Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Saturday 29 March 2008

The Triumph of The Daleks


It’s impossible not to see the irony that while the present Executive Producer of “Doctor Who”, Russell T Davies, criticises the 6.20pm time slot allotted the new series’ first episode, on BBC One on April 5, the original Terry Nation serial introducing “The Daleks”, starring William Hartnell in the second-ever “Doctor Who” story, will begin a very rare repeat run on BBC Four later the same evening, as part of the “Verity Lambert Tribute Night”, at the more sensible time of 8.30pm! I can understand how RTD feels about the earlier transmission of “Partners in Crime” and agree with him that the show may possibly lose many viewers as a result. Shop assistants, for example, of which Rose was one, don’t finish work until 5.30pm and it seems very unlikely they’ll be able to immediately head for home. Had “Doctor Who” retained the 7pm position in the schedules, of recent years, there can be no doubt there would definitely be more bums in front of the telly. Having said that, the later showing of the 1963/4 serial does actually represent a minor victory for the classic series. All seven episodes were originally broadcast on BBC One at the even earlier start time of 5.15pm and the show somehow managed to survive rather well in spite of it! In fact, it was during the transmission of the first four episodes of “The Daleks” that “Doctor Who” really entered the public consciousness. The last three are slightly disappointing, insomuch as they are padded out to fit the running time, but only in comparison to the brilliance of the first half. Had Rusty’s opening gambit been on later, as he hoped, with the possibility of a clash between new and old “Doctor Who”, I know which story I would choose! Call me cynical but maybe Russell knows the new series is rubbish and is already trying to shift the blame before the whole Catherine Tate casting travesty comes crashing down on his head!! “Daleks conquer and destroy”, indeed!!!

4 comments:

Leeland said...

Ooooch! That's cruel...
I agree that Cath will be a change from Rose and Martha (whom I equally appreciated). I found Cath was funny in the bride episodes but I don't think I could handle that much aggressivity all the time...
I have discovered Dr Who thanks to Karen and I'm a fan, you see...
I loved Christopher Eccleston in the part and it took me some time to get used to David Tennant. I haven't seen the previous series.

Now, to answer your question about Karen: no, I haven't had any news since her post dated 5th December. I tried through her email address but had no answer. I intend to try through the snail mail. I'm quite worried. Yet, if she's fine -and I hope she is with all my heart- I would be very sorry to bother her: some people decide to break from their old life and just go on. I'm one of those... But you're right: it's not like her. Every time she has decided to take a break from blogging, she has left a post to say so.

I will let you know.

Hugs,

Lili

TimeWarden said...

Many thanks for getting back to me, Lili. One of the many problems with "Doctor Who" is that everyone has their own opinion on how the show should be made. I prefer the way it used to be made rather than the way it is now. It's claimed there is more emotional content in the present production but, again, that's debatable! It was there in the original series but, I think, handled more delicately. In modern "Who", the angst is ladled on with a trowel and it doesn't look like changing in the upcoming season!

More importantly, this Saturday it will be four months since either of us heard from Karen. That's quite a considerable time! One can only assume she's either given up blogging, although she showed no recent inclination to that effect, or that something has happened which keeps her away from her computer. I hope it's simply the former but it does seem rather sudden.

I only have Karen's old email address. We never got round to exchanging new ones so I would be grateful to hear how you get on via snail mail. Here's hoping she's doing ok!

Best wishes,

Tim

Steve said...

I have to say the BBC programme sheduling is pretty dire at the best of times and they continually shoot themselves in the foot by moving things around (Torchwood for example). What's the betting DW will have changed it's start time 3 times before the series ends?

TimeWarden said...

Probably even more than that, Steve, if last year is anything to go by!