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

There seems to be a lot of itallic spelling 'errers' today!

I tell ya - this heat is making my usually rather rubbish typing even worse. I think I need to lie down in a cool room.

And more news from the BBC:
Comedian Stephen Fry is in talks with the BBC about the possibility of writing an episode of Doctor Who.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4620407.stm

Another gay writer then? I like Stephen Fry, but surely what is needed is some lesbian writers? Maybe that woman who wrote Tipping The Velvet

*Mol strolls back into the conversation looking suntanned and relaxed*

We nearly saw it twice - we were all set to tune in on the first night of our holiday, and then we remembered it was Friday

The family response to the final episode:

Halfway through, it dawned on number two daughter that there would be No More Doctor Who until Christmas - which is of course months and months and months and months and months away to a six year old - and she was appalled.

Then CE regenerated and she burst into tears and sobbed noisily for half an hour because she'll never see him being the Doctor again. Which is pretty much what I felt like doing myself.

Only son and heir, aged 3, spent the entire week picking up twigs and calling them his sonic screwdriver (I then had to take care of them when he was distracted, so I have a bag full of twigs if anybody needs one), immobilising all passing litter bins with aforementioned sonic screwdriver on the grounds that they were daleks, attempting to enter any phone box/blue box/blue building (ie Tardis) that came into his line of vision, and "rescuing" me by whizzing down a slide at speed and throwing his arms around my legs. I'm not sure how the last one relates to Doctor Who but the series has clearly had an impact on him.

Number one daughter thought it was really good, and returned to re-reading the Harry Potter books.

Husband thought it was a bit Deus ex Machina but didn't seem to see that as a bad thing.

I thought it was utterly fantastic and what am I going to watch now on Saturdays? This has been my only weekly viewing fixture since March and now that Born and Bred has become unwatchable I'm a bit stumped.

We played a "Doctor Who quotes" game on the way home. My absolute favourite line was "My vision is impaired, I cannot see". I remember my brother saying that in his Dalek voice over and over again when we were children ...

Mol

Oh what a wonderful family!

You're so lucky

It's Saturday and I don't know what to do with myself at 7pm!

What have the beeb in their ultimate wisdom put on instead? Only Fools and Horses! Talk about cold turkey! Could have shown something to wean us off gradually.

After 13 weeks of refusing to go out until 8pm, I'm now free to have fun in the evening and what happens, because of the sodding fleet review Excelsior has to work until 9pm all weekend, we can't even get to Brighton for the Dr Who exhibition for 3 weeks now

How about old Dr Who episodes from different eras?

Not all of us have cable TV to watch it on a Sunday morning.

I am watching some on DVD at the moment from the Tom Baker era and they are still excellent. Amazing that the Beeb only allowed the same length of filming slots as other dramas - they did not understand the amount of time required for SFX set-ups etc.

*also suffering withdrawal symptoms*

Tonight at 7pm is going to be awful

Longleat got rid of their Dr Who exhibition and replaced it with a bat exhibit. I wonder if they regret that decision now.

I'm suffering 'Who withdrawal symptoms. Such a long wait 'till the next series.

alji

All I can say is thank God Dr Who finished last week, this Murray Nalbandian match would have had the phone's ringing off the hook

Did everybody survive?

Thankfully, my children were preoccupied with playing Doctor Who games; though the youngest (almost 5) was a bit confused when he suggested that he would like to have Daleks and Slitheen fight against the Ents at Helms Deep. They all drew zips on their foreheads with green markers (to mum's delight) whether they were Sliteen or not and the youngest used my socket wrench as his sonic screwdriver. And they watch episode 13 again and again. They seem to be hoping that Christmas comes early this year, though after a few weeks they will probably forget about it.

Didn't watch the tennis. That would have been too much. Some commentators really do seem to lose all brain function when commentating on tennis, especially when it is full of ups and downs.

There are three new BBC Dr Who books out (one of which has the slitheen in it); they're probably a little too advanced for Elementary school kids, however. that said, I believe there's a sticker book and an annual coming out soon - aimed, no doubt, at the younger Dr Who fans.

Can't see all the fuss is about with Tennis - all the build up up each year to Henman's inevitable defeat...

My eldest wants me to get them. How good are the Big Finish audio books? I can listen to them while working. How many are there? I hope not too many because once I start buiding up a collection, I like to get everything that I can.

The Big Finish audio plays are very good (but I would say that as I'm in a few of 'em).

If you're after plays that really stretch the imagination as much as some of this series, you might want to try Jubilee, the play that inspired 'Dalek' this year. It's a superb examination of the psyche of the lone dalek, but in a much more interesting society.

Another very clever one, by the same writer, is 'Chimes of Midnight', which is a bit like Sapphire and Steel. It's definitely the best of the Paul McGann stories.

'Spare Parts' is a very chilling story that looks at the origin of the Cybermen. Those rather comical sing-song voices they had back in 1966 suddenly become rather scary.

Considering how unpopular Colin baker's Doctor was at the time, it might surprise you that Colin's audios are among the very best Doctor Whos in the range. You're almost always guaranteed a bit of a surprise with them. He is accompanied on some of the adventures with an elderly woman caled Evelyn who has become a very popular companion. Her first one, 'The Marian Conspiracy' is a very enjoyable historican story set in the time of Queen Mary.

Hope this helps,

Jims

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I've not listened to any of the Big Finish stuff (although I keep meaning to get Spare Parts) but I've heard Colin's popularity comes from the fact that Big Finish have allowed him to do the Doctor the way *he* wanted rather than using JN-T's vision.

There are two main differences - one, they've made him much more likeable and two he's not having to act above the loudness of *that* coat (indeed, they've changed the look of his Doctor for the covers of some stories).

Even the MAs had a tendency to get him out that costome within the first few pages, and you can't even see it in print.