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

Some of you people taped "The Christmas Invasion". I did not. Some of you taped "New Earth". I did not.

I did, however, spot some... things.

At Christmas, I was transfixed for a moment by a barcode and a number that appeared to have been superimposed on Mickey's beanie hat. (Bear in mind I'm talking about something I saw for one second four months ago, so apologies if my reporting is slightly inaccurate).

On Saturday, I'm convinced that in the crane shot right near the start of the episode, looking down at the TARDIS as Rose is saying goodbye, there was an indistinct something written on the road.

Anyone got any thoughts on what these things were, whether they're this year's Bad Wolf, what TYBW might be, and whether there were any references to it in "The Parting of the Ways", because I didn't spot any...

SoRB
(feeling smug because I predicted the return of the Face of Boe before even the end of last season, simply on the basis that they'd obviously spent so much building the damn thing they HAD to use it some more...)

Bearing in mind how much of an anticlimax the 'Bad Wolf' thing was (Rose sucking Tardis excitement and going all 'I be all powerful I be' as a cop-out plot device), can't we just pretend that there isn't a BW stylee thing in this season? Leave it for the Dr Who sites. Please.

No offence to anyone but I'd rather enjoy the programme without being disappointed after months of speculation. Whatever's speculated here would be a disapointment.

Sorry for being a wet blanket.

Oops, 'Whatever's speculated here would *lead to* a disappointment.

Well, it was the build-up that made it disappointing. Rather like childhood birthdays, really.

B

Traveller in Time in for a bit of detective work
"I do not mind beeing disappointed, it keeps some watching the shows as well as many of us trying to completely memorise the 42 minute episodes.

I wonder what the message was that Boe would give to the 'homeless man'. The Doctor obvious felt triggered.

Perhaps we are looking for this 'Planet Defence System' or 'Torchwood' there seems to be a question where it came from. "

"there was an indistinct something written on the road"

I haven't checked myself, but others elsewhere have said there's the remnants of a 'Bad Wolf' grafitti in the first scene. That might be what you saw.

Can't help you on the barcode, though. I'll keep an eye out next time I rewatch it.

The "Bad Wolf" for the second season of "Doctor Who" is the references to the organisation known as "Torchwood," which was first mentioned by the Prime Minister in "The Christmas Invasion" when the organisation used a powerful laser beam to destroy the Sycorax spacecraft, and the word "Torchwood" is going to keep cropping up every now and then throughout the season, leading into the arrival of the series' spin-off called "Torchwood" in the autumn.

I'm looking forward to Torchwood, but have a nasty feeling it'll be tacky in a 'Cat's Eyes' kinda' way.

"The "Bad Wolf" for the second season of "Doctor Who" is the references to the organisation known as "Torchwood,""

Umm, not really, for the fairly obvious reason that EVERYONE KNOWS Torchwood is coming. It's been heavily trailed in the press, it's been mentioned very clearly and explicitly in the Christmas episode. Compare and contrast "Bad Wolf", which was snippets of background dialog, blink-and-you'll-miss-them bits of text on the screen, and admittedly the deeply unsubtle bit of graffiti in "Aliens of London". But the point about it was that it was clearly something *secret*. And RTD has explicitly said somewhere or other that there's something similar going on in season 2, and indeed said that there had already been clues planted before season 1 ended.

Has anyone had a chance to check out either of the things I've spotted? And has anyone spotted anything else?

SoRB

I'll have a look for the barcode for you SoRB, but I'm sure Jim Lynn's right about the graffiti on the road- it's the 'wolf' bit of 'bad wolf'.

Don't know if anyone else picked this out... But during the hospital ward scene where the doctor's talking to the Face of Boe and the politician who's slowly turning to stone - there's a life support system bleeping away in the background... And it's bleeping an SOS in morse code

I've had a look, btw, at whoisdoctorwho.org.

There's a quite comedy bit on there about Leamington Spa Lifeboat Station. Anyone with a passing familiarity with English geography will have a smirk at that, given that Leamington is about as far from the seas as you can get. Not sure of its relevance to the show, but perhaps it refers to something yet to come.

What's funny is that they give an address and postcode. Although the address is given as "Wharf Drive", if you actually search on the postcode, it's a street in Leamington called.... Russell Terrace. Russell T. Most amusing.

I do like the fact that there are layers and layers of other stuff going on behind simply churning out 45 minutes of telly each week.

SoRB

Torchwood was first mentioned in 'The Weakest Link' segment of the episode 'Bad Wolf'. It started out as a production team joke, because that's what they called the series when they were working on it to keep things secret (being an anagram of Doctor Who).

If you've found the Leamington Spa site, you should be able to find the hidden game, which is fun.

I checked on video and the indistinct smudge was as remenant of the BAD WOLF graffiti.

So, no need to get excited.

Rats. And I thought I'd spotted something subtle...

Ah well, there's always next week...

SoRB

Well, you did spot something subtle - but it was a link back to last year, rather than something new for this year.

I started wondering if the Face of Boe is the Dr. after he's used up all his regenerations. But then why would he say 'meet again for the third and last time', so perhaps I'm up the wrong tree there. Could he have some clue to the Time War? That hasn't been mentioned in a while.

Caroline

I think the Face of Boe is going to take up a lot of cyberspace this year

Maybe Boe is the First Timelord

Nah. That was Rassilon, wasn't it?

SoRB

Maybe he became Boe