Doctor Who
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Mixed reviews for the Christmas episode in the UK
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Awwww I missed it, hopefully gonna catch it New Years day... The Weeping Angel with David Tennent is very scarey....
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This programme demeans and degrades science fiction, timey wimey claptrap.
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Squid:
This programme demeans and degrades science fiction, timey wimey claptrap.
its a kids show so whats your point?
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More to the point... I love science fiction and sharing it with my children, I'd love to hear some recommendations of programmes, or books, that can extend our enjoyment. So if the Doctor is not for you, what do you watch or read? - what can you recommend us? Martin
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nowords:
Squid:
This programme demeans and degrades science fiction, timey wimey claptrap.
its a kids show so whats your point?
Nope, it's a kids show that's watched by adults alike, making it a family show. Kids' shows don't have to make sense though it's better that they should; adults should at least be able to expect some sort of coherence from the plot and characters. This show just makes it up as it goes along - off the top of the head pseudo-science presented as exposition and dressed up as soap. Dreadful.
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martinput:
More to the point... I love science fiction and sharing it with my children, I'd love to hear some recommendations of programmes, or books, that can extend our enjoyment. So if the Doctor is not for you, what do you watch or read? - what can you recommend us? Martin
Sorry, Martin, but if you really loved science fiction you would be aware of the damage this programme is doing to the genre. Children are indeed being exposed to wonderful ideas for the first time - parallel universes, alien cultures, time paradoxes - but they're being presented all wrong; they're being abused to carry the personality cult of 'the doctor' or his latest assistant, or his assistant's mum or whatever. Everything is like an episode of Eastenders with Daleks thrown in. I understand that some of the older and much better sf series are beginning to be released at last on DVD - could I suggest the BBC's adaptation of John Christopher's Tripods series. And I bought for myself only recently the wonderful US TV adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, made in 1980. sf doesn't fare too well on the big or small screen; I prefer to read it. My own tastes run to the British new wave of the 60s and 70s - Aldiss, Ballard, Barrington Bayley. But I love US novelists like Norman Spinrad and John Boyd (neither recommended for children).
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I've read Sci Fi right through my teens and well into adulthood and understand your point of view and respect for the genre. I'd usually have three books on loan a week from the library and the annual compilations of short stories from the various Sci Fi magazines were my lifeblood. I am often amused to see a short story I read in the 60's reappear as a feature film I appreciate serious scholars have a fairly established set of basic principles which most writers respect addressing various fields such a time paradoxes, contacts with undeveloped alien cultures, the behaviour of robotic devices ( as outlined by Arthur C Clarkes Three Laws Of Robotics). I would agree with a broader argument that TV and film adaptations care little for the finer points abandoning the "code" for sensationalisation. Couple of examples: The 2004 I Robot starring Will Smith based on the original Arthur C Clarke robotic series completely trashed the Three Laws despite quoting them as a whole series of robots went renegade - the original books were all complex exercises in logic to explain how a rogue action might be explained within those principles - more of a Agatha Christie Poirot mystery than the sensational creation seen in the film. I thought of Arthur C Clarke turning in his grave over that one. I shudder at what the 2012 sequel will bring. I actually recall the original short story that became a vehicle for the comedy film Idiocracy which completely ignored the existance of a small group of remaining intellegent people keeping the world turning behind the backs of the low intellegence people that populated the world. But the world of Sci Fi has many different sub-sects - the seriously academic through to the light hearted and humourous. I tend to have settled at the light hearted end with the Doctor Who TV programmes, books and audio books, and the worlds of Douglas Adams Hitchhiker stories (and his Dirk Gently mysteries) and Terry Pratchetts alternate magical universe Discworld. The one thing that binds all these together is the observational nature of their writing and time and again they make an observation that relates to our real world through comparative satire or asides and I have to stop and think "How True". I used to read stores set in the world of Sci Fi that were nothing but Cowboys and Indians set in Space with no effort to explore the mysteries of space time and other interworld cultural conflicts. There are many very deeply profound studies at the serious end of the gendre. I wouldn't fret about the influence of TV in general on the genre - for there are many other TV series beyond Doctor Who that just tell stories set in space without regard for the principles held dear by Sci Fi purists. There's space for everything from the light hearted to the serious - different layers of depth seen and echoed in other forms of creativity from music to poetry, scupture, painting and drama. Martin
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love2travel:
Awwww I missed it, hopefully gonna catch it New Years day...
L2t, have you had a chance to see A Christmas Carol ???
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I agree with some of what you say, Martin, but not all. I am always struck by the bizarre contradiction of carrying our current emotional mindsets into the far future, or transplanting them into alien cultures and characters (in much the same way Disney did with animals) and thereby turning the genre from imaginative possibilities to simple cognitive problems which could be dealt with by any other genre in any other way. The abuse of a genre to explore issues that are not intrinsically part that that genre seems to me an abuse of it. Plagiarism is another. I well remember the Halloween episode of the Simpsons where Bart became a sort of evil super-boy able to punish his family for thinking bad thoughts about him - this was based on a very famous sf story called 'It's a Good Life' by Jerome Bixby, published way back in the 50s - but I didn't see Bixby get a credit. The robot stories are an excellent introduction for younger reader to sf - Asimov (they were written by Asimov not Clarke, if memory serves) approaches them from the inside; as you say the interactions and conflicts between humans and robots flow from the laws of robotics and positronics rather than any kind of imposed, essentially human drama which would demean the robots, and by extension, the humans. Clarke's novel Childhood's End is another brilliant starting point for younger readers. It might be a difficult read for a ten year old, but an awe-inspiring read for a twelve year old. It's a pity it hasn't been filmed. One more recommendation I'd make for trying to get kids to read sf is James White and his Sector General novels - these take place on a huge inter-species hospital space station made up of different gravities and atmospheres to cope with the stunning variety of patients. In fact, I think I'll reread those myself.
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The Doctor and his daughter expecting... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1347340/David-Tennant-Georgia-Moffett-pregnant-expecting-baby.html Congratulations to the lovely couple!
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Delighted on two counts. Firstly that these two found friendship after being thrown together on the set of Doctor Who in the episode The Doctor's Daughter. And secondly, have become engaged and gone on to start a family. The news that they were an item had passed me by, although I'm not a great celeb gossip follower. I wish them well and hope they have a long future together. I appreciate the whirlwind life of actors makes relationships hard to sustain but as two years have passed since they worked together on the set of Doctor Who this seems to have passed the celeb "passing fancy" moment and moved onto a lasting relationship. Martin
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Questions about The Doctor and River Song In the episodes "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead", the 10th Doctor meets River Song. She claims to know him from his future. He, to this time, isn't familiar with her, yet. As she sacrifices her self to save him and all the 4000 people saved in the CAL memory core, where do the 4000 people get transported to since they cannot remain on the Library because of the Vashta Nerada? Now, it probably remains to be told, but just suppose the 11th Doctor, with the memories he had of his 10th incarnation of seeing River Song dying and knowing this, do you think that there might be some future event that he saves her in some way, that he doesn't lose her? As as a result of that, that would wipe out the past events of River going back in time dying in "Silence" and "Forest" and they never take place or may occur in an alternate timeline, say? Did the Tenth Doctor end up keeping his future/River's sonic screwdriver? Last time he had it, he was uploading what was left of River's degrading life signal on the newer screwdriver. Or did he leave it behind in the Library? Or did he take it with him, only to use later after his regeneration after the old one fizzled out? Did he create the current screwdriver or did he keep it after getting it from River during his 10th incarnation?
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I am the Paulrus:
Questions about The Doctor and River Song In the episodes "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead", the 10th Doctor meets River Song. She claims to know him from his future. He, to this time, isn't familiar with her, yet. As she sacrifices her self to save him and all the 4000 people saved in the CAL memory core, where do the 4000 people get transported to since they cannot remain on the Library because of the Vashta Nerada? Now, it probably remains to be told, but just suppose the 11th Doctor, with the memories he had of his 10th incarnation of seeing River Song dying and knowing this, do you think that there might be some future event that he saves her in some way, that he doesn't lose her? As as a result of that, that would wipe out the past events of River going back in time dying in "Silence" and "Forest" and they never take place or may occur in an alternate timeline, say? Did the Tenth Doctor end up keeping his future/River's sonic screwdriver? Last time he had it, he was uploading what was left of River's degrading life signal on the newer screwdriver. Or did he leave it behind in the Library? Or did he take it with him, only to use later after his regeneration after the old one fizzled out? Did he create the current screwdriver or did he keep it after getting it from River during his 10th incarnation?
There's no mention of where the recreated library staff are resettled. As with all time loop conflicts everything is possible with the possible scenario's you speculated on. The future screwdriver must have been left behind in the library as the 10th Doctor lived out his remaining generation with his original screwdriver. That screwdriver is seen destroyed in the episode The Eleventh Hour - in the 11th Doctor's first story - but his newly regenerated Tardis promptly provides him with a "new" generation screwdriver when he begins to explore the new Tardis' features - so the new design seems to be a product of the Tardis' chameleon cicuits that allow the Tardis design to change for Doctor to Doctor. Martin
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Triplets Love Paul:
love2travel:
Awwww I missed it, hopefully gonna catch it New Years day...
L2t, have you had a chance to see A Christmas Carol ???
Hi There!! Yes I finally was able to see it... great episode, and it was so sad...everytime they shut Abigal back into the cryonic freezer again... however it must have changed times, I haven't been able to catch a single show since that one
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Glad you were finally able to see the special, l2t! Katherine Jenkins was lovely in that role, sooooo beautiful! It was great to see Michael Gambon as well. Looking forward to the delivery of the DVD on the 15th.
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Triplets Love Paul:
Glad you were finally able to see the special, l2t! Katherine Jenkins was lovely in that role, sooooo beautiful! It was great to see Michael Gambon as well. Looking forward to the delivery of the DVD on the 15th.
Hi TLP Yes, Katherine Jenkins does have such a beautiful role and voice... It was sooooo beautiful... as well as Michael Gambon... What DVD is available on the 15th? Also, do you know why I can't find Dr. Who on BBC America? It just seems I'm running into only the Tudors, the Graham Norton, Top Gear and Ramsay's Kitchen, Star Trek and Law and Order UK... now I see there are reruns of Dr. Who from last season... I haven't even seen that many old Dr. Who reruns with David Tennent... I would enjoy that as well, but it seems I haven't seen many of them either!!!
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love2travel:
What DVD is available on the 15th? Also, do you know why I can't find Dr. Who on BBC America? It just seems I'm running into only the Tudors, the Graham Norton, Top Gear and Ramsay's Kitchen, Star Trek and Law and Order UK... now I see there are reruns of Dr. Who from last season... I haven't even seen that many old Dr. Who reruns with David Tennent... I would enjoy that as well, but it seems I haven't seen many of them either!!!
DVD - Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol will be released on the 15th. We had not seen any advertising for this. When I pre-ordered Downton Abbey, I received "suggestion" (based on previous purchases) notification for this DVD. I was very surprised and pleased to find that this included the 2010 Doctor Who at the Proms performance. BBC America - I do not have a clue as to what you are experiencing with BBCA, l2t. I am sorry to learn that you are having trouble with this. BBCA is still airing Doctor Who episodes every weekday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST. BBCA has been airing these episodes in series order for quite a while now. Series 5 concludes next week on Monday (21st), and series 1 begins again on Tuesday (22nd). BBCA has not aired any Doctor Who or Torchwood marathons lately. As you have noted, they have been airing The Tutors and Law and Order: UK quite a bit. I hope you are able to get things sorted prior to the start of the new season of Doctor Who. BBC America Schedule... http://www.bbcamerica.com/tvschedule.jsp Off topic, but recognizing your admiration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (:wink, thought it worth mentioning that we recently (sorry, don't know exactly when, have been extremely busy over the past two weeks) received a new channel, Ovation. This channel appears to be dedicated to arts and cultures around the world. I stumbled upon this channel on Friday evening, and found that with the royal wedding approaching, they are celebrating British culture. There have been quite a few interesting and educational offerings there. Should you find that you do indeed have access to this channel, it may be worth your time to have a look.
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Sad News for those of us old enough who remember watching the dear man from behind the sofa..... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359939/Actor-Nicholas-Courtney-played-The-Brigadier-Dr-Who-dies-aged-81.html
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david mitchelson:
Sad News for those of us old enough who remember watching the dear man from behind the sofa..... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359939/Actor-Nicholas-Courtney-played-The-Brigadier-Dr-Who-dies-aged-81.html
Chap with Wings five rounds rapid....( Boc not macca )