Buys
Friday. They came in. The DVDs that announced and proclaimed that it would be a Doctor Who Weekend. Two 5th Doctor adventures in glorious DVD format, Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity, and Doctor Who Series 3 (which does not include the web cartoon the Infinite Quest, but does have an hour-long special on the concert performance of the two first series' music, which I have found to be excellent). But see the next section for the breadth and scope of Doctor Who Weekend.
"Accomplishments"
If I may start with the weekend and then move backwards through the past week, I'll preface by saying that in the last two days alone, I've watched over 16 hours of Doctor Who-related television, including Time-Flight three times (once with commentary, and once to make cards for it - my Heaven is now assured), Arc of Infinity twice, The Runaway Bride twice, episodes 1 to 3 of Series 3, the Children in Need special three times, and a ton of DVD extras. I'm also reading an old Doctor Who novel at the moment, just because it's never enough apparently.
Time-Flight. By many regarded as one of the worst example of Who ever. I don't think it's that bad, personally, i.e. there are performances I like and the main characters are unusually easy to stand. Of course, the plot is rubbish, and it's made me appreciate how 80s producer John-Nathan Turner was the George Lucas of Doctor Who. With Time-Flight, he basically asked his production team to include the Concorde, Tegan's departure and that the villain turn out to be the Master after a couple of episodes. Why? Because JNT thinks publicity is good for the program. Unfortunately, he was getting the media to talk about a train wreck. Ah well. Why get these DVDs if the stories are so bad? Because the commentary tracks are totally worth it. Lots of laughs with the cast to be had. I found myself giggling throughout.
Arc of Infinity's publicity stunts? The return of Tegan, the return of Omega, the return of the Time Lords, and location shooting in Amsterdam. Fit THAT in your script and smoke it! Again, it's got its moments, and has remained noteworthy thanks to Colin Baker (the 6th Doctor) appearing as Maxil, the dead serious Time Lord Head of Security. It just gives him an excuse to show up to the commentary track recording, and the man is quite witty. Again, it's all about the commentary track saving the release from its story's mediocrity. But Gallifrey as an airport lounge has to be seen to be believed.
After that, I decided to make CCG cards from Time-Flight because 1) I'd planned to include the story in my Time Meddlers expansion (made sense), and 2) didn't want to have to watch it again in a couple weeks. Doing it now while it was still fresh in my mind yielded 19 cards, none of which is a Plot or Goal card (because there's no making sense of the story's point). Tegan's (not) last hurrah:
Earlier in the week, I'd made 25 cards from the 7th Doctor story, Ghost Light, which wasn't an easy one to work on. I quite like it, but its script is... ornate, if I may use that word. My favorite image is this one of Ace:
So that's 44 cards in all, which isn't too shabby.
In the middle of the week, I managed to get my World of Warcraft character, Lynda with a Y, up to 69, and you know what that means.
1) I've steadily climbed one level a week since I started playing after my month's hiatus.
2) The big 7-0 is next.
3) And she can legitimately get an email account called lynda69.
And going back early in the week, I flipped the tape on the Complete Studio 60. I hadn't seen the pilot or the last 3 or 4 episodes, so it was great to revisit a series I thought should have made it through to this year (not that this year's gonna be a good one for television). And man, those last few episodes are really intense, with a series finale that felt like the show had been running 7 years. The characters are so well written, you care about them THAT much. I really wish US programs would embrace the 6-part format for shows like these (maybe I'm thinking of that because Mark McKinney co-wrote some of Studio 60 as well as Slings&Arrows). Like S&A, I could totally see an annual 6-part Studio 60 that revisits this world and these characters. DS9 could have gone on that way too, now that I think about it.
Anyway, that was my week. Who heavy, as is my ideal.
Friday. They came in. The DVDs that announced and proclaimed that it would be a Doctor Who Weekend. Two 5th Doctor adventures in glorious DVD format, Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity, and Doctor Who Series 3 (which does not include the web cartoon the Infinite Quest, but does have an hour-long special on the concert performance of the two first series' music, which I have found to be excellent). But see the next section for the breadth and scope of Doctor Who Weekend."Accomplishments"
If I may start with the weekend and then move backwards through the past week, I'll preface by saying that in the last two days alone, I've watched over 16 hours of Doctor Who-related television, including Time-Flight three times (once with commentary, and once to make cards for it - my Heaven is now assured), Arc of Infinity twice, The Runaway Bride twice, episodes 1 to 3 of Series 3, the Children in Need special three times, and a ton of DVD extras. I'm also reading an old Doctor Who novel at the moment, just because it's never enough apparently.
Time-Flight. By many regarded as one of the worst example of Who ever. I don't think it's that bad, personally, i.e. there are performances I like and the main characters are unusually easy to stand. Of course, the plot is rubbish, and it's made me appreciate how 80s producer John-Nathan Turner was the George Lucas of Doctor Who. With Time-Flight, he basically asked his production team to include the Concorde, Tegan's departure and that the villain turn out to be the Master after a couple of episodes. Why? Because JNT thinks publicity is good for the program. Unfortunately, he was getting the media to talk about a train wreck. Ah well. Why get these DVDs if the stories are so bad? Because the commentary tracks are totally worth it. Lots of laughs with the cast to be had. I found myself giggling throughout.
Arc of Infinity's publicity stunts? The return of Tegan, the return of Omega, the return of the Time Lords, and location shooting in Amsterdam. Fit THAT in your script and smoke it! Again, it's got its moments, and has remained noteworthy thanks to Colin Baker (the 6th Doctor) appearing as Maxil, the dead serious Time Lord Head of Security. It just gives him an excuse to show up to the commentary track recording, and the man is quite witty. Again, it's all about the commentary track saving the release from its story's mediocrity. But Gallifrey as an airport lounge has to be seen to be believed.After that, I decided to make CCG cards from Time-Flight because 1) I'd planned to include the story in my Time Meddlers expansion (made sense), and 2) didn't want to have to watch it again in a couple weeks. Doing it now while it was still fresh in my mind yielded 19 cards, none of which is a Plot or Goal card (because there's no making sense of the story's point). Tegan's (not) last hurrah:
Earlier in the week, I'd made 25 cards from the 7th Doctor story, Ghost Light, which wasn't an easy one to work on. I quite like it, but its script is... ornate, if I may use that word. My favorite image is this one of Ace:
So that's 44 cards in all, which isn't too shabby.In the middle of the week, I managed to get my World of Warcraft character, Lynda with a Y, up to 69, and you know what that means.
1) I've steadily climbed one level a week since I started playing after my month's hiatus.
2) The big 7-0 is next.
3) And she can legitimately get an email account called lynda69.
And going back early in the week, I flipped the tape on the Complete Studio 60. I hadn't seen the pilot or the last 3 or 4 episodes, so it was great to revisit a series I thought should have made it through to this year (not that this year's gonna be a good one for television). And man, those last few episodes are really intense, with a series finale that felt like the show had been running 7 years. The characters are so well written, you care about them THAT much. I really wish US programs would embrace the 6-part format for shows like these (maybe I'm thinking of that because Mark McKinney co-wrote some of Studio 60 as well as Slings&Arrows). Like S&A, I could totally see an annual 6-part Studio 60 that revisits this world and these characters. DS9 could have gone on that way too, now that I think about it.Anyway, that was my week. Who heavy, as is my ideal.
Comments
I'm gonna watch the Infinite Quest on the Internet. I have no qualms about downloading television material I plan to buy as soon as available (though I've never once downloaded a movie).
Nicholas Courtney is da bomb, isn't he?