Dr Who @ UEA - 2008 06 04
Jul. 6th, 2008 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI forgot I hadn't posted the rest of the class notes yet. Small notes spamming commences.
Dr Who 2008 06 04
Time and the Rani is on the screen. Cool. Well, er, sort of. They’re green! With big hair! I don’t think I’ve watched this since it was first on. There’s screaming in bubbles.
7 is wearing 6 clothes. Very odd looking.
I must watch this later. I has on this computer.
… tutor is wearing an Ood beard.
NH points to screen:
Time and the Rani, Sylvester McCoy’s first story… enough of that. It’s not very good.
Last week it’s what did the 80s mean to you?
What about 90s?
Fandom online: birth of the internet. Very very important.
Seattle. Grunge. Pulp. Britpop.
Cinema. Tarantino.
And bad films. ‘Don’t forget Waterworld.’ But someone liked it.
Ofsted. National curriculum.
Very very odd decade. Started in recession and then… moments were Britpop and New Labour, ‘Things can Only Get Better’, then we won Eurovision. Britain’s cool again! For about two minutes. And there were the Spice Girls.
Context for tonight.
Saturday’s episode: Everyone says fantastic except the one guy.
Other felt a lot is being saved for second episode. Like explanations.
Story arcs… backstory built up… and now frontstory as well, something in the future. Which can be a bit of a problem for the future of the show.
Moffatt having fun about spoilers. (I really need to learn how to spell Moffatt) He has a thing about it after Radio Times gave away the end of Girl in the Fireplace.
Sundays are boring: could be religious, could be a Hancock reference, Sunday afternoon H.
NH reckons DW has to be a bit nod and wink to the audience. Too earnest, falls flat on its face.
Part of the problem with some of the McCoy era. Ace… almost becoming a mouthpiece at times, hey kids racism is bad, almost laboured into the plot.
Have read spin off books? Professor River Song resembles Professor Berenice Summerfield, companion in the books. Archaeologist.
NH found pacing slightly odd. Too slow. Almost felt like it had been underwritten.
Unfortunately with trailers for rest of season we know Donna isn’t dead.
I mention how I liked the how to do a monster things.
Audience figures for Saturday probably knocked down a bit by Britain’s Got Talent.
(I had a thought but its gone away and that’s going to bug me for hours)
(aha! How Confidential doesn’t show the kind of argh and grumble bits the behind the scenes books say a lot of)
Have you heard that the BBC are doing Survivors?
Freema Agyeman’s going to be in it.
(and a bunch of other been in DW people)
Interesting the original Survivors running concurrently with The Good Life. You watch it now it’s interesting they’re all middle class. Or the 70s comedy Welshman. He survives but Welsh and not to be trusted.
Yesterday’s Daily Mirror, bit on DT. Going out with her who played his daughter and is PD’s daughter. What it was was him walking down the road with her. Picture taken of them from behind. They’re just walking down the street. But this gets a full page spread.
Advance news: here next week, but as is typical of this time of year we’re moving. The conference season starts. Was given the option this afternoon of portacabins down the end of the road where the bus stops, or in the arts building. He’s gone for the arts building. Tell us the room next week, hand out maps and directions how to get there. We’ll meet where the Yeti took over. All shall be explained. (yaays! The Brigadier!)
Handouts:
Some pertain to last week, Will Buck Blast the Doctor?, yes he did when they put BR against DW. Can tell it’s the mail.
Talk about jumping the shark, these were the reasons why DW lost popularity during the 80s. Not a very good list actually.
Doc Watch cartoon, gives an idea of scary.
One thing didn’t mention last week, 1986 when DW at lowest ebb, did ask Sidney Newman to give his ideas on ways to revamp the program and sadly they are a bit out of date.
Fandom stuff. Brief history about fandom. Bring in fanzines next week. It’s a brief history of fandom more recent one. Then another from a fan magazine lambasting the (someone) and TB again.
DW dictionary, clichés to describe DW. If in your essay you manage to fit all these words in he’ll be well impressed.
DWB Day of Action – when it wasn’t on air for a while a mass phone in to BBC demanding DW back. Mad.
And then an article from a fanzine on how the show tends to be interpreted by fans.
Then New Adventures, important in 90s.
Article written by Gareth Roberts about the embarrassing things about DW. Quite entertaining.
Then there’s a copy of Mad Magazine’s spoof of DW from 1975.
And the one with the lego.
From DWM about ten years ago, asked various industry people ways to bring DW back. Interviewed (people who ended up involved). Quote by RTD at the end is a gem.
/Handout
Last week we looked at the reasons for DW’s diminishing popularity in the 1980s.
TB’s final season didn’t do that well. PD’s first went remarkably well. Then it all went a bit wrong. Cancelled for a while. Came back with McCoy.
McCoy seen as a creative renaissance at the time. When Langford leaves the focus shifts to the companion, Ace. Ace goes through a rite of passage thing. As much focus on her as on the Doctor. All this leads into the new series.
One bugbear about late McCoy years: More Than Just A Time Lord. Hint he’s something else, not quite who we thought he was. And a lot of the stories he initiates, he doesn’t just appear and get involved, he initiates them as well. Happiness Patrol, goes to a planet and causes rebellion. Narratively odd, turns Doctor into Superman. If he knows everything already… giving him superpowered being, dangerous if he knows everything.
Student watched HP this week – no superpowers, didn’t use TARDIS for special effects, didn’t use sonic screwdriver.
Rememberance of the Daleks – suggesting he and Rassillon started the whole Time Lord thing.
Sonic had been dispensed with by that point. Cut out as many TARDIS scenes as possible, cause early 80s were interminable TARDIS scenes of standing around arguing waiting for the story to start.
Unfortunate thing with McCoy is he’s still finding his way into the role. By the time he’s getting towards the end of his last season he’s getting there.
Happiness Patrol is okay. Now seen as a big gay parable. Came out at the time of clause 28 and all that. If you read it on a gay level it’s like ‘blimey’.
Does start to reflect a lot of contemporary themes as well. (was it themes?)
HP mostly remembered for monster looking like bertie bassett.
Did it ever explain Why Doctor looks human?
No. Doctor says in Runaway Bride, optional. Reason why he looks human is basically budget reasons. All goes down to budget in the end.
One thing talk about early 90s – proposed DW film – casting suggestions flying around were appalling. People like John Cleese. Donald Sutherland. Then David Hasselhof. Which could be just the press wanting to say something.
/ actual teaching -> presentations
I made notes on the bloke's presentation but they use increasing numbers of ! and ?! and I got annoyed enough I wrote my essay as kind of a rebuttal. It was the presentation that decided there shouldn't be guys holding hands on a family show. So I won't post those notes.
Then there was a second presentation about Love & Monsters. That actually lasted the 5 minutes we'd been told. the other one was... juuuust a bit longer. So we ran out of lesson. which is why I didn't do my presentation out loud, because I quite like lesson and don't like it being full of, well, me, instead.
/presentation -> clips
Do we want to see really rubbish DW in 3D?
DW finished its original run on 6th Dec 1989 with last ep Survival with McCoy and Aldred wandering off into the distance talking about fighting monsters and drinking tea. That was it, it seemed. No more Doctor Who. Various reasons given. BBC give it a rest, it was tired.
There’s a good documentary on the Survival DVD.
Doesn’t mention that by this time Segal, from the US, had started putting proposals in to do an independent version. After Peacock BBC had to do more independents rather than in house.
Segal took a few years to get his version on screen.
1993, 30th anniversary of DW. To celebrate it they were going to do a story called The Dark Dimension. Was going to be independent, directed Graeme Harper. There’s a book called “The Nth Doctor” with plot synopsis. Starts from TB falling off telescope and not properly regenerating. All the other Doctors had hardly anything to do with it. Which when they found out they weren’t happy about it.
Children in Need. Do a DW special in 3D.
Has the bona fide 3D glasses here. Will have to pass them around.
Unfortunately its… it’s a 3D version that only works when the camera is moving.
Recorded this at the time, so we’ve got the context of the program it was shown in. Some may cringe to remember this.
May dim light to make 3D better.
Clip:
JP talking to Noel whatsit.
New 3D specs.
I try them and it don’t look much impressive.
TB in red costume doing some talking.
Specimens in the Rani’s TARDIS.
It’s sort of… travel sick. With whizzy whirly things and lots of moving along for no particular reason.
… oh *dear*. Just… clothes and… oh dear.
There is nothing good to say about it.
All the monsters would be cool in a museum but they’re not in a story. As in this isn’t a story, they’re just… there.
… Rani has a really big gun.
And then there’s more with the phone and vote numbers.
“It better be worth it to look this stupid” … no. No. Really, no.
This lesson has no lesson in it.
Just two presentations and this Dimensions in Time thing.
Which manages to be bad every time it looks like it might be even a bit good.
And the ‘3D’ was… eeew.
/clip
What d’you make of that?
It’s done for charity.
Suggestion of commercial shenanigans. I did not type.
JNT was charging money for people to see it in the USA.
Is it good Doctor Who?
*facepalm* and accompanying noises.
It’s just a way to string together as many… as many guest appearances as possible, not making any sense whatsoever. With an appalling lapse in taste – Hartnell and Troughton? Waxworks.
JNT and a pseudonym wrote it.
Rani’s companion went on to become famous. S West. Character unnamed and uncredited. SirIan joke. Among DW fandom he’s affectionately known as Shag. For various reasons he won’t go into.
It does display some of the faults with DW right at the end. Obsessed with continuity but the plot doesn’t work.
Starts the exact same was as Daleks in Manhattan, find newspaper to tell date.
Question arises of canonicity.
Can it fit into ongoing story.
6 meets the Brigadier… but.
Where can you fit it in DW continuity as such?
But the thing is if its Doctor Who, if its part of the DW world, that means Albert Square is part of the DW universe. Which therefore now becomes problematical.
Unless it’s an Eastenders museum with androids in like in The Chase.
The Chase – early self reflexive TV visualiser. Most amazing dad dancing in it.
Start with Paul McGann next week.
That was the last of DW on TV. DW was very much alive though. In books, made videos, will show the Yeti next week.
To conclude tonight – either part 2 of infinitely better charity thing, or The real reason CE left DW.
CE left DW:
Return once again, if it’s not DW it’s that other program… Blue Peter (talking of badges)
New series huge success. Report from set of special episode DW met Dalek. Triumphant return by Doctor.
Dalek in BP garden… Dalek compost bin. With kids as creators. Rhys and Jim.
… they’re explaining what it’s made of. I think it’s made of somewhere between *facepalm* and oooh cool. Er, the *facepalm* is a less embarrassing reaction.
… you know if it was better made then I’d be all on the Coool side. Dalek compost bins FTW.
TARDIS noises and CE appears. To use BP badge to make Dalek disappear. And then CE vanishes too.
/clip
NH: Did you see ‘I am a serious actor, I am in the Blue Peter garden exterminating a compost bin Dalek, that’s it, I’m going’
/lesson
Dr Who 2008 06 04
Time and the Rani is on the screen. Cool. Well, er, sort of. They’re green! With big hair! I don’t think I’ve watched this since it was first on. There’s screaming in bubbles.
7 is wearing 6 clothes. Very odd looking.
I must watch this later. I has on this computer.
… tutor is wearing an Ood beard.
NH points to screen:
Time and the Rani, Sylvester McCoy’s first story… enough of that. It’s not very good.
Last week it’s what did the 80s mean to you?
What about 90s?
Fandom online: birth of the internet. Very very important.
Seattle. Grunge. Pulp. Britpop.
Cinema. Tarantino.
And bad films. ‘Don’t forget Waterworld.’ But someone liked it.
Ofsted. National curriculum.
Very very odd decade. Started in recession and then… moments were Britpop and New Labour, ‘Things can Only Get Better’, then we won Eurovision. Britain’s cool again! For about two minutes. And there were the Spice Girls.
Context for tonight.
Saturday’s episode: Everyone says fantastic except the one guy.
Other felt a lot is being saved for second episode. Like explanations.
Story arcs… backstory built up… and now frontstory as well, something in the future. Which can be a bit of a problem for the future of the show.
Moffatt having fun about spoilers. (I really need to learn how to spell Moffatt) He has a thing about it after Radio Times gave away the end of Girl in the Fireplace.
Sundays are boring: could be religious, could be a Hancock reference, Sunday afternoon H.
NH reckons DW has to be a bit nod and wink to the audience. Too earnest, falls flat on its face.
Part of the problem with some of the McCoy era. Ace… almost becoming a mouthpiece at times, hey kids racism is bad, almost laboured into the plot.
Have read spin off books? Professor River Song resembles Professor Berenice Summerfield, companion in the books. Archaeologist.
NH found pacing slightly odd. Too slow. Almost felt like it had been underwritten.
Unfortunately with trailers for rest of season we know Donna isn’t dead.
I mention how I liked the how to do a monster things.
Audience figures for Saturday probably knocked down a bit by Britain’s Got Talent.
(I had a thought but its gone away and that’s going to bug me for hours)
(aha! How Confidential doesn’t show the kind of argh and grumble bits the behind the scenes books say a lot of)
Have you heard that the BBC are doing Survivors?
Freema Agyeman’s going to be in it.
(and a bunch of other been in DW people)
Interesting the original Survivors running concurrently with The Good Life. You watch it now it’s interesting they’re all middle class. Or the 70s comedy Welshman. He survives but Welsh and not to be trusted.
Yesterday’s Daily Mirror, bit on DT. Going out with her who played his daughter and is PD’s daughter. What it was was him walking down the road with her. Picture taken of them from behind. They’re just walking down the street. But this gets a full page spread.
Advance news: here next week, but as is typical of this time of year we’re moving. The conference season starts. Was given the option this afternoon of portacabins down the end of the road where the bus stops, or in the arts building. He’s gone for the arts building. Tell us the room next week, hand out maps and directions how to get there. We’ll meet where the Yeti took over. All shall be explained. (yaays! The Brigadier!)
Handouts:
Some pertain to last week, Will Buck Blast the Doctor?, yes he did when they put BR against DW. Can tell it’s the mail.
Talk about jumping the shark, these were the reasons why DW lost popularity during the 80s. Not a very good list actually.
Doc Watch cartoon, gives an idea of scary.
One thing didn’t mention last week, 1986 when DW at lowest ebb, did ask Sidney Newman to give his ideas on ways to revamp the program and sadly they are a bit out of date.
Fandom stuff. Brief history about fandom. Bring in fanzines next week. It’s a brief history of fandom more recent one. Then another from a fan magazine lambasting the (someone) and TB again.
DW dictionary, clichés to describe DW. If in your essay you manage to fit all these words in he’ll be well impressed.
DWB Day of Action – when it wasn’t on air for a while a mass phone in to BBC demanding DW back. Mad.
And then an article from a fanzine on how the show tends to be interpreted by fans.
Then New Adventures, important in 90s.
Article written by Gareth Roberts about the embarrassing things about DW. Quite entertaining.
Then there’s a copy of Mad Magazine’s spoof of DW from 1975.
And the one with the lego.
From DWM about ten years ago, asked various industry people ways to bring DW back. Interviewed (people who ended up involved). Quote by RTD at the end is a gem.
/Handout
Last week we looked at the reasons for DW’s diminishing popularity in the 1980s.
TB’s final season didn’t do that well. PD’s first went remarkably well. Then it all went a bit wrong. Cancelled for a while. Came back with McCoy.
McCoy seen as a creative renaissance at the time. When Langford leaves the focus shifts to the companion, Ace. Ace goes through a rite of passage thing. As much focus on her as on the Doctor. All this leads into the new series.
One bugbear about late McCoy years: More Than Just A Time Lord. Hint he’s something else, not quite who we thought he was. And a lot of the stories he initiates, he doesn’t just appear and get involved, he initiates them as well. Happiness Patrol, goes to a planet and causes rebellion. Narratively odd, turns Doctor into Superman. If he knows everything already… giving him superpowered being, dangerous if he knows everything.
Student watched HP this week – no superpowers, didn’t use TARDIS for special effects, didn’t use sonic screwdriver.
Rememberance of the Daleks – suggesting he and Rassillon started the whole Time Lord thing.
Sonic had been dispensed with by that point. Cut out as many TARDIS scenes as possible, cause early 80s were interminable TARDIS scenes of standing around arguing waiting for the story to start.
Unfortunate thing with McCoy is he’s still finding his way into the role. By the time he’s getting towards the end of his last season he’s getting there.
Happiness Patrol is okay. Now seen as a big gay parable. Came out at the time of clause 28 and all that. If you read it on a gay level it’s like ‘blimey’.
Does start to reflect a lot of contemporary themes as well. (was it themes?)
HP mostly remembered for monster looking like bertie bassett.
Did it ever explain Why Doctor looks human?
No. Doctor says in Runaway Bride, optional. Reason why he looks human is basically budget reasons. All goes down to budget in the end.
One thing talk about early 90s – proposed DW film – casting suggestions flying around were appalling. People like John Cleese. Donald Sutherland. Then David Hasselhof. Which could be just the press wanting to say something.
/ actual teaching -> presentations
I made notes on the bloke's presentation but they use increasing numbers of ! and ?! and I got annoyed enough I wrote my essay as kind of a rebuttal. It was the presentation that decided there shouldn't be guys holding hands on a family show. So I won't post those notes.
Then there was a second presentation about Love & Monsters. That actually lasted the 5 minutes we'd been told. the other one was... juuuust a bit longer. So we ran out of lesson. which is why I didn't do my presentation out loud, because I quite like lesson and don't like it being full of, well, me, instead.
/presentation -> clips
Do we want to see really rubbish DW in 3D?
DW finished its original run on 6th Dec 1989 with last ep Survival with McCoy and Aldred wandering off into the distance talking about fighting monsters and drinking tea. That was it, it seemed. No more Doctor Who. Various reasons given. BBC give it a rest, it was tired.
There’s a good documentary on the Survival DVD.
Doesn’t mention that by this time Segal, from the US, had started putting proposals in to do an independent version. After Peacock BBC had to do more independents rather than in house.
Segal took a few years to get his version on screen.
1993, 30th anniversary of DW. To celebrate it they were going to do a story called The Dark Dimension. Was going to be independent, directed Graeme Harper. There’s a book called “The Nth Doctor” with plot synopsis. Starts from TB falling off telescope and not properly regenerating. All the other Doctors had hardly anything to do with it. Which when they found out they weren’t happy about it.
Children in Need. Do a DW special in 3D.
Has the bona fide 3D glasses here. Will have to pass them around.
Unfortunately its… it’s a 3D version that only works when the camera is moving.
Recorded this at the time, so we’ve got the context of the program it was shown in. Some may cringe to remember this.
May dim light to make 3D better.
Clip:
JP talking to Noel whatsit.
New 3D specs.
I try them and it don’t look much impressive.
TB in red costume doing some talking.
Specimens in the Rani’s TARDIS.
It’s sort of… travel sick. With whizzy whirly things and lots of moving along for no particular reason.
… oh *dear*. Just… clothes and… oh dear.
There is nothing good to say about it.
All the monsters would be cool in a museum but they’re not in a story. As in this isn’t a story, they’re just… there.
… Rani has a really big gun.
And then there’s more with the phone and vote numbers.
“It better be worth it to look this stupid” … no. No. Really, no.
This lesson has no lesson in it.
Just two presentations and this Dimensions in Time thing.
Which manages to be bad every time it looks like it might be even a bit good.
And the ‘3D’ was… eeew.
/clip
What d’you make of that?
It’s done for charity.
Suggestion of commercial shenanigans. I did not type.
JNT was charging money for people to see it in the USA.
Is it good Doctor Who?
*facepalm* and accompanying noises.
It’s just a way to string together as many… as many guest appearances as possible, not making any sense whatsoever. With an appalling lapse in taste – Hartnell and Troughton? Waxworks.
JNT and a pseudonym wrote it.
Rani’s companion went on to become famous. S West. Character unnamed and uncredited. SirIan joke. Among DW fandom he’s affectionately known as Shag. For various reasons he won’t go into.
It does display some of the faults with DW right at the end. Obsessed with continuity but the plot doesn’t work.
Starts the exact same was as Daleks in Manhattan, find newspaper to tell date.
Question arises of canonicity.
Can it fit into ongoing story.
6 meets the Brigadier… but.
Where can you fit it in DW continuity as such?
But the thing is if its Doctor Who, if its part of the DW world, that means Albert Square is part of the DW universe. Which therefore now becomes problematical.
Unless it’s an Eastenders museum with androids in like in The Chase.
The Chase – early self reflexive TV visualiser. Most amazing dad dancing in it.
Start with Paul McGann next week.
That was the last of DW on TV. DW was very much alive though. In books, made videos, will show the Yeti next week.
To conclude tonight – either part 2 of infinitely better charity thing, or The real reason CE left DW.
CE left DW:
Return once again, if it’s not DW it’s that other program… Blue Peter (talking of badges)
New series huge success. Report from set of special episode DW met Dalek. Triumphant return by Doctor.
Dalek in BP garden… Dalek compost bin. With kids as creators. Rhys and Jim.
… they’re explaining what it’s made of. I think it’s made of somewhere between *facepalm* and oooh cool. Er, the *facepalm* is a less embarrassing reaction.
… you know if it was better made then I’d be all on the Coool side. Dalek compost bins FTW.
TARDIS noises and CE appears. To use BP badge to make Dalek disappear. And then CE vanishes too.
/clip
NH: Did you see ‘I am a serious actor, I am in the Blue Peter garden exterminating a compost bin Dalek, that’s it, I’m going’
/lesson