h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'll tell Jimmy you wish him luck.. he'll be pleased. Do you write for The Bill, or Bill fanfic? That's shown very inconsistently here...

Hiya,
I write fanfic. I'd love to write for the show for real, but unfortunately my storylines are way too realistic for what the show has become,

Alicia

We haven't seen it for a while, because it's been mucked around, put on different channels, had its timing altered - you know the type of thing... What do you think of the planned *revival* of the Doctor?

I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. I wanted to cry, though I don't know why. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with,

Alicia

I'm looking forward to it too, though I feel as Jimmy does - nervous, in case it isn't as as it was. Very nervous as to who they'll choose as actor (or actress. How about a woman Doctor?)On the other hand, no - I can't think of a woman who'd be right for the role. As for men - Anthony Stewart Head? Paul Wossname who was Avon in Blakes 7? Darrow, yes, him!

Hiya,
Paul McGann's my choice, though I doubt they'll ask him. Such a shame because he was the only bright spot about the TV movie they made in 1996. His Doctor was brilliant and I think he captured the Doctor's personality beautifully. He has also been the one who's transferred the best to the books and audios, I think. Apart from Paul, I think the current favourite Bill Nighy is a great choice. I can see him as the Doctor. If it was a female, I agree with Paul McGann when he says Rachel Sterling could pull it off. She's the daughter of Diana Rigg. She has great presence, like her mum, and there's something about her that makes her one of the very few women who could pull off the role of the Doctor.

Anthony Steward Head was in one of the audios and he was brilliant. I would love to see his character from them come into the series. I'm trying not to expect too much about the new series, trying to keep an open mind about it. I can agree, I'm a little nervous, but the writer is a long time Doctor Who fan and I've heard him talk about the show. He genuinely loves it and so I am going to trust him...hopefully rightly *grin*

I'd love to see the console room from the tv movie come back. That was awesome, to say the least, and what they originally had in mind for the TARDIS all those years ago, but couldn't do.

Alicia

Have you been watching the new animated series on www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho - The Scream of the Shalka? The console room in that is pretty cool, and the monsters are terrifying

Rachel Sterling is, and I admit I'm basing this on Tipping the Velvet alone, an actress who lacks the necessary depths to be the Doctor. She's all surface level and big eyes, lacking the eccentricity needed. Is there anything she's been in that would correct that impression?

Like many others I'm touting Bill Nighy for the Doctor, although McGann would be lovely (he seems willing, based on recent interviews).

I must admit, Tipping the Velvet is the only thing in which I have ever seen Rachel Sterling - but she is the only woman I can envision in the part.
Sadly, we get so much Australian and American stuff here, very little British, and I am not sure who Bill Nighy is!
I heard somewhere, Richard E Grant had been decided on. I remember his primarily from the - wait for it - Spice Girls movie! I hope he's better than that...

Richard E Grant is already playing the Doctor in the BBCi animation (free to view at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/shalka/). The BBC did announce him as the official ninth Doctor (although without a regeneration).

Bill Nighy was the editor in State of Play (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/stateofplay/), the butler in The Lost Prince (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lostprince/), Viktor in Underworld (http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/underworld/)and the father in the recent adaptation of I Capture the Castle (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300015/). He's in Love Actually as well, but I've not seen that yet.

Let's try that again with better links (stupid computer):

Richard E Grant is already playing the Doctor in the BBCi animation (free to view at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/shalka/ ). The BBC did announce him as the official ninth Doctor (although without a regeneration).

Bill Nighy was the editor in State of Play (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/stateofplay/ ), the butler in The Lost Prince (http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/lostprince/ ), Viktor in Underworld (http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/underworld/ )and the father in the recent adaptation of I Capture the Castle (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300015/ ). He's in Love Actually as well, but I've not seen that yet.

Thanks, Mags.
I should have known it was the animated version, silly me!
Thanks for all the links - they look like great films, - especially Underworld. The Lost Prince was on TV here in October I think, but we didn't see it - silly me, I can't remember why...
Yes, I think he does look like a contender...

The entertaining idea about Richard E Grant is that it means the film 'Withnail & I' can now be watched as "The Two Doctors go on holiday by accident" (McGann and Grant were a fantastic double-act).

We're currently seeing a po-faced, incredibly funny Richard E Grant (and Arabella Weir) in 'Posh Nosh'. A laugh a minute... is it old or new?

I had the dubious pleasure of watching both the Shada and Scream animated...er....things at a Doctor Who day we had on the 23rd November. I have to say I am not a cartoon fan, except maybe for Manga and Anime and though the people and the stories themselves were great, I wasn't impressed (except with the exceptional eyebrow acting seen in Shada whenever someone spoke). I've never been a fan of the thought of animated Who and now that I've seen it, I'm still not convinced.

As for Rachel Stirling, I think she's got plenty of depth, though Tipping The Velvet (and I loved it) isn't a great show to judge her on.

Alicia

Jimmy has the printed scripts of Shada, which he is really enjoying.
I'd love to see Rachel Stirling in other things.

The scripts are great, but being by Douglas Adams, how can they not be? I love the original story, and I thought the new one was terrific, I just think it woul'd've been better without the bad drawings *grin* Ah well, call me fussy...

Alicia

Jimmy says it has been generally accepted that DNA was responsible for the general low quality of the season beginning 'Destiny of the Daleks'. He knows a lot more about it than I do, I confess - but he doesn't like to come here any more.
What do you think of 'Delta and the Bannermen'? What Jimmy can remember of it, it's pretty weird. We hasn't seen it, but Jimmy has read the novel.
There are some outstanding novels - Festival of Death for one. Jimmy has read many past Doctor novels, those from TV stories, I've read a few, 'The War Games' for instance...

Hiya Della,
I think the best ever Doctor Who novel is Fury From The Deep, a brilliant book for a Target novel.

I think the season DNA wrote in for Doctor Who was already going down hill and was labelled as too jokey long before his scripts appeared. I know he didn't help matters much, but I think the humour from most of the contributors was used in the wrong way. It kind of overtook the action and story rather than complemented it. I think DNA was later to say that they made a bit of a mistake. But, on the other hand I loved Shada, which I thought converted well into Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and I loved City of Death, mainly for the view *grin* Paris was a great backdrop.

Delta and the Bannermen is considered a bit of a joke by most, but I think it has its merits, like the holiday camp background and the fifties music. Many hate the story, but I liked it.

Alicia

FWIW, I've now seen Stirling in something else (the new Poirot last Sunday) and agree that she is much better in that, although there's still a bit of a reliance on big eyes.