In the last week, including last night and this morning, I have watched a season and a half of Battlestar Galactica. And I just discovered that the very first season of Doctor Who is available--I've never seen anything before The Baker Years. My friends may never see me again.
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Patrick Troughton was the most engaging of the 'Doctors', IMO, as were his companion characters. I suspect you will find the William Hartnell episodes a disappointment. (If I am not mistaken, a good many of the episodes broadcast over the first seven years have been lost).
Caught up on BSG? If not, beware of spoilers. Pretty big thing happened last night.
And if you think that's bad, I hope you never hear about Hulu, which has legitimate free streaming of older (and newer) shows like Arrested Development, Newsradio and even Remington Steele.
"My friends may never see me again."
In that case, whatever you do, don't watch any of the following:
Wonderfalls
Dexter
Rescue Me
Veronica Mars
There's always Torchwood - for the older kid bored by daleks and cybermen but who finds icky too much smooching with aliens.
In my experience, being introduced to Dr. Who via Tom Baker's portrayal really wrecks you for the prior Doctors. The episodes will likely seem to drag and the Doctor will seem like a doddering old man. It's somewhat interesting to see the early Daleks, however, and to wonder how where the Doctor was able to get a granddaughter since it does not appear that he had any children.
Patrick Troughton starts to get it, but nothing beats Tom Baker!
BSG forced me into a week in my bedroom catching up on around 60 odd episodes. I rarely went out only to eat and rest my eyes.
It was worth it....
The William Hartnell episodes are brilliant, in my opinion, the best stuff the show did until at least early Tom Baker. But a lot of people do find them slow. (Everybody agrees that the very first episode is terrific though.)
There are indeed over a hundred missing episodes in the first six seasons of Doctor Who (the seventh is intact as are all subsequent seasons). Season 1 isn't too badly damaged. Of its 42 original episodes, only 9 of them are missing (all seven of Marco Polo and two from The Reign of Terror). (Season 2 is missing only 2 out of 39. However, Season 3 is missing 29 out of 45 episodes, Season 4 is missing 34 out of 43, Season 5 is missing 27 out of 40. Season 6 is missing 7 out of 44. This is a total of 108 missing episodes, with the majority of Seasons 3-5 lost: Hartnell's last season and the first two of Patrick Troughton.) On the bright side, Doctor Who is unique among shows with this problem because every single audio track does survive thanks to fans recording the audio off-air. So only the video is missing from these episodes (and sometimes clips survive of those).
I do believe the original Season 1 of Doctor Who is one of the best things ever produced by any television show. The loss of the two episodes of Reign of Terror is no big deal, but the loss of Marco Polo does hurt. Easily watchable without it, though.
Some of us saw this stuff the first time round, young lady.
Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who? You're a woman after my own heart.
Ok, so, you're a pretty "normal" seeming person, for definitions of normal that include "having likely never attended a sci-fi convention". Can you please, please explain to me the attraction behind Battlestar? I don't get it.
In my experience, being introduced to Dr. Who via Tom Baker's portrayal really wrecks you for the prior Doctors. The episodes will likely seem to drag and the Doctor will seem like a doddering old man. It's somewhat interesting to see the early Daleks, however, and to wonder how where the Doctor was able to get a granddaughter since it does not appear that he had any children.
Patrick Troughton starts to get it, but nothing beats Tom Baker!
Thankfully I caught much of the early years as I was stationed in England in the USAF Dec68-Dec71. At the time I wondered if it would ever make it across the pond--took some time, but better late, etc., despite fact the Tom Baker years onward were only ones to initially make it.
Too bad it doesn't work on a mac and double too bad I downloaded a season of House on my Mac without paying attention. DOH!!! It'll be waiting for me when I pop in XP with bootcamp so I have that going for me. Still, I hate having a mac laptop and xp desktop. It sometimes makes me act stupid.
In that case, whatever you do, don't watch any of the following....Veronica Mars
That show had its moments, but after about six episodes, you quickly realize just how formulaic it is. Take a Nancy Drew premise, add unwholesome and supremely shallow 90210 personal relationship drama, and let Danielle Steel write the episodic suplots while Agatha Christie writes the seasonal superplot. Only two rules: First, pillage material that is only plausible on large Ivy League campuses, like a string of high campus crimes, or Skull & Bones; and second, make sure the ultimate culprits are always the white guy you might eventually suspect, in spite of the fact that the setting has a suspicious resemblance to San Diego, where the typical crime statistics almost certainly have a strong hispanic skew.
Meh. I got hooked on Season 3 after watching a couple, and then had to see the rest of the season; but when that was over, I firmly promised never to look into 1 or 2. The only good thing I got out of it was the discovery of The Dandy Warhols' We Used to be Friends.
"Can you please, please explain to me the attraction behind Battlestar?" THP
TR: In my case I don't know why I watch it half the time.
I think things like the Wire, BSG, etc show an interest among critics and intellectuals for despair and tragedy. In particular the entropic idea that life inevitably gets worse because of human or institutional flaws. This might fit the mindset of this decade to some extent. (Granted reality is still that things are not inevitably worsening and many of the world's people live better than they did in 1999)
I think ratings of things like the Wire, BSG, etc also show less enthusiasm among the populace to despair and tragedy. They might believe life gets inevitably worse, but would rather watch a world where it doesn't. Hence the most popular shows involve spunky teens becoming music stars (American Idol) or they mostly do contain unhappy people, but they're successful unhappy people who solve problems. (CSI, House, Grey's Anatomy)
ndm wrote: "There's always Torchwood"
I get the impression that Megan likes watching *good* TV shows, not rotting abortions.
the ultimate culprits are always the white guy you might eventually suspect, in spite of the fact that the setting has a suspicious resemblance to San Diego, where the typical crime statistics almost certainly have a strong hispanic skew.
Go burn your crosses elsewhere, cracker.
Just in case you were tempted:
Amazon Unbox videos currently available for your computer or your TiVo DVR do not contain subtitles or closed captioning. We hope to make this feature available in future releases.
ndm wrote: "There's always Torchwood"
I get the impression that Megan likes watching *good* TV shows, not rotting abortions.
I beg to differ. Torchwood may not be as good as the new DW, but it's certainly a fascinating hour of television. The stories are a stretch sometimes, and a little melodramatic, but very exhilirating. I'd give the series a B.
Doctor 3 Jon Pertwee was actually my first Doctor, which I watched on local public television (they still show it). But my favorite has always been Doctor 5 Peter Davison. Sadly I never saw much of the first two doctors, so I'm not a good judge of them.
As for companions, Tom Baker's are probably my favorite ones. The one I think was best, Lis Sladen's Sarah Jane, was not the typical woman-in-peril-screaming-for-help that most female sidekicks were. She screamed a bit but was more independent than most. I've tried watching the new show based around this character which airs on SciFi. Like Torchwood it's not bad, but also like Torchwood I can take it or leave it. The storylines and effects pale compared to new Who - oh my God, I can't believe I'd ever say the phrase "Doctor Who has good effects" - which has been brilliant this season.
Go burn your crosses elsewhere, cracker.
Is this about something else?
BattleStar Galactica: Depriving Robert of sleep for two years and counting
Definitely better than 95% of the crap that's on network television.
"In that case, whatever you do, don't watch any of the following....Veronica Mars"
'That show had its moments, but after about six episodes, you quickly realize just how formulaic it is.... I got hooked on Season 3 after watching a couple, and then had to see the rest of the season; but when that was over, I firmly promised never to look into 1 or 2.'
--Now there's your problem. = ) Season 1 was out-freaking-standing, season 2 so-so, and, season 3, well, was disappointing enough that I stopped watching. I thought about including all that in my original post but for some reason held back.
Later...
jack -
Let's not forget that the most terrifying aliens in the Dr. Who universe have a vocabulary that doesn't extend much past "exterminate" and have a main weapon that looks like a toilet plunger. Oh sorry, it is a toilet plunger. Let's not get too serious here.
"Can you please, please explain to me the attraction behind Battlestar? I don't get it. "
You know all those moral dilemmas that start with "So you're in a lifeboat with...". It's like one of those, except it continues "...with everyone else left alive."
Can you please, please explain to me the attraction behind Battlestar? I don't get it.
The new Battlestar Galactica is a drama set in space, with a real story and not some formulaic sitcom. There are also hot babes and explosions. If nothing else, at least watch the initial mini-series. The first episode is also very good. Once those draw you in, the occasional episodes that are sub-par won't bother you so much because you'll remember and look forward to the good episodes which are some of the highest quality entertainment TV has to offer.
I recall reading an Atlantic article a few months back that gave kudos to BSG for providing a realistic representation of the military that avoids some of the more negative Hollywood cliches.
First I have to repeat the clarification to Veronica Mars, the first season was absolutely the best thing on TV that year.
With all the BSG talk so far in this thread I'm really disappointed by the total lack of love shown for Babylon 5. The show was quite libertarian, emphasizing at its core the ideas that actions have consequences and that the actions of one person could change the course of history. Also, there was a definite sense of right and wrong to the universe, something Ron Moore has tried really hard to stomp out of Battlestar. Don't be put off by the seeming aimlessness of the first season, there's actually a lot in there that's important to later events in the series. I consider B5's overall run to be the best of any sci-fi show since 1980, and among the best for any kind of show during the same period.
The one I think was best, Lis Sladen's Sarah Jane, was not the typical woman-in-peril-screaming-for-help that most female sidekicks were.
I think you are in error on that point. 'Jo Grant' and 'Teegan' were played as hysterics, but for the most part, the female companions were portrayed as dignified ('Barbara Wright') or highly intelligent ('Nyssa'). The character 'Peri' was played as more histrionic, but she was also the most engrossing character in the history of the series, in part because the writers were experimenting with a character who was by default argumentative with The Doctor and in part because the actress Nicola Bryant was exceptionally pleasant to contemplate.
One of the curios about 'Sara Jane Smith' was that she was introduced in the Jon Pertwee episodes as an adult newspaper reporter working undercover for a story on The Doctor's employers. By the time of her departure she had been reconceived as a school girl.
"With all the BSG talk so far in this thread I'm really disappointed by the total lack of love shown for Babylon 5." Jon
TR: For me Babylon 5 was kind of a great story trapped in a mediocre TV show. X-Files would be sort of the reverse. (A goofball story that managed to be in, what for a time anyway, was a great TV show)
The acting and directing on B5 were generally kind of stiff. The dialogue could be a bit stilted at times. The attempts at humor were almos painful to watch, but thankfully they didn't try those much. The effects were sometimes good, but I think they tended to be a bit uneven.
The storyline that drove it and the ideas in it were quite impressive. I think it's a rare show where reading the scripts might be a more pleasant experience than actually watching it. Even the problems with the dialogue might smooth out a bit on the printed page. (Some things that sound stilted in speech sound good in print as you have more time to think about them or at least not be distracted by the speaker)
Interesting feature I just discovered with UnBox. I don't have cable TV or a Tivo. I do have an Xbox360. I discovered yesterday that UnBox will stream to my Xbox360. Interesting since Microsoft has their own video marketplace that presumably UnBox would compete with (although Unbox uses MS DRM I believe so perhaps not so surprising). The quality is very good (twice the size of an Xbox video marketplace download--not sure what codec they use). I just watched half a season of House over the last 4 days. As for geek sci-fi talk. Farscape was awesome if you are truly a geek. As for B5 I have to agree with Thomas R. BSG's mini-series and first season were truly awesome. Not sure what I think of it now but I still watch it-on hulu.