On the Sofa 11

[WhoHar @whohar]

Anybody watched the Sea Devils spin off yet?

And, more importantly, is it any good?

We don’t have it down here so I can either wait until February or go looking for an unofficial version. Not sure it is worth the bother, so would be interested to know what people think.

[Devilishrobby @devilishrobby]

@whohar watched the first 2 episodes on Sunday, given that  to my knowledge the series is only 5  episodes long and appear to be 45 minuets long I thought they were a bit slow in progressing the story much to the point that I think for some it will be better to watch all the episode in a binge almost as a single film. Having said that the acting seems to be excellent. There’s an overly obvious ecological political theme running through the episodes I’ve seen so far. The effects are as you would expect from a collaborative Disney/BBC budget are superlative.

[WhoHar @whohar]

@devilishrobby

Much obliged. I think I’ll probably wait, as there is too much good stuff available right now, and coming up. Maybe if I get through my backlog over Christmas…

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@whohar @devilishrobby

Hope this doesn’t give too much away. Overall, yes watch it!

Positive:

Acting… though Russel Tovey does his best, Barclay the character could become annoying.

Theme… why ARE we specularly failing to control plastics?

Effects… those are great rubber suits! No really it’s fine and we’ll be watching that water flow down the big tube many time I’m sure (sigh)

Unsure:

Bit slow… the ‘naming’ thing takes up lots of verbage. Maybe there will be a point at which Barclay will actually ask ‘what do you call yourselves?

There seem to be some clumsy Checkhov guns yet to be let off. Not sure how RTD can stop the overall effect being quite silly

It’s the new UNIT with all that entails… but not all the Who interns, so far anyway.

The villains/antagonists and the conflicts among the humans tend to the cliched comic book level. The overall effect may also become quite silly.

We’re dealing with marine reptiles with retro evolved gills. I think there should be more of… ahem… a ‘barf’ factor. But maybe not all of Checkhov’s arsenal is deployed yet.

[Juniperfish @juniperfish]

Hello All, I’ve only watched one episode of The War Between the Land and the Sea so far, but it’s quite good.

Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Lethbridge Stewart continues to be very believable. You just know she comes from a family with an aga and the smell of wet dog in the kitchen in the morning.

The least believable bit is having a sane and functioning US administration (at least so far). Can you imagine the garbage Trump and his cronies would spout about “so monstrous, these fishy fish invaders” etc., but maybe that’s coming…

I’m not sorry the Disney partnership has ended however, despite the beautifully rendered Sea Devil outfits, as I would rather have extended storytelling and lower budget effects than incredible effects but hardly any time with the Doctor and companions, which is how Gatwa Doc’s run was, sadly, hobbled.

Got to do some work before I’m allowed to watch the next episode!

[WhoHar @whohar]

@ps1l0v3y0u @devilishrobby

The overall effect may also become quite silly.

That’s my concern, and that the whole thing will be clumsily preachy about the environment (rather than cleverly showing us the ways the planet is being destroyed.

@juniperfish

You just know she comes from a family with an aga and the smell of wet dog in the kitchen in the morning.

This is excellent

[janetteB @janetteb]

@ps1l0v3y0u I suspect the writers left because they were under paid, under appreciated and better jobs were on offer. also back in teh old days there wasn’t the love for the show that there is now and keeps writers like Moff and RTD on the hook. they grew up loving the show.

speaking of RTD, I was wondering if anyone has watched The War Between the Land and the Sea yet? Guardian gave it three stars but not a great review.

Meanwhile we are not doing our annual seasonal re watch of the Christmas Specials.Just watched what I refer to as “the giant stompy robot story”. I will be skipping the End of Time specials. Found them pretty unwatchable so now to some Moff christmassy goodness.

Cheers

Janette

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@janetteb

Yes, I suppose writers’ relationship with the show was different after the gap, because of the gap. But there are loyal writers who were apparently cast aside before. And writers who were obviously commissioned, delivered and slid away after; Maxine Alderton almost made the Fam and T’floox work for ooh 45 minutes or so. Where is she?

Is it a case of ‘try anything once’? Or ‘not working with that guy again,’ or ‘it’s a madhouse!’

Obviously I think in a madhouse, one writer is as good as any other and anyway it’s a kid’s show.

tWBtLatS… it’s not a disaster… yet. 3 out of 5 is about right. As opposed to the (anticipated) complaints about heavy handed eco virtue signalling, I am worried that there are good ideas here which will be sold short. It does have a hohum feeling but NOT a glazed eye feeling.

I do hope it’s not Stockton Rush who’s going to deliver Barclay to the abyssal plain.

Stompy Robot? Husbands of River Song? Only problem is the final freeze frame. Not sure if Michael is being taken. I can take End of Time. ‘I like you. I bet you’d taste great!’

 

 

 

[Juniperfish @juniperfish]

After seeing episode 2 I’m getting Shape of Water vibes. Tovey is going to boink the gender-fluid fish lady in the Mariana Trench, isn’t he.

[Derek Winters @winters3758]

I’ve enjoyed it so far. Not mind-blowing but solid telly

[ElleOhElle @elleohelle]

Hello! I’ve not yet seen the war between the land and the sea yet, though I also haven’t watched much of the UNIT series- once I saw this thread discussing it, I went to go check where I even could, and I can’t seem to find it streaming anywhere in the US. Does anyone happen to know a streaming service I could use to catch up on it? I’ve pretty much lost hope on finding somewhere to watch the actual DW series in any other way than buying the blurays secondhand. But it would be nice to be able to stream online. I had thought that UNIT was on Netflix, but apparently not, or at least not anymore. And apparently it’s not even on BritBox anymore too, so I’m a bit baffled as to how anybody is even watching it right now, honestly!

I must be missing something, right? Somebody please correct me! Good grief.

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@winters3758

Only watched as far as The Deep (ep 3) so far. Interested to see the various resolutions, if Russ manages that, because there’s a lot of tropes and peculiar soft sci fi genuflections which I’m sure can’t be all they seem to be. But by the time you read this, you’ll know.

It’s interesting that this longer form seems more successful than the ‘combined’ effect of the various episodes of the last two series. Though there were real short form triumphs there too. Whether this is down to a rush in writing and editing, or because Russ is now less in sympathy with an episodic structure I’m not sure. Cos he mastered it effortlessly before.

Some critics have been moaning about UNIT too. I recognise the issue and hope this is part of the same question of resolution. ie I think the world of ‘The War’ is distinct to the world we’ve been looking at in Who.

Does that make sense?

@elleohelle

Sorry, I watch ‘The War’ on I Player in Britain. Surely it’s on Disney+? Good luck. I think it’s worth watching.

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

Not on Disney+ until February apparently. Which tells it’s own story.

Happy people are enjoying it so far.

And hope you are all having an enjoyable festive period…

 

[ElleOhElle @elleohelle]

Huh, weird that it’s also so hard to access! Almost a conspiracy, I’d say… Jk, lol. But still, pretty frustrating. Ah well, I guess it’ll make it all the more exciting when it finally is available here! Based on the feedback I’ve seen, I’m definitely willing to wait for it.

Personally I don’t have any holidays to celebrate during this break, but hey, more time to catch up on the classic who episodes I can find on Tubi, etc! I hope everyone else is having a restful break or a happy holiday season, if you celebrate! Anyone else watching or catching up on any shows?

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

Well, I seem to have been absent for a while. Life…sometimes it gets in the way. Hello again to all (particularly @syzygy)

Was just re-watching the recent colourized   version of “The War Games”–the last Troughton story and the first that introduced the Time Lords. And what a problematic group of authoritarian guardians they are. No wonder the Doctor ran away.

The colourized version is done very well indeed. Except for the conclusion. But I will leave that for others who have seen it to comment on.

p.s. it is It is great to be back.

 

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@blenkinsopthebrave

I was quite excited by The Colourised War Games. Such an important story canonically, but 10 eps (250mins) was a bit long: the mad charging about, scenery chewing and interminable sonic screwdriver action, tedious. Nonetheless, the contraction to 90mins seemed too drastic. Two 1hr or 75 min films (The War Games and The Time Lords) might have worked better.

But… is the chief Time Lord played by Bernard Horsfall, none other than Goth? Where does 2 and Jamie’s (future) adventures with Androgums fit in? Was there an (unseen) bigeneration? If ‘War Chief’ can be said to translate as Raja… was that The Rani?

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

what if…

Was sitting with Mrs Blenkinsop–each of us with a glass of wine, discussing alternative directions Who might have taken (eg, imagine Doctor River Song…or Doctor Ruth..). But then we started talking about show runners, andMrs Blenkinsop came up with a brilliant insight….who has managed to kill off the show? First it was John Nathan Turner. And most recently, it was Russell T. Davies.

Conclusion? Never allow someone with three names to be a show runner!

 

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@blenkinsopthebrave

Can’t say I was a huge fan of JNT, but there is a argument that he kept the show going for longer than might have been the case. And he did then nearly save it through the agency of Andrew Cartmel.

RTD WAS the show’s saviour 2 decades ago. I’m sure Chris Chibnall has a middle name too.

As, I expect, do Michael Grade and Piers Wenger.

JNT wasn’t to blame for the genre decaying effect of Star Wars, and current dog chasing squirrels noises of the internet do not herald the glorious return of The Daleks but the slow strangulation of the show.

[janetteB @janetteb]

I just googled to see if there was any news about Dr Who and found this just “breaking”. Not what I was looking for but a very nice surprise. Hopefully it will be possible to see these two episodes at some future time.

@ps1l0v3y0u I think of it more as “possum” noises. (Maybe because we hear of a lot of the latter. Had one snarling at the cat the other night, through the font door. they sound demonic.

Cheers

Janette

[ps1l0v3y0u @ps1l0v3y0u]

@janetteb

re noises. Different continents. It’s the repetitive/dumbly self satisfied aspect of the cyber aspect that raises the blood pressure I suppose, but how can you really annoyed at possums? Awww.

Locally, we have fun with foxes. There are some seriously fat ones in Kew Gardens and they want your egg sandwich NOW.

I did hope I had been VERY good and we might get the glory that must be Fury From the Deep, but I’ll settle for Katrina and the airlock, if just to compare with Tasha Yar for pointless exits. What a waste of an interesting companion! Criminal really.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@janetteb

Thanks for that news. It would, indeed, be wonderful to see them. I don’t know if you are familiar with “The Smallest Show on Earth, a lovely comedy from the 1950s about a tiny cinema struggling to survive, that starred  Margaret Rutherford And Peter Sellars, among others. There is a wonderful scene where they are watching a clip from an old silent romance while Margaret Rutherford plays the Wurlitzer. It is a magical scene. Your  story of the missing episodes evoked a similar feeling in me.

 

[janetteB @janetteb]

A story about watching Dr Who this time which made me smile.

@blenkinsopthebrave. I have not heard of that one. Will have to look it up. there is something magical about old cinemas. Are there any extant episodes?

cheers

Janette

 

 

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@janetteb

Not sure about tracking down the movie.  I have a DVD copy from when it was still available to purchase.

But here is the clip I was referring to.

It’s magical.

 

[WhoHar @whohar]

Thought this might be of interest, given the recent news about The Dalek Masterplan missing eps recovery.

It’s a recreation of Mission to the Unknown, done by the students from the University of Central Lancashire.

There’s a “making of ” video also (which I have not seen yet), but I surmise that their brief was to use the original audio, with design elements based off any existing footage / set photos / description in the screenplay.  The actors, costumes and props (incl the Daleks) were sourced / made by the students I assume. They’ve done a decent job I’d say.

Anyhoo, enjoy:

https://youtu.be/NW8yk-m5Ig8?si=_1cKGiKDBbU5tS8_

[WhoHar @whohar]

Here’s the Making Of I mentioned…

https://youtu.be/jbYq8A_6_dc?si=wTJTUqSJ89NE7uC9

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