 videos from the original series), but she just can't resis giving me a hard time when some of it comes out in public. My fav is my "Hard Rock Cafe Gallifrey" t-shirt. One good thing is that I get a new video or two for each Birthday/Christmas, etc.

Not that I know anything about this "downloading" you speak of... but WOW the quality of those things (that I saw on some machine in an internet-cafe one day while passing by) IS really great. Whoever is "ripping" those things down must be directly recording the digital stream. I agree that the quality is better than what we would get over a local broadcast.

--Steve

Digging up an old thread here, and some possible spoilers...

































Well, so much for Christopher Eccleston departing being a surprise, the seemed to have moved onto David Tennant quite smoothly, almost like they knew he was leaving before they finished filming.

I'm sure all the Brits who are interested already know, but since the first season only just started airing in the US like a month ago, the new season (series ... whatever) of Doctor Who apparently starts April 15, 2006.

Get those BitTorrent clients warmed up....