General Chat

[Cylon]

Last episode in 10 minitutes better get going soon

 

[Emmapeel]

I loved the Christmas one and he's so cute

 

[Theta Sigma]

Peter Hawkins has passed away:
From Outpost Gallifrey:
"Peter Hawkins
July 18, 2006
Actor Peter Hawkins, a long-time voice of the Daleks and Cybermen in the early years of Doctor Who, died on 8 July. Hawkins was one of the original Dalek voices in the serial "The Daleks" that introduced them, and gave his voice to the role in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth," "The Space Museum," "The Chase," "Mission to the Unknown," "The Daleks' Master Plan," "The Power of the Daleks" and "The Evil of the Daleks"; he also voiced one of the original Cybermen in "The Tenth Planet" and reprised the vocal role in "The Moonbase," "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and "The Wheel in Space". Hawkins was also well known as the voice of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men and Captain Pugwash, as well as appearances in many children's programmes including Rainbow and SuperTed, and was one of the voices heard during the first radio series of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". He was 82. An obituary can be found in The Independent with reports in The Stage, UPI. (Thanks to Nick Mellish, Peter Weaver, Paul Hayes, Paul Engelberg, Fred Scoggins)"

It is weird that I am finding out this sad news today because in a book that I have it is an encyclopaedia of daytime television in the States and the entry I read today was Tomfoolery which is one of the children's programmes that he did and which have a vague memory of.

It was almost two weeks ago but I only just found out that Gary Russell has stepped down as producer of Big Finish:
http://www.bigfinish.com/news/news_060709_allchange.shtml

"All Change at Big Finish
09.07.06: Gary Russell is to step down from his role as Producer of Doctor Who at Big Finish. Nicholas Briggs will assume creative responsibility for the Doctor Who range as Executive Producer and Sharon Gosling has been appointed as Producer with administrative and organisational responsibility for the entire output of Big Finish.

Gary has been producing for Big Finish since 1998 and has been responsible as producer, director and script-editor for the vast majority of the company's output to date. Of Gary's contribution to Big Finish, Company Director, Jason Haigh-Ellery said 'Gary's hard work and tireless dedication to Big Finish has enabled the company to develop and grow over the last eight years to the point where we are now releasing over forty productions a year.' Gary has chosen to move on from Big Finish to take advantage of an exciting new opportunity. However, Gary will still be on-hand to ensure an 'orderly transition' and he will also continue to direct several Big Finish productions each year. 'Obviously we are sorry to see Gary go,' said Jason, 'But we're very pleased that he will still be able to work with us as a Director.'

As a result of Gary's departure, Big Finish has undergone a process of restructuring and redefining of roles. In effect, the job of Producer, as it previously was, will no longer exist and the responsibilities have been reassigned. Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery are to take on the roles of Executive Producers. With assistance from Script-Editor Alan Barnes, Nick will have full creative responsibility for the Doctor Who range. This will extend to the commissioning of scripts, the appointment of Directors and overseeing post-production.

The redefined position of Producer will now be an organisational and administrative one with responsibility for co-ordinating the entire output of Big Finish and ensuring that all production deadlines are met. This new role has been taken by Sharon Gosling. Sharon comes to Big Finish from Titan Publishing where she was editor for the official Stargate and Battlestar Galactica magazines. Jason Haigh-Ellery said, 'Sharon's experience and strong organisational and editing skills will make a major contribution to the smooth running and continued development of Big Finish in the future. We are delighted to have her on board and are looking forward to working with her.' "

 

[Theta Sigma]

Volume 1 of the 2006 season was released yesterday in Australia.

Now I was not going to buy the individual DVD releases for the 2006 season (waiting instead for the release of the entire season plus special features later this year). However when I went to the ABC Shop a couple of hours ago and saw the first volume on the shelf. It had a sticker of getting a free Dalek watch with purchase of all five volumes. For that reason alone I bought it and now planned to buy the other four when it comes out.
Last year it was the Dalek bottle opener, this year it is the Dalek watch wonder what is being planned next year to get us to buy the 2007 individual releases.

Coincidentally when I went to Galaxy shortly afterwards they were showing Volume 1 of the said DVD. When I was there The Christmas Invasion had just finished and New Earth had just begun.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Saw episodes 7 to 13 of the 2006 season at my club last night which means that for the first time I seen every episode of a Doctor Who season prior to their broadcast on Australian television. Without giving anything away episode 13 is an experience you will not forget.

Although I still be watching the episodes when it comes on the ABC (at least I will finally get to see the Next Time trailers on the said episodes as the club president deliberately skipped over at the screening), the thought in my head right now regarding the Whoniverse is this:
Next target: Torchwood.

 

[Theta Sigma]

In the second of three Get Smart episodes shown on TV1 this morning The Day Smart Turned Chicken came an interesting line that is definite interest to us Who fans and therefore I have submitted the following to TV.com which thankfully was accepted:
http://www.tv.com/get-smart/the-day-smart-turned-chicken/episode/34197/summary.html

"Doctor Who

When Max asked Mrs Dawson to see Doctor Fish she replied "Doctor who?"

Doctor Who is the name of the BBC science fiction TV show and at the time of the airing of this Get Smart episode, it had been on in the UK for a couple of years but it would not be on the US until years later. So Mrs Dawson saying "Doctor who?" is a remarkable coincidence."

 

[Theta Sigma]

Last night UKTV showed the Saint episode Invitation to Danger and to my surprise it was written by Terry Nation (and as an added bonus it was directed by Roger Moore). Given the fact that the ABC could not show certain Dalek stories for the classic Doctor Who rerun due to issues with the Terry Nation estate, this Saint episode has no such problems from his estate. That is because it does not own the rights to it. The rights of this episode along with the other 46 colour episodes of the series are owned by Roger Moore himself (which is one reason why he is so wealthy).

So therefore the screening of this episode marks for the first time as far as I am aware of a Terry Nation work being shown on Australian TV since the ABC reran The Android Invasion in December 2004.

Another note of interest is that the Saint episode feature briefly Dennis Chinnery later to become Gharman in Genesis of the Daleks also written by Terry Nation.

 

[Cylon]

one thing i miss from the old series is the music, the new music isnt the same

 

[Theta Sigma]

I did not know this before but apparently Doctor Who fans belong in the same category as that of Cagney and Lacey & Family Guy fans-

From Wikipedia on Family Guy:
"To date it (Family Guy) is one of only a handful of shows in television history to be cancelled and later revived by the power of their fan bases, and one of the few shows to be brought back to air by the same network that cancelled it (see also Cagney and Lacey and Doctor Who)."

Anyway it was nice that Doctor Who got included in the article.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Here is an out of the blue moment:
I was at a lecture on Asia and I was not paying much attention to it. The lecturer was talking about the Tokugawas in Japan when all of a sudden he said:
"The Tokugawans, sounds like a Doctor Who nightmare." Needless to say I pay much more attention afterwards. To add to all this today August 8 is Terry Nation's birthday.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Tom Baker in Marple:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds35852.html

"New 'Marple' film announced
Monday, August 14 2006, 10:10 BST - by Neil Wilkes

ITV has greenlit a new four-part adaptation of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple dramas.

The first, Towards Zero, sees Geraldine McEwan reprise the title role alongside an all-star cast including Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Julie Graham (William & Mary), Paul Nicholls (EastEnders), Julian Sands (24), Alan Davies (Jonathan Creek) and Dame Eileen Atkins."

The rest of the article gives plot details including what happens to Tom's character so you have now been warned.

 

[Theta Sigma]

While watching the recording of last weekend's Six Million Dollar Man, I caught TV1's ad for September. Among the programs TV1 will show in the month is the Star Trek 40th anniversary marathon and it included the Interactive Trekker Trivia. One question from the Trivia was shown briefly and it was:
Who was the creator of the original Star Trek series?

Options 1 and 3 are of definite interest to Who fans:
1. Sydney Newman
2. Chris Carter
3. Russell T. Davies
4. Gene Roddenberry

Looks like the Trekker Trivia was set up by a Who fan.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Last night at my club I got to see the first six episodes of Stargate SG-1 season 10 and episode 6, the 200th episode is definitely one for Who fans to look out for in future. Appropriately named 200, it has full of sci fi references. There is even one from Doctor Who. It totally came out of the blue but it is likely that Aussie viewers will not see it on 7 until late next year.

 

[Cylon]

In the UK that seasons starting soon so we'll get it here

 

[Theta Sigma]

You are going to love that episode.

The latest TV WEEK has labelled the official BBC Doctor Who website as "TOP SITE" with an email from a Felicity who says that it is a good site for games, video and info of the episodes. She even says that it is a cool site even for those not into the new Doctor Who!!!

 

[Theta Sigma]

In last night's At The Movies, the first movie that got reviewed was Stormbreaker and it was directed by 1996 TV Movie director Geoffrey Sax. It did not get a good review as David says that it did not pass the muster and the ending was frustrating. Both he and Margaret gave the film 2 1/2 stars.

Geoffrey Sax would no doubt feel disappointed by this reception as his last film White Noise did not go well either.

Also sort of Doctor Who related is that this morning I handed in an essay about Tea in China. Due to the subject matter I got to briefly mention Marco Polo in that he did not write about tea in his records during his service to Kublai Khan.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Last night my uni sci fi club had its second trivia night for this year. There were definitely Doctor Who questions and my team won. Unlike the last time a few months ago when there was debate about whether Mickey was actually a companion, there was no dispute with the answers with any of the Doctor Who questions. One question of particular interest given its wording was which Doctor is the longest serving based on his first appearance and the appearance of the next Doctor. The answer is Paul McGann in the 1996 movie before Chris Eccleston appeared in 2005.

Another question was about who were the Fatal Death Doctors. After the answer was announced to be Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley, someone shouted out "But it's not canon." Of course you had to be there to find it funny.

After we were announced the winners my teammates and I went to collect a prize. What I chose was the DVD of Aeon Flux featuring Sophie Okonedo (Allison in Scream of the Shalka). In fact she is in Stormbreaker which I mentioned before was directed Geoffrey Sax.

 

[Theta Sigma]

This morning I finished listening to the DVD commentary of the final Blake's 7 episode Blake. The episode had a scene in which Blake (Gareth Thomas) walked passed someone. In the commentary Thomas said that he always wanted to do a scene like that with Tom Baker in which Tom as the Doctor and he as Blake would walked passed and say hello to each other but the BBC wouldn't allow it. This is a shame as I would have loved to have seen it.
This episode written by script editor Chris Boucher also featured a guest appearance by David Collings. Not only has he appeared in three Doctor Who serials including Boucher's Robots of Death but like Colin Baker (in the City at the Edge of the World) and Richard Hurndall (in Assassin), Collings is another Blake's 7 guest star who later went on to play the Doctor. In Collings' case it was in Doctor Who: Unbound: Full Fathom Five from Big Finish.
Another interesting thing is that Blake's 7 regular Josette Simon (Dayna) later went on to appear as Paul McGann's wife in the mini series Nice Town and in The Last Detective episode Lofty alongside Peter Davison. She has appeared with a total of five Doctors. Quite impressive for someone who has not yet done a Who.

Also this morning I handed in a critical review of a work of fiction depicting events in history which was to determine whether the work was accurate in its portrayal of the event. For me I chose to look at the Bill Hartnell serial The Reign of Terror. Among the things I wrote was that it was accurate in its portrayal of Robespierre and the attitudes of French people at that time. Funnily enough when I went to drop it in the box outside the School Office, the assignment cover sheet was stuck on the wall as an example of how people should fill one out. What funny about it was the example it used and it was Richard E. Grant with the signature of R.E.G.!!!

 

[Theta Sigma]

This morning I watched the Andromeda episode Through The Glass Darkly on FOX8+2 when all of a sudden one of the characters Harper said "reversed polarity". The person who played Harper, Gordon Michael Woolvett has actually attended a Gallifrey convention so it is likely he adlibbed those two words for that scene.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Sci Fi Saved My Life is a documentary series that has been shown in the Discovery Channel looking behind the facts of some of the popular science fiction movies. I just finished the episode about Men In Black and late in this episode it had a Dr Mark Lythgoe who is a neuroscientist at the University Cambridge London Hospital. He talked about the prospect of seeing aliens when all of a sudden on-screen there was a flash of a picture of a Silurian. What an unexpected delight.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Here in Sydney I went to the Powerhouse Museum exhibit of On The Box celebrating 50 years of Australian television as part of an assignment. During my visit to the exhibit to my surprise I saw a toy Dalek on display alongside merchandise from other TV shows. It was part of a display of imported dramas that has been shown on Australian TV as information alongside it points out that imported TV shows has dominated the content of Australian television.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Sci Fi Saved My Life is a documentary series that has been shown in the Discovery Channel looking behind the facts of some of the popular science fiction movies. I just finished the episode about Men In Black and late in this episode it had a Dr Mark Lythgoe who is a neuroscientist at the University Cambridge London Hospital. He talked about the prospect of seeing aliens when all of a sudden on-screen there was a flash of a picture of a Silurian. What an unexpected delight.

In a follow-up to this in the episode about The Terminator the episode talked about a miniature tank known as the TALON a picture of which is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foster-Miller_TALON

Since it has wheels narrator David Mitchell asked whether it could climbed up stairs and it is shown that it could with Mitchell saying "TALON 1, Daleks 0". Obviously he hasn't seen Remembrance of the Daleks and for that matter the current series as this documentary was made this year.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Last night I was watching ABC News and I got quite a shock when all of a sudden Doctor Who got mentioned in the report about former Defence Minister Senator Robert Ray attacking the factions in the ALP. This is because Senator Ray called Victorian factions chiefs Deputy Opposition Senate Leader Senator Stephen Conroy and his frontbench colleague Senator Kim Carr as factional Daleks.
Also (thanks to Ickky) found out this morning that Senator Conroy is a Doctor Who fan while Opposition Leader Kim Beazley in reference to the Dalek allusion said the ALP was not in danger of extermination and the "only thing we're going to exterminate is John Howard's industrial relations laws" and also admitted being a fan as well.

 

[Theta Sigma]

Here is a cartoon of the Daleks as a result of Senator Ray's comments:
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/op...id=511617&category=opinion cartoon&m=9&y=2006

Meanwhile Peter Ling writer of the 1968 serial The Mind Robber passed away last week on September 14:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2367415,00.html

 

[Theta Sigma]

Last night my uni sci fi club had a screening of the first seven episodes of MacGyver. The first episode is not related in anyway to Doctor Who but the other six are. This is because from episode 2 The Golden Triangle, Terry Nation began his stint as producer of that show. He also wrote the opening gambits for The Golden Triangle and the next episode Thief of Budapest.*
When Terry Nation's name first appeared in The Golden Triangle someone said whether it means we will be seeing Daleks here. (MacGyver vs the Daleks, now that is an idea). Since it took place in a junkyard, another person said that the Daleks could be made from the junkyard by making them from the tin cans that were available there. At least that is what I thought he said.
Also episode 6, Trumbo's World had a guest stint by Babylon 5 star and Winter for the Adept (Big Finish) guest star Peter Jurasik (coincidentally this month had the release of the Sixth Doctor/Peri Big Finish story The Reaping featuring Peter's B5 co-star Claudia Christian).

*For those not familiar with the structure of MacGyver, the opening gambit is the pre-title sequence. I not calling it a teaser sequence since that would imply that it is something for the viewers to expect in an episode. The opening gambit of one episode is not linked narratively to the same episode's main plot. In the case of The Golden Triangle & Thief of Budapest while Terry Nation wrote the opening gambits he however did not write what these two episodes were mainly about.

 

[Theta Sigma]

The factional Daleks comment was played in this morning's Insiders on the ABC while Matt Price in his usual column in today's Sydney Sunday Telegraph also mentioned it and also writes this:
"Dalek" will be added to "rooster" in the anti-Labor lexicon".

 

[Theta Sigma]

Yesterday between 6:30pm and 7 I turned on the telly to wait for ABC News. When I turned it on it was on 10 and Neighbours was on. The scene that was on at that particular time had Susan telling Karl that she was seeing a Doctor Little and Karl replied "Doctor who?" Susan then said no before repeating that doctor's name. Now if this was not a Doctor Who reference but just a simple clarification of a doctor's name, why would Susan say "no" first prior to saying that doctor's name?

 

[Theta Sigma]

Last night after At The Movies saw the ad for The Last Detective starring Peter Davison as it returns to the ABC for its third season on Saturday September 30 9:25pm and it promoted the fact that he was the fifth Doctor Who. The voiceover mentioned him as Doctor Who being together with the doctor from Heartbeat (Niamh Cusack) and the priest from Ballykissangel (Stephen Tompkinson).

 

[Theta Sigma]

Next week an hour after Doomsday finishes there will be a clash between two of David Tennant's predecessors. At the same time that The Last Detective starring Peter Davison is on, 7 will be showing at 9:30pm the movie If I Had You starring Paul McGann and this year's Christmas special guest star Sarah Parish.

 

[Theta Sigma]

A heads-up:
g,uest at the DWCA forum said that he saw an ad for Bye Bye Pluto which will be shown tomorrow night on SBS on Australian TV and says it has a clip of Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela. Since the program is about Pluto, it is most likely that this clip comes from the 1977 serial The Sun Makers.