Watching Doctor Who

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

Here we see the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theater with another Doctor Who-related video. This time around they’re attempting to sing the names of all eleven Doctors while standing in front of one of their “Edinburgh TARDISes.” (As seen in a couple of their previous videos.) They even throw in the Doctors from the Curse of Fatal Death, a spoof written by a certain Steven Moffat you may recall. Clever hand puppets, aren’t they? I’m quite amused by their stated reasoning for liking Matt Smith. Yes, a Doctor with two single syllable names certainly makes it easier to work said name into a song. What could they possibly come up with next? An ode to K-9? A marathon of Companion names? Personally, I can’t wait to find out.

Enjoy!

The 11 Doctor Whos Name Song:

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theater, Doctor Who, Matt Smith

As I’m sure you all know by now, I tend to spend a fair amount of time surfing around on Youtube. There’s just so much stuff to look at over there. Today I bring you two videos for the price of one.

The price of one, being “free” in this case…but you get the idea.

The first video isn’t available to be embedded, sadly, but I can offer you a link. In 1979, British television played a spoof called Doctor Eyes. Can Doctor Eyes and Gloria survive the planet Chromokey? It’s a bit of silliness, but worth it for the giggle.

My second video offering today is from the 1985 Children in Need special. All you have to do is watch one of the special guests to know that it’s 1985. He’s dressed a wee bit like Rose’s dad in Father’s Day. Also, I’ve never really thought of the TARDIS as a clown car, but watching this video brings the image to mind. It’s more of a class reunion than a special scene or anything. Still, it’s worth watching for the memory jog. Enjoy!

Doctor Who Children in Need 1985:

Doctor Eyes, Doctor Who, Children in Need

Okay, this one is for The Vig. It’s a follow-up to my question about which companion costume you’d choose. This week I’m wondering: Which of the Doctor’s outfits would you like to wear? There are ten Doctors to choose from, and some of them even have a few different outfits to choose from. So, what will you choose? Are you a fan of the tenth Doctor’s blue suit? Do you have a secret yen for celery on your lapel? Perhaps you prefer a cloak and a frilly shirt. Let me know. To help you jog your memory of our Doctor’s stylish choices I am including links below. (No chance of wandering off this time, sorry. Just stick with our ten versions if you please.)

Doctor…who? (I get that a lot…)

• The First Doctor
• The Second Doctor
• The Third Doctor
• The Fourth Doctor
• The Fifth Doctor
• The Sixth Doctor
• The Seventh Doctor
• The Eighth Doctor
• The Ninth Doctor
• The Tenth Doctor

I actually have a thing for waistcoats, so is it any great surprise that I have chosen the eighth Doctor’s outfit? Actually, I think I’d look quite nice in it, and not merely because I’d have to get it custom made to fit me. (I’m five feet tall, for those of you who don’t know.) Mind you, I’d have to learn how to tie a cravat, but that would be a small price to pay.

So. Who’s outfit did you chose?

8th Dr. Image: BBC

For the first post of my week away I thought that I should bring you a little something different. And so, I offer you the episode of Ready Steady Cook featuring Peter Davison, better known to most of you as The Fifth Doctor. For those of you who are not familiar with the show, Ready Steady Cook is a sort of game show that has folks pit their cooking skills against one another (with the help of a professional chef.) This is one of the celebrity episodes. They mention Doctor Who all of once in the course of the show, at least that I saw. One thing to be aware of, the person who uploaded this show almost entirely removed the fellow that Mr. Davison was competing with from this episode. So, if you are in a mood to enjoy a former Doctor (then King, apparently) as he displays his lack of cooking skills, this is a video for you. A note of warning, just in case you are ever in a kitchen with Peter Davison, don’t stand too close to him when he has a blowtorch in his hand. That is all.

Part one:

Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N86xR7g4XA

Ready Steady Cook, Peter Davison, Doctor Who

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the USA and welcome all to the News Roundup. To start things out this week I would like to report that my new pink laptop is nearly ready to use. Yay! Best of all, it’s already named, so I don’t have to worry about that bit. Rose should be ready to go soon. (Yes, I’m still a geek.) Anyway, on to the news.

An Australian Doctor Who fan is the one who placed the winning bid on a piece of signed celery on EBay recently. Okay, so the celery in question was autographed by Peter Davison, and the AUS $12,760 goes to Children in Need. Also, the celery is plastic. Dimity Telfer, you are hardcore. I salute you.

Billie Piper’s recent series, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, is up for an Adult award. It’s up for Best Soft Core Production at the UK Adult Film and Television Awards. The awards will be presented on 29 November 2007. There’s no word as to who will be on hand to accept the award should the production win. Good luck to Billie and the rest of the team.

TVShowsonDVD.com is reporting the March 4 release of Doctor Who - Story #104: Destiny of the Daleks, Doctor Who - Story #152: Remembrance of the Daleks: Special Edition, and Doctor Who - The Complete Davros Collection in the USA and Canada. That’s a whole lot of Dalek-y goodness destined to appear at the same time. Hopefully this isn’t some sort of Dalek plot for world domination.

US Torchwood Fan Alert! Do I have your attention? Torchwood series two will appear on BBCAmerica beginning 26 January 2008. May I just say, “Yes!!!” Let today be a day of celebration in honor of this news. Oh, wait. We’re already celebrating here in the US. Well…now you have a excuse to have that extra slice of pie.

Continuing its winning streak, Doctor Who has won the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award for the Best TV Series. Gareth Roberts, Paul Cornell, and Steven Moffat were on hand to receive the award on behalf of the writing team. Let’s keep the streak going!

Rumors!

Will Lily Allen appear on Doctor Who as a companion?

Will Kylie join the cast of Doctor Who as a regular cast member?

Will Captain Jack Harkness appear in Doctor Who series four?

I don’t know for sure, but I’m really interested to find out.

Peter Davison, Billie Piper, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Doctor Who, Destiny of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, Davros, Torchwood, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award, Gareth Roberts, Paul Cornell, Steven Moffat

Greetings! I have returned from my vacation. It was fun, if not as relaxing as it might have been. One highlight for me was locating a copy of Paul Cornell’s book, Human Nature for half of the cover price. I didn’t find the other book I was looking for, but that certainly made my day. By the way, I’ll try to have my review up on Wednesday, as I am bringing you your weekly video early. Now, as I previously promised, I bring you the 2007 Children in Need Doctor Who Special: Time Crash.

Enjoy the interaction between the Two Doctors, and join me in appreciating the skill of Steven Moffat and both actors. Not many folks could manage to fit that much story into eight minutes of air time.

But Wait! There’s more!

(more…)

Paul Cornell, Human Nature, Children in Need, Doctor Who, Time Crash, Steven Moffat

Only a few days left until the Children in Need appeal, and therefore the special wee episode of Doctor Who called Time Crash. It was written by Steven Moffat and directed by Graeme Harper. According to the BBC Doctor Who Website, “the Children In Need telethon will also feature the vocal talents of John Barrowman, who will be singing during the evening.” Two days left? I’m so impatient to see what is in store for us on Friday. I’ll bet a fair amount of you out there are feeling the strain right along with me. So, today I offer you a commercial for this year’s Children in Need event. It has a few seconds of the episode that we are all waiting for, and if they are anything to go by…well, let’s just say I’m a bit more impatient now than I was before I saw it. Enjoy!

And now for the “Something Else” from the title of this post. You may or may not know that I spend a fair amount of time surfing around on YouTube. Sometimes I don’t find anything of interest. Other times, however, I find an video I just have to share with you all. This time was one of the latter, thank heavens.

Rab C. Nesbitt was a Scottish sitcom that ran on the BBC from 1988 to 1999. It was a bit unusual in that it tended to cover all sorts of darker topics and themes not usually seen in a sitcom (like cannibalism) in a comedic fashion. Back in the third series of this show (1993), one David Tennant appeared in an episode called “Touch.” In this episode he played a pre-op transsexual, and let me just say that he plays a woman a bit too well. Don’t believe me? Watch and see for yourself.

Children in Need, Doctor Who, Time Crash, Rab C. Nesbitt, David Tennant

I know that I normally save all of the news to report it later in the week, but this just couldn’t wait. The Official Doctor Who Site is reporting that there will be an extra special scene appearing in the Children in Need show this year on 16 November 2007. Written by the fabulous Steven Moffat and called “Time Crash,” this scene will feature both David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor!

Please pardon me while I squee. (And run around the house annoying my husband with my evil laughter.) I’ll bet they heard me in Hawaii just then.

I have been dying for a multiple Doctor episode since the new show started. A small scene like the ones that appear in the Children in Need show is just perfect. It will be just the sort of homage to the classic show that I have been looking for. Although I would still like to see a full episode featuring maybe…the eighth Doctor, this announcement makes me giddy. And it’s even written by Steven Moffat. What more could you ask for? I mean seriously.

Now I’m bristling with questions. Will the Fifth Doctor have a companion with him? Will the Tenth Doctor have a companion with him? How will they explain the situation? I wonder who they have directing it. Euros Lyn, maybe? Oh, it’s a good thing I have that week off of work. Apparently, more information will be forthcoming as the date draws closer. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything new.

Yes!

Image Source: The BBC

I thought that it might be fun to do a Thursday Thirteen this week, so I offer you Thirteen people who have played The Doctor at various times. I know that there are more folks that I could add (Peter Cushing for example, though technically he played “Dr. Who.”) but I had to stick with thirteen. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy my list.

13 People Who Have Played The Doctor (in no particular order)

1. Christopher Eccleston (9th Doctor)
2. Mark Gatiss (The Web of Caves)
3. David Tennant (10th Doctor)
4. Hugh Grant (The Curse of Fatal Death – The (Handsome) 12th Doctor)
5. William Hartnell (1st Doctor)
6. Paul McGann (8th Doctor)
7. Tom Baker (4th Doctor)
8. Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor)
9. Patrick Troughton (2nd Doctor)
10. Richard Hurndall (The 1st Doctor in The Five Doctors [William Hartnell had passed away])
11. Peter Davison (5th Doctor)
12. Colin Baker (6th Doctor)
13. Jon Pertwee (3rd Doctor)

Thursday Thirteen, Peter Cushing, Christopher Eccleston, Mark Gatiss, David Tennant, Hugh Grant, William Hartnell, Paul McGann, Tom Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Patrick Troughton, Richard Hurndall, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Jon Pertwee

This is pretty much what it says on the tin. 43 years, 10 Doctors, 5-and-a-half-minutes. For those of you who are not particularly familiar with the classic series of Doctor Who, here is a video that covers some of the important and amusing bits from each of the first ten Doctors. It’s sort of like a visit to the department of backstory, actually. The Doctor has been fighting the monsters for a very long time. (Great job with the vid, bishopzero!) Enjoy!

Doctor Who

Look what I found. This is a video containing all of the Doctor Who title sequences complete with title music. (Not each entire sequence, rather more of a continuous melding of once sequence into another.) Someone by the handle of “royalmarriage” over at Youtube put this together, and I think that they did a great job. They even included one of the 3rd Doctor sequences that I had completely forgotten about. For those of you who have not seen much of the classic series, this video will give you a better idea how the opening titles, and title theme, have changed throughout the years.

Doctor Who, 3rd Doctor

The third series of Doctor Who has begun in the USA, Australia, and Canada. What do you think so far? Well, I’ve got lots of tidbits for you all this week, so I’d better get started.

TV Shows on DVD.com is reporting that 5th Doctor episodes Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity will arrive on DVD in the United States on 6 November 2007. (Yay! Two more episodes. Keep ‘em coming, please.)

If you would like some more information about the next Doctor Who Christmas Special (the one for Christmas 2007), then check out this article on the Official Site. Included are a new picture of two main characters, casting news, and tiny bit more about Kylie’s role. (The picture in question is very nice, if spoilery.)

It appears that Torchwood will soon be playing in France on NRJ 12 (a relatively new network.) The same article says that Torchwood has also been sold to networks in Korea and Turkey. (You know, that show really gets around…)

The BBC is reporting that Peter Davison is to play King Arthur in the West End’s production of Monty Python’s Spamalot starting later this month. (Well, I’ve heard him sing and play cricket, but I don’t think that I’ve seen him dance. Now, if only I could get out there to see that production of that very silly musical. Sigh.)

For those of you who have already seen series three, The Official Site would like you to pop by and vote on your favorite moment. (No, I’m not telling you which one I voted for.)

Those of you who have 1) seen series 3 and 2) didn’t know that Martha Jones had a myspace blog may be interested to read her final post. There are, of course, spoilers for all for series three and perhaps a hint of what may come in series four.

Well, I’m sure that I’m forgetting something, but that’s all I have for now. Hope that you enjoyed this news update.

Doctor Who, TV Shows on DVD.com, 5th Doctor, Time-Flight, Arc of Infinity, Torchwood, Peter Davison, Spamalot, Martha Jones

(Michael was kind enough to let me know about his First Doctor, and In the process I have discovered that he used to watch the PBS channel that I watch now. Thanks, Michael!)

My First Doctor: (by Michael of Big Orange Michael)

Many years ago, I lived in San Jose, California. This was in the mid 80s when local PBS station KTEH was one of the great supporters of Dr Who–to the tune of it aired six days a week. One episode an evening at 7:30 p.m. (it moved to 7 p.m. when they got East Enders) and then a complete story in episode format Saturday nights at 11:15 p.m. (Called the Saturday Night Late Night Dr Who feature).

I should preface this by saying I’m also a huge Star Trek fan and this was the time before TNG, so we only had the original 79 that I’d seen–well, a few times. My dad was sitting there with me one hot summer evening and asked me if I’d ever heard of Dr Who. I said I had but it was odd in that it had multiple part stories and I never seemed to see part one.

So, my dad said, “Why don’t we give it a try?” and flipped over to KTEH. The starfield opening swirled into view and lo and behold, it was part one of “Time-Flight.” I sat and watched, fascinating. Having nothing else Who related to compare it to, I thought it was quite good and tuned in the next night…and the next night…and the next night. I soon was figuring out how to program the VCR to record the late night features on Saturday–and they were running Tom Baker. My first T. Baker was “Terror of the Zygons.”

So, my first Doctor was Davison, which is odd since while I like him, he’s not my favorite. My favorite is McCoy, but part of that may be I met him once at the WhoMobile in San Jose and he answered my question about the Daleks. It was after his first season (which we’d not seen yet) and he said he’d go back and tell them the American fans wanted a Dalek story. A few weeks later, I found out the lead story to season 25 was “Remembrance of the Daleks.” Now, I know deep down McCoy didn’t run back to JN-T and say that a young American fan wanted the Daleks back, but I still like to imagine that is exactly what happened.

(Do you have a My First Doctor story that you would like to share? Comment here or e-mail me today!)

My First Doctor, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, KTEH