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

Oi, watch it kiddo!

Yeah, I can take you to some really grotty pubs next time your down. Ones that only serve lager...

I think actually there's a fellow that's got more right to be pissed-off about that comment than either of you two .

Us three you mean?

You three then. Sorry, my fingers are busy typing, which makes it hard to count.

"I really wasn't sure about the bog standard late 20thC / early 21stC standards of dress for the folks running the broadcasting company in the last episode. Ok - so it is a better call than metalicised body-suits and long robes with high collars at the back, but it still jarred for me. Especially given that we already knew it was '100 years later'"

I agree, I thought that was incredibly shoddy. It ruins the viewers buying-into the idea of it being a completely different time and place if everyone's dressing like someone who lives down the road. I remember some old Star Trek (and doubtless other sci-fi series) used to make this sort of mistake back in the 60s (there's one old Trek episode set on a parallel Earth where Rome doesn't fall. TV staff on that wear shirts and ties too). Who is made in 2005 and really doesn't have any excuse.

"Why the trailers. Thats called selling to the US.

It is no coincidence that this set of programmes clocks in at 42 minutes - that's a standard US broadcast hour, minus adverts.

When was the last time you watched ER or any other US programme that didn't have a bit at the beginning 'Last week, on Peyton Place...' and a trailer at the end for 'Next Weeks epsode of McCloud...'?"

The trailers aren't to sell it to US TV, they're just something we get in British drama these days. Just about everything does it now. If they made trailers specifically for US television then they wouldn't bother leaving them in the UK broadcasts.

The viewer-response to the trailers for the cliffhangers has been pretty hostile, which lead to their 'warning' and tagging-on of the trailer at the end of the credits for 'The Empty Child'. I'm not sure why they brought the old-style trailers back for the end of 'Bad Wolf'. Possibly because it wasn't a bona-fide cliffhanger.

The 42-minute episodes are to make them more US-friendly but it's been waste of time. The US networks aren't biting, almost certainly because American TV is based around corporate culture and Doctor Who is a 'brand' that failed in connect with the US mainstream last time it was tried (1996) and major networks won't risk money on a foreign sci-fi show that's failed already. They'll have to wait for a small US network to pick it up or even show it on BBC America. It's sold very well to the rest of the world, though, including Who's first-ever sale to South Korea, so it doesn't matter in the wider scale of things.

Talking about selling it to the world, I was just checking links from the imdb and they have the Canadian site listed. http://www.cbc.ca/doctorwho/ I notice they have a competition running. The first prize is 3 nights in Cardiff. And the second prize is..... (insert your own punchline!)

Some Americans can get Canadian TV and so the CBC broadcasts of Who are the only ones reaching the US at the moment. For that reason, American Who fans would probably see the CBC's site as the closest they have to their own.

It'll be interesting to see what the American 'Moral Majority' make of Captain Jack's open bisexuality and him being American and bisexual too

5 nights in Cardiff?



DL

Too easy.

2nd prize: a week in Cardiff?

Booby prize: a fortnight in Cardiff?

*wonders where she can get her hands on a defabricater*

Got back from a long trip out to Wigan and Bury branches, only to find out that not only have I missed two stand-up sessions, but also an incident involving a chair with castors, a sink plunger, a roll of duct tape, and someone sitting on the contraption shouting "Exterminate!".

Turns out that classic series alumnus Graeme Harper is going to be one of the directors for series two.

Oh, btw, as no one else seems to have mentioned it, the missing dalek from Wookey Hole has been found.

On top of Glastonbury Tor. I can only imagine the effort that took on somebody's part!

The Dalek was probably planning to draw the power of ley lines to dominate the minds of festival goers.

>> On top of Glastonbury Tor. I can only imagine the effort that took on somebody's part!

It flew, of course! S'obvious really!