New Dr. Who Episode Leaked

Cougem writes "BBC News is reporting on how an episode from the brand new series of the old science fiction TV show, Doctor Who, has been leaked onto the Internet. 'A 45-minute episode, called Rose, has appeared three weeks before the series is expected to begin on BBC One. Rose is the name of the character played by pop singer Billie Piper, who will be the assistant to the Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston.' With people saying sci-fi appeals more to the technical minded viewer, will this TV show's release onto the Internet damage the ratings considerably for the BBC? Or is it a minor problem for a corporation whose role is just to provide the public with entertainment?" Maybe it will boost ratings, instead; the public buzz about "leaks" is still far ahead of the average viewer's ability to actually find and download.

Comments

it's on usenet

[jo0ls]

alt.binaries.drwho

Re:it's on usenet

[Sitchin]

Um, now /. is violating the DMCA by posting information pointing to where copyrighted works may be downloaded.

Re:it's on usenet

[dmf415]

It's a TV show... they broadcast it for free anyhow...
Does this mean we can't record a publicly televised show for later viewing?

Re:it's on usenet

[badmammajamma]

To my knowledge, posting the newsgroup that contains the illegal copy, is not an infringement of the DMCA. If he were actually posting or distributing the illegal copy, that would be different.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

New Series - Episode 1 - Rose - MPG version of AVI posted by The-One (Thanks!) [03/75] - "Rose.part01.rar" yEnc

[ The-One posts the premiere of the]==> [02 of 43] - new doctor who series ep1 'rose'.part01.rar [ I know you all want it....... ]

Re:it's on usenet

[thinkninja]

http://www.newzbin.com/browse/post/1063941/

Re:it's on usenet

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Does it include the pseudo-Pink Floyd music of the Baker years? I called it "Careful with that toothpick, Eugene."

Re:it's on usenet

[Nuskrad]

It's a TV show... they broadcast it for free anyhow.

No, legally you have to pay, since it's the BBC. If you watch it on [insert international TV station here], it's because they paid for the rights to broadcast it, which means noone else can.

Does this mean we can't record a publicly televised show for later viewing?

Wll I'm not sure about in the US, but in the UK you're only allowed to tape things for 'timeshifting purposes', so really you're only allowed to tape the things you watched once.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

No, sadly you are incorrect. Posting where the material can be found is illegal. The BitTorrent .torrent files are merely 'road maps' to where you can get the files they describe. SuperNova hosted a lot of these 'road maps'. Now SuperNova is gone. There is absolutely no 'useable content' in the .torrent files themselves, but they are illegal because they allow programs to follow a path that could eventually allow someone to have something that someone else doesn't want them to have without paying them a lot of money. It's basically jailing the kid selling 'maps to the houses of the stars'.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

(1) As others have pointed out, pointing to a place where copyright can be violated is not illegal.

Think about it: if you make it illegal to tell others where or how a crime might be taking place, how are you going to report it to the authorities without yourself being arrested?

(2) Since when did the DCMA apply in England? It's an American law. If the British Broadcasting Corporation has a leak, I'd have thought quirks of the American legal system would be the least of their concerns.

Re:it's on usenet

[nobuzz]

maybe he's not in the US and the DCMA means jack to him

/. doesn't care unless you piss off the scientologists

Re:it's on usenet

[Sitchin]

So, if a bittorrent site is not actually hosting illegal content, but just posting URLs of places where illegal content can be downloaded, then they're safe, right? Then why all the lawsuits? Am I missing something?

Re:it's on usenet

[cpt kangarooski]

It may not be a DMCA violation. That doesn't mean it can't be contributory or vicarious copyright infringement.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

So, if a bittorrent site is not actually hosting illegal content, but just posting URLs of places where illegal content can be downloaded, then they're safe, right? Then why all the lawsuits? Am I missing something?
Because it is basically an accessory. It's the same as someone coming up to you and saying "Hey man, I need to kill some people, where can I get an axe?" and you say "Gee whiz, mister, I don't have one, but heres a map to Walmart, where you can buy one and hack away `till your hearts content". While you didnt actually physically have the axe, you helped them get it.

Re:it's on usenet

[b1t r0t]

maybe he's not in the US and the DCMA means jack to him

In which case, the BBC is already sending 'round the telly-download detector van to his neighborhood.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

Okay, so DMCA or not wer're basically agreed that telling people this stuff can be found on usenet is illegal.

Re:it's on usenet

[cpt kangarooski]

No, only that it may be. I'd want to seriously think about it before concluding that it was likely one way or the other.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

So if you publish a book that infringes on my valuable copyrights, would it be contributory infringement to tell people the ISBN number or what book shops stock it? This seems very strange.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank the gods we live in a civilised society under the rule of law where a trained professional can tell that I might, possibly, perhaps be breaking a law by telling someone. That sort of certainty before the law makes all the difference.

Re:it's on usenet

[cpt kangarooski]

If you want certainty, you should hire a lawyer for real, instead of just hanging out on /.

(and even then any decent lawyer will provided guarded answers)

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

May I be an accessory if I don't turn jo0ls in for his maybe offense? I can't go to jail, who would care for my dying mother :(

Re:it's on usenet

[leonmergen]

It's a TV show... they broadcast it for free anyhow...

Yeah, and don't you think the show is going to get less viewers when it's already on the internet, 3 weeks prior to the airing?

That's enough time to even have Kazaa be swarmed with copies of it...

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

So like I said, Hurray for the rule of law! If I pay a lawyer then I'll have a guarded answer as to whether I might or might not be breaking the law by telling people that an episode of doctor who has been posted to usenet. Then I'll be able to sleep safe at night!

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

While that makes perfect sense to me, the court in the 2600 case concerning their link to DECSS forced them to remove it on a theory of contributory infringement.

In other words, if you give someone a link with the expectation they'll use it to infringe upon copyrights (with some "reasonable person" standard, which basically means whether the judge thinks you're trying to skirt the law or not) they may hold you liable for that act.

That said, I *really* wonder if they can find any reasonable line to draw there. I mean, suppose I give you the link Google.com--surely that's not too far? Then if I tell you to try filetype:torrent? Is that bad? There are surely legitimate torrents. And if I turn this into a search which gives movies you can infringe upon the copyright of? Is that bad? I really think the judge should not have tried to extend contributory infringement as far as he did, because I can only see a slippery slope down to not being able to link at all, which in effect makes the Internet itself illegal. I mean, what would a judge do if simultaniously confronted with defendants who did each of the things I listed, going just even further, but short of actually hosting any infringing work...

Re:it's on usenet

[PoopJuggler]

Is it a violation to say it is on "The Internet"? That is, in effect, pointing to where the copyrighted works may be downloaded...

Re:it's on usenet

[gweedoz]

Also, would writing about the fact that the episode is available for download on the internet not be illegal as well? One could argue that a simple google search is about as obvious as clicking on an url, or following someone's pointer to a newsgroup.

Re:it's on usenet

[grumpygrodyguy]

Does it include the pseudo-Pink Floyd music of the Baker years?

The 1980 remix of the Dr. Who theme is probably what you're referring to. It's really great, my fav...though not in any way affiliated with Pink Floyd. There are however some live Pink Floyd covers of this theme(David Gilmour rocks), alas it's very difficult to find =(.

If you're really interested in this topic, you might enjoy reading 'A History of the Doctor Who Theme'

Re:it's on usenet

[HD Webdev]

alt.binaries.drwho

Shhh. You know, we'll have to kill you now because people always talk about P2P yet USENET is where the real action is at and is a big secr..."what's that, who are you, what's with the gun"...BANG!A#)@#$JLKaSdFMNCC

Connection ended.

Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.

Re:it's on usenet

[Psyche-O]

hey, i'm new to all this. what does it mean and how do i get it. I downloaded bittorrent, but all the links i find for rose from you guys all take me to sights that say i gotta pay. Somebody please, please tell me how the kcuf I get it. I gotta know. I gotta. Plus, keen to chat with folks. Psyche-O.

Re:it's on usenet

[QuaZar666]

its FUCK. its not kcuf or 'effin, etc. If you want to use a word use it, but never hide the fact that you want to use a word that is as versatile as the word fuck.

Re:it's on usenet

[Dabido]

"In which case, the BBC is already sending 'round the telly-download detector van to his neighborhood."

No, their budget couldn't afford that. They're sending the Tele-tubbies around instead. Much scarier!

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

it's also on demon...but I maybe I shouldn't finish that word. Wouldn't want someone to sue me for violating the illegal/unconstitutional morass which is the DMCA.

But I think people who know know what I mean. Come, join us. We need more downloaders/seeders.

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

What if everyone were to disregard this law and any summonses to appear as an act of civil disobedience? Maybe that would get the DMCA repealed.

Re:it's on usenet

[StormKrow]

While not being charged with violating DCMA laws, he *can* be charged with conspiracy to violate as well as racketeering.

Re:it's on usenet

[badmammajamma]

If I'm wrong, then show me in the law where it says so. I found no such clause. There are websites all over the net that are easily found with Google that provide this information and they are still around and kicking.

Re:it's on usenet

[Psyche-O]

Yes, it's fuck for the simple, but I enjoy word-play. That's what us writer-folk do. I get a kick out of kcuf, k? I think it was the song by Blackstreet and Queen Pen that started it...

Re:it's on usenet

[Anonymous Coward]

What about our right to discuss the fact that somebody leaked it? Say for example, we wanted to discuss whether it was somebody in company x or y, both involved in the dr who project, or if we wanted to discuss whether or not it was a deliberate marketing move disguised as a leak? How can these exercises in free speech happen should mentioning it and citing it to prove that the leak is a fact and not a hypothetical be illegal? How can we the people be educated to form our own intellectual property laws if we cannot discuss and observe the discussion of the issues and transgressions?

It was K-9

[Anonymous Coward]

I always knew that little metal bastard was up to no good.

Re:It was K-9

[mark-t]

Actually, wouldn't that be "son of a bitch", and not "bastard"?

Re:It was K-9

[The Archon V2.0]

If you asked Tom Baker (given his low opinion of the beast) it'd probably be both. Along with many other choice expletives, possibly including "never know the fucking answer when it's important".

yeah.. right..

[peculiarmethod]

can anyone say "Promotional Ploy that Slashdot fell for"?

Re:yeah.. right..

[Anonymous Coward]

The BBC don't have an awful lot to gain from promoting it this way, that's not really the way the work. (In case anyone doesn't realise BBC is not for profit, and funded primarily by TV licenses which Brits are meant to have. If you don't have one the TV licesning thugs come around and break your legs.)

Re:yeah.. right..

[Anonymous Coward]

The beeb dont care, they get paid either way...by law we have to pay them £100 every year wether we watch any of their channels or not.

Re:yeah.. right..

[wo1verin3]

TV licenses? can you explain?

Re:yeah.. right..

[Anonymous Coward]

And of course you don't, which is why you're reading this thread.

Re:yeah.. right..

[Shrubbman]

TV licenses? can you explain?

In England if you have a TV you have to pay a license fee, which then in turn funds the BBC. At least that's how it's supposed to work...

Re:yeah.. right..

[ReverendLoki]

In the UK, they are required to pay an annual licensing fee per TV that they own, the money of which supports the BBC. Fees are higher for color than B&W TV's. You an find some more information here.

Re:yeah.. right..

[daveashcroft]

Its not per TV. Its per household (though technically if its a household shared by non-family members then each TV is an area which is private (ie bedrooms) are required to be licensed. In practical though, having one license per household keeps you off the list of properties to be visited by the detector vans.

Re:yeah.. right..

[Nuskrad]

Incidentally, detector vans don't exist. At least, there's no way of them detecting if someone is receiving TV signals. What they usual do is go to a house without a TV license and listen for a TV.

Re:yeah.. right..

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

There has been discussion of late, to replace television licensing with Computer licensing !

Reminds me...
I told one of my old Telly license stories on /. a couple of weeks ago, I won't tread that weary track again. But before that some years, there was a friends neighbor with a TRS-80. He had no television, so the Licensing detector picked his address up. This was around 1980, and it must have have been a funny little scene! He ended up not having to pay, after some real confusion.

The newest detectors are sophisticated enough to tell the scan-rate, and wouldn't "false positive'. They also no longer have visible antennae - so you can't spot 'em coming!

Re:yeah.. right..

[neil.pearce]

If you live in a shared house, as long as you don't lock your bedroom door - thus your telly is "available" for anyone in the house to watch, they can't get ya for extra tv licenses.

Re:yeah.. right..

[AddressException]

In England if you have a TV you have to pay a license fee, which then in turn funds the BBC

Also in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Not just England.

Re:yeah.. right..

[Dwonis]

How do you know they don't exist? CRTs generate a lot of EM radiation, don't they? Granted, this doesn't *prove* you have a TV, but if the EM radiation characteristic of a TV isn't detected, then there's probably no point in knocking on your door.

Re:yeah.. right..

[Shrubbman]

My bad.

Re:yeah.. right..

[drsquare]

The BBC chase ratings just like anyone else, notice how these days the BBC is full of crap ratings-grabbing programmes like Fame Academy and Eastenders rather than anything decent.

Re:yeah.. right..

[armb]

There are signals reradiated back up the aerial the detectors can pick up. But with so many TVs in use these days they usually just rely on picking on anyone without a licence whether they have any particular reason to think they have a TV or not.

Re:yeah.. right..

[Sarreq Teryx]

I've downloaded it through emule yesterday, and it's actually a really good start. the Doctor with a crew cut and non-anachronistic costume threw me for a second, but eccleston pulls it off great so far

Re:yeah.. right..

[Anonymous Coward]

How can a Time Lord have an anachronistic costume?

Re:yeah.. right..

[DustMagnet]

At least, there's no way of them detecting if someone is receiving TV signals.

I don't know if detector vans exist or not, but you can even tell which frequency someone is tuned to. Mobiltrak does this for FM radio. This is because of the design of radios, it's hard to make them so they don't leak the local oscillator.

Woe to be at work and blocked from bit torrent

[Anonymous Coward]

This sucks, I cant see if they do a good British job like I expect....

Or follow the american trend and screw it up entirely.

it'll bost ratings

[Robocoastie]

It will boost ratings instead. Sci Fi fans watch shows repeatedly plus they'll get better quality on tv than internet d/load.

Re:it'll bost ratings

[shawn(at)fsu]

Unless the episode sucks. I mean sucks like a hover upright. Then it might hurt ratings

Re:it'll bost ratings

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure if that's correct, I tend to get better quality downloads from torrents then I do watching on my Cox HD DVR... (low def tv sucks on the cox recorder, but low def tv looks great on XBMC) As such any show that's not in HD I tend to download. No commercials is just a nice benifit.

Re:it'll bost ratings

[Anonymous Coward]

"they'll get better quality on tv than internet d/load"

How so, dl'd tv is much better than any broadcast I can get here... unluss you are one of the few who actually owns a hd tv

Re:it'll bost ratings

[Qzukk]

I mean sucks like a hover upright.

Sshhh! You'll spoil the new Dalek design!

Re:it'll bost ratings

[Anonymous Coward]

Owning a HD tv will only help if the show is actually IN HD, those of us with an HD box, and a DVR that does HD (say, cox or comcast) get a worse quality picture...

Re:it'll bost ratings

[zaktheduck]

Not only that but they'll then fork out the £20 for the DVD box set six months later.

Re:it'll bost ratings

[Thud457]

Those new Dyson's are so revolutionary that they create a suction 150,000 times more powerful than gravity! Obviously this is disguised alien technology attempting to infiltrate the Earth!

Re:it'll bost ratings

[mbrother]

I think so, too, if it's good. This is why I have my novel Star Dragon available for free download at http://www.mikebrotherton.com as advertised. I think it's good, and the downside of giving away free copies will be more than balanced by the extra publicity which, with luck, will translate into more paperback sales. It least that's the gamble Tor and I are making.

Re:it'll bost ratings

[Anonymous Coward]

Fortunately, at least for this fan, it really, really, REALLY didn't suck. Now, what I want to know is, how can I watch the darn thing air in the US?

Oh come on!

[smittyoneeach]

Who believes these 'leaks' anymore?
Or is 'leak' just a fig leaf to cover over the fact that good advertising may conflict with some of the copyrights and legalese?

Re:Oh come on!

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it will boost ratings, instead; the public buzz about "leaks" is still far ahead of the average viewer's ability to actually find and download.

Put it this way. A minute ago I had NO IDEA they were making new Dr. Who episodes.. now I do.

Re:Oh come on!

[mushupork]

Agreed! News of the leak just reminded me that the series even exists! Excellent marketing, BBC!

Re:Oh come on!

[MyLongNickName]

I seriously doubt the BBC would intentionally leak their program like this. I know this is slashdot, home to the conspiracy theories, but this one doesn't make any sense.

Re:Oh come on!

[Lord_Dweomer]

No kidding. As someone in advertising, I have to say that IMHO, this is definitely an intentional leak. Let me explain why.

This show is for geeks, geeks have been gossiping about this show online forever. If it were released online geeks would download it, build lots of buzz, and then when it aired on tv just as many geeks would watch it. Possibly more if the show is good because word would have spread and everybody would want to watch it.

Oh, and if they get any articles for PR about how it was pirated, that'll make even MORE people want to watch it since its "illegal".

Re:Oh come on!

[servognome]

Who believes these 'leaks' anymore?
"Leaking" a program is not good advertising, good advertising is hyping something up and not letting anybody peek behind the curtain. For your premiere episode you want to keep people curious.
The XFL (An American Football League created by a Pro-Wrestling executive) was an example of excellent advertising. The premiere had amazing ratings just because nobody knew what to expect, then the league folded because it sucked.
A certain % of the interested audience will not like the show, whether it is good or bad (look at the people who hated Battlestar Galactica). But if nobody knows what to expect everybody from the interested audience will tune in.

Re:Oh come on!

[gl4ss]

fake leaks are good advertising, not real leaks.

like the fake rumours of some of the lotr movies having been on the net months before release.

bbc doesn't need to care that much though... it's not like they're losing advertising revenue or whatever.

Re:Oh come on!

[GigsVT]

Instead of tricking viewers into watching your show, why not make some quality entertainment, and if you leak it, they will want to watch more!

Re:Oh come on!

[Cylix]

Even a good/popular/whatever show will not satisfy everyone.

You will never retain some viewers.

As highly rated as Friends was... I just never wanted to watch it. I do catch a syndicated episode every once in a while.

Re:Oh come on!

[FireFury03]

"Leaking" a program is not good advertising, good advertising is hyping something up and not letting anybody peek behind the curtain. For your premiere episode you want to keep people curious.

I'm not convinced - leaking just the first episode shortly before the series is due to begin means that those interested download it and watch it and if it's good they'll help hype it up and produce more publicity for the actual series. If it sucks then noone will watch it after the first episode anyway.

Re:Oh come on!

[TomV]

This show is for geeks, to an extent, but if only geeks watch it it will die very rapidly. BBC Radio 4 have just confirmed that the first episode will air on BBC 1 at 7pm on Saturday 26th March. It's a primetime, mainstream slot, and from the moment Lorraine Heggessey announced the return in September 2003, the point was always to revitalise the BBC's Saturday evening schedule and eat the opposition's audience show. Just as it was in it's heyday in the 1970's, this revitalised Doctor Who is meant to be a huge mainstream hit. If it doesn't get millions of bums on seats, and millions of kids hiding behind the sofa, forget a second series. This is Doctor Who coming back out of the ghetto it slid into in it's last years in the 1980s. The circulation of doctor Who Magazxine in the UK is about 30,000. To have any chance of Survival, the 2005 series will need to atttract and keep at least 200 times as many people.

Re:Oh come on!

[servognome]

I'm not convinced - leaking just the first episode shortly before the series is due to begin means that those interested download it and watch it and if it's good they'll help hype it up and produce more publicity for the actual series.
"Leaked" videos are good to increase name awareness, it's a useful technique to introduce a show/movie to an audience that isn't aware of it. When MST3K first came out the name alone wouldn't get the attention of people even in the target audience. That is why they said "Keep Circulating the Tapes," they needed to introduce people to the concept of their show.
Dr. Who is different, it is a series that among it's target audience needs no introduction. Very few Sci-Fi fans will ask, "What is Dr. Who?" You don't have to give people a taste of the show to get them interested, just saying "There will be a Dr. Who series on TV" will have them tuning in. It is more important to keep things secret, so everybody watches at least the first episode.
Would downloaders really be able to convince that many people, that otherwise would not have seen the show? If it's good it would just be preaching to the choir, if it's bad the companies would be shooting themselves in the foot.

Re:Oh come on!

[Anonymous Coward]

S27 part is a sign for some people that they have much downloading to do.

Re:Oh come on!

[iabervon]

Having a lot of hype will get the first episode a big audience. But if people are disappointed, it'll get bad reviews, and ratings will drop. This works for movies, but it's bad for a series, because advertizers won't expect the premiere to be all that big, and will know that the rest of the shows won't be big.

Anyway, nobody else has ratings the way the US does, so it matters even less for the BBC.

Re:Oh come on!

[Ralph Yarro]

It is more important to keep things secret, so everybody watches at least the first episode.

Why? What does the BBC gain out of lots of people watching the first episode on TV instead of downloading it?

Re:Oh come on!

[Anonymous Coward]

This works for movies, but it's bad for a series, because advertizers won't expect the premiere to be all that big, and will know that the rest of the shows won't be big.

This is a BBC show. Advertisers' opinions are completely irrelevant, because BBC shows do not have adverts.

How this happened...

[Anonymous Coward]

You see what happened was Dr. Who downloaded the episode legally from BBC's open archives in 2052, as a piece of nostalgia from his earlier days, but forgot to unshare it from Kazaa again when he travelled back to 2005. D'oh!

Re:How this happened...

[Anonymous Coward]

Copyright doesn't expire for 70 years, I believe, for corporately created works :(

And that's life+70 if it has only one or a few authors.

Yeah, it's insane, part of why IANAL.

Re:How this happened...

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh, I think it's hillarious how badly you Yanks (I'm making an assumption here, but I'm not wrong am I?) don't understand the BBC. "It's a conspiracy to make money" um, nope, this is a not-for-profit organisation. In regard to this post the BBC are planning to allow their past programs to be downloaded legally, because it's in the interest of the public. BBC are not evil, and not a greedy, paranoid (except of the labour goverment perhaps!) corporation. Also it is evident from they way they report this article that they have a top notch news team that can report impartially even on it's own affarirs. Me? I think we get our money's worth from the license fee.

Thanks for reading my long post!

Re:How this happened...

[NetNifty]

IIRC here in the UK copyright expires after 50 years, and does not depend on how long the artist(s) live.

Heh

[Enjoi]

Funny thing is, this will probibly generate more publicity for the show.

Wider audience?

[DamienMcKenna]

Given that the SciFi channel isn't showing it, it can only help the interest within the USA.

Re:Wider audience?

[freshBlueO2]

Kudos. Public TV has been the only place besides Sci-fi channel to air the show. (Yeah for those of us to poor to afford cable or HDTV, or satellite) I'll be downloading from the web ;) The I'll be buying it overseas when it comes out on DVD and watching it on my DVD Region Free player :P

Re:Wider audience?

[jd]

I'd have thought BBC America would air it, because that's where most Brit TV fans have tended to go in the past. But logic and TV companies don't always* coincide. (*always, in this case, has been #undefined.)

Re:Wider audience?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not so sure you *will* be downloading it from the web, not many web sites offer things like this for download these days.

P2P on the other hand, now thats a different story...

Re:Wider audience?

[abb3w]

Public TV has been the only place besides Sci-fi channel to air the show.

...for decades. I do recall it on the 5AM slot on the local CBS affiliate back when I was watching Saturday morning cartoons. After seeing "The Horns of the Nimon" (this would have been about the mid-70's or so, putting me about age six), I decided I'd be happier watching the "Mission: Magic" reruns that the local ABC station was still running, followed by the reruns of "Around the World in 80 Days" on NBC. Fresher fare started showing up around 7:30 AM, but the best stuff was on earliest-- cancelled good stuff got rerun by the locals for a few years, and it was new to me.

The local CBS gave up on it too in favor of reruns about when the local PBS affiliate discovered that Dr. Who fans made enthusiastic (if daftly dressed) volunteers and generous donors to educational television, and joined the bandwagon of PBS stations showing it.

Re:Wider audience?

[HTH NE1]

And for some of us, the state's public television channels won't let any sci-fi on their airwaves. I don't think you could even find Queen Labiblia and her computer 1Z2Z anywhere on Nebraska Educational TeleVision (does anyone remember the title of that program?). It seems ever since the '90s the head of the network has been someone who hated science fiction.

I find I have to drive closer to Iowa with a portable TV to pick up their signal. I've even donated to Iowa Public TeleVision.

Interesting too that the Fox TV movie Doctor Who still hasn't had a Region 1 release, but it's been out in Region 2 for at least a year.

Re:Wider audience?

[TomV]

Interesting too that the Fox TV movie Doctor Who still hasn't had a Region 1 release, but it's been out in Region 2 for at least a year.

ah, that's down to Universal (who co-produced it with the BBC) having a deal for two TV showings before a DVD release in the US market. The first showing was in 1996, the second hasn't yet occurred. so, no TV Movie DVD in Region 1.

Region 2 release was in 2001, for what it's worth. Of course, here in Region 2 it's almost impossible to buy a non-multi-region DVD player ...

Re:Wider audience?

[corngrower]

Two episodes of Dr. Who every Saturday night, starting at 11:30 on Iowa Public TeleVision. (Except now during we-need-money month.)

Re:Wider audience?

[Anonymous Coward]

They (the BBC) charge too much for Doctor Who for PBS to buy it anymore. I don't blame Sci-Fi. Lets face it, all of the new eps will be easily downloaded one way or another soon enough.

Re:Wider audience?

[HTH NE1]

Except Fox did show it twice (there was an encore showing not long after the first, poss. the subsequent weekend), and it was on Sci-Fi Channel at least three times.

Must the two showings must be separated by more than some minimum time and both must be on a broadcast channel, not cable?

Also, the Region 2 DVD seems to have encoded on it a short black card in rememberance of Jon Pertwee that I can't trigger for playback on my Region 2 player.

Re:Wider audience?

[G-funk]

Move to australia. ABC (more or less our equiv of bbc) is airing every episode, 6pm monday through thursday... We're about a thid of the way through tom baker, he picked up leela a few weeks ago.. I missed her :)

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

You are not alone. I've always assumed it's just a British thing.

Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.tunepix.com/graphics/billie_piper.jpg
http://www.sirena.lf.lv/wallpapers/music/billie_pi per/billie1d.jpg
http://www.ys3.connectfree.co.uk /images/billie.jpg

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

One
Two
Three

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[PriceIke]

Mod parent Informative.

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[youngerpants]

and check out her ex http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/imagedump/6452.jpg

we're all in with a chance!!!

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[joper90]

no.. cause you don;t have like 100 million in the bank.. :)

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

she is not even ginger averse.. yay

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nor does he. Down to a paultry £25million nowadays.

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[SmokeHalo]

Parent should be modded +1, Horny.

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw this same girl in another...um...video...co-starring with April Summers.

Re: Billie Piper is a hottie.

[gidds]

Oh, great. Wonderful. Coz 'hotties' always make for great stories and characterisation, don't they?

Re: Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mel hot?!?? No way!

Re: Billie Piper is a hottie.

[jweatherley]

In which bizarre alternate time line was Bonnie Langford ever considered a hottie? Let's have some proper assistants please:

Leela

Romana II

Jo Grant getting it off with a Dalek

Re: Billie Piper is a hottie.

[gidds]

Okay, perhaps 'hottie' was putting it a bit strongly. But JN-T is supposed to have pressed for her addition, to bring a recogniseable celebrity to the programme -- you see why I mentioned her?

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

bah, just another dime-a-dozen scrawny blonde.

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hence "ex".

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Billie Piper is an alcholic and a failed pop star. No one cares for her or Dr. Who in the UK much any more... this series will most likely go the way of enterprise.

Re: Billie Piper is a hottie.

[jweatherley]

Yeah, swap hottie for Z-list celeb and I see your point. However Bonnie Langford was obviously an unmitigated disaster from the very day it was announced that she was to be the new assisstant. The whole 'celeb' thing was driving Dr Who ever further off the airwaves - Hale and Pace FFS... JN-T did a lot of good for Dr Who in his earlier days but the latter stuff seemed to run off the rails - of course the BBC were hardly supportive in the dying years.

I think Billie Piper is not in the 'hire a '''''''famous''''''' (how many sarcastic quotes are needed when famous is used in the context of Bonnie Langford?) face' league - yes she's rolling around in the Z-list but:

a) Let's forget the bratty 'cos we want to' teen shit
b) She can act (Canterbury Tales)
c) Jordan and her ilk are the true get a shit celeb for publicity bimbos

So, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt - my torrent is at 56.9% with a healthy download rate so I'll know for sure tomorrow...

Re: Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Mage Powers]

What about the first romana, Mary Tamm?

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[16K Ram Pack]

I'm not sure that she is an alcoholic.

The most promising thing is that the writer is both a big Dr Who fan and has done other non-Sci Fi series.

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[Turn-X Alphonse]

Her and Chris Evans used to go on benders, more often then not she was found with her legs in the air rat arsed man. She's an alcholic and she's admitted it several times blaming Chris for it..

Re:Billie Piper is a hottie.

[sakusha]

She obviously gained a lot of weight since those pictures were taken.

Saw it over on demonoid yesterday

[dJCL]

There was a reasonably large argument over there about actually distributing it, but in the end a full seed was completed.

And no I have not watched it, yet.

The argument really did center around - would geeks watch it - or just download it and not support it. If there is no support for the series, then it will not continue being produced.

Counter arguments included: I will watch and pay for it anyway, I'm such a big fan - almost my opinion.

and

It's not scheduled here - I need my fix - usually americans...

Anyway, I think I will like it, and if I can catch it on TV, at a reasonable time - I will watch it.

For now - I have my fix if I need it.

JC

Re:Saw it over on demonoid yesterday

[dJCL]

Scratch that

I've watched it - I really like it, and think the actors have a lot of potential in their roles. I thought the TARDIS needed some work, but that's just opinion - it may grow on me yet.

Maybe I should should change that to - I've watched it 3 times in as many days...

As the good Doctor now says: "Fantastic!"

---

Doctor: "By the way, I'm The Doctor"
Rose: "I'm Rose"
Doctor: "Nice to meet you Rose. Now run for your life!"
Building blows up...

Har har

[rde]

It's shocking, really. They go to all that effort to keep it secret, and dirty bastards go and ruin it all by watching it months ahead of time. The file-sharing creeps.

Having said that, it's a lot better than I expected. Billie Piper is a much better companion than I though she'd be, and the Doctor is quite credible as, er, a time-travelling alien. No mention of that half-human shite, which is nice.

It'd be injudicious of me to mention that the file is called Rose1.avi, and is 366757888 bytes long, so I won't.

Re:Har har

[Nethead]

Hmm.. all I found was this:

MYSTICAL XXX MOVIES ... i17.yimg.com/17/439aa05b/h/cb38b562/Steal1.avi double cumshot http://www.xxcum.net/ xx323/akj012.mpeg Rose http://205.188.137.185/a4a121/rose1.avi http://205.188 ... www.xxxmovieforum.com/mystical/posts/02-03-12/153. shtml - 18k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Re:Har har

[Anonymous Coward]

curtesy of isohunt:
torrent is here I believe

Obligatory Joke

[bigtallmofo]

Doctor WHO?

Sorry Old Bean...

[Anonymous Coward]

If that's not Superman coming out of the booth, than forget it.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[the phantom]

He's on first.

Huh?

[SpaceBadger]

From news.bbc.co.uk: "The BBC was unavailable for comment."

Investigative journalism is truly dead.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't you know the site is run by New Labour? ;-)

Re:Huh?

[professorfalcon]

Have you noticed how a lot of AP stories from the U.S. mention that so-and-so was not listed in the white pages, so they were unavailable for comment?

EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[selectspec]

Without Tom Baker there is no Dr. Who.

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got to say I'm very skeptical of this new guy. The show fell apart without Tom Baker.

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[Dogtanian]

The show fell apart without Tom Baker.

The show became too strongly associated with Tom Baker.

Which isn't to say that they didn't do some horrible things to it in the final few years (yeah, there were always slightly camp aspects to it; but latterly it turned into a celeb-laden unfunny pantomime). But the BBC *wanted* it to fail by then (Grade certainly did).

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[wdavies]

Bah, without Jon Pertwee there's been no real Doctor Who for 25 years... but I'll grant you Tom Baker was the second best for those not old enough to remember Patrick Troughton (including me, and I'm 41...).

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[ggvaidya]

Parent is up to +2, Troll ... any bets he'll make it to +5, Troll? :)

haven't seen Dr. Who, so dun have an opinion on it either ways

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[BluedemonX]

RE: latterly it turned into a celeb-laden unfunny pantomime

Er, wasn't it ALWAYS a celeb-laden unfunny pantomime?

EXHIBIT A: "Mr. Rumbold" in the Dalek Master Plan (IIRC). Come on, with those ears and those glasses, you were like "now that's the first half decent special effect I've seen on this show in years."

EXHIBIT B: Jon Pertwee was teh God, but come on, "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow?" While wearing opera dress? And trying not to look utterly ridiculous while being scared of a terrible "fizzy" bluescreened in hand puppet? Of the kind that made the giant rat in Talons of Weng Chiang look like T2?

EXHIBIT C: Patrick "I thought I'd channel Charlie Chaplin" Troughton. Enough said.

But you're right, the Baker years really put the boots to it. Phil Hinchcliffe turned it into Goth horror, so they gave the reins to that twit in the Hawaiian shirts as director, that let Tom overact his way through crappier and crappier scripts. Then we got the hyperventilating balding vet and the ever-expanding fashion disaster "Doctor Huge", and By the time they gave the gig to McCoy, whose last TV appearance in Canada was as a giant chicken going "buck-AWWWK" for fifteen minutes in a painful "Vision On" segment with Tony whatsisname - it was a total farce. Richard "Cannot say more than one word a sentence kind of like William Shatner only out of breath instead of simply dense" Briers as a Hitler clone in a world with candy shaped Robots?

Shooting was too good for it by that stage.

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[Dogtanian]

Pertwee was a bit before my time, but I realised at some stage (having seen the repeats) that I didn't really like him that much. It's that whole earth-bound, part-of-the-army type thing (wasn't the Doctor always a bit of an anti-conformist?).

Haven't seen much of Troughton, but apparently most of his best stuff was wiped, leading to the current skewed perspective of his performance. Cool title sequence for his stuff, at any rate.

Have to admit I liked Peter Davison as a kid... weird thing is, apart from The Caves of Androzani (which I own), I've never seen any of his stuff properly for almost 20 years; so judging from an adult point-of-view is hard. If Androzani was the only measure of his Doctor, I'd have said he was absolutely damn brilliant, easily the best. However, I've heard people saying that it was only in Androzani that he showed what he was truly capable of; and some (very brief) clips I've seen of some earlier stuff come across as uncomfortably nice/bland.

Colin Baker... not sure if he ever could have been that good (at least they took the risk), but he didn't really get the chance. They wanted him to be nasty, he played nasty, people didn't like it and he got the chop. But the rot had set in then anyway.

Sylvester McCoy gets stigmatised because of crapness beyond his control, IMHO. That 'candyman' story, in spite of its silliness, might have worked if it had had an underlying seriousness to it.... but the program had stopped taking itself seriously by that time.

And I still get nauseous thinking of "Dimensions in Time".

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[lgw]

Sylvester McCoy played a darn good Doctor. I was dissapointed to see the show die when it did, despite the scripts. Heh, there's a lot of "despite the scripts" to enjoying Dr. Who.

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[BluedemonX]

RE: Pertwee was a bit before my time, but I realised at some stage (having seen the repeats) that I didn't really like him that much.

The man was larger than life and turned the Doc into a bit of an action hero. That in and of itself r0x0rs. Him being a dandy didn't hurt things either.

RE: It's that whole earth-bound, part-of-the-army type thing (wasn't the Doctor always a bit of an anti-conformist?).

Er, yes, but you have to understand, the Beeb decided that they were going to spring for 'Who to be in color (HOORAY!) but to compensate, the budgets would be cut (HOO-what?) so they put him on Earth to save on sets. As for the Army, the story was he was trying to fix his timecraft to get the hell off the rock he was stuck on, so why not pimp your skills out to the United Nations and supposedly get access as a result to the very best tech the 1970s had to offer?

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[RDFozz]

Unfortunately, the local PBS station dumped Doctor Who 8-10 years ago. When I first got BBC America on cable, I think they showed some episodes at some ungodly hour of the morning; however, they only showed (I think) seasons 12 and 13 (the first two Fourth Doctor seasons).

I've got all the US DVD releases, and watch them w/ my son (who's 16), trying to revive our old family Satruday Night Who viewing, from before WOSU punked out on us. The rule of thumb has always been that your first Doctor tends to be a (if not the) favorite. For me, that was Tom Baker. My son doesn't really have a "first" Doctor, and actually seems to like Troughton best.

I have found something to enjoy in each of the varous actor's performances.

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[Anonymous Coward]

For all the wiped material, Troughton still has the finest Who story of the lot: The War Games. And for all that I am tired of Tom Baker, he had Talons and Pyramids, definitely two of the best. And Colin Baker had Trial, but frankly that was the only good stuff he got. (Varos? Timelash? Bleah.) As for McCoy and McGann, the former got some good stuff, and a nice, darker tone, but people were pretty turned off by that point. And the latter showed promise, but got hobbled by a craptastic script. (Pity, he had the coolest looking TARDIS interior ever, even compared to the new one. And the promise of the Daleks from the opening bit was fantabulous, I really, really wish they hadn't screwed the story so badly...)

The problem I have with early Who, though, is the same problem I have with a lot of early SciFi. It's good, often very good, but I've gotten so spoiled with modern production values that I have to suppress my reaction ton the effects.

And I'm sure I'll have the same problem with LotR some year...

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[Dogtanian]

The problem I have with early Who, though, is the same problem I have with a lot of early SciFi. It's good, often very good, but I've gotten so spoiled with modern production values that I have to suppress my reaction ton the effects.

Look upon it as a stage play then; apparently, the early Who stories *were* pretty theatrical (e.g. characters move off a short distance and talk as if the other characters are out of earshot), though I haven't really seen enough to comment.

And sadly, someday 'The Matrix' is going to look dated as hell and kids will laugh at it. Even if they're being charitable, they might wonder what the deal was because all that was fresh about it has been appropriated and absorbed, and they weren't around when it was new.

There's a free TV channel in the UK that shows some very dated (in terms of factual content) travel programs (10-15 years old). Some of these programs were originally intended for the 'youth' market (14-24?) with smart graphics and 'up-to-date' dance music in the background. What struck me about watching the repeats is that the style didn't seem dated; it seemed *mainstream*. What was once innovative and fresh gets absorbed and nullified.

I have the same problem with Star Wars, punk and Hendrix, so it's not necessarily an indicator of quality. Ditto Rock n' Roll; when I was growing up it was still 30 years old and the stuff of cheesey nostalgia.

Re:EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE

[mink]

"Look upon it as a stage play then; apparently, the early Who stories *were* pretty theatrical (e.g. characters move off a short distance and talk as if the other characters are out of earshot), though I haven't really seen enough to comment."

My favorate occurance of this is in "The Five Doctors" where the 2 cybermen go off to talk about killing The Master once he has shown them how to get into the whatever of Rassalon.

I keep wishing The Master would say "I can still hear you".

Strangely this is I think the only time you feel for him as he gets shafted right and left by everyone.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[dJCL]

Don't worry...

Your alone.

Possibilities

[Anonymous Coward]

Could you post a little more often in the comments instead of giving half-thoughts at the end of the article blurb?

Oh well, at least you're better than michael.

There's only one thing left to do..

[PopeAlien]

Exterminate! ExterMinate!

</dalek>

BBC reports on BBC leak

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone else find that just a little... odd, somehow?

Very meta.

Re:BBC reports on BBC leak

[Bruzer]

Quote from article:
> "The BBC was unavailable for comment."

So allow me to translate:

We were unavailble for comment on the leak.

- Bruzer

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[PriceIke]

There were a few hot babes in it, but they never dressed like Wilma Deering, so that wasn't good enough of a draw.

Dr. Who Cleans My Bathroom

[King Fuckstain]

Are you claiming that Sci Fi fans make repeat viewings of shows at a higher than than non-Sci Fi fans? And, if so, how do you know this? Certainly there have been DVD releases of Sci Fi television shows that have sold well but, from my glances at the DVD sections at various outlets, other shows sell just as well on DVD. With all that being said - and let's assume Sci Fi fans do make repeat viewing a habit - why would the broadcast on television be of better quality than the Internet download? Is this going to be broadcast in high def? And, again assuming you are correct and the television broadcast is a better quality broadcast, the resolution of the majority of televisions in homes today offsets any increased resolution.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Re:Dr. Who Cleans My Bathroom

[zaktheduck]

The BBC are currently experimenting with HDTV, but not for broadcast yet I gather. Digital Terrestrial and Satellite are currently their main priorities since the UK Government want the current analogue TV spectrum switched off and used for other purposes such as mobile telephony by 2010 (give or take a few years).

Re:Dr. Who Cleans My Bathroom

[mpe]

And, again assuming you are correct and the television broadcast is a better quality broadcast,

If the original source is pre-broadcast then the quality could easily be higher than any off air source.

the shield too

[sla291]

The 2 first EPs of the 4th season of The Shield have been leaked too as DVDrips... 2 weeks before their scheduled air date !

Come on guys, Vic is gonna kick your a** !!!!

People who liked it didn't just watch once anyway

[ianscot]

What did they lose, the ad revenue from one airing? In exchange for a big "tease" to whet the appetites of the fanatics?

People who loved this series were religious, they'd watch the thing over and over anyway. It's not quite on the level of The Simpsons, but expose any given fan to any three minutes of any episode, and it was "Hey, this is the one where... Oh, yeah, SHE was the Doctor's assistant then..."

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[rosie_bhjp]

I never got it either. I always figured it was a British thing until I found out a xenophobic friend of mine was a Dr. Who junky. Now I'm just confused.

The theme song was good though. Especially when Orbital covered it.

This is the answer of a technically minded?

[freshBlueO2]

If you don't get it, and your technically minded...then you need to go back to school.

Re:This is the answer of a technically minded?

[AKnightCowboy]

If you don't get it, and your technically minded...then you need to go back to school.

Your grammatics are week.

Re:This is the answer of a technically minded?

[SamSeaborn]

If you don't get it, and your technically minded...then you need to go back to school.

Ha! Computer Science degree, Sun certifications, 8 years computer programming experience.

I'd kick your ass in Call Of Duty, I'd get A+ on Star Wars and Star Trek (TOS) trivia exams, and I love the new Battlestar Galactica series.

But because I don't like Dr. Who I have to "go back to school"? Not only does Dr. Who suck, you suck.

Sam

Re:This is the answer of a technically minded?

[fr2asbury]

Hey, cut him some slack. He's techinally minded. That doesn't make him a cunning linguist.

Re:This is the answer of a technically minded?

[Skye16]

Ahh, useless prickwaving at its finest. Hooray for teh intarweb!!111oneonewon

Re:This is the answer of a technically minded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of *weak*...

Re:This is the answer of a technically minded?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your grammatics are week.

And your a f@cking ass bandit.
You point is?

Re:This is the answer of a technically minded?

[DrVxD]

> 8 years computer programming experience

Frikkin' newbie.

Silly question

[Anonymous Coward]

As whether this leak will hurt or help, the question seems obviously, Depends. If the episode leaked is good/great, then there will be a positive buzz and people will take the time to watch the show. If it sucks, then it will hurt, since it will create a negative buzz. Simple as that. Oh course defining good and bad could be troublesome, as it may not appeal to the demographic that is likely to download and watch, with may run counter to the opinions of the masses, in which case it could potentially be negatively affected.

GIMMIE A DOLLA, SUCAH!

[Thud457]

Does this mean everyone in the world has to pay a computer license fee to teh b33b or worry about black computer detector vans going down the street?!

Re:GIMMIE A DOLLA, SUCAH!

[Anonymous Coward]

black computer detector vans

The ones from the Ministry of Housinge?

Re:GIMMIE A DOLLA, SUCAH!

[Nerd Cooties]

and erik being such an 'appy cat.....

Commence countdown to .torrent link...

[Xaroth]

In 5....4....3....2....1....

Re:Commence countdown to .torrent link...

[dJCL]

Go to www.demonoid.com
Sign up for an account
Search on "doctor rose"
Download

There are 58 Seeds right now with the file - I'm sure you will get it.

Re:Commence countdown to .torrent link...

[VC]

Torrent here

via del.icio.us/tag/bittorrent

Dr. who?

[t0ny747]

Dr. Who?

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[yaroze32]

Exterminate Exterminate EXTERMINATE

Exterminate!

[Anonymous Coward]

Exterminate!

I wonder

[Mad Ogre]

Does the new series have Dr. Who with a huge afro and a gigantic ugly scarf?

Re:I wonder

[restlesscheese]

Ugly? It's beautiful! Who else do you know that can walk around with one of those and not trip? Believe me, it's really hard!

Pinball Wizard

[hcob$]

Hopefully they will redo the old pinball machine that was Dr. Who based. That was probably the best pinball machines out there. But of course, someone will throw up a legal suit challenging the use of such copyrighted works that are put on display publicly........ BAH!

Then again...

[gandell]

Don't think so. I got it, and I still don't care for it.
Give me an episode of Blake's Seven anyday if we're talking British Sci Fi.

Re:Then again...

[taffer1979]

I can't beleive there is a British sci-fi discussion without someone mentioning Red Dwarf.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[redheaded_stepchild]

I rather enjoyed Dr. Who, but since I was a little kid and it aired after bedtime, I rarely got to see an episode in it's entirety.

Those times when I did get to see some of it, I enjoyed it, but I don't think it was worth the ass-bruising I got sneaking into the living room.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

I just thought that it was boring.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[Anonymous Coward]

The beeb doesn't have adverts.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[dJCL]

Yup, always like it when Oribital's version of the theme hits my playlist - even got a nice video of them mixing it live somewhere - it's still on the bittorrent nets if people are after it.

Mirror me

[ProteusQ]

Forget the usual threads of: (a) I never liked Dr. Who. (b) I LOVED Doctor Who! (c) Was Jamie gay? Anybody got something important to add, like a mirror?

Re:Mirror me

[dJCL]

As per my previous post:

go to www.demonoid.com
create an account
login
search for "doctor rose"
download

There were 58 seeds last I looked(about 1/2 hour ago) so it's all there for you.

Re:Mirror me

[ProteusQ]

I'm behind a strict firewall. No BitTorrent, no P2P, nada. Any other options?

Leak my ass

[Anonymous Coward]

and it happend how? some jr at the marketing co. said hey! i got an awsome idea!....and thus the leak....

Just a FYI

[falcon5768]

this is NOT the full pilot, this is 45 minutes of the pilot thats not through being finished and was distrubuted to a few places looking to pick up the series, so its quite a bit rough with the cgi, credits and theme not even being done.

Likewise dont go into watching this expecting it to be the BSG remake others where hoping for, THIS IS DR WHO, like Dr Who of when I was a kid and where watching the 60's reruns. Its campy and funny and ejoyable and a real family show. I know a lot of people where hoping for it to be remade but its not they are making this to be just like the old shows minus the cardbord and celophane sets.

Re:Just a FYI

[mbourgon]

so its quite a bit rough with the cgi, credits and theme not even being done.

Dunno about that... they've already said they're keeping the "classic" theme music, the end credits looked just fine, the CGI is classic "bad-as-in-BBC" bad. And it tells a complete story - it's not like it cuts off at 45 minutes. (Maybe there's extra scenes, after dealing with the conspiracy nut?)

Overall, A-. The comic bits are a bit too frequent, but it felt like The Doctor.

Re:Just a FYI

[KiltedKnight]

like Dr Who of when I was a kid and where watching the 60's reruns. Its campy and funny and ejoyable and a real family show. I know a lot of people where hoping for it to be remade but its not they are making this to be just like the old shows minus the cardbord and celophane sets.

The cheesy special effects was part of what made the series so much fun. Extremly obvious fake stuff, seeing all the wires, etc... it's good to know that it's going to be more like a continuation of the series that was put on indefinite hiatus back in 1989 than some kind of, "let's start from the beginning again" remake. Gives me a warm fuzzy...

Re:Just a FYI

[david.given]

they are making this to be just like the old shows minus the cardbord and celophane sets.

Damn them! Damn them all to Hell! They finally did it! They grew it all up!

Re:Just a FYI

[BluedemonX]

RE: so its quite a bit rough with the cgi, credits and theme not even being done

As opposed to the smooth, jaw dropping, incredible Emmy winning CGI effects that the Beeb effects department are famous for?

This would be the same department, if I remember correctly, that rendered a bomb attack on giant maggots by, and I'm not making this up, dropping toilet flush handles (porcelain pull-type) onto barely inflated condoms.

Now I really want to see this leaked program. Maybe it'd be better television just to keep the balding git standing there with a piece of poster board saying "special effect here - (once we've panhandled enough to raid the local "Next To Nowt")

Re:Just a FYI

[TomV]

As opposed to the smooth, jaw dropping, incredible Emmy winning CGI effects that the Beeb effects department are famous for?
Obviously, with the budget rumoured to be only about UKP 800,000 per episode, it won't be the best they could possibly achieve given unlimited resources, but bear in mind that the SFX for the new series aren't being done in-house, but by The Mill, which won an Oscar for the effects in Gladiator. Dunno about Emmys, mind.

Re:Just a FYI

[BluedemonX]

That's good to know. I do honestly feel for the effects dept. at Doctor who between, oh, say 1964 and 1979, in which the entire effects budget consisted of "whatever you could scrounge out of the dumpster".

I am not mentioning the rat from Talons of Weng Chiang, again. Oh wait, I just did. Shall we turn this into a thread of other howlers in terms of REALLY bad special effects?

Re:Just a FYI

[TomV]

It's all affectionate really, so ...

Kroll! Kroll! Kroll!

It could be argued* that CSO wasn't really ready for what they attempted in Underworld. But even less so for the UNIT tank in Robot.

Could have been worse, could have been the Kandyman.

(* by anyone with at least one functioning eye and a TV)

Re:Just a FYI

[GeoGreg]

The series episodes are 45 minutes long, not one hour. Pretty standard for BBC shows, from what I understand. I would not be surprised if you are correct re: effects and other post production. I wouldn't look at this as being the final polished product.

Re:Just a FYI

[PCM2]

Dunno about that... they've already said they're keeping the "classic" theme music

If they've said that, then they've since changed their minds.

Re:Just a FYI

[Anonymous Coward]

they're keeping the "classic" theme music...

Excellent!

Re:Just a FYI

[BluedemonX]

The thing is, the execution was flawed, the acting hammy and the staging contrived, but some of the stories in that series were really really good, which is why the novelisations of the series are in my mind infinitely better. I remember reading "The Web Planet" in novel form long before anyone dreamed of seeing it on TV, and when I finally saw it, I was like, "this is for ..."

Genesis of the Daleks, properly filmed, would be creepy as hell. I'd like to see some real money, some real guts and some real actors do rewritten versions of the Phil Hinchcliffe years. Horror of Fang Rock. Planet of Evil. Talons of Weng Chiang. Deadly Assassin. Pyramids of Mars. Brain of Morbius. Heck, Morbius played for the horror it really was would be teh cool, ditto playing up the drama and political back and forth in "Deadly Assassin".

Instead of guys in cheap rubber suits and overacting with CSO.

Re:Just a FYI

[RichM]

Somehow I don't think they'd wait until 3 weeks before it goes on air to perform the final edit.
The majority of series are finished (filming and editing) months before release and I know they did, because the last bits of the episode (Queens Arcade and the area when she joins the Dr at the end) were filmed in my home city of Cardiff.

Re:Just a FYI

[lgw]

I think it's a credit to the effects department that people forget how old the show is, and what comparable TV SciFi effects were like (especially before Star Wars).

Dr Who's effects weren't really that bad for their day.

Re:Just a FYI

[Anonymous Coward]

But note that 45 minutes BBC shows are "an American hour": "24" ran in a 45 minute slot on BBC TV.

Re:Just a FYI

[nbehary]

First. Did you read that story?

Second, having watched it (shhhhh........), the theme is no more different than I'd expect.......it's no more of a change than can be heard over the years and years of the original series over time........

Re:Just a FYI

[Kanon]

The leak has the wrong theme. They played sections of the new mix this morning on UK radio.

Re:Just a FYI

[mpe]

But note that 45 minutes BBC shows are "an American hour": "24" ran in a 45 minute slot on BBC TV.

An "American hour" is usually somewhere between 42 and 43 minutes. With a 45 minute BBC programme likely to be between 44 and 45 minutes.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[tarquin_fim_bim]

the ad revenue from one airing

The BBC is publicly funded and does not have any advertising revenue.

well

[mattyrobinson69]

i personally think the BBC should provide free downloads (by bittorrent or something) to UK residents who have a tv license.

They could probably increase revenue if they created a subscription service for non-UK viewers too.

Re:well

[drigz]

How do you know if they have a TV license?

Well, anybody with a computer could download the episodes, like anybody with a TV can watch TV now. So logically you should make everyone with a computer pay a TV license.

That rings a bell... http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/04/054820 6&tid=98&tid=126

Re:well

[mattyrobinson69]

not if you have to give your tv license details to create an account. if you dont have a tv license, you dont have an account. or they could check the ip address and see if it belongs in the UK. obviously there are ways round it, but anybody who would go to the effort to do that would just download it off kazaa anyway.

Re:well

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's reasonable, I'd sign up just to watch Doctor Who and Top Gear.

Re:well

[HuffMeister]

Would you mind clarifying what the "TV license" is for us insensitve clod Americans who are ignorant of the wider world? Sorry that I'm ignorant...

Re:well

[mattyrobinson69]

sure. BBC is a public service. Its independant of the government but is funded by a 'tv license' which everybody in the UK who owns a tv (or tv card) or radio must pay.

its about £130 a year as far as i know (although i may be way off).

They provide a good service (loads of tv channels, loads of radio channels) and dont put adverts in or between programs.

Re:well

[Presidential]

i personally think the BBC should provide free downloads (by bittorrent or something) to UK residents who have a tv license.

You gotta have a license to watch TV in the UK?

Re:well

[mattyrobinson69]

yes, read this post here

Re:well

[Frogbert]

Exactly, and I'd go further and say the downloads should be available to the entire Commonwealth, Australia's taxes fund the BBC as well, indirectly albeit, through the ABC buying shows off the BBC.

Re:well

[HuffMeister]

How do they enforce the TV license? Do you buy it with the tv (i.e. it's an add on?) or do they just ask you to fill it out on your taxes or what? What happens if you get caught with a radio and no license?

Re:well

[joper90]

they have tv detector vans that fook you over. :)

even though more and more they are sneeking adverts in all over the place, normally for there other channels/radio channels. which is wrong.

Re:well

[mattyrobinson69]

they check if you have a tv license when you buy a tv and they have vans they drive round looking for people using their tv without a license.

your also expected to goto the post office (i think) every year.

You really believe this was "leaked"

[Anonymous Coward]

Come ON. This is such a transparent act of marketing, it's obscene, and you are actually buying it!

Re:You really believe this was "leaked"

[Rombladi]

and a good trick it is! it's working, getting people really 'pumped' on seeing the rest.

Ellis review

[ajs]

Warren Ellis reviewed just this (I'm not going to link to his site, it's already slow), and said that Americans would almost certainly not enjoy it. It's (as far as he's concerned) a return to many things that're right and wrong with Brittish television, but far too Brittish for most of the rest of the world to enjoy, especially us Yanks.

"Word is that Sci-Fi Channel declined to acquire this new DOCTOR WHO series. And I can see why. It's too damned English." -Ellis

Re:Ellis review

[Thud457]

Do they go back to their roots and use the same abandoned gravel pit that they've used for alien planet since 1974?!!

Re:Ellis review

[changa]

Weird... I'm American and I liked it.

SciFi channel did a terrible job of showing Doctor Who when they had the original series.

Re:Ellis review

[ultramk]

I guess the problem is, there are quite a few of us Americans prefer the way the Brits do it. I personally prefer British humor, and so does my wife.

Perhaps it's because we grew up watching the Young Ones, Monty Python, Faulty Towers, Are You Being Served, The Good Life, Blake's 7, To The Manor Born, Yes Minister, and yes, Dr. Who. Not to mention more recent favorites like Coupling, Father Ted, The Office, Ali G, Red Dwarf, etc etc etc.

When hollywood producers attempt to convert British shows to appeal to American humor, the results are often ghastly. Witness the short-lived US version of Coupling.

Listen, we know the effects will be silly and involve lousy CGI and cheap fireworks. It's all part of the charm. Who watched Dr. Who for the special effects anyway?

On the bright side, all of these shows will eventually become available on DVD. There's too much profit in it not to. Thanks, Suncoast.

m-

Re:Ellis review

[sakusha]

Oh yeah, the US TV networks are insanely stupid when it comes to remaking British TV. Let me give you an example, the US remake of Faulty Towers starred BETTY WHITE playing the role of Basil.

Re:Ellis review

[gidds]

It's too damned English.

As an Englishman who finds far too much television these days far too damned American, I'd just like to say: Great!!!

Re:Ellis review

[snuf23]

Absolutely! I grew up watching these shows, and while I watched a lot of American television as well, it's the Monty Python DVD boxed set I own, not Laugh In.
And please let's not forget the Black Adder and Benny Hill.

Re:Ellis review

[Coryoth]

Classic example of "Americanisation" of a reasonably good British comedy: The film Fever Pitch has been remade as a Hollywood film. It looks appalling, and bears all the hallmarks of a "bad americanisation" of something.

Be aware, of course, that it is entirely possible for Americans to get it, and produce something good suitably adapted: Look at High Fidelity. Same source author, similar kind of story and humour, yet well adapted.

Jedidiah.

Re:Ellis review

[ettlz]

We had a gravel pit/quarry discussion a few weeks ago when the Hitchhiker's Guide trailer appeared...

Re:Ellis review

[GeoGreg]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it was Bea Arthur, not Betty White. It was horrible though. As was the second attempt to remake it with John Larroquette in the Basil role.

Re:Ellis review

[lgw]

The corridors were always the real star of Doctor Who, at least to judge by screen time. ;)

Re:Ellis review

[16K Ram Pack]

I'm guessing you are American?

Of recent months on the BBC has been Little Britain (fantastic) and Nighty Night (really dark). If you like Python, Little Britain might be to your taste.

Oh, and if you've not seen The Day Today and any of the Alan Partridge stuff, that's really worth tracking down.

I've seen a few US remakes of UK things, and mostly they just seem to miss the point.

To the credit of US TV, there are some things that you do better. We haven't made a good early evening sitcom for years - probably as far back as The Good Life.

Re:Ellis review

[sakusha]

Ah, we're both right and both wrong.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/f/faw lt ytowers_7772600.shtml

I was thinking of "Snavely's," the first US adaption, and you were thinking of "Amanda's," the second one.

I had to look up John Larroquette in imdb.com to find out about the third one, "Payne." Actually, I kinda like John Larroquette and he could have done a good job, IF he was allowed to.

Re:Ellis review

[Skuld-Chan]

You know they said the same thing about Dr. Who in the 70's and 80's. But we loved it - it was sure wierd, and not convential by any means, but it had an audience viewership large enough that warrented its own conventions in the US.

Probably the same reason Japanese anime is so popular here. Its different.

Re:Ellis review

[torpor]

Riiight... so we're facing the erosion of cultural diversity through advertising. See kiddies, this is why globalization is bad for your cornflakes!

Re:Ellis review

[Anonymous Coward]

That was the problem with the 1996 TV Movie - it was a co-production with an American company, and so was too damned American!

Re:Ellis review

[FlakCat]

Ellis' review is spot on, although I didn't think the McCann movie was as awful as he did. In terms of too English, I take it to mean that the show's too quaint in the special effects department and lacking in the ultraviolence and sex department. The new Who - much like the old Who - also doesn't go out of its way to explain some of the Anglicisms. It's meant for a British audience, and it's pretty unapologetic about it. I have to say that I really really liked the pilot. As Ellis said, Dr. Who hasn't been decent dating to the Peter Davidson days. This is a rousing comeback.

Re:Ellis review

[mink]

BBC America showed a short run of something called Velvet Soup. All I can find out about it is it's a Scottish comedy group.
Any chance some people across the ocean might know where I can find it?

Re:Ellis review

[16K Ram Pack]

Never heard of it.

I've been to Scotland a few times, and they get a lot of programs for the Scots that we don't get. Don't know that one.

There have been some great Scottish series - an old C4 one called Absolutely is one of my all-time favourite Sketch shows.

Re:Ellis review

[RexxFiend]

ah yes, absolutely - that was classic. (come to stoneybridge etc.)

Never heard of Velvet soup either and I live here!

Do you get "chewin the fat" over there then? If you liked absolutely you will definately like that.

In my opinion the best thing about scottish comedy is that the english don't get it ;-) (even if they can understand it)

(just realised I'm replying to someone who probably is english and referring to over there! ah, well, feck it...)

Re:Ellis review

[16K Ram Pack]

Too right you are (and no gloating over the rugby, please).

I caught a little of "chewin the fat" and thought it was a bit ropey, but Naked Video was pretty good. Rab C Nesbitt too.

Too many sketch shows follow the exact formula of Not the Nine O'Clock News, but Absolutely went outside that.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[lxt]

"What did they lose, the ad revenue from one airing?"

You seem to have misunderstood the entire principle of the BBC...no ads at all on their UK channels.

ob. Tacobaiting

[Anonymous Coward]

The Who suck!

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[Anonymous Coward]

The BBC doesn't carry adverts, so there is no ad revenue to lose. We do have to pay a license fee for TVs here, and the BBC gets all the loot.

Upside - TV with no ads. Downside - it's a criminal offence not to pay a license if you own a tv in the UK.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[dJCL]

I do that for almost anything - I can name any song I know from the first second or two, have been annoying people with identifing episodes of CSI that I have seen with only a moments viewing at the beginning....

I don't watch much stuff twice for this reason - but then there is Red Dwarf - just as good on the 48th viewing as on the first....

Anyway - back to the good Doctor.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[Anonymous Coward]

What did they lose, the ad revenue from one airing?

No. BBC = no ads.

They've lost nothing. They've only gained publicity.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[Cougem]

The BBC has no ad revinue, it gets its funding from the UK tax payers' TV liscenses.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[KiltedKnight]

There were a few hot babes in it, but they never dressed like Wilma Deering, so that wasn't good enough of a draw.

No... instead they had Leela... who, apparently, was a HUGE draw when Doctor Who and one of the Football leagues were on the air in adjacent time slots.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[Cpt_Kirks]

Since they don't get ad money, what's the problem? Free publicity and free distribution.

Look, someone on the inside leaked the episode. Did he have unofficial permission?

Maybe...

A link to the torrent

[bort27]

http://www.torrentspy.com/search.asp?mode=torrentd etails&id=184585

bort.

Re:A link to the torrent

[bort27]

Seems /. inserted a space in the url. You can either s/\s// or just click here.

Re:A link to the torrent

[dJCL]

I get "Torrentspy is Rebooting and Will be Back in 5-8 Minutes."

I think it died due to slashdotting...

Anyway...

Re:A link to the torrent

[Anonymous Coward]

The previous torrent seems to be corrupt - use this one: http://www.torrentspy.com/search.asp?mode=torrentd etails&id=185913

Re:A link to the torrent

[dJCL]

Links back to the demonoid torrent I mentioned earlier - it's a good file, no problems downloading or quality.

Re:A link to the torrent

[Anonymous Coward]

when i tried to get it, the tracker said i needed a newer version of bittorrent. what has changed recently? i have 3.3

Re:A link to the torrent

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.torrentspy.com/search.asp?mode=torrentd etails&id=184585

Not on Google groups.

[Anonymous Coward]

Google groups doesn't have it unfortunately.

But I've no idea if Google groups has ever carried binaries.

Re:Not on Google groups.

[nogginthenog]

Nope, Google has never carried binaries (nor did Dejanews). If you don't have a good news feed use the torrent a few people posted!

Re:Torrent?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://owntracker.com/degrassi/details.php?info_ha sh=4a1243adfb45b763ef8158b1da5\53275d8a7375d

what about us bloody yanks?

[Yonder Way]

We don't get BBC over here and PBS hasn't had favorable deals to air Doctor Who in many years in my market, so there is almost no Doctor Who fix for me. It seems like when MythTV does catch it for me, it's an old William Hartnell episode. Bah.

Re:what about us bloody yanks?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you live near the Canadian border, the CBC is supposed to be broadcasting it.

CBC Program Guide

Re:what about us bloody yanks?

[jd]

I'm impressed. 99.9% of American Dr Who fans don't know there even was a Doctor before Pertwee. Besides, a lot of the Hartnell stories were gritty and had an edge that was missing with the others.

BBC America does show some BBC television, so you may be in luck there. Failing that, the BBC is investing heavily in open source high-definition protocols for audio and video over the Internet. I'm taking it that this was not for fun. Given the strong International following of Doctor Who, and given the effort the BBC put into getting episodes onto the web, I imagine that they're looking at ways to distribute to overseas viewers.

After all, that's just what The Doctor ordered.

Re:what about us bloody yanks?

[Anonymous Coward]

Talk nicely to your Canadian friends. The new WHO starts early in April on CBC. Maybe someone'll tape it for you.

Re:what about us bloody yanks?

[KnightStalker]

I'm impressed. 99.9% of American Dr Who fans don't know there even was a Doctor before Pertwee.

That can't be true, since there are clearly at least two of us who have seen Hartnell and Troughton episodes, and that's about a percentage point right there :-)

Re:what about us bloody yanks?

[mink]

I think it's hard to say any particular doctor was bad in and of the actor. Each one brought something to the character and created a new identity.
I liked Hartnell for the old coot who did care underneath, Troughton for his IMO rather upbeat attitude (and fur coat)Pertwee for as someone else put it, "ass kicking dandy". Baker, often peoples favorite, was quirky, had a winning smile and good delivery. Davidson I think let his companions be more major characters and this diminished his role slightly, but he was a more serious doctor. C. Baker was slightly insane to start and settled into a decent character IMO. I saw less of the last Baker and McCoy then any of the others so I would like to catch them some time. The Master is also someone who had several actors (3 at least) and I think much like the Doctor each actor (while looking remarkably alike) was able to give him his own twist.
Maybe someday there will be a companion series to Dr. Who about The Master or renegade timelors in general.

Sorry for the rambling.

I wish more of the early episodes had not been lost to us, but I have hope someday someone will pick up all the scripts and re-make things without screwing it up.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[notbob]

yep you're alone the rest of the /. crowd were smart enough to enjoy the show. Please return to watching telletubies.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah... imagine that... a show where you have to actually *use your imagination* and *suspension of disbelief* in order to follow the story rather than having a director forcefeed his interpretation of a story into your brain via eye candy in order to make up for the actual lack of story.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[88NoSoup4U88]

Along the same lines ;

'Who invented the steam engine ?'
'Watt ?'
'Who in-ven-ted the steam en-gine ?!'

The REAL question...

[kilgor]

Is it any good?

Seriously, who's seen it? I want to know what to expect. Other than Galactica and some Stargate episodes most SF shows right now are terrible.

Re:The REAL question...

[tuffy]

Is it any good?

It's got promise. Christopher Eccleston does a fine job of mixing alien and eccentric into a personality the Doctor is known for. The TARDIS interior is modeled after the short-lived dark brown "antique" set used for Tom Baker's gothic horror season (13?). The episode is set up as a horror story featuring an old Pertwee era adversary, the Autons. It moves at a brisk pace and certainly isn't any worse as a story than "An Unearthly Child" was. I'm willing to give it a shot.

Re:The REAL question...

[Anonymous Coward]

it's pants wettingly good from the opening credits onwards.

and during the signature tune, with it really loud, just for a second...i was eight again

and ok, i'm from the uk BUT I was/am a die hard 'tom baker as dr who' fan and was really ready to dislike it.....but

it's ace.

Re:The REAL question...

[Shrubbman]

Watched it this morning, loved it, and will definitely be tuning in to CBCs broadcasts of this one. :'>

Re:The REAL question...

[Circlotron]

I think the real questions is: why did the BBC (who presumably make Dr. Who) run a story on it thereby telling the rest of the world so they can go looking for it???

Re:The REAL question...

[awol]

Agreed. Very fresh. I liked the characterisations and the story hooked me. Definitely a winning start

Re:The REAL question...

[Marillion]

I watched it last night. I have great optimism of what the show could be, and great fear of what it might turn into.

The Doctor: Liked him. He nailed the whimsy that the character is famous for. And when he needed to get serious, he was. Since Christopher Eccleston is the first actor to play The Doctor who could have been a classmate of mine, he felt more like a pub mate and less like a teacher.

Rose: I don't know. Being from the west side of "The Pond," I had to look up who Billie Piper was. I can see where people call her the "British Brittney Spears." I guess when your pop-star singing career is over, you turn to acting. She nailed Young Middle-class Angst, but I'm not sure it was due to anything called acting.

The Story: They went back through the archives and dug out the Autons - Something familiar to fans. They updated some of the metaphysical details of the Autons. The story was long on exposition and short on detail. Given that the show is being revived after so many years, heavy exposition is entirely reasonable.

Effects: Come now. It's Dr. Who! The first one caught me off guard, which is good, but halfway through the effect I was distracted by the effect.

I will be watching the next one !

Ratings?

[nsayer]

Since when does the Beeb care about ratings? Do ratings have an impact on the collection of the license fees? (well, I suppose if ratings go low enough, then at some point people will stop owning/using their TVs...)

Re:Ratings?

[91degrees]

The BBC needs to justify its existence to the general public, and the amount they spend on a series to the governers. Ratings do come into this a bit. Even though the BBC is regularly told it shouldn't be chasing ratings, it is a convenient easily measurable figure for the success of a series.

It is important that it entertains a lot of people. Ideally it should be watched by demographics that are less interested in other shows. The BBC has a responsibility to provide somethign for everyone.

They do want this...

[lxt]

The BBC itself does actually want to try something similar, and you might have seen the articles here about the then director general Greg Dyke discussing a "BBC Archive", and I'm pretty sure the R&D dept. was messing around with Bit Torrent.

However, the main problem (as with the BBCs "listen again" radio feature, but far more problamatic for TV) is the Writers Guild of Great Britain, which is extremely upset that the BBC plans to offer these shows without paying royalties to the writers. They have yet to bash out an additional payment to allow this...

Re:They do want this...

[Jherek Carnelian]

However, the main problem is the Writers Guild of Great Britain, which is extremely upset that the BBC plans to offer these shows without paying royalties to the writers.

The Writers Guild needs to wake up and smell the internet.

They can negotiate a single up-front payment for their work and let the BBC officially distribute the results of their work. Or they can "hold out" for royalties that will never come as a million p2pirates unofficially distribute the results of their work.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[musterion]

Yeah, you must be the only one.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet those dead animal skins stank to high hell. That savage.

Will the Beeb export this...

[DLWormwood]

...so that PBS stations here in the States will play? No, that's not a snide joke. I have fond memories of watching Dr. Who while I was in high school on WBGU out of Bowling Green, Ohio. (It came on after Wall $treet Week with Louis Rukeyser.)

Also, is this series in continuity with the previous series? Or are they going for a tabula rosa to avoid the kinds of problems that plague series like Star Trek? (For example, Enterprise.) I'd hate to see the new series go in a weird direction in 12 years or so when the Doctor regenerates into the Valeyard.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[tuffy]

Also, is this series in continuity with the previous series?

Continuity was never Doctor Who's strong point to begin with. But according to the FAQ it's not going to be a reboot of the series. Though judging by the first episode, they're referencing the show's roots only in superficial ways.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[ultramk]

Or are they going for a tabula rosa to avoid the kinds of problems that plague series like Star Trek?

A pink slate? How would that help?

Maybe you mean tabula rasa.

Kind of reminds me of a friend's girlfriend... she had a million of them... once complained about her university's "gazpacho tactics." I was all like, "what, are they forcing you to eat a chilled, refreshing vegetable soup?"

m-

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[Blackbrain]

Yes and No. BBC Worldwide has not renewed any PBS licences for Dr.Who. They are hoping to put together a package for the new series that will include broadcast rights to the old episodes.
Don't despair yet. There are rumors of the SciFi Channel currently negotiating with the Beeb for the package. Also, CBC Canada has already purchased the new series for broadcast. The air dates should be announced after the series premieres in England. In the US, some Cable systems and satellite networks carry CBC channels.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[easter1916]

Re: your friend's g/f... I'm sitting here wondering what it is she was really trying to say and can't come up with anything. Please enlighten me!

Mixed metaphors are a constant source of entertainment.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[jd]

My guess is Gestapo, which is NOT a refreshing vegetable soup, but may be in the Pentagon's drinking water.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[ProteusQ]

On WHRM, Wausau, WI, it came after "Market to Market" with Chet Randolf. :) ("Buy it for me now babe, before I blow away!")

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[ultramk]

Indeed... I'm pretty sure she meant Gestapo tactics...

The other one that springs to mind is when she referred to someone freaking out as "running around like a guy with his chicken cut off."

At least it's a vivid image...

m-

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[TomV]

According to the usually very reliable Outpost Gallifrey, sadly for our US-based friends, Sci-Fi confirmed on the 2nd of March that they have closed negotiations with the BBC and will not be showing the new Doctor Who series. I've got plenty of US-based friends in Who fandom, and I'm gutted to hear it.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[jd]

Write these down, pad it a bit with dialog and send it in to a TV station as a new comedy series.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[mpe]

Also, is this series in continuity with the previous series?

By the looks of things yes.

Or are they going for a tabula rosa to avoid the kinds of problems that plague series like Star Trek? (For example, Enterprise.)

The problem with ST Enterprise is that they made a big mess of pre-existing continuity. Which is rather harder to do where time travel is part of the deal anyway.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[Anonymous Coward]

According to the usually very reliable Outpost Gallifrey, sadly for our US-based friends, Sci-Fi confirmed on the 2nd of March that they have closed negotiations with the BBC and will not be showing the new Doctor Who series. I've got plenty of US-based friends in Who fandom, and I'm gutted to hear it.

No doubt plenty of the fans will get to see it anyway. Be it downloads or plastic discs (sent by mail after being treated with a blue LED).
Broadcasters really are shooting themselves in the foot by refusing to accept that there is a global market here.

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[DLWormwood]

- p-nk sl-t-? H-w w--ld th-t h-lp?

M-yb- y-- m--n t-b-l- r-s-.

I did mean rasa. But Safari's spell checker knows both words, and "a" & "o" look the same when you are skimming in Preview mode. For any additional snide remarks, please consult my .sig...

Re:Will the Beeb export this...

[Anonymous Coward]

English speakers wouldn't know Latin if it beat them with a two-foot stick anyway. Almost every Latin phrase (or cliché) that we use is butchered, incorrectly and/or strangely used.

"Tahbyool'ah rossah." Yeah, that's Latin.

Old news...

[Anonymous Coward]

I read this on the BBC earlier...Slashdot copies from them too much.

Re:Old news...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe because 9 out of every 10 slashdot articles are syndicated content? It's what slashdot is all about. I wouldn't know about this, were it not for it being posted here.

"Imagination" & "Suspension of Disbelief"

[Anonymous Coward]

"[...]you have to actually *use your imagination* and *suspension of disbelief* in order to follow the story[...]"

Yeah. With the level of "imagination" and "Suspension of Disbelief" required to enjoy Dr. Who, one might as well close his eyes and drop a tab of acid. At least the visuals are more realistic that way. *cough!*

How long Before....

[randydid]

Apple files a suit against the leakers?

Throwback

[cpt kangarooski]

So when the hell is the Doctor going to get with the times and replace the police box with a cellphone? Everyone else has one, they're very convenient.

Re:Throwback

[jratcliffe]

Given that he has to climb inside (I know it's bigger on the inside than the outside, but the door has to be human-sized), it would need to be a very large cellphone. Also, I'm not sure I'd be psyched to see the classic TARDIS demat/remat groaning noise replaced by a tinny rendition of 50 Cent's _In Da Club_.

Re:Throwback

[Feanturi]

But then wouldn't he be seen climbing in and out of his own pocket? I'm sure that pushes the physics of the whole show just a bit far.

I'm still holding out

[WormholeFiend]

for a remake of the UFO tv series, complete with liquid-filled UFOs, purple wigs and pinhole contact lenses.

Who am I kidding. They'd probably remake it totally different. Well, maybe they'd keep the wigs.

Re:I'm still holding out

[zmollusc]

You forgot the string vests!

American Dr. Who fan

[DigitalSorceress]

Since I have no way of watching the BBC, and BBC America will probably never air it, and all my local PBS stations took it off the air years ago, my normal (personal) dislike of filesharing (I chose not to do it, but if others want to, I'm not going to bitch and moan) I'm hoping and praying that they snap to it on DVD releases.

Doctor Who has a worldwide market if the Beeb is smart enough to capitalize on it. I've got region free players, so I'll be happy to order the series direct from the UK the second it's available.

That being said, I would jump at the chance to watch even a crappy quality pre-production version just to whet my appetite. No amount of access to shared files will stop me from purchasing the DVDs from a legal source as soon as it's available. I don't think I'm the only one.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[91degrees]

No. You're not alone. Personally, I like it. I think it's an entertaining lighthearted Sci-fi. Some people like it, some people think it's stupid. Same goes for everything.

If you don't like it then you have your own tastes and opinions. This is a good thing, but a lot of nerds don't appreciate that people can have a perfectly valid opinions that are different from their own.

Wouldn't life be dull if we were all the same.

The great thing about a DL from the BBC . . . .

[Tetsugaku-San]

No adverts to edit out \o/

Re:The great thing about a DL from the BBC . . . .

[Pop69]

There are no adverts when it screens either, that's why all us UK people pay a TV licence fee (read Tax)

Re:The great thing about a DL from the BBC . . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

You missed the point. And also a full stop.

Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

"Or is it a minor problem for a corporation whose role is just to provide the public with entertainment?"

The role of a corporation is to make money for its shareholders. This always has been and always will be the case. Which one of these explanations explains your ignorant view of corporations?

1) You needed a flimsy excuse to rationalize theft.
2) You are an idealist, not a realist.
3) You're too dumb to know any better.

Re:Correction

[easter1916]

Visit the BBC website and read its charter. You're both off, you moreso than the original poster.

Re:Correction

[alex_ware]

THe bbc has to give the british public the best entertainment. If it fails to do so it loses the ability to charge liscence fees, and it would be impossible to give EVERYONE in the TV and radio world with news and television channels without adverts. They're possiblly the bigest ad free network in the world to not charge any subscribtion. (they do charge uk viewers £9 a month but that's a lscence fee not subscription )

Re:Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

What, you can say you don't watch the BBC and not pay the tax, and keep the TV?

Re:Correction

[alex_ware]

No, doing that is illegal.

Re:Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

But you said

If it fails to do so {give the british public the best entertainment} it loses the ability to charge liscence fees, and it would be impossible to give EVERYONE in the TV and radio world with news and television channels without adverts.

How would it lose the ability to charge license fees if the fee is based on television ownership/use if you can't ditch the BBC all together. The choice is TV with fee or no TV with fee. You can't go SkyOne and select NO BBC AFAIK.

Re:Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

Regardless, evading the license fee is STEALING. If everyone did it, then the BBC would no longer be able to afford to operate ad-free.

Of course I do!

[ggvaidya]

100,000,000 Romanian Leu! :D

What no torrent?

[hairykrishna]

Come on guys, you're slacking. Where's the .torrent? You know you want to...

Re:What no torrent?

[hairykrishna]

There's one on torrentspy.com if anyone wants it.

No more pinball

[spud603]

Nope.
Pinball is officially dead. Williams stopped producing it, as well as the other manufacturer (who's name slips my memory right now). If anybody's still making machines, it's Sega, but Sega's machines are shoddy and almost always broken.
There's just not a market for games that require maintenance anymore... Sad but true.

Re:No more pinball

[Anonymous Coward]

Sterns still makes pinball machines. Sopranos is the latest, along with an Elvis, The Simpson's and The Lord of the Rings.

Re:No more pinball

[SydShamino]

As our Anonymous Coward friend says, STERN Pinball is still producing games. You are correct that Williams, who was the only one at the time, shut down. Since then, though, others have stepped up. Illinois Pinball Company (which doesn't appear to have a website) bought the rights to all the WMS games, and supposedly plans to rerelease some of them at some point.

Re:No more pinball

[kgbspy]

If you install Virtual Pinball, as well as the VPinMAME ROM emulator, you can play a near perfect reproduction of the Doctor Who machine (which I agree is one of the best pinball machines ever made), as well as many, many other great tables. I last installed this a few years ago, and it's a bit of a pain to get up and running, but it's worth the trouble for the nostalgia value. I believe that these days it's a bit easier to install, and everything you need should either be hosted at the above site, or linked from there.

Re:No more pinball

[Anonymous Coward]

They're planning on releasing Capcom's "Big Bang Bar" later this year. Price is what you'd expect for a new game, and supposedly the gameplay is awesome. A friend owns a Capcom (Pinball Magic) and loves it, since it's really well designed, maintenance-wise.

Re:No more pinball

[spud603]

As our Anonymous Coward friend says, STERN Pinball is still producing games. You are correct that Williams, who was the only one at the time, shut down. Since then, though, others have stepped up. Illinois Pinball Company (which doesn't appear to have a website) bought the rights to all the WMS games, and supposedly plans to rerelease some of them at some point.

That's the best news I've heard in a long time, thanks!

Re:In Canada... (no not like in Korea)

[markdowling]

I think CBC were running advertising for it last night during Harry Potter.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

Another Dr Who theme cover (kind of) is in the Pink Floyd song _One of These Days_.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[Dogtanian]

The theme song was good though. Especially when Orbital covered it.

If it ain't Delia Derbyshire or Peter Howell, it ain't worth shit.

Seriously, I don't see the deal with Orbital's version; it's nothing special. Better than the techno version they plastered on that "Children in Need" monstrosity, though.

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[DRWeasle]

Yes! You are alone. It is a pitiful life you must be leading.

well lets see:

[Nik Picker]

im a tax payer ( well i pay the license fee for BBC TV ) so technically ive already paid for the Beeb to produce this. I wonder how it can be convulted to prove that if I download it then im not infringing copywrite !

Re:well lets see:

[gl4ss]

well.. isn't bbc working out a way to spread it's programming on the net by themselfs?(dirac)

Re:well lets see:

[mjmartin_uk]

Not dirac, what you're talking about is the BBC iMP (interactive Media Player): http://www.bbc.co.uk/imp/

Or edonkey network

[nostromo.operator]

I found it in less than 5 seconds. and it's already starting to download... at 0b/s. -BUT STILL! 19 people have it as of now and at 30% complete. yay.

Re:How about a less effeminate male actor?

[grub]

Look at the bright side, they could have hired Lemmy.

Could help, could hurt depending on...

[Blitzenn]

It could help their ratings, or it could hurt. It really depends on the episodes ability to stand on it's own. If it's a good episode and brings some new things to the table, it will get some good word of mouth amongst those who care. If it is a slop-shod episode, that brings nothing new to the table and is a thin attempt to reskin an old episode, then it will get bad word of mouth.

The risk because of the leak is great. I cannot believe it was intentional due to this; If the episode is good, word of mouth will be good and it will travel through the ranks of Dr. Who fans. It probably won't do a thing to add viewers, because people who don't already watch it, are not going to care, as they never had interest before, and probably won't until it hits the screen. A bad review from the leak, will cause fans to knock the show, and drive anyone who might have watched it to not watch it and hurt viewership.

In short, leaking is never very good. The damage can be great whereas the potential good that can come from it is extremely small. No one cares about good news, unless it is something that they care about to begin with. Everyone loves to hear bad news. Fact of life. That's why the evening news is nearly 100% bad news.

Re:Could help, could hurt depending on...

[arkhan_jg]

Well, just the fact there's been a leak of the first episode is sufficiently big news that I've now heard about the new series (which I hadn't up to now). I'm not a huge Dr Who fan, but given the lack of decent TV these days, I'm willing to give it a shot.

Now I know when it's going to be broadcast, and I may well see the first episode before it airs - and mythtv the series as a result.

So this is one set of eyeballs that they probably wouldn't have got simply because of the extra advertising about the new series, because of the leak.

I know of at least three other people who'd probably be interested, but may also may well not have heard about the new series. They've not exactly been advertising it so far...

Re:Could help, could hurt depending on...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but the show distinctly doesn't suck. In fact, it's good. Very good. As in "move to the UK to watch the damn series" good.

Well, OK, maybe not quite that good, but it's a close call...

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[praedictus]

I prefer the Skinny Puppy one myself... Good fraggin' music. I want to ... Annihilate

All I've got to say is....

[Anonymous Coward]

Dr Whoooo! Hey! Dr Who!
Dr Whoooo! Hey! The TARDIS!

Oh come on

[FranTaylor]

If people like it, they will watch it. If they don't like it, they won't. Is the whole family gonna huddle in front of the computer to watch it? No, they will wait until it's on TV and watch it there. If someone downloads the show and watches it and likes it, they will watch it again when it's on TV. And they might just drag a few more eyeballs to the TV with them. Content producers need to stop obsessing over the control of their content and pay more attention to the quality of the content. Good stuff will be successful, and bad stuff will sink into oblivion. DRM, copy protection, broadcast flags or whatever else that gets in the way, just throws a big wet blanket over the whole process.

Re:How about a less effeminate male actor?

[easter1916]

Best concert I ever saw was Motorhead at an ornate, luxurious Opera House/theatre in Munich, Germany, in the early 1990s. Can't remember the venue name now, but it was a gorgeous building. Anyway, I wasn't much of a metal/hard rock fan or anything back then, but scored the ticket via a friend of a friend, went along expecting to be bored and was absolutely blown away!!! Superb band.

Re:How about a less effeminate male actor?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's the removal of the human genetic material that was inserted into an interim regeneration by the Master in an attempt to falsify a key to the black hole. Got rid of all his butchness.

torrent link.

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.torrentspy.com/search.asp?mode=torrentd etails&id=184585 -without the karma whoring

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[Thud457]

Actually, I've wondered why SF has to be so realistic. What's wrong with having sets like a in a play, as long as they set the appropriate mood? Gives Dr Who / Blake's 7 / ST:TOS a whole new aspect. Hmmmm.... "Dr Who live", "Star Trek on ice"!

Birds of a Feather

[eno2001]

I have loved Doctor Who since I first saw Tom Baker back in 1976. When the local PBS affiliate ran the series starting with the first doctor all the way through to Sylvester McCoy (seventh doctor), I watched and recorded every episode. I still have those VHS tapes and plan on tranferring them to MPEG format on muptiple HDs for archival purposes. It was a great series that illustrated that using your brain is much better than using force. Interestingly enough, nearly every person I made friends with along the way has liked Doctor Who. So I guess it's "birds of a feather". I would also highly recommend the series "Jonathan Creek" for people who like a central character that prefers to use their smarts instead of flexing their muscles.

They've done a James Bond

[jago25_98]

And decided to give him a haircut so eccentric ...

I wouldn't the actor stepping into those shoes :D

Re:How about a less effeminate male actor?

[grub]

Motorhead has been through my city 4 times in the past 23 years. They rule. And their 5th visit will be April 22, 2005! My girlfriend is coming along. She's gonna be sorry. ;)

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[xmuskrat]

You rock.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[Anonymous Coward]

As funny as typing out the /. URL Now everyone together:
h t t p colon slash slash slash dot dot org.
The first time: "ha ha", the twentieth time: "what the hell were we thinking?"

Counterargument: The Office

[SuperKendall]

If Yanks don't like British shows, then how come so many people I know like The Office?

Dropping this show just illustrates how mindless the Sci Fi channel is. They lucked out with Battlestar Galactica.

Re:Counterargument: The Office

[mink]

Bad news, there is an American version of The Office being made.

Frankly they would have been better off making an Office Space TV series.

Irresponsible Behaviour

[Anonymous Coward]

It is exactly this sort of irresponsible behaviour that led to time travel in the first place.

Anyway I have patented copyright infringement so I will being suing all you pirates for infringing my intellectual property.

Of course the episode leaked...

[Gruneun]

The plot was full of holes.

Bah-dum Dum!

Starting Saturday 26th

[xiox]

For those fans in the UK: apparently (after listening to Front Row) the first episode will show on TV on Saturday 26th March. Looking forward to it...

I'd better go and buy a sofa so I'll have something to hide behind if Davros appears...

Re:it's on emule

[Anonymous Coward]

Drwho 27x01 Rose Prebroadcast Divx5.avi

according to search.

SO most of us will be able to find it.

I bet it will also be on the torrent sites

sans clothing

[Anonymous Coward]

For crying out loud, this is the internet; not edition of People magazine! Get with the program.

nipple slip
topless sunbathing
another angle topless

GOOD!

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it'll bring some life and humor back to SciFi.

BattleStar Galactica seems to have boiled down to a bunch of humorless people playing "who's the bloody Cylon?". Boring!

Stargate has gotten stale. Following the same formula and pushing the big Trek Reset Switch every so often. Don't get me started on Atlantis.

del.icio.us for the torrent

[VC]

As always delicious has the torrent.

http://del.icio.us/tag/bittorrent

This post does not violate the DMCA because im not linking to the torrent. And im in europe.

Doctor Who in Canada.

[Dzimas]

CBC was the first international network to license the new Dr. Who series - this was announced last October. The series starts on Tuesday April 5th, at 8pm in most time zones. I'm very impressed - that's only a few days behind the UK broadcast schedule. Its been so many years since I the heyday of Tom Baker - http://www.tombaker.tv/ - Let's hope the next 13 episodes are worth watching!

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[HTH NE1]

Publically funded through the television license at, what is it, 100 pounds a year?

Maybe they're leaking it to help make the case for establishing a new computer tax as people are able to watch license-funded TV without paying the TV license.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[Nik Picker]

Knock KNock !
whose there ?
Dr !
Dr Who ?
Wow, how did you guess !

below 35

[__aahlyu4518]

speaking for all us youngsters :

Dr..... WHO?

Re:How about a less effeminate male actor?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, don't bother.

Saw them in 1990~ish Melbourne, AU. Great. Didn't hear anything for a week. I think I lost 10% of my hearing forever ... and I was down the back.

Last year at Rock-Am-Ring (http://www.rockamring.de/), Lemmy was a shell of a man. If Ozzy is the most wasted man in Rock and Roll, Lemmy is a very close second.

I was just hoping he could get it together to belt out Ace of Spades at the end. That was a major dissappointment. Lemmy never came close to planet earth.

Since no stations in the USA are picking this up

[TheDoctorWho]

Feel free to download it to your PC till someone chooses this series over a show like Mansquito.

Re:How about a less effeminate male actor?

[Anonymous Coward]

Will see Motorhead again when they play my town in a couple of weeks. They're so fucking loud and Lemmy is god!@

Re:Dr. Who sucks

[minvaren]

Surprised noone's chimed in with the KLF^WTimelords' version of "Doctorin' the Tardis." The video is.... amusing...

BBC America, maybe?

[tim1724]

With any luck, BBC America will decide to show it. While I wouldn't mind having it on PBS, I'd rather have it on BBC America so I don't have to worry about whether or not any of my local stations pick it up. (Although I'm pretty sure KCET would, as they showed it for at least a decade when I was growing up.)

If anyone else wants to see BBC America show Dr. Who, go fill out this form on their site and let them know that you want to see it!

For the love of Derbyshire

[ettlz]

What's the theme-tune like?

Re:For the love of Derbyshire

[mark-t]

It was like this...

Ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm Ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm

ooooo eeeee ooooooooo (Ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm ba-da-da-dumm) eeeee ooooooooo

dummmmm dummmm dummmmm daaaaaaah ta-dummmmm daa-daa-daa dummmmmmmm....

Re:For the love of Derbyshire

[cranos]

Damn and me without my mod points

Re:For the love of Derbyshire

[Anonymous Coward]

thank you sir, I made sure to add this to my sub titles

Re:For the love of Derbyshire

[epexegesis]

Excellent call on the subject there, I'm assuming a reference to Delia Derbyshire from the BBC radiophonic workshop? Apparently had the longest tape loop seen till then for the background loop. Out of the room and back down the corridor.

For people who don't know, go here for more information. There was a good program on BBC Radio4 a while back, she sounded like a great person.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[Anonymous Coward]

What's on first?

Wrong again Dalek Breath....

[Anonymous Coward]

Full CGI and looks pretty good. Full open/close credits Full music and theme and the story is all there... the episodes are only going to BE 45 minutes, so it looks pretty fished to me. I suppose they could replace some of the music, but nothing sounds like a temp track to me.

Not an intentional leak.

[Concrete Nomad]

Gabbo..GABBO..GABBO!!! Or Gump Happens. I doubt this was an intentional leak. The name of the game is anticipation not giving it up 3 weeks before the start date.

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[Anonymous Coward]

It's Like a Koala Bear Crapped a Rainbow in my Brain!

As it says on the stickers I slap on changing tables in restrooms all over this great land ...

KOALAS ARE NOT BEARS

Will they make the same mistake as The X Files?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are the writers and producers going to pander to the ultra-vocal female contingent which demands romance at every turn, at the huge expense of the SF elements? Hopefully not.

The X-Files gayed out near the end due to women viewers shrieking about the Mulder-Scully Romance. The more they did, the more the producers skewed things towards that 'demographic' (those women actually enjoy watching commercials) and the conspiracy aspects of the show began to fade away in favor of 'Love FBI Style'.

Will they do the same shit with Dr. Who? Here's hoping they don't.

You may joke, but...

[lxt]

...there actually have been Doctor Who stage shows. Amateur things, but scripts do exist (I remember one way back about 20 years ago)...

Re:You may joke, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Furthermore, I've seen Star Trek on Ice... Paramount's Great America used to have this ice skating show to various Paramount movie properties.. including Star Trek. >shudder

Come on indeed

[Anonymous Coward]

"good advertising is hyping something up and not letting anybody peek behind the curtain....
The XFL ... was an example of excellent advertising. The premiere had amazing ratings just because nobody knew what to expect,"

The XFL must have been thinking about your rule of "good advertising" when they decided not to leak a game before the season started.

Seriously, come on indeed. As cycnical as I am about marketing and such, it is ridiculous to make a simplistic blanket statement about what defines good advertising. Furthermore, it is obvious that "leaks" can be used effectively for publicity. This is self evident.

Never been suckered in to watch a movie, only to find you've already seen all the good scenes in the trailers?

AC

Intentional Leaks Are Different

[buckhead_buddy]

The leak might help the publicity of the show, but don't think for a moment that this was intentional. My bet is that if it were a calculated publicity stunt would not have been a complete copy of the show. For example ...

"Someone got hold of the first 16 minutes of the new Doctor Who and made it available on the internet. If you're dying to know what the new show is like, take a look! But be warned, they weren't able to snag the ending so it will definitely leave you hanging just before a critical point in the story. If it seems intriguing, you'll definitely want to watch it when it's broadcast."

this will certainly boost ratings

[jeff munkyfaces]

but if it turns out to be any good.

the internet is a harsh critic.

Re:this will certainly boost ratings

[mightymik2]

This will just whet everyone's appitite for Dr Who. It's been a while since we in the US have seen any episode, let alone a new one. This will just prepare the fanbase here. Will the BBC blow it by not making a reasonable off to the US market remains to be seen. Will this air on BBC America? Will it be offered to PBS stations? Ahem...this episode did not get off to a roaring start, but it does rate a 'let's see what happens over the next few episodes'.IMHO only. There is one aspect of the new series i don't like, but that'd spoil it for others.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Who's on first?

New Who?

[_Griphin_]

Well I just watched it, and yes it is complete. I think for the first time they just introduced the Doctor without the usual metamorphis when they go from one doctor to the new guy, where is the fun in that?!? I can't wait for more episodes, unfortunately I'm gonna have to download them because no TV stations here will carry the new series. :( Yep, F/X are as cheesy as they've always been, but you watch it for the story more then the effects right?!?

Re:People who liked it didn't just watch once anyw

[Cpt_Kirks]

Maybe not, but they are every bit as tasty as bears.

Will we have another Metallica?

[Khyber]

Metallica attributed their mass success to bootleggers back in the days. Then in later decades they turned on their own fanbase and those responsible for their rise to stardom by selling out and suing. This brings to mind what would happen if this bootlegging was indeed the cause of the Dr. Who success, and if the media company would eventually turn on the bootleggers, regardless of their role in the success of the series or not? For some reason, I find it very likely this will happen.

Re:Will we have another Metallica?

[_Griphin_]

People have been taping and trading the Who episodes for quite a number of years without the Who empire going under, so I doubt they care about people downloading episodes.

Re:Will we have another Metallica?

[mink]

In fact early tapers are the only reason we have some of the old episodes that were otherwise purged.

Typical slashdot fuzzy reasoning...

[Thud457]

"Son of a bitch" and "bastard" are not mutually exclusive categories. Although I'm not sure if "bastard" is strictly applicable to dogs, since the majority that aren't owned by crazy old ladies aren't married.

It Rocks!!!

[akshunj]

It's awesome!!! The Doctor is back and Chris Eggleston is BRILLIANT!

--Akshun J

The Boston Strangler Is My Mailman

[King Fuckstain]

"If the original source is pre-broadcast then the quality could easily be higher than any off air source."

Yes, it could be. What's your point?

If the original source is pre-broadcast then the quality could easily be much lower if it was encoded by someone who didn't know what they were doing. Your comment was completely irrelevant to what I was talking about. Please don't ever reply to anything I have written ever again. It does not appear that you have the intelligence to have a conversation with me. God Bless.

Re:The Boston Strangler Is My Mailman

[mpe]

If the original source is pre-broadcast then the quality could easily be much lower if it was encoded by someone who didn't know what they were doing.

All things being equal an encode taken from a broadcast receiver would be equally likely to be of low quality.
However all things are not equal. Since the people who would have access to television programmes prior to broadcast are more likely to know what they are doing.
Even if J Random Viewer has the same skill level as a broadcast engineer they have source material which has been mangled (in the case of some CATV systems mangled more than once) as a side effect of being broadcast.

How'd they get it early?

[JadeNB]

Someone got hold of the Tardis ....

Unless TV in the UK has changed since I was there

[Dunbal]

will this TV show's release onto the Internet damage the ratings considerably for the BBC?

Or will the BBC, being a government funded media not dependent on ad revenue, even care about ratings?

French prepositions will make you sound classy

[Anonymous Coward]

Sans clothing... Yes, a good way to add some class to your repertoire (see!) when linking to pornography is to mask it, as do the French to their odor, with the French language.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[the phantom]

No, what's on second... Who's on first.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[the phantom]

Right.

3 Weeks... :(

[Gamzarme]

Ah man. I'd take me about 3 weeks to download the movie file...taking into consideration my 26.4 kbps dial-up connection. By then the series will probably be over anyway.

Great Doctor Who Guide - ABOUT TIME

[RDFozz]

If you're a long-time Who fan, I recommend the ABOUT TIME series of Dr. Who unauthorized guides. Volumes 3 and 4 are currently available, covering the Pertwee era, and all but the last Tom Baker season. Volume 5, covering the end of Tom Baker and the Davison era, should be out this month.

Authors are Lawrence Mills (who's written Who novels, and I believe is the driving force behind Faction Paradox, a Who novel spin-off (sort of....), and Tat Wood.

I have a hard time putting the thing down. It doesn't recap the stories extensively, but it does provide a reminder as to which story is being discussed; details on what we learned about the Doctor, his companions, his people, and various planets and aliens; things to watch for (one for each episode of the story); and the cliffhangers.

In addition, there are sidebars discussing a wide variety of topics; "Things that don't make sense"; an analysis of what the story had to say about current events, and why it might have been written; and (certainly not least) lore, facts of interest regarding the goings on behind the scenes of the series. For example, evidently John Leeson (the voice of K-9) came in for practice and participated by crawling around the floor on all fours; Tom Baker really thought the show would be better without companions at all (although he evidently got along very well w/ Leeson, and presumably got along well w/ Lalla Ward (Romana II) at some point, since they were married....); and Mary Tamm (Romana I) got involved through her college roommate Louise Jameson (Leela).

I highly recommend the books. The production values aren't great (they're paperbacks, the covers are basically laminated, and the lamination is starting to come apart on mine), but the contents more than make up for that.

VPinball Glitch

[Thedalek]

Well, somewhat near perfect. I keep getting an odd error which causes the elevating platform to be stuck in the "up" position, with the Davros target glitched, and all three Dalek gates glued shut. Everything else works fine, but that blasted platform randomly goes kaput.

And I still haven't figured out exactly what causes the "Transmat Oops" payoff. Sometimes, when you hit the Transmat target, instead of getting a new doctor, the display briefly shows the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) morph into a cow. The bonus is called "Transmat Oops" and it remains a mystery even to those who are obsessive about such things.

Re:VPinball Glitch

[kgbspy]

I had a go at editing the table parameters (way back when...), so it might not be that hard to fix. Although admittedly it was to do little more than make the flippers a bit bigger..... I almost bought a Doctor Who pinball machine at an auction once. Just missed out on it, much to my disappointment...

Very British, but very fun! LOVED it!!

[Aquafinaholic]

I was a little surprised that the episode isn't like some Hollywood blockbuster movie, and isn't a complete "re-imagining" like BSG. This was just a fun romp, that sort of reminded me of Shaun of the Dead in it's tone. Yet still traditional enough to be Doctor Who as it always was - a fun show that doesn't take itself as seriously as some of the other sci-fi TV shows. There's plenty of them already. Doctor Who offers something different.

Re:it's on usenet - LOVED it!!

[Aquafinaholic]

I had to watch it, couldn't resist. It was so much fun! Can't wait for the rest of the series!

Brit Stuff

[GimliGloin]

I hate Most Brit comedy. I can't understand what the heck they are saying half the time. But Dr. Who was a TRULY awesome show. REALLY REALLY bad FX but really creative and interesting SCI-FI plots sprinkled with a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor (at least thats the way I see it).

GSG

Bittorrent Sucks

[J Arcane]

So, how about some people start sharing it on a proper P2P network like Gnutella, eh? Nobody has USENET feeds anymore, and Bittorrent is terrible for both speed, and security. And unlike a Torrent site, you can't easily shut down Gnutella.

For the love of Theme music

[David Rolfe]

Orbital made an awesome awesome awesome super great cover of The Theme on their next to last record -- "The Altogether"; It's track seven.

That track will give you religion, as you must be a fan.

Re:For the love of Theme music

[ettlz]

Oh, but you can't beat the Timelords'/KLF's/JAMM's offering.

Re:For the love of Theme music

[mink]

Sure you can. As much as I like "Doctor'in the Tardis" all they did was rip off "Rock and Roll Part II" then add some Dr. Who samples and lyrics.

What a waste of a franchise.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just saw it, (20min download via bittorrent). What a complete and utter waste of good thing. The original series wasn't much to poke a stick at, but each of the Doctors where charismatic, (in particular Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee - which were the best of all of them). This new Doctor is really hopeless, trying to immitate a Tom Baker and doing a stupid job of it.
Not too mention the story line and the scripting. It really does feel like they just transported the original script writers and directors in the tardis to continue the series.
And why the 30minute start? WTF? Why not a 2 hour start - give it a bit of depth, and each episode 1 hour. This is the norm for any decent episodical. This was one of the problems with the original series - 30minutes is too short and you can't build any depth to a story.
A real shame....

Anne Landers Is My Neighbor

[King Fuckstain]

WHAT THE FUCK??? YOU'RE A FUCKING MORON! What you're rambling on about has fuck-all to do with what my goddamned point was. What the fuck is your problem asshole?

Oh, I know. You think you're smart and you've got this knowledge about media and so you've got to demonstrate it - even though it doesn't have any place here. Go fucking kill yourself asshole.

Oh, so you've seen it, then?

[Shaper_pmp]

Oh, so you've seen it, then?

Crap. Utter crap.

The plot is dire, lacking even quality Dr Who campness. The acting is awful (and Christopher Eccleston at least should have been capable of better). The dialogue is stilted and largely irrelevant to the actual plot (such as it is), and to top it all off the entire episode looks like it was made on a budget of about £12.50.

And apart from all the generically dire aspects of it, it looks like they've tried to make it so "English" that it just ends up being a caricature of itself. London bus? Check. Thick regional accents? Check. Prominent london landmarks every five seonds? Check. Jesus...

I never, ever thought I'd find myself saying this, but I actually enjoyed the dire americanised Dr Who "Special" (special... in the same way a turd in the bed isn't mundane) more. Sure, it completely dispensed with the Dr Who universe almost in its entirety, the Doctor is half-human, and even snogs his assistant, but at least by pretending it wasn't Dr Who you could derive some vague enjoyment out of it.

If this was on at 16:00 on after-school kids TV, it'd be fantastic. As anything else, it dies on its Gallifreyan arse.

a friend of a friend of a friend....

[StormKrow]

...has the first episode. I saw it. :-D I liked it :-D I've gotta say, it hasn't lost that "campy" ad-hoc props department feel, but now we have the magic of digital film editing, so it looks much much better. So for all you old fans, you'll see some refreshing memories of the old, and the yet-to-be fans, it's not so 'cheap' that you won't want to watch it. (The sonic screwdriver finally has more than silly little sound, it has pretty light effects now too..hehe). 9th Dr. I like him. He's no Tom Baker....but he's right up there with him, (and this is just the first episode). I think the fans are really gonna like the new Doc....(I do, and I've seen every episode made, even the hokey Hollywood Peter Cushing Dr.Who movies) This new Dr. is very loveable, but he's got a sharper edge that I like, (if I were writing and casting for Dr. Who, Christopher Eccelston is very close to what I would've cast for.) He's new, he's hip, he's funny, and like all the Dr's (except Mr. Grumpy-pants Doc #1..)...he rushes from thought to thought like he can't spew them out fast enough. Christopher Eccelston, did a little research on him. Not only has he been in a few feature films, but he's done a lot of theatre. I expect good things to come from him. Billie Piper...*drOOOooooOOOL*...first thing that comes to mind, "Come to Butt-head". She's a hawtie. Not a dingy broad like some of the other Doc side-kicks. She's somewhere between her "supermodel look" days and her "superchuck look" days in body type. The hot girl next door look who looks like she might actually be a real live person and doesn't sit over the toilet with her finger down her throat..."*BARRRRF*.....am I pretty yet?"... I'm no Fanboi, but this is a show worth grabbing in the States, so start writing letters to your local PBS stations, Sci-Fi channel, anyone else think of, I think it'll be worth your time.

Re:a friend of a friend of a friend....

[whovian]

Just finished watching it. I think it's a hit. It really takes over at moderization where McGann's Doctor left off.

It was odd how they had Rose waking up in the morning with her make-up already done ... but I won't complain, Billie is teh hawt.

Re:Obligatory Joke

[elmo13]

Even better:

Knock knock!
Who's there?
Dr Who
Dr Who who?
Yeah!

Looks really bad

[SuperKendall]

I've seen the previews and they look terrible - I think people would prefer the Britsih versions if given a chance. But a lot of people will probably not see them...