Seeing Heroes

Within the last two months I had the chance to see -- in the flesh -- two of the people that had a huge influence in making me who I am today. They were, in both cases, people that are a little eccentric and odd. And it was interesting to rate my reaction to both.

At the recent Salesforce.com conference, one of the speakers was Star Wars creator George Lucas. You don't get to be a geeky person of my generation and not have been hugely influenced by the original Star Wars. But George was very odd -- it might have been that it was a strange environment for him; I don't think he talks to thousands of people on a regular basis. And for the conference the topics of discussion were limited to his work with Edutopia, a very worthy program relating to helping and inspiring educators. And as a technologist, it is nice to see a discussion about how technology makes the world better, and not just the work environment better.

Sadly, I've been less impressed with George over the last decade than when I was a kid -- perhaps because he was foolish enough to do something new that was close enough to what he did when I was growing up. And that colored my experience, I'm afraid to say. He's odd and eccentric -- but it wasn't something that meant as much to me as I thought it would. [As opposed to another -- more technical -- keynote speech by Cisco's CEO John Chambers, which was very inspirational and impressive.]



On the other hand, when I was in London recently on vacation, I stopped by a convention in Earl's Court where Tom Baker, my first Doctor Who, was making an appearance. Tom Baker was the only living classic series Doctor Who I hadn't met, and my life would be different without Doctor Who in the same way that it would be different without Star Wars.

As you would expect, Tom Baker is as eccentric as you would expect. But he was, in person, a delight at this point in time. He acted as if he had known you forever, in a way. I've met my share of actors before -- and it has pretty much always been pleasant. But meeting Tom Baker literally put a smile on my face for hours -- and even now, makes me smile when I think about it. Perhaps because Tom Baker hasn't gone back to addition Doctor Who, and his work on Little Britain is hysterical on its own -- that there's something different about the experience of meeting Tom Baker that was different than seeing George Lucas.

Amazingly, I think this means that I've met a good percentage of the major influences in my life -- as I had a chance to see Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Douglas Adams a decade or so ago. And at San Diego Comic Con I was able to see Stan Lee and Mark Hamill.

It's interesting to think about how all of these influences tie together to make me who I am today.

My Heroes Casting Campaign

I was watching the commentary for the awesome Heroes episode Company Man today, and besides being really impressed with how the NBC site has their on-site commentary tracks visualized, I realized who they need to cast at some point to absolutely prove that they're making this show for me. Mark Hamill. They've hired someone from Star Trek (George Takai). They've had both The Master (Eric Roberts) and The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). Malcolm McDowell starts soon.

So all they need to do to win Geek Bingo is for them to cast someone from Star Wars, and Lost apparently has Billy Dee Williams coming up. [see Lost Spoilers if you want]. So Mark Hamill it is.

Eric Roberts on Heroes

One of the more interesting appearances at Gallifrey One this year was Eric Roberts. I was more interested in hearing about his upcoming appearance in Heroes than his brief appearance in Doctor Who a decade ago, and the one thing that I learned was that it sounds like it won't just be a one episode appearance, but that he'll be a recurring character. He commented that joining a series like Heroes has a lot more bodyguards on set just due to the popularity of the show.

It's sort of the Doctor Who handoff -- as Christopher Eccleston leaves to film The Dark Is Rising, we get someone from the previous part of the series joining the series.

Upcoming Heroes Casting

Ok. Considering Christopher Eccleston's rumored casting on Heroes is listed as a rumor on the "official" unofficial Heroes site. maybe there is some truth to it. There's a lot of interesting speculation out there as far as what sort of character he could be playing. Is he a good guy? A bad guy? A character that we've already heard about? Sylar?, or Mr. Linderman?

In other amusing news on the 9th Wonders site, they're reporting that George Takai is going to appear as Hiro's father. I'm more than a bit amused if the we're getting casting from a primary actor from both Doctor Who and Star Trek announced during days of each other.

While digging around for more information and gossip about these casting I've also discovered a Heroes Wiki -- I think the Wiki format works really well for shows like Heroes or Lost.

Revenge of the Jedi

Wil Wheaton's Star Wars Review focuses on one of the things that has been on my mind concerning how the first Star Wars Generation reacted to Episodes I to III. The original Star Wars films are, for the geekier among us -- more than just an enjoyable nostalgic movie from our childhood. They in a very real sense are our childhood -- they're every birthday and Christmas for a half a dozen years.

I'm not as anti-the prequels as many people I know are. They're not the original Star Wars -- and how could they be -- and I'm not sure I can separate my childhood nostalgia when I watch them. And that makes some things work, but also emphasizes every little flaw.

Of course, it is possible for that sort of nostalgic revisit to work in their own rights as well -- the new Doctor Who is still recognizably the series that I discovered as a kid, but is a complete modern upgrade as well. And while the nostalgic elements of Battlestar Galactica are less frequent, it's something that is very good for today, and stands on its one terms despite any distant nostalgic memories.

And tomorrow is another day where nostalgic franchises return, as we go to see the new James Bond movie Casino Royale. It is odd because it promises to be a back-to-basics Bond film, but there was a fair amount of controversy in the past about it.

Oh, October is going to be busy

Ok, the official Season 3 Lost Press Release is out, confirming all sorts of good stuff. (yeah, Henry Gale as a regular!)

Of course, combined with the likelyhood of October having Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica running back to back on Sci Fi, it means that my three favorite shows are going to have new-to-the-US episodes all at the same time.

The Russell T Davies Solution

I had figured that it would be Bryan Singer, actually, but seeing JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof up for a Star Trek film doesn't really surprise me once I think about it. It's obviously very early days -- and I've got the same view as I did a couple of years ago before Doctor Who returned -- I'll believe it for real once cameras roll...

But still, as a fan of Alias and Lost, I could be ok with them behind a new film. Though I'm not sure if a Kirk/Spock prequel is going to be the right way to go... but we'll see..

Doctor Who At Last

Tomorrow is when the new Doctor Who finally lands on American television. I do most of my writing about Doctor Who over at the Torchwood Institute, but this will be your chance to perhaps understand what all of the fuss is about....

Cats vs Daleks

This is sort of a cross-over post, but I've posted some pictures of my cats encountering a Dalek. After all, it's only a couple of days until Doctor Who starts on Sci Fi.

A Touch Of Who

Just a note that I'm now doing most of my Doctor Who specific blogging over at Torchwood. Now that it's going to be on the Sci Fi channel in the US in March, there will be much fun to be had...

The Torchwood Institute: Anime, Future of TV, and You-Know-Who

I wrote over at the The Torchwood Institute something relating not just to Doctor Who, but also covered general media and future of television stuff. (One of the downsides of having multiple blogs is the rare occasion that you'd like to have it go into more than one stream...)

Restoration

I was reading Leonard Maltin's comments about DVD production after following a link from Mark Evanier's Blog. I certainly agree that there are both wonderful and tragic DVD choices being made by DVD producers. Obviously, there are a lot of economic factors involved, and I certainly want the DVDs that I can get to be as well-presented as possible, and idealy with worthwhile extras.

(One of the reasons why I'm quite happy with the rather slow rate that the Doctor Who DVDs are coming out is that they are generally exceptionally well presented; and while there are certainly compromises that are made to get it out there on a budget, there's usually an effort to make sure that it's a good authoritative version of the story & additional features. )

Oh, and while Leonard Maltin is encouraging that fans let people know what they want -- I wish Leonard Maltin's site had an rss feed -- I find that I'm relying on rss feeds more and more for anything that I want to look at regularly using tools like Bloglines more and more.

The Torchwood Institute

I've set up a new blog specifically for Doctor Who over at The Torchwood Institute. One of the frustrating things with the huge delay for getting Doctor Who properly distributed over here in America is that things are practically on hold as far as the new series goes. At this point it's not to difficult to get region 2 DVDs from the series, and it'll be even easier in 2006 when region 1 DVDs are released in Canada, but hey, that just makes the new Doctor Who our little secret.

I've had some Doctor Who pages on one website or another for over ten years now, and I've still got most of them on Question Mark, which hasn't been terribly well maintained as internet and blogging technology makes these things a lot easier to do. But having a place for my review of Goth Opera by Paul Cornell from the early 1990s is fun, and if you want to be really nostalgic, there is a nearly two-decade old issue of Question Mark, which captures true 1980s geeky embarassement.

But really, from now on, I'll be blogging and writing about Doctor Who and Torchwood primarly at the Torchwood Institute. I've been writing about Doctor Who for all of my adult life, and it seems unlikely that'll stop anytime soon...

Excellent

The offical Doctor Who site has pictures of the 2006 model of The Cybermen. Like last year's redesign of the Daleks, it's actually a lot more of a traditional design than some people might have expected -- it's a bit more of a redesign, but then the Cybermen have always been a lot more varied over the years.

It looks a lot like you can see Bryan Hitch's influence here -- it looks similar to his Iron Man. I'm actually quite pleased that it's neither a Borg-style design, as the Borg are very similar conceptually to the Cybermen, and that they are men-in-suits as opposed to the CGI Cylons from the new Battlestar Galactica. They're recognizably Cybermen, with handlebars and eyedrops.

Always cool...

The Doctor Who Shooting Scripts

I just got the shooting scripts for the 2005 series of Doctor Who. It's huge -- and quite well put together. If this is what we're getting "instead" of novelizations, I'm not going to be too saddened by their loss.

One of the glorious parts of the Doctor Who tradition is that it invites the fan and viewer to get involved with the production aspects. The curtain is raised, and we get to see some parts of what goes on behind-the-scenes. Doctor Who is one of the most documented television programs out there, for a wide variety of reasons. One of the worries that one might have had is that a ressurected, modern Doctor Who would overlook that part of the series legacy -- especially as they try to keep secrets and surprises before something airs in the UK.

The new series is, of course, the result of people that read books like The Making of Doctor Who in the 1970s, or old issues of Doctor Who magazine -- and this book carries on that tradition, quite probably encouraging the person who revives Doctor Who in 2040. It's happened before.

It is also one of those pieces where despite the American marketplace's resistance to the new series, we can still get a feel for it very quickly through items such as this, besides just importing DVDs.

Religion and Doctor Who

This is an interesting article looking at the religious issues concerning the new series of Doctor Who. Fascinating stuff.

Doctor Who wins three UK TV awards

How the fortunes of the series have improved in the UK.

And amazingly, it beat out US television series Desperate Housewives as well.

Meanwhile, there's no sign of it getting any US airing....

Torchwood

Torchwood is going to be a new science fiction television series, starring John Barrowman as Captain Jack, to air on BBC-3 in the summer of 2006. It will be created by Russell T Davies, the Executive Producer of Doctor Who, and Torchwood will spin off of Doctor Who, having previously been mentioned in the previous series of Doctor Who.

From the independent.

The bbc site for Doctor Who confirms the announcement.

Intelliseek's BlogPulse

I wandered across BlogPulse, and it looks like a pretty interesting way to search what's going on in various blogs and the like.

For example, I think this should trend Doctor Who against Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant.

Or how about Doctor Who vs Battlestar Galactica?

(Actually, I don't think this is fair, because Doctor Who gets a lot of false positives as they're both words that are farely common, even if you specifically look for the phrase "Doctor Who", and not just those two words seperately. Though if you look at the data you know that it does spike when there's some sort of news event connected to the series, like when filming started or the last episode aired.]

The problem with BBC America

This article is quite fascinating. I don't have access to BBC America, and that's basically because there hasn't been any strong reason to buy a network that shows Benny Hill re-runs continually. (I've never liked Benny Hill.)

But would I want a network that aired Spaced (which admittedly wasn't a BBC series, but BBC America is theoretically about the best of all British television, after all) and the new Doctor Who? You bet.

Though admittedly, my understanding is that the problem is that the UK side wants Doctor Who on a station with wider reach than BBC America. Whether or not that's feasible is a completely different question, no matter how brilliant the new series is.

Variations on a theme

Podcast Who, a Doctor Who podcast, recently referenced some additional variations on the Doctor Who theme that I think are pretty cool.

The Long Wait

One of the things that I've been pointing out to people is that it's not at all unusual for television shows to take eighteen months or so to cross from the BBC to America. Obviously, something like Doctor Who , which has an existing fan base, any delay is considered unacceptable to the fan base, but when you have a series that people aren't aware of in this country, like Sea Of Souls, no one even notices that the episodes that are soon to air on BBC America originally aired on the BBC in February of 2004 -- Eighteen Months ago.

Note, by that standard, we're unlikely to see Doctor Who on American television until October of 2006. And for those of us more impatient, there are always region 2 DVDs....

Michael Sheard

Michael Sheard, who appeared in several of the best Doctor Who stories, including Pyramids of Mars and Remembrance of the Daleks, and was memorable as Admiral Ozzel in the best Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, passed away recently.

But he was also a really friendly, full of life individual. He had been a guest of honor at CONvergence twice, and he endeared himself to our entire community, and I know from many of the other tributes I've seen that he'd done the same sort of thing all over, and he'll definitely be missed.

Request Doctor Who!

There aren't many places for American Doctor Who fans to demonstrate their support for the new series at the current time -- but putting your e-mail address at amazon.com is one of the places where you can.

Doctor Who Podcast

I'm listening to a new podcast about Doctor Who at the Gallifreyan Embassy called Podshock. It's thankfully does have contributions from both the US and the UK, which balances things somewhat.

Gary Russell Interview

Here's an interesting interview with Gary Russell, who is the main creative force behind the Big Finish Doctor Who audios....

It's a really interesting look at the consequences the new series has had for classic series properties like the audios. (And I imagine the lack of any American distribution as yet puts everything in limbo here -- especially since Doctor Who magazine and the ninth Doctor novels get distribution, and British SF magazines like Starburst and SFX get pretty reasonable distribution.

Though I think one thing that everyone has to remember is that this sort of delay has always been the case -- I first encountered the Fifth Doctor by reading The Tides of Time in Doctor Who Monthly, and for almost every British show I can think of, there's usually at least a year delay until it gets some sort of American distribution.

About Time

I've been reading an new guide to Doctor Who, Lawerence Miles and Tat Wood's About Time. One of the things that I find interesting between American and British Who fans is that the context is a little different -- I saw all seven years of Tom Baker in nine months -- and so I didn't "age" with the series in the same way that Miles and Wood did. And it's frequently clear that one of the reasons that they sometimes differ in their opinions about the series is that they came of age during different periods of the show's history.

It's also interesting to read comments about the original series in context of a new series in production in the UK. The shadow of both the end of the series and the failure of the 1996 revival dominated things for a long time, and now things are put into a new context. In fact, I suspect it will be even more interesting when we can re-evaluate everything in a couple of years as we can put it all in a new context. We start to see it in this series with references to 45 minute episodes and other things -- but it's still too early.

Nothing at the End of the Lane

One of the things about classic Doctor Who fandom is that the history of the show is so fascinating -- and that so many of the 1960s episodes no longer exist. Nothing at the End of the Lane is a terribly detailed look at issues relating to the restoration and research into all sorts of interesting things from the 1960s. If you're at all interested in strange and obscure Doctor Who production information -- and words like telesnaps are a part of your vocabulary -- Nothing at the End of the Lane is a good place to get deep into the subject.

Two Impossible Things

There are two things that I thought I would never see:

a) Michael Grade singing the praises of Doctor Who

b) Roger Waters is going to be playing with Pink Floyd for the London Live 8 concert.

One would be tempted to make some comment about the Michael Jackson verdict, but honestly, I'm not that surprised, and that interests me a whole lot less than those two...

SyFy Portal

SyFy Portal is also campaigning for the best show not on American television...of course, Doctor Who.

A stunning moment

I got my copies of the two North American Doctor Who DVDs today, from Who NA, one place that I go to for many of a lot of my Doctor Who related purchases, especially CDs. And I was stunned to discover that the DVD for The Leisure Hive contained a flyer for the new Doctor Who series, and advertised the various new books connecting to the series. It's the first acknowledgemnt I've really seen from any official capacity that there even is a new Doctor Who series as far as this country is concerned.

It's very odd, considering that the series has been more successful in the UK than any of us could have possibily imagined, that there's been so little word about how it will get officially distributed in this country. There's a lot of enthusiastic talk in Doctor Who Magazine and online amongst British fans about how mainstream the series is now days, when it's almost as cultish as ever in this country.

As someone who has loved Doctor Who for over two decades, though, I'm happy that the new series got it right for the UK audience, as opposed to falling into the middle of the ocean trying to make it big in America. As I've pointed out before, it quite frequently takes a year or so for things to cross over to an American cable station.

What do the Koreans know that US Television doesn't?

Doctor Who is sold to Korean television

Impatience

I wrote most of this originally elsewhere, but I think some of the statistics are interesting enough to post here as well...

I think there's certainly a tendency to look at what reasons might make a US sale of the new Doctor Who difficult. And obviously, the BBC wants this to go to a wider network that BBC America -- it's one of the few statements that we actually have seen about the show in the US from any official show. (Oddly, you can't link to that page directly, but if you click "Contact Us" on one of the BBC Doctor Who pages, you'll see what I mean...

So it's natural to look at why the show hasn't been able to, as yet, pick up a US distributor.

I think the main issue is that we're all anxious here -- but we're still not at all in an unusual delay for a BBC series to get over here, even to something like BBC America. BBC America is only now showing something like the first season of Paul Abbott's Shameless, taking about a year, it took eighteen months for The Office to get to America, it took a year for Monarch of the Glen to get here, it took over a year for MI-5 to get to A&E. It took eighteen months for Ab Fab. About fifteen months for the first series of Coupling and League of Gentlemen. And almost two years for Ultraviolet -- though that isn't a BBC series, it's still part of the pattern.

I had been somewhat more optimistic six or so months ago, especially since there was almost no delay for Russell T Davies's Mine All Mine, and there was little delay in the last series of Coupling, but the first apparently was a co-production (which Doctor Who is not) and the second had an existing relationship (which a new Doctor Who series does not ).

That is probably more indicative of the nature of the American market than the show -- even though it clearly was a goal to get the American market on board early, since we have documentation that the Executive Producers were in LA, presumably trying to sell the series, back when the show was in pre-production.

I'm actually quite happy that they didn't bend over backwards to make a show for the American market; usually any time that you so deliberately try to make a product like that, you fail to please *anyone*.

But the new Doctor Who series is a definite hit in the UK, and it's apparently been successful in both Canada and Australia. And there is unquestionably a demand for the series in the US -- after all, the largest Doctor Who fansite is based here. So it's just a matter of time before it ends up somewhere here.

Fun little Doctor Who voting system

Rank your favorite Doctor Who stories -- this uses one of those ranking-vote systems that's very popular amongst people belonging to third parties in political systems, and so it's a lot of fun to see it applied amongst silly things like favorite Doctor Who stories.

Have fun!

I wanna know

Ok, the new Doctor Who is getting stories written for the AP and then getting picked up on sites like MSNBC, but there's still no word on what station will eventually air it in the US, or if it'll just go straight to DVD, or what...

Is there a Doctor in the country?

One of the frustrating things is that it's difficult to register to the abstract distribution networks that are out there that you'd really like to see the new Doctor Who show up on some American station. I figure it can't hurt for Amazon.com to be notified that you'd like to see the first season boxed set quickly and for them to send you a nice little e-mail when it does get released. (It'll come out towards the end of the year in the UK.)

And while I could cope if it just went direct to DVD in this country, it would be nice for it to have some sort of airing in the US. While BBC America does have a form listing Doctor Who, that's really the channel of last resort, and the official BBC site has a FAQ saying that it's unlikely to go to BBC America and to please not bother them.

There's an old light bulb joke: How many Doctor Who fans does it take to turn on a lightbulb? None, they just wait for it to come back on....

Still waiting.

A Long Time Coming

The next episode of Doctor Who is one that I've wanted to see for a long time. About ten years ago, when I started to read the New Adventures, I very quickly discovered the books by Cornell, and when I wrote a review for Love and War I recommended to some future Doctor Who television producer to give Paul a job. (Obviously, I didn't really expect that said future producer would be someone who also wrote a New Adventure!)

But I'm quite happy and excited about Father's Day; this is an episode that I've wanted to see for a decade; before I had even heard of Russell T Davies or Christopher Eccleston. Paul's books helped bring me back into Doctor Who after I had wandered away from the series in the early 1990s, so I find it really fitting that he's a part of this first series.

I'm saddened that as yet, we haven't heard any positive word on how the new series will officially get to America. Thankfully, due to the wonders of region-free DVD players, DVDs will be flying their way across the ocean starting next week. And all of that said, I'd rather have a series that's a massive success in the UK and takes a while to find the right home in America than another false transatlantic start like the 1996 TV Movie for FOX television.

I'm old enough, however, to remember that when Doctor Who was last in production in the late 1980s, it would take even longer before a new series would arrive. My first experience of The Trial of a Time Lord was an audio cassette tape of the first episode -- and it wouldn't be for many months until I would actually see the episode.

Perspective

I highly recommend reading The Outpost Gallifrey Editor's Weblog in light of all of the recent events concerning Doctor Who.

I'm not sure that I'm ready for a Doctor played by an actor one month older then me, which is what will happen if David Tennant gets the part as suggested by the BBC.

Good news, bad news

But most of you Doctor Who fans know this all by now

In a bizarre way, I think this might turn out to be healthy for the long term of the series -- even as it is a hit -- as it establishes right away again that the cast can change at any time, and is bigger than any one actor.

It's a hit!

10.5 million viewers in the UK for the first episode of the new Doctor Who

And I figure it's good for American's to keep hitting the official website and by doing so registering how much they want to see this get mainstream American distribution as soon as possible.

Tachyon TV Issue 23: April 2005

Tachyon TV has a new version up, right before the new Doctor Who airs in the UK.

(Yes, yes, yes, we want the new series in America...)

Who is Doctor Who?

Have you seen this man?

project Who

While we don't have Doctor Who yet here in America, and we can't watch the tv series on the BBC site, you can, however listen to various cool audio shows about the new series. In particular, I recommend listening to the story about the theme song -- both the original Delia Derbyshire version and the new Murray Gold incarnation of the theme.

Doctor Who Festival May 1986

I've got some additional clippings from old Doctor Who events, this time concerning the Doctor Who Festival that took place at the Prom Center in St Paul, MN in May of 1986.

Carry on Doctor

The next few weeks are going to have a billion articles in the UK press about the return of Doctor Who. It's difficult for us in the US to imagine, as it's always been cult here, but right now the Doctor and his blue box are everywhere -- billboards, tv and radio commercials.

This article might explain why...

Doctor Who 2005 DVDs

Outpost Gallifrey is reporting that region 2 DVDs of the new Doctor Who series will be on sale in the UK as soon as May. Obviously, this means that enthusiasts around the world can see it (and purchase it) shortly after the broadcast in the UK and Canada in a high-quality format. (And multi-region players are trivial to obtain, really.)

With all of the discussion about the leak of Rose (episode 1 of the new series) on the internet recently, a rapid DVD release would definitely be a good thing.

SFX - REVIEW: Doctor Who, episode one

I think this Doctor Who review says it all, really.

Can we get US distribution sorted out please?

And so it begins...

Both Outpost Gallifrey and the BBC Home Page have revamped over the last couple of days as the countdown towards the UK premier of the new Doctor Who gets closer.

Perspective

There's some anxiousness in fan quarters that as yet, we have no idea where the new Doctor Who is going to end up in the US. And yes, it might be awhile before it airs on any sort of cable station -- but the smae sort of thing happens in reverse all the time as well. As far as I know, they haven't started airing the most successful new US shows of the year -- I'm pretty sure that Lost hasn't started in the UK yet.

I remember that it used to be that Doctor Who would take months or years to reach PBS stations Back In The Day. It's difficult because in today's era we are in instantatious communication around the globe with our fellow fans, where it used to be that we'd have to take weeks or months for fanzines and magazines to cross the ocean.

Where Who?

Filmforce, as well as various people on the Outpost Gallifrey forums, have suggested that the Sci Fi channel has passed on the new Doctor Who series.

I'm still relatively unconcerned that it'll show up here somehow -- though obviously, if I need to get BBC America or something obscure I hope they give us all enough warning so we can call up our cable companies and get digital cable if we need it...

Doctor Who Confidential

I suspect that the only way we're going to be able to see Doctor Who Confidential is to get copies from friends in the UK, but it sounds like the ultimate in DVD extras, really -- six and a half hours of a Doctor Who documentary.

Blogging Who

The Doctor Who Blog has started; it's by the Doctor Who Information Network (DWIN), the Canadian fanclub, and without any US nation-wide fanclub, the best fanclub for Doctor Who fans in North America.

March 26th!

Outpost Gallifrey has started a countdown clock until the UK premier of the new Doctor Who. Obviously, things could change, but it looks really, really likely at this point.

Orbital Movements

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