Launching the 1st November the BBC will finally be adding all 60 years worth of Doctor Who to their IPlayer.
With over 800 episodes due to be made available from the First Doctor William Hartnell right up to the 60th anniversary specials along side the spin-offs the Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/doctor-who-archive-on-bbc-iplayer?
That's Britbox finished then.
Wow that's great news. Its been a good few years since I watched the classic series. Went through a phase maybe 15 years ago (I think) watching them all in DVD. Most were available at that point anyway. Its was dead interesting seeing which held up and which didn't.
I've not watch many of the animated releases of missing episodes, I think Invasion was out when I did my watch, so very much looking forward to seeing those... even if I imagine some are poppycock.
I've seen two in total of the 'complete' animations, for serials more than 50% missing.
Both The Macra Terror and and Fury from the Deep I feel actually benefit from the transition to animation, the former certainly so. Do watch them in their monochrome presentations though, it feels wrong seeing these stories in colour.
I saw The Power of the Daleks, the animation was a little bit Worker and Parasite, but I understand some of the later ones are better quality.
I miss Troughton's expressions in the animated ones though - that man could gurn!
Nice that it's coming to the iPlayer, even though I own them all on DVD...
I am thrilled by this.
Set nostalgia-goggle filter to "max" and ignore the sets, acting, and drawn out plots.
I am all in on watching from the start.
Well, having a pretty much complete collection already (not sold on the animated episodes unfortunately), this is not really a major coup for me. I suppose if they are adding in the blu-ray quality releases it might be worth a nose to see how they do compare with the DVD editions.
Again though, the updated special effects tend to grate a bit for me. Don't get me wrong, some of the original stuff is naff on an extreme level at times, even for the tech level of the day.
It's been interesting recently doing a Baker-binge. What did surprise me though was how quickly the Key to Time series bogged down. I always remembered it far more fondly. Watching some of them though, I feel like I'm watching something utterly alien.
As for Modern-Who, I'm probably in the minority being glad Ecclestone left. He just seemed to capture some of the worst aspects of the performances down through the years. I've tried to get on with the Whittaker stuff but despite every effort I just haven't been able to get on with it. Plenty of folks have criticised the writing at that point and I'd have to agree.
That's always been the thing with Dr Who though, isn't it? It's either amazing or dire. There is very little in between. Mind you, the same can be said of most SF really. Star Trek, Blakes 7, B5, Space 1999, UFO, Farscape, X-Files, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica ... none are perfect are they?
QuoteIt's either amazing or dire.
The problem with Whittaker's run was quite a lot of it was just a bit dull, and Chibnall bizarrely decided to often sideline the Doctor in her own show, along with not really ever giving the audience a sense of who she was (bar, you know, her seeming fondness for genocide).
There were some good episodes. And I loved the intro theme, which was spooky rather than RTD's preference towards BOMBASTIC LOUD MOVIE THING. But too often, its own logical didn't hang together. And all that Timeless Child stuff was horrible, bar Jo Martin's Fugitive Doctor, who I'd happily see return in some capacity. Hopefully Chibnall will stay true to his word though (https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/chibnall-wont-write-for-doctor-who-again-fully-expects-rtd-to-ignore-his-controversial-canon-changes-97030.htm) and stay away from the property now.
I tried to like the Chibnall era (mostly because of the vitriol it attracted from the most toxic sections of fandom), but a lot of it was a bit preachy and dull, like the sort of movies that used to win Best Picture Oscars in the '80s or '90s. There are some things I approved of in theory (more historicals, attempts at scientific accuracy, three companions in the TARDIS), but they often fell down in the execution.
Quote from: Tjm86 on 11 October, 2023, 07:59:52 PMStar Trek, Blakes 7, B5, Space 1999, UFO, Farscape, X-Files, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica ... none are perfect are they?
How dare you! (https://youtu.be/zd8MGNjkm0s?feature=shared)
Quote from: Funt Solo [R] on 11 October, 2023, 10:35:21 PMQuote from: Tjm86 on 11 October, 2023, 07:59:52 PMStar Trek, Blakes 7, B5, Space 1999, UFO, Farscape, X-Files, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica ... none are perfect are they?
How dare you! (https://youtu.be/zd8MGNjkm0s?feature=shared)
I dare you to try the second season though ...
Quote from: Tjm86 on 11 October, 2023, 07:59:52 PMIt's been interesting recently doing a Baker-binge. What did surprise me though was how quickly the Key to Time series bogged down. I always remembered it far more fondly. Watching some of them though, I feel like I'm watching something utterly alien.
We did a Baker re-watch a few years back. The first season (12) starts off shaky, but finishes strong, but after the generally excellent seasons 13-15, all of them containing more than one absolute classic, we ran out of steam very quickly in S16 (Key to Time) and gave up a couple of stories in. With all this stuff now up on iPlayer, I think we might skip over 16 entirely and see how the rest of Baker's run holds up...
Key to Time was a season I really do recall enjoying more than I do, remember enjoying all of them at one time or another (minus Power of Kroll) as a lad.
Funny, that's by some considerable margin my favourite now! Whos stealth Kaiju story.
The Armageddon Factor really is interminable drivel, isn''t it. A bloated 6 episode bore of a story.
The Green Death, Inferno, Genesis Of The Daleks, The Pyramids Of Mars and all the other classics in one easy-to-reach place-fantastic.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 12 October, 2023, 03:49:25 PMWe did a Baker re-watch a few years back. The first season (12) starts off shaky, but finishes strong, but after the generally excellent seasons 13-15, all of them containing more than one absolute classic,
Would have to agree with this. What I found really interesting was how it affected me rewatching them. These were my earliest experiences of both Dr Who and television.
This was just as we had returned from Iran and we not only didn't have telly very often (Dad would get one for major sporting events) but the only channels available were Iranian. Earliest experiences were of watching Star Trek with the BBC Home Service playing the audio, generally slightly out of sync).
So the first tales I saw were from Robots of Death on but even then it was sporadic. Only really watching when we are at my nans. As you can imagine, the results of rewatching those episodes is quite evocative.
My knowledge of pre-Baker Who comes pretty much from the old Target novelisations. Built up quite an extensive knowledge of the Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee eras as a result though I'd never actually seen them. Then I had a corporal on the squadron at Brize who was massively into Dr Who, to the extent that he had a side-business attending conventions and flogging stuff. He would regularly regale us with details of the mistakes in more recent episodes although by this time Who was pretty much dead in the water.
Quote from: Tjm86 on 14 October, 2023, 08:15:04 AMWould have to agree with this. What I found really interesting was how it affected me rewatching them. These were my earliest experiences of both Dr Who and television.
That's eerily similar to my own TV experience! My dad was a teacher for the armed forces in Cyprus — I was born there and we lived there until I was four (when the Turkish invasion put an end to that), so there wasn't much in the way of TV.* The earliest memory of watching TV that I can actually put a date to is the final episode of 'Planet of the Spiders' and the Pertwee -> Baker regeneration.
*Mind you, we lived off-base in a flat that was on the sea front in Famagusta — when you have a Mediterranean beach literally on your doorstep, lack of TV isn't really a hardship. :)
Aye, Iran was an interesting experience. Pre-revolution. Dad worked at the embassy. He's ex-RAF too.
Growing up as a Scaley-brat has made for an interesting perspective on the world. Don't really feel fully connected with anywhere. Things like music, film, telly, books, comics are all associated with different places. Like seeing Star Wars at the Watford Odeon but ET at the German cinema in Landstuhl or Iron at Ramstein.
shame its not all of it
An Unearthly Child will not be (at least initially) included as part of the Iplayer launch next month. (https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-an-unearthly-child-iplayer-newsupdate/)
TLDR: The son (and self confessed fascist) of Anthony Coburn, writer of Episodes 2 through 4 of the original 1963 serial has redoubled the same efforts he's been pushing since the 50th anniversary to get the story out of the beebs hands.
Grim.
very strange behaviour from coburn junior
Quote from: judgeurko on 27 October, 2023, 05:39:02 PMvery strange behaviour from coburn junior
Probably his fault there's no Dredd TV series.
Quote from: judgeurko on 27 October, 2023, 05:39:02 PMvery strange behaviour from coburn junior
He has said that he hates Doctor Who, and wants to destroy it. He comes across as extraordinarily petty, with some serious daddy issues.
Quote from: nxylas on 27 October, 2023, 09:02:06 PMHe has said that he hates Doctor Who, and wants to destroy it. He comes across as extraordinarily petty, with some serious daddy issues.
Also, basically, a Nazi. Seriously — he has form for this shit, saying stuff about how the inferior races should have known their place... and he's utterly outraged that they've cast a black man as the Doctor.
So, TL; DR — fuck that guy.
Indeed, indeed. A notably wretched individual, typical of the type who latch onto their parents works and achievements when they have few if any of their own to be proud of.
Hoping the beeb tell him where to shove it, Coburn was work-for-hire on that script after all and say what you will about BBC scriptwriter contracts of the day because there's certainly a lot that can be said, but I'm surprised he claims to have much of a claim to the rights at all.
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 27 October, 2023, 09:17:51 PMQuote from: nxylas on 27 October, 2023, 09:02:06 PMHe has said that he hates Doctor Who, and wants to destroy it. He comes across as extraordinarily petty, with some serious daddy issues.
Also, basically, a Nazi. Seriously — he has form for this shit, saying stuff about how the inferior races should have known their place... and he's utterly outraged that they've cast a black man as the Doctor.
So, TL; DR — fuck that guy.
The two are probably not unconnected, given that Nazis and other authoritarian types have always been the bad guys in
Doctor Who - most obviously the Daleks, but it's a theme that runs through the vast majority of the Doctor's adventures.