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

Just watched the first Sarah Jane Adventure of this series. Very good stuff. Bradley Walsh certainly acted well and scary. Good old fashioned scary drama which wouldn't be out of place on a Saturday night.

Yes, I would love to see Odd Bob the clown in a 'proper' Doctor Who story. The freedom of a later timeslot would make for an intersting plotline. Come to that, how scary could they make him if they brought him back in Torchwood?

You didn't see last weeks Sontaran story then?

Oh dear. I'm not good with clowns! I'll have to brave it at some point through the mystery of iPlayer but I shall make sure to do it in daylight.



(Have we got a yet?)

Is it the second series you lot are watching right now? Just curious. I've added the first series to the Netflix queue I've set up for all the old Doctor Who episodes. Might take a few months to get there...

No problems with clowns here, but we have friends who are scared silly of them, so when we get to that one, we should have them over to watch.

Radox The Green

They did have the touring side-show episode in Torchwood which was one of the better ones and wasn;t much more scary than the clown.




I will be watching it on i-Player later. A shame I missed the first series but as I'm late 30's, no kids and go to work it never really came onto my radar to have a look.

I've just been watching the first series of SJA with my 7-year-old. She seems to find it scarier than Dr Who!

All in all, I think it's a nice cheesy mix between kids outperforming the adults (with exception of SJ herself) and a bit of scary drama. Good clean fun in the tradition of the types of series I watched as a kid twenty years ago.

Yes Psychocandy, series 2 has just started showing here in the UK.

I think RTD is at his best when he has to work in the confines of the childrens time slot. I reckon that Chrissy is the scariest monster on the show ('just popped in to see how you are, by the way you promised I could have the duvet' - frighteningly like my ex girlfriend).

I'm amazed how fit Elizabeth Sladen is too. I saw her running through the woods last week from the Sontaran and thought 'I hope I can do that when I'm 60'

Incidentally, after this weeks ep, when did SJ start getting picky about being called Sarah Jane not Sarah? The 4th Doctor called her that all the time.

BTW - late 30's, no kids etc. What sort of excuse is that ...? I'm mid 40s no kids and working but never once considered not watching it. Of course, I am am a saddo, completeist sci-fi nut who has been watching and collecting Doctor Who (and spinoffs) religiously since the age of 3. Ah yes, I can still remember when the Macra Terror was first shown. Seared into my brain in fact, didn't sleep for weeks. never did me any harm (sharpens axe)

My not watching excuse is just that I'm a bit rubbish at taping stuff. I always mean to but generally forget!

I'll just have to live with being a season behind (again) and will look forward to seeing the current episodes eventually.

Just like I'm not likely to see the Christmas special till a couple weeks after at the earliest.

I've told you already...

I'm not entirely sure I can get pull that off- but I'm going to look into giving it a go.

For the special, I mean. I can wait for SJA- it'll take me six months to get through all of the other stuff ahead of those in my Netflix queue.

Maybe I'm getting slow on the uptake, but I've only just realised the 'in joke' of the new girl on SJA having the name 'Rani'

Tut tut! Go to the back of the TARDIS! That should take you a few years.

The naming is not so much an in-joke as an in-groan.

What's the connection with the late 80s period of the show? I notice that they live in (Delta and the) Bannerman Road? Any other links?

Bannerman: Possible RTD reference:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3VLNYA9ZJ7KK5

New Paul McGann epsiodes on BBC7 6pm Sundays ...starts tomorrow.

I do wonder how p1ssed off Paul McGann was that the series didn't get taken up after the pilot film he was in didn't do too well.

The problem was that it didn't do well in the US. I think the UK rating was over 9 million which was good even in the late 90s.

Personally speaking, with the benefit of hindsight, I'm glad the series didn't carry on then (as much as I think McGann was a brilliant Doctor) because I think the show would have become 'Star Treky' (and probably died an even more ignominious death than we thought it had in '89.) The way Who came back under RTD was how it should have always stayed; a "family" show that entertains children and yet has the intelligence to pose questions to the adults that the children wouldn't even consider. Dare I say that this formula explains the success of Harry Potter?

I suspect McGann is proud of his part in the history of the tv show, hence his continuing audio presence, but I suspect he realises how badly it could have gone. OTOH, maybe he's added Eccleston and Tennant to his hatelist!

Hopefully, McGann will be back onscreen in a multi-Doctor adventure (though RTD seems to have overlooked this year's sapphire anniversary as an opportunity)

Van (who likes Star Trek- before anyone complains)

Yep. Having watched the TVM about a month ago, I think it was awful. There was nothing to differentiate it from any other typical US series. But that's America for you, homogenous gloop.

What do people think about the suggestion I read in DWM that if Dr Who ever wants to take off in the U.S. they should rewrite/reimagine it to their tastes as has been done for The Office, Life on Mars etc.