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I doubt the Borg thing is a problem for the general public in the UK. I suspect the Borg are either not known, or are known to people who already remember the Cybermen came first

The Ape box set will soon be available for Gangs of MegaCity one - Preview is now up on their site.

Link: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/detail.php?qsID=1017&qsSeries=" target="_blank">Show me the Monkey

Bah - forgot ot add - the big "stuck to sofa" element, which is the constant return to Earth and home.

The beauty of the original was that you were gone - without a trace - would you return?  Where would you go?  Now, its easy to stop the ride.  Thats not to say they havent dealt with this well - the returning after a year rahter than a day in order to say farewell, the Fathers Day stuff, Mickeys character in Boomtown all worked much better than I thought they would.  But no matter how well its been done, it has undermined a strong aspect of the show as it was.

I think the problem with the new Who (if it can be said to have one), is that it is a bit conservative in terms of transporting the viewer too far from the sofa.  you have Rose as the audience viewpoint, but the Doctor is also very well versed in the 21st Century mindset ("whats that all about?"), as is Captain Jack from the 51st Century ("Whatever").  Similarly, in 180,000 years, we'll still dress the same, talk the same and watch the same shows.

Theres a lot of intelligent stuff in the New Who, but theres also a pervasive sense that it wants to be loved.  Thats not a bad way to start up a new show (certainly better than the "hate me" stance of the later years of original Who).  I do hope they accept that geekiness can be mainstream.  The Star Wars films are pretty geeky - the prequels are very geeky, but they still appeal to a mass audience.  I want my Dr Who to appeal to as many peolpe as it can, but only if it does this with a bit of a wider imagination. Not in terms of stories, but in what it imagines a mainstream audience wants.  My works colleagues who are not fans have pretty much echoed the same views I have as a fan - they wanted to see more Daleks, less BB last week - even the BB fans!

I'm a sucker for Droid profiles - hell, a sucker for anything that breaks the tyranny of the strips - Droid life, the little damage reports.  They make me think that someone gives a damn beyond filling out those strip pages.  Its a tried and tested format, sure, but it all good

I'm enjoying this Shakara more than the previous one so far, but purely because something is happening.  If you compare the last ABC run with the first Shakara run, there's a hell of a lot more going on in the ABC story, IMO.  The pace is picking up now in Shakara, but it is only after a whole books worths of "evil guy/evil deed/"SHAKARA!"" episodes.  Robbies pacing in this episode may be spot on, but I'd argue that Shakara as a whole isn't the worlds greatest example.

Just to make this clearer though, Duds, you're right in your response and its not a criticism of your POV - I can see why you would prefer Shakaras rounding up methods to Pats Whole Book.  

I think the parallels that I see between the Mills and Morrison stories make it harder for me to buy into the story on its own merits, without the Ghost of Uncle Pat hovering on critical horizon! :)

Plus, as PVS pointed out, Shakara did take a whole episode to drain, so it's not all one way traffic!

Yeah If it was just rounding up the gang that was the only similarity, I'd probably agree with you -To stick with my original analogy, Elton John didnt invent the piano.

Its just that theres much more in Shakara thats very Pat Millesque than just the round up - he may not have invented "mysterious alien avenger", or "rounding up the gang of misfits", but they are themes he has made his own to a degree, and they are themes that Shakara echo very strongly.  I just feel uncomfortable with the notion that something that is in some ways a remix of Mills  ABC/Nemesis is seen as a more pure version than the original. Not that liking the remix isn't a valid stance, its just that it seems a bit off to knock the original at the same time.

Pat takes his time introducing characters - it may be old fashioned, and not suit an era where the strip doesnt run consequetively for 20 plus weeks, but its as valid as Shakaras condensed version to my mind.

Isn't this a bit like saying "Elton John, this Scissor Sisters album is how you do catchy piano based pop".

Shakara more than wears its influences on its sleeve, and while this run has more going for it, all the things going for it are things we've seen in the past.  From Pat. Thats not to say I can't see what youre getting at, this is a nice enough intro to a bunch of characters in the same vein as the ABC stories, but obviously you personally find this more satisfying.

But it seems a bit harsh to berate Pat, when without his original strips, this one just wouldn't appear in the form it does.  

Grated cheese on Curry!


Mmmmmmmmmm....

I suspect shes a genius!

so it wasnt just because you didnt have a raincoat on?

If you dont want to be spoilered, avoid the papers for the next few days... Apparently, there may well be piccys of .. things... you dont want to see just yet...

no matter what issues you might have with the series, go to the BBC site, look at the teaser trail and grin like a fool... yes, even you Uncle Ump!

OI! No referring to past stories! :)

I mostly agree with Deafndumb - I think the thing that lifts this version above the 80s is the fact its mostly well acted and less glittery - and its intentionally funny/low camp.  

RTDs dialogue and characters are great, but I wonder if he can actually write something that isnt "modern" - that is, dialogue full of modern slang and pop culture references, even from humans 200,000 years in the future, aliens and Timelords. Even at the very end of the world, almost all the references are late 20th/early 21st C - Jack from the 51st century does a mean "W" symbol - It will be interesting to see if he can break the mould next series.

You can certainly see why RTD farmed out the historicals - Dickens would have probably started making references to Coronation Street...:)

The egg thing was a terrible get out - sure as an ending it was a nice nod to the themes of the episode.  It was also a huge cop out in terms of the Doctor avoiding making a tricky decision, and came from absolutely nowhere (Dont quote old series examples to explain this - RTD has been very clear that you shouldnt have to refer back to the old series to get anything).  Generally the plot resolutions have been pretty terrible, but theyve been bouyed up by the general quality of the rest of the show.  That said, I think theyre going to have to get some more satisfying plots in there to keep the series credible.

1: Antiplastic - OK, intro story - its all secondary.

2: Big switch

3: OK, that one works.. though if they are creatures living in gas pipes, why would it adversely affect them? probably have to watch it again to see...

5: A big missile.

6: Dalek finds love -  Blukh!

7: OK, this kind of worked in a dull way - heat.

8:  Didnt make sense, but the emotional stuff was the core of this, so forgivable

10:  Doesnt make much sense either if you pick at it, though still one of the best.

11:  Egg