No problem @ScaryB, I managed to gloss over the post when I saw Flatline mentioned.

However, on re-reading @JimboMcMaster‘s post #33916 is a lot worse for spoilers.

Hopefully a mod can sonic that one a bit too (@JimtheFish, @Phaseshift, @FatManinaBox )

Mega apologies @Thommck

(I forgot which thread I was on)

😳 😳 😳

Maybe a passing Time Lord (@Phaseshift, @JimtheFish, @FatManinaBox ? ) could mod the offending last paragraph (post #33925) out of existence, for future readers.

<goes and sits on the naughty step>

Nice discussion @Phaseshift and @JimtheFish and @Blenkinsopthebrave about the nature of soap as a genre and in its defence.

To that I would add that there is often an un-thought out response which labels “soap” as a derisory form when there is a gendered cultural history to that. Soap was created as drama aimed at women (paid for by soap m…[Read more]

@JimTheFish

Sorry – lots of posts followed and I had limited time.

I agree, in that I think when you look at the writers who came out of soap, you get the feeling they were almost programmed for arcs, development, social relevance, and so the list of writers and what they went onto (Jimmy McGovern! Russell T, !) shouldn’t surprise, but alw…[Read more]

@mudlark @JimTheFish @scaryB

Ah – Z-cars. I’ve only seen a couple of episodes in retrospectives. I’d love to see more. I think the episodes may be lost now, but I remember that Who producer Barry Letts appeared in the show for a while in one of his acting roles.

@ScaryB @JimTheFish @mudlark

Allan Prior, co-creator of Z Cars (with Troy Kennedy Martin), was a past President of my old writers’ group. He came along once – not long before he died – and talked about the creation of Z Cars. It really is quite impossible now to grasp how very innovative and daring it was, how very much it was the antithesis of…[Read more]

@wordmuse     What I am enjoying about this series is the fact that the “arc” is subtle enough that it doesn’t interfere with my enjoyment of individual episodes. I will admit to being less than passionately concerned about where Clara and Danny will end up, and far more interested in the recurring themes of soldiers, the doctor as “a good man”,…[Read more]

@JimtheFish

It was McGrath’s TV and Film (inc the Billion Dollar Brain and the Bofors Gun) writing in the 60s  that set him up enough to go with the theatre thing when he got the chance.  Michael Billington’s obit is informative and moving.

@JimTheFish – yep – different strokes for different folks.

My one real hope, having nothing to do with the story arcs per se, is that enough fans are more like you than like me. 🙂  After all, since that is the way this story arc is going, and since future shows depend in a big way on ratings, the more who like what’s going on now, the more who a…[Read more]

@JimtheFish @mudlark

Re Z Cars – Another early writer was the late John McGrath who went on to create 7:84 Theatre Company and arguably re-invented theatre in Scotland – politically charged, with a local voice, and fun (“a good night out”).

Soap a bad thing? A Bad thing??

I was too young, only saw occasional and disconnected episodes and didn’t understand the half of it, but even I knew that Soap was all kinds of good!!

Can’t believe it’s being criticised!

But thankfully, some people here like @Phaseshift @JimtheFish and @mudlark (and…[Read more]

@JimtheFish

look at how character development in cop shows has changed in roughly the same time period

You may be too young to remember Z Cars (says granny), but the first episode of that caused seismic shock waves throughout the nation. Policemen with personal problems, whose job cause difficulties in their private lives and vice versa.  There…[Read more]

Some interesting points on the Soap Opera front. It’s not a term I can really equate with criticism for very specific reasons. I think it must have been levelled at virtually every writer of a franchise I’ve followed internet comments on. @bluesqueakpip may have a better grasp of the Whedonverse than I do, but I’m sure I’ve read criticism of Angel…[Read more]

@thommck

I hope you enjoy it. I remember you were a child of Seven and Ace, and you may find things you remember from other serials being referenced in it. It has a big reveal concerning Ace.

It’s really unusual to find a version that’s spliced together on the DVDs (some of the earliest VHS releases you won’t remember – but they tried to make…[Read more]

I’m enjoying reading all the comments here as always! Especially all the talk around myth – and @wordmuse and @jimthefish (and I think @others) you got me thinking with your comments about what heroism is. It’s a complex notion, I think – and perhaps one that carries very different connotations depending on the era/genre/individual.

Thomas…[Read more]

Coming late to the game due to Canadian Thanksgiving, I must say that this was exactly what I was hoping for! A perfect balance of fun, thrills, and emotions. So much has been said already, and so well.

There were some great little character-building lines thrown into the script. Where the professor says “…hoping that one day I might meet a rea…[Read more]

Hey @JimTheFish –

I did not think you were aiming things at me personally.  But I appreciate that you were concerned about me taking it so. Thank you.

I wasn’t really a fan of the BG Who. (BG is “before gap,” yes?).  So if there is a history of the BG Doctor not really being in the “pantheon of heroes,” does that mean there was a significant sh…[Read more]

@Spider
Apologies! You are totally correct.  No theft intended – just too tired…
So, good news – you win the informal competition.  Your prize details are just downloading now into my system – hang on – ah, here we go: Free tickets for 2 on the Journey of a Lifetime, it says here, See the Wonders of the Known Universe on the Orient Express, in S…[Read more]

@janetteB @JimTheFish

I agree that B5 gets unfairly overlooked.

This is partly because it was “hard” SF, partly because, in the UK, Channel 4 dicked it around something chronic – but also because JMS couldn’t write dialogue for shit (although he wrote terrific monologue). Whedon is remembered more because his character interaction sparkled in a…[Read more]

@JimTheFish I agree wholeheartedly with the above post but for the final point about Buffy the Vampire Slayer being the first genre TV series to consider character development might add something to the story. While ignoring such fine British products as Blake’s Seven I would suggest that B.5 beat Buffy to that honour by a few years. (And one day…[Read more]