Doctor Who

An archive of blog entries about British science-fiction programme Doctor Who.

Ian Levine told where to go by RTD

20 October 2006 Rob Buckley 25 Comments

There’s a thoroughly amusing anecdote about Ian Levine over on the Off The Telly blog. Basically, Russell T Davies told him exactly where to go at Wednesday’s Torchwood press conference in Cardiff:

“Ian, no offence, you’re not a journalist, so fuck off.”

Magic. I laughed like a drain when I read that.

Ian LevineIf you don’t know who Ian Levine is, there’s a handy article about him on Wikipedia. He also has his own discussion forum now. Suffice it to say, he’s a rich, powerful über-fan of Doctor Who, who saved various episodes from being burnt by the Beeb and eventually became a ‘continuity consultant’ to the show back in the 80s.

He’s also notoriously litigious: I was told by a publisher once that I wasn’t allowed to mention him in case he sued the magazine. All I wanted to say was the theme tune to K9 and Company was a bit rubbish, but that, apparently, would be enough to set him off in those days. Can’t stop me now, though!

PS What is it about the St David’s Hotel and Spa? John Barrowman’s going to spend Christmas there with his family, they hold the Torchwood press conference there? There are other hotels in Cardiff, you know. It is nice, mind.

PPS To counterbalance the Ian Levine photo, here’s one of a tree-hugging David Tennant.

Media Galerie David Tennant 29

Torchwood: the reviews begin

19 October 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

In case you’re wondering whether Torchwood is going to be any good, reviews are already coming in, principally from The Guardian. Its Organ Grinder blog reviews it over here, while its Media Talk podcast has a brief review by Gareth McLean and Matt Wells towards the end, which is along the lines of “good, but the opening 20 minutes should have been chopped out.”

As always, wait until the third episode to be sure.

PS Ooh, another PS for Scott, whom I notice has left a comment over at the Media Talk podcast. You’re right, Scott: I think Emily Bell has missed the point, too, particularly in her comments on the value of local news coverage. But that’s for elsewhere…

US TV

Webisodes cause trouble for BSG

19 October 2006 Rob Buckley Post a comment

BSG Webisode 1We touched briefly on Battlestar Galactica‘s webisodes on Monday: 10 three-minute dramas put out over the Internet to entice people into watching the third season of BSG. Unlike Doctor Who‘s mobisodes, these were most popular indeed, with 5.5 million people streaming them compared with the 2.2 million who turned up for BSG‘s third-season premiere. All this kind of backs up my point: if you’re prepared to invest creatively in something, even if it’s three minutes long, people are far more likely to watch it – and even pay for it eventually.

The trouble is the webisodes were almost too good: at three times the length of a Doctor Who mobisode and with a ten-episode arc, they were effectively an episode of BSG in and of themselves. But NBC, which owns the SciFi Channel, is refusing to paying any of the writers for their hard work, on the grounds the mobisodes are promotional material, not series content. So now exec producer Ron Moore and the writers have decided to hold the webisodes hostage and are refusing to make any more in future unless they get paid for their work.

Which comes to another point: if you’re going to invest creatively in something, you’re going to have to invest money as well. “360º commissioning” as it’s known needs to have a budget to match if it’s going to work.

PS Scott, over on TV Today, argues that two of the advantages BSG has over Doctor Who when it comes to making mobisodes/webisodes are “long term standing sets and a large regular cast list”, which enable the producers to film additional content when required.

All true to some extent, although it should be pointed out that the main cast members involved in the webisodes were also the main characters in the first four third-season episodes, so everything had to be squeezed in something chronic while they were filming those episodes (to find out who did what and for more details, Ron Moore’s blog gives credits and explanations).

Also, the standing sets used were short-term, rather than long-term, since they’re probably not going to be needed post episode four (no spoilers, my friends, I promise). So BSG had no real advantage over Doctor Who in producing its webisodes this time round. And let’s not forget that lovely TARDIS set Doctor Who has had for nearly three years now: Doctor Who is running out of excuses…

UK TV

Torchwood is coming

17 October 2006 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

Torchwood in the Radio TimesAdmit it. You’re excited now, aren’t you? Trouble is, the first episode is on this Sunday and clashes with the second part of Prime Suspect. Fortunately, there’s a repeat on BBC3.

But you’re still excited, aren’t you?