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Sci-Fi Media Television News

Online Doctor Who Documentary 154

mikey writes "There's an online documentary called Planet of the Doctor about the influence of Doctor Who. It's put out by the CBC and it's got some decent interviews with original producers, writers, and cast as well as fans and others. So far, it's been very entertaining and informative. They've got four episodes out with another couple to come. If you're a Doctor Who fan (or even a generic Sci-Fi fan) it's worth checking out."
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Online Doctor Who Documentary

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  • Doctor Who? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I am not familiar with this individual. More details, please.
    • Google is your friend, along with many, many other search engines

      Either that, or you are a troll with no friends at all

    • A traveler in time and space (www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk)
  • by Black Art ( 3335 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @01:16AM (#12765889)
    Another documentary to check out is Doctor Who Confidential [bbc.co.uk] broadcast by BBC 3. It is a 13 part half-hour documentary series on the Doctor, past and present. It can be viewed on the BBC web site in Real Movie format or can be found on various file sharing networks in a larger and more viewable format.

    So far I have seen nothing from the BBC on releasing the series on DVD. I hope they will. It has been quite good so far. (At this date, 11 of the 13 episodes have aired.)
    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09, 2005 @01:33AM (#12765959)
      In the UK, they are all being released immediately. In fact, the first half of the season has already been released [amazon.co.uk].

      In the US, no luck so far besides BitTorrent [demonoid.com].

      I don't like violating the copyright on most TV series, but I feel that Doctor Who is special - the BBC deliberately destroyed most of the older episodes to make room in their archives, and most of that content only exists now because people violated their copyright or otherwise illegitimately acquired the film. The BBC actually had to go out and hunt illegitimate copies down in order to make the DVDs that they're now selling.

      Kinda ironic, doncha think?
      • In the UK, they are all being released immediately. In fact, the first half of the season has already been released. In the US, no luck so far besides BitTorrent.

        Doesn't amazon.co.uk ship to the US?

        And the last time I checked, you could get DVD player that does pal for under $50, in fact saw one for $20.00 on close out.
        • by Black Art ( 3335 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @02:32AM (#12766130)
          The new season of Doctor Who is starting to come out on DVD in the UK. Doctor Who Confidential is not.

          Amazon.co.uk will ship to the US. Due to the crashing value of the dollar, it is pretty expensive. (I have spend a lot of money buying region 2 dvds from them.)

          You need to have a player that can disable region codes, as well as play PAL format. The Coby DVD-224 is my current favorite. It will play RCE discs on the region free setting without intervention. Some versions can also disable Macrovision. All available through a "secret" menu. Plays everything I have tried on it. Costs about $40 on sale. Lacks video passthru, but has pretty much everything else.
          • Amazon.co.uk will ship to the US. Due to the crashing value of the dollar,

            The dollar may be "crashing", but it hasn't shifted much that I've noticed against the pound in the last 12 months. I don't know what that says about the strength of the pound...

            • The dollar may be "crashing", but it hasn't shifted much that I've noticed against the pound in the last 12 months.

              You've not been paying attention, then. I've spent (and saved) a lot of money on buying things from the US that I would not have been able to afford except the dollar was down to about 60p; even with postage, it's been worth it. The dollar has pulled back a bit now, but we were very close to £1=$2 for a while.

              TWW

              • You've not been paying attention, then. I've spent (and saved) a lot of money on buying things from the US that I would not have been able to afford except the dollar was down to about 60p; even with postage, it's been worth it. The dollar has pulled back a bit now, but we were very close to £1=$2 for a while.

                I looked into buying my Canon printer over in the UK, where the CD feature is enabled. I saw it was fetching £90 with VAT but not shipping cross the pond which would add £30. I ch
      • I do believe the original poster was talking about the Dr Who Confidential series, which isn't out on DVD so far, and doesn't seem scheduled for release at any time soon.
      • IGNORE PARENT (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Doctor Who Confidential cannot be released on DVD: too much unclearable music in the montages. THIS IS IN THEIR FAQ.

        The BBC never deliberately trashed the archives in 1974: they thought there were copies at another site.

        None of the DVDs in release (old or classic series) are from off-air broadcasts (except some easter eggs).
        • Re:IGNORE PARENT (Score:3, Informative)

          > The BBC never deliberately trashed the archives in 1974: they thought there were copies at another site.

          i think he's talking about the fact that they used to re-use the (expensive at the time) tapes for other, "more important" things like football matches and horse races. the first series of Quatermass went the same way.

          ah, would appear that you're both right:
          http://www.answers.com/topic/dr-who#wp-Missing_epi sodes [answers.com]

          it's a shame either way.
          • Re:IGNORE PARENT (Score:3, Interesting)

            by guidemaker ( 570195 )
            the first series of Quatermass went the same way.

            Not true. The first series of Quatermass was broadcast live (as was most TV at the time) and the first two episodes were 'telerecorded' as an experiment. Telerecording involved pointing a synchronised 16mm film camera at a TV screen and at the time it wasn't done very much. On reviewing the results of the first recordings it was deemed not of sufficient quality and subsequent episodes were never recorded.
        • Re:IGNORE PARENT (Score:4, Informative)

          by jd ( 1658 ) <imipakNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Thursday June 09, 2005 @03:41AM (#12766300) Homepage Journal
          The person who did the trashing (forget her name - she wasn't a memorable person anyway) didn't have permission to do the trashing, trashed episodes without checking to see what was being trashed (only B/W stories were on the list, but color stories were destroyed by "mistake" as well), and there is no evidence that they believed the stories kept elsewhere. The evidence to date suggests that they were clearing space because their main site had been declared a fire hazard, and B/W stories were deemed of no value.


          (Which is why "select" stories were kept. If they had truly believed they were only eliminating redundancy, they would have eliminated it all. The evidence is that they kept stories of "special significance", indicating damn well that they knew no such archives existed elsewhere.)

        • Re:IGNORE PARENT (Score:4, Interesting)

          by jd ( 1658 ) <imipakNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Thursday June 09, 2005 @03:48AM (#12766320) Homepage Journal
          Oh, and a few other points. Pirate copies were also made by TV studios, which is why we have copies of some of the rarer stories. And any copy kept by a TV station after broadcast was considered illicit, which means that the recovered Tomb of the Cybermen was an illegal copy at that time.


          Secondly, yes we DO have off-air recordings on DVD. Some of the grainier recordings used in recovered stories (I think Invasion may have been one of these) were fan recordings, which is why they are of such low quality. Good quality recordings are used where they exist, but they don't always exist.


          And, to answer another troll, yes the BBC should damn well have been saved from its mistakes. First, the BBC is owned by the British Public, and the British Public wanted (and wants) those stories. Those who pay the piper call the tune.


          We aren't talking about some namby-pamby private corp that can do what it likes in its own private dungeon. The BBC is public property, and answers to it.

      • Audio copies of all episodes only exist becuase people recorded them off TV (if you check the credits of the audio releases, there's usually a Special Thanks mention for the people who originally recorded the episodes).

        But the film copies that were recovered are all legitimate prints made by BBC Enterprises for export to forign TV stations. AFAIK most missing returned black and white episodes were returned from TV stations that had bought Doctor Who in the 60s. A few were returned by film collectors, havin
      • I think the original parent post was referring to the documentary not being released on DVD, not any of the original Dr. Who episodes, which as you point out, are slowly becoming available.

        jeff
    • Theres already 2 volumes out, episodes 1-6 at Highstreet Retailers (I remember seeing adverts),

      i.e,
      1-3 [woolworths.co.uk]
      4-6 [woolworths.co.uk]

      --
      Random Signature #2
      Generated by SlashdotRndSig [snop.com] via GreaseMonkey [mozdev.org]
    • BBC Three Doctor Who Confidential is really nice show to watch after each new episode of Dr. Who.
    • The whole "confidential" thing is just another one of the ways that the BBC is leading the world in the use of multi channel digital broadcasting. They (not alone, not the first) have recognised the value in the behind the scenes info to the fans. So, they show the program at 7pm Saturday night) on their flagship channel bbc1 and then imediately after they show the "documentary" about the just aired episode's making on one one of their new channels, bbc3. Other shows use the "XShow confidential" thing, a
    • The biggest problem with a Doctor Who Confidential DVD release would be licensing all the pop music they use. While it's fine and dandy for broadcast within Britain (Due to BBC licensing deals), a home video release would require more licensing with a different department.
  • by kingofalaska ( 885947 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @01:23AM (#12765923) Homepage Journal
    I thought it might be something else, but when I got to the site all I got were Volkswagon ads.

    Am I alone in being turned off by excessive commercialism? For example, the latest Star Wars offering may be entertaining, but with all the tie-ins, from Pepsi to fast foods to Saturday morning cereal advertisements aimed at children, to my formerly-favorite candy M&M's (for which I almost went to jail over once-don't ask), coupled with all the astroturfing...well the stench of desperation is turning my appetite off. And that's just one example.

    I'm ready for a revolution. Tear it all down and start fresh, or at least, let the writing and acting stand on its own.

    KOA

    • to my formerly-favorite candy M&M's (for which I almost went to jail over once-don't ask)


      Sorry man, but I have to ask..

      • Ok, fine, since you asked...

        I had this 'job' and we were told we were not permitted anything from outside. I mean NOTHING. I even signed some paperwork to that effect. If they didn't issue it, you are not to have it. Soap, socks, underwear, stationery, stamps, etc. etc. After a couple of months, I was dying for some chocolate. I had an opportunity for a package of plain M&M's, and I took it. When I got back to the compound, the Charge of Quarters decided to have an inspection. He went straight to my lo

        • ... thems some might big balls you've got my lad. Well done!
    • by zakezuke ( 229119 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @01:32AM (#12765956)
      Am I alone in being turned off by excessive commercialism?

      Part of the reason I enjoyed Doctor Who in the first place was it was produced by the BBC, non-commercial television, and shown in America on PBS, non-commercial television. To answer your question you are not the only one turned off by seeing VW every time you see a CBC Who reference.

      If you are trully interested in the subject see http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/ [bbc.co.uk]
      No commercials, no Volkswagons.
    • I'd rather have the CBC bend over for cash and bring me something (anything?) to do with a show I have loved for decades then have them have no budget and see nothing at all.

      At any rate web adverts have become so ubiquitous I kinda just tune them out.

      Incedentally, I'd rather see movie tie-ins on tv commercials I can ignore rather than have product placement shots in the film itself.
    • Atleast you didn't get arrested for Skittles... I knew something was wrong about catching the rainbow.
      • I knew something was wrong about catching the rainbow

        No no no.

        Catching the rainbow results in a leprecon who might have a pot of gold.
        Tasting the rainbow, Skittles moto, might get you 5 to 10.
        • The last batch of Skittles TV adverts in the UK had dropped the 'taste the rainbow' tag line, which is a shame, as I used to get great delight saying it along with the little girl...

          It was about that time that I last ate Skittles, so just goes to show, if the advert isn't any good, you stop consuming the product.

          -Jar.
    • by meringuoid ( 568297 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @03:49AM (#12766323)
      to my formerly-favorite candy M&M's (for which I almost went to jail over once-don't ask)

      M&Ms get you into trouble. Jelly Babies, on the other hand, will always get you out of trouble.

      Keeping a recorder, a totally ridiculous scarf and/or a sonic screwdriver handy is also a good idea.

    • Given that the UK tax payer funds the program I'm reasonably sure it isn't as commercialised as whatever you have in America.
      • Given that the UK tax payer funds the program I'm reasonably sure it isn't as commercialised as whatever you have in America.

        Sigh...

        Doctor Who as well as other material from the BBC is typicaly carried on PBS (public broadcast system). A "private, non-profit media enterprise owned noncommercial television network". It is publicly and privatly funded, and is reasonably commercial free. In the past a corporate sponcership might result in a brief little blip noting their contribution. "This program is b
        • Yeah, there is no way you can consider PBS commercial-free anymore. The spots are almost indistinguishable from regular commercial spots these days.

          As for getting Dr Who in America, just download the episodes off of the newsgroups. That's the global TIVO. The only problem is message retention because the drwho and the scifi group have a lot of posts. So you have to go in there and get each episode within a couple days of broadcast.

  • I never got to see the original Dr Who growing up in CA, USA, being born in 1981. (I have seen every single Red Dwarf though... that one ROCKS!) but i always heard about it. Geek friends, the internet.. there was always this Dr Who geek level that I felt that I never reached.

    Now I can download the new BBS 2005 DR Who series and watch them. If the old ones are as interesting as the new ones, I think that I missed out on so much. I'm sure there are the purist that say the old school Dr Who is so much bette
    • Re:BBC Dr Who (Score:5, Informative)

      by jd ( 1658 ) <imipakNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Thursday June 09, 2005 @03:34AM (#12766284) Homepage Journal
      A very rough guide to the different generations of Doctor Who, and the sorts of people who might find them appealing:
      • William Hartnell - The "Original" Doctor!
        • His era was primarily intended to be educational. Someone else on Slashdot noted the lack of humor - well, this is humorless and intended to be that way. It'd deadly serious stuff, and usually on deadly serious subjects. Stories include:
        • Massacres in Revolutionary France
        • Stone-age tribes on the edge of starvation
        • An Aztec coup
        • The destruction of Rome at the hands of Nero
        • Dalek attempt to nuke the Thaals
        • Dalek attempt to hollow out Earth as a spaceship
        • Dalek attempt to use time disruptor to conquer galaxy
        • Dalek attempt to conquer time as well as space
        • Cybermen attempt to conquer Earth
        • Human colonists nearly get wiped out by disease they'd lost immunity to
        • Murderer wipes out alien civilization to cover tracks
        • Major civil war on planet controlled by insects
        • The destruction of Troy and the massacre of nearly everyone inside
      • In general, this is great for fans who like "historical fantasy" (what would have happened, if...) and was actually used to teach history and scientific methods to younger students.

      Patrick Troughton - the First Regeneration

      • After William Hartnell became too ill to continue, they needed to either replace him or scrap the series. It was too popular to scrap, but he was too dominant and too unique to simply replace. So began the most creative plot device of all history... He injected humor into the series, was generally much lighter than Hartnell, and that had an appeal that made a big difference. It still had a lot of history and science, but was much more edutainment than either education OR entertainment, in the classic sense.
        • The Highlanders - Classic historical story, sadly lost (apart from the script and the soundtrack) but included gems such as Troughton pretending to be a medical doctor, bashing one guy's head on a table repeatedly and "diagnosing" the headache as a serious illness, the cure to which was to be locked in a closet.
        • Evil of The Daleks (at least one episode still exists, along with the soundtrack) - almost half was set in Victorian England and was extremely well-done period drama. With the addition of psychotic pepperpots. Mostly a story of greed, on the part of a Victorian alchemist who wanted the secret of transmutation, and on the part of the Daleks, who wanted the secret of how to eliminate fallibility. Ends up with a civil war on Skaro, between super-evil Daleks and "humanized" Daleks.
        • A race of super-pacifists is enslaved by mass-murdering Dominators...
        • Krutons - oops, Krotons - subjugate another planet by means of Weapons of Mass Destruction, periodic butchering of the more intelligent residents, and the prohibition of science. Now we know what President Bush has been watching...
        • One group decides to create a super-army, by creating a gigantic battlefield of easily brainwashed primitives from Earth...
        • The Mind Robber - Probably the very best of the lighter stories. A superb blend of folk stories, psychology and futuristic virtual reality, long before Star Trek's "Holodeck"...
        • The Invasion - Brilliant, but only partially complete and some of the recordings are in poor shape. A tale of high treason, an International spy ring, Cybermen and a female mathematician faster than Britain's (real-life) Carol Vordeman.
        • The Ice Warrior stories are darkly political, but have their light moments and plenty of unexpected twists.
        • Dystopia meets humor can also be found in The Macra Terror (only audio and a little video exists, sadly)
      • Great for those who like humor, but also want some fairly meaty
      • Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester Macoy never had any decent scripts to work with

        Not true; Peter Davison had The Caves of Androzani [amazon.co.uk] which I've heard is considered one of, if not *the* best Doctor Who stories by fans. I'm no diehard fan, and I came to the same conclusion myself (bought it after early-1990s repeat, in turn after good memories of the original transmissions).

        Sylvester McCoy's era I had some bad memories of... I've heard he's a really good actor hobbled by some less than brilliant sc
        • Personal I'd rank the doctors in order as: Peter Davison, Tom Baker, Christopher Eccleston, Colin Baker, Patrick Troutan, Paul McGan, William Hartnell, John Pertwee, Sylvester McCoy, For a combination of acting and scripts. For pure acting McCoy and McGan would be higher, but they were crippled by attrocious scripts.
      • Re:BBC Dr Who (Score:2, Informative)

        by fartymenams ( 890764 )
        Actually, if you want to hear what a good Doctor Colin Baker could have been (given better scripts and none of the "Trial of a Time Lord" BS), listen to pretty much any of the audio plays that Big Finish has done. His performances are really good.

        I've only listened to a couple of the Peter Davison ones, but "Spare Parts" is amazing.
    • Netflix has the episodes that have been released on DVD in the US, so you can check them out that way.
    • From the old series of Dr.Who, I think pretty much everyone agrees that Tom Baker was the best Doctor of them all.

      However, I think the new Doctor will give him a damned good run for his money.
    • I've seen a-whole-lot (all of Doctor's #3,4,5,6, some of #7, just a little bit of #1&2) of the old series, it was one of my favorite things growing up. The Doctor was my hero. (seriously) I have a large stack of Doctor Who on VHS tapes recorded at LP speed in the next room.

      The old adventures were originally broadcast as 3-4 30 minute episodes. They had the tradional cliff hangers and all that. I saw mine on PBS KCPT channel 19 and they'd been edited together into 90 - 120 min movies, so I didn't ge
      • Great quotes! Here's a few more...
        • "It doesn't roll along on wheels, you know!"
        • "Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance."
        • "Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority."
        • "Your leader will be angry if you kill me; I'm a genius!"
        • My dear Miss Shaw, I never "report myself" anywhere.. particularly not "forthwith".
        • "Look, try and use your intelligence, man, even if you are a politician."
        • "There's no point in being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes."
        • "You kno
  • by hfis ( 624045 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @03:00AM (#12766197)
    Maybe I'm just looking at the old series through rose coloured glasses, but I much preffered it to the new one.

    The new one is far too emotional for my liking (though bear in mind I've only seen 4 episodes of it). Far too much emphasis is placed on the girl, and I really wish BBC at least attempted to hide the mutual infatuation between the two.

    Also, I find much of the impact that the original series had is lost though having 45min start-to-finish episodes. One of the best things about the old series was the great cliffhangers.

    Anyone else share this opinion, or am I seeing something that isn't there?
    • I miss the polystyrene monsters, myself.
    • It looks good, and I like the "American" style of sticking in a teaser at the beginning. But it does dwell too long on the emotional bits. I don't care about Rose and Mickey. I want weird stuff. The current series takes so bloody long to get anywhere. Speed it up by 50% and cut the soppy crap, and I'll be happy.
      • The current series takes so bloody long to get anywhere.

        Have you ever watched a Pertwee-era six-episode story? *They* are slow. Most of the new ones are 45 minutes long.

        Yeah, the new ones are *way* too soapy in parts, but the increased focus on emotional stuff sometimes pays off well; "Father's Day" was a far better story for it. "Classic" Who or not (i.e. Tom Baker fanboy era), it worked.

        Personally, I wish they'd cut some of the crap humour and tone down the tongue-in-cheek nature of some stories,
      • There are some absolutely amazing episodes in the current series, then just some soppy emotional ones. "Boom Town" (latest) was slow, emotional and didn't go anywhere. The "Empty Child" sequence was real Dr. Who though, mystery, technology, humour, running, screaming, the works.
        • "Boom Town" (latest) was slow

          Well, Boom Town was slow, but it also included some of the very best writing you will see. In fact, I thought the episode was at its weakest when it speeded up towards the end. Until then, the slow-burning debate between the Doctor and his adversary was just wonderful to behold.

    • As someone who had never seen the old "Who", I must say I do quite enjoy this series. I like how it has managed to satirise the Iraq war, considered the implications of torture and the death penalty, and focussed on the need to be surrounded by friends/family.

      My one complaint is that every episode thus far has been set on/in orbit around Earth, and most of them in the 20th and 21st centuries. The beauty of SciFi is you can do anything, see anything. Its the ultimate escapism. So why go to early 21st centu

      • by Fross ( 83754 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @05:10AM (#12766561)
        So why go to early 21st century London so often?

        because this is where the series is grounded - it's where rose comes from, and it's where the viewer comes from. this isn't about pure escapism, it's about relating these outlandish situations to things people can understand.

        having said that, it does sound like it's dumbed-down - it isn't. and the later episodes do go off galavanting around other times for a lot longer - in fact, around the double-episode in the middle of the series, it's quite a shock to go back to the 21st century.

        the return to our time is also about continuity - without it, it would simply be "rose and the doctor and different things every week" - i for one feel the series gains from these extra characters, it helps flesh out the protagonists. some recurring other characters (no spoilers!) also help.

        while i was one of the other many kids terrified by daleks and cybermen in the late 70s, looking back on them there is no denying the original series are crap. the laughable special effects aside, the plots are tenuous and the dialogue at times abysmal. these are all areas i think the new series has pulled away from and improved. it HAS kept the quirkiness of the doctor particularly well, it's going to be sad to see christopher ecclestone leave after just one series. it does, however, maintain the slightly patronising plot-explaination within almost every episode, where perhaps it could have been a little more subtle. but maybe they thought they'd alienate the american audience by doing that ;)

        if you guys are only a few episodes in... KEEP WITH IT. the first few set the scene and illustrate the changes, and are a bit samey. they do improve, though, and start getting awesome around episode 6.

        • I think I agree with a lot or what you say. I will admit to missing the old three-or-more-part stories, and I do really miss spending more screen-time away from Earth (both Platform One and Satellite 5 were near Earth, efen if not planetside), but the current series does work. It's just different.

          Plus it does deal with some of the issues that would be relevant today that weren't as relevant in previous seasons. missing persons (especially young human females) is an even bigger deal now than it ever was. J

    • Maybe I'm just looking at the old series through rose coloured glasses, but I much preffered it to the new one.

      The writing of Doctor Who really started to decline tward the end of the Sylvester McCoy era. I liked Sylvester McCoy but the writing was a touch lackluster. Others may argue that this started post Tom Baker. I must admit Peter Davison made a very lethargic Doctor. Colin Baker I liked dispite the fact he came across as an arrogant bastard. The whole Trial of a Time Lord, while looking very
    • I think what is unfortunately happening here is that you are missing the subtleties. The first few episodes were geared towards showing who The Doctor is and what he does, but there was more to it than that.

      Lots of references are made through the first few episodes - the tree-being in the second episode who consoles the Doctor on his loss when she finds out what race he is, for example. That eventually builds up into him telling Rose that his race, and his planet, were both destroyed in a terrible war.

      Lat
  • by bani ( 467531 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @03:14AM (#12766226)
    direct download links for convenience.

    windows media:
    part one [www.cbc.ca]
    part two [www.cbc.ca]
    part three [www.cbc.ca]
    part four [www.cbc.ca]

    apple quicktime:
    part one [www.cbc.ca]
    part two [www.cbc.ca]
    part three [www.cbc.ca]
    part four [www.cbc.ca]

    and a pig pile of doggie poo on /.'s lameness filters.
  • Dr Qui ? (Score:3, Funny)

    by CmdrGravy ( 645153 ) on Thursday June 09, 2005 @06:48AM (#12767051) Homepage
    Avec Le Dalek.

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique. -- Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

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