Show 20: Doctor Who (The Reign of Terror)

Show 20 is now available to download, in which we examine the final story from the very first series of Doctor Who.  This six part story was first broadcast in 1964, and (as we explain in the show) this was a first for us – it was the first incomplete story that we watched.  The complete episodes (1, 2, 3 and 6) were watched on the original BBC VHS video release (remember them?) and the missing episodes were listened to from the BBC Audio Books release (narrated by Carole Ann Ford).

As a result of the significance of this very first series, the next episode will be a discussion of that first series as a whole.  We probably won’t be doing this every season (as that would add about two years onto the project!!!)

Show 20 is available to download by clicking here.

As usual, there are various places you can leave us feedback: you can leave comments on the Show 20 thread on our Facebook Group, or you can visit our forum and leave comments there.

As for the next couple of months, here is our tentative schedule for May and June:
14th May: Doctor Who (Series 1 Overview)
28th May: Timeslip 3 (The Year of the Burn Up)
11th June: WIthnail and I
25th June: Doctor Who (Planet of Giants)

It is unlikely that this schedule will change, however should something significant happen (or we forget a 20th Anniversary again!!!) then we may juggle things slightly.

See you in two weeks!

The Return of Blake?

According to today’s Media Guadian:

Sky One is to remake the science fiction series Blake’s 7, following the recent reimaginings of Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman.

The satellite channel has given the go-ahead for the development of two 60-minute scripts with a view to a potential “event series”.

Elaine Pyke, the commissioning editor, drama, at Sky One, Two and Three is working with Andrew Mark Sewell at B7 Productions on the project.

“The time is ripe for a revival of a show that represents the best traditions of the genre, not to mention one of the best-loved and most successful dramas of all time,” Pyke said.

Created by sci-fi legend Terry Nation, Blake’s 7 ran for four series on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981, and followed a band of rebels in their fight against the totalitarian system that ruled the galaxy.

Although the production values of the original series have dated, the show has proved both influential and enduringly popular.

B7 Productions is a subsidiary of B7 Media, the company that owns the licence to the show.

In recent years it has developed the brand with a series of Blake’s 7 audio dramas, featuring actors such as James Bond star Colin Salmon and This Life’s Daniela Nardini.

The prospect of a new Blake’s 7 follows Russell T Davies’s highly successful reworking of Doctor Who for the BBC, and the new Battlestar Galactica, the fourth and final series of which is currently showing on Sky One.

NBC’s revival of Bionic Woman, starring former EastEnders actor Michelle Ryan, has been less successful, with the show expected to be axed after just one series. Bionic Woman is broadcast on ITV2 in the UK.

Cadmium2 Forums

Well, we have been encouraging people to put comments in various places, including on our Facebook group and this blog.  A couple of people have said to us that would prefer to use a Forum, so we have set one up.  Please feel free to register and start your own topics, you can visit the forum by clicking here.

Doctor Who 4.3: Planet of the Ood

Wow. That was really impressive. I’m almost at a loss what to say. Almost.

Graeme Harper was given an excellent story to direct and he grabbed it with both hands. Donna gets to see her first alien planet and we get a properly impressive exterior creation (I don’t count New Earth as it was a horrible backdrop and we didn’t really get to walk around). The snowy landscape reminded me of Harper’s classic Who story, Revelation of the Daleks and the storyline certainly mirrored the bleakness of that tale.

Donna’s relationship with the Doctor continues to grow and Tennant and Tate are bouncing off each other beautifully and provided the only real humour in an otherwise smile free episode! Tim McInnerny was very good as Halpern, although not quite as ambiguous a character as his interviews would lead you to believe and all the supporting cast were strong in their roles. Ayesha Dharker as PR woman Solana Mercurio impressed, even though she was only really there to die and Roger Griffiths was fairly imposing as the security chief, although I would say that the only person/event that came across as slightly unbelievable was where he tried to kill the Doctor with the warehouse claw. The more I think about it, the more it seems like a kid-friendly action scene crowbarred into an otherwise extremely adult episode.

Speaking of which, watching the Ood being whipped whilst collapsed in pain on the ground was strong stuff. Being herded into stinking container vessels and awaiting ‘conversion’ cramped into cages in the dark was obviously designed to evoke thoughts of concentration camps – but rather than feel like my heartstrings were being manipulated by a cynical production team (it wasn’t subtle, lets be honest), I actually thought this gave us a powerful look into the Oods background. Rewatching The Impossible Planet last night, it was interesting to note references to ‘livestock’ and the pressure group ‘Friends of the Ood’, both of which make a re-appearance in this episode.

Holocaust imagery, torture and brutality seemed to be the order of the day in this episode and I have to say that I felt it was a bit strong for 6.20pm. Interestingly, the rule that you can’t see a human shoot another human on screen seems to still be in play but it’s okay to gun down alien creatures in full view of a teatime audience…

I loved this episode a lot. Unlike a lot of the new series, there wasn’t a single moment in it that made me cringe. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s one of the best and most confident episodes they have ever done. For me, the opening three episodes of this season have been stronger than their equivalents in the last three years and if they can keep this quality up for the next ten weeks I will be really impressed.

Doctor Who: Season 4 commentaries

Well, the good Doc is back for Season Thirty (or Four if you want to pretend the show started in 2005) and so far it’s been pretty good.  I am going to limit my comments on specific episodes here, but for anyone who hasn’t seen them you can consider as a rule of thumb that these will not be spoiler free.

But actually that isn’t what I want to talk about.  Since Christmas 2005, the BBC have done downloadable commentaries for each and every episode that has come our way.  There will be either actors, or producers, or crew, or a combination – and often they are a really good way to look at the production of the episode, often in fact of more interest than the Confidential episode that follows the main episode on BBC3.

The commentaries are designed to be listened to as you watch a rerun or recoding of the episode, and often there will be a direct reference to what is happening on the screen on the commentary.  The commentaries are the same length as the episodes.

Except for this year.  The (much undervalued and appreciated) digital radio station BBC7 is playing an edited form of these commentaries as part of their 7th Dimension slot on a Sunday.  They have cut them down to 29 or so minutes.  A bit odd, but works okay if you don’t want to watch them along with the episode.

But what has really annoyed me is that the downloadable version is also this cut down 30 minute version, you cannot get the full version at all as a podcast.  The only way you can see the commentary in full now is to watch one of the BBC3 reruns in that first week and select the commentary track as you watch it live!   WHY!!!  Come on BBC, you have made unedited versions of these excellent commentaries available for the last three years, why muck us about now?  The DVD commentaries have always been different to these ones, so these podcasts were a unique look into the show.

Unless that’s is.  Perhaps they have realised that there is some unnecessary duplication here, perhaps these will be available in full when they release the boxed set of the season later in the year.

Oh well.  Anyhow, just wanted to say that Planet of the Ood last night was awesome, but I will let Paul air his views before I throw mine out there!