Watching Doctor Who

I started this blog back in November of 2006, and in that time we have seen all sorts of things together. Torchwood came to America. Companions have come and gone. A new Doctor has been announced. The Sarah Jane Adventures have begun. The folks running the back end of the Whoniverse have handed over the baton to others. David Tennant has done a turn as Hamlet. Quite a bit can happen in nearly two and a half years.

Sadly, my time here has come to an end. I’m moving on to other projects, including that sleep thing I’ve heard so much about. (maybe)

Please come and join me over at Shadowproclamation.net, my other Doctor Who blog, complete with podcast. I’ll miss this blog and my faithful readers/commenters. Thank you for joining me for the adventure.

Yours in Who,
Elisa

Doctor Who, podcast

Cast your mind back. Back to the beginning of the new series of Doctor Who. While we are waiting for the next special to air this weekend, I was thinking that it would be nice to go back to where we started. Ponder, if you will, series one. Which episode(s) do you prefer? Are you all about the Autons? Do you prefer Space Pigs? If you have a wee bit of trouble with this task, please consult the list below. Please remember rule one, however, and don’t wander off.

Run!
1. Rose
2. The End of the World
3. The Unquiet Dead
4. Aliens of London
5. World War Three
6. Dalek
7. The Long Game
8. Father’s Day
9. The Empty Child
10. The Doctor Dances
11. Boom Town
12. Bad Wolf
13. The Parting of the Ways

My favorite ninth doctor episode is Father’s Day. Maybe it’s the theme of willing sacrifice, or the sudden understanding of where Rose came from. You look at her father and you think, “Ah! I understand now. This is where Rose gets her wild intelligence and ability to adapt to The Doctor’s lifestyle.” Pete Tyler looks at Rose and knows who she is, completely ignoring the fact that her presence there is impossible. He even manages to save the day, The Doctor, and everyone else by understanding the whole unbelievable situation and seeing what he needs to do. This episode also contains one of my favorite images of the season. It’s later in the episode, The Doctor is gone, and Rose’s despairing profile is immobile to the left of the screen. She seems to be carved out of stone for a moment. It’s such an interesting image. Something that lingers in the mind. Whatever the reason, Father’s Day is my favorite episode.

So, what is your opinion?

Doctor Who, ninth doctor, Rose, The Doctor

Things have been a bit confused around here at 451 Press over the last month or so. I’m not too sure what the future may hold. I have no definite information one way or another, but just in case…

If this blog suddenly disappears, please come join me over at http://www.shadowproclamation.net. Our first Podcast is posted there now, but we’re still trying to get the subscription thing figured out with iTunes. There are a lot of fiddly bits I was not aware of involved in this podcasting thing! Quite the learning curve, you know? Let me reiterate that I have no plans to leave this blog behind, but if something should happen that is out of my control…you know where to find me.

It’s finally coming. The next Doctor Who special episode, Planet of the Dead is headed for UK televisions on Easter. I’m not sure when it will finally make it over to the United States, though, as a quick glance over at the Sci Fi Channel’s website didn’t find a date listed for that episode to appear as yet. In any case, here is the trailer to whet your appetite for the special which is now only about a week and a half away. What do you think?

Planet of the Dead:

Personally, I think it looks a bit like I will be spending the episode behind the sofa. Do I want to know where the TARDIS ended up? And where exactly are they? (Apart from Dubai, that is.)

I can’t wait!

Before I get started, I must admit that I hate April Fool’s Day. If at all possible, I even take the day off of work and hide in my bedroom. Well, not actually in my bedroom, but you get the idea. Why? I’m not sure. I think there were too many stupid jokes I had to deal with as a child.

On the other hand, I love the obvious online April Fool’s jokes. Like the ones over at Google, you know? So, in that vein, here are a few headlines that I will shock the world by announcing here for the very first time. Are you sitting comfortably?

Then we’ll begin.

Have you heard that David Tennant is planning on staying on Doctor Who…as The Doctor’s assistant? Yes indeed. The Doctor will be his own companion at some point in Series five for a couple of episodes. This may cause a few problems, however, as The Doctor is not well known for getting along with himself, and may leave himself behind on some moon or other. Either that or they will swing by and pick up another incarnation so that they can rename themselves “Me, Myself, and I.”

Series five will bring yet another surprise when we finally see The Doctor’s bedroom, only to discover that the walls are still plastered with posters from old Gallifreyan rock bands. It turns out that he tends to wear the same clothing all the time, because he is too lazy to do the laundry!

The next series of The Sarah Jane Adventures will feature an episode that is a crossover with Torchwood! We will see Captain Jack flirting with Mr. Smith, an alien menace that seems to be a large singing banana, and we will hear Ianto say, “I’ll never be able to look at a Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich the same way again.”

And finally, I am going to be doing a Doctor Who podcast with The Vig over at Shadowproclamation.net. (actually…this part is true. So, keep your eyes peeled. It should be up in a couple of days.)

Happy April Fool’s…

David Tennant

As promised, here is the next installment of the Whoniverse-based musical playlists. This list covers all of the Tenth Doctor episodes up through the end of series three (with huge thanks for the updaters of the Wikipedia article on the topic.) I didn’t manage to find a list of music for the most recent series. If any of you know where I might find that list (or ones for Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures) please let me know. I’d like to be a bit more complete about this if I can. Obviously, I wasn’t able to find every song on the list, and in some cases I had to use other versions of the songs. In any case, I hope that you enjoy the twenty-three songs that I did manage to compile. (I’ll try to make lists for each Doctor in the future.)

One of the songs from yesterday’s Tenth Doctor playlist is Mr. Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra, otherwise known as ELO. Yes, this was played in the Doctor Who series two episode Love & Monsters. So, I figured what better way to follow that up with a fellow who looks like a young David Tennant (and is very tired of hearing about it…Sorry Liam) in a video where he listens to Mr. Blue Sky in a silly fashion on a train? Yep. He’s lip-syncing. I love the way he’s cut the video together.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Littleradge, he’s a University student in Edinburgh who loves making YouTube videos. So, that means that in addition to looking like David Tennant, he also sounds quite like him. Different region of Scotland, but Scotland nonetheless.

The Night Train (Littleradge and Mr. Blue Sky):

Tenth Doctor, Mr. Blue Sky, Electric Light Orchestra, Doctor Who, Love & Monsters, Littleradge

On the 2009 Red Nose Day show for Comic Relief, David Tennant and Davina McCall competed in a special celebrity edition of Mastermind. Predictably, Davina “The announcer of Big Brother” McCall opted to answer questions for Big Brother 2000-2009 and David Tennant chose to answer questions about Doctor Who 1963-now. I won’t tell you who wins, but I will say that I was impressed my David’s knowledge of our show (well…except the one about the drink. I can’t believe he missed that one.) He really is “one of us.” Let me just add that I have no desire to ever appear on a game show like that. My brain would go completely blank. What about you lot?

Comic Relief | David Tennant and Davina McCall on Mastermind:

Red Nose Day, Comic Relief, David Tennant, Davina McCall, Doctor Who

The first part of this video is a Doctor Who skit that was filmed for the show French and Saunders on 25 January 1987. It features George Layton as The Doctor, and French and Saunders as Silurian guards. It was never transmitted, according to the notes on the video, but it apparently appears as one of the extras packaged with The Curse of Fatal Death spoof written by none other than a certain Steven Moffat. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? Now, if only we could get Dawn French or Jennifer Saunders to play a part on Doctor Who. I bet they’d love it. They’ve made several references to the show in stuff they’ve done over the years after all. Just one thing, though. Do those “pods” in this video look a bit phallic to anyone else? No? Oh. Just me then.

After the French and Saunders skit is a another Doctor Who spoof from Victoria Wood As Seen on TV. This skit was transmitted in 1987, and according to the notes on the video, Jim Broadbent plays The Doctor. If you include his turn as The Doctor in The Curse of Fatal Death, he has played the part in at least two instances. Unfortunately for him, he seems to encounter rather unhelpful energy in both cases. Poor fellow. This spoof is also one of the extras packaged with The Curse of Fatal Death. I really need to get a copy of that DVD.

One French and Saunders Doctor Who Skit and One Victoria Wood Doctor Who skit:

Doctor Who, French and Saunders, Steven Moffat

As most of you know there have been ten different television-based incarnations of The Doctor (soon to be eleven). The original show ran from 1963-1989 (7 Doctors during that time), then there was an American-made film for television (loved the Doctor, thought that the film itself was not the best ever…), and then the new series that began in 2005. Now, I’m sure that you all know that the current series is designed rather like most American television shows, in that the episodes are about an hour in length (when you include advertisements). The Classic series wasn’t like that. One story could last up to twelve episodes (in the case of The Dalek Masterplan), with a cliff-hanger generally at the end of each one. Now, granted that the current series does include some two-parters, but it’s still not quite the same thing. So, I offer you a basis for comparison. (Yes, this would be another one of my lists. Oh, and for the record, I am not including multi-doctor episodes in the tally of any other than the reigning Doctor at the time.)

1. William Hartnell - 1963-1966
29 Stories/134 Episodes (25 minutes each)

2. Patrick Troughton - 1966-1969
21 Stories/119 Episodes (25 minutes each)

3. Jon Pertwee - 1970-1974
24 Stories/128 Episodes (now in color)

4. Tom Baker - 1974-1981
42 Stories/178 Episodes (if you include Shada)

5. Peter Davison - 1982-1984
20 Stories/69 Episodes

6. Colin Baker - 1984-1986
11 Stories/31 Episodes (45 minutes each after The Twin Dilemma, then back to 25 minutes each during Trial of a Time Lord)

7. Sylvester McCoy - 1987-1989 (and 1996 film)
12 Stories/42 Episodes (and the film)

8. Paul McGann - 1996 film
The American Film (and many audio adventures)

9. Christopher Eccleston - 2005
13 Episodes

10. David Tennant - 2006-2010?
39 Episodes, 4 Christmas Specials, 3 other specials…

11. Matt Smith - 2010-?

The Doctor, William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Doctor Who

While David Tennant was busy with his co-hosting duties for this year’s Red Nose Day, the quick bit of Whoniversal fun for the year came from the Sarah Jane Adventures. First off, here is the Teaser trailer for the mini-episode.

The Sarah Jane Adventures - Red Nose Day Teaser:

To whet your appetite still further, here is the official Behind the Scenes video for the Sarah Jane mini-episode. What does it say about me that I immediately recognized both of the episode’s writers before they were introduced?

Sarah Jane Adventures - Behind the Scenes - Red Nose Day 2009:

And you can watch the special mini-episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures from the Comic Relief Red Nose Day 2009 here. (Sorry, the best copy I could find didn’t allow for embedding. Neither did the other good copies I found. Enjoy anyway!)

Sarah Jane Adventures

As you may recall, David Tennant and Davina McCall were to share host duties for this year’s Red Nose Day in support of Comic Relief. And indeed, they did. So perhaps it isn’t too surprising that at one point Davina decided to ask David a question that many of us would have asked in her place. Yes, she asked him for a kiss. In the interest of raising money for charity, David agreed. Davina’s donation was then doubled when she took things a bit farther. All I have to say is…nice dip there, David.

David Tennant Kisses Davina McCall - Red Nose Day 2009:

What do you think of David’s white suit? I think he looks pretty good. Davina’s dress was a lovely shade of red. I don’t think that I could manage to get away with the dress itself. Ah well.

Remember how I mentioned playlists in yesterday’s post? Well, while we wait for more folks to reply to this week’s question post with their “songs that make them think of Doctor Who” I thought it would be fun to give you a playlist of a different sort. I’ve done a bit of searching online, and I found a list of songs used on Doctor Who over on Wikipedia. The one thing I feel like I can rely on Wikipedia for is anything fan-related. Thank you kindly to all the folks that contributed to that music entry. I took the list provided for the first series of the new Doctor Who and put together a playlist of the music from the Ninth Doctor’s era of the show. Amazingly, the only song that I couldn’t find over on playlist.com was the theme to The Weakest Link. Pretty good in my experience of playing around over there. So…here you go. I hope that you enjoy the playlist, and don’t forget to go back and comment on the question this week so I can make a playlist of those songs.

This week I have a question for you on the subject of music. What song makes you think of Doctor Who? No, I don’t mean songs from the soundtrack. In fact, I will specifically say a song other than one that appears on the soundtracks. Do you have a piece or classical music, pop song, or filk that makes you think of the show? You don’t need to confine your answer to just one song. Go ahead and give me several. And I’ll even try making a playlist for us when all the suggestions are in. Sound like fun?

As usual, I’ll get you started with a few suggestions.

A few musical suggestions:
1. Snow Patrol - Make This Go On Forever
2. Holst - The Planets
3. Muse - Map of the Problematique
4. Ian Dury And The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
5. Wilco - How to Fight Loneliness

Honestly, I have a whole list of songs that make me think of different parts of the Whoniverse. I mean, there are the ones that were used in the episodes and don’t appear on the soundtracks. How can we forget Rogue Traders’ “Voodoo Child” and Scissor Sisters’ “I Can’t Decide”? Occasionally, I run across bands that are rife with Who connections. Snow Patrol is a big one in that sense. I could do a whole playlist of just their stuff. Anyway, I’ll offer three songs for my contribution. 1) Snow Patrol - Make This Go On Forever, Muse - Map of the Problematique (I was beyond happy to hear this one in one of the Confidentials), and This Picture - All I Believe In.

Your turn.

This looks to be one of David Tennant’s behind the scenes video diaries from Doctor Who series three. What can I say? It was amusing, so I had to share it with you all. You know how it is.

David Tennant and John Simm behind the scenes:

So, what did you think? The whole bit about the glue still being on the back of David’s hands made my skin itch a bit. What about you? Poor John Simm had a cold while they were filming? I couldn’t tell. Good job with the acting there, John. Here we see why I didn’t take that up professionally. I just can’t ignore being sick. That and I’d probably get all claustrophobic in prosthetics. The flying thing looks kind of fun, though.

David Tennant, Doctor Who