The Good Doctor Returns
Posted By Kathleen David on September 27, 2006
This Friday Sci-Fi will start showing the David Tennant Doctor Who with Christmas Invasion and follow that with New Earth so the New Who Review will restart on Saturday. Tell your friends. It’s going to be interesting to see what they cut this time. I am glad that I have seen these episodes in their entirety before this. I think you will like this Doctor. He is a bit of an adjustment but oh boy howdy once he gets going you fall in love with the show all over again. Highlights for me this year were School Reunion, the Girl in the Fireplace, and the last episode. But there were a lot of other good ones in there as well.
I think the Puppet Doctors will be making an appearance at AlbaCon in a couple of weeks. I need to finish #4 again to complete the set. He is the most complicated of the group in some ways however #6 coat gets my hardest piece to recreate. The scarf takes time to do. I think that is what helped sell the last one. First however I need to finish a couple of paper dolls for a challenge/swap.
Pressure is a funny thing. It can motivate or make one want to curl up in a ball. Some pressure is of our own making and other pressures are external and we just have to deal with them. I work pretty well under pressure but there are times that I didn’t feel like I had a rabid pack of deadlines nipping at my heels. Many are of my own making. Then there is the list of “things I will get to eventually”. I have a ton of ideas for stuff but my time becomes filled with things that need to be done NOW which push those things further back in the line-up. Sometimes I have to pull one of these things forward and make it a priority just so I can get it done. I’m getting that feeling that I need to do just that with one thing that has been kicking around in my head.
For the collectors of Muppet Stuff in the group. I have one of the Master Replica Photo Kermit. Having held the real thing in my hands a number of years ago, I am mighty impressed with this both for packaging and the product itself. For a recreation, it is pretty dead on. There are a few differences so that it can not be sold as the real thing but it is as close as most of us are going to get to owning a full-sized Kermit.
I am grateful for Tacky Glue.
I agree with your choices Kathleen, and I would add episodes five and six, which are the the first Cybermen episodes. Girl in the Fireplace is the only episode I read in the script stage that turned out so much better than I thought it would, so it’s always nice to be surprised.
Personally, I think the first half of the season is better than the second, but that is purely a subjective opinion. Other people I’ve spoken to feel exactly the opposite, which has made for some interesting discussions over the past several months.
Incidentally, my wife was the makeup chief on season two, so please make sure you guys all say some nice things about her work!
I can’t wait — both Lisa and I have been waiting for this pretty avidly since the previous series wrapped up in the spring. We both thought Eccleston was superb, so Tennant’s got some big shoes to fill … but lots of people we trust (you included) have said he’s up to it, so we’re optimistic.
We kept ourselves occupied by finally getting around to watching Firefly … we enjoyed it and are now thoroughly bummed that we won’t see any more of it!
TWL
Thankfully, Sci-Fi made the smart decision in airintg The Chrismas Invasion.
The DVD set (due out in Feb iirc) is also supposed to have the 5-minute Children in Need special, but I haven’t read/heard whether Sci-Fi also gets to air that. I guess we’ll find out in a couple of days.
And hopefully we’ll get a definitive air date for Torchwood before long. 🙂
Jenn and I are soooooooo dieing to see the new season. Jenn was rather cold to the new season due to Eccleston’s departure until a good friend of ours saw both School Reunion and Girl in the Fireplace and raved about them to her and our local PBS started showing Tennant’s Casanova. Now she seems a wee bit more receptive.
🙂
Can’t wait to see them and can’t wait to spend the $$$$ on the DVDs next year.
“And hopefully we’ll get a definitive air date for Torchwood before long.”
A huge second for that from this corner, Craig.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what they cut this time. ”
I’m not sure the Sci Fi Channel cut anything from the first season of the new_Doctor Who_ series. While I only saw two episodes of the Christopher Eccleston season on the Sci Fi Channel, I’d previously watched the entire season on the CBC out of Canada; and when watching again on the Sci Fi Channel, I didn’t notice any cuts.
Now, if the CBC version cut things that appeared in the original BBC broadcasts, that would be another matter. I’ve never seen the original BBC broadcasts, so I wouldn’t know.
And what’s up with the Sci Fi Channel airing _Doctor Who_ this week, while the CBC won’t begin showing it until Oct. 9? That means I no longer get to see it months before the rest of the country, due to my proximity to Canada. In the immortal words of Charlie Brown, “Rats.”
One thing the CBC broadcasts had that the Sci Fi Channel broadcasts didn’t were introductions and end of episode comments by Christopher Eccleston. There were also often short (2 or 3 minute) behind the scenes bits at the end of several programs. Some included interviews with Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker. Unfortunately, none of these are on the DVD. Those things that _are_ on the DVD were originally broadcast on the Internet, if I remember correctly.
And speaking of the DVD, I was recently told the following theory as to why the season 1 set was priced so high: Fox still owned some aspect(s) of _Doctor Who_ from the 1996 collaboration that produced the Paul McGann film. The BBC had to buy it/them back, and in part to get its money back, put a high price tag on the DVD set.
Now the person who told me this didn’t say where he got this information, so I don’t think anyone should accept it as Gospel. However I do believe that he believes the information is true, to the best of his knowledge.
Anyway, if it is true, that raises an interesting question: If the BBC did make its money back, would the first David Tennent season DVD subsequently have a lower price tag? I guess that depends on such factors as how well the DVD sold, and whether most of the sales were at full price, or at discounts. I for one, bought it at $20 below retail at Borders when it first came out. If most people did likewise, we might see a lower price. If most people paid the $100 full price, the BBC might decide to keep it at that price.
I suppose we’ll know by next summer, if not earlier.
Rick
Rick K:
“And what’s up with the Sci Fi Channel airing _Doctor Who_ this week, while the CBC won’t begin showing it until Oct. 9? That means I no longer get to see it months before the rest of the country, due to my proximity to Canada. In the immortal words of Charlie Brown, “Rats.””
I think it’s not so much a matter of the CBC being late than of the SFC being on-time for this season. It took MONTHS for the BBC to sell Doctor Who’s first season to a US network…but SciFi now knows they’ve got a solid hit and didn’t waste any time in buying it.
As far as the DVD sets go…I’m afraid your friend has the wrong idea. The second season boxed set is already listed for pre-order on AmazonUK at GBP 70.00 list, GBP 43.00 with Amazon’s discount – which translates to about $80.00 with current exchange rates.
Not coincidentally, this is about the same as the Season 1 boxed set cost in $US, whether one bought it from the UK, Canada or at home. (I got it for just over $60 at Best Buy the week it was released here, but that’s an unusually high discount).
While there are apparently still some US distribution issues with the Paul McGann movie – which is why it’s available in the UK but not in the US – I doubt the Beeb is having to pay Fox anything at this point to make the series. Bottom line, the BBC figured out a couple of decades ago that Doctor Who is one of their biggest moneymakers in overseas sales and video/merchandise licensing; they’re going to charge what the market will bear.
And not ten minutes after I posted…the mailman showed up with the final _Doctor Who_ Season 2 disc from AmazonUK. (Along with the second – and unfortunately final – season set of the new _Captain Scarlet_. Kath – if you and Peter haven’t seen this, you need to!)
“As far as the DVD sets go…I’m afraid your friend has the wrong idea. The second season boxed set is already listed for pre-order on AmazonUK at GBP 70.00 list, GBP 43.00 with Amazon’s discount – which translates to about $80.00 with current exchange rates.”
Given that the list price of season one was $100 (rounded up), and the _sale_ price was $80, I’m not sure how he would have the wrong idea. If the idea in question is that the second season might have a lower price tag. I may not have been clear about that point, it isn’t just me that wonders if that will be the case, my friend did, too.
Or are you saying the $80 translates to the sale price, and not the list price?
If the $80 is the list price (and any relationship with Fox had no bearing on the Eccleston DVD), then it could mean the BBC saw the DVD did better at that price, and figured they’d sell more copies if they lowered the price. If it’s the sale price, then I guess not.
Rick
P.S. I wasn’t referring to the CBC being “late”, rather I was “lamenting” that I’d no longer have the fun of seeing the new season months before most of the rest of the country.
And speaking of the CBC, I’m curious whether they’ll re-run “The Christmas Invasion”, or jump right into the season, proper.
Rick: Sorry, bad phrasing on my part I think.
The $80 is the approximate sale price on both the Eccleston set, with a list of $100 as you say. List price on the UK version of the same set was 70 pounds, with an approximate sale price of about 45 pounds – which works out to about $80 as well. Same was true for the Canadian version of the set when it was released. It looks like the BBC was shooting for an $80 average no matter where the set was sold.
The forthcoming Tennant set in the UK is priced exactly the same as the Eccleston set was – same list price, same average discount – so I feel pretty safe in assuming the US version is going to follow the same pricing structure.
And it looks like the CBC is going to start the run with “New Earth”, the first regular episode, according to their present Web schedule. So no repeat of “The Christmas Invasion”, at least not as part of the new run.
Even though there were a few atrocious episodes in the first season (especially “Dalek”, urgh!), I’ll be watching the second season. I just have to steel my stomach against the evil that is Rose and hope that Captain Jack returns.
Even though there were a few atrocious episodes in the first season (especially “Dalek”, urgh!), I’ll be watching the second season. I just have to steel my stomach against the evil that is Rose and hope that Captain Jack returns.
Oops! Sorry for the double post!