Time proves no match for the Doctor Doctor Who is returning to BBC One in 2005 in a live-action series - satisfying an army of fans who have waited for years.
His return to the screen after 14 years in the wilderness has been dogged with several false starts - as well as some interesting new directions for the intrepid intergalactic hero.
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
it isn't fourteen years, remember that awful fox version that never got past the pilot?
actually, forget i said that.
yay! after 14 years! yay!
Posted by Erik Slaine (Member # 5583) on :
::wonders how he can get to actually see this::
I like the idea of The Doctor being pissed off. It's always been entertaining in the past. Maybe he should run in to Bill and Ted?
::still wonders how he can actually get to see this::
::sigh::
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
erik, does that mean you recognize my sakeriver icon?
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Oh! It is Romana! It was so small on my screen that I didn't notice! Totally cool. Best avatar ever! Romana was the best sidekick of The Doctor's ever too!
Did you see the Black Adder where Tom Baker was the ex-pirate?
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
no, i haven't. have you seen the dr. who spoof with rowan atkins and hugh grant? i haven't seen it either, but some day!
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
I hadn't seen that one either!
In college I wrote and produced a play about an intertemporal assassin. I made sure that The Doctor and Romana were intertwined with the plot....
::hands celia60 bag of jelly babies::
[ September 26, 2003, 02:51 PM: Message edited by: eslaine ]
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
wonderful!
*loves jelly babies*
*has 12' version of 18' scarf*
it's true, the evil one does eat babies!
oh, wait, wrong companion. Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Now you've done it, Chris/Celia! How can I get those old Tom Baker episodes? (This will haunt me now....)
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
DVD sets. They're out there.
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
I've got a 20' version!!! Yay! <laughs>
Yeah, Tom Baker was THE doctor. Of course Douglas Adams wrote a lot for the show in those days.
My favorite sidekick was probably Leela. She just rocked. The first Romana was good too. 10 points to anyone who remembers her whole name. The six segments to the key to time were some of the best episodes. Scringestone. Schrivenzaal. Moons of Madness.
I loved the names for the tardis components. Gravitic Anomalyzer and Transdimensional Stabilizer, for instance. Can anyone remember any more?
Favorite Dr. Who quote: "The more sophisticated the technology, the more vulnerable it is to primative attack."
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
Romana Navratalova.
Thanks Chris!
How about this: The Doctor pounds on a mysterious console, which suddenly pops to life.
"Obviously a product of Human Technology."
[ September 26, 2003, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: eslaine ]
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
sigh - I used to have a 12 foot scarf, back in my Whovian days - early 1980s, when a bunch of us would gather every Sunday morning for coffee, doughnuts and Doctor Who. They would show a complete story every Sunday morning on the Denver PBS station. We had a very active group of Whovians - We had a great convention that had Jon Pertwee as the featured guest!
I just hope that when they start the new story they just pretend the 1996 movie didn't happen and we never have to hear any rubbish about the Doctor being half human again. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Ah, but which Romana? The first one was completely lifeless; I was glad when they swapped her for the second one.
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Tom Baker apparently thought well of the replacement as well - since they eventually got married. Apparently, the mutual enchantment wore off rather quickly, though. I think they separated and divorced in less than a year.
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
the second ramana, of course!
man, the joy of first seeing the BBC version of Hamlet. picard is king and ramana is ophelia, it's like an absurd crossover episode! and still a better dr. who episode than that fox one.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yeah, that Fox thing was a miserable piece of carp, wasn't it? I'm really glad that it didn't go anywhere.
I wonder what the special effects will be like in the new series? The incredibly cheesy special effects were always part of the charm for me. Since they said that it was going to be "modern", I can only assume that they'll be on par with the other SF currently on TV.
I have to say, celia, that while I was aware of your coolness before, now that I know that you're a Dr. Who fan, and specifically a Romana fan, I realize that you're even cooler that I'd thought.
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
Noem, right back at you. You were already on the super cool list for familiarity with C. L. Moore, now you're just over the top!
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I can't believe its been 14 years since they stopped making Dr. Who.
Somewhere I've got a Dr. Who craft book with instruction on how to knit the scarf and patterns for making a model of K9.
Did anyone else ever play the Daleks video game?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
No! I had no idea that there was one! Was it for the PC?
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
The dalek video game I played was for the Mac. It was a pretty simple game. I think it was public domain or maybe shareware. We played it in the mid 80s when I was in graduate school
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Yeah!!!
Long time to wait though, sigh... and I wonder how long it'll take to show the episodes over in the U.S. after they air on the BBC...
Growing up and watching Dr. Who, it was painful sometimes having to wait up to THREE YEARS to see new episodes here in the U.S. (I'd get desperate enough -- in those pre-Internet days -- to go over to the university library to look at the TV listings in the English newspapers and be sad to read about all the cool-sounding episodes I'd have to wait to see...)
The Rowan Atkinson/Hugh Grant spoof is VERY funny if you ever get the chance to see it. (Randomly enough, I came across it at our local public library. Manna from heaven...)
Hm, I actually LIKED the pilot that was shown on Fox. I didn't like the messing about with continuity, but the show had a good energy to it, and I was entertained.
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
Oh yeah... random fun fact from reading Douglas Adams's The Salmon of Doubt: Adams introduced Lalla Ward (the actress who played the 2nd Romana) to Richard Dawkins (author of The Selfish Gene, etc.), and Ward and Dawkins are now married...
Posted by Who (Member # 5292) on :
The name is Who.
Dr. Who.
Come, there's been a plot by an alien that crash landed at the beginning of time, and has been living as 6 different entities over the past history of the World, and we must stop him before he destroys the Earth. How can I have my tea if there is no earth?
Posted by Erik Slaine (Member # 5583) on :
Yeah, it's where The Tick keeps all his stuff too.
Is "The Doctor" nick taken?
Posted by Jeffrey Getzin (Member # 1972) on :
Yes, some interesting Dr. Who trivia:
- Lala Ward is indeed married to Richard Dawkins. I think it shows profoundly good taste on both of their parts.
- I once made a pun on her name at a convention, waaaay back when. Everybody in the audience got it except for her because I spoke too quickly for her to make out what I was saying.
- She is the author of a knitting book called "Beastly Knits".
- She is titled. I can't remember what her title is, but I'm sure someone here will know or can find out.
- I'm a nodding acquaintence with the author who first wrote the character of Leela. (And who wrote that line, "It's true: the evil one does eat babies!")
- The Dr. Who episode "Shada" is available in animated form from the BBCi website.
Jeff
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
See, I remember that one. That was the Jaggeroth. That was the one where the doctor was reading Hamlet's line "take arms against a sea of troubles" out of the Jaggeroth's first folio Shakespeare and said "That's a mixed metaphor! I told him that was a mixed metaphor!"
Edit: written before Jeff's post above.
[ September 27, 2003, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: ana kata ]
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
::adulates ak for her encyclopedic knowledge of the series::
The Doctor is already taken? How about The Master?
Posted by Jeffrey Getzin (Member # 1972) on :
ana kata,
And that script with written by Douglas Adams only under a pseudonym.
Jeff
Posted by ana kata (Member # 5666) on :
<beams at her acolyte Erik>
Yes, Jeff, it has the flavor of Douglas Adams' writing. He wrote a lot of the stuff from around that time. Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Sigh.
Somewhere, in a box buried in my parents'house, are reams of notes passed back and forth between Alan and myself during 10th grade history - all about Dr. Who. I had newly discovered the series - it was the one and only thing I watched, for 30 minutes, each day. (We both had A's in the class, so we could afford the extracurricular activity of Alan answering all my questions, which were legion.)
Alas! My father found the notes (and my D&D set, and a few tapes by groups such as Iron Maiden, etc.) and not only took the lot but prohibited me from ever seeing Dr. Who again. He thought I lived in a fantasy world. I eventually got the notes and tapes back, but the show remained off limits. The man's got no sense of humor, I swear!
Anyway -
I had NO idea Fox tried bringing the show back, and now I, too, most ponder how/where I will see what the BBC is up to.
My word!
(spelling, clumsy fingers . . . edit, edit, edit)
[ September 28, 2003, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: Shan ]
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Oooo... Shan... you're at 999. Cool beans.
AK, I'm glad you caught the reference and knew what the episode in particular. ::smile cause too lazy to scroll down for graemlin::
Posted by unohoo (Member # 5490) on :
I got corrected on another bboard when I wrote Dr. instead of Doctor. Here's part of what grinner said:
quote: ...the show is NOT Dr. Who. It is Doctor Who. There is a HUGE difference between them. Dr. Who were 2 movies that were made in 1964 and 1965 to cash in on the Dalek Phenomenon that was occuring in the UK after the Daleks were introduced. The Producers of the movies were NOT allowed by the BBC to call the show Doctor Who because the BBC did NOT want people thinking these were movies that followed their, the BBC, television series. ...
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
t, city of death is one of my favorites. drat, i was too busy being out of town to catch the reference.
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Those were the only episodes I caught, coming on PBS. Mainly because I had other things to do and now I think it's off the air here.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
to see new episodes here in the U.S. (I'd get desperate enough -- in those pre-Internet days -- to go over to the university library to look at the TV listings in the English newspapers and be sad to read about all the cool-sounding episodes I'd have to wait to see...)![[Confused]](confused.gif)
I eventually got the notes and tapes back, but the show remained off limits. The man's got no sense of humor, I swear!![[The Wave]](graemlins/thewave.gif)