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."
Doctor Who? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Doctor Who? (Score:1)
Either that, or you are a troll with no friends at all
Re:Doctor Who? (Score:1)
Re:Doctor Who? (Score:1)
Re:Doctor Who? (Score:2)
That said... never mind who's Doctor Who, what I want to know is who's afraid of the big bad wolf? [badwolf.org.uk]
Re:Doctor Who? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Doctor Who? (Score:2)
Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:5, Informative)
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.)
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:4, Informative)
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?
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:1)
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.
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:2)
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...
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:3, Informative)
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
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:2)
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
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:2, Informative)
IGNORE PARENT (Score:3, Informative)
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)
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)
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)
(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)
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.
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:1)
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
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:2)
jeff
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:1)
i.e,
1-3 [woolworths.co.uk]
4-6 [woolworths.co.uk]
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Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:1)
Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out (Score:2)
DW Confidential DVD issue... (Score:2)
I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:5, Interesting)
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
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:1)
Sorry man, but I have to ask..
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:2, Interesting)
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
Re: Mod this parent up... (Score:2)
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:2)
There was a sub-discussion elsewhere in this thread about Americans not understanding irony. This is irony.
Nothing better to do than post lame and irrelevant insults as an AC? "You have no life"? Sounds like *you* have no life.
Questioning someone's sexuality for no good reason? Suggests repression, and I think *you* are the one who is "probably gay".
The sooner you admit the truth to yourself, the better....
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:1)
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:2)
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.
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:1)
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.
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:4, Funny)
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.
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:3, Informative)
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
Re:I've never seen Dr. Who (Score:2)
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.
Download links (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Download links (Score:2)
BBC Dr Who (Score:1)
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)
Patrick Troughton - the First Regeneration
'Androzani' and 'Ghost Light'? (Score:2)
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
Re:'Androzani' and 'Ghost Light'? (Score:1)
Re:BBC Dr Who (Score:2, Informative)
I've only listened to a couple of the Peter Davison ones, but "Spare Parts" is amazing.
Re:BBC Dr Who (Score:2)
Re:BBC Dr Who (Score:1)
Re:BBC Dr Who (Score:2)
However, I think the new Doctor will give him a damned good run for his money.
Doctor Who? (Score:2)
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
Re:Doctor Who? (Score:2)
New series lacks charm (Score:4, Insightful)
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?
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:1)
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:1)
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:2)
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,
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:2)
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:2)
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.
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:2, Interesting)
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
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:3, Interesting)
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
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:2)
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:2)
1: present day london (obviously)
2: in space, year 5 billion
3: cardiff, 1869
4+5: present day london
6: present day utah
7: satellite 5, year mumble (i forgot, somewhere in the future)
8: 1970s london (rose's past)
9+10: 1940s london (during the blitz)
11: present day cardiff
12+13: satellite 5, 100 years after episode 7
so aside from the first episode, they only significantly return to present day london for one double episode, which is where most of the fleshin
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:3, Interesting)
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
Re:New series lacks charm (Score:3, Interesting)
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
direct download links (Score:5, Informative)
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
Dr Qui ? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Anyone got a torrent? (Score:3, Informative)
Check out the TV Tome Episode Guide for the First 26 seasons and the movie [tvtome.com] and the 27th season [tvtome.com] to know what you're getting... recent episodes will probably be easier to stomach, older ones (back to 1963!) are very poor duplications of black and white episodes.
Starting with the newest season, the 27th, is a good idea since the show has been on hiatus for about 15 years and the new ones don't assume any background knowledge.
Re:Anyone got a torrent? (Score:2)
The Aztecs [amazon.co.uk] is in pretty respectable condition (they spent a lot of time restoring it, even to the extent of 'putting back' the look of the original video which was lost in the transfer to film).
Story's not bad either, considering its era; British TV was still quite new then. The productions were often theatrical in style, and either live, or recorded straight-through in a similar manner.
The Aztecs *is* like that, but i
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:4, Informative)
Keep in mind it was slated to be a kid's show and was part of the kids department till 1989. In fact, I know I watched a documentary where in the 60s they had a contest who could create the most scarry monster. Strangely enough the results of turning over the design department to a bunch of 2nd grade students worked rather well and I, a Doctor Who fan, wouldn't have noticed the difference.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:1)
Not correct - it was always produced by the BBC drama department.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:1)
And the "Design a monster" competition was run by Blue Peter, c.1968, and that WAS a kid's programme.
Get your facts right.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
I'd have to review the documentaries, but the ones I've seen made references to kids show, kids department / educational department. I also seem to remember the same documentary spoke about much pressure regarding the use of monsters disguised as policemen saying, "you can tell children there are no such thing as monsters, but you can't tell them there are no such thing
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:1)
The show was a BBC Drama output. They wouldn't have spent so much money on it if it was just a kids show.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
It had a budget? Part of it's charm was the ultra cheap special effects. In the early days it had it's moments as in Marco Polo, and others where they seemed to be penny pinching as in Edge of Destruction aka inside the space shop.
Perhaps it's my foreign perspective observing that you lot have much more in the way of respect for children and are less prone to be condescending, and have television de
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
You would think. Bureaucracies are funny things though with departments that are not necessarily divided by obvious borders. You notice this when playing phone tag and if you say it in a firm enough way, you can convience someone they are responcible for an entirely differe
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
I definately remember reading stuff on the BBC site about how in the begining they at least got some funding from the education departement by including stuff that was considered eductaional.
I think at one point they got funding from light entertainment too.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:1)
ooh, good point! (Score:2)
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Actually, that might not be true; I think it was more like a 12-inch model.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Speak for your self, I can assure you that in America televisions are just as bad as they were then. During the early 80s my only access to Doctor Who was when I was visiting my Aunt in Philly, and the only way to tune it in was using a 12inch B&W with a coat hanger arial as the local cable com
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
"I'm big and clever! I know how to type that 'æ' symbol properly. Neh neh neh neh-neh neh!" (^_^)
was part of the Jon Pertwee era which was first shown in color. I can't remember if the color version of this was lost, or if it was re-colored based on the NTSC version.
I remember this, because there was some publicity at the time 'The Daemons' (er... I mean 'The Dæmons'
Basically, they had a decent quality black-and-white film transfer *and*
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Or I checked an episode list to make sure we were talking about early Pertwee "The Dæmons" rather than some other episode titled "Daemons" or some such, copy and pasted the correct 'æ". For example one could say "Robot" the first Tom Baker Episode, or The Robots of Death a later Tom Baker with Lela onboard. So no points for being clever but a few points for being accurate. I half recall the t
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:5, Insightful)
Apart from being the longest running TV science fiction series I wouldn't know.
It shows us that British actors can only employ ironic humor.
I'm surprised that, from that side of the pond, you know what irony is. I always thought you lot thought it was like silvery but harder.
Everyone likes things and dislikes things. So you dislike Dr Who. That's your prerogative. But good public television has to suit all tastes. I am currently off of work due to a bad chest infection and I am spending most of my time in bed. Yesterday I watched a program on how Bernard Herman, the film composer, changed the face of classical composing; poets talking about other poets work; Drake's defeat of the Spanish Armada; Turner Landscapes at the National Gallery; and The Professionals which is enjoyable seventies secret agent bunkum all courtesy of free broadcasting (none of which were on the BBC).
Put on the shows to draw in the public and then the advertising sold can pay for the 'culture'.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:1)
As for longest running science fiction, I could have sworn that was Star Trek Voyager. Maybe it just felt like it was on forever.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
If you want to play the same game, what about the two (three?) Dr Who movies and the radio series.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:1)
The daleks aren't 2nd grade art. They are a genuine 1960's design classic.
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:1)
Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen (Score:2)
Millions of people have, and now again do watch it. Now while popularity isn't necessarily quality, it clearly is not "unwatchable".
I don't think it has changed the face of television, very little has. It has entertained millions of people for generations though, which is pretty good going.
Spoiler for 'Dalek' from new series (Score:4, Interesting)
Possibly because the Time Lords have been exterminated. It seems that there was a Time War in which both the Time Lords and the Daleks were wiped out; the Doctor claims that this was his doing.
For eight whole lives the Doctor was the superior being, a Time Lord from Gallifrey, impressing the hell out of the lesser humans - but he never needed them. Now, though, there's no home to go to, no Gallifrey, no Time Lords, just him and the TARDIS. No wonder he's clingy with Rose: he's got nobody else now.
Re:Current Doctor (Score:1)
Hope so, especially since Mr. Eccleston has decided not to hang around, and thus using another generation in a single season... sigh...
Re:Current Doctor (Score:2)
Well, he's already got at least one granddaughter...
Re:Current Doctor (Score:1)
Very true - procreation sometime within the next two generations would certainly tie up that particular William Hartnell era loose end... maybe my comment wasn't so far out afer all...
Re:Current Doctor (Score:2, Interesting)
I think there's a much simpler explanation of why he's so attached to Rose ...
hides
Re:Current Doctor (Score:2)
OK, that triggers two major responses in me and I'm not quite sure how to react.
1: The Doctor is not half-human on his mother's side. He was taking the piss when he said that. If that was true it would be the worst atrocity in SF since midichlorians.
2: 'Are you my mummy?' AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!
Re:you ins3nsiTive clod! (Score:2)