Doctor Who

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, Shadow said:

Let’s start a crowdfunder for Webby to buy them

Owned 'em, watched 'em, sold 'em, years ago. 

All long since replaced on DVD, and now in the process of those being replaced again with Blu-ray box sets!

A Doctor Who fan and his money are soon parted... 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

I must admit, I didn't have high expectations for Dot and Bubble but what a fantastic episode, I don't know if I'm the only one that wanted the boat to sink at the end.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tonight's episode.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

22 hours ago, John Drake said:

Owned 'em, watched 'em, sold 'em, years ago. 

All long since replaced on DVD, and now in the process of those being replaced again with Blu-ray box sets!

A Doctor Who fan and his money are soon parted... 

Don't forget Big Finish 

[John Drake]

I've never watched Bridgerton, so I don't know how much of a faithful recreation of that show 'Rogue' was meant to be, but it looked gorgeous.

I quite like that in Ruby, we have a character from our world who watches current TV shows on Netflix. She can't have watched Sex Education though, or she'd be calling the Doctor, Eric.

I imagine this is one of those episodes that people who don't like the show anymore would offer as an example why, but given that the character of Rogue is not a million miles away from that of Captain Jack Harkness, who first appeared in Christopher Eccleston's much-praised series back in 2005, it's not that different to what we've seen before.

Captain Jack made his debut in a two-parter though, which gave his character more time to develop on screen, whereas this episode did feel slightly rushed, and the relationships that formed within it slightly less convincing as a result.

I'm sad that the end of this series is almost upon us, after such a brief run, but I'm intrigued to see how the whole Susan Twist thing plays out in the final two episodes. 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

I've never watched Bridgerton, so I don't know how much of a faithful recreation of that show 'Rogue' was meant to be, but it looked gorgeous.

I quite like that in Ruby, we have a character from our world who watches current TV shows on Netflix. She can't have watched Sex Education though, or she'd be calling the Doctor, Eric.

I imagine this is one of those episodes that people who don't like the show anymore would offer as an example why, but given that the character of Rogue is not a million miles away from that of Captain Jack Harkness, who first appeared in Christopher Eccleston's much-praised series back in 2005, it's not that different to what we've seen before.

Captain Jack made his debut in a two-parter though, which gave his character more time to develop on screen, whereas this episode did feel slightly rushed, and the relationships that formed within it slightly less convincing as a result.

I'm sad that the end of this series is almost upon us, after such a brief run, but I'm intrigued to see how the whole Susan Twist thing plays out in the final two episodes. 

Yes, the similarities between Rogue and Captain Jack jumped out at me straight away, both American, flamboyant, fancied the Doctor, had spaceships with an invisible cloaking mechanisms and both had inter-galactic jobs(bounty hunter and time agent), it wouldn't surprise me if we saw more of him in the future.

Like you, I'm sad that the series is coming to an end but at the same time I'm really looking forward to the last 2 episodes. Anyway, RTD has recommended 5 stories to watch before you watch the last 2 eps.

They are... Spearhead From Space, Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways, The Bells of Saint John, A good Man Goes To War and The Church on Ruby Road. So presumably there's some link between all of these stories and the 2 upcoming stories.

 

[sam4731]

Assuming that we're not going to get a surprise appearance in the final episode of the series, has there ever been a Dalek free series of Who?

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

28 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

Assuming that we're not going to get a surprise appearance in the final episode of the series, has there ever been a Dalek free series of Who?

In the Modern era, there wasn't any in Jodie Whittakers first 2 series although there were in the 2 new years day specials that immediately followed them. There wasn't a Dalek story in Matt Smiths 2nd series but I'm fairly sure there was a cameo appearance but I just can't remember.

There was an urban myth that the daleks would have to make an appearance in every series otherwise the BBC would lose the writes on them but this has been flatly denied,

[sam4731]

36 minutes ago, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

In the Modern era, there wasn't any in Jodie Whittakers first 2 series although there were in the 2 new years day specials that immediately followed them. There wasn't a Dalek story in Matt Smiths 2nd series but I'm fairly sure there was a cameo appearance but I just can't remember.

There was an urban myth that the daleks would have to make an appearance in every series otherwise the BBC would lose the writes on them but this has been flatly denied,

I love the idea that the BBC could lose the rights to the Daleks and they'd turn up on ITV primetime to replace Ant and Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway.

The only show on TV that says "Don't just watch the ads, exterminate them"

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

2 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

I love the idea that the BBC could lose the rights to the Daleks and they'd turn up on ITV primetime to replace Ant and Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway.

The only show on TV that says "Don't just watch the ads, exterminate them"

You never know, the Daleks could actually tell some jokes that are funny.

[bobbruce]

9 hours ago, sam4731 said:

I love the idea that the BBC could lose the rights to the Daleks and they'd turn up on ITV primetime to replace Ant and Dec on Saturday Night Takeaway.

The only show on TV that says "Don't just watch the ads, exterminate them"

It happened once before in the 80s and then we got dusty bin. Makes you think.  

[John Drake]

On 11/06/2024 at 13:46, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

Like you, I'm sad that the series is coming to an end but at the same time I'm really looking forward to the last 2 episodes. Anyway, RTD has recommended 5 stories to watch before you watch the last 2 eps.

They are... Spearhead From Space, Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways, The Bells of Saint John, A good Man Goes To War and The Church on Ruby Road. So presumably there's some link between all of these stories and the 2 upcoming stories.

He kept quiet about Pyramids of Mars! 

Was the above list just to put us all off the scent?

It worked! Well, it did for me anyway.

I managed to avoid all spoilers before watching The Legend of Ruby Sunday, and what a marvellous treat that turned out to be. 

It makes me chuckle to think RTD sold us this series as a complete break from the past, and had some folk throwing their toys out of the pram as result, only to end the season by resurrecting a character from one of the greatest stories the classic series ever produced. 

And to whet our appetites even further before Saturday, we're getting a remastered version of Pyramids of Mars broadcast on BBC Four on Thursday night (8pm, folks, cancel all engagements), topped and tailed by newly filmed contributions from Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Doctor and Ruby.

Unfortunately I can't get to a cinema to watch Empire of Death this weekend, but I can't wait to see it on the telly.

 

[John Drake]

In the meantime, I'm just about to start watching the animated version of The Celestial Toymaker on Blu-Ray.

I've seen lots of people grumbling about the animation being unfaithful to the original black and white source material, and the cover is very, er, bold... but I usually watch the colour animations in preference to the black and white ones anyway, so it may not bother me too much.

Let's see...

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

16 hours ago, John Drake said:

He kept quiet about Pyramids of Mars! 

Was the above list just to put us all off the scent?

It worked! Well, it did for me anyway.

I managed to avoid all spoilers before watching The Legend of Ruby Sunday, and what a marvellous treat that turned out to be. 

It makes me chuckle to think RTD sold us this series as a complete break from the past, and had some folk throwing their toys out of the pram as result, only to end the season by resurrecting a character from one of the greatest stories the classic series ever produced. 

And to whet our appetites even further before Saturday, we're getting a remastered version of Pyramids of Mars broadcast on BBC Four on Thursday night (8pm, folks, cancel all engagements), topped and tailed by newly filmed contributions from Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Doctor and Ruby.

Unfortunately I can't get to a cinema to watch Empire of Death this weekend, but I can't wait to see it on the telly.

 

I do follow a number of online Doctor Who accounts and they worked out Sutekh a couple of weeks ago, so when RTD gave this list of stories to watch, people were saying "where's Pyramids?" so the rumour about Sutekh died down.

So it wasn't a huge surprise to me when Sutekh appeared but it didn't spoil my enjoyment either

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

16 hours ago, John Drake said:

In the meantime, I'm just about to start watching the animated version of The Celestial Toymaker on Blu-Ray.

I've seen lots of people grumbling about the animation being unfaithful to the original black and white source material, and the cover is very, er, bold... but I usually watch the colour animations in preference to the black and white ones anyway, so it may not bother me too much.

Let's see...

I've received my copy too but haven't had chance to watch it yet.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 19/06/2024 at 21:20, John Drake said:

He kept quiet about Pyramids of Mars! 

Was the above list just to put us all off the scent?

It worked! Well, it did for me anyway.

I managed to avoid all spoilers before watching The Legend of Ruby Sunday, and what a marvellous treat that turned out to be. 

It makes me chuckle to think RTD sold us this series as a complete break from the past, and had some folk throwing their toys out of the pram as result, only to end the season by resurrecting a character from one of the greatest stories the classic series ever produced. 

And to whet our appetites even further before Saturday, we're getting a remastered version of Pyramids of Mars broadcast on BBC Four on Thursday night (8pm, folks, cancel all engagements), topped and tailed by newly filmed contributions from Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Doctor and Ruby.

Unfortunately I can't get to a cinema to watch Empire of Death this weekend, but I can't wait to see it on the telly.

 

I don't know if you saw The One Show tonight but Bonnie Langford was on to talk about tonight's finale, more bizarrely, Cyndi Lauper was on who sad she'd been a fan since the 1980s, she said she'd only recently found out that The Doctor was an alien and could regenerate, she also said she watched The Pyramids of Mars last night on BBC4 last night

[John Drake]

On 21/06/2024 at 20:35, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

I don't know if you saw The One Show tonight but Bonnie Langford was on to talk about tonight's finale, more bizarrely, Cyndi Lauper was on who sad she'd been a fan since the 1980s, she said she'd only recently found out that The Doctor was an alien and could regenerate, she also said she watched The Pyramids of Mars last night on BBC4 last night

Cyndi Lauper tuning into BBC Four to watch a rerun of Pyramids of Mars was not on my 2024 bingo card! What a delightful story!!

I wonder what she thought of Empire of Death as a sequel?

I thought it looked spectacular and had lots of great moments, but as with all 'it's the end of the universe as we know it' grand finales, it creaked a bit in places trying to accommodate and explain all the storylines that have led up to it. And of course, we always know the universe isn't really going to end, so rather than mourn the loss of favourite characters at the start, we end up wondering how they will be resurrected again before the end. I'm not complaining though, I'm glad they didn't kill off Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and, er, everyone else too!

A shout out for Bonnie Langford, who in this series and this episode in particular finally got a chance to demonstrate how badly she was wasted as a character in the Sylvester McCoy/Colin Baker eras, as Mel was given something more to do than bounce around looking chirpy and screaming a lot. Loved her reaction to seeing the sixth Doctor's coat in the memory Tardis.

I was a bit underwhelmed by the resolution of the story of Ruby's mum. I was unconvinced by the idea that an ordinary woman would go to the lengths of drama she apparently did to drop off her baby at a church, wearing a hooded cloak, in the snow, on Christmas Eve, and point to a road sign to indicate that's what she wanted her baby to be called. I felt a bit cheated by that.

However, the coda, where Ruby finally gets to meet her mum, was quite moving, and the sort of thing Russell T Davies writes really well. Funny too, when the Doctor gravely warns against it, and Ruby just skips off into the cafe against his advice.

To sum up, it hasn't been perfect (and far too brief), but I've absolutely loved this series. Ncuti Gatwa has hit the ground running as the Doctor, all the essential elements that make the show what it is are present and correct despite all the fears this 'reboot' would completely reinvent everything, it looks great on screen, and has left us with a mystery to ponder while we wait for the next series.

Just who is Mrs Flood and what is she up to...?

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

A new Doctor Who spin off has just been announced " The War Between the Land and the Sea" its been rumoured for a while, it features UNIT and it looks like the Sea Devils, filming starts shortly.

[John Drake]

On 26/07/2024 at 21:02, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

A new Doctor Who spin off has just been announced " The War Between the Land and the Sea" its been rumoured for a while, it features UNIT and it looks like the Sea Devils, filming starts shortly.

It's an interesting choice for a spin-off. The Sea Devils have never been a favourite of mine, badly served on screen other than in their original appearance during Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor.

Hopefully this new show will do them justice, as the concept of a race of sea-dwelling natives of Earth having their planet 'taken over' from above by humans should have plenty of mileage in it. 

[unapologetic pedant]

What's the odds on Brisbane Sea Devils as 20th NRL franchise? Joint effort, Wynnum and Norths.

Enjoyed Pyramids of Mars on BBC Four. Now that's what I call Doctor Who.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 31/07/2024 at 12:50, John Drake said:

It's an interesting choice for a spin-off. The Sea Devils have never been a favourite of mine, badly served on screen other than in their original appearance during Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Doctor.

Hopefully this new show will do them justice, as the concept of a race of sea-dwelling natives of Earth having their planet 'taken over' from above by humans should have plenty of mileage in it. 

I wonder if the Silurians will feature in it, also, I wonder if it will be an after the watershed show like Torchwood or a family show like Doctor Who.

[unapologetic pedant]

Story on my news feed concerning a colourized regeneration of Patrick Troughton into Jon Pertwee. Couple of vids already up on YouTube covering it too. These Doctor Who devotees are quick off the blocks.

Colourized versions of vintage TV that I've seen never look quite right. Think I prefer the black and white.

[unapologetic pedant]

Apparently, Jon Pertwee had yet to be cast at the time of the above-mentioned regeneration. So that scene is not so much "never been seen in colour" as "never been seen at all".

[John Drake]

On 23/11/2024 at 23:15, unapologetic pedant said:

Story on my news feed concerning a colourized regeneration of Patrick Troughton into Jon Pertwee. Couple of vids already up on YouTube covering it too. These Doctor Who devotees are quick off the blocks.

Colourized versions of vintage TV that I've seen never look quite right. Think I prefer the black and white.

What an unexpected Christmas treat from the Beeb!

I think the trailer for the colourisation of The War Games looks really good, I'm excited to see it. 

 

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

What an unexpected Christmas treat from the Beeb!

I think the trailer for the colourisation of The War Games looks really good, I'm excited to see it. 

 

Yep, does all look rather fetching. Might have to revise my view of colourized versions. Suppose it depends on the volume of love and care expended.

Scheduled for the day before Christmas Eve. If that matters these days.

[M j M]

OK I've not watched any of the most recent series yet, can anyone sell it to me.

Typically I prefer the older Doctors, or at least those with gravitas, indeed the only time I have stopped watching, Classic or New series, was during the silly Matt Smith era.

How does Gatwa play the role?