General Chat

[Majestic]

Here's the General Chat for Doctor Who.

I start this thread off by mentioning that last night while watching The A-Team, there was a mobile phone ad which played well known theme tunes including Doctor Who. Caught me by surprise and it's odd that it was shown during The A-Team. (Since The A-Team was the Doctor's rival on ITV back in 1985.)

Tomorrow, Saturday 25 February at 8:30pm, UKTV on Australian pay-tv will be showing The Saint episode Interlude in Venice which guest stars Patrick Troughton (the Second Doctor).

s well as watching Pat in that Saint episode, Peter Berner mentioned Doctor Who in The Einstein Factor yesterday as he goes through list of famous Doctors when he described Barry Jones among other things "Doctor Who sexy".

Later on I saw William Russell (Ian) in Poirot: After The Funeral. Didn't recognise him at first due to the moustache. In the preview for the next instalment Cards on The Table, I thought I heard Zoe Wanamaker's (Cassandra in The End of the World and the upcoming episode New Earth) voice and checking IMDb I was right. Star Trek fans will also be interested to know that it also features Alexander Siddig (Dr Julian Bashir in DS9).

So far in the DVD set I am up to The Doctor Dances. Glenn Miller is played in this episode and The Empty Child. In a funny coincidence as I was watching these two episodes on the weekend, I happened to find an old recording of Get Smart episodes which I had forgotten about and it had an ad of Glenn Miller songs during the ad break.

Just some hours ago I saw Daphne Ashbrook (Grace in the 1996 TV Movie) in the Diagnosis Murder episode Georgia On the Mind which also featured Blake's 7's Glaynis Barber. It was very enjoyable and I have to say that I don't often see a Doctor Who star and a Blake's 7 star together in anything other than Doctor Who and Blake's 7. In fact I almost missed it as I came home in time for it to be on TV1+2.

Outpost Gallifrey has reported that Renee Zellweger has asked Chris Eccleston on a traditional English date saying that she is fan of Chris' work including Doctor Who.

dunmall at the Doctor Who Club of Australia forum posted this on February 20:
"Well at the Best of Both Worlds con in parramatta last november David Hewlett who plays Dr Rodney Mackay on Stargate Atlantis/SG1 was outed by his costars for having a Dalek in his trailer. When asked who his favourite was he said he remember watching Tom Baker when he was younger."

Yesterday I saw Tristan and Isolde featuring the lovely Sophia Myles who will soon be seen in Doctor Who in the upcoming season's The Girl In the Fireplace.

Last night my uni sci fi club had a trivia night which as usual included questions about Doctor Who. It was a pretty fun night.

In The New Avengers episode Gnaws which I saw last night is of definite interest to Doctor Who fans.


That is because the unseen monster is a giant rat in the sewers. Gnaws writer Dennis Spooner is a former Doctor Who story editor and this episode was shown in December 1976 two months before another giant rat was seen in Doctor Who in The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

I just finished reading the DVD notes for Part 2 of the very first story (of the classic series) from The Beginning Box Set. Find it a little bit amusing when it mentioned that a model thought she was doing Dr No, instead of Doctor Who (coincidentally my mother also gets the two mixed up). The model who was cast as one of the cavepeople was not too pleased of being covered in grease and refused to take off her false eyelashes but what really made her walked out was being told that she was going get a black tooth as part of the cavewoman look.
The notes mentioned in passing Boss Cat. If people do not know what Boss Cat is that is because you would know it by another name - Top Cat. It is called Boss Cat since Top Cat is the name of a brand of cat food in the UK. I know the DVD was originally released in the UK but I would think for non-UK viewers it should have said "Boss Cat (aka Top Cat)" so we would know what the notes is talking about.

Last night at my uni sci fi club saw the first five episodes of Life on Mars and episodes 4 and 5 is of interest to Doctor Who fans:
Mary Whitehouse (the Doctor's late enemy) is mentioned in Episode 4 and Doctor Who himself in Episode 5. Although neither 4 or 5 were written by co-creator Matthew Graham, he is now a writer on Doctor Who himself and noticed in the credits the script editor being Elwen Rowlands who also did script editing duties in last year's season of Doctor Who.

So I trust I have now given you a reason to watch Life On Mars if and when it comes on in your area.

On Good Friday during the usual screening at my uni sci fi club the computer that was used to my surprise had as its background image that of the first Tom Baker title sequence. The image was at the point just prior to Tom's face being revealed. Therefore it took me sometime to realise what the image was. A very pleasant surprise for Easter.

Excellent work TS, very interesting stuff.

 

[Theta Sigma]

This morning I watched The L Word episode Land Ahoy on 7 on Australian TV which had silence in the end credits (apart from the display of the production companies). This is of course immediately reminded me on how Doctor Who: Earthshock (1982) ended which also had silence in the end credits.

Last week came news of the Battlestar Galactica prequel series Caprica. This morning I finished listening to Gallifrey Chapter one: Weapon of Choice CD.
Therefore parallels between Gallifrey and Caprica did not escape me (since people have made comparisons between the new Doctor Who and the new Battlestar Galactica):
They are both named after planets.
Gallifrey and Caprica takes place before the new versions of Doctor Who & Battlestar Galactica respectively. The Gallifrey audio series takes place before the new Doctor Who TV series since Gallifrey is mentioned to be destroyed; Caprica takes place before the planet's fall to the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica.

Remarkable timing.

 

[Cylon]

just saw episode 5

i think its the best 1 so far.
It ended on a bit of a cliff hanger though. Also the cybermen sound a bit like Daleks

 

[Paul]

lol yeah . class .

 

[Cylon]

is doctor who showing in America at the episode?

 

[Majestic]

is doctor who showing in America at the episode?

Americans have only just got season 1 on the sci-fi channel I believe. Australia hasn't even got the new season yet.

 

[Theta Sigma]

On Australian TV:
Last night on an ABC ad, I noticed that The Last Detective starring Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor and previously shown on 7 was included as one of the programmes to be shown next month.

Presumably the ABC is picking up where 7 left off last year.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Last night, I was watching Agatha Christie - A Life In Pictures on the ABC and to my surprise Mark Gatiss turned up as a reporter. Incidentally I also been seeing him in Funland on SBS.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Yesterday as I was waiting for ABC News, I noticed a toy Dalek behind someone in Talking Heads. Quite unexpected.

 

[Cylon]

ive just seen the two cyber men episodes and they are definatly the best so far

 

[Theta Sigma]

Tomorrow my uni sci fi club will begin showing the Sci Fi Channel version of Dune and its sequel Children of Dune. So yesterday I borrowed the original film directed by David Lynch. During the beginning I suddenly remembered that Dune was name of the character that gets killed off at the beginning of the 1975 Doctor Who serial Ark In Space written by then script editor Robert Holmes. Yesterday May 24 was coincidentally the 20th anniversary of Holmes' passing in 1986.

 

[Theta Sigma]

On Australian TV:
Last night on an ABC ad, I noticed that The Last Detective starring Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor and previously shown on 7 was included as one of the programmes to be shown next month.

Presumably the ABC is picking up where 7 left off last year.

The Last Detective will debut on Saturday June 17 at 9:30pm but the description of it at the ABC link http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200606/programs/ZY7894A001D17062006T213000.htm sounds like the very first episode. This means that unlike The West Wing, the ABC is showing The Last Detective right from the beginning.

This is still good news for me because Channel 7's Sydney station had a blackout for much of the early part of the first instalment. I finally get to see what was in the missing bits.

 

[Theta Sigma]

It has been a raining day but that did not stop me from walking to the newsagent to get DWM 368. To my surprise it had two different covers one of David and the other of Billie on the cover. I bought the one with Billie. I also bought SFX in another special Doctor Who edition with had a free Doctor Who novel from BBC Books. The ones that were available were Domino Effect, Halflife, Emotional Chemistry & Synthespiansâ„¢. I decided to pick Synthespiansâ„¢. To end this story about this visit to the newsagent I also had a browse at other magazines including Star Trek which had the subheading "The Two Doctors" (me thinks this is a take on the Doctor Who serial of the same name) which was about the TNG doctors played by Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher) and Diana Muldaur (Kate Pulaski).

 

[Theta Sigma]

Doctor Who got mentioned in The Einstein Factor last night, when contestant David Maurice with his special subject on Blackadder was asked for his first question on which Doctor Who actor played Captain Rum. He says "Pass" and answer was Tom Baker. He did not know the answer. Tsk. Tsk. Ultimately David lost out at the end coming a dismal last. While answering the Captain Rum question correctly would not have made a difference in the overall outcome, the fact that it was his first question as far as I am concerned it was really the beginning of the end for him in the game.

Meanwhile in determining which show did the best in recasting a character, the Doctor tops TV WEEK's Top Ten Recastings. In a piece, William Hartnell is mentioned as the original Doctor which was then followed with the list of all his replacements from Pat Troughton to David Tennant. Besides the heading, "Who's Best", that category once again belongs to Tom. It also mentioned as a result of Tom, the scarf is a best known trademark of the series. There is also an accompanying picture of Tom with a small picture of Chris Eccleston with the caption asking whether their Doctors will meet one day.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Some hours ago I finished watching Titanic directed by James Cameron which I recorded most of on 7 when it shown six nights ago. The movie featured David Warner who played an audio Doctor from Big Finish and he was quite good as a villain in the movie. For Warner, this is not the first time that he has been on the Titanic. He had appeared as a different type of character in the 1979 TV movie SOS Titanic.

As a result of Warner having been an audio Doctor he is in the small group of actors who have appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Trek. He had appeared in Star Trek V & VI and the TNG two parter Chain of Command.

The night before Titanic was shown on 7, my uni sci fi club had a screening of TNG and DS9 episodes. I did not attend as I have already seen all the Star Treks (so far). I was told afterwards that among the TNG episodes they saw was Chain of Command. Quite a coincidence Warner is seen by my club the night before he set foot on the Titanic on 7.

 

[Cylon]

ive just watched the episode "Love and Monsters" i think its the worst one so far. I didnt realy focus on the doctor at all

 

[Emmapeel]

I like focusing on the Doctor, he's so cute and he can come and visit me anytime I like my men tall and lean and I love his energy

 

[Theta Sigma]

I recently heard the commentary for Part 3 of the Tom Baker story Genesis of the Daleks in which director David Maloney mentioned that he went on to do produced Blake's 7 created by Genesis of the Daleks writer & Dalek creator Terry Nation. Maloney said that the stories in Blake's 7 were similar to Genesis. I thought it was interesting that he mentioned it during this episode because this had the Doctor approaching two guards saying he was a spy. This dialogue was similar to the one in the Blake's 7 episode Seek-Locate-Destroy also written by Nation when Vila spoke to two guards saying that he is an escaped prisoner.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Two missing episodes of the 1968 serial The Invasion have been animated for its DVD release:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/06/20/33077.shtml
"Doctor Who ReAnimated!
Two lost episodes recreated for DVD release.

We're delighted to announce that in November, 1968's Cyber-epic The Invasion will be released on DVD - including fully-animated recreations of two missing episodes, by world-renowned studio Cosgrove Hall.

This Invasion stars Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor in a battle with the Cybermen. Episodes One and Four from this eight-part story have long been missing from the BBC's archives, but the soundtracks survived.

Sophie Walpole, head of the BBC's Interactive Drama & Entertainment division, explained the thinking behind the project. "In the year that the Cyberman have returned to Doctor Who, it seemed a good idea to complete one of their finest outings from the 1960s," she said. "We have found a unique and innovative way of presenting this classic adventure with new animation fitted to the lovingly restored soundtrack."

Cosgrove Hall's Lead Animator Steve Maher found the job of recreating a black and white TV adventure "a slightly surreal experience", but explained that animating Patrick Troughton's Doctor was a real treat. "He has a wonderfully animatable face, so he was a gift. Baddies are invariably more fun to depict than the good guys so the sneering, unblinking Tobias Vaughn was a lot of fun, too."

The company had previously worked on the 40th anniversary Doctor Who story, and have been able to significantly advance the techniques they developed for The Invasion.

View a 30 second teaser for The Invasion Reanimated."

Just saw the trailer for the animation and it looked quite good.

 

[Cylon]

The last episode is coming up and after the preview after "fear her" i can say it looks very good

 

[Emmapeel]

there's a forum called "Bad Wolf Forum" if anyone is interested, Iccky knows I like The Doctor and she came across it from the Doctor Who Forum

Link removed

so check it out....I haven't joined though....it's kind of deadish

 

[Cylon]

ive just seen the penultimate episode, its very good.
I realized what the big twist at the end was going to be before it happened
(i watch to much sci fi so nothing can suprise me)
I wont tell u all what it was so u can all enjoy the suprise though if u watch tardisode u will know

 

[Paul]

2 of the docs worst nightmares come true at the same time , brilliant . wonder how he is gonna get em this time , i dont think the tardis is up for another turn to ash ep . this is gonna be classic .

 

[Cylon]

baby hel just leave and every1 will be killed ....

 

[Emmapeel]

exterminate -vs- terminate?

 

[Majestic]

Dr Who (Season 2) starts this Saturday on the ABC at 7:30pm, i'm looking forward to it.

 

[Emmapeel]

me too, I'm really excited. Seen some of the new episodes but am daggy/sad enough to watch again

 

[Majestic]

me too, I'm really excited. Seen some of the new episodes but am daggy/sad enough to watch again

You think thats daggy/sad you should see me with some other sci-fi shows.

 

[Emmapeel]

You think thats daggy/sad you should see me with some other sci-fi shows.

Well we can be daggy/sad together

 

[Majestic]

Well we can be daggy/sad together

Funny the type of people you meet on the net, you even find people like yourself on here.

Well I think it is time to get back onto Doctor Who.