Online Doctor Who Documentary

mikey writes "There's an online documentary called Planet of the Doctor about the influence of Doctor Who. It's put out by the CBC and it's got some decent interviews with original producers, writers, and cast as well as fans and others. So far, it's been very entertaining and informative. They've got four episodes out with another couple to come. If you're a Doctor Who fan (or even a generic Sci-Fi fan) it's worth checking out."

Comments

Another Doctor Who documentary to check out

[Black Art]

Another documentary to check out is Doctor Who Confidential broadcast by BBC 3. It is a 13 part half-hour documentary series on the Doctor, past and present. It can be viewed on the BBC web site in Real Movie format or can be found on various file sharing networks in a larger and more viewable format.

So far I have seen nothing from the BBC on releasing the series on DVD. I hope they will. It has been quite good so far. (At this date, 11 of the 13 episodes have aired.)

Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out

[Anonymous Coward]

In the UK, they are all being released immediately. In fact, the first half of the season has already been released.

In the US, no luck so far besides BitTorrent.

I don't like violating the copyright on most TV series, but I feel that Doctor Who is special - the BBC deliberately destroyed most of the older episodes to make room in their archives, and most of that content only exists now because people violated their copyright or otherwise illegitimately acquired the film. The BBC actually had to go out and hunt illegitimate copies down in order to make the DVDs that they're now selling.

Kinda ironic, doncha think?

Re:Another Doctor Who documentary to check out

[Black Art]

The new season of Doctor Who is starting to come out on DVD in the UK. Doctor Who Confidential is not.

Amazon.co.uk will ship to the US. Due to the crashing value of the dollar, it is pretty expensive. (I have spend a lot of money buying region 2 dvds from them.)

You need to have a player that can disable region codes, as well as play PAL format. The Coby DVD-224 is my current favorite. It will play RCE discs on the region free setting without intervention. Some versions can also disable Macrovision. All available through a "secret" menu. Plays everything I have tried on it. Costs about $40 on sale. Lacks video passthru, but has pretty much everything else.

I've never seen Dr. Who

[kingofalaska]

I thought it might be something else, but when I got to the site all I got were Volkswagon ads.

Am I alone in being turned off by excessive commercialism? For example, the latest Star Wars offering may be entertaining, but with all the tie-ins, from Pepsi to fast foods to Saturday morning cereal advertisements aimed at children, to my formerly-favorite candy M&M's (for which I almost went to jail over once-don't ask), coupled with all the astroturfing...well the stench of desperation is turning my appetite off. And that's just one example.

I'm ready for a revolution. Tear it all down and start fresh, or at least, let the writing and acting stand on its own.

KOA

Re:I've never seen Dr. Who

[zakezuke]

Am I alone in being turned off by excessive commercialism?

Part of the reason I enjoyed Doctor Who in the first place was it was produced by the BBC, non-commercial television, and shown in America on PBS, non-commercial television. To answer your question you are not the only one turned off by seeing VW every time you see a CBC Who reference.

If you are trully interested in the subject see http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/
No commercials, no Volkswagons.

Re:I've never seen Dr. Who

[meringuoid]

to my formerly-favorite candy M&M's (for which I almost went to jail over once-don't ask)

M&Ms get you into trouble. Jelly Babies, on the other hand, will always get you out of trouble.

Keeping a recorder, a totally ridiculous scarf and/or a sonic screwdriver handy is also a good idea.

Re:Anyone got a torrent?

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out Demonoid, it has several metric tonnes of Doctor Who, old and new.

Check out the TV Tome Episode Guide for the First 26 seasons and the movie and the 27th season to know what you're getting... recent episodes will probably be easier to stomach, older ones (back to 1963!) are very poor duplications of black and white episodes.

Starting with the newest season, the 27th, is a good idea since the show has been on hiatus for about 15 years and the new ones don't assume any background knowledge.

Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen

[zakezuke]

It has shown us that special effects ought to be well done instead of looking like a 2nd grade art contest.

Keep in mind it was slated to be a kid's show and was part of the kids department till 1989. In fact, I know I watched a documentary where in the 60s they had a contest who could create the most scarry monster. Strangely enough the results of turning over the design department to a bunch of 2nd grade students worked rather well and I, a Doctor Who fan, wouldn't have noticed the difference.

Re:This documentary brought to you by Volkswagen

[Goth Biker Babe]

How has Dr. Who changed the face of television?

Apart from being the longest running TV science fiction series I wouldn't know.

It shows us that British actors can only employ ironic humor.

I'm surprised that, from that side of the pond, you know what irony is. I always thought you lot thought it was like silvery but harder.

Everyone likes things and dislikes things. So you dislike Dr Who. That's your prerogative. But good public television has to suit all tastes. I am currently off of work due to a bad chest infection and I am spending most of my time in bed. Yesterday I watched a program on how Bernard Herman, the film composer, changed the face of classical composing; poets talking about other poets work; Drake's defeat of the Spanish Armada; Turner Landscapes at the National Gallery; and The Professionals which is enjoyable seventies secret agent bunkum all courtesy of free broadcasting (none of which were on the BBC).

Put on the shows to draw in the public and then the advertising sold can pay for the 'culture'.

Download links

[wormeyman]

http://www.cbc.ca/planetofthedoctor/videos/planeto fthedoctor_partone.mov http://www.cbc.ca/planetofthedoctor/videos/planeto fthedoctor_parttwo.mov http://www.cbc.ca/planetofthedoctor/videos/planeto fthedoctor_9doctors.mov http://www.cbc.ca/planetofthedoctor/videos/planeto fthedoctor_partthree.mov http://www.cbc.ca/planetofthedoctor/videos/planeto fthedoctor_partfour.mov Enjoy i'm sure a torrent would be a good idea.

IGNORE PARENT

[Anonymous Coward]

Doctor Who Confidential cannot be released on DVD: too much unclearable music in the montages. THIS IS IN THEIR FAQ.

The BBC never deliberately trashed the archives in 1974: they thought there were copies at another site.

None of the DVDs in release (old or classic series) are from off-air broadcasts (except some easter eggs).

Re:IGNORE PARENT

[koogydelbbog]

> The BBC never deliberately trashed the archives in 1974: they thought there were copies at another site.

i think he's talking about the fact that they used to re-use the (expensive at the time) tapes for other, "more important" things like football matches and horse races. the first series of Quatermass went the same way.

ah, would appear that you're both right:
http://www.answers.com/topic/dr-who#wp-Missing_epi sodes

it's a shame either way.

Re:IGNORE PARENT

[jd]

The person who did the trashing (forget her name - she wasn't a memorable person anyway) didn't have permission to do the trashing, trashed episodes without checking to see what was being trashed (only B/W stories were on the list, but color stories were destroyed by "mistake" as well), and there is no evidence that they believed the stories kept elsewhere. The evidence to date suggests that they were clearing space because their main site had been declared a fire hazard, and B/W stories were deemed of no value.

(Which is why "select" stories were kept. If they had truly believed they were only eliminating redundancy, they would have eliminated it all. The evidence is that they kept stories of "special significance", indicating damn well that they knew no such archives existed elsewhere.)

Re:IGNORE PARENT

[jd]

Oh, and a few other points. Pirate copies were also made by TV studios, which is why we have copies of some of the rarer stories. And any copy kept by a TV station after broadcast was considered illicit, which means that the recovered Tomb of the Cybermen was an illegal copy at that time.

Secondly, yes we DO have off-air recordings on DVD. Some of the grainier recordings used in recovered stories (I think Invasion may have been one of these) were fan recordings, which is why they are of such low quality. Good quality recordings are used where they exist, but they don't always exist.

And, to answer another troll, yes the BBC should damn well have been saved from its mistakes. First, the BBC is owned by the British Public, and the British Public wanted (and wants) those stories. Those who pay the piper call the tune.

We aren't talking about some namby-pamby private corp that can do what it likes in its own private dungeon. The BBC is public property, and answers to it.

New series lacks charm

[hfis]

Maybe I'm just looking at the old series through rose coloured glasses, but I much preffered it to the new one.

The new one is far too emotional for my liking (though bear in mind I've only seen 4 episodes of it). Far too much emphasis is placed on the girl, and I really wish BBC at least attempted to hide the mutual infatuation between the two.

Also, I find much of the impact that the original series had is lost though having 45min start-to-finish episodes. One of the best things about the old series was the great cliffhangers.

Anyone else share this opinion, or am I seeing something that isn't there?

Re:New series lacks charm

[Fross]

So why go to early 21st century London so often?

because this is where the series is grounded - it's where rose comes from, and it's where the viewer comes from. this isn't about pure escapism, it's about relating these outlandish situations to things people can understand.

having said that, it does sound like it's dumbed-down - it isn't. and the later episodes do go off galavanting around other times for a lot longer - in fact, around the double-episode in the middle of the series, it's quite a shock to go back to the 21st century.

the return to our time is also about continuity - without it, it would simply be "rose and the doctor and different things every week" - i for one feel the series gains from these extra characters, it helps flesh out the protagonists. some recurring other characters (no spoilers!) also help.

while i was one of the other many kids terrified by daleks and cybermen in the late 70s, looking back on them there is no denying the original series are crap. the laughable special effects aside, the plots are tenuous and the dialogue at times abysmal. these are all areas i think the new series has pulled away from and improved. it HAS kept the quirkiness of the doctor particularly well, it's going to be sad to see christopher ecclestone leave after just one series. it does, however, maintain the slightly patronising plot-explaination within almost every episode, where perhaps it could have been a little more subtle. but maybe they thought they'd alienate the american audience by doing that ;)

if you guys are only a few episodes in... KEEP WITH IT. the first few set the scene and illustrate the changes, and are a bit samey. they do improve, though, and start getting awesome around episode 6.

direct download links

[bani]

direct download links for convenience.

windows media:
part one
part two
part three
part four

apple quicktime:
part one
part two
part three
part four

and a pig pile of doggie poo on /.'s lameness filters.

Spoiler for 'Dalek' from new series

[meringuoid]

Why is the current Doctor *needy* and petty with an apparent infatuation with a 19 year old?

Possibly because the Time Lords have been exterminated. It seems that there was a Time War in which both the Time Lords and the Daleks were wiped out; the Doctor claims that this was his doing.

For eight whole lives the Doctor was the superior being, a Time Lord from Gallifrey, impressing the hell out of the lesser humans - but he never needed them. Now, though, there's no home to go to, no Gallifrey, no Time Lords, just him and the TARDIS. No wonder he's clingy with Rose: he's got nobody else now.

Re:BBC Dr Who

[jd]

A very rough guide to the different generations of Doctor Who, and the sorts of people who might find them appealing:

• William Hartnell - The "Original" Doctor!
  • His era was primarily intended to be educational. Someone else on Slashdot noted the lack of humor - well, this is humorless and intended to be that way. It'd deadly serious stuff, and usually on deadly serious subjects. Stories include:
  • Massacres in Revolutionary France
  • Stone-age tribes on the edge of starvation
  • An Aztec coup
  • The destruction of Rome at the hands of Nero
  • Dalek attempt to nuke the Thaals
  • Dalek attempt to hollow out Earth as a spaceship
  • Dalek attempt to use time disruptor to conquer galaxy
  • Dalek attempt to conquer time as well as space
  • Cybermen attempt to conquer Earth
  • Human colonists nearly get wiped out by disease they'd lost immunity to
  • Murderer wipes out alien civilization to cover tracks
  • Major civil war on planet controlled by insects
  • The destruction of Troy and the massacre of nearly everyone inside
• In general, this is great for fans who like "historical fantasy" (what would have happened, if...) and was actually used to teach history and scientific methods to younger students.

Patrick Troughton - the First Regeneration

• After William Hartnell became too ill to continue, they needed to either replace him or scrap the series. It was too popular to scrap, but he was too dominant and too unique to simply replace. So began the most creative plot device of all history... He injected humor into the series, was generally much lighter than Hartnell, and that had an appeal that made a big difference. It still had a lot of history and science, but was much more edutainment than either education OR entertainment, in the classic sense.
  • The Highlanders - Classic historical story, sadly lost (apart from the script and the soundtrack) but included gems such as Troughton pretending to be a medical doctor, bashing one guy's head on a table repeatedly and "diagnosing" the headache as a serious illness, the cure to which was to be locked in a closet.
  • Evil of The Daleks (at least one episode still exists, along with the soundtrack) - almost half was set in Victorian England and was extremely well-done period drama. With the addition of psychotic pepperpots. Mostly a story of greed, on the part of a Victorian alchemist who wanted the secret of transmutation, and on the part of the Daleks, who wanted the secret of how to eliminate fallibility. Ends up with a civil war on Skaro, between super-evil Daleks and "humanized" Daleks.
  • A race of super-pacifists is enslaved by mass-murdering Dominators...
  • Krutons - oops, Krotons - subjugate another planet by means of Weapons of Mass Destruction, periodic butchering of the more intelligent residents, and the prohibition of science. Now we know what President Bush has been watching...
  • One group decides to create a super-army, by creating a gigantic battlefield of easily brainwashed primitives from Earth...
  • The Mind Robber - Probably the very best of the lighter stories. A superb blend of folk stories, psychology and futuristic virtual reality, long before Star Trek's "Holodeck"...
  • The Invasion - Brilliant, but only partially complete and some of the recordings are in poor shape. A tale of high treason, an International spy ring, Cybermen and a female mathematician faster than Britain's (real-life) Carol Vordeman.
  • The Ice Warrior stories are darkly political, but have their light moments and plenty of unexpected twists.
  • Dystopia meets humor can also be found in The Macra Terror (only audio and a little video exists, sadly)
• Great for those who like humor, but also want some fairly meaty