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

Interesting news about the writing team for the new series in the new DWM, also a fascinating hint into the new style of series RTD is aiming for. I can't recall the words 'recline' or 'shunt' ever featuring in DW before, although there were balconies in at least three stories I can think of. Hopefully RTD isn't showing signs of just paying mindless tribute to former glories.

Anyway, the writers. Pretty much a dream team, I'd've said, although others may differ. Bit disappointed RTD's writing so many episodes himself, but it's his show, after all...

So, do you reckon Mark Gatiss can work his playing the Who theme on a door joke in? Possibly the greatest Who joke I ever saw, that one.

Did I say recline? Damn. I meant radial, obviously...

I suspect if Gatiss works it in, Davies will work it straight out again! I have to say I thought the 'It's for me!' joke was funnier, but I liked all those sketches.

Still absolutely no clue about the new fellow, which makes Paul McGann's gossip about David Warner sound like premature wishful thinking. Shame.

I loved Russell's first 'letter to the masses' in the new issue of DWm. Doesn't he have a talent for conveying just how excited he is? I reckon his enthusiasm alone will make this show worth the wait.

(engage Devil's Advocate mode)

Philip Segal was pretty enthusiastic too.

(disengage)

But I take your point, even if he said virtually nothing of significance, at least it was authoritatively insignificant.

Finally I got around to watching Davies' Second Coming (a not inappropriate title with hindsight) and I have to say it's done more than anything else to give me real confidence about the new series... well, maybe apart from the announcement of the writing team. I just wish Gatiss and Shearman were writing more than one episode each.

It's possibly appropriate to mention this thing called 'track record' at this point, as Russell's is superb - and while he's been working on Doctor Who, he's also been writing a drama about Cassanova. He first mentioned this to me in 2000, and he'd been researching it for years before to the extent where he felt at the time that he could possibly sit a degree exam about the man with ease. Considering the Queer as Folk connection, he was sure it'd surprise people to discover that the show would be about everying *except* Cassanova's sex life. If the new Doctor Who is as much fun as Russell's 'Revelations', I'll be ecstatic, especially if Judy Low plays a villainess in an episode or two.

On the subject of the TV movie, I don't think Phil Seagal is 100% to blame for everything that didn't work with the movie - casting Eric Roberts, the very muddled ending and the fact that it didn't become a series back then - all down to the network.

He did well to get a BBC co-production with Universal screened on the Fox network in the first place though. And the first third of tha movie is almost exactly how I'd have done it; it was just when the Master's daft plot started coming to the fore that it lost it.

Funnily enough, Jim, the concept of 'track record' is not unknown to me. And I don't mean to overly diss your entirely objective opinion concerning your friend's work but of the DW-related 'track record' of the five writers named, Davies' novel is the one that engaged me least. They *all* have superb track records, one way or another, it's just that some of them haven't attracted the publicity others have.

(This is usually the point at which you charge in and announce my opinion is 'wrong', BTW... )

I never said I held Phil Segal 100% responsible for the TVM, any more than I will hold RTD 100% responsible for the new show. I was just making the point that enthusiasm alone doesn't guarantee a perfect end product.

To be honest I thought the TVM was misconceived pretty much from the start - it's a miracle it turned out as well as it did. But that's surely a topic for another thread.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3522952.stm

I don't suppose there's a cat in Hell's chance of using Ray Cusick's updated Dalek designs from the 1992 annual

That'd be great to see in some form or other, but I suspect that for the general public, the 'sink plunger and balls' image is the one everyone knows, so to deviate too far from that would be a bit too much of a shock.

I'd love to see Daleks that look like they're completely made from brass - all 'Jules Verne'. Perhaps they could be grotted up a bit too, so that they have bits of oil leaking off them, like the Gunner Dalek from Remembrance.

Not sure about the brass- a bit too retro, perhaps. I would like to see them looking more metallic and less painted plywood. I do like the idea of making them look more battle worn though. Leaking oil here, blaster burn there. Otherwise one ends up wondering if the daleks have a small car-wash type arrangement at every station

Can we *please* stay away from the Imperial/Renegade stuff- the general public is just going to switch off when asked to understand 30 years of dalek history that doesn't actually fit into a continuity even if you beat it with a sledgehammer anyway...

Thinking about it, maybe Ray's updated daleks could be used as additional 'battle' daleks, as per the gunner dalek from Remembrance. I don't know whose IPR the design is though, did he does the design off his own bat, or did someone commision it?

Although I still think the Daleks need the TV series more than the TV series needs the Daleks, this is still good news (if it comes off) as - well - Doctor Who without the Daleks just wouldn't feel like.

I liked the original chrome and grey Dalek design. I think part of the reason why they are the definitive monster is because (by looking as if they're made out of kitchen utensils gone bad) they symbolise this very Who-ish idea of familiar objects like shop-window dummies and so on acquiring menacing sort of connotations.

The basic Dalek 'look' is one of those genius bits of iconography you meddle with at your peril...

Never quite thought of it like that before, Awix I hope they keep the slotted sink plunger though, at least that way it looks like it might actually *do* something.

I always liked the way, on the better stories, the technology around the daleks always looked like it had been built for them. Low, arched doorways, circular control pads (a bit like the jog shuttle on a VCR remote or iPod) and the way daleks interact with each other to pass objects (one holds up a piece of paper for another to inspect). Much more of a hive mind in the early episodes, all working towards the one goal - survival above all other races.

The bits of paper thing always highlighted a serious weakness to me- how the Hell do daleks search humanoid prisoners?

The dalek interior designs were cracking though, I agree- the ship in Dalek Invasion of Earth being a particularly good example. The design of The Chase was also quite striking- the only really striking thing about the story, imo

I now have Pyramids of Mars, btw- did you wangle a free contributor's copy?